Prologue: Part One

"The only hope for a short war is to prepare for a long one."

Location: Land of Whirlpools

Blood was streaming down his forehead, mixing with the sweat that had coated his face stinging his eye and causing him to wince.

The gashing wound on his temple was just one of the many injuries he's sustained since this battle started, and Naruto was now desperately staggering through the ruins of his mother's childhood home, in a mad dash towards the clusters of dying trees and snags, dodging all the wooden spikes and curse marked kunai that he could and using his body to shield the scroll that he had clenched in a death grip.

The sealing formula within was still stabilizing, he just needed to keep it safe until it was ready.

A kunai hissed passed his ear, leaving a small scratch and making him pivot to the right sharply. Stumbling through piles of dead greenery, Naruto lost his footing dodging a wooden projectile that had morphed into a multi-head-like spear at the last second.

Sticking his hand out to catch and rebalance himself on a massive protruding root, Naruto felt the ground give way to his weight like cheap flooring and quickly twisted his body mid-fall to reduce the impact. When he landed, he found himself in the hollow inside of a gigantic fallen tree trunk and quickly pulled his hand back when he felt the damp and mushy ground on his palm.

Looking around and seeing rows of dried-out busted cocoons, their contents laid barren for all to see, he scrambled to his feet and did his best to ignore the decay and rot of the twisted remains of those whose bodies gave out halfway through Zetsu transformation.

He tried even harder to ignore that most of the remains consisted of bones and skulls too small for the victims to have been adults.

He leapt from a cliffside, catching the top of a weathered branch to slow his descent, though it snapped halfway through, and he hit the ground hard. Using the momentum to roll back to his feet, he felt something in his leg crack, but the scroll was still safe, so he paid it little mind.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto continued to press forward past the valley of perverted flesh, gripping the last piece of hope for the imprisoned minds of what was left of the world.

Hoping and striving forward was about all he can do nowadays.

In the past that would've been all that the blond jinchuriki would have thought he needed to guarantee victory. After all, those ideals had seen him and his comrades through battles in times past. Had been the foundation of his beliefs and the means towards his dreams. Had been what he and his friends put their faith in as the darkness of the shinobi world became ever more present in their lives as ninja.

Enemies had come and gone, unable to break the resolve of steel that had been forged by the Will of Fire.

So, when the war started, and early losses that were the result of mistakes made from nationalistic pride, led the Five Kage to form a united, worldwide front against their common enemy, Naruto and his friends believed it would only be a matter of days before Madara and his Akatsuki capitulated to the worlds combined might.

But the mistakes kept occurring.

The losses kept coming.

And when it became clear that there would be no quick and decisive victory, the alliance planted its feet and prepared itself for a war of attrition.

Though morale had still been high due to the alliance's early success, and this was mostly due to the younger generations' ignorance on how costly these victories had truly been, the grim reality of their situation eventually became clear as the bodies continued to pile up.

The enemy, despite their losses, were getting stronger while the Alliance's strength only diminished day after day.

As the noose slowly began to tighten around the Alliance's neck, fear began to take root, which led to paranoia. Distrust cultivated by generations of fighting each other, and only exacerbated by Madara's ever-growing power led to the time lapse between victories to grow longer and longer.

And when the five Kage were killed, along with their weakened villages being destroyed not too long after, what was left of their forces scattered, alongside any hopes of victory as the difficulties of simply trying to survive Madara's onslaught took precedence.

Naruto weaved his head to the right, as the large wooden spike that nearly took it off was embedded into the dying tree next to him. Given that the Zetsu clone that was attached to it was occupied with trying to free itself, Naruto quickly stuck an explosive tag onto it and then kicked the creature towards its advancing brethren, the tag detonating before it could even scream, sending charred pieces of artificial flesh and wood flakes everywhere.

Taking in a deep breath before turning, Naruto was met with the sight of one of the biggest banes of his life.

The red hue of the Infinite Tsukuyomi-induced moon was as crimson as ever, emulating alongside an artificial lunar light that shined in rhythmic intervals beyond the ruined landscape, making Naruto think of a heart beating.

He glared at the scenery.

