The demand was made soon after that, and the words would spread like wildfire through the Elemental Nations.

"I was born as Uzumaki Nagato. I have since then rejected my humanity and ascended to godhood. I am the one who destroyed Kumogakure, a few days ago. I have the might of six of the nine Bijū behind me. I will ask of you to hand over the remaining three: One-Tail. Two-Tails. Seven-Tails. Otherwise, I shall destroy the Elemental Nations. One by one. You have thirty days."

Naruto cursed.

"This is bad."

Thirty days.

He could feel the aura coming from atop the risen Uzushiogakure. There was no doubt that Nagato was waiting for them there.

And as he was now, Naruto knew he didn't have a chance.

But gods, he would try.

Now… Why was Nagato willing to wait… and why had he announced it?

Because he has no one to fear, little Uzumaki.

He should have killed Han when he had the chance. That would have been one obstacle in the man who thought he was a god's way. He should have known Han would not manage to hide himself.

Well, he mused. It's still time to kill Sasuke, Fū or…

No. He would not kill Yugito. Not really out of sentimentality, but as the Raikage, she was more useful alive than dead.

"He is no god, only a broken man." Shachi said idly. "But a broken man can be especially dangerous."

Naruto's thoughts were all over the place.

"…How did he get the Sage's eyes? The Uzumaki are distantly related to him, but…"

"The eyes are not his." Shachi hissed.

"Whose eyes are they, then?"

She didn't answer.

"Whose eyes are they? Are you not bound to answer?"

"Not to all of your questions, no." She sneered.

Naruto didn't let his frustration show up on his face. Here was someone who likely had the answers he was looking for, but wasn't willing to answer more.

"…Why does Indra want me to take a Sharingan for myself?"

Shachi actually laughed.

"I assume you know what would happen already?" She asked, amused.

"…That would be the end of me."

"That is right." She chuckled. "I'm surprised he even bothered trying to—"

"What is the link between the Sharingan and the Rinnegan?" Naruto smiled mirthlessly.

Shachi stopped laughing.

"…So there is one, isn't there?" Naruto folded his arms.

"…"

"You can't lie to me directly when I ask you something, can you?"

"It doesn't mean I have to answer." She stared at him.

"Is there a third clan descended from the Sage, one with the Rinnegan?"

"…"

"That's a no, I think. I thought so. So there are only two real branches to the Sage's line. Indra's… and Asura's."

"…Yes."

He almost felt giddy with the discovery. She started moving away from him.

"Indra… He bonded you, didn't he?"

She froze.

"But not as an equal. He does not see anyone as an equal but his brother. I know this much. A subservient bond, then. And he did the same with others. That's the only way he would trust anyone."

That was why he had talked about followers. He assumed them to be the same.

Oh, but we are.

We aren't.

"…What does it matter?" She asked coldly.

"…This is just a theory, now." He admitted. "But if Indra's line means the heir to the Sharingan, — beside me — then there's no reason that something stronger than it couldn't break these bonds."

She didn't contest it.

"Help me find the Rinnegan, and I shall free you."

"Do not be foolish." She almost spat. "I don't want to be freed."

"How would you even know what you want at this point?" Naruto became frustrated. "You've been a slave to his desires for… I don't even know how long!"

"That may be true." Shachi shrugged. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Naruto tried another time.

"If part of his bond transferred to me, that means we can try to find a way to alter it, at least."

Shaschi considered it, strolling past the ruins.

"No." She finally said. "Then you'll ask how to attain the Rinnegan."

Naruto gritted his teeth.

"You're going to have to find your own answers. I've already interfered too much. I didn't expect this man — The Rinnegan wielder is your problem."

Her hand slashed through the air, and something like a rift opened.

"The next time we'll meet, you shall be Indra."

With that said, and a last unreadable look, Shachi vanished.

Naruto cursed. He wasn't sure how he was going to find her again, if she didn't want to be found.

'She said "attain". Which means it is possible, at least theoretically.' Naruto thought.

Probably not for you. You may try, though. See if it brings me closer to life or not.

Up in the sky, Nagato's chakra almost taunted him, daring him to find out what he was truly made of.

Naruto took a long breath.

It was time to take the gloves off.

He reappeared in Umi.

Umi.

Naruto came home to—

"…What the fuck are you guys doing?" Naruto blinked, looking at Sakura and Karin, who were…

"We're trying to send food and water into the Kamui realm." Sakura deadpanned. She returned to staring at the scrolls. Intensely.

There was a whirring sound… and half of the scroll was torn apart. Sakura cursed. Then she passed out from chakra exhaustion. Karin sighed and started feeding her chakra.

