Earlier on.
Seven days before the end. Umi.
Yamanaka Ino floated in nothingness.
She extended her awareness. She could feel the threads of most of Umi's people stretch out into the night. Dreamweaving was something she considered herself to be pretty average at, but it was one avenue she really hadn't explored enough. So she practiced sensing them.
And considering what the stakes were, and what could happen if they let Naruto go unchecked, she wasn't willing to let anything escape her. Toru's death had been a painful lesson.
The visions always changed, turning and twisting. Dreams were such a confusing thing, and it was sometimes like trying to catch swirling smoke.
Then she came awake abruptly.
Someone was at the door. Ino rose, grabbing her Cloak to cover herself in a swift movement. There was no need to wake Karin up, she assumed. Ino went down.
"Sorry for waking you up." Tanabe Mai whispered.
"I wasn't sleeping." Ino almost smiled. "What happened?"
"He's back."
"…Naruto?" Ino asked, wishing she didn't feel some trepidation.
"Yes."
Sakura seemed to have some sort of preternatural instinct for when shit was brewing, because she caught on to Ino immediately.
She landed into the sand with a smooth flip.
"Why do you think he didn't come here right away?" She asked.
"…I don't think I'm able to understand how he thinks, recently." Ino muttered. "Let's go and see."
"At least he's back." Sakura shrugged. "We'll figure out the rest."
"Did you ask him to stay there, Mai?" Ino asked.
"No…" She began. "He decided to do so himself."
Ino stopped.
"Willingly…? Or is it just that he can't pass the second layer of barriers? That would mean—"
"That's not it." Mai shook her head. "There was no ill intent toward Umi — he passed the first barrier after all — but he said he preferred it that way."
Ino and Sakura exchanged a long look. Did he really lose it? Ever since Toru's death… It had been an exponential descent into madness. If they didn't find a way to do something about it soon…
Maybe Nagato wouldn't be their only source of worry.
"How… did he look to you?" Ino asked.
"…Well enough. But…" Mai hesitated. "You should see him yourself."
"Very cryptic." Sakura said blandly. Mai cringed.
"Sorry." She said.
"Was he angry…? Was he out of it, or maybe very uncaring…?"
"...Genocidal, perhaps?" Sakura offered. Ino glared at her.
"No. Far from it."
They entered the building that contained Umi's entrance Gate. There were many people gathered here, more than usual. They were talking over each other. Loudly.
Some seemed to be in awe, some were simply speechless.
At the center of the room, almost glowing with power, stood Uzumaki Naruto. He embraced his full height now, looking almost imperious, without trying to do so. The bond almost snapped back into place once they got closer, with a rush of heat.
His eyes found hers and Sakura's as soon as they entered.
Hairs bristled on Ino's arms.
The first thing was that the glint of madness, the one that had progressively become more and more noticeable, until it was impossible to ignore it…
Was entirely gone.
The second thing… was the Rinnegan.
'...What?!'
No wonder people were staring. A few were crying, even. Ino shook her head, bemused. They were taking this as something more… godly than it probably was. This was just fucking Naruto.
"Hello, Ino, Sakura." Naruto smiled, and stepped through the crowd.
"…Hi."
"Hey there." Sakura greeted.
"Shall we walk?" He asked.
Something about him seemed different.
It was not just the lucidity that she was sure Sakura could also see in his eyes. He looked… older, somehow. His face hadn't changed, but there was something hard to define in his eyes. Something that belonged to a man who had lived way longer than Naruto had. An old shinobi, maybe.
Or older than that. Ino felt a bit on edge.
The contrast of the youthful face and his eyes also reminded her of that woman on the boat, months and months ago.
"Have you been well?" Naruto asked them with a smile.
Ino noticed that he wore a form-fitting, high-collared kimono over a black bodysuit. It was light colored and held closed at the waist by a black sash.
This mother— While everybody went sick with worry… He took the time to make himself some fancy clothes!
Sakura shrugged. "Can't complain, things are going pretty decent, here."
Decent? Which part of it?
"Well?! We worried about you!" Ino said, voice rising. "And-"
He smiled softly. "I know."
