TammyHybrid21: Yes, that's true. It remained that way, too, they just didn't say anything. The reviver admits and reveals who he is this chapter. Yes, Tsunade plus Kage Bushin equals being damned ten plus times over. Hashimoto revives them this chapter, not last chapter. *derps* Hehe. Yes, eight year anniversary of Obito's death. That was a subtle as to who the reviver is, smugness included. This may or may not be the last chapter, too. Thanks for your review :3
Dandelion-san: More like a neutral ending, but whatever :p lol. No, it's not Sakura because the reviver is male :P No. Questions will be answered at the end of this chapter, because I'm pretty damn sure this'll be that last one, if I get positive feedback for an epilogue. Thanks for your review :3
XD
Recommended songs: My Apocalypse by Escape The Fate and After the Storm by Mumford and Sons.
Original word count: 3.7k~
Enjoy my demarcated chapter (whatever the fuck that means) :p
Chapter 13: Breaking The World
Somber, mismatched eyes narrowed as they stared at the man who sat limply before their owner, said man wrapped in the roots of a tree nowhere near by. Bruises littered the man from head to toe; they were dark, black and cringe worthy. Confusion clouded the mismatching eyes before their owner shook their head, looking away and walking throughout the rest of the old monumental battlefield with an anxious and paranoid look.
They had to move quickly. The Mother would catch the owner of the somber and mismatched eyes at the rate of speed they were going.
Dark red and glowing Kamui-shaped shuriken manifested in Kirai's Susano'o's hands. The humanoid threw the shuriken, one of them hitting Sasuke's sword while the other zipped past Kurama's shoulder. The one that hit Sasuke had enough force to push the purple Susano'o back a few meters, as it was still spinning and scraping against Sasuke's weapon. The Kamui-shaped shuriken that raced past Kurama pulled itself back around, zipping past the bijū's ear.
Kushina clicked her tongue, raising her golden arms. Kurama's mouth opened, a bijūdama forming within his jaws. But the gargantuan beast was suddenly yanked down by the neck when Kirai's Susano'o caught the Kamui shuriken, the turquoise wrist flicking to initiate the action. The forming bijūdama was released, Kurama easily yanking himself out of the hold.
Kirai's Susano'o leaped forward, landing in front of the bijū and grabbing onto the beasts' throat base. Kurama roared and lifted his own arms, claws attempting to dig into the shoulder armor. The bijū pushed forward, jaws wrapping around the Susano'o's head. It cracked under the pressure, but Kirai moved quickly.
The humanoid kneed Kurama in the gut, punching the bijū in the jaw and grabbing said beasts' throat, pushing him down onto his back. Kurama roared again, jaws snapping and hands scratching. Kushina and Minato weren't really sure what to do; Minato wasn't sure if he had any other reasonable markers and Kushina wasn't exactly in the driver seat.
Kirai eyed the wooden hands that rushed at him with blinding speeds. His Susano'o was yanked off of the trio by said hands, the Kamui shuriken rushing towards Tobi and Naruto barely a nanosecond later. They were grabbed midair by the Buddha creature. The shuriken were yanked away, hacking off the hands. The Susano'o pulled back, dodging any other hands that charged them.
"That's unfair," Kirai snapped, his Sharingan spinning wildly. He grinned, blood seeping from his eyelids and down his cheeks. "And rude, too…what? Got no manners?"
Naruto openly flinched, blue eyes unsure and hurt. Guruguru wrapped the rest of his body around Naruto's head, exchanging some words before the hands continued to seize the turquoise Susano'o.
Kirai gritted his teeth, raising his arm to throw his shuriken again, but movement out of the corner of his eye stopped him. Hashirama's own Shin Sūsenju seized hands onto Tobi and Naruto, shattering arms and pushing the other duo back.
Kushina put her arms up again, another bijūdama forming in between Kurama's open jaws. Kirai scoffed, more blood falling from his eyelids. He grunted painfully as spikes grew from his arm, ripping through the shell of Susano'o and wrapping around the humanoid's arm.
