Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the climactic chapter of "Shinachiku's First Adventure!"

This is it you guys! The battle for Konoha ends here, and it ends in a place you probably didn't expect too. I really tried to make this climax to the battle as surprising as I could, and a lot more centered on specific characters than the previous chapter was. I'm really not sure how good of a job I did, but that's up for all of you to decide.

So, with all of that said, let's get to reading!


Chapter 50: The Final Battle, Part Two

"Ugh...Wha...?"

Shinachiku opened his eyes and found himself inside of a giant, blank space. It was white, surrounded in a shroud of thick grey fog. It was so thick that he could not see anything in front of his face.

'What the...? Did it work?'

The boy started walking; he didn't even know how long it was that he was walking for. It was as if time did not exist within this place.

'This...This is what its like in here? But where is...?'

Shinachiku's thoughts were cut short when he felt a familiar power. In the fog of the void, he could see an intense red glow. It was getting stronger and stronger...The red light consuming everything, EVERYTHING!

The boy felt himself growing weak. It was like his very will was weighing his entire body down. It was as though this red light was literally overwhelming his entire world.

"...Even those who have the purest of hearts may find themselves corrupted by the gem's influence if they are not careful. Such is the price of such power."

The old man from the cave's words echoed all around him. It was giving the boy a splitting headache. "Stop it."

"Shut up and mind our own business! I found the gem! I brought it with me out of that cave! You've all seen what it can do! I have to keep it safe! And I'll take down anybody who takes it from me! Its mine! My own! My precious!"

Now the voice was not the old man's, but his own. It was the words he'd threatened his family and all of his friends with back in the forest. "Stop it!"

"Its mine...mine...mine...mine...mine..."

A flash of red appeared within the pupils of the boy's eyes.

'...Mine!'

"STOP IT!"

The crimson was receding, or rather, it had stopped itself from engulfing him. Shinachiku took note of the silence. He heard one more voice from the past echo in his head, the voice of his father:

"This is where your story begins son, but that story is whatever you make it, so make it a good one!"

"No!" Shinachiku shouted aloud. "No! You will not take me again! Not even in here! I don't need your power. I don't need you to make me something great...I already am something great! I am Shinachiku Uzumaki...and this is MY story!"

The red light that had consumed his world receded. It retreated back towards its starting point. Through the clearing fog, Shinachiku could see a bizarre labyrinth of staircases, some going up, some going down, some going sideways, some leading into each other, and some leading seemingly to nowhere. It was like some sort of surrealist painting brought to three-dimensional life. Many of these staircases did lead to doors, doors that the boy could only assume led to either some of his deepest secrets or his darkest memories.

But before all of these surreal staircases, there was the blank space with the flat surface. Here, he could see where the source of the red light was emanating from...It was exactly the person he was looking for, his enemy and, for the moment, his current tenant.

'There he is,' the boy said to himself. 'I can do this...My will is strong, the gem won't take me here. This in my story. This place is my world...'

The facts accepted, the blonde walked forward until he was close enough for the Taka leader to sense his presence.

"YOU!" Uragi shouted. "Where a I?"

Shinachiku took only a moment to regain his composure, the regain his awareness of his surroundings, before addressing his enemy. "You're inside my mind."

"WHAT?!"

"Kurama gave me the idea. I used the Mind Gem and the Space Gem together to teleport us both inside of my own consciousness."

"Why would you do this?"

"Because none of our jutsu were having any effect on you. The mind was the only place where you were still vulnerable...I think you know that."

Uragi said nothing...because the boy was right. When he faced the Yamanaka woman and her son he felt particularly nervous because of the terrible damage they might do to his mind.

Shinachiku smirked. "I hope this isn't an inconvenience for you."

The boy's sarcasm was the last thing the old man needed to hear. "Why take such a reckless risk and bring me here? Why not attack my own mind instead?"

"Because that's your mind; you have the advantage there. But here..."

Out of nowhere, Shinachiku marched straight up to his nemesis and punched him right in the face!

"Here, I..." The boy punched the old man again. "...AM..." He punched him again. "...KING!"

Shinachiku landed a punch so hard that Uragi, even with the Power Gem still coursing through his veins, was sent flying a quarter of a mile before he landed with a thud.

Where did he land? On one of the gravity-defying staircases. Shinachiku leaped upon him, punching him again and tossing the old man into the air, where he landed on top of yet another staircase directly above their heads. The boy leaped up himself, landing on his feet upside down, and thus right-side up on the other staircase.

The boy laid a super strong falcon punch to Uragi's gut, sending crashing hard into yet another staircase. Leaping upon him, this time the old man tried fighting back. But this was mainly a brief taijutsu duel that saw them fighting down multiple flights of stairs in every direction, in this realm where gravity has little meaning.

After one of the hardest and most brutal punches his could possibly deliver, the boy was upon him again seemingly instantly, grabbing Uragi by the collar. "Welcome to my world!"

Punch after punch, kick after kick, Shinachiku refused to let up his brutal assault on the Taka leader. As this was happening, the grey fog started to turn a reddish-orange color. It was almost as if a familiar chakra was at work here, as if some other, living force was acting out to make the boy stronger...

As they fought on an upside down staircase, Shinachiku formed a shadow clone to rotate his chakra while he concentrated on gathering and compressing it. "RASENGAN!"

The boy slammed the jutsu directly into his opponent's chest. The attack sent the old man spiraling back down to the ground until he collided with the ground. "AAGGHHH!"

Uragi fell to his knees before standing back up. He was feeling wobbly even as the power of the gem was continuing to fuel him.

"You're tired Uragi," Shinachiku said marching up to him, grabbing him by the shirt and slamming his fist into his face. "You may think you're a god, but you're still just as human as the rest of us!" The boy punched him again. "You've taken too much damage from too many of my friends one after another, and now you can barely focus anymore."

Shinachiku angrily tossed Uragi over his shoulder and threw him down on the ground. "But me...I'm still fresh. I can keep going. I'm inside my own mind, I know this world better than you ever will."

