Chapter 12- Final Chapter (other then alternate ending)
You know, Naruto-kun…
I was never able to cherish anything I had…
my family…
my friends…
power…
not even my own life…
Why?
Because when I have something… I end up hating it…
but… you …I can cherish forever…
because no matter what happens… you will never belong to me…
"NARUTO!!!!"
No… You can't die…
…don't leave me…
…
……
………
"so… what you are telling me is that Arashi (Minato in the manga… now revealed. once again I repeat this! From now on some of this won't fit into the REAL plot line)was planning this all this time?"
It was weird to see Jiraiya so serious considering everyone knew what he did on his free times…
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT?" Deidara was slowly losing his temper. They were there for at least 2 hours… not counting the time he and Sasuke took arguing outside the door.
Of course it couldn't be helped… they all were once known as the greatest missing nin… it was only natural for Jiraiya, told by the elders, question them.
"um… Jiraiya-sama, is this really necessary?" asked Kakashi looking around at all the ANBU who were there as a safety measure.
"Well… we saw from our own eyes what happened with Arashi-san…" this time it was Sakura who spoke, "I mean… I think we should be able to believe them…"
"YEAH WHAT SHE SAID!" Deidara stood up from his seat, pointing his finger at Sakura.
Sasuke took a step forward, "You were all in the Akatsuki and most of us almost died trying to fight you! You can't blame us for doubting!"
Now Deidara was right in front of Sasuke, unable to control his anger, "Look brat! The only reason why YOU are still alive is because of Naruto-kun! Hell, if I was him I would have killed you myself for what you done! If this village doubts us we can say the same for you!"
"Deidara shut up…" growled Sasori, "What we did as Akatsuki was a little overboard, I admit… however if we didn't make it seem serious Orochimaru would have known something was wrong… we had to make it believable."
"Still, I find it hard to believe people like you who have so much power and strength would follow someone so dedicatedly and not hope you gain anything in return." As usual Neji brought up a good point.
"Because… it was fun…"
They all turned to Sasori in shock. 'Fun…?'
"I felt alive for the first time in ages… and I never actually had someone to depend on back at my village…" Sasori turned to Gaara, "Now I think about it, it seems like the village changed a lot since you became the Kazekage… Also… Arashi-sama… is someone you can respect so easily."
"Itachi killed the whole Uchiha clan… how can you explain that?" asked Jiraiya.
"Itachi didn't kill clan." said Kisame.
well that made Sasuke lose his temper… "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
Kisame sighed, "Orochimaru was the one who killed the clan… it seems like he wanted to wipe out the clan that was most threatening to him… and when you came Itachi made you see an illusion, which he created, in order for you to chase after him then Orochimaru. Come on, haven't you notice? He beat you to a pulp every time you fought but he never killed you. Then he joined Akatsuki to get closer to Orochimaru… of course in the beginning he had to make it seem like he was glad the snake killed his clan…"
"That actually make sense…" said Shikamaru.
Kiba glared at him, "Your actually taking their side now?"
"No… I'm just saying it is logically believable. –sigh- well I think this whole thing is troublesome."
"But-"
Kiba was cut off however because at that time Tsunade entered… her hands were covered in blood and from what they could tell she didn't really have a happy or relieved expression.
"Where's Naruto!" Sasuke said right away.
Deidara however choose this as yet another opportunity to pick a fight with the younger Uchiha, "Why the fuck do you care, un? You didn't seem like you did when you went to Orochimaru wagging your tail!"
"Were they like this the whole time?" asked Tsunade looking at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya sighed. "Well… yes… they are just natural enemies I guess…" then he looked down at Tsunade's hands, "What happened? Is he ok?"
There was a pause where everyone watched the Hokage… even Deidara stopped glaring at Sasuke.
"Naruto's fine… he was just in shock of seeing… that…"
The Konoha ninja sighed in relief.
"What about Itachi-san?" Sai choose to speak for the first time since they got to this room (I know I didn't include him for a while! ;)
Sasuke wasn't exactly on good terms with Sai considering he kind of did take his place in the team with Naruto, however Sasuke did hate Itachi more then anyone. "Don't tell me you are actually concerned?"
Sai turned to Sasuke with his usual unreadable expression, "I'm not really concerned about your brother… but if he did die… Naruto would have lost two person in is life in one day. I don't think he would ever recover from that."
What he said did make sense so Sasuke didn't argue… even though he hated how Sai referred to Itachi as his brother.
"Itachi's fine" said Tsunade, "The attack missed his heart… however there is something that concerns me," she then turned to Sasuke, "Sasuke, has your eye sight…um… lacked in anyway?"
Sasuke looked confused and everyone, including the Akatsuki member, seemed like they were listening intently.
