Well Chapter 48 is here now, and in case your all wondering, is it the last chapter? the answer is...read to find out :P

anyway here are my reviewers

chickenman00712 - thanks for the review, lol about the comment about me comment about your comment :P jk ;) hope you like 48

Chi-Neko - thanks for the review, well this chapter ends on not so much a cliff hanger i guess :P hope you like chapter 48 :)

Gravenimage - thanks for the review, hope you like 48

dragonshaun9 - thanks for the review and lol, maybe this is the conclusion? maybe? i don't know :D hope you enjoy 48

Bombat1994 - unfortunately, you are correct, this story IS nearing its end :( thanks for the review and hope you like 48

RSfan - Well the fluff is back :D yay for NaruxSaku Fluff! thanks for the review, and hope you like 48

LilSmartGirl - thanks for the review, hope you like 48 :)

Soulblazer87 - thanks for the review, and yeah, i believe i did a good job as the crossover, at least i hope i did :P, and yeah, i apologize for the typos, i do try to catch them all :( but i hope you like 48

RairyuuBlade - thanks for the review, and what do you mean by if you may assist me? as for the contract thing, go right ahead, its not like i am the first to use that :P however i don't think anyone has used it in the same way i did, but then again, i have yet to read every Naruto fanfic on here ;) hope you like 48

6tailedninja - thanks for the review, and thanks for the compliment, it seems a lot of people have gotten sucked into this story of mine, something i never expected :P and yes, sorry, after i saw your review, i looked up the proper way to type "crutch" so my apologies :P hope you like 48

This chapter was revised on June 7th 2017. Most grammar errors should have been addressed (Hopefully :P) I did a few enhancements and changed a few things around but the story remained unchanged

Saving old bonds

Chapter 48 (Revised)

"We will not allow you to touch our Hokage" Itachi said

"But it's already too late" He said with a grin as they turned around and noticed something was forming around Naruto. Itachi tried to push him out of the way but it only fallowed him, soon a sphere of energy had formed around him. A surge of energy burst out from the sphere as it dissipated around his body

Naruto's body was aching in pain. His wounds were severe and he had lost a lot of blood "Hokage Sama!" he heard a voice calling out to him "Hokage Sama, are you alright?" the voice called out once more. It was a familiar voice; he was still trying to remember what had just happened. He opened his eyes and saw flames all over the place. Two red Sharingan eyes were staring right into his own, his chakra had almost been fully depleted. He had returned to his regular form "Hokage Sama!" the man that Naruto recognize as Itachi screamed at him. Suddenly Naruto began to remember what had just happened, Ichigo had tried to hit him with some unknown attack but Itachi must have saved him. He could have sworn the attack had hit him though

"Thanks Itachi, I am alright" Naruto simply answered him

Ichigo could not believe his eyes, that was a direct hit

Naruto slowly got back to his feet. His clothing was burnt, bloodied and ripped up in multiple places. He knew that he had internal injuries and that he did not have a lot of chakra left. He could tell that the Kurokage was in a similar state but he could not give up. He could not surrender, everyone in Konoha was counting on him and the survival of the village, no the entire nation would be decided tonight. He massed up all of his remaining strength and began running towards the Kurokage

Ichigo could barely stand on his own feet. He did not have the strength he needed to lift his blade, he decided to drop it. He lifted his hands to defend himself. Naruto began to strike at him, one of his attacks was able to strike Ichigo on the jaw. Ichigo responded with a hit to his stomach, Naruto kicked him in the ribs as Ichigo tried to strike at his head, but Naruto grabbed his hand and hit him square on the forehead with his other hand. He then let go of Ichigo's hand and kicked him hard enough to the side of the head to send him crashing to the ground

Ichigo felt no energy left "How could this have happened, we had this won! There was no way we could lose. How could one person change the tide of this attack!" Ichigo thought to himself

Naruto walked over to him Kunai in hand. He stared at Ichigo with hate and resentment "Kurokage of the night country, you came here and killed many of our ninjas, including our beloved fifth Hokage, Tsunade. You then invade our homes and tried to take away our freedom. I cannot forget the crimes you have committed against us" he said as he pointed the Kunai at Ichigo

Ichigo was unable to get up, his body had given up. He was out of chakra and had massive internal bleeding. He knew he must have a few broken bones "So just finish me off then, that's what you want to do isn't it?"

Naruto suddenly began to smile, much to Ichigo's surprise "No, that would only make me as bad as you. Surrender now, and you and the surviving night ninja will have their lives spared"

"Tch, you think you're all powerful because you have won a battle against me?" Ichigo said arrogantly

Naruto's smile only grew wider and it annoyed the hell out of Ichigo. Itachi, Kakashi, Neji, and Shikamaru stood behind Naruto "No, I am powerful because I have my friends behind me" Naruto fell down to one knee, his body exhausted from the battle and his wounds were also taking its toll on his body. Itachi quickly caught him and held him up

"We need a medic here!" Itachi screamed out

It didn't take long for Shizune to respond to the call. She ran up to Naruto but he swatted her away "No, I must ensure that Konoha is safe" he said as he pushed Itachi aside and tried to walk under his own power only to make it a few steps away before falling and once again being caught by Itachi

"Hokage Sama, you are badly hurt. Those wounds are severe; I must heal them right away..." Shizune pleaded with him

"There are hundreds of ninjas out there who need your attention Shizune, treat them first" he commanded

"But..."

