All For Her

(A/N: For the fight scene, you may wish to play this song: http (colon – slash - slash) www (dot) youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v (equals) cFxGNfjmWkQ)

Madara watched in triumph as his Zetsu army began to mercilessly rout the Allied Shinobi Forces, confident that as soon as they surrendered he could find and capture the jinchūriki of the Hachibi and Kyūbi.

Hearing a sound behind him, he turned and was delighted to find that one of his targets had apparently decided to give up. Naruto Uzumaki stood twenty feet behind him, glaring openly in his direction.

"Uzumaki," sneered Madara from behind his mask, "Come to demand Sasuke back?"

Naurto shook his head, "I decided that there was no point in trying to rebuild that bond. No, I'm here for a very different reason."

"So you're giving up? How disappointing; what would you foolish parents say?" A mocking tone leeched into his voice at that last.

Naruto smirked, refusing to rise to the bait, "No, but it will end today one way or another."

"Yes it will… with your death!" Madara yelled, "Then I will tear the Kyūbi from your body! After that the Hachibi will be child's play and I will truly become a god!"

"It's not going to be that easy," Naruto replied, "Because Kyūbi is no longer Kyūbi. Now…"

He formed a handseal and a cloud of chakra smoke obscured him from view.

A few seconds passed, and then the smoke was blown away by a chakra pulse and Madara's jaw dropped. Naruto still stood in exactly the same spot, except his appearance had changed drastically.

He now wore what looked like standard jōnin garb, except over it he was wearing a white coat that Madara instantly recognized. His hair was much longer, a mane of silver-streaked crimson which hung down his back and fell over the nine identically-coloured tails which swirled and whipped behind him. A pair of fox ears rose from his hair, twitching occasionally at the distant sounds of pitched battle; his eyes had turned blood-red with slit pupils; his whisker marks were thicker and as he opened his mouth to speak Madara saw that he had longer and sharper canines than before.

"Now…" Naruto said, his voice layered with yōki, "Now I AM THE KYŪBI!"

Madara stared at him and began laughing, "You really believe that this will be enough to defeat me? I am an Uchiha! I wield the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and the Rinnegan which gives me ultimate power! You will be nothing more than a minor challenge, boy!"

Naruto did not respond, but flashed through seals and slammed his hand onto the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Two plumes of chakra smoke appeared on his shoulders and a female voice said, "Naruto-boy? What happened to you?"

Naruto shook his head as the smoke cleared, revealing the Toad Sages sitting on his shoulders, "No time, fuse to me."

Fukasaku looked puzzled, "…But the Kyūbi…"

"…is gone. I absorbed him. Now fuse!"

The two toads clapped their "hands" together and Naruto closed his eyes, reopening them a second later to reveal orange eyes with a thick horizontal bar straddling the thin vertical line of his pupil.

Madara frowned, only now becoming somewhat concerned. Flashing through his own seals, he activated his own summoning technique.

Naruto scanned the line of people who appeared. He recognized six of them as the other jinchūriki who had fallen to Akatsuki, the person on the far right was obviously Kabuto and the person on the left…

"Sasuke," Naruto commented idly, "I'd say hello but traitors deserve no politeness as far as I'm concerned."

The Uchiha scoffed, "Like I care, dobe. You will fall before my power."

Naruto dropped into his Frog Kata stance, "Always singing the same old song, Sasuke. Let's get this over with, or are you too chicken? Does the great Sasuke Uchiha need his dear kaa-san or infinitely superior Itachi-nii-san here to hold his hand before he can muster the courage to attack little old me?"

Normally Naruto wouldn't have taunted his adversary the way he was, but the Uchiha had been a thorn in his side for quite long enough and Naruto was sick of chasing after a traitor.

However, the provocation seemed to have succeeded. Sasuke charged right at him, a Chidori lighting up in his palm as Madara ordered the jinchūriki to attack as well.

Naruto sidestepped Sasuke's charge and tripped him up, causing the Chidori to punch into the ground and trapping the Uchiha's hand in the process. As Naruto jumped away from him, he was forced to dodge the white snake that appeared to comprise Kabuto's tail. Before the creature could lunge again, Naruto caught it behind the neck and pulled.

Madara couldn't help but sweat-drop as the Kyūbi jinchūriki swung Kabuto around like a kusari-gama before letting him go and sending him flying into the Yonbi and Gobi jinchūriki and knocking them over.

Naruto blocked a punch from the Nanabi jinchūriki and ducked a kick from the Nibi jinchūriki that might have taken off his head had it connected, only to almost lose it again a split second later as a glob of lava courtesy of the Yonbi jinchūriki seared past his face.

