Wanted to get this out before New Year's Eve before, but no real loss. It's February now, but I will still say HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL, happy Valentine's Day to come - and let's pray we get through a better time than last. We have each other no matter what. :)

The entire story is officially completed, but each chapter will be posted each day or every other day. Ain't that great?! :D

Call it a reference to a certain Disney Pixar character, but it's also obvious to what exists in Naruto. Long-awaited epicness awaits inside...

Chapter Fourteen

The Launch of Infinity and Beyond

When the bone-monkey guardian was still at its weakest, they simultaneously went on the barrage. Applying so much pressure that the bones were nothing but fragments that couldn't be put back together.

It felt like forever, but the first afternoon hour was halfway completed by the time she and her friends received it at last.

The tree carrying the nine circles within the square-within-a-circle - a seal by the Oosutsuki - seemed to have a life of its own when its protector was bested by the ones who were worthy. The seal's scripture was the first to light up with gold, just like electricity, and spread to the crest itself before it became a blinding sun to their eyes, traveling to envelope the entire tree from inside to out.

The light not only briefly blocked their sights, but a weird tingle coursed through their bodies - Naru was feeling it herself, so no doubt the others felt it - and grew stronger into a warmth like that from sitting before a fire.

They'd acquired the powers of gods and spent the rest of the afternoon training with Mei in the deepest regions of the forest. Now that the five of them had the ancient gift, the tree no longer existed.

The day was drawing to a close by the time they'd honed their skills, but compared to how it was three years ago, everything flowed naturally. It was exciting, but it meant they had to get back to Konoha, although...

"Look up at the sky - the MOON!"

Neji's shout caused all of their heads to shoot up north to see what he was talking about by the time they reached home and night fell, when the full moon had arisen. They knew it was coming and raced as fast as they could, but if they didn't hurry - "Oh, no, it can't be!" Hinata gasped sharply.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "This is really bad." Gaara's face remained hard as stone; Naru wished she had a heated comeback.

Not only is the full moon up, but it's RED. And those rings as well as the many tomoe...it means what we have to stop at all costs.

~o~

Shine upon the world!

At the appropriate time, it had come at last, and down below, Zetsu enjoyed the show, prowling about. After the entire day of playing around with them while keeping them away from the "strange occurrences at the old mine", he managed to stave off Orochimaru and his colleagues.

She left what was left of the chakra in the cave to protect her dying son since he was caught between life and death, but it would do nothing to keep the one-eyed Itachi Uchiha safe. She looked forward to seeing the despair on his face when he realized SHE won.

During the day, she continued spending the rest of the time with Jiraiya, with whom she allowed herself to engage in a passionate kiss and embrace for the first time, but that was as far as it would go. He was strong and delicious as meat for his age; he was as young enough as he looked because he was that much younger at heart. As a reward, Kaguya felt alive again, like a real human like him.

Her heart thrilled to its core when night fell, and she left Jiraiya long before that when afternoon drew to a close. She strolled about the streets of Konoha, taking in the smiling faces of families and couples, young and old. So many are putting on this front as a façade, to hide what is true. At least they will be living in their own escapes they likely will never attain. She returned to the tree itself as the moon rose higher and higher into the sky, but when she came back, she was greeted with two surprise visitors that she never anticipated in a thousand more years.

"Jiraiya. Orochimaru."

As expected, the snake himself - in her eyes - had his face twisted into a scowl, while his friend was a blend of confusion and trepidation. How they found her out mattered not, since they were here already. "The both of you - what brings you here?" Kaguya asked casually, folding her arms across her chest. She was still wearing the dress from during the day which raptured Jiraiya's attention, her hair still short and the eye in the center of her forehead vanished during the henge.

"What brings us here," Orochimaru said through his teeth, "is that you are trespassing the grounds of government property."

She glared at him. "Is that all? You two being here alone - it tells me that you didn't notify your superiors. Courageous but foolish. Tell me the true reason you are here if not to arrest me for 'trespassing'," she sneered. You've had it against me since the moment we met; if it comes to that, then I look forward to crushing you like the ant you are...or perhaps cutting you up like the snake you are.

