AN: I don't own Naruto, also, if you're not up to date on the recent anime or manga chapters…this chapter might not make sense….if there are any misspellings for Naruto's references…blame my auto correct!
Previously: "Naruto, you're not a monster." Sakura said as more tears spilled to the floor. "Don't let yourself become one. You have more power than this…Remember you dream Naruto. Remember all those important to you. We finally have Sasuke-kun back. Our team's back together. You remember the team right?...You, me, Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-san, and Sai too… " Sakura pleaded. "Please come back Naruto…Please come back…" The fox demon looked at her, his eyes glowing. "Naruto…"
The demon fox just aimed all four tails at her as the charka orbs around them grew larger.
"Sakura!"
"Sakura!"
"Sakura-chan!"
"Naruto…" Sakura muttered as a single tear dropped from the side of her cheek.
Flashback
"Promise what?" He said in a low tone.
"That no matter what, you be hokage, that you take care of everyone here, that you succeed your dream, and that, you keep everyone happy…..Also, that you come back to Konoha, with Sasuke-kun."
"Don't forget about you too, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he gave her a warm hug. Sakura hugged him back. "I promise, no matter what happens."
"Thank-you…Naruto."
End flashback
Sakura heard these last thoughts echo into her mind before looked straight at her teammate's eyes.
"Fight it Naruto." Was all that was said before, Naruto unleashed his attack.
Chapter 17 – Finding A Way...
A huge explosion erupted, sending all four shinobi in separate directions. Everything went quiet as a flash of light took over the field. Minutes after everything finally seemed to die down, Neji rose from under a couple of feet of debris. By using his kaiten just in time, he managed to get away with only a couple of cuts and scratches. Luck was surely on his side. A hand shot out from a pile of dirt, hundreds of meters away in the opposite direction. The person pulled himself out, coughing, and gasping for air. As Sasuke started to regain his composure, all he could see was a desolate, barren wasteland. It was so quiet now that it seemed that everything around him died in a flash. Only the low howls of the cold night breeze was heard as Sasuke looked around. Complete fear gripped his heart as he forgot all about his brother. "Sakura?...Naruto?" Was all he could think about at the moment. He quickly activated his sharingan to look for any kind of movement from where Naruto and Sakura were last seen. He found none. Fear was starting to be his constant companion as both Naruto and Sakura's chakra was nowhere to be found.He wouldn't, he couldn't accept that they were actually gone. "No. They're not dead. I know it. They can't be...be..." but Suske couldn't even utter the thoughts in his head. "No, not like before. I didn't loose them, they're around here somewhere..." Standing up abruptly he continued his search. His common sense finally regained control as he looked toward the overturned dirt before him. His onyx, black eyes became dull as he slowly walked forward. "It's always going to be like this for me...Isn't it..."
Neji activated his byakugan and quickly helped Hinata from under an uprooted tree.
"T-thank you...N-neji nii-san." Hinata barely managed to say as she held her left arm in pain. One of the branches imbedded themselves into her arm and shattered the bone. Neji carefully took out the branch, causing Hinata to cry out in pain. She did her best to compose herself, as she bit down on her bottom lip. Crimson blood slowly dripped down from her shoulder as Hinata did her best not to cry out in pure agony. Neji ripped part of his robe and tied it around his cousin's wounded arm, hoping that she wouldn't loose too much blood. Neji then saw Sasuke walking toward them, and just like him, he escaped the explosion with mere scratches, luckily.
"You guys alright?" Sasuke asked, in a silent voice, but nonetheless could be heard since the battlefield was absolutely dead silent. The two nodded, but no other words were spoken. What could be said? The moonlight only gave the leaf nins an idea of how the place now looked. They looked up to find that they were in a huge crater, at least fifty feet below from where they were moments ago. In their condition, it would take them a while to get out. Especially since the ends of the crater seemed to be about a fourth of a mile away from them. A light gust of wind blew by, and its coolness only made Sasuke shiver.
