Chapter 43: Reconciliation

I only half-listened as Hagoromo thanked us all. I just wanted to sleep. But I couldn't.

Not yet.

Naruto ran off to talk with Kurama, Itachi went to Shisui, and Obito and Kakashi spoke to Minato. With that small measure of privacy, I turned to Sasuke.

"What do you intend to do now, Nii-chan?" I asked, already anticipating the answer. His sudden guarded look told me everything I needed to know. I heaved a weary sigh. "There's no point to it. I've already told you how your fight with Naruto is going to end."

"Things will be different this time," he said. "I will destroy the darkness of this world. That includes executing all of the Kage and the bijuu so that I can create a new village untainted by the evil that has come before. And since Naruto will stand in my way, I will need to destroy him too. Even if you hate me for it, I will create a world where you will be safe."

Lightning fast, I raised my hand and slapped Sasuke hard across his face.

Sasuke reeled back, reaching up to touch his cheek with wide eyes, more shocked than anything.

"Do not pretend that you're doing this for me," I snarled. "The darkness of this world isn't going to be erased by killing people, certainly not Naruto. The Kage have all come together. The villages have all come together. We can finally have peace! But that will never happen if you become the new enemy of this world."

Sasuke lowered his hand and scowled.

"Becoming the enemy of the world won't matter if there is no one left who is strong enough to challenge me," said Sasuke. "As for 'peace', when the Alliance came together, it was against you. They sent Kakashi to kill you. Because they feared what might happen if Kaguya was revived. When the Kage wake from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, they will look for someone to blame. They will kill you."

…Oh. So he knew about that…

"I did bring about Kaguya's revival," I said. I'd done it to prevent something worse. I didn't want to imagine what might have happened if Kaguya had been revived by Momoshiki and Kinshiki. But the Kage might not feel the same. "And if I need to face judgment for that, then I can accept whatever fate they decide for me."

"I can't," said Sasuke. "I will burn this entire world to the ground before I lose you again. And if you get in my way too…"

His fist clenched, and lightning danced down his arm, the cheerful chirp of a half-formed chidori in stark contrast to his deathly serious expression.

"I promise that I won't kill you," he said. "But I won't allow you to stop me either."

For a moment, I just looked at him, at the boy who was almost a man. I searched his face for any sign of the smiling, happy child I once knew. But there was nothing of that in him now. Looking back, there hadn't been for a long, long time.

"I always knew that this is the place where you would end up," I said. "But I once thought…that if I loved and supported you enough, that maybe then things could be different. But instead I became something that could only hurt you more. And you became something that could only hurt me."

A hint of guilt and maybe shame etched into the lines around Sasuke's eyes. The lightning on his arm flickered out, but he did not turn away.

"I could try to talk you out of what you intend to do," I went on. "But if you were the type of person who could be swayed by words, we wouldn't be in this position in the first place. And frankly, I cannot prioritize you right now. There are tens of thousands of people who are dead or dying who need me more. And I need to take care of them because I'm the only person who can. So, no, I won't stop you. I can't be the person you need right now, but there is someone here who can…" I took a deep breath. "NARUTO!"

Naruto's head snapped up at my shout. When he looked at me, I pointed at Sasuke.

"KICK HIS ASS!"

Naruto's look of bewilderment only lasted until he saw Sasuke's face, at which point a spark of understanding flashed across his eyes.

"Yeah, leave it to me!" Naruto shouted back, giving me a thumbs up and a grin.

I nodded and turned away, pausing for only a moment.

"No matter what you do or what choices you make, you'll always be my Nii-chan," I said. "I just wish that that was enough."

I left him there, though I felt his eyes on me until he turned with Naruto toward the Valley of the End.

I tried not to think about them as I approached Madara and Hashirama.

"...Our job is to do all that we can while we're alive and then bequeath the rest for future generations," Hashirama was saying.

"So simplistic as usual," Madara scoffed, chuckling weakly. "You were always…optimistic…But perhaps…that is…the correct way…"

"I'm glad you agree," I said, kneeling down and placing my hands on Madara's chest. He was in a bad state. The amount of damage he'd sustained from the Juubi and Kaguya was guaranteed to be lethal without intervention.

So I intervened, pouring healing chakra into his body and halting his deterioration. At least temporarily.

I didn't expect a reply, but Madara's eyes slowly shifted until he was looking at me.

"It's pointless," he said. "Why would you…try to save…me…?"

"You said you were the savior of this world, right?" I asked. "Well, the world still needs a bit of saving right now. Nagato used the Rinnegan to resurrect the entire village of Konoha. I was hoping that you could do the same for all the people who were killed in this war. You're going to die very soon, but you're still alive right now. So hold on a little while longer, and help return the future to this generation before you go."

