Devil From The Heavens

Chapter 27: Tetelestai

They collectively crouched behind some rubble at the explosion that was so near. Naruto grabbed at a nearby stone and began drawing the symbol the old man showed him in the dirt. Hinata narrowed her eyes at the sight. It looked like a seal of sorts.

"Here." Naruto finished the crude drawing and point at a particular intersection of lines near the bottom left corner. "If we cut this portion of the seal on his forehead, it'll stop working. I racked my brain for how to do this but since you're here, Hinata, I'll need you to do it."

Konan nodded as she saw the skeleton of Naruto's plan. "Her Byakugan will allow her to find and hit the exact area needed."

"And my chakra control is more precise," Hinata added as she studied the imperfect rendition. "Less possibility of missing or causing an adverse reaction."

Naruto grinned as the two said exactly what he was thinking. "Yep! We know Kurama's chakra hurts him but it also damages his seals. Once I've weakened them enough, you'll come in and cut it. Konan and I will distract him to give you a clean shot." He looked her in the eyes. "Do you think you can do it?

Hinata rubbed at her neck. Despite Sage Mode and Tsunade's help, she was still hurting. One wrong move and she'd be a sitting duck but everything else had failed and Broly was a machine to still move even after they've done. She had to do it.

"I can."

Naruto winced. "Great because he just killed the last clone and is looking for us."

Konan's wings opened up. "Duly noted." She deadpanned as she flew into the air with a great flap of the paper appendages. Hinata activated her Byakugan and her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Before Naruto could comment on it, she pushed him away with a weak Vacuum Palm as Broly burst through their hiding spot.

He twisted around with a wild kick that she barely ducked. The remains of the wall exploded as his shin crashed into it. He flailed in the dust cloud blind as Hinata rushed in with her Gentle Fist at the ready.

Three jabs hit the man in quick succession before she finished up with a palm to his chest. Behind him the cloud cleared as her chakra went right through the Akatsuki. He stumbled with pained grunts before a twisting column of paper slammed into him. Broly rolled along as the avalanche swallowed and wrapped tightly around him.

Mere yards from him, Naruto summoned two clones and readied a Rasengan in both of his hands. Both clones grabbed him and launched him at the man who was too distracted by the paper to notice. The Jinchuriki smashed both orbs into the Akatsuki's back and a guttural cry answered him. A backhand followed that sent the blond tumbling away.

Broly ripped the paper from his face and crossed his arms. The trio's only warning was a quick bolt of lightning across his aura before he raised his arms and released the energy within him in a big boom that caught the Sages within its grasp. The deafening bang could be heard, and felt, from the civilian's shelter from miles away.

Konan summoned thousands of sheets to stop her backward momentum. She had thought to remain at a distance, she didn't have the durability needed for close combat, but she was just a still too close. It was a testament to Broly's weakening however. Were he even a little stronger, that would have vaporized them all. As it stood, Konan could see both Sages already getting up.

"Hinata! Get ready!"

As Naruto rushed forward once more, the Kyubi's chakra enveloped him as he gained three tails. He swung his fist and, even as Broly narrowly avoided it, his cheek still caved in from the blow. From the other direction, a vicious red claw swiped across his face. Naruto followed up with a gut punch that the Akatsuki caught with a pained grunt.

He grabbed the boy's collar and crashed him into the dirt. He struck down at the Jinchuriki but paper like steel sunk into his marred flesh and pushed his fist off course. He held up his arm and ripped the paper away without a care but when he looked back to Naruto, the boy was gone. A hurricane of paper surrounded him and the Saiyan was left lost within its eye.

In the distance, Hinata put her hands together and closed her eyes. If she concentrated her Byakugan, she could see the seal on Broly's head clear as day just like Naruto showed them. She spotted the area she needed to cut. This wasn't going to be a matter of power but precision like she'd never attempted before. Like cutting a single grain of sand in half with a thrown kunai. She gathered the natural energy within herself. The perfect tool was needed and only she could forge it.

Outside the paper hurricane, Naruto focused on Broly's presence. His Rasengan gave him an incredibly risky idea to keep the man still for Hinata and weaken the seals.

'Kurama, what are the odds of you being able to balance Sage Mode with a fourth tail?'

