"I fail to understand, you love me, yes?" Madara ground her teeth, it had been a mistake to wake up and get out of bed this morning. He wanted to just stay there with her in his arms and pretend that he didn't have such a difficult choice ahead of him. "So why are you still conflicted about this?"

Because it wasn't an easy choice. Part of him was hoping that they couldn't get the portal open and then he wouldn't have to make the choice. He looked up ahead to where Sakura was leading them, she seemed so sure that it would work. And in some ways, she was right about what he should do, but even when he knew what was right he couldn't decide.

"Because it's not that easy," He paused, trying to find the right words to say. He was so used to just followed his heart and knowing what he had to do next, and everything just working out. Being conflicted between what was right and wrong was so new and it really sucked. "I have to choose between you and everybody else that I know and love."

"Then you will choose me." She continued to glare at him, easily keeping pace without so much as looking where she was going. She gave a sigh, her glare and usual scowl were gone, replaced with the expressions she tried to bury. "I need you here."

"I know, but it's just." It'd be great if she could come to the future with him, but she was needed here in the past. And she had the worse part of everything. But if he went back to the future then the future her might try to kill him, even though the future her was a guy? This stuff was confusing.

He gave a sigh, trying to get as close to her as he could. "Could you choose between me and your clan?"

She turned away from him, eye scanning the horizon, her face an unreadable mask that didn't give him anything. He had barely known her for a week, but he was already struggling to choose between his home and her. If it had been a month, how different would things be? A year?

Was she worth giving up his dream of becoming the next Hokage? Was she worth all the hard work he had put into getting the village to acknowledge and respect him? Was she worth his future?

Was he worth that much to her? He wanted that to be yes.

"Well?" He pressed. "Could you?"

She continued to remain silent, staring dead ahead like he wasn't even there.

"Are you going to answer me?"

"I don't know!" The mask snapped, and she turned to look at him, she looked hurt, like when she first broke down in front of her sisters grave. "I do not know if I could choose between you and my clan. I don't know if I could leave my clan to be with you. I don't know if I could leave you to be with my clan. I do not have the answer to your question. Was that the answer you desired."

"No," at least she wasn't trying to lie to get what she wanted. He smiled hand falling on her shoulder. "But you know why I'm having a hard time with this."

A growl escaped her and she pushed his hand away hastening her pace. "I will not be happy until you make the right choice."

Was this why people were so annoyed talking to him? Man stubborn people sucked.

XXXX

'Portal' was a bad word for it. This was more a tear or crack in reality only visible from one side it gave no light and cast no shadow, even the mirror like basin of water that it loomed over didn't acknowledge its existence. But there it was a bolt of lightning frozen and stretched out so that its innards were exposed to the world. The tear gasped like a fish out of water, polluting the air with the stench of Ozone.

"See," Sakura's smile was one that he hadn't seen in a while, it was a childlike excitement that managed to worm its way out of her mature persona from time to time. It wasn't the kind of smile she wore when Sasuke was near. Or maybe that was just him over analyzing things.

She walked up to the portal a bounce in her step, the water hardly even noticed her passing. Must be nice having perfect chakra control. The portal thumped with a sound like thunder stretched out over a minute when she slapped it. "I told you it was here, come, look, you can see Konoha."

"Are you sure you should be hitting it like that?" He asked, foot slipping into the water, mostly because he wasn't watching where he was going. Great, now his sock was wet. Just one terrible thing after another was happening today and it looked like there was no stopping it.

"It's fine, it's pretty sturdy." Sakura beamed, slapping it again.

"You tried to punch it didn't you?"

Her joy vanished, replaced by a pout that she tried to use to get out of her own stupid mistakes. It only worked once! "What makes you think I tried to punch it?"

"Because that's what you do when something doesn't go your way." And sometimes it was the first thing she did, actually most of the time. That or stomp her foot to make the earth shake. Why was he attracted to violent women?

He peered into the crack, it extended backward, projecting a depth that it didn't have to show a part of Konoha he knew all too well, the Hokage monument, he could clearly see the third Hokage's stoic face, Tsunade's scowl, and Kakashi's mask. Then there was his father's visage, if he stayed, maybe he could change that?

