The Unyielding Will
They lay still in the dark. Every breath they took tired them, yet each breath was shallower than the last. They could not hear their heart anymore, but it must still be beating if they were alive. Perhaps they had already gone deaf?
They blinked. Did they blink? Or did they take a nap? They could no longer tell. Memories, regrets, and moments of joy flashed before their mind's eye, a montage of a life lived to its fullest. Naruto fought and fought, and they loved and loved, despite the hurt and the loss.
They should be content. Or maybe not? Why were they dying again? Are they old? Did they lose a fight? Was anyone in danger? Their thoughts are too fuzzy. They are not even sure if this is real or a dream.
They laughed a burst of silent laughter, despite how it felt like a fire-style technique was being lit in their core. They refused to die.
That was it.
Nothing grand. Nothing heroic.
They just refused.
Naruto refused to accept defeat, to bow down to the darkness. They had faced death before, and today will be no different. They welcomed the burning pain in his belly, sides, and chest. What burned them was now their fire. The pain was not a hindrance but an anchor.
Every fiber of their being fought against the darkness edging into their vision. And at that moment, they found it. Their last drop of chakra.
Despite how unwise it was, they channeled nature energy. If they weren't dying before, this would be their doom. They didn't have enough to counterbalance the force entering their system. Already, they were turning to stone.
But it was of little concern. A moment was all they needed.
It was an old thought. It was a thought they never pursued before, because it was simply ridiculous. Chakra was a lever. A tool to exercise their will in the world.
Nature energy was the world's tool. It turned people into stone because it was imposing nature's will, or the closes equivalent to it, on the person gathering it. Sage Mode was so potent because nature energy was a really long lever. It was a force amplifier. But as the sage uses this lever against their enemy, nature used this lever against the sage. Chakra was a balancing force.
Or maybe they should just accept that they were crap at chakra theory. They're sure the experts would laugh at their conjecture.
But it was this errant thought that they used to live.
Right now, he had a tiny lever. It probably didn't amplify anything. They were trying to lift a mountain with a lever the length of a toothpick.
But it was irrelevant. Because they'll win anyway. Their tool was small, but they were strong enough to make a difference.
Nature was a kage wearing the latest and greatest ninja gear. They were facing it completely nude with only a bent senbon as a weapon. They'd still win. The gap was just that large. Beyond all their other advantages, advantages they no longer have at the moment, they still have the most important one. Their will.
And so their force of will slam against that lever and shot that mountain into the sky.
Overkill.
Beyond overkill.
Instead of simply staying alive, their soul pierces through the fabric of reality.
Naruto, through sheer force of will, lives. But in this world, all that is left is a stone statue.