Tendrils twisted around its hand, and created a wooden glove and with sharp nails. Kirai was starting to breathe heavily, confusion dawning on his face as he lifted the Susano'o's arm up.
But the bijūdama never came. Instead, the Kyūbi disappeared. Kirai blanched, confusion replaced by dismay and realization that he was marked with Hiraishin.
Kurama reappeared behind him, the bijūdama finally launching.
As quickly as he could go, Kirai created more wood branching off from the wood that was on his arm; it covered only its shoulder. But before the bomb could reach it, Kirai's body spasmed. The Susano'o fell, letting the bomb continue its race towards its target. It ended up hitting Hashirama, hands shooting out and compressing the bomb's power. But the explosion was still large.
Kurama's tail shot out, swiping and hitting Kirai away into a pillar of stones. The division leader hit the stone with a loud crack, his body limply falling as the explosion happened only meters away.
The force threw him back again, but he used his Kamui and turned intangible, going through the stone instead of hitting it again. He let go the instant he passed through the rock, the pinch in the back of his eyes intensifying and making his vision deteriorate to a peripheral blur.
Kirai skidded and rolled through the sand, sliding on his side to a stop. He felt sand in his eyes, the hot sticky blood on his face adding to the discomfort. He attempted to move, but grunted painfully as he moved his arm and leg. Both bones were obviously broken, and the bruises that still decorated his flesh were not helping.
On his torso—where the bijū's tail had hit—was where a bad bruise was forming; its existence alone made it hard to breathe. He struggled to get up when the Kyūbi neared, only making it to his knees. His broken leg refused to move without making him miserable, and his arm was no help. He glanced at the injured leg. Blood stained his shinobi pants, more than a few shards of his bone stuck out.
Kirai looked rather grim, his vision blackening without any trouble before Obito was in the drivers seat again.
The Uchiha openly flinched as Kurama's weight made the ground shake, the vibrations making pain intense. His jaw clenched, blood making him cough and wheeze. He put his unbroken arm over his torso, the small portion of chakra he had left streaming through his coils and glowing green to heal what he could.
He felt movement, but he didn't bother to block it. Kurama's claw hit him in the side, pushing him more than a few meters to the left. Pain numbed him for a second. He felt blood fall from his torso, but he didn't bother to look to know that the wound on his gut had opened up.
The bijū's presence disappeared completely, his chakra retracting and Kushina's own signature taking its rightful place. She rushed up to him, sliding as she hurried to his side. He glanced at her, panting rasped breaths. Minato joined his side quickly, rolling the dark haired Akatsuki member onto his back to heal him up. His palms loomed and glowed green as he started using an improved Shōsen Jutsu.
Kushina looked at his eyes. His right eye was Kamui, while the other had a purple-grey eye with ripple pattern across his entire cornea. She blinked and frowned, but it was quickly forgotten when she noticed that his right eye had white sclera instead of black. Realization dawned, and tears gathered in her eyes. "Y-you're alive…"
He grinned, pain glinting in his Kamui eye as he closed his Rinnegan eye. "Would've regenerated a long time ago if I wasn't," he rasped weakly.
The red haired Uzumaki squeezed his uninjured hand, lips pressing into a thin line as she started crying. A smile of happiness stretched across her face, but she didn't say anything.
However the moment was interrupted when Madara's chakra signature flared. Their heads turned towards the other raging battle. Hashirama's Shin Sūsenju was gone, Naruto and Tobi's taking his place. The two stood on top of the remaining Buddha statue, Sasuke's Susano'o wrestling with Madara's.
But a clone of Madara stood on the ground, dodging attacks simultaneously coming from Kakashi and Sakura. A third clone stood on a rock, a two-headed, four-armed Susano'o with fingers twisted in the tiger seal along with said clone. A meteorite descended down from above, parting the clouds and making the area dark.
Hashirama jumped off of the Buddha's head, putting his hands in the snake hand seal as he landed. Barely a second later, gargantuan wood tendrils twisted out of the ground, twisting and branching out like a flower. The wood stabbed into the meteorite, making the large astro rock crumble and split to pieces. The ones that branched off and fell towards the divisions were crushed to smaller pieces, said divisions falling back even further.