But if he stayed, he wouldn't be able to see his friends and family again, would he? There was more than a hundred years between now and then. Could he even live that long? Even baring the very likely chance that he'd die in a fight or doing something stupid - a public pole said that he was most likely to die to choking on ramen - that was still a long time to live, it was like twice as old as Granny was and she was super old!

"That's how I know things haven't changed for us Naruto." Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. "Things are still the same, the Hokages are still the same, the third is still there, the fourth, then Tsunade, and then Kakashi-sensei. No weird future where we have an Orochimaru Hokage or anything like that."

"I have eyes Sakura," He muttered. Try as he might he couldn't be as excited about this as she was or even as much as he knew he should be. That was his home. Right there. He could see it. "But how do you know this will work? Or even if its safe?"

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you're going to be lecturing me on what's safe or not?" She sighed, turning towards Konoha once again. "I understand what you're going through," bullshit. "But remember, that's your home, there are people there that are relying on you, waiting for you to become the next Hokage. I'm one of them. And you bet your ass when you get that hat that I'm going to be cheering my head off for you. So come on, it's your home isn't it."

How many guilt trips could he take in one day?

"I know Sakura, I know, but anyways how do we open this thing?" Hopefully, they couldn't get it open and he wouldn't have to make such a hard choice.

"Naruto," she was annoyed with him. It was almost scary how well she could read him. "Look, if you can't make a tough choice like this then what makes you think you can become the Hokage?"

That hurt. That hurt a lot. Sakura was one of his loudest supporters and critics. "What are you talking about?"

"As the Hokage, you will have to make many hard choices that will change the future. What projects get passed, who to send on a mission, which alliance to accept, which trade agreement works best, what changes to make. A lot of them have no easy right or wrong." The worse part about it was that he knew she was right.

Konoha, Konoha was important to him.

"You will both silence your whispering and explain this to us now," Madara growled, she stood separated from both groups, arms crossed, he teeth were no doubt ground to nothing at this point, or maybe she just ground them all to a razor sharpness so she could bite people more effectively. She pointed towards Tobirama, "Also, why are you here? You are not needed."

"I'm needed no more than you are," Tobirama huffed his face as blank as ever. "But perhaps my time would be better spent leading a surprise attack on the Uchiha while you are occupied."

"Is that why you packed that bag, brother?" Hashirama boomed smacking his brother on the back. "It is good you are here with us then, our peace is still but a seedling and seeing the tree it will bloom into makes me eager to get started."

Tobirama glowered, looking more annoyed by the second. "It does look promising, perhaps if the portal is stable you'll allow us to visit your home Sakura?"

"No! Absolutely not! The whole point of us leaving is so that we don't change anything that would mess Konoha up. The fact that it still looks the same so far despite this idiot's best attempt is nothing short of a miracle." Sakura stomped her foot, splashing water up onto her robes.

A ninja jumped a squad of ninja jumped across the crack, and the clouds were in a different spot as well. So it was more than a picture.

"Who are you to call him an idiot?" Madara sneered, marching up to glare at Sakura, both women were nearly the same height, and part of his brain was telling him to run away. So much pain in one spot was not a good thing. Besides. If they started to fight he didn't know whose side he'd be on. Or if he'd even be on a side.

Sakura with all the pig-headed stubbornness and confidence she had built up over the years glared right back at someone that was one of the strongest ninjas in the world. Not that he wouldn't do the same thing. "I'm his keeper, that's who."

Madara looked to him, "Are you going to just accept that?"

"Umm," the claim wasn't entirely wrong, Sakura was often put on missions with him with a bonus assignment to make sure he didn't do anything too stupid. Despite the fact that half the fuck-ups were both of theirs.

"Bah! Spineless." She snapped away. "Hurry up so I can be done with you, and pray that I never run into your ancestors else my blade might just slip."

"Okay, well I'm still here, so I should be fine." Sakura shrugged and turned to Hashirama, "Now then, I was able to open up the portal a little bit with some of my chakra, but it requires a lot more than what I have so, so I'm going to need you and-"

"Wait, don't you have a lot of chakra inside your seal thing?" He asked pointing towards her forehead. "Didn't you try to use that."

