Hello, hello there my readers. It's ya boy 12Ookami12 back again with a brand new story. This is a bunny that's been brewing in my "To Be Written" folder for some time now and I decided to use it to knock some of the rust off from not writing so long. I hope y'all like it.
Just to make it clear, the ship is Naruto x Fem Sasuke (Satsuki). I doubt I'll be making it a harem so don't get your hopes up for that. Now without further ado, let the story commence.
"Normal Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Bijuu Speech"
'Bijuu Thoughts'
Fully Indented: Flashback or memory
Jutsu/Techniques
Disclaimer: All rights for Naruto belong to its respective owner. NOT ME!
CHAPTER Ⅰ
Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju—friends turned enemies, enemies turned allies and allies turned co-founders of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. After a dispute led to these two titans falling out of favor with each other, they had a massive battle. The land between the Land of Fire and the Land of Sound was there battleground. So destructively massive was their battle that it created a valley so large and wide that it became a scar upon the very earth itself. This scar would soon come to be known as the Valley of the end. To memorialize the legendary combatants that carved this valley into existence, two enormous statues were erected on opposing sides—Madara on the left and Hashirama on the right, both making the traditional shinobi sparring seal of confrontation to show that even though the warriors had passed, they were still locked in a never ending battle.
Now many years later, two more warriors find this place as the site for their final battle. Satsuki Uchiha—last living member of the Uchiha clan and Naruto Uzumaki—son of the Yondaime Hokage and Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
After joining the battle and defeating Obito Uchiha and the revived Madara, both Naruto and Satsuki ended up fighting the mother of chakra herself: Kaguya Otsutsuki. After a grueling multi-day battle filled dimension hopping, improvised plans, near death experiences and self-sacrifice, Naruto and Satsuki with the aid of their former sensei and teammate—Kakashi Hatake and Sakura Haruno, were finally able to defeat Kaguya by sealing her inside a moon, forever trapping her in another dimension. After being brought back to their own dimension by the Rikudo Sennin and learning what they needed to do to undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Naruto and Satsuki put their signs together to undo the powerful genjutsu.
What was supposed to be the final act to close off the Fourth Great Ninja War, was a mere prelude to the true battle that would decide the fate of the Elemental Nations.
Not satisfied with just helping to win the war and freeing the nations, Satsuki wanted more. She saw the Elemental Nations as a failure and the five Kage were to blame. She sought a revolution—to become a cruel tyrant and rule with a bloodied iron fist. By doing this and giving humanity a lightning rod to focus all of their hatred on, they would have a common enemy and could once again unify to bring down that enemy in her version of peace. But to do this she needed the current Kage to be dead.
Before she could carry out her scheme, she was opposed by the one person who could stop her—her former teammate, Naruto. Knowing she would have to do away with him if she ever hoped to carry out her revolution, she challenged him to a fight—No spectators to get in their way and no holding back. This would be their final duel, both to decide the destiny of the world and to settle their long-running score.
The stage was set. She stood atop the statue of her past life as Naruto did his. The blonde tried one more time to talk her out of her plan but it was for naught. She already decided that this was her path, one where the only person she would ever consider a friend could not follow.
The battle began. They started out with taijutsu but it didn't take long before they started to bring out their most destructive techniques to one-up the other. After hours of battle which left the monumental landscape in ruins, it came down to the final blow—Satsuki standing atop the wall, her left hand blazing with her signature technique with the added black flames of her Kagutsuchi and Naruto standing atop the water's surface, his right hand extended but vacant of any counter attack. With the last of her strength she launched from the wall, one thousand birds chirping in her hand, intent on ending her one-time comrade.
She watched him push off from the ground to meet her head on. The closer he got the more she saw his father's signature technique come to life. By the time they were a hair's breadth apart, the spiraling sphere was fully formed, but it didn't matter. She would win, she had to win.
With a roar from both combatants, Chidori met Rasengan in an epic clash of power. Satsuki cursed under her breath for they were once again in a stalemate. It seemed that no matter how hard she could never break the deadlock.
