Thank you for reading this piece. The author note is shifted to the end of the chapter. Naruto and its characters belongs to Shounen Jump.
-X-
-XXXXX-
The Endurance: Part I
-XXXXX-
-X-
It was supposed to be a perfect sealing process. According to what the God of Shinobi told them, it'd require both Naruto and Sasuke to finally seal Kaguya. That was the first step to bring an end to this endless loop of destruction and war. Step two would be to convince Sasuke to perform another hand seal which would release everyone from the Infinite Tsukiyomi. "And then, we'll finally bring peace to this world and end the cycle of hatred." Naruto thought back to when he was brought back to life; when he received his new power from the God of Shinobi.
Everything turned so bright when their hands touched Kaguya to seal her. The light was so bright that when they opened their eyes, they were thrown into that place, that dimension –the place only Naruto and Sasuke knew. The place they met whenever they bumped their fists.
"What happened?" Naruto pondered. "Are we-"
"No," Sasuke said, his voice low yet certain and alert. "We're not dead yet. Someone brought us here."
"Excellent observation." a familiar voice echoed behind them. Hagoromo Utsutsuki. His presence surprised both Naruto and Sasuke. How did he manage to come here in the first place? Just how much was he actually capable of to easily slip into different dimensions, including this little world only Naruto and Sasuke knew of.
"Gramps, what happened? You told us this was enough to seal her" Naruto said, feeling his blood boil, furious at so ludicrous a claim: that all they needed was their combined seal to finish her.
"I don't have much time left to tell you, so please listen." Hagoromo told firmly. "Kaguya seemed to have learned from her mistake in the past about the sealing process. She managed to counter the seal somehow. I have no explanation for that."
"However, it appears that she has dramatically weakened and if my suspicions are not incorrect, she would have some of her chakra pathways broken."
"Unfortunately at this point, it is not possible to ultimately seal her."
"Her chakra is unlimited. Yours is not. She will buy herself time until both of you suffer from chakra depletion." he said resolutely. And finally kill you both. The implication was unspoken, but it ringed so much louder than his statement.
Naruto gritted his teeth while giving Hagoromo a look. Under other circumstances, his expression might have been one of childish anger. Now it only seemed sincere.
"There is an alternative that I did not tell you earlier. This will be mankind's last resort."
"We'll do whatever it takes." Sasuke said, to Naruto's surprise. A small statement towards their bond and mutual understanding, a giant step towards ending the cycle of hate. A determined smile slowly crept onto Naruto's face.
-X-
-XXXXX-
The land was a mess when they touched down from the air above. "Naruto!? Sasuke-kun!?" Sakura said, concerned, while Kakashi observed.
"We're alright Sakura-chan, but we don't have much time." Naruto said.
"It's impossible to seal Kaguya." Sasuke interjected. Both Sakura and Kakashi looked up as Sasuke reached the ground.
"We have to change our plan." Naruto went on. "The Shinju. The Divine Tree. We have to go to its core where the Chakra Fruit is formed. It's there now and it only forms once in a millennium."
"I don't think there will be someone in the next millennium who will carry out our plan. We have to assume this is mankind's last resort."
Sakura observed Naruto carefully. There were times when he was dead serious about something. When he flashed out those determined eyes only she could recognize. This was definitely one of them. The weight of their burden, to know that mankind's fate is in their hands was indescribable. Yet, she felt at ease whenever she saw Naruto's determination.
Somehow, she felt it would be alright if Naruto was present in their journey, together with the rest of Team 7 -no matter how slim the chances of succeeding were.
"First, we need to get out of this dimension into our world. Kaguya is recovering and she will soon hunt us down with whatever she's got." Sasuke continued along with Naruto's string of thought.
Kakashi was already forming the hand seals to get them out of this dimension without being told. "Let's roll!" he said. Get them out first and talk about the plan on the way. It was all he could think of as soon as he heard the statements from Naruto and Sasuke. The fact that he believed so much in his students did surprise him a little. He proceeded without questions or doubts. That's how much he trusted them.