"I SAID TREAT THEM FIRST!"

Shizune did not want to obey but Naruto was not giving her any choice. She knew that without any medical attention he would die for sure. Someone ran up to Naruto and slapped him hard enough to leave a red mark on his face "IDIOT!" The young girl screamed at him

"...Sakura Chan" Naruto simply answered her

"Itachi, lay him down, I will tend to his wounds. Shizune, you can go I have him" Sakura said taking control of the situation, Shizune smiled knowing that Naruto was in good hands. She nodded and made her way to others who needed medical attention

Naruto stared at Sakura; he could tell that she was in an emotional state "Sakura I..."

"Shut up, you are NOT ordering me away. You can punish me latter but I am not going to lose you!" she said as she began healing his most severe wounds first. Her hands had begun to glow in the soothing green glow. Naruto was still staring at her; she was extremely focus on healing him. Her green eyes scanning his body, trying to find all the wounds and priorities which one to heal first

Itachi and Kakashi walked up to Ichigo. He had not really moved much but they were not going to take any chances. Konohamaru and Yuki ran up to them "Kakashi, Itachi, they are on the run!" Konohamaru said happily

"Yeah! Half of their captains have been defeated. When they saw their Kurokage go down some of them began to run away or surrender" Yuki added with a grin but both of them stopped smiling when they saw Naruto laying down on the ground "Naruto Sensei! Is he going to be alright?" Yuki asked concerned

"He is the strongest most stubborn ninja to ever bare the leaf headband and he is being treated by the best medical ninja in all of Konoha, he will be fine" Kakashi told them with a smile, or at least what they guessed was a smile from under his mask

"Yeah, Naruto Nii-san is too awesome to die" Konohamaru said as his smile returned

Although Ichigo had no energy to do anything other than lay there he was still conscious "How could he defeat me, he claims it's because of his friends? And how did my jutsu fail? I know I did it right" his head was facing a pole, on the top of that pole the Konoha Leaf flag flapped proudly in the wind "Heh we had them outnumbered, yet they fought until the very end and won, how pathetic" were the thoughts going through his head

A Few hours had passed. the Konoha Ninjas had rounded up the night ninjas that had surrendered and even tended to the wounded ones. The sand reinforcements had arrived and captured some night of their own that were fleeing. Gaara was amazed at the amount of damage the village had taken, over half of it had been destroyed, yet he was more amazed at how Konoha had survived and won. He had ordered his men to begin helping to heal and search for survivors in the rubbles

Naruto was laying in one of the beds in the hospital, it had taken some damage but was still relatively in good condition. Sakura has patched him up as best she could. His life was no longer in danger and his body would be able to take care of the rest

The sun had begun to rise on the village of Konoha, the Leaf flag still proudly flapping in the wind. Many had though that it would be a night flag flapping by now but Konoha had survived. Naruto had woken up, he tried to get up but pain shot throughout his body. Sakura quickly pushed him back down "Don't get up, your body is still healing" she told him

Naruto looked at her, she was a mess. It looked like she had not slept at all "Sakura Chan, did you stay by my side all night?" he asked her

She simply gave him a smile "Of course you idiot" she said as she kneeled down and kissed his cheek and rested her head on his chest "I don't know what I would have done had something happened to you" she told him

Naruto gently rubbed her head with his hand, caressing her hair as his fingers ran through them "You probably would have gone on with your life, met some hot guy who would love you very much, get married and have beautiful children" he said with a smile

Sakura punched his ribs causing him some pain "Sorry!" she said quickly as she had forgotten about his injuries. He just smiled back at her, he was unable to be upset with her "And no you big idiot, you stole my heart. Without you I wouldn't have a reason to live, there isn't any other man out there that could make me as happy as you and I wouldn't want any other man to even try" she said with a warm smile and a slight blush

"What happened to the night ninjas?" Naruto asked her

"The ones we captured have all been rounded up and been placed in the jail cell's. Although we do not have enough cells for them all so the sand is helping us guard them"

"What about their Kurokage?"

"He is in one of the rooms here. he received critical care since he was hurt just as bad as you. Gaara and Itachi as guarding him themselves along with a squad of ANBU"

"What are we going to do with them?" Naruto asked, not particularly directing the question at Sakura

"You will figure something out. After all, you are our leader" she said with a smile

"Some leader I am, look at our village. Over half of it has been destroyed and many of our people killed" Naruto said sadly

"Considering no one expected us to actually win this battle without the help of the sand, I think you did great. None of the civilians were hurt thanks to the early evacuation order you gave and the buildings can always be rebuilt" she told him with a smile, her eyes slowly began to shut as she was losing her battle against exhaustion. Her head was still resting on Naruto's chest as she fell asleep feeling the warmth of his body, she knew that she was safe with him

