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It is said that in times of disorder,
the one who wields the Rinnegan is sent down from the heavens to become
either a ‘God of Creation’ who will calm the world
or a ‘God of Destruction’ who will reduce everything to nothingness.
It looked real, that was for sure.
The blond hair was the perfect shade under the blood, the tan skin ghostly and the face smashed in. His right arm was ripped off as well, leaving gore of bone and muscle tissue behind.
“Don’t fuck with me, Sakura,“ Sasuke stated icily.
“I’m not,“ she sniffled.
His Sharingan activated to look over the body, looking for flaws, looking for anything that was out of place, anything that confirmed the opposite of what he saw.
But it was Naruto, truly him.
A once beautiful sun extinguished to ashes, the shinobi’s greatest hope dying out like a falling star, forever dark, never illuminating them in the warmth ever again.
A hysterical laugh bursted out of him, shaking his body in a sudden fit of anguish and madness. “Are you kidding me?“
“I’m not,“ she pressed out through the tears, “we got attacked and—“
“—and he died protecting your sorry asses?“
Sakura flinched at his exploding voice.
“Look, I’ll back, bastard, just keep an eye on the camp, okay?“ Naruto smiled softly at him, before snorting loudly. “And promise me, don’t kill anyone!“
“And for what?“ He breathed out quietly and calmly pulled his sword from the shed. “For a useless kunoichi, who couldn’t save the only person worth saving, and a bunch of wanna-be ninjas who can’t even throw a kunai?“
“Sasuke-kun—“
“Shut up.“
Sakura’s mouth closed with an audible clatter of her teeth.
He wanted to pull them out.
Painfully.
One by one.
The blade dragged across the dirt, past Naruto’s mangled corpse, trembling in his hand with underlining rage.
His innards were being replaced by a black hole. The nausea crept up from his abdomen to his head, blurring everything except the washed out sun in front of him.
He always wanted to kill Naruto.
But that was back then.
It was different now.
The tears came unexpectedly, the maniacal laugh less so.
He couldn’t hear the voices over his pounding head, the tears hot on his face. His finger nails scratched down his face, he felt the tears mixing with the wounds, burning with acid.
“It’s always the same,“ he said ludicrous and pulled his bloodied hand down with a breathless exhale. “It’s always selfish shinobi taking everything from me.“
“Please, Sasuke-kun—“
“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shutupshutupshutup—“
The sword moved itself, spilling blood and dropping corpses for his most precious person to join. Falling to pieces one by one, horrifying screams stretching over their camp, dying out, till he was the last one standing in a red lake of loneliness, embraced in eternal solitude.
Just like always, Uchiha’s most loyal company were the dead.
-
The idea came to him in the middle of a suicide mission against Kaguya.
A mother of the world left behind by her sons, by her clan, by the world. Surrounded by thick darkness, no chance of light to gaps her ever again, alone for eternity, a mighty temptation with the Byakugan and Rinne Sharingan. With the greatest potential to take over the world, and every world beyond.
In the end, the Rinnegan was the answer to everything.
The power of the space-time ninjutsu couldn’t possible deny him another Uzumaki Naruto.
-
Another portal closed behind him.
Naruto blinked surprised, blond eyelashes fluttering in slow motion at his appearance, and frowning in a boyish youth, glowing like the strongest sun in the universe once again.
“I looked everywhere for you, Naruto.“
“Sasuke?“
“I’m back, idiot.“
“Back?“ He choked out overwhelmed. “You’re really back?“
“I’ll always come back to you.“
Tears welled up in the blue eyes, glistering in happiness, and Sasuke lifted his arms without a thought. He barely managed a step forward, before Naruto ran into him, warm arms encircling him with a loud sniff.
Naruto’s body was warm, completely different to the hard, cold body he clung to days ago in agony, and he pressed him closer and pushed his nose in the crook of the throat with a deep breath.
No smell of decay or blood on his skin, just the beautiful ray of sunshine he always meant to be.
“You really killed him, huh?“ Naruto asked broken and tightened his grip.
