A/N: Here it is. The final chapter of Into The Abyss. Of course, the epilogue on Sunday to wrap it all up and mark this fic as fully completed, but this chapter will be the end point of the main plot, and the journey of each major character.

It'll be a healthy mix of wholesome and a bit sad across the board, for varying reasons. I hope you enjoy it

Not much else to say.

Time for the Finale

Enjoy!


Shikamaru breathed warm air into his palms as he and Haku ran toward the end of the uphill woods. The pain in his abdomen had subsided enough for him to feel comfortable running on his own, though convincing the huntress to let him do so had been more than a bit difficult. They had very nearly reached the Valley of the End, and the closer they drew to it, the more uneasy Shikamaru became. He knew with relative certainty that Naruto had pursued Satsuki into the canyon, given what little Gaara had let slip, but well within half a mile of the landmark, he could hear no commotion. It was completely silent.

"Can you sense anything?" he asked Haku, who was running at his side. The girl had been largely silent since their entrance into the second section of forest.

"No, but…" she said, trailing off without finishing. The Nara was unable to press further, as they emerged into the pale light of the early afternoon from the bland shadow of the trees. Stumbling to a stop just before the edge of a sudden drop off into the valley below, Shikamaru took a moment to collect himself. Once he was calm again, he peered down into the valley. What he saw was deflating on several levels.

Firstly, and most importantly, it was devoid of life. There wasn't a soul to be spoken of. It certainly explained the eerie silence. Second, and arguably more confusing, was the ravaged state of the valley itself. The statue of Madara Uchiha that stood on the opposite side of the trench was missing half of its face, and multiple large chunks of rock had been blown off the sides of the cliffs. The most telling oddity, far and away, was the enormous pyramid-esque structure of sand sitting within the body of water at the bottom of the valley. It was slowly melting away, with its shape just barely clinging to uniformity.

"What…happened here?" Shikamaru wondered aloud. The pyramid strongly suggested that Gaara had beaten them to the valley by a significant margin, but the Jinchuuriki himself was nowhere to be seen, nor could Shikamaru feel his off-putting presence. Haku soon joined him at the precipice.

"This place is empty. I'm sorry, but chances are, either Naruto is dead, or both of them are." she said as carefully as she could manage. Shikamaru's spirit sank. They had been too late. It had all been for nothing.

"How are you so sure?" he asked. Haku laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto would never go so far as to use lethal force. Not with her. We both know that. Satsuki, on the other hand…I'd be less surprised. And if she did, she's long gone by now. If she didn't, Gaara likely killed them both." she explained. Though, at first, Shikamaru took her hypothesis as the most probable scenario, just over a minute of thought ripped several holes in the huntress' analysis.

"Gaara's sand is still here, and it doesn't look all that animated. Don't you think that might mean he's dead too?" he theorized. Haku furrowed her brow.

"It could. What are you getting at?" she inquired. Shikamaru knelt down closer to the edge of the cliff to get a better look at the water below.

"They never could have beaten him. Not by themselves. And knowing Gaara, he'd never play possum for kicks." he began, gears rapidly turning in his head as he pieced together a coherent picture.

"If Gaara's dead, somebody else killed him. And, if I had to guess, Naruto and Satsuki bolted while that was happening." he said, now speaking more to himself than to Haku. The huntress frowned.

"Are you suggesting that Naruto left with her?" she asked. Shikamaru nodded and rose up to his feet again.

"If it meant keeping her alive, I think he'd do it. There's no way to know for sure, but Gaara couldn't have lost to them. It just doesn't add up." he said. Haku fiddled with the hilt of a kunai sticking out of her pouch.

"Where do you think they'd be heading?" she asked. Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders defeatedly.

"No clue. It could be anywhere. But something tells me it isn't Konoha, or anywhere near it." he said. When Haku gave him a skeptical look, the Nara elaborated.

"Naruto didn't take this mission to bring her home. He took it to keep her safe. That was all he cared about, right from the start. This was never about his job, the village, any of that. This was about her. I don't know what his thought process was, but it's in-character. He cares about people more than any set of laws or rules." he said. His calm words and articulation were nothing but a shield to hide how distraught and pained he felt.

"I suppose it does make sense. I noticed something odd about him a while back, too." Haku said thoughtfully, drawing Shikamaru's attention.

