Sasuke
*War*
People are dying every day…or getting sick…or getting depressed and just ending their lives with their own hands. This kind of environment, this life…it's war. When they taught about the old war times in school… I never imagined something like this. I'm constantly on the battlefield. There's never any time to relax…or think. Just orders upon orders upon orders. Fortunately, because of my status, I wasn't the one getting the orders…I was the one giving them.
As I sat in my tent, I could hear the sounds of war blaring loudly outside. Some distant screams and yells. The rumbling sounds of explosions. I'd gotten accustomed to those sounds. We all had. My eyes swept over the others sleeping seemingly peacefully around me. I stared at the lamp glowing in the center of the large tent. A couple of loud screeches shattered through the night time air.
The person sleeping closest to me jumped out of sleep and looked around shakily.
Of course... He can never sleep through a night...
"Go back to bed."
"W-What was that?" he said.
"Just a drill." I lied.
I knew what those sounds meant. The tents closest to the outskirts of our camp were being breeched. We would have to wake up soon and either decide to fight off whoever was trying to ambush us or escape.
He didn't lay back down. Instead he sat there next to me staring at the glowing lamp in front of us and clutched his blanket.
"Sasuke..." he whispered.
"What?"
"Are you...afraid to die?"
His hands were shaking. His brown hair fell over his face, shielding his eyes from mine but somehow, I knew he was crying. I could hear it in his voice, see it in the way he sat.
"Death is a natural thing." I told him. "And as a Shinobi, you've given your life to the cause, to the war, to every comrade you have standing around you."
He slowly looked at me, dark brown eyes shining.
"With so much responsibility, we have no time to feel fear, Konohamaru."
He looked down and nodded.
I was originally against having such a young kid on my team but when Shino and Kankruo died in our battle against Sasori... Two solid spots opened up... And there was no one else.
"I refuse." I told my brother when he gave me the pink slip for a new member. "My team is primarily infiltration, remember? I have no use for weaklings."
"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice. The number of Chunin and Jounin available are dwindling fast...and this one has some promise."
I looked at the slip again; Konohamaru Sarutobi, Genin, Age Twelve, Nature- Fire Style, Summoning- Monkey , Specialty-Shadow Clone Jutsu, Gifted Ninjutsu User, Decent Taijutsu User, Very Poor Genjutsu User.
Konohamaru was extremely excited to be allowed onto my renowned team but I'd been exceptionally hard on him, not giving him even the tiniest bit of room to slack off. I didn't want him thinking it was like the old days when Naruto had just left and I got over my loneliness by pulling pranks with him. I was a commander.
"Ever since the Third died, he's really buckled down... Become serious with his studies." Itachi went on.
"Yeah, he better. I don't have time for games." I said, crumpling the sheet. "Have him ready at dawn."
He took my extreme punishments and overly serious attitude without complaints. I expected him to say something like "Come on, Sasuke, what's the big deal?" but he didn't look at me that way even once. It was clear the war had changed him... But that wasn't surprising. The war changed everyone.
Everyone's dying... So many people die each day... Because of that, more and more platoons like mine are being filled with these straight-out-of-the-academy Genin. Kids who smile and grin and pump their fists during the day and shake and cry and whimper at night. Konohamaru was a prime example. I'd never seen him shed one tear before that moment. Even though, the first day he was on my squad, an enemy Sound ninja sliced two of his fingers on his right hand off.
Even Hinata cried for him as she patched up his nubs, but he sat there, like a true ninja and his eyes didn't water even once.
"This is the price of manhood." He told her.
But at night, he was a completely different boy. Jumping at every sound, staying up most of the night clutching his sheets, tossing and turning. But I couldn't deny that he wasn't much different from me. I barely slept at night as well...
Konohamaru finally lay back down next to me. I watched as he moved around, trying to get comfortable.
I suppose it is the duty of the commander to watch over his subjugates anyway... I'm not allowed sleep.
I remember the day Konoha was almost completely destroyed by Sound ninja posing as Leaf ninja brought to the village by Orochimaru and Kabuto. That day, after successfully leading all the civilians and Genin out of the village, I was promoted to the Special Jounin Forces, basically Anbu level. Itachi succeeded in defeating Orochimaru but Kabuto, a foe even more slippery than Orochimaru, fled and hasn't been seen since. Itachi became the Hokage then... But there wasn't much to be Hokage of. The village was broken. People were scared. No one trusted each other. The same kind of thing happened with all the other villages in the other countries. Cloud, Sand, Rain, Stone, Mist and Leaf... We were all broken and struggling to find order and fight back. It was a seriously losing battle. Often, I woke up surprised to even be finding myself and everyone around me alive.
