"When you try your best but you don't succeed, when you get what you want but not what you need, when you feel so tired but you can't sleep - stuck in reverse. Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones. I will try to fix you." Fix You - Coldplay
oOOoOOoOOoOOo
"Remember people, we're working with a time-limit here!" Tsunade barked as she entered the room of scattering Shinobi. Concentration plagued the faces of various Shinobi and Medic-nin as Naruto's body was somewhat thrown on a hospital bed and hurriedly prepped.
"Time?" Came the stern voice of Sakura as she prepared a syringe filled with a higher dosage of the sedative.
"5:32 p.m." Shizune remarked distractedly as she carried an armful of scrolls into the room and dumped them on a counter. She cast the Hokage a quick glance as she blew a piece of hair out of her face. Tsunade appeared over the unconscious boy; arms crossed and gravely serious.
"Where's Nara and Uchiha?" She called behind her to the room of Shinobi.
"Here." Came the reply as Shikamaru Nara walked through the door with Uchiha Sasuke.
Sakura, on the second glance of what she knew was an obvious double-take, took the time to smile at Sasuke, beckoning only a curt nod from him return.
She knew how hard this was for him. For all of them, really. But never in her life had she been more grateful to the man she now could respect for genuine reasons. Naruto had either finally meant more to Sasuke than the Uchiha Clan, or the Uchiha Clan had finally meant less; either way, it meant that Sasuke had changed.
Tired and emotionally spent, she briefly allowed herself to wonder if Sasuke would have done the same thing for her had she been the one lying in Naruto's spot.
When the answer wasn't immediate, she aborted the thought.
High stress was all that could be said of the atmosphere they were all currently working under. After everyone had cleared from the Eastern training ground, the true test of skill and patience came as they began to fully comprehend and prepare themselves for what the next few hours would hold.
"Exactly how many hours does he have?" Sakura called to the medic-nin and ANBU brushing all around her her. Considering the person the question applied to, she forced herself to characterize Naruto as one of the nameless patients she had to deal with on a daily basis.
"I'd say thirteen." Sai replied as he, too, entered the room.
Her face scrunched in distaste as she inserted the second round of sedative into Naruto's arm. Voices and questions sounded all around her as people solidified for the last time what needed to be done. ANBU were sent to clear an area outside of Konoha, and all Medic-nin were told to be immediately available in case things got out of control - an idea she didn't even consider divulging into at that moment. Shikamaru and Tsunade were in conversation somewhere in the midst of it all, but Sakura allowed them to blend in with the background noise when mention of the words "failure" and "kill him" were used in the same sentence.
"More?" Came Sasuke's deep voice as he appeared over her.
"What?" She asked in confusion as Sasuke nodded towards the syringe in her hand. "O-oh. The sedative, you mean." Sasuke sent her a somewhat unimpressed look, but she failed to recognize the sarcasm and continued: "Yeah, I figured it would be a good idea - you know, just in case things get...out of control, he won't be able to feel anyth-" Rambling, Sasuke noted to himself. "Not that Naruto would allow anything like that to happen, but - "
"Sakura."
"Yes?" She whispered, averting her eyes from Sasuke; mostly to hide the fact that she could feel the tears brimming. High-pressure situations were never her forte, especially when they involved her personally. If anyone would have known about her propensity to cry, though, it would have been Sasuke.
"Cry now. But when we get out there, be confident."
She nodded her head quickly as she bit her lip painfully to distract herself from the tears that wanted to explode - explode from the past few weeks - fuck, years of pretending this situation they were in wasn't inevitable.
"Yeah." She rasped through the silent tears that spilled down her face. Her voice was strained, but she was thankful that Sasuke had averted his gaze onto Naruto. Sasuke always had been able to bring everything into focus in situations like these, even when he himself was struggling not to make it personal. In many ways, this was Sasuke's way of being encouraging - and she found in that moment, she was grateful.
