Prologue

Hogwarts

"Avada Kedavra!"

The green ball of deadly magic formed at the tip of the Elder Wand as Voldemort started casting the curse. However, unbeknownst to the Dark Lord, the Elder Wand will never listen to those who possess it unless they truly own it. Thus, in a twist of irony, instead of shooting out of the wand and head for his nemesis, Harry Potter, the sickly green ball of deadly magic phased through the Elder Wand and struck Voldemort straight on. True horror was plastered on Voldemort's face as the most fatal of the Unforgivables sent him into the embrace of Death.

Giving of a sigh of relief, Harry Potter slumped to the ground, finally free from the burden of the prophecy. Voldemort was finally, truly dead. No more Horcuxes to protect Voldemort from true death. No longer is the Dark Lord alive to wreak havoc.

This peace did not last though, as the Order and his friends rushed to his side after most of the Death Eaters were arrested. Stretching his arm out, Harry wandlessly cast the Accio on the Elder Wand, summoning it directly to him before his friends arrived.

"do ut des (I give that you may give)," Harry started as the calls from his friends became audible.

"dum spiro spero (while I breathe, I hope) ut (that) dona nobis pacem (give us peace)," by now his friends are a foot from him.

"acta est fabula plaudite!(the play has been performed; applaud!)"

An intense white light flashed from under his feet. Runic symbols began to take shape and spiral upwards, encompassing Harry in a column of glowing runes. His friends, in shock, cried out to him. Hermione, the 'bookworm', had realised the spell he had casted. In desperation, she tried to jump through the lights. Unfortunately, the spell prevents intervention of external forces and is created in a way that it has to be completed the moment the spell is fully casted. As expected, a barrier appeared between Hermione and the pillar of light.

Minutes later, the light slowly fades. The barrier vanished and everyone flocked to the spot where Harry Potter had once been. However, all that remained was the prints from Harry's shoe and a pile of clothes that were the exact same thing that Harry had wore throughout the battle.

Valley of the End

"CHIDORI"

"RASENGAN"

Twin cries emerged as the two combatants charged at each other with their fully-powered final attack. As the attacks collided head on, they exploded and caused debris to cloud the area. As the dust settled, the outcome of the match was revealed.

Uchiha Sasuke was knocked unconscious by the impact of the Rasengan, which had scratched his Konoha hitai-ate. His former teammate however was not as fortunate. Uzumaki Naruto had sustained a fatal injury from the Chidori. That attack had literally torn a hole in his chest. Thankfully, he was a jinchūriki. His tenant, the Kyūbi no Yōkō had refused to allow his host (and him by default) to die.

Soon, Naruto was floating a metre off the ground, enveloped in a blood red aura that had nine distinct foxtail-shaped tendrils extending from it. The said tendrils then reached towards the ground and not long after formed a complex symbol. The symbol glowed and more tendrils erupted to ensnare and draw the lifeless body towards it.

Crossroad of Time

"Where am I? Is anyone there?" Naruto cried out to the darkness.

"Calm down –"

"Who are you? Show yourself!" yelled Naruto, as he scanned around to look for the source of the voice.

"I'm afraid not," exclaimed the voice.

At this, a cry of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu sounded as ten clones materialized from a puff of smoke to protect the real Naruto from all sides.Unfortunately, the clones were consumed by the darkness as quickly as they came. A series of attacks launched too vanished into the darkness. "You should stop. You can't hurt me. You're currently in my domain," the voice informed.

"What do you want with me!?"

"Ahaha," a laugh echoed as a cloaked figured appeared. "To talk, of course."

"And if I don't want to?"

"It won't matter. You're stuck here. This is the area where all dead souls come to… before I take them. Now –"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M DEAD!?"

"Your so called 'friend' gifted you with a hole in your chest. He destroyed your heart. So you're dead. The only reason you managed to keep your personality is because of Kyūbi."

"W-Wh-What do you mean?" asked Naruto as he slowly snapped out of shock.

"He used a seal to merge completely with you. And unlike humans, demons don't die if they are killed in the mortal realm. They stay here until they are fully healed before travelling back to their realm."

"So I'm now a d-de-demon?"

"Yes and no. You see, when you died, Kyūbi would have died with you. However, he initiated the merger between the both of you. Now, a very minute piece of my essence used to seal him into you has not returned. It is definite that it had merged into your being when Kyūbi merged with you."

"If I'm not a demon, then what am I now?"

"You're an immortal. My essence has already dominated and converted your soul into that of an immortal. Due to this unexpected twist, the Fates have decided to give you a choice. To die and move on, or to return as an immortal. That is for you to decide."

"WHAT?! And if I choose neither?"

"Then it will be for the Fates to decide. Make your choice now."

"Fine! I choose ...

To be continued

AN:

Hihi all. This is my very first story. Or rather the first one that I'll dedicate myself to complete writing. Lol. Okay, so I'm not very sure about some spelling of the Japanese terms. So do forgive me if there's any error. (P.S. if you can correct me even better P) Yeah. And for some words or phrases in other languages that are not commonly known, the meanings are in brackets. That's about it.

P.S. I don't own anything in here unless I state otherwise.