Ch. 28

Sasuke woke up in a startled state. He found himself in a large expanse of blue water and quickly hurried to his feet. He looked around and noticed that the place looked and felt familiar to him, then he heard a voice behind him, "Hello, my son."

Sasuke quickly turned around to see none other than the Sage of Six Paths. He was floating over the water as usual and looked the exact same as he did in the war.

He said in a silent voice, "You're Hagoromo Otsutsuki. The Sage of Six Paths….."

Hagoromo replied with a simple, "Yes."

Sasuke paused for a moment then said, "…So does this mean I'm dead?"

Hagaromo gave a small smile as he remembered when Naruto had thought the same thing, then said, "No… but you are close."

Sasuke said in a questioning voice, "What does that mean?"

Hagoromo turned serious, then said, "You're soul is teetering between life and death."

Sasuke listened very attentively as Hagaromo continued. "The Rinne Rebirth jutsu you used is the cause for this. That jutsu trades the soul of the user so that the souls of others may be reborn. The reason you're stuck between life and death is because the Rinne Rebirth jutsu is tugging at your soul. Some have tried to delay or negate this effect, but it is very rare to actually successfully do so. When the user willingly gives their life, it maintains balance in the world you live in. When Naruto used his Yin Yang Release to try to prevent your death, he unknowingly upset that balance. That is why your soul is stuck between life and death. On the one hand, he returned life to your physical body, but on the other hand, he was not able to completely stop the effects of the jutsu on your soul. The only reason you've woken up here is because he's once again trying to bring you back."

After a short pause, Sasuke asked, "Can he do it?" Hagoromo looked out over the water and said in a silent voice, "Not on his own…"

Sasuke remained pensive for a few moments, then looked over to Hagoromo and said, "But with your help, he can?..."

Hagoromo turned back to Sasuke and said, "Yes…" then, with a pensive expression, he said, "The question is do you want to go back?..."

Sasuke replied, "Why wouldn't I?" Hagaromo looked out over the water and said, "You tell me."

He turned back to Sasuke and said, "I've been watching you Sasuke. Ever since you and Naruto fought at the Valley, I've watched you live in peace… I've also watched you live with no real purpose and no friends. Dispirited. Unhappy. Alone…"

Sasuke slowly looked out over the water as Hagoromo continued. "I know that your lifestyle is your way of punishing yourself for your sins, and that you performing the Rinne Rebirth was partially due to your quest for redemption."

Sasuke said in a low voice, "At least I've done something to make up for my sins…"

Hagoromo paused, then continued. "What if I told you that your redemptive efforts weren't a complete success." Sasuke quickly turned to Hagoromo and said, "What do you mean by that?..."

Hagoromo looked out over the water and said, "You were too exhausted to complete the jutsu. 50 souls did not return to the realm of the living." Sasuke just stood there in shock. He slowly dropped his head and looked down into his reflection in the water as he realized he had blown his one shot at redemption.

After a long pause, Hagoromo looked at him and said, "So now that you've failed to redeem yourself, do you really want to continue living?..."

Sasuke stood there completely silent. Hagoromo looked at him with a glint of pity, then decided to give him a moment to collect his thoughts.

After a few more seconds, Hagoromo said, "You still have a decision to make…"

Sasuke remained silent for a little, then said, "I'll go back…then I'll bring back the 50 that didn't return."

Hagaromo said in a grave voice, "If you use that jutsu again, the tug on your soul will be too great for even me to overcome. You will die…"

Sasuke looked out over the water and said, "My life isn't worth that much…"

Hagoromo paused for a moment, then let out a small sigh. He looked directly at Sasuke and said, "I'm afraid you've missed the point that I'm trying to show you."

Sasuke stood there silent as Hagoromo spoke in a softer voice, "My son, life revolves around change. It can be painful, it can be beautiful, and it can be a lot of other things. A lot of times, it's a mix of everything, but right now you have the ability to decide what you want your life to be. You can learn from your past to better focus on the future, or you can live your whole life trying to redeem yourself by living a life of pain. Pain is a part of every man's journey. You can't escape it, but you can choose to not let it blind you to the point where you let it encompass your whole journey."

Sasuke continued to look out over the water although he was paying attention.

Hagoromo continued, "You speak of reviving the 50 who lost their lives, but what is the point of protecting life if you've lost your sense of how to live it. Right now, life means very little to you..."