But because we are alive, we must continue.
I put the lamp out and pushed myself under my own sheets, finally ready to get a bit of sleep before the infiltrating ninja made their way to our tent.
I suppose we have about an hour before we're under attack... Again...
*Pain*
"Get up!" I shouted. "Everyone up, up, now!"
Everyone moaned and groaned but got to their feet. Men and women alike stood next to each other pulling on their Leaf Ninja war outfits and standing in line.
My team was:
"Rock Lee?"
"Roger that!"
"Hinata?"
"Yes."
"Sai?"
"Reporting for duty"
"Kiba?"
"Here"
"Konohamaru?"
"Alright!"
I looked at each and every one of them thoroughly.
I was a war captain in charge of my own platoon. We were a small special operations unit. We all shared one tent apart from all the other tents and left for battle much earlier than everyone else. Instead of fighting the Sound or Rain ninja that the Akatsuki had control over, it was our job to kill the actual Akatsuki members. That was the way war missions usually went. To create a solid opening to stopping this war, the only way was to go straight for each Akatsuki member and destroy them completely. The only problem was... Each Akatsuki member was strong enough to destroy an entire village. But it didn't matter. My platoon was ready for the job.
"Today is an important day." I told them. "Our biggest problem, Pain, a man who can destroy an entire sect of our army just by extending his hand is in our grasp."
Their eyes locked on to me.
"If we succeed in destroying him, it'll be a key piece for winning the entire war. It's all up to us. We're the make it or break it team." I said. "So are we going to go big or go home?"
"Go big!" exclaimed Konohamaru.
"Right!" Rock Lee agreed, ruffling Konohamaru's hair.
We left the tent and ran out. It was difficult to find Pain at all. The first bit of Intel we had was that there were six of them. Jiraiya, the man who had taken Naruto to his summit, passed the information on.
"There's six of them and they can all do different things... But I have a really strange feeling when I'm around them." Jiraiya had said.
Itachi and I sat at the dim table at the HQ station listening to him.
"It's like... the real one isn't among them." He said, tapping his fingers. "I need to go again, for a better look."
"If you believe you can finish it, go." Itachi said. "Best luck to you."
But I guess wishing him luck wasn't the best. That was the last time anyone saw Jiraiya... Tsunade got so angry, she went into battle with a hot-head and took down Kakuzu, a guy with multiple hearts all by herself... Only to be slayed by Pain when she tried to go against him. The war was all on us. Sand, Leaf, Stone, Cloud... 78% of all of us were already dead. Most of which were killed by Pain. If we could take him out... All those people wouldn't be in vain.
"Team!" I called.
Everyone was scattered but I could feel them all tensing up as we ran along, preparing for quick orders. With my Sharingan, I could see all six of them fighting. They each had their own separate techniques...
The first one was the most dangerous one... I saw clearly that it had the power of repulsion and attraction. It destroyed entire villages and towns just by "pushing".
And another looked like they had summoning prowess and was able to bring any animal to aid it in battle.
The next one could turn any body part into any kind of mechanic weaponry to use to fight.
Another one looked like it could somehow yank a person's soul straight out of their head. It was most likely used for memory swiping.
The other seemed to be a chakra absorber, as I could see chakra entering its body from any ninja or Ninjutsu it touched.
The final one was a strange one. It seemed to be grabbing its opponents and forcing their mouths open. Their eyes were stretched wide and opened with fear... What were they seeing?
I mentally assigned each person to one of the Paths as I understood their techniques.
"Kiba, you deal with the summoning one, use Akamaru to evade any serious blows and use your fang over fang to get some openings."
"Got it." He said, running off.
"Rock Lee, you go for the chakra absorber." I told him. "This is right up your alley because you use no Ninjutsu."
"On my way!" he shouted.
"Sai, go for the memory wiping one." I said. "You're a long distance fighter so you won't be close enough to be in danger."
"Very accurate." Sai agreed.
"What do you want me to do?" Konohamaru asked eagerly. "I can kick any of those guys asses!"
I paused, watching the last three fight. The Pain that could turn any body part into a knife or gun or even a rocket launcher was blasting away ninja twenty at a time. The Pain with the attraction and repulsion powers was also a very crazy handful. And the last one, the one paralyzing opponents just by grabbing them was too mysterious.