'Not this time. I won't lose to him. I have to win. I have to!' With a roar she pushed every bit of chakra she had left into her attack, and for a split second she felt her technique rupture his before everything went white with an explosion.
In the few moments before her world became dark, she looked into Naruto's eyes and all she could see were pain and acceptance.
A blonde haired, young man was lying in the rubble what was once the hand of his former life. His swollen cerulean eyes were looking up at the starry, night-time sky and the puffy, blue tinted clouds. He took a breath and his crimson vital fluid came rushing out of his mouth in the form of a coughing fit.
Not even bothering to wipe the blood from his lips, he groaned and tilted his head to look at the bloody stump where his right arm used to be. It felt strange, for even though he could see that the limb was no longer there, the pain he was feeling almost made him believe otherwise.
The body on top of him shifted and he had to bite his lip to keep from groaning in pain. Looking up, he saw his wayward teammate lying on top of him with her head resting on his chest, her raven locks fluttering in the breeze.
A small chuckle left his mouth. 'Who'd have thought that after all of that, that this is how we'd end up?'
Using a little of his remaining strength and ignoring the throbbing pain in his torso, he lifted his remaining arm and wrapped it around her waist to pull her closer. A small smile spread across his bruised face when he felt her snuggle even more into his chest. That smile fell when he glanced at where her left hand was—buried inside his torso in-between the bones of his ribcage and where his right lung used to be.
He plopped his head on the rubble acting as a pillow and let out a long, painful breath. 'The things I do for the people I love.' Placing those thoughts at the further reaches of his mind, he closed his eyes and got comfortable in the odd but peaceful embrace with the sleeping Uchiha.
Inside the seal, Kurama watched the scene with a sad, small smile on his muzzle. His container had used up every bit of chakra in his coils for that last fight and on top of having no chakra left, he had lost too much blood from his injuries but all of that was superficial when compared to the gaping hole in his torso. The only reason he was even still alive was because he was too stubborn to let death's cold fingers take him just yet, but he knew…the great beast knew that it wouldn't last.
Naruto will die!
The Kitsune wished he could do something—anything to keep the blonde from meeting the Shinigami so soon but unfortunately there was nothing he could do. Most of his remaining chakra was stolen by that girl during the fight and the little he had left he gave it to Naruto so he could match her for the final blow. So right now he was in the same emaciated, weak state he was left in when Naruto forcefully took his chakra from him.
Looking toward the roof of Naruto's mindscape, he could see that it was slowly but surely starting to deteriorate.
"Naruto." The echo from his despaired called was even more deafening than the silence.
When he got no response, the beast looked down and his large ears fell in sadness for the first time since his father died. Lying down on the water covered ground, Kurama closed his eyes and waited—not wanting to witness the death of the only human who he will always be proud to call his friend.
The chilled winds of the night's cold stirred the sleeping young lady from her slumber. Just like any other time, the task of waking up came with the added work of wiping the grogginess out of her eyes and letting out a yawn. Unlike any other time however, she didn't have an arm wrapped around her when she woke up.
"Nighty-night, Sleeping Beauty. Enjoy your beauty rest?"
Still not fully awake, Satsuki looked at him with a puzzled expression before her mind finally caught up with their position. She was lying on top of him in a position that one could look at and believe that they were an intimate couple. It didn't help that the state of the clothing made it look like they just got done being VERY intimate.
It took every ounce of her willpower to keep her face from resembling her favorite fruit. Not something easy to do when his face was only a few inches away from hers.
She heard him snickering at her expense. "Even after all this time, you still have that cute blush eh, Tomato-chan."
The former Konoha Kunoichi pouted at the nickname he had given her many years ago. It wasn't her fault that tomatoes were so delicious. She tried to get off of him but his arm was firmly locked around her waist. She tried moving her arms and that's when she realized where one of them were. Surprise gave way to concern as she turned to face the smiling blonde. "N…Naruto." For some reason that she couldn't explain, she felt tears pooling up behind her eyes.
