Sasuke's hands shook as he closed the book he had been writing. Those words were the last ones after so many. He knew that no one would believe it, the story of going back in time was just too crazy for anyone to understand, but he never did it for them. This book felt like the only thing that kept Naruto alive. He knew he wouldn't have survived this long if he hadn't been writing Naruto's story.

It had taken him ages to collect all the information he needed. It wasn't just Naruto's thoughts that he was writing down and he often needed to go ask others what they were thinking in the time of an occurrence. They were always happy to help him; they thought that Naruto's story deserved to get out so they wouldn't get in his way. Then the challenge was getting everything down on paper.

He had finally accomplished it.

The only problem now was the fact that he was done. Closing the book almost felt like losing Naruto again. For a moment, he thought about just opening the thing back up again and losing himself once more in it, but he dreaded reaching the end. If it hurt this much to finish writing the book, it would probably continue to hurt him every time he reached the ending. He did not want to continue to relive Naruto's death.

Perhaps the thing that he was most afraid of that made him forgo rereading the book was becoming desensitized to it. If he allowed himself to get lost in it, sooner or later he would find himself feeling nothing when Naruto died and he would never be able to live with himself if that happened.

Instead, Sasuke left the book on the desk, where it had been since the moment he started writing in it, and headed out. It was a sunny day and Sasuke had to lift his hands above his head to cover his eyes so that they would not burn. His eyesight wasn't as good as it once was, but that was to be expected from old age. He took a short moment to watch the children playing in the Uchiha mansion, Itachi had gotten married and had kids who now had kids of their own, before he moved on. He had a destination and he had to get to it before his old legs gave out on him.

As luck would have it, Sasuke's unreliable legs lasted until the moment he reached Naruto's grave. Only then did his legs collapse so that he was kneeling before the tombstone of his lost love. He sighed and turned so that he was instead sitting with his back resting against it. This was a favorite position of his anyway. It made him feel like he was sitting with Naruto.

"I finally finished it," he said, voice breaking as tears and age mixed to make it weak. "The book I promised you I would write is done. You have no idea how hard it was to write about your death. I had to stop several times, I just couldn't handle it, but I kept going because I promised you and I couldn't go back on my word." Sasuke closed his eyes with another sigh. "I wonder if I'll see you again in the after life, Naruto. I hope so. I've waited so long just to see you again. Would you remember me if I came to you? It's been so long…" His head drooped back so that it too was resting against the tombstone. "I'm so exhausted, Naruto. I think I might sleep for a while."

Kyuusuke carefully pulled Sakura along. It was the anniversary of Naruto's death and she wanted to go see him. Especially now that Ino was gone. She had apparently died in her sleep a little over a week ago. Kyuusuke had been taking care of Sakura ever since. It was the least he could do after all that she, Sasuke, and Naruto had done for him and Irene. Sakura had even taken him in after Irene had passed from illness soon after her Spirit was gone. Apparently the spirit was the only thing that was keeping her alive and she really should have been dead long before then. It was the reason she became a Jinchuriki in the first place.

He was so busy leading Sakura to the tombstone, facing her and not having to look behind him since he already knew the path by heart, that he didn't actually notice anything out of the ordinary until Sakura spoke up. "It seems that we aren't the first to visit." She had a sad little fond smile on her face so that Kyuusuke didn't even have to turn around to know that Sasuke was already there. He turned anyway and saw the man sleeping on Naruto's tombstone.

"He shouldn't sleep out here," Kyuusuke frowned before going over to wake him. He shook the old man carefully, but he didn't move.

"Why don't you just let him sleep," Sakura said. "We can come back later."

"Alright," Kyuusuke nodded, standing and leading Sakura away. He did not tell her that he had checked Sasuke's pulse and found none, but by the tears on her face he knew that she knew anyway.

Sasuke opened his eyes and found himself in an endless black abyss. At first he thought he was only dreaming, but when Naruto didn't show up like he always did in Sasuke's dreams he knew he wasn't.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

"You are," a beautiful woman appeared before him and she looked exactly like Naruto had once described the woman he met after his first death.

"You are the goddess of time and all things good," Sasuke pointed out.

"Very good," the woman nodded. "Most people don't know who I am when they first meet me."

"Naruto told us about you," Sasuke shrugged.

"No wonder you were able to call to me. So few humans have the ability to do it, but I have no doubt that your love for that boy strengthened your voice. Do you want to return as well and try to save him? If that is the case, I'm afraid I can't grant it. The destinies of those people were already changed once and I'm afraid my husband will get mad if I meddle anymore." Her face was sincere, but her voice held a sort of playful scolding to it that a mother might speak to a child who wasn't truly in trouble.

"I don't want that," Sasuke shook his head. He would not put Naruto through that again. "I was only hoping that it might be possible for us to meet again in another life."

"And what will you give me in return?" she asked.

"I would give anything to meet him again and tell him that I love him," Sasuke said. "Please just give me this chance."

"Very well," the goddess nodded, "but I must warn you. Even if I have you reborn in another life, there is no guarantee that the two of you will be reunited."

"I will find him." Sasuke had no doubt about that. He would scour the whole globe if he had to.

"Go to sleep now and I will see what I can do."

Sasuke knew no more.