Her hair drifted softly in the wind, weaving together with the pure moonlight to form a picture of heartbreaking beauty.
Even though she kept her back turned toward the distance, it was easy to imagine that her delicate face was currently stained with silent tears.
Droplets of grief slid slowly down her flushed cheeks; each tear felt like raw pain wrung from the depths of her soul, heavy and cold. Yet, there was not a single sound. Kanon was weeping, but she refused to let anyone see. She stood with her back turned against the entire shinobi world.
It was as if the world itself had isolated her, leaving her exiled on the opposite side of existence. Within her palm, the vortex of the Flower Realm materialized, and from it, a photograph emerged.
Her hand gripped the yellowed photograph so tightly that her fingertips turned pale from the force. The picture captured a warm, smiling family, but that was a past long reduced to ash. Now, she was the only one left drifting in this silent world.
In the photograph, she was only six years old. Sasuke and Itachi were there with her, alongside their mother and father.
Tucked right behind it within the frame was another picture, one of her and Team Hana.
Tayuya had been the one who insisted on taking it, back during the period when Kanon was obsessively preparing to defeat Itachi. Kanon had refused at first, but Tayuya had practically dragged her along by force.
Recalling how Tayuya had pulled at her so hard she nearly unleashed her Cursed Seal, Kanon couldn't help but let out a faint, bitter smile.
In the photo, Jirobo looked completely simple and honest, Sakon, Ukon, and Kidomaru were flashing multiple peace signs at the camera, and Tayuya was pinching Kanon's cheek while Kanon glared at her with an intensely annoyed expression. She had been furious that the photoshoot interrupted her training. Yet at this moment, Kanon felt incredibly grateful that she had gone. This single photograph was the only memory left of Team Hana, and every member had a copy.
Naturally, Kanon kept hers. She placed the two photographs together, making them her most sacred treasures. One side was family, and the other side was family just the same.
"I suppose I should have taken a photo with everyone from the Akatsuki and Ryuchi Cave too..." Kanon murmured softly.
A single tear splashed onto the photo. Even though she had awakened the ultimate Rinnegan and possessed unparalleled strength, these people could never come back.
The surrounding world seemed to feel the young girl's sorrow, and even the air grew heavy. The distant, shattered boulders seemed to hang their heads, mourning her isolation and helplessness. The wind blew gently past, unable to sweep away the grief clinging to her, only heartlessly emphasizing how fragile and desolate her solitary figure truly was.
Her own flesh-and-blood brother, her best friend, her teacher, and the peers she grew up with were all standing right here on this battlefield, so why did she still look so completely alone?
Both Naruto and Sasuke fell into a heavy silence. From further back, Kakashi finally spoke to Kanon's retreating figure.
"Kanon... perhaps I don't have the right to say anything."
"But a great deal of what you have endured, I know about..."
"Naruto... he has always... wanted to save you."
"It was my own uselessness that kept him in the dark for so long."
"Even after he nearly died by your hand... he still sheds tears for you right now."
"It's because he cares about you deeply. You two are best friends, aren't you?"
"For your sake, he was even willing to abandon his lifelong dream of becoming Hokage, choosing instead to die together with you."
Kanon did not turn around. Her voice drifted back, incredibly soft.
"I have never once doubted whether he could become Hokage. I have always firmly believed that he would."
"But I have my own convictions. He and I are simply doing the exact same thing, each of us chasing our own dreams..."
Kanon rose and turned around. The photographs in her hand were swallowed back into the rose vortex. As she faced them, her eyes swam with fresh tears, taking in everything left behind her.
The corpses of her former peers, a silent Sasuke, Naruto being supported by Hinata, a weeping Sakura, and Kakashi watching her intently.
This was an era that drove people to madness and despair, where joy and tragedy played out on the exact same stage. Like moths to a flame, they threw themselves forward. Was it Madara who sought to reshape the structure of the shinobi world? Was it Obito who sought to create a new reality? Or was it herself, chasing a desperate dream?
Exactly who would emerge as the ultimate victor would be decided very soon.
Seeing the state Kanon was in, Sasuke walked over to Naruto's side. He looked at him, realizing that in many ways, Naruto had been more of a brother to Kanon than he had ever been. Naruto had refused to abandon either of them.
A flood of memories with Naruto came rushing back. In that instant, Sasuke felt as though he had stepped right into Naruto's inner world.
Sasuke knew that Naruto used to always be completely alone. Just like Sasuke and Kanon, the sole survivors of the Uchiha clan, Naruto had been utterly ostracized by the villagers. He used to pull ridiculous pranks just to get yelled at. When Sasuke first saw Naruto acting like that, he only found him annoying, viewing him as a weakling who did nothing but cause trouble.
