A/N: Gosh! It's been a bit a of a struggle, but now the new chapter is FINALLY here! (wipes sweat from forehead)

First things first… You guys, thank you from the very bottom of my heart for those baffling reviews! This story wouldn't go on without them, you know? (sends hugs and cupcakes)

Okay, because I can just feel how badly you want to get to business, let's go! I really hope you'll like the chapter. (gulps nervously)

/Sometimes I feel like everybody's got a problem
Sometimes I feel like nobody wants to solve them
I know that people say we're never going to make it
But I know we're going to get through this
(Close your eyes and please don't let me go)
Don't, Don't, Don't, Don't let me go now
(Close your eyes don't let me let you go)
Don't, Don't, Don't

The raindrops
The tears keep falling
I see your face and it keeps me going
If I get lost your light's going to guide me
And I know that you can take me home
You can take me home

Take my hand tonight
Let's not think about tomorrow
Take my hand tonight
We could find some place to go
Cause our hearts are locked forever
And our love will never die
Take my hand tonight
One last time /

(Simple plan: " Take my hand")

Konan grit her teeth while patching up yet another wound on her already tattered body quite clumsily, and shuddered from pain when the flesh became aggravated.

Since Konoha had destroyed the Akatsuki's base, she'd been on a run for her life, literally. Word of the organization's collapse had spread quickly, and she'd already been attacked far more times than she could count. Everyone seemed to know her, even without her Akatsuki's cloak.

This was getting just too much – for her and her unborn, furiously kicking baby – especially now that Pein was…

Before she could ever finish that thought sounds of approaching steps caused her to tense up completely. Emitting a loud growl she turned her head and prepared to fight. Her eyes narrowed when finding a strangely familiar looking girl with blonde hair and burgundy eyes.

" It's alright, Konan", a smooth voice soothed her. " I'm not here to harm you." The girl's head was tilted, and she had a chilling feeling the teen could see straight into her head. " Now, the Akatsuki's been destroyed, and your lover is dead."

She looked away to hide her expression. " It's not like you could do anything about it", she noted through gritted teeth.

" You're right, I can't. But I can give you a chance to start anew and pay back what's been done to you." She looked towards the girl to meet a pair of gleaming eyes. " Would you like to join something that'll last? Something that'd protect you and your child?"

She struggled against the desire to snort. " Do I have any choice?"

CHAPTER 18: Take My Hand

Naruto wasn't entirely sure if he'd passed out or if he'd been knocked out when his eyes opened without warning to meet pitch black darkness. His chest shuddered with something he identified as fright when he realized where he was.

Darkness… Stonewalls… Bars covering a pathetically small window…

He was snapped back into awareness when there was a cough from what sounded like nearby, followed by cusses snarled under breath. His heart swelled with hope. " Sasuke…?"

It took agonizingly long until there was a response. " Yeah…"

He was afraid of the next question but asked anyhow, stubborn as always. " Did they… hurt you?"

" No." As soon as Sasuke spoke, he came to a conclusion that he'd been right. He hadn't wanted to learn the answer – the Uchiha was clearly lying.

Almost like following some instinct he lowered his gaze on the wall behind his back, and found a hole that went all the way to the other side. In less than a second he realized that Sasuke was there, and had to fight furiously against the urge to reach out a hand.

He had to gather his voice for a while before he could speak. " We will get out of here, believe it." His voice was so hoarse that it sounded even less convincing than he'd feared. " I'm not going to let us die, okay? We've been through so much that I'm not about to let these creeps execute us."

Even as he spoke, he had a dark feeling that those promises would remain empty.

What the two didn't know was that there was still a tiny spark of hope left.

Tsunade's gaze snapped up from the documents she'd been skimming through when there was a firm knock on the door of her new office. " Yes?"

She was instantly alarmed by the looks upon Kakashi and Iruka's face when the men entered. " We've got a huge problem", the silver haired announced, not bothering with greetings or formalities. " Danzou's out of control – he just arrested Naruto and Sasuke. They'll be executed in two hours."

Her heart nearly stopped, and all colour drained from her face while disbelief surged through. Then – so fast it felt dizzying – iced blood turned into lava. Her eyes flashed. " Does anyone else know about this?"

Kakashi shook his head, seeming to understand her reasoning. " Not yet."