He grabbed Uragi be the collar as the entire world seemed to morph around them. Instead of the big, empty void, the world began to shift into the inside of a large, lavish house. Shinachiku was slamming the old man to the floor of an atrium.

"This is my home! Konoha is my home!" He picked his enemy up and glared him in the eyes as a fiery glow was reflected in his own pupils. "And you are not welcome here anymore!"

With that, he flung the old man straight through a wall and into a large living room. He landed in the center of the floor before the boy kicked him even further so he fell into an open fireplace...It is only because of the effects of the chakra gem that the hot flames were not burning him.

"Foolish boy!" Uragi scoffed as he stood back up. "Your mind or not, you are still a boy up against me! If your entire village could not stop me, what hope have you to do so alone?"

Shinachiku smiled. "I'm not alone."

A wave of reddish-orange energy flowed around him, almost as though it were coming out of the walls of his family house. The chakra was floating around the boy right before the Taka leader's eyes, it was transforming him. Within seconds, the power had consumed him and gave him the same appearance that the boy had on the battlefield.

"The Nine Tails..."

Shinachiku nodded once. "Kurama has a neural link with me. I can take his power straight from my father. Don't you see?"

A chakra arm flung out and grabbed the old man by the throat. "I'm invincible in here!"

Shinachiku used his chakra arm to fling him up through the roof. Uragi made a hole in the roof and landed on the second floor. Looking around, he saw himself in a dojo, a padded white training room that he'd always heard that Naruto and his family used for private training during their off hours.

Shinachiku leaped through the hole and landed on his feet. He threw a Kurama-enhanced right hook straight to his enemy...But then the old man caught it and glared at the boy in rage.

"Arrogant child." Uragi channeled the power of the gem through his hand and into the boy's body. It sent a pulse wave that burned him greatly, forcing Kurama's chakra to immediately heal the damage dealt to him.

Uragi fired a blast of crimson energy directly at the boy, sending him crashing into the far wall of the dojo. Shinachiku broke through the sliding door of the meditation room his father would sometimes use to focus his mind or commune with Kurama after or during training. He did not have much time left to react before Uragi grabbed him and slammed him through the nearby wall, into the armory. Shinachiku was hit with enough force that the sharp weapons stored in that room pierced and cut his skin, drawing blood.

"AAAAGGGHH!"

Uragi kicked Shinachiku while he was still recovering. He kicked the boy back into the main floor of the dojo, where he stood over the child in disappointment.

"Come now, where is all that confidence you had but a moment ago?"

Shinachiku regained his composure and took a fighting stance. "I won't let you win!"

Uragi gritted his teeth. "So be it."

The two foes charged at one another, their colored energies flowing off of one another. Uragi fired a beam of energy that Shinachiku dodged, the beam instead leaving a massive indentation in the floor. The boy came back around with his finger poised in points for critical strikes. Uragi recognized the form immediately and grabbed the boy's arms.

"Pressure point combat...impressive, but pointless."

He flung the blonde through not one, but two walls! Shinachiku crashed through not only the dojo but the hallway outside, landing inside his family's private library. Shelves of books and scrolls came crashing down and littered the room.

"LIGHTNING STYLE: THUNDER SPEAR!"

Uragi, like the kind of mighty god he claimed himself to be, hurled a spear composed of pure electric chakra at the boy. The young blonde was able to dodge the jutsu, but the spear set many books a blaze. The stench of scorched paper filled the room.

"AAGGHHH!" Uragi launched yet another blast of the red chakra, and this time the cloak of the fox's chakra absorbed much of the impact before the sheer force was enough to send the boy crashing through the wall through another two rooms! He landed inside the ruined mess that was once his father's home office. In fact, the boy found himself shattering Naruto's desk with the weight of his impact.

No sooner had the boy come too then Uragi cut off his oxygen by grasping him by the throat! He struggled to break free but the old man's death grip was strong and firm.

Uragi said no words as it was now his turn to fling his opponent up through the ceiling up to the third floor. He landed in a room with pink painted walls and plushie animal toys everywhere. He knew this place immediately: he was in Hanami's room.

Uragi leaped up through the hole and was about to blast the boy in the face, but then Shinachiku made a familiar hand sign. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Six identical clones of the boy puffed into existence, all of them were engulfed with Kurama's chakra just like their creator was. One of the clones kicked the traitorous villain against the wall as four of them split up into groups of two and started forming their grandfather's famed jutsu in the palm of one of their hands.

With two of the clones puffing out of existence, the two remaining clones slammed their attacks into the enemy at the same time. "DOUBLE RASENGAN!"

The force of the combined attack was more than enough to blow the old man through the wall and into the next room. The real Shinachiku couldn't help but grimace to himself even as the two remaining clones he'd created were helping him prepare his own signature attack. 'Sorry sis...'

Uragi got back up on his legs again when he took note of the space he was currently in. It was clearly the room of a preteen boy, one filled with posters, books, ninja weapons, a laptop computer, video games, the usual apparel. It was the room of the very boy whose mind he was trapped within right now.

Shinachiku's final two clones dissipated as the blonde held his new, signature jutsu in the palm of his hand. Stepping through the wall of his precious little sister's room and into his own living quarters, the son of Naruto and Sakura had his eyes obscured, blackened by the hanging bangs of his now dirty blonde hair. The boy had taken so much abuse both in and out of his own mind that the clothes he wore were in ragged condition.

"Get the hell out of my house." That was all the boy said before thrusting his jutsu at his opponent. "WIND AND FIRE RELEASE: RASENGAN!"

The flaming sphere of swirling chakra slammed straight into the crimson-clad villain's body, launching him clear through the balcony door of his room and sent him falling three floors down to the backyard below! He landed straight inside the swimming pool with a splash so large that it practically flooded the yard. In fact, what water that didn't flood was absorbed into the earth because Uragi's impact cracked a huge fissure in the bottom of the pool.

