Chapter XIII

Team 7 Arc IV

"Don't!" One of them rasped, clawing at the edge of Naruto's sandals as he walked through the dreary area. Naruto ignored the poor fellow as their hands passed right through him. Beyond the gate in front of him, a massive thrumming energy could be felt, and Naruto grew more and more excited about the possibilities that could be explored with that energy. For all his strength, he was not infinite. And to go back, he needed to be infinite, even for just a flicker of a second. White marble extruded into the skies and dark clouds continued to rumble in anger and anticipation as Naruto grew closer and closer still, his brilliant azure eyes glinting in the gloomy darkness, piercing through it like a spear made out of brilliant ice. As the gate came into focus, a huge gust of wind started to whip up as Naruto hid his face in his arms, and continued to push on.

"You have ignored every warning, child." A booming voice came from across the gate. A splendid figure opened the door and stood in between Naruto and the gate. "I should worry – if the last human is so obstinate like you, I truly wonder about the future."

"I don't care," Naruto grunted as he ignored the person in front of him. Her ethereal figure and glow were both remarkable and incredibly fake, in Naruto's opinion. "For them, I would do anything."

"I suppose, that is a virtue." The feminine figure hummed thoughtfully, placing a perfect dainty finger on her chin as if she was deep in thought. "Determination in front of opposition. So I suppose I shall have to retract my previous admonishment. But, I have to ask again, do you truly wish to go beyond this gate? Where We made Time?"

"Yes. I've already told you this a thousand times already, you know?!" Naruto answered back with heat in his words, taking a threatening step forward as his chakra flared to life. He was so close….so close, yet so far. Just one last obstacle and he would be able to change history. And save them all. He had promptly lost his adoration for the divine confronted as he was with this tantalizing situation. The figure raised a perfect brunette eyebrow as she observed Naruto take a step forward.

"Many others have challenged me, Uzumaki. Many among your own clan. None of them survived. What makes you think you will be different?"

Naruto growled. His brilliant eyes pierced the figure with a deadly stare that seemed to peer into her very soul. His gaze was colder than even the highest peak. "Because I've always been different. Your pet Satori had to find out the hard way."

"Very well." The figure sighed. Shrugging she leaned to the side, allowing Naruto to walk past her. But before Naruto could enter the gate fully, she interrupted him. "But be warned Naruto. When the Gate is released and you cross the river beyond, you shall release every unspeakable horror that can be released. What is done, is done. You should have looked towards the future instead of being stuck in the past. Had you done that, who knows, maybe a new hope could have been found. But now, you've doomed yourself. You do know that?"

"I will hunt down every horror. And I am ready to pay the consequences." Naruto answered back softly, his bright red hair glinting maroon in the ethereal light of the gate. "I will do anything that I can. Your will does not dictate me, Izanami."

Naruto leapt through the trees and the rooftops of the village, racing at breakneck speed towards the Uchiha Clan district. Not bothering to hold back even an inch of his real speed, Naruto burst into the Uchiha Clan district from the other side of the village within seconds, landing in front of the guards gently. Looking up, Naruto realized he must have looked quite dangerous, with all of the excess chakras he was leaking, because the guards were looking at him very suspiciously. Taking a deep breath and getting himself under control, Naruto stood up and patted his unruly hair. "May I access the compound?"

"Uzumaki right? Yeah sure. Obito's apartment is via the left road." One of the guards answered him, grunting and pointing towards the left path with a flick of his thumb. The other guard seemed mutinous and wanted to deny him entry but the original guard simply shook his head and went back to drinking his sake. It was already evening, and the guard didn't want to deal with anything troublesome so late into the day. Naruto smiled agreeably and dashed towards Obito's apartment. Knocking on the door, Naruto replayed the words that the fiendish Akuryo had told him over and over again in his head.

You released us, all of us when you crossed the river that shouldn't be crossed.

Naruto clenched his fists and bit into his lower lip, ignoring the pain as he tried to control the anger growing in his mind. 'She warned me! She warned me! Yet still!'

