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Chapter 66
The Fall
"Bring it on, Father"
Naruto looked at the Senju brothers standing before him in all their glory. Behind them stood their large Allied army, now having gotten to a safe distance away from the upcoming fight knowing the power these three Kage's were capable of unleashing.
It was exactly like what he had seen in the memories the Sage had shown him.
With the wounds and exertion suffered by his body, it was impossible for him to truly defeat the two men in front of him.
And yet he still had to stop them.
Looking at his father-Tobirama made his heart clench again. Knowing as long as the man lived, Naruto's own comrades and their victory would never be assured. But could he truly bring himself to kill his own parent?
His Uncle-Hashirama was already dead, but Tobirama was alive.
However, the Hokage looked determined to kill him to save his cause and the men who followed him.
Naruto was left with no choice but to do what was best for his own comrades, adding another regret to his rather long line.
He charged towards them already performing a set of hand signs to call forth the forbidden power, the only one left in his arsenal that could stop the Senju brothers permanently. It was taught to him by the Uzukage himself as the leader of the Spartans upon the completion of his training, to be used to against the most powerful tailed beast when all was lost.
He had never imagined he would be forced to use it upon his own family.
Hashirama tried to stop him by first raising dozens of vines from the ground to stop his charge and when that failed, the First Hokage sent a hail of wooden projectiles from his hands to skewer his nephew. To his surprise, Naruto evaded most with his Hirashin but didn't resist when a few through sheer numbers did strike across multiple vital points.
Tobirama was upon him next with his holy sword- Raijin no Ken.
The Second Hokage sent the lightning sword straight towards his son's heart with the intention of forcing him to stop whatever jutsu he was creating. He watched in horror when Naruto still didn't stop and allowed the deadly sword to pierce his heart as the doomed Kage finished the final hand sign.
Hashirama gasped in shock when a clone of Naruto appeared in front of him instantly and grabbed him in an unbreakable grip laced with Fuinjutsu seals that preventing further movement. Glancing ahead, he saw a similar action had been taken against Tobirama even if the Second Hokage had stabbed his own son clean through the heart.
"Summoning Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal"
The Senju brothers felt the very air around them becoming cold and haunting as they paled upon witnessing the arrival of an entity that terrified their own hearts.
For it was God of Death himself.
The Shinigami stood before them in all its monstrous power staring down upon them in judgement. It had a humanoid but demonic visage larger than any man, with long shaggy white hair from which two red horns were emerging. Its ghastly body was covered in a white kimono but they still saw faint purple colored skin of the ancient being in some places. In one hand it held a savage looking tanto while the other held prayer beads of some kind. Its mouth was full of long and sharp teeth and a very disturbing long serpentine like tongue.
Hashirama and Tobirama paled further when they saw the monster was already having a soul hanging in front of it like an offering. With growing horror, they realized it was Naruto's.
The brothers used all their might to break free knowing they were in danger but the Fuinjutsu that Naruto and his clone had tainted them with made them stay just where they were.
"I'm truly sorry, Father, Uncle"
The next moment the Shinigami pierced the spectral visage of Naruto's soul hanging before him and sent two hands that then pierced through Naruto's real body to first grab Tobirama's chest, and then Naruto's clone to reach Hashirama's own.
Tobirama saw the resolve in his dying son's eyes alongwith deep regret as he looked at him tearfully.
The Second Hokage felt the cold hand of death itself gripping his very soul as it was slowly started to be wrenched from his body. Looking back, he saw the same thing was being done to Hashirama.
"This is the end, isn't it son?" asked Tobirama in a resigned voice, for no matter how hard he tried- the power of the Shinigami made all his efforts fail to save himself.
"Yes for all three of us. We will be sealed in the Reaper's belly to fight an eternal battle against each other, never passing to the Pure Lands. Our souls will never get peace after death...for we are doomed forever" confessed Naruto sadly,
Tobirama sighed and Naruto waited for another string of curses only for his father to look at him with pride and sadness in his eyes.
