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The Canalized River	By : susanna Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 944 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 36
- 37
A/N
at the end of the chapter

Epilogue

Sakura
had not kept the promise she had given to Sasuke: She had first told
Hinata about Sasuke's nightly visit, and then Hinata had told me.

We
were all mortally afraid for Naruto since he had left the team, but
we had not dared to talk about it, because officially he was a
deserter now, having disobeyed the order we had received from
Tsunade, so his name was taboo among us.

But
of course I had been thinking a lot about him when I had been lying
awake in my room and could not sleep. I had failed again, I thought,
not understanding what was driving his heart or torturing his soul. I
had just told him to put it away, to be reasonable, to be a dutiful
ninja.

Just
as I myself had become a dutiful ninja. My eyes fell on the two last
volumes of the Icha-Icha-series: Naruto had taken the first one with
him. A dutiful ninja during the day, responsible, realistic,
reliable, but in the evening dreaming of true love.

Then
Sakura told us how Sasuke had sought her out because of Naruto, and
that other wound broke open again. I realized that it had never
really healed. Various counselors had talked to me after Sasuke's
desertion, they had all told me that I had done the right thing, that
I had done everything I could, that it had been the right decision to
bring Naruto back and to let Sasuke go, they had told me that there
had been no way to hold him back, that it had been his own decision
to go, that I should no longer burden my conscience with him but
realize that there are kids like him who are beyond help, and that I
should just forget about him and concentrate on my own life.

It
had been as if they had asked me to cut off a hand or a foot. I know
that as a teacher I am not supposed to play favorites, but I had
loved Sasuke as I had loved no other person since the death of Obito.
He had been assigned to be on a side remark, after a lengthy
discussion on Naruto, the son of my beloved teacher, but he had soon
grown on me because in him I had seen myself as a child, gifted,
focusing on his training, ambitious, burdened by a sorrow he could
not talk about, a child no one would love because he was too silent
and introvert and did not show his feelings, and who in response
pretended that he did not need to be loved, but of course he needed
to be loved as any other child.

I
had longed to show him how I cared, but I had not known how, as he
kept holding himself apart, and in the end I had been unable to find
the words that would have made him stay.

Naruto
I had loved because he was different from myself, because he reminded
me of Obito and because, once he had begun to trust that people might
like him, he had become friendly and extrovert and funny and made us
all laugh a lot. I had thought that he was easy and that I understood
him well, but now it had turned out that I had not understood him
either, and he had gone as well.

And
since Sasuke's visit, even Sakura was thinking about leaving the
team. Thanks to Hinata I knew about it, and this time I decided to be
a bit wiser and talk to her about it, and I did not just tell her to
obey the orders given to us by Tsunade, but I also talked to her
about my own doubts, being open with her as I had been with neither
of the boys.

Maybe
they would meet. Maybe Sasuke would be able to protect Naruto. Maybe,
maybe.

Sasuke
had told her off for letting Naruto go into certain death, and he had
been right.

The
girls visited me in my room in the evenings, so that Kiba was already
beginning to tease them about it while Yamato took me to the side and
reminded me very seriously to behave in a way that would not
encourage any wrong suspicion. We we did nothing but talk about
Naruto and discuss what could have been done and what should have
been done, and then the girls told me that they had decided to go.

I
said that I would join them. I even left a note for Yamato saying
that the only way to prevent them from setting out on their own had
been to accompany them. Someone had to protect them, as neither of
them was a fighter.

We
travelled back to the inn where Naruto had left us; from there on my
ninja-dogs showed us the way. We got nearer with every day we
travelled, and when we were near enough to catch up with him the next
day, the dogs told us that he had met Sasuke, which was a comfort and
at the same time a source of nervousness, because we had no idea how
to meet him. We stayed up late into the night, because we were too
excited to sleep – one more night and we would meet them both!
The girls talked and talked, and I could tell now that they were both
in love with Naruto, even though Sakura still pretended that her
feelings were only of a sisterly nature. I hoped that they would not
get into any bitch fights when they finally met him.

When
we got up we sensed the kyuubi's chakra, strong and very different
from that of any human being, and now we no longer needed my ninja
dogs: As fast as possible we wanted to get to Naruto and to see what
had happened to him.

I
did not tell the girls that I had no idea what I would do if the
kyuubi had completely taken over. I did not have Yamato's power to
control it.

Having
crossed a range of hills were were finally able to see it: Growling
angry at someone, holding its nine tails up like an aggressive dog.
We could see neither Sasuke nor Naruto nor the guys who were their
opponents, but Sakura drew our attention to three figures who were
standing nearby and watching the fight: Sasuke's team.

“What
happened to Naruto?” I asked them even before they had welcomed
us.

“Nothing”,
answered the man whom I later got to know as Suigetsu.

“Nothing?
The kyuubi has completely taken over, with all its nine tails
present, and you tell me it's nothing?”

“Naruto
has not been taken over. He's fine. Look closely: there he is,
standing next to Sasuke. He has not been taken over, he has set it
free.”

Our
view had been blocked by the nine-tails, but now we could see them:
Standing side by side, their arms around each other's shoulders,
similar to the picture of a statue I had once seen in a book –
the Dioskouroi it was called. Opposite them were their opponents,
Itachi and a man we did not know. They were standing still and not
moving.

“It's
a genjutsu fight”, Suigetsu explained. “All action is
taking place within their heads.”

I
did not really care about it at the moment. I was worried about the
nine-tails.

“Why
did he do that?” I asked. “Why did Sasuke tell him to
release the kyuubi?”

“Nobody
told him to do anything”, Suigetsu answered rather annoyed. “He
did it for our companion, and it was his own free decision. If he had
asked me, I would have advised him not to do it. Don't you think that
this monster frightens us as much as it frightens you? Anyway, who
are you that you think you have the right to question us and to tell
us off?”

I
introduced the girls and myself.

“We
have already met, haven't we”, they welcomed Sakura. “Won't
you all have a cup of tea?”

“What,
now, while the fight is going on?” I asked back. “How can
you just sit there and watch? Aren't you Sasuke's team? Should you
not support them? I at least cannot let them fight on their own.”

“You
said you were their former teacher, didn't you?”

“I
did.”

“Now
we know where they got it from.”

“What?”

“Heroically
rushing into danger without thinking. Can you control the kyuubi?”

“No.”

“Sasuke
can. They don't need our help now: They have the nine-tail at their
side.”

The
genjutsu fight seemed to be over, and they were moving again. One of
their opponents was down, it looked as if it was Itachi. The other
opponent was now summoning the kyuubi, and it obeyed him, though
reluctantly. My heart stopped when he sent it to the boys to kill
them, and I could only hope that Suigetsu had been right when he had
told me that Sasuke could control it.

It
was not necessary: Naruto welcomed the huge monster with open arms,
and soon both boys were caressing it to its obvious enjoyment. Then
we gasped again because their opponent was summoning it a second
time. It struggled, but in the end it gave in: It went over to him,
yet not to take orders from him, as we all thought, but to attack
him, and horrified we watched him perished in flames, struck by the
raw chakra of the kyuubi. It was a death one should not wish to one's
worst enemy...

The
girls saw first that Naruto had broken down, and they ran towards him
to help him. Sasuke was holding him in his arms, and already I
realized that there was something odd about the way he was holding
him – something soft and tender and rather unmanly.

“You
stay away!” he told Sakura when she wanted to look after
Naruto. “Karin will check on him.”

“You
might not know, but Sakura has become a competent medical ninja”,
I said.

“Karin
is a competent medical ninja as well”, he replied.

I
did not know what to make of his behaviour, but his teammate
obviously did: “She must be really bad if you think that Karin
is better than her.”, he said.

“I
have always preferred Karin over her. You don't touch him!” he
said to Sakura when again she attempted to approach Naruto. “You
may see after Itachi, I think he's still alive.”

“You
do not want me to kill him”, she said incredulously.

“Of
course not. Who do you take me for? Naruto and Kakashi have both told
me that you are a competent medical ninja: So go and do your job.”

She
went, intimidated by his voice and by his grim looks. He glared now
at Hinata who shied back and tried to hide behind the rest of us.

“You
go and help her with your Byakuugan!”

She
obeyed. I followed them to see that they were safe, but it soon
became clear that they were: Itachi was unconscious, his eyes were
rolling uncontrollably, there were also various physical wounds, and
his chakra was almost zero, as the girls told me.

They
did not need me, so I went over to the place where Sasuke and his
team were trying to help Naruto, but halfway I met Suigetsu.

“They
are more than enough”, he told me, “and Sasuke is out of
his mind. It's no use to stand around if we cannot help them: Let's
go and look for the other guy.”

We
found him at some five hundred metres' distance: A charred lump of
flesh, barely recognizable as human. Suigetsu wrapped him into his
cloak.

“We'll
have to bury him”, he said. “And that other guy as well
who has been killed by Juugo yesterday.”

We
carried this one into the fortress to the room where the other was
lying, a cool dark room where the air did not stir, then we returned
to the rest of the group who were still fussing over Naruto. Sakura
and Hinata had joined them. Karin was trying to calm down Sasuke,
telling him that Naruto would be fine in time if he would just be
allowed to recover, and Sakura was fighting for permission to check
on Naruto herself, but Sasuke denied it to her:

“The
wounds caused by the Mangekyou Sharingan have nothing to do with the
body. It affects mind and soul directly, and then of course the
chakra system. Karin can deal with this.”

Juugo
was allowed to sit next to Naruto, touching his feet, at the same
time he comforted Hinata telling her that Naruto was strong and would
certainly recover.

“If
he would just open his eyes!” Sasuke said. “If I could
just get into his mind! I could do anything!”

Again
there was a gesture that was too tender, too intimate for mere
friends: Sasuke removed a streak of hair from Naruto's face.

“To
have found you just to lose you again!” he cried.

“Hush!”
Karin said. “I told you it's only a matter of time. It may be a
bit difficult for him with the kyuubi's chakra gone and his organism
having to adjust, but as I told you: He will recover! There's no need
for melodrama!”

Even
the kyuubi was worried. It came over to see what the commotion was
about, and then it wanted to be near to Naruto. Sasuke gave Juugo a
sign, and both moved to create a space in our circle around Naruto.
Neither of them seemed afraid, while we others had to forcefully
restrain ourselves from crying out in fear and running away. The
kyuubi put its head through the opening in the circle, it licked
Naruto's skin as if it were some dog trying to clean an immaterial
wound where chakra was leaking from his body, it gave him some of its
own chakra, and slowly Naruto opened his eyes.

Sasuke
took advantage of this moment to get into Naruto's mind with his
Sharingan. The rest of us waited anxiously for several minutes, only
Karin kept checking Naruto's chakra system, and the kyuubi, who did
not understand what Sasuke did, kept donating of his chakra.

“Damn”,
Karin said. “He thinks he can do anything, but he cannot.”

Still
after some minutes Naruto opened his eyes. The first person he saw
was Sasuke, and they embraced for quite some time, so long that I
began to wonder about it. Finally Naruto broke the embrace, sat up
and saw us.

“You
are late, Kakashi-sensei”, he said. “The fight is over.”

“I
was told not to interfere.”

“By
whom?”

I
pointed at Suigetsu.

“And
you take orders from a stranger you have never seen? I would have
thought better of you.”

“He
told me that you could control the kyuubi.”

“And
indeed we can!” He reached out to caress it. “It will
follow us, not some evil guy who has caused it a lot of suffering.”

His
eyes fell on Sakura, and instinctively with his free hand he reached
behind, took Sasuke's hand and put his arm around his body, so that
Sasuke's hand rested on his belly. He was naked to the waist, and for
the first time I registered that his body was no longer that of a
child but that of a man. I had missed how he had grown up.

“Sorry,
Sakura”, he said. “I found him first. Now he is mine.”

“No
need to be afraid”, Suigetsu said. “Sasuke fights for you
like a lion, be it against Akatsuki or against young kunoichis.”

“I
don't need you to protect me”, Naruto said.

“Everyone
needs to be protected when they are unconscious”, Sasuke
replied dryly.

Last
of all Naruto's eyes fell on Hinata, and both of them looked down.

“I am glad to see that you are fine, Naruto-kun”,
she said in a voice full of love and resignation.

“Thanks”,
he answered, and then: “I am sorry.”

She
will have to find someone else, I thought.

“Have
you found that other guy?” Sasuke asked Suigetsu, resuming his
role of captain.

“We
have”, Suigetsu answered. “We put him into the fortress,
to the guy who was killed by Juugo yesterday. We did not need any
medical training to see that he is dead – you are lucky that he
did not manage to use the kyuubi against you.”

“It's
got nothing to do with luck. He was foolish to attempt it. He can
summon it, but not control it. I could control it, and besides, it
still has an affection for Naruto because he had the courage to set
it free. I am sorry for this guy but it was all his own foolishness.”

Three
years ago I had thought that I knew Sasuke, now I realized that I had
been wrong. The Sasuke I had thought to know would never have pitied
an enemy. Nor would he have asked Sakura to look after Itachi.

“I
am sorry”, Naruto said. “I would have called it, but he
had already got me with this damn Mangekyou Sharingan. At least I
understand now why you broke down after you met Itachi three years
ago... Anyway, even if I had called the kyuubi, I doubt it would have
come back to us: It really hated him, because he had forced it to
attack Konoha, and it could think of nothing else than of killing
him.”

“Don't
think too much about it”, Sasuke said. “It's his own
fault after all: He should not have tried to summon it. How's my
brother?”

Not
Itachi – my brother, I thought.

“His
chakra is all down, except in his head, where it's going crazy”,
Sakura answered. “I have never seen anything like this –
it is as if his organism was actively trying to die. I have given him
some tranquilizers so that his mind may calm down, but honestly, if
you want him to survive you should take him to the Hospital in
Konoha.”

“Karin
will have a look at him”, he decided after some thinking.
“She's an expert when it comes to chakra and chakra systems.”

“Yeah”,
Naruto added. “She told me yesterday what you really have to do
to get his chakra up and flowing again: You'll have to fuck him.”

Sakura
froze, Sasuke blushed, Juugo remained unmoved, while Suigestu grinned
and put his arm around Karin's shoulders.

“You
– you are still such pervert, and I had just hoped that you had
matured” Sakura said whan she could speak again.

“Oh,
Sakura, come on, there's nothing perverted about having sex.”

“It
would be a bit perverted, however, to have sex with my brother”,
Sasuke said thoughtfully. “I won't ask you to do it. We can
always take him to the hospital of Konoha if there's no other way to
keep him alive. Karin, go with Sakura and have a look at him.”

“What?”
Naruto asked. “Are you serious? Sending Karin to look after
Itachi?”

“What's
wrong with it? You said it yourself: she knows a lot about chakra and
chakra systems.”

“But
– you know her! And he is still your brother!”

It
took Sasuke several seconds to come up with an answer. “You
just told Sakura to fuck him, and now you are worried about Karin.
Where's the difference?”

“Karin
might actually do it.”

Sasuke
thought again. “Suigetsu, you go with her and see that she
behaves! And then it will be her turn to cook.”

It
was his sign to break up our circle. Naruto got up and joined Sasuke
and Juugo to get their stuff from the fortress and set up their camp
here. Hinata offered to help but Juugo told us that we were their
guests this evening. So we could do nothing but sit and watch while
Karin made the male members of her team cut meat and vegetables for
dinner.

“Wasn't
this supposed to be your job?” Suigetsu asked.

