Previously...
Something inside her snapped, and rage unlike anything Mikoto had ever felt before let something out of her that she wasn't even aware she had been holding back. Time itself seemed to stop, and other than the fact that the masked man had shifted his gaze to look at her now, she was unaware of anything else. For that man to so casually disregard everything she had fought for, everything she wanted, everything she loved...
There was immense pressure behind her eyes, and a tickling sensation began trailing down her cheeks, much like tears that weren't wiped away. A word began to repeat over and over again in her mind, and before Mikoto was fully able to comprehend what exactly it was, she registered her own voice shouting that word for everyone to hear.
"Susano'o!"
Chapter 16
Kushina stopped charging forward as she saw a huge, purple... thing appear around her best friend. She wasn't sure what it was, but the chakra which formed the monstrosity appeared to completely encircle Mikoto and formed some sort of skeleton - the likes of which was nothing she had ever seen before.
Mikoto had shouted out the word Susano'o, apparently the name of this new technique. Strangely, Kushina had never seen her best friend perform it before now, though she was aware of rumors that the Sharingan could let the Uchiha do some strange things. Whatever it was, the chakra pressure from her best friend was steadily increasing... but it felt dark and tainted. The redhead was somewhat adept at sensing chakra signatures, and Mikoto's was doing yet another thing she had never felt before now.
Any futher thoughts on the subject were cut short as the purple skeleton moved, swinging a strange-looking sword in a wide downward arc. It didn't impact the ground, but it did force the masked man to take several quick hops backwards so that he wouldn't be hit.
"Kushina!"
Startled, it took the redhead a moment to realize that Mikoto was calling her name.
"Y-Yeah, Mikoto-nee?"
"Get... get N-Naruto out of here. Please."
Kushina quickly darted forward, trying to pretend that she didn't hear Mikoto's voice break when she said Naruto's name. Coming to an abrupt halt at the blond's prone form, she tried to hold back her grief at the sight until he was moved out of the way from whatever it was that his wife wanted to do. Carefully shifting him so as to not potentially make his seemingly lethal injury worse, she moved her hands and arms under his shoulder blades and knees. Boosting her strength and speed with chakra reinforcement, the redhead grunted for a moment as she adjusted to his extra weight while trying not to stare at the sword in his chest, then quickly moved over to the far side of the clearing.
She kept an eye on the masked man, though to both her relief and worry he appeared to be more interested in what Mikoto was doing. Glancing at her friend once again, she noticed that her Susano'o was no longer a skeleton, but appeared to be fully fleshed out, with a face that looked to have a cruel grimace on it. The sword it was holding was now somehow alight with what looked to be fire... but it was black and didn't give off any light; yet something else she had never seen before.
Mikoto let out a yell and moved forward, but Kushina forced herself to stop watching for a moment as she set Naruto carefully back down on the ground. The sword was still in him, unfortunately she was afraid to move it as it might cause more damage or cause him to start bleeding in earnest. Clumsily pressing her shaking fingers against the side of his throat, she finally lost the battle with her tears as she searched in vain for a heartbeat – as if the sword sticking out from his chest didn't send enough of a message.
"Kurama! Can you think of or do anything?"
There was a brief rumbling in the back of her mind before the deep voice of the Nine Tails became clear. "Lift up his shirt and place your hand against the seal on his stomach. If his chakra network is at all still active, I may be able to sustain him with chakra alone for a little while until a medic gets here."
The redhead didn't need to be told twice, as she immediately unzipped his bloodstained jonin vest, then quickly lifted up the mesh underlay while trying to ignore the quickly crusting blood that had run down his chest towards his abdomen. Placing her hand directly over his navel, she pumped as much of both her own and Kurama's chakra into the seal as she could.
At first, there was a spark of hope as the hidden seal on Naruto's stomach immediately appeared; the dark spiral was a sharp contrast to his quickly paling skin. A loud yell from Mikoto and a large explosion almost sent both her and Naruto flying, but some quick chakra adjustments kept her stuck to the ground while holding onto and protecting what she could of her brother's body.
She wasn't able to tell what Kurama was doing, but as the seconds turned into a minute, and then two – despair once more began to set in. She had tried focusing on what Mikoto and the masked man were talking and yelling to each other about over the explosions, but her mind seemed to be unable to focus on any one task.
It was when the Nine Tails spoke again, however, that the world around her seemed to stop existing as reality was brought to a fine point, directly in front of her.
"I'm... sorry Kushina, there's nothing I can do." Kurama's deep voice rumbled in her mind. "Believe me, I wish I could."
That pronouncement was followed by a deep sigh. "I have only ever wished for three things in my long life. That the old man didn't have to die, that I had my freedom from being used as a tool for many years... and now this."
Kushina wanted to wail, to scream and yell, to let the world know about her loss. But for the moment, all she could feel was numb. Even though he was dead and still had the sword stuck through the middle of his torso, she removed her hand from his abdomen, and instead cradled his head in her lap as if it were a precious and delicate object.
Another loud commotion brought her halfhearted attention back to the fight between her best friend and her brother's killer, but a voice she had never heard before spoke up behind her before she could figure out what was going on.
"What happened here?"
Naruto blinked as his eyes opened... or at least he thought he blinked. It was hard to tell, as it was completely black around him, and there wasn't any light as far as he could tell.
Looking down, he released that he could see himself, as if he was a light source – though he didn't appear to give off any ambient light as he couldn't see anything else around him. Unlike being stuck in 'Madara's World', as he had come to call it, there were no large pillars of white all around him either.
It was a total void. There was nothing but darkness for as far as he could see, not to mention for all intents and purposes the surface he was standing on was invisible as well. Trying to assess his situation, he replayed his most recent memories in his mind.
He was hit with a sharp pain in his head and crumpled to his knees as what he believed to be the last moments of his life replayed with almost painful clarity. One moment, he was exhausted and tired but unable to sleep for some reason in 'Madara's World'. Though there was no way to tell how much time had passed in that place, it felt like an eternity.
It was as if something was giving him the energy to stay awake, while at the same time making sleep impossible as a result. It was maddening, and if he had been stuck in there any longer he might have truly gone mad before long. That was one of the reasons why when he felt the sudden twist of his reality being changed, he was at first excited to meet that change, regardless of where it would put him.
As his vision had stabilized in the new area, a blue sky was the first thing he saw, and his heart leaped at the sight. Then he noticed how much brighter it all was, and moved to shield his eyes from the sunlight that he hadn't seen in what felt like forever.
His squinting eyes rested on Mikoto for barely a second before he heard Madara's voice behind him. The blond couldn't remember what the man said exactly, as there was a sharp pain in the middle of his chest. He watched as his wife's face morphed from amazement, to fear, then to panic, and finally what appeared to be grief mixed with anger in what was likely a span of a couple seconds.
At first it confused him, but then the pain from his chest got worse, and he looked down only to see a sword sticking out of it. Darkness quickly started seeping up from the corners of his vision, and before he knew it he could no longer find the strength to remain standing.
