It's the last chapter everyone. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Ch. 22: Endings and Beginnings

While Naruto was having a very lengthy and involved debate with the final Pain, Sasuke and Itachi were fighting Danzo. At first, it seemed Danzo had the upper hand. He had ten sharingans with which to use the Izanagi and wasn't shy about doing so. If they managed to land a fatal blow, Danzo simply made the entire moment an illusion.

Sasuke wasn't giving up that easily. He was determined. Itachi and him had already worked out their plan. They just had to wait for the right moment, which meant keeping an eye on Danzo's sharingans. Something strange happened in the center of the village. The ground beneath their feet shook. Then green lights began to spread all over the village. Sasuke looked around in confusion.

"What is going on?"

"I don't know," Itachi answered, just as confused.

They looked at Danzo and saw they he didn't seem to understand anymore than they did. Sasuke pushed that aside for later. He'd figure out what was happening after dealing with Danzo. One thing at a time. Glancing at Itachi, the two of them nodded in agreement.

Sasuke moved to the offensive, while Itachi stayed back, waiting for the perfect time to strike. A carefully aimed amaterasu caught Danzo as the elder was preparing a wind jutsu. Once again, Izanagi saved the old man. Sasuke once again charged Danzo with his sword crackling with lightening. It was a direct hit. Sasuke and Danzo stood toe to toe with Sasuke's weapons imbedded in the old man.

Danzo smirked. "You haven't learned anything. With the Izanagi I am invincible." He shifted then paused as pain ripped through him. "What Is going on?"

Sasuke met Danzo's eyes. "This is for Sakura and my clan."

Danzo coughed blood as Sasuke pulled the sword out. Both Uchiha were heaving air in and out as the price of the battle began to catch up to them. Danzo stumbled back before collapsing. Sasuke sat. It was more than exhaustion catching up to him now. Sakura.

"Damn it. I was an idiot."

Itachi looked down at his brother.

"I should have told her. I should have..." Sasuke clenched a fist as his body began to shake. A humorless laugh escaped him. "The irony of this is pathetic."

"Irony?"

"I thought she was annoying at first. When we were in the academy and then placed on the same team. She was just an annoying girl that didn't know anything. I was wrong. She knew. Sakura understood more than I had ever given her credit for. Somehow, she saw right into me and found something worth loving." Sasuke's grip on his sword hilt tightened more. "I never thanked her or told her that I..."

He closed his eyes. Agony was going to be a constant companion for him now and he knew it. He shifted and push himself back to his feet. As tired and sad as he was, there was still more work to do. He had to make sure Naruto and the others were alright. When all of this was over, he wasn't sure how he'd keep going. But, one thing at a time. First, Naruto.

Sasuke noticed Itachi suddenly stiffen as his eyes widened with shock.

"What is it?" he demanded of his brother.

Itachi merely pointed.

Following the direction, Sasuke felt his heart stop. She was moving. That was impossible. Her heart had stopped. He felt it for himself. Despite that, she was getting up. Standing now, she looked around in confusion. Her eyes met his. He was up and to her in second, ignoring the pain coming from his wounds and the protest of tired muscles. To her shock, Sasuke pulled her into a tight hug.

"Sasuke," Sakura said, stunned he would be so open with his emotions for once. "What's going on? I don't. What happened?"

He couldn't speak right now. Emotions chocked him and it was all he could do to keep from crying with his relief. She was alive. Sakura was here. He hadn't lost her after all.

Sakura felt him shaking and looked at Itachi in confusion.

"You died," he answered.

"I..." Memory returned slowly. Danzo and the brief flash of vision before the attack. She'd taken the hit for Sasuke. "That's right."

"You idiot," Sasuke managed now as anger filled him. He pulled back to glare at her. His mangekyo sharingan still active. "You little fool. Why would you do that? You..."

Sakura's eyes narrowed in irritation. "Because I love you, moron," she snapped back. She was tempted to hit him for all of that. "I need you. No one is going to hurt you when I can stop them." She crossed her arms over her chest and humphed at him. "Though I'm starting to question my tastes. Maybe a simple thank you for saving my life, Sasuke."

