Chapter Seven: Heaven

Day 5: Hour Six

Naruto stared out into the blood bathed landscape. He pulled his hand back into the cover of the cave. When he touched the bloody sunlight, he was fine, but as he looked out, he noticed the death of the plants. If they survived, it was possible there would be no world to save in the end. He shook his head. He couldn't believe that. They had to be fighting for something. This couldn't be meaningless.

He thought about it for a long moment; about everything. How could he defeat someone that couldn't die? Was it possible…? They had scrambled and Naruto had met with the Kage about their choice to kill him for the good of the world. He was oddly okay with that, but death, for him, didn't seem like an option.

He also thought about everything that had led them to this place. The war… the fox… Pain…

Naruto turned to the sky and sighed. Pain… That was the beginning of the end for things, wasn't it? It was the first time he had truly lost someone close to him. It was the first time he had felt the crippling feeling of hopelessness and defeat. He had wanted to give up then. He didn't have to answer to Pain's questions. He didn't know anything.

He also had nothing for Obito when he had killed Neji. He had nothing to give Obito. He had no answers for the man either. Then he also wanted to give up because he had no answers. He couldn't do anything. And now he was on that verge again. He clenched his fists.

"We're running out of time," Naruto whispered.

"Yes… we are," Hinata answered. She came up behind Naruto, staying away from the deadly rays of the blood orb.

Naruto cursed softly. "There's no time left… Can we really stop this?" he asked.

"Why are you doubting yourself now?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know that to do! I can't save them! I can't even die to stop this. They won't even let me do that. What else is there? I can't find the scroll, and I can't stop this!" Naruto growled. "What did we do to deserve this hell? All we ever wanted was peace, and I can't even die for it!"

"Do you want to die?" Hinata whispered.

Naruto turned to her. "Yes!" Naruto snapped, then shook his head after he saw Hinata's eyes widens. "I mean… No. But I'd rather die than let the world suffer for my life," he admitted. "What's the point of saving me now? If you do, I'd be the only one left! I don't want that! I'd rather be the only one dead!"

Hinata turned away. "No one wants you dead, Naruto-kun," she reasoned. "No one thinks you should die for this…" Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "No one." She added that with a hint of concern in her voice. Naruto's harsh expression softened and he walked to her.

"I just don't know what to do," he said quietly. "I don't have the answers for this. I don't have anything! I want to save everyone, but I can't! Look how many are probably already dead!" He felt like he couldn't talk about this to anyone… Not even Sakura. He couldn't go to Sasuke or Kakashi about this. Not even Iruka. What right did he, the Hero of the Leaf, have to be terrified. Even though they had all seen him at his weakest, he didn't feel like he could be scared anymore in front of them. But Hinata… She had seen him doubt his own strength enough times. She had been there to pick up the pieces of his broken mind time and time again. She was the only one he felt he could be truly honest with in times like this… because he had been at his mental weakest, and she had saved him from his own despair.

Hinata looked at him and offered him a warm smile. "You'll find a way… You always do."

Naruto walked closer to Hinata and started to reach for her shoulder, but he stopped. The world was ending, and no matter how this whole ordeal ended, he knew he had no future. "I'm going back out there."

"Don't, Naruto! What's out there that you need?" Hinata said.

Naruto turned back to the wasteland. "He said the answers I need are in that scroll. I just have to find it!" He started again for the saturated land. He was the only one who could go out there.

He didn't tell anyone where he was going, aside from Hinata. They couldn't follow him out there anyway, and Datenshi would leave him alone for the most part. If only one person had to die to save the world, and if it had to be him, then so be it.

"They won't let him die," Kakashi snapped at the Kage. They would get nowhere if they kept bickering. They had already spoken to Naruto and now Kakashi was trying to bring this whole thing to a close. They shouldn't even be talking about this anymore. Naruto was their problem. All the other Kage could do was pray that they could figure this out in the next forty-eight hours.

This time was different, however. Sakura and Sasuke were in on the meeting as they attempted to come up with some sort of plan.

"We're out of time, Kakashi! What else is there to do?" The Raikage growled. "How are we going to stop this?"

