Authors note: I hope you all didn't think that I gave up on my story...Well at least a few you did because I got several worried PM.
I'm back with a new post and I finally got through one of the harder parts of the story for me to write.
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Reviews questions:
Mr. The Foolish
2011-08-12 . chapter 36
I'm pleasantly surprised that you responded to my review.
How exactly am I supposed to get better at writing if I don't read my reviews? LoL.
I get your logic for the whole "Sasuke being a sage" idea, though I would say that it isn't necessary to be on active duty to be a sage, though it's really not important.
Hints why he told Naruto that he was sorry and that he was being foolish when he could have been there for him.
The thing that bothers me about your use of the word soulless is that I find it to be misused.
I understand the concept of connotation, so the word soulless means something different for you and I.
For me, soulless is for cruelty, insensitivity, or for "mindless drone" like qualities.
With this in mind, I find the word to be misused, which I know is different from what I said in my previous review. I was caught up in the moment I guess.
Well, maybe my previous was half-correct on the subject of what bothered me, as I thought it to be repetitive misuse.
The definition I was using was like someone who had their soul stolen from them, not a heartless killer.
You obviously don't need to change your writing if you don't feel the need to, I'm just clarifying and presenting a different perspective on writing.
I have no stories published myself, but I like to think that I have a decent grasp of such things, but I might be wrong.
You actually do have a pretty good grasp on what you are talking about and you have excellent grammar in your reviews.
Many might think we are splitting hairs here, but it is about becoming a better writer for me.
Though some people think the Kyuubi/Sakura scene last chapter was too long, I find it to be fitting.
After all, Kyuubi has all the time in the world, and the length of it really emphasizes what being eternal really means.
If the part was so long that people lost interest in the passage, then good! I think that's the proper effect of that part.
Very good that is exactly what that scene was supposed to do.
I didn't say this last time, but, wonderful story you have here.
Amazing and unique plot, great characters and development, and much more. I was so happy to see this pop up. Thanks for writing.
Thank you for the complements.
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Last Chapter:
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Sakura shook her head back and forth as her own tears broke the rims of her eyes and rolled down her face unable to find the words to tell him.
Matsuri slowly released her embrace on Gaara and wiped the tears out of her eyes on her sleeve as she sobbed.
"I-I'm sorry Gaara-" She started to say before Gaara turned to her and embraced her tightly.
They were both covered in dust and filth except for the places where tears had streamed down their faces as they clung to each other.
"Even if you cannot teach me how to make other's rain…Please… don't stop your jutsu on me now Matsuri…"
He begged her as he rested his face on the top of her sandy light brown hair with his eyes closed.
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Sakura whispered softly to herself. "Actually Gaara there is no jutsu to make other people feel love…Wait…
Actually there is, but only Naruto is foolish enough to use it…"
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"Matsuri…please let me rain… just a little longer…I-I just do not wish to let you got just yet…"
Gaara pleaded to her as his rain fell in droplets into her hair as she cried into his chest.
In the midst of a battle that shook the very earth they held each other tightly unable to find the words to tell one another how they truly felt.
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Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Tale of Two Brothers, Part One
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Sakura stood teary eyed on the shallow desert floor near the Great Cliff's stone face that towered above them.
Out to the east the shallow desert sands extended for two miles before being snuffed out by the guardian trees of the lush forest that marked the border of the Land of Fire.
The great guardian trees with their thick trunks and broad leafy branches held the ever growing sands of the desert at bay.
Sakura with tears in her eyes watched Gaara lovingly hold his student Matsuri in his arms.
They were trying to understand just what love was, but Gaara only knew it, whatever it was, had taken hold of him and he was powerless to stop it.
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Gaara squeezed her tightly though she cried and he rained as another great blast emitted from Kyuubi in her fight with the Death god for the darker half of her soul.
The Nine Tailed Fox's inhuman roar sent out a shockwave that rained sand and even molten rock over the high cliffs that separated the vast desert from the Land of Fire.
A large glowing red boulder the size of a house landed a few yards away from the Kazekage.
It exploded violently into shards of molten glass threatening to tear anything in its path into cinders.
Gaara never noticed as his mother Karura spirit came to his aid though she was also shielding Naruto and Sasuke from the battle almost fifty miles away at the same time.
The molten glass and explosive lava shards rained into the thin sand shield that quickly formed around him and Matsuri.
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Sakura covered her face as she was thrown from her feet from the blast.
The molten lava hissed and melted small parts of the sand shield before falling into smoldering dark gray stone near Gaara and Matsuri.
Sakura remained unharmed as she struggled to a sitting position and gazed around at the searing lava spots all round her.
She slowly rose, straining against her heavy limbs all the way to right herself on her feet as the ground smoked around her.
She fought her labored breath for many moments before taking a few ragged steps forward.
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"Gaara…Matsuri…We can't stay here! It is too dangerous even this far away!" She yelled through the howling back lash of the wind screaming over the Great Cliffs.
Gaara slowly unfolded his arms from around Matsuri after hearing Sakura's voice, but his rain still fell and she refused to let go and kept her face pressed tightly against his chest.
He reached down slowly and grabbed a hold of her hand. He forcibly pulled her out of her embrace and said.
"Sakura is right. We cannot stay here."
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"Gaara, you can't possibly be thinking of going to the stone cliffs beyond the Great Fissure! Look how dangerous it is even on this side of the Great cliffs. It's suicide!"
