Naruto's POV

It's getting very late. Where is Eita? Why hasn't he come back yet? His talk with Sasuke shouldn't be this long, should it?

Suddenly, I got a bad feeling about two assumptions. The first assumption is having to do with Eita and Sasuke "fooling around" somewhere, and the second assumption is that something bad must've happened to Eita. 

"No... There's no way Eita would be with Sasuke. He loves me. There's no way he'd lie to me like that." I tried to convince myself. I lied back on the couch and had my hands behind my head, trying to relax. 'But what if Eita really is in danger and he needs my help?' I thought. 

I shook my head. "No... Eita's strong. He can handle himself. I know he can," I said to myself. "He's fine. Eita will be back soon."

(Morning)

I ended up sleeping on the couch while I was waiting for Eita, but he didn't come home last night. I started getting paranoid and went to Sasuke's house, thinking Eita might be there. I knocked three times before waiting for a response. 

After standing there for three minutes, I looked through the window to find nobody inside. "That's strange. Wonder if he went off to train?" I mumbled. But that wasn't really my main concern. My main concern was where Eita might be. 

"Eita... Where are you?"

Eita's POV

"Eita! Eita, wake up! Can you hear me? Hey, wake up! Eita!" I heard Inari shout. "I'm up..." I mumbled, groggily. I opened my eyes to find myself over someone's shoulder. "Huh? What? Where...?" I looked around as I noticed Sound Four was still here, but they were moving. 

Jirobo carried some kind of box on his back while Kidomaru carried me over his shoulder. How long was I out? I glanced towards the sky, noticing the sun was out. It's morning already? I shook my head hard.

'Never mind that. I've gotta get out of here. There's no doubt they're taking me back to Orochimaru. But where the hell is Sasuke?' I glanced over at Jirobo, then at the box h was carrying. 'He's probably in that box Jirobo's carrying.' I thought.

I've got to get out of here and tell the Hokage. "Let me go!" I jammed my elbow into the back of Kidomaru's head, causing him to let go of me. 

"Ow! You little brat!" Kidomaru yelled. I landed on a tree branch with a grunt and hoisted myself up. "Get him back!" Tayuya yelled. By the time I got situated on the tree branch, Kidomaru and Sakon were in front of me. "I'm not going back there!" I yelled at them. 

"You don't have a choice!" Sakon argued. "Like hell I do!" I leaped over them and ran off. "Damn it! All of the things...! You guys go on ahead! I'll get him!" 

I leaped from branch to branch to find Sakon quickly following after me. "Come on, brat! Don't be so stubborn!" He called. 

I leaped off another branch and turned around, breathing out an icy wind towards Sakon, blinding his vision. Sakon grunted as he covered his face with his arm and I quickly took the opportunity to make my escape.

I kept looking back to make sure I wasn't being followed as I made my way back towards the village. "There it is! The Hokage House!" I said, spotting it from afar. I smiled in relief as I was almost there until...

"Not so fast, Eita!" 

"Oof!"

I was tackled to the ground while my arm was twisted behind my back. "Thought you could get away? You truly have gotten stupid over the years." Sakon said with a smirk. I winced in pain as he twisted my arm in a more painful position.

"Get off of me!" I yelled. "I will... as soon as I get you to go back to sleep," He said. "And to make sure you don't get any ideas..." I cried out in pain when Sakon broke my leg. I gritted my teeth hard as pain coursed up and down my leg.

"Good. Now that that's out of the way, we've just gotta make sure you don't wake up until we get back to Lord Orochimaru," Sakon took out a syringe, making my eyes widened slightly.

"Don't worry, I've upped the dosage, so it's stronger than when Tayuya knocked you out." He informed. I desperately struggled to get out of his hold, but the pain in my leg was preventing me from getting up.

"Now just hold still. This'll only sting for a second." Sakon said. "No, don't!" I begged. But it was no use trying to stop him. Just as I felt the needle penetrate the skin on my neck, I heard my name being called out.

"Eita!"

Sakon was kicked in the face, knocking him off of me. "Eita, are you all right?" Naruto asked, worriedly as he was by my side. I looked up at him and smiled a small smile as I was so happy to see him. "Hey, take that syringe out of his neck!" Kiba said. 

Neji quickly took it out and looked it. "Whatever was in there, it's empty now. Eita, what did they inject you with?" He said. "I'm not sure," I answered shaking my head. "My leg... It's broken... and Sasuke... he's... with them... Inside that box..." My words were starting to slur. 

Could it be from the drug? I didn't think it would work that quickly. I closed my eyes as I felt myself losing consciousness. "Get him back to the Leaf Village!" Shikamaru ordered. "I'll do it." Neji offered. "Neji, are you sure?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, I can handle it. Just go get Sasuke back." Neji said as he hoisted me on his back. I blacked out after that as the drug took effect and knocked me out. 

*****

I started to come to after who knows how long. When I opened my eyes, I found Hana, Kiba's older sister, beside me as it looked like she was checking my blood pressure. I instantly sat up. "It's okay, Eita. You're safe. You're in the hospital." She said, calmly. 

"Where's Naruto? Shikamaru? Kiba? Choji? Neji? Where are they? Are they okay? How long was I out?" I asked, shooting question at her. I was so desperate for an answer, I wasn't letting her talk.

