Naruto
Future Paths
Chapter 03: The Vortex of Destiny
Disclaimer: If you haven't figured out by now that Naruto isn't mine I'd start worrying.
Spoilers Warning: Probably a slightly higher probability of spoilers than previous chapters
Non-yaoi Warning: If you've been holding for yaoi, you're going to be sadly disappointed.
Naruto came awake with a start. It took him several seconds to figure out exactly where he was, but the memories of the afternoon and evening came back fairly quickly. Nodding to himself he rose from the borrowed futon and took a moment or two to get his bearings and then head for the door that led to the outhouse. It was almost inevitable when he was raining. It was almost as if the sound of falling water sent a message from his subconscious to his kidneys to increase their output. Still, it wasn't that big a difficulty so Naruto padded down the covered walkway to take care of the problem.
Nature's call answered, he walked back to the cottage proper, but paused when he saw that the door had slid shut and he could have sworn that he had left it open. After a moment's thought he shrugged and decided that he must have closed it behind him automatically, not noticing since he was still half asleep. He also felt an odd prickling sensation on that back of his neck but put it down to the after effects of all the lightning from earlier in the night.
Sliding the door open and stepping through it he realised that he might have made a mistake. He had never told anyone, not even Iruka-sensei, but the darkness had never bothered him. He could see perfectly well in conditions that would have left most others all but blind. On a clear night he could even read by starlight if he had to, though that took an effort. So it came as something of a surprise when he was confronted with utter darkness as he stepped through the door that not even his eyes could penetrate. He looked around in confusion, instinctively feeling for one of the walls to try and get his bearing, but his hands encountered nothing.
That was when he sensed it. He couldn't put a name to it, at least not initially but the sense of its presence was inescapable. The rage and urge to destroy came of whatever it was in waves that were almost physical and the more Naruto focused on what was behind them, the clear his sense of it became. He could even hear a low growl and the sounds of a massive bulk shifting. There even seemed to be the sound of multiple tails swishing through the air and that was when Naruto realised that what he was sensing was none other the Kyuubi. He spun to face the beast, but encountered nothing and the sense of Kyuubi's presence still came from behind him. He spun again, even as a tiny part of his brain asked the rest exactly what it thought it was going to do against the creature that had ravaged the village and required the Fourth Hokage to sacrifice his life to stop.
"Stop spinning about you young scamp! You're making me dizzy!" a disembodied voice came from out of the darkness.
It took Naruto a few seconds to place the voice as Mai's and even as he made the connection he saw the old woman in the light of a single, brightly glowing golden star. That star was soon joined by another, and a third, then three more and still more until it they lit the entire void. Though he had no way of knowing it, fewer stars appeared in the void for Naruto than for either Sakura or Sasuke yet all together they gave off more light for they glowed so much brighter. Mai stood in the middle of it all, her robes faintly golden by the light of the stars.
"Are you quite finished?" she asked when she saw that she had Naruto's attention. "Or are you going see how long you can keep spinning?"
"But…" Naruto started, but Mai held up one hand, cutting him off.
"The nature of this place means that that fox you carry around with you isn't as tightly bound as he is normally, but he can't hurt a hair on your head."
"Are you so sure about that old woman?" a deep, gravely voice, potent with menace and long denied rage growled from somewhere above and behind Naruto.
"Try me fox and you will get more than you bargained for, I promise you that much."
"Somehow I doubt that mortal."
That was all the warning that Naruto had before he was overwhelmed by an immense surge of power, unlike anything he had ever felt before, even when fighting Haku. For all that immensity though he knew that what he was feeling was but a fraction of what Kyuubi was unleashing. Mai seemed unfazed though. She merely drew herself upright with a slow dignity and glared at a point somewhere just above Naruto's head. For the tiniest instant Naruto would have sworn that figure standing in front of him was not an old woman but a tall, elegant woman possessed of an unearthly beauty and wrapped in an ethereal light. The vision appeared and vanished so fast though that it could have been nothing more than a trick of the eye.
Whatever happened though, the effect could not be disputed. Naruto felt a sensation of great heat on his stomach, centred over his navel. It wasn't painful, though it should have been, but Kyuubi flinched back, growling in pain and frustration and Mai, who once again appeared to be an old woman, grinned as the sensation of heat passed. "Now are you going to behave yourself or do I have to call the ones who sealed you to deal with you?"
If he hadn't known better Naruto would have sword that Kyuubi felt a brief flicker of fear at that suggestion, though he himself only had the faintest idea of what Mai was talking about. The only answer of out Kyuubi was a growl of frustration, but Mai seemed to be satisfied with that and turned her attention back to Naruto.
"Now where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?" The question was apparently rhetorical, as she continued on without giving Naruto a chance to reply. "Ah, yes. I was about to explain. Now by now I'm sure you're wondering what in the world is going on here."
Naruto nodded mutely.
"Well the answer is quite simple. I'm here to show you your future. Or at least several possible futures. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but you're the one this entire night has been about. The fact that your two friends are being trained by that rascal, Kakashi, means that earned the visions that they saw tonight, but no matter how your life turned out you would have been receiving a visit from me sooner or later. Part of it is because of your 'friend,'" Kyuubi growled at that, "but a lot of it is because of who you are." She smiled slightly, though it wasn't what one would call a kind smile. "For better or worse your actions will help to shape history and it might help you to see what may lie ahead. So look now and see what could one day be."
She pointed with her staff to one of the distant stars and Naruto found himself looking at where the staff pointed before any one of the dozen half formed questions churning in his mind could spring to his lips. As his team mates before him had, he puzzled at the way the star seemed to be moving towards him without growing brighter or grow larger or do anything to indicate that it was getting closer. This kept his mind occupied right up to the point that the golden point of light smacked him right between the eyebrows causing the world to white out for a heartbeat before everything faded to black.
It was early spring and the breeze that blew was still chill with the last touches of winter, despite the intensely blue sky overhead, utterly devoid of cloud, and the light of the noonday sun. It was quiet in the glade that held Konoha's memorial for those who had fallen in battle. That was generally the case as none who knew the true significance of the stone marker was willing to break the tranquillity of that place. That day however at least part of the quiet came from the fact that there was only one person there. Naruto knelt before the memorial, his fingers lightly tracing the names inscribed on it, some that he recognised and some that he didn't. He idly noted that three family names, Hyuuga, Uchiha and Inuzuka, were repeated quite frequently, but that was no real surprise as those three clans had been amongst the most numerous in the entire village and two of them could still lay claim to that eminence. Others Naruto recognised as relatives or close friends of people he still knew. He found Iruka-sensei's parents, Kakashi's old team mates Rin and Obito and still others.