Konohamaru and Hinata were both close range, heavy Ninjutsu types. Neither of them would fare well against those three who would be easier to fight if kept at a distance. I was considering waiting for Sai to finish up and sending him in to defeat the others one by one.
"You're underestimating us... Aren't you, Sasuke?"
I turned and looked at Hinata. She was looking at me seriously.
"Of course not." I said. "I'm taking precautions."
An explosion sounded, we all turned to see Kiba wrestling and seemingly succeeding at taking down the female summoning Pain. Sai and Lee were also fairing decently against their opponents. The sight gave me a bit of hope.
Maybe they aren't that strong...
"Okay, this is what we'll do. The one in the middle that is pushing and pulling is clearly the strongest. We'll destroy that one all together." I said. "So that leaves us with the machine one and the unknown one."
"Unknown?" Hinata asked.
"Yes. The one that seems to be somehow exhausting or killing anyone he grabs."
"That's not him." Hinata said, squinting with her Byakugan. "That's... He's summoned some kind of devil statute."
I strained my Sharingan but I saw nothing.
"It looks like it can be used for interrogation or restoration."
"Restoration?" I asked.
Then suddenly all the reports made sense.
"No matter how many times they try to destroy the Pains, as soon as they turn their backs, they're all revived again."
"He's the one." I finally said. "He's reviving them. He's the key to the puzzle."
Clearly, Hinata was correct... I was underestimating them.
"Konohamaru, do your best to destroy the one with the machines." I said. "Hinata, go ahead and try to deal with the restoration one."
They nodded at me.
"I'll be giving back up to each one of you. I know you can do this. Go."
Konohamaru immediately exploded into about twenty clones, probably deciding to overwhelm the opponent with quantity. Hinata dove onto the ground and ran toward her opponent, already enacting her Gentle Fist Lion Beasts.
Kiba looked like he needed help. I ran to him first, already biting my thumb. I slammed my hand to the ground and burst from the cloud of smoke that had formed on the back of Takami. Kiba was dealing with the three headed dog using another three headed dog transformation I'd never seen him use. Their strength seemed to be equally matched and more precariously, the other Pain was summoning a frog to assist her other animal. I dove for the frog steadily myself upon Takami. I placed my left hand on Takami's head and summoned a lung full of hot breath. The moment I blew it out, my hawk blew some air out of her own lungs expanding my fire ball jutsu by at least five times. It washed over the frog, immediately burning it to a crisp, and the Pain, escaping my blast by rolling to the left, was taken into one of the mouths of Kiba's three headed dog transformation. While I had blasted the frog, Kiba had over taken his opponent and was now munching on the Pain with ease, grinding it between its teeth and spitting out the pieces. As I landed on the ground, a single arm landed in front of my feet.
"Yes!" Kiba exclaimed landing on the ground next to me.
To my left, Rock Lee landed fist pumping, then Sai dove over us on his bird nodding.
"You all succeeded?" I asked.
"Team Sasuke is victorious!" Rock Lee replied.
I nodded, allowing myself a grin.
"Perfect. Now...for the restoration one."
My eyes traveled over to Hinata who was fighting the larger Pain that was attempting to grab her. Suddenly, a body flew past her, distracting my view. With the grin still on my lips, my eyes traveled to the fallen body. My smile became skewed.
I was running. Without even commanding them to, all three of them were by my side. We had all seen it. The body that was thrown got to its feet, wiped blood from its mouth and glared angrily at its opponent.
"I'm not finished yet!" he exclaimed.
He darted back, jumping over Hinata and bounding toward the Pain with the machine hands.
You idiot!
I could see it before he had even gone. The Pain had been fighting him with both of his hands as bomb blasters, a long distance weapon, but with my Sharingan I could see the chakra dispersing, changing the form. Konohamaru sprinted over using his Spray Fire jutsu. The Pain jumped into the air to avoid it and Konohamaru caught it with some twine, forcing it back down onto him, most likely planning it impale him with a kunai knife. It was perfect form, chunin level transitions and thinking. Something I probably would've done it my youth. But...just not enough. You had to be able to predict every single outcome.
He slammed the Pain down just like he had planned and rose his kunai knife in both hands, smiling in that stupid way he did, thinking he'd had gone, barring down to dive the knife into its neck. And then... The Pain's arm came up. The form had changed, like I had predicted, into a thick knife, a short distance weapon. Konohamaru didn't even have time to react in surprise before it drove upwards and sliced through his arm.