“No.
I said I'd do the cooking”, she replied, looking up from her
pan where she was frying onions. “You don't want your dinner
tomorrow morning, do you?”

Naruto
was allowed to help – actually he was ordered to help, just as
the other three, as if he was already part of their team.

He
had switched loyalties rather quickly, I thought.

Seeing
that the others had set to their work without any complaints Suigetsu
had given in; still he showed that he did not really agree to it by
using his broadsword instead of a kitchen-knife or at least a kunai.

“Still
compensating?” Sasuke asked.

“Didn't
you show her last night that you are a real man?” Naruto added.
“What do you still have to prove?”

Suigestu
did not answer.

“I
showed him that I am a real woman”, Karin said, embracing him
from behind.

“We
never doubted that”, Sasuke said.

“And
because I am a real woman you will now cut the tomatoes in a more
effective way”, Karin continued, gently taking the broadsword
out of Suigetsu's hands and handing him a kunai.

“Alas,
who could resist to a real woman?” Suigetsu said in mock
desperation.

“Yeah,
and this was just one night”, Naruto said. “I wonder what
will have become of you next year? What did she do to you?”

I
could not believe my hears: Was Naruto saying what I thought he was
saying? Did Sasuke's teammates have sex last night, in a way that
Naruto could notice it? Didn't they have any decency, or any
standards as ninjas? In Konoha, shinobi were expected to focus on
their missions and not get distracted by other things, and if a
couple could not control themselves, they would not again be assigned
to a mission together.

Why
had Sasuke not required them to focus on their task? How had he been
leading his team?

I
also wondered about Naruto: When he had left us he had been a
teenager, constantly thinking about sex but at the same time rather
embarrassed about the subject. Now he was confidently teasing a
grown-up man.

“You'd
love to know what she did to me, wouldn't you”, Suigetsu
replied to Naruto's question.

“Oh,
no, surely not”, Naruto answered. “You are the perverts
who constantly talk about sex. We'll be content doing it.”

He
was obviously talking about Sasuke and himself, and though he was not
explicitly saying that they were going to have sex with each other,
remembering how Sasuke had held him in his arms and how both had
reacted to the girls I began to understand the truth.

“You
don't have to tell everything”, Sasuke said.

“Has
he already told everything?” Suigetsu asked.

“We'll
see that it won't remain everything”, Naruto replied. “Won't
we?”

Sasuke
blushed.

“Be
a bit gentler”, Karin said. “He's still shy after all.”

“Still
a shy blushing virgin”, Suigetsu said. “But you're really
cute when you blush; even I can see it, and I am not gay.”

That
was fairly clear, I thought.

“Why
do you allow them to talk to you like this?” Sakura asked. “You
are their captain, aren't you? Why don't you tell them off?”

“Why
should I?”

His
expression had changed from one second to the next: not a blushing
youth any more, but a warrior who would stand up for himself.

“They
are making fun of you.”

“They
do it all the time. I've grown used to it.”

How
had he been leading his team?

“Time
to set the table”, he said. “We'll fetch the prisoners:
It would be too much trouble to feed them separately.”

He
gave us a sign, and Suigetsu, Naruto and myself followed him into the
fortress. So indeed they accepted him as their captain and took
orders from him – hell, even I had just now accepted his
orders...

I
longed to have a word in private with Naruto, but it was impossible,
as he was almost always at Sasuke's side, and if not he was with one
of his team members.

Yet
even without talking to him I could see that he had changed and that
the change was deeper than having becoming able to make sexually
tinged jokes. Sasuke and Suigetsu treated him as a man and expected
him to behave like a man, and consequently he behaved as a man. I
blamed myself for not noticing that he had grown up, though I think
that this is what happens to most grown-ups who live with children.

He
was still making jokes and smiling but there was a confidence behind
the smile that had not been there before. Of course he could be
confident now, I thought, together with Sasuke he had just brought
down the last remaining members of Akatsuki.

I
could not talk to Naruto in private but it happened that I found
myself with Suigetsu and could exchange some words with him.

“Why
do you follow Sasuke?” I asked him.

“Why
shouldn't we?”

“What
do you gain by it?”

He
thought a bit. “I used to want to fight Kisame.”

“And
did you?”

“No.
In the end I decided against it.”

“So
why do you follow him now?”

He
hesitated before he answered my question.

“We
like him. And none of us have anywhere else to go.”

“And
that's enough to accept orders from him? He's only fifteen!”

“Oh,
that.” Suigetsu grinned. “We tell him when his orders are
foolish.”

How
had he been leading his team indeed?

I
was trying to have a word in private with Naruto, and in vain, but at
the same time he himself was trying to have a word in private with
Sasuke. In the end he could not bear it any longer: He took Sasuke's
hand and told him openly that he had to talk to him.

Sasuke
turned pale, meaning that he became white as a sheet of paper.

“What's
the matter?” he asked. “You are going to tell me that you
don't want me any more, now that they are both here, Sakura and
Hinata, and you have nothing to do but decide who is the prettiest of
the two of them.”

“No,
that's not it”, Naruto replied confusedly. “I don't want
to choose this or that beautiful woman. I want to be together with
the person I truly belong to. I just wanted to tell you that I cannot
wait any longer.”

