Decaying Bluebells

Arc XVII - War

Tragically beautiful fanart done by czappastar on deviantART. 

BEFORE YOU READ PLEASE READ THIS WARNING: I created two different endings for this story. One of them is realistic and the other is a fluffy-cuddlyone. This chapter is the last chapter that is canon for both endings. The next chapter will be the realistic ending, and the final chapter will be the fluffy-cuddly one. So at the end of this chapter, pick your poison.

The realistic ending will carry on with the war (along with the Obito / Madara confrontation) while the fluffy ending skips straight to the epilogue.

This will go for all of the chapters:

Disclaimer: I, Darkpetal16, do not own Naruto.

Warning(s): Angst, character death, violence, gore, extreme fluff, tragedy

Beta:

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Interlude – Omniscient - 19

"His name is Obito," she said quietly.

Ino gave the grave an unimpressed look. "This is where you sneak off to, like, every other day?"

"I think it's sweet," Tenten offered.

Nao blushed in sheepish embarrassment under her sister's scrutinizing gaze.

He watched her from his perch in the tree, as she gestured to the grave to her friends. He made sure to keep his chakra suppressed, so none of them could sense him. He made sure to keep his mask on right, and he held his staff tightly between his legs and arms. He rested his chin on top of his knee and continued to stare at them.

The girls were teasing her now, but she just kept smiling at them and chirping on about Obito.

That was the girl that had saved him.

Him.

The Mizukage.

Ex-Mizukage, Yagura thought absently. She had saved him without knowing his identity, or even caring. Despite knowing he was her enemy (was being the operative term), she still wanted to be close to him.

He could, he supposed, have told her than none of those rumors about him were true. That he wasn't an actual bloodthirsty, sadistic, malicious killer than those rumors painted. He could say that the Sharingan-user made him do all those horrible things to his villagers, and to his enemies.

He could.

He didn't.

She didn't care.

Or maybe she did, but she just didn't show it. When he had brought it up, that one time so long ago, she just stated that the past didn't define a person—what they did from when they met her and then on, was how she would judge a person.

He told her she was an idiot.

She just ducked her head, her cheeks turning rosy, and accepted the criticism.

That made him more irritated at her naiveté and he hit her over the head. Lightly, of course. Not enough to really hurt her, but enough to get his irritation across. He wasn't used to dealing with people like her.

Well, he wasn't used to dealing with friends period.

But, she wasn't quite a friend, either. She wasn't just a student, or comrade, or friend. She was something else entirely, and Yagura didn't quite know what. Not that he cared to find out. He had a feeling finding out would only cause unnecessary tension between the two, and he liked what they had going.