Evading the two female jinchūriki by substituting with the Sanbi jinchūriki, Naruto dodged in between the Yonbi jinchūriki and Sasuke, the latter having just freed his hand and evidently looking for somebody to blame.

Madara winced as the Kyūbi jinchūriki avoided Sasuke's second Chidori with practically no effort, then winced again as the assassination jutsu hit the Yonbi jinchūriki in the chest and blew off his head and shoulders, instantly ending the Edo Tensei's hold on his soul.

Naruto landed between Sasuke and Kabuto and stuck out his tongue, "Nyaaaaaaaah! For an Uchiha your aim stinks! How'd you ever kill Itachi, did he laugh himself to death at your pathetic attempts to hurt him?"

"SHUT UP AND BURN TO DEATH, YOU WORTHLESS DOBE! AMATERASU!" Sasuek screamed, closing one eye and channelling chakra.

Madara's sweat-drop returned even bigger than before as Sasuke fell for exactly the same trick for the second time in a row. The Kyūbi jinchūriki leapt into the air and Sasuke was far too slow to adjust his aim as Kabuto was swallowed by a wave of black flames, his dying scream lingering on the air.

Naruto turned to Madara, a mocking smile on his face, "Two down, six to go. Care to go for a third incident of friendly fire, uke-teme?"

Sasuke's face went purple with rage at the derogatory nickname and he charged at his grinning ex-teammate again, a third Chidori sparking into life in his hand.

Naruto moved so fast even Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan lost sigh of him. One second he was there, the next there was a sickening crack and Sasuke's left arm was bent at what looked to be an extremely uncomfortable angle.

The Uchiha avenger howled with agony and jumped away, his broken arm swinging uselessly at his side as he drew his katana in his right hand and attacked. Naruto countered in exactly the same way; he side-stepped the attack and caught Sasuke's wrist, except this time he didn't bring up his fist and break the Uchiha's elbow; he simply poked the back of his hand with two fingers.

Had a normal Hyūga used this relatively basic Jyūken move, it merely would have simply rendered Sasuke's hand uselessly limp. However, since it was Naruto doing it, his only slightly-below-average chakra control and the potency of his yōki vastly exceeded the standard effects of the attack.

Sasuke's hand had turned a mottled and blistered red; causing him to let go of his sword, howl in pain and retreat again. The yōki injection had badly messed up the chakra pathways in his hand and scalded the flesh right down to the bone.

Sasuke cradled his ruined hand before spitting in Naruto's direction, "I don't need hands to beat you, loser! Susanoo!"

The demonic purple creature appeared and fired its crossbow. Naruto immediately substituted with the nearby Gobi jinchūriki; Madara having pulled the remaining jinchūriki back while Naruto and Sasuke fought. As the bolt hit the armoured ex-Iwa-nin and reduced him to dust when the kinjutsu suddenly failed, Naruto created two Kage Bunshin and formed a Rasengan.

Sasuke turned as he heard a sound somewhere between a wail and a howl and saw Naruto holding what looked like a spinning white shuriken made of chakra. As Naruto drew back his arm and threw the attack forwards, Sasuke scoffed and raised Susanoo's shield.

If Sasuke was expecting the shield to stop what was apparently called a "Fūton: Rasenshuriken", then he was sorely mistaken. The attack bored through the shield in under a second and connected with Susanoo's ribcage before it exploded. Sasuke was thrown off his feet and skidded in the dust as Susanoo disappeared.

One of Naruto's clones used a Kawarimi and the original caught Sasuke's weapon when it appeared in the clone's place before both clones dispelled. Even as Sasuke struggled back to his feet, Naruto charged.

Sasuke saw Naruto coming but could do nothing to stop him. He had used so much of his chakra that he couldn't even activate his Sharingan, and it had taken almost all he had just to get up. As he watched death approaching at the end of his own sword, a stray thought crossed his mind, "Will I see my family on the other side?"

The sword flashed, blood sprayed and pain blossomed through Sasuke's chest. He coughed up blood and looked down. From what he could feel, the sword had passed just below his ribs, continued through his torso and punched out of his back between his should blades. He smirked weakly, "Dobe… you can't even finish me with one blow…" A surge of wind chakra through the blade a second later cut him off, and a Rasengan after that made sure that his eyes were totally irretrievable.

Madara snarled and looked at the four remaining jinchūriki, "Get him!"

Naruto allowed Sasuke's decapitated body to drop on the ground still transfixed by the katana before spinning and blocking a punch from the Nanabi jinchūriki. Driving her back with a Rasenrengan to the chest, he leapt back and said, "Gama-jii, gama-baa, you guys okay?"

