A faint glow of red gold glinted against a blue-black abyss, a solitary star in an enternity of empty space. Gouting flames of mixed red and blue chakra wreathed around Naruto's form as he stood in the stygian darkness. A pair of gigantic luminescent yellowish eyes watched cruelly as he cradled a blood soaked bundle to his chest. Tears ran down his face as he reluctantly looked up to his watcher, "You'll make us go back… back to the beginning, maybe, even before the beginning, right?"

"That's right little mortal," the echoing voice of the owner of the eyes responded. "All you have to do is give up everything you've gained… and all that you have lost." Naruto shuddered at the odd smoothness of the echoing voice.

Deep in the bowels of Naruto's mind, through twisting water-logged corridors and past a flimsy paper seal the fox spirit Kyuubi no Kitsune paced restlessly. It pawed at the sealed gate nervously, not so much in an effort to get out, more to get attention. "Don't do it kit," it hissed past the seal into the back of Naruto's brain, "Even demons know better than to make this deal." Chakra surged in the before the sealed gate, and a translucent image of Naruto appeared before the agitated fox.

"There's nothing left, Kyuubi… No Konoha, no Sound, the other villages don't even have enough population to support themselves, all of the civilians dead. This… this is the best way, isn't it?"

"Fuck no! Look, ok, so the age of Man and Ninja is over, get over it, the Earth will recover and all that happy circle of life shit… isn't that what you're supposed to be about? It can't be as bad as it seems, just let it the fuck alone!"

"Kyu…" Naruto's voice cracked, "Kyuubi, not even demons can live in the Valley of the End… The Wasteland is spreading as we speak… there is nothing left to lose. Like it or not… it is what will be done." With that final thought the image of Naruto standing slumped before the gate shimmered out into nothingness, dispersed in the chakra of his mind. The kitsune howled and clawed violently at the gate.

"FOOLISH BRAT! I WON'T LET YOU BRING THE END OF US! I'LL FIX THIS YOU HEAR! I'LL FIX THIS!"

Naruto stood straight and tall before the darkness, clutching his bundle to his chest. Jaw tightening he looked up at the eyes before him, "I'm ready."

"Good for you, do we have a deal then?"

Naruto closed his eyes and hissed in a breath, the Kyuubi had gone oddly silent in the back of his mind, opening his eyes he gave a weak smile upwards. "Yes."

"And the terms?"

Naruto nodded, the drapes on his hat brushing softly along his shoulders. "They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, cannot the reverse be so as well? The use of a neutral… seed, is acceptable."

A soft rumble of ill humored laughter echoed in a strangely muffled way within the gigantic space. "Prepare yourself then, puny Hokage, and look into my eyes."

Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime, Sixth Hokage of the Fire hidden in the Leaf, last of the Konoha-nin, planted his feet and looked upwards into now incandescent eyes. The harsh glare of light highlighted the few scars dimpling the surface of his skin, and seemed to glimmer, caught deep in his whisker marks. As the light grew his robes rustled, down slid a tightly compressed package that clanked faintly as it hit the Hokage's foot and broke open, spilling long tattered ribbons of cloth onto the unseen ground. The metal plates affixed to the clothes shone dully, highlighting the various symbols etched onto, and scratched violently across them.

"I'll be fixing this brat, you'll see… I'll make everything… better."

Blinking he opened his eyes, staring upward at the cloudy grey sky as mist slowly floated down coating his skin. "What the hell..?"

"You ok?" questioned a distant gravelly voice.

"What happened?"

"You got hit by about five different lightning bolts. You pissed off any Cloud-nin that I should know about?"

Momochi Zabuza carefully sat up and surveyed his surroundings with a rather severe case of disorientation. No bodies lay next to him, no bridge much less river was near, and his old comrade from the Mist was looking at him rather strangely. "No… no Cloud-nin…"

"Well you must have pissed off someone, today wasn't supposed to even have any storms." His old friend calmly tilted his head back to observe the quickly darkening sky.

Zabuza carefully got his feet underneath him and straightened, reflexively adjusting his sword across his back. Absently he caressed the hilt of his Kubikiri Houcho where it emerged from behind his shoulder blades, silently taking reassurance in its familiar presence. "I'm in Mist…" he muttered softly in a puzzled tone, "And no one is trying to kill me?"

Kisame laughed and slapped his sparring partner and fellow Swordsman on the shoulder, "No more than usual after that exam! Although with all that lightning, who knows, eh?"

"Hey Kisame…"

"Yup?"

"Ever get a bad feeling?"

"Like what? Someone's got a knife to my back or someone's plotting my doom sort of thing? Come on, need to get to the Mizukage's office 'fore all the good missions are gone."

"… The doom one…"

"Ehhh… nah, can't say I have. Why?"

"I think I just did."

"Heh, bad karma, right?"

"Something like that…"

AN: Must… resist… urge to cackle… Anyway. I don't really have a plot for this, aside from a vague 'what-if' scenario, and I usually suck at doing anything more than one shots. So, what-cha think? Evil, yes? And if you're wondering, 'Why Zabuza?' Well, for one, why not? But plot wise it's because he's one of the few neutral characters… And hey, Naruto kind of had to settle for whatever he could get. As a plus, "Zabuza; savior of the world" makes me think of really funny things, or at least expressions.

If I think of anymore chapters to this (gods I hope not, I have enough unfinished stuff lying around), I'll make sure to do chapter titles and move chapter order around. Otherwise this is all going to be random.

I don't mind if people take my plot-bunnies and run with them, just let me know huh? I like to see what people think I've written, even when it isn't what I've written at all.

Oh, and props to Narutofandotcom, as I use them for quick fact checking even if I disagree with some of their back-story theories, their stash of manga isn't so bad either. grins