Hello everybody I am Gifts and Curses, and this is my first fan fic, so I apologize if it's shity. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any other thing I refer to while I write this fic.
'Thinking'
"Talking"
Flashback scene
Chapter 1: Prologue
It was a warm summer's night. The village hidden in the leaves was alive and jovial all around the town. There were bars open, people drinking, and talking with their friends. Today was an unofficial holiday to them since 5 years ago.
'5 years, 5 horribly long years that I have had to deal with my mistake', the Godaime thought. She was currently in the hokage's surrounded by empty sake bottles; she was currently working on finishing the one she had in her had.
'If I hadn't sent him on that mission to rescue that god forsaken Uchiha.' It was at this time that a full-blown cheer reached Tsunade's ears. The cheer had come from the center of the village, from a group of congregated people celebrating something. After hearing the cheer Tsunade was thoroughly pissed off.
'How could all those bastards be celebrating about our loss? He brought back their Uchiha, what more could they have wanted from him?!' The Hokage was on the verge of tears, and she knew it. She had let three precious people, her family, die. 'If he was still here, he would be turning 18. He would have been one of the best ninjas in the world.'
Tsunade looked at the calendar on the left wall, and looked at the day's date. It was the 23rd of October, the day the Kyuubi attacked 18 years ago and was sealed inside of a baby boy. That boy's name was Uzumaki Naruto.
"Naruto…" whispered Tsunade.
FLASHBACK
"Hey Tsunade-obaa-chan, why haven't we left to get the teme back yet?!" Asked an overly loud and anxious boy. He was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, and possessed blond hair that defied the laws of gravity, shooting every which way. His eyes were a deep pool of aspiring blue that put the bluest of oceans to shame. This person was none other than Uzumaki Naruto himself.
"You have to wait for the team to be fully assembled!" Tsunade had a feeling about this mission, a feeling that told you something really bad was going to happen.
After another 5 minutes of waiting, an entire team of assembled genin stood before the hokage's desk. The genin assembled were Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, Shino, Kiba, Temari, Garra, and Naruto. All of them, with the exception of Garra, looked anxious. Even Shikamaru, who usually didn't care about anything, looked a little apprehensive.
"All right, listen up all of you! I am classifying this as an A rank mission, and Shikamaru, you are in charge. Your mission is to bring back Uchiha Sasuke, alive!" she directed the last part of the orders towards a certain red-headed nin, who looked like he understood her meaning. "You are dismissed!" Shouted the Godaime.
END FLASHBACK
"If only I had sent a jounin, or hell, even a chunin, things could have been different. My mistake killed you Naruto…my otouto." Tsunade said to no one in particular. At this time, the Godaime of the hidden village of Konohagakure, began to openly cry.
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Elsewhere in Konoha, two ninjas were both taking turns drinking from a sake bottle. One of the ninja had a facemask covering one of his eyes, and had his hitai-ate covering that same eye. He had a body that had a likeliness of a scarecrow. All of his hair shot off to the side of his head, due to his mask and hitai-ate forcing it that way. He was wearing a jounin vest, and had a navy long sleeve shirt on. He was wearing matching sweatpants that were tied around his ankles. On his feet were navy battle sandals.
The second ninja had more exotic clothing on, he dressed like a sage. He had a hitai-ate that was different from his companions. His hair was tied in a ponytail and reached down to the small of his back. He had red triangles that ran vertically down from underneath his eyes. This man also wore navy battle sandals on his feet.
"Nice night, isn't it, Kakashi?" said the ninja with the long white hair.
The man, whose name is Kakashi responded with an "Hn." Before taking a drink from the bottle of sake, and offering it to his partner.
"Of course, if everyone were here it would be even better." said the white-haired man, referring to all their friends that have died in combat.
"Yes it would be Jiraiya-sama, yes it would be." replied Kakashi. There was a moment of silence, both men thinking about their fallen comrades. They were both overly to hard on themselves for those peoples' deaths.
'If only I had taught you how fight and defend yourself better, then maybe none of us would have happened. I had produced two excellent students, but both of them met their death long before their time.' thought Jiraiya. He couldn't help but feel that he had disappointed his students.
Kakashi was having similar thoughts, but he was harder on himself that Jiraiya was. 'I shouldn't have just focused on one student. I should have spent proper time with all three of them.' Kakashi was remembering all the times he could have helped Naruto and Sakura out, but instead he focused in on Sasuke. He felt ashamed of himself for doing that.
After about 3 minutes Jiraiya stood and stretched "Well I'm going to go see how Tsunade is holding up. I guess I'll see ya around Kakashi." said the white-haired man. The only response he got from Kakashi was simple nod, which was enough for Jiraiya to disappear in a plume of smoke.