"I fought and I lost against my own son. There is no shame in that" whispered Tobirama truthfully,
''I didn't want to do this...but if you or Hashirama still lived, there was no hope for my comrades" replied Naruto hesitantly,
Tobirama nodded at the truth and hidden praise even as he saw his soul now nearly halfway outside his body.
"You would have never managed to beat us in your current state. So you called forth the one power no man can ever defeat- Death itself. But the cost, nephew" whispered Hashirama sadly, as the end came near.
"The price of my sins, Uncle. And the sacrifice for a better future" replied Naruto's clone without hesitation this time,
"Then you truly are worthy of being called Naruto-The Great, nephew"
For some reason, Tobirama was content even if it was ending this way. He had tried his best to fight for what he believed in and used every means to win, his son had been the same only he was prepared to go beyond any man had ever imagined.
"I understand if you hate me for this, Father" said Naruto sincerely,
Tobirama looked at the Death God stealing his soul quite eagerly and licking its lips quite savagely before he glanced back at his young son.
"I could never truly stand with you in life...but in death we shall be together. I could live with that"
Naruto sagged in relief upon hearing those words even as pain screamed fiercely from all the wounds he had taken, especially the one to the heart and the cold power of the Shinigami flowing through his own body and soul.
"I hope this future so many fought and died for is better than what we have today" prayed Tobirama,
"It will" promised Naruto,
"Then go on, do your duty"
Tobirama's last words brought forth the final moment as he watched the Shinigami extracting Hashirama's soul first and sealing it inside Naruto's clone before consuming away the combined souls into its belly making the clone vanish in a puff of smoke, and Hashirama's Edo Tensei form to crumble much to angry roars of the Allied forces in the rear.
"Goodbye, Father. You won't be alone long" whispered Naruto sadly,
The last thing Tobirama saw was the sight of his soul being extracted completely and about to follow the same process as his brother when everything went dark for him.
Naruto staggered in pain and shock as his father's soul was sealed inside his body as the fallen Hokage's corpse tumbled lifelessly and was caught by his own son respectfully and laid upon the ground tenderly.
The God of Death was now slowly but surely consuming Naruto's own soul as payment for using his power.
He watched the enraged Allied army charge at him upon witnessing the fall of their last Kage in vengeance making him grab Muramasa for one last time alongwith his father's own holy sword after he slowly removed it from his chest.
In his final moments, he would take as many of them as possible to the afterlife.
As he charged one last time to meet his enemies, Naruto heard a distant voice in his mind- one he never thought he would hear ever again.
"Naruto! It's me...I am communicating to you through my Long Range Mind Transfer technique! I have a thousand Zetsu with me and are almost near Tiger Hill, what's your situation?" asked Ino's frantically,
He could feel his body getting cold and senses dulling further as the Death God claimed its prize quicker even as Naruto continued to slaughter those foolish enough to attack him.
"Don't...come...here...it's...too...late" he replied back to her sadly, even as two more swords were stabbed into his chest before he struck down his attackers in retaliation.
Calling forth the last of his strength and the destructive swords in his hand, Naruto vaporized a large swath of Allied fighters making the rest blanch in horror and gain safe distance from the dying Kage.
He fell to his knees in exhaustion and pain as everything started to fade away except for Ino's desperate and frantic voice in his mind...
"No! Naruto, get up...and run away! Please!"
His heart broke as heard her cry and beg for him to run away, but he didn't have the strength left to even stand up on his feet as he distantly heard a pair of footsteps approaching towards him.
"Ino...I'm sorry" he whispered with the last of his strength,
"Get up and fight! I am coming, just hang in there!" she promised madly,
The Death God had almost claimed his soul and he looked up to see a wounded Danzo Shimura looking down at him with a bloodied sword in hand.
"For Lord Tobirama!"
The next moment everything went dark.
(Half an Hour Later)
Ino emerged out of the Zetsu's shell that had carried her all this way, it had taken longer than expected and she barely had a thousand Zetsu with her but she was determined to help in any way she can.
They had taken up position barely a few hundred meters away from the enemy camp where she had felt thousands upon thousands of chakra signatures. Most probably the Allied forces...