She had won. She had WON! But at what cost? When she issued the death-match, she didn't feel a damn thing. She was gonna kill him to keep him out of her way. Simple, right? But now that she achieved that, her stomach was doing flips at the thought of him taking his last breath.
"So…Satsuki. You won, huh? Are you…are you happy now? Was it worth it?"
She could hear the shakiness in his voice and knew that his time was quickly expiring. The dam behind her eyes was beginning to crack as liquid began to trickle out. "You idiot! YOU STUPID IDIOT! WHY WOULD YOU GO THAT FAR JUST TO GET IN MY WAY?!
Naruto didn't answer, only keeping the smile on his face.
"I DID ALL OF THAT, EVERYTHING JUST TO DISTANCE MYSELF FROM EVERYONE, BUT YOU…YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU WOULDN'T FORGET ABOUT ME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. AND NOW BECAUSE OF THAT, YOU'RE GONNA…." Tears were now freely flowing out of her eyes. She laid her face on his chest and in a shaky whisper she asked. "Why? Why Damnit wouldn't you just let me go?"
"You're pretty cute when you're angry, you know that?"
Rather than being embarrassed at his words, she looked at him with irritation. "ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!"
Naruto laughed in response to her outburst. "You haven't changed a bit. You're still that feisty, stubborn, hard-headed, cocky little brat you were all those years ago."
His comment only served to fan the flames of her growing ire.
"But that's what I love about you."
The normally quiet orchestra of the night-time critters sounded a lot louder after Naruto's words. Wide eyed in disbelief, she struggled to get her words out. "N…Naruto, this isn't the time for you to be making jokes."
"Who said I was joking?" The response came so fast she knew he didn't think about it. He really meant what he said.
Her surprise faded and gave way to denial. "You don't love me. So stop kidding yourself."
"Satsuki…"
"Stop, Naruto. Just, stop." She couldn't move away since she was still being held by him, so she turned her head so she wasn't directly looking at him. She continued to speak in a low whispered tone. "After everything I've done: I betrayed the village and I even wanted to destroy it, I destroyed the trust of everyone who cared about me, I became a criminal and joined the very group that was hunting you…and I even tried to kill you. Heck, I have killed you." A puddle of water was right beside them and Satsuki closed her eyes—not wanting to see the person in her reflection. "After all of that, how could you find it in your heart to love me?"
"Because. I. DO!"
The conviction in his words startled her. Willing her eyes open, she looked at him and his expression matched his words.
"Listen, alright." She could hear the struggle in his voice as he spoke. "I wish I could say that I went through all of that because I saw you as my friend, but I can't. I love you and nothing you say or do is going to change that."
She looked at him and once again she saw the raw conviction that he was known for. She shook her head and chuckled. "I must've hit you harder than I thought."
The blond shared in her amusement. "Well you are better than Sakura, I'll give ya that much. You give me headaches, she gives me concussions."
Sakura and Kakashi were walking through the forest leading to Valley of the End, when suddenly the pinkette let out a loud sneeze.
Kakashi looked at her with a raised brow. "You okay, Sakura?"
"Yeah Kakashi-sensei. Don't know where that sneeze came from though."
"Someone must be talking about you."
"I bet it's that idiot, Naruto. Even during the fight of his life he can't resist calling my name."
"I may not be the sharpest Kunai in the pouch…" The blond started.
"Understatement." The ravenette chimed in.
Pretending he didn't hear her. "But I know what it is I feel for you and its love…even if it took Ero-Sennin's help to figure it out." He added as an afterthought.
Now she just flat-out didn't believe him. "Jiraiya—the super pervert, helped you figure out that you love me?" She said it slowly to convey how utterly ridiculous the words sounded.
Naruto heard her skepticism and chuckled, understanding her doubt. "Yeah, he did."