Wiping the tears off her face, Sakura watched in morbid curiosity as Sasuke loomed over Naruto; his thumb and pointer finger lightly twisting the bed sheet as he studied Naruto's lifeless body.
"I hate seeing him like this." She commented. "He seems so fragile. I never thought Naruto of all people could seem so..." She trailed off.
"Breakable?" Came the reply as Sai appeared beside the bed. Both Sakura and Sasuke cast him a glance as he, too, analyzed the unconscious body. "That was one of the reasons he wanted to leave so badly. He didn't want any one to remember him like this. Especially not you two..."
Sakura pretended not to hear the audible grunt from Sasuke, and instead focused on the way his fist clenched the bed-sheet.
"Uchiha." Tsunade called from across the room, abruptly breaking them from their thoughts. They all three turned to the older woman as she motioned for Sasuke to come. Kakashi was there with her, which meant things were about to get serious.
As Sakura watched Sasuke turn to leave, however, she noted the quick glance he sent back towards Naruto before resuming his way through the crowd.
And then, for the first time, she knew.
"I know now that they are in love with each other." She whispered to Sai as a tear fell off her lip and into Naruto's lifeless palm.
"How." Sai asked, though not really needing an explanation.
"Because this time, Sasuke looked back."
And the tears came again - like the breaking of a rafter, or the shattering of a glass wall. Only this time, Sakura cried not for Sasuke and Naruto separately, but for Sasuke and Naruto as a whole. What they were and what they could be and might not ever get to be because somehow, there was always something fucking stupid and ridiculous standing in the way of them - all three of them - from being the best that they could be. She cried for their pitiful, beautiful, dysfunctional, cheated trinity.
"When are we going to get a fucking chance?" She bit sharply through the tears. "There has always been something preventing us from being whole. I'm so tired of being broken and-"
It was now that Sai stepped forward and placed his hands firmly on her face, pulling her eyes up to meet his.
"We're all going to be okay." He reassured, catching the somewhat confused and unconvinced look on her face. "Me. You. Sasuke. Naruto. Team Seven. All of us. We will be okay."
And in that moment, Sakura forced herself to hold her eyes onto the black infinity of Sai's own, due to the sickening "click" of the wheels on Naruto's hospital bed being released. Never breaking her gaze from Sai's, she felt her hand slide out of Naruto's palm as his bed rolled past her. The room that was once bustling with noise now shifted as its people cleared to the sides of the room.
Due to the possibility that the Nine-Tailed Fox could be released, Sakura was told to stay in the Hospital in case fatal injuries resulted. They were re-drawing the seal in an area outside of Konoha in order to contain the Kyuubi in as rural of an area as possible. The magnitude of devastation - much of it only known to the eldest in Konoha - was kept explicitly secret from the civilians of Konoha. Any leaked knowledge of what they were about to do would set-off a chain reaction of fear and panic.
According to what she had learned, the only people who were allowed to be there were the entire fleet of ANBU, Tsunade, Kakashi (to draw the seal), Shikamaru (to dictate what needed to be done) and Sasuke (to inhibit the Nine-Tailed Fox).
Sakura watched as the ANBU trudged down the hallway with Naruto's body, followed by Shikamaru, Kakashi, Tsunade and Sasuke. Sasuke was the only one who would be directly involved with the Kyuubi, and thus faced the most danger out of all of them.
He knew it.
Feeling the panic rise in her chest, Sakura abruptly tore herself away from Sai and felt herself run until she had crashed into Sasuke's back; her arms wrapped tightly around his torso as she pulled him into an all-too familiar embrace. She instantly felt Sasuke's body turn rigid, but she didn't care.
"I just want you to know that I will always love you - whether as a teammate, or - or a friend, or whatever. But I just want you to know, so that if things don't go well-"
"Thank you." Came the reply, and Sakura was instantly struck quiet.
"The last time you said that to me, you left us and never looked back. Tell me you'll come back this time. Promise me you'll both-"
"I can't."