She was terrorized with fear and worry after Naruto stopped responding, his voice had already sounded close to dying but she refused to accept any of that!
"They have taken Tiger Hill"
She refused to believe those treacherous words from a crestfallen Zetsu beside her, but the thunderous cheering from the Allied army was not something she could deny no matter how much she wanted.
"You stay here, I'll go investigate!" she commanded,
Before her men could respond, she had already focused her attention by closing her eyes to launch her long range mind transfer technique upon the closest enemy kunoichi.
Less than a few moments later, she found herself in the midst of a thunderous and cheering Allied army.
Looking around, she rapidly started to march forward towards the slopes of Tiger Hill where she could find more information of how grave the situation truly was.
It was hard to continue projecting cheerfulness upon her current host's face to blend in with the masses, but she managed enough emotion that nobody stopped or questioned her. A few Iwagakure shinobi called her towards their ranks since her host was from that nation, but she blended in the crowd to disappear.
It became clear to her with every passing moment that the Allies had won this battle, however alongwith cheering there was also anger with many sullen faces whispering they had taken massive losses including many of their own leaders. That only gave her the barest satisfaction...
Her attention then focused upon the peaks of Tiger Hill and heard many more cheers as the numerous once proud flags of "The Terran Federation" burned before her eyes. Upon the hill, there were thousands of slaughtered Zetsu corpses but no Spartans or of their leader.
Further cheering erupted inside the Allied army and shinobi parted ranks to allow a small procession from a distance to march forward.
"Can't believe the bastard is finally dead!" said a Konoha Jounin near her in disbelief,
"Serves him right! He butchered thousands of our Allied ranks including Lord Tsuchikage and destroying your own Kages" reminded an Iwagakure chunin bitterly,
Dread pooled deep inside Ino's heart when she saw a wounded Sakumo Hatake standing at a distance with disgust and disbelief clearly evident upon his pale face.
"Here comes! Naruto-The Great!" cried a chorus of mocking voices,
Ino looked ahead only to tremble in grief and blind hatred as a group of Allied shinobi-mostly from Iwagakure and Konoha carried forward two bodies upon their shoulders.
The first form carried forward by the Allies was the corpse of an adult Spartan officer who had the head of a massive wolf stitched barbarically with ninja wire upon his decapitated corpse.
Behind him a group of Konoha shinobi led by Danzo Shimura were parading a massive wolf body with a human head stitched to it similarly.
And one Ino knew intimately.
"No"
"My warriors- give a cheer for The Young Wolf!" said Danzo victoriously,
The Allied army roared like never before with hundreds imitating wolf howling quite crudely to mock the fallen warrior and his loyal wolf battle partner, but all Ino saw was the corpse of the man she loved mutilated in the vilest ways she had ever seen.
Tears slipped from her eyes as she saw Naruto's lifeless eyes staring blankly, as his head now crudely stitched upon his wolf's body with ninja wire was paraded across the entire Allied army to thunderous cheering and insults.
She could feel nothing but hatred in her heart for what these people had done, thousands of her own countrymen.
Her horrified gaze lay fixated upon Naruto's head even as Sakumo Hatake and a dozen men and women had enough and walked towards Danzo and his group with anger in their eyes. She felt herself walking towards them automatically, regardless of the danger to exposing her presence.
Konoha's White Fang didn't pause when Danzo blinked in surprise and reeled in pain as a tight slap from the older man sent him crashing to the ground.
"What madness is this? You are shinobi, not animals!" roared Sakumo furiously,
"He was our enemy but no longer, the dead do not deserve this" backed Shisui Uchiha coldly,
"He butchered my countrymen! Have you forgotten what was done to our village?" roared many of the Iwagakure survivors in disgust and defiance.
"That was Madara! Not this man" protested Sakumo,
"Thousands of our countrymen and all our Kages died because of him on this battlefield. This is justice!" said Danzo coldly,
"That was war and you killed him alongside thousands of his comrades! He's Lord Tobirama's son" said Ino fiercely, fighting back the tears and heartbreak that was tearing her apart with every passing moment.
