Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Twilight and this work is non-profitable. Also, parts of this plot is inspired by Nothing Left to Hold by Branwen777.

Eternity

Prologue

Naruto panted as he charged up two more Rasenshuriken, tossing one at the Preta path and hurling the other at the Human path. He then dodged a few missiles from the Asura path before shoving a rasengan into its chest. Naruto had trained hard the last two years, and now all his effort seemed to have paid off. He was now strong enough to take on the six paths of Pain. Jiraiya had received intelligence on the Akatsuki four years back, suggesting that the elite organization of S-class missing-nin was on the move – this time with the kyuubi jinchuuriki as their target. Naruto was thirteen when Jiraiya first approached him about going on a three-year training trip. The toad sage's intention was to take him away and hide him from the Akatsuki. Eager to learn more and get stronger so as to drag Sasuke back to Konoha, Naruto had agreed instantly. However, their training trip was cut short when despite the sannin's efforts; Naruto fell into the illegal organization's clutches at the tender age of fifteen. Fortunately, before the Akatsuki could extract the kyuubi and complete their bijuu collection, Uchiha Itachi took advantage of the temporary incapacitation of the other Akatsuki members during the extraction ritual and successfully rescued Naruto from the sealing chamber. Even though Itachi was forced to abandon his cover and reveal his status as a Konoha spy, it was still a victory for the Village of the Leaf on a whole.

Speaking of Itachi, Naruto subtly shifted his stance in order to gain a peripheral view of the Uchiha brothers tag-teaming their ancient ancestor. After Itachi had saved Naruto and brought him back to Konoha, Tsunade had revealed the truth of the Uchiha massacre and welcomed Itachi back as a loyal shinobi of Konoha. Naruto had tracked Sasuke down not long after that, and had thrashed the younger Uchiha before dragging him back to Konoha to have a heart-to-heart talk with his older brother. Of course, the situation seemed much more complicated at the time, but looking back, Naruto realized how simple the whole affair actually was. Granted, there were quite a few bumps along the way – a lifetime of hatred cannot be easily forgotten, afterall – but Sasuke missed his beloved aniki too much to continue hating him. The fact that Sasuke found the hardest to accept was that his clan was planning a coup de'tat. It took the younger raven a long time to believe that Itachi had executed his entire family on the Sandaime's orders. When he finally believed his elder brother, Sasuke had come close to leaving Konoha all over again. He would have returned to being a missing-nin, too, if not for the persistent pleading of Naruto – who he had come to see as a younger brother. Currently, the Uchiha siblings were fighting in tandem and showing such exemplary teamwork that it was hard to believe that there was ever a rift between them.

Jiraiya had not bothered to take Naruto away from Konoha again, as the Akatsuki seemed to be able to track down the jinchuuriki no matter where they went. And so, after Sasuke was reinstated as a Konoha nin and placed on a month's worth of D-rank missions as punishment for his betrayal, Naruto started to focus on his training in hopes to stand against the Akatsuki. It was a good thing that Naruto became serious about his training too, seeing as the Akatsuki attacked not two years later. When the 8 cloaked members reached the gates of Konoha, Naruto and his friends were ready for them. Itachi and Sasuke had already laid claim on Uchiha Madara, claiming that as his descendents, it was their duty to rid the world of him. The others had not questioned this, recognizing a fruitless battle when they saw one. Instead, they divided the remaining members amongst themselves. Jiraiya had engaged Konan, one of the three orphans he had looked after and trained all those years ago. Kakashi took on Kisame and Team 10 faced off against Kakuzu. Shino and Kiba found themselves facing Deidara while Neji and Hinata worked together against Zetsu. The Green Beasts of Konoha went up against Hidan and Naruto, himself, engaged Pain – the pseudo leader of Akatsuki. Sakura, who had become the Head of the Konoha Hospital, was waiting impatiently in the village. Tsunade had forbidden her to come, as her expertise was needed after the battle. The Godaime wouldn't be able to deal with all the injured ninja on her own, afterall. Tenten had been banned from helping as well, as she was still recovering from an injury gained from a previous mission.