"I don't know! Killing him won't work, so unless someone comes up with a better plan, I hope you all have said your prayers!" Kakashi snapped.

Sasuke looked over at Kakashi from where he was leaning against the wall in the back. "What if we put Naruto in a powerful genjustu until we go passed the deadline?" He suggested. "It shouldn't hurt him."

"Are we really going to bank the lives of everyone on a Uchiha brat?" A retorted.

"Sasuke did help save the world," Gaara pointed out evenly.

"Need I remind you that he almost destroyed it as well?" A asked. Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"Enough," Kakashi snapped. "Incapacitating Naruto won't work. We have to assume that anything we try to do will be futile. We need a concrete answer."

"We could throw him on the moon," Sasuke suggested with a shrug.

Kakashi turned to him. "You aren't helping, Sasuke."

Sasuke pushed himself off the wall. "It's about as preposterous as killing him in his sleep!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "I will do what I must!"

"What happened to never letting your comrades die?" Sasuke asked.

"That's enough, Sasuke," Kakashi said. "We're running out of options, and if killing Naruto won't work, then what will? What will put an end to this?"

There was silence in the room. No one had any ideas. They had tried killing Datenshi, and that hadn't worked, and then they had tried killing Naruto, and the result was the same. They were running out of ideas and time, and no one knew how to stop it.

Sakura looked up from where she was sitting at the table. "What if we kill the boy?" She suggested quietly.

Kakashi turned to her. "Which one?"

"The one who can bring the dead back to life," Sakura answered. "If he's dead, then maybe… maybe they won't be able to revive Naruto…" she added quietly.

"So the plan still involves killing Naruto?" Sasuke asked. He rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall again. "Can we figure out a plan that doesn't involve killing Naruto?"

"Well, Sasuke, I'm open to suggestions," Kakashi snapped.

Sasuke shook his head and crossed his arms. He had no ideas. None of them did. The other Kage remained silent as well. They had no suggestions, no solutions. This wasn't something they were used to. This wasn't an enemy they could defeat on brute force. "We'll convene later. We aren't getting anywhere." The Kage agreed and the screens went black.

"You have no idea," Sasuke said. Kakashi nodded.

Sakura looked down at the table. "What if we… really incapacitated Naruto?" she asked.

Kakashi turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"They can only cure death… Nothing else. I mean, I guess we can assume that they can fix a genjustu," she added, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked back at her. "What are you suggesting?"

Sakura shook her head as if she couldn't believe that she was about suggest it. "We could paralyze him."

Kakashi looked at her. "How would that help?"

"It would prevent him from doing anything."

"Paralysis doesn't mean that he won't be able to use his hands," Sasuke pointed out.

Sakura sighed. "I meant from the neck down. That would completely cut him off." Kakashi bowed his head. "They wouldn't be able to fix it because he won't be dead."

"He'll just be the closest we can get without actually killing him!" Sasuke snapped, pushing off the wall. "How is that a solution?"

Kakashi was more calm about it. "Will we be able to reverse it?"

Sakura shook her head. "We would have to do it right… Giving them an out like that would mean that they could exploit it."

Sasuke looked at them both. "Are you really considering this? He'll spend the rest of his life in a hospital bed unable to move!"

"Oh, like you care!" Sakura finally snapped. "How much do you really care about him, Sasuke? He's missing an arm because of you!"

"I'm trying to save him!"

"And we're trying to save the world!" Kakashi came back. "Don't argue with us, Sasuke! I don't want to do anything else to Naruto, but we're out of options and out of time! I don't have the answers!"

Sasuke turned on him. "And what if you're wrong?" he said. "What if that won't help us? We can't just paralyze him!"

"Either it helps us or it doesn't," Kakashi said. "Either he's dead or we're dead!"

"He's not here."

The trio turned to see Hinata standing in the doorway. She had her head bowed and eyes closed with her arms in front of her chest. Sasuke stepped towards her. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head slowly. "He said something about a scroll and left."

Kakashi threw his hands up. "Well, that's great! We can't go get him!"

"So you can paralyze him," Sasuke said. "Maybe he has an idea."

Kakashi sat at the table and looked at Hinata. "What else did he say?" She shrugged, but Kakashi could tell she was hiding something from them. "Hinata, we need to know what's happening. What did he say?"

