Perhaps forever

Prologue

They were dying, all of them. No-that was wrong, they were already dead. The streets, I'd once run through as a child, were now covered in debris, fire, blood and holes. My eyes looked to my left, to the man several feet from me. Blue eyes were staring out at me; their usual warm glow was gone; they were only cold and lifeless now. My best friend, rival, 'brother', was dead. To land the final blow he'd given up his life. Such a waste of a powerful ninja, an adjective that I'd never complimented him out of childish spite. Further away, but too close, was the body of the man that had killed him. The man's head was down, blood pooling outward. There was no relief, happiness, celebration; there was just the lack of adrenaline, an empty feeling. Tobi may have destroyed all of Kohona, but he had died as well. Everyone had died, and those that hadn't would. I had too many internal injuries to survive without some aid. No one was left though. Sakura, she had died and Kakashi, he too. There was no one left but me. There was no sadness, no grief, for soon I would be gone as well. Somewhere, in growing tired of hearing fire crackle and staring at pooling blood, I found the energy to rise or at least move slightly closer to my once best friend.

"Naruto," I said, leaning heavily on one arm, dragging myself closer to the still form and open eyes. I reached out my hand, resting it on his forehead. "Thank you," I told him sincerely, "for bringing me back that is," –and keeping from the path of insanity. I dragged my hand down, over his eyelashes forcing them to close. "You're not such a dope after all."

The wound in my chest throbbed and I crashed to the ground. And then I felt it and I wished I hadn't.

Demonic chakra filled the air around us and it was emanating from him, from Naruto. I straightened myself back up, holding myself up by one arm.

Then I heard it. A scream of agony came from the mouth of a dead man. Blue eyes opened, wide and in terror, unseeing due to pain. The body curled immediately, hands clutching his lower abdomen.

"Naruto!"

The head moved, but not because he heard me. His hands ripped up his orange jacket. The inner seal was moving and glowing. Blood was starting to leak from the outer seal edges. No doubt it was causing him extreme amounts of pain. The seal looked to be breaking.

"Naruto," I reached out and touched his arm, "What is—"

My voice stopped as his head turned to look up at me. Eyes were wide, fully dilated, and then they weren't, then they were again. "The seal, he's trying to get out!" Naruto coughed blood, "He doesn't want to die."

More blood seemed to come from the stabilizing seals. "What can I do?" I had at least some amount of seal training.

The blond shook his head, "I don't think—" His mouth clicked shut as he fought another bout of pain. "I need you to put another seal around the others. Do you have any chakra left?"

"No," I answered immediately, but then I closed my eyes, concentrating. There was some, just a tad. But I was past chakra exhaustion; it would finish me off for good. "Just a little," I corrected.

"Use blood as an amplifier then."

I gave a nod. I pushed myself to a sitting position and my hand went to my chest. Then I began writing with the liquid on his stomach and on the ground surrounding us. Wobbling I got to my feet, and was able to shove Tobi's body away to continue to write on the ground. It barely showed up, but it would work. It had to. The beast would not escape fate. If we were going to die, so would it.

Finally done I sat in front of Naruto and concentrated as he began to wreath in pain. I formed a ram, gathering what was left of my chakra and then clapped, immediately putting my hands to the center of the seal.

Naruto screamed.

Blue light surrounded us. Something felt wrong and the laughing of a dark entity was the last thing I felt before the world went black. Pain arched through my body as I collapsed on the ground.

And that was the end.

Or so I thought…

~Z.z~

"Aren't you precious," a voice cooed to me and I felt hands touch my face.

I awoke. Only to stare at dope, with a dope grin on his face. I raised my hand and tried to whack him upside the head. There came the problem. My hand would not move, at least not how far I wanted it to. It was too short and my hand too small.

Dope leaned down, still smiling. "You awake sleepy head?" He then stuck one finger upon my chest and I could feel its pressure and the fact that the pressure filled my entire chest immediately made me realize I had a bigger problem than just how small my arms were.

"Minato," a voice scolded from somewhere beyond me and my view of a light blue ceiling and floating plastic shuriken, "stop pestering him."

Minato… that was the name of the fourth wasn't it? Didn't Naruto say he was the son of the fourth?

The man's lips twitched to the side, "I'm not pestering him Kushina; he was already awake."

A red headed woman entered my view. "Awww, look at those pretty blue eyes." Long hands reached toward me, they were like giants. I rose and was soon held to her chest. "You're a spitting image of your father." She leaned and kissed my forehead, "My little Naruto."

Oh… no…

Pre-warning before continuing to read: this story will contain humorous elements that may be slightly uncharacteristic or exaggerated. Not all chapters will be funny though and not all will be serious. Some chapters may be plot driven, others not. I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading. May God bless you,

Z.z