"When I fought alongside him against Gaara, I was struck by…just how much weaker he was than when we faced one another on the bridge. Not that he was weak, but he wasn't the same monster he was when he battered me. Not even close." the huntress recalled. She then smiled strangely.

"But now, hearing all of that, and putting it all together, I think I understand why. As far as he knew, I'd killed her. I'd taken Satsuki from him. Even when they didn't know each other particularly well, she was important, and she brought out the worst of his strength. Every step of the way, it's all been for her. How romantic." she mused. Shikamaru looked back out over the valley again. He was sure of it now. His teammates were alive, but they would not be returning home.

"They'll get eaten alive out there. They aren't ready." he said, his hands tightening into fists. Given control of the most important task of his young life, he had come up short. In a rare moment of lost self-control, Shikamaru let out a yell of raw frustration. Haku softly squeezed his arm again.

"You're going to freeze out here. We should get going, Shikamaru-kun." she said gently. Shikamaru pulled back against her at first, but quickly relented. There was nothing more to see. All further inspection would do was rub salt into the wound. With one last long look into the wind, Shikamaru turned around and began to walk back toward the forest. Haku was at his side within a few steps. She said nothing, but offered her hand, which the Chunin took hold of. He was in no mood for affection, but any support at all was welcome.

Sore and exhausted, Shikamaru set out to be the bearer of bad news.


Lee took a deep breath as he stood before the entrance of the motel. He had arrived back in Konoha several hours prior, after having been intercepted by a surprise group of Anbu members halfway through his trek back. Along with him came Neji and Shino, who had also been picked up by the backup cell, and were currently residing in the hospital. Lee himself had been discharged from the infirmary rather quickly, as his injuries were more nagging than truly detrimental. Now, after a brief return to his apartment to put on a new jumpsuit, he was in the midst of following through on a promise he had made.

He had never known Gaara of the Sand particularly well, nor had they been on friendly terms, but Lee valued integrity. The wishes of a man condemned by circumstance were more than important enough to ignore one's own personal feelings for. With one last pause, Lee pushed through the revolving door and stepped into the lobby. After a short journey to the receptionist's desk, he bowed politely.

"May I ask where I can find room 179?" he asked. The old woman behind the desk gestured to a simple hallway to the left of her desk.

"Take the first left you see, and then the next right. It should be the fourth door on the right after that." she explained. Lee nodded.

"Thank you, ma'am." he said. He then set out slowly, taking his time as he entered the hall and traversed the corridor. The hallway was rather narrow, with alternating doors on each side. The lighting was dim, with a drab carpet flooring and dull wallpaper to match. The nightly rate was almost certainly cheap, and for good reason. Coming to the first turn, Lee rounded the corner. More of the same. With little else to mull over, the genin's mind drifted back to the plains.

"There's still time."

"There aren't second chances for people like me. And even if there were, I wouldn't want one."

Gaara's demeanor had been rather strange right from the start. He had been utterly ice cold during their preliminary match. Not a shred of hesitation or empathy. Had his teacher not intervened, Lee was confident that the desert dweller would have killed him outright. But upon his arrival at the genin's aid, something had been off about him. The subtlest hitch in his usual brand of sadism. He had taken measures to kill Kimimaro without an extended fight, and all things considered, the death he dealt out to the henchman had likely been painless. An instantaneous annihilation. No torture, no drawn out beating.

He had still been brazen and heartless when compared to the average person, but by his own standards, Gaara had been thoughtful. He had even gone to the trouble of defending Lee when the fray had drawn too close to him. The conversation that had followed the battle had contextualized the redhead's strange behavior to an extent, but Lee still felt lost.

"You plan to die?"

"I'd be shocked if I didn't."

Selflessness was perhaps the last trait Lee would have attributed to Gaara, and there was a very real chance that it was a mistake to do so even now, but no matter the desert dweller's motivations, his acceptance of his impending demise spoke to the barest sliver of humility. Making the second turn, Lee scanned the hall, and found the door he was in search of. Jogging over to it, the genin came to a stop before knocking. He felt out of place. As though he was treading onto grounds he had no business being on.

'Suck it up.' he coached himself. Reaching out, Lee knocked on the door of room 179. The wait was incredibly short, as a short commotion within the motel room immediately broke out, followed by the door being pulled open. Standing on the other side was a woman of average height, with pure white hair, pale skin, and red eyes. She wore the flak jacket of Sunagakure. The look on her face transitioned between a number of emotions upon seeing Lee, starting with excitement, and ending with veiled disappointment.

