Disclaimer: All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto and his manga, Naruto. I do not own any of the characters, plot line, or anything else that comes from Naruto (I can only dream). This goes for all of the chapters in this story (basically the whole story), so I don't have to write a disclaimer at the top of every chapter.
Warnings: Contains spoilers if you are not updated with the latest Naruto manga chapters. Also, this is an AU fanfiction so some things may not line up with the Naruto Shippuden canon. Some characters may be a little OOC, so if you like the regular Naruto characters, then too bad :)
"Bold" means Kyuubi talking
"Regular" means normal talking
Chapter One
It was all over. Naruto stood over the broken form of Obito. The man had been forced to his limits by the blonde's near perfect control over the Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto had mastered Kyuubi mode and the many skills that came with it with the help from the Hachibi's jinchuriki, Killer Bee. Using this power combined with his rage, Naruto had defeated Obito single-handedly. But, the defeat had come with a great cost. Konoha had been completely annihilated during Obito's assault on the village. Although Konoha had the shinobi alliance, they were still no match for the new Six Paths that Obito had created from deceased jinchuriki, Kabuto's many reincarnations (including Madara Uchiha), and the Juubi. In the end, Obito's minions, the combined force of the reincarnations, and the Juubi had been defeated (since it's summoners were defeated), but there was no one left to celebrate.
Naruto choked up, thinking about all the friends he lost, but cast those thoughts aside to focus on more important matters at hand. Before all chaos had erupted, Naruto had been elected to become Hokage. He had been so excited to finally achieve his greatest goal, but once the war started, there was no stop to it. Everyone was gone. Jiraiya... killed by his rogue student, Tsunade... brought down by one of the Six Paths, Sakura... killed by Sasuke after he had come to attack the village as well, and Sasuke... Naruto almost cried as he thought about his 'brother'.
Sasuke had gone to Konoha, fully intent on destroying it, but was surprised to see that it had already been destroyed. When he had seen that he couldn't get revenge on the village for shunning his brother, the deceased SS-class shinobi named Itachi, Sasuke had gone into a fit. Naruto tried to stop him, but only managed to rouse Sasuke up even more. They had fought for a while, neither gaining an upper-hand, until a stray Chidori caught Naruto in the chest... again. Naruto had fallen unconscious, but he looked dead the the emo and the fangirl. When Sakura had seen what had happened to Naruto, she had gone completely insane, forgetting all the shinobi guidelines. Blinded by rage, she had charged at Sasuke, apparently forgetting that he was ten times stronger than her and used to be her crush, but Sasuke just jumped aside from the kunoichi's gusty punch. He eyed the pinkie apprehensively and charged a Chidori, and it's buzzing noise filled the air. Before Sakura could blink and before Sasuke could regret what he was about to do, Sasuke lept out and plunged the chidori right into Sakura's heart, killing her instantly.
As these events concured, Naruto was stuck in his subcouncious and was being scolded by the Kyuubi.
*Naruto's Mind-scape*
"Kit, do you realize what you have done? You almost got killed by the emo kid- again! I can't believe you! Did you not learn anything on your two year, no almost three year, trip with that pervert? HUH? What do you have to say for yourself!"
"Calm down Kyuubi, it's okay. I don't think I'm dead yet, right? And I have you to heal me if I really do get injured."
"What if I don't want to heal you? Have you ever thought of that? I could just let you die!"
"..."
"You're such a dobe, I don't even understand why I'm aiding you!"
"I have complete control over you! Plus, if I die, then you die too!"
"... eh..."
"You got that right Kyuubi! Now, hurry up and heal me before both of us die!"
Grumbling something about pesky blonde boys, the Kyuubi channeled chakra into Naruto's system, making Naruto gasp from the sudden rush.
"Not so fast baka!"
"Well, well, seems like our poor Naruto can't withstand the pain of being saved huh? Maybe I should just die with you... it'll make my life so much easier."
"Baka! You won't even have a life if you die! What are you talking about?"
"... Gaki."
Once the chakra healing was complete, Naruto left his subconscious with a final, "Arigatou... Kyuubi."
*Konoha*
Once Sasuke killed Sakura, he regretted it immediately. Thoughts of how the pinkie had so bravely, and recklessly, charged at him, all for the dobe, the dead last of his class, ran through his mind. He almost cried out loud as he thought of the blonde shinobi, the hole in his chest, and the mass of blood pouring out of the young man. Not being able to handle the pain anymore, Sasuke took out a kunai, took one final look around his original hometown, and plunged the kunai into his heart. He died immediately, a pitiful death for such a strong shinobi. Just as Sasuke committed suicide, he did not notice a certain young blonde, stirring into conscious after being scolded in his own mind-scape.
Naruto awoke and took in his surroundings. Blurry battles were still going on, mounds of earth were being uplifted and the landscaping changed drastically before his very eyes. One by one, he saw his comrades go down in fight, and knew they would be acknowledged on the memorial stone... if it was still going to be there by the time the war ended. Since he was looking up, he did not see the dark haired Uchiha in front of him, lying on his side with a kunai protruding from his heart. Although, once he did look down, he took in the defeated figure of his first best friend, Sasuke Uchiha.
When Naruto first saw the Uchiha, he could barely comprehend what happened. Why was Sasuke lying on the ground? But, once he took a closer look, he almost shouted out loud, an action that would certainly rouse a fight he was in no conditions to get into. After staring in shock at the wounded figure, Naruto figured that it must've been an illusion; something to awaken the Kyuubi hibernating inside of him. His hopeful thoughts turned into a dream as he put together all the facts about the Uchiha. It was probably the doing of Itachi, being controlled by Kabuto. Naruto tried all the genjustsu dispelling techniques that Jiraiya had taught him, but none worked. He figured that if Itachi was the one who had made the genjutsu, it would certainly be hard for a D-rank genjutsu user to be able to dispel it. But, deep inside his heart, Naruto knew that his brother, his first best friend, was gone.
