Chapter 114: Six Paths for One Thousand Hands
Naruto and Madara stood across from each other in a silent stalemate that left the world to the gentle breeze that blew through the ever changing landscape around them. Beneath their feet was a hard, compact floor that was made of the stone and condensed earth that fell upon them moments before. At the edges of the new ground, Naruto could still see the rolling hills of the previous land changing jutsu that wreaked havoc on the forests of the Land of Fire, but the extent of their battlefield has been altered into a jagged, rough plain that held only two. Nine tails whipped around Naruto in a harsh rhythm that cut through the light gusts of wind in harsh bursts of speed. Across from him, Madara's hands that splayed across his mantle were wholly stagnant in their place behind him. Perhaps the various shades and representations of the Tailed-Beasts' chakras floated or drifted in their thick conglomeration, but none so aggressive as Kurama's tails behind Naruto.
"We stand upon Nagato's final rest, so it appears as if my final piece is all that stands between myself and the destiny laid before me when I was born." The man's voice was layered several times over, as if there was more than one speaking the same words at the same time. At points, Madara's voice was a harsh growl that rumbled and grumbled with venom on his tongue, other times it was a gentle tone that was almost soothing as it projected across the large area between them, and the times between such hard opposites was the rough voice of a man well into his years. Naruto wasn't focused on the Uchiha's voice, or the mouth that opened and closed as he spoke to reveal the fleshy tongue that stood at a sharp contrast from the black and white of the man's visage. Instead, his focus was forced to the crackling earth behind Madara that exploded to reveal a figure that shot into the air with a broad wingspan that extended wide as the figure reached its apex above Madara. "And of course there is still the extra that I must deal with."
Madara didn't turn his head to look at the figure above him, his red gaze leveled wholly on Naruto. The Jinchuuriki showed a similar level of disinterest in the airborne body, but for different reasons altogether. He heard the crackle of Lightning Release that snapped in the sky, saw the unnaturally dark glow of that chakra gleam through his periphery as he charged forward at Madara, and he saw the shadow of the winged figure streak across the ground Naruto's feet flitted across as it fell upon Madara with the same aggression Naruto mounted his attack. Naruto's disinterest was out of his dedication to try and strike the mountain of power before him, knowing that even with the Nine-Tailed Fox he would be enough to handle the other eight Tailed-Beasts that the Uchiha grasped. Any aid would be a boon to the boy as the glowing aura of Madara Uchiha filled his vision.
Naruto's charge was halted as his sandaled foot scraped across the ground and his body shifted on the ball of his foot. Madara hadn't reacted one way or another to Naruto's charge, nor to the falling blade coated in lightning above him, but the Nature chakra of Kurama allowed Naruto to feel the swell of chakra that was welling in the ground below. That swell soon burst into a wall of molten rock that would have enveloped the Jinchuuriki in his entirety had he been reckless enough to continue his charge. Instead, Naruto's planted foot allowed him to drift to his left and Kurama's tails to shoot through the walls of molten lava. The tails were of energies found in mind, body, and nature, not of fur and flesh. Where a physical tail would have been scorched upon their entrance into the molten stone, Kurama's tails were unharmed as they poked through streams of orange, yellow, and red to skewer the creator of such a wall that lay just on the other side of it. He felt the tails surge forward, driving through the air as they dug into the thick air that surrounded Madara, but there was naught to be found as they were made to pierce through the fine robes of the Uchiha. Although Naruto couldn't see what it was that impeded the nine tails, he still understood that there hadn't been a body set limp on their ends but the loud thunderclap of lightning that shortly followed the Jinchuuriki's attack gave Naruto a glimmer of hope that something, anything, had been done.