" Good. Let's keep it that way. There's no need to get anyone else involved, especially when they're still recovering from the fight against the Akatsuki. Besides, I don't want them to try anything brash that'd get them into a trouble as well."

Iruka frowned. " What are you going to do?"

Her eyes flashed. " Something I should've done a long time ago." She took a moment to calm herself. " You may go now. It looks like I've got an appointment ahead of me…"

After the years she'd spent under Orochimaru's training, Karin was many things. Stupid wasn't one of them.

At first she, Suigetsu and Juugo weren't allowed into Sasuke's hospital room. And now, she spotted Danzou walking towards the prison, looking much too happy for her liking.

" Something smells fishy around here", Suigetsu announced with a frown on his face.

For once, she chose to skip the opportunity to mock her teammate. Instead she took off towards the hollow looking building. " Let's go and find out just how stinking this'll get."

Meanwhile, Gaara woke up from a light sleep when the door of his hospital room was opened and closed. As usual, his chest reacted when he saw Neji approaching slowly. Something he found in the boy's eyes caused him chills of alarm. " Temari asked me to come and visit you. She said it's important."

His eyes hardened. " She told me you asked her and Kankuro to take me away from Konoha."

Neji's whole body quaked visibly. " You should've let things be." Even though it wasn't long ago he'd been practically unable to experience feelings apart from anger, he'd always been rather good at reading expressions. His heart broke to pieces by the sadness he saw in the Hyuuga's eyes. " I… I only came here to say goodbye."

It felt like a dagger of some sort had been slammed right through his heart and he shuddered. For a moment his head was clouded by disbelief until words came. " What?" Then, came such a bout of hatred that it startled him. " If this is about Hiashi, or Genji…"

Neji's eyes flashed with pain, confirming his assumption. " Gaara… Don't."

His eyes flamed with determination to not give up. " I'm not letting them take you away from me."

" Stop it." Gaara heard tears in Neji's voice, but when he searched through the boy's eyes… He couldn't find anything. It was like the Hyuuga's very soul had been stolen away. " Whatever there could've been between us… It just isn't enough. We'd never be allowed to love each other like we should. So stop hanging on to this, all right? Leave this alone – for both our sakes."

No, his head screamed in an instant.

He'd gone through so much, he'd barely managed to wake up. He refused to believe that…

Neji was already about to leave when he managed to grab the boy's wrist, causing the Hyuuga to tremble. " I love you." It was the first time he said it out loud, and he was startled by how easily and sincerely it rolled by his tongue. His heart was jumping so madly that it actually hurt. " Doesn't that mean anything?"

Neji didn't say a word, most likely wasn't able to. His hand no longer had the strength to hold on when the Hyuuga started to walk away and left the room without making much of a sound.

He stared at the closed door, feeling like a piece of him had just been stolen away.

There were few things that could bring Danzou pleasure. But that was the only word he could come up with when watching Sasuke and Naruto's cells through small holes in the wall. He was very close to smirking when seeing the looks of pain upon both their faces.

It was only a matter of time before justice would finally be served.

" Go and get them", he ordered his men in a screech like voice. " I think it's about time to get this over with."

-

What he couldn't know was that a certain team of three was listening from a hidden hallway he didn't even know of.

" Shit…", Suigetsu hissed almost too loudly. " Now what do we do?"

Karin weighed down their options. If they'd just barge in they'd only get into a trouble, and in a worst case scenario end up executed as well. But if they'd wait around for too long…

" Let's go", she ordered in a hushed voice. " We've got preparations to make."

Time didn't seem to be moving quite right in the tiny cell Naruto was locked into.

From the small window, he could see that the sun was moving rapidly outside, yet to him it felt like time had stilled completely.

He hadn't moved in ages – which felt unnatural to him – nor had he spoken. He barely dared to breathe. It was almost like he'd feared anything too brash would throw him straight back into reality.

Then – so suddenly that his heart forgot one jump – time resumed when he heard a harsh cough from the other side of the wall behind his back. He frowned, feeling small chills of thread. " Sasuke? Are you okay?" He was feeling like passing out himself. He could only imagine what the Uchiha was going through.

A lot of time passed until there was a faint sound. " Hn."

