Memory 7: One More Time, One More Chance

He could feel it, the end was coming. Naruto wasn't a seer, but he didn't need to be. All of the strongest nations were wiped off the map, smaller nations following.

Now it was Konoha's turn.

Everyone could feel the end coming. His beloved village was already falling into pieces.

ANBU had caught the serial killers far too late, and the fear clouded people's thoughts, grief and anger making his beloved citizens irrational. There were many parents who had to see their healthy children go to the afterlife first, something that made Naruto's heart clench.

With the collapse of her allies, Konoha was running out of supplies fast. Ration stamps were handed out to everyone, no matter what position they held. Shikamaru couldn't smoke anymore, cigarettes were a rare commodity. The Akimichi were already starting to lose weight even though their techniques depended on their large mass. The thought of that clan brought forth the memories of Chouji's funeral and Ino's body-wracking sobs. Why was Chouji so damn kind? Naruto felt crushing despair knowing that Chouji fought to the end, protecting his genin squad with his life while they ran back to Konoha. Chouji had been strong and kind, and it hurt so much to lose another friend who didn't deserve to die.

The small comfort Naruto had was knowing was that he had kicked ass and took names. No one, not even the Council could stop him from fighting anymore. No one could identify the shinobi attacking the entire continent, something that irked Naruto to no end. How was it possible for no one—no one—to identify so many men and women?!

Simple answer? By making sure not a single witness survived. Whoever was responsible for the death of millions didn't have mercy in their vocabulary.

That's why Naruto knew his enemies were so dangerous.

That's why he was constantly in meetings, trying to strategize with Shikamaru and Sasuke on what to do next, Hinata occasionally adding a helpful idea.

It's why he always made sure to read the hospital reports from Sakura and Keiko to see how many casualties occurred.

He had seeked out help from Manami to understand a scroll he found inside a secret compartment of his desk. It was a mysterious scroll, left behind unfinished by his father.

He had found it on the day after Suna had disappeared off the map, but he had no idea of what he needed to do to complete the complex scroll. Manami, thank the gods for her, had walked in after he had stared at it for hours and made a small suggestion. After a few hours, they figured it had something to do with time and second chances, but they both couldn't make much out of all the new symbols used.

Honestly, he was happy she was starting to get out of her apartment now. Grief hadn't disappeared from her green eyes, and her voice was soft from crying out a name that would never answer her desperate calls. She didn't deserve to lose Kakashi so cruelly on the day of their wedding. No one deserves that kind of cruelty.

Standing next to her as the world fell apart, he was grateful she was strong. In fact, all of his friends were strong, so, so strong it hurt to know that they were all fighting demons inside, that they all went to bed with images of the dead in their minds.

Shikamaru would never get to experience living with his daughter or receive an embrace from Temari.

Manami would never be able to kiss Kakashi as he hugged her from behind when she cooked; she could only stare blankly at the man's gravestone.

Hinata could never get the image of her sister's broken body out of her mind, and she'd never be able to show Neji or her father how strong she's grown.

Sasuke was constantly haunted by the memories of his dead clan, and Naruto knew his best friend feared losing anyone else close to him.

As for himself, Naruto barely slept nowadays. He had lost so many friends. Too many friends had lost their lives trying to protect their loved ones. So many died trying to protect him.

As another explosion went off in the market district, Naruto panted hard as he frantically grabbed another civilian from a collapsing wooden beam. It was just as Shikamaru had predicted, the enemy was striking Konoha with no mercy today, starting even if the sun was still hiding below the horizon.

"Hokage-sama!"

Naruto's eyes followed the cry and narrowed, the natural air of command falling around him as ANBU member Usagi jumped over to his location, taking the sobbing woman off his hands. "Take the civilian to safety, then proceed with the attack formation," Naruto ordered, his face grim but determined.

