Uchiha Madara was having a rough night.
Well, it had been a rough year altogether, what with his father dying; Izuna and he awakening their Mankgekyō.
Stumbling upon this Uzumaki civilian — Madara was sure of it, neither he nor Izuna's Sharingan had seen anything that would indicate fully developed chakra coils in him. None of the man's actions and words made any sense to Madara.
Had Madara known about half the problems the Uzumaki man would bring to them, he would have slit his throat right after his first battle against the woman, in spite of how… unpleasantly his gut churned at the idea. But of course, Izuna had to act rashly — or perhaps Tobirama had goaded them right into taking him as a hostage, it was hard to say with that man.
And then Izuna had been dealt a crippling blow.
Either the man had been responsible for it himself… or he had just allowed that bastard Tobirama to come in and do the job.
There was a principle that helped shinobi make quick and effective decisions during missions or battles: the simplest explanation or solution was often the most likely one.
Sure, it could be that their prisoner had simply been there at the wrong moment, at the wrong time... but it was just more likely that it had been a setup. Tobirama and him, working together.
Then Uzumaki had acted even more senselessly.
This man knew of both his and Izuna's eyes. Which meant that Tobirama, Hashirama and the rest of the Senju knew too, undoubtedly. Which of them had figured it out was a mystery.
And how was something Madara had decided he would get answers about, once he made sure Izuna was well.
Because that was very problematic.
Izuna seemed to recover... And that woman had come again, throwing a wrench in his plans.
The Uzumaki clan was somewhat of an unknown. Allies to the Senju, that they had sent this man was a sign of their now active involvement in this conflict. What it would mean for the future, Madara could not say.
Uzumaki had spent most of his time goading them, trying to make any Uchiha use their Sharingan.
He wanted them to do it.
It was clear that he had come here prepared. And what the Uzumaki clan could do, Madara did not know. Before he understood it, he was unwilling to risk anyone using their eyes.
There were other ways to make a man speak, and Madara did not trust information gotten through torture; a man would say anything he thought his captor wanted to hear, it did not mean truth in any way.
And that was without taking these Yamanaka monsters into account. If all of them were working together, perhaps that man did not know anything of value besides what he had told them anymore.
…Assuming Uzumaki had not simply been sent on a suicide mission, crammed full of explosive tags they could not see that would go off upon his death.
Madara's paranoia had been working overtime.
But then again, none of these options seemed like anything Hashirama would be willing to do. Which still left Tobirama.
The prisoner had been beaten, too, which had made Madara furious. Not because he had a strict policy of at least trying to treat prisoners humanely, but because they did not know who the hell he was, what he was doing… and what he could do.
Uzumaki could well be waiting for the opportunity to get rid of someone like Madara, pretending to be helpless, suffering through beatings and possible torture. And Madara, unwilling to risk any of his men's lives, had slowly moved everyone else away from the area in which Uzumaki had been trapped, in case; made sure they kept themselves ready for battle of any kind, in case.
Madara could not kill him without more information.
He did not think he could even get him out of the compound for the exact same reason — and Uzumaki never slept, never met their eyes. Most of their other useful, non-Sharingan-based illusions were still optical and next to useless here… and that was assuming Uzumaki had no protection against that, too.
Nori had been sent to put him to sleep with a poisoned needle… and it had had no effect on him whatsoever. And the Uzumaki had apparently just given him a knowing grin, as though he had known they would try it.
Madara could not even blame the would-be-poisoner for his shaking hands.
At first, Madara had been somewhat amused by Uzumaki's sharp tongue, assuming it to be bravado.
Right now, Madara was worried. Very worried.
Not only because he felt something prod at his mind, something that felt like old instincts, tell him not to touch the man at all. Or something larger than this, that he hoped with all his heart was not madness.
One thing was clear, though.
This was not a regular civilian. Or rather, chakra or not… he was dangerous. Too dangerous.
Madara had known it, even as he had gone to fight Tsunade, leaving only a handful of willing men to oversee Uzumaki's actions. There was not much he could do, with Madara, his likely target, gone.
Setsuna stayed in the compound, tasked with making sure that nothing got too out of hand.