Unable to fight the urge any longer, his fingers sneaked through the tiny hole on the wall, and he jumped a bit when his skin collided with something soft and warm. He was about to pull away, but in the end couldn't bring himself to do so when he recognized the warmth as Sasuke's hand.

A silence that couldn't be described as anything else but comfortable lingered while they sat, things that should've been said lingering in the air.

In the end he just couldn't take the quietness anymore. " Hey, Sasuke…" He swallowed thickly, barely managing to keep his voice from failing completely. " I… I'm sorry."

The raven didn't speak, but the fingers under his moved, as though trying to hold on.

' There's nothing to be sorry about, dobe.'

Some tears he didn't bother to hide slipped and he closed his eyes while lifting his chin a little, emitting a shuddering breath.

Please…

His hand tried to tighten around Sasuke's.

Whatever it takes…

Before that thought was ever finished, the door of his cell was opened, and he could hear the exact same sound on Sasuke's side. Silhouetted by light, a rather large looking man was stood by the doorway. " It's time, demon."

It took all her skills of persuasion and a gathering of courage she would've never imagined being capable of, but eventually Hinata managed to talk Sakura into helping her to go and visit Kiba, for just one last time.

Memories flashed by her mind while she sat in a chair right outside the room, shivering like a leaf without even noticing it.

/ She and Kiba first becoming teammates. /

/ Kiba helping her train. /

/ Their hands wrapping together slowly, then holding on tightly, as though knowing… /

/ The one kiss she'd been allowed to give him, just before he'd headed after the Akatsuki. /

She jumped in her seat when there was a sound of door opening. In a second Sakura was stood before her, looking as though she'd just cried. " His family isn't there and he's now properly prepared, so…" The pinkette trailed off, then looked at her with a somewhat strained expression. " Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded fervently and opened her mouth, but no words willed their way out.

Nodding, clearly knowing that there was no way to change her mind, Sakura helped her up and to the room's doorway. " I'll… leave you alone now, okay?"

She didn't even hear, nor did she notice the girl leaving, for all she could see was Kiba.

The boy was so much paler than she'd remembered, yet still seemed so alive that she had to remind herself painfully of the harsh reality. There was a small frown upon his face, as though he'd only been having a nightmare.

Her steps were slow and unsteady when she walked up to the bed, finally slumping to the chair beside it when her muscles gave way.

For what she later suspected to be close to ten minutes she sat there in utter silence, having no clue whatsoever as to what she should've said or done. Eventually – almost like in slow motion – she reached out a trembling hand and wrapped it around Kiba's. Something inside her broke when the boy didn't squeeze back, no matter how much she would've wished him to.

It took a long time before voice came. " I… I know you hate hospitals, and it's pretty lonely here, so…" She swallowed thickly, but the lump in her throat didn't disappear. " If… If it's okay with you, I'll keep you company, until they'll come and…" Her voice faded away.

She almost expected Kiba to grin and throw a silly comment of some sort. Her heart broke a little more when there was nothing.

And so she sat there holding Kiba's hand and keeping him company, all the way until two men she'd never seen before came to take his body away.

During all the time she spent in the room, she had no idea of the tears that'd rolled down her cheeks in a steady river since she'd first entered.

After taking Hinata to Kiba's room, Sakura had to walk around the hospital for a long while before she was finally coherent enough to control her emotions and able to go back to work. What she ran into, however, jeopardized her newfound composure.

Not too far from Kiba's room, Shino had slumped into a chair, face buried into both hands and body shivering most likely without the boy knowing it. A sharp slash of pain pierced her chest.

In such a short time the boy had lost so much – the love of his life, his baby he didn't even know having, a friend and teammate… She couldn't even imagine what he was going through.

Very slowly, almost cautiously, she approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He trembled at first, but relaxed once recognizing her touch. Comfortable silence lingered while they remained there, absolutely still.

She was almost startled when Shino suddenly broke the silence. " She's… She's there with him, isn't she?" The voice was quiet and hoarse, nothing like the boy's usual. " He's not alone."

She nodded, swallowing to ensure that her voice wouldn't break. " Yeah."

The boy nodded, most likely not knowing what else to do. " That's good."

She opened her mouth, but never got the chance to voice her thoughts before something she saw through a window made everything inside her freeze.

