Disclaimer: Naruto and every character of the Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and companies I don't know.
Applause goes for my precious beta readers and friends: ImaginationJunkie1412, Duesal Bladesinger, Minatochan2 and also a big thank you for the Awesome Authors Coalition members.
Original upload date: 18th of March 2016
Last update: n.a.
Chance for a Prophecy
Chapter 33. – Under the mask
Something cracked deep under the chamber, deep enough to shake the Earth's very core as Naruto roared through the middle of the thick dust cloud towards Obito at the other end of the cave. His mind was empty, focusing on nothing but the envisionment of a limp body in the middle.
Everything stilled around him as he dashed through the previously fighting groups. Jiraiya paused in the middle of choking an underdeveloped clone, his eyes flickering to where Naruto's golden figure blurred past him. However, he was too slow to truly track the boy's movement, too slow to keep up. Before he'd even turned, Naruto had already passed by Killer Bee as he stood in the middle of the chamber, mouth dropped open as Kurama's chakra licked his side for a millisecond.
Even though Naruto wasn't aware, someone was able to follow his movement. Barely, but still able to stay close to heel. Minato hurtled past the Kumo Jinchuuriki only a second later than his son, but he was still able to recognize the familiar expression on Bee's face: stunned realization.
Minato pushed more chakra into his already straining muscles with a grunt and sprinted toward his son's blurring form. It had been awhile since he had to push his limits, and his endurance had been stretched more than ever before in the last few seconds.
His son finally breached the dust, and the thick cloud shrouding him concealed the golden light which had been illuminating the whole chamber. Without the warm light, Minato's soul weighed heavier in the ominous atmosphere. He reached the border of the fog a second later than Naruto, and with a swift jump, he followed his son into the unknown.
There was a flicker of chakra, shrouded by the unsettling of soft dust and debris. It was painfully familiar, but still different from what he remembered. The last time he felt it, it was cheeky, restless and warm. But now… the warmth was nowhere to be found. Instead, Obito's chakra felt sticky, disturbing and colder than a glacier. There was another spike, dangerously close to the other murky one, but it was the opposite to Obito's. Naruto's essence flared once more, reminding Minato of the first beam of sunshine after a long, dark storm—warm and full of life. The two life essences burst in unison in the next millisecond, and Minato heard a thud. Then suddenly their chakra signatures were gone, completely erased.
The Kage blindly dashed toward where he'd last felt the two presences collide, but he only found an empty crater. Minato let out a growl in frustration and swept his head to the right where something clattered — probably two kunai. But it was gone again. He dashed to the left where the two presences flickered back to life, and this time he was able to see a glint of Naruto's golden fire, feeling its heat as he immediately reached out to grab his son. He curled his fingers but only managed to grab empty air. Minato let his nails dig into his fist, his arm dropping to his side in defeat.
He dashed forward again, but the result was the same as before. With every passing second and each failed attempt, it reminded him more and more of an insane game of tag, feeling less like a life or death battle between shinobi.
He wanted nothing more than to join his son's side, and he was failing miserably. He was afraid, afraid of Naruto's reaction since he couldn't predict what he would do to Obito. First he'd been shouting that he wanted to speak to him, save him, lead him out of the shadows, and his eyes shone with the same determination he was declaring. But in the next moment that resolve cracked, and Minato could clearly see the doubt seeping through.
The blinding power that had exploded from Naruto afterwards frightened Minato. It was full of rage and emotions he never would have thought to associate with his son. He himself wasn't even sure of his own emotions, but he was sure of one thing: he would never let Naruto to sink down into the pit of vengeance. Minato shook his head to clear his thoughts and concentrated.
There was another flare of chakra, another jump, and another failure.
Minato let out an animalistic snarl in his frustration, his hands blurring through the necessary hand signs, chakra already whirling inside his coils like the tornado he was about to unleash. He stopped, stilled for the briefest of moments, and let it all out in a single blast. The wind jutsu exploded, banishing the thick dust and the debris, finally ridding him of his blindness as the air was swept clean.
Minato blinked a few times to clear his eyes before he glanced around. The battle surrounding him was close to the end. There were significantly more clones on the ground than on their feet. Maybe close to a dozen were the only ones left fighting, and even they were slowly being picked off. The rest could deal with them. Instead, he would focus on finding his son.
He narrowed his eyes as he searched. It wasn't hard now that he was able to see. Naruto's bright golden chakra brightly flared every time he dashed in the dim cave as he jumped at Obito, but following their movement and joining his son was significantly harder than spotting him.
This time he reached for the permanent seal he had carefully crafted on Naruto's back almost a year ago close to the country border when he was still Toroku. Free of the burden he was now carrying, back when he wasn't his son from the future but his younger brother, struggling with memory loss. Minato let out a small sigh. Everything was much easier back then, for both of them. He didn't have to worry about Kushina's and his own death, or about the downfall of the shinobi word and the rise of Madara and the Juubi.
Minato cleared his mind with a shake of his head—he had other things to worry about at the moment. He ran through a chain of hand signs and jumped high, unleashing hundreds of marked kunai on the ground before landing on the earth with a soft thud. Then he closed his eyes and stilled, reaching for nature's energy to sharpen his senses so he could really focused on his son's chakra.
It flickered back and forth, disappearing and reappearing as the two bodies tore through dimensions, vanishing only to reappear a second later.
There. This time he got the marker. Not the complete connection, just the rhythm of the fight. But it was enough to finally join his son. A flicker of his chakra and he was gone, only to reappear at Naruto's side.
As soon as he landed, Minato immediately went for his son, finally succeeding as he reached for the soft fabric of Naruto's sleeve, gripping it like his life depended on it. The chakra flames licked his skin, but they did him no harm like real fire would, merely warming him and soothing his aching muscles. It felt similar to nature's energy, but still different. Not so smooth, or defined, still wild, untamed and rough with a density that surpassed his every expectation.
A rasengan roared to life in Minato's other hand and was thrust toward Obito immediately after he'd secured his hold on his son. The Uchiha let the attack slip through him and jumped backward to gain some distance. He landed smoothly, his body shimmering as he twisted and retreated to his dimension.
Minato, utilizing the small pause in the fight, raised his eyes to finally meet with his son's hazy crimsons. Minato shot him a disapproving fatherly grimace, immediately stilling his son, clearing Naruto's eyes of the overwhelming rage that had previously dimmed their ever-present shine.
The time traveler righted himself and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I got carried away."
Minato snorted and shook his head. "Who would have guessed?"
"What a nice family scene we've got here," Obito mocked, reappearing behind them, his voice cold and distant. Minato immediately whirled around, dragging Naruto along with him so they were facing with their enemy at all times.
He looked exactly as Naruto had shown them during their war council, the same as Minato had seen in his future self's memories. A simple black robe shrouded most of his features, but the vicious orange mask with the black flame pattern still stood out. Minato clenched his jaw so tightly that his teeth began to groan under the pressure.