Sasuke carefully observed Kakashi's hand seals with his eyes as if recording each and every step.
Soon, the portal to jump into their world opened. Sasuke wasted no time in jumping over with his newly adapted technique. In a blink of an eye, he was already on the other side of the portal, their 'real' world, and started to make another such light-speed jump towards the core of The Divine Tree.
Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi quickly followed Sasuke's lead. Sakura made the jump first, followed by Naruto, and they continued forward. Kakashi, a few jumps behind them was about to follow as well. "Let's go, Kakashi-sensei." yelled Naruto from the other side. He briefly looked back and waited for his sensei, readying his Flying Thunder God kunai to transport the three of them with the speed of light.
To their horror, Naruto and Sakura saw the inter-dimensional pathway Kakashi created flickering. Kakashi fell on his knees. His eyes wide opened.
A black rod capable of corroding Obito's body into a pile of ash, now impaled Kakashi from behind, right through his heart.
-X-
-XXXXX-
It was all so sudden, but Naruto and Sakura could see what their teacher was trying to say. His words were too low and inaudible to be heard. They couldn't hear his voice from afar. He was so stubborn about never letting anyone see beneath his mask.
Yet, they didn't need Kakashi to remove his mask in order to understand what he was trying to say. They knew him inside out and were able to decipher every small gesture and every single unheard word from underneath his mask.
"Carry on the Will of Fire."
It was a simple message, yet it sounded so powerful.
The Will of Fire believed the entire village -or the entire world in their current context, to be like a large family and every shinobi with the Will of Fire inside them fought to protect that family, to protect their village and now, to protect their world, as previous generations had done before them.
Naruto tried to reach out to Kakashi while shouting his name. Every millisecond seemed like an eternity while he jumped back in the quickly disappearing path, trying his best to save Kakashi. He was already just a short distance away from the entrance of the inter-dimensional portal Kakashi had created and just needed a few jumps to reach him. So close, yet so far.
The entrance completely closed just before his hand could reach through. He dimly saw Kakashi slowly turn into ashes. Suddenly, all those memories he shared with him were flashing back. He urged himself to fight the tears and anger, but it seemed impossible. He just lost Neji a few hours ago, he just lost his comrades' parents a while back, he just lost Obito. And now Kakashi-sensei too?
He seemed dazed and lost for a while, disbelieving of what had just happened, until a pair of warm hands touched his back gently.
"Please be strong. We need you to be strong... ", Sakura whispered brokenly. A tone of sadness in her words.
The brief pause seemed like an eternity. "Kakashi-sensei left without tears, he left with his head held high and with the belief that we're going to make it. We should fight until the end…" she said resolutely although Naruto could hear how hard she was fighting to stem the sadness from flowing through her teary eyes. Somehow she always knew what to say to lift his spirits up. She'd always been the strongest of the four of them.
"Sometimes, in order to move forward, we have to leave something behind…" Sakura said gently while slowly embracing Naruto from behind to comfort him. Placing her forehead on his back. Her hands around his waist.
She couldn't hold the sobs which slowly began to escape her. "Am I the one who needs to be comforted?" was all she could think of. They'd went through so many ups and downs together. Their bond was strong; so much so that she knew exactly how he felt. And she dearly hoped it was the same for Naruto. Right now, all she wanted was for Naruto to be strong.
Though it may have sounded cold and harsh at the moment, yet, this was the very fact of being a shinobi and being a human.
To grow up as a mature individual, we need to leave our childhood behind. To reach towards happiness, we need to leave our sorrow behind. To move towards peace, we need to leave the hatred behind.
For every action, there is always an equal opposing reaction.
Naruto knew it won't be long until Kaguya regained enough power to open another gateway to enter this world. That will ultimately be the end of it. He stood up with newfound determination, wiping his small tears. "We will not let Kakashi-sensei's sacrifice go meaningless." Naruto said firmly. "Let's go."
