Naruto took a step forward.
Nagato didn't.
Naruto stood, bathed in purple and golden light.
The carvings he had willingly made part of him, so long ago, were all on fire. And changing, too. Their burn was a comforting thing.
"Don't get too full of yourself, now, just because you still have a piece of the Nine-Tails." Nagato said, face unreadable. "I hold the same power, as well as five of the others."
Naruto said nothing. His blood was singing and his heartbeat felt deafening.
"Do you believe you can kill me, Uzumaki Naruto?" Nagato asked with a mocking smile.
"...What do you think?"
Nagato didn't answer. He simply drew more of the Bijū's power to him.
The whole fortress was trembling.
Naruto didn't react. In terms of raw power, he wouldn't be able to compete, and he knew it.
But that had never been the point.
Nagato shot forward, slightly faster than before. His arms split at the shoulder, and four more erupted, all of them carrying the Asura Path's blades.
Naruto's chakra crackled.
"Thunder Edge." Naruto called, summoning one of the weapons he had crafted, mostly to see if he could.
(One that he had deemed pretty useless, once he had realized its drawbacks.)
Karin had told him the way to go about fighting this battle.
And he now knew how Nagato thought.
That was something he could… No. Something that he would exploit.
(One that he could only use in this state.)
Gold and purple light shaped itself into a blade imbued with thunder spirit.
(One that converted his chakra into Lightning, fused it with the slightest touch of natural energy and fed it back to him, enhancing his physical strength only. Subtly enough for Nagato not to notice, he hoped.)
Nagato drew closer.
And closer.
Six bladed arms, attacking from every direction.
Naruto stretched his awareness.
(Because Naruto didn't think pushing his speed any further was a wise choice, and not only because of diminishing returns. He was the fastest man alive. When using the mighty chakra, he knew he would be fast enough.)
Naruto's hand shot forward at the last moment, grabbing onto the middle-left arm. He slipped into Nagato's guard, quickly dropping down under him.
Something Itachi had taught him.
Naruto twisted.
Nagato's wrist broke like glass the moment he was slammed into the ground. He stared in honest surprise.
Naruto thrust down, aiming at piercing Nagato's skull.
Nagato's head twisted, and he spat steam to move his head away from the strike.
(A weapon that simply took too much chakra for even him to use in normal circumstances. One that Naruto knew he couldn't handle for long.)
Nagato's arms flew through the air, blades whistling, moving toward Naruto. Naruto dodged two of them by ducking, and a Storm-enhanced foot stomp almost crushed Nagato's spine in answer.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Naruto was pushed away, and he slammed into a wall. He had thought he would go through, considering the amount of power that had been put into the attack.
Nagato followed after him, black chakra rods erupting through the air. Naruto flipped up the wall. Then again. And again.
Nagato met him up, his blades slashing toward his face, faster and faster.
In a battle between Rinnegan users, most jutsu were simply not worth the chakra expense. Not when the opponent could simply take their energy to refill their own reserves. And even more so when one of the two held the power of creatures made out of pure chakra.
Naruto dodged the strikes, his face looking as though it could have been made of stone, entirely focused on the battle.
Naruto broke one of Nagato's blades. He saw incomprehension flash across Nagato's face again.
Then pain, when his own sword slammed into his gut. Naruto pulled, intent on cutting him in two.
Nagato punched him, splitting his lip open entirely. Sharp claws, extending from the back of his hand, ripped Naruto's face open.
Naruto retaliated by kicking him in the temple. Nagato slid away, down the wall.
It had been a solid strike. And instinct told Naruto that a solid temple strike was something Nagato didn't have to deal with in a long, long time.
Nagato stumbled, falling to a knee.
(And gods was it frustrating, that for all of the ideas they had brainstormed together... Naruto would still end up having to rely on pure fighting ability, strength and speed. At least until he got Nagato to-)
"Is this what a god looks like…?" Naruto mocked him. Anything to get Nagato to do what he wanted him to do. "...Crawling before me?"
"That's… surprising." Nagato muttered. Disbelief and fury were warring in his eyes. "And impossible. The Nine-Tails' power alone…"
It was the truth.
But then again, it was not the Nine-Tails alone.
The mighty chakra powered his carvings and his sword, which enhanced his body in return.
In the case of his runes, power was drawn directly from his chakra network - the amount of power he could draw out of them, limited by his human body. The Nine-Tails' chakra... was something else, something that felt limitless in its scope, in comparison.
In the case of his weapon, power was drawn from an outside source, - using similar principles as Karin's Natural Order - as well as his own power. The weapon acted as a focus, manifesting and transferring amplified chakra back to him.
A comparison would be plugging in a hand-powered device in order to provide greater power output. And the chakra went back to powering his body. And looped back, on and on.
Of course... that meant he couldn't do this for long.