Minato stopped Shōsen Jutsu, clapping his hands together and pulsing his chakra. Obito's eye widened as he coughed, blood spilling and making him grunt painfully. The Yondaime looked at his wife with a smile. "Go help."
Kushina blinked. "Wha—"
"It's fine," he assured, his smile widening. "I'll join you, and you'll see Obito after the battle. I promise."
The Uzumaki squeezed Obito's hand, a look of contemplation stretching across her fair skinned face before she leaned over. She kissed Obito's forehead briefly, standing and backing away. She went bijū mode, and jumped off, landing a punch on Madara's Susano'o and giving their side the upper hand.
Obito looked up at Minato. "You're the reviver, aren't you?" he croaked.
The blonde smirked. "I am," he replied.
He blanched before mustering a one-eyed glare. "Why'd you do it?"
Minato sighed. "Long story short," he murmured, avoiding eye contact, "grief. Mostly grief. But when you died…I—I became aware. So…I devised a plan to revive you. Madara and Shodai-sama were additions…"
He sighed again, rubbing his eye lids as a piece of the meteorite fell behind them, blocking their view from the battle. He smiled bitterly, almost psychotically. He suddenly looked years older, and had dark circles under his eyes. "It was never my intention for you to gain DID…or gain these bruises…" he continued. "A Fourth War starting was also never my intention…I plan on atoning it all by dying…"
"How is that 'atoning it all'?" Obito snapped, his expression twisting painfully as he coughed again from the sudden change in tone of voice.
Minato picked his former student up bridal style, slowly making his way forward and away from the battle. The Uchiha's head leaned on his chest, the bruises making him weak and the blood loss weaker. He looked grim as he stopped walking, head tipped upwards towards the source of the shadow. Another bitter smile twitched at his lips.
"Dying is essential," he said somberly. "It is the end to everyone's beginning, and the beginning after an end. It makes others stronger and puts most to a release. But for us…it'll be a continuation; we won't get a break until we die one more time after this."
Obito's face became dark with understanding. "Ah. I see," he murmured. "So I don't have a choice."
Minato simply smiled and nodded, their names being shouted as another large piece of the meteorite crushed them, both of their worlds going black.
"I am the one who will establish peace and order, dattebayo."
Obito's head snapped up, his hand reaching and grabbing his shakujō from his waist. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the blonde standing before him. He froze, realization and dismay etching into his face. Memories hit him like a tornado; he remembered so many things—he had lived two lives, one full of more misery than the other.
The blonde was Naruto—the Uzumaki Naruto. He wore a black muscle shirt, elbow-tall gloves matching. They were fingerless, excluding the thumb. He wore his orange shinobi pants and zori, said pants battered and beaten. He had two poles on a belt around his waist, similar to the shakujō Obito wielded. His hair was considerably longer, and he wore a Shinobi Rengōku headband. His skin was somewhat paler, and the whisker marks had become slightly faded.
The most noticeable difference was the fact that he had a Byakugan in his right eye and a Rinnegan in his left.
Naruto wore a flat expression, one that didn't fit him. His mismatched eyes were somber, experience etching in his knew look. He smiled, though it looked absolutely pathetic. "Those were the exact words Hagoromo-jiji told me," he said.
Obito looked around. They were in a room, obviously. The ground was orange and one candle lit the entire thing up. A sun-like pattern was underneath Naruto's feet, the beams branching out in nine directions. He tipped his head, putting his shakujō down with a mildly interested look. "Hagoromo?"
The blonde chuckled. "Yes. The Rikudō Sennin—Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo. Those were the exact words he told me when he and his brother gave me their power."
Obito's cocked a brow.
"After the Mugen Tsukuyomi was cast, Madara was possessed by a woman named Ōtsutsuki Kaguya—the Mother of all chakra," he explained. "She enhanced the genjutsu, weaved it and synchronized it with everyone's heads. It wasn't smart, because it basically recreated our world, but she seemed content with it."