When the lava wall dropped, it was clear that those hopes were fruitless at the very least. No less than a hundred hands sat before Madara Uchiha to impede the thrusting strikes of Kurama's tails, a dozen or more for each appendage of chakra. Less, but no small amount in the least, was left to halt the crackling sword blade that hung above Madara's head. Armored hands that bore the exoskeleton of the Seven-Tails Chomei mingled with fleshy tentacles of Gyuuki of the Eight-Tails. Without any heeding from Naruto, Kurama gathered his chakra to produce a tight ball of chakra in front of the curtain of chakra that vaguely resembled a fox's likeness to launch at the close range they lingered at. For a moment, as Naruto allowed Kurama to launch his attack, eyes drifted to the figure that hung above Madara's head. At first, there wasn't much to see, or so he thought. Leathery wings curled tightly like fisting webbed hands around the figure's form. A draping mass of spiky dark hair flowed around a face that bore a harsh snarl on its face. Red eyes that were more similar to Madara's than not stayed locked downward on the elderly Uchiha's head, but there was something familiar about those eyes and the pinched features of the strange creature's face. Fangs poked through dark lips, a four-pointed star was centered along the bridge of the nose to run along it and to underline those red eyes atop dark gray skin. The familiarity ran its course before it dwindled, Naruto remembering that he hadn't seen anything of its like since his mission with Tenzo in the Land of Wind with Gaara and Baki.
Then the creature's eyes glanced upward to linger upon the surging force of the miniature Tailed-beast Bomb that Kurama was preparing to shoot from just in front of Naruto's face. It can't be. Naruto thought for a moment as the familiar red eyes then rose to meet Naruto's own gaze to nod shallowly. It was such a shallow nod that he was sure that he was mistaken until hand-like wings extended outward and flapped with enough force to immediately eject himself from the area. Or he would have had there not been hands to crawl from Madara's back to latch onto gray skin as they crawled up the length of Kurama's tails. "You're naught but nuisances." Came the layered voice of Madara before the world was filled with the dense explosion of Kurama's makeshift Tailed-Beast Bomb.
The light of expended energy made Naruto's eyes close out of instinct, but it also made the boy's feet flat as he stuck himself to the uneven surface of the ground to keep his position. Had it been a boon to remain so close to Madara, perhaps it would have been a smart adjustment to Kurama's attack to keep his ground. The grasping palms that spread across the tattered surface of his flak jacket showed that such a tactic was far from a boon. The sight that returned to him only reinforced that face when he was able to see the ocean of limbs that connected Naruto to Madara and pulled forcefully on both the chakra cloak around the Jinchuuriki and his own body to draw him toward the seam of Madara that separated white from black. It was from that seam that the arms poured outward underneath the lightly smirking face of Madara Uchiha. It was the first expression that Naruto caught on the man's face and it was after the Tailed-Beast bomb that was launched only feet away from him. Untouched and unmoved, Madara still grasped to make Kurama part of his whole.
Kurama stood within Naruto, his mind's eye seeing what his true eyes were too occupied to acknowledge, and the mounting chakra that came from the beast was enough for Naruto's body to shudder in response. Yet, as the crimson chakra flooded from Naruto's body, it could be seen beginning to flow within the open seam of Madara's body as he had intended for it to go. Naruto forced his heels into the ground as his fingers flexed to claw at the many hands that spread over his torso. Tails aided his hands as he tried to cut through Madara's appendages as he would a rope, but they were too dense in strength and numbers to be fought so recklessly. He felt the ground beneath him cede to the force of Madara's pull and his body followed much the same pattern. Enough of your flailing, brat. I wi–!
Whatever Kurama meant to command was drowned out by a spike of chakra that came from their right that was preceded by a loud voice that made Naruto sure of his assumptions. "Raijin!" The voice of Sasuke was stronger than Naruto remembered, but what Naruto remembered was the visage and voice of a boy as they both were just a few years ago. Following the echo of Sasuke's voice was the vibrant lance of lightning that streaked past Naruto's face that burned the very air into a purple haze as the white bolt flashed in and out of existence with impossible speed. Suddenly, the countless tethers that were drawing Naruto into Madara's grasp were severed in their entirety. The hands on the Jinchuuriki's chest melted away into wisps of energy that melded once again with the world around them as Naruto's feet scrambled to keep their balance from the drastic shift of forces put on him. The Uzumaki's feet were kept and his retreat was managed by a whipping tail that rebounded off the ground just behind him to send him backward into the air.
Almost immediately, Madara tried to re-establish his grip on Naruto. A wave of arms replaced the severed appendages with almost desperate intensity that flowed into the air. Hand seals came in quick succession before a barrage of Wind Blades exploded from Naruto's swiping hand to cover his retreat, even if they only came to be a minor nuisance to the arms that their edges bit into. When his feet landed again, they were met by a matching pair of feet at his right. He hadn't even needed to glance to his side for Naruto to know how it was that stood next to him now. The chakra that radiated over his former teammate was foul, unnatural, but it wasn't something he had the privilege to be unsettled by. The sword that hung between the boys still crackled in the tainted Lighting Release, Naruto's cloak of Kurama's chakra coiled about his frame, and both looked out at the motionless Madara as the seam of black and white closed and the mantle of hands was filled once again with one thousand.
