Desolation had completely consumed them. For two years, they had been fugitives in their own world, mercilessly hunted by Madara, the architect of their misfortune. They had lost the war and with it everything they once loved. Friends, family, homes... all disappeared in the whirlwind of destruction. Now, only a small group of survivors remained, fighting a hopeless battle against an unstoppable enemy.

Sasuke, friend and teammate, had just fallen. She watched as his body collapsed to the ground, his final gaze filled with determination and farewell. Kakashi and Obito were fighting valiantly, but it was as if they were fighting an ocean with one hand. And Naruto... her Naruto, her hero, lay on the ground with a fatal wound in his chest that wouldn't stop bleeding.

Sakura ran to him, her heart pounding with desperation as she tried to stop the bleeding. But every attempt was in vain, the blood kept flowing like a curse that couldn't be healed. "Naruto, please hold on," she pleaded, her hands trembling with the green light of medical chakra as she fought against the inevitability of his death. That light flickered with clear signs of running out of chakra. It didn't matter all the advances she had made to heal wounds like this, nothing mattered if she had no chakra. The helplessness overwhelmed her, but she couldn't give up. Naruto couldn't die; she would use her last strength if necessary.

"Naruto, hold on," she whispered desperately, her eyes fixed on his pale and sweaty face. "You can't give up now."

He looked at her with tired but determined eyes. "Sakura... listen to me," he said weakly but firmly.

"I'm here, Naruto," she responded, her voice choked with pain and helplessness. The green light was becoming dimmer. 'Damn it, not now.'

"You must... you must leave," he continued, his breath labored from the effort. "You can't stay here. You can't... die with me."

"No, Naruto, I can't leave you," she protested, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't... I can't live without you, without you all."

He looked at her with sad but resolute eyes. "You must, Sakura," he insisted. "You must live... in a place better than this."

"What are you talking about? There is no better place, everything is lost, my only place is with you. We already lost Sasuke, I can't... I can't," tears blurred her vision and choked her throat, but the essence of what she said was clear. She wouldn't live without them.

"Sakura, look at me," he asked in a voice so weak, so far from the usual Naruto.

Accepting, she looked at him. He was looking at her with such affection that it tightened her heart even more.

"Pl-please li-live. F-for us," he pleaded, blood spilling from his mouth, his eyes slowly dimming.

"Okay, Naruto, okay. I will, I'll live, but please hold on a little longer," so desperate and focused on her work to save him that she missed the expression of relief on his face.

Then she felt it, a powerful presence behind her, but it wasn't the malevolent one of Madara, who she could still hear fighting Kakashi and Obito. Turning, she found herself face to face with Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths, his white robe floating in the air. His violet ringed eyes reflected pain and sadness, his gaze fixed behind her.

Alarmed, she turned around with fear of what she would see but did it anyway.

Naruto… he was…

"NO! PLEASE, NARUTO!" she screamed, heart-wrenching. "NO, NO, NO," she was in complete agony. "You, not you... NARUTO!" She tried to keep healing him even knowing it would be in vain, but she couldn't even maintain her chakra for more than a second. "Don't leave me... I beg you, Naruto. I need you, everyone needs you. You can't leave, please..." She continued begging a body that no longer had life.

Why? Why was she so useless? Why couldn't she save anyone? Why did this have to happen? Why was everything taken from her? She was tired, so tired.

She placed her head on his torso, not caring about getting blood on herself, clutching his shirt in fists that turned her knuckles white, breaking into heart-wrenching sobs, staining his skin with her tears, still feeling his slight warmth.

She couldn't take it anymore. It was too much pain, what was the point of living like this?

"I'm sorry for this, all of this is my fault," she heard a voice speak with regret behind her. She didn't dare lift her head from her friend's body, wanting to stay with him until she no longer felt his warmth, but it didn't stop her from speaking.

"Yes, all of this is your fault. Without you, this wouldn't have happened, Madara wouldn't have existed, I wouldn't have lost my friends, my village, everything is your damn fault," she let out all the resentment she had. She knew what she was saying didn't make sense and wasn't fair, but she didn't care. She was too hurt to be empathetic.

"You're right," he responded sadly. "I can't remedy all of this, but I can still do something," he added.

She couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope inside her.

"What do you mean? Remedy it? Can you bring him back?" she asked desperately for any alternative before the one she had in front of her.

With sorrow in his gaze, he replied, "No, I can't do that," he said, destroying the little hope she had and breaking her heart further.

"I can only fulfill his last wish," he added. This only confused her.

"What do you mean by that? What wish?" she asked, not understanding what he meant.

Looking at her with eyes that reflected his resolve, he began to form a mass of energy that gradually grew until it turned black. It looked like a vortex of darkness that would drag everything near it.

"This is his last wish. I know it's not what you want, but you promised him. It's what he asked of me. And it's the last thing I can do for a descendant of mine," he said solemnly.

Remembering Naruto's last words, his plea for her to live, and her foolishly agreeing, she opened her eyes, realizing what he was trying to do.