"That's all you have to say?! …What happened exactly? Where the hell have you been?! It's been days since Karin… and Hanabi—"
Naruto simply nodded.
"And what's up with the eyes?" Sakura continued.
"I lost my mind." He said casually. "And then I found it again."
"…What about… Indra?"
Naruto laughed. "I am him."
The women both froze. Chakra gathered in the air around them.
"No, sorry, that's terrible wording, considering..." Naruto winced. "Not in this way. I am not possessed. I am still me. The trouble began when I tried to separate myself from… well, me. Indra. We are the same person. Or the same soul, rather."
"…What does that mean exactly?"
"I've accepted who I am. I am Uzumaki Naruto… and I was Indra, before."
A long silence stretched.
"Is this what we can expect from now on...? Any more mental... instability to come, in the future? More insanity?" Sakura asked bluntly.
"Sakura…" Ino hissed. Mental health was something she likely saw a bit differently.
"What? It's true." She shrugged. "No offense meant."
"None taken." Naruto laughed. "And no. The madness is over. There won't be any voices in my head, possession, or anything like that. It was closer to a merging, so what you see now is what you get. Maybe I'm going to change a bit over time, still... but it's an organic thing. I'm still processing the memories — there are lifetimes of them — but that's about it."
"Good. Good." Sakura nodded.
Then she slapped him. Hard.
"Hey!" Ino growled.
"What? That's for Karin and Hanabi." She retorted. "Because they won't."
"It's well deserved, too." Naruto nodded, his cheek red. "They are the reason why I didn't want to come there right away. I owe them more than an apology. More than words can convey."
"…Would you really have attacked them?"
Naruto shook his head. "I still don't fully know what was going through my mind at the time. Although… I fear the worst."
That was a probably.
"Well… If you say it's over over…" Sakura said dubiously.
"It is." He smiled painfully. "I promise."
"…I will do my best to check over you, later." Ino said. There would be nothing like Toru.
"Sure."
"How is it…? The memories thing?" Sakura asked.
"It's… strange, honestly. I remember entire lives, more than a dozen of them. It becomes very clear when I focus. More than before. It's all part of me. And so is the man you call Indra."
"So you are…?"
"Both, yes. I am still me, but sane. And part of me is also Indra. That's the only way it could ever work."
"So… How did you get these eyes…?" Sakura asked again.
Naruto winced. "I did some pretty bad things. Not worse than I might have done in the past, but terrible nonetheless. I will have to find a few people, see what can be done still."
"…What did you do, exactly?" Ino asked, her dread singing.
"…I guess there really is no good way of saying it." Naruto mused.
Silence stretched.
"Naruto—"
"I found Sasuke, stabbed him and stole his chakra. I crippled Shisui. I killed several Konoha shinobi, just because they were in the way, when they attacked me."
"Wha—"
Ino shot him a betrayed look.
"…What happened to what you promised me?"
"I'm sorry." Naruto bowed his head. "I'm truly sorry."
"Only the people who deserve it." Ino spat. "That's what you said, back then."
Naruto nodded grimly.
"I remember, yes."
"Did they deserve it?" She asked angrily.
"Probably not." He said with a wince. "I wouldn't know. I was at my worst, then, and I... did not stop to ask questions."
"Probably...? Are you going to claim madness for this?!"
"…Wasn't it?—" Sakura interrupted herself when Ino glared at her.
"No." Naruto said. "It's on me. I fucked up. It won't happen again."
Ino growled.
"That's it?!"
"That's it." Naruto nodded. "If you find you can't accept it, I would understand."
She continued to glare at him.
"I waited until they attacked me, if it's any consolation."
"…No. It's not, no." Ino growled.
"There's more. I killed other people, but this part... I honestly can't remember much about. Just that they were the ones we planned on doing something about. And... did Karin tell you about the people under Nagato's thrall…?"
"Yes." Ino said tightly.
"This was the same. I acted too rashly, in a way I thought made sense, if removed from morals… ethics. For this, I am sorry. Maybe with enough time, I could have found a way to save them." He pointed at his eyes. "If I had known… I wouldn't have done it. But what's done is done."