Twin mutters of assent gave him his answer as he sprang back further and created two Kage Bunshin.

Madara cursed as that same wailing, howling screech split the air, but was too slow to command the jinchūriki and was therefore forced to watch as the Sanbi and Rokubi jinchūriki were enveloped by a dome of spinning chakra. Naruto sighed with relief, "Six down, two to go not counting the teme."

"You'll have to count me now!" Madara roared as he pulled his gunbai over his head, "I took it easy on you by not fighting but that ends now!"

Naruto smirked as his clones each drew a three-pointed kunai in each hand, "I don't know how fast you can go,but allow me to let you in on a little secret; that henge earlier is actually a fūinjutsu array. It doesn't just hide my true appearance; it also limits my speed and strength as well as filtering my chakra so that I don't scare the crap out of everybody whenever I start throwing high-level techniques about."

Madara frowned behind his mask as Naruto continued, "Fact is, in the henged state I'm only about as powerful as I should have been had I not absorbed the Kyūbi. In my true form, I'm a lot stronger and at least as fast normally as I am while using the Hiraishin in my henged form."

"What's your point?"

Naruto smirked, "My point is that I only released the henge and chakra filter. I haven't yet released my strength and speed limiters. That's right," he grinned unpleasantly as Madara started, "I defeated four jinchūriki and two S-rank missing-nin at a fraction of my real speed and strength. And you," he brought his hands back into a seal, "are about to experience every last bit of that strength and speed used against you! Fūin: KAI!"

Madara saw golden bands forming around Naruto's arms and legs before they shattered. "Ahhh…" sighed Naruto, stretching his legs and flexing both arms, "It feels good to be back to full... You have no idea how long it took to acclimatize to being slower and weaker than I should be, and now it'll take a while to get back to normal. Any chance I can persuade you to back off a little until then, teme? Teme?"

He looked around, seeing that Madara was gone, "Is that a yes or a no?"

A surge of chakra behind him drew his attention and he whipped around, bringing up his forearm ad deflecting the gunbai away from his head, before he was forced to lean backwards to dodge a punch from the Nanabi jinchūriki. An itching feeling in the back of his mind that was usually associated with a dispelling Kage Bunshin alerted him that the Nibi jinchūriki was attacking from behind and he whirled on the spot, batting aside her leg with his elbow and pushing her back with a Rasengan.

Flipping out of the way of Madara's gunbai swing and creating two Kage Bunshin, Naruto started forming a Rasenshuriken but was forced to abort by the two jinchūriki and had to use the incomplete jutsu as an impromptu shield.

Madara took advantage as soon as Naruto hit the ground with gashes all over the left side of his chest and his left arm, his clothes also now partially destroyed. Before the Kyūbi jinchūriki could react, the gunbai slammed downwards into his chest and there was a painful snap from one or more of his ribs.

"It's no good," he thought as he rolled over and leapt up with his teeth gritted against the pain, "I may have to use that after all."

He spun around and pounced in Madara's direction, but ended up going straight through him as the Uchiha progenitor activated his intangibility technique.

Recovering by turning the unhindered lunge into a handstand before flipping onto all fours, Naruto blocked and countered the two jinchūriki with a few chakra-reinforced tails before darting over to where Sasuke's body lay. Ripping the katana free of Sasuke's body, he twisted around again and charged straight at Madara.

Madara blocked Naruto's swing with his gunbai as the two jinchūriki were engaged by a pair of Kage Bunshin. As the pair of shinobi tried to shunt each other backwards, Naruto stuck his head over the edge of Madara's gunbai and grinned at him, "Gobi: Bijūdama…"

Madara's eyes widened as a crimson glow formed in the back of Naruto's mouth before a wave of chakra exploded forth and hitting Madara squarely in the face.

Naruto leapt back and coughed, "Ugh, those things taste foul but damn if they aren't effective! I just wish it didn't feel so much like throwing up though…"

"Not effective enough you little pest!"

Naruto ducked as Madara's gunbai skimmed over his head. The Akatsuki mastermind's mask was gone and he had inflamed-looking burns and cuts all over his face from the impact of Naruto's Bijūdama.

"Huh," Naruto commented, "I wonder how that didn't kill you… but then again I'm not surprised.I am pleased to see that it was strong enough to utterly fuck up your face though."

"You'll pay for that!" Madara roared, his Sharingan eye screwed shut because of the extreme damage to the skin around it, "I'm going to make you pay before I tear the Kyūbi's power from your miserable body!"