His fingers lingered over one of the most recently carved names and once again he felt the tears threaten to spill from his eyes. "Dammit Sasuke, why'd you have to go and die?" he whispered to the empty air.
Unbidden his mind flashed back to that day in the Nation of Sound when the best Konoha had to offer went to stop Orochimaru once and for all. It had been a close fought battle and the outcome had always been in doubt. Kakashi and Kabuto had faced off in a battle of epic proportions, yet even that had been lost in the chaos in confusion as Orochimaru spent the lives of his men in an attempt to buy enough time to complete his ultimate technique. He might have too if a spearhead of Leaf-nin, lead by Naruto and Sasuke hadn't broken through to confront him and even then it had been a close thing. There had been only one way to absolutely ensure that Orochimaru was dead and didn't jump to another body, a technique that would have been declared forbidden if it weren't for the fact that it required so much chakra that it was impossible to perform. Impossible for anyone but Naruto that was, and even then it had taken everything that he and Kyuubi both had to complete it.
The greatest weakness in the Leaf-nin's plan was that for one brief moment Naruto would be dangerously exposed and helpless to stop any attack and he wouldn't have enough chakra for a second attempt. It had been a gamble and it had looked to fail when Orochimaru had had gone for him right at the critical moment, but Sasuke had been there and taken the blow and allowed Naruto to finish off the damn snake once and for all.
"I did it because it had to be done," said a voice, sounding as if it was coming from a great distance.
Naruto rose and spun; his long flame trimmed white duster spinning with the movement. The bright sunlight was gone and the glade that housed the monument was bathed in an otherworldly twilight, still and silent, empty save for Naruto and the wavering, spectral form of Sasuke.
"It's a risk we all took when we put on this," the shade said, flicking his forehead protector.
Naruto blinked in confusion, wondering if he was dreaming. "How?" he asked, groping for the right words and failing.
Sasuke smiled, not the usual arrogant smirk that he had worn in life, but a smile of genuine amusement. "Your thoughts called me," he said. "But I'm not the one who's supposed to be visiting you. The others are being gracious, but they can only wait for so long so I'll keep this short. I regret a lot of what happened when I was alive, but not that. Never that. I knew what I was doing and I knew what would happen, so don't you go regretting something that I don't. You've got responsibilities now; gods help us, so get on with your life. The heavens only know how you're going to manage without any additional burdens you place on yourself."
Naruto shook his head and grinned. Even from beyond the grave Sasuke had to taunt him, even if they were friendly barbs. So he responded in appropriate fashion. He pulled down the lower lid on one eye and stuck his tongue out.
Sasuke laughed at that. "Gods I've missed that," he said. "I've got to go now, so take of yourself and remember that we will meet again, one way or another and I promise that next time, I'll be the one kicking your ass."
"In your dreams Sasuke!" Naruto said as the spectre before him faded and he was rewarded with a grin before Sasuke disappeared from sight entirely.
He was not left alone though, for even as Sasuke disappeared he was replaced by five more figures who faded into existence before him, though one was fainter and less distinct than the others. Naruto recognised all the individuals before him, though three he had seen only in pictures for they had died before he was born, or as he was being born in one case. He bowed respectfully before them even as he voiced their identities. "Hokage-tachi-sama."
"Rise Uzumaki Naruto," the First said, a faint smile on his spectral lips. "It is unseemly for the Hokage to bow before any man or woman, be they living or dead."
"Not quite Hokage yet Shodaime-sama," Naruto corrected, rising, but keeping his eyes downcast.
"Maybe not as far as everyone else is concerned," the Third said. "But that ceremony is simply for show. This is the one that matters."
Then Tsunade stepped forward, her appearance less distinct than the other four for she was projecting her spirit from somewhere near the main arena rather than visiting from beyond the grave. "Uzumaki Naruto," she said formally. "By my authority as the Fifth Hokage, I have chosen you as my successor. Do you accept?"
"I do," Naruto said.
Then Tsunade stepped back and she was replaced by a figure with a shock of blonde hair much like Naruto's own and eyes the same shade of blue. Naruto swallowed nervously and had to fight back tears as he recognised the Fourth Hokage, the man who was responsible for sealing Kyuubi inside him and the man who had been revealed to be Naruto's father on his eighteenth birthday.
"Do you promise to nurture and protect the village of Konoha, guiding and aiding its growth for as long as you are able?"
"I do, Yondaime-otousama."
The Fourth smiled and it was easy to read the pride he felt in it, as well as the bittersweet regret at never truly being able to know his son. "Then go with my blessing my son." He stepped back and the Third stepped forward, the pride in his gaze just as evident as it had been in the Fourth's.
"Do you promise to guide and protect those that dwell within Konoha, showing fairness and impartiality in judging what is right and wrong?"
"I do Sandaime-jisan." Naruto couldn't help himself when he said that and was relieved when he saw a grin on the Third's face to match his own."
"Then go with my blessing Uzumaki Naruto, and may you never lose your sense of humour."
He stepped back and was replaced by the Second. "Do you promise to stand against all those who would harm Konoha, both from within and without, even if doing so may cost you your own life?"
Naruto stood up a little straighter, one hand unconsciously going to his stomach where the seals that contained Kyuubi sat. "I carry a living reminder of the cost that sometimes must be payed and I can do no less than those who came before me. I promise that so long as I draw breath I will guard Konoha with everything that I am."
"Then I too grant you my blessing Uzumaki Naruto."
He stepped back and glanced at his elder brother, who nodded. The First nodded solemnly and stepped forward, placing spectral hands on Naruto's shoulders. "Uzumaki Naruto, when I was a young man the world was a dangerous place where those who could not protect themselves were crushed beneath the iron heels of tyrants who flaunted their power by fighting against each other, destroying still more innocent lives in the process. But deep within my heart I knew that it did not have to be so. With that in mind I gathered others around me who felt the same way I did and together we carved out a place where people could live out their lives in relative peace and from their we sought to spread that peace to as much of the world as we could reach. That mission has consumed several lifetimes and is still not complete for as you know from experience there are still those who seek to plunge the world into war. I would be honoured if on behalf of myself and on behalf of those who have come after me if you would take up the mantle of Hokage and to take yet another step in making that dream a reality."
