Daughter of Hate

by Blutus Mindpretzel

The war is over. Azula's motives remain unknowable as her child stands to shake the foundation of everything built since the fall of Fire Lord Ozai. For Toph, Mai, Aang, Katara and the rest, the world is an even more dangerous place than it was when they were children. And despite being long since gone, Sasuke's impact continues to shudder their world, perhaps more than they know.

48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Sasuke and Naruto

Sasuke looked over to Kakashi as they both stood in the street a distant from the front of the school. There was much he wanted to say to his former sensei, but he somehow knew that the look he put into his eyes then was worth more than thousands of words that could spill from him. He waited a moment to see if Kakashi would understand what he was trying to put into the gaze; a single eye stared back at him for a time before Kakashi's hand slowly came up to drop onto Sasuke's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Sasuke brought up his hand to grip his old teacher's wrist and for several seconds, they looked at one another and let the moment hold between them. Feeling just as much coming through from Kakashi's gaze as his own, Sasuke released his grip just as Kakashi released his own. No words were exchanged between them then and with a few slow steps, he stepped backwards and regarded Sasuke with a last contemplative look.

Then, Kakashi brought a hand up in a short gesture of farewell before he was gone faster than the eye could blink.

For a little longer, Sasuke stood where he was, wondering if there wasn't something more he wished he had told his former teacher before he gave his head a small shake. Contemplating that now was a pointless task. Turning his head, he resumed walking towards the swing.

He was about ten paces away when Naruto slowly turned his own head, looking over his shoulder at the sound of the approaching steps. They met eyes, and Sasuke stopped.

They might have been able to stand there looking at one another for days.

Slowly, Naruto stood from the swing, his hand on one of the ropes that held it to the branch above. It didn't take him any time whatsoever for a smile to start to spread over his face; Sasuke saw the expression and he gave a small shake of the head.

After everything… after so long… you can still smile when you see me.

Sporting a small smile of his own, he gave a sigh and started forward again. When he too was standing underneath the shade of the tree that stood in the courtyard, Naruto finally spoke.

"Well… where have you been?"

It might have been that Sasuke hadn't seen him since they were teenagers, but somehow, Naruto's voice didn't sound as though it had changed a bit since the days Sasuke had stared at him in annoyance within the very classrooms just beyond.

"That depends," Sasuke said, walking slowly past the swing to lean against the bark of the tree. "How much time do you have?"

Naruto blinked at him, his expression going briefly into what looked a state of complete bemusement.

"Did you… just tell a joke?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Suppose I've grown some humor in my old age."

This was enough to spur a genuine laugh from his former teammate who continued to stare at Sasuke as though he truly wasn't sure what to think of him in that moment. As the short chuckle dwindled away, he looked at Sasuke with a rather serious look in his eye.

"I can't believe this… is it really you?"

"Believe it," Sasuke said with a smirk and Naruto's eyebrows nearly leapt into his hairline.

"Hey, just because you haven't been around in over a decade doesn't mean you can take my lines!" he said loudly, though there was an enormous smile on his face. "You are so not allowed to do that!"

"Just figured I'd try it out," Sasuke said, feigning a look of mild distaste. "Thought I might be able to give it a little more flair, but I don't think it's possible to elevate that one."

It became Naruto's turn to put on a false expression, this one being of mock offense.

"Oh, come on, I've been saying that for long enough that I know you grew to like it while we were still on Team Seven together!"

Sasuke cocked his head back and forth as though he were taking the time to ponder such a notion.

"Hmm, I'm not sure about that… I think you just got so used to saying it, you misinterpreted that as the rest of us actually finding it endearing."

It was nothing but sarcasm that laced Sasuke's voice then; though if he had been asked when he was a child, he likely would have rather seriously reiterated what had just been said, thinking back to Naruto's wildly overused catchphrase now as an adult, it would have tasted a lie to say that it didn't feed his nostalgia and joy at seeing his old friend to think on it now.

Naruto seemed to understand that Sasuke wasn't speaking sincerely as his grin widened further. For a moment, the two smiled at one another before the corners of Naruto's mouth started to twitch and the seriousness reentered his eyes.

"Sasuke… what can you tell me?"

It took Sasuke a moment to realize what Naruto was implying. The way that the question had been phrased was enough to briefly confuse him before he understood.

He's not demanding that I tell him where I've been, what's happened, why no one has seen me in so long… he's asking me.

A surge of emotion washed over his insides as he looked at Naruto's expression that was looking on to him with concern on his face, but there was still so much curiosity in his eyes. Sasuke knew that his old teammate wanted to know more than anything what had happened, but he was still willing to ask what Sasuke was able to tell him.

He deserves to know. Of everyone I ever knew, he deserves to know… and he still… asks me something like that.

"Hey," Naruto said, his brow furrowing slightly and a hand starting to raise as though he were about to reach out for Sasuke. "Are you alright?"

It took that question for Sasuke to realize that he was starting to tear up.

Hastily, he cleared his throat and blinked rapidly to clear them from his eyes. He had told himself already that he wasn't going to get emotional being back in his home and he wasn't about to cry over something like that.

"Yeah," he said, in a voice that thankfully possessed no signs of the emotion he had just felt. "It's just…"

He gave his head a small shake and met Naruto's eyes.

"Everything," he said. "I want to tell you everything."

A moment later the two were sitting down with their backs to the tree, side by side, and Sasuke started to talk.

The words came out in a fountain that Sasuke couldn't have fathomed trying to stop. He hadn't even thought of where he was going to begin, so he let the explanation guide him, taking him through every single memory that had taken place since the last time he had seen Naruto.

He spoke of how he had found himself waking up in a strange new land, buried deep in a prison and how he had escaped and met with a group of young people, some younger, some close to his age. He told Naruto all about the world of benders he had found himself in and the people he would come to meet. Sasuke told him all about Aang and his caring and thoughtful nature, about Katara and her dominant and protective personality, about Sokka and his friendly and outgoing persona, about Toph and how strong and emotional she could be, and about Zuko, with how he possessed such a seemingly conflicted yet good heart. He spoke of Azula, about her obsessive and rather psychotic being; he spoke of Mai, about her dry and cold demeanor that sheltered a caring and fierce person; he spoke of Ty Lee, about her buoyant and pleasant nature; he spoke of Suki, about her bold and confident nature and how willing she was to protect those she cared about, and he spoke of Jin, a girl with a fire and determination to rival any of them. He told Naruto plenty about each and every one of them, and how he had come to travel with them after his visit from the spirit of Avatar Roku.

He missed as few details as he could when speaking of the waning days of the war and what had happened as he had tried to help Aang and the rest bring an end to the conflict. He talked about Itachi, and how Madara had been disguising himself as his brother to try and manipulate him, just as Obito had been manipulated into siding with Fire Lord Ozai. Sasuke talked about every conflict that he had faced, right up until the day that he had struck Sozin's Comet down from its path above the earth, how Madara had revealed himself, and how Sasuke and Obito had just managed to team up to take him down. He told Naruto about Ozai's death and the relative social and political chaos that had come about when the war ended which had culminated in him believing that it was the best course of action that he leave his newfound group of friends and try and find his own way home. Sasuke didn't fail to mention the rather unfamiliar sense of emotion that had touched him upon his departure, the first time he had truly come to consider the idea that he was perhaps not better off on his own.

He then told Naruto of his years of fruitless travel, of trying to track down the method that would allow him to return to his own world. Sasuke spoke of the bitterness, loneliness, and discouragement that had come to fill his life during that decade of time that he had spent sailing about the oceans beyond the elemental nations, throughout all those islands, archipelagos, and continents, and how he had started to come to the conclusion that perhaps he was never going to find his way home. He chose then to mention how he had started to genuinely miss both his own home and the people within it, but also the people that he had met when he had been thrust into this new world by Madara.

Sasuke then spoke of his sudden visit from Avatar Roku and how Yue had been thrust into his life before iterating how he had been faced then with what seemed like a new and surely insurmountable task in staving off an invasion of spirits. He talked about his travels over the weeks with Yue and how, even with this new threat that seemed to hinge on his actions weighing on his mind, his time with her had been the most incredible thing for him. How she never backed down from him, how she was always willing to speak her mind, and how, regardless of their situation, she was always good company for him.

