I don't own Naruto, but it means a lot to me.


She's been fixing idiots for so long, she feels foolish when she doesn't even notice her own health slip. It's not drastic and, mercifully, it's not as slow as her mentor.

Neither slow nor fast, the decline still comes. Her hours start to shrink, and yet she still feels more tired at the days go on. By now, she's long retired from her post as chief medical officer. One of the great things about peace time was her pupils could actually survive to supplant her in retirement, and not just in the chaos and fog of her mangled body on the battlefield. The ninja world was not kind to all, but there are more than a few candidates for chief of medicine by the time the board forces her out. They're not as good, of course, but that's their problem.

They should have just had more idiots in their lives.

Retirement is...strange. It doesn't feel right, doesn't sit well in her bones. Sarada, ever the diligent and thoughtful daughter, buys her a small cottage in the Nara forest as a home to unwind and try and get away from it all. An impossible place to build in, normally, but funny how being the daughter-in-law to the reigning Hokage as well as his heir apparent opened doors for the girl. It's a quaint, one bedroom house, but it's quiet. The city has grown like a weed, but Sakura can't see even the tallest skyscraper from the towering trees of the forest.

Sasuke would have loved it. It's the best gift her daughter ever gives her.

No amount of serenity, however, can take away the small weight that builds in her heart as the years pass on. Retirement from the force does nothing to change her annual checkups, but there are noticeably fewer spots than there used to be. Kiba is the first, passing proud and accomplished by his 75th birthday, and his schedule remains in her calendar even if the day is spent in silence. Then Shino's joins it, and then Ino. TenTen, Chouji. Shikamaru and his wife pass on within a week of each other, Temari likely unwilling to let her husband do something so foolish as lazily wait around before moving to the afterlife. It's a miracle that each passing is peaceful and healthy,

Her own husband passes without a word in his sleep. Sasuke Uchiha becomes one of the very few Uchiha to spend their final days surrounded by friends and family, and the joy it brings his heart makes her own swell. Friends and allies, children and grandchildren flood the Uchiha home.

"Itachi…" He tells her, quiet as they rest in chairs in the courtyard. Blond and raven haired children giggle and squeal as they're chased by an equally giggly Uzumaki grandfather. Sakura isn't sure she's ever felt more at peace.

"He would have loved this." She answers. Sasuke doesn't respond, but there's a shimmer in his eyes as he nods in agreement.

Sasuke Uchiha dies on October 1st, and the funeral is small but peaceful. It's a wonderful service, people say. Sakura only nods. Tears are shed, but not by her. Her heart is empty in ways she can't fully articulate, but the passing of her husband doesn't fill that hole with sadness. Sasuke Uchiha's life was a long and winding journey, but it ended in a better place than he could ever have convinced himself he deserved. Only she and Naruto knew the truth, but there was no cause to mourn.

The funeral party departs back to their lives, and Uchiha Sakura makes a slow walk back to her home in the woods. When she arrives, she can't fight a small smile as she finds Naruto sitting on her front porch.

"Take the long way?" He asks. She nods.

"Always in a rush." She chastises. "You should relax."

He smiles and laughs as he rises to his feet, extending her a hand.

"You ready?" He asks. Sakura inhales, the light coolness of pre-fall air feels hot in her lungs. She doesn't speak but gives a resolute nod. Without a word, the two set off, arm in arm back down the road.

In another hour, they stop again. The dull grey of the memorial stone shimmers in the afternoon light, and the two are dwarfed by the stone's size. Naruto approaches the stone without a word, his hand instinctively finding a single name and stroking across the grooves.

It's October 1st. The fifteenth anniversary of Uzumaki Hinata's passing.

"That bastard." Naruto says, a whisper like wind over placid water. "Getting to see my Hinata before I get to."

Sakura is behind him in a moment, her hand slipping into his and squeezing tight. Her skin is wrinkled, now, but his skin is smooth as ever and his grip is strong.

"Dramatic." She says. "Both of them are enjoying this coincidence."

Naruto laughs, and it almost lightens the weight she feels pushing down against her chest.

"No doubt." He replies. "No doubt they are." Slow, reluctant, his hand drifts down from the statue and its inscription to face his teammate.

"Are you ready?"

Sakura doesn't even know how to begin with that question, but nods, none the less. Naruto smiles in understanding, and there's a sudden rush of chakra. A ball, tangible and swirling like a typhoon grows in his hand. The familiar hum of condensed chakra fills the area as the ball swirls and surges inside of his palm. Naruto narrows his eyes, and the ball deflates from the size of a water ballon to a needle point. Her vision isn't what it used to be, and Sakura has trouble seeing the new dimensions. The rush of wind and power still hum against her skin.

Naruto's hand is steady and trained, a lifetime of war and discipline proving ample guides for masonry work. In moments, the small ball of energy crackles against the face of the memorial stone. Delicate and gentle, adjectives almost completely alien to the boy, his hand dances until the smooth face is replaced by a new addition.

Uchiha Sasuke's name is added to the memorial stone. Beside Jiraiya of the Sannin. Senju Tsunade. Hatake Kakashi. Legends of a time more myth and history.