"It is I who would be honoured to carry on your dream Shodaime-sama," Naruto replied, his voice as solemn as the First's had been even as a tiny part of his mind gave thanks for actually having read some of those trashy period romance novels that Sakura, Hinata and Ino seemed addicted to and kept leaving around the place. Great works of literature they were not but they were useful picking up a few flowery phrases that could be used in situations like this.
The First continued, apparently to the slightly irreverent voice nattering away in the back of Naruto's mind. "Then I think we need look no further for the sixth of our number. Welcome to a very exclusive group Uzumaki Naruto, or perhaps I should say Rokudaime Hokage. Would that we could stay longer, but we cannot, but know that you go with our blessings and good wishes." With that he began to waver and fade, even as he stepped back, and in a few short seconds all but Tsunade had faded until they were little more than faint blurs in the air.
"Now get your ass over to the stadium," she growled at Naruto, even though she was smiling. "It's time to let the rest of the village know about the bad news."
"Ah, you just want to make sure we finish before its time for your afternoon nap," Naruto shot back. "Though I can understand why. An old bad like you needs all the beauty sleep she can get, for what little good it does."
Tsunade just shook her fist at him as the twilight background faded and to his dying day Naruto would swear that is it disappeared he could hear the faint, ghostly voice of the First crying out "Revenge is sweet!" while the Fourth muttered, "Is it too late to disown him?" all accompanied by laughter from the Second and Third.
When the twilight background faded to darkness Naruto blinked and was surprised to find that he was still kneeling before the memorial stone.
"Well that bodes well for the future," a voice from behind him muttered. "The future Hokage already asleep on the job."
"Very funny Sakura-chan," Naruto said, standing up and turning around to face his former team mate, who stood with her feet planted apart and her hands on her hips glaring at Naruto in an amused sort of way. The effect was ruined somewhat by the tiny pink haired bundle that was curled up in her carrier that was strapped to Sakura's chest, Uchiha Ayame, the last of the Uchiha clan, but not by much.
Also with Sakura was Hyuuga Hinata the woman who Naruto hoped would be his fiancée in just a few short hours. He would have proposed sooner but the Hyuuga clan were sticklers for formalities and there was no way that Hyuuga Hiashi would have given his permission to the union. Hinata still could have said yes of course, but that would have caused her family to disown her and Naruto wasn't about to put her under that sort of pressure. Of course no matter how much he wanted to refuse Uzumaki Naruto his daughter's hand in marriage there was no way he was going to be able to refuse the newly elevated Sixth Hokage. Naruto was already wondering what colours his face was going to turn when the announcement was made. "The elders sent us to get you," Hinata explained. "They say there all ready to start and they are just waiting for you and Tsunade-sama."
"Lets go then," Naruto said, standing up and swinging one arm around Hinata's shoulders, causing her to blush, and the other around Sakura's, being careful not to disturb the sleeping Ayame which meant he only got a look of resigned amusement rather than the glare that only the mother of a newly awakened infant can give.
So it was with a grin on his face and in the company of two of the most important people in his life that Uzumaki Naruto went to greet his future.
Naruto blinked and shook his head as he came out of the vision with a goofy grin on his face. All that he had learned from the vision was a jumbled mess in his mind, but one thing stood out clearly and vibrantly. "Yatta!!!" he cried out triumphantly. "I'm going to be Hokage! I'm going to be Hokage!" He began doing an impromptu victory dance in a small circle to accompany his litany of victory.
Mai allowed that to go on for several minutes but since it showed no sign of abating after that she stopped him dead in his tracks with one well placed blow to the head from her staff. Naruto never saw it coming, but not even he was so hard headed that he didn't feel it. "What did you do that for!" he demanded, rubbing the tender spot where wood had connected with cranium.
"We don't have all night you know. And remember I what you see are only possible futures. That might happen, but that might not."
"And I for one certainly hope that it doesn't," Kyuubi added. "That was so saccharine that if I still had teeth they'd be falling out of my mouth."
Mai glanced up sharply to the point from where Kyuubi's presence seemed to emanate and glared.
"So I'm not allowed to comment either?" Kyuubi protested.
Mai just grunted and turned her attention back to Naruto. "Now are you ready to see another one?"
Naruto nodded eagerly. Subconsciously part of him probably realised that just because the first vision had been good didn't mean that the next vision was going to be as good, but elation firmly quashed that very quiet voice of reason.
"Then observe," Mai said, pointing her staff at another gold tinged star.
This time Naruto calmly disregarded the way that the star seemed to approach without moving, simply chalking it to one more strange thing in Mai's place that was not a place. Instead he speculated on what future this star might show him, right up until the moment it smacked him right between the eyebrows and he whited out again before the world faded to black once more.
It was a pleasant day in the Country of the Wind, or at least in one small out of the way village. It was the middle of winter so the temperature wasn't too high, at least for somewhere on the edge of a desert, and it was only mid-morning and the ground hadn't yet had a chance to soak up too much heat. The children of the village were taking advantage of the weather to play outside and have some fun before the full heat of the day made it too hot. While the younger children made their own entertainment the older children had scrounged up a battered leather ball and had fallen into an impromptu soccer game, though the sides were rather… fluid for lack of a better term and there were so many tackles, body charges and other infringements that an official referee would have been handing out red cards like a clown at a children's birthday party. There was no official referee though, just a young man with red hair and green eyes dressed in drab brown colours splitting his attention between the soccer game and the younger children to make sure that no one got too badly hurt.
He grinned as several of the younger children who were just chasing each other around circled around him, one little girl in particular trying to use his legs as a shield against her friends. He stood stock still until they moved on and then turned his attention back to the soccer game. It was at just the right moment too for right then a stray shot aimed at one of the goals came flying at him. He didn't even bat an eyelid as one hand shot up in front of his face and plucked the ball out of mid-air, the motion accompanied by a swirl of loose sand, though there was no wind to kick it up.
He handed the ball to one of the players who came over to collect, who responded with, "Thank you Gaara-san," but his attention was elsewhere. He could sense something nearby, something powerful and malevolent, something that caused the darkness within him to stir in response and whatever it was, it was coming closer.
"Everyone, get out here!" he barked in a tone that brooked no argument. "Tell everyone to get to the shelters now!"
"Is it a sandstorm Gaara-san?" one of the older children asked.
"No. It's something far worse. Now GO!"