"Why aren't you under?"
"Hamura and Hagoromo gave me their eyes. Hamura gave me his Yin chakra while Hagoromo gave me his Yang. It protected me…I'm also the jinchūriki of all eight bijū," Naruto replied. "Kurama's under the genjutsu as well. Not to mention, I've been battling Kaguya on and off for three years now. We stand on equal ground, the battles always end with us both mentally drained."
Obito sighed, a dark frown marring his scarred face. He visibly wilted, suddenly looking older than he should. "Three years," he echoed quietly. His lips pressed in a thin line as he walked up to the blonde Uzumaki. He grabbed the twenty year olds wrist and pulled him into a hug. "I am so sorry…"
Naruto tensed under the sudden embrace, but returned it a moment later. He buried his head in the older mans shoulder, shoulders shaking as he started to cry. Obito's grip tightened.
They stayed that way for a rather long time, Naruto finally pushing away and wiping his eyes. He grabbed Obito's right hand, shaky fingers tracing the calloused creases. Chakra glowed, and was given to the Uchiha. He smiled, not looking up. "Your shield," he said.
Obito ruffled the blondes hair. "Thanks," he replied. He looked around again. "How do we get out?"
Naruto smiled again, and the next thing Obito knew, he was wrapped in tree roots in a battlefield full of rubble. The orange-floored room was gone.
He pulled Obito out, the Uchiha stumbling slightly as he landed on his feet. He straightened up, and looked at Naruto. The Uzumaki looked absolutely exhausted; deep circles were under his eyes, his breathing was uneven, and sweat dotted his face. "Two more moves," he said. "I just need to perform two more moves, and Mugen Tsukuyomi will be eternally gone, along with Kaguya."
"I take it you want me to stall," Obito mumbled. He looked around, spotting many, many, many familiar faces all on the ground wrapped up in roots. He spotted Kakashi, Minato, Sakura, Sasuke—hell, he even saw Hashirama and Tobirama stuck under the genjutsu. "Kudos to you for surviving…must've been Hell."
"At first," Naruto murmured. He went into Rikudō Mōdō, Obito wincing at the sudden flare of power. "Then it just became a nightmare I couldn't wake up from."
A sympathetic look stretched across his face.
"Anyways," the Uzumaki continued, "I need her to lose control, so I'll be throwing eight different bijū Rasenshuriken's at Kaguya to get her to react to the bijū's chakra…it always ends with her and I exhausted, but with you I think I can land a final blow and seal her away…"
"Using your Rinnegan," Obito finished. He cocked his head. If using all eight available bijū's chakra, then Naruto will be using more chakra, and it'll add to the exhaustion he's already experiencing. Adding that to the fact that he'll be using Chibaku Tensei… "That'll exhaust you to unconsciousness. Are you sure you want to do that?"
"Kaguya is the source of the Tsukuyomi," Naruto pointed out as seven other clones appeared. "Is she dies, the genjutsu dies."
Obito rubbed the back of his neck, closing his eyes and sighing. He looked up to the dark, cloudy sky. It was starless, eternal pitch black nothingness stretched over the horizon, the red Rinne Sharingan moon shining broadly over roots and people. He sighed again, looking at Naruto. "If you say so…"
The Uchiha openly flinched and blanched when he suddenly felt a strong, overpowering presence. He couldn't pinpoint its source; the presence blanketed the entire battlefield. Naruto turned his head towards a silver haired woman, who stood on a rock a number of yards away from the duo.
She had brown rabbit-like horns on her head, said silver hair dragging on the floor. She wore a hime-kimono, black tomoe decorating the front. On her forehead was a vertical eye; it was the Rinne Sharingan, while her other eyes had the Byakugan. Her eyebrows were short, and she had red lipstick.
"Kaguya," one of the Naruto's said. It wasn't the original, but from the action, Obito was guessing he wanted to deceive the woman.