There are two blank spaces between it and Uzumaki Hinata. It's right under Itachi's.

Sakura can't hold back her emotions anymore, a trickle of tears becoming a torrent as more than fifty years of marriage and love come spilling out in an ache that just hurts and hurts and a loneliness that she hadn't felt in all those decades. Naruto is hugging her in seconds, his own tears and sobs shaking his chest. A husband, a brother. A lifetime now passing from their world into the next, but painfully leaving them behind. They stay that way until long after the sun sets, amber rays giving way to a still and quiet twilight. Sakura is tired, the emotions of the day aching on old and failing bones, and Naruto escorts her home in silence. Their final hug comes with a kiss on her forehead, but no words. They don't need any. The last she sees of Naruto that day, he's walking off into the woods on his own. She doesn't have the energy to keep up, and she falls asleep hoping he finds rest, soon.

Eight years pass, and then its her turn. Age and exhaustion turn to frailty, and Sarada makes arrangements for her mother to have care brought to her home when she no longer has the strength to leave. Naruto volunteers for the task almost immediately. He's by her bedside night and day, chatting when she has the strength and idly preparing meals or cleaning the house when she dozes off. The last time she could make the trip to the stone, he had carried her the whole way. They talk about memories — mostly Naruto being an idiot and bringing the whole shinobi world along for his ride. They talk about regrets, about friends and family and love and loss. They do it for nearly eight months.

"Idiot." She says. Naruto raises a vague eyebrow with a smirk, but the expression fades when their eyes meet. A lifetime of understanding pass in a moment, and Naruto nods.

"Alright." He says, clearing his throat and eyes steeling. "When should I get everyone."

"Not today." She answers, and she feels so tired. "But this week."

Naruto nods, his lips drawn into a thin, grave line.

"I have a checkup tomorrow. Will that…" his voice pauses, physically unable to bring himself to complete the sentence. The implicit 'will that be soon enough' — as though expressing the deadline would hasten its coming. Sakura only smiles, nodding deeply as her eyelids droop.

"I'll be ready." She answers. "To hear all about it."

The next evening is a blur. There's so many friends and family in her tiny cottage, they've opened the doors and windows just to let people in. She tries to be present, to be there and awake and with her people, but there's a kind of tired in her bones that's lulling her to sleep like she's never felt before. Encroaching, moving forward. It takes all of her energy and focus to fight it. She's got to stay awake. Got to wait for…"

"Sakura-chan!" Comes a voice, and there's a shuffling in the cottages. Family parts like the sea as the hero of the shinobi world surges forward, panting as he kneels by her bedside.

"Naruto." She says, the first words in hours. Though they're surrounded by blurs of faces, blonde hair and whiskers light up her vision. "And?" She asks.

Naruto opens his mouth to answer, but his first attempt at words just results in a wet, choked sob. His hands come to her bed and lace between her brittle fingers as tears pour across his face.

"Kidney failure." He sobs. "They're…they and my heart are atrophying, and they think they can't stop it and…and…"

For a moment, Sakura wonders what the rest of the room, silent bystanders to the exchange, must think of the declaration. Their children were the only ones aware of the full extent of Naruto's path, and the confusion of the gathered only grows when there are three audible gasps. Uzumaki Boruto, ANBU head and strategic commander for the city of Konoha collapses to his knees as a torrent of tears wrack his body. His sister, Hirawami, clings to the acting Hokage Uchiha Sarada, their hands gripping into each other as laughs and tears flow forth without restraint.

"They think," Naruto continues, his head falling and pressing against the fading warmth in her hand. "They think it's finally happening. The beetles are adjusting and increasing their compatibility and…and…"

He's blathering and sobbing and acting more like the child she remembers than in almost half a century.

"They think it's going to be soon."

Using the last of her strength, she pushes her hands out, letting her fingers wrap gently around wet and whispered cheeks with a smile.

"Good." She says. "That's good."

She doesn't have the strength to join in his tears of joy, a vague tugging at her soul making her vision sway. His grip tightens as her fingers start to give, and it takes all of the strength she has left to usher him closer to her.

"Fixing you idiots..." Sakura smiles, her grip on the blond's fading. Naruto is wrecked, of course, but that doesn't stop Sakura's smile. Last time one of them had been dying, it'd been her crying as Naruto just smiled that stupid grin. It was nice to change that script.

"Fixing you idiots was how I fixed me."

The words leave her lips, and then the air never fills her lungs, again. Uchiha Sakura passes. Her hand slumps, and Naruto carries it all the way down till it rests across her chest. Her final smile, a gift to the annoying little boy who changed the world, is etched across her face. She never hears the tears of her loved ones as she passes, but as the final bits of light escaped her vision, she didn't think she'd ever felt so filled.


I hope you liked this story. It feels so good to finally be putting this out. If you like my other stories, you should know that I have whole chapters finished of them, and this story has been the spark that's pushed me forward. Particularly for Thunderclap and Hindsight.

I hope you and your loved ones are safe and happy. Thank you for reading.

- Free Drinks