"That all depends on who defeats who here."

Madara laughed, "You defeat me? Ha! I'm immortal; a god in human form! You're just an obstacle, a bug to be stepped on! Your fate is to die like a pathetic rodent so that the power of the bijuu can be harnessed by those who deserve it!"

"A god in human form you say? In that case, see how you best this god."

(A/N: Now switch to this song: http (colon – slash – slash) www (dot) youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v (equals) dtfuoFnJu10)

The Kage Bunshin fighting behind him suddenly seized hold of their opponents, their tails suddenly extending rapidly to wrap around the arms and legs of the two jinchūriki, immobilizing them.

Before Madara could react, Naruto suddenly shot forwards in a flash of bloody red light, the Uchiha realizing he had been tricked a second later when he felt the original Kyūbi jinchūriki's tails wrap around his arms and legs. As he struggled, the ninth came up; a slight shimmering around the end telling him there was a wind blade on it.

"First," Naruto said, "Let's get rid of that weapon." The tail suddenly darted forwards, slicing off Madara's right hand at the wrist. He howled with agony, which was choked off as Naruto's tail suddenly snapped back and coiled around his neck.

"It's time to end this," Naruto growled, "I've had enough. You're going down, Madara Uchiha. Gama-jii, gama-baa, go home."

"But…" Shima began, "What about you?"

Naruto smiled, "I'll be fine. But… one last request. Take care of Hinata. I want to rest, knowing she's in good hands."

"Rest?" said Fukasaku, "But… you can't!"

"I can," said Naruto, "and I have to. Otherwise I won't be able to look my tou-san in the eye and know he's proud of me."

There was a pause and then Shima spoke, "Okay. We'll take care of Hinata for you." She disappeared.

Fukasaku stayed a second longer. Finally he spoke, "Jiraiya would be proud, Naruto-boy."

Naruto smiled, "Thank you.Tell Hinata I love her… and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to spend my life with her. Tell her not to be too sad, and I'll always be watching over her."

Fukasaku nodded, "I will.Farewell Naruto."

"Bye, gama-jii."

Fukasaku disappeared and Naruto turned back to Madara, "Now to deal with you."

Madara, too preoccupied with trying to breathe to really listen, felt his blood run cold as he heard, "Fūinjutsu: Shiki Fūjin!"

The Shinigami materialized behind Naruto and slammed its arm through his chest.

Madara tried to activate his intangibility, but realized too late that that wouldn't save him as an icy-cold hand suddenly clamped around his navel.

Naruto's face was locked into a grimace of concentration as the Shinigami's arm began to pull Madara's soul out.

"WHY?" screamed Madara hoarsely, "WHY DO YOU PERSIST? WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST GIVE UP AND DIE WHEN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO?"

Naruto smirked, "Kami knows I should've died a thousand times before today; but at least this time it's on my terms. As for why I persisted…" he gave a small smile, "I had something dear enough to me that I was willing to do whatever it took to protect it."

Madara coughed, "Something… dear to you? Pathetic! Fighting to protect others just makes you weak!"

Naruto chuckled, "Wrong.Just fighting for yourself is what makes you weak. Just fighting for yourself is why we're here now."

Madara gagged as the icy hand pulling his soul out drew it a little further, "Then… what?"

Naruto smiled, "Hinata. She protected me against Nagato even if she got badly wounded in the process. She almost died, but she confessed that she loved me and that was why she was protecting me."

"Love?" sneered Madara, "How pathetic."

Naruto smirked, "I don't think so. Love can drive a person to achieve things above and beyond their skills. Shodaime-sama kicked your ass at the Valley of the End because he loved his village and wanted to protect it."

Madara scowled, "Watch your mouth, boy."

Naruto grinned, "What are you going to do; spit at me? Now goodbye and I'll see you in hell, teme. After all, we're both going to the Shinigami's gut. Fūin!"

Madara felt his soul be ripped from his body as a seal appeared on Naruto's stomach, visible through his almost-destroyed jacket, and his despairing scream of "NOOOOO…!" rang across the battlefield as the leader of Akatsuki hit the ground with a hollow thump.

Naruto staggered backwards, still with the Shinigami's hand shoved through his stomach. He raised his eyes and looked up at the sky as he reactivated the seal array that concealed his true appearance.

