'What am I doing?' Uchiha Sasuke thought as he is punted against a gigantic rock, his heart in turmoil.
'What have I gained from all of this?' Revenge? A sick joke, Power? Meaningless, Saving the world...? Here's the funny thing he had discovered recently: he didn't give a shit. As crude as that sounded, it was the only way to put it. He was only in this war because of his brother's sacrifice.
'A Shitty sacrifice, by the way.'Sasuke was surprised by the bitterness of his own thought. Even though he didn't hate his brother like before, his actions still scarred him for life.
'What kind of love can make a thirteen-year-old kid kill his entire clan?' It felt like a badly written story, but unfortunately for him, this was as real as it could get.
'Really, what am I even doing? Revolution? Where did that even come from?' He felt exhausted; all of these meaningless battles were making him nauseous.
"Are you alright, Sasuke?" A voice broke through his thoughts. Sasuke looked down to see Naruto standing beneath him. For the first time, he noticed the strange expression on the blonde's face.
'His eyes are heavy.' Those eyes, which had always resembled a clear sunny sky, were now burdened by a heavy storm.
"Are you happy now, Naruto?" Sasuke uttered suddenly, surprising himself with the emotion in his voice. He spoke softly, but Naruto didn't miss it.
"Huh?" The blonde looked up at him, confusion marring his features.
"The battles," Sasuke said, finally pulling himself from the crater and glancing at the darkened sky. "We won the war, and we're going to free the people from the Infinite Tsukuyomi. It's a perfect victory." 'Too perfect,' he thought grimly. Given the caliber of their enemies, surviving with such casualties felt like a miracle.
"Oh, that!" Naruto laughed, a sheepish smile breaking through his confusion. "It feels like we won by a miracle," he admitted, surprising Sasuke a little. While Naruto wasn't wrong, he hadn't expected him to admit it so openly. From what he understood of the blonde, Naruto always acted tough, even when he was terribly outmatched.
"But I won't be happy until I beat your ass and bring you back to the village," Naruto muttered softly.
"I lost, Naruto," Sasuke replied quietly.
Naruto stared at his former teammate's face. His eyes were closed, yet his expression seemed strangely peaceful. It was unsettling. Sasuke's words carried a weight of defeat that cut deeper than any physical blow. He realized Sasuke wasn't merely referring to their battle.
"I know," Sasuke continued slowly. "I've been waging a lost battle. There's nothing left for selfish me." Sasuke smiled, an expression so foreign on his features that it sent a pang through Naruto's heart.
"Let us release the people from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Naruto?" Sasuke suggested, looking at the trapped people around them with an expressionless gaze.
Naruto looked back at his friend and felt an unfamiliar pit in his stomach—not the kind of pit he'd felt when Sasuke had escaped and fought him in their childhood or when he had declared his intent to reshape the world. No, this was different. It was the unbearable ache of phantom loss; Sasuke stood before him looking normal, yet something had irrevocably changed. It was like reuniting with an old friend only to discover that the bond they once shared had vanished into thin air.
He hadn't felt this way even after years apart—so what had shifted so suddenly? As if in answer to his unspoken questions, a single tear fell from Naruto's eye so unexpectedly and unreasonably before landing on the desolate earth below. He brought his fingers to his left eye, surprised to find it wet with tears.
Sasuke sighed softly before leaping down to join Naruto. His landing seemed to signal the sky to release its burden; rain began to fall softly at first before pouring down heavily. They stood side by side, staring up at the sky as droplets cascaded around them.
"Ready?" Sasuke asked, glancing over at the blond.
"Yeah," Naruto replied, his voice subdued. Sasuke reached out, clasping Naruto's extended hand. Together, they began the technique, slowly releasing the Infinite Tsukuyomi as the rain poured around them.
By the time Sakura and Kakashi found them, they lay sprawled on the ground like corpses, the sight almost pathetic in its stillness.
"Naruto-kun! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted. If it weren't for the chakra's she sensed, she might have thought them dead, the heavy silence following their explosive battle making her anxious.
Naruto managed a weak smile as he propped himself up, gazing at the people he held dear. The thought of how close they had come to death weighed heavily on his heart. He couldn't bear the thought of losing anyone else.
"Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei!" he greeted, relief flooding him.
"Let me heal you," Sakura said, rushing toward him. Kakashi, meanwhile, observed Sasuke with a mix of emotions that were difficult to decipher.
"I'm alright, Sakura-chan," Naruto protested, weariness obvious in his voice, but she continued her approach.
"Please, Naruto-kun," she urged, her voice trembling with unspoken emotions.
"Okay," he mumbled, allowing her to start the healing process. As she worked, he felt the weight of exhaustion lift slightly, a sense of relief washing over him.
After Sakura finished, she walked over to Sasuke. Naruto turned to Kakashi, who was leaning against a rock, each of them silently processing the past few moments.
"I feel like I lost something, Sensei," Naruto said softly, his head bowed, bangs obscuring his face.
Kakashi turned from Sasuke back to Naruto, . He thought the battle would have been more brutal—battling until the end, potentially facing death. Yet here they were, defeated yet somehow still alive. The weight of losing one of the make him cold with a dread, he thought after all those tragedy he would be emotionless, he really underestimated how humans can be attached, 'love and hatred' it's a delicate road indeed.
"Don't worry about it, Naruto," he said, rising slowly. "We all lose something, and at the same time gain something. It's how we react to it that matters in the end."
Naruto gazed at Kakashi with wide eyes, a look of childlike sincerity that made Kakashi feel more awkward than wise. He cleared his throat and shifted his gaze back to Sasuke, who remained sprawled on the ground.
"sasuke seemed to be asleep naruto" he uttered looking him carefully.
"WHAT!?" Naruto blurted, alarm ringing in his voice.
"TEME! You better not be sleeping!" he shouted, marching toward Sasuke, who was oblivious to the world around him.
"Are you asleep, Sasuke?" Naruto poked at him, desperately hoping for a response. When nothing came, he sighed, a mix of frustration and concern welling up inside. Could he truly be out cold after everything they had been through?
With a grunt, he hefted Sasuke over his shoulder, treating him like a sack of potatoes, and looked ahead of him noticing familiar faces approaching in the distance.
"GUYS!" he yelled, bounding toward them, practically sprinting despite the weight he carried.
"Wait for us, you idiot!" Sakura shouted, racing after him, assisting Kakashi along the way.
"I can't believe Sasuke-kun has been sleeping," she mused, remembering how she tried to make small talks before hopelessly returning, she thought he is ignoring her.
"Yeah, the guy's amazing at sleeping," Naruto joked, glancing back at her with a grin. "A real-life ninja sloth!"
Sakura chuckled, before turning to her sensei and widened her eyes, is sensei..
"Kakashi-sensei! Are those tears in your eyes?" she gasped, eyes widening in surprise.
Cough cough. "The air is making my eyes sensitive," he lied, evading her gaze.
Sakura giggled uncontrollably, her earlier tension easing as she looked ahead at Naruto, who still carried Sasuke with a smile on his face.
"It's over, huh?" her sensei muttered, watching the sunset slowly brighten the sky.
"Yeah, it seems so," she replied, a smile creeping onto her face, though unshed tears glimmered in her eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED...