Chapter Three

Naruto could only stare as Sasuke began to laugh. Waitaminute! Didn't we just go through all of this?

Naruto frowned as Sasuke began outlining his plan for becoming Hokage and taking over the world. Yup. We've been through this bullshit before!

Suddenly Sasuke took off running and Naruto automatically followed him. When Sasuke stopped, Naruto also stopped and looked around. They were in the Valley of the End. Naruto sighed and plopped to the ground, his elbow on his knee and his chin resting on his fist, frowning in concentration.

Sasuke stared at the golden-haired man in front of him. "What are you doing? Fight me!"

"Shut up for a minute. I'm thinking."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Well that's going to take all day…FIGHT ME!"

A clone of Naruto appeared and punched him in the face. "The boss said 'shut up' so why don't you do just that."

Kakashi ran up with Sakura on his back. He gently sat her down on a boulder while she continued to heal the wound Sasuke caused. "What's going on?"

The clone looked at him. "The boss is thinking."

Kakashi blinked. "Okay…"

"That's what I'm going to have to do!" Naruto burst out. He slapped his hands on his knees and stood up. He turned to Sakura. "Sakura, I'm going to have to break my promise. I'm very sorry." He bowed deeply to her. "But I can't bring Sasuke back to the village. He's bat-shit crazy and I'm sick and tired of bat-shit crazy Uchihas."

Sakura waved a hand in the air. "That's okay. I understand, Naruto."

"WHAT?!" The semi-strangled shriek came from Sasuke's throat.

Sakura looked at him with indifference. "I don't have a problem anymore with Naruto killing you. I'm sick and tired of bat-shit crazy Uchihas myself."

"But…but…the village wants me back…the elders want me back!"

Kakashi snorted. "The elders are dead so what they want doesn't really matter anymore. And, yes, the village would like to have the Uchiha bloodline back. But since there are Uchihas in the village already…you just aren't necessary."

Naruto stared at his former sensei. "What do you mean there are Uchihas in the village?"

Sasuke howled with rage. "I AM THE LAST OF THE UCHIHAS! WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NOT NECESSARY?"

Kakashi sighed. "Remember Karin? And having sex with her? I don't think I need to explain the consequences of unprotected sex, do I?"

"But I killed her."

Sakura spoke, her voice flat and unemotional. "You killed her clone. Kakashi found her unconscious in the woods just outside of Konoha and brought her to the hospital."

Kakashi bowed to Naruto. "I am sad to tell you this, Naruto. But your cousin died in childbirth."

Naruto closed his eyes in grief. He didn't know Karin well at all but to know that there had been another Uzumaki in the world and she was now lost to him was heartbreaking. The only thing he wanted more than being Hokage was to have a family. And to lose a family member, even though he barely knew her, was hard.

"The child is MINE." Sasuke screamed. "Give it to me!"

Sakura glared. "No way in Hell!"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. No way in Hell!"

Suddenly hundreds of Naruto clones appeared and they attacked.

Kakashi grabbed Sakura and moved them farther back from the battle zone. They watched in awe as massive explosions rocked the Valley. Smoke would cloud their view then strong gusts of wind would blow it away. One by one Naruto's clones disappeared but there were Sasuke shaped holes here and there in the sides of the Valley.

Then it stopped. The golden warrior and the dark avenger both stood panting in the blazing sun.

Sakura darted away from Kakashi. He'd never seen her run so fast before. She sprinted up to Sasuke, her hand darted out and Sasuke screamed in pain. Sakura kept moving until she was out of Sasuke's immediate reach. She held up her bloody hand and in it was Sasuke's left eye. "This is for Kakashi!" She threw the eye to the ground and stomped it into the dirt.

Naruto couldn't only stare at his pink-haired teammate as she grinned viciously at Sasuke.

Naruto turned just in time to see Kakashi slash a kunai across Sasuke's abdomen. Sasuke screamed and used both hands to try to keep his intestines from falling to the ground. He looked up at Naruto. His empty left eye still pouring blood down his cheek like a red waterfall. The right eye wide with horror. "Help me!"

"No."

"No? What do you mean, no?"

"No. I'm not going to help you Sasuke. At least I'm not going to help you live. But I will help you die." Naruto began walking towards the man he'd spent several years looking for…and now regretted every minute of doing so. He stood in front of Sasuke and gently cupped the other man's cheek like one would do to a child. "I'm doing this not only for Konoha but for Itachi-san. His name will be on the Memorial because he is a Hero of Konoha. But you…you will never be on there. You will be forgotten. Your child will not even know your name. You could have had everything, Sasuke. But you chose the wrong path. And now I have to end it. All of it."

Sasuke's knees began to tremble. He could feel the loss of blood affecting him. "You can't do this." He whispered.

"Yes, I can." Naruto's other hand flashed out and he quickly broke Sasuke's neck.

The body fell to the ground. Blood trickled out onto the ground then stopped.

All Naruto could hear was the wind blowing by him.

He jumped when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He looked over and Kakashi was staring at him with sympathetic eyes. An arm came around his waist and a head rested on his other shoulder. Sakura leaned against him.

Team Kakashi looked down at the body. Their faces inscrutable except to each other.

Kakashi rubbed Naruto's head gently then with a flicker of his fingers, the body burst into flames. And just as quickly became ash that floated off in the breeze.

Naruto looked at his teammates. "So Karin had a baby?"

Sakura smiled. "She had twins actually. A boy and a girl."

Kakashi beamed. "We named them Takeshi and Megumi."

Naruto nodded. "Those are good names."

"Let's go home." Said Sakura. "Tsunade has the children but I don't want them learning bad habits from her."

"They've only infants, Sakura." Kakashi laughed. "What could they possibly learn from her at this stage?"

Sakura shook her head. "What happens early on is important."

Naruto frowned again. "Wait…if Karin's dead, who's going to raise the twins?"

Kakashi and Sakura stared at him. "Well, we are." Said Sakura.

"But, but…you aren't…what am I trying to say here?"

Kakashi smiled at his confused former student. "Sakura and I have had a relationship going on for some time now. We got married a couple of months ago."

Naruto blinked. "Does the Old Lady know?"

"Who do you think performed the ceremony?"

"Oh. Okay then." Naruto nodded sharply and began marching off towards Konoha. Then he stopped abruptly almost causing Sakura to crash into him. "Hey. Wait a minute."

"What?"

"If the twins are part Uzumaki, how come you two get to raise them and not me?"

Sakura gave him a flat green-eyed stare. "Because Tsunade said so."

"Oh. Okay." Naruto began his bouncing march again. Then he stopped. "Wait a minute!"

"Again?!"

"Do you think Hinata meant what she said?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hinata said that she loved me. Do you think she meant it?"

Kakashi lightly smacked Naruto upside the head. "Yes. Hinata meant it when she said that she loved you."

"Good. But she keeps fainting around me and stuff. How are we going to date then get married and make babies if she keeps fainting?"

Kakashi got a naughty twinkle in his eyes and a mischievous smirk came across his face. Sakura elbowed him sharply in the side and glared up at her husband. "Don't you DARE tell Naruto what I think you're going to tell him!" She smiled at Naruto and began leading her team back to the village. "She'll get over it, Naruto. You just have to tell you love her too."

"And kiss her. With lots of tongue!"

"KAKASHI!"

And they all live Happily (and more or less quietly) Ever After.