AN: Chapter 24 is here. Welcome back. Late again I know. This web development course is kicking my butt, but it'll all be worth it in the end, I hope. Anyway, I won't stall any longer. Let's get the show going.

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A Gaze Eternal III ~ One Last Dance

Weiss thought the stars were beautiful. They glittered in the inky blackness of night, lighting up the sky with their shine. A gentle breeze caressed her cheek. Weiss blinked. Head throbbing terribly, she opened her mouth.

"What…?" Weiss did not know why she was gazing upon the stars. Pretty as they might be, there was something far more important to be observing right now. So why was she stargazing?

"Weiss! No!" Winter's scream kickstarted her brain. Through the fog of what must have been a concussion, Weiss remembered where she was. She'd been in the Valley watching Naruto fight Sasuke. And then there was fire. She'd fallen and hit her head. Gingerly she tried to sit up. And that's when her eyes fell upon what would surely be her death.

Sasuke was but a few feet away from her, his sword poised to strike. One thrust and her life would be over. The fear gripped her. Her heart beat painfully in her chest. Sasuke's blade sang through the air.

Blood flew into the night sky.

Then there was a scream.

Weiss buried her face into her pillows, letting a long sigh pass her lips. Her sister had been, dare she say, annoying ever since they'd come back to the hotel. She was asking a lot of questions about Weiss's day and no matter what Weiss said Winter was seemingly determined to find some evidence of untoward behavior. There hadn't been any of course, but Winter was being extremely suspicious.

She was right to be of course. Weiss couldn't deny that she wanted her chance with Naruto, consequences be damned. At this point she wasn't overly concerned about Winter anymore. She was prepared to tell her sister she was dating Naruto right to her face. She wasn't dating him yet though. Which meant all of Winter's hovering was nothing more than an inconvenience and simply fruitless on her part.

Behind her the door opened and Weiss suppressed a groan, expecting Winter to come have a more private conversation with her. She became more sure of her assumption when she felt a weight settle onto her bed.

And then she felt a hand on her butt.

Weiss nearly rolled off her bed in her haste to put distance between herself and her assailant, a squeak leaving her mouth at being touched so inappropriately. Right before she fell, however, and arm caught her round the waist and steadied her.

"Jumpy much, Weisscream?"

"Yang!" Weiss whisper-yelled, quickly putting all the dots together and deciding that she didn't want anyone barging into the room from hearing her yell. Yang merely looked back at her, a lecherous grin stretched across her face. "You can't just touch my backside without me knowing!"

If possible, Yang's grin seemed to widen. "So, I can touch it as long as you know?" Yang asked, her hand at Weiss's waist creeping down to the other girl's butt. Weiss's face quickly turned a deep red from Yang's bluntness.

"Yang! I-I'm not ready for that yet, okay?" Weiss protested. Yang's hand stopped creeping and she looked Weiss in her eyes.

"You said yet."

"I… suppose I did," Weiss replied after a moment. Yang pulled her arm back and the two got situated on the bed. Facing each other now, Yang asked a question Weiss did not expect from her.

"You sure this what you want, ice queen?"

"You're asking me that now?" Weiss asked, shaking her head fondly. Even while being serious the other woman couldn't help throwing out one of her nicknames. She supposed Yang was being slightly more serious simply by not calling her Weisscream. That seemed to be the girl's favorite name for her. "No. I'm not completely sold… but I'm more sure about this than the alternative. I will be frank with you, Yang. I do not quite see how this leads to a great success, but I do have some faith in you and Naruto at least. I do not see either of you just dropping someone."

"Yeah, no worries there," Yang grinned. She leaned forward, quickly invading Weiss's personal space. For her part, Weiss could do little more than blush and look down. Yang found her reaction adorable and lifted Weiss's head from the chin to meet her gaze. Weiss felt her body tremble at Yang's touch as her heart rate increased. Her hands gripped her bedsheets, scrunching them up.

Nervous as she was, Weiss was done running away from this. She'd known it was inevitable for weeks now, anyway. She let one last breath pass her lips before she spoke. "Go ahead." Closing her eyes, Weiss missed Yang smile and lean in. Yang's lips were soft and slightly wet. But more than anything they were warm. Weiss could not deny she enjoyed the sensation either.