Sasuke
relaxed, and then he accepted Naruto's kisses and embraces. I turned
away – I found it a rather disgusting sight. (Now I have grown
used to it and think it as normal as two people of the opposite sex
kissing each other.) Anyway, I had to help Suigetsu accompany the
Akatsuki members outside.

We
sat down for dinner, and after several minutes Sasuke and Naruto
joined us. Karin and Sakura told them that Itachi was still
unconscious but that there was no imminent danger for his life.
Somehow they had managed to give him a bit of water. Sasuke seemed
relieved, but at the same time he was glad that he himself did not
have to see after his brother.

He
invited the two Akatsuki members, Kisame and a woman we did not know,
to sit down with us.

“Your
leaders are dead and Akatsuki is disbanded. Nobody is alive but the
two of you and Itachi. Tomorrow morning we will allow you to leave,
to your own villages or to whatever town is ready to take you. They
may decide about the crimes you have commited while you were part of
Akatsuki. I won't. Tonight however you will celebrate with us.”

Kisame
nodded. “You are the victors, we are the defeated. We have no
choice but to accept your offer.”

We
celebrated together but we did not mix. I sat next to the female
Akatsuki member, Sasuke next to Kisame. On Sasuke's right side sat
Naruto, then there were Suigetsu, Karin and Juugo. To my left side
was Sakura, Hinata sat next to her.

I
belong to Sasuke and his team, Naruto kept telling us.

Using
their own supplies and ours and the Akatsuki's Karin had produced a
real feast with several courses. She had even managed to transform
Naruto's last two bowls of instant ramen into a decent side dish, and
Naruto was the only one to protest against the abuse of his food.

Sasuke
opened the meal, and when we had finished eating the soup in silence
and the main course had been dealt he began to speak.

“Today
we have accomplisehd what we set out to do. My brother is defeated,
Akatsuki is disbanded, even though for these last weeks our highest
priority has been to see that Naruto is safe.”

He
looked at all of them, and I thought that he would find some
individual words for each of, but he did not.

“Juugo,
Karin, Suigetsu, Naruto – you know better than I myself what
you did for me: You brought me back to life.”

“Oh,
never mind, it was our pleasure”, Suigetsu answered.

“What
I have asked you to do for me is completed. You may leave tomorrow,
if you choose so, but I ask you to stay with me. I have some plans. I
will tell you about them later.”

He
looked at the rest of us, including even the two Akatsuki.

“I
am glad that we have some guests tonight”, he continued. “I
know you have all come for Naruto, but I know as well that our
victory makes you just as happy as us.”

I
felt not happy but weird, and Sasuke's words had hurt me.

“Sasuke,
I don't know exactly what I did wrong when you were a kid. Maybe I
did not try hard enough to understand what was on your mind. I am
sorry that I did not find the right words to make you remain in
Konoha and train with me and become strong enough to defeat Itachi.”

“It
was not really a matter of words”, he answered. “You did
what you could, but I chose another way to become strong enough to
defeat Itachi. I am glad that you are with us.”

There
would be a long way to go until we could ever be close again, I
realized. Maybe we had never been close. I had thought that he was
like me, but he was not, and so all closeness nhad been an illusion.

“Kakashi,
I am so happy that you are with us again that I have no words for
it”, Naruto said. “You don't know how much it hurt when I
had to decide between looking for Sasuke and staying with the team!
Sakura: It's great to have you around again. I am sorry I was a bit
rude just now, but, well, it doesn't matter, he's thoroughly gay and
you won't get him anyway.”

He
took Sasuke's hand: There it was in the open for everyone to see.

“Hinata”,
he continued, but he did not know what to tell her. “I want to
thank you that you care for me.”

“I
am glad that you are happy”, she answered.

My
heart had grown lighter with Naruto's words but I knew that just as
with Sasuke there had been a betrayal and that the wound would not
heal easily.

“I
would like to know what has happened”, I said.

They
looked at each other, deciding who should speak, and then Naruto
answered.

“I
found Sasuke yesterday when he was fighting Itachi for a first time.
I helped him out, and then we were picked up by his team. And today
we fought Itachi and his companion a second time. That's all.”

That
was all, only that in the last twenty-four hours he had shifted his
loyalties completely from Konoha to Sasuke and his team and had
decided that he was gay and in love with Sasuke.

“What
happened with the kyuubi?” I asked.

“I
released it. You know, Juugo, over there, the other half of the
kyuubi had settled into him. You remember, you yourself told me that
the Yondaime sealed only the light half of the kyuubi's chakra into
me...”

“I
do remember”, I answered. “He wanted to do you a favor.”

“Everyone
wants to do me favors, but this one was wrong. The kyuubi is happier
when it is complete, and less evil in the bargain, and besides, Juugo
got caught by the other half.”

“He
wanted you to use the kyuubi's chakra when you were old enough and
strong enough to control it”; I said. “He thought it
would be easier if it was only the light half.”

“Yeah,
Jiraya sent me the key that would have released its chakra into my
body. I decided against it. I rather set it free.”

“You
realize that this was quite dangerous, don't you?”

“I
do. But do you realize that Juugo who is one of the nicest guys I
know and absolutely friendly and unable to harm any living being when
he is his true self got stuck with the dark half which would cause
him to freak out whenever he was upset and kill indiscriminately?”