She sighed, pinching her nose. "Naruto, yes, my seal gives me access to a lot of chakra but its nowhere near as much as you two have. You both literally shit chakra more chakra than I use in a day."

"A fair maiden such as yourself shouldn't swear so casually Sakura." Hashirama beamed stepping forward.

"Oh shut the fuck up."

That earned a snort from Madara. "Congratulations, I hate you slightly less."

"Okay, now then, Naruto, I want you to use Kurama's chakra, and Hashiram, please channel your sage chakra, I have a feeling its going to take a lot." Sakura clapped her hands, "I'll be using my chakra to try and keep things contained, and hopefully, but if need be Tobirama, and Madara could you please lend me a hand?"

"Fine," Tobirama nodded, shifting his bag once more.

Madara glared, her mood still sour from their fight. "Again, if only to be rid of you."

They arranged themselves so that Sakura stood between, him and Hashirama, all of their hands touching the crack, it was solid but had no texture it was as if something was just stopping his hands from moving forward. Kurama was cooperating, but just barely, his giant murderous fox of a friend was salivating at the chance to put Hashirama in his place.

"That chakra!" Hashirama boomed, thick black lines spread about his body and his eyes took on a familiar yellow tint. His sage mode was a weird mix of Sakura's seal thing and full-on sage arts. Maybe he should try to learn it? "I knew it felt familiar, tell me, how do you have so much of the Kyuubi's chakra."

"Oh, uhh well I have Kurama sealed inside of me, and he lets me use his chakra because we're friends." The giant fox screamed inside his head. "Also he said to go die in a ditch you rotten teaching bastard."

"Haha, I'll be sure to remember that if I ever encounter the beast again. Kurama was it? Has a nice ring to it!"

"Could you two focus for half a second?" Somehow Sakura was scarier than Kurama was, her own seal thing was active with thick black lines covering her face, and all the way to her fingertips. "Okay, on a count of three, start pushing your chakra into it, keep it steady and even, try to match each other. One, Two, Three."

An earthquake without motion hit them, the air seemed to vibrate, the water they stood on began to push away from them, its waves growing large with each passing second. The crack itself began to pulse, shimmer, and shake.

A hole began to appear at the top, looking like glass being melted from one side. Another hole appeared, then a third. All slowly expanding. One appeared under his hand and quickly began to swallow it hole. But whatever stopped his hand from moving forward remained.

The crack began to crack. Then it shattered. And he nearly fell forward when that invisible surface gave way.

It thrummed. Pulsating with energy and power.

"We did it!" Sakura cheered. "We can go home we can-"

She was silenced quickly by Madara's foot slamming into her backside, pushing her into the portal. "Good riddance."

He moved on his own. Instinct. Pure instinct from saving her so many times in the past, from all the fights where they got in over their heads, there's was a bond that could only be forged by the ninja of Konoha. Something more than friends. She was his teammate. No matter the time, that was the truth.

When he touched the threshold of the portal he lost feeling in his hand. It wasn't numbness, it was worse than the phantom feeling he had when he lost his arm. It was like his hand was simply gone. He was only able to stop by the time he stopped half his arm was already lost to it. He looked to Sakura, she was intact, floating along a long tunnel of nothing that extended all the way towards Konoha. Unmoving, face still stuck in a cross between shock and joy.

He tried to pull away. He tried to escape it. But the pull was as sure as the passage of time. Panic raced over him. He didn't want to go. He wanted to stay. "Madara!" he twisted, to turn her way. His foot was gone too now. "I'm stuck! Help! I can't get out!"

"You idiot!" She grabbed for him, desperately trying to pull him away. All she did was pop a few joints. "Why would you try to save her! You idiot! Idiot!"

"I'm sorry, she's my teammate. I just did." He couldn't move his arm anymore, it was nearly up to his shoulder, and his left knee was inside the tear as well. "I'm sorry I wanted to stay! I should have said so! I'm so stupid!"