Minato finally cracked his mouth open, desperate to put words to what he was currently feeling—the anger, the disappointment—but failed and closed it with an audible click.
The man, no, the boy in front of him was short—shorter than Naruto but still taller than he remembered his late student being. His former easygoing presence was lost. He wasn't able to find anything recognizable in the boy in front of him. Nothing in his chakra and nothing in his posture. It was cold, distant, and arrogant. All of it completely unfamiliar.
He opened his mouth once more, but failed for the third time. Finally he squeezed his eyes shut despite the close danger in the hope that with the motion he would be able to get rid of the growing frustration. But no relief came. At least, not until he felt Naruto's gentle hand on his shoulder give him a light squeeze.
He slowly pried his eyes open to face with his former student. The Kage wet his suddenly dry lips and opened them once more, this time succeeding in squeezing out his rasping voice. "Why?"
Obito tilted his head to the side curiously in an almost confused motion and repeated in a flat and bored tone, "Why?"
Minato straightened from his stance and took a step toward the Uchiha, his voice cracked, "Why didn't you come home, Obito?"
Obito took a sudden, unsteady step backward. His posture became rigid and tense like he'd been slapped in his face and hadn't simply been addressed by his real name. After some time his muscles relaxed by a fraction, his previous arrogance and cold demeanor diminishing. He didn't answer immediately, chewing on his words behind the cold mask for a moment. When he spoke, his voice cracked, but not for the same reason as Minato's. It was raspy through anger. "Home?" He let out a loud laugh, its edge sharp with budding insanity. "I have nohome. My home died together with Rin. And the same happened to Uchiha Obito. He is dead. I'm not him anymore, so don't call me that. I am no one."
"No." Naruto also took a step forward. "You're Obito. Don't you remember?"
"Shut up! I don't want to be anyone! I don't want to remember!"
"But I remember…" Minato continued, his voice softening. "I remember your hopes and dreams. I remember the way you'd always say that you'd definitely become Hokage."
"But I don't care!" Obito roared and dashed toward the Kage, kunai already in hand and ready to slice his neck.
Minato didn't wait for Obito to arrive. He hurled himself to the side, his son's sleeve still clenched tightly in his fist, and tossed Naruto out of the attack's range. The blond time-traveler collided with the hard ground with a surprised grunt, but immediately hopped to his feet, already in motion to get back into the fight.
Minato jumped, his feet and fist lashing out with deadly accuracy, but his attacks slipped through Obito like he was nothing but empty air. Naruto joined the fight with a roaring rasengan, sharpened with wind and fire. It glowed with a brilliant light, like the white-hot steel in the hands of an experienced smith before it was forged into the sharpest sword. It shrieked as it bit into the air, and Naruto slammed it against the Uchiha's chest, but it wasn't able to make solid contact. It slipped through his chest easily, meeting no resistance until it hit the ground under Obito.
One of Naruto's shadow clones popped into existence, sacrificing itself to stop one of Obito's attack aiming at Minato's blind spot, vanishing soon after as it was struck in the middle of his face. Its original whirled to the side to face with their opponent and immediately threw himself at him.
There was no need for big or fancy jutsu; only speed counted in this battle. And in that, they had the upper hand. They just hadn't figured out how to utilize their advantage, or more specifically, how they could force Obito to remain solid for enough time for at least one of their attacks to reach him.
Minato glanced at his son, meeting his eyes and holding the gaze for a moment, then nodding as he saw the understanding that flashed through them. Before the battle they'd gone over several tactics for how they could force Obito to leave them an opening, and now was the time to put them into motion.
Naruto reached into his pocket and fished out a small piece of paper. He inched closer to the battling duo, and when Minato jumped backward to gain some space, Naruto slammed the tag down on the soil. A faint blue barrier flickered to life immediately around Obito, the inside already chirping with the unleashed electricity as it danced between the four sides and Obito's body. A compact storm trapped with as much thunderbolts as the small seal was able to handle without the need of too much preparation and with super-duper-fast activation. At least, that was what Minato called it.
The energy sparked against Obito's skin, thousands of volts dancing between his body and the outer part of the barricade. Naruto furrowed his brows as after one single spasm of his arms, the Uchiha stilled inside the storm, eyes darting over the two blonds in triumph.
The power howled once again inside the barrier, which flinched and unceremoniously collapsed, leaving behind a faint smell of ozone and an unfazed Uchiha. Only the slight, almost invisible twitch of his right shoulder and the annoyance in his eyes indicated that he'd gotten hit at all.
"You're bothersome," Obito muttered at Naruto, slowly moving his shoulder and testing the muscles. He suddenly stopped and dashed toward Naruto with just as much velocity and rage as the blond did only minutes ago. Naruto immediately rolled out of his way, a half-formed rasengan already whirling in his right hand, but he was forced to stop. Zetsu emerged from the ground at his feet, forcing him to pause in his motion for a second to avoid him, then suddenly he felt it. It wasn't a punch, nor pain, but a twist deep inside his gut, bending his body in an unnatural way.
He tried to jump, tried to move, but he was robbed of the opportunity.
The dimensions already spiraled over his body, sucking him inside.
Minato sucked in a long breath and let it go together with the real name of his son, not caring who would hear it, already rushing toward his former student. Obito hummed cheekily, and followed Naruto into the other dimension.
Minato froze on the spot Obito had vanished, mind already whirling to find his son's Hiraishin seal. But just like during the previous game of tag, it was a lost cause. And this time they didn't reappear at the other side of the cave. Obito purposefully separated them and wouldn't let Naruto go, carefully keeping the gates closed.
"Obito was right. Your brother causes too much trouble," a dry voice rasped next to Minato, and he immediately turned his attention toward Zetsu, carefully observing as it slowly emerged from the hard ground. It was the first time Minato was able to face the real creature and finally see it for himself. Naruto had already told him about it, but facing it was different than imaging him. It was so similar to the other clones but still different, more defined, but also more sinister. The white half of its split face grinned, the other dark half not mirroring the emotion at all. "I like him you know. He's funny," another voice chirped, very different from the previous one which immediately barked back, "Shut up."
"Where did Obito take him?!" Minato roared, but he didn't wait for an answer. A kunai flickered and danced in his hand before it landed next to Zetsu. Then Minato was gone. A millisecond later the Kage reappeared next to the stunned creature, putting more weight to his question by a whirling rasengan. Zetsu twisted to the side, but the whirling chakra ball still bit into his flesh, tearing out a big chunk from his side. Zetsu stumbled, but he was still able to catch himself as he staggered backwards.
Minato's eyes darted over his side where he landed the direct hit, but underneath the torn fabric he found a smooth white surface where he had expected to see bloody chunks and accusingly pointing rib bones. His eyes narrowed as Zetsu straightened, the wound healing with the faint hissing of steam. The lacerated edges slowly merged until the gash was completely sealed shut without any hint of the previous gaping trauma.