With seemingly little effort, Shinachiku leaped down from the balcony and walked over to the pool. He saw the old man barely starting to stand up as he jumped into the crevice in the Earth, not caring at all about the puddles of water that splashed as he walked through them.

Picking the old man up by the collar, the boy shouted: "Have you had enough or do you want some more?!"

Uragi started chuckling. He didn't say another word as he released a pulse wave of crimson chakra that knocked the blonde away from him.

Shinachiku got back up and charged at his enemy. His attacks and blocks were rapid but the old man had gotten a second wind and was dodging him with relative ease.

"Enough!" Uragi backhanded the boy with enough force to push him several feet.

Shinachiku was in the process of getting back up, the reddish-orange fog of his mind fueling him again and further enhancing his power...But then, with seemingly inhuman speed, Uragi was upon him. With the force of the power gem at his disposal, he landed a kick on the boy's leg's so strong that it shattered the bone inside.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

...


...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

Shinachiku fell to his knee and then fell over. Everybody on the battlefield was in shock from the young warrior's sudden, horrific scream of agony.

"SHINA!" Naruto, Sakura, Hanami, Sasuke, Karin and Sarada all shouted as one voice.

"What happened to him mommy?!" Hanami screamed out in a panic.

"His leg is broken!" Sakura diagnosed in fear. "Naruto! What's going on?!"

"It seems that severe damage that Shinachiku is suffering within his mind is manifesting on his physical body." Sasuke answered before Naruto had the chance to say a word.

Naruto sighed. "He's right."

"Is that possible?" Sarada questioned.

"If its severe enough, yes." Sasuke turned to his best friend. "Naruto, didn't you duel with the Nine-Tails to get control of the beast inside you own mindscape?"

"Yeah...but I didn't take very much—"

"Because your mother was helping you and you were ready to face the Nine-Tails by the time that battle came. That's why your body didn't take any damage that day."

Naruto nodded in complete understanding, but Sarada shook her head. "I don't understand—"

"Whenever I talk to Kurama inside my mind," Naruto started explaining, "the result of our agreement manifests on my physical body. That's way you can see Kurama's chakra whenever he gives it to me. When I foolishly tried ripping off the seal during Pain's attack, the overwhelming power turned me into a monster, and it was only because of my father that I regained control of myself."

"But what does this have to do with my Shina?!" Sakura demanded.

"Sakura," Sasuke spoke, "Shinachiku is fighting inside his own mind against a physically far superior foe. And he's doing it alone! Even with Kurama's power flowing through to him he's still at a massive disadvantage. If the boy can have his leg broken in his mind, it breaks on his real body also, simple as that."

"But we have to do something!" Sakura protested.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted. "Something doesn't feel right..."


BAM! ...BAM! ...BAM!

Uragi was laying furious blow after blow, punch after punch, kick after furious kick, into the now crippled blonde Genin that had been arrogant enough to bring him here.

"Foolish child!" Uragi shouted as he stepped on the boy's already fractured leg, causing him to scream in total agony. "You think just by bringing me to this place you can overcome me? All you've done is bring me to the place you are most vulnerable."

The old man made his point by grabbing the blonde by the throat and slamming him back into the ground with superhuman strength. Blood was now leaking from gashes and cut across his face and limbs, his clothes were a devastated mess.

And then Uragi threw the poor boy into the mental projection of his family home...or rather, he went directly through it! The power of the gem gave the old man enough strength to send the boy crashing straight through the walls of his parent's master bedroom, out the other side into the third floor hallway, straight through the master bathroom and out the other side of the three-story house where he landed in a crater.

Shinachiku was barely able to move. He leg was broken, he was a bloody mess, and he's been taking too much severe damage even with Kurama's chakra fueling him. When did this plan go so completely, utterly wrong?

That being said, Uragi wasn't exactly at his peak either. What the boy said earlier was right, all the punishment that he took in the physical world has made him exhausted, so all the punishment that he was dishing out now was taking all the focus and concentration and outright fury he had left in him.

"No more games."

Uragi stuck out his hand, palm flat, and released a massive blast of energy that utterly incinerated the Uzumaki Estate. All of it! All the rooms, the family's possessions, their memories, it was all gone in a flash of crimson light.

Shinachiku was shocked. A product of his mind or not, this was still his home, the only one he'd ever known, and this maniac utterly annihilated it!

Uragi walked through the smoldering rubble of the house, the family's numerous heirlooms blown to pieces, and photos of the family all together burning to cinders...

The old man, still glowing with blood red power, walked up to the boy and stomped his foot on his heart, causing him to cough up blood.

"This ends now." Uragi held his hand out, pointed directly at the boy's face. The energy of the gem was charging up.

Shinachiku closed his eyes, this looked like the end...

...And then Uragi saw something in the distance. Some bright light far off where the orange chakra the boy had been using this whole time appeared to be flowing from. Squinting his eyes, he could make out what the source of the light was...a door. A single, pearl white door that stood alone in the void.

The pieces fell together quickly for the old man. If that was where the orange chakra was coming from, then there was only one place where the door could be leading to.

'So, that's the bridge. Behind that door must be...Heh! Perhaps I'll be able to take on two generations of nuisances at once today.'

Looking down at the beaten boy laying beneath him, Uragi spat and cursed. "You are no match for a god boy. Lay here and accept that."

Leaving the boy to die from his wounds, Uragi abandoned the child no longer worth his time and started walking towards the door.

"No...wait..." was all Shinachiku could utter out as the Taka leader walked out into the void and stood before the mysterious door.

Without fear, the old man grabbed hold of the handle and flung the door open. stepping through...

...

...


...

...

"Grrr! Uragi Rimonō! How dare you come here?!"

The old man stared up at the great tailed beast that loomed over him with its nine tails wagging and its razor sharp fangs barred for mauling.

"Heh. Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit himself. The legends do not undersell your magnificence. I knew that there had to be some sort of bridge between you and the boy for him to take any of your chakra...Which means..."