Weiss was slightly disappointed when Yang pulled away. Her head pitched forward involuntarily, trying to follow Yang's lips as they receded. Eyes fluttering open she was met with a smiling Yang.

"Well?" Yang said. Instead of receiving an answer with words, Yang had to brace the both of them when Weiss leaned back in and kissed her. And this one lasted for a much longer time than their first.

Ruby could do little more than watch the flames engulf the city below. Her cape billowed in the wind of the bullhead, smoke tickling her nostrils. The Orange of the fire illuminated the night's sky around her, blotting out the stars with its brightness even from her height. Her eyes, golden now as they reflected the blaze, did not blink. She couldn't look away.

Ruby didn't know what the name of this village had once been. All she knew is that it and the people within had been unlucky enough to be in the path of one of the Nine Terrors. Salem had outdone herself. Initially, when nine of the most well-known huntsmen had vanished, the various countries of Remnant had been rightfully concerned.

That concern quickly evolved into terror. Just days after their huntsmen vanished, nine new Grimm made their debut. They were impossible to miss, easily Leviathan class and far more powerful. And the reason for that was a sickening realization for all of humanity. These Grimm had the semblances of the nine hunters who'd gone missing. And it was just the semblances they possessed. No, it was the aura itself. The greatest weapons humanity had to offer against the Grimm was now being turned upon them.

What Ruby was looking upon in particular was the power of the semblance belonging to the Grimm that had been dubbed ''Vulcan'' by the kingdoms. It was a massive, salamander-esque Grimm. Beneath its black body, there was a visible glow that made it look more burnt orange than black. But worst of all? As a grotesque reminder of what it once was, it had two masks. The lizard shaped one that was stretched across its head, and at the center of its forehead was a much smaller mask. Human in size and had an appalling resemblance to the hunter Vulcan had once been.

"How can we stop this?" Ruby whispered. Blake approached her and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. She didn't say anything. She had nothing to say that would help.

And she certainly had no answers to Ruby's question. No one did.

It was a coincidence really. Weiss had just been too high strung to go to sleep. After making out with Yang she'd been unable to do little more than contemplate how she was going to talk to Naruto about being with him too Eventually Weiss just decided she needed to get some fresh air. Silently as she could, she wandered out into the streets of Konoha, figuring she could just take a nighttime stroll and hope it tired her out. The constant guard they'd had was relaxed after the Otsutsuki died. Partially because the threat of them had passed, and partially due to a simple lack of people.

During the weeks Naruto and Sasuke were comatose, Hinata had been stretched thin between staying around them and attending to other duties in the village. Kakashi and Sakura had been thoroughly swamped with work as had Shikamaru. Sai had, unfortunately, been injured in the attack. He was recovering nicely, but he wasn't in good enough shape to be their chaperone yet.

Weiss hadn't particularly disliked them being around. She understood why they were keeping watch of the Remnant natives. It was sensible. But being able to walk around unchaperoned for the first time in weeks was freeing in a way she did not know she needed.

It was ironic that the one time Weiss would have loved any of them to be here with her, they weren't.

She saw him from her peripheral. He was moving at a sedate pace over the rooftops. Weiss knew he'd be long gone in the time it took her to inform Hinata or his other teammates. She only really had one choice. Creating a glyph beneath her feet, she propelled herself onto the rooftop nearest her before making more glyphs to give her the speed to catch up with him.

"Naruto!" Weiss yelled. He turned at the sound of her voice. When he landed on the next rooftop he came to a halt and allowed her to catch up with him. Weiss thought that to be a little odd. Here he was sneaking around at night, and he was willing to let her follow him? Was he not running off to fight Sasuke? This made no sense to her.

Landing on the roof he'd stopped at, Weiss slid to a stop next to him. Looking up at him, Naruto greeted her with a smile as before he spoke. "Hey there, Weiss. What are you doing up this late?"

"I could not sleep and thought a nighttime stroll would do me some good. And yourself?" Weiss asked. She couldn't tell if Naruto was trying to distract her from his very suspicious actions, but she had no intention of letting this conversation be about her being out late.

"Well, I've been back here in Konoha for a while now, y'know? But I haven't been to the Hokage monument the entire time I've been here. So I was gonna visit," he replied.