"Danzo...all of you...the armies of Kirigakure and Uzushiogakure will never forget this" warned Sakumo gravely,
"Good, let them remember what happens to those that oppose us and threaten the peace of this world. Maybe we should send the Young Wolf back to them like this so they learn their lesson and end their rebellion" refuted Danzo coldly,
He frowned when some nameless Iwagakure kunoichi who was surprisingly opposing this justice walked towards him with murder in her eyes. Before he could understand what she was doing, the woman swiftly unleashed a kunai and stabbed him in the throat and slit it with such vengeance that a permanent horrified expression was etched upon his face as he passed into the afterlife.
Dozens grabbed the host's body that Ino was occupying in shock and rage, but before they could butcher her as well, it was Sakumo Hatake who ordered them to stop and approached her.
"Who are you?" asked Sakumo warily,
"The first wife of the man you butchered tonight- the love of my life. And the woman who burned down your feudal capital and its Daimyo alongside all remaining Daimyo's across the world" said Ino with vengeance burning in her voice,
The Allied shinobi reeled back in shock and disbelief, but Sakumo was the only who paled in horror as he realized who this person truly was.
"Ino? You were supposed to be dead" whispered Sakumo in fear and disbelief, only to receive a murderous glare from the Iwagakure kunoichi whom the Yamanaka clan fighter was using.
Tears fell from the woman's eyes and in them Sakumo saw nothing but pain and a fearsome rage as she glared at the Allied forces.
"We will remember this! I will use- every fighter, every weapon I have down to my own hands to end you! You all shall die screaming! I swear it, we are coming for all of you!"
The next moment all hell broke loose.
(Few Minutes Earlier)
"The Young Wolf!"
"Not so great now, is he!"
"Rot in the deepest hells, butcher!"
"Forever young!"
Zabuza and Kisame alongside the Aerial units from Kirigakure paled in horror upon what they were witnessing. The veterans from Kiri saw the way the Allies had mutilated their beloved Kage's corpse and the mocking of the enemy army.
"You bastards!" said Zabuza murderously,
They had taken up positions at a nearby hill just moments before, sent ahead of their combined ground forces not a few hours away and were ready to come to their Kage's defense only to now realize that it was too late.
They had failed.
As Zabuza was about to order a suicidal attack, it was Kisame who grabbed him firmly and looked at the rest of their fighters burning with black rage and the thirst for revenge.
"Don't do anything rash!" he ordered reluctantly,
Zabuza smacked his fellow swordsmen for the first time and alongwith unending rage- there were tears in the man's eyes making many of their own men tear up.
"I'll kill them all" swore Zabuza defiantly, and unleashed his sword but was again grabbed by Kisame.
Before he could push his comrade away, he froze upon seeing tears and grief in Kisame's own eyes.
"We will only get killed if we attack with the few men we have! Naruto wouldn't want that, no matter what!" cautioned Kisame sadly,
"Have you forgotten what they did to Our Kage and friend? Look at them!" hissed Zabuza bitterly, forcing the other Seven Ninja Swordsmen to watch the barbaric and disrespectful manner in which the enemy was parading Naruto and his wolf's corpse across the battlefield.
"At the very least, let us recover his body. We owe Lord Fourth that" urged Ganryu miserably,
Kisame looked at their Kage and dear friend's corpse being paraded by the enemy like a trophy, shame and rage were too small an emotion as to what he felt in this moment.
It was then he saw a strange commotion happening across the Allied ranks as a small group of their own fiercely argued with the ones disrespecting Naruto's corpse.
Kisame's eyes widened when one of the woman slit Danzo's throat moments later with such viciousness that took everyone by shock.
"We will remember this! I will use- every fighter, every weapon I have down to my own hands to end you! You all shall die screaming! I swear it, we are coming for all of you!"
The woman's anguished and vengeful roar echoed across Tiger Hill stirring the hearts of the veterans from Kirigakure.
They watched in disbelief as hundreds of Zetsu emerged amidst the Allied ranks without a care for their own lives. A merciless slaughter ensued as the attackers tore through the surprised Allies with cruel savagery as the lone Iwagakure kunoichi charged fearlessly towards Naruto's corpse.