Deep within him, Ashura reacted to the anger flooding his system. Calm chakra reverberated out of his chest, soothing him down. Naruto took a deep breath and sent a mental thank you to Ashura, he realized that Obito hadn't answered the door. Naruto knocked on the door of the apartment again, ignoring the suspicious look of a Uchiha chunin passing by and waited in tense silence. After another two minutes as the door didn't open, Naruto took out a pin from his pocket and started to fiddle with the lock, applying a quiet genjutsu over himself. Grunting and twisting his arm around the lock for a few seconds, he heard the small clicking sound that made the door open. Naruto entered the apartment quietly. Everything was in order. Everything was clean. Stacks of books, clothes neatly placed in their positions, a bit of china on the tea table and a very clean and pristine kitchen. No doubt, Obito's grandmother's handiwork.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked around. It was simply too clean for a house in the middle of the day. Briefly letting himself fall back into Sage Mode, Naruto grasped at his chakra and then opened his eyes again, letting the Sage Mode fall apart. Grunting slightly, he turned to the right and entered the hallway before opening the door that led to the basement and then punched through the wooden door with an apologetic grunt. The tired and unconscious form of Obito's grandmother lay on the basement floor, emanating a foreign chakra source.

'Genjutsu. Or at least – some variant of it.' Naruto grimaced as he knelt down and pressed his right index and middle finger on Obito's grandmother's neck and pushed his chakra into her to dispel the technique. The old woman groaned and muttered in pain as the technique dissipated and turned to her side. Her onyx eyes widened as she saw Naruto towering over her. Eyes widening, she bolted upwards, a kunai in her nimble hands. Naruto didn't react to the kunai that the old woman was holding to his neck. He simply opened his mouth to begin his questioning. "Where is Obito, Mrs. Uchiha?"

"Obito?" The woman muttered before her eyes widened in horror. The kunai fell from her hands and landed on the basement floor with a clang. "He was right in front of me! I was giving him his favourite dinner! His favourite – and suddenly there was this force and –"

"Mrs. Uchiha." Naruto interrupted calmly but with a sympathetic yet gentle voice. "Please, don't panic. Tell me what happened calmly."

The woman nodded shakily and took deep breaths before answering him. "We were having dinner. And then suddenly I heard the door being opened and there was this rush of chakra before I was knocked out and Obito was shouting something. There was this other feminine voice as well but I couldn't decipher what it was saying."

"Do you know where they may be going?"

"Before I passed out – I felt Obito's chakra moving to the northeast." Obito's grandmother answered slowly with tears forming in her eyes. Naruto's eyes widened at the information as he grit his teeth for a second before he smiled at her.

"Go to the ANBU and the Uchiha Police and tell them what happened immediately. I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I am working as your grandson's temporary trainer until Minato returns. I'm on it. Tell the ANBU and Police to send reinforcements after me." Naruto ordered as he stood up and slowly helped the Uchiha woman to her feet.

"But where is he?" The woman asked uncertainly as she brushed some of the tears away. "I only –"

"The Uzumaki Mask Temple of Mito Uzumaki," Naruto answered her calmly. "That is the only place where the Akuryo could have stolen Obito."

The woman's eyes widened as she heard the word 'Akuryo'. She let out a gasp of terror as she covered her mouth and her legs buckled underneath her. "An Akuryo? How –"

"Reservist Jonin Sayuri Uchiha, will you inform the ANBU and the Police of what transpired here and send reinforcements after me?" Naruto reiterated his previous statement calmly. It was a little insensitive of him, Naruto realized, but the situation was extremely delicate and he didn't have time to waste. Time was not on his side for the moment. The command seemed to steer the old woman's senses as she gulped and nodded shakily. She did the traditional Konoha and Uchiha salute before she flared her chakra. Naruto smiled as he felt the old woman's chakra. Evidently, she had retired many years ago, but she still boasted a healthy chakra system it seemed. She left with a body flicker. Naruto followed suit.

"You took your time eh?"

Obito's eyesight was bleary and blurry as he tried to struggle against the constraints that were currently binding him. He grunted as he tried to focus his eyes on the source of the voice and saw the bleary figure. Dark brown hair flowed freely from the figure's head and Obito could make out the high cheekbones on the face he was trying to focus on. His eyes widened slightly as he started to struggle against the ropes binding him even more strongly. "Junko – is that you? What are you doing?!"