Naruto continued to run his fingers through her silky-smooth hair. Although they were a mess since she had not had the time to fix her hair up, his fingers could still easily run threw them and encounter no knots "Sakura Chan, thank you for being by my side, I love you" he told her

"I love you too" Sakura said in a very low voice, as if her subconscious had heard and answered him

Toshiro was being held along with another night ninja, she was a vice captain and she seemed to be a young blonde "Captain, what do you think will happen to us?" she said concern for their future

"I don't know Hiyori, but I don't believe these people will harm us. We will more than likely be Judged fairly for our crimes" he answered her in the same calm tone as he always did

"Do you think that they will ever let us go? Or maybe keep us locked up forever? Or will we all be executed?" she asked him worried

"I don't know Hiyori, all we can do is wait" he said as he looked out the window, in his hand he held his night headband. He was remembering how he disobeyed his orders by not capturing Sakura as he was ordered too. And again, when he just lost the fight with her on purpose "I don't deserve to wear this headband" he thought to himself, yet he had no regrets about his actions. He was against the war but he had to follow orders, he let out a large sigh

Another day went by. Sakura had not left Naruto's side as they both rested up. Naruto got up from bed his body feeling much better thanks to his healing abilities. Sakura was asleep on a chair next to him. He smiled at her as he got out from bed, he kissed her forehead lightly making sure not to wake her. He then proceeded to take a shower since he desperately needed one. He walked to the closet, it seemed someone had brought him a fresh pair of clothing and that his Namikaze cloak had been cleaned and repaired. He smiled as he grabbed them and made his way to the small bathroom. He put his clothing aside as he took off his hospital gown and got into the small shower. He turned the water on, the cold water made him shiver but it slowly began to warm up. He enjoyed the feeling of the soap and water washing away the filth sweat and blood on his body. Suddenly he heard the door open and saw a silhouette walk up to the shower, he prepared for the possibility of a sneak attack by a night survivor. The shower door opened as the unknown threw themselves at him, but to his surprise and delight, the person wraps her arms around his body and smiles at him "Sakura Chan!" he said happily

"Who said you could get up?" she said teasingly as she held him tightly. He smiled at her as he wraps his own arms around her. She still had her clothing on but didn't seem to care about them getting soaked "How about we take a shower together?" she asked him with an evil grin

"But Sakura Chan, there is barely enough room in here for us both, and generally you need to take your clothing off for a shower" he said with his trademark smile

"Well then, I guess we are going to have to fix that now wont we?" she said, her grin had not changed as she removed her clothing and allowed them to just fall onto the floor of the shower "And as for the lack of space, well I guess we will just have to stay close to each other" she said as she pressed her lips against his

About an hour later they exit the shower holding hands; Naruto was dressed in his fresh set of clothing while Sakura had a towel around her body "What are you going to do about clothing? Yours are soaked" Naruto said with a grin

"Don't worry about that, I will just slip on one of these hospital gowns and make my way to my office. I have a clean set of clothing in my locker" She told him as she kissed his cheek

"You know, maybe we should take another one of those showers tonight" he said giving her a wink

"I look forward to it, but you have a meeting with the council. They are waiting for you to feel better" she told him

"Yeah, I figured. We still need to figure out what we are going to do with these people, what do you think?" he asked her

"I don't know, I mean they attacked us, killed many of our people including Tsunade Sama..." Sakura said sadly

"Yeah, but I don't think that she would want us to take it out on them. I guess I will go see what the council thinks" he said as they both walked out of the room

"I will go get my new set of clothing and I will wait for you outside the council chambers" she told him giving him one last kiss before parting ways with him

Naruto made his way to the fire tower; it had escaped undamaged due to being at the far reaches of the village. He entered the council chambers, everyone was there waiting for him. He took his seat and removed his hat placing it in front of him to show his respect to the elders

The long and difficult process of figuring out the fate of the captured night ninjas began

Sakura was waiting outside of the chambers. Hours had passed, but she had expected it to take quite some time so she didn't mind. She could only wonder what was going on in there. More hours passed until finally the large doors opened. Naruto stepped out letting out a very large sigh, it was one of the longest meetings he had ever been in. However, seeing Sakura's radiant beauty waiting for him made it all worth it. She ran up to him and hugged him

"Well?" She asked him

"We have decided to let them go and banish them from ever returning" he told her

"What? I would have though the council would have wanted something more severe" she said confused

"They did, but I convinced them otherwise. These people were only ninjas fallowing orders. They should not have to pay for that"

"What about their leader?" she asked him

"The Kurokage will remain in high security detention for the next twenty years, he is being accused of murdering the 5th Hokage of the leaf, as well as being the cause of this war. He is the only one who we are going to be holding" Naruto responded

"Well, it's better then what he deserves" Sakura said as they both walked out of the fire tower

End Chapter 48

Nope, not the end just yet, BUT we are indeed nearing the end, also i kow, this chapter didn't end in a great and awesome cliff hanger, but well, there isn't much cliff hanging left with the end drawing near :(

There has been a pole created to find out how many people wish for me to create a sequel to saving old bonds, you can find it in my profile, please vote, the results will determine whether or not i create one :)