IMPORTANT!!! MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 19! This chapter was added just a day after Chapter 19 – make sure you didn't miss it! (If you do not recall a massive cliffhanger recently, then you have not read chapter 19.)

Restless

Chapter 20: Restless Funerals

Naruto felt himself being lost in Itachi's sharingan, his body going numb as he was thrust into a world of unimaginable pain at Itachi's hands with the mangekyou sharingan.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled.

Sasuke watched as Itachi grasped Naruto by his throat, lifting him so that he was closer to his eyes. Sasuke knew that he would only have mere seconds to act because the sharingan's effects on Naruto could seem like hours or even days in the matter of seconds. However, it was Itachi's distraction with Naruto that gave Sasuke the opening that he needed.

Powering up his chidori, with his sharingan blazing, Sasuke appeared behind Naruto with a kunai in his hand, and rammed his chidori and the kunai through Naruto's chest, straight through to Itachi.

Itachi grunted in pain and surprise. His eyes stared directly into Sasuke's.

As he stared into his brother's eyes, Sasuke felt anger well up inside him. Itachi still seemed impassive even though Sasuke had just thrust his hand through him. Sasuke withdrew his hand, watching as Naruto's body fell to the side, Itachi having let go of him. Itachi made a sudden move backwards, clutching at the wound in his chest, and then made sure to put enough distance between himself and Sasuke as he hopped to another treetop.

Sasuke's face finally contorted in the slightest of smirks, a deranged expression on his face as he stared at his older brother, noting how Itachi was clutching at his wound, and was breathing somewhat heavily.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, as she at least, paid attention to the way that Naruto had gone deathly still as he fell from the treetop like a lifeless doll. Sakura screamed again as she caught him in midair, landing heavily on the ground with Naruto's extra body weight. "Naruto!" Sakura screamed in anguish as she felt but could not feel a pulse. She quickly began uselessly pouring healing chakra into him, meanwhile cursing Sasuke. Sasuke ignored her. He had closed his eyes as though savoring something, reopening them slowly as he revealed his newly changed sharingan.

His newly gained mangekyou sharingan.

For the first time in many years, Uchiha Itachi showed the slightest hint of fear upon his face as he looked at his baby brother's eyes.

"You did it after all," Itachi said conversationally, as though his chest was not dripping blood. Itachi hopped backward as Sasuke put the bloodied kunai in his hand back into his weapon's pouch, pulled his sword out from its sheath, and then took a wide slash at his brother as he himself jumped from the branch he was on to the tree that Itachi was in.

"I've waited years to kill you," Sasuke hissed, his mangekyou sharingan swirling dangerously. Itachi made no reply as he pulled a reddish-brown pill from his hip pack and popped it in his mouth, chewing hastily on it. Sasuke noted that it was a blood-replenishing pill, and he smirked, realizing that his brother must be in considerable danger if he were using a blood-replenishing pill already.

"Naruto!" Kakashi cried, but Sasuke paid little attention to Kakashi who had snatched Naruto from Sakura and was currently cradling Naruto's body in his arms, his face contorted in utter anguish and pain as he shook his head in disbelief as he held his dead nephew. "No," Kakashi moaned, as he shook Naruto, willing him to wake up, but he lay still. He wasn't breathing, and he had no pulse. His face was unnaturally pale, and his body seemed to have dropped in temperature by an alarming ten degrees. Sakura stood behind Kakashi, her grief clear upon her face as she watched her usually laidback and stoic teacher sob over Naruto's body. Kakashi's uncharacteristic show of emotion seemed to make everything so much harder to take. "Damn you Sasuke!" Kakashi hollered.

Sasuke ignored him. No one else mattered right now. All that mattered to Sasuke at the moment was that he kill his brother: that he take his revenge.

"Let's finish this," Sasuke said. This time, it was he who instigated the battle with his brother, not a battle of flesh, but a battle of minds. He locked eyes with Itachi, initiating the battle of mangekyou against magekyou.

It was a strange feeling, as Sasuke felt his mind practically expand. He felt as though he himself were expanding, controlling everything. It was not like a gensutsu that he cast, but rather, he was the illusion. He was the world in which his mangekyou ruled. The only thing that felt out of his control was his brother, which he had managed to bring into this sharingan universe with him.

Sasuke's head swam at the slightly foreign feeling of controlling the atmosphere and the universe in which he and his brother were in. His brother's sharingan was also swirled in the three triangular arms that indicated that he too was attempting to control the world.

Attempting, and failing.

