Shinigami.
That was... unexpected, but whatever.
I turned around, facing the others.
My eyes briefly fell on Hiruzen, who... was staring at where Takaero had vanished, face carefully blank, but his emotions showing... turmoil.
Hmm.
"Did you see it, Hiruzen?" I asked.
He looked to me, briefly frowning, before nodding. "Yes."
"See what?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing for you to be concerned about, Naruto."
"Oh, come on-"
"Naruto." Hiruzen interrupted him, directing a brief glance his way.
Naruto shut up immediately, mouth clamping shut.
"It would appear I have an appointment to keep." I said. "Do you want me to take Inoichi back now, or should I come get him later?"
"Later." Hiruzen shook his head. "You won't be busy?"
"I don't think this will take me too long." I answered. "Worst case, I'll do it simultaneously."
Hiruzen nodded. "Go, then. Wouldn't be a good idea to keep it waiting."
"Of course." I nodded.
And then I went out. Took a step outside of space, outside of normal reality. Still inside the World, yes, but no longer inside the more physical parts of it.
Here's a fact; Darkness is everywhere.
Here's another; how an afterlife works in any given World is up to the World in question. In the Elemental Nations, you had three or four layers of the afterlife; Limbo (Also known as Purgatory), the Shinigami's stomach, the Pure Land, and the cycle of Samsara.
In Madoka's World, however, there was a cycle of reincarnation that existed alongside an afterlife made for a specific group; the Puella Magi. Madoka herself was in charge of that; she'd created it, she managed it, and she used it so that those Puella Magi who actually died could come to terms with it; since about the only thing that would keep them down was an overload of Grief, which made for somewhat unhappy dead people. Madoka, of course, was entirely too kind to let that continue, and, well...
There you go.
Anyway, the important thing to take away here was simple; afterlives are a part of the World they're hosted in.
I reiterate; Darkness was everywhere. Darkness existed within all Hearts save only seven. Darkness existed in all Worlds, in every part of every World.
Why, then, would the afterlife be any different?
Simple answer; it wasn't.
Death wasn't a barrier to Darkness.
I suppose that increases the horror of the Heartless, that not even the dead can escape, but I've been trying not to think about it.
Back to my point; Darkness existed in the afterlife. Therefore, since I was nothing but Darkness, it was entirely possible for me to go to the afterlife.
I had... not done that. Something I never really... tried to do. I had been concerned with the living, and until Gaara, nobody I knew personally had died. The dead were fine where they were, and they weren't going anywhere any time soon.
Despite that, death was common enough that I knew, theoretically, where it all was. Until the Shinigami, I'd never seen it, but I was a Heartless and sight was far from my only sense.
I took the step, moved in the same way that the dead did.
One should not assign cardinal directions to it. I did not move up, down, left, right, forwards, or backwards. I moved deathwards, and that was all there was to it.
Limbo was the first stop. The first part of that direction. There were many Hearts and Souls there, infinitely far and infinitely close, in this place where distance did not matter. They were isolated by their own loneliness, their grief keeping them apart, and keeping them here.
Another step.
The Pure Land was an idyll place. All who had ever died in this World were here, free of mortal concerns. The promised peace of the afterlife.
Another.
The cycle of Samsara was not something that had physical definition. It was an idea, a process. Hearts and Souls came here, were cleansed and made anew, and then were sent back to the living world.
One more.
Unlike the previous places, this one had a physical reality to it.
A simple white space, filled only with a few hundred abstract shapes flowing in a circle.
And right in front of me...
"You are punctual."
"Of course."
The Shinigami.
"You wanted to. What is it, then?" I asked.
"The World has a request for you." The Shinigami states. "To repair all souls trapped inside the Juubi."
"I was going to do that anyway." I said, before pausing. "Could this World not draw forth those Memories itself?"
"Not so easily." The Shinigami says. "Few things can, especially without what you hold in your hand."
I brought my hand up.
The Proof of Courage was there.
Hi.
I hadn't summoned it. Yet, here it was.
But... I still had it. I was still using it against the Juubi, right this instant.
"Does this World want one of these?" I asked, only mostly joking.
Hey!
"The World cannot use them." The Shinigami said. "Or it would use the two it already has."
Two- Right, the two who came to this World during the Sage's time.
"I don't suppose you know where those are?" I asked. Finding them and putting them somewhere nobody would be able to get to them would not be a bad idea. Leaving Keyblades laying around was... Not the best of ideas.
"They were placed in the care of the Dragons." He states.
Oh, great. Isobu had told me about them. He'd used the words 'Snooty lizards', which was Isobu-speak for 'a bunch of self-righteous arrogant jackasses'.
Well, whatever, I'll deal with that later.
"I see. Thank you." I nodded. "Is there anything else?"
"There is one other matter." He stated. "The Keyhole."
I perked up.
"You will find it in the core of the moon."
The core of the moon. I see.
...
Hold on, what?