Goodbye

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I only own my OC. (Female OC)

Summary: "Death, it's a funny thing really. There are many people that embrace it, while others fear it. There are people that fear the cold harsh whisper of death, while others welcome it like an old friend. It's a fickle concept. I thought I was scared of dying, until I actually died."

The Shīringu is mine alone, it belongs to me!

NARUTO

I had made my mind up, I was going to go and train with Yukiko. I had told Haku this and said I wouldn't leave without him though. Haku agreed with a smile, I knew he was worried about me, as I am about him.

Of course I had to get permission of Tsunade as well. She was really surprised that I had convinced Yukiko to train me. Apparently she is very stubborn, but so am I. Tsunade gave us permission and we were set to leave.

Now it was just breaking the news to others.

First I stopped by the Hyuuga compound. I was let in without any complaints; I was a frequent visitor so they didn't even bat an eyelash. I found Hinata in the back training. She stops when she sees me, "Hi Akemi." Hinata greets with a smile.

I smile back, "Nice to see you training."

"I've been getting better." Hinata says with a shy blush.

I chuckle, "I can see that." I look over to the training dummy, it was half destroyed. Hinata's blush grew deeper when I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm leaving by the way." I say breaking the news. I was never one for beating around the bush.

Hinata faltered, "W-what?" She knew about me nearly leaving to Orochimaru, I had confided in her about that. She actually yelled at me for being stupid, I was really scared... an angry Hinata is a scary Hinata...

"This is to train; Yukiko had offered to teach me." I reassure her quickly before she jumped to any conclusions.

Hinata relaxes, "O-oh."

"How long?" Hinata asks me looking over.

I shrug, "Three years."

Hinata nearly fell over in shock, "W-what?!"

I wave it off, "Oh it'll be fine, I promise!" I say with a cheesy grin. It took a moment for Hinata to grin back; I could see that she didn't like the idea very much.

"Naruto will be leaving too as well." I say breaking the news to her.

Hinata bowed her head, "I-I know."

I raise an eyebrow, "You do?"

Hinata nods, a blush blooming on her face, "H-he came and t-told me." A grin wormed its way into my face, which made Hinata blush more. NaruHina will happen! I will make sure of it.

There was a knocking sound, I and Hinata both turn to look to see it was Neji.

"Hinata-" Neji stops when he sees me. Hinata walks past and pats him on the shoulder before leaving. That little minx, she left me with him!

I sigh; Neji was still looking at me in shock. "What is it Neji?" I ask breaking the silence, the silence was really starting to bug me now.

Suddenly, Neji was on the floor, bowing to me, "I want to apologise to you."

My eyes widen, I was about to speak and give him an earful for what he said but that all stopped when he lifted his head. The look in his eyes showed how much guilt he was feeling, the bags and shadows under his eyes was evident to that too. I know Hinata told me he felt guilty, but I didn't think it affected him this much.

"Everything I said was out of line, I realise that now," Neji says still kneeling on the ground.

I was lost for words really, "Neji... I-I..."

Neji shakes his head, "You don't have to forgive me. I don't deserve it."

I shake my head, "No Neji, I do forgive you."

Neji looks at me in shock.

"I wasn't going to," I say looking a little guilty, "but Hinata told me how sorry you really were."

Neji lowers his head. "I've realised how wrong I was, and now I'm trying to amend what I've done."

I couldn't help the grin that made its way onto my face. I thought it would take to at least Shippuden for his character to have developed, but I was wrong. "Well I hope that goes well." I say sincerely, I did mean it.

Neji nods his head and returns the grin, albeit a little awkward but I didn't expect much. Neji stands up and was about to walk away, but I stop him, "Hey Neji!"

Neji turns around looking at me curiously.

I grin at him, "When I come back, I want to fight you. We'll see how much you've really changed."

Neji's eyes widen slightly before returning back to their original size. "I'll be looking forward to it." Neji says with a small smile.

With that, I left the Hyuuga compound and began searching for my teammates.

