Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"When the sun goes down, I scream loud, I'll sleep when I die. But I will never die, my legacy is alive."


The rain thundered down from the sky.

Sheets and sheets of warm liquid poured from the heavens in a never ending shower. It was the sixth day of the storm; a constant stream of heavy rain clouds roaring their way down from the valleys of the north and into temperate climates. It was the heaviest rain to date in Fire Country, breaking record books stretching back to the time of the Shodaime, and even to the earliest records of the nomadic ninja tribes that had once roamed the land. Some residents of Fire country had panicked, fearing the great flood and landslides that followed. Others revered the rain.

However, some were apathetic. To a good shinobi, the rain, after all, was just another obstacle meant to be overcome, or another blessing to be taken advantage of.

But to certain shinobi, the rain was a playground, untapped potential waiting to be called upon.

Uzumaki Naruto stared up at the clouds.

He liked the rain, he mused.

Steadying a steaming hot pot of tea on his table, Naruto poured himself a cup, legs folding into a relaxed kneel. He eyed the rain as he poured his tea.

Rain.

It was clean, refreshing. It washed away the dirt and the blood. And it masked the disgust and the disdain and the rot that gripped the world. For when it rained, those from all walks of life came together to find shelter. It was, he thought, the high heavens perfect creation. It was a uniting, peaceful bringer of life.

Naruto sipped on the brew, savoring the warmth that trickled down his throat and spread through his body with each mouthful.

But yet, he thought, it was also a terrible force of destruction. One that he was very well acquainted with. His lips twitched, eyes fixated on the skies as a bright yellow flash of lightning raced across the grey clouds, illuminating the falling rain. He closed his eyes, listening to the drops pour onto his rooftops, clattering and pattering loudly against his brick tile.

The sound was so very familiar, and it brought him back years, to times more desperate and more violent. It reminded him of fields of death, of rain falling loudly in empty courtyards. It reminded him of his own two feet running steadily with the sound of the rain, ghosting through buildings and slaughtering to the even tempo of a storm, his chakra crackling like the lightning overhead. He remembered binding the storms to his will, his body becoming the thunder, his speed as fast as the yellow bolts across the sky and his power as constant as a torrential downpour.

"Sensei?"

Naruto slid his eyes open. A raven haired little girl met his gaze, an uncertain look painted on her face. She was perched on the wooden steps leading to the garden and her clothes were soaked, dirty in places from the rain and the mud. Naruto's fingers uncurled from around his tea cup and he gently placed it onto the table in front of him.

"Yes, Hitomi?" he spoke, hands retreating into the sleeves of his simple cloth yukata.

The girl looked down, breaking her steady stare. She shuffled her feet for a second before she looked up at Naruto, giving him a haughty look.

"I've finished with the obstacle course. Shall I start with jutsu practice?"

The girl stared at him, a hint of hope lurking in her eyes behind all of that defiance.

Naruto was silent for a moment.

Those eyes were so familiar. Almost too much so. It hadn't been that long ago he'd seen those eyes on another dark haired, smoky eyed ninja.

"No. Run it again."

The girl faltered for a moment, biting back a snappy retort.

"But sensei…"

Naruto's eyes looked down to his tea, shadowed under the bangs of his hair.

"Again Hitomi. Now."

Hitomi stood there for a moment almost as if she would say something, would talk back to the blonde sitting so easily and lazily on the patio. But she didn't, instead spinning away into the rain and toward the obstacle course again. From under shadowed eyes, Naruto watched her leave.

"You certainly don't cut her any slack, do you?" a voice remarked.

Naruto scoffed before taking a sip of his tea, blue orbs still watching his student through the rain, the flash of the red and white fan plastered on her clothes catching his gaze. He waved his hand forward, gesturing the new voice to sit.

Iruka knelt across from the blonde and busied himself with pouring his own cup of tea. He glanced up at his former student.

"She's pretty powerful in her own right you know? Don't you think the obstacle course is a bit too…basic for her now?" said the man.

Naruto clasped his tea in his hands, giving the older nin a sharp look.

"You should know better than anyone that basics are the key Iruka."

He turned his gaze back to the girl, watching her fall into the water and mud as the rain poured.

"And, it keeps her humbled."