Nagato's leg shot out, covered in razor sharp blades. Naruto's own weapon rose, and he parried the strike. Nagato smiled grimly and the blades turned into cannons. Naruto absorbed the chakra at the root, before the man could turn it into something physical.
Chakra rods exploded from Nagato's chest, stabbing into Naruto's midsection. Blood poured down his torso. He ignored it.
Naruto's sword flashed again.
This time, it bit through Nagato's throat, and he stepped back with a choked sound. Fire rose to his hand and he burned the wound shut. Naruto did the same with his own wounds.
Naruto threw a sword. Nagato caught it.
It exploded in his hand, and when Naruto moved, the older man barely had time to shield his precious eye using the Asura Path.
Nagato blinked.
The next moment, four Naruto were upon him, coming at him from every angle.
"Shinra Tensei!" Nagato roared.
Three clones exploded.
Naruto flew away. He was counting, calculating.
Already, Naruto felt his left hand stiffening, starting from the fingers, from too much natural energy coursing through him. He was no Asura. And he was no Sasuke, either.
He needed to use some of the chakra, and quickly, too. There were too many forces pulling at him. If he died before finishing the job…
His left shoulder felt as though it was burning.
With a grunt, Naruto ripped away the remnants of his half-ruined chest armor. He felt as though he was swimming in liquid fire anyway.
There was no one else around but Nagato. Naruto weaved through hand seals. It was a technique he had seen Kakashi use once. Purple Lightning: Hundred Blades.
He had recreated it, and refined it during his training. Today... he would push it to its limits.
Tiny shards, fragments of light formed around Naruto, almost innumerable, swirling around him like a gold and purple cloud. They shot around both Nagato and Naruto, forming multiple rows; circling around them.
"Storm Release: Thousand Spectral Blades."
There, in midair, they shaped themselves into identical spectral swords.
The Dragon pulsed on his left shoulder, gold and purple chakra swirling around his left arm, starting from the carving.
Naruto tried to feel the World's Pulse, tried to recall the distance of the Void. It worked... some. His left hand didn't feel as though it was turning to stone anymore. Or rather… less so.
Nagato roared, and a beam of ominous light shot forward. It didn't feel like something he could absorb.
Naruto dodged it and raised his left hand. The carving reacted.
"Dragon's Fang." He called out.
The blades began to shoot forward, aimed at Nagato.
They fell upon him rapidly with a rattling sound, both physical and spectral weapons. There was not much he could do but dodge them, as he had just used his ultimate defense.
Naruto flew in their midst, intent on taking Nagato's head.
The room began to break under Nagato's feet.
Naruto cut one of his ankle tendons with one of the falling blades, redirecting it at the last moment.
Nagato fell again. Naruto saw frustration in his eyes, and slammed his sword down.
Only to bounce back against the King of Hell, that had risen from the hole in the floor and swallowed Nagato whole.
Naruto cursed and leaped back.
It lasted for only an instant, and then Nagato was back. Alive and entirely healed. He was taking this very seriously now, this much was clear.
The blades continued to fall on him, and he summoned the Nine-Tails avatar, once more.
"That is just going to make you a bigger target!" Naruto shouted. "I thought you knew better!"
And a slower one, too. Well, he would show him it was not just bluster.
"You've relied on the Bijū's power too much!" Naruto's left hand moved again, shrouded in chakra.
Nagato roared in answer.
The spectral blades turned into chakra-absorbing ones, and they resumed their onslaught.
They fell on the Nine-Tails' flank in a focused rain, leaving a tiny gap for Naruto to slip in.
His elbow slammed into Nagato's face before it closed again.
The blades continued to fall.
Nagato had to pour more and more chakra into the avatar to maintain it. It was pointless, of course. With another roar of rage…
Nagato dismissed it entirely. He had realized, then.
Power exploded again, before shimmering.
All of the chakra pooled into Nagato again, in a more compact form.
There was no more golden cloak, only ominous chakra that escaped Nagato like wisps, strands of thick smoke.
In this state… Nagato was probably fast enough to avoid the blades. As long as Naruto and he were not directly engaging each other, at least.
"I have trouble believing it myself." Nagato growled. "That I would have to use all of the Beasts' power against you."
"Why would you only use your full power now…?" Naruto asked. And as far as he could tell... Nagato still wasn't going all out.
No answer came.
"Because you can't withstand it for long. That's why." Naruto finished. It was the same for him. "Your control is imperfect, or your body can't handle it yet. Likely both."
And because Nagato couldn't risk sealing them all inside of him, separately.
He needed all of them, if he ever intended on doing that. He would need the Ten-Tails.
"I will handle it long enough to get rid of you." Nagato said evenly.
It sounded like the truth, too.
"Let's get this over with, then."
True to Nagato's words, the battle was more even again.
They traded blows.
Nagato slammed a clawed hand into Naruto's gut. Naruto tore his chest open with a heavy sword strike.