With that, he turned back and held Sakura's hand to transfer his chakra. All while he stared at her deeply. She was briefly surprised, but said nothing nonetheless. She was aware that she was receiving a huge amount of chakra. Much larger than the one he gave her before. The diamond on her forehead slowly changed its color, showing the massive amounts of chakra she received. Her body began to glow, covered with a chakra cloak similar to Naruto's. There was no questioning what he was doing for her. All she needed to do now was to give her full support to both of her boys to salvage mankind.
She could see that Naruto was putting together a plan while he looked at her.
Naruto looked into the distance where Sasuke stood up on top of a high tree. He could see hurt on his face. It didn't take a genius to guess what had just happened to Kakashi-sensei. Though he was far away, somehow Naruto knew how Sasuke felt. Their eyes met and it seemed like they'd come to yet another agreement. With that, Sasuke turned and advanced towards The Divine Tree. Making another jump with his new technique.
Naruto threw his Flying Thunder God kunai with all his might into the distance. "Stay close to me, Sakura-chan." Naruto said while holding Sakura firmly, he performed a Hiraishin to catch up with Sasuke towards The Divine Tree, moving with Sakura at the speed of light.
There was something different in the way he said those words to her. She couldn't tell exactly, but it made her feel uneasy.
-X-
-XXXXX-
"We need to perform several hand seals on the Chakra Fruit." Naruto quickly explained to Sakura while they jumped. Upon landing, he picked up his kunai and swung another mighty throw towards the center of The Divine Tree. No time was wasted as he made another jump while holding Sakura firmly.
"Hagoromo said the hand seals are written in the chamber where the Chakra Fruit is formed. That's right at the center there." He pointed out after another landing while picking up his kunai, preparing to make yet another jump.
Sakura listened carefully. For some reason, hearing Naruto tell her all this roused her suspicions. What was it all about? Who will perform the hand seals?
"Kaguya did not literally eat the Chakra Fruit. She consumed the divine knowledge that comes with the fruit through a series of hand seals written in the chamber." Naruto pointed out. "With that, she managed to harness the ultimate power, ended the wars and brought peace to the world in her era."
"At the cost of sacrificing her human side and being consumed with the God-complex", Sakura thought while listening to Naruto's plan. "That marks the end of her rational thinking as a human, and marks the beginning of her descent into evil". Divine power. Sakura was so disgusted at how much it could change people. She witnessed how Sasuke could throw away all his reason when he was lusting for power through the cursed seal. She was relieved that even though Naruto was currently harnessing such great power, he was never consumed with such greed.
"Hagoromo told us that the hand seals need to be performed backwards. Doing it so will undo all that Kaguya has ever achieved with the Chakra Fruit." he said, somehow unnecessarily tightening his hold on Sakura while making another jump.
"It will effectively eradicate her existence and release everyone from the Infinite Tsukiyomi." he said firmly. Sakura listened with a determined heart. She would definitely do whatever it takes for her boys to do the hand seals, even if it meant sacrificing herself.
"At what cost, Naruto? If she's the beginning of all chakra, how could she perform the hand seal without having the ability of chakra manipulation techniques like us? Who drew the hand seals' instruction there in the first place? How will reversing the hand seals undo all these things?" Sakura asked once they managed to get another landing. "How trustworthy Hagoromo is?", her thoughts continued trailing, though she didn't ask it out loud -worried that it might waive Naruto's confidence.
Naruto never answered her questions. "None of us can afford to worry about what Hagoromo is saying right now." he said, as if he was reading Sakura's trail of thoughts. Sakura saw something else in his expression. A sort of tranquility, as if in his grief he had found some kind of peace.
He made a point. Right now, they literally had no choice but to believe in Hagoromo. They couldn't afford to think that Hagoromo was an evil being with a cruel sense of humor to play a sickening joke on them, with mankind's last resort. For what it was worth, they needed to believe.