At these words, she instantly felt her stomach drop as Sasuke's verbal freight-train ran her into the ground for the umpteenth time in her life. Her grimace must have been obvious, however, because Sasuke spoke up abruptly:
"If I don't come back, it won't be because I didn't want to. It will be because I died trying to bring us both back."
Before she could react, a harsh "Uchiha!" was barked from down the hallway, tearing both of them from their thoughts.
"Be confident, Sakura." Came Sasuke's last piece of advice as he pulled away, and turned down the hallway. Sakura, for lack of a better reply, simply observed his retreating figure in stunned silence - a ritual she had grown used to.
As she watched him leave this time, however, Sakura acknowledged that for the first time in her life, she felt that she had truly come to love Sasuke Uchiha.
(NEXT SCENE - FOUR HOURS LATER )
"Lay him down. He needs to be in a vertical position." Tsunade explained as two ANBU lowered Naruto onto the ground.
They had traveled for four hours and had eventually reached their destination - a small, deserted field that bridged the gap between Konohagakure and many of the small neighboring villages. This particular field had been used by the ninja villages for generations, so many of the civil villages had declared the small span of territory a "no-man's land" due to the damage that was often inflicted upon it.
Sasuke crossed his arms as he stood over Naruto's body.
"Are you ready?" Came the forever-calm voice of Kakashi as he appeared next to Sasuke.
"Yes."
"This is a different kind of battle, Sasuke." Kakashi replied as he crouched next to Naruto's body and pulled the younger boys shirt up; exposing the drastic fading of Naruto's seal. Sasuke knew that Kakashi was about to delve into a lengthy lecture, and he might have considered tuning the older man out if he didn't know that Kakashi was usually right in what he had to say.
"You've always been taught to rely on things like Chidori, katanas and Ninjutsu - physical attacks meant for physical enemies. But this time is different." Sasuke observed Kakashi's hand hover over Naruto's seal in an attempt to memorize the patterns and curves. "You will have to utilize the highest degree of genjutsu you've ever attempted. You can't overcome the Kyuubi's physical properties, but you can overthrow his mental stability."
"Fear." Sasuke replied as Kakashi placed a large scroll next to Naruto.
"Yes. Everything that lives, lives with something they fear. Fear is nothing but an illusion from the mind, yet it possesses the power to destroy everything it touches. The moment Uchiha Madara overthrew the Nine-Tailed Fox, it could never again live without fear. But you can't just be what Madara was, Sasuke. You will have to be better."
"Kakashi."
"Hm?"
"Is any of this actually possible."
Kakashi briefly glanced up at the younger boy before turning back to the scroll he had rolled alongside Naruto's body.
"I don't know." Came the reply after what seemed a small eternity.
Sasuke didn't react, even as Kakashi stood and casually put his hands in his pockets. Eye-contact wasn't an option between the two, but mostly because both men focused on Naruto in quiet contemplation. After a few minutes of silence, Kakashi spoke up:
"Three years ago, every one told Naruto that he should forget about you, because you would always be 'impossible'. Three years later, here you are."
Sasuke caught the obvious humor in the older mans voice. When he didn't bother with a reply, Kakashi continued. "From what I've seen, the things in life that should be impossible never seem to hold a whole lot of ground to the people who choose to be greater than the word impossible. Naruto has always been one of those people."
Kakashi caught the audible scoff from Sasuke as he suddenly crouched next to Naruto, and began pulling the younger boys hitai-ate off his head; leaving several unruly golden locks to fall in his eyes. Kakashi pretended not to notice when Sasuke carefully folded the forehead protector and tucked it inside his pocket. His interest perked when Sasuke abruptly spoke up:
"And yet here he is, dying anyway. What does any of it matter if-" But Sasuke abruptly cut himself off, and Kakashi wasn't surprised in the least.
"He's not perfect, Sasuke. He doesn't think about the consequences of anything. You know that. He's just Naruto. Always has been, probably always will be."