Naruto's eyes had closed completely at some point, though his mind was fuzzy on exactly when. In actuality, it felt like he simply closed his eyes for a brief moment before he opened them again, to find himself where he was now – standing up once more.
The moment he wondered what to do now, a faint sound resembling a laugh came from behind him. Quickly turning around, he examined the area, only to see what appeared to be a faint light off in the distance. It was impossible to tell just how far away it was, but looking around one more time made him realize that there really wasn't anything else he could see.
Steeling himself as he let out a sigh, the blond took a step forward, followed by another, slowly making his way towards the light. He was unsure as to if there was an end anywhere to the apparently nonexistent surface he was walking on, but as Naruto continued his travels towards the light, his mind began wandering towards the 'what if's'.
Such as: What if this is what people referred to when they were dying or dead as 'walking towards the light'?
He began to ponder different scenarios as he got closer, only for his thoughts to lean more towards curiosity as the one light he originally saw became two, and then several more after that. By the time he got close enough to identify the various lights, however, he just knew his eyes had to be playing tricks on him.
The scene was surprisingly familiar, in an eerie sort of way. There were plenty of little things that just made the entire thing appear wrong, as though someone had changed a few minor details here and there just to try to mess him up.
The worst part about it all was the two people sitting at the table in front of him, both of them giving him small, reserved smiles while obviously waiting for him to talk first. After staring at them for a few seconds, he took a deep breath and realized that he would have to be the one to make the first move.
"Minato? Kushina? What are you two doing here?"
Mikoto screamed in frustration as her Amaterasu-coated sword once again went right through the masked man's body without him having to dodge at all. It was as if she was just swinging through air.
"Well... for being the current leader of the clan, I must admit I was expecting more than this."
She knew deep down he was just goading her on. At this point, she just didn't care. There was only one objective she had right now, and that was to see the man in front of her die. Even if she died along the way, he was going down.
Her thoughts briefly turned to Itachi, and her friends. She knew that Kushina and Minato would raise Itachi well, and they would certainly get help from the clan. But the monster in front of her had to die, because if he didn't, no one would be safe. Naruto's passion to see this man dead to save everyone else had been cemented in her long ago. He never directly asked her to help him, but he was so passionate about it – especially after hearing the horror stories of his time – that she couldn't help but get swept up in it as well.
She didn't want to die – no one did, at least no one that she knew of. Mikoto wasn't afraid of death, but that wasn't to say she was actively seeking it, either. Judging by the hard time she was having so far, however, it was unlikely she'd make it through this in one piece.
The Uchiha Matriarch was a realist, it was one of the things that Naruto always claimed to love about her. Of course, thoughts of her recently deceased husband re-ignited her rage, and she felt another burst of power surge through her system.
"That's better. Come now, let's dance a little."
The raven-haired woman tried to lay a multi-layered genjutsu on the area, though against her opponent she had no idea if it would work. When she sent another bolt of black fire at him and he dodged this time she guessed it might have been working a little, as he made an effort to move this time instead of letting it go right through him.
Any further considerations were cut short as he pulled a battle fan out of nowhere and seemed to glide through the air, taking a swing at her. She brought the sword of her Susano'o around to deflect the blow, but much to her surprise she was pushed back instead of stopping his momentum. He chuckled as he glided down to the ground.
"Do you know who I am, woman?"
Mikoto glared at the man as she panted slightly. Her cheeks were both itching, so she wiped at them, only to see the back of her hand come away bloody. "I think it's fairly obvious who you are, bastard."
To her displeasure, he simply chuckled again and shook his head, then reached up and pulled off the mask, tossing it to the ground.
"Well, since I'm guessing the dead blond told everyone who I am at this point, I no longer need to hide my face. It's much earlier than I had planned, but I guess I might as well start my conquests today by killing you and sending the Uchiha clan into disarray."
Mikoto continued to glare at Madara. "Konoha is much stronger than just the Uchiha."
He leaped forward again, surprising her by getting inside her guard and smashing his fan against Susano'o chest. Mikoto yelped in pain as it felt like a blow against her own chest, even if it was probably blunted. Her technique flickered for a moment as she was sent crashing into a nearby tree.
"You give that village too much credit. It's nothing but a shadow of its once brief, great existence. Hashirama began to dilute it's power as he tried to elevate the status of every other village out there."
Madara slowly stalked forward as Mikoto gradually climbed back to her feet, Susano'o quickly solidifying around her once more.
"Perhaps I will give you one chance. Impress me enough and I'll allow you to join my side on the quest for permanent peace."
Mikoto wasn't sure what he was expecting, but judging by the look on Madara's face when she did it, he didn't believe she would burst out laughing. Even if her ribs were already hurting, it was worth it just for that sight alone.
"I wouldn't follow you in a million years," she chuckled. "Your peace is meaningless because no one will have free will."
She wasn't entirely sure, but it sounded for a moment like Madara actually growled. She wasn't able to bask in the moment for long, however, as he came charging at her once again.
The two sitting at the table in front of Naruto glanced at each other for a moment, seemingly sharing a conversation in their minds before one of them chuckled and slowly rose from the table.
"Well, I can't say I recall any other child calling their parents by their name in such a manner, but if it's what you're comfortable with... I guess I can let it slide for now."
The redhead stopped a couple short paces away from Naruto, giving him a slight smile as her head tilted a little to the side. The way she was standing and looking at him expectantly, combined with the clothing she was wearing... the Kushina in his time hadn't worn anything like that yet.
"M-Mom?"
She nodded slowly before opening her arms, and in barely more than a second he had moved forward to embrace her tightly. As much as he tried to stop them, he could feel the tears working their way into the corners of his eyes. A rather loud sniff from him caused his mother to chuckle as she stepped back from him.
"Are you really going to cry? It's not like it's been that long since you saw me, ya know?"
Naruto's eyes went wide before they quickly narrowed in confusion. "Wait, aren't you... if you're my mother, then..."
Catching him by surprise, this time it was Minato who answered him. "What your mother means, Naruto, is that we're your parents from your original timeline."
Naruto looked back and forth between his parents, noticing that they did look slightly older than he remembered them from where he was from. It answered some questions, but started a whole lot more too.
"How?"
Minato and Kushina looked at each other again before shrugging. "We aren't sure either," his mother answered. "We can't remember anything before arriving right here. Strangely, we didn't really feel like it had been all that long since we saw each other, and it feels like I just saw you moments ago trying to take control of the Kyuubi."
Naruto stared at his mother curiously as she gestured to an empty chair at the table as she moved back towards her own. Without a word he moved over and sat down, only to look back and forth between his parents curiously for another moment. His eyes briefly passed over other areas of the 'room' they were in, taking in as many details as he could. There were three walls, a floor, and even a ceiling and a window that showed what he recognized as Konoha on a sunny day. All that was missing was the wall from where he entered.
The room itself was literally a carbon copy of Minato's (the younger one) current apartment, minus a few little changes here and there.