He then spoke of his first meeting with Ursa. He told Naruto all about her, and didn't mind when he thought he saw his old teammate's face light up with the way Sasuke was talking about this woman.

From there, he told Naruto everything that had happened between the voyage back to the elemental nations, the chaotic and near tragic reunion with his friends, the invasion of the spirits and how he was posed as by one of them. He spoke of Gilbert and felt a surge of warmth when he saw Naruto's hands tighten into fists as Sasuke told him what the lord had done. He talked about the constant barrage of stressful situations, from their escape from Ba Sing Se, their flight down to the islands, Kakashi's appearance and then the attack by the spirits and insurgent group, nearly losing Ursa, their days of making it to the Northern Water Tribe and the cluster of events that had only further strained things for him there, culminating in Azula's psychotic behavior and how he had taken her away and tried to use genjutsu to help her mental state.

Sasuke talked then about trying to find Koloss, the journey there and back, to fighting off Kyoshi and the spirits, to finally deciding to travel back to Ba Sing Se to end things on his own terms once he found out that Madara was behind everything. He spoke of his plans, how they were foiled, how everything nearly came to a bleak defeat at Madara's hands before Sasuke had come up with a last ditch effort to end things on his own terms.

The sun had noticeably moved in the sky while Sasuke had been talking and he found it a showing of Naruto's growth as a person that he had remained so still and attentive for what likely had been well over an hour by this point.

"…and I knew that it was my only option. Even if I didn't know it would work, I had to try; Madara couldn't have been stopped with the amount of energy that he had behind him and I just decided to trust my gut. I didn't know what else to do."

"And this… this was some kind of Sharingan technique?" Naruto asked, interjecting with a rare question. "The one you used to bring Ursa… back to life?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, feeling his tone darken. Just thinking about such an unnatural sort of technique that he had brought forward with such tremendous consequence in two different occasions almost was enough to bring a chill down his spine. Not that he regretted tampering with such power the way that he had in either case, but there was no denying the grim nature behind the use of it.

No one should have that kind of power.

"Kakashi and I, we managed to get in close enough to make it happen, him distracting Madara for just a moment to let me get to him, and then I pulled us all in."

He then spoke briefly to the nature of how it had felt to die, or at least what he had assumed it would be like if that had truly been his end then. He told Naruto about how he had met Hagoromo in some strange void and what had been discussed between them, ultimately culminating in what had allowed him to return to Konoha the way that he had.

Finally, with a severely dry throat and a desire to not have to say too much for a bit, Sasuke stopped talking, letting silence fall between them. Naruto joined him in this instance of quiet, but as Sasuke might have expected, it didn't last for more than a minute or so. Nonetheless, he was appreciative that Naruto had given him at least a moment of silence to reflect, respectful of the pure amount of information that had just been given so openly to him.

"So… he just brought you back to life?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Something like that. I didn't exactly ask for too many specifics on why I was being allowed to live, was mostly just grateful. I guess because I had shown this willingness to die for someone else, or this selflessness that I had felt then, he decided that I ought to be given another chance at life."

"Well, you weren't expecting to have one, right? You went into that probably thinking that you were never going to see any of those people again, let alone get to come back here."

Naruto gave a grin.

"No offense, but the Sasuke I last knew would never have done something like that."

This was worthy of a chuckle, but Sasuke felt a surge of guilt as he thought back to a particularly painful memory when he remembered his willingness to let one of his old team members die if it meant landing a killing blow against an enemy. Then too came the thought of the other member of Team Seven and Sasuke remembered how he had been so prepared and almost casual about killing her if that was what he deemed to be necessary.

"People change," he said quietly. "Even me, I guess."

His words brought out a genuine bark of a laugh from Naruto.

"Change?! Hell, Sasuke, after what you just told me, I think that word is kind of lacking, don't you?"

Sasuke allowed himself a small smile, but Naruto didn't seem content letting it sit with just that.

"From what it sounds like, you were just as much someone blinded by vengeance and anger when you traveled over to this world as you were when you were here. But then, you go and meet these people, this group of teenagers, and even just with you telling me of these decisions you made, I can tell they made an impact on you from maybe the moment you met them. That blind girl especially, Toph. Talking about the two of you butting heads and still finding the time to get to know one another, and be vulnerable with each other… I wish I could have seen that."

"And then, you think that this is all just some crazy nonsense going on in your head, so you up and leave once you, and let's not forget this part, save their world from war, and so you take off on your own. I didn't miss how miserable you sounded when you were describing being alone for so many years, I know that it cut you deeper than you even articulated to me just now."

He was smiling even broader now and Sasuke felt his brow furrow just slightly as he tried to see if that wasn't a shimmer of tears in Naruto's eyes.

"And then you came back to them. And you kind of dodged around this part, but I didn't miss the way you were talking about Ursa. And you wouldn't have gone and done such a risky technique unless you really liked her."

Inclining his head slightly, he raised an eyebrow Sasuke's way.

"You gonna tell me I'm reading this wrong?"

It was so stupid then, Sasuke thought, that even though they were both grown men now, he felt his cheeks flushing at the mocking tone from Naruto as though they were back to being children.

"No," he muttered. "You've interpreted that quite well, it sounds like."

Naruto leaned back and let out a whistle.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, now I know why you didn't spend a second of your time looking at the girls back in school! They weren't old enough for you, were they?"

"Shut up," Sasuke grunted and reached over to give Naruto a firm, but playful slug on the shoulder which only seemed to further arouse his old teammate's mood.

"She's Azula and Zuko's mom, right? Yeesh, that makes her old enough to have been the age of our parents! Now I'm kicking myself and wondering if you weren't eyeballing our lady teachers when you were younger, instead of the girls in our class…"

It was impossible to miss that Naruto was sounding just a touch like his former sensei, and Sasuke felt another stab of regret over knowing that Naruto had lost such a father figure back when they were younger. Though he had spent hardly any time observing such a relationship, he had heard well enough just how attached Naruto and Jiraiya were to one another.

Wish I could have gotten a proper chance to see them together… maybe he really would have looked like a real father to him.

The thought caused Sasuke's mind to travel involuntarily back to Ursa and he felt a brief surge of confusion and uncertainty.

Is… is that maybe…

He shook the thought off quickly. Thinking about that right now wouldn't do him any good, especially not when there were still some very important things that he wanted to tell Naruto.

"So, that's your story then," Naruto was saying, his amusement regarding Sasuke's relationship to an older woman fading slightly. He leaned back against the tree, a smile still on his face, but his eyes clouding with thought. "I never would have guessed a single piece of that… you've been gone for almost twelve years, and I know everyone had their theories, just as I had mine."

"Oh?" Sasuke asked. "Kakashi mentioned that the Raikage still hasn't given up on trying to track me down."

Naruto gave him an appraising look.

"He's not the only one. Because you're technically still a wanted criminal with a price on your head, there's still plenty of ninjas that go out every year it seems like, trying to nail down a new lead. Plenty of people still don't believe that Suigetsu, Karin, or Jugo were telling the truth when they came and turned themselves in. Thought that your new team was hiding something and the Kage were covering the true story. But behind the scenes, that would have been pretty obvious that wasn't the case. The Raikage has been quietly trying to put out as many feelers as he can to try and find you, even though Killer Bee tries to talk him down every week it feels like. He was formally told to cease operations and resources in trying to track you down, but that hasn't really stopped him. And that said, Gaara has told me in private that he's spent a good deal of time looking over possible leads and whereabouts as to where you might be, and I think the Mizukage has been trying covertly to find you even more secretively than the Raikage has, if not to the same extreme."

"Really?" Sasuke asked, surprised that the majority of the Kage seemed to still have an interest in learning what had happened to him after so many years. Naruto flicked him a mischievous look.

"Come on now, don't go getting all misty-eyed over her," he said with a grin. "I'm going to think you have an addiction to these older women."