Kaguya looked exhausted as well. Her chakra coils had a certain level of power that didn't match her chakra, not to mention is she was "the Mother of all chakra". If what Naruto was correct then she'd likely have a lot more. It was also low for normal standards. Not to mention, sweat dotted her face and she had circles under her Byakugan eyes. "Child," she snapped, "one extra man will not make a difference. I'm offended. I'm not weak. Has your three year war with me not told you that much?"
The clones grinned, not replying. They ran towards her, Obito activating his Kamui and staying back. Rasengan's appeared in each other their hands, ranging from different colors and patterns. Wind blades stretched out, creating loud screeching at the Fūton blades cut through the air. All eight were thrown.
Kaguya dodged each of them, the explosions barely reaching her. But the aftermath wasn't pretty; craters decorated the ground around her as she suddenly expanded, turning into a large humanoid rabbit. Her teeth became jagged, her eyes remaining the same along with her third eye. On her back was a large compressed ball of chakra that fused with her; it had the heads of the nine tailed beasts, their jaws parted in a snarl that mimicked the rabbits own snarl.
Her large white arm swiped, dispelling most of Naruto's clones and leaving only three. They completely dispelled, the original remaining. He landed on the ground, putting his hands in a snake hand seal.
Chakra arms shot out, hitting the ground and making it turn into ash. She roared, Obito recreating a Kanseitai – Susano'o. He used Kirai's strategy, grunting as the wooden tendrils of Mokuton shot out of his arm. It pierced through the Susano'o, encasing its turquoise left arm. He reached out to grab Kaguya, gripping her throat and punching her in the gut.
The goddess roared again, the screeching sound making him flinch. The chakra arms aimed for him, wrapping around the Susano'o's limbs and slowly making it melt. He sneered, the Mokuton wrapping around her throat and shoulders, tightening and making it struggle.
It stayed like that for quite a few seconds before she backed off, the power being suppressed by Kaguya's will alone. The rabbit shrunk until the Ōtsutsuki reformed, glaring with veins popping up against her cheeks.
Obito let the Susano'o go, going intangible as she aimed a swipe of sharp nails towards his throat. He grabbed his shakujō, ducking underneath a whiplash also aimed for his neck.
He stabbed the base of the staff into her stomach, making her cough. But it had barely phased her; the woman's hair surrounded him, but he used Kamui's ability again. He went through the strands, briefly becoming tangible again and hitting her cheek with the rings.
She snarled, obviously enraged that he was effectively dodging her hits. Bones grew out of her back and the bases of her wrist, teeth clenching as her chakra went a little bit lower. She threw the two bones at him, but said bones went straight through like air. She reached for ten more from her back, all in between her fingers. They were thrown, racing at him in blurs.
He turned his head towards Naruto. The blondes hands raised, rocks following and quickly encasing Kaguya. She shouted in frustration, more bones branching off. They were thrown down at the duo as she was raised off of the ground rather slowly towards a black ball in the sky.
"Rikudō – Chibaku Tensei," Naruto said as he dodged the bones lithely. Rocks turned to ash, and roots retracted back into the ground away from everybody. The moons light was fading.
Obito looked up at Kaguya, panting as his eyes bled. Damn Susano'o, he thought bitterly.
His Kamui was still activated, the bones still raining down on them. He jumped back, trying to get put of their range. He released a breath of tension when she stopped, only meters away from the over-sized boulder. She glared hatefully, her chakra pools completely depleting when a final bone started racing towards Naruto. The blonde winced, completely caught off guard by the last attempt. The blur was already too close as he got out of his kneeling position.
His chakra was gone, and the bijū were drained. Everybody was practically dead because of how exhausted they were.
Time seemed to slow down when Obito's chakra signature flared, the blur disappearing in a swirl. Naruto's eyes widened. He turned his head towards the Uchiha, breath catching in his throat. He rushed towards him, letting go of his Rikudō Mōdō.
Obito had a bone stabbed through his chest, his expression dead with pain and his body limply standing as it started to turned to ash. He smiled apologetically as people started to wake up, the new moon rising higher and higher in the sky as the old one crumbled and fell from the pressure of the genjutsu.