"I'll ask you one more time. Where is Obito?" Minato raised one of his special kunai, taking a threatening step forward. Zetsu mirrored the motion backward.
"In one fell swoop you've ruined an extensively prepared strategy. I knew everything about you; I watched your every step. You shouldn't know about this place. You shouldn't know about Obito or about his abilities. And you and the shinobi from the other villages should have hated each other." Zetsu glanced around eyeing the foreign shinobi one by one, before turning back to Minato. "Yet, here you are, fighting by each other's sides. I'm curious." The creature tilted his head to the side, emphasizing his own words. "That boy… who is he really?"
"I thought you knew everything, Zetsu," Minato mocked, spinning one of his kunai on his finger. "Now you can choose: You can answer my question willingly, or I can make you answer."
Naruto stumbled as he materialized in the other dimension and hit something hard. He blinked out the sudden pain and realized with wide eyes that he was surrounded by cubes. Naruto glanced around in hurry, but there was nothing around him besides the randomly arranged and differently-sized cuboids. He narrowed his eyes in the dark, waiting for them to adjust and spot the edge of the blackness, but the void was seemingly endless.
He wasn't able to enjoy the sightseeing undisturbed. He had to jump out of the way to avoid one of Obito's attacks as a giant shuriken rushed straight toward his heart and dug itself into the hard ground where he'd been standing just a moment ago
Naruto settled down on top of the highest cuboid, eyes already roving to spot his attacker, but he failed to locate Obito. Narrowing his eyes, he tapped into the power that Kurama was more than eager to provide. His azure eyes slowly transformed, his pupils slitting into a narrow vertical line, his irises gradually molding from vibrant blue, passing through the whole colour wheel until it settled at a shining golden shade.
He felt it almost immediately: a familiar nudging feeling at the back of his head, tugging his senses toward a place where a second ago he had felt nothing. But now, the ominous presence pulsed, almost radiated.
The power started to grow more and more restless inside him now that he had provoked it. He thought about restraining it for a second, but he dismissed it and it continued stretching under his skin until it broke through his veins. A golden inferno of pure energy roared to life around his body, flames viciously flickering on his shoulder, blazing against his chest.
Naruto let out a growl that ferociously bubbled out from the depths of his chest. With a flicker of chakra, he surged toward Obito's hiding place, and with one simple swing of his chakra enhanced arm, he demolished the unnatural formation. Dust and debris rained all over the place, blinding his sight but not his senses. He felt as Obito slipped away, then settled down a few blocks away.
The dust gradually cleared and revealed a giant crater where a second ago the majestic block had stood, Naruto standing with his arms defiantly crossed over his chest in the middle of the destruction. The closer smaller cubes slipped to the side and collapsed, burrowing and crashing the others in their way, increasing the damage even more. Naruto's intent with the punch wasn't to actually hurt, but to channel down some of his frustration.
Obito disappeared from his previous spot only to gradually rematerialized on top of another cube further away to survey the damage from a safe distance , finally facing Naruto. He let out a humm and mimicked the blond, folding his hands over his chest.
Each waited for the other to make the next move, Naruto uncharacteristically refusing to blindly rush ahead like a bull. Even if Obito was Naruto's red baize. The first time Naruto saw him, his mind had emptied for a second only to be refilled with something else, something foreign to him, a feeling he until now despised with all his heart. Anger, rage and... vengeance. Vengeance that suddenly bubbled out from the depths of his consciousness, melting away his sanity and everything he held dear.
And he was afraid of it. Afraid of this unfamiliar emotion, afraid of the foreign concept, afraid to move on to a different path.
He chose another way, completely different from Sasuke's. He wanted to forgive Obito's sins, he wanted to heal and move on, but now that he was finally facing the man here and now, he found himself unable to do so. He gulped down his whirling feelings and anxiety and narrowed his gaze when Obito's lonely but still piercing sharingan, hardened under the cold surface of the mask.
"This feeling," the Uchiha mused, chewing on the last word. "I know this chakra, but it's different. I'm sure in one thing, though. You should not have it. The Kyuubi has been housed by Kushina and is not held by someone like you."
Naruto raised his shoulder in the attempt to let it drop casually, but he paused halfway. "Does it actually matter, bastard?" he hissed with more venom he'd originally intended, voice dipping not with anger, but with annoyance.
The man's shoulders shook in what Naruto took to mean laughter, and he shrugged. "No. Not really. You've only made my job much easier."
"Easier for what?" Naruto quirked a questioning eyebrow.
"Easier to capture the Kyuubi."
"Try it," Naruto snarled. He wanted to continue, he wanted to be cocky, to just jump and land a hard punch in the middle of Obito's face. But instead he shoved his impulsiveness down, relaxed his posture, and let out a sigh. "I know why you're doing this."
"Oh?" Obito raised one arm and tapped the side of his mask. The motion would have been cheeky if there weren't been the ice cold tone that unmercifully cut through the silence "Then tell me."
Naruto hesitated, but only for a second. "You want Rin back. That I understand. But the path you chose is wrong, and I don't know why the hell you chose it. You and I, we're the same, ya know? More than you realize. I know your pain, your longing. I know how much it hurts."
"I don't know you, and you don't know me. You know nothing," Obito hissed and defiantly folded his arms in front of his chest.
"You're wrong Obito. I know you. I know about your past. I know about your rivalry with Kakashi, about your feelings for Rin." Naruto took a small step toward the tensed and now silent boy and continued with more confidence when Obito didn't back from his slow approach.
"Do you think Rin would be happy with this? Do you think she would want you to do this for her, that she would approve what you're doing? What you're planning to do? Do you understand that stealing the Kyuubi from Kushina would kill her? Minato would fight to save her until his last breath." Naruto narrowed his eyes and let out a calming breath and continued, "I know Rin wouldn't want their deaths. She would be angry. Ashamed. Disappointed. Betrayed. You would hurt her. If you stay on this route, you're not only going to kill them, but you'll bring destruction to the whole word. You'll kill thousands trying to capture the nine bijuu," Naruto said, forcing his body to relax even if every single nerve along with Kurama screamed at him to prepare for something to come.
"Then just let me capture you," the man barked flatly, his arms already rising, hands clapping together with a ram sign. "Be a good boy and stay here while I get rid of that annoying bunch you brought here."
Naruto's eyes widened, this time in alarm, as Obito's body bent, twisted, and disappeared inside a whirling vortex. He swept his head around, chakra flaring to sense the Uchiha but failing completely. Everything was empty and silent. He was left alone in the endless black abyss.
Minato whirled to the side a second before Zetsu tried to strike him in the middle. The air rushed out of his lungs as he dashed toward his attacker the moment his toes touched the soil. He twisted in midair and gave a gentle tap at his enemy's shoulder, landing in front of him to deliver a punch. His opponent wasn't aware, but a small, invisible seal slipped from his fingertips to settle down where he had touched Zetsu's shoulder: a safe landing point for the future.