Sasuke reddened again and changed the subject as quickly as he could.

"What was everyone thinking?" he asked. "In terms of where I might be?"

Naruto blew out a sigh and leaned back against the trunk of the tree again.

"Man, all kinds of stuff. There was talk that you were biding your time in a hole in the ground somewhere, plotting the perfect moment to attack the village. After Danzo died, a bunch of old records and documents were uncovered, though they didn't make the light of day until years later. People all of the sudden knew what it was that had driven you to kill Danzo in the first place, what with your brother and the Uchiha clan."

He seemed to tense, and a shadow passed over his face as Sasuke stared at him in what he supposed was something like shock.

Everyone knows? About Itachi? About what happened to my clan?

"Those were dark days, Sasuke. You would think that something coming to light like that would be enough to convince people to give you some kind of leeway, or maybe the Kage would issue some sort of peace declaration towards you. Knowing what you had probably gone through after learning all that about your brother and family, it didn't surprise anyone that you would go after Danzo and the Hidden Leaf higher ups who conspired to make that all happen. But… I don't know, that just seemed to make things worse. Everyone was on edge, scared, waiting for you to just fall out of the sky and annihilate the village, just like Nagato did. But this was worse, because unlike back when that happened, everyone was certain this was going to happen. It's different I guess when one day you wake up and then your entire home and everyone you know is blown away completely by surprise, as opposed to feeling this certainty that something like that was coming, and there was no way to know when."

"People were looking over their shoulder every time they left their homes. The Kage all grouped in Konoha for a period of time, expecting you to arrive and wanting all to be there to stop you when you did. Everyone was picturing you, completely consumed by hate to the point that it might have outright driven you mad, coming storming into Konoha and bringing down the wrath of the last Uchiha on everyone."

Thinking about it in such a way gave Sasuke pause. Not once had he ever considered such a thing, and Kakashi hadn't made it sound quite so damning when they had spoken briefly on it before, though it made sense that his former sensei would keep such details to himself.

He knew that doing so would just distract me. And I needed to be focused for everything we went through back in the bending world.

"And what about you?" he finally asked. "Were you ready for that to happen to?"

And to his surprise, Naruto's dark expression vanished, replaced once again by that radiant smile.

"Nah. I never thought you'd go and do something like that."

Sasuke stared at him in a moment of surprise at how nonchalant he seemed about answering in such a way.

"What did you think I'd done then?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Honestly?" Naruto replied. "I figured you just… up and left this all behind. You had come to some realization that another war wasn't the answer, but you were already too deep in with what you had already done… you could never have just come back and tried to live a normal life at that point. So, you hopped on a boat or walked off into the mountains or something and just… didn't come back."

He clasped his hands and looked down at them, his eyes glazing over as he thought back.

"Part of me honestly just wanted to believe you were on an island somewhere… some secluded, perfect little paradise, with a wife, maybe a couple kids. It was the best way to think about you, to think that you were happy, that everything had somehow worked out for you. You had gotten far enough away from all this and you were able to just be at peace. That was what I wanted for you anyway, but I found that I even found myself believing it more than thinking you were in some underground lair, plotting and thinking up some sort of vengeful plot to unleash on all of us. I guess things died down here after a while, but no one has really given up the possibility that you would return either. People thought you were planning an attack, I thought you were off somewhere in peace… but it turns out neither of those theories were anywhere close to right."

Naruto looked over with genuine gratitude in his eyes then.

"Sasuke… thank you for telling me all that. I know that… that probably wasn't all the easiest to tell someone, especially someone that you haven't seen in forever."

To Sasuke, the time that it had been since he had last seen Naruto seemed negligible at best; the issues he had encountered with relaying the story of the last decade or so had been complicated more so by the painful details of much of what he had experienced, not the fact that he was telling it all to Naruto. Rather, expositing it all had been rather easy compared to what he had been expecting.

"But there's more, isn't there?" Naruto said then, the shadow of the smile he had been wearing before crossing his face. "There were a couple times where it felt like… well, that you were holding something back."

He cocked his head just slightly, his expression ripe with understanding.

"But you've told me enough, you know. I… I won't sit here and say that I don't want to know everything, but I'm sure that what you've said was tough enough. If you want to keep a last couple details to yourself, I'll get that."

It was true. Sasuke had kept something to himself throughout the telling of his story, a pair of things actually. They had remained unsaid not because he didn't wish to tell Naruto them, but rather because he felt that they both deserved their own time rather than being added as chapters to a narrative of near twelve years that he had done all he could to compress into a matter of an hour or two.

"Yeah… there's more," he said quietly. "I wanted to wait until the end of all that to tell you, I guess because… well, they're probably the two most important things that happened to me, at least as a person anyway."

Naruto remained silent, no doubt waiting on edge to hear what it was Sasuke was about to tell him. Sasuke gave himself a moment of quiet contemplation, trying to figure how best to bring up either of these two things, before deciding that it would just be better to come out and say them.

"So… Azula," he started, and Naruto raised his eyebrows almost nervously.

"Oh boy, the crazy princess… something to do with that part about using genjutsu to try and fix whatever the hell she had going on in that messed up mind of hers?"

He gave a short, equally nervous laugh.

"I'll be honest, when you first mentioned her and talked about her, I was a little worried… you talked about how she was just as beautiful as she was obsessive, sounds like she made the other girls pining after you when we were kids look as tame as can be. I thought maybe the story was gonna end with the two of you having somehow wound up together, cranking out some wild, powerful kids; even if you did manage to force her mentality into a healthier state, I can't imagine that…"

Naruto trailed off as he saw Sasuke looking at him and he closed his mouth, his smile drooping away.

"Oh," he said quietly.

Sasuke didn't suppose there was any point holding back then.

"Before I left the first time," he began. "Back when the Fire Lord had been defeated and the Fire Nation had surrendered… it was just a matter of days between then and when I decided it would be best to leave. And you know how I told you how Azula seemed like she got more and more obsessed with me as the days went by?"

Naruto nodded, looking like a kid on the edge of a campfire being told a scary story.

"I guess it peaked during that time. There was a gala to celebrate the end of the war, me and the others were invited of course, since we were so involved on that last day of battle. I went, mostly because Aang made me swear I would, since he was the only one I had told I was leaving. While I was in attendance, Azula clung to my side pretty constantly. I started to drink, probably too much, but I wasn't aware that she had snuck a drug into what I was drinking. Made me go funny in the head, even more then when a person gets drunk; I wasn't acting all crazy or out of control or anything, but… well, I don't really remember it, as you might guess, because of that. But… years later, when I came back, in that one moment after I stopped Toph from being executed…"

Even though he was far too deep to consider backing out, he still found himself being forced to give pause to the memory, and what accompanied it. Sasuke couldn't meet Naruto's eyes as he spoke next, his voice low and somber.

"I met my daughter."

It was a credit to his self-control that Naruto didn't let out some exclamation or make some sudden movement, but Sasuke could still feel him tense beside him.

"She had just turned eleven, and even though I tried not to believe such a thing, I knew that it was true. I looked into Azula's memories a brief time after that and found confirmation."

Even though things had become better between him and Azula, despite the fact that Sasuke knew things would never be able to be healthy between them because of what she had done, he still found himself struggling more so to relive to this particular memory.

"I found that, after I had enough of the drug and alcohol in my system, she pulled me upstairs while everyone else was too busy with the party to notice we were gone. She took me into one of the guest rooms and… well, I suppose you can probably guess what happened."

He swallowed down a lump that had rather obtrusively formed in his throat.

"I didn't remember a thing that next day. Azula had figured that I was going to leave and she hated so badly that she wouldn't be able to spend her life with me that she did the one thing to ensure that I would be with her to forever. She didn't tell a soul what she had done, nor me. I left the next day, not a clue in my head that she was carrying my child in her. No one knew when she got pregnant and had the kid, no one knew who the father was… I suppose some of them might have guessed it was mine, but… no one knew for sure… not until I came back. And laid eyes on her."