Obito's vision cleared. The haze that was sticking to the periphery of his eyes began to fade away as he saw Junko clearly for the first time since he regained consciousness. Junko looked radiant as ever and wore a traditional Uchiha clan kimono. If the situation were any different, Obito would have commented that she actually looked beautiful, like a mature woman and not the child she was. But there was something off. The atmosphere felt oppressive. The chakra that Junko was slowly emitting felt suffocating. Obito flicked his head trying to see where he was. Wooden floors and a high temple-like structure. But what struck him most was the large spiral on the floor beneath where Junko was standing a wall full of masks behind Junko. Obito gulped, as a sweat of fear gathered on his forehead. Those masks were demonic. They looked like the demons of old legends and myths that were told in myths and legends.

"Hey, cousin Obito," Junko answered his question with a non-sequitur. Obito jerked upwards as he heard her voice. He hadn't been paying attention earlier, having just woken up, but Junko's voice was different as well. It was understandable, but the intonation and the structure of her voice seemed…. warped in a manner of speaking. "I apologize for the rough manner in which I brought you here."

"Junko, why am I here? Why did you kidnap me from my home? What are you doing?" Obito asked in a panicked daze as he continued to struggle against the binds, flaring his chakra. Junko smiled at Obito, but unlike the time when he had played skipping stones with her, this smile only filled Obito with dread as the creeping oppressive chakra began to build up.

Junko ignored his question. Instead, she fiddled with the hem of her kimono and then her sharp obsidian eyes snapped towards him, making Obito flinch. A snaky grin spread across Junko's face as she tapped her lower lip twice in a mock thoughtful look. "I will tell you of the beginning. Heaven and Earth split apart and nothingness embraced creation, as if they were old friends. This embrace cleaved through the world, and we were born."

"What does that even mean?!" Obito whined as he continued to struggle. He was nearing a point where he wanted to froth at the mouth. He was confused, hurt and bewildered and adding such a nonsensical explanation only made his head hurt. He had been munching on his grandmother's delicious rice cakes one second and the next thing he knew, he was here, in this mess. All he had wanted were rice cakes. "Look, Junko, I don't know what's going on, but let's go back home to the clan district and forget this ever happened. Please, I'm tired and I'm sure you are too."

"Violent death. Unnatural deaths. They were born." Junko continued on, as if she hadn't heard Obito's pleas. She continued to speak softly, yet her voice reverberated in a sinister way as it became even more warped the more she continued to speak. "They were followed by anger, hatred, jealousy and sorrow. These were the curses and maledictions that hid underneath the shadows of creation. We weren't evil, yet we were. We simply were. And for the pain of our birth, we were imprisoned. And it was only due to one man's actions that we were freed completely."

"Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about." Obito glared at Junko, his desperation and confusion giving way to anger. Despite that, a slight tug in his thoughts continued to grapple at him. The story sounded familiar, yet strange and distant to him. 'It sounds like one of grandma's nonsensical stories….'

"That which we embodied freed us from time to time, temporarily." Junko marched on in her speech. ("Oh come on! I don't understand a thing you're saying!" Obito groaned out.). "But in the end, it was the prison that creation made that we were confined to. Trillions of years. We have seen countless cycles come and go. This world's failures shall simply sow the seeds for the success of the next. The next failures shall sow the seeds for the success that comes even after that. And so on and so forth. It has always been like this and always like this it shall be. But then, an unthinkable event happened. A mortal turned the wheel back. He defeated the gods in his quest and steered the wheel back. One simple rule that was above even sacred was broken. And we were released."

The tug in the back of Obito's mind began to twitch violently as if he was on the verge of understanding what Junko was explaining to him. Shaking his head fiercely. "Junko…. please…."

This time, Junko looked at Obito right in the eye. Her pretty and young face twisted into a snarl. Obito recoiled back as he watched the dangerous expression on Junko's face. Her eyes had grown as dark as the night and her canines glinted dangerously as she let out another growl from beneath the snarl. "What gives the right?! What gives him the permission! We are, we were and we will be and yet we were denied, yet he was accepted?! It was the folly of the highest kind. Betrayal in the worst possible manner! What gave him the right Obito?"