"Ah", Iruka nodded, placing the teapot down. "A hard thing to be for those who are powerful", he remarked. The two fell silent, watching Hitomi slog through the mud, dodging kunai and shuriken, her form and balance a picture of grace.

"She is very skilled", the former teacher observed, "Like a student I had a long time ago. Naturally gifted in the shinobi arts."

Naruto merely shrugged, head tilting upward. His yukata billowed in the breeze wafting in from the open patio, rain showering it with droplets.

"She will not be like her father."

The teacher and student watched Hitomi fall the mud below, face covered in slick goo as a pair of shuriken pierced her thigh. She grimaced in pain before pulling them out and throwing them away, fingers pulling together into the hand seals for a quick kawarimi.

"No, no I don't think she will be Naruto" Iruka murmured.

Naruto hummed in agreement as he pulled his hand from his sleeve, tearing his gaze away from his student to look down at the droplets of rain covering his yukata. He frowned, and then ran a finger across the cloth.

Iruka watched as the droplets on Naruto's clothes shimmered and then evaporated. He glanced at the blonde's nonchalant face and then up to the raging storm. Iruka pulled a mournful look, glancing back at Naruto.

"So, any chance for you to change the weather around here?" he asked. "It's been raining for a week and the school might flood!"

Naruto looked up at the storm, eyeing the lightning streaking across the sky.

"Not even I can find a way to stop this storm Iruka-sensei", said Naruto, reaching an arm out to motion to the rain, yukata sleeve sliding down his arm, giving way to a band of intricate seal work tattooed into his skin.

Iruka snorted, eyeing the blonde briefly, eyes trailing up his arm before giving his former student an incredulous face. Naruto gave him an exasperated look, hand coming back to rest on his lap, sleeve once again falling in place. Iruka began to talk, un-phased.

"Mahh, mahh, Naruto, help out an old man. They don't call you Kaze no Kami for nothing", he quipped, staring pointedly at the hint of ink that barely poked its way from the confines of Naruto's yukata sleeve. The blonde just sighed, making a clicking noise with his tongue. He gave Iruka a sidelong glance.

"Tch. No one has called me that in years."

Iruka laughed.

"Mm, well, that's where you're wrong, Ruh-ai-den-sama. They still whisper your name out there you know? The war might be over, but the people haven't forgotten and you know shinobi have long memories"

Naruto was silent.

"Remember? The second yellow flash, master of hiraishin, the god of wind who could summon a storm with just a thought! Thunderbolt!"

A hint of a smile tugged on Naruto's lips as he listened to his old teacher ramble on.

"That was always my favorite", quipped Iruka, "Thunderbolt! Why didn't I ever have a nickname like that?"

A sad smile pulled at Naruto's lips, his eyes and voice suddenly taking on a tired tinge.

"I would not wish my power on anyone Iruka-sensei."

The two fell silent, memories of lightning and water and the whole world set ablaze with fire. Memories of demons and kami and the very foundations of the earth shaking. They sat in silence and remembered as they watched Naruto's young student, the last relic of a cursed family, sweat and bleed in the rain and mud. They watched, and they remembered.

Finally, Iruka spoke, and when he did his jovial tone had gone, leaving only a somber note in his voice.

"No…I would not either. Your power is a terrible, terrible thing."


Naruto can still remember the smell of burning flesh curling its way through his nostrils. He can still remember the acrid, sweet smell hanging around him like a fog. It's imprinted in his brain, the same way kage bunshin is, the same way throwing on a quick, empty smile is.

Naruto remembers the crackle of burnt wood and the sound of dying flames, drowned out by a heavy storm.

And the blonde can still remember the empty, haunted look in his sensei's eyes as the silver haired man cradles a disfigured Sakura, her face burned beyond recognition, melted skin and blood roping their way across her pale face.

Naruto doesn't say a word as Kakashi heals what damage he can, using jutsu he's copied and mastered over decades of service to reverse the damage to his pink haired teammate's fair skin. But the damage is done. It's already too late, and Sakura is too far gone. There is nothing either of them can do for her now. So Naruto looks away, stomach flipping as he surveys the total destruction around him.

Dozens of nin slaughtered. Swathes of Konoha forest burnt down. And a black fire that burns eerily, even in the rain and darkness.