"The Hokage monument?" Weiss said. Naruto lifted his arm and point of into the direction he'd been running. Weiss turned and saw the carved faces of the villages leaders upon the cliff-face. She'd taken notice of the sculpted faces shortly after she'd arrived in Konoha, but she hadn't bothered to ask what they were in the entire time she'd been here.

She knew enough to be aware that the Hokage were the leaders of Konoha, so she quickly deduced that this must be how the village honors them. It was admirable, in her opinion, to be so loved by your villagers. The amount of impact they all must have had made her wonder what her father's company could have been like if he was a better person. That was a thought trail she did not wish to follow, however, so she let it go. Her father was her father. He would never change—no matter how much she wished he would.

"When I was a kid, I'd always go there when I was feeling down. I'd sit on the Fourth's head and just think about my life as I watched the sky and the village down below. Never knew I was sitting on my dad's likeness," Naruto chuckled. Weiss let a small smile curve her lips at the irony of it too. "I'm not sad or anything right now, but I do wanna go back up there now that I'm back. For old time's sake, really."

"I see… it must be quite an important location for you," Weiss replied. She didn't know what else to say. Lovely as the story was, she could not tell if it was just a cover for him to go off and fight Sasuke.

"Yeah… you wanna come with me? The view is amazing, ttebayo!" asked Naruto. Weiss's eyes widened, having not expected him to invite her in the slightest. This place was special to him. Very special considering who his father was. And then there was the other thing. If he was truly planning on running off to fight Sasuke, would he be inviting me to accompany him like this? Weiss wondered.

"I would enjoy that, thank you."

"Cool! Let's go then," Naruto said, and then he was moving again. Weiss followed along after him, noting that he was moving a little slower than he had been when she caught sight of him from the streets. He clearly wasn't trying to escape her. She couldn't wrap her head around what he was really thinking.

Despite their slowed pace, Weiss and Naruto were soon atop the monument, right on Minato's head. Weiss watched as he sat on the ground, and though she didn't wish to sit in the dirt, she smoothed out her skirt and sat next to him. Naruto was silent next to her as he gazed out upon the village and soon, she found herself doing much the same.

He was right. It really was a beautiful view. The village, though large, looked so quaint and homey in comparison to Vale or Atlas. There, a view like this would be bright lights, rushing vehicles, and hordes of people even late at night. But here? There might be a few villagers closing shop or one or two late night establishments, but for the most part the citizens of Konoha were safely in their homes.

"I've really missed this," said Naruto after several minutes. Weiss looked at him, red dusting her cheeks at how handsome he looked. The small breeze blew rustled his hair and his clear blue eyes stared intently upon his home below. She couldn't remember seeing him this peaceful up till now. And certainly not while he'd been on Remnant. It was like he was finally home. At least he looked that way to her.

"It is lovely up here," Weiss agreed.

"Yeah… I look at this place and just… I know I need to protect it. I can't help but want to every time I see this view."

"You've trained all your life for that, right?" Weiss asked. Naruto chuckled.

"In the beginning I just wanted to be recognized by others… and I knew I had to be strong for that, y'know? It wasn't until I really became a shinobi when I started to want to protect this place for real… never thought I'd have to protect the village from a Goddess and her kin one day… and certainly not from Sasuke."

Weiss whipped her head about, her white hair flying around her as she stared at him. She looked into his eyes again. They were harder now; determined. Naruto wasn't just here to see his this for old time's sake. He was here to steel his resolve.

"… You're about to go fight him, aren't you?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah."

"And I can't stop you, can I?"

"I gotta do this, Weiss. It's been a long time coming," Naruto replied. Weiss looked down, her gaze focusing on her tightly clasped hands in her lap. She took a deep breath and moved a strand of her hair behind her ear before exhaling.

"I… see. Well then, at least promise me this. You have three ladies waiting for your return. You will not let Sasuke kill you, Naruto. You will return to me alive and well… to us."

Naruto looked at her, eyes wide. He opened his mouth but for a few moments no sound escaped him.

Inconcievable… breathed Kokuo.

"Wha…?"

"Eloquent… how I fell in love with someone like you, I will never understand."

"Love!? I—what!?" Naruto spluttered.

