Naruto : The Next Life
Chapter 1 : The Sacrifice
Naruto panted heavily as the last of his natural chakra was used up and his body reverted from Sage mode. It was done, at his feet laid Pains seventh and final body, his real body, next to him laid the body of his protector, she said her name was Konan, but after defeating all six of Pain's bodies she didn't pose that much of a threat to Naruto, she had been quickly killed by one of Naruto's Toad Katas.
"It's… it's over…" Naruto panted
Naruto felt the urge to collapse after everything that had happened, but one thought that flashed through his mind kept him standing.
"… Hinata!" The memory of what happened to Hinata flashed through his mind, he was pinned to the ground by several of Pains chakra blades when she saved him, then after confessing her love to him she rushed forward to attack Pain only to be blow away by Pain's 'Shinra Tensei' and then stabbed while defenceless.
Naruto spun on his heel and started to sprint through the forest back towards Konoha. It took less than five minutes to reach. When he reached the crater which was all that was left of the once mighty village he quickly headed back to where Hinata had fallen. It didn't take long for him to spot a group of ninja he recognised as team Gai gathered around where it had happened with Sakura in the middle.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called to her as he landed behind her.
Sakura turned her head in shock when her name was called, when she saw Naruto she quickly sprinted to him and ran into his chest in tears.
"Naruto, you're ok!" Sakura cried into his chest.
Naruto was a little shocked at Sakura's actions as he instinctively wrapped his arms around her.
"Sakura-chan, Hinata, is she…" Naruto trailed off when he spotted something where Sakura had been kneeling, Hinata's body laying on the floor with her eyes closed.
"W-We… we couldn't save her… Pain's blade did something to her chakra, my medical Jutsu didn't work… Shizune's gone too" Sakura said as she continued sobbing.
Naruto felt a few tears fall from his eyes as he hugged the crying med-nin to his chest.
'Shizune as well… and Hinata, She… she loved me… I'm so sorry Hinata… I couldn't protect you…'
"Naruto what happened to you… we… we saw six tails… and that moon, what…" Sakura asked questions quickly trying to find out what happened.
"Sakura it's ok… the fox is back where he belongs and Pain is finished, for good…" Naruto assured her.
"I need to speak to Tsunade, where is she?" Naruto asked.
"She's…"
Suddenly Sakura was cut off by an explosion not too far away. Naruto and Sakura separated from each other and looked in the direction the explosion had come from.
Sakura's eyes widened, the explosion had come from the same place she had left Tsunade.
"MASTER!!!" Sakura screamed as she sprinted towards her Sensei.
Naruto understood when was happening and sprinted after her team-mate.
It took less than 30 seconds for Naruto and Sakura to arrive, when they did they were shocked by what they saw. Shikamaru, Ino and her father, Choji, everyone was being held down by ANBU members, Gamakichi was lying to the side with a large slash across his chest and finally, Tsunade was lying flat on her back breathing heavily with a sword stabbed through her chest pinning her to the ground.
"Tsunade-baachan!" Naruto said in horror, she wasn't moving, her youth Jutsu had deactivated leaving her in her older form.
"Master!!!" Sakura screamed and ran to her fallen Sensei, but she fell to the ground when one of the ANBU cast a paralyzing Jutsu on her..
"Sakura-chan!… W-What the hell is going on here?!!" Naruto said through his teeth as he glared at the ANBU members.
"I would have thought that was obvious Uzumaki" a new voice said.
Naruto turned and saw an old man walking towards them, he had a brown cloth over his right arm which seemed to be missing, he also had white bandages covering his right eye.
"W-Who are you? Did you do this?" Naruto asked cautiously.
"Yes I did this… I am Danzo, village elder and commander of ANBU Root division… and the Rokudaime Hokage" the old man answered with a grin.
"Over my dead body!" Naruto said loudly prepared to attack the old man, but before Naruto could start an attack he suddenly couldn't move his body, one of the ANBU cast the same paralyzing Jutsu on him as they did Sakura.
