Chapter 45: The End of War

~ Sasuke POV ~"Sasuke!" I hear Naruto calling out from my left, and I glance at him as I continue running towards Ami."What do you want?" I ask him in irritation."We have to seal the tree, and release everyone inside of it." He says urgently to me."How would I ever be able to help that? Can't you use your sage chakra or something?" I say dismissively, continuing on my journey."Kakashi Sensei said it had to be the both of us together. That we had to fist bump." He says, doing a fist bump with his own two hands, looking like an idiot."That doesn't even make sense, don't waste my time." I say, again feeling irritation at him for trying to slow me down.Naruto runs to stop in front of me, making me stop in my pursuit. "No, don't dismiss this. I know you are trying hard to get back to her, but would you rather she see you before or after her friends and allies are freed?" He growls out to me seriously."Sasuke, if you do indeed have the power to release these people, than you should at least try. I'll go and check on her now while you do whatever it is you need to." Neji says to me patiently before taking off again. I sigh, giving up."Fine, it won't do anything, so just make it fast." I say, reluctantly holding out my hand. He reaches forward and touches his knuckles to mine, then suddenly, we are no longer on the battlefield."Who are you?" Naruto asks, and I see an old man floating inside of a room. I turn to face this guy skeptically, curious as well on who this guy is and how we got here."My name is Hagoromo Otsutsuki. I am the Sage of Six Paths." He introduces himself, and then starts to tell us the importance of good and evil, power and love, and balances. He and Naruto go back and forth, talking about how Naruto is the Child of Prophecy."I was not meant to come here yet, to speak to you so soon, however, another Deity interfered with their own Chosen One. She has altered the course of how this was destined to go, and her actions prevented my mother from being resurrected at all. It is thanks to her that much calamity is avoided, although she had to pay the ultimate price." Hagoromo says solemnly, and I wonder who he is speaking about. This is taking too long, and I want to get back to Ami soon."I have to get back out there soon, could you get to the point?" I ask impatiently."What other Deity? Who interfered?" Naruto asks at almost the same time."I cannot say what this other Deity is, nor will I say who interfered, just that they did so with only the best of intentions, and succeeded in their endeavors." He says to Naruto, then turns to me. "You, who are the reincarnation of Indra, who has known loss, anger and a thirst for power all his life. I made the mistake in the past of only entrusting my power to Ashura, thus causing calamity. This time, I will not make that mistake again. You and Naruto both, together, will receive my power. With it, you can release the Divine Tree and free everyone from its roots before it consumes the whole world. Sasuke, you must release your anger and darkness, and work together with Naruto in order to free the world from the Divine Tree." He says seriously to me. "Put out your dominant arm." He orders, and I do so at the same time as Naruto. He touches both of our palms, and I feel a surge of energy enter my body. I look at my left palm as I pull it back, and see a black crescent moon on it now. This must be the marking of the source of my new power.He sent us back to the real world again, and Naruto and I stood together, looking at the tree, whose roots I can feel have spread over almost half the world already in the short time it has been around. I look to Naruto, who has never cut me off as his friend, even after all these years of thinking I was lost to darkness. I have been in darkness, but Ami helped me focus, so as to not be blind in my vengeance. But Naruto, he has been like a brother to me, always being a light for me in the darkness, guiding me back home. He could have hated me for what I did, but instead he always called me a friend. Ami was my first friend, but Naruto has stuck by me, and understood me just as much, if not more than Ami. He was alone, just like me, so he was the one who could understand me the best.I reach out my left hand to him, forming the left half of the seal needed to release everyone. He reaches out with his right hand to me, and together, we release everyone from the tree. Slowly, bit by bit, and person by person, we can feel as everyone is released from the Divine Tree as it shrinks away to nothing. As the final person is freed, I start to frown, not feeling the one person be there who I thought for sure would have been brought back.I don't wait around to explain it as I release my hand from Naruto's grasp, and instead take off once again to where Ami's body had been before. I search all around for it, until finally, I spot her brother, holding her unmoving body."No, she should have come back. She was one of the last to die before the Rinne Rebirth, she should have come back first!" I say angrily, crouching down to join him as he holds her. I place my hand on her cold cheek, not feeling any source of life in her at all anymore. "Why didn't it work?""I don't understand." Neji says in sadness. "Everyone else who died with her came back. Why didn't she?""Because the Rinne Rebirth returns the souls to the body." Kakashi says sadly, walking up slowly to us. "Ami's soul was... different. It could have already moved on." He says sadly, looking up to the sky."Moved on!?" I ask him angrily. "She wouldn't