"So, uhm," Naruto scratched at his cheek for a moment, trying to figure out what to ask, "Are you two aware of how I got here?"
The mood at the table immediately adopted a rather somber tone, both of his parents nodding while his father looked distinctly unhappy.
"You were killed, as best we can tell," his father explained. "I don't know how, but we were given a sort of strange third-person's view about most of the major events in your life up until this moment."
Kushina nodded as her husband spoke, though in contrast to him, she looked to be having a hard time keeping a straight face. Naruto noticed, and when he simply raised an eyebrow, she couldn't help but grin.
"Mikoto-nee, Naruto? Really?"
Even though they had been married for a while, Naruto felt himself rubbing at the back of his head as a blush started creeping up his face. "Hey now, it just sort of happened! I honestly wasn't trying-"
He stopped talking as Kushina failed to keep a hold on her giggles. Naruto's abashed face quickly transformed into a mild scowl, while Minato simply looked on with a small, amused smile.
"I think that she's very happy for the both of you, though she doesn't know quite how to express that." Kushina hummed and nodded happily as Minato continued, "While I have to admit thinking of it as, well... odd – the Mikoto I knew and was on a genin team with did end up in a marriage with Fugaku. The Mikoto you and our alternate selves know is definitely much, much happier."
"Really?" Naruto asked, looking happy again.
Both of his parents nodded with smiles on their faces, but it was Kushina who answered him. "Thank you for saving my best friend, Naruto. My Mikoto only had flashes of happiness, and that was mostly when it was just her and Itachi. It was wonderful to see that I didn't lose my friend this time."
He wasn't sure what to say, but instead settled for returning the smile. In fact, he really wasn't sure what more to talk about at all just yet. His death had been so sudden and he was still trying to piece it all together. When something fluttered by the window, however, his eyes were immediately drawn to it, looking outside. It didn't take long for his attention to shift from the window over to the door next to it. Getting curious he looked around the room again, noticing that other than the wall that was absent, so were two more doors that he knew led to the bedroom and a storage closet.
"What is it?"
Naruto's head turned back to look at Minato, who had asked the question. At first he just shrugged, but when his father's penetrating stare didn't let up, he figured that he should probably explain.
"I was just wondering why there is a window and a door on that wall, but two other doors from this room are missing. Not to mention the entire wall from where I entered."
Once again his parents shared a look between them, and much like last time, Kushina answered, "You don't want to go through that door, Naruto."
"What? Why?"
"I... I..." Kushina's face went through a collection of expressions as her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out.
"What I think your mother is trying to say and failing at," Minato managed to ignore the redhead as she sent him a glare, "Is that we both know, and yet don't know what is behind the door. It has a strong sense of familiarity, yet at the same time I don't really know what's beyond there. All I do know is that when I woke up here, I had a strong urge to keep you from entering."
"He's right, Naruto." As the young man turned back to look at his mother, she only offered him a sad smile. "We discussed this briefly, but as far as we can tell we're here to stop you from going any further just yet. The only thing we don't know is why."
Kushina stared with wide eyes at the young man standing next to her. He was rather gaunt looking, so she had a hard time guessing his age, but would place it to be somewhere in his late twenties to early thirties. Other than that there were two other things that really stood out to her.
First was that he had red hair that came down to his shoulders.
Secondly was his eyes. They were like nothing she had ever seen before, yet at the same time they matched up with the exact same rumors she had heard of passed down from her ancestors. Rumors that Mikoto and Naruto had surprisingly decided to confirm were correct – but neither of them really explained anything more beyond confirmation of existence before the subject was dropped or changed. She didn't really remember, and now wasn't the time for introspection.
"Wha – Who are you?"
The new arrival stared at her for barely a moment before his unique eyes shifted from her to the body in front of her. "I was one of Jiraiya-sensei's first students, though I understand he hadn't told anyone of us other than his own teammates. He got me to come here by telling me a rather fantastic story, including some facts that he felt I had to see to truly believe."
If he was going to say anything more, it was cut off by yet another arrival. "Kushina!"
Hearing Minato's voice, she tensed, turning her tear-stained face to look at her boyfriend. At first he was looking worried, but as he ran closer she could see it quickly morph from disbelief to shock as he got closer. Minato completely ignored the other redhead, so she could only guess that he already knew. It wasn't long before his gaze shifted from her to Naruto.
"What happened?" he asked. It looked like he was doing everything he could to reign in all the emotions he was feeling, but it was quickly failing.
"Mad... Madara." She couldn't keep the slight hiccup out of her voice as she came close to bursting into tears again, one of her hands gripping tightly onto Naruto's vest.
All it took was that one name for Minato's eyes to snap quickly into focus as his anger surged to the forefront. Kushina watched as his hands rapidly clenched and released, while at the same time his lips morphed into a snarl that she had never seen him have before. With a look over his shoulder to where Mikoto and Madara were still fighting, he murmured that he'd be back before disappearing in a flash of yellow.
A throat clearing brought Kushina's head back around to the front, only to stare at the other redhead once again. Instead of looking up at him as before, however, he had since crouched down and had a hand resting on Naruto's chest.
"As I was saying before, Jiraiya-sensei mentioned that I might want to come here to meet some people that I thought I no longer had." His gaze shifted from Naruto's form to her face. "Judging from the color of your hair, as well as what Jiraiya-sensei has told me, you must be Uzumaki Kushina."
Kushina simply blinked, then slowly nodded. The newcomer returned the gesture, before looking back down and asking another question. "Who is this?"
"My brother. Naruto."
The other man's lips pressed into a fine line as he stared at the sword still sticking out of Naruto's chest. "Can you lift up his torso? We need to get this sword out of him."
Kushina simply stared at the other man, blinking owlishly before her hands clenched against Naruto's vest once again, unconsciously pulling his body closer in a possessive gesture. The man must have noticed this, as he sighed a little before looking her in the eyes.
"I came here in search of family. My name is Uzumaki Nagato."
Kushina simply blinked at him, again. She looked down at Naruto again, briefly, before shifting back up to stare at Nagato once more.
As if knowing Kushina wasn't all together at the moment, the other redhead offered her a somewhat small, reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, I'm a medic."
Mikoto groaned as she struggled to pick herself back up. Her Susano'o technique was starting to flicker and fade around it's extremities, not to mention it had switched back to a skeletal figure. While she still felt as though she had the power to handle it, she wasn't sure if her body could take much more.
As she tried to climb back up to her feet, her right knee gave out on her, causing her to stumble back to the ground. Hearing the faint sound of Madara chuckling once again, she couldn't help but growl quietly. The man was downright infuriating.
Out of her peripheral vision she noticed as he casually moved over a pile of random rubble, lifting a foot and placing it on a felled tree trunk. Leaning forward and resting the arm that wasn't holding his battle fan on top of his thigh, he peered over at her.
"I have to admit, you've put up a better fight than I thought you would. You have my begrudging respect, though you are still nowhere near my level. Or Hashirama's for that matter."