Madara closed his eyes.

"I see," he said, sounding tired. "I suppose I can do at least that much to atone for my crimes."

He raised his hands and formed a seal, but I swatted them back down before he could perform the jutsu.

"Not yet," I said. "Right now you're too weak. You might not be able to bring back everyone before you die. And this is our only chance. Just wait a little longer and let me heal you. I don't have much chakra left, so you'll need to be patient…"

I wasn't sure if anyone else could handle the Rinnegan or if it would kill them to try. Madara was our best, and possibly only, option.

"Allow me," said Hashirama, laying his hands over mine as his chakra poured into me.

Oh, that was a rush. It only took a moment for him to restore my reserves, but now, between that and the last vestiges of Six Paths chakra, I had more than enough. It would still take time, but at least I had something to work with.

A soft white glow suddenly enveloped Hashirama.

"Madara, it's time for me to go now," he said. "Hagoromo is releasing the jutsu that binds me to this world. There's no need for you to hurry to the other side. Do what you must to cultivate the future generations who will follow us. But when we do meet again, we can share a drink as war buddies…"

Madara blinked slowly.

"War buddies, huh?" he asked. "Well, I guess that's okay by me…"

With that, Hashirama dissolved into the air, a grin still on his lips. He wasn't the only one either. All of the reanimated shinobi began disappearing. In the distance, Shisui was saying goodbye to Itachi. I didn't want to interrupt their moment, but Shisui turned to me and smiled once before fading into warm white light.

"Goodbye, Shisui-nii-san," I whispered.

As the light of the departed souls faded, I let out a small sigh.

"Not much longer and it will all be over," I said. I just needed to get through the end of Naruto and Sasuke's fight and then it would be done.

"For now," said Madara, drawing my attention back to him. "Hashirama told me that Kaguya's revival was your doing. All to prevent her from joining with others that will come in the future. What will you do about them?"

Good question.

"The other Otsutsuki won't arrive for about 15 years or so," I said. "I plan to use that time to help the next generation prepare for what is to come and to cultivate peace between the nations."

"What is your path to peace?" Madara asked.

That question was one more suited to someone like Naruto. Still, as I thought about it, I supposed that I did have an answer for him. I couldn't say if it was the right answer, but it was an answer.

"I used to think that Peace meant avoiding conflict no matter what," I said. "But eventually I came to realize that it's not that simple. Even so, because of what my ideals had cost me I still clung to them long after they'd been proven wrong. I think that maybe it was the same for you too."

"...So you have no answer," said Madara.

He didn't understand.

"...When I was a small child, I had a schoolyard bully," I said. "The day I met him was the first time that Naruto and I fought together side-by-side."

"Your first taste of victory," Madara guessed.

I let out a sudden laugh.

"Oh no, we lost badly," I admitted, still chuckling. "But that was the day that Naruto and I became friends. Having Naruto fighting by my side gave me courage. Afterwards, the bully always targeted me when I was alone. I didn't want to fight or to ask for help. Things were already strained between the village and the clan, and I was terrified of making things worse. But the bully wouldn't stop, and by keeping it a secret, I did make things worse. Because then Onii-chan was forced to step in and deal with him. Onii-chan told the police about the bully, and they stripped him of his rank and punished him. That worked for a little while…until he came back. This time for blood. It was Nii-chan who fought and defeated him then. And that was the end of the bully."

I still recalled the wet thuds of Sasuke's small fists against the genin's bloodied face.

"Was violence the right answer?" I asked. "Maybe. By that point everything else we'd tried had failed...But Nii-chan wasn't the one to try everything else. And maybe…that was the problem."

A sudden wave of power emanated from the distance. I turned in time to see Sasuke's Susanoo and Naruto's Kurama avatar battling in the sky, throwing around attacks that could level entire cities.

"Violence and power gave Nii-chan what he wanted, so he never questioned that there might be another way," I said. "Over time, he just grew stronger and more violent until he was ready to use that strength and violence against the very person he'd sworn to protect. I think that maybe you understand how he felt…"

Madara was silent.

"Peace is more than victory," I said. "It's more than a lack of fighting. Naruto, Onii-chan, and I all came to understand the limitations of our ideals, and with that came a willingness to change. Naruto learned to rely on others, Onii-chan learned to put his faith in his family rather than the village, and I learned to stand up and fight. But that doesn't mean that our ideals were completely wrong. Sometimes you have to stand alone, sometimes you have to trust in your community, and sometimes kindness can stop a fight by healing a wounded soul. They are all paths to peace in their own way. But none of them are the only path. I think that that understanding will bring light to the darkness of the shinobi world."