Another scream sounded. I couldn't look anymore, my eyes turned toward Hinata. She was struggling to hold the Pain back, about to get caught in its grip. My eyes flitted back and forth between the two of them.
"Sasuke, what should we do?" Sai asked.
Percentages for their life expectancy formed in front of my eyes.
Hinata...
She was kicking at the Pain but her fists were still holding the power of the jutsu. As she pounded her gentle fists, it looked like she had a bit of time, though not much.
35% of survival
Konohamaru...
He stabbed the thing repeatedly with the Kunai knife in the hand that wasn't completely severed. Blood poured over the both of them. But it was already bringing the knife back around toward Konohamaru's other arm.
Less than 10% survival chance...
"Sasuke?!"
I looked around the battlefield, it was almost completely barren, too many troops had backed out, run to the nearest HQ. Probably out of supplies...or out of teammates.
"Stay here." I ordered. "I don't want you twisted up in the decision I make."
"Huh?" Kiba asked.
But they followed my orders and stopped. I was running for Hinata, trying to get there in time but then I made the mistake of glancing at Konohamaru again. He was screaming, strangely, as though he had time, he looked up... Our eyes locked.
Dammit!
I turned toward him. Takami who had been flying overhead swooped over me, I grabbed her foot and flew over to him.
"Are you...afraid to die?"
He quickly thrust his right arm up, and I stretched my arm toward him.
Please...
Two things happened. My hand grasped his, but the moment it did, the Pain looming under him was able to thrust it's arm up straight into his abdomen...just like how I predicted it would. I pulled him up, bringing him onto the hawk behind me and turned Takami around.
"Go for Hinata!" I ordered.
Her feet were quivering, dangling about two feet off the ground. The Pain had its hand wrapped around her neck.
No...
We swooped past her and Takami grabbed Hinata's vest in her beak. We flew back down toward the ground. Kiba followed us on Akamaru and Rock Lee and Sai flew on his ink bird next to us.
"Head toward the nearest HQ." I said.
*The Fallen*
Konohamaru had died before we even made it back to the HQ. Behind me on the hawk, he was straining to breath, sucking in breath but not retaining oxygen. I pushed on his chest, trying to stop his bleeding but it wasn't working. With his missing arm, he was losing way too much blood. He stared up at me tearfully. Rock Lee and Sai flying near me kept yelling for him to hold on but I was the only one who could see that there was no way. He lips were moving but there was no sound. None. Just the tears continuing to spill from his eyes.
"I lied." I told him.
Right before the final bits of light were leaving his eyes I said that.
"I am afraid." I confessed.
And then he was still.
Hinata wasn't moving that entire time. In the medical wing of the HQ, they had diagnosed her brain dead.
"What exactly does that mean?" Kiba asked.
"It means she's incoherent." The medical ninja told me. "She's alive. Her heart is pumping blood and everything but she's not...responding."
"When is she going to wake up?" Rock Lee wondered.
The medical ninja looked away from us awkwardly.
"Hopefully in three days." One said.
"Why in three days?" Sai asked.
"Because by then, we'll most likely have given her bed to someone else." The other replied.
"You can't do that!"
"They can." I told them.
I finally spoke up, eyes set on her irresponsive face.
"People are getting injured as we speak. They don't have room for someone that for all we know may never wake up." I said.
My mind went back to my decision to save Konohamaru first and instead, I played it out in my head like I successfully saved him and her both and we defeated all the Pain's and were back at home living happily and peacefully. I even tossed Naruto in there, coming back all safe and sound.
"Wouldn't life be great with a reset button?" I mumbled tonelessly.
Everyone stared at me like I had completely lost my mind.
Naruto
*Team Jinchuriki*
We were all running through the forests jumping over and above the trees.
"Saiken tells me the battlefield is completely barren." Utakata told me.
"How do you figure that, Bubble boy?" I asked.
He rolled his eyes, irritated by my nickname.
"The bubbles can carry conversation waves." He responded. "Anyway... It looks bad."
I grinned.
"Scared?"
"Heck no!" Fuu exclaimed. "Let's get in there and bust some heads!"
"That's what I'm talking about!"
"Just a couple more miles, and we'll be showing our free styles!" Killer Bee cheered.
In the distance, I suddenly saw a light blue flash of light.
"Wait! Move!"
I dodged to the right and we all barely made it out of the way of a large fire blast.
"What was that?" Gaara asked.
A figure appeared in front of us. An orange haired man with piercings all over his face and large purple eyes.
"Jinchuriki..." he said emotionlessly. "We've been waiting."