It didn't seem like the first time, either.

"…Maybe we should just go for regular food and water instead of scrolls. Something is bound to get through." Karin mused.

Nothing about what they were saying made any sense. He shook his head, bemused. Was the insanity spreading…?

"…What happened?" Ino finally asked, moving from the couch where was reading to sit down on the floor next to them.

"Haven't you heard?" He asked incredulously. Of course most people in Umi — besides intel — wouldn't realize before tomorrow morning, when the courier came back with the news from the mainland.

"Heard what…?" She asked.

Sakura slowly woke up again, groaning. Naruto sent a clone to find Anko and Hanabi.

There was only silence.

Then, there was panic.

"What the fuck do we do?!" Someone asked. Naruto couldn't tell who, since everybody was shouting over the others.

"Well, we have thirty days." He said dryly.

"…Will that be enough?" Anko asked.

"…Probably not." Naruto admitted.

He could see that his casual admission did nothing to help.

'Let me take care of it.' Naruto heard.

"I was… close by when it happened — I'll show you, in a few moments… I think he will be moving some of his people there, in Uzushio."

"…What does this have to do with Uzushio…?"

"Yeah, let's start by that, then." Naruto amended himself.

He showed them.

"Do you know how idiotic going down with her was?" Ino spat. She clearly remembered the woman.

"Yes." He nodded. "I'm alive. Back to the topic at hand."

She didn't look as though she were done.

"…If he's ready to become the world's enemy…" Anko began.

"Yeah. He's more than powerful enough. And I'm sure he can put up barriers strong enough to prevent anything unwanted — like… let's say, a super-weapon — from reaching there. And as for a conventional army… Well, it's a fortress in the sky. I assume he's really trying to make himself look omnipotent, this time."

"What happens if he does get the Beasts?" Karin asked.

"Same as before, I assume. He offers the world means of mutually assured destruction. Though this might have changed, considering… everything."

"…And if the world does nothing?"

Naruto shrugged.

"I assume he will make good on his promise. I would risk it, but he will likely find Umi at some point."

Karin stared at him. "You would risk it…?"

Very pragmatic of you. The voice said.

Naruto closed his eyes, quieting down the sounds. Sakura and Ino shared a glance at each other, communicating something he did not understand.

"…I won't, because he will come for us after that. So whether I would or not doesn't matter."

That didn't seem like the answer she wanted to hear. She opened her mouth to say something.

Karin faltered when she met his eyes and looked away.

'…Even to her, I do this.'

What was the difference between him and Indra…? He wondered if he truly was fated to become him.

Yes.

No. Never that. Rather the eternal sleep.

Of course.

"…No matter." Naruto said softly. "We need to prepare."

A long silence stretched.

"We met Sasuke — well, Karin met him." Sakura finally said.

Naruto's head turned sharply. "Really…?"

"Yes." She nodded. "He believes his brother is trapped in the Kamui realm. We managed to verify that with Karin. Uchiha Itachi is in there."

Naruto thought about it.

"I see. Why help him…?" He asked.

"…Why wouldn't we?" Sakura asked, not getting his point.

"Leaving Itachi there might remove one strong enemy." Naruto simply said.

"…That's Sasuke's brother." Ino stressed the last word.

"Yes. And Sasuke's death could be useful, too." Naruto said.

There were a few equally disbelieving looks, and some anger, too. Anko, on the other hand, didn't seem to care either way.

He could understand, somewhat, and he was sure there was a part of him that cared about Sasuke, still.

But what he cared about most was finally ending all of this.

Naruto knew they were worried.

About him, for him…? He couldn't say. Probably both.

Irony was something that Naruto privately enjoyed.

Years ago, when he had displaced himself through time and space, he had messed up with the time factor. The fact that the world had gone on while he apparently existed out of time was proof of something.

Now, he was not exactly a scientist. So he tried to wrap his head around notions he barely understood, using whatever he could find on the topic.

And Nagato's latest godly feat had awakened something in him.

Time to prepare… was something they didn't have.

Well then, he would get them more time. A simple, graceful solution.

…Hopefully.

After months and months of trying, he still didn't manage to use the Hiraishin properly. And before he was sure he could use it safely, he wouldn't try it again. Who knew where he'd end up this time?

But there was a silver lining here. His research for the Hiraishin could be repurposed for something else.

And the answer had been found through some random books he had found in Uzushiogakure.

Not even the shinobi arts related ones.

(Although the ones he had managed to read already had been very informative, and he understood more about how and why jinchuuriki came to be.)