No one was going to argue with that tone of voice, so Gaara didn't even bother to look back as he raced to meet the approaching threat as far out from the village as possible. There was something disturbingly familiar about the power he sensed, but whatever it was, it was powerful enough that even if he could defeat it, it would result in massive amounts of destruction and it was the further that happened away from the village the happier Gaara would be. Part of his was also willing to admit that he didn't want the villagers whom he had come to like and even respect to see just what he was capable of.
He slowed down as he reached the source of the danger and his brow furrowed in confusion when he saw who that the source appeared to be a human being. Humans just didn't posses the sort of power he could sense, especially not strong enough that he could feel Shukaku's mind stirring within his own. As the figure drew closer he could make out the red-patterned robes of Akatsuki and his lip rose in a snarl. He had met more than his share of those treacherous scum and if they wanted to try and interfere in his life once again he was going to send a very pointed message to them.
That was when the figure came close enough that he could make out his features through the heat haze and his sneer faltered. They hadn't seen each other in years, but that wild shock of blonde hair over blue eyes and framed by whisker like marks were permanently engraved on Gaara's memory, for not only did they belong to the person who had handed him his first ever defeat, they belonged to the one who had finally broken him of his homicidal madness and set his feet on the path that he walked to this day. But the blue eyes that had once sparkled with mischief when pulling a prank and gleamed with determination when facing an opponent were now dead and lifeless and Gaara feared for the worst when he saw the deep line scored into Naruto's forehead protector, right through the spiralling leaf of Konoha.
"Halt!" he roared as Naruto drew nearer. "Any who intend harm to this village must first go through me."
Naruto stopped and looked at him with cold dead eyes. "I have no business with the village," he intoned in a flat monotone. "My masters desire your death Gaara of the Desert and it is my duty to fulfil their wishes."
That was all the warning that Gaara got, but it was more than he needed. The entire area surrounding the village was made up of sand dunes and sand was his to command. One hand thrust forward even and Naruto charged fingers half clenched. "Sabaku Kyuu!" he commanded and the sand's responded, engulfing Naruto, but not before he launched several kunai, which impacted harmlessly against the Shield of Sand. Gaara paused a moment to whisper, "Forgive me," before clenching his fist with a cry of "Sabaku Sousou!"
Part of Gaara knew that it wouldn't be that simple to defeat Naruto, so he was relatively unsurprised by the enormous burst of chakra that blasted him clear from the crushing embrace of the Desert Funeral. Though it had been years since he had ceased to be a shinobi, all his old skills remained with him and he tracked Naruto's movements and then launched a swarm of Sand Shuriken at the place where he judged the blonde shinobi would land. He had judged right, but they were absorbed by a swarm of Shadow Clones before they could injure the real Naruto.
Naruto grunted in pain as a pillar of sand blasted through the cloud of smoke and slammed into him. The weeks and months of conditioning at the hands of Akatuski's torturers, including Itachi with the power of his Mangekyou Sharingan, had stripped away all emotion, leaving him clear to analyse the situation dispassionately and he knew that the battle would be difficult. Gaara's ability to create and manipulate sand meant that it was very hard to engage him at any distance and memories from before his 'rebirth' as Akatsuki's ultimate killing machine reminded him that for all his slight build Gaara still had demon born strength and was formidable at close ranges, even without using his sand. Still, it was the course that offered the greatest possibility of success.
With a Naruto formed a spinning blue ball of chakra in each hand and silently charged forward. Another pillar of sand was launched at him but this one was intercepted with the Rasengan in his right hand. Ploughing through the sand slowed him fractionally, but not much and by the time the first Rasengan expended itself he was within striking range of Gaara. It would have been a clean kill there and then for the Rasengan punched through the Shield of Sand and like it wasn't even there and the hastily erected Armour of Sand was almost equally ineffective, but Naruto's left hand was his off hand and his aim was not as perfect as it could have been. This meant that when the sand about his feet suddenly tightened, pulling him temporarily off balance Gaara was able to move far enough out of the way that all he got was a shallow strike across his chest. Shallow or not it was still deep enough to hurt and Gaara was almost hypersensitive to pain since he barely ever felt it.
Howling he stumbled back, throwing one hand up and Naruto was lifted into the air by a tendril of sand that was wrapped around each limb. The pain that Gaara felt was also enough that Shukaku, already roused by Kyuubi's presence, even leashed to aid Naruto in battle, woke fully from his years long slumber and for one moment it was he that was in control and not Gaara. Each of the tendrils of sand that were wrapped around Naruto's limbs tightened with the hideous crunching sound of bone not merely being broken but shattering and then the shards being ground together. The conditioning that he undergone at the hands of Akatsuki allowed Naruto to ignore any pain inflicted upon him during his missions but like Gaara it had been a long time since he had sustained injuries anything like what had just happened to him and a primal scream of pain ripped from his throat. That pain also shot straight past the parts of the brain responsible for higher thought and tapped into something more primitive, more instinctual and that part of the brain instinctively summoned the one thing that it knew could protect it.
Even as Gaara regained control over his sand from Shukaku and withdrew it he noticed the sudden blazing surge of red chakra that poured forth from Naruto, straightening and bonding bone shards, but that wasn't the important part. What Gaara saw was that while his limbs were repaired for just a moment Naruto's eyes seemed to flicker from blue to red and the whisker marks on his cheeks seemed to become wider and darker. On anyone else it could have been passed off as an optical illusion, but not for Naruto and Gaara nodded. "So that's the way it has to be then," he muttered.
Even as Naruto hit the ground, the aura of red chakra dissipating and his eyes returning to their normal blue, Gaara's assault started again, but it was different this time. This time around he wasn't trying to actually injure Naruto, just to hurt him. It was a variant on the technique of a thousand cuts which still remained one of the most agonising methods of execution devised by humankind. Individually the damage inflicted by each wound was negligible, though the shallow grazing cuts hurt all out of proportion to their severity, and enough of them could kill. Gaara planned to stop short of that point, assuming he could even reach it with Naruto's regenerative capabilities, but the important part was the pain. For just a second enough pain had overridden Akatsuki's brainwashing, unleashing Kyuubi. If what he intended worked the fox would emerge so strongly that the shock would break Akatsuki's control permanently. If it didn't work of course he would have a very angry Kyuubi to deal with, but it was a gamble that Gaara felt was the risk.