"No, no, no. I don't want that, my place is here with them, alive or dead," she said with fear and desperation, trying to make him understand she needed to die with them. Her place was with them, she couldn't survive anywhere else, she couldn't and didn't want to.

Did what she wanted not matter?

He gave her a look that bordered on pity. "I understand. I'm only fulfilling a son's last wish. I'm sorry."

"NO! I can't abandon them, Kakashi and Obito are still here, they need me, they're fighting for their lives. I won't leave them, you can't force me," she looked at him with hard eyes, but her assertions fell on deaf ears.

She saw him enlarging the mass more and more until it reached a considerable height.

"I wish I could help them all, but this is all I can do given the chakra I have left. Once done, I will also disappear," he explained gently, already knowing his fate and not caring.

"Then take me, Kakashi, and Obito. Let me take Sasuke and Naruto's bodies. Maybe I can still..." Not even she knew what she would do, she couldn't revive the dead. "Just don't separate me from them, please," she pleaded with tears of desperation.

He gave her a look of pity, knowing something she didn't. "They know, they're giving you this chance."

She looked at him confused. What did he mean by that? She turned to observe the battle taking place not far from her. Kakashi and Obito fought in a synchronized and perfect dance, each knowing what the other would do and acting accordingly. It was as if they were dancing around a furious beast.

But something was strange. 'They are…?'

She looked closely and confirmed it. Every attempt by Madara to come this way was blocked or diverted. She could see his annoyed expression, looking at the large mass of energy the sage had created with the clear intention of preventing him. But her companions didn't, they hadn't looked in her direction even for a microsecond, their attention completely on the suicidal mission they had assigned themselves. As if they already knew what would happen and were just trying to make it happen.

'It couldn't be, they didn't…. When? When did they decide that she should live? Why didn't they tell her? They could have planned to save themselves together… Why can't they ever think about what I want? Do they really think I can survive after everything we lost?' Her mind was a whirlwind of anger and love for her friends.

Tears blurred her vision. The pain in her chest was so great she felt she couldn't breathe. 'You… you idiots,' she thought with deep affection despite being left out of something so important.

A movement in the corner of her eye made her turn her attention back to what was happening in front of her. The large mass was no longer an unbalanced and deformed vortex but a perfect swirl of curved lines, similar to Obito's Kamui but in a much more imposing way, as if crossing it was not just a sterile and lifeless dimension.

Fear surged within her in waves. The thought of being taken away from her friends created a panic in her she had never felt despite everything she had been through.

"W-wait… I can't—"

He didn't even let her beg before giving her one last look and then pushing the chakra whirlwind towards her at great speed.

In panic and desperation, she tried to get up and run, but the massive physical and emotional pain left her without strength. She was without chakra, she couldn't move, but she couldn't let herself be taken away from the people she loved, she couldn't let it happen.

Even if it cost her life…

With a thought, she quickly grabbed the kunai beside her with the determination to do what she thought. She would die with them because living without them wasn't an option. It wouldn't be life. Wherever that mass took her, only a lifeless body would arrive.

But before carrying out the madness she intended, she decided to give her foolish companions one last look. To her senseis, because Obito had become one in recent years, and Kakashi had rectified his neglect towards her in her genin days. They had taught her what they could with the resources they had, made her stronger in ways she hadn't thought possible. It was a shame they had used their effort and time on someone who wasn't worth it. But she hoped the deep gratitude she felt for them was reflected in her eyes.

Sasuke wasn't there, she could only hope that from wherever he was, he could feel the affection she felt, a love that became completely fraternal and reciprocal. Despite his actions against them, he showed deep regret for everything. They forgave him, they always would, they knew what he had been through and still wanted him with them. Their bond only strengthened after that.

Then she looked at Naruto, the silliest teammate anyone could have, but with a heart bigger than the star that illuminated their days, the sun he himself represented.

She turned her head to look at him in a final farewell to the brother she lost. But she was speechless at what she saw, her eyes widening in surprise, unable to believe what she was seeing.

There was Naruto, leaning against a rock, the large wound still in his chest, his face completely pale and lifeless. But his expression, it was his expression that froze her.

'He was…?'

His eyes were closed with a very slight crease at the corners. His mouth was closed, but at the corners, one could clearly see the slight upward curve they made.

He had a happy expression… he had died with a smile.

He died in peace.

After the promise she had made him.

A promise made in desperation not to lose him, just to calm him down, but she had no real intention of keeping it. That false promise allowed him to die peacefully.

That was all he wanted, for her to live.

If she had thought her heart was broken before, she now felt it was pulverized. The burning in her throat was a clear sign of her anguish. 'Idiot, why you…?' She looked at him with sorrow and pain. Why was he doing this to her?

She couldn't do this to him, even if he was already dead and would never know she didn't keep her word, that it was a lie told in desperation. She couldn't, not to him. Not to the person who never broke his oath, who fulfilled it as his nindo, as a mission in life. She simply couldn't…

She lowered the kunai but kept it in her hands as a reminder of her resolve.

She made her decision, turning her face to see the vortex coming at her. With a resigned heart, she accepted her uncertain fate. 'I won't disappoint you.'

Then came the darkness.