When Kakashi caught the frustrated expression flash across Sasuke's face, he decided not to try and justify Naruto's behavior anymore. He himself didn't approve of the way Naruto had handled the last few years of his life, but he never allowed himself to judge the actions of others.
"Are you guys ready?" Came the voice of Tsunade as she appeared from behind. Sasuke immediately stood up.
"As ready as we can be." Kakashi replied.
"Will we still be able to communicate with you, Uchiha?"
"I've spoken with the fox once before, and when I did, my attention was divided equally between Naruto's sub-conscious and the outside world. I can't risk distraction this time, so I doubt I will be aware of much out here."
"I'll bring him back if things get out of hand." Kakashi replied. It was now that Tsunade turned her attention fully to Sasuke.
"Are you confident with what you need to do, Uchiha?" Tsunade asked while expertly masking the concern.
"Yes."
Her gaze lingered on him a little while longer. "Very well." Came the reply as she turned to the surrounding ANBU. "All of you take your positions! Observe the assigned perimeters and be on guard for civilian activity at all times! You are all aware of the risk in what we are doing, and I expect you all to be performing at the highest level of skill you have achieved!"
As the various ANBU scattered into the surrounding trees, Sasuke turned his attention fully on Naruto. Before he could resume, however, his concentration was broken as Kakashi's hand planted itself firmly on his shoulder.
"Fear. Illusion. Genjutsu. It's what the Uchiha clan was known for, and in many ways, what they were hated for. You have a chance to use that power for admirable reasons, Sasuke. You are an Uchiha. Be proud of it."
"Hn." Came the reply as Sasuke sent the older man a signature smirk. The last thing he saw was the darkened whisker-marks on Naruto's cheeks before his Sharingan flared wildly, and pulled darkness in all around him.
(NEXT SCENE - IN KYUUBI'S DOMINION)
The next thing Sasuke saw was nothing but an abysmal black before his eyes. Stepping forward, he heard the splash of water churning around his ankles as he moved through the shallow, black water. He had been in this sanctum once before - three years ago, before he knew what Naruto was. He had always known Naruto was special - it was what had initially brought them closer - but he had never known that the source of Naruto's power could be attributed to the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Then again, there were many things he didn't know.
"Chakra-heavy." Sasuke thought to himself as he sniffed the air.
He had immediately felt the eerie, cold-burn of the Kyuubi's chakra hit him as it swirled freely through the room. He felt the chakra burning his eyes and throat, and began to shallow his breathing just to lessen his exposure to the bitter chakra. This unbridled chakra hadn't been there three years ago, but three years ago, Naruto's seal was still functional. It was now that Sasuke realized just how much damage it could do to someone who had to live with it on a daily basis.
He felt his own chakra flare at the thought.
"Tell me who you are." Came the cold voice of the Kyuubi. Sasuke cocked his head towards the voice and was met with Kyuubi's massive body lying cramped in his cage. It was too dark to recognize the Kyuubi as being anything other than a dark, shapeless structure. Turning, Sasuke faced the demon fully. but hid himself in the shadows.
When Sasuke didn't reply, the demon lazily opened one eye to observe him as Sasuke's hand discreetly hovered over his katana.
"That chakra. You are an Uchiha."
"More or less." Came the reply as he adjusted himself further into the darkness. The demon's heaving chest was the only movement he could see through the grainy blackness.
"Yes. But which one."
"You have seen me before." Sasuke replied blankly, catching the increasingly shorter breaths from inside the cage.
"I have seen many. Show yourself." The demon ordered. It was now, as Sasuke stepped through the black water again, did he allow his Sharingan to be captured in a small ray of light. Sasuke watched in heavily-guarded curiosity as the shapeless mass of the Kyuubi's body shifted in it's cage, revealing two glassy eyes peering at him.
"You are Uchiha, but I do not know those eyes. Show yourself, fool!" The Kyuubi snapped, this time standing to his feet and pressing his massive face through the bars of the cage.
"You know who I am." Sasuke replied blankly.
