EPILOGUE

Seven years later

As Tobirama sped across the shadowy forests that never seems to be absent in his darkest of moments, he thought back to that day. Still, it rang with a clarity that pulled him away from the present. The mountain top and Sayuri. Her soft voice, her worried eyes. The kiss.

He missed those days so much it physically hurt. It ached. He wanted no more than to go back seven years and not only kiss Sayuri but say that he loved her, that no matter what happened he would still love her. The next seven years leading to his race away from the shinobi that wanted him dead and the shinobi he fought to protect will be contrary to what he wanted to say to her, but it was still true. Even after the hardships and the months they ignored each other out of anger and frustration, both the violent affection and patient tenderness remained. It was the words that were gone.

I love you, he wanted to say, but he was whispering it to winds and trees. He should have said it back then. No, not just then. He should have said it four years ago. Four years, when Sayuri was still kind and thoughtful and hopeful. When Misama trusted him. When Sasuke respected him. When Tomoyouki agreed with him. When Mito believed in him. But things had changed, and now...

It was the First Shinobi War, and his death was fast approaching. Tobirama knew that much too well.

His eyes strained to see light. He could hear them following him. He could sense their chakras, bloated and bursting with potential, readying for techniques that may kill him at last. He could hear trees collapsing for away, and explosives going off. In a distance: terror and screaming. But the sounds were fading and he was leaving that area — and bringing it towards him. Death and war, they will follow him out of Konoha's border.

And the only thing he clung onto was Sayuri. He needed to come back to her after the war. He swore to himself that no matter the result, he would end his reign. He would begin anew with her. With Sayuri.

But first he needed to survive; then he needed to apologize, and he needed to say that he loved her.

Author's Note

I am sorry. I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry. But life has been busy so I am 100% sure I won't be able to write the Reign. Senior year is more stressful than I thought, and unless I find time during university next year (which I doubt I will), The Reign will not be happening.

Thank you so much for all the lovely readers who had read The Origins despite its many flaws — both technical grammatical errors and plot holes/circling/general feeling of it being dragged on — and I've never had a story with such overwhelmingly good feedback. By good, I don't mean praise. I mean constructive criticism, and people telling me what they honestly think about the story.

Before you comment, please keep in mind that I do consider fanfiction as a side hobby and I do it because I want to, and because I had the time to. Now, I simply don't. However I don't want to completely dismiss the fact that readers had been so kind and I don't think it's fair to not only end The Origins abruptly, but not end the story of Tobirama as I had intended to from the start. So if you have any questions, any at all, about what I had thought I would be writing in The Reign, just send me a message and I will answer it all! So plotlines would be given away, end results, etc.

Before I finished The Origins, I also worked on a timeline that would be a close to canon as possible to Naruto. I thought it was pretty neat. It's far from perfect, but it gives the general details (give or take a few years on dates) about The Origins as it corresponds to Naruto. It reveals the deaths of the characters in The Origins which would have been shown in The Reign, as well as the entire Naruto plot up to Itachi's death.Why I stopped there, I don't know. Maybe because personally I view that as the last significant death. But it will spoil everything about The Origins and I'm sure readers can figure out what had happened based on the timeline alone :) Because FF doesn't allow external links, it will be on my profile.

Quick note: I do not plan to put The Reign "up for adoption", despite the fact that I will be giving plot details away. Should I find someone beginning a story based on it, I will be deeply upset because I will feel like it's a stolen idea but because FF isn't a top priority, I probably wouldn't notice.

So yes. Inbox is open, as always, to any questions.

I apologize once again, and I hope you all understand. May everyone find a story that suits them ~

Cheers,

GuiltyInk