One of Nagato's punches reached. Naruto broke his jaw in answer.
A blade went through Naruto's thigh. Nagato's arm fell and grew back again.
"You won't be able to maintain this." Naruto grunted, in between two of the man's staggeringly fast attacks.
"Neither will you." Nagato shot back. "Let's see who blinks first."
"Blink…? How specific." Naruto smiled grimly. "Is that the time it will take for you to keel over?"
Nagato's face tightened. Trash talking was one of the most important aspects of a shinobi fight; Kakashi had said, long ago.
Nagato shot forward with a burst of lava and steam. For all of the mighty Bijū's powers, Nagato wasn't exploiting any of them to their full potential. And it was no surprise.
Naruto's sword flashed horizontally, followed by a barrage of spectral ones.
Nagato jumped above him.
"Shinra Tensei!" He called.
Too close.
Naruto let his chakra explode out of him; the Heavenly Rotation's first step. The blast still sent him crashing through the floor. Naruto winced. Something had definitely shifted out of place.
Nagato followed right after him, and Naruto barely dodged a sword strike that would have cut through his ribcage. It bit the inside of his shoulder, instead.
Acid mucus followed, and Naruto had to flip away to dodge it.
He blocked Nagato's arm, spun in the air and retaliated with a kick. His own sword flashed and he buried it through Nagato's heart.
Naruto reversed his grip on it and pulled upward. The blade cleaved through bone with a terrible sound.
The King of Hell appeared again.
Naruto realized that unless he dealt with the creature or felled Nagato in one blow, victory was unlikely.
His power exploded out of him again, sending his hair fluttering up.
So did Nagato's.
With this much Bijū chakra floating in their metaphorical veins, it was sometimes hard to think past destroy, rip apart.
They rushed against each other with identical roars.
"Can't you see it?!" Nagato barked. "You don't stand a chance! Already, your power is fading."
Naruto didn't even bother gracing this with an answer. He just kept his eyes firmly into Nagato's, as they clashed.
"This is pointless." Nagato jeered.
Naruto continued to ignore him.
His face didn't change, as he slammed his sword down against Nagato's weapons once more.
It seemed to piss Nagato more than any answer could have done.
"...Why…?" Nagato asked in frustration. "Why do you struggle so?!"
No answer. There was no point in talking to that man, if it wasn't to provoke him. That was all Nagato was trying to do, as well. Throw him off—
"I will crush you." Nagato tried again with a bloody smile. "Like I crushed the Uzumaki woman!"
Nevermind.
That did it.
The anger Naruto had buried threatened to burst.
"The Uzumaki woman…?" Naruto said quietly. "Are you talking about Karin…?"
"Yes…" Nagato muttered with glee. He had found his angle. "I am talking about Karin. The pain that you feel—"
"Do not talk about Karin!" Naruto roared. His precarious control was shattered again. "Do not talk about either of them!"
The Void was distant, now.
World's Pulse…? What use did he have for this…?
All he needed was to use this chakra, this blade… before either consumed him. How could he forget...? He was here for a reason.
There was no time to wait.
The Tengu burned on his right shoulder, gold and purple chakra swirling around his left arm, starting from the carving.
Naruto drew all of the spectral blades back to him.
They gathered into the Thunder Edge, shimmering gold and purple.
His right hand was stiff, and he gathered all of that feeling, all of that chakra back into the blade; a terrible loop.
Naruto did his best to keep the blade separate from him. Instead of stiffening, he felt as though he was burning from inside.
The Storm Cloak shifted for the last time, all of its aura shaping itself into immense wings and a long sword, burning with bright light.
He dismissed all of his defense for one singular, powerful offense.
Naruto stood, bathed in powerful chakra. Thunder Edge crackled. He had to make this one count.
Naruto blurred forward.
"Heavenly Bladewing!"
Nagato was ready to meet him.
And his chakra, even held inside his body, made him glow red. And one part, especially. He wouldn't have picked it up, without the Rinnegan and his sensing abilities.
'There we go!'
Naruto flew at him.
"Shinra Tensei!"
What happens when an unstoppable offense meets an immovable defense?
Most of the world saw it happen.
High in the skies, gold and purple met red.
The clouds, way under them, were obliterated in a kilometers-wide circle.
And neither of the two men fighting let go.
It lasted for too long, much too long.
Naruto pushed forward with all of his strength, feeling close to his breaking point.
The dome of power they found themselves in shone like a massive star, high up within the Earth's atmosphere; perhaps further.
Gold and purple; red.
It was a struggle for supremacy, for the fate of the entire world.
And to Naruto… It quickly became very clear that it was a struggle he couldn't win.
Nagato's barrier was unbreakable, this way. The best Naruto could do was to hold on, howling.
But he was fighting a losing battle.
And his defiance only served to amuse Nagato, who poured more and more of his own power into the jutsu.
