Summary: Naruto has beaten Obito, Madara, and stalled Sasuke long enough to end the 4th Shinobi World War in his favor, dying in the process. His reward? He gets to live his life all over again, however he wants, as a video game character!
Inspired by Naruto: Legend Rebornby Lambhuna, so go check it out. Wanted to take my own spin on the game world Naruto, and I plan on taking a rather different path with this than where I think he was going.
Intelligent!Strong!Naruto, Fem!Naruto, Pairings are undecided as of yet. Also AU: I am keeping events following along lines very similar to cannon at first. There are a few small things which change early on, but for the most part the changes which I will be making are later.
Talking: "Teme has duck-butt hair!"
Thinking:'Shut up Naruto!'
Demon/Summon Taking:"Hmm, I can see the resemblance …"
Demon/Summon Thinking: 'I wonder if uses a jutsu for that?'
Justus: Duck-butt no jutsu!
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Chapter 1: Death, Kami, and Philosophy
Naruto felt the kunai slam into the back of his head, and like a switch, the world went dark. 'Damn it!'was his first thought. Actually, his first was 'Aw shit…,' so technically 'Wait I'm still conscious?'was his third. 'If I really have to sit around, floating in endless darkness for eternity, I'm gonna be soooo pissed.'
Naruto had been fighting against Sasuke after the bastard had betrayed them…again. 'Seriously, why did I give him so many chances? …Huh? ...Kurama? You there?'Normally the bastard would have had a scathing comment for him by that point, so Naruto figured the fuzz ball hadn't followed him into the afterlife.
Naruto hovered there for hours, or at least what felt like hours. Turns out it's rather difficult to measure time when you have absolutely no point of reference. Finally, he spotted what appeared to be a white dot rushing towards him. It resolved itself into letters and words as it approached, and then slammed to a halt in front of Naruto:
GAME OVER!
Naruto sighed at the sight. He'd failed. Not in everything, but in enough. The 4th Shinobi World War had been short, brutal, and bloody. The Akatsuki had been decimated by the time Pein fell to Naruto, and Obito-Madara had rapidly moved to all-out war in order to capture the remaining biju. The five great nations had allied themselves against the bastard, but it had barely been enough.
Somehow the bastard had manufactured an army that left the odds nearly one to one against the Shinobi Alliance, at least numerically. White Zetsu clones were actually rather pathetic fighters. Then Kabuto showed up, and started throwing every dead ninja and the kitchen sink into the mix via Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation).
This had given the Akatsuki forces the muscle they needed to counter the Allied force's elite ninja, such as Kakashi, Gai, and the Sand Siblings. Of course, once word got out that they could only be brought down via sealing, it simply came down to a matter of immobilizing them. Then the Zetsus started morphing into people, so Naruto had bolted to the front lines in order to detect them. Naruto had been wiping the floor with Zetsus left and right, even helping to take down several of the strongest Edo-ninja.
Then Kabuto created Edo-Madara, and everything devolved into a chaotic shit storm, because everyone thought Madara was alive. But then there was an Edo-Madara dropping fucking meteors (plural) on everyone. Then Fake-Madara who turned out to be Obito revived the Juubi. Sasuke showed up, Obito-Madara got control of the Juubi, Edo-Madara got control of Obito-Madara, and Edo-Madara became REAL Madara, captured the Juubi, and activated the infinite Tsukuyomi. Sasuke and Naruto managed to resist its effects, and battled Madara.
Once Madara had turned into Kaguya, Naruto stopped even pretending to know what the fuck had been happening. They managed to seal Kaguya using the powers Naruto and Sasuke had inherited as the reincarnations of the Rikuudo Sennin's children. Naruto had been relieved, but then Sasuke had to go and start mouthing off about revolution and slitting the five Kage's throats before they recovered from the Tsukuyomi. They fought, and Naruto lost. The rest is history.