"I feel like I am missing something, Naruto." Sasuke spoke with a certain disbelief that was more than necessary for the scene before them. Madara stood as a god amongst men with the amount of power he held and all that stood before him were two orphans that hadn't meant to be a part of any of this. Still, Naruto couldn't help the small smirk at his lips as he kept his gaze plastered on the obstacle before them.
"Does it matter how much we know? We still have to fight him." Even if he wasn't looking at him, Naruto still felt the questioning gaze of Sasuke as he turned a red eye to the side of his face. There was an unasked question, an unasked list of questions, but Naruto left them unanswered all the same.
Beneath you. Kurama's warning came in a growl of frustration, one that undoubtedly came from the brief conversation that they partook in, and Naruto hadn't wanted a moment to repeat the words out loud as his feet lifted from the ground. The ground their feet once stood upon was quickly overtaken by a snapping current of flowing earth dictated by small, drifting particles. Gaara's ability, his mind supplied with a reflex that hadn't yet rectified itself in the few short moments he had to process his friend's capture by the Akatsuki. Arms arose from the muddled pool of earth below, intertwining with each other like a grotesque rope that made to chase both Naruto and Sasuke as they drifted higher in their leaps. A Gale Palm let the Jinchuuriki's body drift to his left in the air, out of the immediate trajectory of the climbing mass of sand, and giving the Uzumaki a few more seconds to pop a clone into existence above him.
The Shadow Clone that Naruto summoned in his midair drift hadn't needed a single direction before two heels roughly kicked themselves into the real Naruto's back up near the shoulders, driving his body faster than gravity could manage in the wake of the adjusting bundle of grasping hands that turned toward the boy as he idly drifted. Admittedly, Naruto would have preferred a more accommodating touch, maybe a grab and throw toward the ground instead of a pair of heels, but he didn't know how his clones would react to his cloak of crimson chakra. When he summoned Shadow Clones, they were clones of Naruto only, not Naruto with Kurama's chakra cloak spiraling around it. By the instant popping sound that filled his ears, Naruto assumed that spiking him to the ground with a swift kick was the better option to having his clone grip him and dispel away before the throw could be made.
When his feet landed, there was an immediate scramble to clear the ground he landed upon as he heard the rough scraping of earth against earth that resounded above him. Even with the spiking of his own body, Madara's sand was too swift to evade with a few midair tricks. As Naruto rolled forward from the heavy landing that cracked across the newly laid rocks at his feet, a tail whipped behind him in a downward arc as his heels pushed off of the brittle crushed stone and tried to use his raw speed to give him space away from the pursuing sand of the One-Tail. Shukaku has plenty of ground to shatter into his precious sand, boy. Running will only get you and me both strung up. Quit your meandering and attack the bastard before I have to!
Kurama's voice rumbled through his mind with no small sense of urgency. Clearly, the Fox was more than unsettled by their position and Naruto hadn't the intention to ignore his orders, but it wasn't quite so easy. Naruto began his sprint away from the sand cascading behind him, shaking the ground from the sheer force the sand held in its swiftly altered descent, and meant to turn his eyes to Madara. The shadow of Sasuke in the sky, the winged figure that streaked across the ground in his right side periphery was the first distraction, the cloud that enveloped that shadowy figure in its own shade was the second, and the boom of breaking and displaced earth was the final one that brought Naruto's scrambling sprint to an end and kept any wayward gaze at Madara to an end. Instead, his gaze was filled with a wall of sand that was lined in bright blue veins that spread all across the wall's surface with a pulsing simmer of energy beneath it. He knew of Shukaku's visage, be it from his short fight with Gaara way back in the Chunin Exams or through Kurama's presence deep within his mind, but it was wrong. Indigo. The veins are supposed to be indigo…Whether it was his own realization or Kurama's that came first, it mattered little. The same name ran through Naruto's mind all the same.
Matatabi.
