It was dark now. Naruto sat on a somewhat intact bed amidst ruins staring into a corner where a dishevelled heap lay. He watched the slow rise and fall of each breath Sasuke took. It was calming for Naruto to see Sasuke like that. He wanted to lie down next to Sasuke and sleep with him for a while, cuddle close to him. He was tired. After all the turmoil this was a respite he felt he deserved.

Naruto's tranquil mood was disrupted by Hisato walking into the small clearing. Hisato's eyes flashed to Sasuke and a small sneer appeared on his face. It was gone as soon as he turned his face back to Naruto, but that didn't mean Naruto hadn't noticed it. He didn't react to it, though. Naruto already knew Hisato's stand on Sasuke and although he didn't agree with it, he couldn't deny Hisato the right to have his own thoughts either. Sasuke had taught him that it was important to be able to express your mind, even if it didn't coincide with his own opinion. Once Sasuke woke up, Naruto would tell him that.

Hisato sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled at Naruto. Naruto grinned back but didn't keep eye contact for long. His attention went right back to Sasuke. A dark shadow passed over Hisato's face at the blatant rejection from Naruto, and they hadn't even said a word to each other yet! "I took care of the girl." Hisato said. Naruto hummed but otherwise left Hisato ignored.

Hisato sighed and stood up, his eyes drifting from Naruto to Sasuke. Sasuke hadn't moved at all since he was brought in. He seemed to be asleep. Cat had looked him over and had found no serious injuries on Sasuke, so they knew he would be fine once he was used to the shackles.

Hisato stepped in front of Naruto, blocking his view of Sasuke. "You know he'll be fine. You don't need to keep watching him." Hisato said.

"I know. I just like watching him." Naruto said. He gave Hisato a big smile that made him look innocent. Hisato always had a soft spot for that expression. Throughout everything, Naruto kept showing that innocent, almost naive side to him, and that made Hisato want to dominate him. When Naruto was still a prisoner, Hisato had done so several times and he loved it. They both did, as far as Hisato knew.

Hisato stepped closer to Naruto and placed his fingers underneath his chin, tilting Naruto's head back and leaning in for a kiss. He wholeheartedly expected Naruto to accept the kiss and let him do what he wanted, so when Naruto instead turned his face away, even going as far as leaning away from Hisato, anger washed over him. Not only was Naruto obsessing over the affection of someone who betrayed him, but he was also rejecting the love from someone absolutely loyal to him. Did Hisato not deserve his reward for betraying his entire village and killing friends and family?

With a growl he stepped closer and crawled onto the bed, pushing Naruto backwards and pinning Naruto's hands down with one hand while roughly grabbing Naruto's chin with his other, forcing Naruto to look at him. Hisato pressed a rough kiss against Naruto's lips but didn't get any response and that just ticked him off more. He deserved this and there was no reason for Naruto to refuse him. Hisato leaned back just enough to have eye contact. "Let me have you. You let me have you before, so let me have you again." Hisato didn't ask. He demanded.

Underneath him, Naruto didn't even flinch. He had let Hisato push him down and was waiting for what he would do next. The demand Hisato made from him made him feel sickened. Now that Sasuke was such a big part of him, Naruto could scarcely imagine letting anyone besides Sasuke touch him ever again. Even if Sasuke were to die, he would never let anyone else claim him. That's how he felt right now. Hisato was crossing lines and Naruto felt a dangerous animosity build up inside him. Unfortunately, Hisato didn't seem to notice at all.

"Back off, Hisato," Naruto said calmly, surprising even himself. "Or I will kill you." He determinately kept eye contact with Hisato, seeing him go through several emotions, but eventually settling on fear. Slowly, Hisato stood up and stepped a few steps back.

Naruto sat up and looked at Hisato. Hisato had a scowl on his face and was refusing to look at him, opting to look at the ground a little to the side instead. "Do not ever try that again." Naruto hissed and after a second of silence Hisato nodded, still refusing to look at Naruto.

At that moment, Cat came walking in. Noticing the tense atmosphere, he stepped back as though he planned to blend into the background as he had learned as an ANBU.

"What?" Naruto asked. He sounded more aggravated than he wanted to towards Cat, but Hisato had riled his temper and the way Hisato was now looking between him and Sasuke didn't make it a lot better.

"There's no resistance anymore. The survivors have surrendered." Cat said looking nervous. Like a switch had been flipped, Naruto suddenly smiled and leapt up. He happily stepped up to Cat and gave him a quick hug. "Yes! That's good!" He said. "Then all our obstacles are out of the way!"

"What about the Hokage?" Hisato asked. Naruto gave him a fierce glare, which made Hisato back up a little again, but then mellowed out and gave him a soft smile. Hisato was still his friend, after all. "One is in a Genjutsu he won't be able to break. He'll think he's happily retired until he starves to death. The other is incapacitated, and slowly bleeding out, wondering what happened to him to have cost him an arm and a leg." Naruto answered calmly. Both Cat and Hisato tensed a little at that. Naruto this easily defeating both Hokage was amazing and disturbing at the same time.

