Two Chapter after this then... it's the end!

-Sniffle-

Remeber my promise! The last chapter will have Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke in it! PROMISE OF A LIFETIME!

Minato and Kushina saw the last of the Bijuu join the group. "EVERYBODY! GET READY!" they called to the mourners inside the house, Kushina fought back tears as those who she once called allies gathered outside and prepared for the final battle...
Gaara dodged another shuriken that came flying in his direction, he was panting now; he'd managed to stay out of any illusions for this long... but. It was only a matter of time before he fell victim.

Maybe I shouldn't have tried facing him alone...

As Konoha's injured forces gathered outside, preparing for battle, they saw, in the distance, large armies amassing and advancing to fight alongside the Bijuu. Tsunade had healed the more serious wounds among them, except those that were too deep, too hidden. The Hokage stood in front of Konoha's forces, and the Kazekage's assistant and his siblings stood with Suna's forces.

"How can we win... how can we move on without them... Tsunade-Sama?" Shizune stood by her master's side, tears hanging from her dark lashes like tiny crystals, the blonde woman closed her eyes.

"I don't think we will, Shizune... All three of them, even Sasuke, were held dear to the village. I hardly knew Sasuke-kun, but I can gauge his worth through how much the other two were willing to give, just to get him back. Screw your talk of "love" and "promises"... they wanted him back because he was their friend. That team has probably become the most famous team in Konoha's history; the two Jinchuuriki's and the last Uchiha..." She swallowed. "I don't think we will move on without them. They have lived, died, and become legends. We will move on, but their memories will be with us, and their memories will move on too, to our children, our grandchildren... to all future inhabitants of Konoha!" Her voice rose, reaching every ninja present.

"If we die today, we died with them, and we died in the greatest battle any ninja could fight! The battle to save our world!" Silence fell, the Bijuu remained unheeded for now. "Generations to come will remember this day. Don't let them down!"

The Bijuu began to merge together, distorting and moving as they joined; the ninja armies watched in horror as the Bijuu became the most giant, horrific form ever witnessed by man.

"The ultimate Bijuu..." Uzumaki Kushina whispered, her husband looked at her quickly, his blue eyes, usually so narrow and calm, wide and tear-filled.

"What did you just- oh my... TSUNADE!" Yondaime appeared by the woman's side and took hold of her wrist, a hold which she quickly escaped from. "Tsunade! Don't give the order!" He faced Jirayia too, he had to make them understand. "Don't you see? This is why Kushina and I did what we did... this was Akatsuki's original purpose! The Bijuu need to unite and then they can be used to save the world!"

"It's true! Believe it!" Kushina ran forwards and pointed at the new form before the Shinobi. "When the Bijuu finally unite, it was in an old legend, they will release the true nature of the world. It was an old poem."

"And when the beasts unite, the heart of man be still,

Calm shall fall on the land of blood, hate, and lust,

Swords shall fall, and wars shall cease,

One will unite nine, in the presence of grief, loss, and love.

Then evil will die and peace will reign forever,

Hope and faith will bloom in the garden of life,

And for the rest of time, the wars shall cease,

The ultimate Bijuu will forge bonds of hope, friendship and love."

Minato finished that part of the story and looked up. "The full version is longer and more detailed but, you understand... The Bijuu aren't random chakra forces, they are prophesized powers from ancient times, and they will cleanse the world."

"Cleanse..." Tsunade started, it sounded too good to be true. "But doesn't that mean that anyone who has committed a sin will die?" Minato shook his head.

"No, they help revive humanity... Sins won't disappear but things like selfishness, cruelty, and hatred will. These things will leave the heart and only good will remain. But in a heart with only cruelty inside... that heart will die, yes."

Jirayia looked at his old student for a long moment before looking back at the horrific vision before them. To him, it didn't look to him like a portent of good, to him, it resembled he hate of the world... It didn't look anything like the various Bijuu that it was made from... It looked like a huge black bear with silver bracelets and chains, but to Jirayia, the worst part was its eyes... ten dark, stormy eyes with blood red flecks visible even from this distance.

"Are you sure... Yondaime-Sama?" Tsunade twitched in surprise but didn't say anything, as Minato, the greatest Hokage in Konoha's history nodded and turned to the Bijuu, as he did so, everyone in the vicinity turned to look at the Bijuu quietly.

At first, it was only a fine tremble, but before long, ninjas were having to resort to chakra control in order to keep themselves from falling to the floor and being tossed around; though buildings seemed structurally unaffected, the whole earth seemed to be violently heaving and rocking as the Ultimate Bijuu began to glow. The soft, pale pink light began to build up, turning orange, then yellow, then green, as the light changed colours it kept getting stronger and brighter, until everyone in the vicinity was covering their eyes and praying for their sight.

The Bijuu let out a mighty roar, deafening the crowd and forcing them to fall to their knees, releasing chakra control and being tossed around with the quakes.

Gaara fell to the floor, covering his ears and closing his eyes, he was sent flying and would have collided with a tree if it wasn't for the sudden cocoon of sand that encased him.

What's going on? Have Akatsuki managed to fulfil their objective? Does this mean that Naruto and Sakura are-

The sand couldn't shelter him completely from the light and the noise; no matter how dense the walls around him became, it wasn't enough.

Damn...

Then it stopped. There was no noise, no light, no shaking of the earth. The red-haired Kazekage stepped gently from his Sand shield and began to walk through the woods. His eyes flickered from tree to tree, from bush, to bush, until he saw what he had been searching for; on the ground, lying face down, was the masked Akatsuki member. Changing direction to stand at the Ninja's side, Gaara could see no blood, but this man was most definitely dead.