Sasuke had won the battle of the setting. Itachi was physically weaker due to the wound that the chidori and especially the kunai blade had created. Not to mention that he had used some of his chakra on Naruto, no doubt using his infamous "World of the Grasping Moon" technique, but Sasuke vowed not to underestimate Itachi. Itachi was still older than him, had more experience, and probably more chakra than he did, despite the fact that Itachi had already used some of his up when fighting Kakashi and the others. Still, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk, feeling elated than his plan had worked even better than he had anticipated. The unexpected aid from Konoha was really playing into his plan. He was the poisonous snake that had attacked the larger prey.

The scenery around them vanished as time and space bent to the will of the sharingan in preparation for battle. Sasuke had chosen the fake grounds for their fight. His mind had created the world set out before them, the world in which the gray sky was ominous, clouds overhead, the sky looking as though it would begin to pour down upon them at any moment. Sasuke and Itachi stood across from each other on top of water. In the background, cliffs with a raging waterfall stood behind them, Itachi still dripping blood from the wound in the right side of his chest. Itachi faced Sasuke. Itachi's eyes didn't move but he seemed to know what Sasuke's mind had recreated for their battle of minds.

"The Valley of the End?" Itachi asked, a slight hint of amusement in his voice. "My my, little brother, I didn't expect you to be so sadistic." Itachi's voice was quiet, and was still coming out as slow and uncaring as ever despite the fact that he should be gasping for breath with his wound. "Another Akatsuki member witnessed your battle with the Kyuubi vessel here."

"His name is Naruto," Sasuke hissed out.

"His name was Naruto," Itachi corrected him, looking bemused. "I didn't believe you capable of murdering your most important person," Itachi murmured, eyeing his younger brother. "I must confess that I am quite disappointed in you," Itachi said. Sasuke gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He knew Itachi was trying to provoke him, but he would not let him do so. Sasuke had made his choice long ago. He knew that Naruto would forgive him – even if it took him begging forgiveness in the after life.

Sasuke balanced his weight to the center as he took a fighting stance, a sword appearing in his hand. Itachi took a similar stance as a sword also appeared in his hand. He had finally gotten some control in this sharingan world. He had created a sword, and his wound (in their mind battle at least) had stopped bleeding.

Itachi attacked first, his sword swinging so fast that it didn't appear as though his body was moving with it, but Sasuke parried it, his hand coming up to hold his faithful sword, Kusanagi. Their blades clanged and clashed in flurry of movement. Their hands and arms were blurs as they slashed, parried, slashed.

Taking a wide sweep with his arm, Sasuke slashed his blade along the surface of the water, the spray coming up and clouding Itachi from view. Sasuke jumped over the spray, his blade coming down and slashing into the spot where Itachi should have been. His feet touched ground before he jumped up again, barely missing the blade that appeared beneath the surface of the water, Itachi having vanished beneath the surface when the spray had blocked him from Sasuke's view.

Now it was Itachi who flipped in the air, his blade coming down in a vertical arc on top of Sasuke. Sasuke used the back of his left armguard to hold the blade of his sword, while he gripped the hilt in his right hand tightly to block the assault. Even so, the force of Itachi's blow caught him off balance, and his body fell backwards against the water, but he used the momentum of the force of Itachi's attack to continue to roll himself backwards, once again springing to his feet. He made as though to lunge toward Itachi, but Itachi had put enough distance between Sasuke and himself in just a few moments, and Itachi had started to move on to more interesting mind games before Sasuke had a chance to attempt another counterattack.

Around him, Sasuke saw hundreds of Itachi's appear, all of them holding their swords over a kneeling figure, a smaller, blond-haired figure.

"You killed him so quickly, Sasuke, you didn't enjoy it. You didn't get to the heart of things properly. Let me show you how it is done." One by one, all around him, an Itachi replica took his sword and ran it through Naruto in various manners. The hundreds of Itachis did not all kill Naruto at once; each Itachi made sure to kill his Naruto at random so that Sasuke had to relive the death of his most important person hundreds of times over. Sasuke's body froze, as he realized that Itachi was killing the many Narutos in the exact same manner that he had killed their clan's people.

Sasuke's mind began to wander back to the horror that he had seen at Itachi's hands. Slowly the scenery around him changed, and the sky began to grow red, the clouds dark, the scenery around them blurs of various reds and blacks, the only color variant was the other ninja and the moons that began to rush by them in the sky, indicating Itachi's twisted form of the passage of time. Sasuke's breathing sped up, and he had to bite his own hand to calm down.

Itachi had taken over control of their joint mangekyou battle.

"You were too naïve Sasuke. You thought that by killing Naruto you could ease your suffering. You thought if I were dead, your suffering would end, but you were wrong. It has only just begun. I was right. You were never a murderer. You were too innocent; now you will pay for your mistake one million times over before I let you escape this place," Itachi explained quietly as the Narutos around him were killed over and over again. One of the Narutos was beheaded, its head rolling at Sasuke's feet, blue eyes wide and staring up at him. Sasuke directed his gaze across the terrible scene as Naruto's blood was spilt over and over again.