"Do you want me to go try to save them?" Cat asked. He wondered if he even was able to do anything for either of them, but if Naruto asked, he would do his best.

"No, Monkey-sama will die painlessly, as I promised. And Scarecrow, we have no use for him. He will only get in the way eventually." Naruto said with a smirk. It had been sickeningly easy to get the core of Konoha's military forces broken down. It wasn't so much as that Naruto, Cat and Hisato were that strong. It was more that they surprised many of them, overwhelming them before they were able to react.

Even the Hokage were too hard-pressed to act since the ones attacking them were their own people. Those kinds of emotions made it easier to break them and destroy them. Sarutobi had wanted to reason with Naruto, and in doing so got lost in a Genjutsu made specifically to keep him satisfied and happy. It was a different take than Naruto normally took, but that didn't make it less effective. Sarutobi was living the rest of his life at a high speed unaware that his real body would be slowly dehydrating and starving to death.

Kakashi had been more willing to act, but Naruto had bested him by using what Kakashi couldn't, the lives of villagers nearby. Naruto had manipulated Kakashi's attention to be focussed on saving them by threatening their lives, and at that moment Naruto had ripped the limbs off Kakashi with a Bijuudamaa and left him like that while ignoring the cries of the villagers as they were crushed by a building.

Now all that was left were Shinobi who surrendered to them, and villagers who escaped the carnage. Those who still wanted to remain in Konoha and rebuild would be allowed to stay, the others would be made loyal or would die as well.

"Leave, you know the plan." Naruto said to Cat and Hisato when he noticed Sasuke stirring. He still felt tired and wanted to be left alone for a while. Hisato threw one last glare at Sasuke as he left. Cat just nodded and walked out, a smile on his face at seeing the soft look on Naruto's face as Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke.

They left, but Naruto hardly noticed them. As soon as he told them to leave, he expected them to obey and let his attention settle on Sasuke. Sasuke looked dazed as he woke up, at first barely registering where he was, but soon the fog lifted from his mind and he sat up. It wasn't without difficulty, but he managed.

The room they were in was all but destroyed, but Sasuke didn't much care about that. He already knew the village didn't stand anymore. Right now he was focussed on Naruto, who was staring at him intensely. He didn't know how long they stared at each other, neither of them willing to give in to the silent battle for control.

It was Naruto who spoke first, but it was anything but submission. "Do you love me?" He asked. The way he spoke was emotionless and his stare went unbroken.

"I do." Sasuke answered, and he was very honest in that. He never stopped loving Naruto. That's what made everything so much harder when he had walked away.

"Will you stay with me forever?" There was a slight waver in Naruto's voice, a traitor to his emotionless facade.

"I want to." Sasuke answered, sitting up a bit straighter, trying to get rid of the stiffness in his body.

Naruto nodded and stepped closer to Sasuke, crouching before him. "Sasuke, I love you. You belong to me, as I do to you.' He didn't wait for Sasuke to respond to place his lips against Sasuke's. Sasuke kissed back without hesitation, grabbing the front of Naruto's shirt to pull him closer. Every bit of raw emotion Sasuke had he poured into that kiss. He wanted to convey every bit of love he had for Naruto.

At the same time, he gripped the piece of sharp metal he had found right next to him. It cut sharply into his hands, but he ignored the pain. Sasuke gave another tug on Naruto's shirt and Naruto dropped himself to his knees, leaning in even closer and cupping Sasuke's face.

Sasuke moved to hug Naruto, but instead of a hug, he sank the sharp piece of metal into Naruto's back, piercing his heart. Naruto stopped moving and leaned back the smallest bit. He took a quick deep breath that he release just as quickly.

"I'm sorry..." Sasuke whispered. "I'm sorry, but you did too much. You went too far..." Sasuke was full-on crying, feeling like his own heart was ripped apart as well.

"Sasuke, you..." Naruto managed to say, but his breath was quickly being replaced with blood as his heart tore itself apart more and more with every remaining beat. "I..." He grabbed into Sasuke as his strength left him. He never got the chance to finish his last thought. With his last strength leaving him, he sagged against Sasuke, who hugged him dearly and cried as though his world had ended.

Sobs were the only thing breaking the silence as Sasuke sat there with Naruto's body in his arms. He felt the body grow cold and it broke his heart all over again. The thick guilt laid over him so heavily it was hard to breathe.

He didn't know how much time passed. In the end, it was Hisato who returned first. Hisato went from surprise to rage within a second, and he charged at Sasuke with the intent to kill. Sasuke didn't even raise his gaze as he heard the footsteps storming towards him. Without a second thought, Hisato sank a kunai into Sasuke's neck. The cold metal sinking into his flesh wasn't nearly enough of a punishment for what he had done. Both Sasuke and Hisato agreed to that end, even if it was left unspoken.

As a last action, Sasuke gripped onto Naruto more firmly, and then blackness overtook him.

The end. It was a journey, and a struggle in the end, but it is finally finished! If you liked this chapter or the book, please leave a vote and comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book!