Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
CHAPTER 44
The air was eerily silent. It seemed only the trees could stand to breathe, though the whispers of their mournful condolences barely disturbed the air with the gentle rustling of their leaves. The masses of the populace were carefully tucked away in the bunkers of the hills that surrounded Konoha, well out of range of the crumbling architecture that remained of the sprawling village.
However the shinobi ranks that had fought for their lives and their home in the urban battle between the Leaf and the Akatsuki were still down in the now silent trenches. All the Clan Heads, the ANBU, the jonin, the healers, everyone who had been deemed strong enough to wage war against a god, now stowed their weapons and licked their wounds. The survivors huddled together at the foot of Yamato's latticed framework, which was all that was holding the Hokage Tower upright, leaning on one another physically and emotionally as they bowed their heads over their fallen.
Naruto held nothing back. The tears he had dammed up ever since he had sensed the loss of Jiji's chakra finally bursting through the wall of his fight or flight instincts to run unchecked down his crestfallen face as he forced his eyes to remain open and see what his brain refused to comprehend. Minato had warned the returning group that the situation was dire, but the reality that greeted them was no less devastating. Kakashi finally stepped forward, pulling a weeping Shizune away from her mentor's motionless body before the medic exhausted her chakra reserves chasing a soul long since claimed by Kami.
With the tender gentleness and steely fortitude of a woman wise beyond her years, Hinata knelt between the two Sannin, her trembling hands shaking almost as much as her ragged breaths as she pressed a palm over the hearts of Jiraiya and Tsunade and searched for the beat that would not come. No one needed to hear the official words, for the slump of her shoulders seemed to be the final declaration that the group was dreading.
The Godaime and the Toad Sage were dead.
Her slender fingers slid down their dusty sleeves as Hinata straightened, leaving trails in the ash on their clothing which still rained down from the smoldering village they had given their lives to protect. Sobs choked her throat as her fingers rested gently upon Tsunade and Jiraiya's clasped hands. They had held each other so tightly that their fingers were still entwined even in death. When a warm, rough hand covered her own, and she felt Naruto kneel beside her, the kunoichi let her head fall forward and keened out a cry of pure grief.
No one moved. No one withdrew and tried to hide from the reality that literally laid before them. No one ignored the grief that hung heavier around them than the thick smell of impending rain. No one looked away from the genuine display of love as Hinata and Naruto reverently covered both their shishō with his red Sage Cloak. They all knew that this was a fate that awaited almost every ninja to ever tie a hitae ate to their forehead. To deny the circumstances of the Sannin's deaths would have robbed the heroes of the well deserved admiration and gratitude for their ultimate sacrifice.
As the hearts of Konoha's finest broke so did the heavens, unleashing the rain that had started to sprinkle during the battle in a cold downpour full of Kami's sorrow. Kakashi sighed and lifted his face to the sky, eyes closed in an exhausted plea for the mental fortitude to absorb this blow and still fight the evil that lurked beyond sight.
The way Minato-sensei's eyes had settled with pity upon Kakashi as he revealed the true depth of their former teammate's fall from grace, had hit him like a punch in the gut. As each realization of Obito's actions since that day of the cave-in washed over his mind, Kakashi had held his stomach in sick dread and disgust over the massive betrayal. The man had not simply broken the rules, not just left his comrades behind, but lit a match and watched them all burn.
Obito, he mourned internally, bringing a hand to cover the gifted eye that he had treasured for years as a memento of a lost friend. In all those years he had spent talking to his fallen teammates at the Memorial Stone, Kakashi had never imagined that one of them still lurked in the shadows. What you have become is worse than death.
As though answering the mental cry of his name, the reflection of Tobi's scarred face in a pair of furious dark eyes suddenly swam before Kakashi's Sharingan. His mind reeled to process a random series of blurry images that poured in via a connection that he had unconsciously tapped into by finally acknowledging the true existence of a link which he had thought long dead.
A gray-ringed Rinnegan of a detached eye sitting in an open palm before being thrust firmly into his face. A green haired, yellow eyed creature screaming as a hand reached out and tore away chunk of its flesh. A blond woman snarling from within the dark recesses of a dank room. A red miasma that erupted from his entire body as he blew through a wall and out into the rain soaked landscape of a foreign village that looked a lot like Amegakure.
Dread flowed in Kakashi's veins while he watched through Tobi's eye, as the Uchiha stood on the edge of the wide waters that surrounded the Village Hidden in the Rain and looked down. The grin on his rippling reflection creased his mismatched eyes. Kakashi could easily read his lips as Tobi smirked upon noticing their connection. "Ah, ah, ah Bakashi-chan. No stealing enemy secrets!" And the link fizzled away.
All the foreign memories jumbled into his mind through the Sharingan, and Kakashi's sudden gasp of shocked realization was only heard by the woman he still held in his arms.
"Kakashi!" Shizune gripped his shoulders as he hunched under the burden of his sudden vision. His fisted hands pressed into his burning eyes, and as she gently pulled his fingers away she inhaled sharply at the blood seeping out from under the hitae ate which covered his Sharingan.
Obito's Sharingan. Now, Tobi's missing Mangekyo. The pain faded quickly under Shizune's glowing hands but the atrocity of what he had seen was still burning in Kakashi's brain.
"I saw Tobi…" he swallowed hard, bile rising in his throat as the magnitude of the vision sank in. "He was able to implant the Rinnegan, now he has both dōjutsu. He is—or at least was—in Amegakure. The three missing jinchuriki kidnapped by the Akatsuki…he absorbed all their bijū."
Naruto and Hinata had sprinted over to their sensei's side when they saw him doubled over Shizune's glowing hands. Several more shinobi had gathered around as Kakashi's words had spread through the group faster than the streaking lightning through the clouds overhead. Hinata was already shaking her head in appalled denial of the next statement to leave his masked mouth.
"Tobi is the jinchuriki of The Nibi, The Yonbi, and The Gobi."
Kurama's roar deafened Naruto's entire mind as his own fury surged within his soul. His face twisted and a growl of questionable humanity ripped from his throat. Everyone's gaze snapped to him, the demonic aura of his emotions rolling off of him in waves of heat that defied the increasingly frigid rain.
Naruto! I can sense the suffering of my siblings as they cry out from their prison! This is the kind of inequitable evil I was created to destroy. Let me fulfill my original destiny and end the abomination that holds them hostage!
I'm with you Kurama! I will not allow this injustice to spread more devastation.
Red slitted eyes glowed passionately as Naruto's glare swept over the assembled ninjas. His teeth sharpened as his mouth snarled with the lust for justice that each shinobi reciprocated instantly. They were warriors. They were the balance that kept evil in check. They were never done fighting. They were forever enduring. Forever strong.
"Enough," Naruto barked. "There is a time for mourning, a time for rebuilding, and a time for remembering. But now…" his whiskers thickened with the passion flowing through his seal as it danced with the furious justice that Kurama was also demanding.
"…now is a time to kill."
"Agreed," Minato's voice cut through the heavily falling moisture, and the group of shinobi parted for him with awe-filled murmurs. The Yondaime strode forward, Kushina at his side, and stared fearlessly into the blood red eyes of his son, posing the question that had dawned upon a few, but no one had dared to ask out loud. "But who will lead us?"
The murmurs grew. Heads turned between themselves as the full understanding that they were a Hidden Village with no Kage, poised on the brink of a battle that could rewrite the laws of the universe, settled heavily upon their minds.