The masked woman nodded and lifting the civilian, left in a spiral of leaves. Naruto continued onwards, intercepting a masked enemy shinobi from attacking a wailing boy who held his sister's limp body. With a rasengan, the enemy was killed, and a shadow clone took the boy away.

"Naruto!"

"Ino!" His eyes widened as the other blonde landed next to him.

Gone was the teen who enjoyed gossiping and fretting over how bad her complexion had gone. The woman he saw was battle-hardened. "I'm going to send out the order for civilians to evacuate."

He nodded. "Ah, thanks, Ino." Once again, his friend was so strong despite losing Chouji just a week ago.

She gave him a smirk and a hand went on her right hip. "No problem! Now go and save the day!"

He didn't need to be told twice.

Jumping away and into the air, his hands came up to his signature move. Within seconds, the air was filled with bunshin. Each moved out to a different section of Konoha and the original moved to fight with the largest threat.

xXx

Genma swore as he dodged an attack, shooting the senbon in his mouth to deflect another shinobi's kunai.

Where the hell is Naruto?! He needed to find his blond Hokage. He was his bodyguard and he definitely wasn't going to let the blond die. Not on his watch. Not like he let the Yondaime die. Not like he let his girlfriend die.

If Genma hadn't been so experienced, he would've been shocked at the attacks on Konoha. First it started with dangerous missions in the Fire Country that ended with multiple deaths of some of Konoha's strongest, greatly dropping morale. Then with other nations falling, Konoha had to be more reliant on itself. While the hidden village did have emergency greenhouses, it wouldn't last forever.

Finally, the murderers had destroyed the lives of so many couples hoping to settle down. Both civilians and shinobi had been unhappy, somber, tense, and stressed.

He thanked Sasuke and Hinata who finished off the three enemies around him while he distracted them.

"Where's Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked worriedly, her kindness still strong in times of despair. He wondered if she was still haunted with the death of her sister and father. Knowing her, she was but held in the pain and overwhelming grief.

"We were separated when the explosion set off in the Tower," Genma explained with a dark expression. How could anyone have gotten so close to the heart of Konoha without being noticed?

"Then that's the fifth place." Sasuke's frown deepened as he crossed his arms. His gaze narrowed at the dead bodies around them. It was their fault so many people died. Noticing a slight finger twitch in a man clad in black with horrible burns covering his body, Sasuke aimed a kunai at the back of the man's head.

Battle-hardened, Hinata did little than turning away as the body spasmed once before lying limp. She clarified Sasuke's earlier comment for Genma with a forlorn gaze, naming the places bombed. "The Academy for civilians and shinobi, the library, the market district, and now the Tower."

"They're trying to hit where it hurts then," Genma concluded. "Get rid of the schools to lower the chance of any kids learning something new while lowering morale if children were inside. Destroy the library to stop from any information gathering, and demolish the markets to get rid of supplies. The Tower's destruction will either get rid of the Naruto if they're lucky or lower morale."

"Why'd you come here?" Sasuke asked, "Obviously the dobe's going to save civilians and deal with the enemy, not stay in the Tower."

Genma nodded as he brought another senbon to his lips. "I know, but Naruto needed something from the Tower that he forgot." He didn't go any further just in case someone else was around. "I'll head out to the residential area, he might be there, or I can try and talk to his bunshin."

"We'll be heading towards the markets then," Sasuke added, mentally checking off another place the enemy had visited.

Hinata nodded before she looked at Genma firmly. "Please don't let Naruto-kun die, Genma-san. If anyone can fix this, it's him."

The brunet huffed a silent laugh as he turned around. "Ah, I got it. I've still got something to tell him after all." With that, the older man jumped away from the rubble of the Hokage Tower and the other two jonin left as well, each with a mission.

xXx

Naruto scowled as another woman clad in black with a plain white mask covering her face appeared. It was a sea of never-ending fights. Just like when he first fought these men and women, he noticed how odd they fought. It was with absolutely no regard for their own safety.

As though they felt no pain or concern.

Like they were dead.