Jiraiya did the honors of speaking. "He was telling me that he's been trailing you for a while now, Kaguya. You know what occurred to me? In all the time we've known you, we've never cared to pay you a visit at your place - but who would have thought that THIS was it?! How the hell could this be, and who the hell are you really?" The betrayal was crystal clear. "I was beginning to think I knew you..."

"...you never knew me to begin with. And as to why I am here, this place is my precious garden I intend to protect at all costs."

Their eyes widened in utter shock as she dared to proclaim this tree and its land hers, but the fools had no concept. It seemed she had no choice but to reveal...

She allowed the horns to grow from her head, her hair to extend well past her garments, nails to extend into the demonic claws, and finally the Rinne-Sharingan to pop out from her forehead like the core of a blossoming flower. When the men beheld her true face, the horror was evident - as was the sorrow in Jiraiya's eyes. His voice croaked when he demanded her real name. She smiled sadly.

"I come from beyond the stars. Long ago, I ended the age of violence and conflict, using this tree, but there is now more chaos than ever, so I am here to finish what I started. I am she of the beginning - Kaguya Oosutsuki. And you two will witness the start of a new era..."

For the rest of the evening, she kept them both in her grasp, entrapped in her long extensions of hair on either side of her body - Jiraiya to her left, Orochimaru right - and allowed her patience to ebb and flow at their demands for answers.

"I thought -" Orochimaru grunted in his bindings. "- I thought it was all a legend, but seeing is believing. What is your intention, you treacherous troll?"

Kaguya snorted; "treacherous troll" was really all he could come up with. "It's meaningless to make you both understand, just like with Naru and those meddlesome friends of hers. All you ants ever did was tamper with forces beyond your comprehension." She then let herself smirk. "Would you like to know what they are up to at this very moment?"

Jiraiya strained. "What are you talking about? They're far away from here, and from you!"

"No, you poor fool. They are on their way back here as I speak. With any luck, they will be caught up under my spell along with everyone else. I would have left you two alone, but you forced my hand to grant you a much worse fate. All will be bound up to the Divine Tree, fall into a deep slumber and indulge in what would only exist in their deepest desires, never knowing their life forces will be reunified for my power. I'm keeping you both awake so you can see it all." Orochimaru snarled and thrashed himself yet again.

"A ghastly plan. World domination? You truly believe that you'll get anything out of it by sucking the life from us?"

Her lip curled. "Peace, which all of you failed to achieve. All you'll do is create one new quarrel after another. And when I am done, I'll give you and the children the treatment." She silenced them both with more hair wrapping around their mouths, leaving their noses untouched so that they wouldn't suffocate. She then took off into the sky, making way towards the moon which had become red as blood during the dreadful waste of a conversation.

"Become one...Infinite Tsukuyomi."

Hence the shine upon the world in her mind, which flashed from the moon itself in a blaring white ray, spreading throughout the land in a heartbeat which no one saw coming, save these two and the ones below whom she assessed were unaffected via her Byakugan.

Those five are protected by a powerful force - a Susano'o. A mighty gathering of chakra to form the god of its name, acting as a shield to stave off any damage. There is so much of it that the moon's light isn't able to penetrate it...I see.

She assumed the user had the Rinnegan, enraging her to no end in that she'd been cheated. But no matter.

"Look down below, gentlemen," Kaguya said to the two who could only watch helplessly as the town they loved became the nursery for the tree which was ready and willing to take in more nutrients. With a slap of her palms together - Divine: Deep Forest Emergence! - the roots burst through the earth and enlarged, the bark removing itself and stretching downwards so that it would wrap itself around the victim, covering them entirely before bringing them from the ground, suspending the cocoons into the air while others remained comfortably lain across the ground. She smiled, baring her teeth as she relished the beautiful sight prior to the tree taking those under the influence.

Every victim bore the reflection of the Rinnegan, rendering them conscious but immobile. It was a shame the men couldn't witness that part, but each unfortunate soul attached to the tree was more than they could bear. It was a thrilling stage production for her entire being.

If only that cursed protective shield could be broken through, ensnare the Knights.

"You are not affected because of my protection," Kaguya told the men as she continued to silence them, for their protests would only put her in a foul mood once again. "And my son who once stopped me is barely clinging to life, untouched because of what chakra I left for him - but it enthralls me to know he witnessed his right hand become a slave to my control. Know all those you love now share that same fate..."

