Deus Ex Machina:
It had come to this then.
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi made their way through the barren wastes. And all around them were cocoons where the people of the world were imprisoned. They knew now that their cause was nearly hopeless. Madara was powerful beyond measure, but they also knew they were the only hope for a new day to dawn.
Madara greeted them, clad in a white trenchcoat and smirking. "So, you've managed to escape the Infinite Tsukiyomi have you?
"You are fools! I am Madara Uchiha! I have all the potential you ever could have, and it is realized! The Ten-tales flow through my veins! My very glance is beyond your power to even look upon!
"The Infinite Tsukiyomi is the thing that will wash away all that has gone before! In every mind is my will, and every eye sees only what I desire of it!
"I am victorious before you were even born! You stand before me now simply that I could show you your helplessness!
"Now-"
And then a wind kicked up, and on the wind, a white object flowed forward and landed behind Madara. He turned to it in irritation, and Naruto tried to make it out. "Is that... a bouquet of flowers?"
And then the flowers, made of paper, began to shift and change and took on the form of a familiar blue-haired woman. And she was clad in blue. "Not quite yet."
"Konan?!" said Naruto. "Where have you been? We thought you were dead?!"
"So, Nagato's harlot has chosen to join the fray," said Madara. "I must admit, I would have preferred Obito. But, by all means, explain what you are doing here."
"I knew that you would come for the Rinnegan," said Konan, looking to Naruto. "And I calculated that Naruto would not be able to defeat you, even if he had it. The powers would take too long to master.
So instead, I infused a huge amount of my chakra into the bouquet of flowers I gave him. From this, I was able to regenerate at will. Then I made my attempt to destroy him?"
"So what?" scoffed Madara. "Do you think that you can stop me?"
"Of course," said Konan. "After all, you are under my genjutsu."
And then Madara looked at his arm, which seemed normal, and his eyes widened as he tried to shake off something. "WHAT?!
"That's not possible! I'm supposed to be immune to all lesser Shinobi arts!"
"Are you immune to your own arts?" asked Konan, and Naruto didn't know what she meant by that.
"How... when could you have had time? We haven't even..." Madara looked around. "The Rinnegan."
"Nagato left instructions for what to do in case he died, and your masked minion would take his Rinnegan. I inserted a passive genjutsu he created into both Rinnegan. Anyone who utilized any of the powers would put themselves under a spell," said Konan. "This genjutsu works continually with every use. And it draws on your own chakra for that purpose.
"And since your vaunter power is sufficient to hurt you, so too can the genjutsu!"
Madara narrowed his eyes. "Foolish woman! Do you think such a feeble trick can hold me!" And he put together his hands. "Genjutsu, release!"
And as he did so, his arms began to bubble and burn, and his flesh churned with chakra. But if he felt it, he did not show it, not even as blood poured from his eyes.
"You can't release it, Madara," said Konan. "The art of releasing a genjutsu is rejecting the chakra that is foreign to your systems. But there is no quick fix to ridding yourself of the illusions you cast into your own system.
"More importantly, you are using the Rinnegan constantly to maintain the Infinite Tsukuyomi. And now, your genjutsu breaking is filtering out the foreign chakra from your systems.
"Isn't your chakra maintaining the Infinite Tsukiyomi?"
Madara's eyes widened. He realized that the cocoons were falling to pieces all around them. "What?! NO!
"How could I not-" And then he looked at his body and realized he had collapsed. People fell from the spell, landing as the Infinite Tsukiyomi faded from the moon. "How?!"
"Genjutsu," said Konan. "The first instinct of any shinobi who realizes they are under one is to dispel it. You, a contender for God of the Shinobi, must have known that. But when dispelling your own genjutsu, you drew on all the power from your Infinite Tsukiyomi.
"Including the energies of the God Tree."
"Impossible!" said Madara in a panic. "I'm being torn apart, destroyed by the energies of the God Tree!"
"Yes," said Konan. "And vice versa. Both of you are killing eachother. Quite poetic, isn't it? The invincible deity, destroyed by their own creations. And the real deity doesn't even have to raise a hand.
"You're half the god that Naruto was in his last life."
"YOU WORTHLESS WINGED FIEND!" said Madara, rushing at her with an open hand. Even as his fingers closed around her neck, however, Konan faded to paper. And she left behind only a flurry of explosive tags.
They exploded, and Madara was obliterated into nothingness.
And all around, people stirred from dreams of torment where they got only what they wanted. They roused and beheld in the skies above an archon standing over the corpse of the God Tree.
"Look! Konan has killed Madara!" said one.
"Konan is the hero of the world! Praise her with great praise!" said another.
"Let her stand with a Jeweled Crown over the Land of the Rain!" said a third.