Uragi took in his surroundings. It was a dark, dank sewer with rusted, dirty metal walls and water covering the entire floor. "...This is the inside of Uzumaki's mind."

"If you know so much about me, then you should know to fear me human!"

"HA! I have become far more than any mere human!"

"Not without the other six chakra gems you're not!"

"All in good time. But first..." Uragi raised his hand and charged up for another attack. "...I calculate that the awesome power of the chakra gem grants me the power to destroy anything instantaneously...In fact, it might be a match even for you."

Even Kurama, the Nine-Tails himself, felt a shiver of legitimate fear coursing through his spine. "You wouldn't DARE!"

Uragi smirked and he charged up even further. "Try me."

"Excuse me?"

Uragi felt a sudden tap on his shoulder as he heard the sound of the unexpected voice. He turned around and received...a Rasengan right to the chest.

"AAAGGGGHHHH!" Uragi screamed aloud as he collided with the wall of the enclosed space. Standing back up with anger, he looked up to face his sudden challenger...Naruto!

"You! How are you here?"

"Its my mind old man, I can come here whenever I want!"

Naruto spun and rotated his chakra, adding his wind nature to the technique forming in his hand, then changed its shape. "WIND RELEASE: RASENSHURIKEN!"

The Orange Hokage slammed his own self-invented jutsu into his enemy. After the jutsu detonated upon its target, the center sphere of the jutsu produced a vortex within which the demigod became entrapped in. Countless microscopic wind blades appeared within said vortex on a cellular level...Oh so Naruto thought.

Uragi quickly used the power of the gem to throw a barrier of crimson chakra up to shield himself against the insane number of wind blades it created.

'Damn!' Naruto cursed. "You're up!"

"BLAZE RELEASE: KAGUTSUCHI!"

Uragi was stunned by the unexpected intrusion and almost did not have the time to throw his barrier back up before Sasuke applied shape transformation to the black flames of his Amaterasu. He manipulated the flame at will, using them to engulf his enemy with scorching black heat.

After the flames passed, Uragi could not believe his eyes. "Uchiha! How can you possibly be here?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"


"He's WHAT?!"

"Yes Sakura, Uragi's found the doorway between Shina's mind and mine and now he's crossing over. I can feel it."

"That means you can fight him then?" Karin questioned.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah."

Sakura wasn't going to stand for this. "I'm coming with you!"

"But Sakura—"

"No buts! You're my husband and that's my baby boy in there!"

"You'll need me too," Sasuke insisted.

"And Shina's going to need me!" Sarada proclaimed.

"Me too!" said Hanami.

"But how are we all supposed to—?"

"That's how!" Sasuke said pointing to the two chakra gems he was still holding in his hands, the ones he had used to the bring Uragi into his mindscape in the first place.

Karin seemed confused. "So...what? Does one of us just touch the gems while the rest of us all hold hands?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow. "Precisely."


"WHAT?!" Uragi screamed in shock. "You mean all of you followed us here?!"

Naruto smirked as he charged his next jutsu. "You're damn right!"


"SHINA!"

The blonde could have sworn he heard the sound of his mother's voice, but he had to be going crazy. It was impossible! Slowly he opened his eyes and could make out a feminine shape with pink hair running towards him.

"M-Mom?!"

Sakura immediately fell the her knees and wrapped her boy in a tight hug. "Oh my baby boy! I'm so sorry!"

"M-mom, w-what are you...How are you here?"

"Karin ran up next to Sakura and cleared it up by saying, "Its a long story kid, we'll tell you later."

"Oniichan!" Hanami ran up and wrapped her arms around her big brother. "Oniichan, I'm so glad you're okay."

He wrapped his arms around his sister. "I'm okay Hanami."

Sakura quickly went into medic mode and started healing her son's leg. "I can heal you as much as I can, but you're going to need time for that bone to heal properly."

"I don't have time!" Shinachiku protested. "I have to finish this!"

"Shinachiku Uzumaki! You have done everything you can, now let your father and godfather handle this!"

"But—"

"No buts! That's an order!"

"Aunt Sakura," Sarada interjected, "The least we can do is help Shina over through the doorway to see the fight."

"Sarada's right mom," Shina agreed. "I can already feel Kurama trying to heal me just like you are. Please! I have to end this!"

Sakura looked upon her son, her heart mixed wit terribly conflicted feelings... 'He acting just as stubborn as his father.'

Time was of the essence, and the pink-haired kunoichi was at war with her duties as a ninja and her duties as a mother. What was she going to do...?


"TAILED BEAST BALL!"

Kurama opened his jaws and gathered all of his chakra before releasing it as a colossal ball of pure annihilation! This was a fabled power that can level entire villages in just one shot. No mortal man could possibly withstand it...

...Unfortunately, Uragi Rimonō was no longer a mere man. And so, he used all of the strength of the Power Gem to release an intense, colossal beam of pure crimson chakra energy, one so powerful that it could have single-handedly obliterated all of Konoha had the old man ever taken the opportunity. But instead, now, it was the power that the Taka leader needed to counter the awesome destructive might of the most powerful of the nine tailed beasts.

The clash of power was unbelievable. The entire mindscape shook and quake from the sheer magnitude of power. Not since Naruto himself dueled Kurama for control of the fox's chakra had this place seen such an insane display of power.

Naruto and Sasuke both had to shield their eyes from the force of the titanic beam struggle. But even at that, the two old friends shared a silent exchange. They knew that the old man could only have so much focus left, and if he was giving all he had to hold back Kurama, then this might, finally, prove to be the opening they've been waiting for.

Getting a firm foot hold, Uragi pushed his power further and further forward, thereby pushing the power of the Tailed Beast Ball further back. Kurama, for his part, was flabbergasted that this human had enough control over the gem (or the gem had even control or him) to actually counter him is such a way.

The great struggle continued. The walls were fracturing. It almost looked like Naruto's mindscape could collapse in on itself and destroy them all!