Suddenly, five other orange haired people came out of the forest and met us in the middle of the large empty field. We faced off. All nine of us against just five of them.
Looks easy enough... But easy things aren't always easy...
"Guys... Let's show them what we're made of!" I yelled.
We all rushed toward them like a wave. As we fought, I recorded the powers of each of them mentally, one use machines, one used pushing and pulling, another used summoning... The one I was dealing with kept trying to grab me, it seemed like it was trying to implement some kind of short distance technique. It stepped toward me and right at that time, one of Utakata's bubbles floated past me, I ducked, avoiding it.
"Yo! Watch where you're-"
Before I could finish, the thing had already swooped under me and grabbed my neck. My feet left the ground and suddenly behind it I could see a large gate.
"Now...answer questions, if you lie-"
"You really think you caught me?" I asked, catching him off guard.
Kurama, now!
Bijuu mode washed over me and I simultaneously hit him with a Rasengan.
He blew backwards and let me go. I jumped high into the air and formed multiple rasengans and slammed them all down onto his breaking him into multiple pieces. The other Jinchuriki were ganging up on the summoning one and taking the others down with ease. Only one was left, the repulsion one.
"Let's do this guy like how we practiced." Gaara said.
"Okay!" we all exclaimed.
We came toward him on all directions forcing him to extend his hands like we predicted and try to repulse us but we already jumped away and got out of range then we, paired with our tailed beasts, immediately began forming Bijuu Damas.
But as we did so, something became apparent to me. I sensed it... Evil intent sky rocketing high from a point around ten miles away. It spiked the moment we released our Bijuu Damas and blew the Pain in front of us to pieces.
We all gathered together. Yugito rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"People were dying because of these weaklings?" she asked. "What kind of shit is this?"
"Maybe we're just ultra strong right now." Yagura suggested.
Han shrugged.
"Well, let's go see if anyone needs our assistance in the HQ." he said.
"Alright, I'll meet you guys over there." I said. "There's something I have to check on."
Roshi raised his eyebrow.
"Are you sure?"
I nodded.
"Perfectly. Go ahead!"
Gaara and Bee stared at me for the longest but eventually nodded and ran off with the rest. I turned searching for the evil intent I'd felt earlier deeply. It was faint at that time but I still felt it. I sped right toward it sensing that it was very similar to the opponents we had been fighting.
Are there more than six Pains?
I recalled Ero Senin telling me that he had felt something strange when beating the six pains.
"It was as if...the real one wasn't there."
*Naruto vs. The Final Pain*
I ran along and slowly got to a tree more than eighty feet tall. I approached a hole shaped a lot like a large hole door and went inside.
"Nine Tails... I had been waiting."
I wrinkled my nose.
"I kind of get what you mean now, Kurama. It is annoying when people don't call you by your name."
I came face to face with a greately emanciated man and a woman with purple hair standing next to him. The man was hooked up to some kind of life support, looking like he was less than a few hours away from death.
"You're the last Pain, aren't you?" I asked.
"Something like that."
I smirked.
"Great, looks like Ero Sennin was right after all! Though it is kind of weird that he wouldn't just finish you off himself if he knew this..." I mused.
"Ero-Senin?" the man asked. "Are you speaking of Jiraiya Sensei?"
My eyebrows popped up.
"You know him?"
"He was my Sensei a very long time ago." He revealed.
"Strange. Why would you fight against him then?"
"It was a very, very long time ago." He said.
Suddenly, something clicked inside my brain. It was a sublte click. I squinted at him precariously.
"Maybe not that long... If you didn't go through with killing each other."
He cocked his head.
"Oh, he is very much deceased."
And strangely, I didn't believe him. The man sensed that.
"I destroyed him when he came back to fight me the second time, realizing that he hadn't completely eradicated all of my bodies. That woman, Tsunade, recently came to avenge him. She met her ultimate demise as well. Now... Are you here to avenge him as well?"
But there wasn't any way to disprove that. There wasn't any way to disprove anything that he was saying. I didn't spend an extra long time with Jiraiya or Tsunade but I did begin thinking of them as something like parents while I was with them. Their absence... The cruelty of it hurt me. And it made me want to get back home to Sasuke and Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san even more.
"Is that why you're here?" he asked.
"You really killed him?" I asked.
"Yes."
I reached toward him then, my fingers extending. A chakra hand extended from me as well The purple haired woman immediately jumped in front of him, shielding him from harm but my chakra hand swatted her out of the way like the bug she was. I closed my fingers, hand closing around his body and ripping him from the life support. I lay him at my feet in the middle of the room and formed a Rasengan in my right hand.