Minato's lips slightly turned upward in triumph as the seal silently pulsed together with his own heartbeat. However for a moment, he found another seal, a faint flickering one he had been desperately looking for since his son disappeared. He immediately grabbed onto the dim signal, desperately hanging onto the weak connection like his life depended on it.
The air suddenly shivered in front of Minato, and he flinched several steps backward, losing the connection as soon Obito completely materialized. He let out a low growl and launched one of his kunai at his old student. However, it harmlessly passed through him. But his act wasn't fruitless. The moment the weapon should have touched Obito, the connection between Minato and Naruto's seal pulsed weakly for just a moment before it faded back to oblivion.
Minato narrowed his eyes as his mind's gears turned. He swept his feet farther apart and rushed toward Obito like a bull while launching a continuous rain of kunai at his opponent. As the first weapon reached the Uchiha, the hokage also reached for Naruto's faint seal. With a vigorous flicker of his chakra, he grabbed it, fueling the connection and pulling it closer and closer until he was able to tune it properly. Another flicker of his essence and he was gone from the dimension to join his son's side once again.
Obito straightened and swept his eyes over the place when he sensed movement. Several shinobi approached him slowly, cautiously forming and closing a circle around him and Zetsu. No other clones were left standing. Every single one of them was lying on the ground, dead or unconscious. Another ninja from Sand joined, the circle becoming smaller and smaller around them with each passing second. Narrowing his eyes at the incoming threat, Obito kept his gaze on the nearest and most dangerous ninja.
Jiraiya kept his hands on a ram seal. The Uchiha was literally able to feel as the potent chakra restlessly buzzed inside the Sannin. He inched closer, eyes narrowed into angry slits. He was only mere meters away, when Zetsu narrowed his own eyes. It was enough. Jiraiya let go of the chakra, and his hair exploded. It roared toward the two men like a real lion would, fangs of white, deadly needles ready to tear into their flesh.
The mismatched man immediately sunk into the ground while the attack harmlessly passed through Obito. A tentacle shot out this time, demolishing everything which got into its way beside the indifferent Uchiha, who only narrowed his eyes at the harmless attacks.
"We're finished here," Obito stated flatly to the Sannin and glanced behind his back at the reappearing Zetsu. Their eyes met, silently conversing until they followed Minato into the other dimension.
…
Trenchant chakra whirled around Naruto like a real inferno from hell, demolishing one of the innocent cubes in an instant. The blond let out a frustrated growl and punched the hard ground at his feet when nothing happened beside the destruction. He childishly hoped that if he let out enough chakra he would be able to tear through the dimension - just like Obito - and get out of this trap.
Something buzzed at the base of his spine, and a millisecond later, a new presence flickered to life at his back. The jinchuuriki immediately whirled around to greet Obito with a well-aimed punch, but his eyes connected with electric blue instead of angry red. Naruto froze in mid motion, but the momentum didn't let him stop completely. He stumbled and finally halted some steps further. "Hey," Minato greeted him awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
Naruto slowly righted himself and raised his eyes, shining with annoyance and anger, but also with relief. He bounced between punching or hugging his dad for a second before settling on the later. He returned his father's weak greeting with an equally faint, "Hey," which he mumbled into his shoulder.
Naruto let out a sigh and took a step backward. "Not that I'm ungrateful, ya know, but now you're also trapped here." Minato shrugged and glanced around at the foreign place.
"What now? How are we gonna back?" Naruto pushed on the topic, but the Kage took his time and jumped up at the nearest cuboid and landed in a low crouch. The younger let out a sigh and hopped next to his father. "Hey, can you hear me? Or are you ignoring me on purpose?"
"Hush." Minato waved a hand at the annoyed teen and closed his eyes in concentration. He had no time to waste on an explanation. First he had to verify his theory. He hoped that he'd be right. There. A small flicker of one of his seals in the real world, outside of Obito's dimension. Most likely Obito had to dodged an attack. It was short, too undefined for a full body transportation.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and silently observed as Minato's lips turned upward and lowered his hand to gently touch the surface of the cuboid. He felt a small surge of chakra, and he watched as a tiny seal jumped from his fingertips and settled down on the cube. It pulsed for another beat before vanishing from his senses, as though it had never existed at all.
"Whatcha doing?" Naruto whispered, voice waving with interest as he leaned closer to his father.
"I can feel my landing seals when Obito moves between the dimensions," Minato finally explained and jumped to another cuboid to repeat the process, Naruto close on his heels. "That's how I was able to get here in the first place. From now on, I can follow him here, but I need more of my seals on this side."
"Cool," Naruto exhaled with undisguised awe.
Minato straightened and glanced at his companion. "Give me a hand. I need to get as high as we can manage."
The blond nodded, and two clones popped into existence. Their hands immediately folded, creating a human springboard. They patiently waited for Minato to step on it so they could launch him high - which they did a second later. When Minato reached the highest point, he launched a rain of marked kunai in every direction, creating hundreds, easily thousands, of safe landing points for him. Even if Obito tried to get rid of the kunai, he wouldn't be able to spot all of them in a short period of time.
Minato landed in a crouch with a soft thud, and he turned toward Naruto with a wide and satisfied grin on his face. "Done. But we have to time this perfectly. If we want to leave this dimension we have to finish him on the other side. I can only sense my seals on the other side when Obito travels between the real world and this one."
"And what if he doesn't come back?" Naruto slapped his cheeks with a rising fluster, his voice shaking in worry. "What if we're stuck here forever?!" He started to pace up and down as he continued to travel down on the path toward panic.
"He'll come," Minato stated, his voice calm and controlled as he followed his son's frantic march with his eyes, a small smile shadowing his lips. But his voice did calm Naruto down just a bit, and he stopped, if only for a second, before his eyes widened.
"What about the others?!" Naruto suddenly yelled and grabbed his father's shoulder with more force he had originally intended, his fingers digging into the Kage's flesh, making him wince.
"They can take care of themselves. They're pretty strong," Minato answered while he pried his son's fingers from him. He suddenly froze when something nudged the back of his head. It was like a faint flicker in his mind, a small ripple; then the feeling suddenly exploded, and for a fraction of a second he clearly sensed thousands of his seals at the other dimension. The pain hit him immediately with the speed of his own hiraishin. It stabbed into the back of his head, gone as fast as it had come. A haggard groan escaped his tightly clenched jaw and swept his eyes over the place, looking for the Uchiha. Naruto's brows knitted together in worry, but feeling his father's sudden unease, he also prepared for an attack.
Naruto reached for Kurama's chakra, a small flame flickering on his shoulder. He still glanced at his father from time to time to make sure he was alright. He spotted them instantly. The disgusting sticky feeling of dripping malice. He narrowed his eyes and nodded toward the nearest cube, and Minato understood the motion immediately. He edged next to his son to face their opponents. Their tendons were tight, ready to avoid a strike or start their own attack.