Two feet and no less than three chakra tails were ground into the stone beneath Naruto's feet to stop his sprint as his eyes widened at the flowing wall of sand that drifted forward to envelope him like a heavy blanket in the dead of winter. From his back Naruto still heard the scurrying movements of grasping arms, from his front was no less pleasant, and in a split-second decision Naruto was rolling in a tight ball of limbs and swinging tails to his right in a desperate evasion attempt. The detonation of blue flames that ejected from those bright blue veins was violent. A blaze burned hot enough to be felt under the hot layers of chakra that draped over his form and induced more sweat than was already being produced from his own exertions and stresses. The two swarming masses of sand that once came from either side of Naruto slammed into each other in a torrent of moving earth in the wake of the blue blaze that filled the air and fell away in quick fashion.
Naruto tried to regain his feet as quickly as he could. The sand that chased him took up his entire left flank once Naruto's desperate roll came to a sliding stop, one that came just in time to catch the bodyweight of his former teammate who was found wrapped in the leathery wings that exploded through the white robes of his back. Smoke rose from the contact of winged flesh upon the crimson cloak around Naruto, but that was of little concern as Naruto's gaze continued over his own shoulder, Sasuke's winged figure, and to the sand and molten earth that the younger Uchiha seemed to have escaped from. That was two sides that the pair were covered by the waves of sand that Madara threw at them, sand supplemented with burning inferno's should they be careless enough to get caught. With an idle worry at the back of his mind driving his attentions, Naruto torqued his neck further to try and get a peripheral glance behind him, only to see another, though shallower, body of sand enclosing on their backs. They had been herded by the explosive movements of the sands at Madara's control, and when Naruto turned his face forward to meet the man's gaze, there was a bigger concern brought to his attention.
"You both hold power beyond your years, but it is power too miniscule to hold a candle to mine own. You are too youthful and ignorant to think you can outmaneuver me on a battlefield of my choosing. You are simply not enough." Madara spoke with a voice that was gentle in volume but more than condescending in tone. Red eyes looked across the feet that separated them with little exuberance and less interest as the walls of sand closed around the pair that stood side-by-side amongst it all. What was more pressing than Madara's words, tone, or look was the power he bared just above his head.
As the hands did behind the man's back, eight orbs of chakra arced over Madara's form in the air in a brilliant display. Chakra from each Tailed-Beast was condensed into their own Tailed-Beast Bombs that were already prepared to launch into the ensnaring cage that Naruto and Sasuke found themselves in. The sweat that covered Naruto turned into icy claws digging trenches across his skin in an instant. It had been so fast, so smoothly done, that Naruto hadn't the presence of mind to react as he saw the spheres of chakra prepare to fire. It was Kurama that goaded his own chakra into action to try and meet the coming onslaught, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. When the spheres were fired, Naruto didn't look away or flinch, he simply watched as his end came in bright colors of chakra that represented the forces of nature.
When the darkness came, it lasted longer than he would have thought. Not that he expected to survive, they had been trapped far too thoroughly than they had any right to be and Sasuke still hadn't understood how. Still, he was sure that his presence of mind lasted far too long in the wake of such a technique. Only one sphere of Tailed-Beast chakra would be necessary. It wasn't hard understanding exactly what the man that he stood across from wielded. The sand that chased him through the air, caking itself on his wings and dragging him to the earth as it began to glow a bright red and churn itself into magma, was familiar enough. Gaara of the Sand was only given such an ability because of his Tailed-Beast, and if he counted the chakra right and added Naruto's own it would come out to a round nine. Sasuke, in his attempts to find his revenge found himself battling against a being with the power of eight Tailed-Beasts. And I didn't even get a chance to see Itachi die before he was buried.
In truth, Sasuke wasn't bothered all that much by his brother's burial. Orchimaru saw to his demise, Sasuke himself sped it up, and the catastrophe that followed finished it, but it didn't much help Sasuke's distaste for his position. Had he not used Raijin when he did, the natural advantage over the massive sphere of earth that slammed into the ground, Sasuke would have likely been buried in the same grave as Itachi had been. Now I get my own death without a body to bury. Yet, that didn't explain how Sasuke held his mind after the onslaught that sent his world into darkness in the first place. Oddly enough, as Sasuke was met with only blackness, the Uchiha was granted with the odd sensation of still being in his physical body, one that should be dust blowing in the wind. Yet, there was still the weight of his existence keeping him planted in place as the darkness and silence hid the afterlife from his further.