"Is that it, Uzumaki Naruto?!" He roared. He had more than regained his composure. "Your measly efforts won't change anything. You struggle in vain."
Naruto, on the other hand, was quickly reaching his limit. He felt as though he was tearing himself apart.
And worse... The Nine-Tails' chakra was quickly running out.
Nagato was exactly where he had needed him to be. And now, when it came to it... he couldn't fucking do it.
Because he still wasn't strong enough.
He couldn't win this, in the end. None of them could. Nagato was simply too fucking strong. What were you supposed to-
It didn't matter.
Naruto would try his hardest. If he could at least cripple Nagato's power, somehow... that might just prove to be enough.
Then... the others, they would-
The others.
Naruto felt like laughing. In all of his lifetimes, he had never wanted to rely on other people's strengths. And in this life, he had finally learned that things were much more bearable with people around him. Not as mindless followers, but as equals.
Of course he would end up dying this way, trying to pave the way for them. Irony found a way.
Naruto was straining under the pressure. His legs quivered, and his hands shook.
Nagato had a bottomless well to dig into; Naruto didn't have that.
His strength was fading. He could not even tear himself away from this.
If he used the Thunder Edge in a burst of power, he knew he could avoid getting crushed by Nagato's jutsu. But there was no way he could overpower Nagato, not even for an instant, if the man saw it coming.
And if Nagato realized what he was doing, Naruto would lose.
There was no way. He needed to distract Nagato somehow. Naruto racked his mind—
'Heads up!'
These two words echoed through the bond — the only one that he had not closed yet. She had watched, then.
Naruto couldn't make sense of it. What…?
Naruto saw something flash in the corner of his vision, coming from behind Nagato. A flash of light.
No, an arrow.
He blinked in incredulity.
The arrow was brimming with power, covered in a few different chakra that he knew very well. Hanabi. Ino. Sasuke. And… Itachi?
But that was impossible. There was no way they could have flown up to even half the altitude they would have needed for a shot like this.
Because even from their top height, no one could make a shot from such a distance.
No one. No one—
He felt like laughing. There was someone. And to think he had taught her the basics of it just a few months before.
Naruto could not see any of them, from this far, but he could almost imagine all three of them — perhaps all four of them. Shrouded, maybe in Itachi's Susanoo, putting all of their hopes into one person's ability to make an impossible shot.
And falling down, back to Earth.
The arrow drew closer.
It exploded in a shower of flames, carrying a very minor, easily-overlooked, triggered Genjutsu.
One that made Nagato look toward it for one very short moment.
Naruto focused his perception, and time seemed to slow down.
One moment.
One moment was all he needed to break the struggle that he was losing, if Nagato didn't see him do so.
With a scream of primal fury, Naruto forced what was left of the Nine-Tails' chakra into the Thunder Edge.
It shattered.
What happens when an unstoppable offense meets an immovable defense?
To Naruto, the answer was simple.
It goes around.
And in the moment Naruto shattered his blade in a thousand pieces…
He finally saw his opportunity to go around.
(When the Thunder Edge exploded, a wave of electricity formed, for one instant.)
The way Naruto saw it with his eyes, it was an electromagnetic force. A powerful one. One he could use.
He just had to guide it.
(That was the reason he hadn't dismissed the weapon altogether, once he had figured it would be too costly to use in a fight.)
One jutsu.
"Lightning Release: Magnetic Pulse!"
Combined with the Rinnegan's Deva Path, he guided the force toward Nagato.
He applied it as an equal, direct force. A horizontal one.
It canceled its opposite.
And in doing so, it created a hole in the perfect sphere. Nagato's Shinra Tensei folded upon itself once part of it was dispelled. The jutsu's only real weakness.
Only the Rinnegan could counter the Rinnegan, in the end.
When both jutsu were canceled, both Naruto and Nagato were pushed away from each other.
Only one of them had expected it, though.
And it was not Nagato.
The younger Uzumaki recovered faster. Naruto pushed off a platform of Wind and Lightning.
Naruto's hand reached out, shrouded in light, faster than ever. Toward Nagato's face—
And just as abruptly as it had come, the overwhelming power of the Nine-Tails' chakra left Naruto entirely. If felt as though his lungs had just filled with icy water. Had he always felt this weak...?
Naruto stumbled—
Nagato's hand reached up to protect his precious eye.
'I can't fail - I can't - Won't'
The eye hadn't been the target. And...
Nagato had been too slow, anyway.
Naruto howled in pain… but caught himself with a heavy footstep, shattering the reforming white tile under them.
Naruto reached for the finally glowing seal on Nagato's forehead. To him, it was so bright that he would have seen it through any type of clothing.
Golden flames burned in Naruto's palm and along his fingertips.
'Nine-Tails is inside him… the Gedō Mazō holds the rest of them. And they're linked through the same seal!'
Naruto reached forward, roaring. Nagato was unable to stop him.