"He taught me this technique, so I suppose it would be fitting to kill you with it." I said.
The purple haired woman got back to her feet only to be hit by a two Rasengan's I formed with two different chakra hands. She wasn't moving after that. He put his hand together, ignoring my words, whispering some kind of incantation.
"When you get to hell, make sure you tell him who sent you there." I said before I blasted the Rasengan into his chest.
*Captured!*
I took my time walking through the field stricken with the proof of war. Blood, kunai knives, shuriken and remnants of Ninjutsu were strewn all over the grass, trees and fields. And while I was walking through the nature with my hands in my pockets hoping that snapping both of their necks would be enough to ensure their deaths, the ground began shaking. I looked back toward the gigantic tree.
"Damn! What does it take to kill these guys?"
But the sound wasn't coming from that direction... Instead...
I turned back to the area that I'd left my friends and realized with a shock that it was where the sound was emerging. I blasted back into Bijuu Mode and sprinted through the trees zigzagging past the corpses and weapons and tools. The ground was shaking more. The sky overhead seemed to be darkening. I looked up and my mouth almost dropped open at what I saw.
There was a tree spurting from the ground, a tree that was almost five times taller than the one the final Pain had been hiding in. It's branches were swinging around wilding and standing on the trunk of it was one man.
"Relax Jinchuriki! This is your fate!"
I skidded into the field to see the roots of the tree taking hold of them, wrapping tightly around their waists.
Fu pounded on the branches with her hands but it was no use, right in front of my eyes her body seemed to be getting sucked dry of its life force. She fell over limply in the arms of the branch and was sucked down through the ground. Gaara and Bee were getting together to try to attack it with a team Bijuu Dama but when they did, the man did some kind of technique forming a ghost like rib cage with a blue hue that surrounded the entire tree and then rose up into the body of some kind of God. It had two faces and four arms and protected the tree like a guard. The man laughed.
"Nice try but unfortunately... Your time is up."
My eyes widened. The branches were coming for them, wrapping around them.
I have a decision... I can either help them or run and tell HQ what's happened.
But the answer to the decision was set before I even blinked.
I was running, feet pounding against the soft grass and I searched as hard as I could for a single focal point and found one with at least two hundred people there. And to my elation, I also felt Sasuke's presence.
But this won't be a happy reunion...
*Give Up*
"Is anyone listening to me!?"
They all looked up, staring at me blankly.
"There's a gigantic tree out there sucking up everyone's chakra!" I exclaimed.
The ground shook again. It was getting closer. The lights in the room flickered. People were whimpering, grabbing their hair or putting their hands together in prayer. Not the Kage's of course, just injured people who were lying around on the in the discussion room because the medical rooms had all run out of space.
"You said that the Jinchuriki were absorbed into it? ...Including my brother?" The Raikage, Killer Bee's brother asked me.
I nodded slowly.
"And even my son?" The Kazekage asked.
I nodded again.
"Gaara, Bee, everyone... They're all..."
"But you collectively defeated all the Pains?" the Mizukage asked me.
I nodded.
"Well, Pain defeated most of us and the Jinchuriki defeated Pain and now the Jinchuriki are being defeated by this new living tree being controlled by a man, there doesn't seem to be anything we can do..."
A short old man, the Tschuikage, who had been silent all this time spoke up.
"What did this man controlling the tree look like?"
"Long black hair." I said and...
And then suddenly, I remembered what I had seen.
"And he had Sharingans. He was an Uchiha." I told them.
All the Kage nodded at each other.
"Madara." Said the short old man. "No one else it could be except him."
"And if that's the case..." the Kazekage spoke up. "We lost a long time ago."
And if solidifying that idea, a voice broke through the air.
"Attention!"
We all froze. The lights in the room succeeded in fizzing out.
"This is Madara Uchiha." The voice said. "I'm coming to make sure you're all aware that my plan, the Infinite Tsguyomi plan, is only minutes away from being complete."
Infinite what?
"Many people have fallen. On my side as well as yours, now there's just me. And just the few of you who are left. Instead of allowing any more death, leave the hovel you're all hiding in and come out like true warriors. As the Akatsuki has told the Kage's, the Moon's Eye Plan will be one that will stop all your suffering, all your grieving, you will be given the ideal world you desire. A world with no pain, no hardship. A world of your complete liking."
A perfect world?