~o~

If it were not for Sasuke's purple power, they would have all been bound up. Keeping together just as they'd arrived at the site of the Shinju Tree, after noticing the moon had become the dreaded red but with the Rinnegan rings and many tomoe of the Sharingan, Sasuke bellowed at them to stay still as he summoned his protection which was in the full form of the god of storms, even named after him, and wrapped them all up into the wings.

Hinata fell to her knees, coming right next to Naru who was half-up, hunched over and one hand keeping herself elevated. Gaara and Sasuke both stood at attention, looking ahead at nothing in particular - unless Sasuke was assessing whatever was going on outside - while Neji stoutly forced himself into the lotus position with an intense scowl on his face, making Sasuke's seem tame in comparison.

God, why didn't I think about it right away? Neji and I can peek out with our Byakugan. We might be able to see it...

Both of them together meant the greater the lengths they'd see, and what they found was the nightmare they'd savagely fought to prevent, but time was never kind to them. The great tree's roots extended to the entirety of Konoha and who knew where else next. Hinata wouldn't be surprised if it was still stretching throughout the entire world which still knew nothing about it. She had to turn off her eyes and squeeze them shut, Neji doing the same but glaring down at the ground after they told their friends what was going on.

Everyone they knew was enveloped in cocoons attached to the roots, as foreseen in Hagoromo's vision of the past. No one said it aloud, but each of them mentally sounded off their loved ones as well as their old enemies.

My father and Gaara's, whom we don't get along with or speak to anymore - and his sister, Temari.

Old man Ay, whom Sasuke worked for during his community sentence long ago now.

Shion and her bitches Sakura and Ino, as well as their own families they must have now.

Tenten. Neji tried so hard to be with her while getting strong with us - oh, poor cousin, I see it in your eyes. It's just as we're all feeling.

All of them were feeling vengeful, particularly Sasuke as his brother who hadn't been protected by what was left of the cave chakra was among those trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. "But Naru," Hinata said through her teeth, "your guardians are safe and sound."

Her eyes widened through the blue fire, causing her to stand up, Hinata joining her. "Pervy Sage and Orochimaru are not affected? But how?" She sounded happy while conflicted against bewilderment.

"Kaguya has them in her hair hold," Neji bitterly spat out, looking up at them all but with his eyes faraway as he thought of the girl he still loved. "She might have wanted them to see their world fall, so maybe they know we're okay. But still...it's cruel to force them to watch this. I wonder how much she's told them, since they must have found out on their own." This made Naru snarl and clench her hands into fists.

"So, this means all are trapped in their own dreams," Gaara said hollowly, his sister on his mind. And as for Sasuke, his glare intensified as he looked past all of them.

"Yeah, that's right. Don't worry, Itachi and all of you," he said, half to them and half to his brother whom he wished had been spared so that he could have kept helping all of them, and for his safety, "we're gonna lock that bitch and her shit will away if that's the last thing we do. But until then, we have no choice but to sit here and wait until the moonlight wanes out."

That was the only obstacle there was at the moment: the moon itself. Its light would gradually go out as time went on, and nothing and no one would be able to break through this Susano'o. Not even Zetsu.

~o~

Sasuke acquired that left eye of his - the Rinnegan, just like Hagoromo - as soon as the great chakra entered their bodies. There were enhancements to what they had already, and more! It was a good thing Sasuke's purple armor came in handy when they arrived too late. The Uchiha was also able to assess what was going on outside better than he and Hinata, in terms of how the moon was waning during the time which felt like an eternity...

It felt like days as Neji thought about everyone tied to the tree, unaware of what was happening outside their dreams, whatever they were about.

Tenten - are you dreaming of us, in another life you'd wanted?

All the more reason he and his friends would lock that demon away once they were out of here. She deserved nothing less, especially since she had both of Naru's guardians in her hold at the present and high enough to the moon's level.

Naru sat with Hinata, both girls holding onto each other, Gaara stuck with Sasuke side by side, leaving Neji himself in the middle of them, not alone but not comforted, either, not that he minded. They owed each other nothing. What was there to plan until then? Hardly everything planned together would work out, so -

"Finally."