"Tell me, Naruto. Why are you so hell bent on bringing back the Uchiha?"
"Why are you asking, Ero-Sennin? I already told you why. She's my best friend and I won't turn my back on her."
"Is she just your best friend, Naruto?"
"Of course she is. What are you getting at, Ero-Sennin?"
The older man shook his head before closing his book. "Naruto, you've told me that you want her back because she's your friend, but I want you to describe it for me in detail on why she's so important to you."
For a few moments the blonde couldn't find the words to say. Thinking on it for a few more moments, he answered. "It's kinda hard for me to put it into words but…I care about her, ya know. She understands me just as I understand her. I can't explain it but whenever I was around her I would always feel happy, like everything would be okay as long as she was there with me. Whenever I saw her carrying the burden of her lost family and all of that pain by herself, I would hurt and it made me want to help her carry it. And now…to know that she left to go with that…that freak!..." he clenched his fist as a single tear rolled out of his eye, "…it feels like a part of me left with her, and that hurts more than her Chidori ever could." The blonde took a few moments to recompose himself before he stared into his master's coal colored eyes. "Does that answer your question, Jirayia-Sensei?"
The white haired Sannin kept his gaze on his young student before suddenly bursting into laughter, which had the effect of cutting through the tense atmosphere.
A tick mark appeared on the blonde's forehead. "Oi! What's so funny?"
The older man wiped tears away from his eyes. "You've got it bad for the Uchiha and you don't even realize it."
It took a few moments for what his master said to fully register, and when it did his face lit up with a blush that'd put Hinata's to shame. "W-what? No I don't. I love Sakura-chan. Satsuki's just my best friend."
Recomposing himself, the larger man responded. "Keep telling yourself that, gaki."
"It took a little while…and a lot of introspection." Saying that last part quietly under his breath. "But I finally accepted how I felt about you…" keeping his eyes locked with hers, he gave her his brightest smile. "…that I truly loved you, and that's why I could never let you go."
The silence that followed his words was deafening beyond relief, at least for Satsuki. She didn't know how to respond to that. What could she say to something like that? For the first twelve years of her life she only saw him as a nuisance at worst and a passable acquaintance at best. Sure he had grown on her during their latter time on team seven, but that was it. For the next few years subsequent to her leaving, he once again returned to being a nuisance, constantly getting in her way and not accepting the motive behind her actions.
Or so she made herself believe.
She knew she was deluding herself by thinking she had cut him off, that she had broken her bond with him, that he wasn't dear to her. It was just easier for her to believe a lie than accept the truth, and that truth was that he was the closest person she had that was living—that's why she had never been able to go to the extremes to get rid of him—she couldn't bear the thought of actually losing him.
It suddenly dawned on her that she hadn't felt his chest rising and falling for the past few minutes and the grip he had around her waist had loosened. She laid there with a lump in her throat as she realized that her worst fear was coming true.
"Naruto." Her call went unanswered and her concern evolved into full blown panic. "Naruto this isn't funny. Wake up!" In her panic she didn't realize that she pulled her hand out of his torso and was now gripping his shirt. "WAKE UP! This isn't the time for one of your pranks. WAKE THE HELL UP!"
Roughly a mile away, Kakashi and Sakura were steadily walking toward their destination when they heard…
"WAKE THE HELL UP!"
They looked at each other upon recognizing the voice.
"Was that…" Sakura started.
"Yes it was. We have to get there now!"
Inside the shattering seal, Kurama kept his eyes closed as he dissipated from the now non-existent mindscape. Tears rolled out of his shut eyes and he muttered under his breath just before he fully disappeared. "Goodbye, Naruto."
Satsuki laid there on his body, her face drenched in tears and her bloody hand beating his chest. "Wake up. Please…wake up." She momentarily paused when she noticed the orange-red chakra dissipating from his body in a mist like state and was travelling toward the moon trapping the chakra's other half.
