CHAPTER 1- Prologue- Enveloping Light

Hitsuji, saru, uma, tori, tatsu, hebi, hitsuji, nezumi, inu, tora…

Sweat trickled down Naruto's brow as he finished the last of his hand seals after much exertion on his part. He could now see why Jiraiya had classified this jutsu as Forbidden; the chakra drain was alarming, even by his insane standards. If it wasn't for the Kyuubi, he would've probably collapsed- die, even- as soon as he formed the first five seals, from chakra exhaustion.

That being said, anyone who had attempted the jutsu probably had a death wish in the first place; it was just a matter of hanging out long enough for the jutsu to take its effect, rather than dying before accomplishing anything. Naruto was hanging on, but just barely. The jutsu was already digging into his life chakra.

The fox was screaming at him, at his host's idiocy, but Naruto paid it no heed. Instead, he focused on the opponent in front of him. A pair of mismatched eyes glared hatefully back at him, though it held shock within them as well. "You…you fool! Do you have any idea what that jutsu is going to do to you as well?" Uchiha Madara screamed. His voice held a tinge of panic, which gave Naruto some satisfaction. The Sharingan was spinning wildly in his right eye socket, trying to think up a jutsu to get its master out of their current predicament.

It will be to no avail. With the strong barrier Naruto had previously setup surrounding them, and with the wide blast range of the kinjutsu Naruto was performing, Madara was cornered and had nowhere to escape to. He was weakened to the point that he didn't even have enough chakra left to warp himself away.

"I'll probably die as well, yeah, but at least I'll take you down with me." Naruto replied coolly, forcing out more chakra, never mind that he was already running on more than empty.

"And what will be in it for you? You won't gain anything from this, you foolish boy!"

"For one thing, at least this'll reduce the number of casualties we will have on our side." 'That's right,' Naruto thought. 'This damn war has been dragging on for the past year and a half already. Numerous Shinobis and Samurais alike have fallen because of this; I'll put an end to this pain and suffering myself.'

"Madara! Today will be an end to everything! If it means my friends and my comrades can live in a peaceful future, I won't mind sacrificing my life for it!" Naruto harshly declared. Looking Madara in the eye, Naruto grinned wildly. "This will be your final farewell. Goodbye."

"Who do you think you are? Ending me, Uchiha Madara? This is blasphemy! Unthinkable!" Naruto's grin only got wider at the other's terror and fear. "Well, they used to call me the number one knuckleheaded, hyperactive ninja. I can't disappoint them during my last few moments now, can I?"

Ushi.

"Tengoku Kakomu no Jutsu!"

True to the jutsu, bright white light enveloped the both of them. Naruto felt the last of his chakra reserves fading away, and the distant roaring of an enraged fox at the back of his mind. Madara's inhumane scream of fury was the last thing Naruto registered before he fell, smiling at his victory.

"NARUTO!"

Sasuke's voice wasn't the only one that rang out throughout the vicinity. Yells of horror from the rest of the rookie 12- though no longer rookies any more- as well as the Jonin Senseis joined his own as well. The numerous scattered fighting around the area slowed to a halt as bright light engulfed their vision. It faded after a few moments, leaving many blinking their eyes as their vision was regained.

Sasuke didn't even wait for his eyes to start functioning properly again. He rushed forwards, intent on finding his once-regained best friend, Kakashi close at his tail. The infuriating barrier Sasuke and Kakashi had been trying to break for the past ten minutes had dissipated away seconds before, without its caster supplying energy to sustain it further. Sasuke felt his stomach drop as his vision finally cleared, revealing his blond teammate bruised and still on the ground.

"Dobe. Hey, DOBE! Wake up! What happened?" Sasuke kneeled down and roughly shook his teammate's pale form. "Wake the hell up, usuratonkachi!"

"S-Sasuke-teme…K-Kashi'-sensei…" Naruto's eyes flipped open, but his pupils were dull, lifeless, and staring blankly into open space. The corner of his lips twitched upwards to form a grin, but it took a lot of effort on the blonds' part to do so. His entire body was wrecked with spasms and his chest was heaving heavily with the effort to breath.

"Naruto, don't talk anymore." Kakashi swooped down beside Sasuke, inspecting his other student. "Sakura should be here in a moment-"

"I don't have long…" Naruto seemed not to hear Kakashi as he wheezed out painfully. "That jutsu… used up the last of my chakra. But… But I did it… I defeated Madara-"

"Naruto, shut up. That's enough. Stop talking." Sasuke snapped, willing himself not to panic; to stay calm. 'Why isn't the Kyuubi's chakra healing him?'

Naruto continued on nonetheless, even when each breath he took seemed to cause him much pain. "I'm glad that you're all safe… you guys… don't feel sad after I'm gone… I didn't regret my actions even for a single moment…"

"What are you saying? You moron, stop talking right now! The medics are arriving soon, you won't die-" Sasuke choked back the tears which threatened to fall. "I won't let you die!"

"I guess… my only regret was not being able to become H-Hokage…" Naruto gave a rueful grin and turned to face Sasuke's general direction, but his gaze was still clouded and blank. " So t-take care of the village for me…"

Before Sasuke could protest and scream at the blond, Kakashi cut him off, head bowed and eyes sorrowful. "Don't worry, Naruto, we will."

"I'll be going then… and I don't want any of you following me… for at least another fifty years, y-you hear me…? Then…we'll watch the fireworks again… all of us, together…it's a promise…" Closing his eyes, Naruto murmured, breathing his last. "Ittekimasu."

"Itterasshai."

"NARUTOOOOO!"

Author notes:

Cheesiness, check. Dramatic moments, check. OOCness, canon spoiler, and other wishy-washy whatnot, check. I don't see why you have managed to read this far, and for that I must applaud you. I'll applaud you more if you even bother to review.

Just to clear several things up- Yes, this story follows current manga plotline, so I might have confused readers who are not up to date with the manga. Sadly, it deviates from canon from here onwards. This is about 2 years after Madara declared war with the Five Great Nations, so Naruto and gang should be about 17-18. Naruto and Sasuke have somehow patched up- I probably won't go into much detail about that- and what I wrote was the final battle scene. Sorry everyone, Naruto has to die to get to Soul Society; this is a crossover fanfiction. I NEED him to cross over.

Tengoku Kakomu no Jutsu- Heavenly Enveloping Jutsu. I couldn't think of anything better. (ToT)
Ittekimasu- I'm leaving
Itterasshai- Have a safe trip
Translation's not really accurate, but that's as close as it can get.

Feel free to comment your confusions. I'll try to clear them up in the next chapter- provided your questions do not risk plot spoilers.
(*^▽^*)

I'll be updating again soon.

TenkuuBatsu