Naruto stopped on the steps of their home, facing them.
Naruto didn't seem half as confident, right now, he knew.
Ino saw his face. He looked lost, and in pain as well.
"That would be bad enough on its own." He finally said.
He wasn't as uncaring as Ino had began to worry he was - Naruto knew her well, he knew what she thought.
"But the thing I regret the most.. That's what happened with Karin… Hanabi. I almost attacked them."
Ino could feel his shame. His regret. And his fear.
A tear rolled down his face.
Both Madara and Indra seemed to be of the belief that asking for forgiveness was a sign of weakness. Then again… Naruto had been wrong about so many things in his past lives. That was just one more of them.
She and Sakura watched, without turning away.
"I'm sorry. For all this—"
He was interrupted.
"You'd better be, asshole." Karin interrupted, from the upper floor. "But the least you could do is tell us directly."
Ino pretended she didn't see her wipe a tear of her own. Hanabi, up there with her, just watched on solemnly.
Karin dropped down.
"Your arm. It's healed. How?" She blinked. "It seemed—"
"Ah. I just had to… untangle the chakra with the Rinnegan and then—" He began hesitantly.
An awkward silence followed. Naruto looked at both of them, at a loss for words. This was not anything like facing down the strongest ninja in the world. He was... afraid of them.
Karin grabbed him in a tight embrace. He was much taller, and he had to bend down, yet he clung to her. Hanabi stood close.
"You're so fucking—" Karin sniffed.
The three chakra met, like a gentle embrace, like hands joining.
All of the feelings, the words, the things he wouldn't have been able to express through words came through.
The others felt it as well. The madness that had been there, the fear, the sorrow, the regret, the horror, the shame.
I did something unforgivable.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I'm so sorry, Karin. Hanabi."
Karin interrupted. "You stopped yourself, didn't you?"
"…"
"That's the part that matters most to me." She smiled softly. "No matter how many terrible things you've done, recently. Now… that might make me just as shitty as you."
I'm sorry, Karin.
I think I understand. It's all right.
"Well… I'm not quite this… sappy." Hanabi said, coming closer, with the ghost of a smile on her lips. "But she has a point. If even… when you were well… losing your mind… you still managed to not… Well, I guess I can forgive that. You fucked up. Now get up again."
I'm sorry, Hanabi.
I see you. I feel bad for Karin, really. You couldn't have hurt me anyway, and she would have had to watch me beat you up.
Naruto chuckled through his tears.
There were more than a few bright eyes. Except—
"Trying to kill someone is just the ninja way of saying hello, anyway." Sakura chuckled.
The moment was broken and they groaned.
"Please, not now, Sakura."
The first few hours were awkward, full of averted glances.
Considering the things he had done, and what he had almost done, Naruto considered this way too light of a punishment.
But none of them would accept any more excuses, so he waited.
It was not any stranger than the sudden silence in his mind, after more than ten years of feeling something in the background.
The hours after that were awkward too, but slightly better.
"The Kage will meet tomorrow, in the Land of Iron." Anko declared later. It seemed that with Orochimaru gone, she had taken it upon herself to steal his tea.
"Aren't half of them still at war?" Naruto asked, frowning.
"Yes and no. It already took much too long for them to agree on that much. Still, things have changed a bit while you were…" Anko began, not sure how to express it.
"Losing my mind." He nodded. "I've gotten better, you can say it out loud."
"…Okay?" Anko looked at him dubiously. "Well, if you're fine with it. Great. Cause you were crazy as balls, back there. Nobody even dared to say it."
"I know, Anko."
"Frankly, I thought you were about to kill one of us, at some point."
Naruto sounded pained. "I… know, Anko."
She laughed. "I thought it was going to be me, before. And that was before you really went off the deep end." She closed her fist, extended the index finger and circled it around her temple for several seconds. "Not just loopy. More like… batshit insane!"
"Thank you, Anko." He said dryly. "Can we get back to the topic, now?"