She idly wondered what a dead man had to do with any of this, though the stories of how many times the two men fought to a stalemate popped into the forefront of her mind. Not to mention the battle at what they named the Valley of the End.
Grunting, she slowly managed to climb back to her feet, reinforcing her bad knee with chakra so that it hopefully wouldn't give out on her again.
"Ready for more? Very well, let's-"
Madara's comments were cut off as he quickly phased out of existence, a yellow blur passing directly through him, coming to a stop next to Mikoto, but still outside of the glowing aura of Susano'o.
"Mikoto? You need to go! Everyone's coming, I'll take care of this for now until they get here!"
Mikoto turned her head and glared at her old friend and teammate, actually causing him to take a half-step backward.
"Like hell I'm going anywhere! This bastard killed my husband!"
"But you're in no shape to-"
Minato had to flash away as Madara brought his fan down right where the blond had been standing, causing the ground to crack open slightly and making Mikoto stumble backwards.
"Now now, children," Madara chastised, "You shouldn't ignore your betters. That's very rude."
Several kunai impacted the ground near where Madara was standing, and as the man looked down at them there were several flashes of yellow that surrounded him. Mikoto could barely follow, but it appeared as if the aged Uchiha blocked some attacks with his fan, while still phasing out of existence for others.
To Mikoto's shock and horror, Madara simply swung his fan at one point and it managed to hit Minato, obviously stunning the blond as he let out a yell and went flying, crashing into the ground and tumbling a couple more times until he came to a stop, groaning.
"Well, I have to admit, that was a lucky hit. Now for a finisher... how about... Amaterasu!"
Mikoto moved as quickly as she was able, sticking out the sword of her Susano'o so that Madara's Amaterasu was absorbed harmlessly into hers, protecting a Minato who had stopped about halfway from getting to his feet as he stared at the large sword of fire that had just protected him.
"How do you know Amaterasu?!"
Madara simply stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. "The clan must have fallen further than I thought."
A retort was on the tip of Mikoto's tongue, but a glare and a sudden shot of killing intent almost made her bite her tongue in shock. Just how powerful was this man? It was like there was no end to what he was capable of!
"As I was going to say before you were about to interrupt me, the Sharingan is an amazing tool. When my brother died and I took his eyes, not only did I get my sight back, but I also got every technique that he learned using his eyes. It's as if they have a memory of their own.
"Not only that, but the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan has the ability to copy and use the ability of any other Mangekyou Sharingan. Another amazing thing is that there are several techniques that every Uchiha starts with that they will automatically know how to use when the situation arises; the least of which are Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susano'o. Didn't you ever wonder?"
The smile on Madara's face was nearly feral, it sent shivers down Mikoto's spine. She actually hadn't seen him with even a hint of one on his face before now.
She didn't like it. At all. She knew what Tsukuyomi was thanks to Naruto, but her husband didn't know how to perform it... he had only been brought into it before. The tablet in the Uchiha shrine mentioned that there were five techniques gifted to every pair of eyes, but not what they were; her eyes couldn't read the entire tablet anyway so there may have been a description elsewhere. There was a lot that Naruto had shared with her, courtesy of the Itachi from his time, but since he didn't have the Sharingan he couldn't apply any of it and show her.
The arrival of more people to the current battlefield broke Mikoto's current train of thought, and one of the first things she noticed was that Madara's expression had evened out again. Taking a quick look around, she saw that the Sandaime Hokage had landed next to her and was alternating between examining what she was doing and trying to gauge what had been going on in the area around them. On her other side, both of the Hokage's old teammates and current advisers landed.
A little in front of her and off to the side she spotted both Shimura Danzo, Hatake Sakumo, and several members of ANBU. To the other side was the members of the Densetsu no Sannin – Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru.
All together, they had pinned Madara into the center of their formation, though to Mikoto's quickly growing horror the Uchiha didn't look worried in the least. In contrast, he was actually starting to look amused.
"What are you doing, Madara? We thought you were dead!" Mikoto heard the Hokage shout out from next to her.
As usual, the man simply chuckled. "As if Hashirama could truly finish me. The man was truly too kindhearted for his own good."
"Your age has long since passed. You should not be here anymore."
This time, Madara simply snorted. "My age will never pass. Not until I achieve the ultimate peace. Peace through power. I'll become a god if I have to, and I'll be making you my first subjects."
As if to put an exclamation point on his speech, he stared right at Mikoto and smirked. "First, though, I need to take out the trash."
The current Uchiha Matriarch heard several shouts, a few of which were her name, but she was paying more attention to a rather pronounced whisper in her head. She didn't have much time to contemplate it, however, before she let out a scream as she found herself being hit by a large, blunt object and was promptly sent sailing backward. She let out another strangled cry as her back impacted against something that she hoped was a tree because of how loud the cracking noise was.
The whisper in her mind grew louder right before her body went numb and she quickly succumbed to the darkness.
"So you don't know what it is, but I'm not supposed to go there? What the hell am I supposed to do then?"
"We don't know, sorry. But we're under the impression that it isn't quite your time to move on just yet."
Naruto rubbed his face with his hands, feeling rather incredulous about this entire situation. On one hand he was upset to know that he was dead, leaving behind a vulnerable Mikoto, Itachi, and Konoha. Sure, he had made it stronger, but he was expecting to have a few more years yet before he'd actually have to deal with the threat that was Madara and the Akatsuki. On the other hand it was nice that he got to meet both of his real parents for a change, even if he had long gotten over the feeling that he'd likely never see them again. This current arrangement came as a pleasant surprise in that aspect.
But now he was essentially stuck in limbo. Unable to move on, but not aware of any way to get back either. In a rather strange twist of fate, his parents weren't of much help, either.
Right as another question was about to leave his mouth, both of his parents looked sharply out into the vast blackness that was outside the little room.
"Do you feel that, Kushina?"
His mother simply nodded, before standing up from the table and quickly moving over to grab Naruto in a quick hug.
"Mom?"
She pulled back, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "It seems your time has come to return."
Naruto's eyes widened a bit, and he looked around her into the vast expanse, but not seeing anything. "Are you sure? I don't see anything."
"We're sure. I don't know how, but I for one can just feel it," Minato commented.
Naruto stood and looked to his father, who had also moved over to him and was holding out one of his hands. As he grabbed Minato's hand, the slightly older man pulled his son into a one-armed hug. "I don't think it really needs to be said, but we just want you to know that we're both incredibly proud of you."
Naruto felt his own eyes beginning to tear up as he stepped back from his father. Kushina moved over and placed her arm around Minato's waist, while he placed one over her shoulder.
"When you get back and kick Madara's ass, make sure you give me lots more grandbabies after, okay?"
Her son simply blinked at her owlishly for a moment before a small grin crossed his face. "How many?"
Kushina pretended to think. "Oh, I don't know. Nine total, perhaps?"