"I can make that happen for you. In fact, it will be happening whether you like it or not. Only minutes now and you'll all be set free, the few of you whom are still alive. If you still have some fight left in you, I'll be waiting. But I assure you, the most comfortable solution will be to stand and wait along with me. The End is Neigh."
The lights flickered back on. I noticed a couple of small branches slithering back from the window and realized that he'd used the tree to project his voice.
"Well, then, clearly..." Shukaku, Shikamru's Father spoke up. "There's not much we can do except die with honor."
My face exploded into disbelief.
"What?!" I exclaimed.
Raikagen nodded and stood up, tightening his wrist bands. All the other Kages slowly got to their feet, even the small old looking one.
"We don't have a plan?" I asked.
"Of course we do." The old small one said. "Our plan is to die like a true warrior. Stand everyone. Tell the ones who are able that we're moving out in fifteen minutes."
Mizukage paused next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Why don't you go find your girlfriend or something and give her a kiss?" she told me. "This might be your last chance to do so."
Girlfriend?
Instead of a girl, the first face that flashed in front of my eyes was Sasuke's. But along with Sasuke's face came another thought.
"Where's Itachi?" I asked.
Mizukage's hand tightened on my shoulder. Raikage frowned and shook his head at me.
"An Akatsuki member we didn't anticipate who had initially been impersonating Madara took him down just yesterday. No one knows yet."
No one?
I rushed out of the HQ room and sped down the corridor, people were sitting against either wall staring into the blank nothingness of their lives. The ground trembled again and the lights flickered. I realized I didn't know where I was going and tried to go into Bijuu mode momentarily to search for his presence, that single light that felt somewhat like a hot flame. But no matter how hard I tried it wouldn't enact.
"Naruto? Is that you?"
I turned, skidding to a stop next to him.
"Hey, Shikamaru." I said.
He smiled.
"By the look on your face, I already know who you're looking for... He's in here. I was just talking to him but don't expect him to be-"
I wasn't listening, I was already forcing the door open.
"Sasuke!"
The room he was sitting in was small, barely big enough for the bed he was sitting on. His head was down and in one hand he held a small necklace. He stiffened at the sound of my voice.
"You're...way too late."
I walked further into the room, shocked to my core at the sound of his voice. Of course it was deeper, we were older. But where was the tone? Where was the feeling? Where was...anything?
"They're all dead." He whispered, finally looking up. "Everyone."
And if his voice wasn't enough, his face almost killed me. Tear streaked and blood stained but more than that, his eyes were completely empty.
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "It's only Itachi."
He stiffened again and clutched his head as though it were hurting him to even think about it.
"That one...Shikamaru just told me." he said through clenched teeth. "But the others..."
My heart beat faster, I could feel the sweat collecting at my finger tips. My hair stuck damply to my forehead.
"Mom...Dad..."
"Them?" he asked. "They've been long gone... Father was killed when Konoha was destroyed and Mother died soon after...she wouldn't eat...she wouldn't eat...no matter what I or Itachi did, she wouldn't..."
I walked up to him grabbing his shoulders.
"Look at me." I said.
He had been staring at the wall behind me but he forced himself to look into my eyes.
"It's alright, we can make everything better." But even as I spoke, the ground tremors began again. In the small window behind him, I could see ninja being led by some of the Kage's, they were all making their way toward the tree, opting to "die trying".
"Hinata also." He said.
"W-What?"
"She won't wake up." He said. "Brain dead."
He knocked my hands away and gripped the necklace in his hand tightly.
"And... And they just came to tell me they can't find her... Satomi. She's missing."
He shook his head and turned from me, lying back down on the bed.
"I'm not going anywhere." He whispered.
I could hear screaming in the distance, people probably already getting drained by the massive tree and branches.
The voice sounded again.
"The few of you who have come are doing good!" Madara announced using the branches. "Now everyone, join us! This will be The End... The End of all the pain."
"I'm not going anywhere." Sasuke repeated.
Crumbs of the ceiling fell down onto the ground. People were still leaving the building, walking out.
"We have to try..." I told him.
"Do we really?" Sasuke asked me. "What's the point?"
"Are you going insane?"
"Most likely."
But even as I said it to him, I wondered in my head if he was right. Even if we did destroy the evil and triumph, there would be some people who would never come home, in fact, most people would never come home. Things would be different. We'd both be without a family. No one to go home to... No one to go home to...
"But...if we don't try, what about all the people who died? We can't let them all die in vain." I told him.
He turned to me, tears nesting in on the edges of his eyes.