When the Infinite Tsukuyomi had been unleashed, Madara had truly become unstoppable. And having narrowly survived, the might of the Ten-Tails jinchuriki, and managing to avoid another confrontation with that monster for a year, Naruto had often thought he should consider his immunity to the Eternal Genjutsu a blessing.

Though given that he and his two remaining allies have been left alone in the world and having been forced to mark himself in an array of suppression seals to hide both his and the Nine-Tails chakra signatures, and scurry through the ruins of the old world to piece together his people's (hopefully) means of salvation while hiding from Madara and his hordes. Naruto was inclined to believe his immunity was more of a curse than anything.

A sentiment that was once again solidified as a wooden spike pierced through his left thigh, followed by a barrage of shuriken, two of which found their mark in his left shoulder blade, and the rest being dodged in a last-second maneuver that had Naruto throwing himself into a steep gorge and hitting the dry, patchy earth of a dried-up stream with a thud.

Taking this moment of reprieve to catch his breath, and to yank the wooden spike from his leg as he bit down a scream of pain. Naruto knew he wouldn't be out of the enemy's line of sight for long and contemplated the risk of taking a few seconds to loosen a couple more of the minor suppression seals tattooed on his body. At the very least to keep his speed up at a decent pace.

The Zetsu search party had descended on him just as he was putting the finishing touches on the final piece of his variant of an experimental time-space seal. And although Naruto had made quick work of the initial party of six, he had rushed to escape as he knew that was merely a prelude to the real danger.

Hoping the choice wouldn't haunt him later, as the mass array of complex fuinjutsu formulas waiting for him back at his makeshift hideout, required an activation matrix key to be powered up by a ludicrous amount of chakra. Naruto, already jumping out of the arid stream bed and sprinting through the withered forest as fast as his injured leg would allow, undid the top buttons of his mesh shirt and placed two fingers on his chest just above his heart, channeling the barest amount of chakra through the black fuinjutsu ink.

Feeling a wave of chakra wash over him, he quickly concentrated it towards his legs and was already putting a good distance between himself and the Zetsu horde.

It was the barest amount that Naruto could allow for now, and he felt the Nine-Tails force its own chakra through the small opening, trying to sense what's going on, as the stronger suppression seals regulated its once first-person view of Naruto's surroundings, to mere impressions of its jinchuriki's environment and happenings.

The small amount was enough for the ancient being to be brought up to speed, and Naruto felt the malicious chakra beginning to heal his minor injuries, as he shot forward in a burst of speed towards the coast.

'Just a little further. Gamakichi and Gamatatsu should have everything prepared and ready.'

"Brat watch out!"screamed the Nine-Tails from his sub-conscience.

Naruto, even with his enhanced speed, just barely managed to dodge the large purple chakra arrows that leveled the earth where he once stood, the shockwave of the attack sending him skidding back forcing him to stab a kunai into the ground to avoid being blown off his feet.

The battered blond looked up with a glare, faced with row after row of emerging Zetsu clones, all armed with kunai and various half-baked wood Justus of some kind, and giving him sneers and snarls while they paced back and forth like leashed rapid dogs.

In the center of the group, towering above the white horde and given a wide berth, was the upper torso of a robed, purple Susanoo. Its arms stretched and coiled in preparation to fire another attack, before it let out a roar as it dissipated in a wisp of purple chakra, revealing a lone raven head figure wearing a dark cloak that draped over the left side of his body.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in contempt. "Sasuke." He spat the name out like venom.

The pinwheel red gaze of Sasuke Uchiha looked upon his once friend dispassionately, as he rested one hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword.

Despite appearing to look indifferent towards Naruto's building anger, he would be lying if he said he hadn't been looking forward to this confrontation. So much so, that he didn't even bother to stop the jinchuriki from undoing those suppression seals that made tracking him nigh impossible. Afterall, he wanted this to be interesting.

Naruto, having decided to set caution aside, for now, undid the last of the suppression seals etched onto his skin, and hid the sealing key in a storage seal on his wrist.

Pulling a kunai from his leather pouch, he took a fighting stance.

Once upon a time, Naruto would have opted to try in vain at reasoning with the wayward Uchiha. A by-product that resulted from a twisted dynamic of bloody, violent encounters. All of which were kicked start by a betrayal that Naruto had for years, naively believed the two could come back from, despite Sasuke hurting him in some of the worst ways that a person could hurt another and being responsible for Naruto's most brutal battle scars.