Matsuri yelled to him in a tearful, caring and pleading voice.
Gaara gave her a pained look and told her. "That is right Matsuri…And the man I respect most is out there in it.
If there is even the slightest chance of helping him or my homeland I will be there."
"But…But Gaara,…I'm scared." She said softly as she looked down while trembling.
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"I know you are and I would go even without you, but please…come with me." He asked her softly.
She bit her lips together and wore a pained look as she thought for a long moment.
She raised her head and looked at Gaara with teary eyes before saying.
"Yes…I'll go with you…If Sakura is right then there is no were to hide anyway." She squeezed his hand tightly as gave him a pained smile.
Gaara looked down the cliffs face and moved forward never releasing Matsuri's hand.
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It didn't take them long to make it to the great fissure that led into the desert.
The way was blocked as the tsunamis from the battle had filled the passage with sand that flowed out into the other side.
They climbed up a ladder on the far side of the blocked passage as the battle raged on and dark clouds of smoke wafted over the cliffs.
Gaara was the first to reach the top and Razorwing landed next to him just as he stood up fully.
He watched the dark swirling cloud just as Dark Kyuubi descended to the earth with her tails fanned out behind her.
She hit the desert floor with such force that when she landed it broke the bedrock around her for miles.
Geysers of lava shot out into the air and set the desert sands a flame as the ground trembled in an earthquake.
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Gaara didn't even recognize his homeland as he stared out at it blankly in silent shock.
"Naruto…Is this the hell that you will be facing to save her soul…?"
Gaara said softly to himself as Kyuubi shot a beam of condensed chakra into the gate to hell and filled the skies with cascading explosions.
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The explosions in the skies faded as the cracks from them echoed across the desert.
Molten lava spewed forth from the sands and flowed out like a slow moving river of fire that set anything it touched ablaze.
The Dark Kyuubi many tails arched toward the skies out behind it as its head was hunched low like it was poised to attack its other half.
Its inhuman burning desire for destruction and malice was radiated even at its other half.
Kyuubi turned her head slowly from the skies to the dark version of herself.
"It is time we became whole again…" Kyuubi stated with a hint of sadness in her voice.
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Dark Kyuubi gave her a sadistic sneer and her eyes lusted for destruction before it spoke in a much darker voice.
"As if I'd ever want to be joined back with my weaker half." She raised her black flaming head to the heavens and laughed.
Her booming laugh sent another shockwave screaming across the desert.
"I think not. I am pure now. I am much stronger without you than I ever was with you. I can already see it inside you. You have let a mere mortal pervert you with human emotions!
I am going to destroy everything I see! I WIL RENDER THIS WORLD TO ASHES AND NOT EVEN YOU CANNOT STAND IN MY WAY!"
Dark Kyuubi yelled as her flaming black charka grew around her.
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Kyuubi's eyes burned with hatred at the arrogance of her darker half as she stood up fully while her red chakra poured out of her.
Dark Kyuubi suddenly crouched lower and shot a huge ball of flaming black chakra at Kyuubi from out of her mouth.
Kyuubi side steeped it and leaped at the darker half of her soul as the dark chakra ball exploded out in the desert behind her.
Kyuubi caught her dark soul by the scruff of the neck as thousands of chakra hands shot out of both of their bodies and clashed against each other.
They grappled at each other in a whirl of movement as their ferocity and hatred sent out bursts of chakra that exploded out in the reaches of the desert.
They were slowly sinking into the lava but continued to roll around biting and clawing at each other relentlessly.
The dark soul had no physical form, but Kyuubi did. Chucks of her flesh were torn off of her body violently and were flung into the surrounding area.
Her blood spurted out of her wounds and into the lava where it smoked sending a sickly iron smell into the air.
The ferocity of their battle sent out a constant barrage of shockwaves and summoned a sand storm around them that towered into the heavens.
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In the heart of the sandstorm Kyuubi and her dark soul fought with such speed as their many chakra arms crashed and grabbed on to each other.
Slowly the roars of hatred and the roars of destruction started to become one as they were surrounded in a streaking red and black orb of chakra.
The massive orb of chakra churned and mixed as the sands of the burning desert quaked ever harder with each passing second.
The giant chakra orb slowly changed from red and black to a deep violet color as both Kyuubi's cried out in pain as one terrible voice that carried as far as the border of the Land of Fire and beyond.
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Naruto and Sasuke were on their hands and knees trying to weather the earthquakes as grains of sand fell in slow streams from above them.
He heard Kyuubi's cries of pain as she fought to become whole once more. Naruto had been straining with all his might with his eyes shut tightly as the ground shook violently underneath him.
His eyes flung open and tears of worry rushed to their rims when he heard her painful muffled screams like they came from his very soul.
"Ruby…!" He yelled and then rushed to the nearest sand wall. He plunged his hands into the sand wall and started digging with a desperate and wild look on his face.
The sand reformed as fast as he could dig it out of his way even as the ground trembled.
"Naruto! Stop this!" Sasuke yelled at him as he grabbed him from behind and tried to pull him away.
Sasuke didn't have the strength to hold him back as Naruto continued to try to dig himself to the surface with a nearly deranged look in his eyes.
Large clumps of sand rained off of Sasuke as he strained to say. "You can't go out there yet Naruto! Get a grip on yourself!"
