A/N: Here's the Epilogue, as promised. Brace yourself. :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Amnesia

Summary: Sakura has lost all of her memory when she came back on a mission brutally injured. Naruto sees this as a new opportunity to make her fall in love with him. Sasuke sees this as an opportunity to make her remember that she loved him. NaruSakuSasu

EPILOGUE

"What information do we have so far?"

"Pein has multiple bodies, and the Rain Country worships him like a God. But no one knows what he looks like or where he stays."

"Is that all?"

"He's the head of Akatsuki, too."

A scoff. "In six months that's all we can come up with?"

A growl in return. "It's not easy! Since no one knows a thing about him, it's like we're tracking a ghost!"

"Keep your voice down."

Naruto and Sasuke were placed at ordinary pub, sitting on barstools. Both were hunched over, their voices so quiet it looked as though they were mouthing words to each other. However, to the two's shinobi-trained ears, they could hear each other fine.

Just then the pair felt a sharp object against their sides, but in a discreet fashion. Mutually they looked to their right, seeing two unknown men beside them.

"Can I help you?" questioned Naruto, remaining calm and collected.

"Who are you working for?" came the gruff voice of one of the threatening men. They wore a large black cloak with hoods concealing their identities.

"None of your business," Sasuke snapped back.

Consequently, they felt the sharp objects press deeper against their flesh.

Naruto ground his teeth against one another, keeping his growing temper down. "Fellas, let's not take drastic measures now." Cerulean eyes glanced around, seeing innocent townsfolk around. "Let's take this outside, eh?"

The assailants glanced at each other, giving a small nod. Because of their hoods, the two ANBU could not see their leering faces.

Inconspicuously, the attackers led Sasuke and Naruto out, making the ninja stay in front of them as they kept their weapons imbedded upon the pairs' skin from behind.

They were led to a nearby clear area with various tall, verdant trees surrounding them.

"Who do you work for?" the threateners asked once more.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," the other added ominously.

"I think I prefer the hard way," Naruto commented, his gaze still ahead of him.

Instantly at the end of the statement, both Sasuke and Naruto simultaneously elbowed the goons. As said people bent down, arms over their injury, the ANBU took out their kunai, holding it against their neck, choking them slightly.

"Did Pein send you?" Sasuke questioned, his kunai tight in his hold. The assailants gagged from their loss of air.

"N-Now!" one choked out.

Just then shinobi (ranging from Jounin to ANBU in skill level) swooped from the air as well as surging from the soil beneath all at once.

Sasuke's and Naruto's eyes grew at the realization that they were being ambushed, instantaneously stabbing their captives and letting their bodies fall to the ground. With furrowed eyebrows, the two looked around the area.

They were surrounded as far as their eyes could see.

The pair went back to back, the Uchiha blinking as Sharingan bled through his pupils whilst Naruto grinned, already summoning some of the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Finally, a work out," he murmured, his foxy grin growing as he cracked his knuckles. Dangerous red chakra began to flow around him. "I've missed this for six months!"

"Aa," the raven-haired ninja's eyes narrowed, but he smirked nevertheless.

"Here we go!" shouted the Kyuubi vessel, leaping simultaneously with the Uchiha prodigy as they held kunai and shuriken tight in their grasp.

Immediately all the shinobi surrounding them reacted, charging at them with weapons in hand as well.

-

Half an hour later…

-

Landing back on the ground, both Naruto and Sasuke panted, trying to keep their fatigue hidden as to try and not let the enemy see their growing weariness. They had killed fifty men (or so) so far, but the endless pools of enemies made it seem as though the fighting was never going to end.

Considering these enemies were no amateurs, both men supported a few heavy wounds. Nevertheless, they continued fighting on, knowing very well if they paused for even a breath they would be killed instantly.

With kunai between his fingers, Sasuke jumped high into the air, unleashing the sharp weapons as they landed expertly in vital points of his enemies in the blink of an eye. He almost laughed bitterly, recalling the technique he had just used as one Itachi had taught him.

Meanwhile Naruto sported kicks and punches faster than the normal eye could see, not to mention moving at speeds no ordinary human could move at.

With one hand palm-faced up, he used his other free hand to position it over the other, moving it rapidly in a ball formation as he grinned.

"Rasengan!" he shouted, running his hand into a few stomachs of his opponents.