I
looked at Juugo who had not paid any attention but was introducing
Hinata to his bird.

“Do
you realize that the only way to relieve him from his curse was to
release the kyuubi from my body so that the two halves could become
one again? Would you have wanted me to keep the kyuubi for myself in
such a situation, just in order to become more powerful?”

“And
what about the thousands of people who may die now because the kyuubi
is free? Have you thought about them?”

“To
help a friend is more important than thousands of people in the
abstract. Besides, it won't happen. The kyuubi is not evil: only the
people who use it are.”

“I
still don't understand how you could do it”, I said. “I
mean, there have been lots of jinchuuriki before you, most of them
older and wiser than you, and none of them ever managed to free
himself from his bijuu.”

“I
don't know why they could not: As you say, they were much wiser than
I am, and I don't understand their wisdom. But my personal, foolish
opinion is that they never tried. They got used to the power which
they accepted as a compensation for their loneliness, and they would
not miss it. Only when they got older and the bijuu was beginning to
take over they would get afraid and try to get free, but then it was
too late. I however have never chosen to be a jinchuuriki, and I have
never used its power for anything than to protect the people I love,
so I could let go when the time came.”

“And
what now?”

“We
will look after it. Sasuke can control it, and it likes me, and I
think that it also likes Juugo.”

It
seemed so: Its head was lying behind Juugo now, and he was showing
Hinata how to stroke its fur.”

“What
will happen when you die?” I asked.

“I
have not thought about this”, he admitted (though, as I knew
him, he had probably not thought at all.) “Anyway, this problem
would also have arisen if I had died while it was still sealed into
my body. We will look after it as long as we live; then the people
who are alive then will have to find a new solution.”

Forever
bound together in their responsibility for the kyuubi. Maybe it was
not so bad that they were lovers. Or maybe it was, because if they
ever broke up they could not just say good-bye and part forever.

Yet
I saw now why Naruto had grown up in so short a time: Just like
Sasuke he had taken a very risky decision, relying on no one's
advice, taking all the responsibility, and in the end it had turned
out to be the right choice.

I
pitied them. They were still so young and had already to carry so
many burdens. What would happen to them if they ever decided to
return to Konoha? They were both considered deserters now, they had
the kyuubi with them, and being gay would not make life easier for
them. Homosexuality was tolerated in Konoha, which meant that
homosexuals were not prosecuted by the law as they had been ten years
ago. But Shinobi – Shinobi could not be gay. Not in Konoha.
Some civilians might be, but no true Shinobi.

I
myself had to get used to the idea that they were very powerful
Shinobi and at the same time gay. Also I had to get used to their
touching each other whenever they thought that no one was looking. It
was a weird sight.

Dessert
was served. Everyone was relaxing now. Suigetsu had put down his
breadsword and was lying on Karin's lap, holding his sword above his
chest. Karin was caressing his hands that held the hilt; it was a
weird sight, as if the sword was their baby. Naruto found it weird
too, he pointed it out to Sasuke, and both of them giggled until
Suigetsu felt embarrassed and put the sword away.

The
boys themselves were now leanings against each other, holding each
other's hands, no longer caring that were watching.

For
Sakura it must have been torture. Her eyes were fixed on Sasuke and
Naruto, and she could not turn them away though what she saw hurt
her. It was not easy for me either. Too long I had divided my life
between being a ninja during the day and reading erotic romances
during the night. Maybe I should look – maybe there was
something else, even for me.

Sasuke
spoke again. He was the only one of us who was not tired, but he was
thoughtful, and his eyes seemed to look at the horizon.

“I
promised you to tell you about my plans”, he began. “Do
you remember, Kakashi, when we were kids, how you asked us about our
dreams? I answered that I wanted to revive my clan and that there was
someone I wanted to kill.

“I
will never kill Itachi now, as I cannot kill a helpless person. I
defeated him, that is enough. I defeated him when I decided not to
kill Naruto, so much I understand now, because true victories are not
won by superior power or superior jutsus but by the heart.

“About
reviving my clan I have no idea at the moment as I am not interested
in women. Maybe one day Itachi will find one who will marry him.

“But
I have a new dream now, if Naruto likes it, because staying with him
is now more important to me than anything else. But this is my dream:
I want to found a new town, one where children are not sacrificed for
the well-being of the community, one where that which is gentle and
tender will not be despised but valued and protected.”

I
felt hurt because I had always thought that in Konoha we did care for
our kids, but I could also see why Sasuke was saying this and why I
should not contradict him now.

He
looked at his team: “If you will follow me and help me make
this dream come true...”

Only
Karin looked back at him. “Sure we will”, she answered.
“What else should we do? Though I would like to find out what
happened to the women and children of my family.”

“We
will”, Sasuke answered. “I am sorry. I forgot. I will
keep my promise.”

Suigetsu
had to sit up from Karin's lap before he could answer Sasuke.

“But
after we've found out about Karin's family, we'll help you out with
your town. Someone has to look after you, after all.”

Sasuke
looked at Naruto, who had remained silent and thinking. “You
may become Kage there, if you want.”

Still
Naruto did not answer. “I don't know”, he finally said.
“I have a lot of friends in Konoha. I would not like to leave
them behind forever.”