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"I have to go Sasuke! I have to! Something's wrong! She's in pain…True pain Sasuke!" He yelled back at him as sand shot out from every direction in front of him.
"Naruto please stop. I am having enough trouble to shield you from the battle above. If you don't cease your attack on me then I will not be able to protect you much longer."
The Spirit of Karura said to him in a musical voice.
"Let me out!" He said in a serious voice as he stood up and looked at the chest of her sand form.
Naruto reached his right hand out behind him and his fingers tensioned like he was holding a ball.
"If you don't get out of my way I'll blast my way out…" He warned without any doubt in his eyes as the wind started swirling in his hand.
"Naruto stop this! If you try that you'll end up killing me in the process! You have to calm down." Sasuke tried to reason with him while straining against Naruto's unmovable strength.
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Naruto's eyes went slightly wide in shock as a straining voice full of pain sounded in his mind.
"Naruto…It is nearly time. You must wait a little LONGER!" Kyuubi's screaming howl of pain ripped across the broken desert.
Her howl caused Naruto's hands to start trembling as he closed his eyes and tried to still his unsteady mind.
Sasuke felt his body relax suddenly and start to tremble. He let go of his waist and looked at him.
"That look,…that stance…Is he still connected to Kyuubi to such a degree that they can still speak to each through thought alone…?" He thought in a worried curiosity.
"Ruby…You're changing…Your chakra…Your being…It's all changing. Will you still be you after you absorb your other half?
Will I still have a chance to save your soul?" He sent out his thoughts not like he was trying to talk directly into her mind, but more like a prayer that he hoped she heard.
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"Naruto…" Sasuke said as he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto started slightly and opened his eyes slowly coming out of the depths of his thoughts.
"What could be going on up there that could make even you tremble?" He asked in sincerity.
Naruto looked down sadly as the earth continued to shake and reverberate under them.
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"She's…She's changing. Her very soul is becoming something different, something unfamiliar to me.
She has always had so much scorn and hate, but she always had her good parts to… like her pride and always keeping her word.
She protected me all my life…Whenever I ran out of chakra she always gave me some of her's so I could keep my Nindo.
She didn't do that just to save herself all the time…I know somewhere deep inside of her she is good being.
I've always felt that part of her deep in the back of my mind,… but I can feel that part of her being swallowed up by the darkness now.
…If the good part of her soul is swallowed up completely then I have no chance to save her… What am I supposed to do if that happens?
I'm the only one left that has a chance of fighting her… "
He said sadly and hollowly while looking at the floor with lost eyes as Kyuubi's screams of pain filled the air once more.
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Sasuke's grip tensed on his shoulder while he gave him a week smile.
"If she becomes lost in the darkness then you will just have go into that darkness and find her.
You will have to bring her back into the light…just like you did for me Naruto."
He said empathetically. A long moment passed as Naruto's breath became even more unsteady with each of Kyuubi's screams of pain.
"Naruto." Sasuke said and pulled him around to face him. Crystal tears were streaming out of his vibrant sapphire eyes.
"…Are you losing that much faith in yourself Naruto…?" He asked with concern in his voice.
Naruto shook his head and closed his eyes as two more tears rolled down his face. He was unable to speak for a moment.
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"No…That's not it at all…" He said in a quivering voice.
"I can bear her roars of hatred or destruction and only want to protect others from her…,but her roars of pain…
I can't defend myself from them. They hurt worst than any jutsu that's ever been used on me.
Her soul screaming…I can feel it in mine like…" He struggled to find the words.
"Like she is the other half of your soul Naruto…" Sasuke knowing his feelings finished his thoughts for him.
"Her every scream is driving me mad. I want to rush to her right now and try to save her, but…" He said and then remained silent as his tears fell to the floor.
"If you must walk into that place of darkness to save her soul then I will walk with you into that darkness so you don't lose your way." Sasuke said.
"Thank you Sasuke." He said and then stood up on his feet.
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He took in a deep breath and then looked up at the ceiling.
"Karura, please take me back. It is time." He said with resolution.
"Are you sure Great Sage? Do you know how dangerous it is up there?" She asked him in her musical voice.
"Yes, I'm sure." He told her.
"Very well then." She said and the earth below them lurched.
They could fell that they were moving up towards to the surface and the temperature in the room began to rise.
Naruto knew exactly what had been happening above because he had sensed it all.
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Kakashi slowly entered the Hokage's office and closed the door behind him.
Tsunade was standing unmoving at the bay window behind her desk. She wore a look of emptiness on her face.
Her hands were folded behind her back as she looked out towards the radiant yellow chakra coming from the top Hokage monument.
Nearly any other Shinobi would be marveling out at such an unprecedented sight, but it didn't phase her at all.
Even though she could look down on tens of thousands of Naruto's clones she still felt like there was a big empty void in the village.
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"Konohamaru succeed in destroying Hokage training ground three Lady Tsunade. I've sent out a notice that no one is to disturb his clone.
The people of the village are curious and worried about what is happening, but they don't know the truth… yet." Kakashi said quietly as he walked up towards her.
"I think I can see that the mission he gave you was successful Kakashi. I'm not blind." She said without ever meeting his gaze.
The windows ratted for a brief second from a far away shockwave.
"I take it there has been no more news from the Kazekage?" Kakashi asked her more to comfort her then he did to get an answer.