At the other end, on top of the crater, a black hole appeared, having Itachi come out of it. Taking ragged shallow breaths, the crimson in Itachi's eyes faded away. Creating the separate dimension may have saved his life, but he was utterly exhausted for the first time in many years. He watched as his younger brother and his friends slowly make their way away from him, and to the other side of the crater. He figured that he was in no condition to even fight his brother, as turned to leave.
"Where do you think your going?" A person said as he approached the elder Uchiha.
"Don't think you're even a match for me. You're condtion is no worse than mine." Itachi said still walking away.
"I'll take my chances." The leaf nin said as he took out his last paint brush and scroll.
"What on Earth?" Tenten said as she and the others stood up from the ground from a huge earthquake only minutes ago.
"Th-that chakra. I never felt anything like it!" Kiba said as he and Akamaru stood side by side. Akamaru whimpered as his tail hid between his hind legs.
"Damnit. Naruto and the others are probably the ones who caused the earthquake." Shikamaru said. "How troublesome." He lit another cigarette and inhaled a deep breath before breathing out a visible line of smoke through his lips. "It looks like Naruto and the others might need some help. We only have this last tailed beast to take care of. Anyone still capable of fighting these annoying bastards?"
"A few scratches here and there, but most of us are fine. Your anbu already started to take that beast down, so we should go give them a hand now. Let's go." Temari said as she and the others went off to take care of the last tailed-demon.
"Jiraiya, behind you!" Tsunade called out as Orochimaru's snake summoning lunged forward, it's poisonous fangs extended. On top of the frog boss, Jiraiya barely had time to dodge as the huge frog jumped straight into the air. After making sure her old teammate was a safe distance away from Orochimaru, her own summoning, a giant slug aimed a huge amount of acid straight at the shocked snake.
"Curse you." Orochimaru's summoning muttered before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"Tsunade-san." The giant slug said while panting.
"You've done more than enough. We can take it from here. Thank you." Tsunade said.
"Hai." The giant slug said. After Tsunade was safely on the ground, the slug disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"I'm going too." The frog boss said, not waiting for Jiraiya to get off.
"Damn toad." Jiraiya said as he landed on the floor safely.
The two glared at their old teammate as he glared back. There was no escape from this battle, and they all knew it.
"I...Will not die in your hands!" Orochimaru yelled as he pulled his sword out from his throat.
"Unfortunately, Orochimaru. It was always for us to be the ones to end your life." Tsunade said, a sad expression showing on her face.
"We couldn't save you. We were too late when we tried to bring you back from the darkness." Jiraiya said as he looked straight into his old teammates yellow glaring eyes.
"Maybe Sarutobi might be able to help you once we send you to the afterlife." Tsunade said as she and Jiraiya formed their final and most powerful jutsus.
"Good bye, Orochimaru." The two said in unison as Tsunade charged forward with deadly blue chakra emitting from both hand, and Jiraiya running forward with his rasengan. Orochimaru tried to block the oncoming attacks but, Tsunade shattered his only, while Jiraiya finished the job.
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"We should head back to Konoha." Neji said as he helped Hinata stand up.
"I'm sorry I am a burden." Hinata muttered. Neji just shook his head and said, "Never say that Hinata. You aren't a burden." Hinata just smiled, but it didn't last long as she stared at the huge crater wher she last saw her only love and her best friend. Tears spilled from her eyes as she muttered those two now painful names.
"Kuso..." Sasuke said as he dropped to his knees. Neji and Hinata both looked at Sasuke. Another gust of wind passed by, only further reminding how alone the leaf shinobi now were. "KUSO!" Sasuke yelled as his fist slammed against the earth.
"Why damnit?!" Sasuke yelled again, tears on the verge of falling. "Why?!...why...why..." Sasuke muttered. He stared at the crater with unfocused, blank eyes.
"Sasuke." Neji said, but Sasuke didn't even seem like he even remembered he and Hinata was there. "Sasuke we have to get back-" but Neji stopped when he saw a huge dust cloud on the other side of the crater. Sasuke seemed to stare at it too, since her stared at it with his now spinning sharingan.
Before Neji and Hinata knew it, Sasuke went racing off straight into the now disappearing duct cloud's direction. The two instantly activated their byakugan to see that Sasuke was heading straight toward, Sai and Itachi?!