Even then, his eyes opened wide in realization.
"Seven Elements Seal!"
He felt weaker than he had in months.
He had been warned. Once he exhausted what was left of the energy… that was it for him. He hadn't expected how short that time would be, though. Then again, a lot of the chakra had been used over the years, to power his carvings and allow them to evolve.
This had been less than two tails worth of half of the Nine-Tails' power.
'Incredible.'
With something like this backing him, no wonder Nagato felt invincible. If Naruto himself had—
He dismissed the thought right away. One of Nagato's weaknesses was that he had actually started to believe he truly was a god.
And as to his other weakness… Naruto would exploit it ruthlessly.
Right now, though... Now… He was still in a bad spot. Naruto stumbled again.
He saw Nagato do the same.
His seal had been placed on his forehead. It would have protected him against decapitation, likely. Straight out of Kakuzu's playbook.
The Nine-Tails chakra was still there, but Nagato couldn't pull on it. The seal that he and Karin had devised had worked, then.
"Only when the Nine-Tails' full power has come out, then? If he sealed… more of the Bijū inside him… Same thing goes, but that's going to be next to impossible to fight off so let's hope that — Hey, are you even listening to me? Distracted by my pretty eyes again, are you?… Wait, really? …Oh, stop it!"
Naruto forced the memory away.
It had worked.
His hunch had been right.
And Nagato had not sealed the other Bijū inside him. Only the Nine-Tails.
No. What he had done was to link the Gedō Mazō to his seal, allowing him to draw on part of their power without destroying himself in the process. Nagato had pulled on everything he could reach, and it had been enough for Naruto to bind his ability to do so. The five other Beasts' power was out of Nagato's reach as well, now.
Now, as for the Seven Elements Seal…
Rinnegan or not, Nagato wouldn't be able to remove it so easily. Karin and Naruto had designed it specifically for that, after all. And considering it would still take Naruto a half-hour to remove it, with the Rinnegan and knowledge of it…
Nagato would not be able to call upon the Bijū today. The man had noticed it, too.
His expression of rage was a sight to behold.
"No matter." He muttered to himself. "No matter."
He still had his own power. His fury simmered down. And Naruto…
"You are out of chakra, Naruto." Nagato smiled darkly. "And more than this…"
"Indeed." Naruto breathed out. Losing the Nine-Tails was going to kill him, he knew it already.
"Then you've lost."
Naruto almost smiled.
"...I didn't come here to win." Naruto said. "I came here to kill you."
Nagato's eyes were dark.
"...And still, you won't stop." He shook his head in frustration.
"Besides... there's one thing you didn't take into account." Naruto said, smiling.
"Oh..?" Nagato asked mockingly. "And what is it…?"
"I never relied that much on the Nine-Tails' power, before. Or the Rinnegan, for that matter." Naruto stood up on shaky legs.
"So…?"
"That means I had to find other ways." Naruto smiled. "And I came here ready to die. Exhausting the Nine-Tails' power meant my death… but well… That means nothing."
Naruto dispelled the last of his clones on Earth.
Their chakra reached him, stretching his already beaten coils one step further.
It didn't do much for his state of exhaustion, though. Nor his impending fate.
Death was inconsequential.
"Besides… I am Uzumaki. Uzumaki Naruto!" He bared his teeth in a bloody grin.
"What are you blathering about now?!" Nagato scoffed. A blade extended from his arm.
Naruto called the Storm one more time.
He failed to hold it. He hadn't really expected to — he felt so weak.
But his chakra still bubbled to life, slowly, hesitantly.
The Lightning Cloak held.
Naruto smiled again.
"...Let's see how well you do without the Beasts, then." A blade shaped itself into his right hand. Then another, in his left hand. He breathed in. Out. "Nagato!"
Nagato had fought with his Dōjutsu for almost his entire life.
Naruto had fought against Dōjutsu users for almost his entire life.
They clashed swords. Once. Twice. Thrice.
Naruto's swordsmanship was incredible.
There was no other word for it. He handled his weapons like an extension of his body, each movement a strike meant to debilitate or kill.
It was a true dance of death, each step bringing them closer to the precipice.
Each step made Nagato feel more and more certain of one thing.
He was no slouch with a blade himself, far from it.
And yet, compared to the younger Uzumaki, he was made to look like a fool.
So Nagato did his best to dodge, parry and deflect the strikes. He didn't manage to strike back.
On equal grounds, one thing was clear, though.
Naruto was the better fighter.
Naruto stabbed upwards.
Nagato dodged it, and had to jump over the following sweep. He came back with a vengeance, blades screeching to life, with a descending claw swipe that Naruto dodged narrowly.
Naruto flipped through the air, impossibly agile. Nagato struck again, and Naruto twisted through it.
He kicked Nagato's face.
Once.
Twice.
The third kick was blocked and Naruto pushed himself away.
