A Beautiful Death
Naruto's final stand by Uncle Joe
This fic is part of a series I am developing that had started with the Fishcake and the Strawberry. In chapter four I explained the Walker concept, now I plan to flesh that concept out with a series of one shots.
This is the first of them. In F&S you saw the beginning of Naruto's Walker saga. In this fic you see the end of it.
Walkers are, to put it simply, dimensional travellers who move from universe to universe acquiring the native powers that exist there, like Chakra for Naruto, or the powers in DBZ or magic in Harry Potter. Once they acquire these powers, all other powers are suppressed to almost non existent levels. They only come out when in the presence of another Walker or when facing something far stronger than themselves.
Walkers will always always kill another Walker, as they can sense them across huge distances even when they are not on the same planet. Why? I won't explain just yet. This is not like Highlander in that they get stronger from killing one another, they get nothing. The only Highlander-like concepts are that they can sense each other and fight each other. In Highlander, Immortals can choose not to fight, to run or just die. Walkers don't have a choice. They have to fight.
There are of course, exceptions. Such as when a powerful being is able to combat and control the drive and instinct of two Walkers to kill each other, so as to use more than one Walker for a specific purpose.
But enough of the technical stuff. This is the end of his journey. But by no means is it the last you will hear of him…after all, I've got a lot of history to cover don't I?
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A BEAUTIFUL DEATH
Naruto grunted in pain as he slumped against the mountain of skulls. He landed in an ocean of blood. Despite the terrible agony he felt, he grinned. He was in the Warp; the realm of the Gods of Chaos.
He had seen so many millennia pass by. One-hundred-and-thirty-thousand years of universe-hopping. He was a Walker of Worlds, and one of the oldest. He had joined the ranks of the most powerful Walkers, those over ten eons old.
He was tall. Almost seven feet in height and two hundred pounds of muscle. His long white hair had highlights in several colours that would make a hair-metal rocker proud. Blue; red; black; green and silver hung about the few jewels and mementos left from his war. Though most of his clothes had been shredded and the simple leather pants he wore were stained and stiff with blood, both his and others, his skin was unmarred, save the shattered Shiki Fujin and several smaller similar tattoos across his chest and upper arms. Deep blue eyes with a hint of red and deep whisker like marks on his face, combined with canines large enough to poke out of his mouth even when it was closed gave an impression of ungodly power.
So many wars, so many lost loves, friends, all of it lost to time. He always remembered. His smile never swayed though. He contained within him the souls of every single woman he had ever loved. He could feel their hands caressing his soul, telling him to get up. It was almost over but he'd be damned if he was going to go out without a fight.
He stood on top of the water like he had learned in the world of his birth. This was a great way to die. He lifted his old friend Bahumat into the air, the massive sword dripping the life blood of demons and bellowed a challenge.
The god he faced roared in return, swinging its massive axe at him. He leaned out its way and struck back, rending open a huge cut on the arm of the god. It roared in anger before its backswing buried the axe into his ribs and launched him backwards.
It was the end of this world. It was here he would meet his end. Only a god could kill a Walker of his age and knowledge. The only way to kill a Walker was to beat them down, keep dealing horrendous damage, keep killing him until finally after, days, weeks, months or possibly years his ability to heal would falter, then fail and he would die.
Naruto had been fighting this Northern god for so long. Most likely he had been fighting for months. He stared up at the god. Huge wounds littered its torso; the demon had not been able to heal them after all the damage dealt to it.
The heathen god, in humanoid form, stood just over thirteen feet tall. Its grotesquely muscled dark brown torso was human and covered in bloody cuts and gashes. Its massive hands ended in razor sharp claws which clutched a massive battle axe that dripped blood continuously. Its lower body was that of an animal. A bull more precisely. Hooves of obsidian steel and midnight black fur covered legs gave off a powerful aura. Its head was also that of a bull. Massive curving horns of ebony sprouted from the side of its ugly head. Blood red eyes burned down on him and its breath was as hot as the fires of hell.
Naruto stood his side, stitching itself back together. He took to the air.
"FIGHT ME KHORNE! LET THE SKY RUN RED WITH OUR BLOOD!" he bellowed with inhuman lust and fury.