"May I help you?" the woman asked. She sounded some combination of worn out and reticent. She knew what was coming.

"Are you Akane Morisaki?" Lee replied. The woman nodded with an expectant look. It took much of Lee's willpower to keep his eyes away from the floor.

"I have a message from Gaara. He told me to find you once I made it back home." he opened. Akane exhaled through her nose, her face becoming stoney.

"What did he say?" she asked blankly. Lee's nerve failed him, and he looked to the featureless brown carpet.

"He…wanted me to apologize on his behalf. For being unable to make it back to you." he said. From the corner of his eye, Lee saw Akane's face contort into visible grief. It vanished quickly.

"He's dead, isn't he?" she asked quietly. Lee nodded reluctantly. Akane audibly swallowed a lump in her throat. Looking her in the eyes again, Lee reached into his pocket.

"He also wanted me to thank you for your services, and…to give you this." he said, placing a small parcel wrapped in cloth in Akane's hand. He hadn't taken the liberty to study the small object, or to check what it was. To do so would have been disrespectful. Akane did not respond. She simply stood in melancholic silence as she grasped the object.

"That was all. I'll be going now." Lee said in a rushed tone, turning on his heel and beginning to speed down the hall. Before he could make it too far, Akane spoke.

"Did he die on his own terms?" she asked. Lee looked back over his shoulder. She was staring numbly ahead, as though she was trying to burn a hole in the wall with her eyes.

"It was his choice. He felt strongly about it." Lee confirmed. The ghost of a smile appeared on Akane's lips.

"Then I'm proud of him." she whispered. With Gaara's message delivered, and no way to properly contextualize the situation at hand, Lee kept his silence, and exited the motel in short order. Alone once more, Akane stood in the doorway with an empty chest. She was far from surprised. She had known something was different about this occasion compared to others. Her gut had told her well in advance that Gaara would not return. Yet, somehow, the foresight did not ease the pain.

Stepping back into the motel room she no longer had to share, Akane closed the door behind her. She felt hollow. There was only so much reverence one could hold for somebody as monstrous and cold as Gaara had often been, but Akane had pushed that limit to its very edge. She had lacked the stomach for outright affection, but in small moments, when the proverbial stars aligned, she had seen who he could have been. For all his many faults, down at his core, Gaara had been nothing but a boy. A boy with little. A boy with a rightful disdain for humanity. A boy who had stumbled down the wrong path. He was irredeemable, but heartbreakingly human all the same.

Making her way over to the dresser, the Jonin laid the small object Lee had given to her down and slowly unwrapped it. Freeing it from the cloth, Akane covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. Tears came streaming down her cheeks.

It was a small stone, with the symbol for love carved into its face.


The clock struck midnight as Shikamaru stared out beyond Konoha's northern gate. The longest day of his life was now over, both literally and figuratively. He, Haku, and two other members of the Anbu had arrived at Konoha's border four hours prior, having been beaten home by Neji, Shino, Choji, and Lee by another three hours. There had been no peace to be found within the walls of the Hidden Leaf. Only a whirlwind of debriefings, paperwork, and hospital visits. The mission had been officially ruled a failure.

Hiruzen had done the retrieval team a tremendous favor by choosing not to mark it down as such on their respective records, but they all still felt the weight of their near-miss. Even with the excuse of short-notice, and unexpected variables, the fact still remained that they had come up short. Satsuki was gone, and she had taken Naruto with her. Two extremely important Shinobi, the last of the Uchiha, and Konoha's only Jinchuuriki, gone with the wind. The political fallout would be nightmarish.

But, Shikamaru hardly cared for the broader implications of the pair's departure. He was now without his team, and by extension, without his closest friends. He had never been exceptionally close with either, a reality he now held a mountain of guilt for, but they had still been important to him. They had fought together, worked together, and laughed together. Comradery was a precious thing, and the Chunin had let it slip through his fingers. He had been too weak to overcome Tayuya, and too badly injured after the fact to outpace Gaara. The blame fell at his feet, and he knew it.