There were plenty of books and scrolls on science, architecture and philosophy. They would come in handy for any growing city, and once he was done copying them, he would make the knowledge public in Umi.

Now…

"Space" was the term for the directions one could move in. He pictured himself on a piece of paper. There were only two directions one could move: up, down; left, right. These were called dimensions. But this universe was flat; one couldn't move into or out of the paper.

Now, if he were on that piece of paper, he wouldn't realize right away that his world was limited in that way, because the paper itself would be invisible.

In the real world, there was a third dimension; the world had depth and was not flat. But no one could move in a fourth or fifth dimension; the universe existed on a three-dimensional piece of paper that humans couldn't perceive. This piece of paper, the fabric of the universe, was what was called "space."

But, considering what his father had done… What he had done…

This wasn't entirely true.

A man could move in a fourth dimension: "time".

Naruto pictured it this way. If he wanted to meet someone in a tall building, it would obviously make a difference whether he was on the first floor or the tenth. It was not enough for Naruto to be there at the right time.

If he went to the Valley of the End, he could stand where both Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had stood. But he wouldn't meet either unless he was there at the right time. That was the fourth dimension.

Time, though, as it was… Was seen differently. Because people could only navigate it going forward. Never back. Which was the reason they treated it differently from space. And usually, it was easy to pretend they were two separate things.

Now…

"Space-time" was what they called the fabric of the universe, the metaphorical piece of paper from earlier.

According to more recent science, found more on the civilian side of things, objects with a lot of gravitational pull distorted space.

This was what pulled one toward them even though nothing was pushing on them. Their path through space was altered because space was being bent in a way that caused them to end up somewhere else.

An example would be drawing a line on a piece of paper, and then folding the paper.

It didn't stop there.

Objects with gravity also distorted time. Massive objects had a large gravitational pull. It would mean that time ran a lot slower than it did on earth.

Which meant that there were places where time flowed differently. Because time and space were part of one fabric, which could be affected by physics at the same time.

…Well. If he had a way to control gravity, that would be a workable way, but he didn't have that.

And Naruto wasn't looking to go back in time anyway, that sounded truly dangerous, for all the aforementioned reasons.

Which was why Karin and he would spend most of their 'free' time, along with their clones, working on possibly their most ambitious project.

If it didn't work… Well, they were likely doomed anyway. What would it matter?

They would still go to try and stop Nagato, and die in the process.

"You should sleep." Sakura said, coming up to meet him on the rooftop.

Naruto turned around and gave her a wry look.

"…I did already."

Her eyebrows rose. "It is three in the morning."

"Then shouldn't you get some sleep yourself?" He asked, turning back to facing the lake.

He didn't really feel like seeing more horrific nightmares tonight. If it took staying awake longer than what was considered wise, then he would do so.

Sakura pulled her pipe out, the one that would never burn nicotine properly, but right now he couldn't even muster the will to laugh.

"…It's going to eat you from the inside, you know?" She asked.

"Yes." Naruto said softly. "It will."

"…You don't think you're going to live." Sakura realized.

Naruto said nothing. She knew him too well.

"Are you for real…?" She breathed out.

He shrugged. "I'm planning for the worst. We will unite the world, this much I know. We have to. Once I can influence all of the world, I will make sure to leave something behind, too. Focusing people's efforts on knowledge, on progress, both for humans... and the world — Rather than war. So that the world might be a better place some day."

"But you don't plan to be around to see it." Sakura finished, looking at him in disbelief. "What was all of this for…? We can find a way — Let met take care of Nagato — I don't know how but—"

"Please, stop." He interrupted. "I will try to see if there's a way for me to live. But…"

"But…?"

"I think this is just how it must be, Sakura. It already feels as though there is not that much left of me, sometimes. And since Nagato might have the whole Nine-Tails anyway… There's only one way out. Through."

"…You are a fool." Sakura said sadly.

She put her head against his shoulder, and he felt something wet there.

Ino might not have heard the conversation, but she could read Naruto as well as anyone could. And so could Karin. Which meant they realized soon enough, too.

The next day.

Ino watched Naruto dress.

He had spent the entire morning training, and the afternoon recovering, in order to be ready for their meeting with Mei. The whole time, he had clones running all over the place, researching and handling the day-to-day operations. It was almost evening, now.

"You're going to go through with it?" Ino found herself asking.

"Of course." Naruto nodded, summoning and dispelling a sword as if to warm up. "Are you coming?"

She nodded. "All of us are."

He seemed to consider it for a second, then he nodded.

Naruto strode from the room and away from Umi.

