Beta by: RedCommander72. Thank you for all the hard work, you don't know how much this poor author appreciates the help. There might still be some mistakes left, I apologise for them in advance please notify me if you find any.
A/N: Listen to Glow by Corsak, Robinson when you read the last part of this chapter.
1.2 The last promise
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, aka The Sage of Six Paths, aka the creator of the tailed beasts, aka the greatest Shinobi in history, was quite thoroughly bored.
He was also dead, but his duties weren't done yet and you know what they say; you gotta complete your duties even if it kills you. God only knows who says it, but Hagoromo was stuck nonetheless between the afterlife and life, drinking martinis and sake. Talk about working overtime! His only entertainment in this vast afterlife, aside from the drinks, were the different universes he can peak into at any given moment, and since there was an infinite number of universes, it was a daily soap opera without any expenses. But multiple universes mean multiple numbers of one's self. Thus, his work never truly ends since the universes produce different versions of the great Sage over and over again. In each lifetime there are some similarities, Hagoromo had to grow up with his twin, defeat his mother, watch over his children, create tailed beasts, try to fix up the Shinobi world and die. After that a long process of watching over the Shinobi world destroy itself, his beloved tail beasts suffering and wait till the right re-incarnations of his two children Indra and Asura to show up.
Universes have a very complex sense of humour. Since his kids like to take different forms in different universes, sometimes they are both boys or both girls or one of them a boy and another girl, it's hard to tell which one is the right incarnation and it wasn't funny for the poor Sage. But Hagoromo manages. He has to. Sage of six paths had a reputation to maintain after all. The process was long and Hagoromo can't help but get bored. At least the drinks he gets are great here!
Before Hagoromo's mind could continue with its inner monologue, a poof of smoke appeared in front of him.
Now that's new, the sage of six paths mused, not very surprised. When you have lived over centuries and have seen pretty much everything there is to see, nothing much was truly surprising. From the cloud of smoke appeared a red-headed Shinobi with sea-green eyes, a deep dark circle under his eyes with a kanji of love tattooed over the left side of his forehead.
The kid needs a good, long nap, Hagoromo thought observing the Shinobi. Hagoromo was a proud papa of 11 children, by looking at the state of the mystery kid, the instincts of his inner papa were kicking in.
"Where am I?" muttered the redhead looking all confused. Hagoromo waited patiently for the kid to notice him.
"Are you the Sage of the Six Paths?" The redhead asked, finally spotting the sage, his green eyes widening and his posture going to instant alert.
Hagoromo was curious about the kid, but it's not every day he gets to chat with someone and since he was old and bored, the sage decided to pull a little prank.
"Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki est nomen meum. introducendam tibi." (I am Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki. Introduce yourself.)
"Ego shinobi harenae villa de occultis. Sora ego voco. Et glorificatus sum in occursum adventus tui," (I am a shinobi from the hidden sand village. I call myself Sora. I am honoured to meet you.) the kid answered expertly.
Hagoromo immediately cussed inwardly. His Latin knowledge went as far as the two lines he just spoke. He didn't know the rest and this kid seemed to know Latin well. What a disaster, who learns Latin willingly anyway? It's tough, whined the Great Sage mentally, but didn't let any of it show on his face.
On the surface, Hagoromo coughed and put on a show of being mildly impressed. "I see you know one of the old languages."
The redhead nodded. "I also know Greek, Sanskrit and some Hebrew."
Hagoromo had to control his choke. The hell? The kid was a walking encyclopaedia! How else can you explain his knowledge? Seriously, what do they feed the kids these days? Or not feed for that matter! It was alarming really.
Hagoromo coughed again and cleared his voice. "I see." He really, really didn't. Even with three eyes, he didn't.
'Okay, keep it cool! You are the Sage of Six Paths. No matter how many tough as hell language the kid knew, you are still the wisest,' the great sage pep talked himself.
In the early days, it was a standard procedure to do a security check for anyone who was admitted to the Great Sage's presence. Since there was no one in the afterlife to do so, Hagoromo decided to take the lead. He felt the familiar presence of this chakra inside his body taking shape and a thin white thread formed from the tip of the finger and slowly it wrapped around the one who calls himself Sora.
