Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 54: Innocent Life

She walked to the ruins of the Uchiha hideout where she saw a collapsed Sasuke with his back leaned against the wall. He was seemingly unconscious. Meanwhile, Itachi was at his feet, face down. Her eyes had ran out of tears at that point. The drawn out battle had finally come to an end with no real winners. Perhaps, it was Itachi who had truly won since he was finally liberated from this miserable life he led. Yuki kneeled down by his body and pushed the hair away from his face. She wanted to see it one last time saying goodbye forever. The rain was pouring at this point, washing off the blood on his face. He was smiling though. Through his death, he managed to protect what was most precious to him. It wasn't just for Sasuke that he sacrificed himself, it was for the village that had now branded him as a criminal. None of that was of any importance to him now. He was free and his face showed it. Yuki smiled at that sight. He was happy in the end. It was that mattered to Yuki too. She knew how much the last few years have crushed his soul. This was the day he had been waiting for.

"You did well." She murmured as she stood up.

She turned towards Sasuke who was still seemingly unconscious. She quickly glanced at his wounds. He was lucky he fought against an Itachi who had no intention to kill. They were mostly external injuries. She could have healed the injuries, but she chose not to. He would live either way. As she began walking away, she was stopped by Sasuke's voice asking:

"Why are you here?"

She did not reply and kept walking. Before she could make it any further, she was stopped by a masked man wearing the Akatsukis' cloak. She assumed he must had been Madara. Instinctively, she flashed herself away from the scene, choosing to not intervene like Itachi had asked her. She assumed Itachi wanted Madara to implant his eyes into Sasuke, therefore allowing Sasuke to become stronger and to be an aid to Konoha. She had to let that be despite hating the idea. She landed by Kakashi's side who, along with Team 8 and his own team, were on the hunt for Sasuke. Seeing the look on her face, Kakashi had pieced together most of the information he needed. Naruto didn't quite understand what was going on. He still believed he had time to get to Sasuke. As he tried to rush forward, Yuki put her hand onto his shoulder as she shook her head.

"It's over now."

"Sasuke…"

"He's fine."

"Then, he's coming back?" Naruto asked as his face brightened up.

"I don't know. He'll have to make that decision eventually. Just not now."

"Let me go talk to him, then."

"He's already gone."

Naruto pushed her away as he went anyway. Kakashi went after him in case something happened. The others followed as Yuki stood there, refusing to go back there where she had already bid her farewell. Seeing him dead once was enough. She didn't need to rub salt onto her wound one more time. Sai had stayed back as it meant nothing to him to chase after someone who had already left. He came in to give her a hug to comfort her, but she took a few steps back and away from him.

"If anybody asks, tell them I'm already back in the village." She said as she flashed herself back to Konohagakure.

She made it to the gate of the village. There were a few crows flying around. They reminded her of him. They cried out as if they were mourning for his death. She chose to ignore them. She headed straight to Tsunade's office. She knocked on the door this time and waited for permission to enter. Her eyes looked straight ahead, but they weren't really looking at anything. Shizune finally opened the door and told her to come in. Yuki stepped in. The mood in the room was just as somber as she was. Tsunade's chair was turned towards the window.

"You've mastered it?" She asked without turning around.

"Yes."

"Jiraiya… He would have been proud."

"Would have been...?" Yuki began asking as she began to fear the answer Tsunade was about to give her.

Tsunade turned around. Her eyes were bloodshot. She didn't say anything for a bit. Then, tears began rolling down as her lips trembled. What Yuki feared was true. Yuki, who thought she could no longer cry, began tearing up. She looked down to floor as she clenched her fists again. Tsunade stood up and walked over to her and gave her a tight hug as both of them cried. It was too much. This war Itachi talked about had already taken too many lives before even starting. She had had it already. She hated the fact that people kept losing everything that they cherished because of war, a war that had no purpose. As Tsunade managed to compose herself a little better, she let go of Yuki who had remained in the same position the whole entire time.

"What happened?" Yuki managed to ask.

"He went to Amegakure to figure out the Akatsukis' plan and, if possible, take down the organization. He met with their leader…"

"Madara?" Yuki asked.

"Madara?" Tsunade repeated.

"He's the real leader of the Akatsukis." Yuki told her.

