Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > To One in Paradise
arisen, but to be overcast
0 reviewsPart II, Naruto. The lights went out in all of their eyes in the end, and they died before they were even all the way gone.
0Unrated
A few little details for the curious (though you probably don't care): Orochimaru lured Tsunade out of the village. Shizune followed. He killed Shizune and fought Tsunade, but Tsunade won. What I only implied in Sakura and Tsunade's chapter is that Tsunade and Orochimaru were once in love (remember the line when they fought, "you were the one person I never intended to kill?), much like Sakura and Sasuke. The stories are meant to parallel each other.
To One in Paradise
Part II: arisen, but to be overcast
Ero-sennin was getting old. Naruto denied it for ages, but eventually it just got too obvious. His face was wrinkling up, and he was starting to slow down. Naruto figured it was because of what happened to Tsunade.
After Shizune died, she never quite recovered. Jiraiya talked to her about it once, only the once, and he came back different. He wouldn't talk to anyone. He disappeared for months at a time. After Tsunade finally died, he barely lasted a week.
His funeral was smaller than Tsunade's, but Sakura came, along with a few others who remembered what he'd done for the village. And then it was over.
Naruto was very quiet after that. They offered him the position of Hokage, but by then he'd been in ANBU too long. Death had gotten into his blood. He was lost in faces. Sakura, Sasuke, Jiraiya, the whole goddamned village of Konoha. He'd let them all down, especially that bastard Sasuke that he loved so goddamn much.
He didn't deserve to be Hokage now, and he wouldn't take the job.. Sarutobi Konohamaru would, and Sarutobi Konohamaru did.
Sakura joined his ANBU squad. Naruto didn't want her to. Sakura was much too untainted by murder. But she had changed, and he became accustomed to seeing her close behind him when he fought, always ready to catch the first one to fall and go to work healing or jump into the fight as backup. He loved her, but she wasn't the green-eyed goddess of his dreams anymore. That time was over.
He grew used to his teammates. There was Neji, strong and swift and a hell of a tactician. There was Sai, grim and ruthless and skilled, but now his emotions were merely repressed, not nonexistent. There was Sakura, strong as a bull, quick as a fox and smart as a crow, not to mention a genius healer.
And Naruto, filling his archetype as the one who pulled them all together. Maybe a little slower than the others, but he had the guts and personality to make up for it, and the pure, raw power. They were a good team wasted. Sai and Neji died too fast.
"They'll have you this time," said their target, pointing at him.
Naruto saw him. He wanted to cry. But Uzumaki Naruto did not cry, he fought.
"Damn it, Sasuke!" he screamed. "What do you think you've done? What do you think you've accomplished? So what if Itachi's dead? You're no better than he was! You didn't kill him! You died when he did!"
Sasuke didn't speak. It made Naruto furious.
"Stay back, Sakura, he's mine."
He attacked, and hard. Sasuke was stronger, and he had mastered more techniques. Rasengan met Chidori. Kyuubi met Curse Seal. Wind met lightning, fire met fire.
The fire was in Naruto, all around and inside him. It was hot and smelled of death and blood and pure animal instinct, fight, kill, live. He laughed, stretching his lips over eerie fangs.
And as the fire scorched his skin, he closed his eyes and crossed his fingers, hoping that in his next life he'd be stronger.
Ah, Dream too bright to last!
Ah starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!
A voice from out the future cries,
"On! on!"-but o'er the Past
(Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
Mute, motionless, aghast!
To One in Paradise
Part II: arisen, but to be overcast
Ero-sennin was getting old. Naruto denied it for ages, but eventually it just got too obvious. His face was wrinkling up, and he was starting to slow down. Naruto figured it was because of what happened to Tsunade.
After Shizune died, she never quite recovered. Jiraiya talked to her about it once, only the once, and he came back different. He wouldn't talk to anyone. He disappeared for months at a time. After Tsunade finally died, he barely lasted a week.
His funeral was smaller than Tsunade's, but Sakura came, along with a few others who remembered what he'd done for the village. And then it was over.
Naruto was very quiet after that. They offered him the position of Hokage, but by then he'd been in ANBU too long. Death had gotten into his blood. He was lost in faces. Sakura, Sasuke, Jiraiya, the whole goddamned village of Konoha. He'd let them all down, especially that bastard Sasuke that he loved so goddamn much.
He didn't deserve to be Hokage now, and he wouldn't take the job.. Sarutobi Konohamaru would, and Sarutobi Konohamaru did.
Sakura joined his ANBU squad. Naruto didn't want her to. Sakura was much too untainted by murder. But she had changed, and he became accustomed to seeing her close behind him when he fought, always ready to catch the first one to fall and go to work healing or jump into the fight as backup. He loved her, but she wasn't the green-eyed goddess of his dreams anymore. That time was over.
He grew used to his teammates. There was Neji, strong and swift and a hell of a tactician. There was Sai, grim and ruthless and skilled, but now his emotions were merely repressed, not nonexistent. There was Sakura, strong as a bull, quick as a fox and smart as a crow, not to mention a genius healer.
And Naruto, filling his archetype as the one who pulled them all together. Maybe a little slower than the others, but he had the guts and personality to make up for it, and the pure, raw power. They were a good team wasted. Sai and Neji died too fast.
"They'll have you this time," said their target, pointing at him.
Naruto saw him. He wanted to cry. But Uzumaki Naruto did not cry, he fought.
"Damn it, Sasuke!" he screamed. "What do you think you've done? What do you think you've accomplished? So what if Itachi's dead? You're no better than he was! You didn't kill him! You died when he did!"
Sasuke didn't speak. It made Naruto furious.
"Stay back, Sakura, he's mine."
He attacked, and hard. Sasuke was stronger, and he had mastered more techniques. Rasengan met Chidori. Kyuubi met Curse Seal. Wind met lightning, fire met fire.
The fire was in Naruto, all around and inside him. It was hot and smelled of death and blood and pure animal instinct, fight, kill, live. He laughed, stretching his lips over eerie fangs.
And as the fire scorched his skin, he closed his eyes and crossed his fingers, hoping that in his next life he'd be stronger.
Ah, Dream too bright to last!
Ah starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!
A voice from out the future cries,
"On! on!"-but o'er the Past
(Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
Mute, motionless, aghast!
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