Khorne roared in response as he rushed Naruto. Naruto grinned summoning power to himself. He slammed into the Chaos god's chest, driving it from its feet. They fought in the warp, the landscape ever changing; blood flowed in rivers, lakes and oceans. It rained down upon mountains of skulls that dwarfed any mountain found on any world.
This was the realm of the Blood God.
Naruto dodged a claw strike and summoned a different power. Lightning arced over his finger tips before shooting from his hands and slammed into the beast. Khorne roared in pain and rage. The heavens shook and Naruto was suddenly grabbed by an immense hand. He was torn in half.
Naruto's top half watched as his legs and lower body were tossed away and subsequently eaten by a demon on the plains below. Within seconds his body was whole again.
He leered evilly as he pushed his palm towards the god and shouted. A beam of pure energy slammed into and through the god who retaliated by throwing his axe at Naruto. Naruto evaded the flying projectile, only losing an arm in the process.
He leered again, this time in amusement. This was a good fight. Although it was fought on more than one level. He had started this fight on the mortal realm, fighting alongside elves dwarves and men. He had slaughtered his way through dark elves and the Norse until the Everchosen, the representative of the four powers, had opened this portal. He had thrown himself through it, intending to close it.
The final war against the ruinous powers and their allies would fall to the side of the light if the Gods of Chaos could come through into the world.
Over the years, he had felt himself changing. He accumulated powers, so many different kinds from so many different worlds. Magic that could be done with a wand or a staff, or brought forth from a book. Physical skills that could allow him to obliterate an entire country were not beyond his reach either.
He had always been amused by the fact that when he ran into a world which had a book series or TV show depicting it, he had already been to. Every time, there was always a major difference.
Harry Potter had married Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley had died old and alone. Spider-Man had kept his symbiotic suit and become even more cold-blooded than the Lizard. Fry married Leela during a wedding payed for by Bender.
Yet the amusement faded away to pain and sadness when he looked upon versions of his own world. He had smiled nostalgically at the cartoons depicting his life. They had it so wrong. Beatings, running from mobs of angry villagers, none of the thing that had shaped him into the happy-go-lucky loud-mouthed imp had been depicted.
He had felt himself changing. When he started this journey he hadn't liked killing. He hated it but he knew it was necessary. He still enjoyed a good fight. But after a while, killing was just killing. It became as mundane as breathing.
Billions, countless lives had fallen beneath his blades, his fists, his power, his rage. Young Walkers who only had a few worlds under their belts were considered by those who were aware of the existence of them to be saviours, warriors without peer. Walkers of his age were seen as monsters; murders on a scale so vast it could not be comprehended. He cared little.
His fatalism had grown. Instead of being excited by the thrill of victory and elated to survive another day, it became disappointment at not dying and anger and resentment at his opponent for not being able to kill him. His own kind had fallen to him as well.
He was like all others of his kind. He had the same emotions of a normal human except for one thing. The bottomless endless rage that always festered just under the surface, that driving need to fight, that instinct that drew him to conflict like a moth to a flame, or to a place where conflict was about to break out.
It was their way. In a world where humanity had yet to reach the stars, Walkers would appear every couple of millennia and would generally be young. Under twenty thousand years old. Since only one Walker could exist on a world at one time, they would fight and one or both would die.
Several times he had come close to dying but had not worried. Every single Walker met their death with a glad heart and a happy smile. He remembered the last Walker he had killed. He had been close to his own age but had still lost after a battle that had devastated and left the planet they had been fighting on uninhabitable…luckily the inquisition had been able to guide them both to an uninhabitable planet since they had been unlucky enough to come into each others range.
Xander Harris was tall and kind of lanky. He kind of reminded Naruto of Kenpachi with voluntarily wearing an eye patch and all. When he had asked him about it even while they fought, Xander had given a lopsided grin and proclaimed that chicks always dug the pirate look no matter where you went. Naruto couldn't blame him; he'd been a pirate more than once. Naruto had finally managed to win by using the techniques Goku taught him to blast Xander into and through a mountain. This was after fighting continuously for almost three weeks straight and levelling every other mountain and pretty much everything else above sea level. He had smiled up at Naruto and gripped his hands in a brotherly shake.
"Thank you brother, for a beautiful death and a wonderful fight."
Naruto had smiled back and touched him lightly on the head, "Sleep brother, you go to them now."