"… Why, why are you doing this?" Sakura asked from her spot on the ground
"Why?… WHY!!! Look around you foolish child, look at what has happened to Konoha… it's nothing more than a crater…" Danzo spoke as he walked towards the pinned Tsunade "Konoha needs to purge itself of the weak, starting with this Slug bitch" Danzo said as he gripped the handle of the sword and ripped it out of Tsunade.
"ARGH!" Tsunade grunted as the sword was pulled out
"Damn it, let me go, I'm going to rip you apart!!!" Naruto spat through his teeth as he tried to move.
"I don't think so, you're being held by the most advanced Paralyzing Jutsu available… you can struggle for days but you still won't be able to move a single muscle…" Danzo mocked as he slowly stalked towards.
Naruto stopped struggling when something Danzo said stayed in his mind.
"I can't move… not a single muscle… I'm actually ok with that" Naruto muttered as he closed his eyes and concentrated, after a few moments he felt Natural chakra all around him start to enter his body.
"What are you doing?" Danzo asked as he approached Naruto.
Naruto didn't answer him, he simple kept his eyes shut.
"Hmph, very well don't answer, it doesn't matter anyway…" Danzo said as he reached Naruto and pulled the sword back ready to stab it into Naruto's chest, as the sword thrust forward Naruto suddenly moved.
Naruto's left hand shot up and caught the end of the blade a moment before it would have plunged into him.
"I-Impossible, how can you move?" Danzo asked through his shock
Naruto raised his head to look at Danzo, it was then that Danzo noticed something wrong with Naruto's eyes, they had a black ring around them, the iris had turned yellow and the pupil had changed into a square shape.
"S-Sage mode… how could you learn something like that so quickly?" Danzo asked as his body started to shake. Danzo and his Root ANBU had been hiding in a nearby cave whilst Pain weakened the village so they hadn't seen Naruto's fight with Pain, thus they hadn't seen his new skills.
Naruto didn't answer, blue energy started to surround his right hand, the energy gather into a swirling ball of chakra, before Danzo could move Naruto raised his hand up and thrust the ball of Chakra into Danzo's chest.
"Rasengan!!!"
Usually this would be the part where Naruto's enemy would be sent flying backwards spinning wildly, but Naruto didn't let it happen. He used the same Natural Chakra he uses for his frog Katas and wrapped them around Danzo's back, the Natural chakra pulled Danzo further against the spiralling sphere of chakra.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Danzo screamed in pain as he was pulled against the attack, after holding the attack for ten seconds Naruto pushed the attack downwards slamming Danzo's body into the ground and finally releasing the technique. The ground under Danzo buckled under the force of the blow, forming a meter deep crater. Finally Naruto straightened up and tossed Danzo's sword aside still soaked in Tsunade's blood.
The Root ANBU members all looked on in shock, in less than 20 seconds the Kyuubi container had dispatched their leader. Most of them had the logic to turn around and run for their lives, but four remained, two of them holding down Ino and her father, one of them maintaining the Paralysis Jutsu on Sakura, Shikamaru and Choji and the last one shaking in rage at what Naruto had done to their master.
"You… you demon bastard!" the Root member said as he reached back and drew his shortsword. "I SHALL AVANGE DANZO-SAMA!!!" the ANBU screamed as he rushed at Naruto.
Naruto saw it coming and threw a punch, the ANBU quickly ducked to the side letting Naruto's punch pass right by his head, unfortunately it was all for naught, the ANBU felt a stinging sensation in the side of his face for a moment before his entire body suddenly shot away from Naruto spinning wildly. The ANBU hit the ground hard and skipped across the ground several times before coming to a stop.
The other ANBU looked on in shock. Naruto's punch never even hit him, yet their squad leader had been sent flying away.
Naruto turned his head and looked at the two ANBU that had their knees against Ino and her father's backs holding them down.
"I suggest you let go of them now!" Naruto said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
They flinched slightly but didn't move.
"Tch… fine, but don't say I didn't warn you…" Naruto said, a second later his body flickered for a moment before disappearing, less than a second later Naruto reappeared in front of the two ANBU crouched down with his hands at his sides and in each of his hands he held the same ball of chakra he used to kill Danzo.