Then, the figures around him began begging. They began screaming. Each of the Narutos began to beg for Sasuke to save him. They all cried out random accusations and pleas.

"Murderer!"

"Don't let him kill me like you did!"

"Murderer!"

"You killed me!"

"Murderer!"

"No!" Sasuke placed his hands over his ears, blocking out the sounds of his most important person dying over and over again. Crying on things to him over and over again. Murderer.

Sasuke began walking forward, his eyes gazing over everything, his body and mind trying to resist both the urge to gag and to run away. He continued to walk forward, his eyes searching and finding a spot close to where he knew the "real" Itachi was, if there could be such a thing as such one embodiment of the mind, and stopped. He closed his eyes, even as the scream continued, taking a deep shuddering breath. He knew this wasn't real. He was in control. He had spent too many years waiting, too many months planning, for him not to exact his revenge. Sasuke would kill Itachi. He had to.

As Sasuke began to calm down, and he once again began to take back some control, another kneeling-figure appeared at Sasuke's feet, but this time a figure of his own choice. The figure had dark hair like he and his brother, and even looked somewhat similar. His eyes were dark black, and Sasuke gazed back into a face that he had not seen in eight years.

Sasuke lifted his sword. With a slow swipe, he cut through the air with his sword, intending to behead his chosen victim, but his intended blow never landed. Metal clanged on metal as Itachi stood before him, his blade preventing Sasuke from continuing with the act. Sasuke smirked. The many Itachis and Narutos around him vanished as Sasuke once again took full control of the mangekyou world.

"You are foolish, older brother," Sasuke murmured, mimicking something that Itachi had said to him many times before. Itachi's eyes were wide, as he looked down on the ground to see that the figure had vanished. Itachi let out a low curse.

"How did you know?" Itachi asked, his voice thick with emotion for the first time in years, tears springing to his eyes, threatening to spill. "How did you know that I would stop you from killing our cousin, from killing Uchiha Shisui?" Itachi whispered the name as the world of darkness, moons, and reds vanished as Sasuke's mind created the recreation of the outside of his home, the home he had burned to the ground just two nights before.

"When you dismissed the accusations of killing Shisui, you closed your eyes in something like regret. He was your most important person. He was the one that you cared for above everyone else. You said once that he was like an older brother to you. I should have suspected something then, and I found the evidence within our clansmen's homes. It was your mistake not to burn the Uchiha complex, but perhaps you wanted me to know. I still remember you visiting the family shrine every day, searching through the family book that told the secret of the mangekyou sharingan. I returned there recently. I went back to Konoha, intending to burn the places where you murdered our family, but I went back to the shrine first. I went back, and I realized something that I had not noticed the one time I had looked in the clan's book before. There were tear stains on the pages."

Itachi's closed his eyes, but it did not stop the few tears that dripped from them.

"And it made me wonder. I knew that you were the one that used the book the most. Were those tears yours? If so, what would have created in you a hate so powerful that you wanted to destroy your most important person, and then your family? Before I burned everything, I went to Shisui's home on a feeling. I went to see what type of relationship you two had. I went to his house, into his room, an his journal was sitting there, lying on his bed, as though waiting to be found. I was, shocked, to say the least, when I read it," Sasuke said, his voice low.

"I had to read over the lines several times to make sure I had really read what I had. I would never have suspected that you and Shisui were so involved," Sasuke paused, looking at his brother. "But it explained your anger what the diary wrote about Shisui's father finding out that you two were having sex, then threatening both of you with banishment from the clan. Shisui wrote that his father was disgusted. Two males having sex - first cousins no less, at only age thirteen."

"He was such a hypocrite," Itachi said quietly. "It wasn't as if first cousins haven't been marrying within our clan for generations. It was because we were both supposed to produce a proper heir that we were not allowed to be together. You didn't have that responsibility little brother. You never knew. You were the youngest, and you didn't have that burden. And then, father found out. He was disgusted as well and told me as the eldest, it was my responsibility to continue the proud family name. You, on the other hand, were free to choose. You were free to choose who was closest to you. I hated you so much Sasuke. You were free from the responsibilities. You didn't have the burden of carrying on the line as I did."

"So you escaped it the only way you knew how," Sasuke said, his voice dangerously low. "You murdered your own cousin, your lover, and then all of your family. You killed everyone - even those who would have supported you anyway, and the one who loved you!" Sasuke bellowed.