"Sure, sure. So yeah, anyway…" She seemed lost in thought. "Oh, yeah. Well, the countries are still at war, officially, but I think they might take a little break to deal with Nagato's shit."
"Isn't this a good thing?" Ino asked. "It could be a first step toward peace."
Naruto winced. "Not really. I've seen this before."
Anko frowned. "Where…?"
"Memories. Visions, whatever." He waved it off. "As soon as this is over and someone sees an opportunity to grab power, the peace will be over."
Silence stretched.
"Well." Anko shrugged. "You're the one with dead guys inside you."
"…Phrasing."
"What do you suggest, mister Nine-Lives?"
Naruto thought about it.
"We're going to the Summit."
Silence.
"Seriously…?" Sakura asked.
"Yes." He nodded. "Sorry, Sakura, but I will need you to sneak in… Tonight, preferably."
She rubbed her temple.
"Yeah." She breathed out. "No big deal, right."
"I'll come, too." Anko offered.
Naruto continued.
"To keep the Nations at peace with each other, we're going to need to put something above them. The Kage are likely always going to be warlike, no matter who we put in charge. The role seems to encourage it, as things are now, so we'll have to change that. And if we can reduce their wars to mere power grabs between each other… Well that should do, for the time being."
"How? I don't think asking for forgiveness is going to be enough at this point." Anko said dryly.
"Asking for forgiveness…?" Naruto lifted his eyebrows. "I have no intention of doing that."
There were only a few people he felt like apologizing to. The Kage and their villages were none of them.
"…What do we do, then?" Hanabi asked.
"Well." Naruto smiled. "That's pretty straightforward. We seize power."
"…Care to explain in a bit more detail, maybe?" Sakura asked dryly.
"Sure." Naruto nodded. "The fact that the Elemental Nations have been in the grip of almost incessant wars for more than a thousand of years is important."
"…That much? Are you sure?" Hanabi frowned.
Naruto laughed. "Well, I can't speak in too much detail about how it started exactly before I was… Indra was first born, but yeah. I know how things were when he was around."
"So?"
"Soldiers, weapons and even entire armies were commonplace and easy to procure. With Ninjutsu becoming more and more widespread, courtesy of… me. Well, things became even more violent."
"Sure sounds great." Anko deadpanned.
"It's pretty bad. But that offers a way for us to thread the needle. Usually that's done with a charismatic figure, or so. Now, quite frankly, I'm a pretty terrible messiah."
"Yeah."
"You are."
"Fucking terrible, even."
"I've seen worse…"
"Pretty bad."
"Yes, thank you." Naruto nodded sagely. "But what the world already knows is that our alliance is strong… and that we — Umi specifically — are ready to stir things up. The only thing that stands between us and rallying the world to our cause… is Nagato, really."
"…Maybe this is a bit of an oversimplification. How about-" Hanabi began.
"It is. But Nagato pretending to be a godlike figure… and having the strength to back it up… Might be a boon in disguise. I have the same eyes, and that lends us some credence already. Now… if we manage to defeat him… Well, I think you get the general idea."
"So… do we promise an end to the fighting… or do we remain in the shadows like bogeymen?" Ino asked, still looking very doubtful about the entire thing.
"The former one." Naruto nodded. "Since we are strong already, it shouldn't be too hard to rally the rest of the villages progressively. And once that alliance becomes strong enough, the others will have to join. There won't be much bloodshed, I will make sure of it."
"Sounds less insane than I thought." Anko finally said. "Not by that much, though."
"Yeah. Otherwise, we can still go and kill the Kage and other leaders over and over again, until they give up and accept lasting peace."
"…I can't tell if you're serious or not." Anko said, looking at him squarely.
"…Why would I even joke about this?" Naruto asked, blinking.
"…So, what can your legendary eyes do?" Ino asked.
He looked at her, and there was something imperious about his gaze. Naruto pondered his answer, undoubtedly wondering about the best way to explain his newfound godlike powers. Something that Nations would pay any amount of money for. Something that was worth more than that.
Ino was mesmerized. So these were they eyes that allowed men to rise—
"…I have no fucking idea, besides the basics." Naruto admitted with a wince. "I didn't go through everyone's memories yet, it takes a while."