Back-pedalling to gain some room Gaara reached out and lifted the top layer of sand for several metres all around him, but rather than clumping it together to form an effectively solid mass as he did for most attack, he left it loose and started it spinning with Naruto at the centre of the vortex. At first it was only an inconvenience to the blond shinobi, but it rapidly grew worse as the sand spun faster and faster while still more was added to the mix until in a short space of time he was standing in the middle of ferocious, if very localised sandstorm. His heavy robe provided some limited protection while it lasted, but once it was reduced to shreds the flimsy shirt and canvas trousers he wore underneath were all that stood between his bare skin and the stinging sand. The shirt lasted even less time than the robe, leaving Naruto naked from the waist up while each sand grain opened a long thin gash on the bare skin. They sealed up almost as soon as they were opened, but they still hurt and to make matters worse in several places a few sand grains that drove in deeper were actually sealed in as the wound closed, adding a further irritant.
Half blinded by the stinging sand and unable to lower his arms from across his face to get a better look lest the more sensitive flesh there be torn to shreds, even temporarily Naruto had no choice to stand stock still and wait for Gaara's sandstorm to subside, playing right into his opponents hand for with every stinging lash the closer Kyuubi came to emerging. The final straw came when the sand dune that he was standing on slipped, causing Naruto to lose his balance. It was only for a fraction of a second, but it was long enough to change his stance, taking the protection, minimal as it might have been, of his arms away from his face for a fraction of a second. That fraction of a second was all that it took for his face to be reduced to bloody shreds and the sudden visceral spike of pain on top of the mounting torment from sandstorm was all it took.
Red chakra blasted from every pore in Naruto's body with enough force to completely dispel the sandstorm and a basso roar was ripped from the blonde shinobi's throat as the chakra wrapped around his body, glowing so brightly that even in the bright sun that it almost obscured the figure within. At first the chakra was only an amorphous blob with Naruto at the centre but almost faster than the eye could follow it condensed and shifted until it took on a distinctly fox-like cast, complete with nine chakra-forged tails fanning out behind it. The figure paused for a moment before its head shifted and Naruto's eyes, barely visible through the red glow laid eyes on Gaara and then he charged with a roar that was bereft of anything human within it. The aura around the head parted into two jaws that looked ready to bite Gaara in half, but all they closed on was a mouthful of sand as Gaara frantically swapped places with a sand clone.
That proved to be his own undoing for whipping up the sandstorm had roused Shukaku as well and the seals that kept him bound were weaker than those that bound Kyuubi at the best of times. Having to dodge Kyuubi's assault drew Gaara's attention from keeping Shukaku under control at a critical moment. The sand spirit, enraged at his enforced dormancy, overwhelmed his host's mental defences and while not capable of taking control, at least while Gaara was still conscious, he was more than capable of driving his host back into the old killing rage. Kyuubi's next assault was met with a solid wall of sand and when it dropped the creature facing the demon fox/human hybrid was equally inhuman as Gaara's second form was revealed.
The battle that followed was one of pure elemental ferocity, though fortunately for the inhabitants of the nearby village, it steadily drew away from their home, else they would have been destroyed by the power unleashed. At first glance the battle appeared to be weighted in Shukaku/Gaara's favour, thanks to their almost symbiotic relationship with the desert that formed their battle ground but Kyuubi/Naruto neutralised their advantages through sheer, raw power. Their was one advantage that the fox could not counter though, for anything that might have been left of Naruto's consciousness was lost in the swirling maelstrom of the beast's rage while Shukaku had been human once and Gaara's mind was still working, even if it was swamped by the urge to kill, still capable of thinking on something beyond a purely instinctive level.
A memory flickered through Gaara's mind, of a better time when he and Naruto had been discussing the demon's bound within them. Naruto had confided then that his body was actually one of Kyuubi's weak points, so tightly they were bound. No matter how hard the fox might try, there were some things about Naruto he could not change about his prison, including its need to eat, sleep, drink… and breathe. It would take longer to blink than it took Shukaku/Gaara to formulate a plan and act on it once that memory surfaced.
With the speed of thought Kyuubi/Naruto was completely engulfed in a sphere of sand, compressed to a density greater than anything that Gaara had ever attempted before. Compacted so tightly in fact that not even oxygen molecules should be able to slip through in anything less than geological time spans. Kyuubi wasn't about to let that happen without a fight of course and constantly assailed the barrier, but it reformed even faster than it could be worn away. It was a grim battle of pure endurance, a race to see whether Shukaku/Gaara would run out of chakra before Kyuubi/Naruto succumbed to oxygen deprivation.
Hours passed and the sun was almost touching the western horizon before Gaara realised that all struggle from within the sphere had ceased hours ago. Not only that, but he had expended so much chakra that he had reverted to his purely human form some time back and Shukaku had once again been driven into a dormant state. In fact he was completely drained and the instant his focus wavered the sphere collapsed in slithering rush. Most of Naruto was obscured by the falling sand but his face managed to remain clear and Gaara could only stare in disbelief as blue lips moved and a faint tinge of colour crept into pale skin, though very, very slowly.
"End it," those pale lips croaked out. "End it now."
Gaara could only assume that Naruto thought that either Kyuubi would emerge once he recovered enough, or that Akatsuki's conditioning would assert itself. But he was spent himself and anything more would kill him as well, but considering either of the threats that could be unleashed on the world again, Gaara would consider his own life a small price to pay. There was even a certain grim satisfaction at the though of dragging Shukaku down into hell with him. His only regret was that the villages who had sheltered him after he left the Village of Sand would never know what became of him. Still, he had to do what he had to. Collapsing down next to Naruto, he thrust one fist up to the first stars of the night and with a cry and a final burst of chakra roared out, "SABAKU TAISOU!!!"
The final fate of Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara of the Desert would become a mystery that was never to be solved.
Naruto didn't get a chance to say anything as he snapped out of the vision because Kyuubi spoke first, though roared was probably a more accurate verb.
"I WOULD NEVER LOSE TO THAT PITIFUL, COWARDLY, INSANE EXCUSE FOR A TANUKI!!!" The awesome voice vibrated in Naruto's bones and seemed to shake the odd not a space that they occupied to its foundations, but Mai seemed unmoved. Kyuubi wasn't finished though. "YOU LIE OLD WOMAN AND YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE FOR INSULTING ME!!!"
Kyuubi's roar drowned out conscious thought but it died out halfway through, drowned by an enormous flash of light that blinded Naruto and caused Kyuubi to go from roaring to emitting a strangled shriek. At the same time the skin on Naruto's stomach went completely numb, at least until the light passed.