"Rasenrengan!!!" Naruto shouted as he thrust a Rasengan into each of the ANBU's chests. Their armoured chest plates instantly cracked and they were sent flying backwards off the two mind walkers and into the ruins of a building. Finnaly Naruto turned to look at the last one, this one had his hands in the Ram seal as he maintained the Paralysis Jutsu.
"… you should be running…" Naruto muttered loud enough for the ANBU to hear.
The ANBU flinched.
"I'll… I'll never run from you demon!" the ANBU spat angrily.
The ANBU quickly dropped the Ram seal and jumped backwards while crossing his fingers in front of him.
"Kage-Bunshin No Jutsu" with that said, half a dozen copies of the ANBU appeared around him and they prepared to attack.
Naruto just scoffed and held his hand to the side away from his body.
Chakra started to spin around his hand wildly, at first it was just creating another Rasengan, but then everybody noticed a screeching sound filling the air as four blades of chakra started to form around the ball.
Ino and Choji's eyes widened when they saw the Jutsu being created, they had see it once before when Naruto used it against the Akatsuki member Kazuku, ever since that day they had looked at the blond in a different light. Sakura too saw the Jutsu being created and started to worry.
'Naruto no! That Jutsu… it'll damage your arm!!!' Sakura screamed inside her head, she was still only just getting the feeling back in her body.
"Fuuton : RasenShuriken" Naruto said as he raised the attack above his head.
"Nice try, but that attack is only good for one hit, which one of us will you go after?" one of the ANBU's shadow clones asked.
"That won't be a problem…" Naruto said as he reared back pulling his attack behind him. Then like a baseball Naruto leaned forwards swung his hand overhead letting the attack fly.
'HE THREW IT?!!' Sakura, Ino and Choji all screamed in their minds, for the life of them they couldn't figure out how Naruto could possibly throw such a dense Chakra attack.
The RasenShuriken flew through the air just like a real Shuriken. The ANBU managed to move out of the way just in time as two of his clones were struck by the attack and dispersed.
Naruto concentrated for a moment and suddenly the flying attack expanded, the blades stretching out and destroying the rest of the clones.
"Not possible, I have to get away!!!" the ANBU said to himself as he prepared to jump away from in expanding blades, but suddenly he found himself unable to move.
"W-What's happenGUHHHH!!!" he didn't finish what he was saying his body was cleaning cut in half at the waist.
The attack died down and no enemies were left. Naruto walked forwards to Shikamaru and held out a hand, Shikamaru reached up and took Naruto's hand allowing him to pull the lazy Chuunin to his feet.
"Thanks for the assist Shika…" Naruto said with a smile.
"No problem, we needed to end that fight quickly anyway" Shikamaru replied.
When Naruto's RasenShuriken expanded the last ANBU was about to jump out of the way, but Shikamaru had quickly held him in place with his Kagemane No Jutsu.
Naruto turned around and saw Sakura kneeling over Tsunade using a medical Jutsu. Naruto still being in sage mode could feel the chakra all around him, Tsunade's was falling quickly. All Sakura was doing was prolonging the inevitable.
Naruto walked towards Sakura who was desperately trying to seal up Tsunade's wound, Naruto stood over the two and placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"Sakura…"
"NO!!!" Sakura screamed at Naruto. "I CAN SAVE HER!!!"
"… Sakura…" this time the voice came from Tsunade. "… Please… stop…" Tsunade asked.
Tears fell from Sakura's eyes as she felt the Jutsu around her hands slowly dimmed.
All around Tsunade, ninja's started approaching, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Inoichi, Shikaku Nara, Gai's team had also arrived moments ago just in time to see Naruto use his RasenShuriken. Gai, Lee, Tenten and Neji all approached the scene as their Hokage laid dying.
"… Sakura… I'm so proud of you… these past three years you've soaked up every bit of knowledge I poured into you… you're going to be the world greatest medical ninja… you'll surpass me in every way… in a way… I feel like you're the daughter I never had… thank you Sakura…" Tsunade spoke softly as she struggled for breath.
