The sun no longer shone with the whiteness of the earlier years but was the color of fresh blood. Naruto chose not to pay close attention to the sun or moon anymore, preferring to stay underground to avoid unnecessary conflict with the hordes of Zetsu. Thoughts of the world before Kaguya served only to bring him unnecessary pain that would cripple him. Survival was his way of life at the end of all things.
One of the side-effects of Kaguya's victory over humanity was the return of the natural world. Animals and plants reclaimed their lost territories from mankind's conquest. During his travels, few landmarks he recognized remained visible through the thick vegetation. Even the lands of Wind, once a vast desert, had grown wild with resilient grass. Roots of the God tree that Kaguya nurtured pierced the landscape like mountains of wood, further distorting the world. While difficult in the early years, his constant struggle for food was trivial now. Fresh game of all sizes roamed the earth and grew up unaware of what a man looked like. A simple kunai trap provided him enough meat for a week.
As the summer faded into autumn, Naruto decided to move on from the Land of Water in favor of returning to the Land of Fire. Those nations did not exist anymore, swallowed up in the eternal garden of the Goddess, but using the names served to keep a flicker of humanity alive. In moments of peace, he learned how to paint and write poetry. Poetry could be about anything, thus avoiding thinking of characters who threatened to remind him of the dead. As the last man on earth, it was his duty to keep the best parts of humanity alive. He did not care that no one would ever read or critique his work.
The roads did not exist anymore due to the plants' conquest. He used old maps along with markers left he had left behind to navigate through the world. While great in number, the chattering hordes of Zetsu proved to be of little danger if one moved with caution. Their rambling monologues of praise to Kaguya. They had long ceased to actively hunt him in favor of shambling aimlessly. When caught, they chased after him in attempting to rip him to pieces but lacked the speed to make them a significant threat. Their lack of sleep made them dangerous at night outside a hideout. He had woken up many times to hear their awful sounds drawing close in the darkness.
Naruto managed to cross the sea without being detected by the hordes stationed on the beach. His initial plan of spending the winter months in the Land of Wind died as an early winter rolled over the continent. A few hideouts existed around the Land of Fire. The most well-stocked was in Tanzaku Quarters, a ruined town of empty casinos. He usually took the long way through the Land of Fire to avoid nearing Konoha, but a heavy snowstorm backed by a short cold front threatened him if he did not hurry. Progress slowed to a crawl as a fresh round of ice made traveling a madman's gamble at full speed. The few supplies he brought began to dwindle as the days dragged on.
On the sixth day since arriving in the Land of Fire, Naruto decided to spend the winter in Konoha. It had been many seasons since he had walked the streets of his home. Most of the hordes typically gathered in the former population centers due to vague lingering memories of their past lives; thus, a journey to Konoha came with increased risks of having to battle. However, he decided the risk of having to fight outweighed the threat of freezing to death in the wilds. Aware of the toll on his sanity, he decided to stay within the bunkers behind the Hokage Monument to avoid summoning any ghosts of the dead world.
Naruto reached the village's gates shortly after sunset on the seventh day, shivering and starving. He expected to hear the former citizens of Konoha chattering about the greatness of the Goddess but heard only the echoes of wind moving through a dead city. Cold nibbled at the edges of his mind, forcing him to abandon caution. His feet shuffled forward without thought as familiar ruins took shape in the darkness. No matter how hard he tried, visions of the past filled his eyes with warm tears. For the first time in countless years, he felt alone. The drive to survive and practice the arts drove the loneliness of reality away. Yet, as winter consumed his body, he desperately wanted someone to be there with him. He did not want to die alone.
A light in the darkness offered salvation.
The flicker of a flame drew his attention to the Hokage Tower. It was a small thing, most likely from a single candle, but something like that could not happen on its own. His instincts, honed by a lifetime of struggle, warned him against approaching the building. Nevertheless, a broken heart filled with desperate hope forced him to push through the storm under the watchful gaze of the stone Hokage. He forced the front doors of the building open and knew the way to the main office. Memories of visiting the Third or Tsunade forced a smile from him. When was the last time these halls knew the sound of laughter? When was the last time the world knew the sound of laughter?
In the gloom of the candle, he saw a figure sitting behind the Hokage's desk. His eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness, but a glimpse of pink hair confirmed his first guess.
Sakura Haruno stared at him with blank jade eyes and signaled him to one of the empty chairs. Her gaze never faltered as he dropped into the chair like a child waiting for a lecture. She did not look a day older than sixteen and wore the standard infantry flak jacket from the war. He felt glad to look upon the girl that had become a sister to him. If this was the end, at least he would not die alone.
