Humans have always thirsted for power – the discovery of chakra, the escalating clan battles during the chaos era, the establishment of the hidden villages and the ever-growing collection of forbidden techniques… skills that encroached upon the territory of gods themselves. Funny really – how many of them did not even understand the simplest principles and possible consequences before flipping through the hand signs or drawing the seals…
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Prologue ~ Burning World
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The nigh invisible tracks continued relentlessly westwards, and the Uchiha followed. It was the fourth day since the blood red moon dawned upon the world; three days since he started tracking the last being not ensnared within the eternal genjutsu.
Mindlessly, his feet took him across the dead landscape, neither hurrying nor hesitating as they silently treaded onwards. The dry husks of once green trees seemed to curve around him, as if even in death they did not want to come close to one such as him.
Almost without thought the slowly spinning shuriken marked eyes marked out the next step – lighting up a single crunched leaf amidst countless others and adjusting his course to compensate. Another few angles north, and another few miles closer to what was once the land of waves.
There was no point in hurrying – he quite literally had all the time in the world.
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The ruins of a once great village appeared over the horizon – one of the few places that were not destroyed by his hand, having been pillaged way back during the second great war. Uzushiogakure it was called, if he remembered correctly. Considering just how much trouble the people with the same last name caused him over the years, it really irked him that he did not take part in its collapse.
… unlike Konoha.
As always, that brought a smile to his face – a lopsided grin that never reached his eyes and would have sent shivers up the spines of anyone who caught sight of it.
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The most recent tracks were fresh – even without hurrying he had slowly shrunk the distance between him and his prey. Being a god did have its up sides after all – not having to eat or sleep being only a minor part among them.
Walking through the remnants of the great gateway that had once repelled countless attacks before finally succumbing to the combined might of three villages, he couldn't help but wonder just what his prey was hoping to find here. Not that it mattered – in his mind there was nothing left in this world that could possibly threaten the ideal world he had created.
Even so, he picked up his pace. He couldn't explain it, but his instincts screamed at him to hurry, and he had long since stopped doubting them.
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Naruto grunted as he stood up, his legs protesting at their sudden movement. In front of him the chakra laced blood seeped into the last of the necessary runes, causing them to give off an eerie glow. It had taken him three days, but it was finally done.
Hey kit, are you sure about this? You know what would happen if this fails right?
"It's not like we have much choice; besides – this was your idea in the first place. If we succeed, we can fix everything. If we fail, at least the damn bastard wouldn't be able to use you to become immortal. Win win in any case – you aren't having second thoughts are you?"
The demon fox stirred uneasily in its cage. So what if I am? I've only done this once before, and the technique was horrifyingly complex with just myself – what with our souls tied together by your father, I quite honestly have no idea what will happen when you trigger it. You could easily burn out this reality and several others close by with the amount of power you need to feed the seal to even have a remote chance of succeeding.
Picking up the green stone necklace that he had drawn the focusing runes upon, Naruto sat down cross legged in the center of the seal array and closing his eyes began feeding the kyuubi's chakra into it.
… you aren't even listening to me, are you?
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It was only years of experience that prevented the Uchiha from stumbling when he felt waves of demonic chakra pulsing outwards from the center of the ruined village. Kyuubi's chakra – he could recognize his pet's taint anywhere.
This was not good.
The shuriken like markings of his eyes twisting space around him, the Uchiha disappeared from between the gates.
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You better be finished kit, the bastard found us.
Opening his eyes, Naruto glanced sideways, watching with a vicious smile as a half-opened rip in space was surrounded by numerous kanji, seemingly floating in the air. It was the last gift Hinata had given him before the curse-eyed bastard with a god complex ripped her heart out for her 'transgressions'. It would only hold for a minute before failing, but that was more than enough.
Throwing the last of his strength into forming the three hundred and forty required hand seals, Naruto felt nine tails worth of demonic power flow out of the now red stone, lighting up the world around him as lightning flashed amidst the runes. Not that he saw any of it, his entire being focused instead on keeping himself conscious as liquid fire almost literally flowed through his chakra coils.
There was a price to pay for using yourself as a conductor for demon chakra after all.
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The Uchiha unleashed a stream of curses that would have caused even Hidan to blush as he felt the exit of his space-time technique blocked off. Even in death the bitch managed to defy him! Calling forth the entirety of juubi's power, he willed it to rip apart space. Within a few seconds the tear was big enough to see through, and noticing the glowing seal on the other side that even his eyes were having difficulty deciphering, the Uchiha doubled his efforts.
There was no doubt that whatever the Uzumaki was trying to accomplish on the other side was exactly what his instincts were screaming out against.
He had to stop it now!
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The fiery pain cut off so suddenly, that its loss brought him closer to unconsciousness than the endless seconds he had suffered through it. Taking a ragged breath through his abused throat, he felt more than saw the red jewel disintegrate into dust, its last purpose finished.
The glowing runes, flickering in and out of sight in such a way as to give a migraine to anyone trying to keep track of them, seemed to bend in on themselves, stretching reality in ways it should never be.
Well kit, brace yourself. I have no idea what is about to happen, but if it is anything close to what happened the last time I did this, the pain you went through just now will seem like a gentle caress compared to what comes next. The kyuubi's voice had lost its dark undertones, and had Naruto spared a glance at the seal within his mind he would have noticed that it was now no larger than a regular fox, with just as many tails.
"You bastard Uzumaki! Don't you -"
He only had a moment to smirk at the Uchiha before the runes pulsed one last time, and the abused reality seemed to shatter before his eyes, the break centered upon him and continuing outwards like an unstoppable wave. Even if the seal failed and his entire existence was erased, seeing the horrified look upon the bastard's face would have been worth it. Besides, without the kyuubi and the immortality that a completely awakened juubi offered, his so called 'perfect world' would only last until his death – so whoever was still alive by then would be free in at most ten years' time.
…that's if the bastard managed to survive the world shattering around him.
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One thing Naruto prided himself on, was his pain tolerance. Seriously – considering that he had once spend a week gritting his teeth as his demon boosted healing warred against the black fires of amaterasu and had managed to come out with his sanity mostly intact, he could honestly say that none in the world had experienced pain worse than he had.
A lesser man would have broken within less than a second of being flung into the endless chaos between worlds. Naruto of course was much stronger than that.
He lasted for five.
The fox, having experienced this once before, lasted for three more before its screams joined his captor's.
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A/N
Only time I an saying this: I do not own... quite a staggering list of things actually. I will get back to you once I figure out if Naruto is included there as soon as I find the index tome.
This is going to be a different time-travel story as compared to others, as each chapter will in essence be a stand alone story, each one reading as a possible continuation from the prologue.
R&R people!
Saienai signing off.