Then that darkness and silence was broken.
"What the hell…?" It came as a whisper, something that slipped through lips that were intending to remain unmoving that drifted behind Sasuke. In a swift movement, Sasuke tried to turn his nonexistent body to peer at what it could have been and his shoulder was thumped against another's shoulder before he could fully turn. That partial turn was still enough to grant Sasuke a glimpse of blonde hair and blue eyes that showed in stark contrast against the blackness everywhere else. Suddenly, it all made itself real to Sasuke. His arms that hung at his sides, the legs that held up his body, and the head that sat atop shoulders, all of it was there. He realized that it wasn't the blackness of death he was surrounded by, but nothing else became any clearer. More questions were birthed from that single revelation.
"Naruto?" He asked with a voice dry and rasped. It was an unneeded question as there was no other that it could have been. Turning to the boy entirely, Sasuke was met with a visage that was entirely different from the one he saw moments ago. Gone was the dense curtain of crimson chakra, the dried blood and grime, and the tatters that were an excuse for clothing. A green flak jacket sat upon dark shinobi fatigues that almost blended into their surroundings, fatigues that represented a shinobi of the Leaf Village that was matched by the forehead protector mostly covered by the lengthy hair that fell over it. Sasuke hadn't the need to look down to see that his own white robes were returned to him as was the tied rope and dark pants, the wear and tear of his fighting no longer showing on his form. Naruto meant to respond, his mouth opening but interrupted soon by a third voice that made itself known from the direction opposite to Sasuke's turn.
"My, it has been years since I've heard the sound of such youth. So young and tasked with such steep hills to climb. A pity." The voice the black-and-white man spoke with was aged, but it was vastly different from the voice that filled the darkness now. This voice, with a few short statements, showed to be infinitely more gentle than the other. True care flowed easily into the air and somehow brought a soothing wash in Sasuke's ear as he turned to see who it was that joined them. Even with the gentle, soothing voice, Sasuke wasn't prepared for the welcoming visage that showed brightly in the wake of dense darkness around them.
A gentle smile was pulled across the thin, leathery skin of an old man. Wrinkles ran in trenches both deep and shallow across the man's face and down through the exposed skin of his hands that poked through baggy sleeves. Still, the age that was visually apparent on the man was unable to dampen the life that showed through the wizened face. Fine, draping robes of only the finest silk fell delicately over the man's body. The thread of the robe was as white as could be outside of the tomoe that numbered in threes on each side lining down his body and bunched over the man's crossed lap. Across the lap and folded finery, a black staff taller than a man stretched from knee to knee and beyond with the top of the staff rounding into a ring that held six dangling circlets, none of which holding any attributes beyond their lightless color and metallic gleam. The edges of the fine cloth and the ends of gray hair that sat spiked on his head and fell down to his waist in a neatly kept beard drifted in the air that sat between the elderly man and the ground that he floated over. Yet, despite all there was to be taken by in the old man's appearance, and the place that the three of them appeared, Sasuke was most focused on the eyes of the man that gazed warmly at them both. Although, gaze may not be an accurate description. Milky white sat in place of the darkness of a pupil that should have been, showing the utter lack of sight that dwelled in the old man's eyes.
"Although, it is often the seldom searched corners that hold the deepest secrets." The man continued his speech. The ragged voice of the man carried through the darkness like a bellowing call despite the utter lack of intensity to the man's words. Sasuke and Naruto both shared a glance of matching confusion, neither quite understanding anything happening around them.
"Who are you?" Sasuke cut right to the chase, not meaning to draw out whatever it was that would be drawn out here. He had expected push back from the old man, perhaps even a delicate scolding that would match the grandfatherly look the man carried, but all that came in response to the Uchiha's question was a gasping chuckle. It was almost like his question, and the following amusement brought a cough as the laughs sputtered from the old man's throat as a shaky hand rose to cover the spittle that would slip through the man's lips. It took a few more seconds, but the man finally recovered himself enough to respond to Sasuke's question.
"My apologies, my boy. Do not mistake my amusement for insult, young Uchiha. I merely forgot the abruptness of youth. Always wishing to move yet never knowing where to go, one of life's great paradoxes." The man smiled again after he set aside his amusement before finding the trail of thought he sidetracked himself from. "The matter of who I am is a little more convoluted. My name has been lost in the years that I've lost count of. The only name that you would be familiar with is the most recent title bestowed upon my likeness, even if the truth was lost some time ago. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, I come before you as a guide in a time of need as the Sage of Six Paths."