Hagoromo paused then said in a more firm voice, "You do not have to be defined by your past. You can choose a different future. Do not let what you've done define who you are. Let what you do define who you are. I've watched you punish yourself for your past sins. I've watched you isolate yourself from the world. I've watched you cut off all who would seek to help you, all in the hopes of finally resolving this conflict going on inside of you. But we both know that you'll never be able to do enough. You'll always have that drive to do more, but you'll never do enough to redeem yourself…not in your own eyes…"

Sasuke looked out over the water for a long time as he thought about what Hagoromo had said. He knew Hagoromo was right. Even if he did successfully bring back everyone, it still wouldn't have been enough. He would never be able to do enough. He would never be able to redeem himself no matter what he did.

There was the smallest of tears forming in his right eye, but he seemed to have the uncanny ability of stopping it from falling.

After a while, he turned to Hagoromo and said, "What would you have me do?..."

Hagaromo looked directly at him and said in a resolute voice, "Learn from the past. Live for the future. A true shinobi is made in the moment. Not from questioning the past or living in its shadow." Sasuke thought about what Hagoromo had said, then looked down into his reflection.

Hagoromo gave Sasuke a moment to gather his thoughts, then looked at him. He was now looking out across the water pensively.

After a few moments of examining him, Hagoromo looked out over the water and said, "New threats are on the horizon. The shinobi world will need all the help it can get…"

Sasuke thought for a second, then replied. "If you're talking about Hikan, he's powerful, but he's not as powerful as Naruto."

Hagoromo replied, "He's not physically as powerful as you either. That isn't the issue. I've seen many different shinobi from different generations. Do not underestimate him."

Sasuke said in an inquisitive voice, "What are you trying to say?"

Hagoromo looked out over the water, then said in a grave voice, "I'm saying that when a Rinnegan wielder seemingly comes out of nowhere, you should be very careful..."

Sasuke looked at him inquisitvely, then after a short pause, Hagoromo said, "Enough about Hikan. The question is, what will you do?...Will you go back and continue to live in the shadow of your past? Or will you go back and live for the future? Or maybe you won't go back at all..."

Sasuke remained silent for a while as he thought about what he would do. Hagoromo could see that this wasn't an easy decision for him, but it was a decision that he had to make nonetheless.

After a few more moments, Sasuke looked out over the water and said, "…I'll live for the future… And I'll make sure that the 50 people who lost their lives didn't do so in vain."

Hagoromo smiled for a moment, then said, "I'm glad to hear that." Then, after a short pause, he said, "Know that I am proud of you, and that your actions have shown that I was right to trust you with my power…"

Sasuke half-smiled then gave a respectful nod.

Hagoromo stretched his arm towards Sasuke and said, "Now give me your left hand. Naruto has been trying to get you back for some time now." Hagoromo gave a small smirk, then said, "We wouldn't want to keep him waiting…" Sasuke returned the smirk, then reached out and took Hagoromo's hand. He felt a surge of energy shoot through his left arm, then he turned to Hagoromo and said in a hushed voice, "Thank you." The Sage wore a content grin then nodded.

As the area around them started turning a bright white color, Hagoromo said to Sasuke, "I hope that you will use all that you've learned today to help others…" Sasuke already knew what he was talking about.

Hagoromo said in a soft voice, "Life hasn't been too kind to your brother has it?..." Sasuke slowly shook his head.

After a few seconds, Hagoromo said, "In any case, tell him I said…" the Sage paused for a second, then said with a smile, "What's up!..." Sasuke smiled at the language change and gave Hagoromo a short nod. Soon after, the white light intensified to the point where Sasuke could feel his whole body being engulfed in a white energy. Right when the white light reached its brightest, it completely disappeared and Sasuke was gone.

Naruto now had his left hand over Sasuke's chest. After a little while, he turned to everyone in the room and said, "I can feel something…" As soon as he said that, a dark moon appeared on Sasuke's left hand and started glowing. Naruto looked down to his right arm and saw that a glowing yellow sun had already appeared on his right hand.

He thought to himself for a moment, then grabbed Sasuke's left hand with his right hand. "Come on, Sasuke…"

After a few tense moments of anticipation, Sasuke eyes popped open, startling Naruto.

"Sasuke!"

As a fully conscious Sasuke started looking around, everyone in the room stood in stunned silence.

