Chapter 50: Alternative Ending, Epilogue
I had spent so much of my life preparing only for the Fourth Great Shinobi War and what lead up to it, that I had never spared any thought to what I would do after if I had survived. Since the world was so much more at peace now, I was no longer really needed for assassination missions, especially since I had no further need to go on extended trips. In lieu of that, Kakashi, as the Sixth Hokage, made me an emissary for the village.
I spent years communicating with the other nations, travelling back and forth to them all. At first, it was fine, but after I was married to Sasuke and discovered I was pregnant, I was promoted to being the village's lead emissary, which meant I mainly stayed in the village and had the regular emissaries all report to me. This meant I worked closely with the Hokage and with Intelligence, which meant both Inoichi and Ibiki.
Sasuke and I were not the first of our age group to be married, despite being the first couple to get together. Naruto and Hinata got married first, neither wanting to wait, and they had a huge ceremony. It was not only a big deal for our friends, but also for the village and for the Hyuga clan since Hinata was the heiress.
Sasuke and mine's wedding was shortly after it though, a smaller and more private affair in comparison. We kept it to only our brothers and our closest friends. His old Taka team managed to come to it, but otherwise it was full of my friends. I was honored that so many people came to be with us on our big day.
Sasuke did have the ambition to rebuild the Uchiha compound, and he started to restore the buildings and clean them all himself in between his missions. He had wanted Itachi to move back in, but respected his brother's wishes and understood why he didn't want to. Itachi wasn't far from us though, he got himself a small home very close to the compound, and he visited often.
After our wedding, I moved into the compound and was officially a part of the Uchiha clan, though I fashioned a new symbol to wear on my clothes. It combined the Uchiha and the Hyuga clans together, since I would never stop being a Hyuga. Neji was sad to no longer live with me, but since he had begun dating Tenten just before my wedding, I knew he wouldn't be lonely in our home for long. I did miss living with him though, and made frequent trips at night to sit together on our old porch for tea with him.
My husband and I may not have been the first in our group to wed, but we were the first to have a child. Our son was born within a year of our wedding, and we named him Takai, which meant a 'the next world', since he is truly my next world, my new purpose, my new piece of my soul. Takai was born with my white eyes, but Sasuke's spikey black hair. He grew to have closer to my personality, at least in that he was very social to everyone.
Takai was followed a few years later by our daughter, who we named Akira, which meant 'morning dawn' since she was again the start of something new for us. She had Sasuke's black eyes, but thankfully inherited my long straight hair and not the Uchiha spiky hair. Naruto and Hinata had a son around the time Akira was born, and they named him Tomomi, inspired by my own name since it meant 'friend.'
Several of my friends all had kids around that time, including Ino and Sai, Choji and Karui, Lee and Sakura, and Shikamaru and Temari. Neji and Tenten waited longer to have children since Neji was busy leading the clan and working on changing the clan's laws for the branch family, but he eventually had twin daughters around the time Lee had a second son and I had a surprise third child, a son we named Hikaru.
Hikaru looked like a completely miniature Sasuke in every way, though he had the kindest and sweetest personality out of all our family and was almost always smiling, which just melted my heart to see his innocent smile on his look-a-like Sasuke face. Takai was outgoing and personable, Akira was proud and arrogant like her father (and her mother), but Hikaru was just a little angel, soft spoken and polite to everyone.
The laws that Neji changed eventually became village wide with help from Naruto once he became Hokage. All curse marks were banned from now on, so no one would have to suffer being cursed anymore. My own curse seal had returned once I came back to life, which was disappointing, but understandable and accepted once we realized I might have been blind without it since the curse mark took away my Byakugan when I had died. My curse, and everyone's curse that still existed, couldn't be removed, not even by the head family of the clan. However, our marks were never used on us again, and frankly hadn't been used on us in a long time, not since we were kids.
Neji eventually took over the entire clan, becoming the first branch member to lead the clan. He was met with resistance on his ambitions, but not from Hiashi, who was the one grooming him to lead. Hinata knew she did not want to lead, and since she married outside the clan like I did, she gave up her role as future head willingly and passed it happily to Neji.
Itachi eventually found a passion and opened a tea shop in the village. He made his own baked goods and dango, and enjoyed being his own boss. His tea shop became where I frequented, so I saw him all the time. Itachi never went back to being a shinobi, though he did help train our kids whenever they would ask him. He was a doting uncle, and eventually a loving father. He had one son with his wife, a woman who moved to our village about 8 years after the war.
Itachi's son was a natural prodigy, and wanted nothing more than to be a ninja, so Itachi trained him diligently, but refused to let him skip any levels in the academy, despite being ahead of the class. He didn't want his son to graduate early like he did, and he never pushed him to train relentlessly like his father had made him. Instead, Itachi was always making him slow down and spend more time with family and friends. His son was often at our home, especially since he idolized Takai despite their age difference.
