Long Time Coming
Naruto convinced himself, bit by bit, of many, many things.
The more mundane things, like noodles for lunch every day, despite how much it made his stomach churn each time, was healthy, and he couldn't and wouldn't accept the reality where it wasn't.
He couldn't accept the reality where he couldn't be hokage.
Then, he couldn't accept the reality where he hadn't been betrayed.
This inherent knowledge of the world, that if he willed it, undoubtedly, it would come to be, allowed his confidence in everything.
And just like everything before it, Naruto knew he lived in the world where Sasuke Uchiha, betrayer, 'avenger' and fool to stand in front of him, would fall without a struggle.
But like all of those previous convictions, reality caught up to him.
When Naruto used his clones, Sasuke spotted each, using them as a trick himself, launching them into each other, rewarding Naruto for his efforts with cut after cut.
When Naruto launched his attacks, Sasuke countered or dodged easily.
When Naruto fought with extremely precise and powerful blows, Sasuke manipulated them, his body that of his snakes, eyes of an eagle, and speed of a cheetah.
Naruto didn't stand a chance against Sasuke, against his continuous attacks. Every enemy before treat him like a ninja, but Sasuke acted like he was but a man, predictable and exploitable. Every attack was followed with jibes, insults. "You aren't good enough" and "you deserve this".
Now, his body was wounded and broken, splinters littering his body from the buildings he had been launched through, snapped wrist slowly mending itself. This wasn't like Kakashi, a lethal assassin trying to end him. Sasuke wanted him to suffer, wanted the idea of Naruto, like the man, dead.
The fight had been simple, understandable, but Naruto took too long, played around a bit too much. In almost every way, the two were equals, but the sharingan, when in the right conditions, was impossibly powerful. Soon, Sasuke had learnt all of his moves, and the improvised ones he saw through with ease. Naruto was running out of time before Sasuke caught up to him.
He lifted his back from the wooden shack ruins he had just been launched through, flipping in reverse as the avenger cut at his head, moving close with an instant body flicker. Naruto landed well, but had to twist his body to the side, dodging kusunagi, the short sword thrust designed to plunge into his heart like a butcher carving meat, precise and calm. Uzumaki stepped back as the sword cut up, slicing a faint superficial cut into his skin, from his groin all the way to his clavicle.
Sage mode had run out, yet Sasuke onslaught had only just begun, his greyed out skin and white hair the clear sign of his curse mark running on overdrive. Naruto knew the physical benefits were inferior to his sage mode, but he was empty, and Sasuke was right in front of him, a maniacal smile on his face, sadistic desire evident.
Naruto needed space, so he spawned clone after clone, Sasuke cutting through them like butter, his action only delaying the inevitable, until he ducked under a piercing thrust, smashing a fist right into Sasuke's liver. He had learnt where to attack to deal the most damage with Jiraiya, and even against a stronger foe, it would stun Sasuke for a moment. Using that advantage, Naruto desperately took Sasuke's own kunai, pulling it from its sheath and plunging it into his ribs, not fast enough to hit the heart, or avoid, Sasuke's counter hook, which sent the jinjuriki reeling back in pain.
Sasuke looked at the wound (a faint, not an opening, Naruto knew, Sasuke using that trick before to then catch him off guard with his sharingan enhanced vision), scoffing. "That all you have Naruto? Was it shitty little tricks that let you kill Kakashi? Show me real fucking power, something worth betraying everyone you've ever known for."
Real power? Naruto had power, sure, a lot of it, but did he want to use it all up right now?
In a war of attrition though, he would always win, more chakra and more practise using it.
In a single moment an agreement was had, both sides charging up twin attacks, rasenshurikens in Naruto's, Chidori in Sasuke's. Smiling madly, both men started with their assault, their want to kill so extreme it destroyed even the terrain around them, arcs of electricity vaporising mud to glass, from pylon flesh, to wind swirling with the ever-rotating flow of tailed beast derived chakra. The power was ludicrous, unneeded, inappropriate, and addicting. And most of all, both knew they would win.