Names danced on the tips of various tongues. Kakashi had the battle experience. Minato had the leadership. Hinata was the apprentice of the Godaime. Shikaku was the master strategist. Even Itachi's name could be picked out of the mumblings. Many had taken notice of his presence amongst them, shoulder to shoulder near the Copy Ninja and flanked by one of Konoha's most revered doctors, Haruno Sakura, who hovered protectively at his side.
"I nominate Namikaze Naruto," a confident voice rang out over the elements.
Hizashi's hair dripped with rain, and he raised a hand to brush away the soaked strands from his unmarked forehead as he stepped forward. "Without a doubt in my mind, I know he will be a Hokage deserving of the world's respect. As Clan Head of the Hyuga, I rest my vote on his worth."
"Second," Sasuke broke away from Karin's side where he had been hanging back, not wanting to intrude upon the Konoha camaraderie which he was unsure would still extend to a prodigal son like himself. But without hesitation he laid his ego aside for his oldest friend. "As Clan Head of the Uchiha," he boldly declared as his sharp gaze scanned the members of the Leaf, daring them tobchallenge his claim. "I rest my vote on Namikaze Naruto's worth."
His ebony eyes met Itachi's from across the small crowd. The older brother's chin dipped in easy deference to the will of his Clan Head, and they shared the characteristically small smile that anyone from the Leaf understood as a generous show of emotion from an Uchiha. No one challenged the two rogue shinobi their place in this circle of Leaders.
The Ino-Shika-Cho Trio stepped forward in united agreement. From his small cloud of cigarette smoke a distinctly satisfied expression crossed Shikaku's scarred features as he announced his own certainty of the future Hokage of Konoha.
"The Nara Clan rests their vote on Namikaze Naruto's worth."
"The Akamichi Clan rests their vote on Namikaze Naruto's worth."
"The Yamanaka Clan rests their vote on Namikaze Naruto's worth."
The thunder built up like a drumroll as each Clan Head eagerly shouldered their way forward to add their voices to the epic moment.
"The Aburame Clan rests their vote on Namikaze Naruto's worth."
"The Inuzuka Clan rests their vote on Namikaze Naruto's worth."
"And the Sarutobi Clan," Asuma's gravelly voice called out from behind Kakashi as he slowly limped past the Copy Nin on a bandaged leg while leaning on Shikamaru's shoulder. His fist clenched at his side as though the action would help him maintain his grip on the grief threatening to crack his voice. The shinobi were once more reminded of the loss of yet another precious leader as his son stepped forward in his first act as Clan Head.
But he held his head high and cried out, "We rest our vote on the worth of Namikaze Naruto."
Naruto was barely breathing, his wide eyes had shifted from red death to crystal blue wonder as he stood in awe of the respect and support pouring out from the people whom he fought for all his life. His hand twitched nervously at his side until he felt his Hime's fingers weave into his trembling grasp, gripping him with the steadying touch of her faith and her chakra. His lifeline when the world spun too quickly. Stabilizing his erratically pounding heart when it threatened to derail.
Clarity and calm flowed through his network with her chakra, and Naruto clung to her even as he straightened and squared his shoulders to face his fate with renewed courage. This was the only way he had ever wanted to walk the path of destiny. With Hime at his side.
A pair of blue eyes identical to his own appeared before him, crinkling in a proud smile as a firm hand rested upon his shoulder. "The Namikaze Clan," his father's voice called loudly above the rising storm, "rests our vote on the worth of Namikaze Naruto."
"Tou-san…" Naruto's lips moved in a soundless whisper, his voice failing him for a moment. Despite being a chunin since he was fifteen, Naruto had never taken up the role as Clan Head and claimed the Namikaze seat at the Konoha Council Table. He had been gone. Training with Ero-sennin, chasing emo-traitor-Uchihas, hunting the Akatsuki while they hunted him, making peace with a demon, and reconciling his destiny at the foot of a sacred waterfall. When he had finally returned with his parents in tow, both hidden in plain sight, it hadn't felt right to take the seat that should have been his father's.
It was originally by Sarutobi's request that the chair had been left empty after the Kyūbi Attack. Publicly done in honor of the fallen Yondaime and his wife, but privately awaiting the emergence of a certain scrubby little blond Namikaze that no one but a select few knew existed, and even fewer believed in.
But that boy had grown. Kicking and screaming he had fought for every inch of his existence. Doggedly he had carried on despite the odds against him, clinging to the precious bonds that became his footholds in a world that rose against him. He had thrived in the face of mounting adversity, and raised those around him higher with every foot of ground he gained. And slowly but surely, become the man who could have not only laid claim to the empty chair at the Council Table, but the Hokage hat itself.
Unable to stand the epic tension any longer Kushina burst out in a face splitting grin, beaming despite the tears of grief-turned-joy that streamed down her cheeks. Unabashedly pumping her fist into the air, her normally loud voice easily cut through the whipping wind that fanned her long red hair around her like banners of celebration. "Let's hear it for the Rokudaime Hokage: Namikaze Naruto!"
A chorus of sharp war cries erupted in vociferous agreement while a massive bolt of lightning simultaneously split the sky as though Kami herself were christening his title with the tap of her celestial scepter. Naruto stood tall like the trees of his homeland, steady and unshakable in the building gale. His eyes flashed with the same intensity of the electricity which buzzed through the air as he took in the sight of his loyal comrades with gratitude humming within his chest.
Breathing hard with adrenaline and still some disbelief, Naruto's soaring exhilaration was matched by a rapidly increasing sense of trepidation at the massive weight of responsibility that had just been placed on his shoulders. His hand held Hime's in a white knuckled grip as he fought to control the unreal mixture of elation at seeing his life long dream fulfilled, and dismay that he wasn't ready.
The contradictory thoughts were stilled in their wild raving when Hime's soft but clear voice found his ear even through the shouts and deluge that surrounded them.
"Alright Rokudaime-sama," she smiled up at him, the eye of his storm when he was about to go to pieces. Her eyes sparkled with a mixture of tears and joy as her flushed face lifted to his own, carrying him above the insanity to the plain of resolve and courage where his path was laid out clearly before him. The chakra that kneaded between their entwined fingers was the guiding light on their road to glory, and his heart beat slowed to match her own as she encouraged him once more. As he hoped she would a thousand times, over and over for the rest of his life. Because, dear god, he could never do this without her.
Her whisper was laced with the strength he could always feel in her chakra. "Lead on."
"I will, but only if you promise to walk with me every step of the way," he ducked his head to make sure his humble sincerity reached her ears, and was rewarded with the red glow of her cheeks as she nodded quickly.
Before you charge out there, listen to my words, Kit. Kurama's harsh voice was a yank back down to earth from cloud nine. Naruto closed his eyes and let himself fall into his mindscape, smirking up at his oldest companion who was looming like a thundercloud over his green fields.
That's Kit-SAMA now, Kurama, he corrected facetiously. Kurama whipped a tail at him in annoyance but his sharp canine's gleamed in his vulpine grin.
You have my congratulations, but don't get cocky, Brat. There are still somethings you need to know. Despite my strength as the Nine Tails, the combined power of my siblings will not be an easy fight. Tobi will be able to tap into all their different natures, assuming he can control the chakra. With the Rinnegan and Mangekyo added to that, he will be the most formidable opponent we have faced yet.
Naruto's face sobered, but his confidence did not fade with his smile. Then it's a good thing we won't be alone.