“You
would not have to”, I heard myself say to my own astonishment.
“Sasuke, if you really want to found a new town, you can't just
choose a spot somewhere and begin to build a town hall and a Kage's
tower and a market place and some town walls. It might have been
possible in the days of the Shodaime and Uchiha Madara, but it is not
any more. You will have to negotiate with Konoha, or rather with the
government of the Fire Country, or of any other country where you
happen to plan to build your town. You would be well advised not to
make yourself too many enemies but to keep good relations to the
other villages, most of all Konoha itself. Naruto should be in a
position to visit his friends there and be visited by them whenever
he wants.”

“Yeah”,
Naruto said. “And maybe some of them will join us. I mean,
you'll need more people if you actually want to found a town, not
just a village.”

He
looked at Hinata, Sakura, me, smiled at us, he even included the two
Akatsuki members in his smile, and shyly they smiled back.

Sasuke
looked at us, too, but he did not smile.

“Maybe”,
he said. “Anyway, our next step will be Konoha, and if it's
only to see that Itachi gets proper treatment, and then we will have
to search for Karin's family, and after that, I will take up
negotiations about where to set up my town.”

His
eyes had been restless for some minutes now, and I did not understand
why until they finally settled on Juugo, the last of his teammates
who had not yet answered him. He did not even seem to have heard
Sasuke's speech, because he had been busy explaining to Hinata how to
hold his bird in her hand and how to feed it seeds without getting
hurt.

“Juugo”,
Sasuke said softly, “will you follow me again and help me found
a new town? I would be glad about it.”

Juugo
looked up. “I will, if you will have me as your companion.”

“Sure
we will”, Naruto said. “Don't worry, Sasuke, we'll all
help you with your town where no child will be unhappy.” He
embraced him.

I
pitied Sasuke. He was excited about this new dream of his and wanted
everyone to share his excitement, and his teammates just wanted to
relax: Naruto was leaning lazily against him, Suigetsu was again
lying in Karin's lap, while she concentrated on combing his hairs
with her fingers, and Juugo had again turned to Hinata and his bird.

Maybe
it made sense after all that he had allowed his teammates to engage
in activities that had nothing to do with their mission, I thought
suddenly. He will need young couples if he wants to found a town. Or
rather young families.

A
town where no child would be unhappy – Naruto's simple words
had moved me more than Sasuke's announcement. They'd both been
unhappy and lonely, but unlike many people they wanted not to give it
on, saying: That's life! but to change things.

A
town where no child would be unhappy – Naruto's words had
stirred up in me memories of my own childhood which had not been too
happy either. I did not often think about it, having somehow found a
way to go on living. Maybe I had been too harsh with both boys, I
thought, encouraging them to give their best, but not seeing their
sorrow. That had been my way to deal with my own sorrow, after all.

A
town where no child would be unhappy – it was an unrealistic
dream, after all, unlike Sasuke's dream of a town where children were
not sacrificed for the well-being of the community. It was not the
fault of the people of Konoha that Itachi had murdered his clan, or
that my father had committed suicide. It was an unrealistic dream,
and still I could not help dreaming.

I
looked up from my own thoughts to see Sasuke and Naruto dissolving
their embrace.

“Thanks”,
he said. “It's only a dream now, but with you at my side, I
will make sure that it won't remain a dream.”

Everybody
had been looking at them with the exception of Juugo and Hinata who
had been busy with Juugo's bird, and soon we turned our attention to
the two of them. Naruto in particular was strangely fascinated.

“You
know, Hinata”, he said after some time, “I think there's
another bird he would love you to caress.”

I
must admit that she understood him before I did.

“Don't
listen to him”, she said to Juugo. “He's always been a
pervert, even when he was twelve.”

“I
am not”, Naruto replied. “I am just a normal young man.”

He
leant closer against Sasuke and caressed his chest and his belly.
Meanwhile it was fun to see understanding dawn on one face after the
other. Sasuke was among the last. I wondered about him – he was
obviously very much in love, and still so easily embarrassed.

“Be
a bit more careful”, he said to Naruto. “I mean, Suigetsu
deserves it, but Juugo...”

“Juugo
deserves it, too”, Naruto said. “Don't you think so?”

Sasuke
blushed and lowered his eyes.

“Yes”,
he answered. “He deserves it too. But, I think, we should leave
now, and not bother our friends any more.”

Naruto
looked at him confusedly. “I don't think we bother them”,
he said, then he understood and took Sasuke's hands. “But if
you think so we may leave.” He embraced him very tenderly,
caressing his face and his hair, then both got up, and Sasuke led
Naruto away to a place where they would be undisturbed and where they
would not disturb us.

“Well,
that's Sasuke as we know him”, Suigetsu said, sitting up. “He's
going to spend the night in his lover's sweet embraces, and he makes
it appear as if he were sacrificing himself to protect us from
Naruto's dirty jokes.”

“As
if we were begrudging him his happiness”, Karin added.

“He'll
have to learn to cope with people who like him even if he does not
sacrifice himself”, Suigetsu continued. “But he will.
Actually he has come a long way since we set out.”

I
began to understand how his team worked and why Naruto fitted in and
why it was only natural that their new project should not be this or
that mission but founding a new town.