"And now the burden father wanted me to bear is left to you Sasuke. You must repopulate the clan. You can never be with the one you loved, your most important person either." Itachi finally smiled, a small sadistic smile. "You now know what it is like to share my pain."

"But you're wrong. I would never kill someone I love like that," Sasuke said.

Itachi shook his head. "You killed-"

"Naruto's not dead," Sasuke said, smirking wide. Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"Naruto is dead, Sasuke. You would not have obtained the mangekyou other wise," Itachi said.

"Naruto was dead," Sasuke corrected him, mocking Itachi's earlier tone. "Do you think I am as coldhearted as you? No. You did not look at the other options Itachi. I am surprised that you did not look closely at the wording. 'Only those who stop the beating of the heart of their most precious person and touch the stilled heart with their bare hands, only then will they obtain the mangekyou sharingan,'" Sasuke recited from the Uchiha family book. "I'm sure it was meant to be that you had to kill the precious person in order to obtain it," Sasuke smirked smugly, "but I got around it," Sasuke explained, clearly pleased with himself.

"I didn't and don't want Naruto dead - for good. Naruto can heal from my chidori wound, he has done it before, and he will do it again. I only needed to stop his heart. And I did that without the chidori. You see, the kunai in my hand was laced with venom. Normally this type of poison will kill a person within a matter of minutes. However, due to my foresight, Naruto is now resistant to this poison. Instead of beginning to attack his internal organs (which would normally have killed Naruto) it immediately shutdown his bodily functions and froze them. Instead of killing him, it instantly put his body into a sort of – hypothermia – if you will. This shutdown of the organs is like being frozen; one can survive without a heartbeat for quite sometime if the body is shutdown properly in a chilled state. Though of course, the other effects of the cold will eventually permanently kill the victim. In the normal time that it would take the poison to kill someone is the same amount of time that Naruto will be in this hypothermic state." [AN: You can really survive without sustaining any permanent injury or brain malfunction in a hypothermic state for approximately 3.5 hours without a heartbeat.

"So you touched his heart with the side of your bare hand, his heart that would be unaffected by your chidori in this hypothermic-like state?" Itachi pondered out loud. Sasuke gave a slight nod.

"Chidori was the easiest way for me to touch his heart without killing him, and it also served as a ruse in order to make you think he was dead for good. By the time that we finish here, Naruto's heart might even be beating again and his body healing," Sasuke explained.

"Are you so sure, little brother? I made him relive countless hours of pain - countless torments while in my mangekyou-"

"Do not lie. I am not stupid. You cannot do the mangekyou to the same degree to Naruto that you have done here, or else you would not have been able to stand a chance. You are also weakening. You were hit with the same kunai that held the poison! All of your strength is fading, Itachi. The poison on the blade not only went into Naruto's system, but it went into your system as well! It is already making it difficult for you to keep control. Don't you see? Even though time stands still here, your body was already affected that much from the poison in the few moments it took us to engage in battle," Sasuke said, hissing.

Itachi closed his eyes once more.

"Akatsuki is still after Naruto. Someone will come for him, even if it's not me."

"Your words have no meaning any more. I will not let you try and bring me down, play any more mind games with me through words. Do you think I haven't thought that through either? It will take time, but soon, Kyuubi will no longer be in Naruto's body, but separated from him into another, more easily controlled body," Sasuke paused, looking down at his brother with utter loathing.

"It will never work. It will kill him. You're going to lose him in the end anyway. You are foolish. You should have killed him. It is easier when they are gone and you no longer worry about them," Itachi murmured. Sasuke sneered.

"I would have pitied you for your loss, brother, even if it was you who committed Shisui's murder. You were struck with grief, and sought a way out - but you were cruel. You were brutal. You killed innocent people. The clan would have been angry at your affair, but you should have chosen banishment if you desired to be with him that much. You were foolish. You focused too much on the fact that I had used chidori, and not on the possibility that there was poison on the blade. If you had realized, perhaps you could have escaped, saved yourself. Now – now you are too weak, too pathetic to even save yourself. You lost from the beginning of this battle. Good-bye, Itachi." Sasuke raised his sword, and swung, decapitating the man that had made hell seem real on earth for Sasuke.

At Itachi's "mental" death, the parallel world around Sasuke cleared, and he was once more standing in the thick forest at the border of Konoha. His real sword was angled down, and the last act that he had performed in the mangekyou world, he had performed with his body as well. He saw Itachi's body and severed head falling limply from the treetops, Sasuke's sword soaked in Itachi's blood.