Naruto launched both shuriken at the same time, as Sasuke ran at him.
Then, they hit each other, exploding, engulfing Sasuke in an big ball of energetic and lethal light, blue and bright, and for a moment Naruto thought it was over, the Uchiha finally shredded to death in the mutinous strings of slicing ribbon murder.
Then, a hand ran through his heart from behind. Sasuke had used a substitution in the last moment, the sound a cloak for the foreboding sound of a thousand chirping birds. In a single move, Sasuke had ended the battle. Yet, he didn't stop there, wrapping an arm around Naruto's throat, and raising an arm to the sky.
"There is a chance you live through that, Naruto. I'm not leaving things up to chance. Whatever I decide must happen, will happen, and I will ensure that with all my strength. Here, you get to experience a technique no one has seen twice. Savour it."
Naruto could barely hear, the blood loss an impairment, but somehow, every word was spelt out in his head. The air got hot, saturated with chakra and the building tension of death. It, whatever it was, was coming near, big and bulky, and monstrous. Clouds came in, heavy and grey and hot, rubbing together, and he could smell something, ozone maybe, in the air.
"Witness, the conviction of a boy scorned, turned into a man more powerful than anything else in this world! Witness, my strength! Witness, A god! Kirin!"
And the sky opened, and it was blue, lightning, pure and chakra both, cascading down, so large and huge Naruto could only compare it to the Ichibi, but it was so perfect and beautiful, it couldn't have been a demon.
In that moment, Naruto thought, for all that Sasuke was cruel, he must have been a nice person on the inside. Because to make the last thing someone sees something this beautiful, is a merciful thing. Yet, it wasn't for him.
The bolt engulfed the earth, a crushing pressure as power destroyed everything around it. Sasuke had substituted with a clone once more, able to watch his copy and his enemy both be destroyed by the blue. He smiled, not the insane feature of before, but nostalgic. Reminiscing over the man he had just killed.
It dissipated, leaving only charred ash and blackened mud, glass made from the mad amount of heat exerted. It was a success. Nothing was left of Naruto Uzumaki.
Then, red energy oozed out from the floor, wrapping around his leg, as a beast clad in crimson flowing chakra burst out from its hiding place. It grabbed onto Sasuke's shoulder, then swiped a lethal claw across his chest, eliciting a groan of pain. It was followed up by a devastating punch to the chest, sending the Uchiha up into the sky, his body sent flying away as the hand gripped a clothed back and launched him away, the body rolling on the dirt, scrapes and cuts and broken bones barely nullified by his curse mark body.
Sasuke pushed up instantly. He knew it was Naruto but controlled by the 9 tails. Twisted and malformed. He smiled, sinister. Hell, he could have already killed the boy inside that chakra shell, and all that remained was the beast inside, using him as a vessel.
Then the skin peeled away, showing a blond face, whiskers, and not a mark on the jinjuriki. The mouth was still, flat, then picked up in a grin as his blue eyes opened, the peeling away shell now a cloak of energy around him.
Sasuke didn't know what he was looking at. Confusion and anger fell upon his face in an instant. "How? Kirin is invincible, unstoppable! You should be dead twice over!"
Naruto started to walk, calm collected, knowing he had won. That Sasuke had met a match, brute force he couldn't overcome. "Just like then, Sasuke, you aren't good enough."
The avenger nearly stumbled then. "What?"
Naruto continued, in speech and movement. "Just like then, not enough power. First Itachi, now me. Only this time you don't get a second chance."
Sasuke's face went to fury, his body dashing forth as he bodyflickered in an obvious attack, one Naruto saw through easily, ducking under, the weave letting him smash a fist into the man's stomach, followed by two instant head blows, left to right, and then a final kick to the head tumbling the man over, knocking him from his curse mark.
"No! You can't be this powerful! After all I sacrificed, you can't!"