His body suddenly tensed, however, as the Kyuubi barked and abruptly slashed his claws across the iron bars of his cage, sending sparks of fire shooting across the room. Sasuke felt the heat of the huge embers fly around him as the room lit up with light momentarily before falling back into the darkness. He felt his hand brush against the sheath of his katana as a low, rumbling laugh escaped from the demon and echoed into the space of the room. Sasuke knew in that moment that the flash of light from the sparks had highlighted his image long enough for his identity to be known.
He smirked as he felt his Sharingan spin wildly. The Kyuubi continued to laugh as he laid back down in the cramped prison.
"I know you. You're that brat from three years ago. I must admit, you're chakra is impressively dark, but you are no real threat to me."
"Did you think I was someone else?"
Sasuke tensed when he heard a low rumble of laughter.
"I know what you're trying to do, Uchiha Sasuke - you and you're blindly hopeful peers. I am hundreds of years old, and have seen Genjutsu even more sinister than what your cursed clan was capable of producing. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to recognize the Genjutsu of an eighteen-year-old brat?"
"No."
"And why is that, child?"
"Because you're in one."
Sasuke saw the warped expression briefly spread across the Kyuubi's face as the room suddenly seemed to explode. Nauseating, fractal red was all that could be seen as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox writhed in fury and shock under the chains of Sasuke's Genjutsu.
"What have you done to me!" The Kyuubi snarled as the chains pinned him to the floor.
"You are in my Genjutsu."
"Impossible! I dispelled any Genjutsu the second I sensed your filthy Uchiha blood!"
Sasuke, void of any emotion, crossed his arms as he stood over the massive body of the Kyuubi.
"That was your mistake. When you sensed Uchiha, you put your guard up. When it wasn't immediately clear who I was, you went to my eyes. Because you didn't recognize them, you succumbed to fear.
"I am afraid of nothing!"
"You are afraid of Uchiha Madara." Sasuke replied cynically as he crouched in front of the Kyuubi's face. "You knew I was from the Uchiha clan, but you didn't know which Uchiha I was. When you couldn't figure it out, you're brain automatically tried to associate me with something that was most familiar, and you panicked when Uchiha Madara was the only thing that fit the description. However, when you finally saw that I was that same kid from three years ago, you allowed your guard to drop, and when you did, I re-created an identical copy of this entire place to convince you that nothing had changed - when in reality, you've been in here since that moment."
"You damned Uchiha's! You deserve to rot with your disgusting family in hell! Every last one of you and that damned bloodline!"
Sasuke observed emotionlessly as the Kyuubi writhed and screamed in fury under the phantom chains of the Genjutsu. The white-hot fury that had riddled through the Kyuubi's body subsided, only to be replaced by short, shallow breaths. Before Sasuke could initiate another move, however, he heard the low, rumbling of laughter that sounded from the Kyuubi again.
"Speak." Sasuke somewhat barked, trying to hide the obvious frustration. He heard himself somewhat growl as the Kyuubi's laughter elevated.
"I know the sick practices of your clan, Uchiha Sasuke. Years ago, Madara Uchiha ripped the eyes out of his younger brothers skull, all for the sake of more power. I see now why I couldn't recognize your eyes. You did the same thing to your brother, didn't you, Sasuke?"
Sasuke felt a burst of white-hot fury surge through his veins as the chains on the Kyuubi ripped deeper into his skin, but nothing stopped the pained mix of laughter and whimpering that bubbled through his lips.
"How does it feel, knowing you will always be looking through his eyes? Was it worth it?"
Before Sasuke could reply, however, both boy and demon were rendered immobile as the raw chakra that had previously plagued the room suddenly cut in half - the stream of stinging chakra evaporating as the Kyuubi's previously-amused face was replaced by angry confusion.
"Is this what you and your pitiful mentors were trying to do? Save that brat?"
"His name is Naruto." Sasuke snapped darkly as he continued to observe the receding chakra. "It's working." He thought to himself as the chains holding the Kyuubi shifted as the anger returned to the demon.
