The Remnants Of A Sand Castle (A Gaara Love Story)

The End Of Tears

It has been a couple of months.

Gaara is back in his village.

Peace returned to Konoha.

I became a chunin with Shikamaru.

Sasuke met Itachi.

He was defeated.

Tsunade was found.

She saved Sasuke.

And now he's gone.

That's that.

Naruto and all the rest were sent after him, without my knowledge. I am back in Konoha after a mission, and I am running toward Tsunade's office now.

"Tsunade!" I yell, pushing past every ninja in my way of her office.

Tsunade does not know who I am. She knows Minako, but not Miyazaki. 

Funny how I make us seem like two different people.

"What, Minako?" Tsunade looks to me. I bow.

"I... Would also like to go after Sasuke." I say. Lifting my face to show her my determined look.

"Why? We already have a team!" Tsunade said.

"No. Not really. If my predictions are correct, every shinobi on the team has stayed behind for a suicide fight against one of Orochimaru's minions to let Naruto go ahead. Not to mention the fact that Naruto can't beat Sasuke. Naruto will get close, I'm sure, but Sasuke's too much right now. If I go too, then we can succeed in bringing Sasuke back. After his fight with Naruto, he'll be weakened. So, please." My voice cracked on the last word.

"What if you're wrong?" Tsunade deadpanned.

"Sasuke's my friend! Please, Hokage-sama!" I shouted. Tsunade seemed to ponder this.

"Fine. I'll let you go. I'll send Kakashi after you soon." Tsunade grimly nodded. I smiled sadly, and rushed out the door, not waiting for her to change her mind. I sprinted out of the village, not even gathering any supplies.

If this went well, I wouldn't need any. I rushed, and ran through the forest, my thoughts only on one thing.

How to convince Sasuke.

I knew Sasuke well. I even knew the secret behind the Uchiha massacre. I also knew that Sasuke was the one person Naruto couldn't get through to. So, Sasuke would still go to Orochimaru no matter what Naruto says.

Sasuke only wants power.

He sees power in Orochimaru.

But what if he finds more power in another master?

I stopped, finding myself at the Valley Of The End.

How perfect that they'd decided to battle here.

I stared down through the trees, to see Sasuke hovering over an unconscious Naruto. The rain thundered.

"Sasuke!" I screamed.

I jumped down.

Sasuke's eyes widened, and he tried to dash across the valley. I run past the waterfall, and grab his wrist, while he tries to wiggle his way out of my grip. Sasuke whips around, trying to get the drop on me, but I raise my left hand, and block his strike.

"Sasuke listen to me!" I scream through the pounding of the rain.

"I need power! You won't stop me!" Sasuke growled back. He turned to face me, and looked me in the eyes.

His eyes were sad.

"Orochimaru can't give you the power Konoha can!" I yell in desperation.

"Konoha's made me weak! I'm too soft!" He throws a weak punch at my gut, and the breath leaves me, but I stand firm.

"NO! OROCHIMARU'S MADE YOU WEAK!!! He's made you so weak that you're leaving everything you love. He's made you so weak that Naruto's words make sense! KONOHA'S MADE YOU STRONG!!!" 

Sasuke stops struggling.

"But... I'm so weak." He whimpers.

"No. You're strong. You're so strong that you never forgot your pain through all those years! You're so strong that you learned to love even though you were betrayed! YOU ARE DEFINITELY STRONG, SASUKE!" I pant.

Sasuke looks down.

"But... I need to be stronger. Itachi... Didn't even flinch. Didn't even blink." Sasuke argues. He clenched his fists.

"Then I'll make you strong! I'll give you the strength to fight Itachi!" Tears started to roll down my cheeks. I couldn't lose my friend. He had to understand. I needed him to depend on. I wanted him to depend on me!

"But you're only a chunin!" Sasuke yells.

"In this life! Let me show you who I really am!!!!" I lifted my hand, and smacked his forehead, leaving my palm there.

Memories flooded into him. My life, shown in a trance-like movie. He started to convulse, but I did not let up.

"Mina...!" Sasuke gasped. He frowned.

"Miya..?" he stopped convulsing, and fell into my arms. Tears were falling rapidly from his eyes, and snot was drooling out of his nose.

"Sasuke... Let me help you." I whispered into his ear. I faintly felt him nod.

I helped him up. His groggy eyes wandered around me, not exactly focused. I got down on one knee, and looked up to the shaky Sasuke.

"I create this oath with the power of the Isangan! I vow to Sasuke Uchiha that I shall train him to be ready enough to kill Itachi and extract revenge! Do you accept this proposal, Uchiha Sasuke!?"

Sasuke nods, and I take his hand. I take out a kunai, cutting his hand slightly, granting me a confused look from Sasuke. I squeezed out some blood, and cut my index finger vertically, up the center. I took his blood, mixed into mine, and created a symbol on my chest, above my cleavage.

"This seals the oath! If I dare to break the oath, then my soul shall be set free into the world, for two years as punishment! This oath creates the possibility that I may teach even forbidden techniques to my student, despite laws. The power of my Isangan shall make this so!" 

The blood on my chest started to glow yellow, and brightened, until it almost blinded me, and then it stopped.

I looked at Sasuke, and ran over, catching him as he fainted.

I fell to my knees, completely exhausted.

I had just cursed myself and my student, forcing us to go through with this.

There was no turning back.

If Sasuke truly wanted to kill Itachi, this was the only way.

He better be ready.

I held Sasuke in my arms, waiting for Kakashi to show up.

"Minako!" I heard Kakashi yell. I saw him run over to where I was, and he got on his knees to look at Sasuke.

"He's....?" Kakashi tried to hide his concern.

"Alive, but weakened. Don't worry, Kakashi. Naruto didn't fail. Sasuke listened." I lied. I wanted Naruto to take the credit for this, not me. If Naruto thought he did it, and so did everyone else, he would feel like he hadn't failed. I lifted my collar to hide my blood seal, while Kakashi gets up to carry Naruto. I get Sasuke onto my back, and we both jump into the forest.

Sasuke's going back to Konoha.

Right where he belongs.

___________________________________________________________

HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I SO SORRY!

I hope you liked it!!!!

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

The picture is the symbl on Minako's chest.