They had left the prisoner bound in secret Uchiha bindings that would leave him unable to do anything at all, while they figured out what their best options. Bindings that Tobirama himself would have been unable to escape from.
Somehow, Uzumaki escaped them.
The trouble didn't stop there.
Madara's new eye saw the mists; saw the two ashen-haired monsters; he saw the terrible night unfold.
Days ago
"I must admit, we may be out of our depth." Yoisen began, her voice measured.
Ino stared at her, very silently. "I thought you and Orochimaru had faced some of these things already."
Yoisen shook her head. "They were lesser beings. Yokai. Thinking they are the same in any way is the same as comparing a candle to a raging fire." She paused. "Or a cosmic inferno, I suppose."
Ino furrowed her brow, curiosity piqued — enough for her to push her dislike for the woman aside. "…How would you know? Have you ever seen one yourself? Or at least heard of someone meeting them?"
Karin nodded. "Yeah, what do they look like?"
"…What do they look like?" Yoisen blinked. She hesitated. "I… wouldn't know, the depictions tend to vary."
Hanabi frowned. "That's really not much to go by."
"You should count yourself fortunate that none of them manifested. Even a partial one should theoretically be enough for them to affect our world."
"No manifestation, you say. What was what we saw, then…?"
"An entreaty." Yoisen's hand was clenching slightly.
"Can't see much of a difference."
Naruto spoke before Yoisen said something that would undoubtedly provoke Hanabi into saying something insulting.
"There are plenty of stories, Hanabi." He said. "Let's go with that."
Hanabi stared at him, as though she could see right through him but allowed his attempt at keeping things pleasant. "…I do enjoy stories."
"Do you know who the Greater Kami are?" Yoisen asked, after mulling her words over.
"Sure thing." Hanabi nodded. "I didn't use to be a big believer, though—"
"Long ago, long before my time, the world was thriving under the protection and guidance of the kami." Yoisen began. "People paid their respects and offerings to the deities, and that was apparently enough for them. However, as time passed, people began to neglect their duties.
"The kami, of course, felt disrespected… angered by people's actions. I suppose that they agreed that a demonstration of their power was necessary. Perhaps it was to remind the world of their divine authority, perhaps it was spite. Amaterasu, the sun kami, hid her radiant light, casting the world into darkness. The other kami, such as the storm deity Susanoo and Fujin, the wind spirit, unleashed their fury upon the land. Dire tempests scoured the land, and powerful gales tore through villages, leaving nothing but destruction in their turbulent wake.
"The people, who were now living in constant darkness… terror, ended up realizing that they needed to implore their kami's mercy. In their despair, they began to perform rituals, offering prayers, blood and sacrifices in a sincere attempt to appease the furious deities. And I suppose it worked.
"Amaterasu, acknowledging the people's remorse, decided to bestow her light upon the world once more. Dawn returned, driving away the darkness that had plagued the earth. The other kami ceased their destructive onslaught, and allowed the world to heal and rebuild.
"The terrifying events of the Eternal Night became a cautionary tale, passed down through generations to remind people of the kami's immense power… as well as their fickleness."
There was silence.
Toru nodded. "If what you're saying is true—" He continued, because Yoisen looked as though she would snap at him. "That would be a partial manifestation, then. And... why did people stop again, then…? Why are we even still… Well. Alive? Also, I'm sure something like alternate realities is not enough to stop an actual god from reaching us."
Yoisen breathed out. "Because there is something cyclical about history. People will forget, nothing more. And as for why nothing has happened yet…"
She marked a pause. "The kami do not lie in the physical plane. I believe that actually manifesting takes a lot from them. Time… strength, perhaps. Even more so if they exert their power."
More silence.
"And when it comes to it… What are a few hundred years, thousand years of patience to a kami…?" Yoisen finished, mirthlessly.
Sakura raised her eyebrows. "…It can go both ways, then. Sure, they might have taken offense… And something might happen soon… or it might not happen at all for the next centuries. Nothing happened in the last thousand years or so."
"Let me clarify, then." Yoisen stared at her and leaned forward. "I cannot say with certainty that the kami have been seen by anyone at all in the past few centuries."