They didn't have to wait long, Obito's voice cut through the cold silence of the anticipation in the air, its edge raspy and coarse. "Minato is correct. You should worry about yourselves."
The two blonds tensed even more, their muscles creaking from the pressure as Obito and Zetsu step out from the safe shadows of a cuboid, the Uchiha silently sweeping his eyes over the place, leisurely regarding each marked kunai in their way until they stopped.
They both took a step backward to gain more space. Naruto inhaled and let it out, steadying his breathing and his body to borrow nature's power around them. Nothing moved for a long second, but also no power surged into Naruto's body. There were no animals, no trees, no soil, nothing around them which contained sage chakra. Everything was dead. Naruto's eyes flickered between the two, and he let out a low growl when Zetsu's mismatched lips turned upward into a knowing and mocking grin.
The blond narrowed his eyes and let Kurama's power free. First flickered under his skin, then it exploded into a golden inferno, even brighter than the Sun itself. Naruto whirled, while Kurama's full power roared to life. At that, they hurtled into action like a sprinter at the sound of a gun.
Minato burst toward Obito, and they disappeared from his sight in an instant. At the same moment, Naruto jumped toward Zetsu, Kurama's flames hungrily licking his body as he dashed forward. He raised a chakra arm, and an ebony-black ball roared to life between its fingers. He thrust it forward, and it hit solid flesh. The attack bit into the creature's snow white muscle, tearing away a big chunk from his chest, but it suddenly stopped. With an angry hiss, he pushed more, and the bijuu dama finally moved - but only an inch before stopping again, the power inside it disappearing.
Naruto glanced up at his opponent to meet his eyes, his face uncaring, almost bored. He gathered more chakra and forced it further with another inch tearing away more of the artificial white muscle. Zetsu did not howl, nor did he stir. He only narrowed his eyes, slowly, almost lazily raising his black arm, his fingers curling around Naruto's extended arm.
The blond blinked in surprise as Zetsu's until-then stoic face morphed into a wide grin. Something stirred inside him, and it wasn't only Kurama but an ominous flinch in his gut, a feeling that he had to get out of his reach as soon as possible. He desperately tried to tear his arm away from the creature's hold but failed miserably; Zetsu's iron grip was immovable. He felt a yank inside his chakra coils, and the golden flames shuddered and faded around him. Naruto violently jerked, his power rapidly disappearing, his head suddenly spinning and too heavy to keep upright, his knees quickly growing weaker.
Ink black twines sprouted out of the black arm, and Naruto watched it, horrified as they writhed on his skin, hesitated for a second, then suddenly lunged at his arm and broke through his skin. The pain wasn't much more than a mosquito bite when it ruptured, but it did hurt when the vines started moving inside. Naruto could feel them as they rubbed against his muscles while they were tapping, searching for something. He fell on his knees from the binding pain when they finally found their prey deep inside his flesh and attached themselves to his chakra coils to suck him dry of his energy.
With his fading reserves and consciousness, he reached into his deepest part to gather enough chakra for one last, desperate attack. He wouldn't be able to throw it, but he trusted that Kurama would be able to deal with the damage he was about to cause himself.
The chakra stirred in his palm, weak and barely visible but still enough to form a slowly whirling ball. Then he reached for more, grabbed onto it, tugged on it, forged then blended it into the orb and thrust his wind chakra-augmented Rasengan toward Zetsu's arm still attached to his own.
The technique trilled like a bird; he could feel the slight wave of it on his palms before it exploded. Blinding white light overwhelmed his vision and the never ending darkness of the void around them, illuminating parts of it which probably hadn't been touched by light for millennia.
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut. The light literally burnt his irises, and it hurt more and more with every single second as wind chakra bit into them, even though they were shrouded by his eyelashes. But thankfully he also felt as the twines snapped one by one, and Zetsu's grip disappeared when the last one broke. He stumbled out of the attack's reach, but he could still feel the hundreds of razor sharp wind blades that had drilled into his flesh. Finally the attack died down, and the word around him stilled.
He slowly opened his eyes when he heard no movement, but the only thing he saw was a blurry mess: a great green blob with spots of brown and an even bigger blue and white smudge above that. His arm ached in a calculable pattern, a familiar rhythm in sync with his own heartbeat.
An all too recognizable sound buzzed next to his ear, and Obito's leaking malice kicked him harder than one of Sakura's punches. He took a step to gain space but tripped on a lonely rock. He could hear the air shimmer next to him, caused by the Uchiha's technique.
He tensed and readied himself for an attack when there was a faint thud and lashed out when someone touched him. But his strike was stopped by a hand, warm and familiar, and the world twisted around him. His stomach and mind whirled restlessly as they jumped between the dimensions. It had been awhile since Minato had used the Hiraishin on him, but he still welcomed this twisted feeling with relief. When his feet eventually met with solid ground, he couldn't hold up his weight in his disorientation, and he crumpled to the ground with a loud thump, the soft grass and moss under his cheek feeling more comfortable and inviting than it should have been. He hungrily inhaled the sweet, living scent of nature around him after having experienced the sterile and isolated emptiness of Obito's pocket dimension.
But he wasn't able to enjoy the stillness for long.
There was a whistling sound near him, the noise of Obito's dimension opening, twisting, and swirling closed. He rolled in the other direction, away from the buzz as fast as he could to gain as much distance between him and Obito he can only managed.
Weapons chimed with a high pitched noise at the place he was previously occupied, there was a scratching as a kunai didn't met with another one but something different, then something cracked.
Finally he felt Kurama's chakra stirring, filling his nearly emptied coils and worming its way toward the injury in his eyes and arm and the pain slowly lessened.
He desperately hurled once more to the side when he heart a soft thud on the green grass as someone landed beside him, but he stopped with his next inhale. He still wasn't able to see the figure clearly with his still stinging eyes and boisterous mind, but his father's scent was unmistakable. The smell of crispy green cucumber and freshly cut grass. He shook his head and blinked out the haze of his eyes. He let a sour grimace spread across his face when he forced himself into a sitting position, the motion was followed by his muscles harsh protest.
Minato griped his arm, but as soon he saw Naruto's harsh wince at the contact he loosened his hold on him, his eyebrows shooting up in worry, "Are you alright?"
Naruto let out another wince while Minato lifted him up as gently as much he can. "Yeah, but here's a piece of advice; never ever let the black things touch you." Minato finally hoisted him up, his hands supporting him until Naruto shook them off.
Kurama's power was stretching inside him, slowly filling him up from head to toe, until it finally filled up his aching arm, sewing together broken tissues and easing out his pain and weariness almost completely. He blinked rapidly and with each flutter his vision was clearer until it was perfect. Only a faint shadow remained, a small and constant tension, a reminder of what had happened.