Sasuke took a deep breath, a weight seeming to lift from his shoulders. He was free. Finally he was free from the burden from having to chase his brother. He had avenged his clan, and he could live the rest of his life out the way he wished. Itachi had tried to taint him with his words of reviving the clan. Perhaps Itachi had guessed about his and Naruto's relationship, tried to use it to make him feel regret, but right now, he felt utter euphoria. Right now he felt free. He felt drained from chakra use. He felt complete. He felt ready to fall to the ground. He felt so alive. He felt-

-a hand sticking through his chest.

Sasuke looked down, half-horror stricken, half-dazed as a hand, making a chirping noise, surrounded by blue chakra stuck through his chest from behind. The hand that he dimly recognized as Kakashi's pulled out of him, and Sasuke felt the blood well up in his mouth before slumping forward, doing what he could in an attempt not to fall as his vision began to swim - and then images of his life began to flash before his eyes as he tumbled almost in slow motion to the forest floor below.

The smiling face of his mother and the stoic face of his father.

One of his aunts giving him a set of kunai for his fifth birthday when he was to enter the academy.

Itachi giving him a piggyback ride home from practicing in the woods.

His mother and father lying drenched in a pool of blood.

Overlooking the lake all alone at a sunset.

Naruto, Sakura, and he all telling Kakashi about their life goals.

Sakura asking him on a date.

Naruto's face as he slept while they're bodies moved.

Gaara fighting him.

Leaving Naruto at the Valley of the End.

Kabuto and Orochimaru explaining to him the benefits of the summoning technique.

The snakeskin that Dokueki left at the end of his bed.

Having sex with Naruto for the first time.

Making love to Naruto last night.

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed out, a smile on his face as he remembered that last thought, thinking about the word love.

Sasuke's world went blank, and the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke closed for the last time.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke as the younger ninja tumbled from the tree tops, his body lifeless as it fell through the air, hitting random branches as it fell and landed with a sickening thud. Tears streamed down Kakashi's face as he looked back down on the ground not at Sasuke, but to where Sakura bent over Naruto's body, uselessly trying to pour life into the lifeless being. Kakashi shifted his eyes slightly to look at the ground to the left, seeing both Itachi and Sasuke lying there.

Dead. All three of them dead.

Sai and Hinata were standing close to Naruto and Sakura. Sai's face was expressionless; Hinata's full of turbulent and heart wrenching pain. Kiba, Yamato, and Shino were all observing from a distance away as they looked at the dead shinobi.

And it was all his fault.

He should never have tried to persuade Sasuke to go after Naruto. It was his fault, and his alone. He had pushed Naruto to be Sasuke's most important person, and now he was dead. Sasuke had killed his nephew in order to gain the mangekyou sharingan, the mangekyou that he had told Sasuke when explaining about their connection.

"Naruto is the one that causes the strongest emotions to rise within you...He is forever linked with your sharingan."

And Kakashi had had to kill his pupil. What was he going to tell Tsunade? What was he going to tell Kyohaku? What was he-

A sharp intake of breath caused him to stop his musings. His eyes flew back towards Naruto who had shot bolt upright, breath returning to him. Naruto gasped and sputtered for air. Sakura looked at him with shock in her intelligent eyes. Suddenly, the wound in his chest that had refused to heal began to repair itself immediately. Sai actually smiled, a genuine smile, and Hinata looked as though she wanted to pass out from sheer happiness. Naruto's body began to shake violently as the after affects of Itachi putting him through the mangekyou sharingan began to take place. Of course Sakura was ready to treat this. She placed her hands onto Naruto's head and began to heal his mental traumas just like Tsunade had done for Sasuke – but giving special care not to overdo it and have a loopy Naruto like they'd had a loopy Sasuke. After about a minute, Sakura then put her hands back on the chidori wound, helping along the Kyuubi's chakra, and it healed within another few moments.

Kakashi felt elated as he realized that Naruto was alive, and then utter horror and shock as he turned his gaze once again to the fallen body of Sasuke.

"No," Kakashi whispered horrified to himself. He had killed Sasuke when Sasuke hadn't killed Naruto. What would Naruto think of him when he learned what he had done? Although he knew that Naruto had not looked up into the trees, Naruto's gaze began to search around him as though looking for Sasuke's body. His gaze seemed to find Sasuke almost instantly despite the number of trees that could have blocked his view.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his voice low and unnaturally solemn. He sounded incredulous. Kakashi knew that it was not possible for Naruto to see Sasuke properly at the angle that he was at, but Kakashi had a feeling that Naruto knew, that Naruto knew that Sasuke was dead.

Naruto got up, but Sakura tried to pull him back down. He shook her off and weakly stumbled past the few trees that separated him from Sasuke.