"Says something that I want a punishment this time." he muttered under his breath, shivering as a stiff breeze blew by him. The beginning of his career as a Ninja had been something of a disaster. Mistake after mistake, loss after loss. He had much to learn, and a lifetime of growing to do. He would not give up, but he would carry the weight of his failures on his back. As he fell deeper and deeper into self–pity, a shifting sound above his head caught his ears. Shikamaru cleared his thr oat.

"You can come out now." he called out to Haku, who he knew to be sitting atop the gate's arch. The huntress swung her legs over the side of the gate and hopped down, landing lightly at his side.

"Nice to know that you're paying attention." she commented, blinking a snowflake from her eye. Shikamaru kicked a pebble absently.

"Everything makes me flinch right now." he said. His nerves were far from settled. He was on high-alert, even though he had been safe for hours.

"You can relax. It's over now." Haku said. She was entirely correct, and the Nara hated that fact with a burning passion.

"I don't want it to be." he said. He couldn't help but feel the urge to run headlong into the forest before him. To find them both, and bring them home.

"You did what you could." the huntress said. Shikamaru listlessly walked to the side of the gate and leaned his weight onto his hands against it.

"And it wasn't enough. Never is, it feels like." he said deprecatingly. Haku allowed him the space, but shook her head.

"I don't think there's anything you could have done to change things." she said. The thought had occurred to the Chunin, but accepting it felt wrong. Like a surrender he was too proud to partake in.

"You don't know that." he countered. It was a pointless argument to have, but it kept the chase alive in Shikamaru's mind, if only subconsciously.

"What's the point in dwelling?" Haku asked. Shikamaru stared at the arch wordlessly. As with before, she was correct. Sighing heavily, the Chunin relaxed.

"I just…wish I could have gotten something right for once." he replied honestly. Haku gave him a bored look.

"You get plenty right. You just tend to focus on your slip-ups." she corrected. Shikamaru rubbed his eyelids, which were growing heavier by the minute.

"It's always the big stuff that goes wrong." he said dejectedly. Haku strolled across the gateway, stopped in front of him, and straightened his unzipped flak jacket.

"Then figure out why that is, and fix it." she said bluntly. Too tired to complain, Shikamaru tolerated her fiddling.

"You're not being very comforting." he grumbled. Haku ceased fixing his jacket and looked him in the eyes.

"I'll protect you, I'll support you, but I won't baby you." she said. Shikamaru opened his mouth to respond, but shut it again. He had minimal ground to stand on. Haku filled the silence herself.

"You did your job as best you could. You gave your heart to this. But the deck was stacked against you. Life will go on, with or without them." she said. Shikamaru's gaze fell to the dirt.

"I'm right back where I started. All alone again." he said. Haku then laid her hand on his cheek, turning his head back up again.

"You have me. Now and forever." she reminded him. Her tone was softer now, as was her expression.

"I still don't get it, even now." Shikamaru admitted. Haku let her hand slide from his face down to the side of his arm.

"I love you. Isn't that obvious?" she asked. At every stage, no matter the situation, the huntress always found a way to bring warmth. Even now, at perhaps his lowest point, she was lifting him up, inch by inch.

"Very. You've just never told me why." he answered. Haku sighed and stepped in closer to him.

"I know you like your solutions, but you're going to have to accept that life doesn't always have an explanation. I love you, and that's just the way it is. I haven't bothered to wonder why. I just do. I don't need a reason." she said, the slightest hint of exasperation in her voice. Shikamaru managed a dry chuckle.

"Might be for the best. You cut off a person's head for me. Hell of a valentine." he joked. Haku squeezed the arm she was gripping.

"And I'd do it again if I had to." she said seriously. Finally unable to keep up his moping, the Chunin smiled.

"I love you too, Haku." he said. The journey to acceptance of his own feelings as anything but a mistake had been a long one, but he could suppress them no longer. For all her oddities, the girl from the woods had a tight stranglehold on his heart. Haku returned the smile and circled her arms around the back of his neck. She then got up on her toes.

"Kiss me." she ordered. Shikamaru brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"Yes, ma'am."


"Quit moving. Let me clean it out."

"Then quit pressing on it."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he carefully rubbed the dirt out of a cut on Satsuki's gashed forehead. Dressing and disinfecting wounds was a slow, tedious, and unpleasant process, but unfortunately, one that could not be skipped. No matter how irritating the task was, Naruto's gratitude for the roof over their heads overrode any annoyance he may have felt. They had managed to cross into the Land of Iron just before sundown after an exhausting trek, and by sheer chance, they had stumbled across an inn.