Kurama growled. 'You're asking a lot here, boy. Three is hard enough, you've already developed warts.'

'It doesn't have to be for long, just long enough.'

A moment of silence passed. Kurama had missed his previous opportunity because of that wretched Minato but if the boy were to fail here, his confidence would be shattered. He'd be ripe for further manipulation. Yet his father's words were held fresh in his mind. If it were anyone else...

'I'll try but you'll owe me for this.'

Naruto smiled. 'Add it to the tab.'

The fourth tail burst forth from his back and the cloak of chakra on his body darkened. Naruto gnashed his teeth as unbidden thoughts of rage and violence tore through his mind. Within, the Kyubi concentrated as he helped balance his chakra within the boy and the thoughts were quickly quelled. Naruto's face distorted as it rubber banded between becoming more toadlike and reverting back to human.

Within the paper storm, Broly charged its edge with a barrier and burst through it with little trouble. He spotted Naruto instantly and charged the boy. The Saiyan hammered the Sage with a massive hook that sent him flying. His aura came to life and the Akatsuki flew around the boy.

He threw another fist and a great shock wave cracked the ground.

A familiar claw wrapped around his hand and empty eyes stared through the Saiyan. Agony erupted through his burnt limb as the Kyubi's chakra at away at the raw skin and he fell to a knee. The blood red of the Four Tails fell away until a burning orange replaced it and black seal marks ran through the beast. Its own fist crashed into his face, the force of the blow rippling down its arm and body, and the Saiyan was sent flying away.

Until the claw on his arm went taut and arrested his motion. There was a pop and a crack as his arm was simultaneously broken and dislocated. His momentum was suddenly reverse and his screams were caught in his throat as the inertia squeezed on him.

The beast raised a near golden claw as he grew closer and Broly raised his other arm. With a great heave, a kiai was thrown from his hand and pushed him well out of the claw's way as it swiped on. Its eyes grew wide as ki erupted around the Saiyan's form.

His punch ripped a hole through its chest. The innumerable open gashes on his arm spouted blood from the force. Within the fox, Naruto was exposed but the boy hsf expected it and he wrapped his arm around Broly's limb to pull him in.

The suffering that had retreated to the back of his mind returned in full force. Gas had been poured on the fires that had been eating at his nerves. He screamed and the very air in his lungs was saturated with fire like dragon's breath. Within this horrid cloud of consumption, he ripped himself from Naruto's grasp.

He grabbed the boy by his throat and pushed forward through the malignant ooze that tore at him. Naruto choked as he was ripped out of Kurama's protective shroud but in spite of the pain, he smiled. The boy burst into a puff of smoke and Broly held a partially crushed stump of wood. The instinctual confusion lasted for a moment before the miasma that surrounded him crashed back into the Saiyan.

He could hardly see the crimson was so dark as to be black. His lungs filled and expanded but could not empty. His ears were blocked and he could only hear the blood swirling in his system. He tasted copper. Broly jumped and his head burst through the top. Two red hands bore down on him.

He ripped his ruined arm out, ki racing to his palm, but thousands of pieces of paper swallowed his limb. His attack, unstable and weak, launched into the blockage and exploded a mere foot from his hand. Gore splattered across his burnt face and he looked to Konan with a bloodshot eye.

Her own looked on him with regret as the hands pushed him down.

Naruto guided the mass of chakra below with his ethereal arms. The energy below spun inwards until the bulbous shape condensed into a smooth dome like a large Rasengan. Below, Broly was being pushed down as the forces around him held him in place.

The chakra invaded him, exposed him. Within, Broly writhed in his burning chains. Tears appeared in the walls of his mindscape. Crimson poured through and flooded the floor of his mental prison. Hagoromo stood in front of him and brought his staff down. The chakra was pushed back by an invisible force in a perfect circle around the two.

'He can't hold on.' The man thought over the cacophony of viscous energy fighting against his efforts. He could sense the trauma the Saiyan's body was going through. His heart was beating harder and harder to push less and less blood. It was already in shock. The Sage clenched his staff as the chakra pushed against his shield.

