Chapter 1: Going Back

"Ten'nohashira (Pillar of Heaven)!" The sky seemed to split apart as flames came roaring down from the heavens, creating a roiling column of fire. A shockwave exploded from the ground as the flames touched down with earth-shattering force, scattering rock and debris high into the air. It was as if God himself had called down the flames, powerful enough to cleanse away all in their path. All noise was blotted out by the roar of the fire twisting down from the sky. The earth cracked under the heat, stones glowed red hot before melting away, and everything else turned to ash. Still, Naruko held her hands outstretched, pouring her remaining chakra into the technique. The immense energy required would have no doubt killed anyone else several times over, but there was no one quite like Naruko. The massive drain sent her to her knees, and sweat dripped down her face, to mix with tears that already streaked her visage. She was so focused on her goal that she couldn't even feel the cuts and bruises scattered over her body, the blood that matted her crimson hair, even the chakra exhaustion that would no doubt kill her. Blood trickled down the corner of her mouth as her lip cracked, all the moisture having been drawn from the air. Each breath was harsh, stinging the back of her throat and burning her lungs. Her hair whipped around her in a gale force wind as air rushed past her to feed the hungry flames, devouring all before them. Naruko's vision began to flicker, and her arms trembled as she struggled to remain upright, but still she surged her chakra into the flames. Spots danced in her vision until she could barely see at all. She thought, vaguely, that it was a blessing. For no longer did she have to look at the bodies that littered the ground. Her comrades, her friends, her loved ones. She was the only one left.

Finally she released the jutsu as exhaustion overtook her. The great column of flame thinned rapidly, until only wisps of fire remained suspended in the air, slowly flickering out like so many fireflies. Naruko keeled over, uncaring of the sharp stones that dug into her battered flesh. She allowed her eyes to flutter closed, barely registered the way her breathing was becoming shallow and weak. Her head was swimming, almost deliriously, as her body fought to keep her heart beating. A battle it was slowly losing.

"It was an honor to fight alongside you." In her mindscape, Kurama's head was bowed in a rare display of respect, which was equally evident in his rumbling voice. Naruko's lips twitched in a ghost of a smirk. To be praised by the Nine-Tailed Fox himself, that wasn't something she expected to experience during her lifetime.

"You've gotten soft...Kurama," she thought, enjoying the pleasant numbness that began to overwhelm her senses. If this was death, she mused, it wasn't so bad. The great fox grunted, rolling his eyes at the remark.

"And you have not changed at all, kit. Even after all this time." She thought briefly that his voice carried a hint of forlornness, but the notion was quickly washed away in the roiling current of her mind as she spilled into unconsciousness.

Thoughts and memories flickered to life for a brief moment, disappearing before she could latch onto them. Happy or sad she didn't know. She simply watched as her life played out before her, but she couldn't even remember the script. Her limbs felt heavy, as if they were made out of immovable stone, and yet, strangely, it was as though she weighed nothing. She hung suspended in a sea of her own memories, carried on by the current, fading with the tide.

Suddenly, the felt a tug, as if a rope were trying to pull her free. She tried to struggle against the invisible force, but she didn't know how. It dredged her from her comfortable nothingness, ignorant to her wishes.

Sensation slammed into her violently, as if she had just been pulled from a deep pool of water. She gasped for air, her breast heaving as she gulped deep breaths into her burning lungs. Her ears rang loudly, and she struggled to understand the blurry shapes that swam before her eyes.

"Naruko!" Something slammed into her with enough force to send her hurdling through the air. Wind rushed past her ears for a brief moment, her stomach flipping from the sensation of weightlessness, before she hit the ground hard, bouncing painfully off the rocks. Her heart beat impossibly fast, pumping adrenaline through her system. Quickly, she rolled to her feet, pulling one of her father's signature kunai from the pouch at her side. She almost stumbled as she saw what was before her.

Madara's Susanoo stared emotionlessly down at her, a massive spectral katana forming in its hand. 'Impossible,' she thought, glaring up at Madara. Nothing should have been able to withstand the flames of the Ten'nohashira. It was the ultimate offensive technique, or so she had thought, capable of leveling mountains and destroying armies with ease. And yet there Madara stood, surrounded by an ethereal blue figure, clad in samurai armor. On its head was a tusked mask, fixed in a permanent snarl. Madara glowered at her, his sharingan spinning eerily.

"You have caused me a lot of trouble over the years," he said, seemingly unfazed by Naruko's attack. "That will end now."

"We've gotta get out of here," Kurama ground out. "I gave you all the chakra I can afford. I have just enough left… But I need time."

"So it really comes down to this," Naruko mused. Kurama simply grunted, beginning to draw the remainder of his chakra in preparation for the jutsu. It had been long in the making, but Naruko had prayed they would never have to use it. She took one last look at the ruins of Konoha, now little more than smoking rubble and burnt bodies, before disappearing in a red flash.

She reappeared in the forest a short distance from Konoha. Around her, sunlight shone brightly between the trees, as if it were any other day. As if she hadn't just seen the last of her friends die before her eyes. As if she hadn't just seen her home burn. Had she been any less exhausted, she would have been angry. Furious, even. She had failed. In the final hour, the last stand, she had failed. And she still didn't understand how. She was the the last shadow. She was the dragon from the Land of Fire. It was she who brought armies to their knees with one strike. It was she whose will of fire burned hotter than the sun. Why couldn't she kill one man?

She didn't know. But she would find out. Naruko Uzumaki would not fail again.

It was she who would save the world.

"It is ready," Kurama said solemnly, rousing her from her thoughts.

"Will you be able to follow me?" She asked.

"I don't know." She closed her eyes, taking one last deep breath.

"Do it."

She felt herself falling. At least, she thought she was falling. She couldn't tell. Around her there was only blackness. It didn't press in to make her feel claustrophobic, but rather stretched out in an infinite abyss. She felt very small as she tumbled through empty space, with no sense of direction or speed. There was nothing to see or hear, nothing to smell. It was only when she looked down at her own arms did she remember she had them, or the ability to look in the first place. It was, at least, some comfort to know she had herself.

Around her, the nothingness stretched on. And on. And on...

After a time, how much she couldn't tell, a smell spec of light became visible beneath her, and only as it grew did she become certain that she was indeed falling. She focused on the light, trying to make sense of the speck of color in her silent black world. The light grew and grew, until she could barely stand to look at it, stretching widely beneath her. She reached a hand out, as if to touch it, though she had no way of telling how near it was. The circular light seemed to warp, its edges rising is if to cocoon her in its glow.

In an instant, a wall of noise and color slammed into her senses, before blackness once again swallowed her.

I hope you enjoyed the brief first chapter. The next ones will be longer, but this is merely setting the stage. I have never written for Naruto before, so please feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong. I am still pretty new to writing, so feedback is appreciated, of course.

Two things I should perhaps get out of the way:

There won't be any voting for pairings, nor am I likely to add them based on requests. If you do not like the pairing, I am sorry, but it is unlikely to be changed.

Thanks for reading!