Sakura's eyes were a bit hesitant. Which meant she realized the problem. She was pretty sure a few kami had made contact with them, over the past few years.
"Then I think you understand what I'm saying, and the trouble that means." Yoisen said. "Sakura, some of them have already moved."
There was a hiss, and the clouds parted, high above.
The vapors swirled down, as though the clouds had suddenly decided to settle upon the earth. They coalesced and the screen of cloudy mist became thicker.
Then the clouds thinned again, and the moon cast long shadows on the area. There was a change to the air, a great specter hanging, as though the laws that governed reality suddenly bent for something greater.
Naruto felt slightly dizzy, as he heard a shriek from a place he could not see, a cry that he was sure no man had heard for a long time.
There was a golden glow. Mist engulfed the area entirely this time, and suddenly it felt as though they were falling.
And falling.
For what seemed to be a long time.
Toru and Naruto landed on top of water, as far as the eye could see; illuminated by a gigantic, orange full moon in the far distance, and the light of the stars.
There was an eerie glow to the place, even as the mists lifted.
Ethereal light and energy winked into visibility and the stars came down to the water, taking the shape of graceful foxes.
It was not an awe-inspiring sight.
Rather, it seemed to make the hairs on the two men's arms raise. The foxes were almost three meters tall, with baleful red eyes.
That was the sort of thing Naruto had imagined.
Neither Toru nor he moved.
The foxes drew closer, letting out high-pitched, unnatural moans as they did. Instinct told the humans that the foxes were not about to attack... yet. Naruto heard one of them sniff him. Another did the same to Toru. Their jaws opened slightly, in what could only be seen as a predatory smile.
Then they howled at the sky.
Kitsune were tricksters, and Inari-Kitsune was no exception, no matter which shape the kami took. Getting rid of these foxes would do nothing.
Naruto understood it on a fundamental level, something that didn't require words. These beings — or perhaps it was a singular one — didn't seem to need such things.
It was a simple order. Maybe it was for curiosity's sake; maybe it was a challenge, a test. Or perhaps it was simply a game.
In any case, the command was clear.
(run)
He knew that Toru understood it, as well.
Neither of them were really fond of following any kami's intention. The alternative was getting swarmed by more of them, though.
It was unnatural, all of it: foxes didn't really gather in groups; they were solitary animals. And still… more of the stars twisted themselves into their shapes, and the ethereal skulk continued to grow.
Naruto's sword flashed, and it was a test. It went through one of the foxes entirely, dispelling it into nothing more than smoky vapor that reformed almost right away. Where there had been only one, now stood two foxes.
There was no way to kill a god — or rather, if there was, they hadn't discovered it yet. It meant that fighting would likely do them no good here.
Toru's Sharingan blazed, spun, and twisted to its highest level wordlessly. Threads of air began wrapping around him with a whistling sound.
In wordless agreement, both of them turned around in opposite directions and ran.
In the moonlit night, the foxes commenced their pursuit.
...
Feet and paws met water, and from the depths arose an eerie symphony of echoes, a haunting dance of shadows and dark amusement.
Naruto shot forward, chakra blazing, nothing more than a white streak of light.
The beasts followed, just as fast as he was. Their fangs snapped close to him and he whirled around, blade flashing through a muzzle, separating it into two puffs of smoke; they became twin foxes.
There were too many of them.
All of them, moving with preternatural grace, and a swiftness that made him feel as though he were a heavy, lumbering thing.
The wind picked up, and the darkness of the night became more cloying, leaving only the red-orange moon's gleaming reflection in the water to light the way. There was a chill down Naruto's spine, and the foxes' fur seemed to shimmer with an aura of unnatural power.
Without warning, they lunged at him again, their sleek forms cutting through the cold air with impossible speed. His heart was thundering in his chest, and he was unsure what would happen if they ever truly got to him.
It could have been fear that he felt.
He was afraid it was something else, entirely. Something eager.
Naruto pushed down upon the treacherous impulse, knowing that he would need to stay as clear-headed as the state allowed him to be.