"Amaterasu…", says a voice over Naruto's shoulder. The blonde turns his gaze around, eyes coming to find Jiraiya of the Sannin sealing a lingering flame within a scroll.

"Your rain jutsu gives it quite a run for its money. It's nearly out of power", remarks the Toad Sage, straightening up and gesturing at the dying fire around them.

Naruto nods faintly, still watching the flickering flames dance beneath his Kyuubi powered rain storm. The water whips around them as he adds more chakra, urging the rain pouring down from the heavens to douse the sharingan created fire.

"Do you have a name for it yet?" questions Jiraiya. Naruto merely shrugs, still pondering the destruction. The smell of burnt flesh won't leave his senses, and his nature chakra is roaring at him, telling him that this…this carnage is not right.

Behind them Kakashi is carrying Sakura into a hurriedly made tent to be treated by arriving medics. He's done what he can. But her face will never be the same.

Jiraiya watches them go.

"She'll be lucky if she even retains use of her eyes. Her career as a shinobi might as well be over", Jiraiya says softly, still speaking to a motionless Naruto.

Naruto clenches his hands, fingernails digging into his skin. Lightning crackles above them and the wind gusts through the destroyed forest. He says nothing still, following Jiraiya as the older man passes him.

The shinobi working in the destroyed forest part like water around the two ninja. Naruto can see the momentary stares. The unsure glances and hesitant steps around him. His chakra is thrumming, blood hot underneath his skin. The ninja give him a wide berth.

Around them a forward base is being setting up. ANBU and jounin create a crude campsite, establish communication lines and set perimeter patrols. Masks flit in and out of Naruto's peripheral vision, and he can see Tenzo ordering dull white uniforms around in the darkness.

Konoha is coming. And each drop of blood spilt only increases its resolve.

Soon there will be nowhere to run. And nowhere to hide.

They are closing in.

The two ninja come to stop in front of the last sputtering flames of Amaterasu. Chakra powered rain pelts them, and the drops drip down Jiraiaya's face as he watches Naruto stare into the black abyss.

The blonde crouches, Jiraiya at his back, focusing more chakra powered rain onto the last vestige of crackling black Amaterasu. Within moments it is doused, and Naruto reigns his chakra in, coiling it tight around his body. The pressure and the hum of his power fade away, as does the pouring rain and the streaks of lightning arcing across the sky, much to the relief of ANBU around them. All that's left is a strong wind circling the blonde, wisps of blue chakra dying in the night.

Once the wind dies down to a gentle breeze, Naruto straightens, thrusting tattooed arms into his black coat as he turns past Jiraiya, walking towards Sakura's tent.

"He'll be lucky if he has his eyes after this sensei."

Jiraiya only grimaces as Naruto disappears behind him.

Uchiha Sasuke's days are numbered. The sharingan's days are numbered.


The day Naruto catches up with Sasuke it is raining, just the way he likes it.

For a clash between two titan shinobi, it isn't a grand affair. It isn't Madara vs Hashirama. It isn't even Jiraiya vs Orochimaru vs Tsunade epic in scale.

Naruto quickly and brutally kills every single ninja that is with Sasuke.

He starts with Karin. Using the wind as his path, nature chakra as his guide, he appears right behind her, seemingly out of thin air. It is a combination of Pein and Hanzo's incredible use of rain as a tool for situational awareness, and his father's patented Hiraishin. Whatever rain touches, he can touch too. He still doesn't have a name for it, but it doesn't matter, not now.

What matters is that it works. And it makes him unstoppable.

He snaps her neck before she even realizes he's there, unable to make use of her sensor skills.

Naruto turns to face a shocked Juugo, ripping a blade of wind through his neck and decapitating him before he can so much as make a move, at the same time as the rain around him compresses and whips into some Akatsuki fodder.

Suigetsu attempts to attack Naruto with his preferred element; water. Lightning shrieks around them instead. The blonde doesn't even turn around as he stalks toward the cave Sasuke is waiting for him in, keen ears hearing Kakashi gut the former mist ninja with Zabuza's old blade. Suigetsu chokes to death on his own blood, eyes glazing over as he watches Hatake Kakashi walk calmly after Naruto, sealing kubikiri houcho away into a scroll.

