. D I s c l a I m e r . : I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto-san does.
. W a r n I n g . : SasuNaru if you look for it. Grammar errors. OOC-ness. Character death.
Italicized: past
Normal: present
"It's getting worse!!!! The heartbeat is weakening, blood is flowing out ceaselessly, and the seal is definitely getting worse!!!" a female medic nin in a bloody white uniform cried desperately, dabbing furiously away at the blood gushing out from the stomach wound with a bloody towel, where the audible seal flared with a steady glow.
"Temperature dropping!" another medic nin by the temperature measuring machine yelled over the chaos that was ensuing inside the surgery room while he draped a complicated looking scroll over the bloody form's head, "Lips going blue!! Shivering worsening!! This is bad!!!! At this rate, he's surely going to die of blood and chakra loss or system failure!!!"
"Hokage-sama, please give us your instruction!!!" a pink haired teen yelled, tears streaming down her face continuously, "I can't let him die like this!!!!"
A grave looking blonde woman who looked of age 20 glanced over at the body, watching with an unreadable expression while the medic nins rushed around, trying to cease the blood flow or watching over the machines for their patient's reaction. She growled out with frustration as her forehead creased in deep thought, even though her insides were churning uncomfortably with uncontrollable nervousness. She pulled the right eyelid up, unmoving as it revealed a red pupil, caused by the immense amount of chakra flowing out of the body that activated his ability.
"Shit!!! The chakra is now turning red!!!!" a short black haired kunoichi bit out in pain when the seal flared up with a dangerous glow, letting out enormous amount of red chakra that burnt her hand, "The seal is going out of control!!! I can't push it down now!!! It's too powerful!!! Tsunade-sama!! Please think of something quick!! Or surely he's going to die in anyway possible!!!"
"Hokage-sama!!! The patient's system started to shut down!!! Livers and the large intestine are now not functioning!!!"
"The chakra flow is now rotating out of control!!! His body is letting out all the chakra it contains!!! The chakra vessels are now thinning out!!!"
"Hokage-sama!!!"
"Tsunade-sama!!!! What should we do??"
"Hokage-sama!!!!"
The woman smiled sadly, shaking her head with defeat as she let go of the eyelid, "We do nothing."
"Wha-?"
"Tsunade-sama!!! Surely there's something we could do to save him!!!!!"
"Our job here is done," the woman replied, sad smile not leaving her beautiful and young face, "We can't do anything to save him. Nothing could be done for him. He'll-….He'll…have to die. I'm sorry everyone. Nothing could save him now."
"That…That can't be!!!!!" the almost hysteric scream of the pink haired girl rang out through the surgery room, echoing through the hospital.
With a frustrated growl, he slammed down the annoying alarm clock, watching as it flew up to the ceiling and crashed down on the ground, the parts and pieces flying everywhere. He glared, eyes narrowing to slits as he glared daggers at the immobile pieces of the remaining alarm clock. Then he slipped out of the bed, feet touching the cold floor as he used the bed side table to fully stand up and stretch.
It was another sunny day in Konoha.
He took longer than necessary to dress into his jounin uniform after he took a shower and brushed his teeth. As usual, he tried to avoid looking into the mirror. He stepped into the kitchen to parade around the cabinets and the refrigerator, finding absolutely nothing edible inside the refrigerator. He ate the miso ramen that was inside the cabinet. He was craving ramen; he might as well as finish this one and shop for new box. Actually, he craved ramen all the time, but he guessed it was pretty much normal for this body.
"Itadakimasu," he muttered to the empty room before he leaned down slightly to consume his noodles.
After the usual silent breakfast, he slipped on his sandals and walked out, locking the door on the way. Kids glanced at him weirdly when he emerged from the house, but adults were used to it now. After all, it's been 3 years ever since 'he' started to live in a house that was not his own. But nobody questioned him, since he was gaining trust from the ninja society unlike his last 4 years. It had been difficult for him, but who was he to complain. It was almost like this for his whole entire life time anyway.
Blonde hair poking out from the crowd, the 18 year old teen silently headed over to the Hokage building, where he would receive his new mission.
-
Two anbu guards nodded to him in greeting when he 'poof'-ed in with his infamous jutsu, not at all surprised.
"Hokage-sama should be inside the office," one of them gestured with a jerk of his chin toward the closed office door, "That is, unless she's ditching her works again and is gambling in some other place. But I highly doubt it. Shizune-san is keeping her company to make sure that she wouldn't escape in any way possible."