Naruto sighed, looking up at the massive words before him. 'Wonder if there's a way to speed things up?'Naruto reached out and touched the words. The moment he came into contact with the letters they seemed to melt away, only to be replaced by the words:
SCORE:
STORYLINE:
Childhood: SUCCESS! +50
Academy: SUCCESS! +50
Nami no Kuni: SUCCESS! +250
Chuunin Exams: SUCCESS! +250
Tsunade Retrieval: COMPLETE! +500
Sasuke Retrieval (I): FAILED! -1000
Kazekage Rescue: SUCCESS! +2500
Tenchi Bridge: FAILED! -5000
Immortal Duo: SUCCESS! +2500
Sasuke Retrieval (II): FAILED! -5000
Invasion of Pain: SUCCESS! +5000
Five Kage Summit: SUCCESS! +5000
4thShinobi World War: DIED! -10000
Subtotal: -4900
ALLIES:
Sasuke: Evil -2500
Sakura: Alive +1000
Kakashi: Alive +1000
Kiba: Alive +1000
Shino: Alive +1000
Hinata: Alive +1000
Choji: Alive +1000
Shikamaru: Alive +1000
Ino: Alive +1000
Neji: Dead -1000
Lee: Alive +1000
Tenten: Alive +1000
Iruka: Alive +1000
Konohamaru: Alive +1000
Jiraya: Dead -1000
Sarutobi: Dead -1000
Haku: Dead -1000
Gaara: Revived +500
Tsunade: Alive +1000
Yamato: Captured -1000
Sai: Alive +1000
Subtotal: +7000
BOSSES:
Danzo: Missed! 0
Mizuki: Victory! +100
Zabuza: Victory! +100
Gaara: Victory! +100
Orochimaru (I): Failed! -100
Sasuke (Cursed Seal): Failed! -100
Sasori/Deidara: Victory! +150
Orochimaru (II): Failed! -150
Sasuke (Teen): Failed! -150
Kakuzu: Victory! +150
Pein: Victory! +200
Sasuke (Mangekyo): Failed! -200
Obito: Victory! +250
Kaguya: Victory! +250
Sasuke (Savior): DIED! -500
Subtotal: +100
Miscellaneous:
Failed to Become Hokage: -1000
Died a Virgin: -2000
Defeated Akatsuki: +1500
Failed to Rescue Sasuke: -1000
Failed to Save Itachi: -1000
Befriend Kurama: +1500
Discovered Heritage: +500
Died in Battle: -500
Enemies Defeated: 1,347
Subtotal: -653
TECHNIQUES:
D-Ranks: (2)(50)=100
C-Ranks: (1)(100)=100
B-Ranks: (1)(150)=0
A-Ranks: (2)(200)=400
S-Ranks: (1)(250)=250
Created: (2)(500)=1000
Subtotal: 1850
Total: 3397 Rank: Genin
Dobe 1000 Rookie of the Year 1000-2500
Genin 2500-5000 Chuunin 5000-10000
Jounin 10000-15000 Sannin 15000-20000
Kage 20000
'Huh…I kinda sucked according to this,'Naruto thought. "Ah, fuck it, the points distribution is totally skewed anyways.'Naruto reached out and tapped the words again, and the words melted away and reconfigured.
EXTRAS UNLOCKED!
Naruto scoffed at that. "Fancy new Items! Great! I get cool stuff when I'M DEAD AND CAN'T USE THEM!" Naruto ranted angrily. "I mean, COME ON! Even if the afterlife is seriously set up like a scoreboard, implying that we can have a second play…through…" he trailed off as he considered the implications. "…HOLY SHIT!" He hurriedly continued reading:
Action: Befriended Kurama!
By managing to get through to Kurama and befriend him, you are able to import his memories into any new play through!
Action: Oiroke no Jutsu!
By creating the Sexy Technique and using it to great effect, you have unlocked the female Avatar options!
Action: Become a Savior!
By making it to the final battle, and inheriting your full power as an incarnation of Asura, you have completed one of the requirements for unlocking the Rikuudo Naruto Avatar!
Action: Martyrdom!
By dying to in order to complete the game you have unlocked the Kekkai Genkai Option!
Action: Discovered Heritage!
By discovering the identities of BOTH your parents, you unlocked the option to receive your inheritance from them, which was lost in the original timeline!
Naruto quickly read through the list of unlocked options, slightly confused but also intrigued. Some of these sounded really kickass. But the last entry truly captivated him. His hand slowly drifted out and brushed the text 'A link to Tou-san and Kaa-chan?'Suddenly the text morphed again, this time revealing the words:
Continue?
Yes/No
Before Naruto could do anything, a brilliant column of light appeared next to him. What sounded like a chorus of angels could be heard. The light slowly faded revealing what appeared to be a young girl, maybe eight or nine, with minute feathered wings, wearing a single piece simple dress that covered her entire body from her shoulders to her ankles. She practically screamed angel. Her face was shaped in such a way which seemed slightly childlike, but promised to grow into a surpassing beauty. But it was her eyes that captivated Naruto.
They shimmered with mirth and laughter, reflecting a light which wasn't actually there, and hidden behind them was a look that seemed to signal vast, endless, eternal knowledge. 'Who is she?'Naruto wondered, before realizing he was staring. "A-ah, h-hi?"