Kisame didn't know why an enemy from Iwagakure was doing this, but he clearly saw her intentions and it helped harden his own resolve.
"You're right, Ganryu. We failed our Kage in his most desperate hour! But we will bring him home!"
"CHARGE!"
A thousand veterans of Kirigakure roared in vengeance upon that fateful command as they all took to the skies with their winged devices and kunai launchers. Leading them were the two most powerful swordsmen of the Mist, with both Kisame and Zabuza only having absolute hatred burning in their eyes upon the massive enemy army before them.
Any sane commander including their fallen Kage would call such an action to be an act of madness.
Some part of the Kirigakure veterans knew it to be so, and still their vengeful hearts screamed to make their enemies pay for their disgusting actions.
Their fury was unmatched as all thousand of them unleashed a devastating rain of explosives mercilessly.
The Allied army had not been able to get over the fighting that had erupted in their own ranks, and were caught completely by surprise by the Kirigakure attack.
Hundreds of their ranks were torn to pieces and thousands more sent flying in the shockwaves created by the rain of explosions.
The Kirigakure aerial forces were not satisfied with blowing their enemies from the skies, their rage screaming for more carnage and death as they descended downwards in all their fury.
Hundreds of allies lost their heads as the shinobi of Kiri carried out their deadly fly by near the ground, heading straight for the group of Iwagakure and Konoha shinobi desperately trying to ferry away Naruto and his wolf's corpse.
The only one to match their cry for vengeance and black rage was the lone Iwagakure kunoichi who had started this mad attack as she too carved her way through to the ones still holding Naruto's corpse, hundreds of Zetsu supporting her fearless advance. It made one thing clear for the Kiri shinobi- that whoever this woman was, she was an ally of their fallen Kage if the Zetsu's were fighting so desperately to keep her safe even at the cost of their own lives.
But it didn't have to go on for long as both Zabuza and Kisame landed with a thousand of their special forces by the Zetsu's side.
Sakumo Hatake watched in horror as chaos and death raged all around him.
All of this carnage for the sake of a corpse.
But some part of his heart felt it to be justified after the disgusting actions of his own comrades. He could not forget their unforgiveable actions in mutilating Naruto's corpse after the brave Kage was truly dead, a man who sacrificed his life to save his comrades.
As he watched the small force of Zetsu's and the newly arrived Kirigakure forces fight with terrifying vengeance, Sakumo didn't miss the tears in many of those warrior's eyes as they all fought madly to reach their Kage's corpse- killing any with brutality that dared to get in their way.
Many of them fell when the Allies finally got over their shock and started using their superior numbers. Yet not a single one of Naruto's allies faltered even as they went down fighting.
He watched the Iwagakure kunoichi whose body Ino was possesing get stabbed multiple times and yet she kept moving forward to finally reach Naruto's corpse, joined by Kisame and Zabuza.
The Zetsu and Kirigakure forces now created an unbreakable defensive position around them, not giving an inch to the Allies with the Kirigakure shinobi killing hundreds with their deadly kunai launchers. More and more tried to overwhelm them, only to fall at the hands of the enraged and vicious defenders of the Mist.
Zabuza and Kisame exchanged words with Ino and seemed to reel back in shock upon her reply before understanding dawned in their eyes as they nodded at her respectfully. Together, the two veterans gently removed Naruto's head from his wolf's corpse- with Zabuza also going forward next to gather the fallen wolf's remains as well.
Sakumo watched Ino tremble in uncontrollable tears and grief as she took Naruto's head in her hands.
The rage and vengeance that had carried her so far then shattered as she fell to her knees and wept.
The sight of it broke Sakumo's heart completely.
His tired gaze glancing at the battle raging across the battlefield as men and women fought to butcher each other for different reasons. The fear among their hearts, the screams of the dead and wounded, the sound of weapons being unleashed in true fury.
The same mistakes over and over again...an endless cycle.
Sakumo could not help but agree with Naruto's dislike for such senseless violence. Had the fallen Mizukage fought for the right cause all along?