And he pushed his body further and further, feeling his thighs scream as he slowly drew closer to the edge; adrenaline pumped through his veins, and it took all he had to keep himself limber and focused.
They were entirely silent; no sounds came from their grinning mouths.
The only thing he heard was the soft padding of their feet, which became a faster thing, keeping up with him, no matter how hard he pushed himself. One of them separated from the skulk, trying to barrel into him from ahead. Naruto dodged, slipping under him and sliding upon the bottomless waters.
One came from down under and he felt its presence at the latest moment.
Naruto cursed and pushed high up, using a quick, almost aimless burst of Wind to spin through the air. He gathered chakra in his hand, dark light, and clenched his fist. Gravity halted for a short moment before it resumed, twice as heavy as it had been just an instant before.
He slammed into the water, slid and rolled back to his feet before he resumed sprinting. As he had thought, the foxes didn't seem really affected by gravity.
Another pair of them came at him from both his left… and his right. They worked in unison, coordinating their movements with eerie precision, forcing him to change directions frequently. Their goal was to hinder his progress… and they were managing that fairly well.
His lungs felt as though they were at their limit when he pushed harder—
And then the environment twisted, turned against him. What he could see of the lake ahead of him became a roaring river; a current that was fast and treacherous… and left him with no footing whatsoever. Chakra gleamed, gathered through him and he charged through the incoming wave; he would need to go through it.
It sounded easy enough on paper.
Up became down, forward became down too; and he was falling through a true waterfall. He roared, extending his hand to the dim heavens, and the waters parted. His will against a kami's.
The kami won, of course. The foxes came through the dark waves, swimming with the ease of sharks...
He was gone already, in a flash of white light.
Naruto blinked as his eyes adjusted to the new location.
Toru had been running in another direction entirely and Naruto had warped to him. They were in the middle of a thick forest of trees. Naruto gave him a quizzical look, but Toru didn't have an answer either; his breathing was slightly labored already, in spite of his Sharingan's whirring.
Or perhaps because of it — if he supercharged his jutsu, the only limit was how much power he could output. He knew that Toru's legs burned with exhaustion… but they knew they couldn't afford to slow down, to save anything for a possible 'later'. The kami's pursuit was relentless, and the skulk of foxes would not be deterred.
But neither would they.
The two men leaped through and over branches, ducking under foliage and more of the damnable creatures. Toru slowed down for a moment, bringing a hand to his overused left eye. He jumped, pushing off a tree, slightly too slowly.
A beat.
There was movement, something that caught his other eye; fangs flashed. Toru growled and his blade came out of his scabbard, quick as lightning. A seal inscribed along its edge — and the blade's very nature — gleamed in the light.
The foxes fell upon him like hungry wolves, and he cleaved through three of them, left eye still firmly shut. There was a flash of powerful chakra and Naruto appeared beside him, warping toward Toru's weapon. He threw twin swords as though they were simple daggers, guided them through the night with only his will, summoned an odachi in the same breath.
Flames shimmered out of nothing, wrapping around Toru's weapon… and prompting the kami to warp space once more. Both of them fell through what had been a branch, but was now water.
The flame sputtered out—
Until Naruto slammed his hands together and changed the very nature of the water surrounding them again.
Hydrogen became oxygen.
Toru's blade erupted, disappearing into deadly pale flames. The roaring fire wrapped around them, expanding outward… and then inward. The two of them disappeared into the flames, using it as a conduit for their chakra.
Before the terrible sound of the great fiery explosion in the far distance reached them, the two of them were where Naruto had been, just moments before; dashing through the inverted waterfall.
And the horizon was tumbling behind them, now.
Bending up in a very unnatural way, one that made their skin crawl… until the sea underneath them reflected the sea above them.
They didn't bother with trying to buy the time to shout. They were gathering unholy speed and blurring forward, and barely managed to avoid getting crushed when the heavens and the sea slammed together.
...
Naruto was tumbling through shards of what seemed to have been part of this reality just one moment before, arms and weapons flashing with pale light… blurring around him to reduce them to notice but dust.
Before they could bury themselves inside him.