Ino growled. The rest of them sighed.
"Yeah…" Sakura groaned. "I'll be figuring out how to pull the wool on the Five Kage and the Land of Iron. Seems like less trouble."
"I'm coming!" Anko stood up.
"…I'm not even leaving yet, sit down." Sakura muttered.
"Well… we have one day to figure the basics out." Naruto scratched his head, vaguely embarrassed.
Naruto dug into Uchiha Madara's memories.
Apparently, he was the only one of Indra's line of successors to have successfully awakened it. Well, before Naruto.
There were plenty of things to unpack, including his madness-induced plan to resurrect himself by having… Nagato do the job..? He was glad that the man didn't seem to have any inclination to do so, frankly. That seemed like a headache and a half.
Not that he was sure it would even work, considering Naruto and he were one soul. And he might have been something of a dick as Madara — or Madara might have been a dick, things were a bit confusing… But he wasn't looking forward to splitting himself in two.
The memories that had once come unwanted now mostly blended with his own. There was still some confusion, of course. Naruto knew exactly which ones were the ones of this particular life, but as for the rest…
He knew he had been born about twenty years ago in Konoha, but he also remembered being born in many other places. Sometimes he had to focus to tell where the memories were from exactly, when they were something he wasn't already aware of.
But—
"Hey there." Somebody called.
Naruto snapped out of his trance.
"Yes?"
It was the four of them — the women he had bonded and Hanabi. It felt as though they didn't know how to act around him anymore. The initial wariness was slowly lifting already, though.
"Did you get some information about the Rinnegan?" Sakura asked. She wagged her finger in the air. "By… I don't know… Diving into your mind or some shit."
"Or some shit, yeah." Naruto smiled. "I think I understand the basics of what it can do."
"Really…?" She asked, sitting down, looking excited. "Tell us, then."
"Well." He started gravely. "It gives me many things."
"Like…?" She hung onto his lips.
"Invisibility. Super strength. The ability to fly. Shapeshifting. Super-speed — even more than before, and I was very fast already. Telepathy. Mind control. Telekinesis. Teleportation. Chakra absorption. Time travel. Invulnerability. Incredible sexual prowess. Force fields. Immortality. Cosmic awareness. Charisma in spades."
Silence.
"My god…" Sakura breathed out. "Really?!"
"No." Naruto laughed.
"You blond motherfucker—"
Naruto cackled as she tried to wrap her arm around his neck to choke him.
"I thought you outgrew this shit!" She raged.
"Never!" Naruto laughed. "Besides, half of this is true, to some degree!"
"I don't believe anything that comes from your mouth!"
"…How old are you, by now, even?" Hanabi asked, ignoring the pink menace wrapped around his neck. Just like he did.
"Huh. Good question." Naruto seemed to think about it. He had never really thought about it. The life expectancy for most shinobi used to be even lower than now, according to his memories. And Indra's descendants lived even shorter lives, often.
He could remember nineteen distinct lives, and he was sure that if he focused enough, he could tell how many added years that was.
"Eh. Let's say in between four to five centuries in total." He shrugged.
"Ew… Creepy." Hanabi shuddered.
"What?" He blinked.
"That makes you a dirty old man."
"Eh?" Naruto frowned. "Those are memories. I am still me!"
"Geezer." Ino supplied.
"It's not like that!" Naruto said hotly, looking his age again. "There are less than three of them who made it to old age! It's not something you just add up — That was a figure of speech!"
"Should I get your pills, ojisan?" Sakura sneered.
"I was always them! I'm not going to change suddenly! It just so happens that I remember their — my — their lives, now!"
"Why don't you go date people closer to your… age range?" Ino asked. "Like that elder from Suna? What's her name…? Chiyo something. Oh. Maybe she's a bit too young for you, now."
"Don't give him ideas." Karin deadpanned.
"…You girls can fuck right off. I just had some extra lifetimes." Naruto growled. "If I say I'm twenty, I'm twenty!"