He raised his right arm, plucking out his Sharingan eyes and handing them over before he completely crumbled into ash, taking a silent—but sad—leave.
Naruto's eyes dampened as he started crying for a second time in nearly four years, his arms falling to his side. He had lost two rather important people; Neji being the first, with Obito following. That was a downfall.
But, on the bright side, he broke the Mugen Tsukuyomi—and the dead were put to rest.
Naruto just silently hoped that they found a peaceful release.
"Kanseitai – Susano'o": "Full Body – Susano'o"
"Bijūdama": "Tailed-Beast Bomb"
"Bijū Mōdō": "Tailed-Beast Mode"
"Rikudō Mōdō": "Six Paths Mode"
"Shōsen Jutsu": "Mystical Palm Technique"
"Shin Sūsenju": "True Several Thousand Hands"
"Kamui": "Authority of the Gods"
"Susano'o": "He with the ability to help by all means"
"Mugen Tsukuyomi": "Eternal Nightmare Realm"
This was more of a neutral ending in my opinion, because the Tsukuyomi was lifted and people came back to life; but to weigh that to equality, the center of the story died and Naruto was on the verge of psychosis. Plus, the after effects weren't the prettiest.
Which brings me to ask this: Epilogue or no epilogue?
Q&A:
Q: Where were Kisame, Zabuza, Haku and Shisui during the entire genjutsu? A: In the Tsukuyomi, Kisame kept his head low, and went into hiding. Zabuza didn't get Haku until Naruto was ten, and they ended up dying at the bridge like canon. Shisui went into hiding as well, eventually allowing Itachi to kill him.
Q: What of Ijigen Jutsu? A: It doesn't actually exist. That was woven into the modified version of the Tsukuyomi Kaguya created.
Q: Was the dead included or was that part of the Tsukuyomi? A: The dead was included.
Q: How did Obito know of the Shiki Fūjin? A: Naruto (the one who was outside of the genjutsu) walked around the battlefield when he wasn't fighting. He spoke to everybody. At one point, he learned how to use Shiki Fūjin while recuperating after a battle, and he just so happened to tell Obito about it.
Q: After Kuro Zetsu was sealed away, where did he go? A: Into hiding. It'll likely be shown in the epilogue if I ever want to create an afterword.
Q: Kaguya has near-infinite reserves, so why was she so low in the last battle? A: She and Naruto had been fighting for a solid two weeks before Obito woke up.
Q: When did Minato become aware, and how? A: When Obito died the first time around. The fūinjutsu on the Shiro Zetsu reminded him of his death and the fact that he was stuck in the Shinigami's stomach for a good seventeen years.
Q: Did anybody else (other than Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke) "travel back in time"? And how did they maintain future knowledge? A: Yes, Kurama was felled along with almost all of the team, which is why he never escaped Kushina's seal during Naruto's birthing process. They maintained future knowledge by being connected to Naruto's Rikudō chakra after he gave them a portion in hopes of waking them up the moment Hagoromo and Hamura gave him their chakra.
Q: Does Naruto ever share his Rikudō power? A: Yes. He gives the Rinnegan to Sasuke, the Sharingan to Kakashi (as well as Kamui), and some Rikudō healing powers to Sakura. He kept his Byakugan eye.
Q: Who is Hashimoto? A: He is a former Konoha jōnin, but he was all part of the genjutsu, thus his frustration when he scanned Obito with a diagnosis jutsu.
Q: Why did Obito's flesh become realistic? A: Essentially he was spoken to the most, and the one-sided interaction reflected on the genjutsu. If he was directly touched by foreign chakra in the genjutsu, then he or she would become aware. (By directly I mean like almost-touching/touching skin).
Q: Which bijū were put under? A: Ichibi to Hachibi went unaffected, so in the genjutsu they were like zombies. Unfortunately Kurama got affected, and his power became unusable until the genjutsu was broken.
Q: If Kushina's chakra chains touched Obito, then why wasn't she aware? A: Obito's flesh wasn't real when that happened; when the bruises settled in upon arrival to the base was when it became real.
Review if you have anymore questions.
Peace! :3