Naruto wastes no time on pleasantries with Sasuke.

Using the rain around him he floods the dark haired ninja out of the cave he's holed himself in. And with a spinning rasenshuriken he obliterates it behind him.

That, at least, has the Uchiha's attention.

And then they fight.

Three years with one of the most versatile ninja to ever walk the planet, Jiraiya, and a few years of solo training with Hatake Kakashi, jounin before most were even genin, really changes a person. So does a few years of war.

Naruto was always a child capable of forgiving.

That part of him is long gone.

So instead of bringing Sasuke back, like so many want him to, he destroys him.

"Please."

Uchiha Sasuke pleads as blood dribbles from his mouth and streams from his one remaining eye.

"Please Naruto. Please."

Uchiha Sasuke pleads in his last moments of life.

Water has quenched his fire completely. Lightning has cut his nerves, and wind has slit his throat. The elements have turned against him, and his Susanoo has shattered under the weight of a true god. And as talented as Sasuke is with lightning, Naruto is even better.

Naruto has torn the world asunder. He has held nothing back against the 'last' Uchiha. The same being that once carved out swaths of land with a flick of its tail and raised tsunamis with a stomp of its paw walks again, with Naruto as its avatar.

Sasuke lies broken at his feet.

A lightning strike from heaven paralyzes Sasuke from the waist down, and a hand of wind tears out his left eye. Tsukuyomi is no use here, not with the Kyuubi and nature chakra so in tune within Naruto. But the blonde takes no chances. So when the sharingan eye is torn out and in his hands, he calmly disintegrates it with a flash of lightning chakra.

As Naruto looks down on his shattered old team mate, he feels no remorse. No sympathy. Of the 'Rookie Nine' Sasuke has killed four.

The wind around Naruto swirls agitatedly.

Sasuke is talking nonsense. Gibberish. But he's talking. More than he's done in the last five years.

So Naruto listens patiently.

Naruto can still remember Uchiha Sasuke's last words. Because they are a plea. Not for himself. But for someone else. And Sasuke has never put others interests before his.

In the moment Naruto thinks his old teammate has gone even more insane, has gone even more off the deep end than previously thought.

But then Kyuubi rumbles in his mind and nature swirls around him and tells him that Sasuke is telling the truth. That he's not lying. That his plea is not for him.

Sasuke, in his last moments alive, is lucid. He is not insane, driven mad by cursed eyes and a cursed seal. He is not the mentally imbalanced, homicidal maniac that has wreaked havoc across the elemental nations in the name of a long dead ancestor.

In his last moments Sasuke wishes and pleads for a life more important than his own.

So Naruto listens. He accepts it all.

He nods and see's the relief bloom on Sasuke's face.

He watches Sasuke smile, something he hasn't seen since they were children on the same genin team.

He watches him mouth the words 'thank you'.

And then watches calmly as Kakashi puts a raikiri through Uchiha Sasuke's brain.


Naruto is twenty years old when Kakashi kills Sasuke.

He doesn't feel a thing. Except maybe regret. Regret for the fact that Sasuke could have been something more. Something greater. Instead he ended up as another kill count of Sharingan Kakashi's long list of enemies.

He watches impassively as the older man uses the pouring rain to clean himself off, blood slick over both his arms and dripping from his silver hair, his mind wandering to Sasuke's last words.

They have a mission still it seems.

Two weeks later they are crouched by a river bed in some remote location, recouping after killing some Zetsu clones and pockets of Akatsuki mercenary ninja. They're looking for something hidden, something only seen to a sharingan eye. Sasuke has hidden his last gift well, only too aware of who would want it. And who could use it.

So Kakashi is bordering on chakra exhaustion after days, eye constantly out and searching. They've lost track of time and space, inching their way slowly back and forth between Fire country and Rice, the dead Uchiha's body sealed safely in a scroll in Kakashi's vest pocket.

The two talk frequently, long conversations in their down time on jutsu theory and creation. About tactics and battle plans. Kakashi is a once in a generation genius, now willing to impart his knowledge on his last capable student. Naruto is only too willing to soak it all up.