"You are all fools. If I say Uzumaki Naruto will die, Uzumaki Naruto will die, and he will die in agony."
And then Sasuke was in front of the Kyuubi, Sharingan spinning wildly.
"If you do anything from this point on, I will be your nightmare." Sasuke snarled. Before the Kyuubi could respond, however, Sasuke felt himself being thrown backwards as white-washed light burst through the room. Everything - the black water, the chains, the Kyuubi - everything disappeared behind a veil of white.
"You will regret this. All of you."
"Sasuke, get up!" Barked the voice of Kakashi.
Coming to his senses, Sasuke sat up and felt the throbbing pain on his cheek where Kakashi had presumably punched him to break him free of the Genjutsu. Feeling the clothes clinging to his body, he acknowledged that at some point it had started raining, and thunder pounded against his ears. Briefly reassuring himself that he was back in the field, he darted his eyes to Naruto and saw the bubbling red chakra encompassing his body as the rain pelted from all directions.
"He's being controlled. We need to wake him up." Kakashi called over a burst of thunder as he pulled Sasuke to his feet.
"You didn't fix it?" Came the reply.
"I did, but we made the mistake of putting Naruto under sedation. The fox is mad, and he knows Naruto is in too deep of a sleep to wake up."
"Kakashi!" Tsunade barked, and both boys were torn from their conversation as Naruto sprung on to all fours: eyes red, claws ripping through his nail-beds and fangs cutting the sides of his cheek.
Both Kakashi and Sasuke split in opposite directions as Naruto bolted towards them, splashing muddy water across his arms.
"We need to wake him up!" Kakashi called from across the field. When it became clear that Naruto was making a bee-line for Kakashi, Sasuke burst forward and tackled Naruto from the side. Slamming Naruto into the ground and rolling for a good ten feet, he sent a fist flying into Naruto's face as he caught the wild bot long enough to pin him.
"Naruto, wake up!" He called, but cursed under his breath as another burst of thunder drowned him out.
"Listen to me, Naruto, this is not you!"
This time, though, Sasuke had to jump backwards as Naruto rolled forward and tore a claw through his right cheek-bone. Sasuke grimaced as he instantly felt the raw chakra poisoning his body. He caught the sight of Kakashi's body lying in the grass, and briefly acknowledged that at some point, he hadn't gotten there fast enough.
"Shit." Sasuke commented to himself as he dodged Naruto's movements.
A painful kick was sent to his ribs, and he felt the rippling crack as a few of them shattered in tandem. Shrugging it off, Sasuke appeared behind Naruto and kicked him forcefully in the spine. Furious, Naruto let out an animalistic growl as his body slid across the ground; the flesh peeling from the raw chakra burns. Ignoring the vertigo, Sasuke dropped on to Naruto's flailing body and began punching the younger boy as blood ran in trails down both of their bodies. The feral Naruto suddenly screeched as Sasuke shattered his collar-bone in half.
"If it hurts, make it stop!" Sasuke called, ignoring the emotion that freely escaped. "Wake up, idiot, and this will stop!" Sasuke felt his voice crack, but ignored it when the feral Naruto beneath him began to writhe. Sasuke felt a small trails of blood run down his face, but he kept his focus on the struggling body beneath him.
"He is not you, dobe! He has never been you!" And as soon as Sasuke said it, he momentarily felt the body beneath him calm as the eyes flickered indecisively between blue and red. Sasuke knew in that moment that Naruto was aware of what he was doing, because the tears streamed down the blonds eyes as he shifted between boy and beast. Sasuke pinned Naruto's arms even further into the dirt as the blond waged war beneath him.
"You know who you are."
He thrashed harder, and Sasuke pinned harder.
"The Rookie Nine value your life, Naruto." Sasuke barked. He realized that at some point, he had grabbed the sides of Naruto's face in his hands. The eyes still flashed - blue, red, blue, red.