Tsunade shook her head back and forth slowly.
"No, I haven't received any more messages from him. It's not like I need them to know what is going.
Shockwaves rattling the village every few moments, a dark cloud rising in the west and an army of Naruto's chakra clones blanketing the village…The fighting has begun…"
She said quietly looked down at Naruto's clones. One by one they were opening their eyes that glowed with stored chakra yet they didn't move.
"Yes, The Child of Destiny is fighting for us all." Kakashi said as Kyuubi's screaming howl of pain echoed lightly in the distance.
Naruto's clones started to pop and their chakra raced through the air towards the Land of Wind in ever combining streams.
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Karura's large sand form broke the tops of the desert dunes just as a searing wave of deadly chakra blasted over her.
Naruto and Sasuke had to grasp at the walls to keep their balance during the quaking blast.
As the reverberation started to die down Naruto climbed out from under Karura's arm through a small opening and then helped Sasuke out.
Karura's sand form had been hardened into sand stone from the heat of the chakra wave.
Her form looked like she was on her knees hunched over something protecting it. Her face was turned to the side with a smile of joy.
"If I didn't know better I'd say that was a statue of Matsuri." Sasuke said as Naruto looked out across the hellish desert at what had become of his friend Ruby.
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Even though she was hunched over her body towered high into the burning air with her many tails fanned out behind her.
Geysers of lava and ash shot up around her and through it all she had her eyes filled with bloodlust and hatred locked squarely onto Naruto even from her great distance.
Her massive front legs tensioned as she growled in utter fury at the sight of him.
Naruto took a long, hollow look at her and to himself. "Ruby is that really you?"
"Naruto what is the plan?" Sasuke said quickly seeing that the demon would attack at any second.
"You aren't here to fight Sasuke…When the time comes you have to summon the lightning pillar and its two sub elements.
You are going to henge yourself into me and try to stay out of the way until then.
I'm the only one that can fight her now…" He said both sadly and unsure of himself.
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Sasuke pressed his lips together in a thin line of outrage before relaxing.
"All right Naruto." He said and henged himself to look like Naruto and knew it was of little use against something like the Nine Tailed Fox.
Kyuubi turned her head to the black ash filled heavens and let out a massive hate filled roar that quaked the earth and sent a deadly shockwave of her chakra racing across the desert.
Closer and closer it drew to them and Naruto made no move to shield himself or to stop it.
Sasuke swallowed hard as the rolling chakra wave towered above them fearing at any second it would crush them.
Naruto raised one of his hands and threw it down in front of him just as the wave reached them.
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An explosion of air pressure blasted out in front of him and sent out a sonic boom. Sasuke was driven to his knees while shielding his face from Naruto's wind.
"How…How could he summon so much wind so quickly?…That looked like one of Kyuubi's attack!" Sasuke thought through the raging gale he was weathering.
Naruto's wind pushed back the shockwave until it broke back in on itself.
Sasuke couldn't see the wind, but the pattern it was making in the crimson chakra wave showed him it was shaped like the Rasengan.
Sasuke slowly struggled to his feet while Naruto looked out at the line of destruction his wind had wrought into the desert floor.
No emotion showed on Naruto's face as he looked at the dust plumes drifting into the sky.
Sasuke seemed shaken by Naruto's counter attack.
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"I let it get that close on purpose Sasuke. I wanted you to see what kind of fight this is going to be. I can't risk you trying to jump in.
I'm not going to hold back my powers on this one and I can't protect you. If you fall this battle is over…this world is over as we know it." He said seriously.
"Naruto…" He said in blank shock.
Naruto put up the seal of the tiger and said. "Stay safe Sasuke. Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Thousands of clones appeared. "Alright guys let's do this!" He said but there was still a hint of doubt in his voice.
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The army of Naruto's split in two and raced toward either side of Kyuubi intending to flank her.
Their formations were random and looked like every form of attack strategy one could ever imagine.
Kyuubi sneering at the clones mockingly before she lifted her gargantuan body up on her hind legs and started drawing in a massive amount of chakra into a violet ball in front of her mouth.
The ball formed slowly as the two legions of Narutos converged on her.
Countless smaller beams of condensed chakra arched out of the sphere and rained down on the desert in a deadly bombarding attack.
All the Narutos stopped their advance and tried all manner of jutsus to dodge or shield themselves, but their forces were decimated in a matter of seconds.
Barely fifty remained once the sands settled and the Nine Tailed Fox fell forward onto its front legs with a terrible crash.
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The few Naruto's that were left attacked without pause. Thirty of them took to the air in groups of three while the other twenty drew their kunais out in front of them.
The ones in the air started forming the Rasenshuriken as the ones on the ground charged their blades with the power of the wind.
Their kunais grew chakra wind blades nearly twice as long as the clones were tall while the whine of ten Rasenshuriken split the air as they descended on the Fox.
One of the Naruto clones on the ground disappeared and then the rest in a split second.
The Kyuubi made no move to defend herself until twenty Narutos with their chakra blades appeared under her hunched belly.
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"Pathetic!" She roared and deadly chakra arms sprang out of her body and crushed the Narutos below her before they had time to attack.
"Eat this!" The ten Narutos above her said as one and threw their Rasenshuriken at her.
They screamed down towards her and then she turned her head and let loose a blasting howl.
The Rasenshuriken where blasted back at the Narutos in the air.
