Disclaimer: I, obviously, do not own Naruto, or any of the other things that appear in this story, other than the story idea itself. If I owned Naruto, I would hardly need to write fan-fiction for it, now would I?

That being said, now I should also say I haven't abandoned my other fics... I just need a break from sci-fi for a bit (the fact that I'm up to four re-writes of the next chapter of Here we go has absolutely nothing to do with it ^^; ) and I got bit by plot bunnies...

So that said, this fic is M, mostly for Hidan and the occasional decapitation. Oh, and language.

This is a fiction that begins at the Valley of the End (I still am laughing at the irony of that), and features a very different world and events afterwards.

Note that this has Bloodlines!Naruto, helpful(well, okay, grudgingly respectful)!Kuubi, powerful(admittedly he'll still have to work for it) but not godlike!Naruto, smart...well, smarter!Naruto, de-curse-seal'ed!Sasuke, Less-of-a-total-revenge-obsessed-moron!Sasuke, less-supriority-complex!Sasuke, general ownage of Orochimaru, Kabuto, and the Akatsuki in general, ROOT smashing, and some literal counsel bashing on Tsunade's part (Hint hint: that thing about killing an entire fisking bloodline clan, and a founding one to boot? Yeeeaaaahhhh... she's not to happy about that.)

Also contains Sasuke that gets his Teme head out of his emo-rage miasma thing long enough to notice that a certain pinkette has more than just a crush, and a shy Hyuga coming out of her shell (although the Dobe will still be unable to figure it out until several days later, naturally) and the general ruination of Tobi/Madara/the guy with the ego and the mask's carefully-laid plans by the twin fickle B****es of chance and luck, (praise be to the servants of Murphy, he who FUBAR's your plans into SNAFU,) and an eventual sequel involving a carrot-topped strawberry.

BUT FIRST,

a meeting between two beings that, for lack of a better term, could be called gods.

It was not a place, per sey, in that it did not, strictly speaking, exist, since it was outside existence. Nonetheless, it was currently the site (not that it had anywhere for anything to be, since it was not a place to begin with) of a meeting between two entities, one that had always been divine since it had formed, and, thus, had no gender, or really anything remotely human about it (other than those picked up from the surprising numbers of human and human-like entities that had met It over the inconceivable amount of time It had existed,) and one that had divinity thrust upon him by fate, chance, and his own will.

"You know why I'm here." He said to It, a statement, not a question.

[Yes.] It replied, not so much heard as felt. [You will alter the pattern so it does not shatter again. It is not My domain. I merely tend the balance.]

He looked at It. "So. You had to let that happen, so I could exist. Because you can't touch what would have prevented it. I, however, can see the pattern of the broken fragment more clearly, because I used to be part of it, but You weren't, so even though You have the power to prevent it, You can't see the forest for the leaves, much less the trees, to apply it correctly, right?"

[Correct. While My power is vastly beyond Your own, You can be a a senbon, where I am the Mugen uzumaki* that you were so proud of. You only have one chance, you know. And you can't change-]

It was not very often someone or something interrupted the being that was, for all intents and purposes, God.

"Oh, don't worry your multidimensional head about me breaking all of Creation by altering the pattern too much" a wide, beaming grin spread across His face "after all, I'm not doing anything that isn't there already, even if my one of my changes is a little far removed, the blood is there. It's entirely possible that he could have awakened it on his own, if he'd had the time or knowledge." He grinned even wider, cerulean eyes sparkling with mirth "My only regret is that I'll never get to see the look on that smug fuzzball's big, fat face when he taps into those powers instead of the stupid fox's. That alone would more than make up for all the... well." a dark look flashed across His features. "I'm not going to last much longer. I'm going to go now, before I rethink my plan."

[Very well, little one. A very wise and benevolent entity that convinced me to take a more active role in things had a saying for this kind of thing.] It tilted the head of the avatar It used to communicate with the strange spark in the not-place, and the impression of a wistful smile was somehow felt.

[Allons-y!]

The two vanished from the not-place in a flash of color, sound, and Creation, and a new universe was born from the fragments of the old. This one, however, would not shatter as the old one had, despite a near-identical pattern to its predecessor.

Thus fell the tiny pebble that would change the fate of Naruto Namakaze-Uzumaki, Jinjuriki, Sage, Ninja, and, however briefly, Divine being, forever.

*lit, 'Infinite maelstrom'