All three of our kids were powerful and smart, and while Takai and Akira both wanted to be shinobi, Hikaru wanted to work with Itachi at his tea shop when he grew up. While Hikaru had no ambition to be a ninja, he still loved it when Guy Sensei would come over and train with him, and he excelled in the training too.
We didn't know if our kids would end up with my Byakugan or Sasuke's Sharingan. Takai had the Byakugan right away, and I began training him from the age of three in how to use it. I didn't push him as hard as I pushed myself as a child, but he loved to train with me. He was also a natural fire style user from a young age, and begged and pleaded with Sasuke to train him, until finally I smacked Sasuke and kicked them both out of the house and told them not to come back until Takai could perform the Uchiha fireball jutsu. Sasuke was so clueless at times on how to bond with his own kids, that the only way to make him understand was by force.
Takai shocked us all one day when he was a Chuunin and came home from a mission and showed us he had activated the Sharingan as well. We had thought he would only have the Byakugan, but he got both of our kekkei genkai, even though his Sharingan was pink instead of red. Akira also got both of our eye techniques, though her Byakugan is much weaker than Takai's or my own, though her Sharingan is stronger than Takai's. Hikaru we know has both, but since he doesn't train them, he only uses the Byakugan. He adorably only uses it to find where he misplaces his toys when he's playing.
While Takai was definitely a mama's boy, Akira was a daddy's girl. She shadowed Sasuke around the house since the moment she could crawl. She loves to train with Sensei the most the though, especially whenever Sensei brags about how strong he made her mom, and I know she looks up to me as a symbol of being a strong female shinobi and a war hero. Hikaru loves both his parents equally, but really he channels so much inner calm, he's like a little Neji personality wise, and those two can often be found sipping tea together while idly watching the other kids train.
Sensei never stopped being his extra self, and took it upon himself to make each of his Team Guy student's children powerful, just like their parents. While Lee loved having Sensei over and training, Neji was still annoyed by it, mostly because Sensei was so loud about it all the time, and because Sensei would sometimes just kidnap his daughters and bring them to Lee's house without asking. Sensei tried that once while I was at work and Sasuke was on a mission, so our kids were being watched by Uncle Itachi, and whatever transpired between them that day made it so Sensei never tried to kidnap our kids again without permission.
Shirotsu ended up becoming a sensei just like he always wanted, and even became the sensei over Neji's daughter, Lee's youngest son Daichi, and the son of Kiba. I set up Kiba with a woman I met from the Land of Stone when I was still an active emissary, and they got married after a while of long distance dating. She eventually moved to Konoha, and I'm purely convinced their relationship works because she was the biggest dog fan I've ever met, and I just know Akamaru was what cinched the relationship deal for them.
Sasuke, when he was ready to retire as a ninja, eventually joined Asuma and became a village elder. He wanted to help guide Naruto and keep the village honest and good. He understood more than most how corrupt those in power could be, so he worked hard and diligently to get to the position where he could make sure no corruption would exist. I was proud of him for fulfilling his dreams, and he was proud of me for finding passions.
I had been a part of spearheading international relations and helping overall in keeping peace between all the nations, not just the five great nations. I set up trade routes between the smaller ones, shinobi support response options for attacks, and several other programs I thought would help the nations prosper.
When I was very old, a few months after Sasuke had passed away naturally, I finally felt and knew my time was coming. My children and grandchildren surrounded me, along with several of my friends who still lived. Neji knew his time was coming soon too, and we left this world the same way we entered it, together, separated only by a few minutes.
"Hello Death." I greeted the familiar darkness, noticing I wasn't my old crone of a self anymore, but instead younger again, in my prime, as Death's floating dark cloaked form appeared in front of me.
"Welcome, young soul." Death greeted me. "Tell me, what have you learned since last we met."
"So much." I breath out them blissfully. "Thank you Death, for allowing me to live this life I had. I learned friendship first, of course, but I learned so much more than that. I learned the importance of a family when I had one of my own, I learned how to be happy when finally I was at a time of peace, and I learned how to love. You gave me the opportunity to become whole, and I thank you for that." I bowed to Death, sincere in my words and grateful for everything they did for me.
"You have done well to learn those lessons." Death complimented. "Originally, I had thought more realms were needed to completely revitalize your soul." They trailed off, not finishing their thought.
"And now?" I prompt them to continue, "What is next for me?"
"Tell me, do you feel your soul is complete now?" Death asks me.
"Yes." I answer honestly.
"Then your journey is complete. Farewell, young soul." They say, their form disappearing, and I smile softly as I feel myself disappearing as well.
My mind may no longer be continuing my journey, but my soul will continue on, become a new person, have a new adventure, and I will be blissfully thankful I got to have my second chance in life.
Because without Death, I never would have gotten to live my real life.
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