And yet even then, despite Sakura even giving up on the Uchiha, Naruto had stupidly clung to the illusion that Sasuke would snap out of whatever hate-induced insanity he had so willingly plunged headfirst into.

But there was too much pain he had caused.

Too many lines he had crossed.

Too many innocents he had killed.

And yet even then, it had only been one single event that caused every ounce of love he had towards the man he once viewed as a brother, to morph and twist into a seething, cold pit of rage and hate that demanded blood.

So, words were unnecessary. And once the Nine-Tails chakra finished mending most of his wounds, the two young men dashed towards each other and began a deadly exchange of moves and counter moves.

'You do not have time for this, brat. You know wherever this upstart is, Madara is never far behind.' Growled out an annoyed Nine-Tails.

'I know'

Naruto parried away Sasuke's sword, creating an opening in the Uchiha's defense that he capitalized on with a kick, the force behind it being enough to send him skidding back a good distance giving Naruto the chance, he needed.

'Not too sure if those Zetsus are merely waiting for an opening, or if Sasuke ordered them to stay put. Either way, I need to account for them.'

Jumping into the air, Naruto formed the hand sign for his signature Jutsu, instantly summoning two dozen clones' mid-flight, all of whom began throwing paper bomb rigged kunai, both directly at Sasuke, and at the ground around him, as well as pelting the Zetsu clones with smoke bombs.

As soon as Naruto felt that he kicked up enough dust, he had a group of clones break off into the forest. Not too far from the action, but far enough to be out of sight.

Landing on an up-right husk of a dead tree, Naruto's clones had emptied their pouches and, still wanting to at least try and preserve as much chakra as possible, were merely waiting for the Uchiha to make a move.

They didn't wait long, as the glowing yellow eyes of a purple, skeletal Susanoo shined through the gray and black fog and, to Naruto's shock, began to rise as it now stood on a pair of skinny malnourished looking legs.

'That's new'

'It looks like that brat has been busy. I would suggest moving. Now.' Nine-Tails said. Its voice sounded even more on edge than usual.

Sasuke looked bored as his Susanoo raised its hands towards its mouth and began blasting a barrage of fireballs.

Naruto's eyes widened as he jumped from his position and felt most of his clones perish instantly, having been too close to the ground and Sasuke to dodge in time.

Landing with both palms on the floor. Naruto pumped a sizable amount of chakra into his next move. "Earth-Style: Mud Wave."

The ground beneath the Susanoo's lanky legs began to shift and tremor causing the large mass of purple chakra to stumble. Annoyed, Sasuke willed a large sword into the being's palm that he quickly plunged into the earth, sending a wide surge of lightning out in all directions, destroying whatever clones that were still left on the battlefield, and even frying a few Zetsu.

Acting fast, Naruto weaved a string of hand signs before clapping his palms together and crouching low to the ground. "Wind-Style: Defensive Gale Palm."

A powerful gust of wind shot forth, stopping just short of a couple of feet from Naruto before condensing itself into a swirling, vortex sphere that expanded, digging into the ground.

Immediately, it began breaking apart the charging bolts of lighting and blew away the remaining wisps of chakra like crushed dry leaves.

Expecting Sasuke to cut the attack off soon, Naruto was instead surprised when he felt the stream of lighting only increase in its intensity, causing the bolts nicking at the sides of his defensive wind technique to snap violently like serpents.

Pumping more chakra into his shield to match, Naruto again raised an eyebrow when Sasuke only increased his chakra output.

'Sasuke knows he can't beat me in a contest of stamina. Between this and the Susanoo, he's burning through his chakra like firewood'

Unlike Madara, Sasuke has no connection to the God-Tree to keep an endless amount of chakra flowing through him. And from the countless battles the two have had, Naruto knows Sasuke's strengths lie in his versatile arsenal of Jutsu and his keen mind to implement such an array tactically and efficiently. Only using up the necessary amount of chakra needed for a technique, rather than trying to overflow it, in hopes to quickly overwhelm his opponent.

It's why the Susanoo hardly made an appearance, despite Sasuke awakening the Mangekyo quite some time ago. That, and of course the blindness that Kakashi had said came with Mangekyo overuse.

Has he gotten that much stronger in the last year?