That was the moment she begrudgingly accepted the fact that Naruto was gone…and that he wasn't coming back. Her tears kept flowing down her face as her grief became anger.
She gripped his shirt and shook him violently. "HOW COULD YOU?! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KNOCK SENSE INTO ME! GET ME TO SEE THINGS YOUR WAY! TO SEE THAT WHAT I WAS DOING WAS WRONG! IF ANYTHING I SHOULD BE THE DEAD ONE AND YOU CRYING OVER ME!"
She kept shaking and yelling at his body—letting out everything she was feeling, her grief, her anger, her sadness, her happiness at his confession. Nothing was kept in anymore, but it didn't change anything. In the end she laid face first on his chest and was begging him to wake up.
"Please…I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything. I'll go back to the village with you, I'll be your girlfriend, I'll be your wife, I'll do anything you want, just please…wake up."
Up on the cliff overlooking the destroyed landscape, Kakashi and Sakura finally arrived and the scene they were witnessing was not one either of them were hoping for.
"Oh no. N-no-no, maybe there's still time. Maybe he can still be saved." Sakura rushed down the cliff and left Kakashi by himself.
The masked war veteran stood motionless on the edge of the cliff. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't share Sakura's optimism. Casting his eyes upward, he caught a glimpse of the orange-red chakra travelling to the ninth moon in the sky—the one he knew was trapping the Kyuubi. That only confirmed what he knew happened when he heard Satsuki's yell.
Falling to a knee, the silver haired Jonin closed his eyes and let a few tears escape down his mask. 'I'm sorry sensei, Onee-chan, it seems your son is going to be joining you sooner than you wanted."
'Please…please let there still be time to save him." Sakura ran and hopped over the debris as fast as she could to get to the downed blonde. As soon as she got close enough…
"Gimme some room, Satsuki."
With Satsuki getting off of him and out of the way, Sakura began to work. She made quick work with closing of the stump and was now working on trying to get the hole in his torso to close up as well.
'There's still time, he can be saved.' She kept repeating that mantra as she worked on the hole.
For the next ten minutes she kept focusing her Shosen Jutsu on the area but it wouldn't even budge. "Come on, Damnit! Work! He's not going to die on me!" She looked at his face and yelled. "You hear me you idiot? You're not leaving me!"
"Sakura, he's gone. You need to stop." Kakashi said as he placed his hand on her trembling shoulder only for it be roughly slapped away.
"Piss off, Kakashi-sensei. I didn't go through a whole war to protect this baka only for him to up and die on me." She continued pumping chakra into her technique. "He's not leaving me. I won't allow it!"
"Sakura…"
This time she got up and swung at the masked man. "SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Kakashi took his chance to grab her fist and pull her into tight hug.
The pinkette fought against the grip of her sensei. "LET ME GO! HE NEEDS ME. I HAVE TO SAVE HIM." Her angry tone was quickly devolving to tear-filled sobbing. "Please let me go. I need to save him. He can't leave us."
With tears falling down his own face, Kakashi pulled her closer and responded. "I'm sorry, Sakura, but Naruto's gone."
That was straw that broke the camel's back as Sakura finally broke down and returned the hug while burying her face into the vested chest of her sensei.
Off to the side, Satsuki didn't notice anything her former teammates were doing, her focus was on the corpse of the man that gave everything just to get her to see reason.
She walked over to his body and kneeled down beside him. She moved his sun-kissed hair from out of his face and a small smile found its way on her face, for there on his face was the brightest smile she had ever seen him give.
"Even in death, you still have to be a smiling fool, don't you?"
And just over the horizon, the sun began making its ascension into the sky. A stark contrast to the bleak reality for the members of Team Seven.
And there we go with kicking this story off. What do ya guys think about it? Love it, hate it, let me know in a review and if you're feeling especially generous, why don't you show some love to the fave and follow buttons.
And just to quell any concerns you might have about KKR and TGL, they're still alive, just be patient, alright. Well that's all for now, I'll see you guys again for the next one.
Laterz.