He almost shivered. No, there was no way someone was reanimating the dead again. He'd already gone through that, and while he did have a solution, for someone to do something like that—it was too cruel.

With a grunt, he kicked away the woman, throwing an explosive kunai straight at her forehead. He activated it before she could remove it, but a part of him wondered grimly if she would've still pulled out the weapon, bleeding to death and not doing anything to stop the bleeding. Outwardly, he moved on to the next enemy, but inside he felt horrible for killing the woman. She must've had a spouse somewhere if he went by the wedding ring on her left hand.

What a horrible time this was. This shouldn't be happening. Naruto grimaced as he dodged a suicide explosion, turning away from the morbid scene of body parts falling down in red rain. He hoped Ino had been able to evacuate civilians. They were unused to the horror of battles, raised up to do jobs that could benefit shinobi or the Land of Fire. He'd rather not send their minds into a mental state of torture.

He paused as a clone's memory was sent to him. His brows narrowed at the new information. Alright, so whoever the leader was, definitely wasn't in Konoha. Dammit. Dammit it all! His fists tightened in frustration, where was the leader hiding?! How could they escape every spy, every shinobi?! How could they slip under his nose?!

Naruto shook with anger, his glare falling on more approaching enemies. He wouldn't let Konoha fall, he refused to let anyone else die! He was the Rokudaime Hokage and no matter what, he'd go down first before Konoha did.

xXx

That was too close! Genma thought, barely dodging the horizontal slice of a katana before parrying another kenjutsu user to his right with a kunai. Even if his kunai was smaller, he could easily deflect those attacks. He thanked his ANBU training and his squad leader who worked him to his bones. He wouldn't have lived long without all those bruises, scrapes, and hospital stays.

He followed up by grabbing the stunned enemy to his right, throwing the man in black clothing to the katana user. His eyebrows rose as the katana user didn't even evade the thrown comrade—no that wasn't right.

Genma was shocked as the katana user simply cut through the thrown body. There wasn't any camaraderie. There wasn't even any words exchanged, yet all the men and women in black clothing could attack with coordination.

Something wasn't right. Were they being controlled? Were they dead puppets like in the Fourth Shinobi War?

His peripheral vision found blond hair and a glowing orange cloak. His chest soared with hope and affection. Damn he missed Naruto.

Left! His instincts warned him, and automatically he jumped out of the way. Now he was twenty meters away from the blond! Dammit!

Fifteen, his mind quickly supplied him. He swore. This wasn't good. All behind him were enemies, each with varying skills. Behind him, he could hear battle cries from Naruto. He wouldn't let these cold murderers near the sun of Konoha.

Offhandedly, he mused that it was only Naruto that could bring such a warm, yet fierce flame in his chest. Only those earnest blue eyes could kindle affection in Genma. Only thousand-watt grins could brighten up his day. Without Naruto, there was no fire, no kindness, no joy—there was nothing without him.

His eyes narrowed at his opponents, and unknowingly, his killing intent spiked. While there wasn't any nervous shaking from his enemies or puking out of fear, it alerted a fellow shinobi who's heart he desired.

xXx

Kurama's cloak was always a warm, comforting thing to Naruto. His bright orange eyes glowed as he took in the sight in front of him. All around Konoha, shinobi and kuniochi were fighting bravely. It was a small comfort to the daunting scene.

Using his cloak he could easily pinpoint enemies and allies. Sending out more cloaked clones, he focused on eliminating the men and women attacking Konoha. His gaze focused on the sun in the sky. Three hours had passed since the first attack. From his clones, he knew that Sakura and Keiko had the hospital flowing with staff and volunteers. So far, his own shinobi and kuniochi were handling this invasion fairly well, a majority of casualties being the enemy.