"To think I told Yang it would be unhealthy for her to fall for you so quickly. And yet here I am," sighed Weiss with a shake of her head, "Yang and I talked earlier… amongst other things. As long as you'll have me—and I can't believe I'm saying this—I am yours as well, Naruto."

"Weiss… you're serious…?" Naruto asked incredulously. The Schnee heiress rolled her eyes. Yang had told her he would be at a severe loss for words. She should have taken her more seriously. Throwing caution to the wind, Weiss leaned into him.

Her shoulder thumped against his chest as she gazed up into his still wide eyes. She'd always found them to be beautiful. Weiss had often found herself lost in them. Ever since that day he showed up at their doorstep for their first class all those weeks ago. And now they were not only that same beautiful shade, but exotic as well. Weiss would never tire of looking into his eyes, that she knew.

"I suppose I shall have to show you how serious I am then, won't I?" she replied before she kissed him. He tensed for a moment, but Weiss would give him at least some credit. It did not take him long to reciprocate… and reciprocate he did. When the two of them separated several minutes later, Weiss was almost as red as a cherry. As bold as she'd been, she was still not used to the intimacies of relationships.

Regardless of her quickly beating heart and her flaming face, Weiss did not move from leaning against him. Naruto was warm and comfortable… and she had certainly had plenty of daydreams of them in this position. The two of them stayed like that for another few minutes before Naruto finally began to move. Weiss shifted away from him and watched as he stood. She knew he was leaving now, as much as she did not wish him to.

"You know I will tell the others when you leave, right?" asked Weiss. Stopping him was impossible. And she didn't know how he'd avoided detection all this time either, but surely he knew she wouldn't simply keep his secret.

"I know."

"As long as you're aware… and you never promised me, Naruto," said Weiss. Naruto looked at her, smiled sadly, and then he was gone, his last words lingering on the wind.

"I promise, Weiss."

It was the first promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

Naruto landed atop the remains of Hashirama's statue. Waiting across from him was Sasuke. His rival sat cross-legged on Madara's head, seemingly meditating. Naruto observed him silently for several moments before Sasuke opened his eyes. Two Rinnesharingan gazed upon him, while Naruto looked back impassively, his ocean blue Rinnegan seemingly shining.

"Took you long enough," Sasuke grunted.

"Ran into Weiss on the way out," Naruto replied.

"Just another woman who'll be devastated over your death. Don't worry though, in honor of our friendship I'll make sure to send them all back home safe and sound," said Sasuke as he stood to his feet. Naruto scowled at him, his fists clenching at his sides.

"It doesn't have'ta be this way, you know," said Naruto, "the hidden villages showed how well they can work together again against Momoshiki and Kinshiki."

Sasuke scoffed. "How many times do I have to tell you, dobe? They only worked together because of the threat our enemies have presented to the world. So, if a threat is what they need? I will provide."

"Well then I guess this is it. One way or another, it all ends here," Naruto sighed. Sasuke just gave a grunt of agreement. In the next moment the two had vanished and met arms between the two statues. The clash contained so much raw power that the waterfall split horizontally. They pushed each other away and righted themselves in the air, floating across from one another.

And then the real bout began. Naruto moved first, flinging a handful of Kunai at Sasuke which the other boy deflected. Naruto, however, had taken that chance to move in. He was already at the tail end of a spinning kick that sent Sasuke hurdling end over end into the walls of the valley. With a cough, Sasuke pulled himself from out of the cliff face.

As soon as he was free he let himself drop a few feet before sticking to the cliff. He just barely made it before Naruto's knee slammed into where he'd been and cratered the cliff. As the debris peppered him, Naruto came from out of the rubble. Eyes narrowing, Sasuke met his nearing fist with the palm of his hand, batting the punch aside. The two of them traded blows, blocking, ducking, and dodging hits before Naruto took a fist to the jaw. It sent him stumbling back and Sasuke capitalized. Dashing forward he landed three more strikes into Naruto's abdomen before moving around him and kicking him fiercely into the waters of the valley below.

Angling a single finger at the water, a spark jumped across the digit before a thunderous crackle reverberated through the valley as a bolt of lightning leapt from his finger into the water below. Everything within a twenty-foot radius of where it landed was vaporized, leaving a hole that the surrounding waves quickly rushed to fill. Sasuke wasn't willing to take any chances though and flew down to the waters. Mere feet from the waves, he suddenly felt his body being yanked backwards against his will. Turning quickly, he saw Naruto on the shore.