And then, the unthinkable happened...Uragi won! The power of the chakra gem was just barely enough to overcome even the invincible Tailed Beast Ball and knock down the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox! ...But that incredible victory came at a price. Uragi was so exhausted by now that, the power of a god or not, he, whether he still believed it or not, was still only human, and he could not go on much longer...

...And that was exactly what Naruto and Sasuke were counting on! The two of them charged together side by side, Naruto creating his Rasenshuriken in his left hand, and Sasuke his Kagutsuchi in his right hand. The result was both jutsu merging together as one, an oversized shuriken of wind chakra on one side and a large pinwheel of black flame on the other.

"SCORCH RELEASE: HALO HURRICANE JET BLACK ARROW STYLE ZERO!"

The combined jutsu launched Uragi backwards while simultaneously engulfing him in a swirling mass of black flames, perfectly balanced in a ratio of wind to flame, each wind nature complimenting the other.

The two warriors stood side by side as the old man got back up. He clearly had burns all over him, but the gem was still able to shield him from what would otherwise have been a lethal display of combined power.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Uragi boasted arrogantly before being forced to catch his breath. "Haven't you...figured...it out...by now?! I'm invincible!" The old man laughed again like a maniac, so manically that he almost seemed to forget his obvious fatigue, until he let out a cough. "What...what hope...have you...alone?"

"They're not alone."

The old man turned his head in the direction of the doorway. What he saw caused him to curse himself. Shinachiku was standing there, his mother and girlfriend helping him to stand up as his leg was still weak and he could barely walk on it, even with Sakura's masterful healing. Karin and Hanami were also at his side, his little sister holding his hand as he walked.

"For all that power you have," the young blonde said, "that remains your true weakness. That's why I broke free of the gem while you've become its slave. That's the reason you'll lose today."

"What are you saying boy?!"

Shinachiku paused, his green eyes not blinking as he stated at his enemy. "...You're alone Uragi, and I am not."

"FOOLS!"

Uragi charged up his power once again and was about the fire an incinerating blast directly at the blonde nuisance and all those standing with him.

"NO!" Karin shot out dozens of her adamantine chains from her body that held the old man in place, forcing him to lean his body upwards to force the blast at the roof of the Naruto's mindscape. The explosion made the ground quake, caused debris to fall and nearly crush everyone, and the water on the floor to violently splash everywhere. It was a close call, but at least they were alive.

"I've got him!" Karin yelled out. "Now hurry! Finish it!"

"This is for messing with my family!" Hanami charged her strength into her fist and lay a punch straight into the old man's jaw, just like her mother taught her.

The punch was enough to create a small crater in the steel floor of Naruto's midscape making the entire room quake yet again!

'That's my girl...' Skaura smiled in pride that her daughter was already able to display such a sense of strength, so much so that she almost overlooked the utterly gobsmacked expressions on her son's and husband's faces.

'Holy shit!' Shinachiku cursed inside his head.

'My little girl...' Naruto could hardly believe it even if he was already told of it and now saw it with his own two eyes.

"Shina?" Sakura asked in worry. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"I'll be fine mom. Just go do it!"

"Hai!"

As his wife was readying her next attack, Naruto was preparing his own. He reactivated his Sage of Six Paths Mode once again, transforming his body into its most powerful form.

"MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Naruto created eight shadow clones of himself, all of whom were in the same Six Paths Mode as himself. Together, they all began forming their attack.

Sakura charged up her strength once more, ran at her top speed and struck the enemy that nearly destroyed her entire family. "FULL BLOSSOM: CHERRY BLOSSOM IMPACT!"

The blow connected in Uragi's abdomen, and the impact crushed him into the ground, destroying a large part of the steel ground within her husband's mind.

Sarada charged in next her signature jutsu at the ready. "SCORCHING CHIDORI!"

Her father's lightning jutsu was enhanced when her arm caught on fire. She thrust the attack into the weakened and struggling enemy, burning and shocking him all at the same time.

Uragi was falling further and further into unconsciousness, the punishment was so much. Meanwhile, Naruto and his clones were preparing the most powerful jutsu he had in his repertoire, a combination of multiple gifts he'd been granted from the nine tailed beasts.

"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted. "GO!"

"RINNEGAN!" Sasuke reactivated his most powerful dōjutsu to form his powerful avatar. "SUSANNO!"

The Uchiha's Susanno appeared as it did on the battlefields of Konoha, able to fit within the space of his best friend's mindscape. The prodigy ninja wasted no time creating a longbow and arrow infused with his lighting nature chakra. "INDRA'S ARROW!"

The lightning arrow shot from the bow and towards the old man. Yes, yet again the gem helped shield him, but the shielding was weakening. It would not take much longer.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke shouted. "Is it ready?!"

"Yes!"

"Then do it! Do it NOW!"

Naruto had created a Rasenshuriken from his bond with Kurama, while each of his shadow clones created one of their own, each infused with a special chakra property akin to one of the other tailed beasts. One clone had created a Rasenshuriken with magnet and sand abilities, and composed of blue flames, another one composed of swirling water, yet another composed of burning lava, then one that was made up of boiling gas, then one that was made up of acid that resembled soap bubbles, one with scale powder, and finally one made up of splattering ink.

"This ends now!" Naruto cried out both to his opponent and to all of his clones. The time had come for his final attack. "SAGE ART: SUPER TAILED BEAST RASENSHURIKEN!"

The nine different Rasenshuriken were thrown upon Uragi all at once, triggering nine simultaneous, colossal explosions that rocked the mindscape. It truly was a spectacular display of strength and power that no one had seen since the battle against Kaguya during the Fourth Great Shinobi War. In fact, this technique was so powerful that some have gone so far as to call it 'the most marvelous ninjutsu of all time.'

The space fell into dead silence after Naruto's miraculous jutsu left its mark. It felt like it took forever for the smoke from all of the explosions finally clear up, but when it did...The old man was finally down for the count!

"I-Is is over mommy?" Hanami questioned.

Sakura glared at the fallen enemy in suspicion for several seconds before he relaxed and smiled. "I think so sweetie."

