It seemed to last forever.

And then it suddenly came crashing down on them.

The shield, the only thing that kept them safe from the destructive chakra and away from Naruto, shattered, allowing the chakra to explode outward and knock everyone off their feet. It was like an explosion had happened and anyone who was nearby was shaken to their core. Most couldn't even make themselves see completely straight as they first came out of the stupor caused by the explosion. Sasuke, however, wouldn't let that stop him. He had to find Naruto before it was too late.

"Naruto!" he forced his way up onto his hands and knees just long enough to propel himself forward. The moment he moved, though, he lost his balance and came crashing back to the floor because of the dizziness in his head, but he barely noticed as he picked himself up once more. "Naruto!"

There was no response.

"Naruto! Please answer me!"

Still nothing even though it had been through their mind link.

He wouldn't give up, though. He couldn't give up. Not now. Not now.

And then he saw it. He didn't even realize that he was in the middle of the battlefield, more like a slaughter really, until he saw those bright blue eyes staring at him. For a moment, Sasuke feared that he was too late and Naruto had died with his eyes open, but then the bright blue was hidden for a brief moment as Naruto blinked sluggishly.

"Sasuke," Naruto rasped and Sasuke had him in his arms without even realizing that he had collapsed beside him. Naruto looked horrible, there were burns all over his body that made his flesh melt away and swell into horrible blisters, but Sasuke didn't care because he was still alive.

"I called out to you." Sasuke couldn't think of anything else to say. His mind was blank as he looked at the suffering that the other was feeling.

"I ran out of chakra," which meant that the mind link, only held together by Naruto's chakra, had been completely severed. "I won't last much longer."

"I know," but that didn't stop the tears from welling into his eyes. In another life time, he wouldn't let them fall from his eyes, but in this one he didn't even want to hold them back.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto's voice was getting weaker, but there were words that both of them needed to say and he would stay long enough to speak them no matter how much pain he was in.

"You saved everyone," Sasuke shook his head. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Naruto smiled weakly up at him, but it just made the rising sobs catch in his throat and he choked on them. There were words that needed to be said, though, so he forced himself to speak even as his voice tightened from it.

"I love you," Sasuke said. He couldn't let Naruto die without him knowing that much despite what he told Sakura. His plan had always been to keep silent, but now he knew that Naruto needed to know at least that much. "I love you so much."

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto's face was distorted in pain and Sasuke thought he might have been crying if he had the ability to after the chakra had attacked him. "I love you too."

It was only then that Naruto allowed his eyes to close and his body fell slack into Sasuke's hold. The choking sobs that Sasuke had been holding back ripped their way out of his throat and his wails could probably be heard through Konoha. There was no enemy to fight this time, no one to take out his loss until he was forced to draw his own last breath, so the only thing that Sasuke could do was grip Naruto's burnt and lifeless body close to him and scream.

Sakura had gotten to them far too late to do anything. By the time she arrived, Naruto was already dead and Sasuke was sobbing like a man who had lost everything. She didn't really blame him, though; Sasuke really had lost everything that he ever cared about. She tried to comfort him, hug him and let him know that he wasn't alone, but he wouldn't be pried away from Naruto's lifeless body. Instead, she put her healing jutsu to work so that Naruto's face would at least be recognizable for the funeral. She could give the two of them at least that much since she couldn't save Naruto's life.

Now, as she stood at the funeral with Sasuke leaning against her for support, she was glad that she had done that much. There was already a carving of Naruto being constructed into the Hokage monument and they were calling him the sixth Hokage even though he had never been coronated. Sakura once heard some of the villagers saying that he deserved at least that much for sacrificing himself to save the villagers.

The villagers had also come to accept the Jinchuriki, though she suspected it had something to do with the death of the spirits that they once held, and she knew that Naruto would've been very happy to hear that. He wanted them to have a life that he had never been able to have and he had given everyone a life that they shouldn't have been able to have.

"I love you Naruto," Sasuke whispered as they watched the casket being slowly lowered into the ground. Sakura felt tears slide down her face. She had been strong up until this point, for the sake of Sasuke who should be allowed to be weak in this moment, but those words broke her heart. On her other side, Ino squeezed her hand in understanding.

"We'll see him again someday," Ino said, speaking loud enough that anyone who cared to listen could hear her. "I bet he's watching over us right now and waiting for us to join him in the afterlife."

Sakura nodded, but Sasuke did nothing. They didn't expect him to. He deserved this moment to grieve.

"There's no way that you could've known that he would do this Sasuke," Sakura said one day when she found him in a more depressed state. It had been a couple of months since Naruto's death and Sasuke was slowly pulling himself out of despair for Naruto's sake, but every now and again he needed some help so that he wouldn't fall back into it.

"I did know," Sasuke shook his head. "I found the scroll that spoke of this jutsu in his study in our past life. I wasn't concerned about it because there was no way he could use it, but then he started collecting the Jinchuriki in this life and I knew that was his plan."

"Oh Sasuke," Sakura could feel tears coming on once more. Sasuke had known Naruto's plan the whole time and had chosen not to get in the way with emotions that would pain them both, but she had tried to force them together. No wonder he had snapped at her. She couldn't blame him at all now that she knew his reasoning. "We'll see him again, just like Ino said. You'll see."

Sasuke nodded and closed his eyes.

He wished more than anything that he could see him now.

AN: NOT THE END. There's still one or two chapters left in this story so don't hate me quite yet.