Naruto was forced to quickly break off the struggle once the lighting started to overpower his shield. Jumping into the air, Naruto caught a glimpse of a bright, warm light, and could only throw up a weak guard before a red ball of fire struck him, sending him crashing through a tree and skidding across the forest floor.

Taking in deep breaths as some skin on the side of his face began to blister and his left shoulder and elbow already started to welt. Naruto staggered to his feet and threw himself to the side as a large chakra blade came crashing down, just missing him, but still creating enough force to send him flying back into a cliffside.

Standing on shaky legs, Naruto brought a hand to his jaw and felt the ruined skin healing a lot slower than it should with the Nine-Tails chakra. He didn't even bother to check his elbow or shoulder, as the raw burning pain told him all he needed to know.

That was a new move, and Naruto had the distinct feeling it was a technique created with him in mind.

'Hey, Nine-Tails. I don't suppose you could kick the healing up a notch, can you?'

'If I pump any more chakra through you, you will lose yourself. As entertaining as that would be, my survival hinges on you being in the right state of mind. Even now, my power is merely responding to your rage towards the Uchiha brat. The only reason I'm not resisting with every fiber of my being is that you would have been dead a dozen times over without me.' Spat the Nine-Tails before letting out a low growl. 'Besides, that fire Jutsu is irritating my chakra, so I couldn't heal you even if I wanted to. As soon as they are ready, you will pull from this fight and get moving. Otherwise, I'll flood your body with my chakra and damn your conscience into oblivion.'

'Thought your survival depends on my state of mind'

The fox demon snarled. 'If I'm dying, it'll be on my terms and not over some pathetic blood feud between two brats.'

Seeing the purple Susanoo making its way towards him, no longer standing on sickly-looking legs but sporting thicker robes, part of which contorted and condensed into pieces of armor plating. Naruto looked down and readjusted the red ribbon strapped around his right wrist, noting the discomfort in his dislocated left shoulder.

"On your terms, huh?" Satisfied that the piece of red cloth wasn't going to come loose, Naruto looked up at the purple ethereal humanoid with a glare. "If only everyone could be so lucky."

Sasuke's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly as he strutted forward, meeting the eyes of the injured jinchuriki.

"That could have very well been a killing blow," he said calmly. "Had you done more instead of frolicking around with frogs and playing in old ruins, you might have stood a chance. But as it stands, you're a disappointment."

"I'm sure if I was Madara's lapdog, I'd have all the time in the world to practice too," Naruto replied as he popped his shoulder joint back in place with a hiss of pain.

Sasuke didn't rise to the taunt, instead, he made a gesture towards the red flames gathering in the palm of his Susanoo. "Tell me Naruto, does this technique look familiar?"

The red flames danced around the exoskeleton's hand when they suddenly shot forward so fast that Naruto, despite sensing the incoming attack, failed to dodge completely. Crying out in pain as his left arm took a direct hit that nearly blew it off and sent him skidding across the forest floor.

"Uchiha Flame formation. Condensed and concentrated like a basic Fire style Jutsu." Sasuke brought down another strike of his Susanoo's sword and watched Naruto struggle to throw himself out of the way. "Designed to defend against tailed-beast. In this case, modified specifically to negate a jinchuriki's healing factor."

"So, in other words; a Jutsu specifically for me. Guess my frolicking spooked you bastards." Naruto said through labored breaths, falling to one knee as he clutched the burnt remains of his left arm. He was feeling even weaker, muscles heavier, and was swaying back and forth as he struggled to get to his feet.

Sasuke watched on with a look that was a mixture of disgust and curiosity. Closing his eyes and shaking his head, Sasuke continued his saunter forward. "This is pointless." A crossbow manifested on the forearm of the robed Susanoo, where an arrow of black fire was loaded and coiled back. "Some plan for you? Yeah, right. Accounted for everything other than you being so weak. Just give up. With your half of the Nine-Tails, no one else will ever have to turn into these disgusting creatures again." Sasuke said pointedly, as he gestured at the dead Zetsu clones who failed to get out of the way of his attacks.

