Something Precious

Chapter Fifty

(A/n) just quickly. Madara was never actually the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails, he just controlled it. I try not to change things too much from canon, but sometimes things must change so the story can go on.

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Laying unconscious, scattered across the war torn terrain was eight huge beasts of chakra, finally broken apart, no longer in the form of the horrendous Ten Tails that had killed countless shinobi and innocent villagers who had been in residence of the shinobi nations when they were destroyed. The beasts were unconscious and fading from the world, chakra was flaking off of their bodies and dissolving in the air that was heavy with tension.

A man stood in front of two formidable young opponents. They were only nineteen, but no one would question their capabilities. They were the only two shinobi left that didn't die or give into cowardice some time during the war.

One of these men was called Naruto Uzumaki. He seemed to glow brightly with yellow chakra and carried in each hand, a black rod. He was surrounded by six deadly, black spheres. And though he was still young, his eyes held the story of a soul that was worn and tired, yet not quite ready to give up.

The other was called Sasuke Uchiha. His appearance wasn't as dramatic as Naruto's, but he wasn't any less intimidating. His eyes didn't match, one having an iris being the bloody red of a dying soldiers wounds. The other being a strange purple and had six rings surrounding the pupil, with no whites. Purple chakra flowed visably around him, icy and unwelcoming.

The one facing the pair had dark hair that nearly reached the ground, his armor was red like Sasuke's one eye and his eye's like the Uchiha's other. Madara Uchiha.

All three of the shinobi had bleeding - but not fatal - wounds.

"Why do you still fight?" Madara demanded. "Look around you, you have nothing left. Even if you walk away, I will have won. So why continue?" his words were so eerily calm for a man who had done as Madara had. Madara Uchiha was not speaking to his kin now, he was speaking to the blonde Uzumaki, for if he stopped fighting, surely Sasuke would follow suit. But knowing Naruto as well as anyone, Madara knew this would never happen.

Naruto's bloodied and bruised face screwed up in anger. "Why?! Because you have taken everything from me! My friends, my sensei, my village!! I couldn't save them, but I will do my damned best to make sure their deaths were not in vain! I will prove that their sacrifices were not for nothing!" he yelled. His eyes gleamed with a light of rage that was close to madness. Sasuke glared at Madara with pure hatred burning in his mismatching eyes.

Madara took in the two, the last two true shinobi left alive after his purge. "I must admit, I admire your resolve." this time he spoke to both Naruto and Sasuke. "You stand infront of me after tearing apart my beast, knowing in your hearts that you will die; and yet. . . here you are. Truly neither of you posses the cowardice that plagues this world. I respect you." he said. "But my respect is not enough to save you, I am going to kill you. However, I will give you a proper burial as a final gift." Madara said, as if killing them was a feat he didn't wish to carry out. As if he would actually mourn the pair. It made Naruto's stomach turn unpleasantly; disgusted by the man.

"We won't be needing your gift." he spat. His chakra flaring, burning the air around him, it's nature-like properties affecting the scarce plant life around him, causing them to grow fuller and greener.

At the same time Sasuke's chakra flared as well, chilling the air and draining life from the plants sprouting around Naruto.

Together, Naruto and Sasuke brandished their weapons and charged.

They fought. They fought for hours, pushing their bodies to their limits and beyond. Using every drop of their chakra with no caution because they didn't care if they walked away or not, as long their enemy didn't.

There he was. While Naruto was focused on Madara's clone that fought with a full Susano, Madara finally saw an opening. A single point of weakness. A momental lapse of absolute focus and awareness. His own Susano flared to life with a blade as long as an ancient tree was tall. He drew back a massive arm. Quickly, his chakra already failing him, he plunged the blade downwards, towards the Uzumaki who had always been the strongest among all the shinobi since Madara had first fought him. Now, one way or another, this would be the last time he would ever fight him.

A grunt of pain escaped the nineteen year-old man as the blade ran him through. But it wasn't the man Madara had been aiming to kill. It wasn't Naruto, it was-

"SASUKEEE!!!!" Naruto's scream reached for miles. Time seemed frozen to the blonde. Madara's chakra hit bottom, his clone vanishing from existance and his Susano fading, leaving him in a vulnerable heap on the muddy ground.

"N-Naruto. . ." Sasuke called quietly. Naruto was at his side in the blink of an eye. His blue eyes wide with disbelief. He didn't blink because if the image was still there after he reopend them, that would mean this real. Sasuke dying was real.

But you can't keep your eyes open forever, not when they fill with tears robbing you of sight. When he opened them again it his fears became true, this was real. Sasuke was dying.

A cold dread filled him as his knees gave out and he fell uselessly into the mud. His muscles felt like rubber as he dragged himself over to his brother. He brought the Uchiha's raven head on his lap. He wiped the tears from Sasuke's eyes that were quickly losing life and Naruto tried to heal him, but he couldn't. It wasn't working. There were no words for the emotion Naruto felt right then, and the emotion that dragged on through every moment since then.

"Naruto. . ." Sasuke croaked.

"Sasuke. I'm right here." Naruto said. Trying to smile for Sasuke; trying to give him as much peace as he could.

Sasuke smiled back. "I don't. . . I never said. . . I'm s-sorry. . ." he didn't have to elaborate. Naruto knew what he was speaking of.

"I know." Naruto choked. "I never blamed you Sasuke. I understand."

"Thank. . . y-yo. . .u. Please Nar. . .u. . . to. . . don't. . . don. . ." what ever he was about to say, he didn't finish. His body giving in to death before he could get the words out.

How could this be happening? His rival, his friend, his brother. The only one he had left; and he was dead. Naruto didn't move. He stared at the face of Sasuke Uchiha, as if he could will him back into life by doing so. He didn't worry about Madara who was out of chakra and lay too exhausted, in the mud a ways away from them. Even if he wasn't, how could that possibly matter when the last piece of him was now dead in his arms. His brother. The one who kept him sane as lost person after person. As he watched his world burn.

Naruto didn't yell like he had when Kakashi died. Naruto didn't scream like he had when Kiba died. Naruto didn't shed tears like he had when Sakura died. Naruto just sat there in silence. He wasn't breaking apart because with this last loss, there was nothing left to be broken. He didn't have anything. No friends, no village, no comrades, and no brother.

No that wasn't right. He had one thing. He had an enemy. He had the one responsible for all this laying infront of him. His eyes flashed dangerously. Someone who was responsible for all he lost. He had someone to kill.

So he did. The last show down between him and Madara. He was careless. He had nothing left to loose, and that was Madara's fatal mistake. Killing the last thing Naruto had to loose, because without it he was almost monstrous in the way he fought. Wounds didn't slow his down. Pain didn't hold him back. Really, Madara thought in his last moment, I ought to have seen this coming.

But still, though his life was over, his last words were, "I win."

He did, Naruto realised. He did win, because even though his heart still beat, Naruto was dead.