Hagoromo knew what he had to do. He'd already seen the beginnings of change within the boy. He'd have to trust that he'd go the rest of the way without him. The Sage held out a green hand and put it on the boy's shoulder. His healing would hopefully stabilize him and give him the time needed to escape.

He embraced the boy with a hurting heart. He reminded him so much of Indra.

"I love you."

Hagoromo's body glow with a soft emerald light and washed over Broly.


"Hinata! Now!"

Her feet moved before she could register the words. Her fingers were an aurora knife sharper than any scalpel and her chakra was a viper coiled to strike. She was a blur as a boom was left in her wake but her speed did nothing to affect her view of the seal.

The fire-like dome opened up for her and Broly's empty face was revealed. Her racing heart nearly doubled its speed at the sight of him but she stay true. Her strike fell like a hammer from the heavens. The Akatsuki stilled underneath her touch.

A moment passed. Did she-? The Hyuga double checked her work- her elation faded.

He moved. She missed. By a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of an inch. The seal collapsed from her cut and cascaded down through his face to the seal on his chest. The life returned to the man's open eye. It was like the wool was pulled from it and what he saw an eldritch horror. Broly grabbed at his face, she could swear that his right arm was supposed to be broken, as he screamed. The veins on his body swelled and the earth shook.

His scream reached a fever pitch right before he seemingly seized. Blinding light poured out of his eye and mouth. The skin on his face tore.

Hinata jumped away and grabbed Naruto by the back of his collar as the dome of chakra exploded out. She was too close and lost her grip on the blond as they were both blown away. Konan watched as ki pierced the heavens and ate through the ground below. Her breath was stolen from her as a force likes hands pulled her wings down.

Broly rose through the golden pillar with hands outstretched like a god. The entire planet shook. Volcanoes all over the world erupted as tectonic plates shifted. Tsunamis swallowed settlements whole on coasts around the planet. Valleys formed. Mountains were birthed. The cosmos held its breath as a sudden, instinctual terror gripped its heart.

Broly, hair shining in golden flames, floated over an empty void. The Super Saiyan's gazed roamed over them. The former black of his pupil had changed to a stark blue.

It was as horrid as it was beautiful.

Hinata spotted Naruto's prone body as the light died down. He was unconscious and there was a stump where his right arm should be. It was cauterized, it was even still smoking, but he needed help. She tried to crawl towards him and even that much movement was a feat in it of itself with the insane pressure that had blanketed them. What was this? Panic gripped her and she grabbed at her knees.

Her Byakugan let her see everything and what wasn't blinding could not be comprehended. No Tailed Beast could compare to it. Konan landed beside her and fell to her knees. The bluenette was struggling to breath even as everything seemed to fall still in the wake of the Saiyan's transformation. The gulf between even his blue haired state and this was like a child and the Kyubi itself.

He raised a hand and it was like doom seemingly gripped their hearts. The light around him bent and warped in massive waves as power gathered in his palm. Hinata had to shut her Byakugan as nausea hit her. Konan vomited beside her.

Miles away, civilians passed out by the dozen and shinobi struggled to stay on their feet. Chunin and genin alike had to block the unprepared from committing suicide out of sheer terror.

Then, unbeknownst to everyone, the seal on his back awakened. And like that, the pressure around them disappeared. The gold blinked out like a switch had been flipped and the Saiyan fell into the blackened depths.


He fell and fell until he hit wet stone. His body had moved beyond registering pain and had numbed itself entirely. Broly tried to move but he could do little more than roll over onto his side. His right eye refused to open. Not that he wanted it to given the water that poured from the fractures in the wall had already filled the bottom close to his eye.

The chains weren't on him anymore. He blinked and blinked. Tried to force his way back but nothing happened. No horrid visions. No pull. No compulsions to keep going. His vision blurred as his eye welled up.

He didn't hope, couldn't hope, but the question had to be asked.

'Old man, am I free?' The water had reached past his eye and he rolled onto his back once more. No answer came. His ears were filled and the world was muffled. The sky was getting dark.

'Hey, asshole, talk to me.'

More moments passed without response.

"Hagoromo?" He choked out with a broken voice before his body was submerged.

The little light he could see was tinged crimson as the water was painted by the blood on his body. He rolled over again and tried to push himself up again. He floated for a moment but he couldn't get his legs under him and he was on his back once more. He couldn't focus and he needed to breath.