Sakura was in tears, as were Ino and Choji, for them it was just like the way Asuma had died.
"… Naruto… you were magnificent… our entire village couldn't stop Pain, but you were able to defeat him all on your own… you've far surpassed anybody in this entire village, Kakashi, Jiraiya… even me… you would risk everything for this village… you would give your life for it… " Tsunade spoke softly but somehow at the same time she spoke strongly. Naruto felt tears streaking down his face as Tsunade spoke.
"… Naruto… you don't have the right experience… but you have the right heart… the right conviction… you're the Rokudaime Hokage now… look after our village for me…"
Everyone was shocked by what Tsunade had said, Naruto was the most shocked of them all. Naruto had just been named the 6th Hokage. Though they were shocked, not a single one of them could think of a reason for Naruto not to be named the Hokage, after all traditionally the Hokage was the most powerful ninja in the village.
"T-Tsunade-baachan… I promise… I will…" Naruto spoke though his sobs.
Tsunade smiled at Naruto's affectionate name for her.
"Brat…" Tsunade said with a sweet smile "… how many times… do I have to tell you… not to…. Call me… that…" with those last words, Tsunade's eyes closed and her breathing stopped.
Sakura stood up and turned into Naruto's chest crying, Naruto wrapped his arms around Sakura and comforted her as his own tears fell into her hair. Everyone mourned the loss of their Hokage.
'Kakashi… Shizune… Hinata… Ma & Pa toad… Tsunade-baachan… so many people died… too many…' Naruto thought to himself as he comforted his team-mate.
'Do you want to save them?' a dark growling voice echoed in his mind. Naruto knew immediately who it was.
'You fox bastard… shut the hell up stay in your cage…' Naruto growled in his mind.
'Watch your mouth boy… I'm offering you a chance to save all those who've been lost today…' the Kyuubi voice echoed in Naruto's mind.
Naruto was about to tell the Kyuubi's to stuff it when he felt a tug at his mind, this happened for a moment before his sight darkened and he felt his body falling away from Sakura and to the ground.
"Naruto… NARUTO!!!" Sakura screamed as she leaned down to him and activated her medical Jutsu.
"Don't you dare Naruto… I can't lose you too… don't you dare!!!"
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Naruto appeared in a familiar place, he stood in front of the massive gates that held the Kyuubi back.
"What do you want, why did you bring me here Kyuubi? I'm not going to release you…" Naruto said quickly and firmly.
"I know that you little brat… I've had enough…" The Kyuubi said almost softly.
"What? What do you mean you've had enough?" Naruto asked in a confused tone.
"I mean exactly what I said… I've had enough… when the Hyuuga girl fell, your mind was in an emotional enough state for me to take over and convince you to release me… but that damned Yondaime… he ruined everything…" the Kyuubi growled angrily.
"Yeah, he did didn't he…" Naruto said with a slight grin. "… but you still haven't answered my question"
"… Your mind will never be that vulnerable ever again… I had my chance and I lost it… so I'm offering you a deal that will please us both…"
"What deal? I'm not releasing you!" Naruto said sternly.
"… I know of a power that can reverse everything that has happened, Konoha will be as if it was never crushed, everyone who died will be brought back, the Hyuuga girl, the Hokage, even those stinking toads…"
"… and what do you want in return?" Naruto asked cautiously, he knew that the Kyuubi would never just give him this power without something in return.
"… I want to die" the Kyuubi said flatly.
"… What?" Naruto asked in his confusion. "What the hell do you mean you want to die?"
"The power will require a huge amount of Chakra to restore the entire village and bring everyone back… you won't survive it and the seal is designed so that when you die I die, then our souls will be separated, I'll go to hell and you'll go to…"
"STOP!" Naruto yelled to shut the fox up "What the… why are… why do you think I'd go along with this, I'd die!" Naruto shouted.
"If you do this, you'd sacrifice your life to bring back your village and to save the lives of your 'precious people'… isn't that what a Hokage does?" Kyuubi asked mockingly, he knew just how to push Naruto.