Sora frowned. "Great Sage, what are you doing?"
"I am looking for any injury or weapon or seal not that anything will harm me here, but even the smallest injury will kill you permanently," Hagoromo answered, the white chakra now has engulfed Sora from head to toe. Sora felt warm, comforted and safe. He indeed was afraid of the great sage's chakra, but his feelings were quickly replaced by a feeling of being safe and at peace. The white chakra was healing his wounds and filling his body with vitality and strength. It was a lot like the chakra the medics used, but it was also a hundred times better.
"I don't understand," Sora said softly.
The sage's eyes softened. " You see, you are not dead child, yet not alive. You are at the undead zone of the universe, a space between the realities themselves. Here multiple instances of time exist at the same moment. People generally can't even enter this place without a very high and potent chakra aiding them, let alone stand and chat with me. I am here of course since I have some work to do, some deities can reside here too. But you, how can you be here?" Hagoromo muttered the last question to himself.
Did Kamui send Sora here, between the alternate reality space? No, that cannot be right. There has to be an explanation for how he ended up here.
Once Sora's body was healed and Hagoromo was satisfied with Sora's vitality, the white chakra slowly faded away.
"Now kid, you are going to tell me just how exactly do you have the energy from two different universes inside of you. I suggest you sit down and start from the beginning," the Great Sage said sternly. All traces of a harmless old man were gone replaced with the vast and powerful aura of the Sage of Six Paths.
Line break...
"You absolute bloody fool!" roared the sage, his body shaking with rage. "Do you have any idea what you did? You could have destroyed the course of reality. You could have destroyed two universes with that kind of nonsense. Do you know why time travel is forbidden?" Hagoromo asked, gritting his teeth.
Sora was sitting with his head hanging low and shook to answer a no. Once Sora had told Hagoromo about what he did and how he did it, the Sage exploded. Hagoromo's aura changed and a chakra more potent and powerful rivalling the tailed beasts were pouring out of him.
"Because it is not possible! Time travel for its all instances and purposes is not possible. Time can only flow in one direction and that is forward. Every decision a person makes creates their own time and there is no going back!" growled the Sage.
"I read the old scripts, the days before the Shinobi era, written in old languages and I figured if I could take the steps back, I would end up in the past, I didn't know about the realities," Sora admitted meekly.
"Of course, you didn't. You don't have the Rinnegan. Only people with Rinnegan can 'see' the flow of time and they know there is no going back. This is the reason Pain didn't believe you, because you said something that is not possible and he knows it," the sage finally started to cool down. Hagoromo was never the one to lose control of his temper, but imagining what a Kage risked was enough to make him lose his shit again.
"I am presuming when Obito tried to Kamui you and your companion Utakata lost control of his seal, due to the force of a tailed beast chakra you elevated through the pocket dimension created by Kamui and ended up here," the Sage explained absently reaching for his smoke pipe.
Sora didn't look up or say anything. He had no idea about multiple realities and he had no idea what to do with that knowledge either.
After a while with a lot of sake, drags from his pipe, shaking heads and muttering about risk-taking stupid Kages Hagoromo calmed down.
"Why?" He asked eyeing the Sand Shinobi.
Sora finally looked up and met Hagoromo's gaze and Hagoromo felt like looking at the mirror, he once had the same look in his eyes when he understood the plan his mother had conjured and this look never bode well for anyone. "I believed I lost everything and I was desperate. Tell me sage, wouldn't you have done the same in my place?"
The sage didn't say anything for a long while, seemingly content with puffing his smoke. At last with a heavy and sad voice, he spoke, "I understand more than you think I do Kazekage of the Sand. I have destroyed a lot more than what I have protected and created. I know pain and loss, unlike no one."
To Sora, Hagoromo sounded just like the old man he was. No matter how strong and brave, no matter the vast chakra he had, Hagoromo really had no place to go back to, no place to call home and no one to mourn him anymore. In a way, both Sora and Hagoromo were the same. An echo of the past destined to fade away in the great workings of time.
Line break...
" I am utterly wasted. I never get this hammered. I blame you, you crazy red-headed Kage!" Hagoromo accused Sora, pouting all the way.
"You? What about me? I am technically underaged you bastard! " Sora answered back, frowning, his eyes dripping down and voice husky.