Opening his eyes Naruto was met with Hime's patient expression. Her cheeks were wet with salty tears and fresh rain. His hand came up to cup her face, a small jab of worry pricking his heart as he took in the tangled hair that was matted to her neck and temples. The pale hue of her skin made the purple seal of her Byakugo no In stand out in stark contrast. She had already fought so hard. They all had. The shinobi of Konoha were bruised and beaten, some barely standing in their tattered gear. How could he ask them to bounce back from having just fought a god and immediately go to war against the Devil himself?
In the way of their entire existence together, Hinata could see the thoughts spinning behind the windows of Naruto's eyes. Feel the weight of his concern in the deepening furrow of his brow and thinning of his mouth as he clenched his jaw. Lifting her hand to press it tightly against his large palm against her cheek, she squeezed his fingers, drawing his clouded focus back to her eyes.
"We are all here for you, Naruto-kun" she assured him, anchoring him in the maelstrom of their circumstances with another surge of chakra that he responded to tenfold. Her faith tethered him to her truth and towed him back into her safe harbor. "Together we can do anything."
Naruto's shoulders loosened slightly, her words and her chakra being the exact antidote to the doubt that had briefly poisoned his mind. "Kami, I love you Hime," he murmured before quickly pressing a kiss to the back of her hand and then swiftly turning to address the shinobi that were beginning to check their weapons once more.
"Duomo arigato gozaimasu," Naruto's unmistakable voice which once screeched in childish taunts through the back alleys of the market now boomed with sincere appreciation over the village center. "There is nothing I want more as Hokage, than to protect Konoha and bring peace to her people! Today will be the first and most important step towards those goals. So with the authority of the Rokudaime with which you have honored me, I command you all…to stand down."
The shinobi froze en masse in their battle preparations. Naruto thought he distinctly heard the clink of Genma's senbon hitting the ground. From the middle of the group Kiba's irate voice carried over the heads of those around him.
"Oi! What the hell man? You want us to run off with our tails tucked between our legs? If there is a fight coming, then bring it on!" Many shinobi groused in agreement with the offended Inuzuka.
"I have no intentions of hiding like a coward," Naruto barked back, the pupils of his blue eyes immediately slitting with aggravation. "The man headed our way is an undead shinobi in possession of two ridiculously evolved dōjutsu and three goddamned chakra monsters! Sending you all up against him would be like sending sheep to the slaughter, and I refuse to use anyone as war fodder to gain a meager amount of ground in a battle of divine proportions."
"Naruto," Shikamaru sharply cut through the rising murmurs of frustration. "As a loyal shinobi of Konoha, I will obey my Hokage. But as a Hokage worthy of my respect, give me a reason to do so with confidence." His arms crossed over his chest as he fixed his comrade turned fearless leader with a gimlet eye. "If we will not fight this monster, who will?"
The scowl that had hardened Naruto's face twisted into a smirk that curled his thickening whiskers with a vicious flash of sharp teeth. His voice came out a deeper timbre than most had ever heard.
"I will."
Golden bijū chakra burst like a flash of lightning from his body as his entire person was consumed with a fire as bright as the sun. Bold black chakra markings danced along his limbs and torso, flaring across him like war paint applied from a divine brush. His blond hair danced around his face, swirling in the waves of heat that chased away the cold and framed the swirling whirlpools of his Rinnegan for the world to see.
The majority of them fell back, blinded and stunned by the physical presence of a mythical power that they had only heard of in legends. Hinata closed a single eye as she stood unfazed by his side, her only acknowledgment of his overwhelming display.
Her small, proud smile glowed more than his bijū cloak, for it was not lost upon her that Naruto-kun had purposefully chosen a moment after being named Hokage to reveal his true power. He had never wanted to intimidate the Village into elevating him to his dream. Instead aiming to conduct himself in a way that proved he was undeniably deserving of it, based on the merit of his character.
"Son," Minato pulled him gently aside, his own half of Kurama internally demanding to join the fight against the man who had manipulated his mind eighteen years ago. "Your strength is plain to see, but never underestimate Tobi's cunning. A one-on-one battle may sound heroic, but I can attest to the fact that even heroes can die." He, Kushina, and hundreds more had lost their lives in the effort to restrain just a single biju, let alone three.
"I am not alone," Naruto shook his head, a joyous radiance lighting his prismatic blue eyes. Turning abruptly he shouted out his first assignment as Hokage. "Hime! Sasuke! Team Seven has a mission!"
"HAI!" At the summons of their grinning Hokage, Hinata and Sasuke instantly flashed to his side. They stood poised in eager readiness on his left and right as though they had known this moment was coming. The veins along Hinata's temples throbbed down her cheeks as the blooming lavender of the Tenseigan's flower manifested in her wide gaze. Sasuke's smirk lifted the corner of his mouth as his chakra surged into his forehead and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan split open in an unblinking stare that blew the dark strands of hair away from his face.
Those who had barely been clinging to reality after the revelation of the Rinnegan, completely blacked out at the gravity the Tenseigan and Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan added to the weight of the atmosphere.
"My god," Shikaku gaped, the limp cigarette he had refused to toss despite the nearly pouring rain finally falling to its watery death. "Is that…are they…"
"The Three Scions," Hizashi finished in a reverent whisper. He had already known of Naruto and Hinata's divine dōjutsu. And now that he had lived to see the completion of the Legendary Triad, he could feel the magnitude of fate as it stretched before them with unlimited possibilities. Their Will of Fire has been sanctified by Kami into a bond that can never be severed. The world is unaware of the new dawn that is about to break through the darkest hour of night.
Turning to face his first teammates, the Rokudaime's voice rang out with elated anticipation, nearly rocking up onto his toes with energetic excitement. "Your mission is to carry out the Justice of Kami upon that cursed motherfucker, and rescue the bijū he has stolen!" he bellowed in undignified glee.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, glancing at Hinata and waiting. He was not disappointed as her hand snapped out and smartly flicked Naruto's glowing yellow forehead.
"Language!…Hokage-sama," she primly corrected, needing to bite her bottom lip to hold back the smile that the age old admonishment tried to coax from her stoic face.
Naruto briskly rubbed his head with a dramatic and distinctly not-Hokage-like pout that Sasuke was glad the awestruck bystanders behind him could not see. But instead of glaring back at her, Naruto's shining eyes only blinked down at Hinata's adorably pink cheeks.
"It is so hot when you call me that," he mumbled huskily in an even more undignified way.
"Gross," Sasuke drawled, wishing he was standing further back with the rest of the gawking shinobi so that he did not have to hear that.
Grinning at the soft squeak of shock that escaped Hinata's lips before she could clap a hand over her mouth, Naruto gave Sasuke a broad, gloating wink that made even the Uchiha's third eye narrow in disgust. Turning back with a majestic flourish of his yellow cloak he addressed the remaining conscious shinobi who were still trying to process everything.
"I leave Namikaze Minato in charge of the Village in my absence. Stay on alert. Be prepared for anything. Tend to the wounded. Those who are able, start working on temporary shelters. I don't know when we will return, but I swear on my title of Hokage that we will not fail you! And I never go back on my word, dattebayo!"
Gai immediately leapt into action, drawing Lee into his tornado of enthusiasm and boisterous yelling. Anyone unlucky enough to be within their reach was forcibly mustered into their youthful efforts to fortify what remained of Konoha before the storm and the battle fully unleashed. Sakura and Shizune headed for the partially collapsed hospital to begin an inventory of whatever medical supplies remained. Kakashi, Yamato, and Genma started dividing the ANBU into search and rescue squads. The Clan Heads distributed their own members to participate to the best of their unique skills.