He was unprepared. Despite his previous experience, his power, Madara's second violinist was almost able to render him completely helpless. He hadn't known about Zetsu's chakra-absorbing power. That was new to him. Maybe a new technique, or maybe it was there before he just haven't got the opportunity to use it against Naruto in the past. Future. Whatever.
He shook his head and let out a low, frustrated growl, and it resonated through his whole body as Kurama joined him the moment Obito and Zetsu stepped in synch in front of them. Their postures were relaxed, superior, and even Naruto wasn't able to see under Obito's mask he could feel the mocking grin under it.
He didn't understand. He didn't understand it at all. He was powerful. He was much stronger than Obito was when he saw as Kakashi killed him, but still. He couldn't beat him. He couldn't even beat Zetsu. A small fly, a nobody. And here he was, with the power of not one, but easily two or more Kage, but still beaten, tired and drained of his chakra. And Minato? He was able to win against Obito in the past but now he couldn't. Naruto couldn't shake off the agitation, the uncertainty and the feeling that something was utterly wrong. But he didn't have to physically beat the Uchiha. He wasn't here for that.
His eyes fall on the vicious orange mask and his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of a long crack on its surface. The edges were sharp, it's line straight, the telltaling mark of a kunai slash Minato had left behind. Now the previous scratching noise finally made sense to him. He sneaked a peek at his father's narrowed eyes and swept his head back when the Uchiha shifted at the edge of his vision. The mask let out another high and pained scream, the cracks multiplying and widening on its surface with the small movement. A small orange piece fell on his shoulder, several more losing their hold.
The Uchiha narrowed his eyes. "I've already used up too much time and energy on you. This time it will be over."
Without a second thought Naruto took a small step forward and this finally focused his mind back toward the battle. The Uchiha tilted his head to the side, another piece falling to the ground from his mask, watching him curiously, waiting for his next move. Naruto didn't charge, he didn't gather chakra; he simply wet his dry lips to speak after a calming exhale. "Stop it Obito. You can still turn around. You just lost your way. Come back. I'll show you the right path. There's still a lot of things worth living for." Naruto raised a welcoming hand.
The Uchiha let out a snort and snarled, "I told you before, I have no home. And there's nothing worth living for in this reality."
This time it was Minato's turn to take a step and fall in line with Naruto. "Didn't you want to become Hokage, Obito? Isn't that goal worth living for?"
"Are you trying to lecture me now? Isn't it a bit too late… sensei?" Obito paused for a second, while his arm slowly inched toward his mask. Another small shard fell as a finger touched its surface and he continued, his voice sour, "However you're always late when It's important. You're never there when you're needed. First, you let me die." A finger slipped between cold porcelain mask and warm skin and with snail's pace pulled on it. The material screamed one last time, the false face gradually crumbling away with each small motion of his fingers as he leisurely picked at the shards and let them fall on the ground.
First the upper part was gone, revealing a scarred and wrinkling forehead, eyebrows knitted into one coherent line by anger. Obito continued to remove his useless mask shard by shard, gradually revealing a single black and crimson pinwheel in his eye socket, burning with hatred and despise.
Minato flinch a step backward, to the same place he'd been before. His breathing was laboured, his lungs whistled with every exhale.
Obito tensed his muscles in his arm, fingers curling under the last intact part of his mask, and he tore it from his face with one swift and frustrated movement, finally revealing his whole face. His lips scrunched up into a snarl, revealing his tooth as he spat, "But most importantly, you let Rin die!"
Minato violently jerked backward another step, almost stumbling away from the raw emotion, the rage in Obito's eyes. Knowing it was Obito behind the mask was hard. But facing him, seeing the deep scars on his face, the skin scrunching up in deep wrinkles. But most importantly the face twisted by disgust, hatred and despise.
"That's not true!" Naruto yelped and stepped to the side, shielding Minato from Obito and his accusing glare.
The Uchiha let out a humourless chuckle."But it is true. He wasn't even denying it."
Naruto glanced over his shoulder at his father. The man's eyes were still wide, his face mortified, but silent, subdued. He turned his gaze back at Obito. "If it was Minato's fault, then it was my fault, too. I swore to Kakashi I'd protect Rin."
"Kakashi also let her die," Obito bit back, arms curled into fists at his side with rage. "And you... when this is over, I'll extract the Kyuubi and end this world. And then I'll be able to see her again."
This kicked Minato out of his temporary stasis. His eyes sharpened and his posture was righted. He took a step forward, pushing Naruto out of his way. "Do you know why Rin died? Because I know. She went to find you." Obito narrowed his eyes, but didn't move from his spot. So Minato continued. "It's true that I was the one who sent her on a mission to Kusa where she left the team to search for you. I saw the reports. I even went there. And I know you were also there. You were the one who killed the missing nin who stabbed her. And he killed her because of vengeance."
"Your point is?" Obito asked.
"His point is," Naruto continued instead of Minato. "That it wasn't his fault. It wasn't my fault. And it wasn't even your fault. It wasn't anybody's fault. It was because of the circle of hatred. And the only one who can stop hatred is you. With forgiveness."
Obito stood in silence, rolling the thought over and over, before his lip twisted up in a sour half-smile, pulling his scars into a disturbing grimace, then it along with every trace of emotion vanished from his face as he glanced at Minato. "Yes, sensei, you were right. I was there. I saw when he attacked her. I saw all the hatred in his eyes and I stopped him, before he could reach Rin. I didn't kill him, only restrained the shinobi. I'd fully intended to kill him, but Rin begged for his life. She pleaded for me to not to hurt him, and I let him leave and spared his worthless life. Do you know what happened the that moment he was free?" Naruto shook his head.
"He attacked me the moment I let his hands go. And when I struck back at him do you know what happened after? "Naruto gritted his teeth, already knowing he won't like the answer, as Obito continued, "Rin, the sweet and innocent girl jumped between him and my the attack! I couldn't stop. It was me who killed her! I was the one who stabbed her! It gave me great pleasure to tear the missing nin into tiny pieces afterwards! So don't preach about forgiveness!"
Obito's chakra flared, vicious and dangerous, sharingan whirling in their socket as he lashed straight at Minato. A kunai glinted in the late afternoon light, the sparks ominously dancing on its surface.
The Kage narrowed his eyes, all of his uncertainty vanishing as the seriousness of the situation slammed home. He swept his legs to gain hold, a hand raising, electric blue chakra already whirling in his hand, twisting and arching until it was blended into a perfect sphere. He lurched.
Naruto tensed, watching with wide eyes, waiting for the two to collide at the middle of the clearing and readied himself to help out his father in that moment that seemed to stretch on endlessly. His limbs jerked, aching to jump and help his father, but restrained himself to meddle.
The two fighters finally met, Kunai thrusted forward, sharingan whirled, and rasengan roared. Then time suddenly righted itself, jerking from the former snail's pace, then speeding up until everything was happening faster than the speed of light.
