Naruto, of all people, figured it out. Those things had descended from who-knows-where not to cause mindless chaos, but to kill people and take over their bodies. And it wasn't just people either, it was animals, too, like Akamaru, and bugs, and plants, and maybe even those tiny bacteria things. It was anything that lived.

They could not take over the bodies of beings with spirits of other beings sealed inside, like Naruto with the Ninetailed Fox. That was why he had been captured, and not killed like those in the siege of the Hidden Leaf Village. That siege was something that he'd learned about second-hand from his rescuers, since he'd been captured before then, but after Team 8 had perished.

Naruto couldn't remember anything about his capture, he supposed he'd been unconscious the entire time. When he came to, however, and his rescuers explained the situation, he came to understand all of this and much more.

Those that were captured with him also had spirits of other beings sealed inside them, thus making them immune, though it was not necessarily a Tailed Beast. He'd learned from Hanabi, however, who'd told him about the siege of the Leaf, that those with a Kekkei Genkai would automatically sacrifice their bloodline trait to try and repel the things. Sometimes it succeeded, and when it did, it allowed the person to get a second chance at life, just without their Kekkei Genkai.

You know, until the things returned to kill them, for good this time. Those without any Kekkei Genkai, like Sakura, Lee, Tenten, or civilians, were completely vulnerable, and would die permanently on the first try.

He also understood that the Hyuuga Kekkei Genkai with the Gentle Fist art and the Byakugan were spectacularly good at repelling the beings, whether it be with attack or when the beings tried to take over their bodies.

That was another thing. He'd come to understand from Hanabi that only certain types of Ninjutsu were effective at all, the rest could do no damage. He learned from Sakura that Taijutsu was completely hopeless, and in fact put you at a risk of being killed. He also learned that Sai had found out first hand from watching Tenten that weaponry was also useless. Genjutsu, however, could temporarily stun these things... this he learned from a dying Sasuke.

He also figured out that it was hopeless. The things had targeted the Hidden Leaf first, but were now quickly descending upon the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Rain villages. Everyone was getting killed and having all of their bodies being taken over, and the immune ones like Naruto were committing suicide among the chaos to reunite with their dead loved ones.

Naruto desperately wanted to hold onto hope, but he also figured out that he was utterly alone.

Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino were the first to notice what was going on, and the first to perish.

Hanabi, the one saved by a place in the sun, perished after waking Naruto and the other captured.

Tenten perished just after returning from a mission, and Sai was the only one to survive. Even then, he perished after trying to protect Sakura, who was helping Naruto and the others escape to the Hidden Sand.

Lee perished in battle, he was doomed from the start.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji perished as well, their Ninjutsu were useless on the beings.

Sasuke could only last so long in the chaos, his Sharingan could only protect him for so long.

Naruto and the others, including Sakura, hadn't expected to find salvation when they escaped to the Hidden Sand. But, they had expected to find something. Instead, they had found the beginnings of the carnage that had already occurred at the Hidden Leaf, and it was here that Naruto figured out something else.

Currently, Naruto gazed around at his surroundings in the desert outside the Hidden Sand. There were various corpses were around him, the bodies of the other immune. The beings that were sealed inside were now rampaging, stomping across their Earth, disturbing and even repelling some of the things. As the ones who had hesitated saw this, they, too, committed suicide to allow the beings sealed inside them to roam free and try to get rid of the things.

There was a name for such suicide, right? Seppuku? Is that what it was called? There were 47 of them, too, how strange.

Naruto knew that if he did the same as the others with beings sealed inside him that it would all be over. The Ninetailes would wreak havoc, but the things might have a chance of leaving.

Under no circumstances, however, would normal Naruto have even considered doing such a thing. There was always supposed to be hope, always supposed to be a way to fix everything without having to take a 1 in 1000 chance of succeeding with such a killing spree. He wanted to help people, and not have to kill them to do so, though he would if necessary.

Those were the key words: he would if necessary.

This was what he figured out: it was necessary.

Everyone he loved was now taken over by the things, which were going to destroy the world as they knew it and rebuild it from the ground up.

He would join his friends in the afterlife, because there was no other logical way.

Number 46 plopped down on the ground, dead, and Naruto, as Number 47, joined his fellow vessel in death.

This numbering, was, of course, excluding Sakura.

Oh yeah, why was she still alive, anyway? She was no more immune than Lee or Tenten, shouldn't she be dead, too?

Well, that was something that he hadn't figured out.

Sorry, Sakura, believe it...