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Sai managed to get Itachi barely stand up straight as he knelt on one of his injured knees. Sai fought to keep his consciousness as his eyes began to go in and out of focus. The loss of blood was evident, ad it seemed to be scattered around him. Sai was out of chakra and could only wait till it was his time to join his brother and the dead.
"Sorry Kakashi. It looks like I failed my word." Sai muttered as Itachi threw his last remaining kunai straight at him. Sai just stared at it with a smile. But his expression became surprised when he found that it was deflected with a kunai just before it could imbed itself in his head. The kunai managed to cut the side of his cheek, blood slowly poured out of the new wound. Sai didn't pay attention to it though as he looked up to his teammate.
"Finally, you're did something useful." Sai said before slumping on the floor unconscious.
"Hn." Sasuke said as he stared at his brother. Itachi looked as impassive as ever as Sasuke slowly unsheathed his sword.
"So, you're finally going to get your revenge little brother?" Itachi said. Sasuke didn't reply. Itachi narrowed his eyes as Sasuke's face was unnaturally calm. Sasuke deactivated his sharingan as he charged his sword with his signature chidori. An immense amount of chakra was poured into the sword and it seemed like his sword was now just a solid form of the chidori. The glowing sword has sparks of electricity escaping its sword form.
"You've finally reached that hate. You finally have the power." Itachi said.
Sasuke still didn't replay as he lunged forward. Itachi got what was the last of his chakra as he blew black fames from his mouth. Sasuke merely cut through the flames as he plunged his sword though his brother's chest. Itachi's eyes widened in shock, no one had ever been able to pass his legendary flames, nonetheless cut through them.
"This isn't for revenge Itachi." Sasuke finally said, knowing his brother was still in this world. "You are going to die for endangering my village and the ones most precious to me..." Itachi just looked at his brother, his sharingan disappearing into his empty, dark eyes. Itachi surprised Sasuke when he just gave him a smile.
"Good bye, nii-san." Was the last thing Sasuke said before Itachi's heart finally stopped beating.
By the time, Neji and Hinata was able to reach Sasuke they say Sai some meters away and Sasuke looking up into the bright starry sky. Itachi only a couple of feet away from him. Hinata stayed with Sai as Neji cautiously approached Sasuke. Sasuke's sword was beside his brother. As his gave went to the legendary Uchiha, a questioning look formed on his face. Like the time he and the rest first found Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke in the forest, Itachi was smiling. Sasuke finally took notice of Neji's presence as he looked at him.
"He's gone. I did it. After all this time, I'm finally, truly..." Sasuke said as he looked back at the moon. "...alone." After about an hour of pure silence Neji decided that it was time to head back. Neji was about to say something until a blast in the crater got the three nins' attention immediately.
"Finally damn it!" A very familiar voice called out. "I'm completely out of chakra. I must have used my rasengan twenty times!"
"Shut up baka. It's your fault we were buried in the first place!" Another familiar yelled as two pairs of arms crawled out of a hole in the center of the crater.
"It-it's...It's them!" Hinata said in shock. Sasuke just stared at the two small figures in disbelief.
Neji just stood there as well. He couldn't believe his eyes until he found Naruto waving at them.
"Oi! Teme, Neji, Hinata-chan! Over here!" Naruto yelled before slumping to his knees.
"Naruto, just rest before you faint from exhaustion." Sakura said as she laid on the floor.
"Man who did this?" Naruto asked as he finally took notice of his surroundings.
Sakura just sweat dropped as she explained what happened.
"You mean I almost..." Naruto began.
"Hai." Sakura answered sadly.
"Gomen Sakura-chan. I almost went back on my promise." Naruto said as he looked down. He held his stomach where the Kyuubi's seal was has he looked at Sakura apologetically.
"I'm ok, aren't I baka? You're lucky you came in-to before you attacked."
"Well if you didn't punch that hole in the floor, we would've been blown up! Thank kami there was an underground shaft."
