As the moon slowly began to eclipse the sun, Sasuke stood at the very center of the Valley of End, processing what had just happened.
Too scared to look at what he had done, he focused on Naruto's eyes. His bright, kind, too-forgiving eyes.
This was not supposed to happen.
It was only an hour ago that Naruto and Sasuke had stood across from each other, declaring the final battle between the two. After an epic showdown showcasing Naruto and Sasuke's new and enhanced abilities, the two overpowered shinobi had managed to completely destroy the place.
After using up all their chakra, the two then resorted to basic hand-to-hand combat, until they both decided to finish the fight with their respective final moves: the Rasengan and Chidori.
Except, Naruto couldn't do it. Sasuke was not exactly sure what had happened, but Naruto's Rasengan disappeared right before it could touch Sasuke's Chidori.
Now, continuing to stare at the blonde, Sasuke mustered enough courage to look down at the damage he had done. Naruto mirrors his movement, doing the same. As they both looked down, Sasuke felt his heart drop.
Without Naruto's Rasengan to counter it, Sasuke's Chidori had done its job, leaving Sasuke's left hand impaled through Naruto's chest and back.
Neither Sasuke nor Naruto have moved from that position for the past three minutes. Partly from shock, and partly because Sasuke was afraid of what would happen if he removed his hand.
Deactivating his Sharingan, Sasuke maintained eye contact with Naruto, trying not to notice the blood pooling from his mouth.
Say something...idiot.
As if he read his mind, Sasuke suddenly heard a chuckle/cough exit Naruto's lips.
"Well..."
Sasuke held his breath, holding on to every raspy word the blonde uttered.
"You...won again...Sasuke," Naruto quietly said with a smile.
A lump formed in Sasuke's throat. This was not what Sasuke expected, nor wanted.
"No...it wasn't...it wasn't supposed to be like this," Sasuke whispered, heartbroken.
He mostly wanted to fight Naruto to show that the time he spent away from Konoha was not in vain. He did feel that killing Naruto was necessary to achieve his goal...but as they exchanged blows, Sasuke slowly became doubtful. Was this goal even worth it?
"This wasn't supposed to happen!" He repeated louder.
Naruto stayed silent.
Sasuke knew Naruto had become stronger than him. He knew Naruto could've killed him if he really wanted to. Which is why Sasuke was confused. Did he miscalculate? Did he take too much of an advantage out of the fact that Naruto was holding back? Had he become too cocky? Is he more powerful than Naruto after all?
His mind went back to Naruto's Rasengan suddenly deactivating.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
No.
"Naruto..." Sasuke whispered.
Naruto's eyes fixated on Sasuke's, awaiting a response. Sasuke did his best to swallow the lump in his throat. He did not want to ask this, especially since he was afraid he already knew the answer, but he needed to know.
"Did you...stop your Rasengan on purpose?"
He shamefully looked away from the blonde, too pained to even see his face react to the question.
Naruto slowly picked up his left hand and held on to Sasuke's shoulder for support. However, Sasuke was unsure of whose support it was for.
"I..." Naruto began to croak out. "I was...tired."
An unexpected amount of anger boiled within the raven.
"Bullshit! You have more chakra than me!" Sasuke shouted, louder than expected.
Naruto smiled and slowly shook his head.
"I was tired...of fighting."
They both dropped to their knees on the wet ground below them, with Sasuke's hand still impaled through Naruto. Unable to support himself, Naruto's body leaned forward onto Sasuke's, with his chin now resting on Sasuke's right shoulder. From a distance, it would have looked like they were hugging.
Oh, how Sasuke wished that were the case.
Naruto grunted in pain from the sudden movement and paused for a moment before continuing to speak. Sasuke, who is no longer able to make eye contact with Naruto due to their position, felt his skin crawl as Naruto's voice was now closer to his ear.
"I...I realized you...were right, Sasuke. Th-there was no way this fight...would end with both of us...alive. We both went into this fight...knowing that one of us...would...die tonight," his voice struggled.
Sasuke's eyes stung. "So you decided to choose yourself?"
Naruto coughed, as Sasuke felt some blood land on his back.
"You...you know more than anyone...I can't kill you and live with myself afterwards...Sasuke."
Sasuke felt the growing anger bloom from within him. He was furious, even. At Konoha. At Itachi. At Naruto. And most of all, at himself.
What was he doing? Did he really believe he could just rule the world with hatred and expect people to unite because of that? Did he really think that this twisted goal was more important than the only person left in the world that truly understood and cared for him?