When the light faded Naruto heard Mai hiss in whisper that was as cold as space and impossibly seemed to shake the not a place even more than Kyuubi's yelling, "Last warning fox. Be silent or die!" and once more Naruto was struck by the sense of something otherworldly about the old woman in front of him. He had absolutely no idea what she was exactly but she definitely wasn't the plain old woman that she pretended to be.
Then her attention returned to Naruto and the sense of the otherworldly faded. "Now where were we?" she asked.
"Trying to get the ringing out of our ears," Naruto asked facetiously, thumping one side of his head with the heel of his palm, only half in jest for his ears were indeed ringing, even if it was fading rapidly.
Mai laughed at that and shook her head. "Well I can certainly understand how one could think that damn fox's yelling could be considered a little loud," she conceded. "And you're standing closer to him than I am to boot. But we mustn't let these little things distract us from the task at hand after all. Are you ready to go on?"
Naruto felt a nervous flutter in his stomach but nodded anyway. There was no way a he was going to show any sort of trepidation in front of Mai, especially not after what she did to Kyuubi.
"Then look and learn," Mai said, pointing her staff.
Naruto's gaze was drawn to a third star hanging into the void and as it came closer a tiny part of Naruto's mind tried to figure out how it was possible for the stars to move without seeming to move at all the way they did. That lasted up until he was struck between the eyes once again, without success, and then the all consuming whiteness blanked out all thought before fading yet again to black.
The gaunt figure sat at in the dusty street, a begging bowl in front of him and his eyes staring blankly at a point just in front of it. He seemed oblivious to all around him, the ebb and flow of pedestrians that clogged the street, other beggars like himself who also tried to glean enough to eat from the passers-by, universally with more success and even the flies that hung heavy in the air. Apart from the slight rise and fall of his chest, mostly hidden by the fall of the rags that served him in place of clothing and the slight, involuntary twitching of the eyes he could have been dead.
He was viewed with an odd mixture of fear, awe and pity by the beggars and shopkeepers in the area. None of them had ever seen him eat or drink, not that there was ever enough money in his bowl to buy all but the most meagre of meals. In fact the bowl had been a gift from one of the local shopkeepers. When he had first arrived in the street he simply sat down and never moved. A few people threw coins in the dust at his feet, but he made no move to pick them up and they had been quickly been appropriated by others on the look out for a little money. After a week one of the shopkeepers had put the bowl down in front of him in the hope that it might rouse him a little to look after himself.
It hadn't worked and urchins and pickpockets constantly raided the bowls meagre contents and still the man made no move to protect it. In fact he never seemed to move at all, though every beggar and shopkeeper in the street knew that he could move well enough should the need arose. Though he allowed himself to be robbed of everything but his rags and his bowl (which no one had ever bothered to take, even if it was a little better than the average beggar's bowl) when physically threatened he could move faster than anyone would believe if they didn't see it with their own eyes. Twice within the first month of taking up residence in the street he had been attacked. Twice his attackers had fled with crippling injuries in the space of less than a minute. There had never been a third, but those who had witnessed it remembered and treated the still figure with great caution.
That was how Uzumaki Naruto spent his days and nights. Motionless save for his breathing in the dusty street of a poor city so far from the place that he had called home that no one had ever heard of the Fire Country or the Hidden Village of the Leaf. He did not how long he had sat there for days and nights had long since ceased to have any meaning and things like weeks, months and years were nothing more than abstract concepts from another lifetime that had no more meant no more to him now than colours meant to a blind man.
Only one day stood out in his memory and it was the one day in his entire life that he wished to forget more than any other. He had known that Konoha would never know peace so long as the Akatsuki sought the power of the demon bound within him so he had hatched a plan. A reckless, foolhardy plan that was more than a little insane, but a plan all the same. He had snuck out of the village one night, completely alone and allowed himself to be captured. He knew that Akatsuki had no real interest in him, only in Kyuubi and that one of the first things they would do would to be try and extract the fox from his body. Trusting in the Fourth's handiwork, Naruto had planned to use that opportunity to catch them off guard and if not eliminate them completely at least neutralise them as a threat.
It was at that stage of the plan that everything went wahoonie shaped. In retrospect it had probably been a serious mistake not to tell anyone what he was doing, especially as the rescue mission turned up at the worst possible moment. Naruto wasn't sure what happened next and was glad for that small favour at least. The next thing he was aware of was running away from a massive crater in a blind panic. He didn't know how long he ran for, days certainly, possibly even weeks, but he kept going until he collapsed. Every time he thought about stopping he was gripped by the certainty that not only had he wiped Akatsuki, but the rescue party sent to save him as well, including some of his closest friends and that other Leaf-nin were now hunting him down.
He kept going until he was far enough away from not only Konoha, but the ninja countries that any pursuit was a near impossibility and once that happened, the blind panic faded to be replaced by a crushing depression. A tiny, rational part of his mind insisted that since he could not remember what happened there was no way he could know if the rescue party had died or not, let alone if by his hand, but it was smothered under the black cloud of Naruto's depression. He had tried to kill himself on several occasions but the regenerative powers that had made him so formidable a ninja now became a curse instead of a blessing. Even a kunai piercing his heart hadn't been able to do more than incapacitate him for a few days and every poison he had tried had made him violently ill for but none had successfully carried him off, even when taken in combination. He had even tried to drown himself, but the ropes he had used to secure the rocks had snapped every time and he floated back to the surface. Even heavy gauge chain had slipped loose.
After every attempt to kill himself quickly failed Naruto embarked on a slower method and tried to starve himself as he wandered, but even that didn't work. He grew thinner and thinner and soon it was simple matter t count not only his ribs but practically every bone in his body yet still he lived, long after a normal person would have died. The same force that healed his wounds almost instantly kept his body going past the point where it should have shut down, cursing him to a continued existence. Finally he had sat down in the spot he now occupied and waited for the time when not even Kyuubi's immense power could sustain him any longer and he could finally achieve the end that he so greatly desired.
Days grew into weeks, weeks grew into months, months turned into years and years slowly grew into decades and centuries. The motionless man eventually grew into a part of the street which he occupied and many forgot he was human and not just a cunningly wrought statue. Seasons turned and stories travelled and from the routes the stories travelled people came to see the strange sight. Yet through this all Uzumaki did not move, constantly waiting for the day when the curse of his immortality would be lifted, a day that might never come.