Sasuke had hoped that getting this out would become easier the longer that he told the story, but he found his insides throbbing and the burning behind his eyes that told him tears were trying to break free. He clenched his fists at his side, trying not to let the emotion that the memories brought penetrate his mind, just trying to focus on the facts.

"My daughter. My kid… and I hadn't even known she existed."

It wasn't working.

"I had a daughter. And I had missed eleven years of her life."

That was as much as he could manage and he resorted to trying to breathe slowly while he sat against the tree. Naruto maintained a silence at his side for a long while, longer than Sasuke would ever have expected of him until he finally spoke, his voice as gentle as Sasuke could remember hearing it.

"She did that to you, this Azula… and you still did that to try and help her?"

Sasuke pulled a hand back and ran fingers through his black hair, remembering how he had kept trying to stonewall Azula, denying her advances and verbal luring, thinking that somehow that would be enough to make things better. Stalling her just as he had when they were teenagers, thinking that maybe the fact that she was an adult now was enough to force maturity on her. And how his inaction and inability to deal with Azula before then had nearly resulted in Ty Lee's death.

"She… she was beyond brainwashed when I met her," Sasuke said. "I told you about Ursa and how she had left to protect Zuko… but Ozai, he did things to Azula. Raising her like he did, teaching her that power and control were the only things that mattered from the age that she could walk. And… I hate the idea of blaming Ursa for anything, but not having her mother in her life, I know that only made things worse for Azula. She was never taught how to deal with things like emotions and it made her a worse person for it, but…"

He growled and put a hand to his forehead.

"I don't know, I don't know how much of this has to do with who she is specifically and how much has to do with how she was raised. I'd like to blame everything on her father, but I suppose some of it has to come down to her too."

His eyes turned down and he felt a rather joyless smile cross his face.

"In the end though, no matter what she had done to me, no matter what she had done to our child, no matter what she had done to anyone else, she was the mother of my child. Even when these people, who had known her for years and years, and in truth I had only known her for a matter of weeks, I couldn't give up on her. I had to know that there was nothing I could save before I was able to take that step. And so I went into her head and I took her and I through a journey of her memories, and I showed her who she was from an outside perspective, forced her to look at that side of herself."

There was a pause before Naruto uttered a small question.

"And you found something worth saving?"

Sasuke gave a firm nod.

"Yeah, I know I did. I don't know if there's enough she could ever do to repay those that she's wronged, and I know that she came out of what I put her through a different person. I don't know who that person will grow into, or how it will change her; I suppose part of me feared that she might go back down that road, but as long as she has her mother back in her life and sees her daughter, our daughter as something more than a victory she achieved over me, then maybe she can start to grow into someone more human than the person she was."

Though it felt like something that Sasuke couldn't quite put into thought just how he felt about it, all he found that he needed to do was imagine Soza alone with Azula. The thought didn't fill him with the slightest bit of worry, and he knew that alone was enough to know that Azula wasn't who she had been when she had taken him over a decade prior.

"Yeah, I guess part of me thought that she was attractive, especially when we were younger. She is beautiful, there's no denying that, and she had a power and will behind her that I guess I gravitated towards. After I saved her, Mai, and Ty Lee from Ozai, and she challenged me to that duel, I learned pretty quickly what it was that she was willing to do to ensure victory. That was something that I suppose I found alluring and that maybe blinded to me to the possibility of her doing what she did to me before I left. No part of me wanted to deal with her then, just as I didn't want to deal with her when I came back and saw her as a grown woman. All I wanted both times was to end the two conflicts that I found myself right in the damn middle of, and handling Azula… I didn't think I was able to. So when I finally took her out to that cabin and forced her to look at herself, I was also forcing myself to take responsibility. Maybe if I had just been willing to do that before, she wouldn't have hurt so many people the way she did."

He picked at the dirt beneath him, still distantly in awe of the fact that he was even in Konoha again, as the words kept spilling from him. It was a confession that he hadn't even known that he needed to give, and he wondered that if not for it being Naruto he was speaking to if he might have ever let the words come out.

"But… I guess I don't know if I would change things if I could. If I could go back and try and fix her back then, back when we were kids… I don't know if I would stop her from doing what she did to me."

His fingers curled around the dirt, and he squeezed a fistful of it in his hand.

"Because as much as she hurt people, as much as she hurt me, and despite all the chaos it caused… I love my daughter. And if fixing Azula now is how things had to be for me to both meet my child and to help her mother, then I have to accept that."

Trailing off, Sasuke let himself sit in those words, considering what they really meant to him. There wasn't a single one that wasn't truthful, but he was more so just surprised that he had never really looked inward to determine how he felt about his situation with Azula.

I didn't really have a lot of time for stuff like that… and if I had, I don't know I would have had the will to do something like that.

He realized that Naruto still hadn't said anything since he had finished talking and he looked over.

"Wow, nothing? I would have thought that you of all people would have—"

His words were forced to an abrupt halt as he saw an expression of such relief and happiness on Naruto's face that he was stunned into silence. There was emotion shimmering in those eyes as well and after a moment, Naruto looked away and gave a sniff, smiling towards the sky.

"You've grown, Sasuke."

It was quiet between them for a long time, perhaps the longest stretch yet, before something occurred to Sasuke to ask.

"You have any kids?"

Naruto gave a nod, his smile widening in pride.

"Yeah. A little girl, Himawari."

Sasuke felt a smile of his own then as he pried further.

"Hinata?"

This prompted a small chuckle from his old teammate.

"How'd you guess that?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Just a hunch. The way that she looked at you when we were kids, I don't know. Just figured that she would be the one to finally tame your wild ass."

"Yeah, well… you were right," Naruto said quietly, his smile reflecting a very deep affection and Sasuke knew his mind was only on Hinata and his daughter. "Not long after the war ended… me and her found out pretty quickly how much we were meant for one another. And then some years after that, we conceived. Himawari… well, you got a daughter too, so you have to know just how much a kid changes your world."

Sasuke turned his gaze upwards as well towards the sky, finding Soza's smile in his mind's eye.

Do I ever.

"She and her mother make me happier than I ever knew I could be. Even during those darkest days when fear of you returning to the village was at its peak… I could never have reached a low point like everyone else seemed to. I would just look at them and feel nothing but pure joy. And I guess part of me also knew that even if you did come back, even if you were ready for war and needed a revenge more than anything against the people who you felt deserved it… I knew you never would hurt my family."

He reached out and gave Sasuke's shoulder a slug.

"Though you'd probably meet me pretty hard if I got in your way. And you know that I would have to stop you."

Sasuke smirked and nodded.

"Just like old times. But I'd have expected nothing less from you. Anything to talk me out of resorting to violence on others, you'd make me use that violence on you."

He turned his gaze back down to the dirt, his regret and shame mixing rather darkly in his gut just then. Naruto didn't seem to notice what he was implying, either that or he just preferred to look past it.

"Tell me about your daughter," he said, sounding eager then. "You probably can imagine what a kid between me and Hinata would turn out like, but you… hell, even to me you were a mystery most of the time, and with this Azula too, what's your kid like?"

It was just as amusing to Sasuke as it was surprising when he found then just how easy it was to talk about his daughter.

"Her name's Soza, I think in honor of Azula's great-grandfather. Just turned eleven a couple weeks ago, but you wouldn't guess that. She's more mature than anyone her age I've ever seen, mostly because I think she's had to be that way, especially when I came into her life. I guess before I did… well, she was kind of like Azula as a kid, I guess. If you take the Azula I was telling you about and imagine her as a mom, well… she didn't exactly go out of her way to teach her daughter things like responsibility, and moderation, and right from wrong, and empathy, and how to deal with emotions, bunch of stuff like that. But fortunately, Soza's best friend wound up being Toph."

"That blind girl?"