"You're not going to leave me!" she screamed, drawing her Katana. Tears flowing down her eyes, that carefully laid persona she had forged for her enemies and allies alike was thrown to the side. Her breathing was heavy, and her face was growing red. "I won't let you! I need you Naruto! I need you!"

She breathed looking at her sword, then to his arm. "We can find a healer."

"Do it." He lived without his arm before, what was a leg too?

Her sword broke against his sleeve, the material wasn't even disturbed. That wasn't a good sign.

"No!" She screamed hands flying through a series of hand signs. White hot flames that roared like thunder erupted from her mouth aimed at the portal. "I won't let you take him! He's mine! Give him to me!"

His torso was being swallowed up by the portal now. Far too much to cut off.

"You're mine dammit!" Madara flew to him, kissing him desperately. "I command you! Stay! You belong here with me!"

"I'm sorry Madara." He smiled, he hated goodbyes. And how hallow that sounded. He needed something with more meaning. Sorry did not fix a broken heart. "I love you."

"I know." She growled, holding his face, every emotion was shown on her face, rage, fear, happiness, sadness, and tears streaked her face. Her hand left his cheek for just a moment. "That's why I'm coming with you."

She placed her hand against the portal, but nothing happened. She was stopped by whatever barrier had once been there. "What? No! Take me! Dammit!"

With a scream that broke his heart, she threw herself at the barrier, beating kicking and screaming at it. "No! Screw you Sakura! This is your fault!" She kicked, punched, and screamed. Each blow only injuring her more. Her fist twisted in unusual ways, broken fingers snapped.

"I love you," He repeated one last time, feeling tears fall from his eyes. His head was swallowed by the portal, he could no longer move, not so much as blink. But he could see and hear her cry. Only his other hand remained free.

She grabbed it holding onto it for dear life, rubbing against it for dear life. "I will kill every single Haruno I find. I will burn this world to the ground if I have to to make sure that she is never born."

Her threat was empty. He could see it in her eyes. She was sadder than she was angry. Sad enough that she didn't so much as flinch when Hashirama pulled her into a hug. Instead, she cried into his chest, making a face he never wanted to see on anyone. Pure heartbreak.

He wanted to go back. He wanted to be the one to hold her. He wanted to never let go of her again. But he couldn't. This wasn't what he wanted when he wanted the choice to be made for him.

Air filled his lungs and he was dropped onto a dirt road, warmed by foot travel and the sun. His body lurched forward, scrambling towards the portal that had spat him out. It shrinking by the second. "No! Dammit!" His voice broke. Hand slipping through the crack before it vanished completely. "Send me back dammit!"

"I want to go back! I don't want to live without her!" He clutched his head letting the tears fall freely. Had he ever cried like this before? When Jiraiya died perhaps but there was anger in that sadness. This was just an empty hollow feeling. "Dammit."

"Naruto," He felt Sakura's hand fall onto his shoulder, she was going to say something that wasn't going to help wasn't she. It was in the tone of her voice. Something about other love or, fish in the sea or something stupid like that. "I'm sorry Naruto. I know it must…" She stopped her hand tightened around his robe. "Naruto, I need you to stop crying right fucking now and look up."

He couldn't.

"Naruto! Please look up and tell me that is not Sasuke's smug ass face on the Hokage Mountain."

He looked up, shock overriding his grief for just a moment, then realization, then anger. "What the fuck is that bastards face doing up there?"

There was no mistaking it. They would knew that too cool for you face anywhere, somehow stoic and made of stone it still managed to piss him off in so many different ways. But it was the position of the head that pissed him off the most.

Instead of Tobirama's stern and judgemental gaze being cast over the village was Sasuke's smug ass face, taunting them. "The bastard was in the past wasn't he?"

"How offended would you be if I punch the mountain?"

Anbu appeared around them, their faces hidden behind masks, but their eyes spoke volumes.

"Intruders," A red-haired woman spoke loud and clear, her Sharingan eyes boring into him trying to expose every secret. "The Hokages would like a word with you."

AN: Before you complain, I ask for one simple thing. Trust me.

Also, holy crap this was a long chapter, I wanted to put everything in this chapter but it was already longer than it should have been.

I hope you enjoyed the heartbreak! (No its not over)