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Thud thud thud.
Thud thud thud.
It was the rhythm that helped keep him calm. He was wearing a black high collared tee, with a jounin vest over top of that with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back. Sasuke was wearing black sweat pants on and had them taped around the ankles; he was also wearing navy battle sandals. His forearms were taped all the way up to his elbow; each and every one of his fingers was taped. He was striking a wooden stump about the same height as him, but the middle of the stump was worn and beaten.
Right now he was trying to vent some of his anger had towards his village. He had given up on his dream after Naruto had knocked some sense into him, and brought him back to the village. What Sasuke was the most thankful for was probably the fact that Naruto had utterly destroyed the cursed seal that was placed on his neck. The curse seal had literally drove him temporarily insane, there was always a voice telling him he couldn't do it, that he was worthless, and that he needed to go to Orochimaru. But when Naruto destroyed the curse seal, the voice ceased it's assault against Sasuke's mind.
Sasuke had been practicing his taijustu; he always hated the way that the village thought Naruto was the nine-tailed demon fox. After Naruto had died Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage released the information that the nine-tailed fox was sealed inside Naruto. This came to as a great shock to the rookie nine, not many of them had really thought Naruto was that important, but now all of the rookie nine had nothing but respect for Naruto.
But now all Sasuke could do was beat on the poor wooden stump that helped him keep calm. After a couple more repetitions he stopped striking and stood straight up. He looked over to his left, to the side of the clearing. After Sasuke had stared at that spot for about 10 seconds he went back to his training. Where he had been staring had been the entryway for a young woman, wearing a pink jacket, with navy blue shorts. She had pink hair, and sharp, green eyes. She also wore a jounin vest over the jacket, indicating that she was a force to be reckoned with.
"Trying to get away from all that nonsense too, huh Sasuke." Sakura said while observing the stump he had been beating on. She felt sorry for the stump, in a way. It lay beaten and broken.
"…" was the only response she received from her form teammate. He had gotten to be a nice guy, except now and then Sasuke would have one of his little mood swings. A silence then blanketed the clearing; it wasn't an awkward silence, more like a silence that two very long friends have.
"I was wondering, Sasuke, if you wanted to go to his grave with me…" Sakura whispered loud enough for Sasuke to barely hear. It had become a tradition for them, every week they would visit Naruto's grave for about 30 minutes together.
"…Alright, let's go." Was the short reply that came from the black clad teenager. After he replied he looked to the sky for a short time, then turned and made his way toward Sakura. Sakura waited for him to reach her before she turned and got in step with him.
They walked there at a leisurely pace, trying to avoid the center of the city, along with all of its' parties. They tried not to get angry at the happy drunk men and women that they came across. It disgusted both of them beyond recognition, almost to a point where they wanted to go kung fu on all of their asses, till they all learned their lessons. No matter where they looked there were bright signs, people drinking, having fun, and not realizing what type of pain the two shinobi in front of them were in. When Naruto had died, there had been a boundary built between the shinobi ranks, and the civilians. The shinobi now, didn't really care much for the civilians, after they had seen how much they had partied after they found out that the 'demon-boy' had died. On the way to the cemetery both Sasuke and Sakura were in their own thoughts. Sasuke had been thinking about all the ways he could have made Naruto's stay on earth more pleasant, and he was remembering the few good times he and Naruto shared. Sakura was thinking along similar lines, she didn't really no how much he had brightened her days till he had died. Now both of their days are pretty quiet, sad, and lonely without a good friend to accompany them.
The walk to the cemetery was only a 10 minute walk, which hadn't been to enjoyable for the most part for them; but when they had passed the village boundaries, where they could no longer hear the music or the shouts of drunken men. They had reached the cemetery, and had stopped in front of tombstone, with wilted flowers in a vase to the right of the tombstone. Now it was the respectable quiet time for both of them, as they had their own thoughts and memories to dwell in.
In Sasuke's mind:
'…Why…I don't understand why it couldn't have been me to have died, not you. You saved me, and I never got to say good-bye to you. I don't understand why I didn't see it sooner, but we are brothers Naruto…brothers that never met.' Thought Sasuke, as he remembered the dreaded day…
FLASHBACKSasuke stood on one of the statues at the valley of the end, he knew Naruto was coming, and he was a little eager to test his curse seal out again, it had been a while since he felt the seal's power in the forest of death. When he started thinking along these lines, an orange clad figure had jumped into the clearing and was within talking distance of Sasuke
"What the hell are you doing teme?!" Naruto yelled, angry and frustrated at the person he had thought to be his best friend.