Naruto stepped up to his father where Minato stood amongst the rest of the Clan Heads. His expression sobered despite the humorously youthful shouts echoing behind them.
"Tou-san," Naruto's golden shroud flickered around him as they all leaned in to hear his quieter words. "Take Ero-sennin and Baa-chan to Mt. Myoboku. I don't want anything else to happen to them until—" he voice faltered and he cleared his throat harshly before stubbornly continuing on. "Until we can properly say goodbye. Perhaps, take Jiji too?" Naruto locked eyes with Asuma, who immediately nodded in agreement.
"Hai, you can count on me," Minato said, but winced as he heard Kushina begin screaming at Gai and Lee to reel it in before she chained them up. Valiantly ignoring the tearful apologies the men were chanting in response, Minato firmly squeezed his son's shoulder. "Be safe Naruto."
"Dobe! Let's go!" Sasuke snapped impatiently.
"Don't talk to your Hokage like that Teme!" Naruto instantly whipped around and shook his fist at Sasuke. "You and your little sword will get to fight soon enough!"
Sasuke's eyes hardened. With a mere flick of said sword he unleashed the full Glory of the Uchiha, and suddenly his towering Susano'o was looming over the entire group. The chakra warrior was fully adorned in a majestic set of armor, and wielded a sword that leveled in height with the Hokage Tower even when it was stabbed viciously into the earth. Glaring down from his place high above the nearly boiling jinchuriki Hokage, Sasuke smirked at Naruto's twitching face.
"Don't insult my sword, Usuratonkachi."
The inspiring glow that had lit Naruto's body abruptly exploded upwards in an intimidating inferno as his golden chakra morphed into a beaming replica of the Kyūbi himself. Hovering at eye level with the stoic purple warrior, the snarling fox pressed his whiskered snout nearly inside the Susano'o's helmet while nine orange tails thrashed like whips over the heads of the shinobi below.
"Say that to my face!" Naruto roared from inside his enormous chakra entity. Its fanged canines were on full display and it seemed to pant in anticipation while digging its claws into the wet dirt.
Ino barely caught her father when he fainted dead away. Shibi and Shino shakily adjusted their glasses in unison. Kiba was fighting back some serious tail envy, which only made his mother chuckle.
On the ground Hinata closed her eyes and counted to ten, but only made it to 'three' before the screeching sound of Karin's voice broke her attempt at mental stability.
"BAKAS!" Her clenched fists waved in the air along with the chains that had reflexively burst from her torso like a ring of hissing cobras ready to strike. "This isn't a cock measuring contest, it's a fucking WAR!"
Hinata slowly ran the palm of her hand down her face while starting over at 'one', only peeking through her fingers when she heard a familiar voice at her side.
"Good luck Hinata-chan," Kushina said sweetly, gently squeezing her shoulder in encouragement. But her gleeful eyes were completely ignoring the two chakra titans, instead laser focused on the red haired banshee with the very familiar kekkei genkai. "Take care of the boys. I want to have a talk with my new cousin."
"Hai Okaa-san," Hinata returned the smile. The benign expression swiftly turned dangerous as she pushed chakra upwards through her network, causing the veins on her temples to stretch further down her cheekbones and across her smooth forehead. Her Tenseigan began to shine and flow, the pattern shifting outward from the center of her eye like an ever-blooming flower. Her steady hands rose in a smooth gesture to form a single hand sign that triggered an original jutsu of her own divine design, created in Kami's image.
Naruto and Sasuke were locked in a staring contest that each refused to lose, unaware of the rumbling that was building beneath their feet. It wasn't until the earth directly below them began to break and bulge that their scowling faces suddenly froze and their divine eyes widened in fear. Slowly they looked down to the place where their feet had been planted toe to toe, but now stood on each side of a lengthening fault line. The rift widened, and up out of the abyss a mighty rock hand began to claw its way out of the splitting crust. The fine cracks in the stone glowed with purple chakra, then smoothed over as the arm further emerged.
"Fuck," Naruto whispered.
"Hn," Sasuke agreed.
YAAASSS! Kurama howled.
The two Scion leapt backwards as another earthen hand materialized from within the yawning chasm and slammed down upon the topsoil, causing all the gathered shinobi to lurch a foot off the ground from its solid impact.
With the grace and power of a mermaid breaching the ocean's surface upon the peak of a tidal wave, a terra firma goddess ascended out of the mud. The tresses of her hair were hundreds of fine waterfalls which cascaded down strong shoulders covered in fine green moss, before flowing over rounded curves adorned with an array of flowers so vivid they could shame the rainbow.
As the entity of feminine flora gracefully pulled herself up to her full, sky scraping height, multiple slender but sturdy logs of glossy wood grew from each of her palms. One twisted and curved into a perfectly arched bow, while the rest were tipped in deadly sharp obsidian arrowheads and sprouted widely fanning leaves at their bases. Thousands of blades of the longest grass knit together upon her back into a quiver where she deposited the clutch of arrows.
Delicately pursing her rose petal lips, the pearl-eyed gorgan of such mythical strength and beauty as to make Mother Nature herself green with envy, lifted fingers tipped with white marble nails to pinch a vine that delicately peeked out between her polished alabaster teeth. Pulling with a slow deliberate motion the vine stretched out from her mouth until it spanned the length of her bow, and she neatly bit it off before using the natural wonder to fluidly string her weapon.
All eyes were glued to the enigma's movements as it quickly dropped to a knee in front of Hinata, who was practically levitating with the powerful chakra that was surrounding her body. Hopping up onto its extended hand, Hinata ascended up the long arm and across its shoulder before leaping up to its forehead. Upon the place where a Byakugo no In would have been, instead a small alcove in the shape of a diamond was carved out.
Climbing into the little indentation, the purple glow of Hinata's chakra filled the diamond until it shone like a genuine Strength of a Hundred Seal on the creature's broad face which was coated in fine white sand. Sweeping up with the perfect balance of a dancer to stand next to the gaping Susano'o and Kyūbi, the created goddess planted her bow into the ground like a staff and leveled her pearly gemstone eyes upon Naruto and Sasuke.
"I call her Kaya-no-hime," Hinata serenely answered their unspoken question, pride emanating from her soft smile.
I call her MINE! Kurama roared ferociously in Naruto's stunned mind.
Lock it up Kurama! He snapped back, instantly protective of his Hime. How many times do I have to tell you to keep your horny comments to yourself!?
You have your Hime, now I have mine! Fair's fair!
HELL NO! And stop trying to steal my fiancé!
I could show you so many things…
Stop it! I do NOT want to hear about your 'tenth tail adventures' right now!
I don't want to talk about them, I want to relive them!
Will you shut the fuck up!?
He crashed back to reality when there was a sharp smack to the back of his head. Naruto's Kurama avatar growled at Sasuke's Susano'o.
"Pay attention! We're leaving!" Sasuke shook his head in exasperation before stretching out his wings and taking flight towards Amegakure to cut off Tobi's advance before he reached Konoha. Glancing sheepishly back at Hime, who was seated comfortably within the alcove of Kaya-no-hime's forehead, Naruto rubbed the back of his head.
"W-would you like a ride?" he asked shyly, valiantly ignoring Kurama's internal fan-girl screaming. He could've sworn pink sakura flowers blossomed flatteringly over Kaya's cheeks at his chivalrous offer.