The two of them shared a smile as Minato snorted and rolled his eyes. Almost immediately after, Naruto found his body to be surrounded by a white glow that was steadily growing brighter. Realizing that this was what his parents sensed, he waved goodbye, to which they did the same in return with their free hands.
As Naruto closed his eyes when the light got too bright, the last thing he heard was his mother shouting that she loved him, and that she'd better not see him again too soon.
Kushina watched fretfully as her kinsman performed some strange technique after pulling the sword of of Naruto's body. She didn't actually see anything happen, but shortly after he did it, a green glow surrounded the blond, followed immediately by his mouth opening as he took a deep breath.
It was all the redhead could do to keep from squealing in both shock and joy, but somehow she managed. With a grateful glance at a slightly tired looking Nagato, she propped Naruto's head up into her lap as she waited for him to open his eyes.
Thankfully, it didn't take long.
"Ugh, what hit me?"
The young woman felt the tears start to fall from her eyes again, though this time it was in happiness rather than sadness. As Naruto's bright blue eyes opened, she tried to smile for him, but her lips were trembling too much to pull it off.
As if sensing her feelings, the blond surprised himself at how quickly he was able to shift to his knees and pull her into a hug just as she began bawling into his chest. Feeling horrible for the shock he must have put her through, not to mention Mikoto, he began to take stock of the situation as he tried to figure out where his wife currently was.
Before he got very far, however, another presence moved around into his line of sight. Naruto found himself doing a double-take as he gaped for a moment.
"Nagato?"
The redhead gave him a tight smile and a brief nod. "It would seem that what Jiraiya-sensei told me is true."
Naruto blinked at him for a moment before what really happened dawned on him. "You used Rinne Tensei, didn't you?"
Nagato appeared to be momentarily surprised before nodding once again.
"Thanks."
The other redhead offered a small shrug this time. "It's the least I could do for another Uzumaki."
That brought Naruto up short. After all this time, it had never crossed his mind. Konan never said anything, so perhaps the Nagato from his time never told her his family name. "You're one too?"
All Nagato did was point at his hair, as if that was enough of an answer.
"Right. I'm an idiot."
He both felt and heard Kushina giggle against his chest, which served as a quick reminder that he was still holding her. Leaning back slightly as he released her, she made a show of wiping away at her face to clean it up before giving him a fierce stare.
"Don't you ever do that to me, or anyone else, ever again!"
The blond simply gave her a flat look before sighing and shaking his head. "I don't know if anyone can ever make that promise, but I can promise to put forth my best effort."
Kushina gave him a timid smile before sighing. "I guess that is all anyone can hope for."
The moment she finished speaking a large explosion made the three of them look in the direction of the source, only to see a massive amount of fire and water being thrown about, along with a lot of debris. The fight was definitely still going on.
"Well, perhaps we should go help them take care of Madara. Are you ready to fight with Kyuubi?"
Kushina looked pensive for a moment before her face settled on a determined expression, and she nodded quickly.
Naruto returned the nod as he rose to his feet, offering his hand to his sister to help her up as well. Upon standing up completely, he turned to Nagato.
"If you want to stay here and out of the fight, I'd understand. As much as we could use your help, this isn't really your battle."
To his surprise, Nagato offered a small smile and shook his head negatively. "Actually, the reason Madara is here now is mostly my fault. I will help you as well, though I admit I'm not as good a ninja as my two best friends. My eyes just allow me to do different things."
"Wait... what do you mean you're responsible for Madara being here?"
Nagato looked away towards where the battle was happening for a few brief seconds before staring at Naruto once again. "It was just under two years ago, I think. He sent a messenger of some sort to bring me to his location... I was curious about his message so I went. When I first saw him he was an old man and claimed that he was the one who had given me these eyes when I was younger. I didn't believe him at first, but he managed to convince me since he was able to tell me my entire family history. Supposedly I was given these eyes when I was three.
"He mentioned the Rinne Tensei to me, but wasn't surprised that I already knew the technique. He claimed if I resurrected him into a new body he had prepared after he died, that he would help me attain the peace I long for."
Nagato trailed off for a moment, looking back and forth between Naruto and Kushina, realizing that they were totally engrossed with his story so far. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "So I did it. I haven't heard from him since I brought him back, but he claimed that he had quite a few plans to put into motion first. Then Jiraiya-sensei arrived.
"I was happy to see him of course, it had been a while. Until he started explaining what was really going on. At first I didn't want to listen to him, but gradually what he was telling me began making too much sense. Then when we were alone, he confirmed Naruto was from the future and really knew what was going on, and that I still had family – living blood relatives – here in Konoha."
Nagato made a slow, sweeping gesture around them. "Now... here I am. I suggest that we get moving before Madara does too much more damage."
Madara held his battle fan in a relaxed pose as he examined his surroundings. After dealing with the current Uchiha clan head and the upstart Yondaime Hokage, the others were making things difficult – but not to any large extent. It was definitely no warm up, other than some phasing he hadn't even had to resort to his other Mangekyou Sharingan abilities again since he last used Amaterasu.
There were quite a few injured and perhaps dead bodies laying around the large training-area-turned-battlefield – why many of them were interested in getting into a fight of this magnitude he didn't understand. They weren't in Konoha proper, so it wasn't like it affected them directly right now. Of course it was a bit of a blow to his pride every time he saw one of the clans that were previously from Water Country attempt to engage him, though none of them lasted more than a few minutes at best.
The ones that gave him the most trouble were the Kaguya. It was truly sad that they moved to Konoha, now he'd have to wipe them out completely when he was done here.
Other than a small handful of their clan, the Sandaime Hokage was still standing, though he had no idea where the brat's teammates were. Well, perhaps Hiruzen wasn't so much of a brat anymore, considering the man looked older than he currently did. He was only a little roughed up and didn't really look to be in bad condition, unlike most of his other forces. Even his own students, the Densetsu no Sannin, had taken a beating.
Well, more like the idiot with the white hair did. Their medic was currently attending to him while the pale one was giving him a calculating stare. No matter.
"Is this the best you and your village have to offer, Hiruzen?" he mocked.
"We're stronger than you know, Madara. I have it on good authority that we're about to get stronger still."
"Spouting nonsense again? Will this be another of your Will of Fire speeches? If so, spare me."
Hiruzen said nothing, but instead crossed his arms over his chest and smirked slightly. Madara narrowed his eyes as he looked at the man. What was he getting so cocky about?
His answer arrived a scant few seconds later, in the form of two golden flashes. He immediately recognized Nagato, and the girl standing to one side of him was the same one who had fled with Naruto before. Speaking of...
"You just couldn't stay dead, could you Naruto?"
The blond, who had a strange golden aura surrounding him, simply smirked. "Missed me, did you?"
Madara grunted, hoisting his fan up so that part of the staff rested on his shoulder. "Not really. Though if I had to be honest, a small part of me was regretting killing you off so early. I'm sure you'd be a better fight than everyone else here."
"Where is my wife, Madara?"
The old Uchiha made a show of looking around before shrugging. "Oh, somewhere out there among the rest of the trash, I'd guess. The same for your newest Hokage."
