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Valley of the end. The end of the fourth shinobi war. That was the last place Sasuke remembered. He was fighting Naruto.
Now he was in a complete void. He was wearing his normal clothes, but they weren’t torn. He had no wounds. There was not a single scratch on his body.
Next to him was Naruto. He was standing still, eyes closed, a peaceful expression on his face. He looked… satisfied. Not determined, excited or sad, which were the expressions he had seen on Naruto for the past couple of years the few times they had met. Now he looked completely at peace. It was like looking at a person he had never met before.
“Naruto?” he asked and was surprised at how soft his own voice sounded.
Naruto’s eyelids fluttered and then flew open. The same expression as before remained, and Sasuke couldn’t stop looking.
Naruto looked around and he did as well. The void somehow had a floor and a small distance away there were more people standing just as Naruto just had.
Naruto wordlessly walked up to the people. There were hundreds, thousands, millions of them slowly showing as they walked closer. The ones nearby were all shinobi. He knew some of them. He saw Suigetsu, Karin, Jugo…. Kakashi and Sakura. All of them standing upright with their eyes closed and peaceful expressions on their faces. Naruto stood in front of Kakashi and Sakura, staring at their faces.
He sighed. “I heard your voice so I came”.
“You… came here from hearing my voice”
Naruto continued to look at his friends’ faces.
“Yes, but it wouldn’t have taken long for me to get here on my own anyway”
“Do you know where we are?”
Naruto finally looked at him. He then stepped away and stood beside him, facing the part of the void that weren’t filled with living people.
“Look down Sasuke”
He was confused, Naruto said strange things and nothing made any sense. He looked down anyway.
Through the floor, on the other side he saw him. Itachi. He was standing, just as him with his feet on the floor, but on the other side. He had a different expression from Naruto and the other sleeping people. He looked at him the same way he looked at him in hist last living minute and their childhood days so, so long ago. Eyes filled of love for him.
Behind him their parents stood. They smiled as well, looking… proud. There were also Shisui, and lots of other Uchiha. His family, friends and ancestors that were all dead now.
He looked at Naruto. He had tears in his eyes, the only sign at emotion he had seen on his face this far.
“What do you see?”
“Loads of people. All the dead ones. I see my parents, Pervy sage, the third hokage… Neji… And loads of people with red hair. I think they are my ancestors”
“I see… Itachi, my parents and all the dead Uchiha”
Naruto continued to stare down to the other side.
“You know I met them once, my parents. Small amounts of their chakra were sealed with Kurama. I got to meet them once…” Tears gathered in Naruto’s eyes again.
“How were they?”
He dried the tears of on his arm and then looked up at him, eyes swollen and red but now his face was actually happy, he was more like the Naruto he once knew, yet… more confident and without the sad undertones. How on earth had he managed to move on from that lonliness?
“My mom was very strong and scary. I guess that is how mothers are. She was a lot like me, loud and determined, she acted like me when she got excited. My dad was more calm, but very kind. I got his hair. They both were very… proud of me. Of the person I had become.”
He now got a sad look on in his eyes.
“Ever since I met them I have kind of longed after the day I would join them” he pointed to the ground. “There”
By now Sasuke had realised. Naruto hadn’t moved on from the lonliness. He had accepted it, accepted the sorrow and anger as a part of him and learned to live with it. Just like he had accepted wherever they were now.
“What about the other ones” he gestured to the sleeping people.
Naruto teared his gaze from the ground and looked sadly at the sleeping people.
“Sakura and Kakashi… they can manage I think. I was ready to die going into that fight with you and they know it. There is no one left there, anyways. You are here with me so there is no reason to go back.”
Wait.
Would he be a reason for Naruto to go back?
“If I were on the living side, would you go back?”
Naruto looked at him with those determined eyes. Eyes that had experienced enough sadness for a lifetime.
“But you weren’t. Our bodies are lying next to each other bleeding out and you weren’t there, I was alone. Then I heard you calling and left. As simple as that”
He had to be kidding.
Sasuke snapped.
“You are telling me that. I was dead and you were alive and you went here willingly just because I said your name. You FUCKING IDIOT. How DARE you throw away your life just because I called you. You were alive, had a chance of survival and you left willingly you-“
“You know why I left BASTARD”
“NO! Why on earth would you leave Naruto? Why? You were going to become hokage remember? You had a dream, a goal. Why did you throw it all away?”
Now Naruto just looked pained. It was so hard to look at but he did anyway. He wanted to understand.
“I already told you. I went into that fight with you willingly, I was ready to die, and now I am as good as dead. How stupid are you Sasuke? There is no risk I am going back because you are here with me. Here in this in between-void. Between the living and the dead.”
The phrase ‘because you are here with me’ stuck in his head. Was it that simple?
“What if I go back”
This seemed to have an effect at least. Naruto’s eyes widened and his whole face was shocked.
“Would you come then?”
Naruto looked hesitant, thinking everything over.
“What would happen if we went back toghether? Would you leave me again? You don’t get it Sasuke. I haven’t thought of my life beyond the point of us fighting and probably dying. Forget hokage. I don’t deserve that title anyway. I can’t even save the person I love. And I know you don’t feel the same.”
He started crying again. Sasuke felt like a fog had been filling his head and all the thoughts came slow.
The person I love.
“Damn you Sasuke. I can’t even get an anxietyless death. I should not have followed you and just go alone instead.”
The person I love.
Naruto then turned completely still. Slowly he looked down. He then looked up with at Sasuke, and that same peaceful look from before was shown on his face.
The person I love.
Then Naruto fell through the ground, just like they used fo fall through the water when they first tried to walk on wather with their chakra.
Sasuke acted before his mind could, reaching for Naruto’s arm before everything was too late.
That was now how they stayed for a second, he clinging to Naruto’s arms like they were his own life. Naruto felt impossibly heavy, as if nothing he did physically could get him up from there. He sank lower into the ground every second.
“I’ll go back with you. I will never leave you again. I will come with you to Konaha.”
It didn’t get easier. Now Naruto’s head sunk through the ground. All he was holding was his hand.
The tears welled up.
“Damn it Naruto, I love you too. Please come back to me”
The hand he held twitched.
Somehow he managed to drag him up from the other side. He was so heavy just some seconds ago. Now he was standing in front of him.
Sasuke had absolutely no restraint left in him. He hugged Naruto violently, never letting go. No way. Never again.
He felt Naruto letting out a trembling sigh and resting his head on Sasuke’s shoulder.
He broke a little from the embrace and placed his arms around his neck. They then… kissed. It was a little messy but still much better than their first kiss all those years ago. Naruto then pressed his forhead against Sasuke’s and looked into his eyes.
“What now?”
“Now we go back. And I won’t ever leave you again. I promice. And I don’t go back on my word from here on now. I learnt that from the best person in the entire world”
Naruto just chuckled and once again embraced him.
He could feel his limbs coming back. All the pain came in at once.
He was back in the world of the living. Lying on his back in the valley of the end. He managed to tilt his head to the left as he heard breathing beside him.
Naruto was laying there, tears streaming down his face. Now that he thought about it he had tears streaming down his own face as well.
Naruto tilted his head and their eyes connected.
And they smiled. They would stay together from now on. Because he didn't go back on his word.