**Author's Note** Frist, the traditional: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. THIS IS A FAN-BASED WORK, NOT FOR PROFIT. Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to welcome you to The Book of Endings. As the title implies, this will be a series of shorts which present various endings for the Naruto franchise. They will vary in style and occasionally quality, some being humorous and some being tear-jerkers and some triumphant. I once planned to do many, many chapters of this; but I saw it had the potential to go on forever and decided to cut it short. The result may be difficult to decipher at first, but I honestly think things happened in the best possible way I could handle them.

Unlike some other fanfics, I'm going to actively encourage you to steal chapters/themes from this for your own fan fiction stories. Go ahead, do it! I really won't mind. After all, I stole a bunch to piece this together. :D

Lastly, I'm going to give you a heads up: my Christmas present to you will be The Stars In Your Eyes, which is going to be another eye-gouger, about the Prince of all Saiyans and a certain American handicapped rights figure. And now, I present to you... the beginning?

THE BOOK OF ENDINGS: Written in the Stars

The shuddering breath escaping from his lips like the soul of a dying man, Naruto Uzumaki fell down to his knees. He sobbed, and finally unfettered, tears began to stream down his face. The weight of the sorrow restricting his breathing, Naruto gasped for air. "I... I'm sorry, everyone..." The once hopeful ninja bit his lip and clamped his eyes shut, trying to shove down the pain for a moment. "I failed..."

Kakashi looked down, wishing there was something he could say to the boy, but there was nothing. Nothing came to mind, and nothing he could say would even come close to mattering right now. Nothing. Everything Naruto's fought for and believed in, all the sacrifices of the Shinobi Alliance, it's all been brought to this- nothing...

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Hinata watched the love of her life hold his head in his hands as he muttered, "I failed, I failed..." So many times she had desperately wanted to take his place; in the battle against Pain, as the Nine Tails was extracted from him, and here; but she knew this was something only Naruto could face up to. And as she heard him keep repeating the outcome of the final confrontation, a tear of her own trickled down her bruised and smudged cheek. In light of that, there was only one thing that still mattered to her, and Hinata would be damned if she didn't say so now. "Naruto... I still love you."

Naruto swallowed. "Hinata, I..." But he couldn't do it, couldn't muster up the strength to turn to her and say those words right now. Instead, he looked up to the face of the man who stood before him, a pleading look directed to those eyes- the eyes of a demon.

"What's the problem, Uzumaki? Is the world suddenly too large for one so small?" Madara Uchiha's glare speared into Naruto, pinning him in place. "This is your true place in the world, and all along you've only been fighting against realizing it. You should be thanking me for this; exorcising the demon that made you an outcast, and pulling the veil from your eyes! Don't you realize? Your fight is over! The long awaited utopia is birthed at last!" Whirling around, Madara formed the Ram hand seal, and exhaled a grunt of concentration.

Sakura's eyes fluttered open. "Wh- what's going on with the moon?"

Unable to look away from Madara's jutsu, Kakashi whispered in reply, "That's no moon..."