"Yeah, but the fall knocked you out for a half an hour!" Sakura said. "Next time remember to land on your feet, not your hard head."
"Hmph." Naruto said. They both turned to find Sasuke running up to them.
"Teme?!" "Sasuke-kun?!" The two just said in shock when their teammate embraced both of them. Sasuke was kneeling in between then his head lying on both their shoulders; an arm was wrapped around both their necks. Sakura and Naruto just smiled as they looked at each other past the back of Sasuke's head.
"I thought, you two were...After I killed Itachi..." Sasuke muttered. The two nearly jumped at the new information. "He finally killed the bastard?!" They both thought.
"You should know that we wouldn't leave you." Sakura said, smiling.
"Ah, teme. When the hell did you get all gushy? We were just gone for like an hour or two." Naruto said jokingly. "But, I knew that you loved us!" Sasuke released his embrace and hit Naruto over the head.
"Ah! Teme! I'm going to..." Naruto began but stopped when Sakura started to slowly begin laughing. "Sakura-chan?"
Sasuke just smiled as he looked at his teammates. Naruto just looked confused. "I don't get it."
"Neji, Hinata-chan, Sai." Sakura said as she quickly went to help Neji with the two injured nins. Sakura went straight to work, as Neji sat down next to Naruto in exhaustion.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he hugged the shy girl. Hinata was about to faint, but he immediately let go as Sakura knocked him over the head.
"Baka! She's injured!" Sakura scolded.
"Ah. Gomen Hinata-chan." Naruto apologized.
"It's alright." She smiled.
"Thanks for the help Uchiha." Neji said sarcastically.
"Sorry." Sasuke said as he looked over at Sai and Hinata.
"Hmph, whatever. It's ok." Neji replied with a smirk. "But you're carrying Sai back."
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"Oi! You guys are back, and alive." Shikamaru greeted, as Naruto and the rest walked through the gate.
"Hey you guys!" Naruto yelled back. The rest of the rookie nin, along with Neji' and Garra's team came running to help their friends.
"The war's actually over! Orochimaru's dead, his army's gone, the Akatsuki's gone, and the tailed beasts are sealed up again!" Ino said.
"There are a lot people who are injured, and there were some deaths, but at least we're still here, ne?" Kiba said. Akamaru barked in agreement as he rushed over to Hinata.
Shikamaru approached the group casually before he rubbed the back of his head lazily. "Now comes the troublesome part." Everyone looked at him, confused.
"And that would be?" Ino asked.
"Cleaning up the mess." Shikamaru stated. Everyone just groaned. "Also, we need to take care of the problem about Sound."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.
"Without Orochimaru, or Kabuto. The place doesn't have anyone to run it. If things are left alone, who knows what maniac in the village would do." Tsunade said as she and Jiraiya walked to the group of nins.
"Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, you guys are okay!" sakura said hugging her teacher.
"Hai, hai. Of course. Now about the Sound problem." Tsunade began.
"I believe that we should assist in leading that country." Gaara said as he walked toward the hokage.
"I suppose."
"I'll send Temari and Kankuro, along with a group of my sand nins to set the village in proper order."
"Do you think that they would let change happen so easily?"
"Yes." Sasuke said. Everyone turned to him. "The last time I was in Sound, the villagers are all almost in poverty. They will listen to reason."
"Or listen to you." Jiraiya said.
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
"The people there are used to Sasuke being in charge. It'll be less of a hassle if it stays that way." Jiraiya reasoned.
"So you mean." Sakura said, her expression between surprise and sadness.
"You-You're going to be the Sound's new Kage?! What the fuck?!" Naruto exclaimed while pointing a finger at his teammate. "First Gaara, then you! What the heck?!" Everyone sweat dropped.
"Oh, Naruto-kun." Hinata said.
"Baka." Everyone else thought, smiling.
"As soon as we get some things settled here, I want to station some of you at Sound for a while. Uchiha Sasuke, of course, and when Hatake Kakashi get better, him as well-"
"Kakashi's alright?!" Naruto and Sakura interrupted. Tsunade just coughed, annoyed. "Gomen."