"So, does that mean we can go home?" Karin questioned.

"No," Naruto stated. "There's still one last thing the do."

Naruto walked up to the fallen body of Uragi Rimonō. Looking down upon the body, the old man appeared unconscious, the crimson aura that had be surrounding and empowering him this entire time now almost completely gone. Truly, it appeared that this long and costly battle was finally over.

But as Naruto himself said, there was still one more thing that needed to be done before it was too late. He reached for the Power Gem, only barely glowing with power, like a weak, flickering red light bulb. The Orange Hokage focused his mind, trying to sense any traces of life within the old man, but he could find none.

And so, he reached out to the unconscious traitor's chest and grasped his hand around the gem...And that was when something happened that Naruto did not notice...the old man smiled to himself.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

With the last blast of energy he could muster from the gem, Uragi allowed the energy to flow up Naruto right arm. His bandaged prosthetic arm, artificially grown from Hashirama's cells, was consumed with destructive power! The bandages fried to a crisp first, exposing the pale, white appendage for all to see before it too was quickly incinerated. Naruto's blood curdling scream of agony was the stuff of nightmares.

"NARUTO!"

"DAD!"

"DADDY!"

Sakura, Shinachiku and Hanami reacted in abject horror and their husband and father was partially mutilated before their very eyes. His arm was incinerated on a cellular level until he was every bit as armless as he was after his titanic final battle with Sasuke eighteen years ago. Blood was oozing out of his arm at an alarming rate as even Kurama was having to work hard to heal him within his mindscape itself...

...


...

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Everybody on the battle field of Konoha who could still stand was caught in alarm at the sound of their Hokage's blood curdling scream of agony. This entire time—which to them, in the physical world, was only a handful of seconds—they'd waited for Naruto and his friends and family to get back from where the Space Gem had sent them and return home. What they saw instead was utterly traumatizing.

Naruto was screaming because his bandaged arm was suddenly engulfed in a familiar crimson chakra, just before the bandages where burned away and the ugly white arm he hid underneath was destroyed right in front of them, blood spilling everywhere.

Everybody was terrified, especially the children, but for Minato and Kushina the sight of their only son in such a state was like their worst nightmare made real.

The red-haired kunoichi could do nothing to hold back her terror. "NARUTO!"


Back inside Naruto's mind, the blonde Hokage fell to his knees in pain, and Sakura wasted absolutely no time running over to the love of her life as she rapidly began healing him. Karin ran over to him to, offering to let him bite her shoulder to help speed up the healing process. Like back at the Valley of the End, the priority was to cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding before more drastic medical attention could be given.

Sasuke readied his Chidori for one more strike against the tired, weak old traitor.

"NO!" a voice shouted. "He's MINE!"

Shinachiku, still on a limp and mostly broken leg, vowed that he was going to be the one to end this...and he had just the right jutsu to finish the job once and for all.

'I'm sorry mom, I know I made you a promise...'


"Shina," Naruto said, "I still can't believe you did that! You mean to tell me that Kakashi and Konohamaru taught you how to improve a Wind Release: Rasengan?"

"Wind and Fire Release: Rasengan," Shinachiku corrected with a tinge of smugness in his voice.

Sakura was also hugging her son in congratulations. "I knew my little guy would turn out to be something special!"

"Yeah, well, the jutsu still needs a lot of work."

"Well of course dear, you had to rush learning it in such a short amount of time—"

"That's not what I mean mom." The boy whispered in the woman's ear so only she could hear. "The jutsu you saw was just a first step. What I've been working on is something much bigger. But I haven't quite gotten it right and besides, I know from dad's book what it can do to you every time you use it."

Sakura's eyes widened as she gasped in horror at what she feared her son was getting at. "Shina! You can't be serious!"

"I am mom. I was thinking of calling it: "Wind and Fire Release: Scorching Rasenshuriken."

"I don't care what you call it! You know full well what the Rasenshuriken did to your father when he was about your age. As your mother I don't want to see you risk hurting yourself like that just to—"

"I know mom, I know. That's why I didn't use it today. We have too much going on right now to risk me getting put in a hospital room."

Hearing her son say that was already making Sakura feel a lot better. "That's my son." She planted a light kiss on the boy's cheek, much to his embarrassment, and they agreed to leave it at that and keep this their little secret.


He had made her that promise, but after everything else that has happened, this seemed like the only option he had left. 'I'm sorry mom...' "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Two identical versions of himself appeared and began their work as Shinachiku started gathering his chakra...

'Uragi must be stopped, no matter the cost...'

You got the touch, you got the power
Yeah!

"Hey!" Sasuke questioned aloud, "What the hell is that kid doing?"

Only Sarada knew what her new boyfriend had up his sleeve. "Shina..."

As Shinachiku gathered all of his chakra, with some minor help from Kurama, one of his clones was working on helping him maintain rotation and compression into a familiar shape, while the other clone focused both on changing the jutsu's chakra nature and its shape. The Rasengan formed in the boy's hand, before it emitted four large points around the central Rasengan core, resembling a fūma shuriken.

'Please...let this work...'

After all is said and done
You've never walked, you've never run
You're a winner
You got the moves, you know the streets
Break the rules, take the heat
You're nobody's fool

Gradually the jutsu grew, taking a very familiar form that his father so often employed in battle...until, much like his other signature technique, the swirling wind shuriken started to change...

You're at your best when the goin' gets rough
You've been put to the test but it's never enough

"Yes! Its done!"

The technique that the boy had created caught itself on fire, resembling a large shuriken that had been lit aflame on all sides, not just within the core, ready to scorch any opponent that opposed him! The jutsu let out a loud screeching noise accompanied by the whoosh of an intensely flickering flame.

"WIND AND FIRE RELEASE: SCORCHING RASENSHURIKEN!"

You got the touch, you got the power
When all hell's breakin' loose
You'll be riding the eye of the storm
You got the heart, you got the motion
You know that when things get too tough
You got the touch

Uragi, utterly tired and on the verge of passing out himself, now stared in some sense of fear at the boy's new technique. "No!"