During the time Naruto blinked, the engagement was over. Both Minato and Obito stood frozen some steps away from each other, back to back, hands still extended in their attacks' last motion. Naruto let out the breath he was until now holding back, his eyes darting over Obito, who let his arm fall. Naruto's eyes widened when Obito's lips twitched and turned upward in triumph.
A thick, greasy and metallic stench hit his nose at the same moment Minato's knees bucked. The Kage swayed, took an unsteady step to right his balance, but failed and collapsed on his knees.
Naruto acted without thinking. His muscles twitched, joints bended, tendons strained and he jumped.
But failed.
Twines shot out from the ground and snapped around his ankle, slamming him hard into the soil, dazing his head and before he comprehended what happened, they'd wreathed around his body, binding him from head to to. His head cleared in the next second, his eyes wide in horror, plastered on the scene evolving in front of him.
His father was on his knees, Obito slowly circling around him and closing the distance centimeter by centimeter. The Uchiha stopped, raised an arm and touched Minato's shoulder, the motion unrealistically gentle. "Sensei, you forgot a very important lesson..." Obito playfully pushed him and Minato silently tumbled to the side, his body twisting as he rolled down on the small bump of the forest ground. Naruto was finally able to see his face, frozen in his last emotion, features twisted by bewilderment, his eyes wide, but unseeing, foggy.
"Never look directly into an Uchiha's eye," Obito exhaled, voice smug and mocking, but Naruto didn't hear it. He was focused on his father's blood-soaked coat, on the blinding crimson against the white fabric which hurt Naruto's eyes but couldn't avert them from it, and the strain became bigger and bigger with every beat of Minato's heart. The grass blades were glinting with the crimson essence as they swayed when Obito stepped next to him, crouched, grabbed a handful of his matted but unstained hair and lifted Minato's head, exposing his neck.
The blond immediately struggled against his bonds, jerking and twitching, his harsh and ragged breathing echoing, but stopped dead again when Obito's voice knifed through the air, voice low and dangerous. "You think, that I still care for this word?"
"No," Naruto exhaled in a low voice, dipping in despair, but Obito didn't spare him a single glance.
A kunai appeared in Obito's hand and shakily settled down on Minato's exposed and weekly pulsing artery. "I'm going to prove..." The Uchiha stated, this time his voice a bit unsteady. He wasn't even talking to him, Naruto dimly realized. The muscles twitched in Obito's hands, and the kunai moved and experimentally nibbled the skin, drawing a small droplet of the already waning burgundy essence.
The droplet slowly slid down on the blade, stopped on the barrel to unsteadily balance on it, before losing and falling on the ground with an unnaturally loud splash. Obito's lips morphed into a twisted smile, eyes losing the last glint of doubt together with the last shreds of sanity, "I'm going to prove that I don't care anymore." Obito prepared for the final slash, but the motion was left unfinished.
Hell broke loose as Naruto ripped free. His mind emptied, snapped, overwhelmed by the devastating rage and he let everything go, letting it consume him and everything around him.
Zetsu's twines melted away in an instant as the blazing chakra exploded from his skin, rampaging like a golden wildfire over the field, scorching the ground and everything in its way, leaving behind nothing more than white-hot coal.
He crashed into Obito, sweeping him from his legs and dragging him away from the still motionless Minato.
They collided with the hard ground, and Naruto didn't even registering the pain in his ankle as it snapped into a wrong angle, then immediately back. His mind was still numb, chakra flipping around him, growing until it became almost solid. He raised a hand to strike, fingers curling around nothing, then in the next moment a small, ink-black dot flickered to life, rapidly growing until it fit into his hand.
Zetsu jumped on Naruto, arms folding around his chest to restrain his movements, its unnaturally white skin hissed as they touched the boiling energy. He let down the last of his dam and the word behind him became a blazing inferno. Zetsu immediately let him go while he let out one last cry, but his body was consumed by the overwhelming heat until nothing was left behind than faintly smoking coil.
Naruto spared one last glance at the scarred creature and slammed the ebony ball into Obito's chest. It went through him harmlessly and bit into the ground, spitting out chunks of the scarred ground. Obito slipped through him, his motion unsteady, steps wobbly, still dizzy from the previous impact. He stumbled and almost collapsed, but grabbed a hold on himself in the last moment. Naruto didn't hesitate or even pause to think.
There was a flicker of gold, the sound of a blast and tearing and Obito collapsed on the ground, Naruto standing above him, eyes and features emotionless, the last shards of the bijuudama flickering out in his hands.
The Uchiha's chest quivered, his lungs whistling. His eyes staring up at him in disbelief, flickering between crimson and black then settled on the later, while a hand shakily rose toward Naruto.
Naruto's eyes left his face and darted toward the giant hole in his chest, then toward the raised hand, waiting for him to grab it, maybe seeking acceptance or forgiveness, but Naruto didn't move, couldn't make himself to move. This time he couldn't make him forgive. The moment Minato's life was on the line he'd thrown out his beliefs. For the first time since Pein's invasion, he wanted to hurt, to tear and take his vengeance.
It was Obito's fault. Everything was his fault. All the suffering he'd had to go through from the beginning of his childhood until today. He'd killed his parents, his master, his friends. He hunted down the bijuu and killed so many innocent people.
"R-Rin," Obito finally managed to choke out in a guttural voice. Naruto's eyes flickered back to Obito's face and his lips twisted into a silent snarl revealing his fangs. His body was still trembling from the adrenalin, his heart loudly pounding against his ribs, but he couldn't find the happiness, nor the bliss of victory he thought would come. There was only cold emptiness. Maybe this was what vengeance felt like, this was the feeling Sasuke had been chasing the whole time.
It was disappointing. His heart was so hollow he hardly understand its harsh beating. He should have been happy, satisfied. He had won. But this was a sour victory.
Obito let out a low choked sound and desperately tried to drew in breath, but it was in avail. His hands started to tremble, but he kept it up stubbornly until his last drop of energy was about to run out and it faltered. "R-Rin. I'm s-sorry," he choked out, his fluttering hand clenching and unclenching around nothing in despair, then it twitched and dropped a little. His eyes widened in horror, twisting his features into pure terror.
And Naruto could finally see the teenager, lonely and terrified of his fate and dying alone. The blond was ashamed of himself. Ashamed of his previous feelings, of his desire for revenge, since the broken body in front of him wasn't of a monster's but a dreading teenager's, used and twisted until he'd completely lost himself. Used as a weapon for selfish goals.
Obito's arms faltered once more and this time Naruto, reached out and grasped them. They were icy against his own still-burning skin. He slowly sank down onto his knees, but received no reaction from the boy at all for a while.
Obito's eyes finally flickered up, first in confusion, then as he gradually comprehended the touch, in gratitude.