"No," Naruto whispered. "No! No! No!" He flung himself onto Sasuke's body and began to sob. It was then that the rest of the people seemed to realize what had happened. Sakura gasped and looked horrified at Sasuke's lifeless body. Yamato looked upward, and he met Kakashi's eyes. Yamato pressed his lips together firmly; pitying the other man he gazed at.

Kakashi felt frozen in the trees. He no longer wanted to look down, no longer wanted to breathe, but fate was not being kind to him. Naruto looked up once again seeming to find what he sought instantly, his eyes meeting Kakashi's, and with one glance he knew what had happened. The wound on Sasuke's chest was all too clearly his raikiri for Naruto not to know. Kakashi hopped down from branch to branch, and landed softly in the grass. Naruto clutched Sasuke's body closer to him at Kakashi's approach, and the sudden gesture made Kakashi's steps falter.

"I – I – I thought-" Kakashi began, wanting to explain himself. He felt numb. Naruto was alive. Sasuke had not killed him, and it appeared as though he had never intended too. It also appeared that Naruto had known that all along. Why hadn't he trusted Naruto? Kakashi's mind was not even allowing himself to process the fact that he had killed his own student when he had had no need to.

"You thought he had killed me, so you killed him?" Naruto said, his voice unexpectedly calm despite the tears that flowed freely down his face. Kakashi could merely stare at Naruto, no longer able to speak in his shock. No one else spoke as Naruto quietly laid his head down upon Sasuke's chest and continued to weep in silence.

---

Returning to Konoha passed in a blur for Naruto. Everything felt numb and unrealistic. There had been no sign of Dokueki or Kabuto at the campsite they had just vacated. By all accounts, it looked like no one had been there at all. Naruto's grief stricken brain hoped that Dokueki was okay too; Sasuke had mentioned that she feared death in her own realm. In the moments that the Konoha team had come to see what had happened to Naruto, Kisame's body had vanished; either taken – or either he was not as dead as they had thought. Yet Kisame's and Kabuto's disappearance wasn't even worth worrying about for Naruto.

Naruto was only half coherent as Sasuke's funeral procession took place, only partially even aware that time had passed. He could have been back in Konoha for a few moments or years for all his brain could register. His grandmother and great-grandparents stood by his side, but he hardly registered their presence. As Naruto watched Sasuke's body being carried on a sort of stretcher along the streets of Konoha by six masked ANBU members, Naruto felt hollow and empty. It felt as though he were watching his own funeral, as though he had died with Sasuke. This wasn't just Sasuke's funeral; it was his as well. Without Sasuke, a part of Naruto had died forever.

Things began to come back to painful reality as his eyes glued themselves to the dead body of his best friend, his lover, as Sasuke's body was marched down the streets of Konoha. Naruto was not sure how Tsunade had managed this last right, this last honor, when it was well known that ANBU were supposed to dispose of a fallen shinobi's body quickly and efficiently as soon as they had found it. Perhaps that was only for rogue nins, and that since Sasuke was the last Uchiha, there had been some sort of clan right that had to be upheld?

Kakashi or Sakura might be able to tell him, but Naruto didn't dare ask either of them. Sakura was barely managing to keep standing in her grief, and Kakashi - well, Naruto didn't want to talk to him. He was angry with him, and he was afraid he would say things he would regret.

Even though he was angry with Kakashi, he honestly did not blame him. He was sure that he would have been in a similar state of rage if he thought someone had killed someone close to him as well. Naruto tore his eyes away from Sasuke's motionless body to see if he could spot Kakashi in the crowd.

He looked over across the line of people standing on either side of the procession close to where the actual funeral pyre stood to see Kakashi looking expressionless as he too stared at the body of the boy who had once been a ward on his team. Naruto knew that Kakashi's self torment would be horrible at the moment. Kakashi had let them know the day that they officially became a team that anyone who abandoned a teammate was worse than scum. Perhaps Kakashi had felt that Sasuke had been worse than scum, abandoning them like he had, but it was clear that Kakashi regretted being the one that had killed him when Sasuke hadn't ever intended to fully kill Naruto.

Redirecting his gaze, Naruto mused about the elaborate attire that Sasuke wore, thinking that it made Sasuke look like a prince. Sasuke had been dressed in magnificent robes of dark blue and an undershirt of pure white silk, with just a splash of red on the edges of his sleeves where two Uchiha fans had been stitched.

After staring at Sasuke, taking in his strangely beautiful appearance, Naruto finally felt something through his numbness as he felt the tears that had begun to stream down his face, but he didn't bother wiping them away. They didn't feel like they were a part of him any more. He couldn't feel himself crying, as though the tears were just mere splashes of water, continuingly flowing freely down his cheeks, unable to properly feel. His emotions didn't want to work anymore, and a part of him wanted to die, holding Sasuke's unnaturally still and peaceful body.