Naruto was on shaky legs. Days without sleep and little to no food, as well as the strain of his clones taking a large quantity of his chakra, preparing to use a string of stamina taxing jutsu. He knew he wasn't in the best of shape going into this fight and would probably have been better off fleeing as soon as he saw Sasuke. Especially if his gambit pays off. In which case Sasuke would be right in calling this fight pointless.

Choosing to stay and fight, and then dying just when the Time-Rift Seal was near completion. Such a death would be meaningless, and idiotic.

And yet there was that cold pit inside of him where his rage had only burned urging him on, and where his hate had festered and cultivated, replaying blood and death in his head over and over.

"I think, there's still a tomorrow for us…"

Sasuke must die.

Naruto wiped the blood from his lip, "I'm kind of shocked, you know?" Taking a step forward, Naruto bent his knees in preparation. "That after all this time, you're still stupid enough to think I'll just roll over and die like that," he spat defiantly as he raised his good arm with an open palm.

Sasuke watched and waited. His Sharingan quickly perceived the concentration of chakra in Naruto's palm, before a Rasen-Shuriken formed in a swirling gust of wind, and chakra.

"You and Madara both..." The red in Naruto's slit irises looked as if it would bleed into the rest of his eyes, and his whisker markings looked more like crudely applied war paint, "…. CAN GO STRAIGHT TO HELL!"

The sound of the earth cracking beneath him caused Sasuke's gaze to fall to the ground, where a clone exploded out of the earth. Sasuke caught the shadow clone's blow in his palm easily enough but was struck in the gut by a kick from another. The blow was followed by a series of successful attacks from the four clones that had emerged, with a gale palm strike sending Sasuke into the air and out of his Susanoo.

With his ultimate defense momentarily out of the way, Naruto launched himself towards Sasuke, with two of his clones forming their own Rasen-Shuriken before being flung into the air by another pair of clones.

It was an all-or-nothing attack. Sasuke was too nimble of a combatant, even whilst in the air, to risk throwing the Rasen-shuriken. He was also likely aware of how Naruto planned to attack since the only tangible way to get past the Susanoo was just to pull him out of it. In these circumstances at least.

Naruto and his clones closed in, shoving their respective Rasen-shuriken's forward with a war cry.

Rather than the sound of flesh and bone being pulverized and shredded, the whine of whistling wind echoed through the ruined forest as the three Rasen-shuriken crashed against an unseen barrier, forcibly funneling the three attacks into a single point on Sasuke's palm.

Naruto watched in shock as his strongest Jutsu slowly went out with a shriek. A weak gust signaled the near absorption of his attack before finally, nothing remained, only Naruto's saucer eye stare of disbelief at Sasuke's mismatched placid gaze of red and purple.

Before he had a chance to process what just happened, an unseen force assaulted him.

"Almighty-Push." Sasuke said with a raised hand and Naruto was violently blasted back alongside whatever was behind him.

The crash was vicious, the sheer force unrelenting as everything caught in the line of fire was obliterated. Boulders and cliffsides were blown into pebbles, the empty husk of dead trees blasted into splinters. The dying valley was reduced to a true wasteland with only the most stubborn pieces of nature, just barely clinging to life already, remaining in patches.

Naruto laid on the ground, having struck the earth with so much force that his trajectory could be traced by the elongated crater left from the crash. Everything was in pain. That was the one thing Naruto could properly perceive as his mind was trying to make sense of up and down and he tried to reign in his senses to assess his situation.

He was bleeding from countless small cuts where pieces of rock and wood had hit him and could feel the pain and awkward displacements of numerous broken bones. There was an ache and throbbing in his skull that he knew to be a concussion and he could feel a rib or two jabbing his lung with every labored breath he took. To top it all off, his right hand felt like he had shoved it into a blender.

'He has the Rinnegan because, of course he does.' Naruto thought bitterly as he felt the Nine-Tails chakra beginning to heal him as best it could.

In an instant, this already uphill battle had turned into an impossible struggle and Naruto gritted his teeth as his bones painfully popped back into place. Not at all fully healed, but at least allowing him to move, with significant effort that is. With a painful grunt, Naruto tried to get to his feet but could only manage to make it to his knees when his shin made it clear it could not support his weight.

Naruto settled for resting on one knee with his other leg pulled towards his chest because he'll be damned before he even looks like he's bowing to Sasuke, who currently was making his way towards him through the crater.