"You think that you can bring light into this world?" Madara asked. At one time that question might have been derisive. Now he just sounded curious.

"Not by myself," I said. "But I'm not alone. I was never alone. Neither were you, though it might not have seemed that way."

In the distance, Naruto and Sasuke's chakras faded. I made a shadow clone and sent it to them with the Hiraishin while I continued to work on Madara.

"No," said Madara, his eyes distant. "I suppose not…"

Not long after that, the Divine Tree retreated and released the imprisoned victims, a sure sign that Naruto and Sasuke had made amends. A moment later, I had a rush of memory and chakra from my dispelled clone.

Huh, so Naruto and Sasuke hadn't blown each other's arms off? And from what Naruto had told my clone, they'd agreed to protect me and the world together.

Well…whatever worked, I supposed.

"Alright," I said. "It's time."

Madara climbed laboriously to his feet and faced the stump of the Divine Tree. Then he formed the seals and drew in an immense amount of chakra. The King of Hell emerged from the ground and opened its massive jaws. It was quite a sight to see all the souls burst from the King of Hell's mouth. There were thousands. Tens of thousands. It was both terrifying and bitterly sad that so many had lost their lives for peace to become a reality. The strain of the jutsu was slowly turning Madara's black hair snowy white, but he kept going until eventually the flood of souls slowed to a trickle and the last few emerged, flying off into the distance. Madara then lowered his hands and let out a slow breath as the King of Hell descended back into the ground.

He looked so old.

"It's done," he rasped. "I have revived all those who were killed in this misguided war. There is only one thing left for me to give."

Madara reached up and plucked out both of his eyes. I made a sound of objection, but he held them out to me.

"My brother gave me these eyes so that my light would never fade," he said. "But I only ever used them to create darkness for others, including my own family. Hashirama was right. All I can do now is to bequeath the future to someone who will not make my same mistakes."

I wanted to object. But…

"...I can't accept them for myself," I said slowly. "But if you'll allow me, I can take them to where they need to go."

"...Do as you wish," said Madara. "The future is not for my generation any longer."

I accepted both of Madara's Rinnegan in a bubble of sterilized medical chakra and turned away as he knelt wearily onto the broken battlefield. I thought about staying with him until the end, but I needed to take care of this now. I was so tired.

I didn't have the strength to traverse the battlefield on my own, so I went to Itachi, who, without a word, crouched down and let me climb onto his back. I directed him toward Nagato, whose chakra was like a beacon against my senses. I found him and Konan resting against a rock. Nagato's hair was also snowy white. Konan stood when she saw me and Itachi.

I held up my hands, showing her the eyes.

"It's okay," I said, my voice rough. "I came to return these."

"Kiyo-chan, Itachi," said Konan. "Why would you return the Rinnegan?"

"Madara and Obito are defeated," I said. "The shinobi world came together to fight them, but now that the threat has been dealt with, there's no guarantee that peace will continue. If war does break out again, Ame will be in danger of becoming a warzone once more. The best way to avoid that is if Ame is under the protection of the Rinnegan."

"And why would you return them to us?" Konan pressed.

Yeah, there was nothing stopping me from giving the eyes away to a Konoha ninja and sending them to guard Ame. Nagato wasn't exactly innocent. He'd killed many people, he'd created an international terrorist organization, and he'd kept me prisoner for years. By all accounts, I shouldn't want him anywhere near this level of power again.

"Because you want peace and you understand the pain of war," I said. "There is no one better to protect Ame."

There was a beat of silence.

"After all that I have done, I am unworthy of its power," said Nagato.

He really had come a long way for someone who had once called himself a god.

"This is a power that only you can carry," I said. "And I believe that you are worthy."

The edges of my vision darkened, and I swayed, barely catching myself before falling over.

"...Very well," said Nagato.

Konan stood aside to let me pass.

I unraveled the bandages around Nagato's eyes to reveal the empty sockets and performed the implantation. It went without complications, and I gave Nagato my best smile when he blinked up at me.

And then I passed out from chakra exhaustion.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, pressing my palms against Naruto's chest. Technically, I probably shouldn't be working since I was in the hospital as a patient rather than as a medic, but old habits die hard.

"I feel pretty good," said Naruto, which was impressive considering everything he'd been through.

"I'm glad," I said with a sigh.

I leaned against his shoulder. We were outside in one of the secluded hospital courtyards. I'd woken alone in a hospital bed and had opted to go in search of answers. Naruto was the first chakra signature I recognized, so I'd gone straight for him.