The battle was fierce, as legendary ninja clashed against each other. Both sides seemed to be rather even, and the fight had dragged on for a few hours. Naruto clenched his fists as he jumped out of the way of another Shinra Tensei. He had to get this over with quickly; he was already starting to feel the deteriorating effect kyuubi's chakra had on his body. However, before Naruto could launch his Rasenrengan at the Animal path, a loud cry caused him to whip his head to the left. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw Itachi dive in front of Madara's blade, shielding Sasuke with his body. Sasuke's mouth was open, having released the cry that drew Naruto's attention, as he watched his newly reunited brother fall. With his last breath, Itachi turned to Sasuke and sent his chakra to his brother, gifting him with the eternal Mangekyou sharingan. Furious at Itachi's death, Sasuke leaped into action, his attacks were faster and stronger as Sasuke channeled his pain and anger into defeating Madara. The other Konoha ninja, following his example, brought their respective battles up a notch as they fought with renewed determination – Itachi's death would not be in vain.

All around him, fierce battles were raging, but Naruto had not moved an inch after watching Itachi die. His eyes were shadowed by his blond bangs, as the last jinchuuriki stood frozen. The Deva path observed his opponent for awhile, before deciding that the blond was too broken to continue the fight. Almost casually, he lifted his right hand and used the Chibaku Tensei, intent on capturing the jinchuuriki and ending the battle. However, before the chakra sphere enclosed around Naruto, the blond looked up, piercing Pain with his icy glare. The frigidity of the twin blue orbs was extremely out of place on the normally cheery face, so much so that the sight of Naruto's emotionless gaze had shaken the unflappable Pain, causing the unfamiliar feeling of fear to well up within him. In fact, the Rinnegan-wielder had breathed a sigh of relief when the blond was surrounded by his Chibaku Tensei sphere. Unfortunately for Pain, the victory was short-lived.

Naruto felt something tear inside of him when he saw Itachi's lifeless body fall to the ground. He had grown close to the older Uchiha ever since it was revealed that Itachi was a spy. The seemingly emotionless ninja had done what noone else had – he had seen through Naruto's masks and recognized the suffering beneath. Perhaps it was because Itachi could relate, or maybe the Uchiha was simply skilled at reading people, whatever the reason, Itachi always seemed to know when Naruto needed support. The Mangekyou-wielder had often appeared whenever Naruto felt like giving up, when he thought it was fruitless to stand against the Akatsuki, and when he started to doubt himself. The two spent many nights together, sitting atop of the Yondaime's head as they gazed silently at the village below them, reminding themselves of why they fought. They had even started a tentative relationship one month ago, when Itachi asked Naruto to be his boyfriend on the 17 year-old's birthday. Naruto, who had been nursing a small crush on his best friend's older brother, agreed instantly. That day was easily the best day of Naruto's life. But Itachi was gone, and Naruto felt startlingly empty. All his life Naruto had faced loneliness and suffering. Finally, he had found someone who was willing to care for him, to love him, and yet his only chance at happiness had been cruelly ripped away from him by the Akatsuki. At that thought, ice cold rage filled Naruto as he looked up at his opponent. Pain, the pseudo leader of Akatsuki, stared back at him. Even as he was enclosed within a large chakra sphere, Naruto's mind could only focus on a single thought. He was going to make him pay. Pain would learn the true meaning of his namesake. With a loud cry, Naruto started channeling more of Kyuubi's chakra, going from his six-tailed state to the nine-tailed state. He knew that by doing so, he would be essentially fusing with the Kyuubi by drawing all of the fox's chakra into his system. But Naruto didn't care. It didn't matter if his body gave out after the fight. All that mattered was revenge. Naruto, shrouded by a cloak of red chakra, broke out of the Chibaku Tensei sphere. The sphere of rubble created by the Chibaku Tensei crumbled, and Naruto emerged from its remains.

With his resolve renewed, Naruto quickly took down the Animal path with his Rasenrengan. Out of Pain's 6 bodies, only the Deva path remained. With an animalistic snarl, Naruto charged at the piercing-ridden man and flung six of his chakra tails forward to wrap themselves around his opponent's neck, waist and limbs. Naruto charged up a rasengan, which was pulsing with the kyuubi's chakra, before he forced the sphere of chakra into the Deva path's chest, killing him instantly. Naruto roared loudly before sending out kyuubi's chakra, tracking down Nagato's real body and literally ripping it to shreds. All that was left of the body in a cave on a nearby hill was large splatters of blood. Looking around, Naruto saw that his comrades were all wrapping up their own battles. The Akatsuki have been defeated. It was finally over.