Having averted his eyes to Naruto, Sasuke smirked. Forming quick hand seals, he took his sword of Kusanagi, ramming it into a few stomachs of his foes as well.

"Chidori Nagashi," he murmured, sending his sword deeper as he saw the assailants writhe in agony helplessly from the electricity getting shot into their bodies.

Damn it, the Uchiha cursed mentally. I'm running out of chakra. His Sharingan gaze moved over to Naruto, sensing his companion was running low of chakra as well. Upon seeing even more shinobi arrive, he ground his molars against one another. We can't make it. Eyelids hooded over his eyes at the comprehension.

If we keep going, we're going to die.

"Naruto," he called out, and the said boy looked at him as he punched and stabbed an enemy. "Leave—I'll take care of this."

The blond looked at the Uchiha as though he had grown three heads. "Are you crazy?! There's no way in hell I'm leaving you here alone!"

The raven-haired man kicked aside an attacker, rapidly attaching a paper bomb to a kunai as he threw it, the knife going through the man's shirt as it exploded instantly.

"Don't you understand?" Uchiha asked, his frustration with the never-ending battle getting the better of him. "If we keep going like this, we'll die."

Azure eyes grew in understanding, knowing that his chakra wasn't going to last much longer and Taijutsu would not be a wise action in the current battle they were in.

Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu! thought Sasuke in his mind, his hand forming an 'o' shape as he placed it in front of his mouth, burning inferno escaping as it engulfed a dozen or so assailants in flames.

"No, we aren't going to lose!" growled Naruto, ocean blue eyes turning red as he called upon more chakra from the Kyuubi. "Rasengan!"

The Uchiha prodigy moved swiftly, killing an attacker that was sneaking up to Naruto from behind. Kunai raised high in a defensive motion, Sasuke stood back to back with the blond-haired shinobi.

"Don't play the hero!" the former jeered, Sharingan gaze moving as they watched every angle around him. "I'll hold them off while you leave. You have to make it out alive—for Sakura."

Cobalt eyes broadened as his heart dropped in comprehension. Sakura-chan…

"I can't just leave you here!" shouted Naruto in response. "Sakura-chan wanted to see us both come back alive, not just me!"

"…We have no choice."

Stabbing yet another foe, Sasuke watched as they helplessly staggered backwards from the punctured wound. Then he moved, and in a flash he appeared in front of Naruto, pushing the said blond behind him as he quickly killed the foes the Kyuubi vessel had been fighting.

Seeing Naruto not budge, the Uchiha snarled, "Don't be stubborn—leave!"

"But—!"

The blond rapidly took care of a few goons heading towards him, watching Sasuke get stabbed in the back as blood splurged to the ground. The prodigy gritted his teeth, taking out the weapon as he pierced the foe that had wounded him twice as hard in return.

However, despite the injuries hitting Sasuke, the said man still continued to fight, taking out every enemy he saw heading towards Naruto as well.

"Don't be an idiot!" he shouted, blood red Sharingan moving to the back of his head as they locked directly with Naruto's cerulean ones, distinguishing that the latter had still refused to move. With kunai imbedded between his fingers, the Uchiha stabbed each person attacking towards him.

"Go! Or I'll kill you too."

Naruto shut his eyes, turning his head rapidly as he ground each of his molar against one another tightly. His fists clench so tightly as they began to turn pallid. Eyes opening once again, he gave his best friend a longing look.

"You better live, teme."

Sasuke, his sharp hearing perceiving what Naruto had said, gave him a final smirk.

"Take care of her."

His body shaking, Naruto averted his gaze roughly before turning with heavy grief as he sent chakra to his feet, leaping up into the trees.

(SFX: BOOM!)

Upon hearing the explosion, Naruto's eyelids hooded over his eyes, his head lowering in remorse. He knew full well what that explosion had meant, remembering what Kakashi had said.

-

-

-

"Very nice, very nice indeed," came the calm compliment from Kakashi as he held an unlit paper bomb between his fingers. He twisted the object back and forth between his fingers, fiddling with it. "It's a very impressive invention, Sasuke."

"Hah, seriously! With the range that thing can explode, it's like a tiny atom bomb!" Naruto commented, grinning as he gave his best friend a pat on the back.

"Aa," Sasuke replied coolly, his hands stuffed in his pockets casually.

Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto were in tiny yet vacant room—enough for three grown men, that is.