"Sakura, Kakashi and Tsunade value your life." He reiterated as he forced Naruto to look at him. Rain now pelted them mercilessly, blinding their vision as they slung water droplets everywhere. Blood ran in trails down Naruto's face as the chakra burned both of their bodies.
"The village values your life, Naruto!"
Thrashing, and screaming. Blood and devastation.
Blue.
Red.
Blue.
Red.
"Dammit Naruto, I value your life!" Sasuke barked as the sickening sound of bone being shattered sounded through the air; and for the first time in what seemed like years, total silence fell across the field.
Blue.
And Sasuke coughed violently.
"Sasuke!" Tsunade gasped as she observed the tanned arm that had been shoved through his chest; blood dripping off the fingers that protruded from his back.
Sasuke, who now had blood freely dribbling out of his mouth and on to the front of his shirt, held Naruto's face in his hands, and his blue eyes on to his own black orbs.
"Even on the darkest days, I never could deny it." Sasuke rasped brokenly as the blood spurted from his mouth and nose.
A strangled choke escaped his throat as he slowly leaned forward, and placed his forehead against the scar on Naruto's chest that he had been responsible for years before.
For the first time in his life, Sasuke felt old - too old to return from the damage. It wasn't the first time he had ever met death. Time had always seemed to slow during those times. Sometimes it was hours, other times it felt like years. But this time, he couldn't distinguish time at all; and he knew in that moment that it was probably a good thing. He felt his breathing shallow dangerously as his blood permeated down the front of Naruto's shirt.
"Sasuke." Naruto whispered brokenly while counting the short breaths that escaped from Sasuke's mouth.
"It has always been you." Sasuke choked back in frustration as his weight leaned fully against Naruto. "It will always be-"
His voice faded then, and Naruto didn't need to look at him to see that his eyes had closed. All he knew was that the short, ragged breathing of Sasuke's body had ceased.
It was now, as the rain poured on top of them - blood washing off in trails and staining the grass a hideous black- that Naruto slowly glanced down at his shirtless stomach, observed the beautifully re-drawn seal that replaced the old one, and cried.
The last thing he saw was Tsunade running towards them as he collapsed against Sasuke.
(END CHAPTER)
UPDATE: Ok the link I posted to xxheartlessbitchxx 's drawing is not working. I'll try to figure out a way to insert the link, but for now, I suggest typing [ www . xxheartlessbitchxx . deviantart . com ] into your search bar WITHOUT those spaces or brackets. It will take you to her profile, and you will see it there.
WHOO Long chapter is LONG. Anyway, this was a very emotional chapter for me to write, and I hope I conveyed it well. The next update should come fairly quickly, considering I've been lingering on this chapter for a considerable amount of time.
In other news, it has been brought to my attention that I made an EPIC mistake in chapter 18. Someone informed me that Naruto already told Sasuke he was dying, so he shouldn't have been too suprised by what Tsunade would tell him in chapter 19. Not knowing what this person was talking about, I went back and read the chapter and realized that I had submit the completely wrong chapter! Heh, WHOOPS. *nervous laughter* I had originally had two different ideas for where I was going to take the story from chapter 18, and I didn't realize until just a few days ago that I submit the wrong version. I have already replaced it with the correct version, so if you want the story to make more sense, I would highly suggest going back to chapter 18 and reading on from there. I never go back and re-read the chapters, but I know I should start due to all of the plot-holes, grammatical fails and overall mistakes I'm finding.
OH! AND ONE MORE THING! xxheartlessbitchxx has made an ASTOUNDINGLY beautiful drawing of one of the scenes from this story called Collapse. You can see it here: .com/art/Collapse-197139307 I'll give a thousand internets to anyone who can identify the scene without help. I knew what scene it was from the second I saw it, which is a true testament to how good of an artist she is! I LOVE when people draw scenes from my stories, and hers truly made my day! Go check her our.
I love ALL of you guys, and I save all of your reviews and am going to try and start e-mailing you back more. For now, I hope this ridiculously long chapter is thanks enough! See you later! - Miss Madison