NARUTO

I arrived at training grounds seven looking for either Sasuke or Naruto, but instead I found Sakura. When I saw her, I began to debate whether or not to go over to her or not. I and Sakura don't exactly see eye to eye.

I was about to sneak away, but she caught me. She looked at me and glared.

I curse myself inwardly for being so slow.

Sakura walks, well more like storms over to me, "Are you going to tell me?!" Sakura yells at me with anger written all over her face.

I look at her confused, "What do you mean?"

"Where the hell did Sasuke go?!" Sakura shouts at me in frustration.

Realisation washes over me. We hadn't told her what really happened; we had kind of just ignored her. We avoided this conversation by distracting her, but this time it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to distract her.

"Sasuke-kun or Naruto won't tell me what happened!" Sakura rants angrily.

I sigh, "Listen, Sakura-"

"Don't you tell me to listen!" Sakura screeches at me. I shut my mouth and look at her in surprise. The tone she had just used on me was shocking; I don't think Sakura has ever been this mad...

"You guys never tell me anything!" Sakura shouts throwing her hands in the air, "am I not part of this team?!"

Guilt settled in. I now fully understood why she was frustrated, she has been left out. We didn't tell her what happened to Sasuke, we didn't tell her anything really. She's the only one of Team seven that doesn't know my secret.

"In training, I don't get to join in with the sparing!"

'Well that's Kakashi's fault not mine, go shout at him.' I thought to myself.

"-Naruto doesn't even talk to me much!"

'That's because of how you've treated him.'

"-and then you guys go off and leave me! It's like I'm not even part of the team." Sakura ends her rant looking hurt. It was very obvious to me that she had been feeling like this for a while but hadn't said anything.

I run a hand through my hair, "Sakura, most of the things you're ranting about is your own fault."

Sakura looks affronted, "W-what do you mean?"

"The way you treat Naruto-kun for starters." I say, "You've treated him like dirt, that's the reason I don't really like you. Naruto is like my brother and I won't stand for anyone mistreating him, that's been my issue with you. Then there's the fact you think that I like Sasuke." I look at Sakura directly to see her looking at the ground. She couldn't deny her treatment to Naruto, if she even tried to I'd knock her out.

"But he's just so annoying." Sakura mumbles.

"And you aren't?" I shoot back at her with a glare.

Hurt flashes in Sakura's eyes, but I ignore it. "You don't even train Sakura." I say with a sigh. It was true that Kakashi won't let her spar with me, Naruto and Sasuke because he knows that we would demolish her. She wouldn't stand a chance. Sakura is one of those people that will train only during the lessons. She won't go away and do her own training, and that's what annoys Sasuke. She does the bare minimum.

"I do train." Sakura protests with a pout.

I shake my head, "Training lessons don't count. Do you do any extra training at home?"

Sakura bits her lip and shakes her head.

"I train four hours a day," I say looking at Sakura with a neutral expression.

Sakura's eyes widen, "But what about other stuff?"

"They come later." I say. Most of my day was spent training, with Haku or anyone really. I still trained with Hinata, but lately we hadn't because of all the things happening in the village. I also still go and eat ramen with Naruto, and sometimes Sasuke joins us.

Sakura looks unsure. Why wasn't she determined to get stronger like in the anime? Was it because Sasuke never left? I've tried to motivate her but it doesn't seem to have worked. If this continues, she won't become Tsunade's apprentice and become awesome.

"What happened with training with Tsunade?" I ask her curiously. I had definitely mentioned to her training with Tsunade, so why wasn't she?

Sakura frowns, "Tsunade-sama refused to train me."

My eyes widen, she what?!

"She said that she wouldn't train someone to get someone else's attention." Sakura says with a sigh and looks to the floor.

Okay, now I don't blame her. Sakura's heart wasn't really with the training; Tsunade could see that and said no to her. But she needs training!

"Fight me."

Sakura looks at me with alarm on her face, "What?!"

"I said fight me." I repeat getting into fighting position.