"Yes, I'm sure Tsunade-sama will have a use for this," the silver-haired jounin added. Then his only visible coal eye grew grave serious. "You do know that this will only be used an emergency, correct?"

Onyx orbs came to a close. "I know."

"Huh? Why's that?" questioned Naruto.

The ex-ANBU looked at the Uchiha, wondering to see if he was going to respond the blonde's question. Seeing as his mouth remained firm shut, cueing he wasn't going to provide an answer, Kakashi decided to speak for him.

"Because," he continued, cool as ice, "if he uses it, there's zero percent chance he would survive as well."

Seeing Naruto's head cock to the side in confusion, Kakashi decided to elaborate better.

"Think of it like this, Naruto." His gaze lowered, as well as the volume of his voice. He handed Naruto the paper bomb, letting the latter examine the invention at a closer inspection. "You would most likely use this weapon if you were completely surrounded or if you were extremely caught off guard during a deadly ambush."

"And…?" probed the blonde, his gaze squinting as he held the invention closer to his vision.

"If you were to ignite this type of paper bomb, it would be like a suicide bombing."

-

-

-

The sight of the village Konohagakure soon came into view.

From his blinding movement, Naruto could feel his old wounds open up again as blood dripped on the floor ever so slowly, torturing—forcing him to remember the sacrifice he had make with Every. Waking. Step.

For days he had to endure this suffering, being haunted with never-ending nightmares every time he would stop and camp, resting for the night.

Agony plagued his every moment, half-lidded eyes looking at the area ahead of him.

It's all my fault…

One hand gripped the other upper arm in a steel grip hold as he trudged his feet along the ground, dragging his legs to the gates of Konoha. His vision had begun to blur about two days into the trip, but his senses would keep him going.

Feeling a familiar chakra ahead of him, a blur of pink flashed by his vision. He could feel his slowing heartbeat grow slightly, and yet he could feel his heart sink.

How could he deliver such news he had to bear with for days, when not even he could comprehend the reality?

-

Ten minutes ago…

-

Sakura lifted her arm, wiping the sweat off her brow. Another shift over…

She walked over to the sink, turning on the faucets as she cleaned the blood off her fingers. She smiled, having completed another successful surgery.

The well-trained medic nin headed back to her station, beginning to help Ino clean up the remaining scalpels, scissors, etc. from the surgery before the blonde spoke up.

"Sakura, you don't need to help me with this, I've got it—"

Said girl shook her head. "It's fine, Ino. I want to help, anyway."

Ino scoffed, a small smile on her face nonetheless. "Sakura, you've been working really hard for the past few months lately. Just take a break, your shift's over anyway! Go relax, you deserve it most out of everyone here."

"But—"

"Up-pup! No 'buts'!" She gave her pink-haired friend a wide grin. "Now get of here before I kick you out myself, billboard brow."

The kunoichi laughed. "Suit yourself, Ino-pig."

After discarding her clear white lab coat, the Hokage's apprentice headed outwards, going back to her home as she did everyday, her same routine.

As she walked, emerald eyes looked up into the hazy sky. It was around five o' clock or so, and the sun had begun to set slightly, creating a pink, red, orange, and yellow look to the sky. Then, she noticed a flash of yellow from the corner of her eye.

Turning her head, she raised her hand to her heart, feeling its beat race in her chest. Seeing a familiar orange and yellow color among the person, she felt her heart leap into her throat.

Is it… could it be—?!

Sea green eyes broadened widely.

As the person drew closer, happiness soared into her heart. Her instinct knew it was her lover, the very man she had missed immensely every day for the past six months.

Lifting her arm, she waved rapidly as a wide, genuine smile placed on her features.

"Naruto!"

-

-

-

His ears perked slightly at the sound of his name. Lifting his head up slightly, he saw her waving form. Sakura-chan… The pain of his wounds seemed to erase for that moment.

He then lowered his head, silky blonde hair covering his cerulean eyes, ashamed. He knew there was no way he could look her in the eye. At the thought, the stings from his injuries hit him as he grit his teeth against one another, faltering in his step.

"Naruto! I've missed you so much, you have no idea—!" Sakura, upon seeing said boy's body hunch over in agony, immediately raced over to him.

"Naruto?" she whispered, gasping when he saw all the injuries and blood dawning the man. Immense fear entered her mind as she wrapped his arm around her, her hand pressing against his chest as she helped support him up.