He came through unscathed. Toru, on the other hand, didn't get the chance. Shards of ethereal glass slammed into him, and turned to ghostly blue fires, just as he turned into a human torch.
Naruto winced, both at the grisly sight… and the smell of human fat cooking.
Toru made a pained sound, gathered chakra to his scorched hand, and slammed it against his chest, forcing his body to recreate itself.
Naruto held a hand out to him, and pulled. Toru flew to him; doubled that speed by pulling himself toward Naruto as well.
They clasped hands and Naruto threw him further away, sending an unrefined gravity push after him that made a booming sound as it blew. A sound that would have shattered windows and glass… had the shards around them not been made up of something else entirely.
Toru's eye gleamed red, twisted and spun; he accelerated even more. Naruto saw more of the very air break into the same shards, they were flying toward him in the distance.
One moment Naruto was there, falling back toward nothingness.
The next he flashed next to the ever faster Toru, his twin swords blurring with a terrible sound; he drove himself up into a relentless rage.
Wind. Lightning. Fire.
The elements hummed and buzzed around his weapons as he broke shards into harmless parcels in less time than it took for Toru to fly past him.
Then he warped close to the Uchiha again, using his father's jutsu. He repeated the same process; his swords flashed white, buzzing, and he shielded his friend.
Then again. And again. Faster and faster, just like Toru went.
Faster, like the shards.
In spite of the Jūbi's powerful regenerating power… Naruto's arms hurt, as though liquid fire were coursing through them. Thick red blood was pouring down their corded length, just as it was pouring down his brow. But Toru was unharmed and unimpeded, blurring into the horizon.
They slipped through something; they shattered something.
As they did, they crashed through a pond of water, from down under, coming to a violent halt onto the shore.
...
With gasping breaths, Toru and Naruto got out.
They jumped higher up, away from the water. And into rice fields, never slowing down.
A serene landscape unfolded, with gently rolling hills covered in vibrant wildflowers. Tranquil streams meandered through the clouded valley.
It was a sight to behold, a paradise of abundance and tranquility nestled in a place that defined the balance between the natural world and the divine; a sacred space.
The rice plants themselves had a supernatural vibrancy of sorts, their stalks a lush, vivid green that shimmered in the orange light. Each grain of rice was plump and perfect, imbued with the essence of the kami's divine touch.
As the breeze swept through the fields, the plants swayed gracefully, as if dancing in harmony with the elements.
It was beautiful.
So beautiful that it only seemed wrong.
Toru and Naruto leaped high up, until they reached a wooden platform, close to what looked like the mountaintops. Above some of the dense gray clouds… and under more of them.
The very same orange moon was still there, gleaming.
So were nine stars. They flashed.
A shape fell down from the sky and the eerie feeling redoubled.
It chose to appear as a graceful, golden being with a fox-like figure; with ears and several bushy tails. For a moment, both Naruto and Toru could understand what made people revere kami as beautiful spirits.
But foxes were tricksters.
Their eyes allowed them to see further.
Inari-Kitsune's visage shifted, revealing a more sinister aspect.
Its eyes, which were tilted up like in an ancient painting, were a rich red. Sunken and gleaming, they were a predator's eyes, and bore into the souls of those foolish enough to dare meet its gaze. A rictus drew its large mouth in a cruel mockery of a smile.
The way the ears changed was equally eerie. Gone were the delicate, pointed ears from just a moment ago, the ones that the smaller foxes had worn as well. In their place stood twisted, straight horns akin to those of a malevolent markhor.
The presence of the kami, which could have been comforting, became an embodiment of dread. The colors of gold and red that adorned its fur seemed to drain away, leaving behind a spectral, shadowy figure that appeared to draw the very essence of darkness to itself.
Vapor came to it, what had been its loyal kitsune, moments earlier. They seemed to be nothing more than menacing phantoms now; their eyes were glowing with more of that sinister, unholy light.
Then came the bright red glow.
Naruto used the Deva Path's ability at the same time Toru did. Their gravity pushes slammed into each other's and sent both of them rolling; to the kami's left, to the kami's right. And away from the massive tails that slammed down, leaving nothing but scorching marks on the wodden platform, the bountiful rice fields that were their surroundings.