The girl giggled. "Wondering who I am?" she spoke in a melodious voice. "I'm an aspect of Kami. Yup, THE Kami, the guy upstairs, the head honcho if you will."
"Oh," Naruto said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Which really, given his day so far, it wasn't all that surprising.
"So, as for why I'm here! I'm an aspect of Kami, pertaining to entertainment. Basically, in order to manage being omnipotent and omniscient, we (Kami) split ourselves along the lines of a lot of different roles. I represent our fun loving side. I'm here because you are, for lack of a better term, interesting. Your story has near infinite permeability, and it's really quite the epic journey you go on.
"Furthermore, you did it! You won!" Naruto looked confused, hadn't he DIED? Hadn't he been killed by Sasuke? And wasn't his score, while not abysmal, still pretty bad? The girl giggled again before continuing. "See, you didn't actually NEED to survive. Sure you beat Sasuke in some outcomes, but in the one you pulled off, you held off Sasuke long enough for Sakura and Kakashi to revive the Kages, and then weakened him enough for the Kages to finish the job. In short, the good guys won thanks to your actions.
"Now, why does that matter? Are you familiar with the concept of a seesaw? The more weight you add to one side the more it tips that way. The universes function similarly. The more hatred, evil, and villainy, the more it tips towards Darkness, giving Akuma more power. More love and compassion, more power and influence for Kami, me…us…you get the idea! By getting the good guys to win, turning nine raging piles of hate into giant lovable guardians, and sealing Kaguya, you flipped your universe back into my court, when it was on the verge of falling to Akuma, possibly permanently. So you earned a reward!"
"Oh..." was all a dazed Naruto managed to squeeze out.
After another giggle fit at Naruto's expression, Kami continued. "So this is how we get here. We like watching your life. You, presumably, want to keep living. So you're going to be our entertainment for the next few thousand years. You get to live out your life, as many times as you want, with a whole bunch of perks you can unlock, if you press yes. But who wants to watch the same movie over and over again? Things will certainly be getting changed up. So here's your reward: first time through, we change NOTHING. The only changes will be due to the effects of your actions. You get 1 guaranteed no interference run to make your life as perfect as you can."
"What happens if I press no?"
"I wipe your memories; we skip the boring run and just start pumping you through whatever scenarios we can make up."
"O-oh. Okay…So really no choice there."
"Nope, not really."
"Aren't you supposed to be the good guys…guy?"
She sighed. "It's all a matter of perspective. EVERYTHING is subjective. Technically by wiping your memories, your soul is freed, so a version of you goes to the afterlife, and we can create a new version to be our toy. Sometimes they come out weird, though. One version that we tried this with, back while you were still in the timeline, thought he was actually a Kami. That was awkward. So we're technically not harming you by doing this. That's really the key. Mortals like to make a big deal out of being 'selfless' and 'self-sacrificing.' Reality is more like 'don't be a douchebag.'" At this point they both laughed, the girl somehow putting Naruto at ease.
"Then what about fighting? Can a war be necessary, even good, if it's for the right reasons?" Naruto asked.
"Everything is a shade of grey, even pure black and white. But we are getting FAR off track. Telling you too much about things like this is against the rules. But you're kind of, well, dead and removed from the time stream. You have an answer?"
Naruto looked at the two options before him. He could just move on, go to heaven, and let Kami have its fun with a different him, but… He had a chance to do some real good, and to get to make the people who he cared for happier than they were in the real timeline. He had a chance to protect them from the evils in the world… 'Damn it all. I really don't know when to quit do I?'
Still he hesitated. Last time he had dedicated his life to creating peace and stabilizing the world. Though he had succeeded, he hadn't been there to see it, and it was a damn near run thing. He hesitated because he knew that if he was going to try again he would have to fix mistakes he had made in the past, that he would have to act decisively and work towards his goal from the very beginning. And he knew that some of those mistakes were from not killing people he should have when he had the chance. Sasuke's face floated through his mind.
He clenched his fists. 'But I can save Sasuke before he turns. Keep him from becoming the monster he was at the end...' he thought. 'Can I really do this? Because if I go back, knowing what I know, I can't hesitate to kill if I know someone will be a threat. I know I've always said I would protect my precious people, that I would die for them.' He snorted. 'Technically I have. But can I kill for them?' But as he finally crystallized his hesitation he already knew the answer.
Naruto's hand reached out before he could change his mind and slapped yes.
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A/N: Special thanks to my friend Conquest (she doesn't have an account, but that's a placeholder name) for Beta'ing this.
Edit (11/15/2014): Spelling and grammar fixes.
Edit (2/13/2014): Removed the philosophy bit, because it was unnecessary and poorly written, framed, phrased, etc.