"I am abandoning this pathetic village, and I'm going to join Orochimaru. It is there and only there that I can get the power I need to kill my brother." Sasuke said, while looking like he was absolutely bored
"YOU TEME!!! THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THE VILLAGE THAT WILL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU, THEY CARE DEEPLY FOR YOU, AND WISH NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR YOU!!!! Think of what you are doing." Naruto screamed at Sasuke trying to talk some sense into him, he was frustrated with how the Uchiha abused what he had wanted all his life, affection.
"I know exactly what I am doing, but you are getting in my way so if you do not move I will be forced to fight you." Sasuke threatened.
"GODDAMMIT!!!" Naruto roared as he leapt from his standing position to where Sasuke was standing with his fist cocked back ready to strike. (A/N: I am not going to go into detail about majority of the fight in the valley of the end, most of us know what happens. But I will write about my alternate ending to the fight.)
Forward Flashback
Sasuke was staring at his hand he had gathered chakra in, the chakra was dark and menacing. It was the chakra of his curse seal, which he had unlocked his level 2 phase, giving him more of a power boost. He was staring at a super-charged chidori-1,000 birds. Kakashi taught him this, and he was going to use this to destroy this last barrier to receiving the MMMMM. Sasuke looked up towards Naruto and saw that he was still pouring with his chakra, chakra in which Sasuke knew nothing of until today. Sasuke looked down and saw the rasengan, but it was also super-charged with that red chakra. Sasuke knew that this was the final attack so he pumped more of his cursed chakra into the chidori before he leapt from his resting spot at the base of the waterfall. Just as Sasuke had jumped, Naruto had followed suit, jumping straight for Sasuke.
They collided in the middle creating a vortex circling both of them, both pushing against the other's attack. Until, that is, Naruto just stopped his attack, and let the Sasuke's chidori go straight through his chest.
As soon as this happened Sasuke cut off all the chakra he had been pushing to his hand. Sasuke, though he wanted power, never really wanted to kill Naruto. But when Sasuke was about to remove his hand and try to help his friend out, Naruto grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip, and wouldn't let go. Then the real Naruto jumped out from behind his hiding spot behind the waterfall with his powerful rasengan raging.
'This is it? Naruto is going to kill me???' Sasuke thought when he saw Naruto jump out from behind the waterfall. But what happened next surprised Sasuke. Naruto, instead of aiming for Sasuke's head, chest, or any vital place, aimed straight for his curse seal. As soon as Naruto's resangan began it's attack on the curse seal, Sasuke screamed out in extreme agony, the curse seal was slowly being ground away, but it wasn't going without causing Sasuke as much pain as possible.
The Seal was fighting back more than Naruto had thought it would, but he would not let it prevail, his best friend's future depended on it, so this just feed Naruto's already raging power. There was a power struggle between the seal, and Naruto's rasengan for about 30 seconds, but then Naruto started to gain ground. He started grinding away at the seal, relentlessly attacking it, doing whatever he could humanly possible to get rid of it, the entire battle between the seal and Naruto lasted for about 2 minutes. After those 2 minutes the curse seal was completely removed, leaving a tired Naruto, allowing all the Kyuubi's chakra he had borrowed to slowly disappear, making Naruto's animalistic features go back to their normal look. After Naruto removed the curse seal, it left Sasuke unconscious slowly changing back to his former self, without any demon looking alterations to his physical appearance.
END FLASHBACK
"…Dammit Naruto…you had to let your guard down for one second." Sasuke stated, letting the anger seep into his voice. He looked up to the sky and imagined what life would have been if Naruto was still around. He had thought about this quite often, but it always brought anger and sadness to him. So instead he decided to dwell in happy thoughts of the few good times he shared with Naruto.
In Sakura's mind:
'I can't believe that it has been almost 5 years now, it almost seems like a dream, my childhood.' Sakura had matured A LOT after Naruto had passed away, she no longer chased Sasuke around and fawned over him. No, she was now a serious kunoichi, after being fully trained the legendary sennin Tsunade.
'I can still…still remember seeing you walking home…'
FLASHBACKIt had been about 4 hours now since Tsunade sent out the team to retrieve Sasuke. It was an hour ago when almost all of the team returned, some of them were in critical condition, while others barely had a scratch on them. There was only one member of the team that had not returned yet, and that was Naruto. But Sakura stood by the front gates awaiting his arrival, she stood alone looking towards the horizon.
"Come one Naruto…I know you can do it, I know you can bring back Sasuke-kun." Was the phrase that Sakura kept repeating, like a broken record that kept skipping and repeating what it had said two seconds earlier. She kept her resilient watch on the road until she finally saw a dark outline.
After spotting the figure in the distance Sakura yelled with enthusiasm "Hey!! I Think I see someone coming!!!" This caught the attention of a few people in hearing range.
