Disclaimer: first chapter

Interlude: Forged Steel

I am the bone of my sword

Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.

I am a weapon forged in fire, and blessed by water

Polished steel morphed into tarnished rust,

I trudge forward with spoils scattered

From victories forgotten,

Inexistent defeats

I am a weapon:

Steel reforged.

Body refined into a killing machine.

I will never save

Only kill as a means to an end

My hands of death will never protect

The once proud steel

Now a hollow shell, brittle and blunted.

Let my words echo

Let the Aria of Steel rain.

"So…this is your Marble, Naruto?"

"…"

"…"

"You've found a reason to live now?" Naruto asked his opponent.

"Yeah."

"That's a shame. Just when I ran out of mercy…" Sasuke stood still. This was not the Naruto he once knew. Upon meeting him, Naruto already deployed his Marble. Naruto wanted to end this quickly. Naruto continued his speaking. "You've achieved what you wanted, and for what cost? In the end one of us has to die to leave." The blond remarked. The man on the receiving end thought so too. Naruto pointed up with his right hand. "Say…can your Sharingan keep up?"

Sasuke stared skywards. Rows upon rows of swords, spears, halberds, arrows, bullets, shells, etc. lined the sky like a wall of weapons. It continued to his left and right, no doubt encompassing the area's atmosphere. Each pointed end faced him like an audience staring down their performer in a play. "I'd like to think so." He answered.

"Then let's go!" Behind the caster, steel rain blotted the thundering clouds above. Steel sprouted around the Uchiha, who jumped away in time and substituted with one of the weapons to get away from the epicenter of destruction. Missiles peered out the storm raging above, and bombarded Sasuke's continuously changing position. Explosions rocked the wasteland of battle. Dust picked up with each impact. Artillery shells thundered above the chorus of blasts, and further blanketed the area with towering pillars of debris, dust, steel, and blood. In this dome of death, Naruto only needed to wait until Sasuke slipped up.

He drew Kanshou and Bakuya. Instantly he felt a disturbance. Only Kanshou rested in his palms. He swung to his right, and blocked the fatal decapitation that would have happened. Sasuke was beside him, engaged in close combat, where he would be at the worst disadvantage ever.

Or was it the other way around?

"You slipped up." Sasuke said.

"I'd like to think otherwise." Naruto shot back. Just then, steel rain fell once more. They struck true with blinding speed. Impaled at the legs and arms, Sasuke was caught in Naruto's trap. More rained down, tearing through the abdomen, thighs, spine, and shoulders. The victim was a human porcupine, yet he still lived, if one could call Sasuke's ragged and impaled condition living. "Your pride was your downfall. You did not ask for your Servant's help." Sasuke did not say anything. "She was the reason you saw the light again?"

Still no answer.

"I see…"

Sasuke softly recited something.

My friend, the fates are cruel

There are no dreams, no honor remains

Naruto had to agree. The life he thought he could get was not what he received. Lies, death, and war were what he received. He was a weapon; he needed no other purpose. He was to kill the enemy -even if that enemy was once a friend. The dream to be a Hokage was but a fleeting one. He realized he was too deep in thought that he missed a verse in Sasuke's recital.

My soul, corrupted by vengeance

Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey

In my own salvation

And your eternal slumber

"Your salvation…?" Sasuke ignored his words.

Legend shall speak

Of sacrifice at world's end

The wind sails over the water's surface

Quietly, but surely

"…Loveless Act IV."

The fallen young man let out a throaty chuckle. "Never pegged you…for a reader, Usuratonkatchi."

"Me either." Sharingan eyes stared at icy blue. The red orb moved on to the black blade above the blond swordsman's head. Without warning, Sasuke's vision turned to black.

The Marble dissipated. The floating body of the last Uchiha was swept away by the river's current. The only thing not swept away was the head held in Naruto's hands. The young man neither grieved nor whooped for joy. All he could think about was that he killed the person he once thought of as a brother. Cold, metallic blue reflected the blood that diluted the water's once clear composition.

His grip on Kanshou tightened while the blade dripped his target's blood. Hollowly, he said to himself, "Mission accomplished."

One of the many possibilities in the infinite expanses of parallel universes

That's it. It's an interlude after all.