They only had a fleeting second of shocked surprise before they were hit from their own attack.
The ten balls of whirling blue exploded above her and took out the last of the Narutos in an attack that filled the skies and sent the wind lashing out in all directions.
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Sasuke had taken refuge behind the only thing that was left of the barren, smoking desert.
He sensed the last of Naruto's clones being vanquished from behind the crystalline form of Karura.
"This…isn't good. He didn't even land a single blow and he was using attacks that could easily destroy smaller villages…
Still…I know he was holding back, but why? He said he wouldn't hold back anymore…"
Sasuke thought as the wind howled over the protective hunched form.
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Naruto had his back pressed to the far side on one of the few remaining sand dunes near the enraged Nine Tailed Fox.
"Damn…I thought I'd get at least one of them through. Even my faint turned out to be a failure! She is totally different now.
I don't even know if she has a physical body anymore!" He cursed himself under his breath.
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"Come weak human. It feels like eons since I drank the marrow out of the bones of a moral!" Kyuubi's voice boomed over the broken desert.
"Are you afraid to face your death…Do you see your suffering and destruction in my eyes!"
Naruto felt the ground tremble under him and went wide eyed in surprise just before time/space jumping away an instant before a chakra beam obliterated where he was just standing.
Naruto reappeared on the distant side of her behind another sand dune.
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"That was too close! What can I do now? I can't even get close to her!" He thought in distress.
"I can't even sense Ruby anymore….It's only that…monsters presences; her darker half…"
Naruto's eyes kept glancing to the eastern skies.
"Come on Konohamaru…you can't have failed otherwise…" Naruto heard the sonic boom and flashed away just before another chakra beam annihilated the dune he was on.
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"You you really think you can hide from me? Do you think you are the only one of us that can sense the presence of others! You are a mere insect compared to my power!"
Kyuubi yelled and then let loose another beam of condensed chakra at Naruto's hiding place.
Naruto's eyes when wide with realization just and he flashed away again before being vaporized by the massive attack.
"That's right…This isn't good if she can sense me too. I can't keep burning up chakra like this…I need to stall her until the rest of my chakra gets here, otherwise I don't stand a chance!"
He thought as he pressed his back to one of the few remaining sand dunes.
"The question is how?"
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Their battle continued on for hours and the once barren desert became little more than a vast smoking crater of explosions and deadly torrents of wind.
On the Great Stone cliffs Matsuri clung to Gaara's hand as they all hunched behind his earth barrier jutsu.
The Kazekage was tired and wary so he could only make a barrier that could barely fit the three of them inside it.
But for what he sacrificed in size he made up for it in protective power. His small barrier hut was stronger than forged steel and harder than diamonds.
There was a tiny slit in the front of it so that they could see the destruction of Naruto and Kyuubi's battle.
Sakura lay slouched in the corner resting peacefully. She had given up her remaining chakra to heal the others as best she could and then collapsed from exhaustion.
Gaara's gaze never left the battlefield, save for a few glances now and then over at Matsuri to make sure she was still there and to reassure her by squeezing her hand.
Matsuri looked afraid when she looked out at her homeland and timidly happy when she looked at Gaara.
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"It's been over six hours Gaara...How can anyone…even Naruto, keep going this long?" She asked worriedly.
Gaara continued to watch the clustering explosions in the distance followed by rapid booms before saying.
"It is because it is Naruto fighting that he can fight this long." Gaara told her.
"But Gaara he doesn't seem to be making any progress. Every time we see a pillar of light it's immediately gone!
Didn't you tell me that those pillars of light have to do with how Naruto plans to beat the fox?" She said emotionally.
Gaara closed his eyes and nodded solemnly before returning his gaze to the broken battlefield of smoking destruction.
"Yes…" He said distantly.
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"Then… then how can you still…How can you still have faith in him master…" Matsuri said while looking down in confused shame.
"It is because of the prophecy about him. 'One day he will either save or destroy the world.' He alone Matsuri…not the Nine Tailed Fox.
For those without faith in him, he is the world destroyer. For those that believe in him he is the world's savior. There isn't any more to say…" Gaara stated.
She gripped his weathered hand tightly and grabbed his shoulder with her free hand desperately.
"Master you can't really mean…"
"He does." Sakura said as she sat up.
"Sakura…" Matsuri questioned her.
"It's true…Matsuri. Kyuubi told me herself. Naruto is the more dangerous of the two of them." She told her sadly.
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"Sakura! You can't be serious! Yo-You can't really believe that!" She yelled back at her.
Sakura leaned her head forward slightly and her pink hair covered her solemn face.
"I don't have to believe Matsuri…I know." She stated.
"Know what! Tell me…!" Matsuri begged her as another blast echoed across the war torn earth.
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"I know what Naruto can do. His Rasengan is something only a few ninja's living today could survive.
His Rasenshuriken is something that only he, himself could likely survive as its creator.
Even the Kages would likely fall from a direct hit from it. But Naruto can take it much, much farther.
When he combined wind, fire and earth into the Rasengan he leveled the northern mountain range in the Land of Fire.
With each element that he combines into the Rasengan the destructive power of his jutsu grows exponentially.
From killing a ninja, to a Kage, to leveling a mountain, to a mountain range, to leveling a county, to possibly a continent…and I'm only up to five elements…" She said and then looked away.