Hinata bowed her head. "He felt like he wasn't himself. He just seemed distant, like he's not here anymore. He's upset."

"Of course he is!" Sakura snapped, standing up. "He can we expect him to be anything but upset? The world is ending!"

Kakashi bowed his head. They had nothing and they had no solution. Now they couldn't even do anything because Naruto had taken off. Kakashi sighed. "We only have one solution right now. Sakura, talk to Tsunade and figure out how we can safely paralyze him."

"That's not a solution!" Sasuke shouted.

"It's all we have!" Kakashi shouted back, slamming his hand on the table. "I don't have the answers, Sasuke! I don't know what we're supposed to do, but we will do everything we can to save what world we have left, and if that means crippling Naruto and putting him in a hospital bed the rest of his life, then so be it!"

Sasuke spun and turned to his teacher. Kakashi stood to face his student. "That's not a solution," Sasuke repeated. "And I will find a real one!" He stormed out of the room as Kakashi watched him go.

He turned to Sakura. "Go to Tsunade. Until Sasuke comes up with a better solution, this is the only one we have, and Hinata…" The girl turned to him as Sakura pushed passed her. "Wait for him to come back and then take him to a secluded place; away from Sasuke."

"Yessir…" Hinata bowed and backed out of the room.

Kakashi slammed his hand on his table. "Damn it!"

Naruto stared down at his bleeding hands. He and several clones had been digging for hours, but they had come up with nothing for their efforts. He all but just wanted to give up. He had no solution. He had no answers. "I can't save them!" Naruto shouted to the ground. "I can't save anyone!"

No answers came. His clones were now staring at him, concerned, but only because Naruto was concerned for himself. "I don't have the solution. I don't have the answers! The world is ending! What do I do?" Naruto shouted at the clones. They just stared back at him without moving. Eyes were just looking back at him, expecting him to save them all. The ruined village was beneath his feet, but that scroll was nowhere to be found.

Naruto dropped to his knees. He didn't know. Nothing made sense anymore. He slammed his fist on the ground, then he continued punching the ground. The clones watched him without moving. Naruto punched the ground until his knuckles were bloodied and he could see the bone. Kurama was screaming at him in his head to stop, but he couldn't. He punched and dug, skinning his hands as he did.

Finally, he made another clone and it helped him perform a Rasengan. He slammed the glowing ball into the ground, exploding the hole into a crater. He collapsed and looked at his hands. He could see the bone and muscle. He rocked back and fell onto his back to stare at the blood red sky. He felt like screaming, but he didn't. Instead he rolled over to the side and looked at the side of the crater.

He blinked. His hand brushed against something at the bottom of the crater. Naruto sat up and looked at it. His eyes widened. He dug around the box in the ground, ignoring the pain in his hands as he did so. He pulled the small box from the ground and brushed off the dirt. It was locked, but the lock was so rusted away that Naruto figured he didn't need a key. He yanked the rusted lock and opened the box. Inside the box was an old, worn scroll.

He smiled and reached for it, but when he touched it his vision faded to white.

Land of Fire:

Prehistoric

Sodi stared at the farm he had built. He was older now; a young man. A child near the age of two was playing with a dog in the yard. His daughter. A boy at the age of four was walking a young colt towards the barn. His son. His wife was out in the fields with the cattle. Beside him was a large dog, watching the farm with him.

Sodi closed his eyes. He felt like he should be happy. He had a family… But as he turned to the house on the hill and knew that the man living there had no children. He knew that he was the cause of it. He knew that maybe if he had forgiven Haniel, then he could have maybe forgiven himself. Sodi bowed his head and started down the stairs from the porch. The dog barked and ran towards the young girl and her dog. Sodi smiled.

He coughed and doubled over, blood spilling out of his mouth. "Daddy!" The boy shouted. Sodi lifted his hand.

"Go get your mother!" he called. The boy nodded and hurried into the field. Sodi fell to his knees, coughing louder. More blood came up and he vomited. The dogs were barking at him now. This was his punishment. He had grown warmer away from Haniel while his childhood friend had suffered. Both Haniel's parents had died on the same day, forcing the kind young boy into a leadership position long before he was ready, but still Sodi didn't try to mend their friendship.

