Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Or any of the characters here. They are all Masashi Kishimoto's. I am not making any money from writing this…blah blah blah…wow. Writing a disclaimer is depressing.
Possible spoilers here.
In this world, the fight against Tobi and Madara was lost, the Ten-Tails fully revived. However, the Gedou Mazou soon lost control, and the Ten-Tails was released. It overpowered Madara and Tobi, causing the Eye of the Moon plan to malfunction. Now the Ten-Tails roams free through a world almost devoid of ninja.
And this is my first fanfiction….yes….I am not experienced at all…..
Warning: If you don't like sad stories…
I fled. She fell.
The sun bore down upon flat, barren desert. A lone ninja staggered across the sand.
Urgh….
He tipped forward, then immediately righted himself. Don't fall. Don't fall.
Shikamaru clutched at his arm. Blood seeped out of the wound, into his clothes, into the sand. Don' t fall. The world swayed. His vision was strangely blurred and his sense of balance was gone. Don't fall. Don't fall. If you fall, you're never going to get back up.
He fell.
The woman sat down heavily. Rivulets of sweat ran down her forehead, into her eyes. She blinked them away, trying to calm her breathing. That last one had been too close. She'd been off-guard, and then the beast took its chance to attack.
First came the genjutsu of the failed Eye of the Moon. The world had suddenly shifted, and only then she realized. Then the beast, the monster, the Ten-Tails had come. The nine bijuu… Shukaku, Niibi, Sanbi, Yonbi, Gobi, Rokubi, Nanabi, Hachibi, and finally the Kyuubi, all sealed into one ultimate being. She'd barely gotten away. Her chakra had fallen to zero, and she was on the verge of collapse…but then he came and distracted it.
The Ten-Tails fell for the trap. It had whirled around and delivered the man a blow to the arm. Temari ran.
She ran. She could have helped the man. She should have helped the man.
She looked down at her bloody hands and clenched them.
Forgive me, stranger….I was a coward….
Shikamaru got up and looked around, then almost shouted in surprise.
Ino. Chouji. Asuma. His mom. His dad. They were all here, healthy and uninjured.
But something was wrong. Their facial expressions were wrong. Their eyes were wide, their mouths moving, but no sound came out. Were they trying to tell him something?
"I can't hear you!"
And then he heard them.
Wake up! Wake up!
In the waking world, a monster howled. It had found its prey.
The sound of the crashing footsteps, the gigantic eye, but most of all that horrible roar. The roar of prehistoric times, of ages past, of chaos and strife. And there were ten. Ten of those swishing tails. With each swing, mountains fell and tsunamis raged. With each swing, volcanoes erupted and earthquakes raged. The world fell to flood and fire. One swish of the tails was all that it took to wipe out everyone in the forces.
The word came to his mouth, and he spoke it.
"Ten-Tails."
Then Shikamaru turned over and faced the swirling eye.
The monster howled again. It raised a titan limb to crush him. Shikamaru watched, and did nothing. He stared at a white cloud in the background.
It looked like….
The paw came down.
Was it desperation? Or instinct? The Ten-Tails raised its paw and stared at the puffs of smoke with its great eye. No blood. When men died, there was blood. Lots of blood. And now there was none.
The man wasn't dead yet. The Ten-Tails slammed its paw into the ground. That man had caused it so much pain. That man had nearly destroyed the Gedo Mazou.
It would go hunting for him, and when it found him, it would torture him and then kill him, like a tiger corners an insignificant mouse, plays with it until the edge of death, and then eats it.
Shikamaru sat against a rock, miles from the Ten-Tails. His arm was freshly bandaged, but he still felt the pain.
The pain.
What had happened to the old him? The one that cried when he failed his first mission as mission leader, the one that wept when his master died. The one that called everything troublesome. The one that was afraid to be hurt.
If I had known what was going to happen, I would have sacrificed myself a thousand times over. I failed. Everyone else paid the price.
He stared at the ground, and the tears refused to come.
Temari followed the tracks. They were longer and wider than she was. The length between the tracks was immense. How could anyone have survived that?-no. Stop thinking that.
I have to save him.
She closed her eyes and relived those memories. Her family. Her failings.
Mom….I watched you die. I watched you bleed to death, I watched as the doctors and nurses and Father wrung their hands and scurried around the room and did nothing. I saw it all.
Father. I saw your body, lying in the pit, with flies buzzing around you. I looked at you…and felt nothing….
Gaara….when you were kidnapped by the Akatsuki…I should have gone after you. I should have. I didn't. I could only arrive there….and watch…..watch others save you.
Kankuro….when you were poisoned by Sasori of the Red Sands...I couldn't do anything. I had no knowledge of medical ninjutsu. And again, I could only sit there…and…..like the doctors and nurses and Father….do nothing….
Tears fell into the sands below. Temari removed her forehead protector and held it in her fist, staring at her bloody reflection. What happened? How did it become like this…? She could remember when she was fifteen and the Chunin Exams seemed like a big deal to her.
No more.