"Yeah. And if there's anyone to thank for Soza not turning out to be as much of a sociopath as her mother was at her age, it's her. So, when I met her, Soza was a balance of her mother and Toph: she could be unfeeling, ignorant towards the pain of others, unable to deal healthily with her emotions, but also understanding, determined, and protective. And in the time that I knew her, she grew more than I could expect a person to in their entire lifetime. She was strong, Naruto, she was so strong… I don't know how a kid could be expected to go through what she did through those weeks and come out of it without being a wreck… but she made it. She struggled just as we all did, but… I know I don't have much room to be proud of a child that I only met a month or so ago, but—"

"You should be proud," Naruto said fiercely. "I don't need you to tell me that you were there for her through those weeks, because I know that you were. And I'm sure you helped teach her, and helped her grow, and taught her everything you could think to. It probably was just as hard for you to accept a daughter in your life, just as it was for her to realize that she had a father who was a part of hers."

Sasue smiled softly at his friend's encouragement.

"I suppose… when I went to search for Koloss, I brought her with me. I was worried that not having her by my side would be dangerous for her; at the time, she was being hunted just as I was by the spirits. When it was just the two of us together, I learned a lot about myself and I learned a lot about her. I realized just how much she wanted me to be proud of her. Even though it had been explained to her that the only reason I hadn't been in her life is because…"

The words caught in this throat briefly, still as painful as ever to utter.

"… because I didn't know that she existed, she seemed almost like she wanted to prove to me that she was worth me being around. Like… like…"

"Like being your daughter wasn't more than enough of a reason," Naruto said gently and Sasuke could hear the emotion in his voice. Knowing that his friend was surely thinking of his own daughter, Sasuke had no doubt that Naruto knew exactly how much such a thing would hurt him.

"She should have hated me. How could a child forgive their father for being gone her entire life? There should have been nothing but resentment in her heart for me, but from the moment she met me to that time out in the cold and dark that we spent together, she just wanted to be near me. To know me, to make me proud. That was it."

He raised his eyebrows and gave a shake, this one being of almost complete disbelief. Even thinking to it now, it made so little sense to him.

"But yes, she wanted to learn techniques, things that I could do. Her blood being both that of mine and Azula's meant that she could harness chakra, and she could do it pretty damn well."

"You tried training her?" Naruto asked, almost in bewilderment.

"Well, I don't know I'd call it training. I was partly trying to appease her, but I also wanted to know what exactly she was capable of. When we were out in that glacial desert, I'd have her try running up some ice walls during the evenings before winding down for bed."

Naruto's face split in a smile.

"Just like those trees that Kakashi had us train with?"

"Exactly," Sasuke said, smiling back. "You remember how competitive we got with each other trying to manage that? Picture double that and you might have some idea just how badly Soza wanted to even just make it up a couple steps."

Slowly, Naruto's smile became something of a frown.

"We had been given years of rudimentary chakra training prior to trying to climb those trees though. She had just learned that she could harness chakra, and you were trying to get her to focus it as precisely into her feet as is necessary to pull something like that off?"

Turning his gaze slowly down, Sasuke looked at small tuft of grass that protruded from the earth. In a moment, it burst into a tiny black inferno, scorching away into nothing as the pitch-dark fire sizzled out. Naruto looked at Sasuke somewhat reproachfully.

"What'd you do that for?"

"Do you remember that fire?" Sasuke asked him, the seriousness in his voice being as much of an indicator as was necessary for Naruto to know that there was a purpose behind him doing such a thing.

"Yeah, that's your Amaterasu," Naruto said carefully. "You got it from your brother, you use it with your eyes."

"That's right," Sasuke said gravely. "When I showed up just in time to save Toph from being executed… the only reason I had likely made it in time is because Soza stopped the execution herself, just for a moment."

Thinking about the fact that his daughter had been forced into a situation as stressful and traumatizing as to awaken her eyes was enough for Sasuke to feel another surge of anger towards Azula.

"She has Sharingan, the same as I do. I don't think they work the same way… she was able to summon Amaterasu that night herself. If there was any indication that she would be able to harness chakra in any sort of consistent or stable way, that was it."

"Wow," Naruto muttered, leaning his head back against the tree and blowing out an impressed sigh. "Those are some powerful genes you're throwing down."

"I don't honestly know how much of that is true versus the fact that she's just an extremely… fierce and determined girl. I know that's where a lot of her power comes from."

Another memory brushed his mind, and he felt the ghost of proud smile slip onto his face.

"In the end, right in my last seconds, one of the last things I remember was her protecting me. Just before mine and Kakashi's plan went to work, Madara had all of us at his mercy. Kakashi was seconds away, but Madara had decided that I was the only one dangerous enough to him to need to be killed. He had everyone held down with a jutsu and I couldn't have stopped him. I was going to try, but I knew it wouldn't last, but as he drew up his Susanoo to kill me…"

He remembered the sight of it and for a moment he was stunned back into silence by the pure power that he knew his daughter wielded.

"She summoned her own. It was enough to break her free of Madara's jutsu and she attacked him with it, fire that was born of both her bending and the chakra she had inherited from me."

Sasuke shook his head.

"You should have seen it. I couldn't have imagined anything that would have caught Madara so off guard and right then and there, I really believed that she was somehow going to be able to overwhelm him, her Susanoo burned his away completely. I don't know how she did it… it doesn't make sense that she would be able to do something like that, summon a Susanoo without her Mangekyo Sharingan being awoken… or maybe they had been. Or maybe her being blood of mine and Azula's allows her to twist those rules in ways I don't understand."

He gave his hand a dismissive wave. It didn't matter how she had done it, what mattered is that in that moment of fear and emotion, she had fought with everything she could to protect him, no thought to her own safety.

"She gave everything she had to try and keep me safe. Her father whom she had met just weeks ago, she was willing to risk Madara killing her to protect me."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, knowing that his eyes were no doubt swimming with emotion.

"And you know what she did when he finally did strike her? Knocking out her Susanoo and taking her down?"

Naruto shook his head and Sasuke took a quivering, calming breath as he looked back down.

"She started trying to crawl to me. She made it far enough to fall into my arms and then… she apologized."

He found himself being more than alright with letting the tears come then, somehow they didn't feel shameful in front of Naruto.

"She stood up for her world, for all of us. For me, her worthless dad who couldn't keep her safe. And when she was knocked down like that, down to her weakest point, all she could think to do was tell me that she was sorry."

Chuckling weakly, he wiped his eyes.

"I couldn't do anything but hold her then. I didn't know how I could beat Madara, but all that mattered to me just then was trying to figure out some way that I could make her feel better. Comfort her somehow."

The tears splashed down and stained the dirt ahead of his lap.

"And then, to save her, I had to break her."

His body started to shake with a rippling sort of intensity and he felt the control he had been trying hard to keep starting to be relinquished, carried away by his guilt. He looked over at Naruto, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

"I had to break my daughter to protect her. And of everything I've done, I've never hated myself more for anything in my life."

Through the blur of tears, he saw only the faintest movement before Sasuke felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him over against Naruto's shoulder. There never would have been a time where Sasuke would have expected that he would ever lean against his friend's shoulder. Too much had passed between them in the past where Sasuke had done so much to try and distance himself from Naruto, from everything that had connected them in the first place.

None of that matters anymore. What I did as a kid… he never gave up on me. Even now, all those years of doubt, and he never once gave up on me.

Their shoulders against one another, Sasuke allowed himself a moment to breathe in and out, letting the comfort of his old friend bring him back into a state of calm.

"How can you forgive me?" he heard himself ask, his words almost sounding muffled to him. "After what I did, I come back after over a decade, and you just… can forgive me like this… how?"

Naruto didn't reply for a time and Sasuke could practically hear the smile in his voice when he did.

"Maybe for the same reason Soza forgave you for all those years you weren't in her life."

It was as simple an explanation as he could give and Sasuke could feel a great deal unsaid in them, but the feeling there couldn't be missed. He found himself wanting Naruto to say more, but he knew that wasn't necessary. What had happened between them was past words then, and Sasuke felt there was no right he possessed to try change that.

For a time, that was all he needed, and it seemed to be enough for Naruto as well. Sasuke felt his mind trailing back to the moment he had shared with Aang after being struck down from the sky by Kyoshi, how they had shared a similarly intimate moment that somehow hadn't felt uncomfortable to him. The memory then brought him back to a beach many years before then, when he had felt himself so certain that he had heard Naruto's voice come from the Avatar behind him.