Naruto got closer, towering over the Uchiha, just like Itachi did all those years ago.
"You aren't him. You can't do it. Nobody but him can kill me, and even he couldn't kill me!"
"Because he saw pity. I have no need for that. You are right, Sasuke. I am a betrayer, I am a killer, I am a sadistic bloodthirsty maniac, who would sell everything I have ever had for power. I am just like him, and just like him, you are worth nothing, because you can't kill me."
Sasuke shook with rage, before yelling, pathetic and useless and powerless, swinging his blade at Naruto, who simply raised his arm and watched as the blade bent around the red chakra cloak, snapping in two. He snatched the broken blade mid air, and deftly shoved it into the Uchiha's neck.
Sasuke looked shocked, his eyes bulging from the pain. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. The last sight before he died, was something hellish. A smile, fang filled but so familiar, just like the one Itachi had all those years ago when he was forced into his purpose. Both were so amused, with him. He realised, Naruto was looking at his death, and so was Itachi. They both saw his end, his loss, his hubris. The only difference is Naruto took hold of it.
Both demons, and he lost to both.
Sasuke dropped to the ground, dead.
Naruto's breathing was heavy, but content. Measured. It was over.
Sasuke was on his mind for years, he realised, collapsing on a nearby half destroyed tree, back against the soft bark. Even in the back, until he left the village, and even after he wanted to kill him. But he was a fool. He didn't train like Sasuke did. He did it harder, more, and he was stronger, but Sasuke was targeted. He would kill Naruto, and Itachi, by researching them over years and years, exploiting their every move against them. It was why he was so dominating. Every action he was goaded into, and for that he nearly died, Sasuke's arm through his heart, a lightning dragon come to destroy him.
Naruto had been making move after move entirely improvised. His conviction was no stronger than Sasuke's, but he just targeted whatever was in front of him. Noodles in his cupboard, the hokage on the cliff face, his want to feel attacked, hurt more important that anything. Undoubtedly, he was fucked up. He needed allies, to head to Suna and make sure he isn't hunted. Between the Akatsuki, Konoha, and everything inbetween, he was fucked. They would deal with Akatsuki, and then Konoha, and then he could rest, make everything just and right.
It still hurt, but he ignored it. He wasn't like Itachi, not fully, but it helped to make it sound like he was. To act like a killer. And, as much as he didn't want to admit it, it felt good, powerful, something he needed to use. What if he was as feared as that man?
He got up from the tree, looked at Sasuke's body, and thought for a moment.
Like that man?
His eyes traced up to the eyes, open, red, and far away. He sucked in air through his nostrils. Knelt down, pushed his fingers into the dead man's body, and plucked the orb out, covered in blood.
He knew exactly what to do.
…
Days later, a man, blond spiky hair cut short recently, scarf draped over his neck, orange and red and green outfit intricate and elaborate. His left eye was covered, an eyepatch, black leather fastened by a strap, walked, calm, measured.
He was done hiding. He would stay out in the open, no matter what. Let his enemies come to him.
And come they did, as a man, cloaked in Akatsuki clouds travelled for him. One goal in mind.
To kill Naruto Uzumaki.
A/N: Hiatus for like a month. Explanation: I was annoyed at ffn. Even now it says I have no views. Regardless, all I wants is reviews so it doesn't actually matter too much. The real reason is I started at Uni again and I want to write for my personal writing thing more than this story. Despite that, I enjoy it enough to continue and actually update, so here I am.
If you actually want me to continue, review, because if nobody is reading this I won't care to write for it.
For the actual fanfic, I wanted the story being told to be one of struggle and change. How bit by bit Naruto is exposed to his flaws and he gets worse because of it. It is bare bones though. The cliffhanger is the prelude to a couple other chapters, which will be multi part-ers. If you guess what it will be about, and who, you will get an imajinary cookie.
Anyway, thanks for reading, please review, and goodbye.