Neither spoke as the howling outside increased. Instead, he prepared himself for a lecture about the meaning of life or something like that before death claimed him. A single detail, however, confirmed that life still clung to his mortal frame and that his former teammate was not there to usher him into the afterlife. Pink hair strands fell well past her thin shoulders and disappeared behind the desk.
"Sakura's hair was never that long."
Sakura tilted her head slightly. "Apologies. I did not look at her enough to recreate every aspect of her appearance." Her lips moved in an inhuman way to convey alien sounds. Only one being spoke in such a manner to awaken primal fear within him.
"Kaguya."
As if on command, Sakura faded into the form of an elegant woman with balanced skin that reminded Naruto of ash. Three eyes examined him from a face of perfect proportions. Twin horns stuck out from the top of her head; pillars of brown were lost in a sea of white hair.
"I knew you would come here." The words matched the lips far more gracefully than from Sakura's mouth. Her third crimson eyes slowly closed as the illusion faded. "You cared deeply for Sakura, so I thought her form would soothe you."
Naruto's fear morphed into mild annoyance. To oppose her…to hate her…was pointless. A battle between them ended only a single way. "If you are here to kill me, please hurry the hell up before the starvation does me in first."
Kaguya raised an eyebrow at him. "I am not here to kill you. Your death is of no benefit to me." She spoke as if it was the most obvious statement in the world. "When was the last time you partook in a meal?"
Her speech patterns reminded him of a more emotionally stunted Sai. In another lifetime, he would have thought it cute in a creepy way akin to how Hinata used to stalk him. A wave of regret forced him to shudder.
"Two days." Just like she had no reason to kill him, he had no reason to fight back. His hate of the Goddess passed into a dull apathy as time marched forwards. Hatred required caring, and he stopped caring long ago.
"I'll take a large bowl of miso ramen with extra pork." A soft chuckle escaped at the sheer stupidity of cracking jokes at such a moment. A natural-born clown never passed on the moment to make light of reality. At least, these halls managed to hear something close to laughter before crumbling away.
The humor was utterly lost on her. "What is miso ramen?"
Naruto did not know if crying or laughing was the appropriate response. Her red lips dropped into a frown at his silence, forcing him to speak. "It is a noodle dish served in broth. Kind of like a soup, I guess. Miso is a ramen flavor with soybeans or some crap like that." Teuchi once explained the definition of ramen. He decided quickly eating ramen was far more fun than learning about it.
"Is it good?" Kaguya's frown disappeared. He gave a quick nod. "Very well. I shall take your word for it."
Silence fell between them once more. A tremor shook Naruto at the mere presence of the woman. Much like their first encounter in the closing hour of the war, Kaguya radiated power. He always felt her energy, even deep underground; she had become the planet in many ways. However, sitting across from her sunk him into the goddess's depths. A lesser man would have yielded to her every desire.
"Why does my death have no benefit to you?" Naruto leaned back into the chair, relaxed that if she wanted him dead, there was nothing he could do about it. "I thought you wanted to claim all chakra for yourself."
Kaguya's lips twitched slightly as if amused by the question. "In the end, your chakra will be mine. However, it does not matter when I claim it. What is a single drop compared to the ocean?" Her expression softened slightly at the offended look he gave her. "It is no insult. By the standards of humanity, you had an incredible amount of chakra. However, it is nothing compared to what I have gathered. My plans march forward regardless."
Plans. Naruto remembered the Sage of Six Paths mentioning her desire to bring peace by dominating all life. "Guess you got what you wanted, eh?"
"No." Kaguya turned slightly to peer into the raging tempest of snow and ice-consuming Konoha. "This is merely the beginning. Humanity is finally at peace, but my work is far from complete."
Naruto crossed his arms but allowed the woman to continue uninterrupted.
"I wish to ascend to a greater state being," Kaguya spoke with a voice on the brink of madness. "There are many worlds across the cosmos just like this one. War is a constant of reality that brings about suffering. Do you know how many empires I know about that are fueled by hate, bigotry, xenophobia, and ignorance? Countless. As existence's Goddess, I will cleanse all worlds of suffering."
"And happiness," he muttered with a growing frown.
Kaguya spun around to glare at him with all three eyes open. "Are you telling me that humanity is not happy? There is no war. There is no work. Each of them is consumed by a false reality crafted exactly how they wanted it."
The air in the room became thin as the goddess' anger increased. Naruto gasped for breath as the pressure threatened to rip his lungs out from his chest. Blue eyes widened when the world grew dark. Then, in an instant, things returned to normal and left him taking deep breaths.
"Apologies," Kaguya's third eye closed once more. "I tend to forget that you cannot understand my vision."