But from the moment Kanon became friends with him, Sasuke found his attention drawn to Naruto. Watching Naruto constantly get scolded, Sasuke used to wonder why Kanon would ever want to be friends with someone like that.
Yet, watching Naruto and Kanon grow so close, running around the village and causing mischief together, Sasuke had found himself unable to look away.
He realized that perhaps back then, Naruto's weakness had been contagious. From that point on, every time he saw Naruto, his awareness of him grew a little deeper.
Watching Naruto desperately try to forge bonds with others only made Sasuke think of his own family.
For some reason, it made Sasuke a little happy. But at the same time, he had viewed it as a form of weakness. Kanon had desperately starved for affection since childhood; it was precisely because they lost their family that Sasuke had allowed Kanon to seek comfort in Naruto. After all, that friendship was one of the few precious gifts Kanon had left.
Afterward, Sasuke had thrown himself entirely into training, desperate to escape that perceived weakness, determined to grow stronger than Kanon, and stronger than Uchiha Itachi.
Yet, fate placed him in the exact same squad as Kanon and Naruto. Seeing Kanon and Naruto together always brought back memories of his parents and everything he once possessed.
At that time, Kanon was the only family he had left. To gain power and exact his revenge on Itachi, he had to shield her. He wanted Kanon to live a happy, peaceful life, to live well, and to freely do whatever she wished.
But ideals and reality were always at odds. Kanon had carried an agonizing weight since childhood that he couldn't even begin to fathom. Since the age of six, she had been relentlessly tortured by that pain. Team 7 had been the only warm sanctuary she had, and he had never wanted to destroy it.
Yes, Sasuke felt pain too. He was human, and he had seen everything Naruto and Kanon did. Watching Kanon's explosive growth, and even seeing Naruto pull ahead of him, had made it impossible for him to let them go.
The truth was, Sasuke envied Naruto and Kanon because they possessed a strength of heart that he lacked.
Kanon, his little sister, had always walked ahead of him, bearing infinite agony and responsibility entirely on her own fragile shoulders. He, the older brother, had ended up being the one protected and cared for instead.
Sasuke was deeply moved as he looked into Naruto's clear, sky-blue eyes, but Naruto's gaze remained fixed on Kanon in the distance.
In this moment, it felt as though they had returned to their childhood. At the very beginning, Sasuke had his family, his brother, and Kanon by his side, while Naruto had absolutely nothing behind him.
Gradually, Kanon stood behind Naruto just as she did for him, while Sasuke's own backing dwindled until only Kanon remained.
Slowly, Iruka appeared by Naruto's side, while Sasuke still only had Kanon.
Then, the rest of Team 7 materialized behind Naruto, yet Kanon remained the solitary presence behind Sasuke.
Finally, they grew up. Behind Naruto stood the Konoha peers, Yamato, Tsunade, and countless others. Behind Sasuke, clad in his white rogue attire, there was still only Kanon.
Sasuke had watched the crowd behind Naruto grow larger and larger, but then Kanon vanished from Naruto's side. When Sasuke turned to look beside himself, the Kanon who had always stood behind him during that period had disappeared as well.
In her place, Itachi stood behind him. Behind Naruto, though he had lost Kanon, the entire shinobi world now stood to back him up.
But behind Sasuke, there was only endless darkness and the silent graves of the Uchiha clan.
Even now, Sasuke's resolve regarding his own path had not changed; this was the road he had to walk to achieve his "revolution." Seeing people constantly appear behind Naruto while he stood entirely alone, Sasuke harbored no regrets.
But in the next instant, Sasuke froze.
As he looked closer at the space surrounding Naruto, he saw the images of himself and Kanon appear right there beside him. Sasuke's composure completely shattered.
Naruto had kept a place reserved for both him and Kanon all along.
No matter what you become, you can always choose to turn back, because I will always be right here waiting for you two siblings to come home.
He had to admit it, compared to bearing hatred entirely alone, he desperately wanted to embrace the bond he shared with Naruto.
"Is that so? If that's how it is, then show me..."
Tears finally spilled from Sasuke's eyes.
"Naruto..."
"Yeah?" Naruto turned his head, looking at Sasuke.
"Before this world is destroyed, let's give it one last fight together."
The moment the words left Sasuke's mouth, Naruto's pupils contracted slightly. Seeing the tears streaming down Sasuke's face, he stood tall and gave a firm nod.
"Yeah... let's give it everything we've got."
He knew that the Sasuke of Team 7 had finally, truly returned.
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NOTE: This fic has been completely translated. If you want to read the whole story head over to my p-atre-on: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]