Mumbling a small 'thank you,' the blonde haired teen walked away from them steadily, ignoring the whispers he heard behind him. Stereotype was not such a rare thing seen at the Konoha after all. Especially when the target of that was him himself, that is. People loved to talk shit about him behind his back when he wasn't looking. Not that he cared. He was used to it now.
When he opened the door, he found the said blonde haired woman gazing outside the window, her chin propped up and her eyes distant. He knew those glazed eyes that were filled with so much regret that it made her look even sad and tired. He knew that frown creasing her forehead, the position of her hands, and what she was imagining. He instantly was able to tell what she was thinking about. She was thinking about the incident that happened 3 years ago…
"Hokage-sama," he murmured quietly, watching the woman jump in surprise and blink at him with evident confusion. But as soon as she recognized his face she turned away, guilt and regrets evident in her expression. Even though 3 years went by, she still wasn't able to look into his face without letting the expression show. That meant that she was still deciding upon whether she should regret her actions or not. After all, it was the same. They lost something but in return, they saved something just as equal value as the lost one.
"It's you," she muttered, soft but still audible to his ears, "I wasn't really aware of my surroundings. It is that day after all."
He knew that it was that day very well. He was part of it three years ago. "You mean that the memories from three years ago will haunt you today," he replied, even though she didn't ask anything. His iris that was the color of the summer sky three years ago was now the deep color of the ocean. "I am aware of that, Hokage-sama."
The woman looked down at her well polished cherry oak desk, still unable to look into his eyes and the unfamiliar blank expression on the face she knew so well. Instead of replying to his statement, she changed the topic. "Will you be visiting his grave today?"
He nodded, before realizing that she couldn't, no, refused to see him. "Yes, after I'm done with my mission. I scheduled it with Sakura."
"Good," she reached out a hand to take out a yellow envelope from the Cabinet B, "I'm glad that you are still remembering him. You knew him so well, after all." The blonde haired woman who looked like she was around 20 gave him a watery smile, a lone tear already making its way down her smooth cheek. She wiped it hastily and handed him the envelope, going back to her business mode. "You will be having a B rank mission today with another group of shinobi. Sakura will be one of them."
Letting a light grateful smile drift onto his face, the bright blonde haired teen bowed to her and 'poof'-ed out, only leaving a cloud of dust in the place he stood a moment ago. Tsunade only watched his ministrations with a small smile. She was glad that she saw something familiar on the face she used to know so well three years ago. It took a while to get used to that unfamiliar blank expression on the teen's face, but she never got over the fact that she probably will never see that idiotic grin she hoped for. The teen was like her little brother after all.
But things changed, and this was one of them.
-
"Hey!!!!!" the blonde haired teen turned around, watching as a blur of pink, black, and green rushed toward him to catch up with him. A pair of familiar sparkling green eyes came into his sight range within few seconds.
"Sakura," he grinned just barely, big and rough hand raised to ruffle that short pink hair. She was like his younger sister, except that she was same age as him. "You are heading to the meeting place, aren't you," he quietly said, amused at the pout she shot at him.
Sakura was now going out with Lee, loving every moment with him since Lee was so appreciative unlike her first crush. They had been steady for 2 years and 10 months to be exact. Their relationship began when Sakura was so broken down about the incident that happened 3 years ago exactly from today. Lee took the time to comfort her, just like how Sakura comforted him when he was broken down after his fight with Gaara at the chuunin exam.
The pink haired girl gingerly fingered her now mussed up hair, huffing angrily. "Mou, you didn't have to mess up my hair, you know!! I wanted to look nice for him!!! For this occasion at least!!! Don't forget that we're visiting his grave today!"
"Oh ho, so you wanted to look nice for him?" the blonde haired teen teased, a light fond smile on his face, "Just wait till Lee hears about this."
Sakura gasped dramatically, even though she knew that he was kidding. "Oh no you're not!!!"
"Oh yes I will!!!" he chuckled, giving Sakura a playful bop on her head. Even though he set strong walls around him for a while even though he did even before that, he managed to lighten up a little bit with Sakura. She used to be his teammate after all… She was like his little sister and a friend, even though he'd never admit it out. She was one of the only things left for him to live for…
For a while they laughed aloud, walking side by side but not closely. As they were heading toward the entrance of the village, they came across a familiar red bridge. The blonde teen suddenly faltered from his steady walk, eventually stopping in the middle of the bridge. He looked around his surroundings, taking in the plentiful amount of trees growing around the river that flowed right under the bridge.