"Junko…" Obito murmured sadly as sweat began to pour out of him. "I…. have no…. idea who you are talking about."

Before Junko, or whatever it was that was possessing her in this fit of madness could respond to Obito's assertion, the oppressive mood expanded ten times greater. Obito gasped as chakra permeated through the air, making it suffocating to just try to gulp a mouthful of air. Dust particles and stones on the ground began to defy gravity as they began to rise from the ground. Standing at the periphery of Obito's vision was a familiar redhead. Relief filled Obito as he recognized Naruto enter the temple. Obito blanched slightly as he focused on Naruto. Even when fighting Minato, Naruto hadn't seemed as serious as he was right now. Naruto had gone about the entire spar with Minato with a smile on his face. Right now, Naruto wasn't smiling. His blue eyes – wait, no. Obito squinted. Naruto's eyes weren't blye anymore for some. A golden glow emanated from Naruto's eyes as it trained on Junko without blinking.

"Get away from him, Junko."

Within the blink of an eye, Naruto reappeared in front of Obito, wielding a small kunai as he stared down at the figure of Junko. Junko didn't seem surprised as her face lit up. She beamed at Naruto and clapped happily. "I'm honoured you came, Great Sage Equal to Heaven! I'm so honoured!"

"You aren't devouring Obito, Junko," Naruto growled in an otherworldly voice, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Obito struggled to make sense of it all. 'Kami, what is wrong with today? Naruto knows something, I'm sure. And whatever…. that thing that looks like Junko is, she recognizes Naruto too. Come on, help me out here?'

Without a word, and as if he had read Obito's mind, Naruto's kunai flashed, and the bindings keeping Obito pinned to the wall snapped. Obito lurched forward with a sigh of relief as he rubbed his wrists and then looked up. "Thanks, Naruto! But seriously though, lower that kunai. This is all a misunderstanding I'm sure. Come on Junko, explain it to Naruto. This was just a prank, right?"

"A prank?" An incredulous expression flashed across Junko's face before she started to laugh uproariously. She clutched her sides and giggled to herself. "In a way, that is true! Irony is cruel, is it not, Konoha's number one prankster?"

The last bit was clearly aimed at Naruto. Obito blinked in confusion. Though Naruto was known to be playful and wasn't exactly the most receptive person to people in authority, and yes he was known to play a few pranks here and there during training, he hadn't developed enough of a reputation to be called the village's number one prankster. That title still belonged with Kushina, if Obito wasn't mistaken. Yet, in front of Obito, Naruto stiffened. His shoulders went rigid and from behind him, Obito could see his head tilt ever so slightly. A growl escaped Naruto. "Obito, leave right now. Run and go back to the village. I will take care of things here."

"You think he can leave?" Junko cut in with a scornful voice before Obito could response. Her dimples and freckles did nothing to hide the sinister expression building up on her face. "I bound him here. He is stuck here. Until I let him go or something makes me, he stays, Great Sage."

Obito blinked.

The next thing he saw was Naruto in front of Junko with an outstretched fist. Junko had already slammed into the wall behind and the masks on it rattled and fell down to the ground. Obito let out a gasp of surprise and sheer wonder. Not even Minato-sensei's Flying Thunder God was so instantaneous. And as far as Obito could see, Naruto hadn't used any technique. Only pure speed. Junko shook herself and stood up, a small trail of blood seeping out of her mouth. Obito snapped out of his daze and raised his fist. "Hey, what did you do that for Naruto? Junko just said this was a prank! Everything's alright! Let's go back home. Junko, how about a game of skipping stones before retiring for the night?"

"Obito." There was a hint of warning in Naruto's voice. "If this person in front of me was ever Junko, it was decades ago. This one has tricked you. She is an Akuryo."

'An Akuryo?! Didn't know Naruto subscribed to superstitions…..though based on what he told us in the first training session about the Uzumaki Clan beliefs, I don't know why I'm surprised….' "An Akuryo?" Obito guffawed lightly. "Naruto, those things are myth. Like from the old tales that my grandmother always told me when I was little."