"Do you know where Nii-chan and Onii-chan are?" I asked. I hadn't felt them at the hospital, so hopefully that meant they were okay.

Naruto hesitated before responding.

"They were taken into custody," he said. "…I tried to stop them from taking Sasuke, but the bastard wanted to atone for what he'd done. Tsunade-baa-chan is still deciding what to do with him."

"Oh…" I said, a little dully.

Sasuke had the fewest crimes, but they were among the worst politically. He'd killed the Raikage and Hidden Cloud's jinchuuriki. They'd want his head, and even if they chose to spare him for Naruto's sake, he would still need to be punished. As for Itachi, he had been acting on orders from Konoha when he'd murdered our clan, but everything after that was questionable. Yes, he'd been keeping an eye on the Akatsuki, but he'd committed many terrible acts including putting Kakashi under a mind-shattering torture genjutsu.

"Obito and Madara are in custody too," Naruto continued. "The Kage are going to decide what to do with them."

That made sense. Obito had…wait...

"What?!" I asked. "Madara? Madara is still alive!?"

Naruto gave me a confused look.

"Yeah?" he asked. "You're the one who healed him, right?"

Well…I'd healed him enough to perform the Rinne-Rebirth, but that should have been a temporary reprieve from death. After all, he'd had the Juubi ripped out of him, and I hadn't implanted him with chakra from the nine tailed beasts. I'd only used Hashirama's chakra and…and…

…and Six Paths Sage chakra. Progenitor chakra. Chakra that had been used to create the tailed beasts in the first place.

Oh no…

"Tsunade-baa-chan wants to talk to you about him when you're ready," Naruto added, far too nonchalant.

Oh no…

But if he'd given himself up, that was a good sign, right?

Right?

"They wanted to take you too, but I wouldn't let them," said Naruto, the edge in his voice breaking me out of my momentary panic over Madara's survival.

"Naruto…I need to answer for my crimes," I said gently. Yeah, let's focus on that…

"You didn't do anything wrong, dattebayo!" said Naruto, taking my hand and squeezing it. "And…I promised Sasuke that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I never go back on my word. That's my ninja way! So…so I won't let them take you away."

There was frantic desperation in his eyes. And it suddenly hit me how very alone Naruto must have been for all this time. Sasuke and I were his closest friends, and we'd both been spirited away, me by Itachi and Sasuke by Orochimaru. Gaara and Killer Bee were both dead. He didn't even have Sakura to keep him company while we were gone. All he'd had were Jiraiya, Iruka, and Kakashi, and teachers could never really replace friends.

"It's okay, Naruto," I said, squeezing his hand in reassurance. "I won't leave you alone again. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere this time."

Naruto relaxed a fraction, and he nodded.

"I don't want to lose any more of my precious people," he said. "When Nagato attacked the village, he…"

Naruto trailed off.

"I know," I said.

"You were taken because you protected me," said Naruto. "Because you sent me to safety and had to stay behind. And I couldn't save you."

"Onii-chan just wanted to keep me safe," I said. "I knew he would never kill Nii-chan or me, so I only wanted to protect you. I'm sorry."

That had to be a cold comfort for someone who had spent the better part of four years believing that he was to blame for my abduction.

Naruto shook his head.

"I couldn't save anyone," he said. "I couldn't bring Sasuke back to the village. I couldn't save Gaara. I couldn't save the village from Nagato. I couldn't save…you."

"You did save me," I said. "I'm right here."

Naruto leaned forward until his hair shadowed his eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei saved you," he corrected.

Well, that was…technically true. But only because he had the only power that could.

"You saved the whole world," I told him. "Teamwork, remember? We all worked together to fight Kaguya. And we won. I heard some of the medics talking on my way here. They're all calling you a hero. There are a bunch of people at the gate who came here to see you."

Naruto perked up.

"Yeah, I heard about that," he said. "But I guess it doesn't really matter. I was just worried about you and Sasuke."

"We're okay," I said. "We're all going to be okay."

"Are you?" Naruto asked. "Are you really okay?"

I shrugged.

"Just tired," I said. "Really tired."

"Then you should rest a bit," he said.

Naruto tugged my sleeve, and I allowed him to shift me until my head was in his lap, and he started stroking my hair, just as I'd done for him in Wave Country. It was strange. That felt like lifetimes ago.

I closed my eyes.

"The other Kage and I have come to an agreement on what to do with the members of the Uchiha clan," said Tsunade. Naruto, Kakashi, and I were standing in her office. "Uchiha Kiyo, you have been pardoned or exonerated for all crimes brought against you. Congratulations."