"KONAN! KONAN! KONAN! KONAN!" said a fourth.
And that was how Konan was carried away in triumph before anyone could say anything else. Naruto watched the resulting celebrations. He had a destinct impression that something had gone wrong. And he tried to put his finger on it.
"But..." Naruto halted. "But I was supposed to be the hero." It sounded pretty selfish, but there had sort of been a lot of buildups.
"And you were," said Kakashi. "Just think of this as someone else's chance in the spotlight. Nobody has forgotten what you did."
"But I mean, everyone was expecting me to win," said Naruto. "I kind of feel like I've let everyone down."
"Naruto, let's be real here; there was no feasible way for us to ever beat Madara," said Sakura. "The guy was completely OP."
"But that's not fair! I mean, we went through all these arcs and all this trouble!" said Naruto. "And in the end, Madara gets completely ganked out of nowhere!"
"What are you talking about? The events follow naturally from those which have been presented," said Kakashi. "If anything, they make some events far more rational."
"But it had nothing to do with us!" said Naruto. "I mean, destiny is a thing here! What the point of the Sage of Six Paths if it was completely irrelevant! We went through all this training from hell, and none of it mattered! Sasuke didn't get to kill Itachi!"
"Still bitter about that," admitted Sasuke.
"Sakura still didn't get to do anything," said Naruto.
"I'm used to it by now," said Sakura.
"Kakashi-sensei found out the basis for everything he believes is a lie!" continued Naruto.
"Well, I would say that you sort of redeem Obito's ideology," noted Kakashi.
"But my ideology is a lie!" said Naruto. "Neji was right! The only thing he was wrong about was assuming that he had a better destiny. I'm a demigod, reincarnated as a long-lost Prince. And I'm infused with demon powers and trained by some of the greatest shinobi of my time.
"If I'd actually put any work in during my school years, I'd have curb-checked Madara in ten seconds. The only reason we had a problem was that I was a lazy jerk."
"Well, you said it, not me," noted Sasuke.
"You think that's bad?" asked Sakura. "The entire Shinobi Forces have just spent three days in a neverending war against Madara. In many cases, we've lost friends, loved ones, our homes, and we were completely irrelevant. Neji is dead in this war.
"And it all would have been more easily solved if we'd just had you fight it out in single combat with Obito from the start."
"Actually, if there hadn't been a war, Obito wouldn't have had to make an alliance with Kabuto," noted Kakashi. "So Madara never would have come back, meaning that Naruto would have had an easier fight."
"Wonderful," said Sakura. "So the assembled forces of the entire world were actually less than useless. Nice to know that we are but ants in a brotherly feud between indifferent deities. We're glorified cheerleaders.
"Congratulations, Naruto.
"Your life has successfully taught us the purpose of all life. To end."
"Except it didn't," said Kakashi-sensei. "Konan killed Madara, using a plan that she put together with no input from any of us. She doesn't have a kekkei genki; her paper abilities were taught to her by Jiraiya. And she was considered the student with the least potential and got where she was through hard work.
"Also, she was only brought over to our side because Naruto chose to hear Nagato out. This means that her coming completely out of nowhere to kill Madara is actually a win. It means that Naruto's belief in kindness and the inherent goodness of people was right. And Konan's hard work and clever planning outmaneuvered Madra completely.
"If Naruto and Sasuke had beaten Madara in a fight, that would be an ideological defeat. It would have proven Madara right about everything he believed. I see this as a total win."
"So... I win by not fighting?" asked Naruto. "Hmm, now I know what Neji felt like in the arena. Ah, damn it! Neji and all those other people are dead!"
"Well doesn't Sasuke have a Rinnegan?" asked Sakura. "Couldn't we bring them back? I mean, Obito only had it for a few days, and he thought he could bring back the dead."
"Maybe," said Kakashi. "But it killed Nagato. It's possible that using the technique on the scale we're doing could kill Sasuke."
"I'm not doing it," said Sasuke.
"What?!" said Naruto. "But Neji was our friend, and a lot of other people are dead too."
"He was your friend," said Sasuke.
"Sasuke, I like you, but your not a kid anymore. You are the most hated man in the Shinobi World now that Madara is dead," said Kakashi. "There are two possible futures ahead of you. In one, we come up with a plan to resurrect everybody, and you risk losing a few years of your life. This gives us the political leverage to get the Kage to let up on the charges.
"In the other, we have no leverage. And you have a choice between silk and hemp rope before losing all the years of your life. It's your choice."
Sasuke considered that. "You know, I think we'd better try and bring back everyone who has died. I mean, Neji did save Naruto and tried to help us earlier. And I guess I did go a little bit overboard before."