Days pass. And then weeks. Naruto knows they are close, his chakra can sense it. He can hear Kyuubi muttering in the depths of his mind of 'cursed eyes' and his nature chakra thrums in anticipation. He thinks Kyuubi is speaking on long dead Uchiha, perhaps Madara, maybe Itachi. Maybe Sasuke.

After nearly three weeks of searching what he finds makes his blood run cold.

They find the subject of Sasuke's dying rambling in an abandoned lab a mile into Fire Country territory, hidden under a multi layered, complex genjutsu.

Kakashi finds it on their third day in the area, eyes finally unravelling the illusions placed over an entrance hidden beneath the flowing water of a calm creek bed. It is Naruto's swell of chakra that breaks the genjutsu and forces the door of the lab open.

The two step into the darkness. Water drips down their cloaks and onto the floor, the slow pitter patter echoing in the empty lab.

Rust and the smell of mildew permeate their senses and Naruto's nose twitches at the smell of coppery blood that lingers in the air. Lightning crackles to life as Kakashi lifts a hand and illuminates the interior of presumably one of Orochimaru's old haunts. The facility has seen better days. Naruto blinks as his eyes adjust, chakra unfurling around him as his senses reach out into the depths of the building. He gazes at the scattered papers and empty food containers. There are paint brushes scattered around, drops of blue and pink paint staining the floor. His brain slows and processes the image.

He glances at Kakashi. But the copy nin is already moving, staring into the darkness at the other end of the room as his feet take him further down a long hallway leading down into the lab.

Naruto follows. By now they've reached the same conclusion. Naruto's charka tightens in anticipation.

There is only one person in the complex besides themselves. One tiny blip of chakra on his proverbial radar. Well hidden and controlled, but still there.

They are silent as they walk down the hallway, the hum of Kakashi's lightning swathed hand the only noise between the two.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Crunch.

Naruto looks down. Underneath his boot is a small doll, crushed under his weight. A child's toy.

He takes a deep breath.

Naruto's fingers splay out against the door at the end of the hall. The reinforced steel creaks under his chakra pressure.

There is a chakra signature on the other side.

Naruto slides the door off its hinges and steps through the doorway.

He peers in as a lightbulb flickers in the room. Kakashi stiffens and there is a sharp intake of breath.

The shadows play across a small pale face, dark locks of hair falling over a terrified expression.

And a single tomoe sharingan eye peers back at him through the darkness.


They rush back to Konoha.

But they aren't fast enough. Word has spread, naturally, of Sasuke's death. Ninja across the nations are moving now, putting plans into actions and creating more as they go. The window for many of these plans, now that Sasuke is dead, is closing. No one knows this better than Danzo Shimura.

So in the darkness of Konoha, he moves.

Akatsuki is nearly broken. The Kyuubi container is to blame for that. His plans for a world thrust into war are nearly derailed. Naruto must be made an example of, as well as his supporters. Danzo Shimura is a fanatic. A zealot. And his version of Konoha will exist. One way or another.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to Naruto that ROOT would show up eventually.

It shouldn't have been a surprise when they demanded that he turn Uchiha Sasuke's body over for research purposes. Any power hungry government would lick their chops at the opportunity to study the last Uchiha's body in an attempt to recreate the Sharingan.

It would have surprised him to know what a collection of eyes Danzo kept on his arm. And it would have surprised him if ROOT operatives hadn't tried to pry the one sharingan eye out of the skull of the girl riding on his back, if they'd known she'd had one that is.

What surprises Naruto the most however, are the words that come spewing from the ROOT operatives lips moments after telling them that Sasuke's head, and thus his eyes, have been destroyed.

"…the Hokage?" Naruto half asks, not quite sure what he is hearing. Behind him Kakashi straightens, and the blonde can feel the chakra gathering in his sensei's eye without even looking.

"Yes. In direct violation of orders sent down by the Rokudaime Hokage Danzo-sama", the masked ninja says.

Rokudaime Hokage Danzo. Meaning Godaime Hokage Tsunade has been replaced. Tsunade has been removed. Baa-chan is no longer Hokage. For some reason. Somehow. In no good world would Danzo ever be made Hokage. Which means he has taken it by force. And Tsunade is captive. Or worse, dead.

Konoha is rotting from its roots.

Naruto learns that day that the greatest enemies are always from within.