They might not be the same person in terms of their personality… but I know now why they always felt so similar to me.

In his head, he saw them both smiling at him side by side, nothing but confidence written on their faces.

They always believed in me. No matter what.

Finally, he felt composed enough to gently pull away, clearing his throat as he did. As the both of them reached a point where they could lean back against the tree, the moment past, Naruto asked another question, his tone graciously mellow.

"That's why you're not staying, then?"

There wasn't any sort of accusation in his tone, or the sense that made it seem like he was trying to guilt Sasuke into saying otherwise. His voice was somewhat melancholy and Sasuke imagined that was because Naruto knew full well the basis for his own question.

"That's part of it," he said quietly, and Naruto looked at him closely.

"Did you at least think about it?" he asked, his voice somewhat teasing then. Sasuke smirked before replying.

"Of course I did," he murmured. "At first, it seemed like there wasn't anything else I could choose to do. I couldn't leave things here the way that I had, not when I had a chance to go back and remedy them. And in the end, I had to wonder if my being in their world wouldn't just bring more danger to the people I care about. After me being there as I did caused so much suffering and strife, going back to them seemed almost selfish. It would be the responsible thing not to go back."

He let out a small laugh.

"That's what I thought at first, anyway."

Sasuke looked down at his open hand which lay in his lap, and he saw Soza's hand reach over and take it.

"The truth is, I could never have chosen anything other than being at my daughter's side. No matter what the outcome would be for me staying, whether Madara was the greatest threat I would ever face there or if something else would come along to threaten her and everyone else because of me or otherwise, I have to be there for her. After the time I spent not being in her life, I could live a hundred lifetimes here in my own world, doing everything I could for the betterment of everyone I've wronged, doing as much good as I was possible able, and I would still never feel anywhere as close to as fulfilled as I do just holding Soza in my arms. So, maybe part of this is me being selfish. Sure, I can live with that. But I also know that I have to be there for her, through everything."

Naruto took in his words with several slow, pondering nods.

"I can understand that," he said, once Sasuke had finished. "Part of this is the others though too, isn't it? Especially Ursa?"

Sasuke swallowed and nodded shortly in response.

"I was… getting to that," he grunted which caused Naruto to cock his head; feeling a heat behind his ears, Sasuke knew that prolonging this too would cause nothing but pain for him and he knew that it would at least be something that was easier to come out and say than admitting the existence of his eleven-year-old daughter.

"Ursa's pregnant," he said simply and with a small shrug.

Naruto's reaction was near comical. His mouth, which had already been slightly agape already, fell wide open as he gawked back at Sasuke.

"You're kidding me," he said in a flat, emotionless tone and Sasuke gave his shoulders a small shrug.

"Not at all."

Shifting where he sat, Naruto stared at him, not blinking or even seeming to breathe for a time.

"You… you went and got her pregnant…"

He threw his head back rather suddenly and gave a sharp bark of a laugh.

"You are such a lightning rod for chaos, aren't you?" he said through his guffawing and Sasuke couldn't help but grin at how amusedly shocked Naruto was. "You go and run into this girl who is so wildly obsessed with you that she drugs you in order to force you to conceive a child for her, then you run off and get yourself on your own for that many years, and yet the first woman you run into that you really find yourself in love with, you've got her knocked up just that quick."

Even when put so simply, Sasuke couldn't help but marvel at the spontaneity of it himself. The physical passion he had shared with Ursa hadn't been anything he had expected, nor was it something that he ever put that much thought into either. Sharing a bed with her had been something that had just felt so pure and simple, he hadn't even thought about what it could result in until that night when Ursa spoke those words to him, telling him of her state.

"It was… fairly mutual," he decided to say which only prompted another burst of laughter from Naruto.

"I should hope so!" he chuckled. "It's not as though you hadn't already…"

Slowly, his expression went from amused to one of deep thought, his eyebrows knitting and his eyes glazing over as he seemed to fall deep into pondering over something.

"Wait," he said after a few moments. "Let me say this out loud, just so I know I have this right. You meet this girl who's totally obsessed with you, to the point of being willing to go as far as raping you without you knowing. You meet her again over a decade later to find that girl grown into a woman who's given birth to a child, your child. And in that time that you were away, you met this woman's mother, without knowing of any relationship between them, and fell in love with this woman's mother. And you've gone and gotten… hang on… the mother of the mother of your daughter… pregnant."

He looked up at Sasuke, looking like he was hardly able to believe what he had even just said.

"Do I have that straight?"

Sasuke sighed and gave another shrug, the relative absurdity of the chaos that had come of his relationship to Azula and Ursa reflecting in his mind to the point of drawing a disbelieving smirk of his own.

"Yeah, I think you've nailed it."

Naruto's head bowed forward, and he gave it a small shake.

"Man… only you, huh."

"Trust me, it wasn't exactly something that I planned," Sasuke muttered, thinking back to just how much thought he had been forced to give to the very thing they were speaking about now. "But it is what it is. I've spent some time thinking about the whole matter, but I've found that doesn't do me any good. I can't waste time wishing I had handled Azula differently, because if I do, I have to consider the possibility of not having Soza, and I won't go down that road. And if I consider pursuing my relationship with Ursa differently, I have to think that it's entirely possible that I wouldn't have had her in my life the way that she was. She was there for me in a way that I could never truly be grateful enough for. And yeah, maybe finding out she was pregnant with my child was a shock, but there's not a part of me that regrets it being with her."

Every word was tinged with complete and utter truth, and Sasuke knew that he meant it all with every fiber of his being.

"I would have liked for you to have met her," he finished quietly, and Naruto nodded gently beside him.

"I would have too."

The quiet returned, calming and peaceful in its own way. Sasuke breathed in the air of his home village slowly, taking in the nostalgia that it brought him. He had imagined that it would have been only dark memories that plagued him upon his return, and it was beyond a comfort to find his mind only picking through the good memories that he held of his childhood. There were far more than he had remembered.

"So… this is it, then?" Naruto asked after a time. "Just stopping by for a proper goodbye?"

It was said in gentle jest, but Sasuke found that was exactly a proper summation of it.

"Yeah," he replied. "I asked Hagoromo to let me come back to the Hidden Leaf just a last time before returning to the other world, after which he'll seal off the connection between them… no, 'destroy' was actually the word he used, he'll destroy the connection. He witnessed the danger that could come to either of our worlds if it was allowed, and I know for a fact that he's right in doing it. And while part of me knows that leaving this all behind, leaving it forever this way, will hurt me at least a bit, I know that I don't have a choice."

Naruto didn't seem the least bit put off by Sasuke's words, looking rather as though he had been expecting them.

"And you said goodbye to Kakashi?"

Sasuke thought back to the silent look they had exchanged and remembered the emotion they had given to one another through nothing more than their eyes.

"Yeah, I did. You and him, I figured it was only right."

As soon as he said it, he knew that Naruto was going to pick up on the unsaid words that he had left out.

"And… what about Sakura?"

Sasuke couldn't help but closing his eyes and smiling at the bluntness of the question.

Leave it to Naruto to not let that one even so much as sit. Just getting right to the point.

"You haven't mentioned her," he chose to say by way of deflection. "How… has she been?"

"Well…" Naruto started, the look in his eyes indicating that he was thinking back a long way to a time long before the moment he was sharing with Sasuke. "The last thing you and her did was try and kill each other, I suppose, so… I can start from there."

He took a deep breath and exhaled it into a sigh before continuing.

"We didn't have a ton of time to worry about you after our last meeting," he said, and Sasuke felt ice in his veins again, remembering how the last time that he, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi had met, it had been when he had felt genuine killing intent towards them. "After that, we found out pretty quickly about the Edo Tensei, and stopping Kabuto became our number one priority, but I could tell that she still wanted to spend her time finding you. She never gave up either, you know. I don't think she would have been able to kill you back then, even when that was the reason why she said she tracked you down."

Though Naruto's words held plenty of reassurance, Sasuke didn't need them. Because even after all those years, he had never forgotten the look in Sakura's eyes that day and he knew that she never would have been able to deal him that fatal blow.