Naruto flinched when the Kyuubi mentioned what a Hokage does.
"Plus with you and me dead, it'll become impossible for Akatsuki to complete their plans, so your village will be safe from them in the future"
Naruto stood there for what seemed like hours contemplating the Kyuubi's offer. After a few minutes Naruto looked up.
"Tell me more about this power."
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Naruto's eyes flickered open, he found himself looking up into a clear blue sky.
"Naruto, you're awake!" a familiar voice shrieked and Naruto felt a weight on his chest and a pair of arms wrap around his neck in a hug, Naruto's vision was blocked by a mess of pink hair.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Baka!!!" Sakura screamed and a fist beat against his chest. "Don't do that to me again!!!" Sakura said through her tears.
"Sorry Sakura-chan… using Sage mode four times in a row kinda took it out of me…" Naruto said with a smile.
Sakura got off him and helped him to his feet.
"How long was I out?" Naruto asked.
"About 30 minutes" Shikamaru said as he approached with several people behind him, Yamato, Anko and Sai, they had arrived a few minutes after Naruto fell unconscious and Shikamaru had been explaining everything that had happened.
"Yamato-sensei, Sai… crazy lady from the Chunin exams…" Naruto greeted them, Anko sweat dropped at his name for her.
"The name's Anko brat!"
"Naruto, it's good to see you're ok, when I found out you went 6 and then 8 tails I feared the worst" Yamato said in relief.
"So… what do we do now?" Anko asked as she looked out over the village's remains, very few buildings were still standing.
"… I don't even know where I'd begin" Anko said sadly.
"Well, I suppose that's up to our new Hokage" Inoichi said as he approached the group.
"New Hokage?" Yamato asked in confusion.
"Tsunade, before she passed away she named her successor" Shikaku said as he joined his old team-mate.
"Really? Who did she name?" Anko asked anxiously wondering who their new leader is.
Inoichi and Shikaku didn't answer, they just looked past Anko and at Naruto. Anko followed their eye line to Naruto and her eyes widened.
"No way…" Anko muttered.
Naruto meanwhile was thinking hard about what he had to do, he couldn't tell anybody what he was planning otherwise they'd never let it happen. With his resolve strengthened Naruto turned around and faced the ninjas in front of him, all of which stood at the ready for orders.
"Ok… Inoichi, Shikaku, Shikamaru, gather the bodies of Danzo and his ANBU, take them beyond the village limits and incinerate them…"
"Hai, Hokage-sama" Inoichi answered, immediately the three ninjas turned around and walked towards where the traitor's bodies still lay.
Most of the others around them couldn't believe what they had seen. Naruto was ordering two senior Jounin ninjas around and they accepted his orders without any complaint.
Naruto turned to face everybody else.
"Choji, Yamato, Anko, down at the bottom of the crater you'll find five of Pains bodies… take them outside the Village limits and burn them…"
"Hold on…" Anko interrupted Naruto's ordered.
"What makes you think that you can just start ordering us around? How do we know that you're even qualified to be Hokage?" Anko asked.
In less than ten seconds Sakura, Ino and Choji were all glaring at Anko. Before any of them could say anything Naruto walked towards Anko and stopped right in front of her.
"Anko… today our entire village was crushed, Kakashi's dead, Shizune's dead, Hinata's dead, Tsunade's dead… most of it all happened before I even arrived… what the village needs right now isn't somebody to question my orders… now follow the instructions I've given you or get the hell out of my way… understood?" Naruto said sternly right in Anko's face.
Anko gulped at his tone.
"Y-Yes sir…" Anko answered.
Immediately the three ninja's turned and jumped into the crater towards where Naruto had been fighting.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto turned to his team-mate who stood at attention.
"Yes Hokage-sa…"
"Sakura… you don't need to call me that…" Naruto said with a smile.
"Ok, Naruto… what do you need me to do?" Sakura asked.