The two glowing people in front of him looked to be barely able to contain their anger until the third person rested a hand on each of their shoulders, calming them somewhat.
"Ah, Nagato... I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."
"You didn't leave me much of a choice, when I found out what kind of peace you were really talking about."
Madara rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. Let me guess, here comes another lecture. It's the same one I've been getting from everyone, about how it isn't peace if no one has free will. To me it certainly seems like all their free will is good for is killing each other. I thought you wanted that stopped?"
"Nearly everyone I know does. But it will be pointless if we don't know who we are anymore."
"Whatever. Does this mean you're going to fight me too?"
Nagato's reply was only two words. He stuck out both of his hands in front of him, and in a commanding voice, stated 'Bansho Ten'in!'.
Starting to feel the pull, Madara shifted his posture so that one leg moved forward slightly in a bracing stance, then lifted his free arm and showed his own palm to Nagato, finally opened his long-concealed right eye, and repeated the phrase.
Several seconds of shocked silence followed. Madara took a quick glance around, noticing that only Naruto didn't seem surprised at this event. For some reason he found himself gritting his teeth in frustration – did nothing surprise the brat?
Putting it out of his mind for the moment, he focused in on Nagato once again. "I gave you my own original eyes. I thought you'd enjoy the present, not try to use them against me. It really is no matter, though, since I know their every weakness anyway."
"I was afraid of this. Are the two of you ready?"
"Yes," came Kurama's gruff reply in his mind. Surprisingly when Naruto had been revived they discovered that they could both speak clearly through their linked seals. Apparently all it took was forcing both of their current chakras into Naruto's seal - something they hadn't even thought about attempting to try.
"Remember, we've only managed to fill you up with enough of my chakra to last maybe five minutes at most. I can support Kushina indefinitely so long as she doesn't go around wasting Shadow Clones and Menacing Balls like you used to, but if I have to start feeding you chakra as well I'm going to get drained fast."
"Understood. Kushina?"
"Yes?"
"If you find an opening, take him out. Otherwise we just need to find a way to pin him or keep him occupied so Nagato can work his magic."
"Got it."
"Nagato."
The blond saw the redhead turn to look at him out of his peripheral vision. "What is it?"
"If you find an opening, take it. I think our best chance would be for you to use the Human Path. You can use it as you are now, right?"
"Yes." Nagato's response came out more like a question than a confirmation. Naruto understood why when he was asked another question, "You've seen all of what I can do?"
Naruto shrugged, but still not looking away from Madara. "Most of it, probably. But at least this time you aren't using six bodies by having chakra transmission rods sticking out of your back."
There was a momentary pause before his new friend simply said, "Oh."
One of many clones was quickly moving through both rubble and moaning bodies, looking for someone. Someone very important to him.
The clone desperately wanted to stop and help many of the people that were obviously injured, some of which were mewling for anyone to help them. It would have made more copies of itself to try and help ease the pain in any way possible, were it not for strict orders.
Keeping an ear and eye out for trouble and making sure the fight wasn't coming back this way, once the clone finally laid it's eyes on the subject of it's search anything and everything else became unimportant.
Mikoto was laying there, her back against a tree that had collapsed behind her. His wife's head was drooped down to her chest while her arms were splayed out from her sides, as if she had simply been a puppet whose strings were cut.
Quickly making it's way over, the first thing the clone did was lift her head slightly and touch her neck, feeling for a pulse. It wasn't long before one was found, allowing it a deep sigh of relief. All things considered, other than some tears to her jonin uniform and some superficial cuts on her face and arms, she didn't really look all that worse for wear.
Utilizing a diagnostic technique that he had learned forever ago courtesy of Sakura in Naruto's original timeline, the clone checked over his wife to see if she was badly injured. To the clone's pleasant surprise, however, it couldn't detect anything wrong with her other than a mild case of chakra depletion.
In its limited capacity for self-thought, the clone wasn't really able to consider what Mikoto's current cause of unconsciousness was, but it had one more order left to follow. Since she wasn't awake the task only became a little more complex, but it still could be done – the clone simply hoped that it had enough chakra left to complete it's job.
Gently cupping Mikoto's face in it's hands, the clone pressed it's lips to hers, starting an information transfer process through chakra that Naruto had discovered during the Fourth War, one which technically only needed basic skin to skin contact. However, no one else was around or coherent enough to pay attention to the current goings on... and, well... she was Naruto's wife after all.
After a few seconds, the clone began to fade and become almost transparent, before it disappeared with a small popping noise and no smoke, unlike it normally would.
Among the sounds of rustling leaves and a fight still going on in the distance, Uchiha Mikoto gasped and woke.
Madara grunted as he blocked a punch from the glowing girl, only to have to duck another swing from Naruto that likely would have taken his head off if he wasn't careful. His Rinnegan was active in both eyes now, which was both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. On the negative side it kept him from using all of his Sharingan techniques, unless he felt like parting with more chakra than was safe at this point.
Worst of all was Susano'o since it used too much chakra even with the Sharingan active, and even though his own reserves were incredible, they were not limitless. He might have been able to take on and make short work of everyone here with it, but he wasn't willing to chance it since he had no idea what kind of technique Naruto and the other girl were using right now.
Oh, he knew that the girl was an Uzumaki and was the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi, and his original thought was that he'd simply suppress it with his own Sharingan and his implanted DNA from Senju Hashirama. He only paused with his attempt because Naruto was able to do the same thing, and there was no possible way that both of them had the Kyuubi sealed inside them. The very thought was ludicrous. It made him wonder if they were in fact not using Kyuubi at all, but doing something he had never seen before.
So using the Rinnegan was his best course of action right now since it opened up a few more techniques that he could use, not to mention it would all but make him immune to his own eyes which the traitor Nagato currently held. Such a disappointment, even if it was an oversight on his part. How was he supposed to know that the few scattered Uzumaki in the Elemental Nations actually kept in touch with each other? He'd never seen any evidence of it before, not even when he visited Nagato a few years ago.
He was forced to bite back a curse as the Yondaime Hokage joined into the battle as well. Apparently he had sufficiently recovered from getting smacked around by the battle fan and was now currently flashing in and out of the fight, attacking any openings he could find when Naruto or the girl left one.
Madara knew he couldn't keep going on like this forever, and he couldn't phase out either since that was a Sharingan technique and currently locked away because of exorbitant chakra cost with his Rinnegan active. Finding an opening was proving nearly useless as well, with three speedy opponents constantly flashing around him.
"To hell with this. Shinra Tensei!"
The three of them were immediately thrown backwards, away from him. Taking the small reprieve to gain stock of his surroundings, he wasn't given much of an opportunity as he registered the same voice calling out the names of two different techniques. One wind, one fire.
Quickly turning, he noticed as the Sandaime Hokage used a combination technique with a Shadow Clone to send a quickly moving column of fire at him. Smirking slightly, he simply held out his hand as the column of fire hit him. Hashirama's old student stared at Madara in shock as the technique simply evaporated around him.