"It's done," he murmured, "It's all over. I won…"

Images flashed across his mind as he closed his eyes, a peaceful smile breaking out over his face, "I did this for my precious people… tou-san and kaa-san… ero-sennin and Tsunade-baa-chan… my friends… and Hinata-chan…"

The Shinigami tore its hand free of his chest, pulling his soul from his body. Naruto fell backwards and landed on the ground. With his last breath he chuckled, "I guess I did die like a Kage then… protecting my precious people…"

He coughed, feeling the spark of his life fading away, "…D… dattebayo…"

He gave one last chuckle, and then Naruto Uzumaki breathed no more.

-AFH-

It had been fairly obvious to almost everyone that Naruto had been fighting Madara, considering the amount of Kyūbi's yōki radiating from some distance off the battlefield. The large number of explosions also somewhat helped to narrow it down.

Sakura was first on the scene with Kakashi and Yamato in tow. She gasped when she saw Naruto lying motionless on the ground, ran over and began pumping medical chakra into his chest, "Come on Naruto! Come on! Wake up!"

"Sakura…" a hand landed on her shoulder and she looked up to see Kakashi looking down at her with sadness in his eye, "It's no good. He's gone."

"NO!" screamed Sakura, pulling her shoulder free of Kakashi's hand and shaking Naruto's body by the shoulders, "Come on Naruto! Stop messing around and wake up! Please wake up!" After a second, she let him go and buried her face in his chest, her sobs splitting the air as the Zetsu army began to retreat, the remaining shinobi gathering around and bowing their heads in silent displays of respect for the boy who had sacrificed himself to end the war completely.

One week later.

Hinata and Sakura stood in front of a large marble tomb on top of the Hokage Monument, black clouds mirroring the mood as rain thundered down around them where they stood at the head of a huge congregation from all villages, come to pay their respects. The inscription upon the metal plate, set below Naruto's hitai-ate plate on the tomb, was simple:

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze

A brave genin who followed in his father's footsteps and died like a true Kage, heroically sacrificing himself to protect the world and the people he loved. He will be sorely missed.

Sakura swallowed, tears forming in her green eyes before the suited man standing next to her slipped a hand around her shoulders. Lee had taken it upon himself to take care of Sakura in the week following Naruto's death, and eventually she had started warming to him a little. "How can you be so calm?" she whispered to the lavender-eyed woman standing beside her, "How? The man you loved is dead!"

Hinata shook her head, "Naruto may be dead, but I know he's watching over me. Me and…" She caressed the slight bulge at her navel.

Sakura gasped, "You mean…?"

Hinata nodded, "Yes. The night he proposed to me, the night before everyone set off to war but me due to my injuries… Naruto-kun gave me a child. Tsunade-sama told me last night it was a boy and I know he will be as great as his father."

Sakura smiled, "What will you call him?"

Hinata turned her eyes to look out towards the horizon, the pupilless lavender orbs developing a slightly misty look as raindrops slid down her cheek, disguising a few tears that rolled down and dripped off her chin, "Hmm…" For a brief moment she thought she saw Naruto's smiling face looking her in the eyes, love blazing in his eyes as he leaned forwards and pressed his lips to hers.

She smiled and closed her eyes, a couple more tears dislodging themselves from her lashes and falling down her cheeks as a single shaft of sunlight broke through the black canopy of clouds overhead and fell across her face, making her tears sparkle like diamonds. "Naruto," she said at last, "I will name him Naruto."

Elsewhere.

"Where am I?" muttered Naruto as he looked around the room from where he lay on a comfortable bed.

"About time you woke up, kid."

Naruto whirled around. There was a man with long silver hair and black eyes standing ten feet behind him, "And you are?"

The man grinned, "I'm the Shinigami, kid. And the Kami have a job for you."

(A/N: And so ends the oneshot All For Her. Now, this oneshot serves two purposes. One; I needed a way to update you all as to my work. I've been a little blocked lately, but hopefully with this out of the way I will be able to write a lot more to my fics. Now, the second reason. This oneshot is actually going to be a stand-alone prologue for another fic, which I am releasing no other details about as of yet. All I will say is that it is set in an alternate reality, but you will have to wait to find out exactly what is different about said reality. For the moment though, I hope you enjoyed this oneshot (also my first foray into having a fight scene lasting longer than three paragraphs XD). Also, I'm sad to say that Blade in the Shadows is now officially on hiatus as it hasn't seen an update in at least six months. My friend Hyrulian Hero Akai tells me, however, that as soon as he gets a new laptop cable he's going to, quote, "beat the Muse back into me", unquote. Therefore do not be sad because you might be seeing something from the Konoha Assassins close to or after Christmas (keyword being might; the Muse is a fickle bitch and I'm amazed she stuck it out this long for most of my fics) so until I update again, this is Leonineus saying GOODNIGHT!)