Sasuke eyed the jinchuriki with a critical look before smirking at the glare he was receiving.

"I suppose that was a bit of a surprise for you." Sasuke moved to reveal his left arm beneath his cloak, covered in bandages and cloth. "Our last fight left me in a pretty bad shape. I almost didn't make it. Wouldn't have made it had it not been for the First Hokage's DNA." He clenched his bandaged fist before bringing a hand to his mismatched eyes. "Who'd of thought his cells would lead to this kind of power," Sasuke whispered.

He stopped once he stood only a few yards away from Naruto who was still struggling to get to his feet, eying him down.

"It's over." Sasuke said with finality, raising a hand towards the injured blonde.

"For now, yeah," Naruto said calmly.

Lighting crackled to life all around Sasuke's hand, and just before he could lunge forward to deliver the killing blow, a yellow chain burst from underneath, just beside Naruto, and wrapped around the injured shinobi's wrist.

Naruto gave one last look to Sasuke who watched on with a neutral expression, not seeming at all surprised by his cheating death once again.

'The next time we meet, I will put you down before you can hurt anyone.'

Everything around Naruto began to vanish away into nothingness, and Naruto felt himself being pulled away into the in-between space of their world. What was left of his surroundings vanished all at once, as he disappeared in a yellow flash.

'Believe it'

Sasuke looked on, staring at the spot where Naruto had just teleported from, as if expecting the blond to reappear and finish their fight. Of course, nothing happened and so the lighting crackling in his palm fizzled out.

"Well," Sasuke said, his face giving away nothing as he readjusted his cloak. "Guess all there is to do now, is to just wait."

He looked past the shriveled husks of trees towards the dry sea-bed where the edge of the ocean resided miles away nowadays, knowing Naruto had just appeared somewhere along the coast on the other side.

Sasuke's gaze lingered on for a bit before he turned and walked away, no destination in mind.


For once the cool stale air was a comfort for Gamakichi, even if only slightly, as his nerves felt like strings on a guitar that had been tuned too tightly and were close to snapping.

Naruto had been gone for almost two weeks, a full four days more than what he had been expecting. The orange toad wasn't too surprised, however, as anything that involved fuinjutsu did not have a guarantee. Not that he knew exactly, he just knew that all those complex formulas of script and other symbols had an act for driving his blond friend mad with frustration.

And why wouldn't it? Gamakichi got headaches from simply staring at the mass array of sealing formulas for too long. Some of which he could vaguely make out as Naruto did mention that some of the fuinjutsu inscribed into the seal was his grandfather's brand of sealing. But aside from the few scraps he understood here and there, it might as well be gibberish.

Taking a deep breath, he heard his younger brother rush into the cavern.

"Gamakichi!" Gamatatsu sounded as if the simple act of moving from one room to the other had winded him considerably. Something that would have gotten a jab or three from Gamakichi at his brother's negligence towards training and his gluttonous habits. But nowadays the orange toad knew his brother's poor stamina had little to do with his lack of training.

With the God-Tree syphoning away nearly all the natural energy, there had been little left for the sage creatures. Hell, Gamakichi was sure that he should be as big as his father had been by now, or at the least approaching that size. But as it is, he was barely large enough for Naruto to stand on top of him comfortably.

The orange toad shook those thoughts away. "What is it?"

"The protection seals," Gamatatsu said, pointing a padded finger towards the hideout entrance. "They're glowing red again, flashing and everything."

Gamakichi eyed the direction of the entrance before turning towards a mass array of fuinjutsu markings.

The set-up had taken nearly a year to complete, with a new script being drawn into the large seal every month or so and a kanji being erased or rearranged. The result being a cave wall that looked like one of the ancient ruins that gramps and the other geezers back home would often hold meditation sessions in.

"Then that means its time. Naruto will be here soon, so we gotta get started." The orange toad said as he hopped over to a pile of scrolls.

"So soon?" Gamatatsu said apprehensively, "Shouldn't we wait for Naruto? Just in case we're detected."

Gamakichi gave his younger brother a comforting smile, despite his own reservations. "Thats going to happen either way. Besides..." A solemn look weighed down the toad's oily face as he looked back towards the entrance, where the protection seals were practically shining with a bright orange. "...something tells me Naruto isn't gonna be alone when he gets here. The power tags need to be ready. You think you got enough chakra?"