The jutsu's light is fading away.

Sasuke's shield released its wings from around the group, then vanished into thin air in formless flames before being gone altogether. It was pure night once again, save for the moon which was still glowing red well above their heads. Time to assume the position.

"Damn it," Naru hissed when she glared around them. "We gotta wake them all up after we get Rabbit Granny where she belongs. But how will we do it when Old Man Six Paths didn't even yet tell us, and Sasuke, your brother -?" She stopped right then and there when she saw his impassive but blazing face.

"I asked myself the same thing. But either Rinnegan alone could work, or we can combine -"

An impact before them cut off his speech, and they would have fallen off their feet had they'd not been close to lean on each other. There stood none other than the demoness herself, with Zetsu at her side - and in her long hair were the two prisoners unaffected by the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Seeing them, Naru shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Lookie here, Rabbit Bitch - the five of us here and better than ever. You ready to pay for everything you did?"

Right then and there, she displayed her full power as it signified the one who "had the guts to never give up" - the kind of person she was. It was a blend of golden-orange chakra covering her from head to toe, her garments beneath the cloak being black; it was similar to Hagoromo's. Her pupils were a cross of a fox-slit vertical to the horizontal lines of a toad's, and behind her were the six malleable black orbs which also belonged to Hagoromo at one time, except the sage had ten, whereas Naru was merely half as strong. This was just how powerful she'd become, and so much more.

Kaguya's expression was pure murder while Jiraiya and Orochimaru looked upon their ward with sheer dismay and disturbance. She ignored the two men when they finally burst out.

"Naru, kids - just what the hell is going on here?! I thought I was in a nightmare or a scary fairytale," Jiraiya said. "You five were gone all day, doing what? Now all of this...it's like the world's come to an end!"

"The tree...it's done far more than the legend presented," Orochimaru said, eyes narrowing. "Seeing is believing, but what have the five of you been up to, and what is going on now?" He glared up at Kaguya. "You're Kaguya, the 'princess of the moon', but not the one of another legend. You said all of this was your idea of 'world peace'." He sneered at her. "I knew never to trust you from the moment we met you."

"Be silent, snake," she hissed, slapping him in the face with her own hair. He growled back at her. "Wish for me to snap your neck in front of these children?"

"Shut up and stop talking to my friend like that!" Jiraiya shouted, his eyes shining with tears that caused Neji to flinch inside. "How could you lie to all of us and pretend to be part of our family? When you intended to invade us all this time? You alien!" He grimaced and failed to keep the tears from falling down his cheeks. "I thought we could be..."

The entire time, Kaguya just looked at him without a trace of visible emotion - except for that mist which ghosted over her eyes, making them cloudy, before it was gone in a heartbeat. She ignored him altogether for a long time.

"...I thought so, too, Jiraiya. You both were never meant to find out the truth. It's a shame it had to be this way."

"You bitch," Naru seethed, "you had the nerve to fall in love with the man who was like a father to me, pretend to be like the mother you could never replace - oh, yeah, Pervy Sage, did she ever tell you what happened to Granny Tsunade? Orochimaru?" All heads turned to her in shock. Naru, what are you doing? You're telling him -?!

On second thought, Jiraiya and Orochimaru deserved closure even if it were painful, because they'd gone on long enough never knowing.

"What...is...she...talking about?" the white-haired man demanded. "What are THEY talking about?"

Neji took it upon himself now. "Gentlemen, we've been recruited three years ago, by this witch's son who's on the verge of dying now because of her. There's really no time to say the whole story, except this much: she's here to take the chakra from every living human on this planet and maintain her all-powerful self, then control what's left of the population she chooses to see fit as ruled under her thumb. Those who cross her or arrive at the wrong place - such as the Divine Tree - she forms them into something else." He fixated his eyes on White Zetsu, whose eye widened in shock as he seemed to realize what he was referring to.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru got the message and looked down at the being with the black formless shit attached in inescapable terror as they seemed to wish that this was all a nightmare they wanted to wake from.

Next chapter was gonna be the grand finale, but chose to break it in half due to the fact I REFUSE to force everything that makes the series we know looks great. On a lighter note: REVIEW! :D