NOTE: I'm reposting this. Last time I wasn't updating it in a timely manner and I have some different ideas for the direction. To that end I deleted the original and am going to restart with edits for the early chapters.


I like to think I have a good idea of how Naruto will end. Good will triumph, love and brotherhood will find a way, the world (led by Naruto as Hokage) will ease into an era of everlasting peace, etc, etc. There will be sacrifices and there will be destruction, but in the end Naruto's vision will succeed.

But what if it didn't? What if it all fell apart? Welcome to the warped ending…

(Disclaimer: This fic does not take chapter 599, or any successive chapters, into account.)


Three minutes before War's End…

Tobi:

The death of the man called Tobi is a surprisingly modest affair.

Much more modest than he would have desired. He was so close to ruling absolutely, to obtaining the truest power, power the other Uchiha had recognized and obtained but always shied away from, power over the mind.

He would have become a god, and with his death would have been the world's end. The end of life, the end of the universe…the end of time itself. But most importantly, the end of war. War, that had taken so much from the world (so much from him)and left nothing but headstones.

Then the Uzumaki kid interfered, and all his careful preparations unraveled in a few short years.

Now there's no one here. No one but the Fourth's brat, the old failure Kakashi, the tailed beasts (tools, nothing more), and the youth-obsessed fool to witness a chance at true peace fade.

But he will not let this boy's victory last.

Every plan must have a fallback, a backup, in the event that the original plan becomes unsalvageable. Tobi likes to think that his is among the more brilliant this world has seen.

You never suspected this, Itachi. You could never have prepared for it. I hope you're watching…

"Dimensional Mangekyo Sharingan," he gasps. His body is melting away with every breath. "Twisted…Twisted Sight Technique. Spiral…Seal."

The Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki hears his voice and leans in. "What's the matter? "

Tobi doesn't answer. Instead, he holds the boy's penetrating glare, even as his Sharingan finally loses its sight.

Those blue eyes. So clear and bright. They will darken. They will fill with anguish, and hate, and…despair. You will destroy everything you love, everything…everything you fight for, and when…when you finally…understand…when you once again look upon the world…with those eyes…those eyes…his eye…

Naruto:

The Rinnegan's light fades. Its revolving shades of violet slowly pale, leaving only milky emptiness.

Naruto makes a face at the remains of the body. "He's gross."

Kakashi's eyes shimmer even as his expression tightens in anger. "I don't understand. War creates evil out of the best of us, but this twisted monster…"

The three of them watch as the body slowly melts, dissolving, leaving the shadow of a skeleton imprinted in the ground.

"His drive was as strong as yours, Naruto," Kurama says into the silence.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto growls, offended.

Kurama laughs. "Don't mistake my meaning, boy. He was as corrupted now as he was on the night you were born…but he didn't begin that way. He began as you did."

Naruto frowns, worried. He'd beaten Tobi…but he hadn't convinced him. He hadn't shown his enemy the truth. In a way, he'd failed. Could it be possible that his answer…Jiraiya's answer… "What are you saying? That I might turn out like him?"

"I'm telling you to be careful," Kurama growls. "I'm telling you that by the time you realize you're on that path, it's long past too late. You won't like this, but…stay away from the Uchiha boy."

A tired smile crosses Naruto's face. "You know I can't do that."

"Then there is little I can do for you," Kurama says sourly, his teeth bared.

Soon, the army arrives – too late to help, but unneeded after all. Wide-eyed, they stare at the ruins of the masked man, the one whose plans had killed thousands and set the world ablaze. They surround Naruto, slap him on the back, laugh in awe and joy, ask him about the battle, and he revels in the calm swell of peace. The war is over.

And yet.

He can't shake the terrible feeling that it isn't finished after all. That the masked man who'd started everything had played one final card.

But he ignores his apprehension. He ignores it because he has no other choice. Because, though the war is over, Naruto has a greater struggle ahead. The greatest battle he will ever fight.

Sasuke is waiting.


A/N: Stressing once again that this is alternate universe Naruto from here on out. Also stressing that this will be dark. I don't know yet how everything's going down, but "down" is definitely the right word for it.