"Sakura, I have a plan… it could save the village, I need you to heal Gamakichi's wound, then I need you and him to bring Shizune and Kakashi's bodies down into the crater, bring them to where Hinata is." Naruto ordered.
"Ok…" Sakura said as she turned around and walked to the barely conscious toad.
Naruto meanwhile turned back to Tsunade and kneeled down, he carefully scooped her up into his arms, he then turned around and walked into the crater down to where Hinata's body laid.
"Tsunade-baachan… I hope you can forgive me, for what I'm about to do…" Naruto whispered into the Slug Sannin's ear.
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Thirty minutes later everybody had finished their tasks given to them by Naruto. Most of the Konoha 11 had gathered around the bottom of the crater where four bodies laid next to each other, Kakashi, Shizune, Tsunade and Hinata.. Naruto had found his red coat with black flames nearby Hinata. Naruto picked it up and walked to the Hyuuga's body and kneeled down next to her.
"Hinata-chan, I'm so sorry… I'm sorry I couldn't protect you… I'm sorry I was so blind to your feelings until it was too late… but I'm going to make things right, I promise… goodbye Hinata-chan…" Naruto said as he laid his coat over her body leaving her head revealed, then he leaned forwards and gave her a slow kiss on the lips before standing up.
"W-What do we do now?" Sakura asked through her tears.
Naruto took a deep breath before speaking.
"Now… we say our goodbyes…" Naruto said softly.
"Immediately everyone lowered their heads and paid their last respects to the fallen Ninjas"
"No… not to them…" Naruto said loudly to get their attentions. "… To me."
"Naruto, what are you talking about?" Sakura asked in confusion, nobody knew what he was talking about.
Naruto didn't answer, he just walked forwards and pulled Sakura into a hug. Sakura didn't know what to think, a year ago she would have knocked his head off his shoulders for something like this but something inside her told her she should be worried about something.
"Naruto, what's going on? You're scaring me" Sakura said as he hugged her.
Naruto separated from her and smiled with fresh tears in his eyes.
"Sakura-chan, I'm going to do what my father did before me… I'm giving up my life for the village…" Naruto said as he backed away from Sakura.
Sakura froze, she didn't know what Naruto was planning but her instinct told her that he wouldn't survive it. Sakura was about to take a step forwards before he spoke one last time.
"Goodbye, Sakura-chan"
This broke her, she quickly ran to him but before she could reached him Naruto leaned down and jumped, the jump was so powerful that the ground under Naruto buckled and threw gravel into the air.
"NARUTO!!!" Sakura screamed as Naruto shot up into the air.
Naruto sailed high into the air before coming to a stop about 400 meters above the village, from this view point her could see the entire village. Naruto hung there in midair as if he was standing on an invisible platform.
"… Ok… let's do this before I lose my nerve…" Naruto said to himself.
Naruto quickly unzipped his top and removed it letting the orange and black piece of clothing flutter towards the ground, this left him in a black vest. Naruto placed his hands in the Ram seal and then quickly flashed through the seals Kyuubi had taught him while in his mindscape.
"What's he doing?" Ino asked as he looked up at Naruto.
"It's looks like he's preparing a Jutsu" Inoichi said as he watched the new Hokage floating high above the village performing hand seals.
Sakura had a hand over her heart as she looked up at her team-mate.
"Please Naruto-kun… stop…" Sakura muttered under her breath as fresh tears dropped from her eyes.
Up above, Naruto finished his long string of seals and channelled a portion of the Kyuubi's chakra in the technique.
"Oni Kuchiyose : Tsu Ryoku No Jutsu" (Demon Summoning : Stolen Power Jutsu) Naruto said as he pointed his open palm forwards, in a flash of crimson light that emerged from Naruto's palm something appeared. Naruto dropped his hand and looked at what he had summoned. Floating in front of him were two 'faries' each one no bigger than the palm of his hand with sharp looking wings on their back, one was dressed in a red body suit with blond hair tied tightly back, the other one was dressed in a pink kimono.
"Hi, I'm Shun'o" the one in the red body suit said with a cocky grin.
"… and I'm Ayame" the one in the pink Kimono said nervously.