"We're almost there!" Naruto said abruptly, quickly changing the subject. They were almost at the center of The Divine Tree. "A few more jumps", he thought while throwing his kunai forwards. Sakura decided not to probe further and to trust him instead.
Sasuke reached the base of the tree, followed by Naruto and Sakura a few moments later. They looked up to the tree, while Naruto gently released Sakura from his hold. The center of it blooming high onto the sky.
"This is it." Naruto said resolutely.
"All is prepared?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah." Naruto responded. Firm and determined.
Sakura frowned. What was that supposed to mean? Something about the way Naruto said it… She didn't really understand what they were talking about, but that shouldn't be her concern now. She was determined to give it her all, even if it meant death. "Much like Kakashi-sensei did", she thought decisively.
"Let's go Sakura-chan." Naruto said while preparing his Thunder God kunai.
Suddenly, he sensed danger and malice thanks to his Kyuubi form. He quickly pushed Sakura towards Sasuke while dodging a series of deadly projectiles aimed towards them.
"SHE'S HERE!", his yell was loud enough to make Sakura and Sasuke fully aware of their situation.
-X-
-XXXXX-
Kaguya Otsutsuki appeared behind them with that emotionless look and a determination to end her opponents' lives. She wasted no time and began to march forward.
Sasuke and Sakura were briefly shocked, though they knew Kaguya could come back at any time after she gathered enough power to open the inter-dimensional portal. Could this be the end of it? Her mere presence was enough to slightly rattle their resolve to carry forward with their plans.
"Teme! Sakura-chan! Stay focused!", Naruto commanded to fortify his comrades' resolve. Somehow, his words reached their very core and they steeled themselves.
Naruto gave Sasuke a look, as if he was trying to communicate something. As if he was giving instructions to him to proceed with whatever plans they had devised. With a grim smile, Sasuke nodded and quickly made a hand seal. A forbidden hand seal with the power of the rinnegan and the sharingan, capable of replicating whatever techniques the eyes had observed. He had observed the technique that Kakashi used to create the inter-dimensional portal earlier.
With that capability, a large inter-dimensional portal to another dimension where Kaguya reigned was opened behind her. She was distracted and turned slightly to see the pathway.
Sensing his opening, Naruto quickly threw a rasengan at Kaguya with his left hand while jumping forward. "This rasengan should be able to stun her!" he thought fiercely. The surprise attack landed a successful hit on her, enough so that she was thrown a short distance away towards the portal. The attack must have been quite a blow as Kaguya stood stunned, still absorbing the damage she took.
At the same time, Naruto quickly prepared a Bijuu bomb with his right hand. Crafting the jutsu and pouring a good amount of chakra into it for its subsequent detonation, he shot the stunned Kaguya with all his might, effectively sending her much father towards the portal with the momentum of his jutsu.
Upon releasing his Bijuu bomb, he spun himself and threw a Flying Thunder God kunai up above towards the center of The Divine Tree with all his might. A brief moment later, far away inside Kaguya's dimension, the bomb finally blew up into a massive explosion in the form of a dome.
"Great job, Naruto!" Sakura thought in her battle-ready stance. Having her byakugou activated, she was ready to charge any time despite her unease. She saw Naruto throw his kunai up above towards the core of The Divine Tree. She was readying herself, expecting Naruto to reach her soon and make a jump upwards, when suddenly…
"Sasuke?" she heard Naruto say. "Nice reckless jump up there."
"Learned from the master," Sasuke replied standing next to her.
"Goodbye Naruto…" Sasuke said with a tone of sadness.
For an instant, Sakura thought she had misheard. But then she looked up at Naruto's face and the faint apology written on it.
"What?! NOOO!" she shouted with all her might after realizing the heavy implication. She tried to reach for Naruto only to be held back by Sasuke.