He rolled through the attacks, not wasting a single motion as his leg caught Nagato's face once more, rattling his skull.
And then…
Naruto's thrust struck true.
Nagato stumbled. Naruto followed and stabbed through him again.
There was no point in using jutsu. Not when they were limited by their very mortal bodies, once more.
The King of Hell appeared from the rubble again, Naruto's swords bouncing off from it.
Nagato came out, looking more weary than he should have. Were his chakra levels dropping… Or his life essence itself…?
Naruto's own body was screaming, pushed way too far.
It didn't matter.
His swords slammed against Nagato's now metallic skin. He let one drop and it exploded in a shower of Wind, turning the man's legs to ribbons of flesh.
Faster.
Each step brought Naruto to a higher level of pain.
Faster.
The swords clanged, sending sparks around the two exhausted shinobi.
Faster.
Nagato broke Naruto's sword using a strange, buzzing weapon he hadn't seen him use yet.
Faster.
His heart was thundering out of his chest, the taste of blood an old friend at this point, and Naruto knew that if he stopped for a single second, he would not get up again. Ever again.
Faster.
A black rod shot from Nagato's feet, slamming through Naruto's left hand. He had another, so what did it matter…?
Faster.
Naruto summoned his Moonglare again.
Faster.
Lightning raged, his blade too fast for Nagato to even absorb it, now that he was to rely on his own power.
Faster.
A flash of light. Naruto cut through Nagato's throat. Something metallic prevented him from going through.
FASTER.
The King of Hell appeared. Nagato came out of it with a few more white hairs.
FASTER.
A cross slash, going through Nagato's defenses. Both of them had blood running down their faces, and down their bodies as well, soaking their clothes crimson.
FASTER .
How long had they been at it? It felt like days, now. The moment they had come here felt so long ago. Back then, Sakura and Karin—
FASTER .
Death felt as though it was looming closer and closer. If he just closed his eyes…
FASTER!
To say Naruto was swift, that he was quick, was akin to saying that a severed arm was a mere flesh wound. But right now, he felt positively sluggish.
FASTER!
He was still faster than Nagato.
FASTER!
He was to die here? That was fine by him. He had prepared for this battle his whole life.
FASTER!
Naruto cut right through Nagato again. The panic on his face was obvious, now.
The King of Hell appeared again.
There was nothing Nagato could do to fight back.
The King of Hell appeared again.
Naruto roared, and struck again. Then again.
The King of Hell appeared again.
Another slash.
The King of Hell appeared again.
Only chakra was keeping them going, at this point, like puppets on strings. And both were at the end of their stamina.
Or past that, in fact. Lightheaded; heavy-footed all the same.
Naruto laughed, a lunatic's laugh, pressing forward.
Nagato grimaced.
They were not men anymore. And there was definitely nothing so divine about them, either.
Naruto rushed in again, aiming for Nagato's remaining eye.
"Shinra… Tensei." Nagato managed.
Naruto was sent crashing. He stood up again, more of his blood flowing, uncaring.
Nagato was still standing, but his hair was almost entirely ashen, and he was wheezing.
"I can do this for a while still, Naruto." He said raggedly. "But you can't."
"I am… aware." Naruto muttered.
And it was true. The corners of his vision had turned black. Or maybe it was red…? That couldn't be good.
"No running away." Nagato said.
His jutsu spread around them once more, preventing summoning. Had he really thought he was going to try to escape...?
Naruto was not seeing much of anything at this point. The Thunder Edge and the Nine-Tails' chakra fading had taken too much out of him. Wasn't he supposed to be dead already, anyway…?
"You…" Nagato shook his head, rasping. "You fought well… Naruto — If only you would see — This is over. Time to die."
Nagato used the Deva Path to pin him down.
Naruto pushed back. Or rather, he tried.
Nagato pushed harder, forcing Naruto down to one knee.
He could not afford to waste the chakra needed to break Nagato's jutsu, Naruto knew. But it didn't seem like he had a choice. If only…
So close.
So damn close. If only the Nine-Tails had lasted a little bit longer…
Nagato drew closer, not trusting his ability to kill Naruto at a distance.
Naruto extended his senses.
Nagato drew closer.
Naruto tapped the floor with his hand.
The last of his Spectral Blades erupted from the floor, shooting toward Nagato in a rage.
"Shin…ra… Ten…sei." Nagato muttered, making it as strong as his weakened state would allow. The weapons clattered to the floor.
Nagato smiled tiredly. He thought he heard a weary laugh.
Naruto's head rose up, triumphantly. His face was soaked in blood and sweat.
The pressure was gone.
"You didn't notice, then!" Naruto roared, half pain, half glee. It wasn't pretty.
And he stood up once more.
He wasn't sure whether it was pure fury or the need to finish this that allowed him to do so.
His hands slammed together.
"Nine Gathering Clouds of Heaven!"