Outside, on a platform the purpose of which she knew much too well, were Naruto and Sasuke. A crowd watched in utter silence while executioners prepared to do their work.

Her heart hammered madly while she stared at the horrendous sight, discouraging facts running through her head.

She was far, much too far – Naruto and Sasuke would be long gone before she'd ever make it there. There… was nothing she could do but watch.

As she kept staring, tears breaking free of her hold, only lack of breath kept her from screaming.

Naruto had never even seen an execution before. Therefore he was spared from knowing what was to come until he and Sasuke were dragged towards the platform.

His eyes widened while slowly taking in the huge, wooden structure, violent looking and sharp blades that flashed in sunlight, a huge man he recognized as the executioner…

He reached out his hand as much as the man entrapping him allowed, but never managed to even brush Sasuke's skin before they were torn apart once more, lead to the opposite sides of the wooden stage.

Like he'd been inside a dream of some sort, he watched and listened how the people watching kept shouting something he couldn't make out when Danzou made his appearance. " People, could I have some silence, please?" For whatever the reason no one complied, but Danzou didn't seem to notice. " We've come here today to execute two traitors and fugitives. They get exactly the punishment they deserve for their serious offences." The elder's eyes, filled with something that chilled his blood, turned towards the men holding him and Sasuke. " Just get on with it, will you?"

Naruto's heart hammered desperately, wanting to keep beating more than ever in his entire life. He didn't give a damn if everyone could see the tears in his eyes when he lifted his gaze and looked towards where Sasuke was. He was almost sure he screamed out loud when he saw the blade dangling dangerously close to the Uchiha's neck, though with all the noise crowd was keeping he couldn't be sure.

This couldn't be happening…

This couldn't…

At that moment, no power in the universe would've been strong enough to hold him back. " I love you!" he screamed out loud, sure his words didn't even reach Sasuke. His head fell in defeat and he allowed his eyes to slip closed while tears he just couldn't be embarrassed by escaped. " Goddamnit, I love you!"

Something changed in Sasuke's eyes when he finally managed to look at the boy, and the raven shuddered as though he'd been struck by a weapon of some sort. He found comfort from thinking it was because the boy had heard him.

" If you have any last words…", a man hissed into his ear. " … I'd strongly suggest you to voice them now."

He closed his eyes, feeling his heartbeat pick up even still, and followed helplessly how pieces of memories flowed through his head.

/ How he and Sasuke had kissed for the very first time – accidentally, they'd said. /

He emitted a shuddering mew like sound.

/ How they'd struggled to surpass one another, how they'd fought to protect each other. /

" Please…"

/ How they'd smacked their fists together as a sign of bond that'd last until eternity. /

" Don't…"

/ How they'd met again after over two and a half years, all the electricity lingering in the air. /

" Not yet…"

/ How they'd kissed, finally sealing what'd been planted when they'd first met. /

He didn't want to die, and he sure as hell didn't want Sasuke to die, either. He didn't want to lose what he'd only just been allowed to brush. He didn't want to lose everything. He didn't want to…

In the middle of that thought, he could feel the huge blade behind him being lifted. It became so silent that even the faintest breath could've been heard.

It took his all to not scream.

The eerie silence lasted for what felt like an eternity to him, until the blade threatening him started to fall down. For some reason, image of Sasuke's smirking face flashed before his closed eyes.

/ " Dobe." /

He could feel that the blade was about a millimetre from his neck, when the entire world stilled without the slightest warning.

There was an odd, swooshing sound in the air, followed by a screech of metal colliding with metal. There was a thud when the blade fell from his neck to the stage, judging by the breath of air he felt only a beat away.

-

On a rooftop some distance away, Suigetsu grinned haughtily. " Bull's eye."

Karin rolled her eyes. " Show off." Then, after making sure everything was going right, she whirled around. " Now let's go before we'll get into trouble for this one."

-

Back on the stage, barely daring to believe, Naruto opened his eyes slowly – and gasped.

Stood almost right before the platform was Tsunade. He had no idea if it was she who'd thrown the blade that'd spared him, but her expression was that of a storm while she glared at Danzou, seeming stronger than he'd ever seen her.

Danzou's eyes flashed fire when meeting the woman's. " What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you want to accompany them?"