Sakura shakes her head, "Are you mad?!"

"Maybe." I grin at her.

Sakura looks unsettled.

"So go on," I encourage, "hit me."

Sakura looks at me unsure, but runs at me nonetheless. As she got closer, she raised her fist and aimed a punch at me. Before she could hit me, I grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back and threw her to the floor. Sakura cries out in pain, "What did you do that for?!" Sakura shouts in outrage holding her arm as she stands up.

I roll my eyes, "You really think I was going to let you punch me?"

Sakura opened her mouth to answer, but she closes it and looks to the floor.

"Your form was good." I say.

Sakura looks at me confused, "What do you mean?"

"When you punched me, I analysed you." I explain to her.

Sakura nods, "So, how did I do?"

"Terribly." I answer honestly.

"I thought you said I had good form!" Sakura exclaims in protest.

I sigh and shift my weight onto my right leg, "Your form was good, but not excellent. There was no power behind that punch. You weren't aware of your surroundings and you were extremely slow."

Sakura looks put down.

"You have a lot to improve on." I finish with crossing my arms.

Sakura throws her hands up in the air, "I give up! There's no point, I'll never be as strong as you, Sasuke-kun or Naruto."

I nod my head, "That's right. You'll never be as strong as me, Naruto-kun or Sasuke."

Sakura lowers her head in shame and goes to walk away, but stops when I start to talk again. "We have a team with an Uchiha, an Uzumaki and me, we're special cases."

Sakura turns and looks at me, "What do you mean?"

I lick my lips before I start talking, "Naruto-kun comes from the Uzumaki Clan, they have an abnormal amount of chakra to begin with, and then he has the Ninetailed Fox inside him. Sasuke was thought to be the last survivor of his Clan; he was driven by revenge, so he constantly trained. Also, he is an Uchiha. Our teacher, Kakashi is very strong himself, with the Sharingan and his past."

"And what about you?" Sakura asks.

"I'm a special case." I say with a knowing grin on my face.

Sakura stares are the floor, "So why are saying this?"

"You had no chance to begin with," I say honestly, "you were disadvantaged to begin with. If you were in another team, you would be classed as average."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sakura asks in a quiet voice.

"I think you have potential." I answer her.

Sakura has a confused look on her face, which soon morphs into a hopeful expression. "You really think so?" Sakura has hope in her eyes; maybe all she really needed was to have someone to believe in her.

I nod my head, "I wouldn't be telling you if I didn't."

A large grin appears on her face, "Thank you."

"Now go ask Tsunade again." I say walking away from Sakura. I still needed to find Naruto and Sasuke.

NARUTO

You would not believe my luck, I found both Naruto and Sasuke in the training grounds not too fact away from Sakura. I look at them with an amused look on my face, they were both sparing. The field was completely demolished, I would have thought they were serious and were going to kill each other, but their excited grins on their faces betrayed that theory.

Naruto was the first to notice me; he stops in the middle of the field and waves at me. Sasuke wasn't able to stop in time and ended up punching Naruto, sending him flying into a tree. Sasuke looks at Naruto confused at why he stopped, but he turned his head and saw me.

Sasuke nods his head at me, acknowledging me.

Naruto jumps up, "That hurt teme!"

"Then you should have paid attention, dobe." Sasuke says rolling his eyes.

Naruto growls at him. He dusts himself off and glares at the young Uchiha. Naruto walks over to us, so he was standing next to Sasuke. I also walked forward so I was next to them.

I laugh slightly, "Blame me, he got distracted."

"So what's up?" Naruto asks me.

"I'm just saying bye to everyone before I leave." I say with a grin.

Sasuke's head shot over to me, "What?"

"Why are you leaving?" Naruto asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yukiko is going to train me away from the village." I answer with a shrug.

Naruto and Sasuke both share a look.

"Oh come on!" I exclaim, "She's not that bad!"