His wife helped him up and carried him to his bed. The sickness would take him soon. There was nothing that could be done. The doctors had no cure for the disease, but considering no one else in the family was ill, they didn't think it would spread.

He spent the next few days in his bed, gasping for breath as the doctors came, but only to tell them what they already knew; he was dying. It was sundown of the third day. He was drenched in sweat and his chest was burning from all the coughing. He just wanted to die.

"So…"

Sodi lifted his eyes. "Han…" he gasped. "What are you doing here…?"

Haniel smiled. He had grown into a fine young man. Sodi was impressed. "I heard you were sick. I wanted to come and see you again."

Sodi didn't talk for a moment. He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry… Han," he whispered.

Haniel walked towards him. "Don't worry about it. I'm okay."

"Now…" Sodi said. "But not back then… What I said back then. I didn't mean it. We do live the lives we're supposed to, but they don't have to be miserable."

Han nodded slowly. "I know… We're all tied to destiny… Like a tether! And now you're going to die! It's not fair, So! You have a family. I should be the one dying here, not you! I'm the one who's alone!"

"The world isn't fair, Han…" Sodi whispered. His eyes rolled back. "It's not, but it's who and what we are. That's it. I've lived a good life… Now, go live yours."

Haniel shook his head. "I want to change it! This world is terrible! Your children will grow up fatherless! How is that fair?"

"It's not…" Sodi said. "But that's it." Haniel stood slowly and started for the door. "Forget about me, Han. Find someone to love."

He stopped at the door and bowed his head. "I already did…" and then he was gone.

"I died the next morning…"

Naruto looked around. Instead of the house, he was standing at the farm. The scene was one several years later. The daughter was now a teen, sitting on the porch with a boy. The son was riding the colt, now a large, beautiful white stallion. The wife was coming up to the house with two puppies running at her feet. The older dogs were resting on the porch.

"They moved on without me. Eventually, my family line died out, sometime after the hidden villages came about. The last of my line died in one of your world wars."

Naruto looked over at the brunet. "Why am I here? Who are you?"

The brunet smiled sadly. "I am Sodi," he said. "I died and Datenshi continued living. His family line never died, but he never had any children."

Naruto turned as the horse whinnied. It had left the son and was now coming towards them. Another brown horse was coming towards them as well. Once they got there, Sodi mounted the brown horse and Naruto did the same to the white one. He had never ridden a horse before, but it felt natural. Sodi didn't speak as they rode towards the town. Now Naruto saw other people, but they were all frozen in time.

Sodi continued even as they got into the town. No one was moving. "I don't understand!" Naruto called. "What happened?"

"Haniel lived the rest of his life regretting it," Sodi said. "He regretted my father's death… he regretted everything that was his fault. He became cold, and bitter and then he wanted to end it all, but suicide wasn't the option."

"His option was to destroy the world?" Naruto asked.

"In a word… yes…" Sodi answered. "Haniel wanted the world to be fair, and the only way for the world to be fair is if the world didn't exist… But I never came back… That is… until you were born. Then I came back. I wanted to come back here; back home, but I've spent the past few hundred years in that house, waiting for you."

Naruto looked down at his hand. It now held the scroll; the answer. "I don't know what to do."

"Yes you do," Sodi said. "It's the same thing I did."

"Die?" Naruto asked.

Sodi shook his head. "No. You know what to do, Naruto. You know how this is going to end… the only way it can end."

Naruto stared at the scroll and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, he was staring up at the red sky. He sat up and looked down at the scroll in his hand. "Two stones eroded by a river over thousands of years…" He opened the scroll and looked at the faded text on it. He frowned. It was never that simple. Was there truly no end to this? Was there really no way to stop the end of the world? There had to be a conqueror. Someone had to conquer the world.

He stood and started back for the cave.

Author's note: OH MY GOSH! I am in Japan and moving to Japan was a long process! I'm here now and I really want to finish this story! I know it's going to be SUPER short compared to What You Wish For, but that's okay! We're here to tell a story and move on! Right? I'm REALLY sorry, guys! I didn't mean for this to take so long!