In the Light of Tomorrow
Prologue: Shattered Skies
Loneliness. That was the first thing he felt as he stood in the crater as blacks pecks drifted from the sky. He brushed over the intricate designs of black ink scribbled on the ground. The ink was still hot, burning from the chakra passing through it; the seal, emanating with raw power - a testament to those trapped within. He closed his eyes.
"This world. Is. Mine!" The Juubei unleashed all of the energy it had been gathering, sending wave upon wave of pure energy as a sphere of white expanded across the battlefield. He could see his allies, engulfed by the Juubei's attack, burning, disintegrating, dying as the white light swallowed their shadowy silhouettes. He couldn't move. He couldn't move at all. He could only stand there and watch as the light quickly approached him, threatening to take him too.
He thought he was going to die. But he didn't.
A hand grabbed the back of his coat, and pulled him into the light, but he was not blinded by white. Instead, he met face to face with only darkness.
Naruto shook his head. No, he should have died. He should have died alongside his friends, not live. Why him? Why was it always him? Why did everyone have to die, while he lived on?
In an instant, the world of darkness faded, and Naruto landed on his feet, the soles burning from the newly scorched earth; even the rocks were red from the intense heat. He looked behind him and realized how he had managed to escape. There stood his father, staring at Madara, triple-pronged kunai in his hand.
His father had pulled them both into the dimensional void - separate from the world. When they emerged, the attack had ended, and the now desolate battlefield engulfed in hellfire was all that was left of the Land of Fire.
Naruto turned his eyes towards Madara, and the two locked glances. And for a moment, Naruto saw something that he had never expected. Fatigue. He supposed even gods grew tired.
Naruto sat down on the ground and concentrated, tapping into his sage powers and feeling the nature around him, or at least, what was left of it. Madara's attack had all but shattered the world, and Naruto could feel the planet slowly dying. What used to engulf his entire being in the sage chakra now only grazed his skin in small wisps of green.
Realizing he had no other choice, Naruto opened the scroll his father had passed him. The Yondaime couldn't even explain himself before his seal activated, trapping both himself, Madara, and the Juubei in the heart of the earth.
"You'd better hurry up. That seal won't last forever." Kurama's deep voice rumbled through Naruto's mind. The fox had used much of its chakra during the war, and even a demon with nigh limitless power paled in comparison to their foe. Not even a demon could defeat a god.
"You're awake?"
"I am now. You haven't used my power for an hour now, and I've recovered enough to speak once more."
"...Then you know what happened?" Naruto looked at the surrounding desolation, and in turn, Kyuubi saw it as well.
"I do."
For the first time in a long while, a tear rolled down Naruto's cheek, wetting the blackened ground.
"Then tell me, what do I do? There's nobody left. There's nothing left. It's just us now." Naruto looked at the scroll, and recognized it as a map - a map of Uzushiogakure. More specifically, its underground catacombs. "And all I have is a map of a dead city. Dad didn't even tell me what to do with this."
"Then perhaps you should heed his wisdom, and go."
"What's the point? Not even together, could we beat Madara… And now, with everyone gone, how do we beat him by ourselves? I think it's over for us, Kurama. For us, and for the world."
"A coward, and a fool."
"What?"
"Right now, you are nothing but a coward and a fool. Where did all your 'hope' and 'promise' go? What happened to your 'ninja way?' Whatever happened to the Uzumaki Naruto that I respected?"
"He died! Or at least he should have alongside every one of his friends! Madara killed them all, and he'll kill us too. It's only a matter of time before the seal breaks, and this world is finished once and for all. Just face it, Kurama; we're doomed to die."
"Your father didn't seem to think so. Why else would he pass on a scroll before sealing himself and his enemy to buy you time? Stop whining over your dead friends, and maybe you'll find some way to avenge them, because right now, you're nothing more than a stupid little coward waiting in line to be slaughtered." Kurama broke the connection as Naruto stared at the paper, stunned at what the fox had just said. In his heart, he knew the fox was right. The moment the world gave up hope, Madara would win, but his father hadn't given up. No, the scroll that he grasped in his hands was his father's hope, and with it, the hope of the world.