She now understood what Sasuke and Naruto had been planning all along. Sasuke created the portal behind Kaguya for Naruto to push her back into her dimension. He meant to fight her there. He meant to contain her there. He fully knew the portal will not be open permanently. To fight Kaguya alone in another dimension was practically suicide. She knew he wasn't aiming to win. He was going to buy some time for her and Sasuke to perform the reverse hand seals on the Chakra Fruit.
On Sasuke's arm, she saw a Hiraishin seal slowly appear. "Naruto must have placed it on Sasuke's arm when we were in the other dimension." Likewise, on the back of her left arm, a seal of Hiraishin also slowly appeared. "He's planning to perform a reverse jump by placing the seal on my arm too! He's going to transport us to where he threw his kunai!" she thought frantically. Only then she was able to completely realize what Naruto had been up to a while ago.
"Stay close to me, Sakura-chan." She was told when they'd begun to jump a while back, not realizing that he planted a Hiraishin seal on the back of her arm.
"Naruto, what are you doing?!" she demanded, voice broken while trying to break free.
"…Sometimes… to move forward..." he said while smiling at her fondly, "…we have to leave something behind."
"Naruto, please… don't do this to me…" Sakura said. "Please… Not like this, not without you..." she didn't realize she was crying. She would never have thought she'd feel this way for Naruto. Yes, she was aware that there were lingering unexplained feelings that she had for him. She left them dormant and unexplored. Wishing them to go away with time, otherwise she risked ruining her friendship with him.
She'd managed to survive parting with Sasuke a few years back, it was bitter but it helped her to grow.
But now, she wasn't sure if she could ever survive parting with Naruto. As the old saying went, the moment when you're about to lose the person you love the most in life, you'll realize that he is the one.
She tried to break free to reach him. To tell him how she wanted his dream to come true. To tell him that they should go forward together.
She saw him activating the Hiraishin hand seals to reverse jump both herself and Sasuke up, towards the center of The Divine Tree where the kunai had almost reached its mark. She saw each and every hand seal that he made through the jewels of her tears, forming perfect orbs on the edge of her eyes. It felt like eternity. It felt like time was slowly stopping as she looked at him pleadingly.
Naruto looked at Sakura one last time, then activated the last hand seal.
"Sa—" he began, but swallowed.
"Sayounara, Sakura-chan…"
"Narutoooo!"
With that, Sakura and Sasuke were moved up to the center of The Divine Tree.
Resolutely, Naruto turned and jumped into the inter-dimensional portal, where Kaguya was trying to get up after the Bijuu bomb exploded.
There is a beauty to this, he thought as the inter-dimensional portal behind him closed. Leaving him in this unknown world to fight Kaguya all alone, all the while he hoped he could buy enough time for Sakura and Sasuke to proceed with their parts in their last ditch effort to salvage mankind's fate.
[To be continued]
-XXXXX-
-X-
Author's Note:
This fan fiction took place in the event right after Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura collaborate to 'seal' Kaguya. It took the premise on 'what-if' the sealing of Kaguya was imperfect? What would it cost to Team 7 and the rest of the world?
This is my first ever attempt to write a fan fiction, so please be gentle :) I write this fiction within about 2+ hours to participate in H&E anniversary. English is not my native language, so, sorry if it contains so many grammar mistakes.
This story is a tribute to the series I read over a decade, which sadly ended up so disappointingly. I loved the concept of the story before the last few chapters, for whatever it's worth. A boy who never gives up, an arrogant rival who is trying to find an answer and a cheerful girl who supports both of them while growing up. This is my contribution to NS fans. You guys rocks! Our journey in canon universe might have ended, but fanfiction and fanon will continue. Let's enjoy in a positive way!
Anyways constructive feedback is appreciated. Thank you for investing your time reading my humble attempt! This will be a short multi chapters. I'm also available on tumblr at namaenasuyou dot tumblr dot com
Special thanks to ahmadaziz for reviewing and correcting grammatical errors in this fiction.