" I'm following the council's orders", Tsunade replied, seeming like a snake that'd just stuck a lethal blow. " I gave them my full report on everything you've managed to cause. You're officially not a Hokage anymore."

The man's eyes flashed venom. " You can't do this to me – and Konoha!"

" Wake up already!" Tsunade bellowed, then went on much more calmly. " Many people have already sacrificed their lives for Konoha's future, Danzou – including your own daughter." And Jiraiya, everyone who knew the woman at all could tell she added inside her head. " We both know that Naruto is the destined child – the one who will finally ensure that the village will be able to live in peace and without fear. If you kill him, you'll spit at the memory of a lot of people, all the sacrifices they made." The woman's eyes flamed. " Are you really willing to make all their efforts undone like this?" Her hand was pointed towards Naruto and Sasuke. " Neither of these so called criminals – children – deserves to die. Do you understand?"

It wasn't until then Naruto finally became aware of all the screams coming from the audience. Blinking with confusion, he turned his gaze the exact same moment as Danzou and gasped. Those people – some of which were crying – weren't screaming out of blood thirst, they weren't telling the executioners to just get over with it. Instead…

" What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

" They're just kids!"

" Let them go!"

" Stop killing people already!"

Even Naruto knew that Danzou was a proud man. That's why he could only imagine what the older felt like when turning around sharply and walking away.

Only shock kept him from laughing when he met Sasuke's eyes, feeling bubbling inside him.

It took three full minutes before he finally realized what was happening, and that the ropes restraining him had been removed. When realization finally did dawn on him, nothing could've held him back.

Sasuke shuddered a little when he all but bounced on the raven, burying his face into the boy's hair to hide his soon to be erupting tears of joy and wrapping his arms around the other as tightly as he could without irritating the boy's injuries. In a couple of moments the Uchiha returned his hold, first weakly, then much more tightly, as though realization had just sunken in.

Because of all the cheering coming from the audience he couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard a whisper. " I love you too, dobe."

A huge grin spread across his face while tears of joy and relief kept rolling.

It was over. It was finally over.

-

While looking at the two, Tsunade dared to smile slightly.

No one knew about the future. But for now, it looked like Konoha's darkest hours had come to an end.

/ Four Days Later. /

Shikamaru was just trying to sneak himself into a sitting position when sounds of determined approaching steps came from the hallway, causing his chest to shrink into a tiny ball. He relaxed and felt warm in an instant when the door was opened, revealing Temari.

He let out a long breath. " Geez… You almost gave me a heart attack! I thought you were Sakura or Shiho – they'd kill me if they caught me trying to move around."

Temari shook her head and grinned, albeit suspiciously tensely. " Are you seriously that afraid of a couple of little girls?" The girl's face then changed until they were almost unfamiliar. There was a long, heavy pause. " Shikamaru…" She hesitated. " I came to say goodbye."

He frowned, noting that the warmth from before had been replaced by an arctic coldness. " Why?"

She snorted. " Let's face it. Konoha is in turmoil – the last thing this village needs is ninjas from another village looming around." The girl's eyes became directed straight into his. " There's no reason for me to stay."
He opened his mouth, but instead of what he'd been supposed to (and what he would've wanted to) say something entirely different came. " Oh." His eyebrows then furrowed, cold chills traveling all the way through him. " But… You'll come and visit, right?"

Temari chuckled, although it sounded a lot wetter than it should've. " And they say you're a genius?" Then – clearly losing herself into a spur of the moment – she walked up to him and placed a long, electrifying kiss to his forehead. " Thank you." With that she turned around slowly and left the room without making another sound or looking over her shoulder.

" Stay." It was tragic, really, that the words he'd indented to say didn't come until she was already out of the hospital. " Because I love you."

-

Once she was out of the building, Temari frowned and wiped her cheek when feeling something strange on it. She blinked dubiously at what was on her fingertips.

Tears…?

Disobeying all of Sakura's orders and her own voice of reason, Ino struggled out of her bed and started to make her way towards Sai's room. Yes, she knew she should've been resting, but this was much, much more important.

She didn't understand how she could possibly know the way, but eventually she opened up a certain door, and felt her heart skip some beats at what she found inside.

Sai had always been pale, but now… There was absolutely no colour upon his ashen face, and as she kept staring only the fact that his oxygen mask fogged up every once in a while confirmed that he was alive.