"Thanks for the recharge. Here's a present of my own in return. Mokuton: Sashiki!"
The look of surprise quickly switched to a grimace as the Sandaime brought his Adamantine staff to bear, smashing the blade-shaped pieces of wood that got close to him. Knowing that things could potentially get dicey if he had to handle any more than he was dealing with now, Madara brought his hands together for another technique while ducking an attack from Naruto, who had recovered more quickly than he expected.
"Mokuton: Jukai Heki!"
A series of thick and quick growing branches began to sprout from the ground between him and the Sandaime, and continued spreading in a semicircle. They kept growing bigger and more interlocking until nothing was visible on the other side, and it effectively cut his current attackers off from more than half of the battlefield and any support.
It wouldn't last long as he could already hear the sounds of snapping wood, but it shouldn't be beneath his abilities to handle these three upstarts before anyone broke through.
"Rasengan!"
"Wha-" His mouth snapped shut as he whirled around to face the latest attack, a giant ball of spinning chakra being held between the girl and the Yondaime, who were both running at him with surprising speed.
As he prepared to absorb the mass of chakra, however, it shrunk in size slightly as the Yondaime flashed over to him with a kunai in each hand. Shifting quickly, the Uchiha grunted as one of the kunai caught him in the thigh, even though he managed to block the other one with his fan. To his benefit, the Yondaime Hokage looked both surprised and pleased that he had managed to succeed, but his moment of victory was his own undoing as the handle of Madara's fan swing around and caught him in the gut.
With an 'oof' sound, the blond went flying once again. His action must have further enraged the jinchuuriki, as she continued moving forward with the large Rasengan. Ignoring the pain of the kunai still stuck in his leg, he shifted to the side and absorbed what he could from the technique as it narrowly grazed him.
The poor girl, however, overextended slightly with the attack. She attempted to recover, but Madara spun around with his good leg and kicked her in the back, sending her flying away with a scream. He watched dispassionately as she crashed into the ground nearby, her golden cloak flickering for a few moments as she struggled to climb back to her feet.
That's when he finally noticed a loud screeching noise coming from behind him. Turning around quickly once again and preparing to defend against and attack from Naruto, he was instead mildly surprised to see the thorn in his side simply standing there.
The other blond was no longer glowing with the golden chakra cloak like before, and he idly wondered if his attack connecting with the jinchuuriki girl had anything to do with it. Madara did notice, however, that the young man in front of him appeared to have some sort of orange pigmentation around his eyes. Not only that but he felt... different. It was hard to describe other than the fact that he had a much harder time sensing the boy, even if he was completely visible.
Madara's eyes narrowed. This was new. So was this attack, though it looked to be some variation of what the other two had done before. The Rasengan.
"Fool. You know I can absorb any chakra."
Much to his displeasure, Naruto simply shrugged and smirked at him. "Perhaps. But even Nagato learned he couldn't absorb this technique."
With a shout of 'Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!', the blond hurled the spinning mass of chakra at him. Madara stared at in in momentary shock, wondering how Naruto managed to keep such dense chakra from dispersing. Quickly regaining his bearings, he started to move his hand forward to absorb it.
Then it expanded.
Madara had seen a lot in his long life. While the Sharingan was a good tool for identifying and copying techniques even without needing to understand the intricacies of them, the Rinnegan was the ultimate at dissection, for lack of a better word. While he couldn't simply 'copy' and re-use a technique like he could with the Sharingan, the Rinnegan would show him exactly what a technique did.
He definitely did not like what he was seeing. Sadly he didn't really have much time to inspect it as it was rapidly expanding further as it bore down on him. But with the exception of the Menacing Ball, he had never seen such pure destruction put into such a little package before.
There was no way he'd be able to absorb it all in time. He prepared to absorb what he could as he brought his fan around to block it. Just in time too, as the outer edge of the technique started to press against it.
If he learned one thing from this fight, it was that the Rasenshuriken certainly took its time to do its thorough job. Madara was grunting with effort as he tried to keep his battle fan in front of him as it blocked the worst of the destruction. He used the Preta Path ability of his eyes to absorb what he could of the chakra that still assaulted him from the sides. He knew he wasn't able to get it all as random sharp stabbing pains began to affect him all over from the microscopic wind blades that he couldn't stop.
After what felt like an eternity, the Uchiha breathed deeply as he tried to ignore the phantom pains all over his body. His chakra flow was still fine, so it was likely only superficial damage. Sadly, it looked like he would need a new battle fan, as this one was smoking in places and now had a few holes in it. Madara winced as he shifted his hands on the handle. They hurt a lot more than he wanted, but since he could still feel chakra flowing in them, all was well.
There was a rustling noise behind him, and he tried to turn around yet again... only this time a heavy weight settled on his leg. Looking down he saw that the Yondaime Hokage had apparently flashed over to him again and was holding the leg so that he couldn't move it, while one hand was on the handle of the kunai that was still stuck there. Of course! Of all the-
Madara's thought processes were interrupted as Naruto moved over and quickly grabbed an arm, holding on to it. Not sure what was going on now, Madara attempted to knock Naruto away with his fan, only for the jinchuuriki girl – who was glowing again – to grab that arm and hold it tight. He was effectively pinned, though he didn't really understand the point.
Shaking his head and letting out a sigh, the Uchiha closed his eyes. Perhaps it was time for round... what was this, three?
"Shinra Te-"
The technique was stopped as something chilling and alien invaded his body from behind, gripping his body in a way that felt both familiar and terrifying. Looking down he noticed a large chakra construct that was piercing him through the center of his chest.
"How does it feel... to have a blade in your chest, you monster?"
Looking over his shoulder, his eyes opened wide as he saw Uchiha Mikoto standing behind him with one of her eyes closed. She was leaning forward and was breathing heavily, with two glowing skeletal arms appearing from her sides. One was holding the blade that was going through him, while the other was holding a... no... it couldn't be!
Madara was vaguely aware as his arms and leg were released. Gritting his teeth, he knew that this blade bound his body so that he couldn't move. However, it was his blade before, so he knew of a way to fight it, but it would take all of his concentration.
"Nagato, your turn."
While he was already chilled from having the blade thrust through him, a feeling of dread in his stomach began to solidify as Nagato moved around from his other side. He was vaguely aware as others began approaching as well... apparently they had either finally broken through the branches or the Rasenshuriken had enough range to destroy them.
He didn't want to admit it, but deep down he knew there was no way he'd be able to win this particular battle. His own arrogance had cost him, but he could learn from this experience. There were a few ideas as to how he could come back since he knew how to get around the blade eventually, but it would take time. He would have broken free now, but with Nagato here that plan wouldn't work since the redhead could keep Madara's soul with his body to make sure it was all sealed.
He couldn't keep a small smirk off his face, now. "Well, Naruto... it seems as you win this round."
Naruto eyed Madara critically. "This round? I have no idea what you're talking about."