What... how? Gaara looked up and staggered forwards. I didn't realise that I'd lost so much blood...

He fell to his knees, looking up at the sky, which was now ice blue, with no clouds at all, just a white hot sun and birds flying round. He saw three bluebirds and smiled. So beautiful... Then there was the sound of running feet, just one pair though, and soon he heard the familiar cry of "Gaara!" Matsuri ran forwards and caught him as he fell sideways, holding him to her she turned and bellowed for Tsunade. Gaara could feel the girl rubbing his shoulders and urging him to stay conscious, then the pale face of his ally, the Hokage, appeared before him and he felt his wounds being healed. But something was wrong... She was crying... actually, the Konoha ninja who had also answered Matsuri's call had similar faces, as he scanned the crowd with seemingly expressionless eyes he felt his heart drop.

He ignored Kakashi as the masked ninja lifted the orange mask off of the Akatsuki's face, he ignored the copy ninja's anguished cry of "Why? Obito!", and he ignored Matsuri's gentle hands trying to get him to stand up.

"Where are they?"

He was taken to the room, where it seemed that the earthquake had left the three bodies untouched; they were lying in the same place, still holding hands. That's good. Gaara found himself thinking, it would be hard if they were piled against a wall...

It was Shikamaru's team who carried the three ninja's back. Shino's bugs kept them holding hands as they were carried on stretchers but without the usual white covering. Tsunade and Ino had patched up the wounds in order to make the children more presentable as they headed the solemn procession home.

Gaara and the sand ninja escorted the leaf ninja in silence, all of them reflecting on the recent events. At the head of the procession, Tsunade and Jirayia were followed closely by Minato and Kushina, who were both uncharacteristically solemn and introverted, keeping their heads down and hidden from view, the only sign that they were conscious was the constant movement of their legs and the odd water droplet falling from their faces.

The Godaime Hokage kept her tears under control, just barely, her eyes were moist but she kept her face unmoving and her hands on the pink and blonde heads of hair. Jirayia kept his arm around her shoulders and his head high, tears coursing untouched down his face. Ino had her hands over her mouth as she sobbed with Shikamaru and Chouji close by, Hinata was holding onto Kiba's arm with all her might, which caused a slight lack of colour in his face as he lost the blood to his arm, but he said nothing. Sai was walking with Naruto's parents, and he was allowing the tears to fall freely too, it had been so long since he'd wept, so he wanted to feel each tear as it rolled down his cheek; he wanted to grieve openly.

The sand ninja followed behind, headed by Gaara and his siblings, with a still worried Matsuri close behind, but she too, was silent as the group made the long trek back to Konoha. She watched her former Sensei's face quietly as they walked; not many people could see when he felt emotions, but after spending so much time training and talking with him, she'd come to notice the slightest indications that he gave involuntarily to show what he was feeling. At the moment... it was hurting him, a lot.

The procession reached the gates of Konoha and passed through without hesitation or acknowledgement of the guardsmen, who, upon seeing the three bodies being escorted through, stood still and bowed their heads.

"NO! SAKURA!" The pink haired woman ran out of her home but was held back by her husband, who bowed his head in respect as he cradled the sobbing woman to his chest. He put his crutch to one side and supported himself and his wife even with his wooden leg, in this fashion, Shirai and Haruka Haruno walked alongside Minato and Kushina.

There was a moment of confusion, but grief for their daughter soon replaced anything else in their hearts. "It's that boy... it has to be..." Haruka sobbed, and Shirai held her tighter.

"She was a ninja, ninja's often die on missions... I lost my leg not my life but- we knew how it was..."

"That doesn't make it right... It won't happen anymore." Yondaime said, finally lifting his head and looking at the village he gave up all that time ago. It hadn't changed.

"Karin!" Suigetsu called; he looked around quickly. Shit... "Juugo?" He leaned on his sword.

What is this feeling? It's... different... "You feel it too?" He looked up at the girl next to him.

"Ah! Karin!" He winced. "Yeah... what was that light? Do you sense anything?" He looked around again and saw Juugo walking slowly towards them. "Juugo!"

"Sasuke's dead." Juugo sighed, he looked over at Karin who nodded; she had sensed it too. "I saw the funeral procession. He's with those other two... his old teammates." He looked down at his hands as Karin furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Juugo? Why is your chakra different? You too Suigetsu." She narrowed her eyes. "That light... what did it do to us?"

The big man flexed his hands and smiled. "It healed me... I lost the other part of me to it... I'm free!" He laughed, and Suigetsu's eyes widened.

"What does that mean- OW!"

"Baka!" Karin shouted, with her fists still clenched, "It means that that light got rid of our murderous tendencies! It was some sort of ancient power! How dumb do you have to be to not realise that!" She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and huffed. Suigetsu rubbed his head in confusion.

"Obviously not yours... OW! OWOWOWOW!" Juugo looked up at three bluebirds. With a soft smile.

"Thank you... whoever you are..." He wiped away the tears that were slowly forming. "Thank you."

"Then let's go and live in a village!" Suigetsu shouted in annoyance, waving his arms in the air. Juugo turned his smile on them and they stared, speechless.

"Yes... Let's go live in a village." He sighed happily. Suigetsu looked at Karin, confused.

"..."

"..."

"Ok."

"Why not?"

Juugo smiled wider. "Let's go live in a village!"

Not quite the conclusion... Two chapters to go.