She drew in a long, badly shuddering breath and braced herself before making the unnaturally long journey to his bedside.

With surprising ease, as though that'd been how it was supposed to be, her fingers joined with Sai's, holding on with surprising firmness. It took a while before she managed to find her voice. " Do you… Do you have any idea of how mad I am at you right now?" Her voice was choked and barely comprehensible, but she went on anyhow, oblivious to her tears. " Why the hell did you have to play the hero? Why couldn't you…? Why couldn't you just…?" She sniffed and futilely took a breath to calm herself. " If… If you go… I'll never, ever forgive you, do you understand?" Her hand tightened around his, holding on with desperate force. " I'm not letting you leave me, not before I've had a chance to tell you…"

Just then she took a look at his face – and felt her heart jump all the way to her throat. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but the image remained.

Sai was looking back at her, eyes still hazy but open nonetheless.

Neji figured that in all possible standards he would've been called a masochist for what he pushed himself through that day.

Feeling his heart breaking into tiny, sharp pieces he watched how two ninjas Tsunade had assigned for the job dragged Gaara towards the village's gates, accompanied closely by Temari, Kankuro and Izumi.

Unable to stop himself, he allowed his eyes to lock to Gaara's face. He nearly fell apart when the redhead's eyes moved the exact same second, meeting his. From that one, utterly devastated look he could tell that the Kazekage knew.

He closed his eyes as tightly as humanly possible, shivering beyond any limitations. When he looked again, the one he cared about beyond everything was gone.

It felt like his whole world had just fallen apart.

Goodbye.

He must've been standing there for almost five minutes before a tiny screech caused him to tense up slightly. Peering over his shoulder, he found a very familiar person entering the room.

TenTen had a look of concern and utter confusion upon her face. " Neji? What's wrong?"

He couldn't respond, instead turned his gaze back to where Gaara had just been. For some reason it felt much worse than the first time to discover that the boy wasn't there anymore.

He shuddered with surprise when TenTen's warm, comforting arms slipped hesitantly around him from behind, desperately trying to grant him at least a tiny bit of the comfort he would've needed.

That day, he didn't have the strength to fight against her hold. Instead he focused his all into keeping tears from flowing.

As far he as he was concerned, the world had just ended.

Sasuke was just preparing to finally leave the hospital – after having been there for much longer than he would've pleased as a precaution – when someone entered the room without bothering to knock. He didn't have to turn around to know who it was. With his back to the arrival, he found it safe to smile ever so slightly. " 'Bout time for you to show up, dobe."

" 'Sorry." Naruto's voice was oddly sheepish. " I've just had some… figuring out to do."

He found himself stiffening slightly. He had a sharp memory, and even better hearing – of course he hadn't forgotten what Naruto had tried to shout out when they'd almost been killed. Only his cursed pride kept him from asking if the blonde had meant it.

His eyes shifted when Naruto sat heavily to the bed he'd been occupying far too much, seeming… worked up, almost. The boy didn't meet his gaze. " You know… I've been thinking."

He smirked. " Oh, really?" He didn't bother hiding his sarcasm.

Pouting a little, the blonde got up and swatted his head gently. " Stop insulting me when I'm trying to tell you something important, bastard!" The Uzumaki cleared his throat a little – which was something that surprised him – then went on. " Like I said, I've been thinking. And I've decided that I'm sick of running around in circles."

He arched an eyebrow. " Meaning…?"

Instead of offering words, Naruto plunged forward, slamming a pair of demanding lips to his. The boy's eyes flamed when looking into his after the kiss ended. " No more running away."

He was just about to lean down to express his opinion, when someone entered the room after a brief knock. It took a lot of him to fight off a blush when they discovered Tsunade, who was looking at them with an arched eyebrow. " Did I… interrupt something?"

Naruto spoke before he ever got the chance to. " Nope!" Radiant blush gave the boy away. " So… What's up?"

There was something strange in Tsunade's expression. " There's something you should see." The woman gave Naruto a piece of paper. " Follow these instructions. Once you get to your destination, there's a letter Kakashi and Shikamaru decoded waiting for you." Her eyes then turned to him. " You, come with me. I want to show you something."

His chest pounding with curiosity, Naruto followed the leads given to him, even more impatient than usually. Eventually he frowned when finding a tiny, carefully hidden door in the library.