Naruto had estimated Nagato's recovery time. Shorter than his own.
Too long, still.
Five moments.
The nine swords, the ones Naruto had disseminated through the skies in the last days, glowed purple.
Four moments.
Naruto howled.
"Heavenly Light: Rending Storm!"
The nine swords released the charge they had been holding.
Nine rays of light exploded from the atmosphere, headed up toward them.
It was a real thunderstorm.
"What...?" Nagato sounded taken aback.
"You wanted to make the world cower in the face of your weapon, right…?" Naruto laughed, blood running down his face. "Here's a taste of your own medicine!"
"Ninjutsu?!" Nagato spat, sounding angry. "Have you learned nothing…?!"
The beams collided with Uzushiogakure with a mighty crash.
The Storm began to flash across them, hungry shards of lightning, aiming mostly for Nagato at first.
One struck his chest, burning through his cloak and leaving a painful-looking, arborescent burn on his body.
Nagato's hands shot out, and he began absorbing the lightning with a grunt of effort. Even for someone as strong as Nagato, this was a lot of power.
His hair slowly began to turn red again, starting at the roots.
Nagato howled with the effort, and Naruto summoned one last weapon, panting from the strain, his vision swimming again.
"IS THIS ALL YOU HAVE, UZUMAKI NARUTO?!"
Three moments.
Naruto didn't bother channeling chakra in it. He really didn't have anything to waste.
He had no time to question if it really would work. He ignored the pain.
Then… Nagato finally noticed.
"What… What is this…?!" He howled in horror. "NO!"
Naruto committed to memory every single detail, every part of Nagato's face, as it stretched in rage… and fear.
Nagato's hands were turning to stone.
"Natural energy?!" His fury was a sight to behold. "I thought you couldn't—"
He was mostly right, not that Naruto intended to monologue too much.
The jutsu wouldn't stop before the blades were broken entirely. Too long of a time for Nagato to shield himself. And he didn't have enough time to break his own anti-summoning field. If he could even teleport without the Nine-Tails' power, which Naruto highly doubted. He had recognized the chakra that Nagato used to tear holes through reality.
Nagato couldn't let go, now. Not when he had directed the Storm toward himself by pulling on it. And with so much natural energy — too much to use, way too much — already flooding his body, he would have trouble doing much of anything else for the next few moments.
And of course, he couldn't absorb it either.
Naruto smiled, even as he moved. He felt so sluggish.
The swords had been accumulating natural energy steadily; now they had answered his call. The resulting thunderstorm had not been born out of Naruto's chakra, as only the activation call depended on him.
Two moments.
The thunderstorm was almost pure natural energy.
Had Nagato still been able to access the Bijū's chakra, Naruto was sure he would have managed to defend himself from this.
Senjutsu alone would not have cut it. It was simply too much.
Which meant he had had to wait for an opening.
The nine swords would shatter after this, but this was their purpose.
The tenth sword, the one he had just summoned, on the other hand… was nothing particular. Just a simple, silver blade, one that could not even conduct chakra.
"Is this all you have… Nagato?!" Naruto smiled a bloody grin.
He slipped behind Nagato, who looked on, horrified…
And immobilized.
One moment.
"Uzumaki Naruto!" The man howled, as his body began turning to stone. "You're about to doom this world—"
Naruto grasped his sword with two firm hands, despite the hole in his left.
"You think you're a god, don't you?! Well... I bring my offering to you!" Naruto laughed.
"DON'T!" Nagato roared; pure fury.
"My God-Killing Blow!"
It was a last tongue-in-cheek joke, for the most straightforward attack he could think of.
Naruto swung, without the slightest hesitation.
Nagato howled and tried to reinforce his body still.
Zero.
Time seemed to slow.
The mighty blow struck.
Naruto cut Nagato's head, with a terrible scream, relying only on the strength of his body.
It flew through the air, frozen in a horrible rictus, separated from what was quickly becoming a headless statue.
Now — Before he can summon the Naraka Path…
Naruto's left hand tensed, middle finger, pointer and thumb extended.
Plucking The Defiant Eye.
Naruto remembered the story behind it. Of a harsh master that had a soft spot for women, even though legend said he had nothing but contempt for them. Soft was relative, of course, because as the story went, the master plucked a difficult student's eye out for looking at him in a way he didn't care for.
Today, Naruto did what legend said the master did.
He plucked Nagato's remaining eye.
And he dug even deeper, feeling his heart and gut clench as he reached for the depths of his chakra.
He absorbed what was left of Nagato's chakra.
'...Human Path.'
And just to be sure, he ripped Nagato's soul away.
The memories came to him. His childhood in Rain, every moment that slowly but surely led to him breaking. The pressure on his shoulders. The pain.
Once, he had been a sensitive boy, who missed his teacher.
Then, a broken man who missed his friend.
Finally, a shadow who had lost everything.