The Sage nodded. "Yes, yes true, but do you know something?" Hagoromo asked pulling a serious face.
"What?" Sora asked taking another swing at the sake bottle. They both had abandoned the idea of cups a while back and had taken up bottles instead. It wasn't every day you find out your great plan to save your world was a dead end and the girl you pined after might just die anyway. Sora never wants to get sober ever again.
"Here there is no law to catch you because we are both half dead!" The sage answered and broke into drunken mirth with Sora joining in.
"Oooh, this is my favourite part. Behold the sexy Jutsu!" Called out the sage. Sora spits out the sake, his eyes going wide. Does the boy version of Naruto know how much he resembles his girl counterpart when doing that not so sane Jutsu?
"Hey old man changes the scene; he looks way too much like the girl I loved. I don't want to get sober," Sora said opening another sake bottle and taking a big gulp.
"Okie dokie," the Sage agreed happily and went to the scene where a boy Naruto was fighting Pain. Sora never had the opportunity to watch this fight they settled for this scene.
Since they currently had nothing to do, both had decided to watch some of the universes where Naruto lived on and became the Hokage. Sora was a bit disturbed and surprised to find Naruto could be a boy too, but he was long past the point of being shocked and surprises.
Currently, they were watching a universe where Naruto (a guy!) not only became Hokage but married Hinata Hyuuga and had two kids. The kids were adorable Sora decided. He for a second wondered how his kids with her would have looked like. Since the line of thought was too painful even for a drunk mind, he took another swing at the bottle and blocked the thought altogether.
"Hey, kid?" Hagoromo called out after a while.
"Yeah? "
"What would you say if you had a one last time to speak to that girl of yours?" Hagoromo asked, eyes droopy and face flushed with too much alcohol. Even his Rinnegan looked ready to drop close, which was kind of creepy but Sora decided not to mention it. People can be very insecure about their looks, plus commenting on others physical features was bad manners.
Instead, he gave a lopsided grin and said, "What else? To tell her to stay away from Itachi Uchiha!"
Hagoromo gave him a jab on his head. "I don't mean the girl in the universe you are invading idiot! I mean the one you are from, where you truly knew her."
"Oooooooh that?" Sora gave it a thought. "I will confess to her and tell her how much she meant to me. Now stop trying to make me sober old man!" Complained Sora laying down on his back, looking up at the greatest view one could see. The Universes and their galaxies. It was blindingly beautiful and very terrifying to look at. Really, human life would not even compare to this vast universal system and yet we flicker away those precious little moments of time we have on trivial wars and chaos. Humans truly are the most foolish creatures of this universe.
Hagoromo eyed Sora. "Very well. Go tell her then."
Sora tilted his head to look up at him. "What are you talking about old man?"
The said old man gave a devilish grin and Sora's body was air born.
Line break...(play the song I mentioned)
"...aara weak up dattebyo. Gaara!" Somebody was calling him. The voice was so familiar yet so distant. Gaara. They called him Gaara, it was nice to be called by his actual name after so long. Wait, his name? He set up abruptly, he felt light-headed and his vision was unclear. He cussed at the Great Sage for getting him drunk beyond reason.
"Gaara what happened? Why did you collapse so suddenly? You made me worried dattebyo!"
Gaara's body reacted before his mind could. He hurriedly stood up with his sand guard surrounding him, kunai out and alert.
"Wow calm down. I didn't do anything to you. You're my friend!"
Standing in front of him was none other than Naruto Uzumaki in all her spiky hair, whiskered cheeks and huge blue eyes glory, her hands up in the air in universal surrender gesture, a little panicked on his account but still the same girl he knew.
The hell? Did that crazy son of Kaguya send him back to his universe? No, he felt his chakra and knew that wasn't the case. Also, now that he looks around and judging by the flora around them, he was in the hidden Sand, more precisely out in the desert. The timing couldn't be any worst, Naruto is scheduled to go and train with the Nine Tails chakra and the next time they will meet will be on the battlefield against Kaguya and not too long after, she will die and so will Sasuke triggering the fifth Shinobi war and ultimately the death of the whole Shinobi World. Gaara lowered his kunai and waved his sand away.