Instantaneously she started working her healing chakra, only to realize she had used most of it in the surgery she had performed not to long ago and had hardly any left at all.

"Naruto, what happened?" she asked, sadness in her voice as she began to lead him towards the hospital. Her gaze was on the road ahead of her, only her peripheral vision watching the blond-haired shinobi. Feeling him shake beneath her grasp, a frown marred her pretty face. "Naruto…"

This time, she turned her head to fully look upon him. Jade eyes expanded as she saw silky blonde hair covering his eyes, his teeth gritting roughly as he kept his mouth clenched shut. But what shocked her most was beneath his hair covering his deep ocean eyes—

…were beads of moisture, slipping down his face.

He had finally let out the emotion he had been concealing within him for long, agonizing days.

"You're crying…" Sakura voiced her thoughts aloud, thick lashes lowering.

Finding that she had grown enough chakra to take care of a few injuries, she let the energy flow to her fingers as she did just that. Then she moved in front of him, both her hands cupping his face, stroking it gently.

"Tell me what's wrong," she spoke in susurration, trying to soothe him. "What happened?"

It wasn't until realization dawned her that she noticed Naruto was missing a certain Uchiha alongside him. Her mouth fell open, licking her lips as her neck craned while she looked around almost desperately, frantically.

"Wha… where's Sasuke?"

At the mention of the name, she could see Naruto's fist clench inexplicably tight, his teeth only grounding against one another even harder.

She felt her heartbeat quicken, but this time out of fear. Everything was starting to make sense. Naruto's tears (something she had rarely seen him do), his serious yet many injuries, the lack of the Uchiha.

"Naruto… tell me—where's Sasuke?"

"I—I didn't… I couldn't—" he was choking on his silent sobs. "We were… I had no fucking choice…!" Feeling a sudden lack of support from Sakura, he dropped on his calves, eyes shutting tight as the moisture flowing down his face had begun to stop. "He—he was being so goddamn stubborn!"

He turned his head to the side, not being able to look up at Sakura's expression, disgraced.

"So, he's…" she started, her voice in a dead calm whisper. Naruto heard her body plop to the ground as she fell on her shins as well.

(Drip, drip, drip)

Slowly, tears slipped down her face, onto the cold ground. Her palms pressed on the floor, her arms shaking heavily. Six months without the man she loved and the man whom she'd grown up with, whom she'd grown attached to—all of Team Kakashi's memories were flashing before her eyes.

She took slow, shaky breaths. "Did he… was he in pain, when he…?"

Naruto opened his eyes, but they were still half-lidded.

(SFX: BOOM!)

The sound of the explosion echoed within his ears from the memory.

"…No." He inhaled, then exhaled. "He wasn't in pain."

Forcing himself to finally look at her, he saw her hands weave themselves in her hair.

She was growing frantic.

After all, men and women are two different creatures, each with their own way of expressing their emotions.

To appease her, he wrapped his arms securely around her, his hand at the back of her head as it coaxed her to lean against his shoulder. He kept his hold tight as he began to feel her struggle against him roughly.

"No, no, no!" she whispered, her voice hoarse. "You two were supposed to come back together—alive together!" Her struggling coming to a cease, she wept as she clung to him tightly. "You promised me… you promised!"

Naruto pressed Sakura to him harder.

"Take care of her."

Biting his lip harshly, he buried his face in her distinct pastel pink hair. His teeth sunk into his mouth, so hard blood seeped out from a tiny cut. The taste of metal entered his mouth.

"Always keeping my promises, that's my ninja way!"

A/N: Whoa-ho-ho, I warned you, didn't I? I know none of you expected this.

Just to make it clear, I don't want Naruto to seem like a jerk because he left Sasuke. I'm not sure how to exactly explain this, but Naruto knew that Sasuke wanted Sakura's happiness as much as he did, even if it was at the cost of Sasuke's life. Does that make sense?

And as for the ending, well, I didn't really know where else to go from there. Just picture that Naruto and Sakura will, in a way, live "happily ever after" even though Naruto misses his best friend/rival and Sakura misses the boy whom she'd grown up with.

Heh, such a sad official final chapter.

Officially, thank you ALL for taking the time to read this. I know my writing style was really bad in the first few 4 or 10 chapters or something (I'm not sure, I don't really keep track :P), but for still reading on anyway. Hey, I improved, right? Hahaha.

So, this time for the Real Final Time, read and review!