Hanami and Sakura stared on even as the latter was continuing to work hard to save her husband's life.

"Shina..."

"Oniichan..."

"URAGI!" the boy shouted. "This is where this story ends! This is where we win!"

With that, the young blonde let out a rebel yell as he harnesses all the strength and endurance he had to stumble forward as fast and desperately as he could on his broken leg, his flaming jutsu still in hand.

You never bend, you never break
You seem to know just what it takes
You're a fighter
It's in the blood, it's in the will
It's in the mighty hands of steel
When you're standin' your ground

Shinachiku kept stumbling forward, as Uragi tried to gather his nearly exhausted willpower to summon forth one more blast of power from the gem. As the boy kept walking forward, he fell to one knee from the intense, almost unbearable pain in his leg.

What kept the boy going, however, were the words that his father said to him before this adventure first began: "This is where your story begins son, but that story is whatever you make it, so make it a good one!"

'I will dad...I promise, I'm going to win!'

And you never get hit when your back's to the wall
Gonna fight to the end and you're takin' it all

And so, Uragi got himself back on one foot again as he pushed forward towards his enemy, finally making it.

"NO! NO!" the old man panicked in fear, himself too exhausted to gather any more power from the gem.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!" With a mighty yell,, the boy slammed his flaming Rasenshuriken straight into his enemies form.

You got the touch, you got the power
When all hell's breakin' loose
You'll be riding the eye of the storm
You got the heart, you got the motion
You know that when things get too tough
You got the touch

The flaming blades of the Rasenshuriken burned and cut their way through the shielding the gem provided. Cutting through, the central sphere finally detonated, consuming Uragi's entire body in a vortex of wind and red hot flame. The old man screaming in agony as within the inferno he could feel countless microscopic wind blades striking him all over his entire body. It was so many blades that even Sasuke and Sarada could not count how many of them there were with their Rinnegan and Sharingan, respectively.

The wind blades, red hot from the effects of the fire, were damaging his body on a cellular level, attacking his chakra circulatory system itself, effectively shattering it to pieces.

You're fightin' fire with fire
You know you got the touch

Naruto, even in all his pain, looked on in amazement, but much more so in pride at what his son had accomplished. "That's my boy..."

You're at your best when the road gets rough
You've been put to the test, but it's never enough

Shinachiku stared up as the jutsu was finally starting the die down and the inferno was weakening. Uragi's no longer moving body fell back to the ground, splashing head first into the water as the wind and fire dissipated.

You got the touch, you got the power
Yeah!
You got the touch, you got the power
Touch!

"Its over." That was all Shinachiku said as he limped over to the body, no truly unconscious and just barely alive, and reached for the Power Gem.

...

But as soon as he touched it, he felt that familiar wave of power rushing back to him. That same power that had corrupted his own soul as badly as it had Uragi himself.

The boy could already feel it taking over his tired mind once again, his body beginning to glow with that aura of crimson chakra. 'The gem is mine...mine...'

...And then, he felt another hand rest on top of his own, the two of them holding the gem together. Looking up in surprise, he saw her face.

"Shina!" Sarada cried out. "Look at me! I'm here for you! I won't let it take you again!"

The boy was stunned, before he felt another, smaller hand take his empty one. "I won't let you go oniichan!"

Hanami shut her eyes and grasped his hand tightly, true to her word, she never wanted to let go.

"Sarada...Hanami..."

Shinachiku was cut off when he felt a strong, masculine hand upon his shoulder. "I'm here too son!"

Looking up, he saw his father, his right arm missing but the bleeding stopped thanks to his mother's advanced healing, smiling down at him and filling him with warmth the way only he could.

"Dad..."

He then felt another pair of arms warp themselves around his torso and hug him from the back. "Shina! Mommy's here too. Don't let it control you."

"Mom..."

He felt another woman's hand reach out to him by the arm. "I'm here too Shina!"

"Aunt Karin..."

Then he felt one last hand reach out to him, another masculine hand that rested upon his other shoulder. "We're all here! You've got to come back to us!"

"Uncle Sasuke..."

They were here, all of them. All of them were here for him...And that was all he needed to snap himself back to reality and overcome the lure of the Power Gem once and for all!

It was just like he told the old man, about why he would lose while they would win today: "You're alone...and I am not."

The red chakra consumed the seven of them...And then the light subsided. The power of the gem retreated back into the palm-sized relic from whence it came!

"SEAL IT!" Shinachiku shouted.

Sasuke quick unraveled a sealing scroll he kept on his person and made some quick one-handed hand signs to seal the gem inside the scroll...And just like that, it was all over.

The chaos of the battle had run its course. The enemy was defeated, the gem was secure, and the fighting was at an end.

Shinachiku Uzumaki took a deep breath before he looked around him to see his family and friends, and even a certain giant fox spirit, all smiling at him. He smiled back with a goofy thumbs up. "Thanks you guys..."

...And with that, the boy passed out.

"SHINA!" Sarada, Sakura and Hanami shouted.

"He's fine," Sasuke insisted. "He's just exhausted. He's had a hell of a day."

"I think we all have," Naruto agreed. "Just let him sleep."

Sakura took her precious little boy into her arms, hugging him as he slept. "Oh my Shina, mama's so proud of you."

Naruto felt a tug on his pants and looked down to see the worried look in his daughter's beautiful sapphire eyes. "Daddy, is oniichan going to be alright?"

He got on one knee, smiled, and place his one remaining arm on her head. "Your brother's going to be alright sweetheart. We just need to give him plenty forest and healing."

"He's not the only one who needs healing," Karin said, pointing out the obvious.

Naruto looked to his right side and remembered his missing arm. "Oh, yeah...Talk about déjà vu."

Naruto then felt Sasuke place his own one remaining hand on his shoulder. "Come on dobe, lets get you and the kid home."

"Hai."