"Myth?" Came the soft voice from Junko. Her voice went through several octaves as she turned to Obito and snarled. The blood trail from her mouth made her look intimidating. Chakra seeped out of her in waves and just for a second, Obito glimpsed something else standing in place of Junko. His eyes widened in horror, as he lurched back and fell down to his bum onto the wooden floor. "Am I a mYtH nOw?!"

The oppressive atmosphere grew a thousand fold as Obito began to hyperventilate. Blubbering and pointing weakly at Junko, the accused Akuryo just chuckled in response. Naruto's sharp voice interrupted her fun. "What did you do to him?"

"He simply glimpsed my true form. The form that is sealed beneath the 6th Hell. Ah, and the first part of the ritual is complete. The glimpsing. The betrayal and the devouring." Junko answered honestly with a shrug. Naruto said nothing, but a shadow clone appeared next to him and jumped back, cradling Obito gingerly, ready to defend him from the shockwaves from the fight that was brewing in front of them.

'Those…..that dark…..those red eyes….Shinigami…..Those…..those….' Obito's thoughts were incoherent as fear gripped him. As he fell limp in Naruto's clone's arms, his eyes dimmed. Clone Naruto looked down at him in concern before murmuring, "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you, Obito."

Two one-tomoe sharingan stared back up at the clone. "Th….Than…..Thank…you….."

"Sit tight, Obito. This one is going to be hard to explain."

The moment his clone had made enough distance between himself and Junko, Naruto sprang into action. There was no point in holding back. Not when there was another's life at risk. Without waiting for a cue, Naruto disappeared and reappeared right in front of Junko and thrust his kunai into her chest. Junko gargled out some blood and spat at his face but wrenched her body out of his grasp and then attempted to kick him. Naruto disappeared once again and reappeared behind Junko and kicked her behind her head and sent her careening into the wall of the Uzumaki death masks. 'Even with my kunai lodged into her chest, she simply walks it off. If there was any question about her status as an Akuryo, it's long gone now…..'

Not letting up the attack, Naruto reappeared in front of Junko just as she landed against the wall, kicked her shin with his right leg and grabbed her midair before punching her chest wounds and sending her flying against the other side of the room. To Naruto, everything had been a combat cue, his opening taijutsu act, so to speak. But to a weak and bleary, and barely conscious chunin spectator, all of this had happened within the blink of a second. Naruto knelt down into a familiar taijutsu stance as Junko wobbled out of the dust and rubble. Her toothy grin seemed antithetical to the sinister and oppressive chakra she was leaking, but despite her humorous looks, Junko seemed as dangerous as ever.

Junko grabbed one of the masks lying next to her and donned it. It was a mask that was adorned with decorations around the eyes and had two fangs protruding from the mouth hole. Two horns grew out of the mask as well. It was a fearsome death mask. A purplish chakra enveloped Junko's body as her wounds started to heal up, small steam rising out of the former puncture wounds that Naruto had inflicted on her. The girl's nails began to grow longer and sharper as well. And in an instant she lunged forward, slashing at Naruto at near breakneck speed. Naruto sidestepped the slash and feinted right. As Junko raised her arm to protect her right, Naruto twirled and his left leg kicked Junko on her left. Junko grunted and fell back for a fraction of a second to recover before launching herself forward as the chakra enveloping her grew more and more dense. Naruto narrowed his eyes, seeing the feint that was coming. He grabbed Junko's outstretched left hand and launched her back. Not missing a beat, Junko landed on her feet nimbly like a cat and slammed her hand on the ground. The sealing formula expanded from her finger tips. The other 25 Uzumaki masks strewn across the temple's floor began to glow and levitate slightly. 'What is she planning…..?'

The purplish chakra that had been enveloping Junko spread and enveloped the other masks. Chakra figures began to form out of the masks, forming small human size chakra avatars resembling a variety of animals. All of them growled in unison and turned their heads at Naruto. Naruto settled down ready to defend himself but felt Junko move. Turning his head, he saw Junko racing towards Obito and his shadow clone. Growling, chakra chains erupted from the ground between his shadow clone and Junko, destroying her momentum and Naruto rushed forward. Three masked creatures jumped in front of him, growling and sending crimson-colored chains at him. Naruto's eyes narrowed in consternation and anger. 'How dare she! How dare she! My own clan's techniques used against me?!'