All of them gathered in Orochimaru's spire. That included Yugito, whose face was pulled tight. And Terumi Mei, who Naruto went away to find.

Her hair was back to its true color, auburn. And she was wearing blue battle fatigues.

"Everything ready?" He asked.

Sakura nodded. "I placed a portal near the village itself. If everything works according to plan, it should be pretty quick."

Karin snorted. "Since when does something like this look like a simple in and out operation…?"

"The world stopped making sense a long time ago." Ino shrugged.

"I thought that was what today was about. Making things make sense again." Mei said dryly.

And so they went.

Kiri.

Consider the moon.

Oshima Masaaki, Fifth Mizukage, mused.

The moon is a globe of utter peace. No violence. No war. No earthquakes, typhoons, no hurricanes.

Pure silence, pure peace.

Absolute desolation.

Consider the Land of Jungles' rainforest.

Even in the absence of humans, there is slaughter, there is pain, there is maiming.

There is competition for resources; among many creatures who care nothing for the needs of others, there is life.

And vitality and creation and energy. Movement.

Now…

Of course peace was possible, but peace was, in many ways…

Stagnation. Desolation. A slow death.

Life was supposed to compete. Life was supposed to challenge. Life was supposed to be about the struggle.

Life wars with life.

The destruction comes from the creation, the creation from the destruction. From the challenges of survival and raw need and desire and want.

Peace was possible of course, but it was undesirable.

"I do not wish for another war, Masaaki."

That was what Nagato had said.

But war kept a ninja village in business.

What use would the Daimyō of the world have for them, without war…?

People like Danzō, from Konoha, understood it. It usually took ninja many more years than it did Masaaki to understand this truth.

The Fifth Mizukage of the Great Village of Mist.

That was who Oshima Masaaki was.

Ever since the day of his accession to the seat, replacing that monster in human skin. Maybe Nagato truly was a god, to arrange something like this. His power notwithstanding, he was the only one to know what to do to keep the Kumo bastards at bay.

Nagato's honeyed words didn't matter, Masaaki knew another warmonger when he saw one.

And Nagato was one of the highest caliber.

And thanks to him, Masaaki would become known as Kirigakure's greatest Mizukage.

Kumo had finally conceded Red Island, and that meant that soon enough, they would be able to continue expanding to the mainland.

A flicker through the windows caught his attention.

There was something happening on the streets.

Somebody came running to the door.

"Mizukage-sama, you have to come! I beg of you!"

"What is it? What is happening?!" He asked.

The man hesitated. "You should take a look through the window."

A procession was headed toward the tower. About a dozen people.

Most of them were wearing battle armor and cloaks of the same color. They were young. And still, they walked proudly, with command. And there was something familiar about the oldest woman among them. Which was confirmed when she started talking.

"I have come bearing a message for the usurper in the Mizukage's seat!"

Masaaki froze at the window. The woman was addressing the entire village. At the same time, she was coming closer to the Tower. She walked imperiously, as though the village belonged to her.

"Everything you have heard about the bloodline purges is true! Yagura, manipulated by the very same people that are currently pulling the strings now… killed almost all of us! But even then, they missed one!" She roared.

Behind her, far away and close to village gates, more and more shinobi started pouring in. Most of them wore the standard Kiri battle gear. Some… wore Kumo's colors — How?!. Others wore Umi's.

"The age of war is over!" Terumi Mei called, her voice booming. "Akatsuki's reign ends, starting today! Oshima Masaaki is nothing more than Uzumaki Nagato's… The Akatsuki leader's puppet! I, Terumi Mei, have come back to take back the seat that was rightfully mine. As of today, the war with Kumo is over!"

Why was nobody stopping her…?

No, it was worse than this. There were people cheering for her.

Not all of them, of course, because…

Behind her stood… the Raikage.

Not A — fourth of the name — but a young woman who Masaaki knew only too well. She had burned legions of his own shinobi with her thrice-cursed flames. The yellow hat seemed at its place on her head, and she looked as imperious as Terumi Mei.

There were five other women that he couldn't recognize, around a man…

Masaaki's knees shook.

Now he knew it was over. He could try and fight if he wanted… but there was a man who wouldn't care too much about killing his way through the tower.

Because shrouded in Kumo's lightning armor, walking casually down Kirigakure's main alleyway was Uzumaki Naruto.

And he was staring straight at Masaaki, with a small smile. He was looking forward to the fight.

That was… Not a warmonger.

It might be something worse.

Less than an hour later, the former Mizukage kneeled.

Uzumaki Naruto still made sure Oshima Masaaki's head rolled, as well as the last remnants of his warmonger allies'.