"But there are only five elements. How could that make him more dangerous than Kyuubi? That thing has wiped out the whole desert!" Matsuri yelled to her angrily and confused.
Sakura grabbed her elbows and looked down in indecision as Gaara said. "No Matsuri, there are only five primary elements. There are many sub elements."
"Sub element…prime elements? Just tell me how many Naruto can wield! Why are the two of you acting like this!" Matsuri yelled to them desperately.
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Sakura looked down for a long moment before admitting. "He's mastered ten and is battle proficient in another four. He can use one more, but he hasn't tested it in battle yet.
Only two are out of his grasp…and for those two he brought Sasuke. Sasuke…He holds mastery over sound and plasma.
When he combines all the prime and sub elements together he will wield a power that will dwarf any tailed beast…"
"Wait…But that's good isn't it? That means he can still win." She said in reserved hope.
"Yes, but at what cost? Each jutsu has a risk. The greater the jutsu the greater the risk and the harder it is to control.
If he starts combining that many elements together with even marginal success and loses control… Well I don't like to think about it." She said refusing to meet Matsuri's gaze.
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"So the Kyuubi demon would destroy towns one by one where as Naruto might destroy everything just to rid the world of Kyuubi? Is he insane?
What jutsu could he be trying to use and what does it do?" She yelled at Sakura in shock.
Sakura shrank back slightly before softly saying.
"We don't know what it does. We only know The Great Sage Rikudo used it and it likely has something to do with the tailed beast.
Whether it is the jutsu he used to seal, divide, or call the Jubi demon, we just don't know…He lived over two-thousand years ago. How could we?
But Naruto is betting everything on that jutsu."
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"Rikudo…the Tailed beast…What does that have to do with what's happening right now Sakura?" Matsuri asked desperately.
Sakura looked over at Matsuri hollowly and started to speak before Gaara broke his silence.
"There are two different stories about Rikudo that Naruto found during his searching.
One paints him as a humble, but vastly powerful priest. It tells that one day a demon became so powerful that it broke through the gates of hell and descended upon the earth.
Jubi wrought destruction to the lands and countless warriors fell to it. No one even stood a chance against its overwhelming power.
The humble priest took his stand against the demon and defeated it, but he could not kill or banish it back to hell so he sealed its soul within himself.
He then created a prison for its body and sent it into the heavens. That became known as the moon and that is why he is referred to as the Moon Sage.
The other story is much more detailed and also much…darker."
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The ground trembling nearly knocked her off her feet and after it died down again she asked.
"But what is this other story? Please tell me master?" She asked him.
Sakura waited for a long moment as Gaara remained silent before hollowly saying.
"The other story tells of Rikudo being a tyrant and warlord in his younger years that arrogantly brandished his power and forced his ways on unwilling people.
It tells of him conquering countries and forcing them into his religion while making it look like their own people still governed them.
He bested any man that dared to challenge him and stood without equal for a long time.
One day in his arrogance he opened a gate to hell and challenged the keeper or death himself.
He set Jubi free into this world and they fought, but Rikudo wasn't powerful enough to defeat the demon and retreated.
For months the demon destroyed all humanity in its wake.
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Rikudo lost his arrogance and warlord ways when he saw the destruction that the beast had brought down on his home town.
All of his friends and family were dead because of him and his mad grab for power.
His sorrow changed him deeply and made him genuinely desire to repent for all that he had done.
Once Rikudo was finally prepared he faced Jubi again and defeated him.
Like the other story he couldn't kill the Jubi and sealed its soul within himself.
He put the beast's body to sleep and created the moon to hold it to prevent it from ever again being whole.
Naruto also found another tale that seems to follow up on the second story.
It said that Rikudo was blinded in the battle and he either took the eyes of the demon for himself or that his follower transplanted the eyes into him.
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Even the writer of the story wasn't sure, but it does tell that his understanding of all things became godlike from that day forward.
Both stories agree that Rikudo wandered the world helping people wherever he went humbly until the seal holding Jubi's soul started to break many years later.
On his deathbed he used his power to sunder the Jubi demons into nine parts that we know today as the tailed beasts and sealed them into his followers.
He was dying but the Jubi's eyes would not. They would live on so they two had to be passed on.
He asked his two sons 'What is most valuable in life?'
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The oldest sons replied power, because without that you can never enact change.
The younger son replied wisdom, because without it you could enact a change that was worse than what was already present.
Rikudo thought long and hard on whom to pass the demon's eyes on to and finally couldn't decide. His death was quickly approaching and he decided to perform his last miracle.
He sundered the power of the eyes in two. He gave his oldest son the power to affect any being with a mere gaze.
To his youngest son he gave his eyes the power to understand anything perfectly from one look. So the Rinnegan was born in the younger son while the Sharingan was born in the oldest son.
The oldest son held scorn towards his father for not giving him the full power of the demon eyes and one day attacked his brother intent on seizing the rest of its power.
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The younger brother won and forgave his brother. He followed in his father footsteps traveling the world and helping people.
It is not known what happened to the older brother, but he held the scorn for his father and brother his entire life.
Later in the youngest sons life he sealed the power of the demons eyes into his own two son's bloodlines where it would remind dormant.
He then told them that he must leave to face his death that he had seen with the power of his eyes many years ago.
He went and faced his brother, now an older man he knew he didn't stand a chance of outright beating him again.
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The older brother's unquenchable thirst for power had made him strong.