The red water rushed his lungs and it burned like hot lava in his chest. He tried to struggle instinctively but nothing reacted the way he wanted. As the seconds went by, he felt weaker and weaker even as his desire to move, to survive, grew ever stronger. In the end, exhaustion won out.

So he stopped.

In the light at the very top of this grave he'd dug, a shape formed. It was little more than a blob as his vision, becoming more blurred by the moment, never brought it into focus. Two pointed things jutted from it and he thought of wings.

Like an angel.

And the world fell black.


Konan flew out of the hole with Broly in her arms. Beneath the caked blood and wet soot, it was near impossible to see the man's pallid complexion. The vision of his golden form flashed in her mind.

There were no words that could describe what she had felt underneath his presence. She had thought she'd known power but this was...something beyond that. To compare themselves to it was to compare an ant to all the stars in the sky. The very idea of power, of strength, was too little for it. They had looked into the infinite, all of them, and were forever changed.

And yet, here he rested in her arms like any other man. She couldn't see him breathing but she dared hope. After everything this village had thrown at him, it could not end like this. As the woman put him down, she checked his pulse. It was weak. The weakest one she'd ever felt.

The silence around was that of a grave. This was what they wanted with the Tailed Beasts. It was what she got. It was just more death. More orphans like her and her friends.

She could not bear to see another death. Not today. Not him.

But the mind wasn't rational and she was scared to touch him even as she starting doing compressions on his chest. His eye was open but there was no life behind it. She'd seen those eyes so many times before. Her parents. Yahiko. She didn't get the privilege to see Nagato's.

Konan pushed past the fear. She pressed her lips to his and gave him air before continuing compressions.

"Konan."

The former Akatsuki looked to Hinata. The woman, now no longer in Sage Mode but with Byakugan still active, was haggard and disheveled and it was clear that she had gotten sick like herself but she held Naruto on her back regardless. She adjusted the blond as she looked to her right and started to trudge along.

"Lady Tsunade, Jiraiya, and others are coming this way. I-" Her legs wobbled. "They'll need her help to live."

Konan swallowed a lump in her throat as she nodded. She didn't trust her voice as she lifted the man. Paper gather underneath them both until small platforms formed and lifted them off the ground. Hinata practically collapsed when she realized they would provide transportation.

She remained standing with a dying deity in her arms.


Author's Notes

God, I hope I did this conclusion justice. This really should have been part of the last chapter but self imposed deadlines and life get in the way.

Broly's free now but if he lives remains to be seen. Another question is what has Madara been doing this whole time? We'll find out next chapter. Also, maybe, perhaps, Sasuke. I keep forgetting he exists. No apologies for that though.

We're in the final stretch of the story and I estimate it'll be done sometime next year. Exciting times.

Ent out.


Review Responses!

Dontus -not Donut- Powerus: I'm still debating if Goku shows up in earnest in the story or not though I'm leaning towards a cameo at most. As for Hagoromo...sorry.

SilverJoJo: One half of your hopes has come to pass.

DTLA1992: Yes and we'll see.

Isaiah Navarro: No need to apologize, my man. Honestly, that's a solid idea but I already have an idea for how the last battle will play out.

Jutten: Oh yeah, the politics of all this will be neat to delve into.

Guest: Oh yeah, I love it though it has the pacing of an elderly snail.

fightingchampion: I know, finally lol

Raiver Abrego: *reviews fanfiction, use beta male unironically*

But in all seriousness, Too Angry To Die characters really work best as short lived characters or when there's more to them than just the anger. Broly in his first movie had little going for him besides his aesthetics and general coolness. It's simply not enough to sustain a fic of any serious length. Hell, the Hulk, the titular Too Angry To Die character, has enormous amounts of depth and complexity in his best stories beyond being angry.

So it's not that no one appreciates them, it's that the only ones worth remembering are more than just angry.

Also, this is a weird place to complain about trends in writing.

The Guest: I'm surprised we never saw it, I would love to have seen that.

winterwolf23543: You'd be right but then no story. Gotta take some liberties if these two worlds are colliding.

Guest: *Insert guy tapping forehead meme here*