I blinked. I hadn't even been aware of a trial, although shinobi 'trials' tended to consist of singular judgements from the Kage. That was just how military dictatorships worked. If Tsunade didn't want to punish me, it wouldn't happen.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," I said, bowing.

"As for the others…due to some very…vocal appeals," Tsunade continued, giving Naruto a hard look, "the Kage have decided to postpone any drastic actions for a period of one year. They will be released and placed under supervision."

My eyebrows shot up at that.

Released? Really?

Then again, there wasn't exactly a prison on the planet that could hold any of them against their will, chakra suppression seals or not. Trying to keep them imprisoned would only risk breeding resentment. If that resentment turned into hatred…

I shuddered.

The other logical option was to kill them, but obviously Naruto had argued fiercely against that. If they couldn't be killed and couldn't be contained, that left keeping them under watch. It wasn't a horrible idea either. They were all incredibly powerful, and they'd all expressed a willingness to atone for their crimes. I was sure that Madara's Rinne-Rebirth was a contributing factor when it came to leniency.

"You have been assigned to monitor them," Tsunade said to me.

That...made sense. The Uchiha had plenty of enemies. They probably wouldn't trust anyone else, and by assigning me to this task, Tsunade ensured that I would also be under close watch.

"I understand, Tsunade-sama," I said.

"What about me, Tsunade-baa-chan?" Naruto asked.

"You have a lot of training to do with Jiraiya and Kakashi if you want to be Hokage one day," said Tsunade.

A familiar chakra brushed against my senses.

"That's right," said Jiraiya, appearing at the window with such perfect timing that he must have been eavesdropping. "And don't think I'll go easy on you like I did during our last trip, either."

"You weren't going easy on me at all, Pervy Sage!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the white-haired man.

"Jiriaya-sama, you're taking Naruto away?" I asked nervously.

Jiraiya waved off my concern with his remaining hand.

"Just a short trip," he said. "A year at most. I figure it's time to bring my former students together for a bit of training and research."

He laughed, like it was a joke.

Huh, that was coincidental timing. Or not. If Tsunade wanted to keep the Uchiha under supervision, the supervisors needed to be strong. Right now, the strongest non-Uchihas were Naruto and Nagato. In fact, they were already so much stronger than Jiraiya, I wasn't quite sure what they would be learning from the Sanin.

I glanced at Tsunade, who was watching me carefully.

And suddenly I felt…

"Well then, let's get going," said Jiraiya, throwing his arm around Naruto and practically dragging him out the window. "Beautiful women don't wait hehe~~!"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, struggling but not really. If he'd really fought back, there was nothing Jiraiya could do to stop him.

Kakashi lingered for another few moments, pulling out his book with a look of languid ease belied by his sharp chakra.

"Don't be sad," he said. "We'll be back before you know it."

"I know," I said, giving him a small smile.

Kakashi lingered for a moment longer before he followed Jiraiya and Naruto out the window, leaving me alone with Tsunade.

"Now that Naruto is gone, are you planning to kill them?" I asked quietly.

I could have danced around the subject, but there wasn't much point. I thought I could see where this was going.

"That depends on you," said Tsunade. "Because you're the only one who can."

Because Naruto was the only one strong enough to overpower them, and he'd already refused. If anyone else tried to kill them, it was likely to end in disaster, both for the would-be assassin as well as the rest of the world. The only person who could hope to succeed…was me. Because Sasuke and Itachi were my brothers and would never kill me. Because Obito was bound by Kotoamatsukami to do the same. Because Madara had already given me his eyes and might not object if I asked for his life too.

Suddenly, the blanket pardon made a little more sense.

"Is that an order, Tsunade-sama?" I asked.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

"If I said that it was?" she asked.

Normally that would have been a silly question. She was the Hokage. She didn't make requests. She gave orders to be followed. And those who did not follow orders were punished.

"Then my pardon was a little premature," I said.

I couldn't.

Not Sasuke or Itachi. Not ever.

Not Madara or Obito either, now that they'd surrendered. I was not, could never be, an executioner.

"They have the power to destroy this world and everyone in it," Tsunade pointed out.

"They won't," I said.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Obito had been saved from their darkness. Madara I wasn't so sure about. But he'd been willing to give the last moments of his life to bring back the people he'd killed. For that, I thought that he deserved another chance.

Just one more.

"And if you're wrong?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm not," I said. "Just leave them to me, and I'll show you."

Tsunade huffed a sharp breath.

"Then for the sake of the world, I hope you're right," she said.

Me too.

AN: We're finally in the post-war arc! The next few weeks will be a little busy in real life, so the next chapter will be delayed by a week or two.