"I feel bad for the staff. The sheets are gonna be full of blood." Naruto said as he and Satsuki took turns tending to one another. The Uchiha shrugged.

"It was either this or sleeping rough." she pointed out, leaning forward on the bed as she gently dabbed a cut on the bridge of Naruto's nose. The blonde flinched. The area was still sensitive, and his regeneration had yet to kick in. He had found its upper limits, it seemed.

"Yeah, true. But we already threatened them into letting us stay for free." he said. Satsuki wiped a stray trail of freshly-drawn blood from his face.

"They're probably used to it. This place isn't exactly cozy. I'm guessing it attracts criminals most of the time anyway." she said, pulling her hands back and folding them in her lap as Naruto took his turn.

"We really are crooks now, aren't we?" he pondered. The notion still felt surreal to him, even with hours to parse. Satsuki lightly gripped the sheets as Naruto pushed her bangs back to get at a deep cut in her hairline.

"You made the choice to tag along, so don't complain." she said. Naruto gave her a flick on the nose.

"It's worth the trouble. I've got you." he said. He needed nothing else. For all his surface-level discomfort, he wasn't unhappy.

"The only nice thing about the dried blood is that it hides the blush." Satsuki said humorously, patting her cheeks.

"I can still see it." Naruto said casually.

"I'm surprised. You're basically blind in one eye." the Uchiha shot back. Naruto grazed his fingers over his still-damaged pupil, squinting as he did so. The vision in it was still extremely limited. If it would heal at all still remained to be seen.

"That's on you." he said, though he hardly felt any ill-will toward the girl. Unfortunately, Satsuki took his words seriously.

"I'm sorry." she murmured, a guilty look taking over her features. In a way, the apology was warranted, but the Jinchuuriki wanted nothing more than to simply move on from the horrid events of the early afternoon.

"Look, there's no point in dwelling. We fought, and then we worked things out. That's what matters." he said dismissively. Satsuki gazed at him, a look of conflict written across her face.

"You're too forgiving. You know that, right?" she asked. It was a fair criticism, with caveats, but Naruto had learned to embrace the flaw.

"Probably, but holding onto things has never helped me." he said. Satsuki picked at a torn piece of her shirt.

"I'll try to learn from that." she said quietly. Naruto ruffled her disheveled black hair. It was a small step, but it was in the right direction.

"Glad to hear it." he said. The pair then lapsed into silence, working away at one another's wounds. It had been a minor miracle to find gauze and bandages beneath the sink of their room's small bathroom, and though the supplies were low in quality, they were better than nothing. The sentiment applied to their temporary abode in broader strokes as well. The room was small, with only a single queen-sized bed, and a small end table. The heating was middling at best, but a massive improvement over the snowy conditions outside.

As the minutes ticked themselves away, the number of uncovered cuts and burns on each teen dwindled as they provided amateur aid both ways. Eventually, with the pace of things winding down, Satsuki stopped altogether midway through bandaging one of Naruto's hands.

"What's up?" the blonde inquired curiously. Satsuki drummed her fingers on the bed.

"Do you…remember the promise we made? Back in the tower?" she asked. It took Naruto no time at all to recollect.

"That I'd try to love myself, and you'd stop blaming yourself?" he recalled. Satsuki nodded.

"That's the one." she said. Naruto set his hands out behind him and leaned back, reminiscing about the awkward memory.

"We blew that to hell, didn't we?" he laughed. In hindsight, the vow had been an impossibility. Neither of them had possessed the maturity nor been in the right circumstances to follow through on such an oath. Satsuki dragged her nails through a snag in her hair.

"We sure did." she agreed. If nothing else, there was comfort in the fact that both of them could acknowledge their failure without shame.

"We've still got time, so I'm not too worried. It'll all come around." the Jinchuuriki said confidently. The Uchiha quit twiddling her fingers.

"In the meantime, I want to make a different kind of promise." Satsuki said in response. Naruto tilted his head to one side quizzically.

"What do you have in mind?" he pressed . Suddenly looking quite shy, the girl's face gained color, a light shade of red collecting around her cheeks and ears.

"Do you remember what you asked me back then?" she asked. Once again, Naruto's memory served him well.

"If we were married?" he replied. Satsuki raised an eyebrow.