"No… why?"
"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi took a step forward, "The…um… condition that Itachi has would affect Sasuke since he doesn't have Mangekyo Sharingan."
"What are you talking about, Tsunade-sama?" asked Ino getting up to stand. Something was wrong… they could tell.
"It seems like… Itachi has been losing his eye sight for quiet a long time… he is nearly blind and if he continues to use that Sharingan of his he will be in less then a month," Tsunade turned to look at the Akatsuki members, "did you know anything about this?"
Deidara was still in shock and for the first time he couldn't speak.
"No…" said Sasori quietly.
"You got to be joking!" blurted out Kisame, "That can't be possible! Itachi didn't even mention this at all! A person would know if their eye sight is that bad!"
"Unless he knew and didn't want to say anything about it," said Zetsu.
"What?"
"Actually that would explain it," said Sasori, "he probably did know he was going to lose his eye sight… he just didn't care and continued to use that Sharingan… after all that is part of his technique. Plus if he mentioned to us something about this we would have acted differently and Naruto-kun would have found out."
"Oh great! That is just like him isn't it?" Deidara started, " 'I'm going blind and I know it! but of course it doesn't matter! It's no big deal! Life is good!' " he let out a frustrated sigh and sat back down.
"That doesn't make sense! Come on! I been his partner for a while and Naruto-kun was with him most of the time! There was no way he could have fooled us both!"
Sasori started to pace around the room, "he probably used his other senses… we can expect that much from Itachi." Then he came to a stop, "…is… there a way to prevent this?"
"There is a procedure we can try… it can probably get his eye sight to at least 95 perfect…"
"What's the catch?" asked Deidara.
Tsuande walked towards a chair and sat down, "There is 5 chance he would survive…"
They all looked at her mouth open. Of course there was no man on Earth foolish enough to try this one.
"Tsunade-sama, when this sort of thing happened to Lee… wasn't there something you can do?" asked Gai.
"This one's different." came the reply, "I been trying to study this for a while and when the Uchiha clan was still at large lots of other medical ninjas tried too… but it's no use… All I can say is that he should get used to fighting without using his sharingan… and Kakashi, stop using that eye as much too."
There was a pause in which everyone seemed to be thinking…
"Well…" The Hokage said, breaking the silence, "One good new is that the elders decided to clear your names… you can either go back to your villages or stay here like the rest of us."
Neji, Tenten, Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru, and bunch of others turned to Sasuke when they heard this… and as they thought the young Uchiha looked traumatized.
"Itachi? Are you ok?"
"I'm fine Naruto-kun… my eyes does this once in a while… maybe because lack of sleep…"
…
"Naruto-kun… if you had to choose between being blind or death… what would you choose?"
Dammit… why didn't I notice before…
"Naruto-kun?"
Naruto looked up at Itachi who was still lying on the hospital bed.
"I'm sorry."
Naruto held back tears that were starting to form, "about what? You didn't do anything wrong…"
"I knew Arashi-sama was going to that… I…" Itachi stared out of the window.
"Um… Deidara, why doesn't Itachi look away when talking?"
"un? um… well I guess he just don't want to make eye contact… don't take it personally Naruto-kun."
His hands began to form into a fist…
"I should have tried to stop him…"
"DAMMIT STOP IT!" He got up so suddenly he knocked down the chair he was sitting on. "Why are you worrying about that when you have bigger things to think about!"
Itachi closed his eyes, looking still calm, "I know you're upset Naru-"
Naruto punched the wall near him making a crack, "Do you even know what I'm upset about? Well do you! It's bad enough about my father but I find that you been lying the whole time! What were you thinking still using that eyes if you know you were going to be blind! What about that operation? DID YOU EVEN GIVE A THOUGHT ABOUT WEATHER DOING IT OR NOT?"
"That doesn't matter…" he said plainly. "I would do the operation if you want me to… if not… I'll figure out something… it isn't like my sharingan is all my technique and besides I don't have to worry about my brother trying to chop my head off (does he?)…"
Naruto stood there… just stood there. He didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say.
"Well? Would you rather have me take the operation? I guess I am going to be a burden on you if otherwise…"
"Itachi, seriously you can just wait for that arm to heal! You don't even have to take that surgery."
"It would be quicker this way… besides I don't want to be useless, Naruto-kun."
"no… I don't want you to…"
am I being selfish
not being able to use his best weapon…
not being able to properly fight…
This would kill his pride.
but… I don't want to lose him.
"but… I don't want to make the decision for you…" he turned around and headed for the door.
Itachi heard the sound of the door closing and opened his eyes. He put his hand inches away from his face… he smirked, 'All I can see are blurs… I should have been prepared for this. Arashi-sama, what would you have done?'