just leave us, leave me." I defend her."I don't think it would have been her choice." Kakashi defends."What do you know? She's my twin, my best friend, and you talk as if you know more." Neji argues with him immediately, clutching her closer to his body."Because she was afraid." Kakashi says softly. "It's because you are her twin, her best friend, she was too afraid to tell you. She was a reincarnation. And she's probably mad as hell that I'm telling you this, but she's a hero, and her story deserves to be known. She didn't want to tell you, Neji, because she was terrified you would look at her differently. But her reincarnation is how she had so much knowledge of our world, and of all of us."I stare at him with wide eyes, thinking back on all of Ami and I's interactions together. From day one, she always defended Itachi, though it was subtle. She never fanned over me like the other girls. She was guarded, quiet, unsure of herself when interacting with me in the beginning, but she eventually relaxed and opened up, and opened me up as well. She was my first friend, not because she forced us to be, but almost like she needed me just as much as I needed her. Our friendship was so natural, it felt like breathing to be wit her, which was why I fell in love with her. If she's a reincarnation with knowledge of our world, possibly even of our future, that would explain some of why she chose to be friends with me. She's been guiding me towards a lighter path ever since we met, while also training alongside me. to get stronger together with me. She was helping me grow this whole time, because she knew I would need it, and need to know the right target for my hatred."The sacrifice..." Shikamaru says quietly in shock, joining us a few minutes ago and hearing what Kakashi said. "She knew this would happen. Neji, she knew you would die today." He says solemnly to Neji. "When we played shogi just before we left, she changed her strategy, and played a sacrifice play and won for the first time. She never does that, always fighting to keep all the pieces alive and instead does traps or plays defensively. She played three traps that didn't work, before sacrificing the Bishop, saying that some pieces are more important than others. She sacrificed the Bishop, to save its equal, its mirror, its twin, the Rook." He says, and Neji's eyes widen in despair. "That must be why she insisted on being in your division, despite being better suited elsewhere.""Her mind was not one I have seen the likes of before on this earth." Itachi adds in quietly from my side. "When I trapped her in the Infinite Tsukiyomi, her mind had two different layers to it, two different realities. She knew me, and told me about of my own past, and my mistakes I as making. She even knew exactly when to have Sasuke resurrect me. She knew all of it, and fought hard to make changes in our reality.""Wait, is this why her soul form was different than ours when we fought the Sound Four?" Kiba asks Shikamaru, who shrugs, not knowing the answer."If she knew so much... why not prevent this whole war?" Sai asks innocently, yet I still turned a glare at him."She tried many times to prevent it." Kakashi immediately defends, "When finally her methods weren't working, she informed Tsunade and myself about everything. She came to us for help, and we prevented many more tragedies. Having the knowledge does not then equal having the power. That is why she trained relentlessly, to get strong enough to prevent all she could. Without her, Konoha would have been destroyed, this war would have suffered nearly four times the tragedies, and it would have still been going on, even now. Her interference saved countless lives.""Asuma!" Shikamaru calls out suddenly. "That's why she was on that Akatsuki mission with us, wasn't it? Asuma should have died that day otherwise..." He trails off in thought."Our dads." Ino adds in. "Just before she died, she ordered me to tell HQ to do a plan, and when I relayed the message, they told me to thank her. But they still...""No, they didn't die with that attack." Naruto says with a small smile. "I couldn't feel them at first, but I did feel them a little bit ago. They made it out before the bomb hit." He says softly, then turns to me. "She must have been the other Deity's Chosen One that the old Sage talked about. He said she paid the ultimate price..." He looks back to her body."She really was too good for this world, wasn't she?" I say softly, taking her hand in my own again. "Don't worry Ami, I will honor your final wish... I just wish you were here to see it. Wherever you are, I'm sure you're watching though, so I will live my life as if you can see my actions." I whisper to her, placing a kiss on her cheek, her brother holding her out for me to do so. I stand up, and chuckle once bitterly before looking at the sky. "Even in death, I'll have to act like you'll always be there to throw a knife at me.""A tradition I will miss greatly." An Aburame boy says, also coming to stand with us. I recognize him from the Chuunin Exams, his name was Shirotsu, I think. I guess they became friends too."Knowing Ami, she wouldn't want everyone to know her secret. This will stay between us, though her triumphs and aid will be known far and wide." Neji says firmly, standing up and carrying her in his arms. He turns to me and Itachi, "She already had both of your names cleared in the village long ago, you'll both be be welcomed home like heroes. Yes, I knew she was in contact with you Sasuke. She always smiled brighter after receiving your messages."