Naruto pushed that aside.
A stray bolt of lightning hit him head on and Naruto screamed.
He understood how Nagato had done it, now. And much more, too.
It was a simple, elegant solution. Using the Creation of All Things, he had done the same thing Naruto had done. He had created a realm outside of this world.
And in there, he had stored the statue, far from reach.
The connection between the Gedō Mazō and Nagato was severed once he died.
One remained. The one that connected it to Uzushiogakure.
All bonds shall break before the Rinnegan.
All bonds shall break before the Rinnegan.
All bonds shall break before the Rinnegan.
And so it did.
Naruto panted.
With the last of his strength… Naruto summoned the Gedō Mazō, which he now knew how to reach through a rift.
There was a sound like a tear, which Naruto couldn't tell with certainty whether it came from him or not… and the monstrous statue was here, brimming with chakra.
Naruto knew what to do.
He linked himself with it, and pulled some of the vitality it held, just to go on. He felt the too powerful chakra burn through him.
It allowed him to summon the Storm once more. Purple light shrouded him.
Even through it, even through his link with the Gedō Mazō, Naruto's body was burning.
Uzushiogakure was quickly being reduced to nothing, and what was left of the lower floors wouldn't protect him for a long time.
Another bolt slammed into him.
His Storm Cloak, fed by the Gedō Mazō, allowed him to stay alive a little while longer.
Gods, there was still so much to do.
Naruto gave the Zetsu one order.
Hide, retreat back to the Mountain's Graveyard's cave, unseen, and do nothing else.
Another bolt of light hit him through his Cloak, searing his flesh with a cracking sound.
Naruto let out a raspy breath, and he fell to a knee.
Uzushiogakure was a true marvel to endure such a powerful attack for so long.
If there had been a way for him to stop the Storm, he would have done so. But he couldn't.
That was the drawback of the jutsu. And he had made a promise, anyway. It came first.
Naruto stood up again.
Silver chains wrapped around his hand, and he would rip the Bijū away from the Gedō Mazō, one after the other.
They would all reform on Earth, in time, Naruto knew it already.
Looking toward it...
From here, up in space, Naruto could see no boundaries. No man-made borders. No war, either.
There were just living beings, inhabitants of the same celestial body.
Of something called Earth.
He shook his head. Sentimentality, right now...? What would Orochimaru say...?
Without the Bijū, the Gedō Mazō wouldn't be able to sustain Uzushiogakure's regeneration. Uzushio would break apart.
As soon as he removed the Three-Tails, this was confirmed.
Nagato's barrier was still in place, and he didn't think he had the time to undo it. Better not to let Hanabi know about it at all. He didn't want her to live with the what-ifs, with the guilt.
He had never managed to summon the Gedō Mazō before today, and wasn't sure he could do it again, if he left it here to be destroyed. Or what would happen to the Bijū if the statue got destroyed with them inside.
Besides… he was dying already.
He could at least finish the job.
Naruto pulled the Four-Tails out of the statue.
Naruto's vision blurred, once more. He couldn't feel anything from his hands.
Uzushio wouldn't hold. And the Four-Tails had been harder to extract.
He focused once more.
Naruto pulled the Five-Tails out of the statue.
He panted from the effort. He knew there was blood in his mouth and that he felt as though he was suffocating, but he couldn't say for sure, because he couldn't feel that either. Not anymore.
Naruto pulled the Six-Tails out of the statue.
He was brought down to a knee. Cold. He felt so cold. And alone, too.
Naruto pulled the Eight-Tails out of the statue.
Naruto roared. He thought he was being torn apart. He couldn't hear.
Naruto pulled half of the Nine-Tails out of the statue.
He fell to the ravaged floor, wracked by pain. Naruto crawled. His body was shaking.
He finished with the half of the Nine-Tails that was still sealed inside Nagato's statue-like body.
He couldn't see anymore.
But...
Done. He was done.
He chuckled weakly.
Finally.
Even if it hadn't been for Nagato's barrier... There was no way he could gather the focus needed to use the Thunder Gates. Not through the pain. Not ten seconds.
The power released was a true marvel, sending his remaining sense - his ability to feel chakra - haywire, even as the thunderstorm and the Bijū's sudden eruption bathed everything in bright, thrumming power. If only he could have seen it, too...
There was nothing to shield him now, aside from the last remnants of his own chakra and the strength of the statue.
He had seen things that most people wouldn't even dare to imagine.
He had soared to heights he himself would not have dared to dream of.
He had loved; had been loved. More than he deserved. So much more.
He had won.
Naruto wasn't afraid. He smiled.
This has been… pretty good. Sorry, Ino, Hanabi… Anko. And you as well, Sasuke.
Karin, Sakura… Toru. I'll see you—
He burned away.
Uzumaki Naruto died.
Nine columns of purple light burned through Uzushiogakure.
Once they faded away, nothing was left.