After a short pause, Sasuke broke the silence with a smile as he said, "You still say it the same way Naruto. Astonishment, mixed with hint of disbelief…but with a hopeful finish…"

Kakashi said in a hushed voice, "It actually worked…" Shizune and Sakura were left speechless. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, but Naruto had only been there a few minutes, and he was able to wake him up.

Naruto wore an expression of slight shock and said in a quiet voice, "I actually did it…"

Sasuke said in a contemplative voice, "Not on your own…"

As all eyes focused on Sasuke, he sat up in the bed, then looked over to Naruto and said, "I met the Sage of Six Paths…"

As everyone's eyes widened, Naruto said, "No way!… You met the old geezer again?…"

Sasuke smirked, then nodded and continued, "He told me that the Rinne Rebirth jutsu basically trades the soul of the user to maintain balance in our world and that I was teetering between life and death because the jutsu was tugging at my soul. That's why I couldn't wake up. You were able to stop the effects of the jutsu on my physical body, but you weren't able to completely stop its effects on my soul."

As looks of understanding crossed the faces of everyone present, Naruto said, "Ohhh. So that's why you couldn't wake up…" Sasuke gave a small nod then said, "He helped you bring me back. You couldn't do it on your own."

Naruto nodded then said, "That makes sense. It felt like someone else was helping me out…"

After a short pause, Sasuke said with a smirk, "He also wanted me to tell you… 'What's up'..." Naruto let out a small chuckle as he remembered the first time he met the Sage. The Sage had shown an uncanny ability to match the speech patterns of anyone he was talking to. He obviously hadn't forgotten about Naruto's informal way of speaking.

After a moment of silence, Naruto said, "So was he still the same as he was back in the war?..."

Sasuke nodded and said, "Yeah…" then paused to look out the window as he whispered, "Still the same…"

Naruto looked at Sasuke and noticed something was different. He wasn't sure what it was, but he could tell something was up. Maybe something else had happened when he met the Sage that he wasn't sharing.

"So was that all you guys talked about?" said Naruto in a voice that tried to hide his curiosity.

Sasuke continued to look out the window. He could see a large portion of Konoha. It looked even more beautiful than it usually did bacuase of the sunset. Sasuke turned to Naruto and said, "No…" then turned away and said in a low voice, "…but I don't wanna talk about it."

Kakashi mentally said to himself, 'So they did talk about something else…'

Sakura was a little taken aback. She thought Sasuke looked normal enough, but somehow Naruto could see something was wrong when she couldn't.

Naruto said in a low voice, "Ok." He didn't want Sasuke to feel pressured into telling him anything. The dude had just almost died. He at least deserved a little break.

After a few moments of silence, Naruto said in a semi-jovial voice, "Well, we're glad to have you back…"

Sasuke just sat there staring out the window.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a little more concern, then said in an unsure voice, "Are you sure you're ok?..."

A full minute passed by as Naruto waited for an answer. He could tell that Sasuke had heard him, so his prolonged silence must be because he was thinking of an answer.

As Sasuke continued to look out over Konoha, he half-smiled and said in a silent voice, "I'm home…"

Everyone's eyes widened at the implications of his statement, then Naruto said in a silent, questioning voice, "Does that mean?..."

Sasuke was waiting for him to finish the sentence, but turned from the window and saw that he was just squinting his eyes questioningly.

Sasuke wore a small smirk, then laid his head back on the pillow and said, "I think I'll stick around…"

As the faces of everyone in the room dawned with the realization that Sasuke was planning on staying in the village, Naruto let out a loud, "YATTA!" As he let out a cheesy grin and threw his two balled up fists into the air.

Shizune stood there in shock while Sakura stood there with her mouth gaping open. Sasuke did just have a near death experience, but this was still a quick, unexpected change. She found herself wondering just what had happened when he met the Sage.

Kakashi was shocked at the quick turnaround in Sasuke's attitude. Last time he talked to him, he was determined to leave after they had dealt with Hikan, but now he was planning on staying indefinitely. There had to be a lot more to his meeting with the Sage than he was letting on. Despite his shock, he couldn't help smiling under his mask. Not only was he glad that Sasuke seemed to have made peace with the past, he was happy to see the old Naruto. It was the first time in a long time that he'd seen him acting completely like his old self. ANBU Naruto wouldn't joyfully punch the air, but this new development had brought him such joy that the old Naruto was finally able to break through. Naruto had already regained his composure, but Kakashi still found himself a little more hopeful for the future.

Author's Note

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