Anger faded as humor filled him. She was as temperamental as ever. Sasuke smirked at her. "Don't worry, Sakura. I'll be spending the rest of our lives making sure you know just how grateful to you I am."

Something about his tone and the look in his eyes made her blush.

Sasuke turned back to Itachi. "One thing though. She was dead."

"I know," Itachi responded. His sharingan scanned the area around them. "Others seem to be experiencing this as well. I see others who were dead coming back."

"But how?"

The older Uchiha considered everything around them then sighed. "Pain. The final Pain can use a jutsu that does this. However, the cost is high. I don't know that he would do this for anyone."

"Naruto," Sakura put in. "He has a way of bringing people to his way of thinking without even trying. I don't know that I can explain it."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "There's just something about him." He winced as his body reminded him he'd been in a rather vicious fight a moment ago. "We need to find him."

"Let me tend to your wounds first." Sakura ordered both Uchihas to sit as she got to work. After she finished, Sasuke still needed support to move well as his chakra supply was nearly dried up. Sakura supported him as they made their way through the village to find Naruto.

They'd just reached the gates when they saw Kakashi carrying him. The entire village was there, cheering for him. Sasuke and Sakura smiled. It would seem the village was finally seeing what they had seen in Naruto. He'd dine what he said he'd do. Everyone accepted him at last. Hinata ran forward and threw her arms around him.

"They see you now, Idiot," Sasuke said quietly, watching his best friend looked at everyone in shock.

Things moved quickly after that. The injured, including Itachi, were taken to the infirmary. It seemed Katsuya had one of her slug clones tell Tsunade about what Danzo had done. As a result, Tsunade had granted Itachi a full pardon. His status as a jonin of the Leaf Village was reestablished and the villagers welcomed him back. The village would have to rebuilt. Suna agreed to help as Konoha had helped them after the attack on their village. To their surprise, Raikage of the Hidden Cloud sent some people to help as well, including Killer B. The jinchuriki of the eight tails had become close friends with his two fellow jinchuriki during their training together and wouldn't sit by when they needed help.

Sasuke learned that Jaraiya and Tsunade had managed to defeat the true leader of the Akatsuki. Each Pain was defeated by others with Naruto finishing off the last one. Naruto told his team what had happened during that final meeting between him and the final Pain whose real name had been Nagato. It would seem, the worst was over. The end of the enemies who had brought so much pain wherever they went.

"So it's over," Sasuke said as he looked out over the village. He and Naruto were standing on the top of the Hokage monument, watching the work below. "My clan has been avenged and the Akatsuki are no longer a threat to you.

Naruto nodded. "It's over. Which means, there's a new beginning. We'll build and make things better for everyone."

"Where do you want to start?"

The jinchuriki looked at Sasuke in surprise. "You're following me?"

"Naruto, you're an idiot if you think I want to be in charge. On missions, sure. But not of the entire village. That would be a headache and you can have it." Sasuke crossed his arms to smirk at Naruto. "Besides, you're the one that wants to be Hokage. My goal is finished."

"Not both of them," Naruto reminded him. "Still have one more."

"Yeah and I'll get to that one eventually." Sasuke looked back at the village below. "So, where do you want to start."

"I'm not the hokage yet, Sasuke."

"No, but I follow you."

Naruto grinned. "We'll just rebuild the village first. Besides, I have some personal things that need to have my attention before I worry about everything else. Hinata deserves that from me right now since she's been watching over me for years."

"Alright then. Let's go help with the repairs."

Everyone was working on that. Pain may have brought everyone who'd been killed that day back to life, but he hadn't undone the destruction. It actually worked out for the best as it gave everyone a chance to regroup from the battle. Naruto used the time to work on the budding relationship between him and Hinata. He wanted to make sure he did right by her and Sasuke knew his teammate was rapidly falling in love with the Hyuga.