There were very few times that Naruto could remember seeing Sasuke's face looking so calm and serene, and Naruto couldn't help but hope that Sasuke was at peace, his tormented soul finally at rest after he had spent so many years filled with hateful desire to fulfill his clan duties and to claim revenge upon his older brother.

Everything felt surreal as Sasuke's body was lifted on top of the funeral pyre - the sticks patterned in such a way that even the Uchiha fan had been worked into the elaborate wood that would be used to create Sasuke's ashes. Someone was speaking, and Naruto thought it might have been Tsunade, but he wasn't listening. Naruto's eyes were so fixated on Sasuke, desperately hoping, desperately praying for a miracle. Sasuke would sit up and everything would be okay. He couldn't be dead. He wasn't dead. The voice speaking about Sasuke stopped, and Naruto half expected Sasuke's voice to say something in the silence, but Naruto saw someone lift a torch to the bottom of the funeral pyre as Sasuke lay quite motionless.

Suddenly Naruto felt panicked. They couldn't light that! Sasuke was on top of that! He made a sudden lurch forward, but Sakura's light touch to his arm held him still.

"Naruto - Sasuke, he - he's really gone. I helped Tsunade dress his b-body for the p-p-pyre, and there's n-no way he could still be-" Sakura stuttered out what she could before succumbing to her tears. Naruto watched the fire, the flames rising from the base to the top of the pile, licking at Sasuke. Naruto felt like screaming, but nothing could come out of his mouth, and he felt as though he were in one of those dreams where you need to scream for help but no sound will come out. His mouth formed words, shouts, yells, but still nothing came out as he watched the fire begin to spread to Sasuke's clothing.

"Move Sasuke," he tried to yell, though still no sound emerged. "Damnit Sasuke, move!" Naruto formed the words soundlessly, willing, begging, pleading that Sasuke hear him and that Sasuke come back to life, come back to him. 'Come on Sasuke, you're good with fire! This is nothing. Just escape it - get out of it now!' Naruto thought as he watched the flames rise so high that he could only see the shriveling of the robes that had burned away, and Naruto looked away, knowing that if he looked hard enough that he would see Sasuke burning...

Naruto turned and began to run, jumping when he could from the ground to the nearest rooftop, Sakura and his family shouting his name, but he didn't stop. He just ran, had to run, run away from what was left of Sasuke, from what would no longer be left of Sasuke. Tears streamed down his face, and he was gasping for breath as he ran, the sobs wracking his body so hard. He ran to the top of the Hokage Mountain to look at the face of his father - another of his loved ones that had been stolen from him.

"Chikuso!" Naruto hollered, as he looked at the face of his father. "Why? Why Sasuke?" He yelled, as though someone would possibly be able to answer him. He sat down on the ground, and buried his face in his knees as he cried out angrily. "Damn you Sasuke! Fucking bastard!" Naruto yelled into his knees, as he pounded the ground. "Teme!" Naruto hissed fiercely, angrily. He hated Sasuke for making him feel so much; he hated Sasuke for making him cry – again.

All of the numbness had vanished, followed by waves of tremendous grief, regret, and anger. Why hadn't Sasuke told him what his plans were? What would have happened if Naruto hadn't survived? Would Sasuke still be alive, or would this be a double funeral now? He knew that Sasuke loved him. He knew that. Why, why hadn't he just trusted him? Why hadn't Sasuke trusted him with his plan?

Naruto banged his fist on the ground repeatedly, crying out in rage, crying out in utter loneliness. It hurt so much, the loneliness. Even when Sasuke hadn't been around, he had at least been somewhere. Naruto had known that Sasuke was out there, and that Sasuke would always be out there, somewhere, understanding the same sorrow and loneliness that he felt. The feeling was unbearable, the feeling of know that he finally had a family, yet feeling so alone without Sasuke.

He had been so happy just a few days ago; a family he didn't know existed had appeared. Now, Naruto would never be able to introduce Sasuke to them. He would never be able to ask Sasuke how to act around his family. There were so many things that he hadn't realized that he had wanted to ask him and to do with Sasuke until he was gone. Naruto clutched at his heart, feeling a physical pain in his chest, his emotions overpowering him as he sobbed harder and harder, thinking about all the things Sasuke would miss - all the things that Naruto would miss about Sasuke.

"You know, you'll make yourself sick if you keep crying this much, dobe." Naruto's curses and sobs died immediately, as his body froze. He hastily wiped at the tears on his face, drawing in shaky breaths as his shinobi alertness kicked in.