"What...have I done..." Sasuke whispered, finally allowing the tears to spill out of his eyes.
Naruto slowly lifted his arms again and weakly hugged Sasuke. One hand was on Sasuke's back, while the other hand firmly supported the back of Sasuke's head.
Sasuke's anger slowly went away, but it was replaced with an even worse feeling. It was more than just guilt, or sadness...it was...disgust. He was disgusted with himself and how he handled things. He was disgusted with how he was a reckless monster that destroyed everything in his path, and how Naruto always had to clean up after his mess with no complaints. Hell, Naruto is the one dying right now, and here is Sasuke being comforted by the very person he did this to.
"I ch-chose to do...this. This is...on m-me," Naruto said. His voice had noticeably become more and more choppy, slow, and slurred.
This only made Sasuke's anger return. Why did this idiotic blonde feel the need to put the entire weight of the world on his shoulders? Why couldn't he just be selfish for once?
"No...you always go so far for me...if you had just left me alone, or even just killed me, this would not have happened!"
"I...told you, I...can't--"
"What happened to being Hokage, huh?! You're really throwing everything away just for--" Sasuke paused for a moment, as the feelings of self-disgust began to replace his anger again. His angry shouts were replaced with a lower, shameful tone. "For someone as...worthless as me?"
Naruto clutched Sasuke's back.
"There's...no point...in being H-Hokage if...I can't even save...a fr--"
"You said that before..." Sasuke whispered, trying to blink away the tears that continued to form. "...but how have I been...a friend to you?"
Naruto paused for a moment. The hand that was clutching Sasuke had noticeably become limper, but Naruto continued to clutch on, as he was not ready to leave this world quite yet.
"Just by...existing. You...you complete me...Sasuke. You're my....my moon..."
His moon.
Naruto was the person everyone thought of as the purest thing known to man. And Sasuke was his moon?
Which made Naruto...the sun. But not just any sun. Sasuke's sun. If Sasuke is the moon, then Naruto is the sun that emitted the radiance needed for the moon to glow.
As much as Naruto believed the moon completed the sun, it was actually the other way around. The sun completed the moon. But the more Sasuke considered whether they completed each other, the more he pondered whether it was possible for both statements to coexist.
And as the sun (Naruto)'s natural warmth began to slowly disappear, Sasuke realized how much Naruto really did complete him. And how he ruined it by trying to eclipse the only light he had in his life.
"You were my...my sun. And I blocked your light, as if I thought I could--"
Naruto coughed, as Sasuke felt more blood exit Naruto's throat.
Sasuke's heart dropped again as he felt Naruto's body temperature slowly drop as the time passed. If it was any other person, they would have already been dead by now. But due to Naruto's extended amounts of chakra, he is able to hold on to life for just a bit longer.
"H-how much longer do you have?" Sasuke painfully croaked out.
"Kurama...said around...seven m-minutes..."
A solar eclipse only lasted seven minutes, but during that process, the world would get cold...and dark. Sasuke, who had the privilege of being Naruto's moon, abused his privilege by doing just that. And it was not until during that eclipse that Sasuke realized those seven minutes of coldness and darkness were not worth it. In fact, he would do anything to reverse those seven minutes. Anything to keep the sun shining again.
Sasuke used his right hand (the one that wasn't currently through Naruto's chest) and reflexively supported the back of Naruto's head in an attempt to hug back.
He began to sob out loud, knowing that Naruto – the light of his life – would be free from Sasuke's eclipse in just seven minutes. Afterwards, he would shine again, except it would be in his next life.
"Naruto...I'm so sorry," he choked between his tears. "I have been so...selfish."
"No..." Naruto coughed again. "I'm...s-sorry..." he slurred.
Sasuke wanted to shout at Naruto for even remotely thinking he had anything to apologize for – but instead, he allowed Naruto to continue. He needed every second he could get to hear Naruto's voice until he no longer could.
"...I p-promised I would shoulder the burden of your...your hatred and d-die with you..."
He paused to take a breath.
"...Sasuke...can I...can I still take your...hatred with me?"
Sasuke's eyes were completely run dry of tears. Even with this idiot minutes away from death, he still wanted to help Sasuke.
"Naruto..."
Sasuke did contemplate it. He wanted to right all of his wrongs and start over. Live the life Naruto wanted him to live. But no matter how he spun it, there would be no turning back from this. He will forever be the man who killed Naruto Uzumaki. And while he didn't care if others forgave him, he knew he would never forgive himself. Without Naruto, there would be no light left in Sasuke's world.