Sasuke and Hinata were both working side-by-side, clearing out the market area with ease. Manami and Shikamaru were thankfully backing up another group of jonin in the northern residential area. Naruto knew his own ANBU were around him, funneling the men and women to make it easier for him. To his left, TenTen unrolled her scrolls, kunai shooting out with a deadly staccato. Lee's roundhouse kick sent a burly man in black to Sai's ink jutsu, the painted dogs ripping the man apart.

Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino were defending the west wall where an explosion had gone off. A group of chuunin followed them bravely.

His mind shifted gears at Rooster's gasp of pain, doubling over as his shoulder was impaled with a ninjato. Naruto mentally swore before covering for his ANBU guard, blocking an incoming wind jutsu. He looked over his shoulder, "Can you get to the hospital?"

The man shook his head, trying to cover the wound as best as he could while avoiding the weapon. He couldn't waste his chakra on healing himself, he needed it to protect his Hokage! Yet, he knew he needed to live in order to protect the Hero of Konoha. Before his Hokage could ask his squad leader for help, Rooster yanked out the ninjato, fiercly refusing to make a sound of pain, and his palm glowed green. Finishing up with the badly done healing that would suffice for now, he moved on to the next enemy, using the ninjato as his weapon.

Naruto wanted to berate the older man for being so careless, but he knew that no one wanted to be helpless.

Suddenly, like he had been struck with Sasuke's kirin, the hairs on the back of his neck rose. Something bad's about to happen, he realized with a mix of apprehension and frustation.

That was four hours ago.

"Dammit! How the hell are they still coming?!" Naruto yelled out, while Kurama shifted unsteadily in his host's mind. For now, he was confined to Naruto's mind, not wanting to destroy Konoha with his large form. It was almost disturbing how Naruto had affected him so much, yet he didn't mind the change.

"Your men and women are getting tired Naruto," Kurama warned the blond.

Naruto gritted his teeth. I know, he answered, sending a rasengan into a woman's stomach. Ino and Shika should be working to order some to the hospital. I know I sent a clone to find Ino.

"And what about your bodyguard and new sensei?"

"What about him?" Naruto answered aloud, tired of speaking through his mind. He needed to focus on the prolonged fight. He threw a rasenshuriken in front of him. There was almost enough room for Kurama to join the fight now, as conflicted as he felt. Even with Yamato's Wood Release, it would take time to rebuild Konoha again.

Huffing Kurama expanded on his question. "You haven't seen him for four hours. None of the clones made contact with him either."

"His chakra signature's still here!" Naruto yelled out, refusing to believe Genma was dead. He lashed out with a kick combination with a clone in Sage Mode, permanently knocking down ten enemies. There was no way Genma would die so easily! But he worried about the brunet now that Kurama pointed out that none of his clones had reported back about Genma's whereabouts.

He shook his head. He needed to have faith in Genma like the man trusted him. Naruto would fight for Konoha, that was his job! Yet, Genma's signature was strange as well. It fluctuated violently. Why hadn't any of his clones gone to Genma?! He swore as another explosion destroyed a section of Konoha.

At times like this, he knew he had to trust his own shinobi and kunoichi to do their jobs, just like with missions, but he wasn't sitting in his office anymore. He was out on the battlefield, fighting for the life of his people, for the life of Konoha. His orange gaze shifted to Yamato, the Wood Release user was creating something like a miniature forest. "Yamato-taicho!" he called out, using the title more out of habit than anything reallly. "I-"

"Go ahead, Naruto-sama!" Yamato called back, wiping sweat from his forehead as he flipped away from a line of kunai. "Go! Your clones and I will handle things from here!"

The blond sent him a grateful grin before he let Kurama out of his mind just in case, and then shoot off to find Genma. He knew Kurama would do his best to fight for him. However, he couldn't let his personal feelings get in the way as Hokage. Every battle he came across, he stopped to briefly help, encouraging his fighters to keep going. The men and women, his friends and comrades, all sent him thankful looks, eyes briefly softening before hardening as they turned their attention back to the enemy.