"When that war ended, and things started to slowly smooth out, she was banging on Tsunade's door every day, trying to get permission to go off looking for you. This was before the case against you was formally banned from being pursued, for being seen as a waste of personnel and resources, and so with the Raikage having teams on the hunt already, I could tell it was getting Sakura pretty badly wound up. Kakashi and I both appealed to Tsunade as well, and then Sai and Ino started to ask about it, and then Rock Lee and… well, long story short, eventually, she gave in. For the longest time, Sakura would go out on monthly reconnaissance missions that were ordered by Tsunade, taking Sai and Ino and Rock Lee with her, if you can imagine such a thing."

Imagining those four personalities all coming together in tandem was enough to make Sasuke almost shiver at the thought.

"They never found so much as a trace of you, of course, and when Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu turned themselves in, that didn't help matters. Sakura actually got arrested for attacking Karin, not believing that she was telling the truth that she didn't know what had happened to you. But the months started to become years, and when the Kage Summit was held that ruled that searching for you was no longer beneficial, I think even Sakura was starting to lose hope that you might be found. She gave up the rights to hunt for you pretty easily after that, Rock Lee helped her through a lot of it."

The way that Naruto said those last few words was enough to make Sasuke look to him quickly, but he kept his mouth shut from asking anything just yet.

"But yeah, that's pretty much what happened with her and looking for you afterwards. I was worried for her for a long time, and… I guess I didn't handle my feelings for her too well either. Before the war was over, I still really liked her, you know. I didn't fall in love with Hinata until afterwards, but fortunately, Sai of all people was there to keep me in check from trying to make any stupid advances on her while she was clearly still hurting over you. He catches quick onto things like that, probably why he was the one who was finally able to tame Ino in the long run."

He looked to Sasuke then, an earnest look in his eyes, but Sasuke spoke before Naruto could, his question deliberate and full of intent.

"Is she happy?"

There was more to the question than that, but he trusted that Naruto would be able to discern the meaning behind it. Naruto looked back at him for a long stretch, clearly picking up on what Sasuke was leaving unsaid before he finally gave a small smile.

"Yeah. I know it wouldn't seem like it, based on what I just said, but… yeah, she's happy. It did take years, I won't deny that, but she made it through. We were all here for her as best as we could be, and things… they got better for her. Somehow, even without you."

Sasuke could hear the touch of distant disbelief in Naruto's voice and he knew that it was coming from his yet to fade surprise that Sakura had been able to move on from Sasuke, whom it had seemed she was irreparably smitten with. And Sasuke couldn't think of a time he had known her when that hadn't been entirely the case, where he could look at her and she wouldn't be looking at him with those fawning eyes. To think of her happy now, having left him in the past…

He shook his head.

"No."

Naruto looked at him, his eyes clearly seeking clarification.

"If what you're saying is true…" Sasuke slowly said. "Then I have no right to show myself to her as I have you. Being in her life was torture enough; the way I treated her, the way I dismissed her… my only consolation was that shoving her to the side didn't affect her the way it affected Azula."

Sasuke shook his head and looked at Naruto assuredly.

"If she's happy, then I won't ruin that by letting her see me again. She shouldn't have to be put in a place where she has her place in this world compromised by seeing me again. Maybe it wouldn't do anything to her, but I'm not going to take a chance like that. Hearing about me is one thing, but seeing me… I'm not going to risk that. Whatever the consequence might be."

He waited for Naruto to tell him off for making such a decision, to start telling him how she might feel once she found out that he had returned to Konoha and not gone to see her. But for a time, his old teammate looked at him, a discerning and searching look in his eyes. Sasuke tried to guess as to whether or not Naruto was judging his choice just then.

Then, Naruto gave a small sigh.

"That's up to you, I suppose. I don't know if… actually, I don't know. I don't know if that's the right thing to do or not."

With some effort, he put a smile back on his face.

"I'll just have to trust you on that, won't I?"

Sasuke felt a sudden feeling that he couldn't quite identify before he realized that he was so unfamiliar with not being questioned. For all the trust that was between him and the others back in the bending world, he knew that there had so rarely been a time where he hadn't dealt with open conflict over his decisions. He could remember explosive outbursts from Katara, pleading gazes from Aang and searing glares from Mai. He knew how badly they had always wanted to be involved in his decision making and what he chose to do, and there always seemed to be some snag that prevented Sasuke from just making his decision and sticking to them. It had been the majority of the reason he had tried to move on Ba Sing Se alone, although even then, his inability to keep from seeing Toph first had resulted in him being unable to tell her that she couldn't accompany him.

How strange it feels to just make a call like that… and it's alright.

He turned his head in the direction of the stadium where he knew the day's festivities and competitions were surely nearing a close. He pictured Sakura's face and imagined it smiling, not a single thought of him presently in her head and he smiled as well.

That's the right thing to do.

"I won't tell anyone," Naruto said beside him and Sasuke looked over to see his friend also looking into the distance towards the stadium. "If that's something you're worried about… I won't tell anyone that you were here. Like I said, things have definitely died down in the years since everyone was worried you'd come back… it probably would be best anyway to keep this quiet, if we didn't want to—"

"No."

Sasuke felt the word expunged from his mouth before he even knew the rationale behind it. Naruto turned to look at him in bemusement.

"No, what?"

Though he knew what it was he was objecting against, Sasuke took a moment to think on what he was about to ask of him.

"Tell the Kage. Tell everyone who ought to know. They have a right to know."

His words knocked Naruto's mouth right back open and Sasuke finally received one of the loud, almost shouted replies that he had been waiting for.

"WHAT?! Are you crazy?! After everything that happened back then and between then and now?! After how things have quieted down to this point?! You want to completely uproot that?!"

He threw his hands in the air in a gesture of disbelief.

"What would you even want me to say?!"

Sasuke kept his voice measured and quiet, hoping that it might be enough to calm Naruto's excitable nature.

"Hardly anything, if you don't think it's necessary. Just tell them… that I'm not coming back. Doesn't have to be more than that, just so they know that… well, I'm not ever going to be a problem again. I suppose I don't really expect everyone to believe you; the Raikage will probably just bet that you're covering for me, but I think that for everyone to whom it will really matter, maybe it'll give them some kind of closure."

Naruto stared at him for a while longer and Sasuke realized just what it was that he was asking of him.

"I'm sorry. I wish I didn't have to ask you to do this for me. But if I show up myself, who knows what hell breaks loose."

"You think they'll believe me?" Naruto asked quietly. "Any of them?"

"I would imagine most of them will," Sasuke replied. He reached behind him and undid a strap that was holding his blade to his back. Pulling Kusanagi and its sheath around him, he placed it on the ground between them.

"Show them that. It'll be recognized as mine and testing should find my chakra on it."

Naruto looked to the sword and then back to Sasuke before looking back to the sword. Slowly, his hand extended and he wrapped his fingers around the sheath.

"You're sure this is what you want?" he asked, quieter still. "If this is the call you want to make, I'll respect that… but this is your legacy here, the legacy of the Uchiha clan too. I need to know that this is, truly, what you want."

It was as serious and final a question as he could have asked, but Sasuke didn't hesitate in his answer.

"It is," he said. "Everyone can think of me how they will. No matter how things came about to where they are, and no matter if they believe that I'm really gone, I want this to be the last thing to do in this world. An assurance that I'm gone. That I won't be coming back. And that there is no fear to be had from me any longer. I'm not coming after anyone and no one has to worry about the fact that I'm out there."

He looked skyward again, trying to make sense of the strange way that the two worlds could be connected.

"I mean, I'll still be out there… but not in this world. Never again in this world."

Meeting Naruto's eyes, he tried to offer as much comfort as he imagined his dark eyes were capable of.

"I'm sorry that things couldn't be different… I wish they could, but—"

"Don't be sorry," Naruto suddenly said, cutting Sasuke off. His eyes were fierce and almost angry then and Sasuke felt his muscles tense almost involuntarily. "Don't you dare… not for a second."