"But you don't know her." Sasuke says. Sasuke had met her once and didn't like her instantly, both he and Naruto really dislike her and I don't know why. Yukiko didn't like Sasuke though, so she didn't really care. Yukiko had tried to make an effort with Naruto after finding out his heritage, but he didn't want to know her.

I sigh, "I know, but you just have to trust me."

"We trust you." Naruto says, "We don't trust her."

I purse my lip and think. Is there any way that I can make then like Yukiko? Probably not, "If it makes you feel any better, Haku is coming with me." I say hoping to reassure them.

Naruto and Sasuke look at each other and then nod their head. They both know that Haku could never let Yukiko harm me. If she did, he would harm her, Haku was very protective.

"Write to me if she does anything." Naruto says looking serious.

I roll my eyes, "Oh yeah, I can imagine you running away from your own training to rescue me."

Naruto pouts, "But I would!"

"I'm leaving as well." Sasuke says.

I look at him with raised eyebrows, "Who are you leaving with?" I ask out of curiosity.

"Itachi." Sasuke answers.

I nod my head; this would be good for him. Itachi would be able to teach him all the things that Uchiha's should know. Itachi was super strong, so he would definitely be able to train Sasuke.

"I'm leaving with Jiraiya!" Naruto exclaims with a grin on his face.

"I know." I answer with a knowing grin.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow, "So this happened in what you know?"

I nod my head, "Yep."

Naruto's eyes lit up, "So what do we learn?!"

I tap my nose a few times. Naruto pouts and looks to the floor looking put down. Sasuke stares at me hard, as though he was trying to make me tell him.

"How about pointers?" Sasuke suggests.

That didn't sound to be bad actually. I point to Sasuke, "Focus on your Sharingan and get a weapon. Also dabble with your Chidori."

Sasuke nods his head. The grin on his face showed how excited he was.

I point to Naruto next, "Dabble with your Rasengan."

"Anything else?" Naruto asks eagerly.

I shake my head, "I don't want to spoil what Jiraiya has in store." I say with a massive grin on my face. I never thought that I would make it this far, and it was exciting. The fact that I've changed the anime so much makes me apprehensive, but also happy. I've managed to prevent deaths, but at the same time I've caused some...I try not to think of those times, but sometimes my brain just takes me there. It's horrible at night though, the nightmares won't stop. Maybe they'll go away with time.

"When do you guys go then?" I ask them.

"Two days." Sasuke answers.

Naruto grins, "Three days!"

"I'm leaving tomorrow." I say with sad smile. Leaving Konoha will be hard, but knowing that I'm coming back is very comforting.

Naruto punched out his hand and kept it in the air, "Three years from now, we'll come back to the village! When we do, how about we fight to see who is stronger?"

Sasuke and I both stretch out our arm, "Sure." I say.

"Too bad you'll be losing." Sasuke says with a mocking grin.

Naruto growls and glares at the Uchiha. Nonetheless, we all bump fists and put them back to our side.

I look at both of them, "What do we do about Sakura?"

Naruto looks confused, "What do you mean?"

"She feels left out." I answer.

Sasuke scoffs, "It's her own fault for not training."

"She will though." I argue.

"You've seen it?" Naruto asks me.

I nod my head, "She'll become really strong."

Sasuke snorts, "I'd like to see that."

'You end up marrying her.' I thought to myself with a grin. But then again there hasn't been any interaction between them like there was. One thing was certain though; Naruto and Hinata wouldn't get together! I kind of always shipped Tenten and Neji too...

"I don't think you should tell her," Naruto says pulling me from my thoughts. Sasuke nods his head in agreement.

"Why not?" I ask a little affronted.

"Your relationship with her is on and off. One minute you can be at each other's throats and the next you feel sorry for her." Sasuke says looking at me with a bored look.

I bit my lip, "That's because I feel like I've taken her place."

"But you haven't." Naruto says, "From what you've told us, we were never that close to Sakura."

I sigh, but then smile. They were right, I needed to let go of the guilt I've felt since I came here. I hadn't actually replaced Sakura, she was still here and in the next three years she would have proved herself.