After a couple of minutes went by, surely enough there Naruto walking slowly towards Konoha, with what looked like a body on his back.
At that sight Sakura got excited and started to jump up and down, waiting for Naruto to bring back HER Sasuke-kun. Everyone waited patiently for Naruto to make his way towards the town.
But when Naruto was about 100 yards away from the gates something completely unexpected happened. Someone poofed into existence behind Naruto, and this person was none other than the snake sennin Orochimaru. Naruto kept up his perilous walk towards the gates, completely oblivious to the deadly person who was standing right behind him.
Until Orochimaru reached out with his hand and grabbed Naruto's shoulder and spoke with an icy voice "Well done Naruto-kun, you have exceeded far beyond my anticipation of your power, but that will not be enough to stop me from receiving Sasuke-kun."
"Over my dead body!!!" growled Naruto in response, it was at this time Naruto spun around, knocking Orochimaru's hand off of his shoulder, and he made a seal, and two Shadow clones poofed into existence. It was at this time the shadow clones took Sasuke away from Naruto, and began to run towards the gates. After seeing what the clones were for Orochimaru was about to take off after the clones, when he noticed that the orange clad kid had an iron grip on one of his hands. It was at this time that the clones were about half-way to the city's gates, this had Orochimaru worried, he knew that if they reached the gates his chances of getting Sasuke would be reduced to zero percent. So in a quick motion he tilted his head towards the sky and brought his free hand up to his mouth, and in a quick and fluent motion pulled his sword out of his throat. At a quick glance Orochimaru found that the clones were now only 25 yards to the gates of Konoha, and he realized he needed to move now. Just as he pulled it out of his mouth he, smoothly and quickly, stabbed Naruto right in the heart, and continued so the sword perturbed through his back.
It was at this time that the clones faltered and almost fell forward, but they got their footing back and continued sprinting towards the gates. Sasuke began to stir, in one of the clone's arms, and looked up, just in time to see his best friend, with the sword of Orochimaru through his heart, then Orochimaru withdrew his sword, looked at Sasuke and disappeared in a plume of smoke. This left Sasuke with the image of Naruto standing in the road for a moment, before he fell to his knees, and fell even farther forward onto his chest. At that particular point in time Sasuke felt almost the same as he had when he found out he was the only survivor of the Uchiha massacre, he felt he was alone again. It was then that the clones carrying Sasuke disappeared, into clouds of smoke, leaving Sasuke with a rough landing. He landed on his back, allowing him to look up into the sky, and also to be able to see the amount of people that had surrounded him, majority of them were ninja. How Sasuke had wanted to yell and scream at them to go check and see if Naruto was OK, but he passed out moments after being delivered into the safety of fellow ninja by Naruto's clones.
Sakura was standing in the inner ring around Sasuke telling everyone that they needed to get him to the hospital at that moment, because she had to go and see if Naruto was OK. As she ran out to Naruto's body she could feel apprehension begin to build up in her chest, she couldn't see any sign of breathing as she neared him. When she reached his body she turned it over, and looked right into dull eyes. The look in those eyes made Sakura choke on her own breathe, they held an accusing look in them, like no one really tried to save him.
"NO!!! NO!!! YOU CAN'T DIE!!!" were the screams of one Sakura Haruno, as she tried everything in her knowledge to try and help her lifeless teammate. At hearing her cries, a group of shinobi showed up, and helped her carry Naruto to the hospital. When they got there and had been put into a room where the nurses and docters could asses the damage, he was pronounced dead. No one could do anything more.
END FLASHBACKSakura let a silent tear trail down her check as she remembered every detail of that time in her life, she didn't really believe that he was dead at first. She had thought it was a prank that Naruto was pulling, to try to get a reaction out of her, but she found out later that it was no joke. She felt horrible as she now realized how she treated the boy, like a stray dog with a disease.
Both Sasuke and Sakura sat there in silence, each dwelling in the thoughts for about an hour. Until Sasuke stood, and Sakura followed suit, and by a silent pact they both proceeded towards the exit of the cemetery. After they had left the cemetery, they both went their separate ways, one to their house to call it a night, and the other to go train some more, to clear his mind, and get some thoughts out of his head.
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5 miles away, a mysterious group of 4 people, all dressed in black cloaks that covered every part of their body, covering their face with a shadow cast by the hooded part of the cloak pulled over each of their heads. The group looked towards the city bright with lights and sound, all of them stood silently and didn't move or make a single sound. The wind blew across the road, making dust and blow across the road, and as it did each of them disappeared into nothingness. If one had seen this, they would have mistaken the 4 people for a group of ghosts.