"I'm here," Naruto murmured, so low he wasn't sure Obito heard it, but the boy's fingers twitched with his last effort, his lips turning upward, his scars smoothing out on his face, then he went limp. Naruto tightened his hold, but this time he didn't get a reaction. He did it again, but the result was the same.
Naruto let out a breath, but it sounded much more a choked sound than an exhale. His shoulders slumped as he slowly pried his fingers open, silently watching as Obito's arm slipped out from it, failing next to his lifeless body.
It was over.
Naruto couldn't avert his gaze from the slowly cooling body, not until he heard a pained moan.
He rushed toward it, falling on his knees beside Minato, eyes darting over his body. His clothes were smoking from his previous chakra burst, the edges burnt by the overwhelming heat, but the real injury was a long gash was across his stomach. It was still oozing blood, but thankfully much less than before.
"What happened? Where's Obito?" Minato huffed out between two unsteady breaths, but Naruto didn't answer, nor met his father's eyes. Instead he fished out a small scroll from his pocket and flicker of chakra later a small medikit appeared.
Minato's eyes darted to the side toward Zetsu's coaled body, then dash toward the limb body in a black coat a little bit further. He couldn't sense any chakra. "You did the right thing." Minato gently exhaled, but it only made Naruto more tensed. His father let out another pained hiss as Naruto help him to sit, pushed his shirt up, to inspect the injury and patch him up.
"I wanted to save him, not kill him," Naruto whispered, shame at what he'd done creeping up all over again.
"He was too strong. You couldn't let him live," Minato pushed.
"Yeah, he was too strong..." He shut his mouth with an audible click and stayed in silence afterward. He worked silently, but efficiently until he was ready. He stayed on his knees, shoulders slumped and he couldn't get rid of a sinking feeling from his stomach. It was all wrong. Everything was so utterly wrong. It shouldn't be like this. He didn't want vengeance, he should have saved that damn Uchiha. He knew he'd be able to do it. To talk him out of his obsession.
"Hey," Minato stated and Naruto's eyes flickered up to him, "You shouldn't look so sober. You managed to travel back in time and save the word."
Naruto furrowed his brows, but didn't answer, instead averted his eyes back at his knees. He had just sacrificed one life for the lives of hundred thousands. Did he really saved the word? Did he change anything? He failed, falling into the circle of hatred. He killed Obito for vengeance. He didn't feel like he had accomplished anything. Everything felt just utterly wrong.
"Not everyone could have done that," Minato pushed. "I mean, I still don't get how you were able to travel back in time in the first place."
Naruto narrowed his eyes even more, "I already told you, I don't remember. I fought with the real Madara and I shot my last rasengan at him as a diversion to use the modified Shiki Fuin. Then I was here. Who knows? Maybe the Death God gave me one last chance. Maybe I just messed up the seal. I don't think we'll ever know."
Naruto shrugged and let out a tired sigh, his mind wondering back to his last fight with Madara. His mocking expression, his cocky tone; "You can't win against me. You are wounded and exhausted, while I'm still untouched." He remembered as his hand shot forward, releasing a kunai, sharpened with wind chakra. The bastard didn't even bother to duck in his arrogance, he simply tilted his head to the side to let the blade pass. The chakra which covered his blade stretched out, drawing a thin red line on the Uchiha's arrogant face. His smile grew into a grin when the first droplet of crimson liquid flowed down his chin and dropped to the ground with an unnaturally loud splash.
Naruto shook his head to get rid of the memory, and his gaze traveled up toward the now almost brown blood stain on Minato's coat. His right hand moved toward his cheek unconsciously at the exact same place he remembered the cut on the smug Uchiha's face. He hadn't even bothered to dodge. A sour half grimace spread across his face, when the memory popped up in his mind, the thin red line, the unnatural loudness when the small drops of crimson liquid dropped to the ground.
"Even Kurama didn't know it how we got here."
And he finally realized something else. The emptiness wasn't only in his heart, but in his mind. There were no muttering, no encouragement or comforting words. Kurama hadn't talked to him since they get their feet into the Mountain's graveyard.
"Kurama?" He hesitantly exhaled, waiting for an answer, but none came. He shot up at his foot, not sparing a glance at his confused father. "Kurama!" he repeated, this time with a hint of panic when he still didn't get a reply.
"I'm here." Kurama finally replied, his voice weak and bewildered, but it was enough to calm Naruto down. "But Naruto… there was blood." The fox's voice was ashamed, low almost not enough to call it a whisper, but it still echoed in his head.
Naruto froze, turning the words over and over. "What?" he exhaled
"Edo tensei don't bleed."
His mind suddenly started to spin, and he made a hesitant wobbling step backward, before simply collapsed back on his knees. Naruto's eyes widened, his heart pumped against his ribs with insane speed while his breathing increased, however no oxygen reached his screaming body. His mind locked out Minato's concerned yels.
Only one word was repeated inside his head, closing out every other thought, everything from his surroundings, only one word echoed back and forth in his mind continuously. 'Blood.' He heard his voice distantly; however he didn't feel that he had opened his mouth to whisper: "Dead people don't bleed."
"What?" Minato blurted, eyes wide, face confused and Naruto finally snapped back and spared a glance at him.
"He bled. Madare had bled." he stated, like it would explain everything. "Madara, he was alive and not a corpse. And that means he was able to seal the Juubi and...But, this isn't..."
"This isn't what I wanted," Naruto dully mumbled, "If this is the Infinite tsukuyomi, then it should have ended differently, but this is wrong, this isn't what I wanted," he repeated grabbing his hair with a hand. "I didn't wanted revenge. I wanted to save him. This isn't right."
"What are you talking about, Naruto?! What does this mean?" Minato asked as he dragged himself closer to his son, who finally glanced down at him.
Naruto observed his father for a long, silent moment, rolling over every single moment since he arrived here in his head. He let out a choked sound, something between a sob and a hysterical laughter. "It means... that this word isn't real, and you...You're also not real."
The word around Naruto suddenly shifted and slipped to the side, Minato's concerned eyes shimmered, then melted into an abstract ice-blue whirl. The green woods behind them mixed together with the soil and with the blue sky, everything slowly swallowed by a spiraling vortex until nothing else could be seen beside a pair of whirling Sharingan, glowing with the sinister color of blood.
Chapter 33. – Under the mask
Author's Note:
You either love me now, or hate me for what I done. :) BUT! I have to clear one thing before you start flaming me. Everything he had done counts and wasn't pointless! You'll see.
Ok, so sorry once again. I know I'm a bastard for letting you hang for so long, but as the end came more and more in sight it became more and more harder to write and link everything together. There is two more chapters until the big dénouement, and most if it still need to be editing and rewriting since I wrote those when I started this story in 2012. (Almost 4 years. Oh damn.) A lot of things happened during this time also with my personal life and also in the manga. So please consider that also.;) I also advise you that read again the 16th chapter before the next one.
You can always find the current status of the upcoming chapters in my profile.
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