They weren't the only ones two start building something together after the attack. There was nothing like a life threatening situation to bring others together. Temari, who'd been deathly afraid when she heard about the attack, had hovered and berated Shikamaru as he recovered. Shikamaru took it all in stride and with frequent tired sighs. Still, when Temari wasn't looking, others would see the amused smile on his face. Tenten and Neji had come to an understanding as well, though there's was a quiet one. Neji wasn't one for public displays of anything like Naruto or Temari and Tenten respected this. Gaara had asked Rei to marry him, which she enthusiastically agreed.

Sasuke would hear the comments when others thought he wasn't listening about how he and Sakura were the only ones left. It annoyed him since he was doing it on purpose. Sakura was very busy with the aftermath of the attack. Her medical nin skills were stretched thin every day as she did her best to help everyone recover as much as possible. He didn't want to add more to her plate until after she had a chance to breathe.

Days turned to weeks as things finally began to settle down in the village. Sasuke spent most of his time helping with repairs, though he always made sure to be there when Sakura was going home to walk her. It was on one of those walks that Sasuke decided he'd stalled long enough. Mostly because Naruto had yelled at him for it that morning.

"What do you mean you're waiting for her to have more time? Sasuke, you idiot, grow a pair and talk to her," Naruto ordered in his usual loud fashion. "You're just stalling."

Sasuke hated to admit it, but his friend was right. He led Sakura to a bench and sat with her. She knew something was one his mind and watched him curiously. Sasuke looked down then sighed. "Sakura, I...there are a lot of things I need to tell you."

"Okay," she said slowly, unsure of what to make of his strange mood. Even powers of precognition weren't helping her with the maze that was Sasuke's feelings.

"First, thank you for saving me."

"Sasuke, I would never have let anyone kill you, let alone a shinobi from our village," she said, waving that off.

"Not that. I still think that was the dumbest thing you'd ever done. " He glared at her as renewed anger filled him. He still got furious when he thought of how she'd put herself in danger for him. She was far more important to the world than he was. Pushing that aside, he continued. "You saved me long before that. And I'm not talking about my life. You saved me from myself."

"Sasuke..."

"No, let me finish." He rested his arms on his knees and looked at the ground. It was hard for him to share his thoughts and feeling. Especially the most important ones. But, she deserved to hear everything. When he thought he'd lost her, it was the one thing he regretted most. He hadn't told her. "We became a team thanks to you. When you had your visions of my future and became so determined to stop them, you saved me from my own rage and pain. For that, I can never thank you enough."

"Sasuke, you don't have to. We're a team. You'd save me too if the roles were reversed."

"Yes, I would." Sasuke looked up at her now. This was the hardest part for him. Unlike Naruto, he never had the right words. He knew what they were in this case, but for him they were hard to say. He wasn't even sure why they were. Maybe because they made him vulnerable. "But, Sakura, it isn't just because we're a team. I...Gaara described it once. The three of us, Naruto, Gaara, and me, had all been lost in the dark. Naruto clawed his way out because he refused to stay down. Gaara and me didn't want to be saved. We liked it in the dark just fine. For Gaara, Rei came and gave him a small beacon to guide him out with gentle tugs and firm devotion. But for me, it was you. You were my lifeline to the light again. So, it's more than being a team. I need you more than I need to breathe or fight or live."

As he spoke, Sakura's eyes began to grow wide. She was afraid to think she knew what he was trying to say. What if she was wrong? What if she was right?

Sasuke drew in a breath and cursed himself. Why was this so hard? It wasn't like he didn't know how she felt, damn it. He raked a frustrated hand through his hair. "Look, I'm not good at this. Naruto is the one with all the right words. I never seem to have them."

Sakura smiled and hugged him tight. "You don't need them. I know." She felt his arms come around her. "I love you too, Sasuke."

He relaxed. She always seemed to understand. Now they really could move on with their lives. He found Naruto was right again. The attack had been the end, but only of one chapter. This was the beginning of a new one.

That's it. The end. Over. finished. It took a while, but I did it. And now I'm kind of sad that it is finished. Oh, well. On to the next then. I hope you enjoyed Visions of the Future, and thanks for reading.