Gamatatsu pulled the guards down from his flabby wrists revealing small black swirl marks. "Yeah, I mean I hope so." The younger toad downcast his eyes dejectedly. "It's been hard trying to gather up any nature energy, so I don't know if what I have is enough but-"

"Then we'll just have to make what we got work." Gamakichi said as he unfurled the scroll he had picked up and gestured for his brother to follow him towards a small swirl of sealing script that stuck out from the larger sealing jutsu.

Placing the tip of his finger on the edge of the circle and channeling some chakra through it, Gamakichi watched as the small symbol began to quickly rotate before it broke apart into two swirling scripts of black ink that began to expand, forming two large swirling fuinjutsu symbols that had a blank space in their centers. Gamakichi step forward and channeled some chakra into the scroll he held, causing the Uzumaki symbol to appear on the parchment.

Placing the scroll on the ground in between the two large circles, the two watched as the swirling Uzumaki crest began to slowly rotate before it collapsed into a mess of black liquid on the edge of the scroll and bled into the ground towards the two large circles.

Motioning his brother forward to the circle on the right, while he undid his own wrist guards, Gamakichi activated the storage seals drawn on him and felt the natural energy he had gather over the last year flow through his body, sending a pleasant and comforting sensation through-out his being, one he hadn't realized just how much he had missed.

If only he could bask in it.

But he had a job to do.

Gamakichi looked to his brother who had also undid his own storage seals and was awaiting his word with trepidation.

"We got this brother." Gamakichi assured, hoping to bring some confidence to his nervous sibling. "Let's do it!"

With both toads in place in the centers of the swirling fuinjutu circles, Gamakichi and Gamatatsu formed the rat sign as blue radiant energy burned around them before being focused into the black ink formulas in front of them. The amount of natural energy they had stored up over the last year was nowhere near what either toad could have gathered in moments prior to the God-Tree, and Gamakichi could already feel the strain of his chakra rapidly depleting.

Gamakichi greeted his teeth as he forced down the impulse to break the connection and he could hear his brother breathing heavily.

Sparing a glance, he saw that Gamatatsu looked ready to fall over and was sweating profusely as he forced himself to maintain his own connection to the chakra greedy seal.

"B-Brother..." the yellow toad wheezed out, "...I can't go any further."

Gamakichi kept his gaze locked onto the ground for fear that making any unnecessary movements would cause him to collapse. "Just-" he felt the pool of natural energy he had accumulated deplete completely, and nearly toppled over from the sudden pain of his own life reserves of chakra being devoured by the seal. "Just a bit more," he gasped out.

A thud nearly caused him to break his concentration and he caught a glimpse from his peripheral vision, of Gamatatsu's limp form on the floor.

Sensing that there was indeed some chakra still flowing through the other toads body, Gamakichi maintained his stance and continued to channel everything he had into the seal.

He could check on his brother later.

'Just a bit more'

The swirling formulas that circled the two toads began to glow when their rotation came to a sudden stop. After a few, long seconds, the two glowing swirls shot forward into the center of the mass of fuinjutsu drawn about.

Formulas and script began to break apart and rearrange like a giant black ink mechanism that shift and pulled in every direction before settling into a large X shape diagram that had the Uzumaki swirl in its center. Flanked at its sides by various symbols and kanji that nearly all held a swirl within their script.

The large seal shifted a bit more before it finally settled completely. Gamakichi stared as the seal pulsated with energy, the senjutsu chakra it had received being converted into something else entirely that radiated an aura that sent a chill up the toad's spine.

The Time-Rift Whirlpool Seal was ready.

Gasping for breath as blackness began to cloud his vision and finally allowing his body to crumbled to the floor, Gamakichi let a smirk cross his lips in pride at both himself and his brother at having done their part perfectly in this mad plan. Naruto's Hail-Mary of a gamble now had a chance at working and this nightmare would finally end, one way or another.

Darkness began to quickly flood his vision and the bliss of unconsciousness began to settle in.

'One way or another, we got this.'


A/N:

I'm aware that when it comes to Naruto/Fairy Tail strories, this premise isnt the most original.

However, I hope to write my own novel one day and I need to practice my creative writing chomps on something. Constructive criticism welcome.