His friends were dead. His family was dead. His world was dead, but until he was dead, there was still a war to be fought.
"...Kurama. How long until the seal breaks?" Naruto stood up, wiping off ash and soot from his robes and wiping tears from his eyes..
"I'd say you have three days."
"Hm." He turned, his back facing the direction of the setting sun. "Uzushiogakure. I'll get us there in two."
OoOoO
"Kamina-sensei, what are you doing?"
"There's no point in fighting anymore. The war is over, and we've lost. They'll hunt us down until the Uzumaki's are no more."
"That's not true! We can all run away! We can hide!"
"Then go, child. The rest of us have already agreed to seal ourselves away so that the day the Uzumaki need our power, we will be there to answer."
Down underneath the ruins of Uzushiogakure, a winding stairway, cracked and broken, led to the catacombs of the city. Within this maze lay the secret Minato wanted him to find. Using a basic fire jutsu, Naruto lit a torch and descended into the heart of this labyrinth - a temple.
The room was large and from what Naruto could see, a single stone slab rose above all else: an altar. Blank columns ascended to the ceiling, keeping the earth from collapsing on the structures below. There was nothing in this temple. Only a single altar in which a small seal was inscribed along with faded text underneath.
"Change the fate's...design. Save what has been lost… Bring back what once...was mine." Naruto brushed his hands over the faded text, the ink having been worn away over decades. He felt a strange tingle in the back of his head as he read those words. Perhaps there was a way to 'save what has been lost.'
Naruto looked at the array, noting the various important parts of the seal - he had studied enough to identify them.
"It looks like an activation seal. One that requires chakra to activate." Naruto placed his palm against the seal, and pushed chakra through to the ink. The seal burned hot, and glowed as Naruto jerked his hand away in pain, the seal burning his skin.
"Blood." Right. Almost all of the clans kept their secrets by tying their seals with their blood. Only those with the correct heritage could uncover these mysteries, these truths.
Naruto took a kunai from his pocket and slashed his hand, ignoring the pain. He had felt pain much greater than any scratch to the flesh. However, his hand was still tender from the burn, and while Kurama's healing greatly accelerated the wound, the burn still left his hand and nerves raw and sensitive. The cut only made it worse. Nevertheless, blood trickled down his hands and Naruto placed his hand once more onto the altar, pushing chakra through the ink.
This time, the seal let out a cool and soothing sensation as his blood was absorbed by the ink. The seal glowed a bright blue, outshining the torch. The pattern of blue began to expand, around the surface of the altar, and then down its sides. Kanji and symbols began to appear as the blue chakra infused with the ground, unmasking the entire seal from the formerly blank granite, and basking the room in a warm glow of blue.
"Whoa." The entire room was the sealing array. The columns, to the ceiling, to the walls, to the floor. Not a single bit of the room was not covered in ink.
Naruto could feel wave upon wave of chakra emanating from the array, the constant release of energy becoming a soft hum in the back of his head. He felt at ease, sitting in the room saturated with chakra. He lay down on the altar and closed his eyes, letting the chakra cascade over him like a gentle wave in a pool. The back and forth ebb and flow gently rocked the blonde to sleep.
He heard a gentle voice in the back of his head.
"Give to us what you cherish most, and in turn, we shall turn back the clock. Back to whence you began."
He could feel his chakra drain out of him, slowly exiting his body and joining with the mix of chakra in the room. The seal drained every last bit of chakra Naruto had in his body, as the blonde lay motionless - lifeless.
"Now sleep restless warrior. Sleep. May you see the light of tomorrow."
OoOoO
How's it going everyone? TeflonSG here with a new Naruto FF for you all. I hope you've enjoyed it so far. I love time travel AUs and I decided to try one out for myself. Let me know what you think.
Also, kudos to those of you who caught a little reference to something. It's okay if you didn't. Don't get too tangled up trying to look for it.