"That's news to me. I was told his name was Pain and that he possessed the Rinnegan. There are 6 of them. Each of them has a different power. Ultimately, Jiraiya…"

Yuki nodded as to let Tsunade know she didn't have to say anymore. This whole thing was a lot more complicated than they had anticipated to be. She now understood the importance of becoming stronger for the sake of the village.

"He also left us a code on Fukasaku's back to decipher. It had something to do with Pain's secret." Tsunade told her. "We gave it to Inoichi and the decipher team. If you have time, stop by to assist them if possible."

"I understand. What about his body?"

"It wasn't recovered. Fukusaku barely made it back alive here."

"I see." Yuki simply said as she opened the door to leave.

"Yuki, wait!" Shizune called her. "What about Madara? Where did you…"

"I was told he was the one who actually planned this whole stealing the tailed beast business. As to why, I think we can all assume that he would use them eventually against us thanks to his sharingan. Ah, yes, he's alive." Yuki said quickly as she closed the door behind her not wanting to talk about at the moment.

She leaned against the door for a bit as she heard Tsunade breaking down once again inside the office. While she felt sorry for herself, she realized that she was already much luckier than Tsunade. Tsunade truly lost everybody by her side. The only person she had left was Shizune. That wasn't enough. Yuki knew that well. One person was never enough to substitute all the lives that were lost. She bit down her lip as she silently cursed Madara for starting this whole thing. She truly had had it with fighting, but it wasn't over yet. She knew that well.

She headed over to the deciphering team's headquarter. There, she ran into Shikamaru before she could make it pass the entrance door. She didn't just run into him, she actually crashed into him. He didn't complain. He figured she would be affected by the news of Jiraiya's death. However, he wasn't aware that she was already distraught by Itachi's death. Adding both news in one day onto her mind was indeed too much.

"They are working in there right now. You don't have to help out. There's plenty of people in there already. Go home. Rest. Once Naruto gets home, we'll be busy again."

"It will crush him." She said. "He was like a father to him."

"You really are bad at handling deaths. It's probably the only you are bad at."

Yuki couldn't even smile at that comment. He noticed. He suggested for them to walk around a bit to help her clear out her mind. She agreed to it as she wanted to be alone, but knew it was best for her to have someone to accompany her.

They walked side by side silently. She couldn't really see what was going on around her. She just kept walking. She wasn't really thinking about anything. She just walked. She was just focusing on walking. Shikamaru was bothered by her current mood. He sighed a few times to see if she would notice, but she didn't. They made it by the Academy. Little kids who dreamed of becoming a shinobi were running around, unaware of the danger that was lurking outside those walls.

"I really want to protect their innocence." Shikamaru said. "Do you remember a time when we could be so carefree?"

"Not really. I can't recall a time where I truly acted like a child." She replied as she looked at the kids playing with each other in the yard of the Academy.

"I used to create so much trouble with Naruto and the others here. We were so innocent. We never thought about the consequences are anything. Heh, that was the life. The only thing I was worried about was getting yelled at by my mom. I would have so much fun and then fear what was waiting for me at home. I guess that's not really possible now. Going home is actually less troublesome then leaving it now."

"I wished I experienced that too." She said.

She wasn't speaking on her behalf only. She meant it for Itachi as well as she knew how he carried everything on his back since a young age. The burden of the Uchiha clan and of Konohagakure was always present in his life. She wished he had the chance to be an innocent child. She wished he had the chance to have no worries. He had to wait until his death to experience that. At that moment, a ball rolled out of the Academy and a kid came out running after it. Yuki picked it up and handed it to the kid.

"Thank you!" The kid said cheerfully. "Do you want play with us?"

She smiled softly and declined, stating that she was busy. The kid smiled back and ran back into the yard. They were so carefree and unafraid of strangers. She, like Shikamaru, wished they could give them such a world where they could remain kids for a long period of time.

"You finally smiled." He said. "He only had to say thank you. I really wasted my words with you."

She walked ahead, keeping the smile on her face. He followed her. She then stopped walking and he bumped into her.

"Why did you…" He began asking her.

"Naruto's back in the village." She said as she sensed his chakra.

"He's probably going to hear about it soon." Shikamaru then said as he looked towards the village's gate. "Things are about to get troublesome from here on."

End of Chapter 54

Thank you for reading this chapter!

Hope you are enjoying it so far!

xox

Krystal