Toru's mouth dried up. He wasn't entirely sure what exactly would happen to them if they got hit either, Naruto knew.
And that meant they couldn't afford to. Toru must have heard his thought, because he let out a choked sound that could have been a laugh. Naruto extended his hand to the heavens—
And didn't get the time to summon down the thunder. Inari, on the other hand, did. A bolt of red light struck Naruto down, and the pale lightning that surrounded him, the Jūbi-enhanced Storm, only shielded him from the worst of it.
Another tail struck down, sending a rippling wave of fire across the platform, forcing them to take to the air. It made them easy targets for the spectral foxes that rose from the mists once more.
A fox-shaped ghost slammed into Naruto's side.
They were not as incorporeal as they seemed to be, far from it. The impact had broken a rib, he was pretty sure of it. And the flames that licked at his chest burned through his robes, which flowed with their own will to defend him... and were strong as any sort of armor.
His eyes quickly took in everything around him, from the multitude of creatures after him, to the gigantic fox down on the wooden platform… to the six-armed, teal-colored Perfect Susanoo down there, fighting with the rage of an angry god.
Kami supposedly could not be killed by this sort of physical means. If there ever had been a memo about not throwing hands with gods… Toru definitely did not get it.
Naruto kept his amusement tightly under wraps; such things could wait. And the Susanoo was barely holding together, powered by the Jūbi as it was.
Arcs of white chakra exploded through the chakra construct's shoulders as Toru roared; its ghostly arms were constantly reconstructing themselves as they broke down, in a way that had to be costly in terms of chakra expanded.
Naruto slammed his hands together and did his best to outdo Toru. An aura of pale sparks ignited around him.
There were no rocks from outer space to use, but he would manage.
In the far heavens, gigantic orbs of white lightning shaped themselves out of the clouds. They hovered, shining bright and gathering everything in their vicinity around them, turning the cloudy night into open skies.
And when Naruto roared, they slammed down upon the platform, a storm of power.
The Susanoo held the kami down.
It disappeared when Naruto summoned Toru to himself, at the last possible moment.
Toru's Susanoo restored itself, gathering around them once more, turning white from the strength of their combined chakra; raising his forming hand to the heavens. In its fist, Fire, Wind and Lightning coalesced.
Yin and Yang made the dream reality.
And a sword was formed, many times larger than either of them, taller than the Susanoo itself. The giant grasped it with its two hands.
And together they fell, along with the orbs of pale chakra, roaring. The sword thundered in its descent, a soul-piercing wail.
There was a terrible scream, the sound of an entire mountain being grinded to dust through electrical heat. Something that made the both of them feel as though their eardrums had suddenly burst.
...
The white chakra construct receded, Naruto and Toru touched down, keeping their eyes trained on the plume of vapor.
Both of them brought their hands together, as though they were praying. They grasped at the mists; the Sun and the Moon joined together.
The Six Paths version of the Chibaku Tensei formed into a sealing stone.
It ascended to the starry heavens, along with the vapors and both men exhaled—
Power rose once more, cloying and indomitable.
The strongest jutsu they had, the strongest seal... had done nothing.
Naruto's lips pursed, and Toru's long, frustrated breath echoed in his ears. The kami materialized again, its malevolent red eyes gleaming with amusement as it reshaped the land.
It stared at them, amused.
There was a lull in the battle.
A momentary stillness settled over the battlefield. Fox and humans, equally motionless.
Then the kami's maw gaped wide, releasing a guttural roar that was matched by their own battle cries as they charged forward, swords clashing with tails in a resounding collision.
Toru leaped over Naruto's shoulders, using him as a springboard, spectral teal armor appearing out of nowhere to parry a mighty blow that would have crushed him. Naruto cut through ghostly flames targeting his friend with equal precision.
In perfect harmony, they moved as one.
They danced, weaved through scorching tails, through ominous bursts of lightning, severing illusions and deception.
Pale light glittered from behind them and they split. A burst of radiant chakra exploded from Naruto's clone's hands, aimed at the kami.
Then more of them.