They knew this bridge very well.
Sakura took a moment to lean against the side, looking down at the river as a silvery fish flew up, creating a momentum of rainbow before disappearing into the water with a loud splash. She silently watched as the memories of her childhood and preteen-hood flooded back to her mind in a wave. The loudmouth blonde haired boy they knew…the obsessive fan girl Sakura…the perverted teacher Kakashi…and… Her fists clenched slightly at her side as she glanced over to the blank faced blonde teen, who was staring into the sky as if he was in a trance. And…the antisocial bastard Sasuke, as Naruto would call it…
She couldn't tell what was on the boy's mind, but she didn't bother to ask him. One day, when he's finally ready, he'd tell her, tell her about what was going on with him during that time. One day, he'd tell her that he'd live for himself and not for the other boy or the people around him. One day, just one day, maybe they would escape from their regrets and guilt, not being held back, but to just walk on forward, just like how he wanted it to be when he made that decision 3 years ago.
"Let's now head over to the village gate to meet up with others for the mission, neh, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura brightly smiled, grabbing the golden haired boy's tanned wrist to drag him away from the bridge that was filled with so many memories. That bridge where it all started their relationship with each other, that bridge where each of them started to learn about each other.
That memory filled bridge where they'd almost see a grinning blonde boy rushing forward to chirp out a greeting to an irritated looking pink haired girl who's clinging to a dark haired boy, who'd be most of the time silent or fighting with the other boy. That bridge where a silver haired man would be wearing a perverted grin while reading his favorite book.
When the teen withdrew his hand from her grasp to walk forward on his own instead of being dragged, the pink haired girl trudged behind him slowly, looking up into the sky, into the familiar pool of the boy's eyes that didn't belong to his own body anymore. Sakura let a small sad smile grace her lips. Just for today, only today, she'd feel so useless, so regretful. She'd regret it so much that she'd constantly beat herself over with the fact that she couldn't do anything when that happened. She'd constantly pummel herself down with the thought that she couldn't even protect the life of her friend.
"Tsunade no baa-chan!!!" a familiar voice yelled, causing the others to turn around, "How's Sasuke??!!!"
A teen with spiky blonde hair plastered to his face stared back at her, focusing on her grimly as he panted. He was wearing that chuunin/jounin uniform, even though the clothes were all torn and tattered, covered with dusts and blood. Blood gushed out from the deep wound in his stomach, even though it was starting to close up. The eyes with the color of clear summer sky burned intensely, a hint of red seeping into the blue depths.
The blonde haired woman turned to him, a sad smile on her face, "His body is shutting down," she quietly murmured, watching that whiskered face turn pale with horror, "He's going to die, Naruto. We can't do anything about it. His wounds are too severe… Also, the seal is out of control and that is thinning out all of his chakra vessels. We can't anything to save him…" Tsunade patted Naruto's sweaty hair like a sister would do to her younger brother. "I know that you knew him so well… I know that you're his best friend, but there's nothing we could do for Sasuke now…"
The blonde haired boy silently turned his blue eyes to the bloody form on the bed, watching as the heartbeat monitor slowed down, watching as the temperature monitor turned blue, and watching as the seals spreading across his body flare up with intense burst of red chakra. He watched as the dark haired boy's breaths became shallower, and watched as the blood seeped out from his wound underneath all those bandages wrapped around his body.
Naruto personally knew what happened. He was there when it happened. Jiraiya managed to pull out Orochimaru's soul from Sasuke's body after Orochimaru's soul merged with Sasuke's body just as Naruto thought that it was all over. It was like pulling out a great source of chakra from the dark haired boy's body, thus leaving him in a critical condition since Orochimaru was wounded severely by Jiraiya. When the owner died, the cursed seal of heaven started to lose its control, and the sudden burst of chakra around the internal organs damaged Sasuke's system critically, thus shutting down as Naruto thought about it.
"Old hag," Naruto spoke slowly, careful on his choice of words, "I know a way to help Sasuke's condition. But you have to promise me that you'll do whatever I tell you to do right now after I give you the instructions, okay?"
Tsunade nodded, not trusting herself to speak at that moment.
"Good," Naruto grinned with relief despite the situation they were in, "I'll trust you to do this, baa-chan."
Sakura watched Naruto and Tsunade quietly, tears still streaming down her face continuously and slowly, still hovering beside Sasuke's bloody form on the bed. She never felt so helpless before. She never felt so defeated. She hated herself for not being able to do anything in a moment like this.