"Why have you summoned us?" Shun'o asked in an annoyed fashion.
Naruto looked down at what was left of the village.
"Kyuubi told me about you… I need your help to save my village…"
Ayame and Shun'o looked down and saw the destruction.
"You call that a village? It looks more like a hole in the ground…" Shun'o said with a grin.
"S-Shun'o-chan!" Ayame said in shock of Shun'o's bluntness.
Naruto gritted his teeth but kept his temper under wraps.
"… I know, that's why I need your help…" Naruto said.
Ayame looked down and viewed all the damage and lives lost in what looked like one hell of a battle.
"Sigh… there's a lot of damage… and dozens of people are dead dying for badly injured…" Shun'o said as she flew right up to Naruto's face and leaned forward."
"Kid… our power was never meant for you… if you use our power to try to fix that much damage, you won't survive… are you sure you want to do this?" Shun'o asked with Ayame standing nervously just behind her.
"I'm sure" Naruto said immediately without hesitation.
"… Ok then… I take it you know how to work out power?" Shun'o asked
"Yes, I'm ready" Naruto answered and started to gather his chakra.
"Let's go Shun'o" Ayame said to her friend. Shun'o nodded and joined Ayame, in a flash of light they both transformed into small paper looking planes and started to circle Naruto.
Naruto pointed his hands down towards the village and spoke.
"Ayame, Shun'o, Soten Kisshun…" (Twin Sacred Return Shield)Naruto chanted.
Ayame and Shun'o suddenly flew down and passed over each other and flew down towards the edges of the village, as they did a dome of orange energy stretched down between the two of them, the dome grew and grew until both Ayame and Shun'o landed at opposite ends of the village, the end result was Konoha completely covered by the dome.
Everyone down below was in awe of what they were seeing.
Naruto started to sweat as he felt the technique start to take it's toll on him.
'Goodbye everybody…'
"… I REJECT" Naruto shouted the last two words of the technique out loud.
Sakura was standing perfectly still, after Naruto shouted those two words a ghostly silence fell over the village, suddenly the ground shifted under them causing everybody to stumble. Rubble from the destroyed building started to move on their own. Sliding over the ground and coming together, all the while the ground kept trembling.
Shikamaru who always had been very observant of his surroundings noticed something, the ground they were on was rising up, almost as if the crater they were standing in was fixing itself.
"W-What is this? What's he doing?!!" Ino screamed as she dodged out of the way of another piece of rubble.
Sakura was about to tell Ino that she had no idea but stopped when she felt something, a tingling feeling in her arm, Sakura twisted her head around to look at her arm, earlier during the battle with Pain she had received a deep cut on her upper left arm. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw the cut closing up on it's own, even the sleeve of her shirt was repairing itself.
"Is… is Naruto doing this?" Sakura muttered in her amazement. Sakura looked around to see that everyone else's injuries were also healing themselves even if though they hadn't noticed.
"HAAA…" a scream echoed through the air drawing Sakura's attention.
Sakura twisted her head and her eyes widened in shock when she saw who had screamed.
"S-Shizune?" Sakura muttered.
Sure enough Shizune who was dead only minutes ago was now sitting up and very much alive
"Sakura? W-What's going on?" Shizune asked.
Sakura looked from Shizune to her healed arm and then back at Shizune. Sakura's head snapped towards the other bodies, she quickly spotted Tsunade's chest wound healing.
"Oh my god…" Sakura said with an astonished voice and wide eyes. "… he's bringing them back…" Sakura realised as several pieces of information clicked together in her head, Naruto had asked Shikaku, Inoichi, Shikamaru, Choji, Yamato and Anko, to get Danzo, the ROOT ANBU traitors and Pain's bodies away from Konoha so they wouldn't be brought back as well. This is all happening inside the orange dome that Naruto had created.
Above the dome Naruto was struggling, his hands pointed down and he continued pouring every ounce of chakra into the technique, he felt his body weakening quickly and a small trickle of blood seeped from his nose.