They'll
need young families, I thought again.

“We
shall go to sleep now, too”, Karin announced.

“I
would like to have a look at Itachi first”, Kisame suddenly
spoke up. “He betrayed me, as he has betrayed Sasuke, and he
was betrayed in his turn by our leader. And still – we have
been partners for quite a few years and I want to see that he's
well.”

“It's
okay”, Karin answered. “I wanted to check on him before I
went to sleep anyway.”

We
went over to where Itachi was lying, and Sakura and Karin knelt down
at his sides, checking his chakra flow and his life functions while
the rest of us stood around them and watched. The two med nins worked
together remarkably well. Soon Hinata joined them, aiding them with
her Byakugan, and then the female Akatsuki member, whose name we
still did not know, sat down as well, taking Itachi's hand and
caressing his cheeks.

“We
should have never accepted him in our ranks”, she said. “He
was far too young. He still is. But he had already murdered his clan,
and we thought that young as he was he was still a criminal as only a
grown-up can be: Unscrupulous and ambitious, thinking only of his own
selfish aims. We did not take time to think and realize that he must
have been seduced by someone else to commit his crimes and that this
someone else was the very person who joined the ranks of our helpers
and junior members just at the same time and who in the end betrayed
us all. We should have sent him home immediately, so that he would
have faced trial, but we longed for his skills. We were all too
naive.”

We
listened in silence to her speech, not knowing what to make of it.

“I
hope he'll survive”, she said. “To face trial, and
punishment, and then perhaps find a better life, just as we all will
have to face trial and punishment.”

“Nothing
is certain at the moment”, Karin answered. “We have
stabilized his body, but no one knows what will happen when he
regains consciousness and remembers everything.”

“Sasuke
might help out”, Juugo suggested. “He knows how to get
into people's minds.”

Suigetsu
shook his head. “It would be torture to both of them. Leave
Sasuke alone, he has done more than enough, and he deserves to have
some fun now. Itachi will have to recover without his brother's
help.”

“I
will give him some more tranquilizers”, Sakura said, “so
that his body can stabilize without his mind interfering...”

She
began her treatment. I looked at Itachi and wondered if he had indeed
gotten better by now: The expression on his face had changed, I
thought, he was looking more peaceful now than when we had first
found him.

Suigetsu
came over to me. “Lots and lots of females fussing over him”,
he said. “The worst torture Sasuke could ever imagine. Too bad
that his brother is actually enjoying it.”

Did
he smile in his sleep or did I only imagine it?

“I
don't think anyone has ever fussed over Itachi”, I answered
Suigetsu. “He's always been a genius who did not need being
fussed over. Sasuke was the cute little kid that got the attention of
the females of the family, only when he was his clan's last survivor
in Konoha he in his turn became the genius who did not need being
fussed over.”

“He
will need help now, however”, Suigestu said. “With his
town, I mean. He is too young and inexperienced to pull it off by
himself. A strong fighter, but no politician. Besides, it's in the
very nature of his dream that he cannot make it come true by
himself.”

Indeed
not, I thought.

“He
will need people with common sense”, Suigetsu went on. “We
will be glad if you join us.”

For
a moment I thought I was passing out with happiness and surprise, then
I got myself under control again.

“I
will – if he accepts me.”

“We'll
make sure that he does”, Suigetsu answered.

A/N:
So that's the end of my story. I am sorry – there won't be a
sequel, and there won't be some real smut. The epilogue has become
longer than any regular chapter however, and I hope you enjoyed it,
though I was not able to get it as round as I would have liked to. (I
kept coming up with ideas for small funny scenes, and I was a bit
self-indulgent, trying to keep them out instead of seeing whether
they fitted.) Anyway, the epilogue has been the most difficult
chapter of this story, so this is why it is a poster a bit later than
usual.

I
am busy making plans for a new story, so those who tell me to keep up
the good work can be comforted. It will take some time however before
I will get into high-speed-writing mode again. Real Life needs some
attention at the moment. I might however post an old story here that
I have only „published“ at ff.net so far.

I
might also post a new „chapter“ only to answer to the
remaining reviews.

Dkf:
:confused: I hope you are happy with the ending.

Sabine:
Thanks for your compliments! :-)

Spanish74:
Thanks for your compliments as well! My annoyance with the simple
black-and-white-pattern that was established during the
Pein-versus-Jiraya arc was one of my main motivations to write this
story. And I think it's canon that Sasuke and his team are outside
this pattern.

Xzanayu:
Now you can be comforted! I don't have any real cliffhangers, I
think, I end my chapters only when the fight is almost over, and the
bit that is not over will lead to the next scene...

LadyRonin:
Now I can answer to all your questions without fear of spoilering my
own story! :-)

Yes,
the graveyard was the garden covered in snow. Now the snow has partly
molted away and you can see it's a graveyard.

The
Kyuubi attacked Konoha because Tobi/Madara made it. (That's canon.
Erm. Are you following the anime only, and not the manga? I am sorry
for spoiling this to you.)

I
have not thought whether leadersama got stronger because Itachi was
thinking him so strong.

I
hope that all (or most) other questions are answered... :-) Sorry
about the cliffhangers – I thought that I finished the chapter
only when it was clear how the fight would end.
- 36
- 37
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The Canalized River