"I'd rather give up and go see them then keep trying just to live in a world without them."
"What about me?" I asked. "I'm here."
"You're too late." He said turning back over.
And that kept hurting me, like he was stabbing me with a million knives.
I wanted to be here... I really wanted to. Even now, I wish I could turn back the hands of time and go back to when we were at the Chunin Exams or even further, when we used to share a room and I would be there with you all the time. It's been years since I've seen you and even if we do go out there and fight one of us could die and I realize now that... That...
I touched his shoulder.
"No matter what you do, I'm not-"
"Move over." I said, cutting him off.
He raised his head, giving me a questioning look but rolled over anyway. I got up onto the bed with him curled up next to him. My mind flashed back to when Mikoto san read stories to us and we'd hold hands and listen. I reached for his hand.
"If you could have any kind of world you wanted, what would it be?" I asked him.
He was silent. The entire building was silent. I realized that everyone who was able probably already left and the only people in the building other than us were corpses.
"A world where we were both strong enough to fight...even if the odds are against us." Sasuke said.
For a world like that, wouldn't that mean we'd have to feel more pain? And just be resilient to that pain?
"What about you?" he whispered.
There had been a low humming sound, but it was getting increasingly louder and louder. The sky almost looked like it was glowing. Sasuke was facing me and not the window so he didn't notice. I brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes.
"A world where I would never let you go." I whispered. "No matter what."
His grip on my hand strengthened. I moved closer to him and closed my eyes. The humming was blaring loudly in our ears then. I felt his lips on my forehead, cool and damp. The ground shook heavily and then, very abruptly, there was nothing to be heard or felt or seen. Nothing at all.
*Awakening*
I breathed deeply, like I'd been deprived of oxygen for a long time. I blinked. Trees overhead swayed lightly. Leaves were falling overhead and floating softly, finding their way down, down, down and next to me lying at the base of the tree.
"Finally, you're up."
I turned and locked eyes with him. Him... Wearing that short sleeved blue collared shirt he used to wear when we were young. Young... He was young. I looked down at myself and touched my chest. I wore an orange and blue jumpsuit. I was also young.
"I wasn't watching you or anything if that's what you're thinking." He muttered, looking away from me."
"Sasuke?"
"What?"
"What's...going on...?" I asked, scratching my head.
He sighed.
"I caught you sleeping on a mission again." He said, getting to his feet. "Now come on, Kakashi and Sakura are waiting."
I blinked.
"Don't you mean Kakashi and Hinata?"
He squinted at me.
"Did you hit your head on that tree and knock yourself out? I mean Sakura."
I stared at him blankly.
"The pink haired girl you're always saying you want to ask out on a date."
And then, very suddenly, memories of her began inching into my brain.
Right, right, right... Sakura... The other member of Team 7.
I nodded vigorously and got to my feet.
"Did you have a weird dream?" he asked me.
"It wasn't a dream." I said. "It was about Infinite Tsguyomi. It was really important, you and I were-"
Suddenly, Kakashi poofed up in front of us with the help of that instant transmission jutsu he often used.
"I see you found Naruto. Good Job, Sasuke."
Sakura came up behind him and took her place next to Sasuke.
"So, I was thinking when all this is over...wanna have dinner at my house, Sasuke?"
"No." he muttered.
She pouted.
"I was just thinking since you don't have anyone at home, I could introduce you to my family."
"No thanks." He said quickly.
...Family? Strangely, that word is making me remember something...
As I walked with Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura, I smiled realizing what it was.
Oh yeah! These guys are like my family.
Sasuke's like my brother, Sakura's like my sister and Kakashi's like the weird Uncle who's always reading...
"Naruto."
I looked over at Sasuke who was giving me a weird look.
"Didn't you say you had some weird dream?"
"What?" I asked, completely clueless.
"Yeah, something about Hinata?" he asked.
Sakura's eyes popped up.
"You were dreaming about Hinata?!" she exclaimed.
"I was?" I asked cocking my head. "I don't remember..."
"You said it was important. Infinite Tsgu-something." He tried to remind me.
I thought hard, my brain was grabbing at wisps of something but not a complete picture. Almost like it was all just a dream...
I finally just shrugged and put my hands behind my head.
"Ehhh, probably wasn't that important." I replied.
The End.
(Author's Note: Hopefully, The End of this makes sense to you. I've always wanted to end a story with Infinite Tsguyomi. My other story, American Konoha, is my favorite Alt. Universe but it's nothing like your average Konoha High School story. I'm sure you'll love it!)