He paused on top of the Kamishiro household's roof, surveying the damage of the eastern residential. His brows furrowed at the damage to multiple houses. The Kamishiro were lucky their house was still standing. Almost entire blocks of houses were destroyed, furniture clearly showing through houses that lost an entire wall.

Genma's chakra signature was thirty meters north. Just what was that man doing in the playground?!

He jumped off the roof, traversing that distance in less than five seconds. His chest tightened at the destruction around him. It was worse than Pein's Invasion. Much worse. The farther north he got, the more the destruction spread. Blood and bodies were splattered around the ground, covering the fresh air of Konoha with death's favorite scent.

His blue eyes widened as he stopped in front of the playground. There was so much blood. So many dead bodies, none he actually recognized. For a place of golden happiness, this had suddenly turned into a morbid graveyard.

Searching for Genma wasn't too hard, the man was silently sitting against a tree, almost as though he were studying the scene in front of him. Naruto briefly worried if he had been too slow when Genma's gaze shifted to him. Wryly, the blond noted that Genma still had a senbon in his mouth. "Genma? What the-"

Naruto stopped as Genma gestured at him with his right hand, his left hand set on his propped up his knee. Something didn't feel right, and Naruto felt a strange sense of grief settle upon him. There was no one around that warranted a danger, but a shiver ran up his back. Seeing the hesitation, Genma sighed and smiled lightly. "Are you going to come here after all this time or not? Surely you didn't just come here to take a walk through Konoha, Naruto."

Miffed, Naruto huffed, crossed his arms as he walked over and crouched in front of Genma before pulling the man up. His nose tingled at all the blood around them. His brows furrowed. "What are you doing all the way here? Why the heck didn't you make contact with one of my clones?!" he exploded, the anxious part of him was slowly taking over.

Genma let the questions roll off, his eyes never leaving Naruto's face. "Would you believe me if I said I wanted to see you only?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "They are me, Genma."

He shook his head. "No, Naruto," he replied softly. "They're nothing compared to you."

"Hah?!" Naruto couldn't believe this, was Genma seriously doing this? In the middle of an invasion?! "Genma-"

He was cut off at the smile sent to him. It was a gentle sight, the way Genma's lips turned up so slightly, his brown eyes curving with something akin to happiness and tinted with sadness. It tugged at Naruto's chest. Why was it sad?

Genma sighed, his eyes closing as a small chuckle left his lips as he angled his senbon away from Naruto. "Your zipper's down."

"What?! How come no one said anything?!" Naruto immediately looked down, but stopped as as Genma leaned forward, bumping his forehead against Naruto's. The blond was too confused to move away and aware that Genma must've had some sort of reason for his actions. "Genma?" he asked, his eyes looking up at the man.

The other man hummed in response, eyes opening once more. Naruto almost jerked back when a rough, calloused hand cradled his cheek, but forced himself to not move, to look only at Genma. "This world is unfair isn't it?" the jonin asked, a bitter smile on his face. "Just as soon as everyone's settling down, the world decides to destroy all our hard work."

"Doesn't mean we can't keep trying," Naruto replied softly, his eyes shining with determination. "As long as I'm Hokage, I'm not giving up even if I'm going against the world."

"Better to give up on you giving up right?" Genma asked in amusement.

Naruto grinned, laughing lightly. "Damn straight!"

"Good," Genma replied, moving his bloody left hand to Naruto's shoulder.

Wait! What? Naruto noticed the sticky wetness of his cheek as Genma's hand left it. It wasn't sweat that was matting Genma's hair either. Sweat wasn't vermillion. His gaze traveled down and stopped. How did he not notice it. "Ge-"

"I know," Genma whispered comfortingly. "I know."

Like that would fix anything! Naruto's orange glowing eyes narrowed at Genma. "Why didn't you go to the hospital?!"

Genma huffed, wincing slightly as he forced a lazy smile. "I needed to find you first."

It was as though he had been blasted with cold air from the Land of Iron. Genma was looking for him the entire time? For the past four hours?