"Well as I was saying, Uchiha and Hatake will leave with some anbu. The rest of you I want to help rebuild the village."
"What?! Baa-chan, how come Sakura-chan and I can't go?" Naruto whined. Sakura agreed.
"I need you two here, especially when the village is in this condition. I need teams and Sai can't do things alone."
"Well who said we would leave him behind? He's coming with us and-"
"Naruto." Sasuke said, cutting the blond off.
"Sasuke-kun." Sakura said, with a pleading tone.
"If I'm going to be the new Sound kage, that means I can't come back home with you guys." Sasuke said. Naruto and Sakura hit realization as they were lost at words.
"But...But. You don't have to do this!" Naruto argued.
"Actually, he does." Shikamaru said.
"What do you mean, even after all the things he did-"
"That's exactly why." Tsunade cut in. "From the things he did, he is still Konoha's missing-nin. Punishment by death."
"But he killed Itachi!" Sakura argued. Everyone seemed to be surprised by this.
"The deal was with Orochimaru." Tsunade said sadly.
"You can't be serious Baa-chan!" Naruto yelled.
"I agree." Ino said.
"Yeah, Itachi was a threat to Konoha too." Tenten said.
"He was more dangerous than Orochimaru." Neji said.
"I'm sorry, but I can't make any exceptions. I'm the hokage, no special treatment to individuals are allowed." Tsunade said. Naruto seemed like he would release the kyuubi again. "That's why I'm forced to send Uchiha away from Konoha. If he was a kage, we would have no right to touch him."
Sakura and Naruto looked at Sasuke, all three seemed to be contemplating the situation, but they knew what had to be done.
"I'll be the Sound's new Kage." Sasuke said, looking at Tsunade.
"But teme." Naruto began.
"Well, if you become hokage, then we can compare which village is run better." Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto was uncertain, but then quickly accepted the challenge as he looked at his long time rival's eyes.
"Ok, but even if you have a head start, I'm going to be a way better kage than you!" Naruto said.
"Che, you wish dobe."
"What did you call me?!"
"Sakura, I guess I broke up the team again." Sasuke said, ignoring the blond.
"Not exactly. You're still yourself, and I'm sure Konoha and Sound would soon be allies. Me, Naruto and the rest can visit you, like we do with Sand to keep up our alliance. This won't be good bye, more like see you later." Sakura said.
"I guess."
The group of nins just stood there, watching there friends converse.
"How troublesome, just thinking of Naruto being the Hokage gives me a headache.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Tsunade said.
"What do you mean?" Neji asked.
"I'm just saying that I'm sorry that Shikamaru will have a lot of migraines in the near future." Tsunade said with a smile.
"You don't mean." Neji began.
"Dear kami. This is all just too troublesome." Shikamaru said, thinking of his future.
"Well teme. While you're still here, let's see if Ichiraku's still running. Come on everyone!" Naruto said as he dragged Sasuke and Sakura, while gesturing Hinata to follow, toward the village. Everyone just shook their head, as they followed the nins into there home.
"Even though everything is changing. We still found a way to save your ass teme!" Naruto said.
"What do you expect? Whatever I did, you guys always seem to find a way to bring me back." Sasuke said in and joking tone.
"As soon as Kakashi and Sai are ok, we should have a ramen celebration!" Naruto said as he told all of his ideas to Hinata, who just nodded shyly.
"Never did I think that things would end up like this." Sasuke said.
"Yeah. I guess this would be called a happy ending. Crazy thing always seem to happen with us, but we still manage." Sakura said.
"Yeah, because our team is so good at it." Sasuke said.
"Good at what?" Sakura asked but couldn't hear what Sasuke said as he was blocked out from Naruto's yelling. Ichiraku was completely demolished. Sakura went to help Hinata comfort him. Sasuke just looked at the scene with amusement.
"We're good at finding a way." Sasuke said. As he and the rest went to catch up.
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AN: I finally done! Holy crap. Sry about the ending, I know some ppl are going wtf was that? But hey, I had one too many muffins, what can I say? Anyways, thx for reading, your reviews and support really helped me out. Ja ne!