'N-Not yet… I'm not done yet…'
After about a minute the ground stopped shaking as the crater reached ground level and flattened out. Rubble and debris formed together and become the houses they had come from, rock formations that had been blasted away reformed back to the way they were. People who had been killed by Pain started rising from the dead, Kakashi was next, sitting up in a confused daze. Hinata's eye slowly fluttered open before her hand shot to her chest where she had been impaled by Pain's chakra blade but felt nothing there, she suddenly realised that she was covered by Naruto's coat. Hinata quickly started looking around desperately trying to find Naruto.
Finally Tsunade's eyes snapped open and her body bolted upwards with her hand to her heart feeling for the wound that Danzo had given her.
Sakura felt new tears well up in her eyes, all around her Konoha was rebuilding itself, people who had died were waking up, and Kakashi, Shizune and Hinata were all alive again.
After a few more minutes the final pieces of rubble fell into place. The village was perfect, it was as if it had never been attacked at all. The dome that had covered the village slowly faded away.
"Sakura? What's going on?" a voice behind Sakura asked.
Sakura spun around on her heels and her eyes widened when she saw a dishevelled Tsunade standing behind her.
"M-Master!!!" Sakura cried and ran to her Sensei wrapping her in a hug.
Tsunade was a little confused but hugged her apprentice back.
"Sakura what's going on? The last thing I remember… I… I died…" Tsunade said as the memory came back to her.
"It was Naruto, he…" Sakura eyes widened, in her excitement she had forgotten how it had happened in the first place. Sakura spun around and looked up, to her horror there he was, falling upside down towards the earth.
"NARUTO!!!" Sakura screamed in horror as she watched him fall.
Gai spotted Naruto falling and quickly jumped into action, he jumped to a nearby roof and planted his foot on the edge of the roof, using the leverage he jumped high into the air towards Naruto's falling form. Gai caught Naruto in his arms and landed as carefully as he could placing Naruto on the ground gently.
Almost immediately Gai was pushed aside by Sakura and Tsunade. They both kneeled down to him and gasped at what they saw, Naruto had lines of blood seeping out of his nose and eyes.
Tsunade felt tears appearing in her eyes as she quickly activated a diagnosis Jutsu and held it over his chest. After a few moments her eyes widened in horror, his body was extensively damaged, his Chakra coils were shattered and even his heart was damaged beyond repair.
"He… he's dead…" Tsunade said in a whimper.
Sakura's shook her head in rejection.
"N-No, he can't be…" Sakura said loudly as she leaned forward activating a medical jutsu and holding it over his chest.
"Naruto wake up!" Sakura said loudly while pushing against his chest trying to wake him.
"Naruto!!!" Sakura said louder.
All around them ninja's were gathering, Hinata stood there hugging Naruto's coat as tears fell freshly from her eyes.
"No… please no…" Hinata whispered.
"Naruto wake up… NARUTO!" Sakura screamed, her concentration broke and her hand stopped glowing, Sakura grabbed Naruto's shoulder and started shaking him roughly.
"Naruto wake up!!! NARUTO! WAKE UP! PLEASE WAKE UP!!!" Sakura screamed crying out loud as her tears fell unhindered from her eyes. Tsunade moved behind Sakura and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Sakura… he's gone…"
"NO, HE CAN'T BE GONE… he… he's…" Sakura's tears fell silent as Tsunade spun her around and pulled her into a hug, Sakura cried into her masters shoulder.
All around everybody had different reactions. Hinata had fallen to her knees and buried her face in Naruto's chest. Ino and Choji were both in tears. Shikamaru wasn't crying but he did have his head lowered in grief. Even Anko had a few tears falling from her eyes, she bit her lip so hard she drew blood in her attempt not to cry.
Tsunade looked over the crying Sakura's shoulders at the body of her adopted brother.
'You idiot… what did you do?… You were supposed to be Hokage'
Sakura's tears continued to soak through Tsunade's jacket as the sun started to set, it had been a very long day. Tomorrow the village would mourn the loss of the Rokudaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto.
To Be Continued…
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The title of the story is a work in progress. Please Read & Review.