"Thank you Naruto-kun," Hinata murmured as her earthen goddess gracefully swung a muscled leg over the Fox's back and settled into place with an arrow neatly knocked upon her strung bow in preparation for anything.
A small shudder ran down Naruto's spine, but he smiled widely back over his shoulder as though there was not pure chaos raging in his brain. Hopefully the run will calm this damned bijū down. I am never gonna hear the end of this.
"Ready Hime?"
"Hai!"
With a mighty leap that cleared the entire Village and the wall in a single bound, the two Scion tore off in pursuit of the bright chakra of Sasuke's Susano'o like they were following a fated star.
For several moments the entire collection of Konoha shinobi stood in stony shock as they watched the three disappear. Only Kakashi's subtle giggle broke the stunned silence. A crack of thunder and a flash of lightning snapped them out of their stupor, and they scurried like ants to accomplish their tasks.
"Well, there went our Nine Tails," Kiba sighed in exaggerated displeasure as he began to stretch and flex his arms dramatically. "Guess it's now up to me to protect the Village." Before Sakura could even make a fist to knock some sense into his cocky head the Yondaime walked by and smiled at the posturing chunin.
"Not to worry Inuzuka-san," Minato said cheekily. "The Kyūbi and I will protect Konoha just like the Rokudaime asked." And like a torch catching fire his own pupils slitted as his bijū cloak encased his body.
"Goddammit," Kiba grumbled. Akamaru snorted.
Most of humanity was tucked snuggly away from the late autumn storm that was building over the landscape. The Land of Water had battened down the hatches for the growing hurricane force gale. The Land of Wind had shuttered all her doors and windows as the high pressure whistled across the desert with a tangible humidity that carried the threat of flash floods. The Land of Lightning had taken cover down to a man, every high place deserted for fear of being struck dead by the encroaching electrical storm. The Land of Stone had retreated deep into her protective caves, to wait out the cataclysmic force of nature brewing outside.
They had all lived long enough to know when to retreat in the face of a meteorological upheaval showing the signs and symptoms of record breaking violence. But unbeknownst to them, this was no natural storm.
This was an apocalypse.
As the last faint glimmers of sunlight gave up their fight for domination over the clouded sky, night finally fell with the clang of a hammer upon a hot blade. The sparks of the spreading battle skittered further and further from the epicenter of the strike, sending every Sensor across the five nations reeling. The world seemed to shift and heave with every rhythmic swing of an unseen hand, its molten core molding under every pounding blow.
Shinobi and civilians alike scrambled to fortify walls, bunkers, basements, and forts. Anywhere that any human could find a place of refuge was occupied by an awestruck creature. And as the tempest raged on they prayed…
…Kami, who will save us?
Out in the vast forest of the Land of Fire there was no refuge from the insanity raging over the leafy canopy. The chakra beasts and their creators waded through the ageless trees as though they were only long blades of grass. Rivers were crossed in a single leaping attack. Mountains barely caught the tumbling bodies of the battling titans, leaving landslides of boulders cascading down into the freshly cut ravines left by their skidding feet.
Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Lightning, all the elements of nature danced together in a deadly performance of death and domination. Power and glory. Justice and revenge.
The moon took up guard over the war below, her stars standing as faithful soldiers of heavenly fortitude. Beneath their careful scrutiny the tools of Kami's Will took up the handle of their destiny and swung their blades with all their might at the chaotic evil that had arisen out of the depths of hatred. The heavens watched unblinking as the fate of the Earth was decided.
Tobi was fighting like a man with unlimited life. His power was half wild and half wicked. Every jutsu felt like a reflex. He had never felt so alive and yet so unreal. The wrath of his beasts were fueling his own mindless rage. His thoughts were barely coherent even to himself as the bijū yanked upon his soul, straining against the fūinjutsu bonds which held them prisoner once more. The stress of their containment was so immense it had bleached the hair on his head completely white.
The massive amount of cumulative chakra accelerated his natural growth, pushing his cells into overdrive. As they had rapidly divided Tobi's stature had reached higher and higher until he was three times taller than his normal self. The tenketsu of his swollen chakra network were bulging visibly under his pale skin, which was criss-crossed with grotesquely twisted veins. The tortuous masses morphed Tobi's already misshapen body into a hunched monstrosity of amalgamated parts.
The multiple aspects of his imprisoned demons were manifesting randomly in both Tobi's attacks and his appearance. He now brandished the muscled arms of Son Gokū, the fanged teeth and clawed fingers of Matatabi, and the sharp horns and smooth white tails of Kokuō.
For the Scions, fighting against Tobi's fracturing mind as he was being pulled apart by three of the most powerful entities in the known universe was like standing in the middle of a hurricane and commanding the storm to change the course of her winds. Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke, despite the years of coordination, the depth of their connection, and the heights of their justice, were each struggling to maintain a semblance of control on the chaos that was the newest and most malicious jinchuriki to ever curse the world.
Tailed beast balls careened over the landscape, reshaping the patterns of nature set in place by time itself. Under Hinata's strict manipulation the flora and fauna surged to cover the gaps and entrap Tobi's scorching lava, blue fireballs, and pummeling floods. Naruto was juggling more high level clones than he had ever dared to spawn in an effort to create multiple fūinjutsu barriers to keep the deadly chakra attacks from bleeding out into the broader world where innocent villages could become casualties of war. Sasuke rolled with the thunder and struck like the lightning. His bolts were nearly the only attacks that could keep up with Tobi's cat-like agility and speed.
Tobi cackled as he watched Sasuke's Susano'o sword, coated in the black flames of Amaterasu, dart out of another rip in time to stab him in the back. One of his long white tails whipped to catch the blade, deflecting the attack and then harmlessly severing itself from his body and falling to the earth as Tobi darted away, free from the unending fire.
"What's the matter, baby Uchiha?" Tobi roared, his hoarse voice garbled and deepened with the tortuous mutations of his body. "Can't suck out my soul with your divine knife? Guess I would need a soul for that to work!"
The stolen Rinnegan whirled as Tobi used the bijū's chakra to push his biological processes even more, replacing not only his tail, but any body part he lost and building himself up enough to finally be at eye level with the three giants around him.
"None of you can touch me!" Tobi roared, clapping his palms together with a mighty crack that shattered windows all the way back in Konoha. Opening his arms in a sweeping arc, three black spheres manifested between his spread hands. As they rotated with increasing velocity, the demonic chakra of each bijū bled into the deadly projectiles.
"I am the epitome of autonomy," Tobi chanted in wide eyed insanity. "My own absolution. No one is above me. No one is my equal. I bow to no nation. I worship no god. I seek no verity beyond my own truth."
Naruto was channeling Natural Energy and balancing a second chakra flow to a clone that was working on a jutsu with Hime, all while frantically trying to work with Kurama to create a link of some sort with the bijū trapped within the raving mad man. But Tobi's unhinged mind was untouchable due to his irrational power. His only purpose was chaos. He had nothing to lose. No weakness to exploit. He was a bondless vagabond of humanity…
"…his bonds," Naruto whispered, a new thought sparking in his mind. The fragile idea was blown away as Tobi launched his three Bijūdama, not even trying to aim for The Three Scions, but throwing the orbs widely out to the North, East, and West.
Naruto's clones caught one in the stretching net of his fūinjutsu boundary. Sasuke was barely able to rip open a portal of enough immensity to devour the second. And Hinata deflected the third with a stone shield that erupted upwards to send it ricocheting out to sea.