"You're in the way." Naruto declared coldly as he cleaved through the chains and the masks with his own chains before grabbing the surprised Junko by the throat. Not letting up the attack, Naruto slammed Junko to the ground. The wily demoness dissolved into pure chakra and reappeared behind him, ready to kick Naruto in the back. Naruto switched with a chair and then delivered a roundhouse kick powered by natural energy to the Akuryo, sending her flying. Trying to bide for time for her to recover, the remaining masked creatures circled Naruto before roaring and attacking him simultaneously. Naruto's lips flattened into a grim line as he took a deep breath and formed his hand into the horse hand seal. "Kokuo: Boil Release: Skilled Mist Jutsu."

Naruto exhaled a large amount of mist from his mouth directed at the masked creatures. Shuffling and mixing in his natural energy and six paths chakra into the technique, Naruto saw the cloud of mist that began to take shape and speed towards the masked creatures. The creatures yowled in pain as Naruto's technique began to melt the chakra right off of them. One by one, masks began to fall to the ground as the chakra avatars began to dissipate. Naruto's eyes remained focused on Junko's figure. Gritting his teeth slightly, Naruto clenched his fists tighter. 'She must not be allowed near Obito. I had to scale down the Skilled Mist to make sure it didn't affect Obito and my clone. Tch. The temple and the fact that she has bound Obito here is troublesome. So many variables….'

'He – he's too much.' The Akuryo blanched as it spat out even more blood onto the floor, barely managing to get up in time and jump back from the acidic mist. It had barely been thirty seconds since it and the redheaded Uzumaki had started to clash and she was already on the back foot. It could keep pace with his speed, but his other skills were just as otherworldly as it was. 'Is this, is this how-?'

'Stop this! Please!'

Shaking its head and ignoring the childlike voice, the Akuryo steadied itself and split itself into five clones. Circling the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, it tried to see a mistake, a chink in the Sage's armour. There were none. Every muscle was positioned perfectly and every limb was placed strategically. His eyes flickered more dangerously than even Takemikazuchi's thunder. Frustrated, the Akuryo decided to be devious once more and suddenly ordered all of its clones to leave the original sage and converge on the clone that was still holding Obito. 'The clone and Obito. That's his most obvious weakness.'

In the blink of an eye, the Akuryo launched itself at the clone in the distance, crossing the distance in a second. It's dangerous hand outstretched, getting closer and closer. The clone stared back at the Akuryo with nothing but confidence as a wall of chains erupted from the ground, stopping the Akuryo short for nary a second before it went around getting ready to hurl an attack from behind the clone. Another wall of chains erupted from the ground and it quickly combined with the first wall of chains before consolidating into a solid mass of chained defense protecting the clone and Obito. Before the Akuryo could lament in the frustration that threatened to break out of it, the original Naruto launched himself and attacked it. The Akuryo dodged the three punches aimed at her head. But before she could follow up on her defence, three sudden forces slammed onto its face, sending it careening backwards. Getting up quickly, the Akuryo cursed itself. 'Of course, nature energy. Bah, forgot about that blasphemous force for a second.'

Gathering itself, the Akuryo began to feel anger built up. Snarling, it stalked forward, as its clones jumped forward trying to distract the Great Sage. The Sage didn't even blink and within a crimson flash, the Sage's kunai was coated in blood. The four clones were sent tumbling back before they were dispelled. 'Why him? Why him? Why him? Why him? WHY HIM? Why not us?'

'Please…please stop this.'

'SHUT UP!' The Akuryo growled. In its head, a small whimpering girl, the perfect mirror image of the form that the Akuryo was donning curled up even further. 'I'm tired of your incessant pleas. Can you not see that I am busy, impudent girl?'

'Please…..please…let me go….'

'Oh for the sake of the Kotoamatsukami…..' The Akuryo grumbled as it tightened its mental prison even further.

"The girl." The sage interrupted. His golden eyes which reminded the Akuryo so much of the rejected divinity glowed with some kind of hidden satisfaction. "She's fighting you."