Naruto looked around him, sure that he had heard Sasuke's voice right next to him, but he didn't see anything to his left or right. Naruto hurriedly stood up, and looked around him. "S-Sasuke?" He asked out loud to the air. Nobody was around. Swallowing, Naruto sat back down, realizing that he was just in so much grief that he was imagining Sasuke's voice.

"You are a dobe. You're not paying attention at all. I'm right here." Naruto stood up again, looking wildly around him. He licked his lips, wondering what the hell was going on. He knew no one was there, yet he said again. "Sasuke?"

"I'm right here," Sasuke's voice came again, strongly emphasizing the word here. Naruto's eyes darted around frantically, desperately, and he reached out into thin air, wondering if Sasuke knew a jutsu to make himself invisible. Perhaps Sasuke was a ghost? "I'm with you Naruto..." Sasuke's voice trailed off, and Naruto began looking around him wildly again.

"Where are you?" Naruto yelled, but this time there was no response. "Sasuke?" Naruto called out again. "Sasuke!!" Naruto hollered, but there was no response. Naruto shook his head, his body shaking as he sat back down again. "I'm just in shock," he told himself. He was hearing Sasuke's voice because he was in shock. Sasuke was gone; he was dead. The momentary elation that had hit him upon hearing Sasuke's voice again vanished instantly.

He was grasping for hope that was not there. He had held Sasuke's dead body in his arms all the way back to Konoha, had held him for hours without Sasuke stirring. Sasuke's case was not like Naruto's. Sasuke had died.

Naruto felt empty again as the silence reigned heavy on him, so heavy that he felt his body slumping over slightly, as though he really had extra weight on him.

Night had fallen before Sakura came to find him. She sat down next to him and placed her head on his shoulder. Naruto nearly jumped as a strange wave of jealousy surged through him, an emotion that didn't even feel like his own. Then again, Naruto didn't feel like himself. He looked over at Sakura to see that she looked like she too had been crying for hours.

"I can't believe he's gone," Sakura said quietly. Neither she nor Naruto spoke again as the stars above them rotated in their heavenly axis. Several quiet hours passed before Naruto finally broke the silence.

"You should go home and sleep," Naruto whispered. Sakura merely nodded, wiping at the long since dried tear stains on her cheeks as she got up, gave him a small wave, and jumped away to her house. Naruto took a deep breath, and headed back to his own apartment. He would need to go and see his family in the morning and apologize for running away from them without saying anything.

It seemed like years ago that he had woken in the middle of the night, the same night that he had found out of his heritage, with the Uchiha complex burning to the ground, Sasuke coming to take him away. Time seemed so unrealistic, so incomprehensible as he slipped through his open window upon his return home. He walked to the bathroom, where he went through the numb routine of getting ready for bed. As he washed his hands, he mechanically looked at himself in the mirror, only to jump in shock as he saw that his eyes were black, his whisker marks gone, and his hair dark. Naruto blinked his eyes, and the vision he had seen of Sasuke staring back at him rather than his reflection had vanished. Naruto look back down, his hands shaking as he finished washing them. Still, he couldn't help it as he glanced back up at the mirror again.

Again, he saw Sasuke's appearance reflecting at him from the mirror, but his own expression of surprise and shock were mimicked in the face in the mirror. Naruto's eyes widened as something even more shocking occurred. His mouth opened - his mouth that held Sasuke's facial features, and spoke - with Sasuke's voice.

"Looks like what I had planned didn't go so well. My soul got pushed out of my own body and into yours. It looks like we're going to be stuck with each other for a while until I figure out how to get another body for myself. If you hadn't been so succumbed with grief, you might have noticed I was trying to talk to you, and you could have gotten my body before it was burned. For now, we'll just have to share yours."

Next Story: Identity Crisis

Yes, "Restless" is over. The sequel "Identity Crisis" will be out sometime in the next month. Anyone who wants me to e-mail them when I post it, leave your e-mail address in the review (makes it easier than just going to everyone's profile to add it in), and I'll send you the link when I post it.

If you're asking: What happened to Dokueki? Where did Kabuto and Kisame disappear off to? And how the heck did Sasuke end up in Naruto's body? What was Sasuke talking about when he said Kyuubi would get a different body? Well, that's what the next story will answer.

Here's the summary for "Identity Crisis":

Naruto helped Sasuke fulfill his revenge against Itachi: but at a costly price. With new duties expected of him by his long lost family, while meanwhile being forced to share the same body with Sasuke, Naruto's experiencing a major identity crisis. SasuNaruSasu

After Identity Crisis is over, I will post an Epilogue that summarizes the happenings in it at the end of Restless for those of you who don't want to read a whole new story.

Thank you all for all of your reviews for Restless! - Jelp