Naruto's mind was frantically trying to outpace the insane cadence of the violence bursting around them. Kurama was screaming in his brain. Sasuke was screaming in his ear. Tobi was laughing like a maniac in front of him.
"Naruto-kun," Hime's clear voice cut through the mental mayhem of his brain with the effectiveness of icy water dousing a wildfire. "Tobi is beyond any battle plan. His strategy is non-existent and his control is fragile at best. The bijū have claimed a larger portion of his broken mind than we could have anticipated."
"I know," he ducked reflexively as Sasuke's Susano'o clapped its hands in a lightning jutsu that lit the midnight sky with a thousand bolts. Naruto covered Hinata's Kaya-no-hime with his tails as the electricity streaked across the black clouds. "Kurama can feel them struggling to break free of their bonds. Tobi's fūinjutsu is shoddy but the Rinnegan is no joke. Even in his freakish mindset it is still a dōjutsu worthy of its reputation."
"Can you release the seals?" Hinata grunted out while squinting to assess Tobi's activated pathways in order to anticipate his next move. Her eyes widened as she took in the way he was kneading his chakra. His crazed grin stretched crookedly as he locked onto a target well beyond their vast battlefield. Piecing together his diabolical intentions, Hinata jumped to make the first move.
Like iron racing toward a magnet, the rain streaked through the atmosphere, heedless of the laws of gravity, to collect in Kaya-no-hime's raised hands. Forming the water into a torpedo of nearly frozen liquid and gleaming chakra, she jammed her arrow tip into the lethal weapon and swiftly nocked it onto her bow in one fluid motion. Drawing back with the pent up potential of a building tsunami, Hinata unleashed Kaya-no-hime's ice water arrowhead at the blue ball of Matatabi's flames which Tobi had launched directly at Konoha.
Two blue streaks arched through the sky on deadly trajectories, colliding overhead in a hissing explosion of fire and ice. Blinding steam rained down over the broken battle ground, offering Sasuke the cover he needed to creep in close and stab through the fog at the monstrous jinchuriki.
Sasuke again slashed through the white fleshy tails that sprouted from Tobi's back, only for more to replace them just as quickly. The fresh tails whipped around and smashed against the purple shield that Sasuke's Susano'o was barely able to raise in time. The massive impact had the chakra warrior's feet carving deep grooves in the wet, slippery earth as he fought to hold his ground.
Attempting to use Tobi's forward momentum against him, Sasuke charged up a chidori in the Susano'o's hand and tried to reach around his shield and grasp a whipping tail with the jolting chakra. But Tobi swiftly twisted away and slammed his head into the shield, crushing his long sharpened horns into the warrior's chest like a bull charging a matador. The electricity of the thwarted attack discharged through the moisture laden air, and Sasuke and Tobi were each sent skidding backwards across the mangled tree tops.
Hinata's vines shot out and grabbed Sasuke's stretching wings before his Susano'o tumbled over the edge of a freshly carved ravine that seemingly had no bottom. He grasped them with his shield hand, yanking himself back to his two teammates, where he fell to his knees and panted in near chakra exhaustion.
"I need to get closer," Naruto mumbled to himself from his perch in the Kurama avatar. Tobi continued to attack, spitting jet streams of boiling water from his mouth, and Naruto jumped in front of the two recovering Scions to protect them with a wall of freezing wind. The blast of the colliding elements dispelled a few clones that had been hiding amongst the trees near Tobi, sending back sensory rich memories that made the gears in Naruto's head grind harder as they picked up speed.
He had a hunch about the insane man's bonds with the bijū, but he needed to confirm his theory before forming a risky and chakra demanding plan. Already the length of the battle, combined with the hot steam, was making his whole body feel the growing weight of his exhaustion more than ever. His shoulders sagged as he watched Hime and Sasuke drag their own giants to their feet under the pelting apocalyptic storm.
Naruto squinted at his teammates. His family. Hime was flushed and the arms of Kaya-no-hime trembled as she raised a wall of earth to cover them from the backlash of the wind and water. Sasuke was gritting his teeth in a poorly hidden struggle to maintain the massive Susano'o after hours of fighting. Even Kurama was panting within Naruto's mindscape realm, which burned like hell in response to the demon's rage.
Enough. He had to end this. They had to end this. They had been attacking helter skelter. Layering one godlike jutsu upon another in an attempt to overwhelm Tobi, who would simply parry them all while cackling like a fool.
But they hadn't been working together. From the very beginning, starting with the bell test, their greatest victories were the ones they achieved as a team. They were The Three Scions. And Tobi was just one insane man.
Suddenly the connection between Kurama and his siblings synced for a brief moment, and Naruto choked on the enormous flood of anger, fear, and desperation that poured between the long lost siblings.
Kurama! Brother! Get us out of here! This damned human is torturing us with these barbaric bonds!
He's killing us!
I can't hold back much longer, Kurama!
The screams and shouts tore at Naruto's heart as he heard their panicked cries, and he slumped down to his knees in the shared mindscape. Their trauma from the past years of being locked up in Nagato's basement. The suffering of their enslavement. The exploitation of their divine gifts for selfish gains. It all came crashing down upon his soul as he bore witness to their unique bond with his own eyes.
Kurama was nearly frothing, his protective instincts driving him into a frustrated frenzy. I'm coming! Hang on! Keep fighting against him!
Naruto's head popped up. The fragile idea about Tobi's bonds with the bijū was triggered again by Kurama's words of encouragement. Fight against him?… As the pieces of a plan snapped into place he lurched to his feet and he waved his hands excitedly.
Everyone! Naruto screamed into his emptiness, and the three bijū startled at the unexpected presence of the jinchuriki within their connected minds.
Listen to me! Don't hold back! Unleash everything you have! Tear at his one-sided bonds from within and we will fight from without. Together we can rip you free and then deal with the pathetic human that is left behind!
Son Gokū glared at him suspiciously. Who is this? Why is this chakra thief in our connection?
Kurama cut off his brother with an authoritative flick of his nine tails. He is no thief. He is a Namikaze, and a seal master. Kami's Chosen, and our best hope to free you all.
Matatabi's whiskers twitched as she assessed the blond man. You trust him, brother?
Kurama looked down at Naruto with a confident smirk. The Scion saw his cue and let his Rinnegan shine brightly. The other bijū quickly silenced their various growls as they drank in the familiar chakra of their youth.
Son Gokū nodded solemnly to Naruto in full acceptance. The revelation was more proof than he had ever expected of humanity's potential salvation, as well as his own. I see you, Chosen One. If Kami has seen fit to give you the dōjutsu of our creators, then you have my trust. Lead the way, so that we can be free of this torture.
And make it quick, Matatabi hissed. He is draining us so quickly we will not be able to stay awake much longer.
Please Namikaze-san, Kokuō's voice warbled as the ties frayed and the link faded. We don't want to kill anymore…
The link suddenly severed and Naruto was sent reeling back into reality just as Sasuke barely managed to open up a portal to devour a massive ball of blue and red fire before it obliterated them. The wings of his Susano'o folded flat and faded as Sasuke attempted to save some chakra and stave off the entity's entire collapse. The Eternal Mangekyo glared angrily down at his teammate from Sasuke's sweating forehead, but his rebuke to pay attention never came, as lava spewed out of Tobi's mouth.
This time Hime was the one scrambling to tear open a vast crevasse in the earth's crust to allow the burning magma to return to its rightful hell. Kaya-no-hime dropped to a knee on Naruto's right, the glow of Hinata's chakra throbbing with her threatening exhaustion.