Though he couldn't win he had decided that his older brother was a blight on the world that he regretted letting live all those years ago.
The older brother struck a killing blow at the younger one. The younger brother didn't even try to dodge the blow.
In taking his brother's killing blow he had dealt one as well.
They both died and here started the bloody feud that would one day be known as the Senju and Uchiha Clans.
There you have it Matsuri, that's all the knowledge false or true that we have on the jutsu."
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"But how would that terrible story give you hope master?" Matsuri said with her eyes quivering in worry and pain.
Kyuubi's roar split the air and sent another shockwave rolling over Gaara's barrier hut and made the ground quake with reverberation.
Gaara winched his eyes closed as dust shot through the slit in the hut and held on to the wall for support until the quaking ceased.
He then turned his eyes on Matsuri's frightened face and said.
"I told you already Matsuri. You either believe Naruto is the world destroyer or you believe he is the world's savior.
As for how that story gives me faith…
Well it is the first time that Heirs of the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan have laid down their lives and entered combat not as comrades but as brothers.
They are fighting, in some ways, the very thing that has torn them apart for two millennia instead of trying to steal it from one another.
If in nothing else I find hope in that."
Gaara turned back towards the raging battle and saw beautiful blue streams of braided chakra splitting the smoke filled skies snaking its way to the heart of the battle.
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In the heart of the battle the Kyuubi's attacks had decimated the desert sands into charred ash.
Lava poured freely out of the bedrock all the while the Nine Tailed Fox searched and attacked at random for Naruto as he kept barely avoiding her by using Time/Space jutsu.
Naruto landed behind an over turned chunk of bedrock that was still smoldering from lava on the other side.
Naruto fell on all fours panting in sharp gasps while the sweat rained off his face in shining droplets.
He was covered in soot and ash and was bleeding from several small wounds and burns.
"M-My body just won't move anymore…No matter how hard I tell it to. My arms are numb from using the Yellow flash.
How long… long as it been since we started fighting?...I can't tell. The smoke from the battle makes it always look like night.
I haven't even managed to hit her. Every…time one of my clones gets…near her…they are destroyed by her terrible…chakra.
I'm so low on chakra that I-I can't even sense Sasuke anymore…The place where he was hiding…it doesn't exist anymore.
I'm so tired…I-I never thought it would be this…hard…My legs are on…fire." He thought while struggling to stand and keep himself from closing his heavy eyelids.
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The Kyuubi encased in burning violet chakra leaped into the air and crashed down near him.
The shockwave flung Naruto helpless up the edge of the giant crater that was once the deserts outer wall.
He spun wildly and hit the wall before rolling back down the sheer cliff and landing onto a small plateau.
"So that's all you have left? You're finished already? Pathetic moral! All you did was RUN!" Kyuubi yelled at him from nearby while looking down at him.
Naruto's vision was blurry and the only thing that he managed to do was to roll his head from the cliffs face to look in the destructive and amused eyes of the Nine Tailed Fox.
Naruto consciousness was fading and his voice was barely a whisper. "Don't…worry Ruby…I-I'll still…save you…"
Kyuubi threw her head back and laughed at him.
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"HAHAHAAAAA! You actually believe that the other part of my soul that I devoured cared about you at all! HAHAHAHA! You are a fool without equal!
Why do you think it kept asking you to train to get stronger? So you could 'Save Her'? HAHAHA NO! You two were linked! That is the reason you could never beat your 'Ruby'!
Your 'Ruby' only grew stronger as you did! You trained like there was no tomorrow and YET YOU ONLY ASSURED THIS WORLDS FATE! You even let her reclaim ME!
You stood by and watched it happen without lifting a finger! You are exactly what that prophecy says about you Naruto…
A world destroyer because you foolishly wanted her to bring me back out and you even gave me MORE POWER THAN I'VE HAD IN MILLENNIUMS.
HAHAHA and now you the 'Great World Destroyer' lays broke at my feet unable to defend himself, oh the irony!" The demonic fox's voice boomed across the desert.
The great beast turned her head back to the havens and drew in a great breath.
"KAMI!
AFTER I OBLITERATE THIS FAILURE THAT YOU SENT AS A SAVIOR AND THE LAST LIVING MEMBER OF THE UCHIHIA CLAN I'M COMING FOR YOU!
I WILL RIP YOU ASUNDER AND TAKE BACK WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE YOU FALSE GUARDIAN OF THIS WORLD!
DON'T YOU HEAR ME YOU ARROGANT WHITE CROW!" Kyuubi screamed to the heavens with such force that the rocks around her where blasted into dust.
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"My…strength it-it's fading…" Naruto thought as his eyes closed.
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A cold, dim, stone hallway with brass pipes lined the ceiling. Shallow water covered the floor as the pipes slowly leaked down the bricked stone walls.
Naruto sat up from his back and grabbed his aching head as he winced his eyes shut in pain and confusion.
"Wh-Where am I?" he said and then opened his eyes and looked around.
He looked down at the floor in sad realization.
"I guess it must be a reflex to come here…into my own mind. To come here when I can't handle it alone…When I'm too weak…just like now…"
Naruto whispered and then slammed his fist into the pipes coming out of the wall near him in anger.
The metallic ring echoed down the silent hallway.
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Naruto looked down and sighed. "What's the point? I know nothing is there." He grabbed his elbows in the chill of the dark passage of his mind.