"…Is it your back I hear creaking?" Hanabi put a hand to her ear.
"It's probably my teeth, from talking to you." He gritted out.
"…Anyway, here's what I got from my… Madara's memories." Naruto said.
He unfurled a long scroll and hung it to the wall, to act as a blackboard.
"First of all… I'm not sure where the hell the names come from, in the first place. I… Madara didn't name the abilities, I think. So let's just agree that it's probably some divine thing, too."
The four women were waiting for him to get to the point.
Naruto put his index on the scroll, and writing started to spread across its length.
"First… The Rinnegan gives the user the ability to see chakra… chakra pathways, and all that. Oh, near perfect chakra control, too — though I'm not so convinced, right now. I can apparently summon some chakra receivers… and use any elemental nature… in theory. Didn't manage to do so yet, at least."
"Why would eyes give you the ability to use other natures… or chakra control…?" Sakura muttered.
"It's a Dōjutsu. I don't expect you to understand." Hanabi huffed.
"…I have a Sharingan."
"Yes."
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know the specifics, honestly."
He continued. He pressed his thumb against the scroll and the writing continued to spread.
"Then we have six paths. First comes the Asura Path: this allows me to create missiles, cannons, blades, extra arms… Don't interrupt me, Hanabi, let me finish."
"Naraka Path: I can summon the "King of Hell", some… thing that can interrogate people and heal people completely. Though… I'm not sure it's all that great for interrogation. If I ask someone a question while they're grabbing this King of Hell's tongue… if they lie, their "tongue" is ripped out and they die. If they tell the truth, they are spared."
Sakura frowned.
"Hush. Human Path: this one allows me to take out… uh the soul of an opponent by touching them. Of course… If someone's soul is ripped out, they die. Except if it's Sakura, then she lives for about eighty years still."
He paused over their laughter and Sakura's jeering.
"Ah, I can also read people's minds through this — it kinda sounds like the same thing, and it uses the same creature... Ah, people die, though. I wonder if it works with clones…"
Naruto cleared his throat.
"There's the Animal Path: with this, I can summon… a number of different animals that can be killed and re-summoned. It… works to summon people too… apparently."
The women were beginning to scratch their heads.
"Okay, there's the… Deva Path. It controls gravity. So I could actually fly, in theory. Pushing things, pulling things. Telekinesis, too, I guess. It's supposedly good for defense." Naruto continued, a bit bemused himself.
He hoped it wasn't all just some madness-induced fever dream Madara had. Naruto could see the same skepticism on his friend's faces.
"Then there's the Preta Path: it's good for absorbing ninjutsu and chakra. Helpful for people like Sakura, who have no chakra reserves." He cackled and dodged the sandal she threw at him.
"I mentioned something about chakra receivers… That's the Outer Path. This path allows its user - me - to produce chakra receivers which bind movement and allow me to… control the target."
Yeah, that sounded very familiar. He wondered if something could have been done for these people, back then. Probably too far gone… but that was a probably.
Merging with pretty… cold-hearted bastards had left him somewhere where he could push that sort of thought aside. He could find atonement later, if he survived.
"It also gives a rinnegan user control over… life and death."
Ino interrupted. "Yeah, I know what you said." She raised her hands. "But did I hear this right?"
"Yeah. You can revive the dead for real." He said, with a bitter taste in his mouth. "It just costs you your life. You can apparently summon a statue… The one the Bijuu are sealed into. I couldn't manage, though."
Naruto paused. Nagato's interference, likely.
"Well… I think that's about it. And no… I can't make any sense as to how this works, either."
"You know… If this was a prank, it's really too long-winded." Sakura yawned.
"It's really not." He assured her. "Now… Please help me practice — not you Sakura, Anko, I know you're going to be busy. I can't use any of these yet."
Six days before the end.
It was the day of the Five Kage Summit.
Naruto had only managed to learn how to use the Deva Path, after going through Madara's memories. He could use it somewhat well, by now, but still…
He didn't get much sleep. Considering the last few weeks though, it wasn't that bad.
"…I guess this will have to do." Naruto muttered.
They had a meeting to crash.