"ENOUGH!" Naruto screamed with every ounce of air in his lungs. Sweat poured down his face and he knew that he was rapidly approaching his own limit after an entire day of shouldering the epic level of battle which he and the other Scions had waged in Kami's name.
Stretching to his full height and flexing his white tails until they nearly brushed the bottom of the low hanging black clouds, Tobi snorted dismissively at the brazen demand. Sardonic red eyes loftily scrutinized the three wannabe heroes who ducked their heads together in a frantic attempt to think of a way to defeat his power. His dark chuckles rumbled with the thunder as he let them have their pathetic moment. Nothing they had yet thrown at him had been enough to bring him down. His power was immeasurable compared to anything the earth had seen. The roiling fury of the demons in his mind only fed his own mad lust for chaos. Nothing could control him. He alone was power. He alone was freedom. He alone was everything!
When the two chakra posers and that ridiculous flower-fairy-girl finally stood together to face him, Tobi rolled his eyes at their haughty glares. Internally wrenching on the fūinjutsu chains that choked the necks of his enslaved bijū, he felt the entirety of his mindscape, body, and soul shudder under their strangled cries as he pumped them for every last iota of chakra they could relinquish. Chakra burned along his network, the swollen connections roiled under his skin like parasites within his flesh, and Tobi felt his high soar to new heights of unreality.
Apparently intimidation was pointless to these fools from Konoha. While Tobi had thoroughly relished this destructive test of his abilities, it was time to end these insufferable rookies once and for all. His insatiable greed for power left him practically salivating in hunger for the gluttony of victory.
As nine Rasenshuriken, freely tainted with the black hatred of Kurama's indignation, formed on the tip of each of Naruto's glowing yellow tails and launched, Tobi just cackled in glee.
When Sasuke's third eye flashed and shot the black flames of Amaterasu into each of their spinning vortexes, uniting with the Rasenshuriken in a ferocious heat that instantly singed the treetops they flew over, Tobi merely huffed at the showy fireworks.
But then, as Hinata raised her hands like a conductor commanding nature's orchestra toward its final crescendo, and a wall of earth that would dwarf a mountain surged upwards to trap him in the path of the devastating jutsu, Tobi grit his teeth.
A thread of worry tugged on his brain. My chakra will hold up against this united triple threat. Won't it?
He focused everything within, mentally seizing the bijū's fūinjutsu restraints, and yanked harder.
But the bijū strained more.
The windborne spheres of divine death screeched, and burned, and soared closer. The walls of earth looming over Tobi hardened into perfectly polished stone, slicked with rain and impossible to climb. All of Tobi's chakra was channelled into fortifying his defenses and restraining his berserking prisoners, and he couldn't divide his focus to even attempt the chakra dependent climb up the impossibly high rocks. He realized he was trapped in the direct path of those incoming death bombs, and could only brace for impact, or perhaps, dive away?
But the ground turned to quicksand, sucking his heavy feet below the surface. Tobi's face began to sweat as he reached deeper into his network in a growing desperation to leech chakra from the bijū and subdue them while empowering himself. He thrashed at the smothering earth as the shrieking thrum of the Rasenshuriken beat the air in his lungs with their rushing revolutions.
The fūinjutsu bonds began to burn with the tearing friction of Tobi's fight to suppress the bijū and their struggle to break free.
The black flaming orbs swelled into nearly meteoric proportions. All Tobi could see beyond the destructive blackness of their abyss were three swirling eyes of red, blue, and purple, radiating with divine justice.
Tobi screamed.
The last thing he saw was the spinning kanji of the Namikaze seals as they eroded the last of his thinning bonds and released the three bijū from his body.
As the world went black, despite the mind numbing pain of the separation, Tobi threw himself into his last resort, his only escape…his personal dimension.
When the earth ceased to shake, and the black clouds blew away, the only living beings who remained alive upon the wasteland were three exhausted, but breathing, Scions…
…and three dazed Bijū.
That was close. Too close. Tobi didn't even know he could come that close to death…a second time. If not for the inhuman construction of half his person, he most likely would not be able to feel anything anymore, let alone the crippling pain of each gurgling breath.
He had to lay low for a while. Regroup, heal. This was not the end. He had tasted true power, and now nothing would dissuade him from seeking its delicious high.
He laid panting upon the hard planes of his empty dimension for what felt like hours, learning how to function again. Trying to be still and not use any chakra, for there was literally none to spare.
Tobi rolled his head sideways, barely able to summon the energy to blink away the cloudiness in his blurred vision. His scanning gaze fell upon an odd looking shape jutting out of the angular surface next to him. His mind struggled to fight off the wave of unconsciousness that settled upon him like a heavy, wet blanket.
There is something about that shape that bothered him, and he strained to see it clearly. It looked like a weird kunai of some sort. I know that shape…
Sudden dread surged through him with suffocating panic as the specific identity of that three pronged kunai lit up his brain at the same instant the dimension lit up in a yellow flash. Long fingers wrapped loosely around the familiar fūinjutsu carved handle of the signature blade of the Yondaime, as the man himself grasped it firmly and ripped it from its place.
"No! No no no, Minato, stop!" Tobi begged hoarsely, shaking his head frantically but unable to command his body to escape. "Please! D-don't come any closer! Minato? Listen to me! S-Sensei, no! It's me! Obito! You don't want to hurt me?! Sensei please! I-I messed up, I didn't mean it—"
The blade sharply stabbed through the left side of his chest, perfectly piercing between the ribs and neatly severing his aorta. Wet choking cut off his flow of words and they gurgled away within his flooding chest.
"I see you, Tobi," Minato hissed as he leaned his weight onto the kunai, sinking it deeper into Tobi's chest until all three sharpened blades were blooming with blood. "And I am not your Sensei."
Two fingers wrenched the Rinnegan from his head. Tobi felt the wet splash of the eye's liquid on his face as Minato crushed the tainted dōjutsu in his bare hand.
"This is my justice. For my family. For Konoha. You will torture this world with your existence, no more."
His broken soul froze under the icy blue stare of cold death gleaming from Minato's eyes as the man gracefully ripped the kunai from Tobi's chest and sliced it clean through his neck.
The brilliant whiteness was so bright it seemed to pierce his eyelids, and Tobi blinked painfully as he opened his eyes to see Rin staring down at him with a mixture of pity and displeasure. The emotions on her features were lost on him completely because he was so excited at her sudden appearance that something bubbled up inside him. Something he had not felt in a lifetime, and he couldn't remember the reason why?
Leaping from his prone position, Tobi sat straight up at her feet and crowed with the revitalizing sensation of the pure joy which flooded his spirit at the sight of his long lost friend.
"Rin!" He shouted out in childish urgency, a wide grin spreading across his scarred face. "I finally became strong! I finally made something of myself! Did you see me? Did you see, Rin? I was awesome! So powerful and so…so…"
His hoarse voice trailed off as the weight of his past actions slowly pieced themselves together in his shattered memory. Each transgression like one massive brick stacking upon another in a burden that would bend even the strongest back.
With the divine clarity of the afterlife, his atrocities were suddenly revealed to his awareness through the lens of his newly repaired soul. The broken halves of his first and second lifetimes finally came together in a united psyche, bringing his blurry morality into painfully sharp focus. The yin and yang balanced and unveiled an unrealized perspective of his behavior that caused Tobi to shrivel at Rin's feet in shame and horror.