The man's head bowed shallowly, milky white eyes closing in the respectful deferral the old Sage gave them both, though Sasuke was mostly blind to it. His breath caught in his throat and his eyes bulged in a moment that stretched long enough to feel as if he was drowning in the depths of blackness around him. The Sage of Six Paths. Here. Sitting before them in a place Sasuke thought to be his introduction to the afterlife. It was impossible. Simple as that. Yet, none of Sasuke's surroundings, nor his survival, could quite be explained, making the possibility of the Sage's appearance just a bit more believable. Naruto seemed to have shared Sasuke's utter speechlessness as the world remained quiet for a few more moments before the Sage continued to speak.
"I can see your disbelief, and I can't say I blame you. However, I believe it would be quicker to do what I came here to do and answer your questions after." Without any more delay, the staff rose from the man's lap and spun to point the ringed end, and the dangling circlets, at both Sasuke and Naruto. Nothing happened, at first, until the staff extended dramatically to cross the several feet between the two sides. Black, lightless metal split into two halves that sped toward the flinching Sasuke and Naruto. A hand fell toward Sasuke's back, reflexively grasping at the air that should have held the handle of his sword to no avail. Through his peripherals, Sasuke saw Naruto react in much the same way, yet neither were quick enough to prevent the metal from contacting their foreheads. Truthfully, despite the boys' reactions, Sasuke wouldn't have even known he had been touched had he not seen it happen himself. It was a light ghosting upon his forehead that barely unsettled the dark hairs that covered his fair skin.
The skin that sat under the metal that touched Sasuke reacted instantly to the Sage's tap upon his head. Warmth erupted the moment the vague contact was made, flowing powerfully through Sasuke's mind and body in a heavy current. Limbs and muscles that felt relatively normal through Sasuke's waking in the darkness he now dwelled, the warmth that was introduced into his body made him feel truly alive. Every nerve, every hair, and every fiber of muscle in the Uchiha's body now hummed with whatever it was that the Sage granted them without explanation.
"Did you just bless us, sir?" Naruto's voice came out shallowly, disbelief thick in his words as they drew their attention back to the Sage who gazed unseeingly back at them. The warm smile continued to grow on the old man's face as the staff returned to its normal form and original position on the Sage's lap over fine silks.
"No, my boy. I am not a being that can grant blessings. I believe you will understand what has happened once you wake, although it was the most I can allow myself to do." For the first time, the smile that etched itself in the thin, leathery skin of the Sage's face dropped into a frown that altered the feel of the space they inhabited. "The two gifts I've tried to give in my time as the Sage of Six Paths, as you know me, have led to the horrid being that you stand against. All I can give you is a chance to make it right. A chance to lead the world toward peace once again."
Again, it was silence that followed the Sage's words. Silence was what reigned as the two boys tried to process something that was simply beyond their understanding. Sasuke's fingers twitched and flicked every other moment in the buzzing energy that ran through his body, his mind tried to flip and turn the Sage's words in every way possible to pick up any other meaning to the words, but he was granted no outlet for either body or mind.
"You mean the gifts you gave the Last Heroes, don't you?" Sasuke's eyebrows quirked at Naruto's question as his eyes sent a searching gaze his way. The Uzumaki was never dumb, but it wasn't unfair to say that he wasn't the most knowledgeable about histories or lessons like they were given in the academy. "Kakashi-sensei told me the story years ago, but I thought it was just a story."
Everything involving the Sage of Six Paths was considered just a story. It was a way to explain how shinobi came to be, but they were hardly treated the same as the histories of our countries and villages were. But, as Sasuke's eyes turned their attention back to the Sage himself, it was hard to continue that line of thought. It was hard to dismiss stories as stories when they floated before you.
"Asura and Indra were great men. They were deserving of the gifts I gave them, the lessons of the energies we as people of the world possess. When they brought peace to a war ravaged world, creating the Great Village of the East and the Great Village of the West, I was sure that they were the men to learn the gifts I stumbled upon." The elderly man had to pause to fill his lungs with breath once again. "When I was a boy, I was struck with a fever that ravaged our lands. Death may have been escaped, but my sight was forever lost to me. My father was one of the few men in those days that held land, and as his eldest son I was to succeed him. I was a proud boy, a naive boy, but even I knew that a blind child was no worthwhile heir when there was another only a few years younger.