Sasuke tried to remember who he killed, he killed so many but—
He remembered himself, angry and lost.
“My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things, and I don’t particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I’m going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone.“
“I did.“
Naruto didn’t know about all the blood clinging to his soul. And he didn’t need to either. He should stay pure and naive.
“I’m sorry,“ he sniffed loudly, “I can’t—“
“It doesn’t matter,“ he said truthfully and buried his left hand in the blond mane. It wasn’t matted with blood and caked in dirt anymore. The sweat clung to the tips, sticking to the tan skin, and Sasuke only realized now that he was taller than his friend.
Sasuke looked over Naruto’s clothes. Still dressed in an ugly orange, but the shoulders and zipper dipped in darkness. The clothes still looked new, barely a stitch to the seams.
“How old are you, Naruto?“
“How old I am?“ He echoed ridiculous and stiffened, before leaning back and wiping the tears away. “Did you fall on your head, bastard? What’s going on?“
“Just answer me.“
“I’m sixteen. Just as you are.“
“I’m eighteen,“ he confessed fascinated and loosened his grip on the hair to cup the cheek tenderly.
“You—“ Naruto spluttered bewildered. “What the heck are you talking about, Sasuke? I literally saw you weeks ago—“
Sasuke activated his Sharingan and looked into the deep blue eyes, disappearing into memories of their past. The same cruel past, but also different. The other Sasuke still on the path of vengeance and unbeknownst of the gem his Naruto was, clad in red clouds and running, never stopping running after everything.
Naruto blinked stunned and shook his head. “What—?“
An exhausted cough erupted from Sasuke’s chest, the chakra exhaustion of traveling multiply dimension and using the Sharingan taking it’s tool, and bringing him to his knees.
Naruto caught him by the shoulders and held him up. “Fuck,“ he cursed loudly, “okay, we got this, okay… Tell me what’s going on, I’ll see what I can do. Maybe Sakura-chan can heal you or—“
Sasuke cupped Naruto’s face with a crazed smirk. “I killed her.“ He barked out a laugh. “Can you believe it? I killed her.“
Naruto blanched to a deathly white, almost resembling the corpse the Uchiha left behind, and he roughly grabbed the blond mane to hold into. “And I’m here to protect you from the world. I can’t loose you, Naruto. I already did once, and it didn’t end well for everyone involved.“
Concerned blue eyes flickered across his wounded face and stopped at the mismatched eyes. “How did you get a Rinnegan, Sasuke?“ He asked serious.
“The sage of the six paths gifted it to me.“
“The what?“
Sasuke almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. “It doesn’t matter, idiot. Let’s leave.“
“Leave?“ He echoed. “What do you mean ‘leave‘? I just can’t leave, bastard. Are you stupid?“
Abruptly, he pulled him closer by the hair with a scowl. “It’s because of your so-called-friends you died.“
Naruto grabbed his wrist in a painful grip. “Sasuke, I don’t know what you’re talking about: I’m not dead.“
“Not yet.“
He frowned confused. “What does it matter to you? Don’t you want me dead?“
The memory of his corpse flashed before his eyes, opportunities lost forever, and he violently pushed their lips together in a kiss, devouring the shocked cry and chakra radiating from the body.
The demon fox was the first to recognize the chakra depletion, growling loudly into Sasuke’s mind, but he had enough chakra for one last trip. He jumped into the mind space, painfully activating his Rinnegan and Sharingan, and subduing the beast that would have been a friend for his lovers and laying it to rest for while.
He broke the kiss with a painful grunt and stared at the dazed blue eyes.
“Quite the opposite, idiot,“ he corrected firmly, “I’d rather live with you forever.“
Naruto reddened to the loviest shade of red, spluttering incoherently, before the power of the Rinnegan overwhelmed him and he collapsed like a puppet with it’s string cut.
And Sasuke embraced the warm body, forever protected in his strong arms—
— away from the troubles of the world.
— away from rising threats.
— away from their inevitable death.
— away from the end of the world.
Certainly, their long journey can not be over yet.
Sasuke will make sure of it.
His world can not survive without the sun.