"You nearly got Choji and Neji killed and put a Chidori through Naruto's chest," said Sakura in deadpan. "Then you tried to kill us when we came to rescue you. Follow by you nearly causing an international incident that nearly led to war. Naruto got beat to a bloody pulp trying to protect you there.
"And then you killed the head of the state for the Leaf Village along with his bodyguard. You also betrayed your new team, tried to kill one of them, tried to kill us again. And then you came back and proclaimed your intention to become Hokage!
"While standing over the still cooling corpses of Neji and thousands of other people! Many of whom you could have saved. Is that really all you have to say?!"
"...Sorry?" said Sasuke, his voice pained at having to say it.
"SORRY FOR WHAT, SASUKE-KUN?!" roared Sakura before slamming him against a wall so hard it cracked. "Sorry for what?!"
"Should we uh... stop her," said Naruto.
"I think Sasuke might deserve this," said Kakashi.
"I'm sorry I put a chidori through Naruto's chest and almost killed the retrieval team?!" said Sasuke, terrified.
"And?!" said Sakura.
"I'm sorry I tried to murder you when you came to retrieve me!" said Sasuke. "And I'm sorry for starting an international incident. And also for murdering the Leaf's head of state, although I don't think anyone-"
"No excuses!" said Sakura, crushing him against the wall. "Go on!"
"And I'm sorry Naruto got beat to a bloody pulp for me! And that I declared my intention to become Hokage in a disrespectful fashion! It was wrong, and I apologize!"
"Good," said Sakura, letting go of him. "Don't do it again. Naruto, I think that we can actually bring everyone back without hurting anyone. You have a lot more chakra than Nagato had at his peak, let alone when he died. So if you can channel your energies into Sasuke, it should be enough to power it."
"Still," said Kakashi. "Won't the nine-tails energy be too unstable to use?"
"Not if we convert it," said Sakura. "I've learned how to channel chakra incredibly effectively and convert it to new forms. It's part of being a medical ninja. Naruto, Sasuke, give me your hands. Naruto will channel his power through me; then I'll send it to Sasuke.
"Once done, Sasuke can use the Rinnegan to make an attempt."
They did so, and Kakashi seemed to consider things. "Hold a minute, you three. You should know, it's possible the Rinnegan's power does not run on chakra. It might be that using it requires a life to be sacrificed.
"If you three do this... it might kill all three of you."
Naruto looked to Sakura and Sasuke and paused. "Well, it's really fine with me, Kakashi-sensei. I've already achieved most of what I wanted. I mean, sure, I'd love to go back and hang out with the others.
"But, I mean, Neji and Tenten never got what they wanted out of life? And a lot of other people didn't either. I'm willing to give up my life if it means saving them."
"I'm really fine with it," admitted Sakura. "I mean, I guess I wanted to do a lot of things I haven't. But I'm a medical ninja; my job is to help people. And if I can bring all those people back...
"That'd make me an even better ninja than Tsunade."
Sasuke paused. "It's funny. Looking back at my life so far, all I can really see is a failure. Unable to avenge my clan. Unable to fulfill Itachi's will. I didn't surpass Orochimaru; I just killed him on his sickbed.
"Maybe it's a lot more than most people could do. But no matter how many people I beat, no matter how much they deserved it...
"It wasn't worth doing.
"This might be, though. Fine, I'm in."
And he smiled. Now a psychotic smirk, but real, the real Sasuke was back for a bit, and Naruto smiled in turn, as did Sakura. "Yeah," said Naruto. "We're a team. We're in this together."
And then they began their spell, channeling their power in immense waves. It surged through Sakura, who closed her eyes in concentration. Soon all three were veiled in golden light.
The image of the nine-tails, of all the tailed beasts, were around them for a moment. And then a heavenly glow flowed from them, washing over all the land. And Naruto felt for a moment as if he saw everyone. He saw Neji, lying dead and forgotten in the dust, rise up in new life. And the bodies of those whose corpses were destroyed were reformed in an instant. The wave went further and further, restoring life to dying and dead plants. Animals that had been killed were brought back as well.
Naruto found the power of the nine-tails straining, so he drew on the power of life. Drawing in sage energy, he worked and worked. Finally, he opened his eyes and saw a very alive and healthy Sakura and Sasuke.
"...So," said Kakashi-sensei. "I guess that's our best-case scenario."
"I guess it is," said Naruto.
Standing up, Naruto knew that Sasuke would get a much warmer reception on the return. And he knew that all their friends would be waiting for them, to talk, and speak and work to heal a broken world. But a world that was that much was closer to healing.
He wondered what he should say as the four of them wordlessly began their walk home.
"Okay, that's done," said Sasuke as the light began to break.
"What now?" asked Sakura as it crept over the tree.
Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. Does anybody want to go get ramen?"
Ichiraku Ramen had never tasted so good. Nor had it ever seen such a crowd.