"I did everything I could, met with every healer that was in possible reach, but my sight was lost to me, as was any status I could have had. I became insolent, vile, and a burden to any and all around me until my father sent me to a temple where men served and practiced a faith long lost to time now. Those men believed that, should one focus themselves, they could become one with nature itself. Chakra wasn't what it is today. It was only utilized through gathering Nature chakra to fill one with vitality in short periods, merging with the surroundings for the sake of inner peace. It was there, after many years of practice, did I finally get my sight back once again. Fortunately, enough time had passed for me to leave all the petulant rage behind for my misfortunes, and I was able to look forward to becoming something better. It was a journey of self growth and self acceptance, yet it was a journey that brought me to self discovery. For, where there was once only the power of nature, I found the power of both the body and spirit that dwelled within every living person." Sasuke stared in silence as a orb of refined energy enveloped each hand, one for mind and the other for body while the air around them began to glow in much the same way. The third for nature.
"It was this that I eventually shared with Asura and Indra, long after I truly became one with Nature itself. I came to them, as I come to you, and taught them of chakra to honor them for their efforts to bring peace to the land. I will never regret showing them that gift, for their peace lasted their entire lives, never straying as they drew breath. Though, I do regret that their knowledge was shared with those that they trusted, leading to the chaos that led to an era of warring families and clan of chakra influenced and altered people." Although blind and lightless, the Sage's gaze drifted to Naruto as his head bowed. "It was then that I bestowed my second gift. The Tailed-Beasts, as you call them, were created to tame the destruction that my teachings brought. My only children, crafted by Nature itself, were intended to stamp those that grew to heights unintended in their chakra abilities, only for that to give way to Jinchuuriki.
"Chakra, over the generations, has altered the bodies of those that use it. It gave way to abilities I had never before imagined to be possible, abilities that even specialized in taming the very beings I created to stop it." The Sage's brow drew heavy over his eyes, an anger that Sasuke found unnatural on the kind man's face settling heavier on his visage. "Now, Madara Uchiha means to use my children to tame the world like it was a pack of wild mutts, willing to put down any that draw too wild." Sasuke, in that moment, didn't truly acknowledge the revelation of just who the being was that they fought. His mind clung to the Sage's words, trying to digest the bulk of what was said, while also ignoring the thrum of energy that continued to grow in his body. It was too much for the young Uchiha to handle at once, but he tried his damndest all the same. "Yet, as the man stands merely as a strong toddler, flexing power that he couldn't hope to understand, there remains a gleaming chance amongst the darkness before you.
"You two are not ideal for such a task. Young, inexperienced, and woefully underprepared. Your lives have both been desperate attempts to find your own peace for the demons cast upon you so long ago. Yet, those paths you've followed since mere children have brought you at the mercy of the world to fight for the peace of an entire continent. You are not Asura and Indra, not in the slightest, but perhaps one day you can grow to be. Maybe, in the years that follow, you can lead the world into another great peace without adding to my regrets." The Sage's voice suddenly became very far away, just as his visage melted into the ever-present darkness around them. Soon, Sasuke was again feeling the gentle breeze around them that spoke of a world of life, not death.
Then, Sasuke found him before his clan's most notable member in history. His body split down the center with black on his right half and white on the left as hands of chakra splayed in an arcing mantle at his back. Naruto stood at Sasuke's left, crimson chakra thick in the air. There was no sand closing in on them, no embers from combusting chakra, and their lives no longer at the mercy of eight balls of chakra.
We were given another chance, Sasuke's mind supplied just as the earth beneath their feet began to shift in unsettling waves.
Four different places to sleep in just a couple weeks. Clock ins as early as 6 am and not stepping through the door until as late as 8 pm has definitely halted much, but that doesn't mean this isn't gonna be finished. I'm chugging through the final two chapters, although I don't have anymore chapters backlogged. You'll see them as I finish them, which will probably mean more than three days between updates. Maybe it won't, perhaps I've found a working schedule already, idk. But either way, the latest this will be completed is the end of the next weekend.
