CHAPTER RATING: T

Chapter 40: The Final Act, Part V: Titan

Sakura watched on a Naruto walked away from her. Only minutes later did she see a massive shock wave of air headed directly toeards her, carrying with it an incredible amount of sand; flinching as the tan grains of earth entered her eyes, Sakura cleared her vision, her eyes widened in shock at what she saw.

A giant, nine-tailed scarlet fox towered above the dunes on the left. A massive violet cloaked Demon touched the sky on the right.

I have to get closer she thought to herself. Moving to her feet, she slowly advanced towards the two titans.

…

The two titans stood across from each other, staring sharply at one another. Each entity had with them their "hosts" that stood by their side. Kurama lowered one of his claws flat on the ground; deep fissures were created as they dug into the earth. Naruto looked up in confusion, nodded, and then climbed up onto it. He continued to climb up Kurama onto his back.

"Uchiha Sasuke…" He began, his booming voice resonding like a gong across the land. "You have come so far to achieve your goal." His smile widened. "You remind me of Madara, the one man who was powerful enough to take control of me." He stood in silence before he spoke again. "He was one of the most formidable opponents that Konoha had faced in such a long time…Tell me…Are you his equal?"

Sasuke flinched at Kurama's question. "Tell me…Are you as powerful as he was…Can you accomplish the same that he had? Does your name encompass the same fear that his does? Can you make the Gods' bend their will with your words?"

Sasuke could not offer an answer.

"…Of course you can't. You believe yourself to be an 'Avenger.' But I know the truth. Your ambition is too weak. Your desires are too petty. You will not achieve your ultimate goal."

Sasuke took a step back in resentment. "I can see it in your heart; I can see what you really want…"

"You don't know me…Don't talk down to me! I know who I am!"

Kurama burst in laughter. "I can see it in your heart; you say that you can kill Naruto. But you couldn't even find the darkness in your heart to kill her."

Naruto glanced over to where Karin was, relief and surprise washed over him when he saw her moving.

"You have even had more than one chance to kill Sakura, and when you have the chance, do you take it? No." Kurama's breath became visible through his nostrils. "You would rather cripple her, instead of killing her. Your actions are nothing but a charade."

Sasuke became angrier and angrier as Kurama brought forth the truth from his subconscious.

"…Your evil, your anger only comes from not having someone love you. Even when others were willing to show you the love that you craved so much, you shut them away. You keep yourself alone." Sasuke's fists tightened with every word that entered his ears. "Inside…you are nothing but the frightened little child that you have always been."

Sasuke let out a blood-curling scream, in the air, purple energy began to gather, and two lesser versions of the violet demon formed beside Sasuke.

"You see many things, Kurama." Sasuke stated. "But what you fail to see is that with these eyes, I see clearly, and with Susano'o at my command, I can see even more than you could have dreamed."

The two mimics of Susano'o charged forward, they drew the strings of their bows, and let loose two violet arrows. Kurama moved like lightning, and dodged both arrows with ease, shooting up even more sand into the atmosphere. The two Susano'o clones gathered more energy into their right hands, which formed into swords. They charged forward even faster, and began to swing towards Kurama. Kurama met them head on, not fleeing, but jumping towards them instead, he clawed away at them, pushing down upon their blades until they evaporated from the pressure.

Kurama charged forward, bearing down his claws onto Susano'o, who repelled it with a similar sword. He bore down more and more, until Susano'o found the strength to push him back.

"You really are commendable, Uchiha Sasuke." He complimented. "Even Madara did not have the capacity to create clones of Susano'o." He smiled even wider as he looked towards Sasuke. "But you still have a limit. Susano'o only accompanies you as long as you have the ability to support him. How long will you last?" Sasuke began to take in deep breaths, realizing what Kurama was saying. Susano'o altered, losing its cloak, and now appeared to be a demon, only encased in muscle. "You do not have much time left. You cannot defeat me, you cannot defeat Naruto. Extend your life now, surrender, free Susano'o from your grasp."

"You're wasting your breath, you damned fox. If you plan to do something, do it now."

Kurama opened his jaws; energy began to gather in the air, the same dark energy that Naruto had gathered in his hand. It compressed and began to grow even more exponentially. Sasuke closed his right eye, and burst it open almost immediately, a stream of blood flowed from it.

"Amaterasu!(Heavenly Illumination)" Black flames shot out from his eyes, and began to engulf the energy ball that Kurama began to gather. In a panic Naruto's hands tightened around Kurama's fur. Kurama himself; knew what would happen. In his haste, Kurama released the ball towards Susano'o. When the vortex of sand cleared, Sasuke began to panic.

Susano'o's entity was being ravaged by the black flames.

Sasuke began to panic; he could feel Susano'o fading away as the flames burned on. Sasuke took a deep breath, and began to scream at the top of his lungs.

"YOU THINK THAT I'M DONE FOR?! I'll show you…I'll show you Itachi's final gift to me!"

Susano'o drew it's right hand back, its sword changed from a violet blade, to a red blade. "…THE SWORD OF TOTSUKA!" Susano'o thrust the sword towards Kurama, and pierced him directly in the chest. A roar was let out that shook the world, as Kurama was forcefully locked away for eternity.

Naruto felt a part of himself leave his being. He fell directly onto the sand, and in a puff of dust, he stared towards the sky, his eyes unfocused, his mind, blank. Sasuke had taken his last resort. Susano'o disappeared just as quickly as Kurama had. Sasuke dropped to his knees, and fell forward.

After what seemed like hours, they both rose to their feet. Sasuke's eyes were no longer able to hold the Sharingan. Naruto's eyes had returned to their original sapphire hue.

"…Sasuke…This is it. It's over." Naruto pleaded. "Just…stop. Please." Sasuke spat blood into the sand and he smirked.

"Naruto…You really are an equal to me. It's only worthy that we end this now. We finish what we started so long ago. Which one of us is the best? Which one of us, is worthy of living? One last move will decide our fates. Who will be victorious?"

Sasuke formed seals with his hands, and brought down his arm. Lightning began to gather in his palm. The blue hue contrasted against the golden sand, the lightning cracked with vengeance at Sasuke's command.

"So be it." Naruto said with a deep breath. He held his hand out, his chakra began to spin in his palm, a blue orb began to form; his palm opened slightly, and the blue hue became a silver white. An ear-splitting sound screamed from his palm.

Sakura had made some distance since she had first began to walk towards the two. She was only a few hundred feet away, but could see them perfectly. They stared at each other, in Sasuke's eyes, vengeance, anger, and respect; in Naruto's eyes, pride, regret, and acceptance. Sakura fell to her knees.

This was the final moment.

On her left, she heard the energy in Naruto's palm, screaming defiantly.

On her right, she heard the lightning in Sasuke's hand, chirping infinitely.

They both took off in a single second.

"Fūton: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto shouted as he flung his arm forward, and released the energy from his hand.

"Chidori!" Sasuke held out his hand, and charged forth.

Unbelievably, Sasuke's Chidori cut through Naruto's Rasenshuriken. The chakra the he cut through flew off into the distance. There, Sasuke stood, his arm piercing through Naruto's chest, covered in blood. Naruto stood motionless, only held up by Sasuke's arm.

As Sakura watched, she heard the prophecy once again.

You will lose someone that you love

"NARUTO!"

TO BE CONTINUED…