Naruto felt even more guilty as Genma began swaying slightly, something Naruto didn't even want to think about splattered on the green grass, painting it crimson. "Let me heal you," he quickly replied, panic slowly starting to settle in. "I'm not Sakura-chan or Keiko-chan, but I can still heal with Kurama's chakra."

He didn't wait for a reply, he just quickly transferred his chakra, hoping that the cloak would help his bodyguard live. He didn't expect Genma to cry out in pain at the transfer, and he stopped, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. That wasn't right, the transfer shouldn't have hurt!

"G-Genma." Shit, he didn't know what to do. Even if he could carry Genma all the way to the hospital, he doubted the man would survive at this rate. He felt like a little kid again. A stupid, reckless brat who couldn't earn the respect from anyone, who wasn't even acknowledged for being alive.

The older man reached into his flak jacket, his breathing uneven. He pulled out a familiar scroll and sent a weak smile, a smile that was a poor copy of Genma's true smile. "I think you forgot this."

There, Naruto understood the situation and damned himself even more. It was his fault for fogetting about that scroll in his desk. It was that scroll's fault Genma was—that Genma had a hole in his stomach. It was his stupid fault that Genma was bleeding to death and that the chakra transfer had made the wound worse instead of healing it.

"Why? Why would you do this?!" Naruto knew very well that Genma wouldn't be bleeding so heavily if the man had decided to live his life like any other jonin. His eyes stung as Genma's strained breathing filled the air. No. No dammit. It wasn't supposed to be like this! Genma can't die.

"Naruto, look at me," Genma ordered, his grip tightening. The blond met his eyes again, and Genma brought his other hand, the hand trying to suppress the blood and tried to use his chakra to heal the wound with whatever he had left, to Naruto's chin. He marveled at how the blond still didn't have any facial hair. The young blond had such smooth skin, Genma was sure women all around the shinobi nations were jealous.

He grimaced as his wound slowly ripped, blood flowling freely again. "Naruto, I would do anything for you. Not because you're my Hokage, but because I want to. For you," he paused, his body swaying, and he fell on Naruto who was quick to support him, but they dropped to their knees.

"For you," he tried again. Shit, his vision was fading into black. But he couldn't go, he couldn't go yet. "For you..." He felt his senbon drop to the ground. Was he already losing control?

His gaze tried to find those orbs that reflected the sky like a mirror, but things were fading in and out. He perservered though, and when he felt drops of something warm, something like sunlight fall down his cheeks, he instantly knew where to look. Up, because he was laying in Naruto's arms, just like he wanted in any other circumstance. His right hand traveled to wipe away the tears streaming down Naruto's face. "For you, I'd do anything because..."

And he smiled gently like everything was okay.

Like he was just taking a nap.

Like his eyes were going to open again once they closed.

Naruto didn't stop his tears, the wrangled sobs, or his hand trying to catch Genma's when the other's hand began slipping away. His other hand clutched tightly onto the scroll Genma gave his life to give to Naruto. The scroll that held the solution to this cruel, heartless world.

As Naruto held unto the cooling body of the man who gave his life for a second chance, his own body shaking in horror, in lament, and in a despairing spiral of pain, silently, Naruto made a promise. He'd never give up, he'd fight until he could no longer fight. He wouldn't use Genma's last gift on a whim. He'd make it count, make sure that if there was a way for more time, for one more chance, he'd take it without hesitation—even if it costs him his life.

What a cruel world he lived in.

-To Be Continued-

AN: Does it hurt? If it does—great! That means I did my job! To be honest, I wrote this as the last episode of Tokyo Ghoul Root A came out. It killed me and left me drowning in tears. I still get really sad about it, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that Hide's fate is unknown in the manga!

If this brought forth tears, I hope that the next chapter will either leave you in tears or with a band-aid. On a side-note, writing Naruto fighting is tough since he's so strong! There's a lot more action scenes than I anticipated. See ya!