Chapter 24 

"Finally" 

Sasuke stood stiffly, he knew what awaited him, but was he ready? Naruto entered the room, his posture was the same as usual, the expression on his face didn't indicate anything above the norm. And yet something did not suit Sasuke. His older brother stood smiling, turning one last time, gave him a smile and left, closing the door behind him. "Is Sakura home?"

"I'll call her!" from behind the back of the black-haired man emerged a black-haired girl with a smile on her lips. "I would be grateful, Sarada-chan." The man returned the gesture, and after a few minutes the three of them were standing in the living room.

Neither of them said a word, two of them weren't quite sure what to say, the last of them just stared at them. "Naruto, I am really very, very sorry. If I knew- " " Sakura, " he cut her off, he wouldn't have come here to hear a lame apology that wouldn't change anything anyway. "It's... it's not your fault." he said finally. He didn't blame her, at least not entirely, she was unaware. It was true that the two men kept their relationship a secret from virtually the rest of the world. They feared the reactions of the people, the reactions of the inhabitants of their village, of their friends.

"You had no idea, no one had. I can't... I can't blame you. " a smile crept on the lips of the blonde, it was not big, on the contrary, it was a small, faint smile, almost sad. The woman, too, smiled at the words of her friend, was glad. "How are you able to get pregnant?" this loftily joyful, in its own way, was interrupted for a moment by the man's cold voice.

"I am jinchuriki, you know that." he began. After all, it was difficult for him to explain something... so intricately incomprehensible. "Tailed beasts are sexless, in fact they are genderless. They can both fertilize and be pregnant." Was it hard to understand? Perhaps, it was certainly harder to imagine, but let's leave it out of the question. In fact, it was the reaction of the two to him that really cheered him up.

"Depending on the relationship jinchuriki has with his biju; whether he is hostile or friendly depends on the mixing of their chakra. The better their relationship, the more often they mix their chakras in more consciousness, slowly becoming one being,not literally, of course. If they literally became one being, it would mean that one of them sacrificed his life so that their chakras could fuse completely." whoever first said that the jinchuriki was one with the monster sealed in it wasn't much wrong.

Except in that case, it would be a humanoid creature with animal ears and tail and other distinctive elements, not to mention the possibility of assuming a form that is both completely human and completely demonic.

"So you want to say that..." Sakura began hesitantly. She didn't know how to put it, it was... confusing and crazy. "I have become whole with Kurama to some extent." the blonde finished for her, at that moment he was sure that he had never seen such shock on a human face, even when he explained everything to Shikamaru. "Okaa-san." A black-haired teenager entered the room, effectively distracting adults from what the blonde said. "Hima-chan, Boruto and Menma want to go home." he said calmly, not paying much attention to the other two. "I understand, in this arrangement we will have to end our conversation. I believe my explanations were sufficient for you. "

Sasuke felt an icy, piercing gaze that was watching him closely. He focused his eyes on the left side of the blonde, where the teenager was standing. The boy watched him carefully and, if you could kill him with a look, Sasuke would be already dead. "Stop staring." the blond man said suddenly, not even turning to face his son. The boy bowed his head and apologized, still keeping his eyes on the black-haired man. "Call Menma and Minato, I want you to have a word with your 'father' before we leave the village."

The two adults were impressed with how disciplined these children were. Each of them stood upright, in a line next to each other. They seemed to respect their father... or mother? They weren't sure what to name Naruto. In any case, they looked as if they respected the blonde above all else. They've been standing there ever since Naruto left, just telling them to come when they're finished. "Eeem... Uh, nice you-"

"So you are our 'Father'?" the boy's voice was decidedly harsh and he himself seemed unhappy, even disgusted with the whole situation. "That's right-" the man had no chance to finish his first statement, and the second one, too, when the oldest of them interrupted him. "To be clear, we don't want anything from you." Sasuke swallowed loudly and made eye contact with Sakura, who was standing next to him all the time. It was the moment when they both figured out a thing.

The children in front of them looked more like Sasuke. Hair color, complexion, posture, style of clothing. Everything about them resembled the black-haired man. But their attitude, their personality was definitely not that of a black-haired man. So did the color of their eyes, or two of them.

"To make sure you understand," said the youngest at last, opening his eyes so far, which turned out to be as black as coal. "We don't need you in our life, Uchiha." They both froze as they saw the eyes of the youngest of the three change their color from black to blood red. Not only his, but the other one, the middle child, his or also shone that blasted red, sharingan. The oldest of them seemed to be more lucky, as he didn't have it, but that didn't mean his gaze wasn't scary either. Because he inherited the most traits from their mother and this... bloody look full of contempt and anger, which Sasuke hated so much. A gaze through which the beautiful, pure blue changed like the sky before a storm.

"Forgive us, but we cannot let our Mother wait for us longer than necessary." the oldest of them said, bowing slightly as he left. On the way out, he was still out of sight behind him, uttering one sentence.

"Hope we don't meet again, Father."

So the whole Uzumaki family left the village, all in good spirits. Happy that they won't have to go back there and worry about the people who live there. Of course, three of them got screwed up for what they did in the Uchiha clan's head house, especially the youngest of them, who had problems with his Sharingan. He had weak eyes and was unable to control his kekkei genkai, so he was forbidden to use it.

When they reached their home, far from any village, Karin and Orochimaru greeted them. Kawaki and Saruto went to their room so that the younger one could unpack and settle in permanently, they both wanted to spend more time together. Boruto only managed to remove his luggage when Menma started to accost him and they were now chasing around the house. And the youngest, together with Karin and Orochimaru, embraced the girl's room, having fun and telling different stories.

In turn, Naruto and Itachi were in the garden behind the house. The black-haired man had his head on the blonde's legs and in silence he enjoyed the moment. The older of them stared calmly at the sky. Beautiful blue turned into violet and pink with beautiful orange streaks. Clouds that changed their color from snow-white to a beautiful pink under the influence of the setting sun. A sunset hovering over the forest and the ruins of the former power. The breathtaking scenery was complemented by a wonderful smile on the lips of the blonde, which the black-haired man admired so much, the smile and his voice full of relief and peace.

"I think I can finally rest."

| I am not in the habit of leaving a note or comment under a finished chapter because I believe it spoils the whole context. But this time I'll do it against myself. 

This is the end of this book, maybe not what anyone would expect or want, but I won't change it. However, I would like to quote a comment that was recently placed under one of the videos on YT from this AU, and this comment fully reflects the character of Naruto, this AU, series and this book. |

"This literally broke my heart, because there are those like this in real life, and the idea of those people being sad makes me tear up. They love anyone and everyone, tell even the ones that are bad and horrible to them that they deserve love- and yet they never truly find it themselves... Naruto is kind of like that in the lover department, he loved Sasuke, who had gone too far way too many times, and stood aside when he married Sakura, because Sakura was happy, and maybe he also wanted Sasuke to be happy too. He stood aside, when Hinata also left him, and let her be with Kiba, thinking that he was the best option for her and that the two would be happy now, and if Itachi asks to leave, he would also let him- because that is the kind of person he is- teaching others that hey deserve to be loved, showing them how wonderful they are and letting them leave after they realise their worth and are literally ready to share it with the person that they 'love', but that doesn't mean that he didn't hope that one of those people that he had loved chose to share themselves with him at the end..." 

- White Willow {YT user} 

| And I think these words are really beautiful |