"Naruto, are you ok?"
"Do I look like I'm ok you bastard?" he said coldly.
Sasuke sighed and sat down next to Naruto on the head of the formal hokages. "What are you going to do?"
Naruto looked down at the village. There were so much noise and even though it was night the light from all the lanterns and candles make it look almost as if it was an afternoon. They were having a celebration… for their village being safe he guessed.
"I don't know. It's his decision."
Sasuke glanced at Naruto then turned to look at the villagers as well, "You know I never knew what you saw in my brother."
Naruto turned immediately to him, "You referred to him as your brother."
The Uchiha sighed, "Well I might as well get used to it… after all he's not going anywhere… and I can't even kill him. You know I once couldn't sleep so I wrote 100 different ways to kill Itachi."
Naruto let out a small laugh.
"You know I'm serious," Sasuke was smirking now, "I hated him so much… and you know, now I hate him even more since you love him…"
Naruto turned to him… then looked away.
"From all the 'you lack hate' speech he gave me, I bet all the hatred I feel towards him now I can probably kill him…" He paused, "I'm sorry…"
"Ok seriously, what's with you Uchiha people and saying sorry?" he was beginning to get irritated by all this.
"Itachi might not done anything that could have caused him to say sorry… but I did…" Sasuke turned to face his formal teammate, "I shouldn't have left the village. It seems like, since I know the whole thing, our life was just a stupid game."
"It's fine… don't worry about it. Not anymore."
"Your dad… is something though. He didn't die because his mind was set to protect you."
"Well he did a fabulous job of that, didn't he?" he said sarcastically
"From what your… well friends told us… his whole goal was to make you strong since he knew what your life as the vessel was going to be like."
"Whatever… but even if he left me and for real this time… I don't want to forget him."
Sasuke smirked and poked the blonde's forehead, "well with the brain you have you just might."
"Shut up," he relied hitting away the hand. There was a small smile that formed on his lips.
"It takes a minute to know someone, it takes a day to become their friend… but it takes a lifetime to forget them…"
Naruto stared at Sasuke, "You got that from Neji or someone didn't you? There is no way Sasuke I know would be able to come up with such impressive line!"
Sasuke started twitching, 'so… Naruto did think he was an idiot didn't he? Wasn't it suppose to be other way around?' He sighed and got up.
"Are you going to stay here, dobe?"
"I told him I'll wait until he makes a decision…"
Sasuke paused before saying something, "I see…"
"How long do you think I have to wait?"
Then Sasuke pulled on Naruto's now long hair, "sooner then you think…"
Naruto looked up and turned around, "Itachi…"
The younger Uchiha started to walk away from Naruto… then he came to a stop a feet behind Itachi, "If you die during the procedure… I'm going to take him…"
The older man smirked, "Since I know that, I seriously can't die…"
As Sasuke's footsteps grew farther away Itachi walked closer to where Naruto was standing.
"I heard that Tsunade-san is planning to retire," he said as he came to a stop next to the younger ninja, "It's almost a promise you will become the 6th Hokage. The villagers seem to love you now… so you won't have any problems with them anymore… then there is people like that Hyuuga boy and my brother who is probably going to be doing just about anything you ask them to…"
"……"
Itachi let out a sigh, "You're giving me the silent treatment now?"
"……"
"……Naruto-kun…"
"It's your decision. I actually think it is rather stupid considering you only have a slim chance of surviving… but, I don't want to be selfish."
"Naruto-kun… if I die Deidara and Kisame are probably going to stay here; they actually seem like they hate their own village and Deidara is really fond of you. Also even though Sasori is planning to go back to Sand village, considering how the alliance is strong…"
"What are you going to do?... that is all I care about."
Silence…
"I-I don't want to feel like I can't protect you. I'm sure Arashi-sama didn't want that as well... Naruto-kun, I'm going to do the operation…"
Naruto smirked, "I knew you would…"
Itachi gave him a smile then leaned down. However Naruto put his finger on the other man's lips stopping him…
"But don't you dare die… I won't forgive you if you leave me too…"
"I know…"
He rapped his arms around the older man as they shared a passionate kiss…
…
……
………
I knew this could be the last time we would be like this…
I kept thinking over and over 'this isn't fair.'
but life isn't fair…
I already knew that… I'm not a child
… In my heart, I know I won't let myself die…
I want to stay with him and be by his side until he doesn't need me anymore…
I remembered at that moment, I questioned myself
Is this howArashi-sama felt
The End.
ok this is important!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Does anyone want me to write a sequel?
If I don't find that many don't want me to I'm going to leave it like this… so please tell me!
and please review!!!