What the…?

After hesitating uncharacteristically for a couple of moments he pushed the door open to find a tiny, rather dark room that was filled with books. In the middle of all was a tiny, stony table, onto which a letter had been placed. He didn't hesitate before taking the piece of paper and starting to read.

' Dear Naruto,

Yesterday your mother and I decided that that's what we'll call you. It only felt fitting to name you after the greatest of all Jiraiya's heroes.

Five minutes ago, I listened to you moving inside your mother's womb while she was asleep. You're still so very small, yet you're kicking furiously and for a while I was almost sure I could feel your chakra even this early. You'll be strong, I can already tell that. Stronger than I have ever been, stronger than anyone.

Life of a ninja is unpredictable. That's why I decided to write this letter for you. I wanted to tell you that early as it is, I'm sure I'll be very proud of you, and I have no doubt in my mind that one day you'll become the greatest ninja who ever lived. And I love you very, very much.

I have to go now – the light's disturbing your mother's sleep. But before that, I want you to promise me that you'll never hesitate following the path you've chosen, for I can tell it's going to be an honourable one. And know that whatever happens, I'll always be there watching over you.

With all my love,

Namikaze Minato '

Naruto wiped his cheeks, and blinked a little when finding them moist. He hadn't even noticed that he'd started to cry.

Just then, he was startled when the door behind him opened rather loudly. He whirled around – and felt his heart jump while everything else in him stilled completely. For there, stood by the doorway, was a woman with long, red hair and burgundy eyes, her expression just as baffled as his.

-

Yes, Naruto didn't have even a single picture of his mother. And Kushina had long since lost her memory. But at that moment, while they stared at each other, both knew exactly what they'd finally managed to find.

Tears welled into their eyes.

In the meantime, Sasuke was beyond confused when Tsunade led him into an orphanage. Deep frown appeared to his face. " What… are we doing here?"

Tsunade's eyes carried something strange. " Some time after Itachi's death, a woman named Rina came to me and asked me to do her a favour if something bad should happen to her." (1)

He felt a shudder.

" You see, until the end Itachi allowed everyone to think that he killed his lover years ago. But in reality she was very much alive, and they kept meeting as often as they could until the very end. And that resulted in Itachi's greatest legacy."

He frowned and opened his mouth when they stopped, but didn't manage to even breathe when the sight met him.

There, playing with toys that should've been much too challenging for someone of her age, sat a about two years old girl with black hair and equally dark Uchiha eyes.

His eyes widened despite himself for a moment.

So, Itachi… He had…

" Her name is Chieko. She's been kept rather well hidden thus far", Tsunade explained. " For her safety."

He glanced towards Tsunade. " What should I do with her?"

The woman looked back at him. " That's up to you."

His eyes moved to the girl who looked so much like his brother that it chilled him. And at that moment he made his decision.

TBC, for an epilogue.

1) Because I'm sure you can't remember anymore… Rina was that woman who helped both Sasuke and Naruto, in the end winding up getting killed. Chouji and co found her body some chapters back.

A/N: (sniffs)

Because I'm in a HUGE hurry, I'll have to get going now.

Until next time, folks! PLEASE do leave a comment before leaving, yeah? I know you want to. (gives enormous puppy dog eyes)

Peace out!

By the way… Does any of you still remember my other, older fic, 'Last Chance, Last Dance'? Apparently, it's a nominee for the title of 'Naruto fanfic of the month' in a forum. If you're curious, take a look to see what's it all about and take a peek at the contestants. Here's the link. (Just put FF's adress before it, yeah?)

/topic/51748/9258552/1/

Only the epilogue left! (Holy damn!)

realityfling18: The chapter really was sad, eh? Gosh, so many broken hearts… (wipes eyes)

I seriously hope Hiashi and especially Danzou will pay dearly for what they've done! (growls, revealing fangs)

(chuckles) Fortunately, there was some relief. I really enjoyed writing those NaruSasu moments – I'm beyond happy to hear they were pleasant to read, too! And that part with Sasuke's new team was something I couldn't resist writing. (smirks)

Damn, I hope Kushina will see her son and our favorite boneskulls will be okay, too!

Truck loads of thank yous for the review! I really hope you'll like the rest of the story just as much.