"Neji went back to the battlefield and they're still there. You were out for at least an hour and a half." Hana explained. "I have to get back out there and help them." I said, throwing the white hospital blanket off of me. 

As I attempted to get off the bed, Hana stopped me by grabbing my shoulders. "You're in no condition to move! You've suffered a broken leg and you're still healing!" She said. "But I have to go back! I need to make sure Naruto's okay! I can't leave him out there!" I argued. 

"Naruto's a ninja. He'll be fine, I assure you. In the meantime, you need to rest up and heal." Hana said. I let out a frustrated sigh and laid back in the bed. After Hana was done taking my vitals, she left the room while closing the door behind her. 

I frowned slightly and laid my head down on the pillow. "Hey... Inari, are you awake?" I asked in a mumble. "Yeah, what's up?" She asked.

"Don't shoot me down so quickly, okay? Just hear me out."

"Okay. What is it?"

"I want you to teleport us to wherever Naruto may be."

"What?! Are you crazy?! You know my teleportation powers aren't that good! You remember what happened last time! I got us transported into the Rain Village! What if I mess up again?! What if I end up taking us somewhere else?!"

I blankly stared at the ceiling as I listened to her rant. "And besides, you're injured! What could you possibly do when we were to get there?! All you might do is just get hurt even more! Or even worse! You could end up getting killed!" Inari said. 

"Just do it." I said, calmly. "No way!" Inari refused. "Inari!" I ordered.

"No! I'll screw up again! I know I will!"

"I have faith in you, Inari! Now take us to Naruto! Now!"

Inari was silent before responding with a sigh, "Okay. But just to remind you, this was your idea."

I closed my eyes as Inari teleported us to the destination I hope we would appear in. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in the Final Valley. "You did it, Inari! Way to go!" I praised. "I... I actually did it? I mean, yeah! Of course I did it! I knew I could!" She boasted. 

I looked around until I spotted Naruto in his Nine-Tails form, his dark orange aura surrounding him. Across from him was Sasuke in Orochimaru's curse mark form as he had his Chidori charged. "I'm sensing a huge amount of chakra out there. What's happening?" Inari asked. 

Because my right eye is covered, Inari couldn't see what I was seeing. "If those two hit each other with those attacks, a blast like that could kill them. I've got to stop them." I mumbled to myself. I tried to move, but I forgot I had a broken leg, so I fell down on the ground.

"Naruto..." I looked at the two of them again and saw them pounce at each other. "No! Stop!" I yelled. Without even thinking and ignoring the pain in my leg, I shot myself forward and shoved Naruto out of the way.

I wasn't prepared so Sasuke struck me right in the chest. Electricity shot up and down my body until I fell to the ground, landing with a rough thud. "Eita!" I heard Naruto yell out in worry. "Grr... Sasuke!!!" 

I slowly turned my head and looked over, watching the two of them collide. I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them, watching the sky darken as it started to rain. 

Everything looked hazy and I felt really tired as I felt the raindrops land on my face.

It's so... quiet...

Everything feels so... still...

Am I... really... going to die here?

No... I don't want to... cease to exist from this world...

I turned my head and spotted Naruto lying on the ground. His eyes were closed as if he were sleeping while Sasuke was nowhere to be found. "Naruto..." Using the little strength I had, I slowly walked over to Naruto unmoving figure. 

With each slow step I took, blood dripped from my wound, creating a small trail behind me. When I finally got closer to Naruto, I fell to my knees, hovering just over his face. I checked his pulse and smiled in relief, thankful that it was alive.

Blood trailed down my chin, feeling myself lose consciousness fast.

"Naruto... I don't think I have much time... so I'll make this quick..." I whispered. "From the moment I met, all I wanted was to protect you... to be by your side every step of the way. There's so much I wanted to tell you... so many things I wanted to show you. But now I wish... I could just hold you like this for the rest of the time that I still have..." 

I gently kissed Naruto's forehead, then stood to my feet. "I love you... Naruto... This is... our last kiss..." I whispered with a sad smile. I collapsed by his side, lying there on my back.

"Eita..."

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Kushina and Minato standing over me with soft and gentle smiles. "Kushina... Minato..." I said, tears filling my eyes.

"I'm so sorry... I've failed you both... I've disappointed you both... I couldn't live long enough to protect your son... I'm so sorry..." I said, feeling guilty. "Don't feel bad, Eita. You didn't fail us." Minato said, softly. "I... didn't...?" I asked. "Of course not,"

Minato kneeled down by Naruto's side while Kushina got on her knees by my side. "We've been watching you for a long time, Eita. We've seen how you've took care of Naruto, always caring for him, always loving him. We're grateful for that. Thank you." Kushina said.

"Kushina... Minato..." I looked at the two of them and closed my eyes, the tears finally falling.

"We love you, Eita." They said in sync as they slowly began to disappear. "Yeah... I love you... too..." I whispered as my eyes finally closed themselves.

Everything's so quiet...

So peaceful...

So... calm...

It's almost as if... everything has stopped moving altogether.

Is this really the end of the book? Like hell it is! Don't worry, kittens! There's more to come and more to see!

See you all next time, people!

Kureiji out~