Naruto shivered as the vision let go of him, and when he became aware of his body again he realised that he had wrapped his arms around himself in a vain effort to ward off a chill that came entirely from within. "No way," he muttered. "There's no way I'd ever do something like that." It was purely an attempt to shake to free himself from the lingering grip of that depression rather than denying the truth of what he saw, but it didn't seem to help.
Mai seemed unaware of this when she said, "Oh yes there is. Everything I show you here is possible, though that can change. New choices open up for us just as often as old ones are closed off. However while everything is possible I make no claims as to whatever you see being probable. Of course I don't expect a foolish young scamp like you to be able to make the distinction."
That did it.
"I do to know the difference!" Naruto retorted hotly. "Probable means it can happen and possible means how likely it is to happen. Or was that the other way 'round?" he added as the spurt of anger faded to be replaced by confusion."
"It's the other way around," Mai said, shaking her head with an amused smile on her face. "But that's beside the point. Feeling better aren't you." It was a statement, not a question.
Naruto's eye widened. "Yeah," he said in surprise.
"It happens sometimes," Mai said with a shrug. "Emotions can sometimes linger after a vision has run its course and the best way to be rid of the ones you don't want is to rouse another emotion to take its place. Now we'd best be moving along. This night won't last forever, even here and time grows short. Ready for the last one?"
"Ready," Naruto said with a nod. He figured he was due something a little more pleasant to make up for the second and third vision and watched calmly as his gaze was directed towards a fourth star. Like the other three it detached itself from the background and came towards him without seeming to move. For the last time that night his vision whited out and then everything faded to black.
Naruto leaned back on the too comfortable to be real divan and wondered how much longer the council was going to be. To be more specific he was wondering if there would be enough time to catch a little sleep before they called for him. The last few months had been exhausting, both physically and mentally and all Naruto wanted to do was sleep for several weeks, or even months if he could get away with it. The sheer comfort factor he was sitting on wasn't helping matters any, as befitted what looked to be part of the quarters of the late Lord of Fire Country, deep at the heart of the main palace in Fire Capital.
His thoughts began to wander as he contemplated the long path that had brought him to this room. It had all started five years previously when the Countries of Wind and Earth had been struck without warning from an enemy to the west. They had struck so fast and so viciously that the two nations would have been overwhelmed had their terrain been a little more conducive to moving large numbers of people. As it was only a few strategically placed avalanches in the mountains of Earth Country and several conjured sandstorms in the trackless desert that made up so much of Wind Country prevented them from being overrun in a matter of weeks and most of the shinobi who volunteered for those missions never returned.
It did buy enough time for them to get enough information to relay to the other ninja villages and the news was grim. If one gathered every single ninja from every hidden village, for the largest like Konoha to the smallest like the Waterfall and then added every mercenary swordsman they would still be outnumbered by at least fifty to one, though a hundred to one would probably be closer odds, and though one on one every shinobi was worth dozens of them they a highly trained, highly disciplined fighting unit compared to the highly individualistic and often eccentric shinobi. And that didn't even count the things that accompanied them. The general consensus was that they were something akin to the spirit beasts with whom shinobi contracted, such as Naruto's own Toad Clan, but none of those consulted recognised the creatures who fought at their opponent's side. Fortunately they had been few in number, but they made up for that in effectiveness and dozens of shinobi must had died at their hand… assuming that was what those appendages were under the form shrouding mist that clung to them.
They soon consolidated their positions in Wind and Earth and moved onto the other great nations, rolling over the smaller ones that littered their borders like they weren't even their. The other nations had warning though and while they weren't able to stop the invaders, despite their best efforts; they had been able to slow them down. It was at this stage that it became quite apparent that there was no for the hidden villages, the primary military forces for their respective countries, would be able to win on their own. That was when Naruto found himself dragooned into helping unite the forces from the hidden villages, or the remnants there of as well as more conventional military forces that were hastily being assembled to bolster the desperately outnumbered ninjas. Somehow, though some fluke of personal charisma, Naruto had risen to the top of their makeshift command structure and found himself in charge. Shikamaru, who had proven himself a genius at strategy as well as tactics, did most of the planning, but it was Naruto who was truly in charge, if only for the fact that it was impossible for the disparate and sometimes hostile elements making up their army to even come close to agreeing on another leader.
So they had fought and eventually they one, but at terrible cost. Even when things had drawn to a near stalemate the invaders had begun resorting to scorched earth tactics and terrible blitzkrieg attacks, somehow getting massive numbers of troops behind their lines to wreak terrible damage before they were intercepted and almost always wiped out. As they were slowly driven back their scorched earth campaign stepped up and their deep raids became more frequent, though thankfully they seemed to lack the resources to conduct them too often, even at their most frequent rate. Yet all that didn't even began to compare to the cost in lives. The Lords of Wind and Fire were dead with no living heirs, the new Lord of Earth was barely ten years old and while the Lord of Lightning was in his late-twenties, a few years older than Naruto's own twenty-five, he had been far down the line of succession and had never been trained to rule. Amongst the shinobi it was worse still.
Temari, still grieving the loss of both her younger brothers had become Kazekage in all but name, lacking only confirmation from sufficient village elders, a near impossibility given how badly the Sand had suffered. The 'Beautiful Blue Beast of the Leaf,' Rock Lee had given his life defending the a medical camp, showing the true power of the Renge as he opened all eight gates in a display that earned him a place in the history books. That same day also carved the name of Haruno Sakura into history as well, for when Lee fell she took up Tsunami, the greatest of the Hidden Mist's Seven Swords, which had been gifted to Lee by the Mizukage in a show of solidarity and used it to finish the job he started and refused to let it go since. Even now slumbering only a few metres from Naruto, having given in to the comfort of the divans she cradled the hilt. Closer to Naruto's heart the Konoha's Hyuuga clan had been decimated and the distinctions between the Head Clan and the Branch Clan abolished simply because there weren't enough of them left having born the brunt of so much of the fighting. The few surviving Sound-nin who had come out of hiding after Orochimaru's defeat had died to the last man in a desperate defence of Water Capital in an effort to prove their loyalty to the alliance. Mitarashi Anko had proven exactly why Orochimaru had once chosen her as an apprentice when she single handedly annihilated a battalion sized deep raiding unit, at the cost of her own life. And so the list went on and on, too many for any one person to remember no matter how hard they tried but in the end, victory had been theirs.