Behind Naruto, Kakashi just chuckles darkly, lightning crackling to life in his hand, sharingan swirling madly. The silver haired man is teetering on the brink of insanity. He always has been. But now there's no leash. No tether. Nothing stopping him from falling off the deep end.

Naruto glances at the collected nin in front of him with tired eyes. Killing Konoha ninja is one thing. But these are not shinobi of Konoha. They are readying jutsu, tensing for his sensei's attack.

The girl on his back buries her head into his shoulder. And it reminds Naruto of why they're here.

He laughs. His chakra explodes.

And the thunder rolls.


The two ninja fight their way into the center of village, chakra crackling around them as they cut down swathes of enemy nin. Naruto is bemused. Surely there could not be this many Root operatives in Konoha. Kakashi grunts something about mercenaries, multiple headbands and foreign techniques. The little girl strapped to Naruto's back buries her head into his hair as he cuts down a shinobi with stone skin. So much help from so many places just for two ninja.

At least Danzo was serious, Naruto muses.

Sensei and student kill more shinobi in the span of ten minutes than they have in the past months. It is a never ending stream with no end in sight. By now Naruto has called down the rain, and around them a storm thunders in fury. Water pours into the streets, mixing with the blood of those dead, sloshing together to create a sickly mud.

The two keep going, flashes of lightning passing between them.

And as Kakashi guts the last enemy with chidori, Danzo finally appears.

It is like a scene from a horror movie. Swathed in bandages, from head to toe, only Danzo's face and sickly white arm are revealed. And embedded in them are the unblinking crimson tint of sharingan eyes. He gazes at them unflinchingly, and Naruto is struck with the thought that Danzo had turned himself into the Uchiha monster he'd hated all along.

Time seemingly slows to a halt around the three shinobi. Naruto and Kakashi share a glance and then the copy nin is flashing away, the little girl now curled in his arms as he takes her to safety.

Some remaining Root operatives slither out of the woodwork to chase after them, but Naruto doesn't even spare them a look as lightning arcs down from the sky and kills them with impunity. He just stares, blue eyes locked on the experiment that Danzo has turned himself into.

The old war hawk's lips twitch as he watches his soldiers die.

"Look at us", he rasps.

Naruto can't help but think Danzo has never been one for monologuing, and he has long lost the desire to change someone's heart, so he cocks his head and listens.

"Two monsters at the end of it all."

Naruto tilts his head back and laughs.

He is twenty one when he kills Danzo Shimura.

It is the most insane fight he has ever been in. Danzo has ten lives. Ten chances to die. And Naruto enjoys killing him each and every time.

Neither talk as they trade jutsu. Danzo is good, and Naruto can't help but respect the old man. He is subtle, and there are no flashy techniques and loud calls of jutsu names as the two fight. Just flashes of steel, and lightning and wind, and red sharingan blurring in and out of view.

But Izanagi will not stop Naruto. Not now. Not ever. And as Naruto slits Danzo's throat for the third time, the tenth sharingan eye closes forever on the old man's arm.

Just one left.

Danzo is panting now and across the rubble of a building he glares up at Naruto through the rain.

A single sharingan eye flashes to life and Naruto can only wonder what final trick Danzo has up his sleeve.

Surprisingly there is no action, only words. A command actually. One to stop and surrender. One to give up and kill himself. One to give into Konoha. To Danzo's Konoha. One to give up Kyuubi. To cast away his sage power. To call back his storm. To give up being Uzumaki Naruto.

For a moment the blonde stares at Danzo and considers it. Like he's always had. What would it be like to stop being Uzumaki Naruto? To die?

He watches Danzo smirk, trembling as he pushes himself to his knees.

Surrender. Give up.

The voice echoes in his head. The Kyuubi rumbles in his mind, a deep low laugh and Naruto can't help but chuckle as well as his chakra surges.

"No.", he whispers back.

Kotoamatsukami is a relic of a bygone age. And it holds no sway over a sage, much less the Kyuubi.

No more lives. No more chances. No resurrections this time.

A flash of yellow in the rain, and Naruto's rasengan blows a hole the size of a watermelon out Danzo's back.

And as Naruto stares down at the bloody remains of Danzo Shimura, he wonders if this was how old man Sarutobi ever thought it would end.


An: This came to me in a dream. Tbc.