"She gave up decades ago." The Akuryo snarled as it launched several attacks with her claws as fireballs enveloped in its purple chakra sped towards the Sage. The Sage – Naruto – simply raised his hand and absorbed the attack before launching the attacks back at her tenfold in strength. Growling in frustration, the Akuryo turned to goad the Sage as its medium of conflict. "When Madara gave her up to me, her fate was sealed. When you altered the timeline, her fate was sealed. This is entirely your fault, Sage, you were warned and here you are."

His opponent's face gave nothing away. "I was warned yes. And now here I am, dealing with the consequences of my actions. I will put you down, Akuryo and that poor girl is going to be freed."

'How dare he! How dare he!' "What makes you so special?" The Akuryo snarled grotesquely, with blood pouring out of its wounds. "When we wanted to turn back the wheel, go beyond that gate to make sure that we could be changed and freed, we were denied. Yet you were just granted entry without batting an eyelid? What gave you that right?!"

The Sage didn't bat an eye. Naruto levelled his gaze at the Akuryo and scoffed. "The politics of the Underworld and Takamagahara matter little to me, Akuryo."

"It shouldn't. It should matter a lot." The Akuryo snarled as it launched another attack. Punching, kicking and attacking in rapid succession. Naruto parried and countered every attack with his own attacks. Both of them attacked at breakneck speed and with perfect precision. "You seek their aid to turn back the wheel and then you ignore them? Daring, but a futile endeavour. Trust me, sage, I've been down this road before. I know how it ends." 'Death, misery, suffering.'

"Why? Because you got the short end of the stick?" Naruto snapped back at the Akuryo after sidestepping a chakra slash. "So you should have thought around the box. Outside the box. Outside of the realms of your confinement. You blame me for your shortcomings Akuryo."

The Akuryo snarled and let out a roar. "How…..HOW DARE YOU!"

As if he hadn't heard a supernatural roar that had shaken the entire ground, Naruto continued on. "And I did warn you about what would happen if you tried to hurt someone precious to me. At the time, I tried to stay back, trying to understand what you were, a consequence of my own actions to turn the Samsara backwards. But you attacked Obito and crossed a fine line. Say goodbye to this body, Akuryo."

The Akuryo barked out a laugh. "With what priest Sage? With what priest? You are not ordained. I can feel that."

"Frankly, it's time I stopped holding back. Not in a situation like this. And I don't need to ordained to tear out a soul." Naruto murmured back to it. The Akuryo's eyes widened in growing horror. Naruto's chakra glowed golden as black tomoe patterns began to form around his standard Konoha jonin outfit. The Akuryo stepped back as it saw what was being formed in Naruto's outstretched hand.

"Six Paths: Shakujo: Human Path."

Darkness enveloped the Akuryo. The warm embrace of the 6th Hell welcomed it not soon after.

The girl's body hit the floor with a thump. Naruto observed the body with a sad glance and allowed the wall of chains around his clone to fall apart as the Shakujo staff he held dissipated. Obito's chest was rising and falling and his clone shot him a smile. Naruto let out a small sigh of relief. He smiled slightly. 'Only he could fall asleep in just four minutes.'

His smile fell apart as he walked forward and knelt down next to the girl's body. He had made a gambit. When Kagami had told him that the girl couldn't be saved, he had been heartbroken. He couldn't kill a girl. It would go against everything he had been taught. And for that matter, he wasn't ordained by a priest for exorcisms. Kagami didn't have the authority to dispense such a thing to anyone. He was still technique a junior in the Temple of Amaterasu that the Uchiha tended. The idea had eluded him for many moments, but he had struck gold with the idea to use the Human Path. An Akuryo possession always meant two souls inhabiting the same body. Ripping one out and allowing one to stay was going to be tricky, but Naruto prayed to the heavens that it would work. Placing his hands together, green chakra flared to life as he applied medical chakra to Junko's body. Alongside normal medical chakra, Naruto pumped in yin and yang chakra. As much as he could without overloading the body. 'If there is anyone who deserves to live – it's the poor girl whose body was sacrificed by her father for a ritual to summon an Akuryo. You truly went mad, didn't you Madara?'