"Yes, I saw you, Tobi," Rin's voice was stern. She stood over him with her hands planted on her hips just like when she used to scold him for being careless. His Rinnegan and Sharingan were long gone, leaving only his bare humanity to glisten with unshed tears. His watery black eyes lifted to her face and his heart broke at the disappointment that he could see written clearly across her features.
Just like before. This was all he had ever shown her: his failures.
"I just wanted to be special for once," he mumbled remorsefully, his gaze falling to his lap. He stared at his hands as the unnatural white flesh bloomed into the youthful pink hue of his first life. The same hands that he now realized had committed abominations which would make Kami herself turn her back on him in disgust.
"I fucked up, though. As usual." He knew he deserved all of Rin's hatred. All of their hatred. He hated himself.
His youthful hands came up to cover his face, which was streaked in salty tears, and under his newly sensitive fingertips he felt the rough scars smooth over into perfect, flushed cheeks. While he bowed his head to hide his face from Rin's motherly stare, he could see the limp white hair that fringed his vision darken into the wild black spikes that had always driven his teenage vanity crazy.
He felt his humanity returning in waves, and with it a heavenly knowledge that made him double over and weep the wrenching tears of a soul who had wasted his salvation, and knew it with every fiber of his being. The sins of his actions pressed upon his shoulders, digging his knees into the fathomless floor of the blinding nothingness, pushing him closer to hell, closer to his ultimate reckoning.
The frayed strands of his torn spirit continued to knit together for the first time since Nagato had unraveled his existence for the sake of his own selfish ego. The pattern it created was snagged and full of holes, but was once more a complete fabric of a shocking lifetime.
Tobi became Obito. Became whole. Became cognizant of right and wrong, and of the disgrace which he had become.
And then he broke again.
"Oh Kami, oh God, I'm so sorry," his sobs shook his teenage body. "I didn't see—I didn't realize! I was wrong, so so wrong. Please forgive me! Kami, Rin, Kakashi, Minato…everyone…I am so worthless…"
The light hurt. All he wanted to do was hide his ugly soul in the darkness that was his fate. But the light was ripping every scab off his wounded spirit, making him bleed to death at the foot of heaven's gate. With every purged drop his regret grew along with his suffering, and the hounds of hell became frenzied at the smell of his exsanguinating doom.
"But I also see you, Obito." Rin's voice was soft. He cowered under the undeserved mercy that tinged her words.
"No! Don't look at me!" He screamed in dismay, curling up into a ball and wishing hell would just open up and take him already. "I don't deserve it! I'm a monster! I am…nothing," his voice cracked as the traces of Nagato's blasphemous jutsu bled away to leave Obito's original, weak body, and he shuddered in disgust at the remnants of himself.
"You are not nothing," her voice crooned, carrying the warmth of a mother's embrace on its lilting tone. "You were just horribly lost on the road of life. But I never forgot you, Obito. I never stopped looking for your shining light in all the darkness of Tobi. And now I see you, and I will never look away."
Rin's fingers wrapped around his skinny arms, lifting him up in a confident yank that had his mouth dropping open in surprise. His lips quivered in shock and he sniffled loudly as she squeezed his shoulders with firm encouragement.
"C'mon Obito," she laughed gently and grabbed one his hands tightly the other scrubbed the tears from his face in embarrassment. "We have a lot of work to do."
He followed her to glory, to redemption, to recompense. Running with childish abandon to chase down the angelic wings of hope that spread out from Rin's beaming smile.
"H-Hai!"
OMAKE:
"Now what, Dobe?" Sasuke crossed his arms and stared at his nonplussed Hokage.
"Uhhhhhh," was Naruto's eloquent response.
"We can't just leave them here," Hinata mused, brushing off the dirt of her now released Kaya-no-Hime jutsu. "They're vulnerable out in the open with such little chakra."
Three enormous bijū watched with judging eyes as The Three Scions, who were worryingly undignified without their chakra avatars, tried to decide their fate.
Naruto roughly rubbed the back of his head, wishing the friction could help spark a brilliant idea. The devastated landscape smoked in the aftermath of their battle, despite the gentle mist that still fell from the abating storm.
"And don't forget about Tobi," Sasuke added moodily. He was immensely displeased that the man who had participated in the slaughter of his clan had once more manage to impossibly slip away.
"Arrrggghhhh," Naruto groaned, squinting his eyes shut in overwhelmed brainstorming. His head hurt. His chakra was fried. He was tired as hell. He just wanted a bath. A hot one. In a secluded tropical spring far, far away from here…
Lightbulb!
"Uzushio!" He blurted out, making the three bijū straighten in interest. "I can send them to Uzushiogakure! It is where they were originally created, where the Sacred Waterfall is, and where Kami's holy places still exist. No one can get there without an Uzumaki. They can defend its treasures as well as each other. Plus, no one will know they are there." Naruto crossed his arms in satisfied pride at his brilliance, looking up at the towering demons that were blinking down at him.
"Well, what d'ya say? Son Gokū, Matatabi, Kokuō, do you want to go home?"
"Hai! And you will have our deepest thanks, Hokage-sama!" The three tailed beasts bowed deeply to Naruto, genuine gratitude flowing from their tired faces.
"Oh god, don't do that," Sasuke sighed. "Now his ego will know no end."
Naruto stuck his tongue out, but refrained from busting out into full taunting song when Hime touched his arm. "Naruto-kun, how are you going to get them there? Do you have enough chakra to use the hiraishin for such a long distance and such large creatures. And three times over?"
"Shit," he mumbled, and flinched when Hime softly pinched his arm. Sasuke snorted, but a smile still pulled at his mouth as he appreciated the fact that Hinata would never change, no matter how 'powerful' she or Naruto became.
"Oi, Teme. How big of a portal can you open with what chakra you got left?" Naruto asked, sizing up the mountainous demons who were nearly twitching with excitement.
Sasuke grimaced. "Not big enough," he answered honestly. "I would need some time to recoup."
"We don't have time," Hinata pointed out. "The longer they are here the more likely one of the other Hidden Villages will sense them, especially as they also recoup their own chakra. They need to get to Uzushio and out of sensory range immediately."
A thought popped into Hinata's mind. She threaded her fingers into Naruto's rough hand and swirled her chakra together with his own. As with every time before, the mixture of their chakras danced and magnified, filling them both with a refreshing, though modest, sense of relief. They were both low, but combined, perhaps they could be enough to share what they had with Sasuke and get the bijū to safety.
Naruto grinned down at her in open appreciation. "I see what you're thinking. You're so smart, Hime!" He admired her blush for a brief moment, then pulled her behind him as he charged towards Sasuke. Together they attacked their horrified teammate with open arms and pulsing chakra.
"Get your ass over here Uchiha!" Naruto bellowed as he and Hinata began to glow with their united chakras. "Its time for a GROUP HUG!"
"NOOO!"
Meanwhile back in Konoha, Kurama's shared soul was filling in Minato on the dissatisfying fate of Tobi. The Yondaime's eyes hardened and he stood from the makeshift bench of stacked boards within the tent where he and the other Clan Heads were awaiting word of the battle.
"Excuse me," he said calmly, but with an edge of steel to his voice that made them all look at him sharply. "There is something I need to take care of."
With a flash, he was gone.
Kushina giggled in that slightly unhinged way that had always made Hizashi very uncomfortable, and he discreetly slid a few inches further away from her.
"Someone's gonna get it," she whispered in a sing song tone.
A/N: Thank you for reading! I will post an epilogue and maybe a few more random Omakes that I couldn't find a place for. I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have loved writing it!