"Sorry about that I was… feeling a bit under the weather," he said carefully avoiding eye contact with her. A ghost of the past is standing in front of him and he had no idea how to react. As much good as the booze was, Gaara found himself wide awake and sober.
"Really? You should have said so earlier Gaara or I wouldn't have dragged you out here for a spar. I am sorry," Naruto apologized looking guiltily at him.
Despite the situation, he let out a small laugh. The first time around Naruto came to the sand for this particular delivery mission, things went differently, he was buried under tons of paperwork when she found him. Everyone knew he could not sleep much even after Shukaku was gone, so he was busy long after the office hours were over. They had ended up sparing and had a good laugh before sunrise. It was the last good memory he had before all hell broke loose. Gaara remembered every detail of that night aside from the result of their spar, he couldn't recall who won and now it didn't really matter.
"No, it's okay, I needed a break anyway," he then hesitated for a moment and then added. "Can we just talk for a little while; you are going away soon." He set down upon a sand dune and patted the place next to him. "Come sit."
Naruto being the combination of goofball and energy ball bounced twice before she sat down and proceeded to comfortably stretched herself on her back.
"You sure gave me a scare Gaara. Iruka sensei and granny would be so angry if they knew I injured the Kazekage. The sky sure is pretty hah? I like it. Do you like it Gaara?..." She babbled away in her Naruto fashion.
Unknown to her, Gaara felt a pit growing inside his gut. A pain slowly spreading its roots all over his body. He knew he would not be here for very long. His body was the same one from this time, only his consciousness was visiting and invading his old body. Soon he would fade away and the Gaar(his younger self) who has no memory of the war would be back. His consciousness was that of a chakra ghost, Gaara could feel he didn't have much time.
"Hey, kid?"
"Yeah? "
"What would you say if you had a one last time to speak to that girl of yours?"
"I will confess to her and tell her how much she meant to me. Now stop trying to make me sober old man!"
That son of Kaguya was too drunk and being a complete ass, that old man was. He had sent Gaara here to tell Naruto how he freaking felt.
Stupid. Stupid. stupid! Gaara cussed mentally.
".. say Gaara you are acting weird and making a lot of weird faces. You sure you're okay? Do you need to take a dump maybe?" Naruto asked from his side giving him a once over and he choked.
"No, I am fine, thank you," Gaara answered awkwardly.
Naruto set herself up. "You usually don't talk much, but today you are talking even less, dattebyo!"
Gaara shifted so that now they were facing each other, sitting cross-legged across from each other. A half-eaten moon was visible in the night sky with millions of stars, a soft wind blowing over the desert cooling the tough terrain. The light was soft but it was enough for Gaara to finally look at her. Naruto was exactly the same he remembered her to be.
"I really am fine, just was thinking of something."
"About what? A new Jutsu? Want me to help?" She fired the questions without ceremony. Gaara laughed out relaxing on her familiar presence and spirit.
"No, it's not a new Jutsu," Gaara answered, shifting his body closer to bask in her comfortable presence. God knows how much he had missed her.
Naruto crossed her hands over her chest and nodded sagely. "Hmm, then you need to take a dump. I don't mind you can go and do your business. No need to be shy. A clear stomach is good for health," she declared.
Gaara found himself laughing more, worries of the future could wait, for now. This was his last chance to look at her and the last chance to talk to her. He would worry about everything else later. Just a single break, he told himself, before his existence gets lost in the universe.
"Well, I do agree on that one, but really I went in the morning and my stomach is very much all right Naruto," he said with laughter.
"Then is it a village problem you can't share?" She fired the next question.
He shook his head, enjoying her company more. With each minute in Naruto's presence, the longing in his heart was increasing.
"No, it's not that either," he answered softly.
"So, tell me already. Is it ramen?" Naruto asked and Gaara began to laugh loudly. "Hey, Ramen is serious business, dattebyo!" She pouted. "It is only the greatest food of this world and I love it. Do you know Ichiraku made this amazing new flavour, I helped develop it with my Rasengan..."
"Naruto?" He cut her off suddenly. He could feel his time rapidly growing thin. Within the next few minutes, he would be gone, his future remaining uncertain.