And then there was the Akuryo itself. The tale of the beings created by the embrace of creation and nothingness was a sad tale indeed. Naruto could agree on that. But taking their anger out on the innocent was never justified. And trying to reason with an otherworldly being…. Naruto had long given up on that. They lacked the fundamental base of empathy, of understanding and of sympathy that humans and animals possessed. Even bugs and heartless animals like snakes and spiders possessed what these otherworldly beings did not. It was an interesting paradox, for sure.

For a precious few seconds, nothing happened. Pain gripped Naruto's heart as uncertainty reared its ugly head. He pumped more chakra into his healing technique, and a painfully long second later, the girl gasped in a large mouthful of air.

"What, where?" The girl questioned with a wobbly voice in a distinctly northern Fire country accent. It was disconcerting. The Akuryo had used Junko's body in a such a sinister way, that to hear a normal question uttered from that very same voice was off-putting slightly. Shaking his head slightly, Naruto allowed a small smile to form on his face as he leaned closer to the girl.

"Junko." Naruto began softly. He helped the girl up to her feet slowly and steadily as she swayed in the evening breeze. "The Akuryo is gone. You are safe."

Junko's obsidian dark eyes flickered towards him. Her pupils dilated and tears began to form on the side of her eyes as she struggled to stand up without Naruto's aid, who kept a steady hand on her shoulders and hand to make sure she didn't fall over. "You – is it actually…-"

"It's gone," Naruto reassured her, slowly leading her towards a chair to sit down. The girl out of time took slow baby steps, not letting go of Naruto's hand, which was kept tight under a vice grip. "Your life is yours again Junko. You will never be a prisoner of your mind again."

The proverbial dam opened as the girl launched herself at Naruto. A wetness grew on Naruto's flak jacket as the temple's silence was broken by the intermittent sobs and sniffles. The sobs and sniffles eventually grew into a full-blown bawl. Naruto said nothing. Obito was sleeping soundly and he could comfort Junko without being distracted. Naruto hugged the girl back and rubbed the girl's back as she cried in a reassuring manner. Junko hiccupped between her sobs. "Why, why did you?"

"Why did I help you?" Naruto finished the question softly and with a gentle voice. Junko nodded slowly as she tried to wipe her tears away and looked at Naruto with big wide eyes. Naruto hummed softly and leaned back slightly. His blue eyes shined in the dark atmosphere of the temple as memories passed by him.

"Come on Iruka-sensei! One more ramen!"

"Hey, who're you talking with big sis Ayame? Is that your boyfriend?"

"You're right old man Teuchi. Ramen is the food of the gods!"

"Thanks for believing in me, old man Hokage."

"You were the best sensei I could ever ask for Kakashi-sensei."

"Sakura! How about a date after practice- urk! Sorry! Sorry! Don't mind me! Jeez, she's scary."

"Sasuke. Hey, bastard. I can't translate hn and hnnnnn."

"Oh come on Granny! I've been eating enough vegetables. Tell her, big sis Shizune!"

"You're weird, Pervy Sage."

A lone tear fell out of Naruto's left eye. Taking a deep breath, Naruto answered the girl's question. "I came back to save everyone. How could I achieve that if I let my father's student die and let an innocent girl die? I came back to save everyone. When I said everyone, I meant everyone."

End of Chapter

Author's Notes: Hey! Long time no see! I'm like really busy, but don't worry, this fic is still going to be updated. This chapter and this arc mainly deals with the consequences of Naruto's actions. As the fact of how Naruto went back in time becomes clearer and clearer with every flashback, it also shows that Naruto's actions weren't consequences and directly threatens peoples he cares about. Amidst the war, and trying to thwart Madara and the Otsutsukis, a lurking threat in the dark that Naruto himself released will be playing a game of machinations as well. And the Akuryo was just the first symptom. There was a lot of subtext in this arc, and I wonder if all of y'all got them. And also, Naruto briefly goes all out in this chapter, as shown by his usage of the six paths to overpower and jump over the normal restrictions regarding the banishing of Akuryo. It's a small glimpse of just how powerful Naruto is. And the fact that the entire fight lasted only a few minutes - which is a testament to how fast they were fighting.

Also for clarification, the Kotoamatsukami mentioned in this chapter is referring to the Primordial Shinto Deities and not the genjutsu. The next chapter shall be the epilogue chapter of this arc. Thanks for all the support!