The final push, though rout might have been a better description, had been a few short weeks ago, driving the invaders back into the trackless deserts in the western half of the Wind Country where they had disappeared and when it had ended Naruto and the rest of his inner circle had received orders to return to Fire Capital where a conference had been held to decide the fate of the ravaged nations. He had detailed several scouts to track the survivors to ensure that they didn't have any surprises still waiting in store and turned around to Fire Country, leaving Shikamaru in temporary command. He had arrived in Fire Capital only a few hours earlier, accompanied by Sasuke, whose loyalty to Konoha had been proven beyond anyone's desire to question by his actions during the war and who was now curled up and snoring on another divan, while the troops that had accompanied them waited in the city. Sakura had met them at the palace gates and led them to the room where they now waited, having just arrived in the city herself.
The next thing Naruto knew a hand was shaking his shoulder and morning light was streaming in the eastern facing windows. Surprised he had fallen asleep without even realising it he came up with a start, forcing Sakura, who had been the one shaking his shoulder to jump back lest their heads collide. "What is it?" Naruto asked, heart racing and wondering what had gone wrong, instincts from too many nights punctuated by surprise attacks operating at full.
"Relax," Sakura said. "Nothing's wrong. The council is ready to meet us now."
"They are?" Naruto asked while his brain tried to process the information while coming down off a sudden adrenaline spike. "Oh. That's good. Took them long enough." He looked over at Sasuke who was still curled up asleep and snoring. "Think we should wake him?"
"Probably," Sakura said. "They said it was important, but not urgent."
With a groan Naruto sat up fully and then levered himself upwards, muscles protesting that they could use several more hours, or even days of rest.
Between the two of them Naruto and Sakura managed to bring Sasuke around to some semblance of consciousness though exactly how much he was aware of was anyone's guess. Still it was enough for him to walk with them, following a page to the chamber where the council was meeting. The council was technically formed of representatives from every country and hidden village but their number was much smaller than it should have been for some of the smaller countries had no one left to represent them and there was the glaring absence of a representative from the Tsuchikage courtesy of the decimation of Hidden Rock's forces.
The council, such as it was, rose as one when the trio entered and Tsunade, her face showing the toll the stress of the war and the loss of Tsunade had taken on her despite her ability to disguise her appearance, stepped forward and then dropped to one knee.
Naruto looked at her in dumb shock, wondering just what the hell she was doing, as she began to speak. "Uzumaki Naruto," she said formally. "You have led our nations in a war likes of which none has ever seen before. For this we give you thanks. Yet the cost of this war has been great and many of those who should have led us in peace have fallen. Thus on behalf of this council I have the great honour to ask you, who have proven your worth as a leader, to take their place and unite all our nations as our emperor. Will you do us the honour of accepting?"
If he thought he had been speechless before, that was noting to the state that gripped Naruto once Tsunade had finished speaking. He looked up at the council, certain that the look on their faces would prove that this was some kind of twisted joke, but their faces were as deadly serious as Tsunade's. Slowly each of them sank down into a low bow, including the ancient and wizened Lord of Water though it did take him a little longer to get down than some of the more able bodied members of the council. Even Temari who Naruto would have sworn would never bow to anyone in her life.
"Will you accept?" Tsunade asked again, calmly and patiently.
Naruto turned frantically to look at Sakura and Sasuke in turn, but found no help their. They were as stunned and confused as he was.
"Will you accept?" Tsunade asked again. Then she added in a whisper that carried no further than the trio in front of her. "Accept. We are too weak right now, too worn out, to be able to stand alone. We need to stand united and you are the only one who can do it. This is the only chance we have to end the wars that plagued our nations since before my grandfather's time and if we lose it now we will for back into the old pattern of fighting at a time we can least afford it."
Tsunade's arguments were convincing, or at least convincing to get him to accept for the time being. If he had to Naruto always figured that he could wiggle out of it sometime later on. "I… I accept," he said and the tension in the room suddenly vanished as the normally dignified councillors cheered.
Under the cheers Naruto Tsunade whisper, "Oh, and don't think you're going to be able to wiggle out of this one. And I suggest you change into something more suitable to wear. Once it gets settled down here, we're going to have to make the proclamation to your subjects, Your Imperial Majesty."
It was all too much. Exhaustion and surprised ganged up with the dawning immensity of what he had just agreed to do and Naruto did the only sensible thing he could think of. He fainted…
And woke up back in the star studded void with Mai leaning over him.
"Wow," he said. Since it seemed appropriate he repeated it. "Wow. That was just… wow!"
"I get the picture," Mai said. "Now get up. There are some things I need to explain before you leave here.
"Like what?" Naruto asked, rolling to his feet.
"Well firstly when you wake up in the morning, you're not going to consciously remember this."
"Why not?" Naruto asked, clearly miffed at having to go through all the visions if he wasn't going to remember them, which seemed like a wasted effort on everyone's part to him.
"I said consciously," Mai said. "The heart can remember what the head does not. And just take my word on this it generally works out better this way. I've been doing this for a long time now and I do actually know what I'm doing."
Naruto looked dissatisfied with that explanation but didn't challenge it. "What else?"
"Secondly if by some chance we meet again try and remember what I'm showing you are possibilities. They might happen, they might not and I have no say in how likely any given vision is likely to happen, so don't blame me if your life takes a path you didn't see here. Not get going you young scamp. My old bones tire easily and arguing with your fox friend hasn't help matters any."
"How am I supposed to… Never mind." Naruto had been turning as he spoke and saw the door halfway through his sentence. He didn't know how it got there since it hadn't been a few moments ago, but he wasn't going to ask. He simply used it and found himself back in the main room of Mai's hut, Sasuke and Kakashi snoring away on their futons. Naruto took to his own futon and tried to get back to sleep. It turned out to be surprisingly easy and within a few minutes he was snoring away back in the three part harmony that Sakura had noted earlier that night.
Author's notes:
First of let me apologise for the Discworld reference. I couldn't resist.
And let me also say, having completed the main part of the story that these visions turned out much longer than I expected them to be and in some cases a lot harder to come up with than I anticipated. Then again maybe that's because I had Sakura's all in mind when I wrote them while Sasuke's and Naruto's were made up on the fly. Ah well, such is life, especially when your living with a muse like mine.
Tranlation Notes:
Sabaku Kyuu: Desert Coffin
Sabaku Sousou: Desert Funeral
Sabaku Taisou: Imperial Desert Funeral
Not long to go now. Just the epilogue and that will probably be uber-short.