"How about a battle before you go then?" Naruto asks with an excited grin.

Sasuke looks at me with a grin, "How about it?"

I pretend to think, "Hmm."

"Please?" Naruto pleads, using his puppy-dog eyes.

"Go on then." I smile at them.

We all got into starting position and charged at each other.

NARUTO

D-day had finally come, today was the day I was leaving the village for three years. I stood in my empty room. Everything had been packed, well what I could carry in my back pack. My photo of team seven was the first thing I packed; I could never part with that photo.

I hear a knock behind me. I look behind me and see Haku, "Ready to go imouto?" Haku had his own back pack in hand.

I nod my head and silently walk out the room. Before we left the apartment, we locked the door. The thought of no one being here for three years made me nostalgic, with one last sigh; both me and Haku left the apartment and began our journey to the gate Konoha. While walking down the path, both I and Haku were looking around, taking everything in. We'd miss this place. I felt kind of bad for making Haku come with me, but he reassured me that he wanted to come, and that he would never leave me.

We made it the gate. Yukiko was standing there looking passive. Beside Yukiko were Jiraiya and Tsunade. When she sees us, she says, "Took you long enough."

"We're on time." Haku replies with a glare.

Yukiko just rolled her eyes.

"Okay, if we're going to be with each other for three years, we need to learn to at least tolerate each other." I say fed up. I was sick of them two having sly digs at each other; if they wanted to do that then they can do that, but not in front of me.

"Fine." Haku grumbles, being the first to give in.

Yukiko sighs, "Alright."

I smile happily, it was a start.

"So you ready to go?" Yukiko asks me.

I shake my head, "I'm waiting for my friends."

"You have ten minutes." Yukiko says walking over to talk to Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"AKEMI!"

I turn around and see a group of people. It was Rookie Nine and Lee's team, they were all smiling at me, but the most enthusiastic of the lot was Naruto. Naruto leaped over to hug me, I squealed when he spun me around before putting me down again.

"I didn't expect you all to be here." I say, I was a little star struck that everyone was here.

"You'd really think we'd let you leave without saying a proper goodbye?" Shikamaru answers with a raised brow.

I laugh slightly, "No, I should have."

Hinata was the next person to hug me, "Be safe." Hinata says looking at me sternly.

"I will mom." I say with a cheeky grin. Hinata playfully glares at me before smiling herself.

Sasuke walks over to me, "Just make sure you come back."

"Miss me would you?" I say in a teasing tone.

Sasuke punched my arm, but it didn't hurt.

After a few more goodbyes from the team, they all also said goodbye to Haku. You should have seen Tenten and Ino blush when they saw Haku. I was about to turn around and walk away. But once voice stopped me, "You're not saying goodbye to your teacher?" I turn around and see Kakashi, along with Rukia and even Itachi.

I grin widely and run over to Kakashi and hugging him. "Of course sensei." I say pulling away. With this, he disappears and walks over to Haku.

Rukia ruffled my hair, "Don't be reckless kid."

I pull my tongue out at her.

Her eye twitches, before she smiles softly, "It'll be weird not having you here annoying me."

"I'm sure someone else will take my place." I say. Rukia shrugs her shoulders; she walks away to and talks to Yukiko.

I look at Itachi, wondering what he was going to do. He just walks up to me, and does something surprising. He pokes the middle of my forehead, "Don't die." He says before walking away. I just stare at him on shock.

"Aniki!" Sasuke shouts at him.

Someone clearing their throat caught my attention, I turn around. Yukiko stood there, "Ready?"

I nod my head. "Yes." I took one last glance at the people behind me. With a sad smile I turned around and started to walk away. Haku grasped my hand as we walked. When we were a few feet away, I look back again to see them all still there.

"Goodbye." I whisper before we ran.

NARUTO

And that's it! I've hoped you've enjoyed this story, I know I enjoyed writing it. I hope that you don't think the ending is rushed, but as you can tell, I'm not that good at mushy stuff.

Thank you for ready.

Leave reviews!