She'd failed….so many times…but this time…
Never again.
Temari knelt down next to the foot print and buried her forehead protector in the indentation in the ground.
"After I save him…I'll come back and retrieve my forehead protector. And only then will I call myself a shinobi."
Evening
Shikamaru lowered himself to the ground. His joints groaned, his muscles screamed, and his muscles throbbed. He'd been walking all day, but the Ten-Tails was closing in, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Am I going to die?
He couldn't go any farther. His mind felt fuzzy and he couldn't move his fingers.
What is a fly against a demon?
The Ten-Tails was going to kill him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was nothing. Nobody.
Is this what despair feels like…?
No. Shikamaru closed his eyes.
That's it.
I've had it. I'm not going to run away any more. I'm not going to be a coward any more. I won't be saved by anyone any more, I won't back down and let myself be killed. Because I'm going to die anyway.
He reached into his bag, pulled out his only kunai, stabbed it into the ground, and pulled himself up.
For once in my life….I'll stand and fight for myself.
Nightfall
The Ten-Tails sniffed the air. The man wasn't moving.
The man wasn't moving.
That meant the man had given up.
The Ten-Tails drew back its great lips and laughed.
Temari sprinted across the sand. Her feet grew heavier and heavier, her breathing was shallow and ragged. She thought she couldn't go any faster. Then she heard the laughter.
Shikamaru removed his hands from his thinking position. He lifted his head and saw his death.
The Ten-Tails swiped its paw at him. He dodged, throwing his kunai at the eye in the center of its head.
One of its tails blocked the kunai. Shadows immediately bound the Ten-Tails' body.
"Fool." It broke free of the binds.
Shikamaru slumped to the ground. Using his jutsu had taken a huge toll on him.
"This time you really will die." The Ten-Tails lifted its head. A huge ball of energy formed, hovering over its gaping mouth.
I'm sorry. I tried.
The Ten-Tails swung its head, and the ball of energy shot towards him. Shikamaru didn't even have the energy to dodge it.
I really did.
He didn't even feel the impact.
Instead, he felt as if he was rising….rising up to the clouds-then he fell, onto the hard ground.
Shikamaru opened his eyes. He opened his eyes and saw a woman standing in front of him. "Run," she said, holding out a military food pill. "Run."
He didn't need her to say it twice. He grabbed the pill and swallowed it, then ran as fast he could, not stopping to think what would happen to the woman.
Temari looked at the Ten-Tails.
"Humans. Who knows what they think..." it rumbled. "Ahh…it doesn't matter anyway…"
The Ten-Tails once again lifted its head, collecting its horrible chakra over its mouth.
Temari raised her fan for the final time.
It's time to use that move…
She bit her thumb, drawing blood, then pressed it onto her fan.
"…BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! BIJUU DAMA!"
Temari swung her fan, creating a huge gust of wind. Thousands of weasels appeared, shooting toward the great ball of chakra. The two collided.
The Bijuu Dama won. The weasels disappeared in puffs of smoke. Temari smiled as it overcame her.
At last….I've done one thing right…
Her last thought was of her family, and her last feeling was the tiniest bit of regret.
Her body hit the ground.
The Ten-Tails roared in triumph.
Shikamaru heard the explosion. At the same time, he felt a strong wind, so strong that it knocked him over. Then it struck him.
No.
NO.
NO!
When he got there, he saw the wreckage. He saw the crater. He saw the tracks of the Ten-Tails going in the opposite direction. Then he saw her.
She was lying on her back, her features unrecognizable with red, a puddle of blood beneath her.
It's too late.
He ran to her side. "Hey!" he said, shaking her. "Hey!"
Her eyes opened. They were the color of teal….just like….just like…
"Why did you do that?! Why did you save me?!" he shouted. "You don't even know me! What did I do for you?!"
Her mouth moved, and no sound came out. She was going fast.
"Tell me! Why?" he screamed, still shaking her. "WHY?!"
The woman coughed up blood. Specks of it landed on his face.
"At least tell me your name!" he pleaded.
The woman's hand slowly reached up to touch his face.
"My….name…..is-"
Then she slowly sank down in his arms. Her fingers left trails of blood on his face.
"We never knew each other. And yet….."
And yet you still saved me….
"And to what avail? I am the one who failed….the one who landed us into this mess."
"So why….?"
Shikamaru looked at the woman for one last time before laying her down. The moon had come out, and three stars shone in the sky. He lifted his head and stared at them, wondering why.
Then he slowly walked away, never to return.
Shikamaru once again saw the footprints of the Ten-Tails, several miles away.
There was something odd about that footprint….
He strode over to the indentation in the ground, and started digging.
A forehead protector, with an hourglass engraved upon it. The symbol of Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand.
It reminded him of….of….Temari…..
Temari.
I haven't seen you for so long. But I know that you're still alive, somewhere.
Shikamaru put the forehead protector in his pocket and started walking again, with renewed energy.
Don't worry, Temari.
I'll find you.
And then It came.
I fled. She fought.
She fell. I stand.