Naruto glared at the woman. While these long years diminished his hate for the Goddess, her attitude rekindled a buried rage. "Humanity is not happy! Those things outside are not human! They aren't even close to the people I knew!" She remained silent, but he knew a fresh wave of anger was building behind her delicate mask. "I am human, and this world is a nightmare."
Kaguya tilted her head once more like a confused animal. What fury that was building in her dissipated like petals on a breeze. "Are you not happy?"
"What?"
"Are you not happy," she repeated the question as if he did not understand. "There is no war. There is no fighting. Children are not raised to be murders. This is a world free of sin. What damage humanity has done to the planet is slowly being healed."
He tried to understand the madness in her reasoning. Still, He could not figure out how she or anyone could think this world was something remotely close to a paradise. Her wide eyes told him that she honestly believed that everything was perfect. A small giggle turned into a fit of laughter. "You're insane!"
The Goddess remained frozen in confusion. Her eyes widened at the fleeting sanity of the man in front of her. "You are not happy." Her lips raised in disgust as the words were spoken. "How?" Naruto's laughter continued despite her irritation. "Explain!"
Humored by the cruel twist of fate, Naruto forced what remained of his psyche to the forefront. "This is the first conversation I have had since…you won…how long has it been?"
"Six years," Kaguya stated with a hint of pride. "It was six years ago that I returned."
The formal concept of time had become irrelevant in Kaguya's world. Naruto had tried to keep a calendar but gave up after losing the small booklet in a quick escape from one of his hideouts. Seasons remained important only for deciding where to go, not for keeping track of the days that passed.
"Guess that makes me twenty-three," he mused aloud, temporarily forgetting about the Goddess. "Huh. Never thought I would make it this far. I am almost as old as Kakashi-Sensei when he started Team Seven."
Kaguya raised an eyebrow…or half of an entire eyebrow. "I am six thousand four hundred twenty-two."
"You're pretty good-looking for being reaching six millennia." Naruto clicked his tongue and smiled. "Hmph. Well, I have another ninety or so years assuming nothing bad happens."
"You are like a rabbit," Kaguya declared, breaking Naruto from his daydream of being an old person that looked like the Third Hokage. "You are easily distracted by the simplest of things. First, you spoke of noodle soup. Now, in the middle of my inquiry about your happiness, you are thinking about growing old. Are you…stupid?"
Naruto shrugged. "You're far from the first person to ask that question." Nevertheless, the turn of the conversation felt nice. It reminded him of something that could have happened with Sakura or anyone from the world before.
The Goddess remained silent for a few seconds. Her face twisted between extreme hate, amusement, confusion, and something that looked friendly. "You are lonely."
True.
"There is no one for you to talk to."
Once again, the Goddess stated an obvious fact about his existence.
"Therefore, to uphold my vow to ensure all of humanity is happy, you shall become my companion."
"What?"
Kaguya nodded to herself like he did not exist. "Naruto Uzumaki shall become my companion on this world. My company shall cure his loneliness, thus making me humanity's savior." A harsh glare silenced his protest and questions. "Questions are for the ignorant. But, as my companion, you are not ignorant. Understand?"
"Isn't that a question?"
The Goddess blinked at the sudden reversal of her logic. She nodded slowly. "Ask questions that are not stupid. Any questions I ask, which I have many, are never stupid."
Naruto decided that this odd turn of events extended his survival. Better to go with the flow than being swept away, he thought with a slight shrug. A sharp twinge in his stomach reminded him of the second largest risk to his well-being: hunger. "Since we're companions, can you grab me something to eat?"
Kaguya nodded and reached into her robes. He held his breath as the woman pulled out…a carrot. She placed it on the desk and poked it forward. "That is not a stupid question because your death means I failed. Here." She reached into her sleeve to retrieve a second carrot and nibbled at the tip.
He had far too many questions but decided to ask only one to avoid the risk of drastically lowering his life expectancy. "Why do you keep carrots in your clothes?"
"I like rabbits."
Alrighty boys and girls! This is the first part of a small Naruto x Kaguya story (roughly 20k words). It took me a little longer to plot this one out versus 'Finding Ourselves' due to the difficulty of writing Kaguya. Her mindset is completely unhuman with her own issues (ego and messiah-complex) having to be taken into consideration. That said, I am happy with her portrayal. Their 'friendship' is going to be amusing while opening up more sensitive sides of their personality. I'll be constructing more background information for Kaguya as well along with changing some canon aspects. Her ultimate desire for true godhood will be explored in future chapters.
Just remember...she really likes rabbits.
Naruto's mental state is really fractured in this first chapter. Overtime, he will become 'Naruto' fully again. Prepare for some fluff and drama between the two.
With this chapter out, prepare for the next thrilling part of 'Finding Ourselves'.