Xander had grinned and started to fade before whispering a name and dissipating into a pile of dust before blowing away in the wind. He had liked Xander. He had liked all of Walkers he had seen. He had pretty much liked every single one of his enemies or at least respected them…except that Joker freak with the crude lipstick smile covering his scars from Gotham City. He was the only Walker that had actually scared Naruto.
They did not get stronger from the victory like some believed. It was merely one of the best fights they would ever have. Walkers lived to fight. One could even say they lived to die.
When they came to a universe where humanity lived beyond the stars, Walkers would appear on many worlds. They could exist peacefully as long as no other Walker entered the same solar system.
Many of his brothers had fallen to him. It was why he was still alive. Sisters had fallen as well but nowhere near as often. Despite not being averse to killing, Naruto still didn't like to slaughter women.
He had broken so many records. The first to carry a being from the home world to first world. The first to take other beings from birth universe to another world. First Walker ever to have a fledgling Walker, a Walker who had yet to activate, fall in love with him, and then deliberately seek her own death in her first world so her soul could travel to him.
The fight was almost over. He could feel it. A cut on his face was trying to stich itself up but was failing. Khorne was also wounded. The great and powerful Blood God of Chaos kneeled a short way from him, panting and bleeding freely. Naruto staggered to his feet and raised Bahumat.
He roared out the battle cry that became common with walkers "DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!!" and charged.
The Walker who could have been a god and the god met in a clash of steel and unholy energy, blood and flesh. Their roars and battle cries mixed into a shock wave of sound which destroyed the monstrous demons that had been watching the battle that seemed to last for eternity, ending with a blinding and deafening explosion that would have put a world's entire nuclear arsenal to shame.
Naruto collapsed. He was done. The demon god lay a short distance from him, blood gushing from great wounds, missing half its face and one arm. It was a god though; it would recover.
Naruto could feel darkness claiming him. He would finally embrace death.
A bright shining light beat back the darkness momentarily and a weather-beaten and smiling bearded face came into his view.
"Thank you my boy." came the thunderous and deep rumbling voice "Sleep Walker, I shall end him."
Naruto blinked "Sig… mar?" he rasped as blood flowed freely from his throat. The man nodded and leaned down to pat his shoulder.
"Go to them boy, they await you beyond the Pearly Gates." Naruto smiled.
Darkness took him. He felt their smiles. He was home.
Truly a beautiful death.
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The God of the Empire smiled sadly as the Walker passed away, his body crumbling into dust and floating away in a gust of wind.
"Embrace your beautiful death young one; your work is done."
He turned to face the demonic god. He raised his arms and ripped the Void with heavenly lightning. Khorne roared in pain and rage, then in anguish as he was obliterated by the divine power.
Naruto hadn't known that three other Walkers had been brought to the Old World to fight the other Gods of Chaos. They had all fallen before the gods even though they were all around the same age. Sigmar had been weaker than the Gods of Chaos and had used this opportunity to finish off the heathens once and for all. The threat of Chaos would be greatly dimished for many eons. His world was safe once again….for now.
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Naruto felt tears streaming down his face as he was engulfed in a warm hug. "Anita I…"
"Shh, you're home now. Rest my love,"
Naruto smiled up at her. Anita Blake. A woman he had rescued from false forced upon her feelings and revealed her Walker status. Needless to say he had not been happy with her when she got herself caught in an atomic blast deliberately so she could die (albeit from one of the very few causes of death a normal human could inflict on a Walker…complete vaporisation) so her soul could join his and the other souls attached to him.
Naruto wrapped his arms around the short beautiful brunette. Finally, after many ages and wars and worlds crumbled, his journey was done. He had made it to heaven. He saw them, all of them smiling at him.
He was home.
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I hope you enjoyed it. I was worried about writing this fic but after discussing it with Dirty Reid, I decided to go with it.
Remember, this is the END of his journey, but it is by no means the last thing you will hear of it. I have over a hundred thousand years to cover. And you are perfectly welcome to think up different wonderful scenarios involving this Naruto and whatever crossovers you can think off…mention them to me if you'd like, I don't mind; I love feedback. But PLEASE make sure you give me your ideas as PM's.
I'll see you again hopefully soon.
Uncle Joe
P.S: I hope it made sense.