The moon needed the sun, for without it only darkness would prevail. And if Sasuke only had darkness – and he hated to admit this – he was afraid of what he would do.
"...Why? Why bring my darkness with you, when you could leave this world peacefully?"
Naruto paused again for a moment.
"The sun...cannot shine...without darkness."
Sasuke's eyes widened at the response. Could it be possible then...that the sun needed the moon as much as the moon needed the sun? Was it true that both statements could coexist, after all? No – not just coexist, but directly balance each other out, as one is not possible without the other?
As much as Naruto was the much-needed light in Sasuke's world – was Sasuke the darkness needed for Naruto's world?
That was when Sasuke had an idea. And as he continued to ponder the idea, he became more and more convinced that it was the only option left.
"...let's go together. We can leave my hatred behind and let's start over again."
Naruto lightly chuckled/coughed. "Trying to...t-take the easy way out...h-huh?"
Sasuke felt embarrassed. He was not trying to take the easy way out, although he could see how it seemed that way. But he genuinely could not find a sole purpose to live besides Naruto. He cut off every one of his connections and bonds in this world. Naruto was his light. His person. His home.
"The moon can not glow without the sun's light," Sasuke whispered.
Naruto remained quiet for a while. Sasuke focused on the blonde's irregular breathing as he awaited a response.
Finally, Naruto let out a cough.
"T-there's...no changing your mind...is th-there?"
"Well, you haven't exactly had good luck of doing that in the past."
This earned a soft and weak chuckle out of the blonde.
"Y-you...bastard. All this...j-just for you to..." Naruto mumbled jokingly.
Sasuke chuckled as well, amused by the irony of the situation. He really was a bastard. A selfish one, at that. But if this made him selfish, so be it.
After all, taking Sasuke's hatred with him will only eclipse the sun again in his next life. And Sasuke would (literally) die before letting that happen again.
Sasuke slowly removed his left hand from Naruto's chest and gently laid him on the wet stone ground. He laid down next to the blonde, who had become extremely pale.
Sasuke recalled what Naruto had told him at the five-kage summit.
"In the next life, you won't be an Uchiha...and I won't be the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi and maybe, we'll finally be able to understand each other."
Sasuke turned to face Naruto.
"Do you...do you think we'll be okay in our next life?"
Naruto turned to face Sasuke as well. Even seconds away from death, his eyes were still as blue as ever.
"I...know we will."
Sasuke smiled. A genuine smile, that reflected a genuine happiness he hadn't felt since he left Konoha – no...since he left Naruto. His real home. And now that he was here, lying next to this pure human form of the sun itself, Sasuke knew he was back home. And he knew – by grace of God (or whatever higher power existed) – that he will somehow find his home – Naruto – in his next life too. Just by being secure in that thought, a single tear of happiness left Sasuke's eye.
Naruto, who had been deeply mesmerized by Sasuke's onyx eyes, widened his own eyes after witnessing this. At that moment, he knew that the Sasuke he knew and loved had returned – and in response, a tear had left Naruto's eye as well.
Sasuke gazed upon Naruto once more, taking in the sight of the beautiful blonde before they left this world together.
"I'm sorry I ruined your birthday," Sasuke said, feeling another pang of guilt.
Naruto smiled one last time. "Are...you...kidding? I got to s-spend it with my...best friend. Best...birthday...ever."
Naruto reached out a hand, which Sasuke gladly held with his own hand. They were not just the sun and moon. They were soulmates. They had a connection that even death could not break.
"Thank you...Sasuke."
Naruto uttered these last words before finally leaving the world with a smile on his face. Although his tight grip on Sasuke's hand remained, Naruto had exhaled his last breath with a smile on his face. He was at peace.
Sasuke felt a sudden warmth radiate from Naruto as the blonde left this world. The solar eclipse had ended. Naruto – Sasuke's beloved sun – is now shining again in his next life.
And Sasuke will be joining him soon. He smiled, feeling at peace as well.
"No...thank you," he said.
Refusing to let go of Naruto's hand, Sasuke used his other hand to activate a Chidori. He took a deep breath before aiming it at his own chest.
As the pain slowly receded and Sasuke neared death himself, he turned to Naruto's body.
He made a promise to himself in the next life, that as Naruto's moon, he would never try to eclipse the sun again.
Continuing to hold Naruto's hand as his soul awaited the arrival to his next life, Sasuke smiled one last time as his vision slowly faded to black.
"I'll see you soon...usuratonkachi..."