The old Uchiha shook his head. "I used to own this blade. I have no idea how you acquired it, but if I'm going to be sealed then you should know I can get out of it. Time is all I need, and I have plenty of it. I'll be back."
The ball of dread in Madara's gut only grew more pronounced as Naruto smiled at him. "You technically died once, remember? It's how Nagato brought you back in a new body. I'm sure you recall how the blade ended up with you?"
"Of course. It passed down to me when the previous head died." It was almost comical the way a light seemed to go off in Madara's head, as understanding immediately appeared in his unique eyes. "I see. I seem to have overlooked quite a lot in my quest. Rest assured it won't happen again."
"You're right, it won't," Naruto's smile turned feral, "You know how the Sword of Totsuka works, as you said. It can seal anything it wants to. That means if it only wants to seal away your body, it will only seal away your body."
Madara's eyes went wide again as the implications set in.
"It seems as though you understand. Nagato will be handling your soul."
As if that line was the cue, Nagato's hands stretched forward and everyone watched as Madara appeared to lurch and blur for a moment. The man screamed for a few seconds before there was almost complete silence. With a swishing noise, Madara's physical body began to bend and shift in ways that weren't possible, before it collapsed in on itself into the sword, leaving only a transparent wraith-like figure behind.
Mikoto pulled the sword out of the soul, sheathing it in the jar in Susano'o's other skeletal hand before nearly collapsing forward from exhaustion. Both Naruto and Kushina quickly moved forward to grab her arms, keeping the woman steady as they let her settle down to the ground.
Meanwhile, Nagato stared blankly at the soul for a moment before moving it a little to his right, where to those who couldn't see the King of Hell... it simply disappeared. Looking around, he noticed both Hokages staring at him.
"It's done. He's gone."
Both of them looked immensely relieved, then moved over to where Naruto and Kushina were crouched down next to Mikoto, speaking with her quietly. Minato crouched down in front of her, while the Sandaime stood close by.
"I'm so glad to see you're okay... both of you" Minato smiled at both his friend-slash-alternate son and his old teammate, both of whom offered a tired smile in return. "Looking at Naruto's body with a sword stuck in it was bad enough. Seeing you crash into that tree, I thought you were killed in front of me."
Mikoto sighed and nodded. "I saw Naruto killed in front of me so I know what that feels like. As for me, I actually did die. Or I would have. But there is another technique I could use at the cost of one of my eyes called Izanagi. Don't ask me how I learned about it because I couldn't tell you. It's almost like I just knew what it was and how to use it right as I was about to die."
An uncomfortable silence settled on the group momentarily. "Is that why..." Kushina broke the quiet and looked curious about something, but her voice trailed off. When Mikoto noticed where her best friend's eyes seemed to linger but not directly stare, it wasn't hard to pick up on the unasked question.
"Yes, that's why my eye is closed. I can't open it at all. I lifted it with my finger before I got here to check, but I couldn't see anything. Total darkness."
"What about your other eye? I understand you were using quite a few techniques." Naruto inquired, frowning slightly as he recalled his knowledge of the Mangekyou.
Mikoto looked up at her husband affectionately, bringing one hand towards his face to gently brush it across his cheek. "You're a bit blurry, but I can still tell that you're the man I fell for."
Naruto smiled at her, placing his hand lightly on top of hers. "You know, we still have your father's eyes that he gave me. Do you want them?"
His wife actually looked surprised for a moment, as if she completely forgot about it before adopting a more pensive expression. "I... don't know. I'm not sure if I should. Can I... can I think about it some, or would you not like it if I was like this?"
Naruto didn't even have to consider it for a second. "I'm perfectly fine with whatever you choose. Honestly though? Having an eye patch over one eye with a bright red Sharingan in the other? If that's not downright sexy and exotic, I don't know what is."
Mild laughter came from the other three listening in as Mikoto's hand went around the back of Naruto's neck and she pulled him in for a kiss. As it continued, Minato and Kushina both looked away, while the Sandaime felt compelled to clear his throat to get their attention.
"As much as I hate to break this up," he said with a cheeky smile, causing the two to blush, "I need to know for certain that Madara really is gone. We don't need him creeping back up when we least expect it."
Both Mikoto and Naruto nodded at the same time, though it was Mikoto who spoke. "You saw that I stabbed him with the Sword of Totsuka. It essentially can bind anything at all forever, or until I or the next holder releases it. It's a legendary item among my clan that is passed down to the current head of the clan when the previous one dies. My father never got it, and neither did the head before him, so we thought it was lost."
When Mikoto stopped talking and looked expectantly at her husband, he took it as the cue to continue. "When one of my clones found Mikoto, it made sure she was okay and if she was, it's next job was to remind her of the sword. Upon talking with Nagato before heading into the fight I was reminded of a brief conversation I had in my time about the sword with the person who had inherited it. Mikoto would have had it for nearly two years, but as she didn't have the Mangekyou yet there was no way for her to check."
The blond graced his wife with a brief smile, which she returned, before he finished talking to the Sandaime. "I'm glad she was able to use it, because if she wasn't our job was still possible with Nagato's help. It would have involved wearing Madara down enough to the point where he wouldn't be able to protect himself from Nagato's soul capture technique, and I'm not sure how many we might have lost had it gone that way.
"Believe me, compared to the hell I came from, this was a much better alternative."
When Naruto finished talking, it was as if a huge weight had been lifted from Hiruzen's shoulders. The man sighed in relief before rubbing his forehead. "So he really is gone, then."
There was a chorus of affirmatives, and with a thankful smile and a nod, the Sandaime wandered off to tell the others the news.
After the silence among them stretched out for a few comfortable moments, Minato chuckled, causing all attention to focus on him. "So... since that's done and the Third War is over... what do we do now?
"Now?" Naruto grinned. "I'm up for a festival. How about you guys?"
There was another chorus of agreements, before Minato and Kushina both excused themselves to go talk to the Sandaime about it right away. When they had wandered far enough away, he heard Mikoto murmur his name.
Looking down at her, he paused for a moment upon seeing the slight frown on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I should be asking you that." Her hand rose once again, brushing across his cheek. She turned her fingers around to show him that they were wet. "Why are you crying, Naruto?"
The fact that he had tears running down his face surprised him, but he confirmed it by wiping his other cheek and looking at his hand. "I... I don't know. I guess I just feel so much relief that it's finally over, and I'm... well... free? I don't have a madman to deal with any more."
"We're all free, thanks to your efforts. I'm glad we were all able to help even a little along the way."
Nodding in acceptance but not saying anything further, he settled down on the ground next to his wife, grabbing her hand and holding it in his as she rested her head against his shoulder.
"I love you, Mikoto."
"I love you, too."
A/N: Just the epilogue left. I know I can't please everyone, but hopefully this pleased most of you. After I post the epilogue I'm likely going to go back and remove all the author notes with the exception of my blog link.
As always, for further information, insights as to why this took me so long if you care to know why, etc... the blog can be visited.
paradoxjast . blogspot . com