Even though his eyes remained still aggressive and fiery, a smile split his face once more.

"Don't be sorry, Sasuke," he repeated. "You've become a better person than I think just about anybody would have guessed of you based on what you had to go through."

Looking down, Sasuke saw that Naruto's lower lip was quivering just slightly as his eyes started swimming with a glint of tears. He got to his feet and cleared his throat, putting his hands behind his head in a gesture that Sasuke could tell was an attempt to mask his pain.

"You have a family. You've got a kid waiting for you and another on the way. You met the people that you needed to grow as a person, and while I know that it's going to be hard to know that this is goodbye… it might be weird to say, but I'm proud of you."

Blinking aggressively, Naruto wiped the tears hastily from his eyes.

"But everything worked out, didn't it? You found somewhere to belong, and everyone here wound up…"

He sniffed.

"We made it too. Even though you weren't here. I'm not trying to make that sound like I'm accusing you of anything… but… I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's okay. I don't want you regretting any part of this decision."

Turning his head down, he furrowed his brow a moment, clearly thinking back and forth on something before turning to look at Sasuke with pursed lips.

"Can I ask you to do something for me too? It's kind of… weird, maybe, but…"

After Naruto being willing to carry the message of what had become of him to the top of the ninja world, Sasuke knew there was nothing that his friend could have said that he would have denied just then.

"Yeah, anything."

Naruto kicked the dirt at his feet as he replied.

"Can you… tell that world about us? Just our world, I mean. It would feel… wrong, to know that there's so much I know now about them, but maybe they don't know as much about us."

Sasuke remembered how Kakashi had told the group about his past but wondered how much they actually knew about where he came from, truly.

"I'll do that," he said, climbing to his feet then as well. Naruto looked at him with a wide, appreciative smile then. They remained where they stood for a time as Sasuke realized what was coming shortly then, his gut twisting painfully.

I want to see them all again… tell them I'm sorry for leaving them, hold my daughter, feel Ursa holding me, see them all, tell Toph that…

He ground his teeth behind his lips.

But… I don't want to say goodbye now either.

It felt so incredibly unfair then that this was a choice he had to make, but he forced himself to remember what the alternative would have been.

"Time to go, then?" Naruto asked and Sasuke felt his shoulders slump.

"Yeah," he said, looking again towards the stadium where the noise had dimmed considerably. He knew that he shouldn't be in Konoha when people started to resume walking the streets during the early evening. "Probably."

"You got time for a quick walk?" Naruto inquired hopefully and Sasuke smiled at the hopeful look on his friend's face.

"Yeah, sure."

They started to walk away from where the crowds would be dispersing then, heading towards the forests on the edges of the mountains. It was quiet between them for a time before they started to talk again; without any context, a passerby would have never known the importance held by the two people walking by.

"Oh, but don't go talking too much about me. I don't want all your friends thinking that I'm that crazy."

"What would be the problem with that? Plenty of the people I know back there are crazy, they'd love you. You'd get along great with Ty Lee, Aang, and Toph probably. Sokka too would probably—"

"Yeah, but make sure to tell them I'm the ninja who's going to be the next Hokage too, that's important."

"…are you still riding that horse?"

"Believe it! Not a day goes by where I'm not trying to work up to that, and I think I'll have it in the next couple years!"

"Great. I'll definitely tell them how inflated your head still is as well."

"That's fine, just as long as they know how sour you used to be as a kid."

"Plenty of them think I'm sour now."

"More than you were? I doubt that…"

"If Suki saw me as a kid, she'd want to slap me hard enough to spin my head around backwards."

…

"So, I gotta ask… what's the deal with Toph?"

"Toph?"

"Yeah… she's the only one you talk about the same way you talk about Ursa."

…

"I think we've talked enough about all that."

"Oh man… you're going to go get yourself into another heap of trouble, aren't you…"

…

"Shut up, Naruto."

As he listened to his friend laugh, Sasuke leaned back and took a deep breath, trying to keep his emotions from swimming too high to the surface. It wasn't to his liking that this had to end, but as long as he was living in this moment, he wanted to make sure he would remember it forever.

---

Soza sat in the pitch black of her room, tucked away in a corner and trying harder than anything to keep her mind blank. Her arms were wrapped around her knees as she hugged herself, and she wondered what it would be like to just sink into the shadows and lose track of her own consciousness. Despite how badly she had been fighting against it, she found herself wishing that Madara had won. The thought was enough to make her hate herself more than she did already, but she couldn't help it.

If I had to lose dad anyway…

The promise had been that the dream she would be placed in would have no pain, no fear.

That's all I feel now. Nothing but that.

Her mother and the others had left for the council building an hour or so ago. The courtyard outside would be where her grandmother was going to be put to death upon the rising of the sun and while Soza had pulled the curtains as tightly shut as she could, she could still catch glimpses of the paling sky beyond, reminding her that every second that passed was a moment nearer to her grandmother's death.

It isn't fair… it's not right, it's not right, IT'S NOT RIGHT, IT'S NOT RIGHT!

The world didn't seem to have a place for her anymore; all she felt was torment over all that had happened. Auntie Mai had spoken quietly with her mother about whether or not she should come, but Soza had point blank demanded that she be left alone. It tore a fresh hole in her insides to think about not being there at her grandma's side when the moment came for her to be taken, but Soza knew that she couldn't watch it happen. As a non firebender, Ursa was to be burned alive by way of execution, and the mere thought of that had Soza shaking violently and feeling like she was going to vomit.

Please… please… anything but this… just make it stop…it hurts so much…

She was crying on and off; every time that she felt there were no more tears that she could muster, they would burst free again, spilling down her face as the dark room echoed with the sounds of her misery. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to think, it hurt to be alive. Soza wanted to tear her own guts out, wondering if such pain would be enough to distract from what she was experiencing now.

Dad… please… why did you have to leave me? Why now? It's so dark inside me… I can't stand this… this quiet… I wish I had died too…

Her fingernails dug past her hair, digging into her scalp.

I'm alone… mother is empty, I've seen what this has done to her… why can't I be empty too…

She should have been there for her mother, after all, Ursa was her mother, and the pain she was likely burying away might very well break her with the rising of the sun. But Soza knew that her mother had Ty Lee, Mai, Zuko, and the rest with her. She would be okay.

Right?

Perhaps this was how it was going to be forever now. It certainly didn't feel like the misery was going to leave her. It was all too much. She had never once given thought to the fact that she would lose her father again, after not having him in her life for as long as she had. Soza thought to his voice, remembering how he had affectionately called her 'kid' and the way he had ruffled her hair, how much it had annoyed her…

I'm never going to survive this… it hurts too much…

"Please," she gasped through the tears and the short breaths that plagued her lungs. "Let this end…"

There was no answer from the dark as she had known there wouldn't be. Pleading with it made her feel even more pathetic than she already did, but she had no choice. It was all she could do. Whimpering, she hugged herself tighter, and tried to felt her nails cut into her scalp as the whimper became a wail. The dark was unforgiving, it didn't care about her, it practically seemed to laugh at her as it wrapped her in its black arms, the only thing she felt capable of perceiving.

But then.

Then, the dark held her differently.

…what…?

Something had shifted within her… no, it had shifted beside her.

The dark was warmer. It held her wrists and slowly pulled her hands from her head.

Soza felt her body twitching as her breathing came in even shallower. Her dry lips slowly parted as her dry throat seemed to tighten.

Is this what dying feels like?

Was that it? Was the pain so much that it was killing her?

The dark was so… warm now. It felt almost… calming.

Feeling cradled by it, Soza leaned back into it willingly, feeling the warmth envelop her. She couldn't see as well now, the dark seeming even deeper as it held her.

Then…

"Breathe… just breathe."

A voice. There, in her ear.

And she knew the voice. Soza had been dreaming of it then, praying for it, remembering it.

Weakly, struggling, she forced herself around, her feet scrambling against the floor as she pressed against the dark. It gently released her wrists to allow her to move as she turned to look into the black, her hair whipping around her face and her eyes found the dark.

Or rather, what the dark had become.