Sasuke went over the unconscious body of Uragi and flung him over his shoulder. No sooner had he done that than Karin stood in his way. She punched him square in the gut, then wrapped her arms around his neck for a deep, passionate kiss.

"What was that for?"

"That's for dying on me and then coming back you jerk!"

Sasuke smirked. "I love you two babe." He leaned in to kiss her once more.

Naruto looked on as he placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Sakura..."

The pinkette turned to see her husband's smiling face. Something came over her also and she, still holding her son, claimed his lips with her own. Naruto happily closed his eyes and wrapped his arm around her back.

"I love you so much Naruto," she said with tears in her eyes.

"I love you too Sakura."

Sarada smiled at both sets of parents before looking at the blonde-haired boy asleep in his mother's arms. She smiled at him, her heart feeling a flutter, before she felt a tiny hand take hold of her own. She looked down to see a little girl with pink hair looking up at her.

"Arigato." That was all Hanami said, and yet it was enough. Sarada and the girl embraced in an almost sisterly hug.

"Hey!" Sasuke called out. "Lets go you kids! We're getting out of here!"

"Coming dad!" Sarada shouted.

"Hai Uncle Sasuke!" Hanami said.

When the kids joined them, and after Kurama wished them farewell, the seven shinobi and their unconscious prisoner vanished from the mindscape in a mix of blue and green light.


In that same mix of blue and green light, the company reappeared back on the battlefield. All of their friends and allies were rallying around them. Sai, noticing the unconscious prisoner Sasuke had flung over his shoulder, signaled for one of his Anbu forces to bind Uragi's hands and feet.

"NARUTO!" Kushina yelled as she and Minato rushed up to the front of the crowd. "My baby! What happened to my grandson?! AHH! And what happened to your arm?!"

The Orange Hokage sweat dropped and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Hehehe...its kind of a long story mom."

"Naruto," Gaara interrupted politely. "Is it over?"

Looking back over at his son, sound asleep in his wife's arms, the Seventh Hokage took a deep breath and said, "Yes old friend, its over."


WOW! Its over! Its finally over! I have to confess to you guys that after writing this story for so long now, I can't help but feel very proud (and kind of relieved) that I finally made it to the end of the battle! I REALLY hope I made all of you happy with the climax and that this ending was to your liking.

But since I just said that, let me clarify that when I say 'ending,' I only mean the end of the big battle and of the main story. There is still one last chapter to come to tie up the loose ends. So please do me a big favor and remember to come back for that one too. LOL!

The idea of the final pat of the battle happening inside of Shinachiku's mind was not part of the original plan for this story, it was something that I decided on while I was writing Chapter 49. I wanted to come up with something to make Shinachiku's final battle with Uragi unique and unexpected. And then I saw the ending of "X-Men: Apocalypse," when Xavier fights Apocalypse on the astral plane. That got me thinking about how many different creative ways the differing powers of the Chakra Gems could be used together, and it gave me this crazy idea that maybe the Space Gem and the Mind Gem could be used together to teleport yourself into somebody else's mind! In the worlds of Neo from "The Matrix": "Whoa..."

The one thing I do kind of regret about taking the battle in this direction is that I wasn't able to brainstorm that much truly mindbending imagery to sell the surrealism of this environment. The fight on the multi-directional stairs was the best I could come up with, and even that was inspired by "Relativity," a famous lithograph print by M.C. Escher.

The imagery of their fight destroying the Uzumaki House was, again, inspired by Xavier and Apocalypse's fight in "X-Men: Apocalypse." I featured the Uzumaki house in so many of my stories that I thought seeing Shinachiku destroying it (even if it is just a construct of it inside his mind) would be bittersweet and appropriate for this climax.

The doorway into Naruto's mind was something I felt obviously had to be there in some form because, as I've already established, Kurama created a link between him and both of Naruto's kids, so there had to be a connective bridge somewhere. And that allowed me to change the setting midway through to set the second part of the battle inside the dark, flooded dungeon environment we all recognize as Naruto's mindscape.

Yep! I blew up Naruto's arm for the second time! I have a reason for that which you'll see in the final chapter, but it seemed like the right thing to do to shock my readers and so that both father and son each pay a physical price for facing Uragi.

I set up the Wind and Fire Release: Scorching Rasenshuriken back in Chapter 42 and I intentionally saved it for this final moment. Seriously, a Rasenshuriken that is entirely engulfed in fire! How awesome an image is that?!

The song I used for Shinachiku's final defeat of Uragi is "The Touch" by Stan Bush. For those of you who don't know, the song was originally written for the Sylvester Stallone movie "Cobra," but instead it was used very memorably in "The Transformers: The Movie." It was also featured in the movie "Boogie Nights," but it was its use in Transformers that inspired me to use it here and it was a song I was set on using for the climax from the very beginning. I believed that, despite any inherent sense of 80s cheese it may have, the song would highlight Shinachiku's victory over Uragi similarly to how it did Optimus Prime's final battle with Megatron and later Rodimus Prime's defeat of Galvatron and Unicron.

The scene of all the other's placing their hands on Shinachiku to help him overcome the Power Gem's control was inspired by two sources. The first was the climax of "Guardians of the Galaxy," when the Guardians all hold hands to gain control of the Power Stone long enough to destroy Ronan. This was a scene I was expecting to incorporate from pretty much the beginning, but by the time I finally got here it didn't seem to go with the themes I had set up to have Shinachiku outright kill Uragi, even after all that he's done.

That brings me to the second inspiration for the scene, the classic "Justice League Unlimited" episode "Divided We Fall." At the end of that episode, the final part of the Cadmus story line, the Flash overcomes the odds and single-handedly defeats a fusion of Lex Luthor and Brainiac, but at the cost of vanishing into the Speed Force. He gets pulled back by all six of his teammates coming to his rescue. and that is very much the atmosphere of this scene between Shinachiku and his loved ones.

I think that is all I have for this time. I really hope you guys enjoyed this climactic chapter, I thank you all for coming along on the ride, and I hope to see all of you back for the epilogue.

Until next time, see ya!