Without a word, Sasuke's Rinnesharingan flashed, changing color from purple to red as the black flames of Amaterasu blazed around him in wicked spikes. Naruto did not waver, however. While one hand continued to use Bansho Tenin, his other jerked upwards. As Sasuke neared, his fire was absorbed by Naruto's free hand, which then drove itself into Sasuke's get in the form of a breath-stealing palm strike.

Sasuke gasped. The flmaes of Honoikazuchi fizzled out. Naruto pulled back his palm as his other hand darted forward. A fist crashed into Sasuke's gut next, lifting him higher into the air. Then another fist, a kick, and then an uppercut that sent him flying. It was a struggle, but Sasuke righted himself yet again before rocketing back to earth. Naruto caught him.

The ground around them shattered, water pooled around Naruto's feet, and then more sparks arced around Sasuke's body. Naruto's eyes widened. Shinra Tensei activated and tossed Sasuke into the cliff, but not before his electricity had a chance to catch Naruto. With a strangled yell, Naruto's body went rigid as the electricity coursed through him, down into the water, and then back up into his body with vigor.

His muscles spasmed and twitched as Naruto fought to get his body back under his will. With one last grunt of effort and a flood of chakra throughout his body, Naruto took a gasping breath and stumbled forward. A single droplet of water behind him was replaced with Sasuke, a chidori screaming within his palm. Sasuke's attack was mere inches away from Naruto's back when a burnt orange chain of chakra, tipped with a kunai shaped head, burst out of Naruto's back and shot toward Sasuke's face.

Surprise written all over his countenance, Sasuke jerked his chidori clad hand back to block. The chakra chain caught Sasuke at the wrist and would have dug into his arm if he hadn't forced it to change trajectory. Instead of having a hole bored into his wrist, he traded that debilitating injury for a torn line of skin from his wrist halfway to his elbow.

Sasuke took the rebuke for what it was and backed away, landing atop the water. He inspected his arm as Naruto caught his breath and turned to him, the chain receding back into his body. The blond looked a tad charred, but it was nothing the Kyuubi wasn't already healing. He'd be fine. As for Sasuke's arm, he determined that while the wound would scar, it was more visually off-putting than anything. He would still be able to fight just fine.

"I see you've made something quite special with Kinshiki's ability," Sasuke remarked, electing to unsheathe his sword now that Naruto had a surprising and dangerous weapon at his disposal.

"Not quite… more like learning how to make those weapons from Kinshiki awakened something from the Uzumaki clan," said Naruto as a burnt orange staff materialized in his left hand. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, his thoughts moving a mile a minute. After all, if the chain wasn't from Kinshiki, what sort of technique was it?

"Always full of surprises, aren't you?" Sasuke scoffed. Naruto shrugged. "It won't change anything though… the warm-up's over, Naruto. Let's Dance…"

Naruto snorted and wondered if Sasuke realized exactly how much he sounded like Madara in that moment. When I beat him into submission I'm gonna have'ta remember to tease him about that.

The two vanished once more.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

An explosion illuminated the valley.

XXX

And that's the chapter! And thus, the final battle between Naruto and Sasuke begins. Man, being here and typing this is sorta surreal. I always knew this was coming, but actually getting to it feels so weird. Expect two more chapters mostly dedicated to their fight and then two more chapters after that to end the story. We're in the final stretch and I sincerely hope you all have enjoyed the tale I've told thus far.

Naruto has also completed his (Yang's?) harem… It's more likely Yang's honestly. Initially, this fic started with an idea of pairing Weiss with Naruto. Funny how she ended up being the last girl to get with him. I think it fits her though.

Also, one last thing. I leave you all with the title of the next chapter. Let's see if you can understand what Naruto's Rinnegan ability will be from this:

One Last Dance II ~ Jiko Gisei

I'll see about maybe giving some reward to whoever gets the closest guess.

If there are any questions you all have, feel free to leave a review. If you want some sort of more in-depth discussion, then go ahead join the discord. Anyway, that's it. Peace out.

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