"It's cold…I-I must be dying. My body is growing cold."
"I don't remember training my disciple to be a quitter." A warm familiar and broad man's voice sounded from down the hall.
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"Jiraiya…JIRAIYA! Where are you?" He yelled and then raced down the dark corridor franticly. He searched feverishly down every dark hallway and corner calling his masters name.
After a long moment of searching he slowly lost the will to look. "I…guess I must have just been hearing things. Maybe that's part of dying…You start to lose it...your sanity."
Naruto started aimlessly moving along the dim passageways in bitter sadness and despair.
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"Yes,…That is how beasts are…But that's not who Naruto is…He's nothing like the Nine Tailed Fox, so you're wrong…He's Naruto Uzumaki of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
Another familiar voice rang out in the distant corridors.
"Iruka! Hey Iruka sensei!" He said and chased after the sound of the voice with one hand out stretched like he was trying to grab a hold of someone.
His hand only met with empty air though and slowly his pace staggered to a depressed crawl again.
"Everyone…Everyone is going to die because…Because I was too weak. I'm always too weak…No matter how hard I train…"
He said with his shoulders slumped as he looked at the floor and wandered onward.
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"Do you know why I'm telling you all of this Naruto? It's because I truly believe you are the only Shinobi that can surpass the Fourth Hokage…"
Another voice sounded thought the dark hallways.
"Hmph." Naruto said bitterly. "Kakashi told me that….Well it doesn't really matter if I surpass him if I can't do anything good with my power…"
Naruto mumbled to himself sadly as he kept moving forward down the watery hallways of darkness.
His feet carried him through the last few familiar steps without him real realizing where he was going.
He walked into the expansive room with torches at either side of a massive golden caged door that stood slightly agape.
The seal his father had put on the cage door so many years ago laid on the floor, ripped in two by his own hands.
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"I remember this…" Naruto said as he reached down, hardly aware of what he was doing and ran his hands over the smooth paper surface feeling each sharp line of the letters.
"I remember how scared I was…How I had doubted that The Nine Tailed Fox would keep her word when I tore this down…It seems so long ago now."
Naruto said wistfully as he picked up the half of the seal from the floor and stood up.
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"I remember how strong my faith was back then…Even though I was scared I set her free…She could have ravaged my mind or could took over my body….but she didn't…
She wandered out of her cage like a frightened kitten. She was timid and shy. I thought it was strange then, but now I understand.
If I was trapped in a cage for eighteen years then it might be a little scary for me to step out into the unknown…into a more free world.
If I knew I was safe in the cage and didn't know what life outside the cage would bring…I-I think I finally understand her…."
He said and then grabbed his head with both hands in thought and realization.
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"Sh-She didn't try to corrupt my mind at all. She was timid to explore my being…,but when she found my memories…that's all she did. She just sat there watching my old memories.
She was trying to understand me! She was trying to know me! Why did it take me so long to come to the same conclusion?" He swore to himself.
"The question isn't in the past, but why are you here Senju boy?" A noble, deep and powerful voice sounded and then fell silent.
"Wait….that voice…it-it didn't echo and I've never heard it before but it sounds a lot like another voice I've heard…" Naruto said softly in confusion.
The echoing clack of boots on stone boom loudly from the darkness again and again…closer and louder with each passing step again and again from the darkness within the agape cage.
Naruto waited with baited breath as the steps grew closer and closer until a hand reached out of the darkness and grabbed hold of the outer edge of the cage door.
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A man in white robes that had a symbol of a spire pointing to a full moon over the left breast of the robes stepped forward out of the light.
His hair came down to his shoulders in long black spikes and his face was timeless and passive.
His eyes shined red in the flickering torch light. Seven comas that linked with each other surround his cornea.
Naruto's eyed went wide with stunned shock before he clinched his fist in anger at the man.
"Madara!" He shouted at him and drew his hand back as a whirling blue ball formed in his hands.
The man in the robes tilted his head curiously at Naruto unflinching at his posed attack.
"I'm afraid you have me confused with one of my very distant relatives Senju boy."
He said without emotion as he stepped out of the cage and looked at the giant doors with mild interest.
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"If you're not Madara then you could have fooled me! Who are you then and how the hell are you in my mind!" He yelled skeptically at him, never lowering his readied attack.
The man traced the tops of the caged doors with his eyes and said. "So this is where you come when you need power. A cage huh? What an odd place to store your power…"
Naruto's anger rose as he yelled at him again. "I said who are you! Why do you keep calling me Senju boy?"
The man finally turned his eyes to Naruto and said.
"You already know who I am. You, who have been searching tirelessly for ancient tomes and scrolls about me and my family…"
Naruto gave him a curious look for a long moment and suddenly the Rasengan in his hand faded as he stood up.
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He carefully and timidly said. "You couldn't be…"
"Takimo Rikudo, at your service." He said with a slight bow as the spread his hands out to his sides before standing and putting his hands into the sleeves of his robes.
Naruto looked at him soullessly. "The eldest brother…"
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After notes: It wasn't me that decided to leave you on a cliffhanger this time, it was my wife.
I, however, have good news for you. By the time to finish this chapter the second part should be up:).
Hope you all enjoyed it and thank you for any reviews.
PS. Please note that I am removing my notice, so if you replied to it the site will not let you review this chapter. Just put that review in with the next chapters.