The blonde haired teen opened his mouth, his blue eyes piercing Tsunade's brown ones, "I want you…to extract my soul from my body and switch it with Sasuke's by using Koukan no Jutsu," he spoke carefully, watching as Tsunade's eyes widened, watching as her face went pale with cold harsh realization, "So that way, Sasuke could live in my body."
"I refuse to do that!!!" Tsunade blurted out, her face pale, "If I do that, you'll die!!! Sasuke's body is beyond repairing, regenerating, or healing!!! Even with the kyuubi's power attached to your soul, you won't be able to make it!!!" she screamed at the boy at the top of her lungs, "Koukan no Jutsu is a forbidden technique!!! You know that only one soul will survive that jutsu!! You do know that it only extracts most chakra from one of the souls to do the exchanging!!!"
"Exactly," Naruto smiled wistfully, "That's what I'm intending to do. I'd sacrifice myself to save Sasuke from death."
Sakura gasped, her green eyes widening as she looked up to watch the heated conversation exchanging between their Hokage and the kyuubi bearer.
"You don't have to do this, Naruto!!" Tsunade yelled, her blonde hair plastering to her wet cheeks, "You have dreams!! You have people who care and trust you!! Sasuke doesn't!! He doesn't have anything to live for right now!! He's done too much to damage this village!!! You know that!!!!"
"That's exactly why I'm doing this, baa-chan," Naruto replied quietly to her yelling, "I want him to live…for people around him. I want him to know that I'm his friend," Naruto's blue eyes lowered to the ground, "I want him to have dreams instead of ambitions. I want him to have another go at his life, you know. I want him to live for himself for once instead of chasing after revenge. I want him to realize that this world is breathtakingly beautiful."
Tsunade watched with despair, tears making their way down her face, knowing that she could never win against the blonde haired boy who was dear to her, who was like her little brother.
"Tsunade no baa-chan," Naruto murmured, smiling brightly, "I want this to happen. This is my wish."
"Because this is my ninja way."
Everything seemed to stop.
Tsunade suddenly stumbled, but managed to stop her fall by leaning onto a counter next to her. She laughed weakly, smiling a watery smile and not bothering to stop the ceaseless flow of her tears. "I never was able to win against you, Naruto," she whispered shakily as she took out a scroll with her trembling hand, "You stubborn little brat. Konoha will never be the same after you're gone…" A brush made its way smoothly across the long piece of paper. "…I'll miss you brat. Jiraiya will too. He's healing as we're speaking."
"Glad to hear that," Naruto grinned, folding his arms behind his head, "I'll miss you too, old hag. Tell ero sennin that I'd forever haunt him if he ever tries to taint innocent little boys with his novels. And Sakura-chan," he turned to the trembling pink haired girl by the bed, who looked at him with tearful eyes, "Tell Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei that I'll miss them. Give my best wishes to my friends. And…" he smiled sincerely, blue eyes softening with care, "Tell Sasuke that I'll personally go kick his ass if he lives his life like shit in my body. And Sakura-chan…you open your eyes to your surroundings…and be happy, okay?" He landed a soft kiss against her pink hair, a brotherly gesture, just as Tsunade finished up with the scroll, trembling hands putting away the brush.
"Naruto…" the blonde haired woman looked at him with that tearful look, and he nodded.
Bye Kyuubi. I guess you had to meet such a horrible death caused by my stupidity after all… Naruto whispered against the red glow deep in his mind, chuckling lightly.
Brat, if that Uchiha kid lives a shitty life despite your sacrifice, I'll personally go kick your ass at the other side. He's just not worth my death. Another deep voice growled back at him.
Not if I go kick Sasuke's ass first! Naruto mentally stuck his tongue out at the nine-tailed fox, causing the fox to snarl at him.
"Koukan no Jutsu!!!!"
Spreading her pale fingers against the blue sky, Sakura softly whispered. "I hope you're happy now………Naruto."
Author's Notes:
Well… This is my first fanfiction I posted up in the Naruto fandom… (laughs nervously)
Kind of weird, but I feel satisfied with it… The idea just popped inside my head in the middle of the shower when I was thinking about what kind of angst material I'd write in Naruto…
The fastest one I did compared to my other works. (and I do mean all of them, including the work-in-progress ones)
I felt kind of…I don't know…angsty after I read Death Note. So this is the result…
Oh, and koukan of the Koukan no Jutsu means switch, as in exchange, not the light switch.