"That came out quick." she said. Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"I still laugh at how dumb it was sometimes." he said. Satsuki shook her head and scooted in, shortening the gap between them.

"It wasn't dumb. Your timing just wasn't great." she said. Unsure of what exactly she was getting at, the Jinchuuriki frowned.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Satsuki flexed her thumb, opening a small cut on its joint and sending a speck of blood trickling down into the crease of her palm.

"I wasn't sure what to make of you back then. I cared, but I didn't know why or how much. I've got a good handle on all of that now." she said. A realization hit Naruto in the back of the head.

"Are you…" he began, cutting himself off midway as Satsuki took hold of his hand and brought it up to her mouth. She then gently bit his thumb, drawing a speck of blood. Somehow, it was painless.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is…my answer is ready to change. If you want it to." she said slowly. Naruto felt himself heat up. He was dense, but he wasn't stupid.

"Are you proposing to me?" he asked. Satsuki let go of his hand, but held him firmly in her sights.

"Yes, Naruto. Yes, I am." she said. For such a tender request, her words held no humor. His answer was important to her. That much was extremely clear. A strong smile pulled at the Jinchuuriki's lips.

"How do I accept?" he asked. Satsuki held out her hand, which was still bleeding. Easily picking up on what she wanted him to do, Naruto did the same. They then pressed their reddened thumbs together.

"From now to the very end, I am yours, and you are mine. Come hell or high water, I will stay with you always." the Uchiha recited, intertwining their fingers. It was a wedding vow. Naruto had long considered such ceremonies to be dull and overdone, but now, in the midst of his own modest union, he understood their significance.

"From now to the very end, I am yours, and you are mine. Come hell or high water, I will stay with you always." he repeated back to her. A lengthy pause followed.

"Now what?" Naruto asked, eager to continue. Finally, Satsuki smiled as well. The sight brought Naruto great relief.

"Nothing. We're married." she said matter-of-factly. The blonde frowned again, rather confused by how brief the moment had proven itself to be.

"That's it? I figured there'd be more. Weddings are really long." he said. Satsuki separated her hand from his and began cleaning it off.

"There would be more, but we'd need a fire and an animal to kill. We can't exactly do the whole ceremony." she explained. Naruto whistled.

"Your customs are scary." he said. Satsuki sent a smirk his way. Her usual demeanor was returning to her more and more by the minute.

"Better get used to it. Since we married under my family's vow, you just took my last name." she said triumphantly. Naruto groaned and flopped onto his back.

"You could've told me that first." he complained. Satsuki crawled on top of him and posted her palms on either side of his head.

"Would it have changed your answer?" she asked. Naruto's face twitched as she looked down on him smugly. Even covered in barely-healed cuts and bruises, she was beautiful. And as of less than two minutes ago, she was his wife.

"No, but–" he started. Satsuki didn't let him finish, as she shut him up with a kiss. When she pulled her mouth from his, she laid her head down on his chest.

"Then don't complain, Naruto Uchiha." she said, sounding quite proud of herself. Naruto grumbled a retort under his breath, but wrapped an arm around her as they settled in.

"You're gonna hold that over my head, aren't you?" he guessed tiredly. Satsuki shifted on top of him to make herself more comfortable.

"Damn right." she said, a dreariness slipping into her voice. Naruto hugged her into him, unbothered by her antics. They were exactly what he'd signed up for.

"You're lucky I love you." he said. Satsuki mumbled something back, but the blonde didn't quite catch it. She was nearly asleep. Choosing not to disturb her, he closed his own eyes.

The road ahead was long and dark, with Satsuki in the lead, but of one thing Naruto was certain.

He would follow her into that abyss.


A/N: Well…here we are. This story is now effectively finished. This is the final chapter of Into The Abyss' main story. All that's left is the epilogue, which will be coming out on Sunday.

So, I'm well aware that the whole "Naruto Uchiha" thing is kinda cheesy, but I think it's done tastefully here, and fits the tone.

Each ending you read in this chapter has been swirling around in my head for months now. I'm happy with each and every one of them, and I hope you are too.

I'll leave my final goodbyes for the Epilogue, so I'd like you all to do the same. I would LOVE feedback on this chapter, and lots of it, because I put a ton of work into it, but save your overall thoughts on this fic for the Epilogue.

I love you all

See you in the Epilogue!