"I need to tell you something. Just listen to what I have to say okay?" He straightened up and gently clasped her hands. Naruto was taken aback by his sudden seriousness and gave him a small nod, her curious eyes reflecting question and concern.
"When I was a child, I believed if I am nice to everyone, I would make lots of friends and someone would love me for who I was," Gaara took a deep breath, his childhood wasn't something he was proud of or liked to think about, but he needed to say what he must and continued. "But it wasn't the case, people hated me for carrying the beast and no one saw the difference between the breast and me. That was until you," Naruto's expression softened and her concern was replaced with something he couldn't place but he went on. "I made my first friend when I met you and for a long time, I wanted to be like you." This line cause Naruto to laugh and shook her head.
"Gaara, you did better. I hate to admit it, but I am a little jealous of how fast you made a Kage," she said cheerfully.
Gaara smiled softly. "But that's just because I learn to live because you head-butted me." Both smiled softly at the memory.
"Yeah, I did that didn't I?" She said, the words unusually soft coming from her.
"I am happy you did." Naruto looked up at Gaara and gave him her customary grin. "Cause if I have to say for sure, you head-butting me might just be the moment I fall in love with you. It took me a while to understand and figure it out, but that should be the moment I believe. "
A hush silent falls all over the desert at his soft words. Even the wind stopped blowing for a split second. Gaara felt his heart rate increase and his breath coming shallow. Naruto looked at him with an opened mouth expression, her eyes huge with surprise.
"Naruto?" Gaara finally called out when the silence from her became unbearable. "I don't expect you to say anything. I just wanted you to know, changes are coming, big ones and I am afraid I might not be able to tell you how I felt and regret that for the rest of my life, please don't be upset," he pleaded.
Naruto didn't say anything but removed her hands away from him. Gaara felt his heart skipping a beat and break a little.
That's it, she would think it was a joke at best and leave, he thought panicked. Gaara never considered his confession will bring an end to their friendship because he believed Naruto would not end what they had based on what he had just declared. But what if she did? A thousand scenarios started playing in his head and his palms became sweaty.
Naruto on her part looked a little flustered and she hesitated for a moment. Then she did what only she could have done, Naruto head-butted him, a lot more gently than the last time. At her unexpected gesture, Gaara looked at her with bewilderment touching his forehead.
"I need to be the Hokage soon," she finally said.
"W-what?" Gaara asked stupidly.
Naruto puffed her cheek. "For being so intelligent, you could be so dumb sometimes Gaara. We can't be together if we are always at two different villages dattebyo! The only way we could be is for me to get stronger and learn dad's teleportation jutsu and be the Hokage," she exclaimed. "That is if you want to be together…," she added uncertainly avoiding his gaze.
Gaara felt a wave of happiness wash over him followed by a terrible sadness that almost took his breath away.
"You want to be with me? " He asked brokenly.
Naruto shyly nodded, not noticing his distress, still avoiding his gaze.
"Yeah, I mean I have always liked you and I love your hair and you are so kind and nice. You even smell nice and.." she trailed off cutely shifting from foot to foot. Gaara absently noted how they both had stood up in the middle of their discussion. It was heart-breaking really. He would have loved to be with her for as long as they were alive, but now, they will both die. The only future they had together now, was death. So, Gaara said what he would have before the war, before all the destruction.
"Then I will wait for you to be the Hokage as soon as possible," he said lifting her chin and making her look at him. "I want you to be the strongest Shinobi the world has ever seen. Understand? Then when this is all over let's be together, okay?" He asked softly, his eyes boring into hers. Who knows, maybe they will be together in the afterlife?
Naruto nodded happily. " I promise Gaara. Just, wait for me," she smiled. Gaara smiled sadly and pulled her into an embrace before his consciousness faded away. The feel of her arms around him remained even after he opened his eyes in front of a sober and guilty-looking Hagoromo. Her promise still ringing in his ears and his eyes flooding with tears.
"You broke your promise love," he muttered looking up at the universes. Soon he lost his consciousness. Gaara smiled as the blankness covered his senses, he must be dying.
Finally, he thought.
Nothing to regret anymore. He only hoped to see her on the other side, one last time.
A/N: Please don't flame me and please don't hate me *hides behind Captain America's Shield*.
Also, thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews. I love you all. R&R guys.