Historians would probably write that Naruto died bravely and nobly on the battlefield like a true shinobi must, but watching the carnage all around him...Sakumo finally understood the futility of this war as thousands fought before his very eyes for the sake of a corpse. The only solace being that it belonged to a good man in Sakumo's eyes...
Wars had been fought for much pettier things since eons by mankind.
Naruto is gone...but his family and followers are not. They will avenge him no matter the cost.
The White Fang realized exactly the cycle that Naruto had wished to break, the freedom to live in a world not infested by never ending wars and revenge.
Naruto Namikaze was a veteran of Three Greats Wars, just like Sakumo. Had seen enough death and misery to scar anyone's heart...
This battle had marked the end of the line of Kages across the world with Naruto being the last recognized one of the important order to fall.
The rule of the Daimyo's had also came to end inglorious end if what Ino said had been true, and for some reason Sakumo doubted she was lying.
There was a time when what Sakumo started doing would never cross his mind, in fact he would be doing the exact opposite.
But even Veterans could only take so much destruction and pain before something in them broke completely. It had happened with Naruto and led the man down his path...
Just as it led to Sakumo following his own, using the chaos across the battlefield as the Allies tried to chase the retreating supporters of Naruto who had managed to recover the Fallen Kage and his wolf's corpse, the White Fang walked away from the battlefield in silence.
He had enough of wars and wanted nothing more than to be with his wife and young son-Kakashi. Something, Naruto must have dearly wished for his own children but would never get to see.
Looking back, he saw several dozen shinobi had decided to follow him in abandoning this war.
Most from Konoha being led by Shisui Uchiha who had backed him in opposing what Danzo and the Iwagakure survivors had done to Naruto's corpse. With so many from the Uchiha clan and even a few Senju deciding to abandon this war following Sakumo's lead, the death of their Hokages...and the vengeful promise they had all seen being made reality by Ino and her Zetsu alongwith the Kirigakure forces made one thing absolutely clear.
Sakumo looked at his small group of followers tiredly...
"Let's go home to our families. This war is lost...God has abandoned us" confessed the White Fang in shame, guilt easily visible in his tearful gaze for all the horrible things they had done and also gotten inflicted upon them in the name of justice.
"Perhaps it was pointless from the beginning" whispered Shisui Uchiha in agreement, as he saw the sheer amount of dead and wounded across the entire battlefield from all sides.
"I am old and tired. All our heroes are dead now...if the end is coming for us, then I would like to face it after I see my family one last time. Follow me if you have the same wish...for this war has made monsters of us all" declared Sakumo with deep regret in his voice,
Not a single one of their small group objected as they quickly walked away from the battlefield to return back to their village.
While there was still time...for Sakumo knew deep down that a wave of vengeance was going to come crashing down upon everyone of them after what their comrades had done in the name of justice.
Danzo, Hiruzen- you wretched fools. May you rot in the deepest hell for your actions have doomed us all and killed thousands of good men and women.
Author's Notes: End of chapter.
Kind of a short chapter but realistically in my opinion, Naruto had only so much fight left in him after battling for three days without pause and suffering so many wounds. He is truly dead now...his cause and people are not though so the fight goes on.
As to what Danzo did to Naruto's body, I can actually see the little shit doing something like this once left unchecked after Tobirama's death to make himself feel superior and still portray it as justice to his people. Kind of shows how fucked up and brutal this war has become, and yes I am aware it is similar to Robb Stark's end in GOT- the corpse mutilation part atleast, disturbing though it was to write. Danzo is brutal, nobody said he is intelligent to understand the ramifications of his actions- the guy practically started so many conflicts in cannon with his stupidity.
One more chapter to go before the epilogue, with the Senju brothers gone and Sakumo alongside few others having enough...the Allies are now in a dangerous situation.
Revenge is just not the right word to describe the enormity of rage in the hearts of Naruto's followers everywhere.
The epilogue will hopefully conclude remaining questions, the future of the survivors and the world. Try and keep your patience until then...to get all the answers about all your questions.
The last chapter and epilogue will be posted together in a final update in few days soon.
Reviews are always appreciated.
Until Next Time,
Blackwolf501