The two men dashed forward, gliding through the arcs of light. Naruto gathered more of his chakra.
There was a shimmer of pale light, above the kami's sinister red gaze. It birthed a legion of ashen swords.
They fell with blistering speed, just as Naruto threw his own weapons forward, and called himself to them, shrouded in ever-growing amounts of electrical light, in a mighty Grounding.
At the same time, he was weaving through hand seals…
Snake — Ram — Monkey — Boar — Horse — Snake.
Just like Toru was.
Rat — Tiger — Ox — Hare — Dragon — Tiger.
Toru breathed in and released a billowing plume of blue flame on the exhale.
Naruto adjusted his chakra levels in consequence. The Scorching Funeral — named by Toru, of course, it was more of a Death Lightning, really — required perfect synchronization between the two shinobi, as well as precise chakra control.
The massive vortex of swirling fire blew around the kami. Naruto had seen it incinerate nearly anything in its path before. He still channeled highly concentrated Lightning and Wind chakra into the firestorm.
It grew exponentially, consuming everything in its fiery embrace—
And then massive tails swung through it.
The kami howled and called the flames to itself.
Naruto was starting to understand the problem. Had suspected it since the first time.
The kami was not just the monstrous kitsune in front of them.
It was not the multitude of smaller foxes that had pursued them either.
It was not the stars in the sky, nor the vapor.
Rather, it was this entire world, that was seemingly cut off from reality; all of this internal landscape.
And in spite of their best efforts, he didn't really think they had a way to overcome this problem. Sweat pearled down his brow, either from the heat, or from the growing weariness he was feeling.
It had been a long few days. And too long of a fight.
Toru's chakra, which was normally deafening, almost blinding in its intensity when released, had been reduced to less. Still terrifying to anyone else, but weaker.
Naruto's eyes tightened. It was time to figure a way to survive this with their souls whole.
And then the battle halted.
There was a portal of dark light, high up.
Naruto's heart almost skipped a beat. He stopped to stare.
Inari paused, too.
Two women dropped from it.
Sakura and Hanabi emerged from the portal, with serious eyes. They were wearing battle armor. The strength of their released chakra seared the air around them.
Naruto's heart swelled with hope.
The four of them together, perhaps they stood a chance.
Like pink and brown spears sent from heaven, they landed next to them. They took their stances next to them wordlessly. Toru glanced at them.
Chakra sparked around them, and the pressure in the air intensified. With similar roars, the two women powered up. It was like standing next to a hurricane, as it always was—
Toru's blade flashed two times, cutting right through their throats with surgical precision.
Naruto barely had the time to think. He didn't have the time to curse him, nor to wonder why he did this, whether or not the kami had gotten to him, wonder if he was the one…
Because the headless women faded to nothing but mist, too.
And Naruto cursed himself.
Of course they would not manage to reach here now. Toru just gave him a wince, and a sympathetic look that told Naruto that he thought he himself would have fallen for it, in different circumstances.
Naruto didn't believe it fully. Toru never actually boasted about the things that made him strong, in or out of battle.
Inari's laughter spilled forth like silver bells on a midnight breeze.
Toru, weary but steadfast, strode alongside Naruto. Naruto, who wanted nothing more but to go home, at this point. The night's embrace enveloped them, a cloak of darkness that seemed to breathe and pulse with an eerie life of its own.
As shadows whispered around them, the air grew thick with anticipation.
Naruto gave Toru a slow nod, the bond between them transcending the need for words.
Toru stared for a moment, almost uncomprehending. Then his eyes lit up. The signal was clear, and they would go for their combined, ultimate technique.
An ethereal symphony echoed through the stillness, and the ancient fox spirit would bear witness to their impending struggle, to the most formidable union of power.
After a quick shared glance, the two shinobi began their elaborate dance.
Inari's tails sweeped through the air, and the kami's attacks only grew more powerful as time went on.
The two men moved in perfect harmony, their feet barely grazing the ground, stirring up wisps of pale light that swirled around them like a living shadow. Their blades traced intricate patterns in the air, weaving an invisible tapestry of power that vibrated with the energy of their combined vitality.
The fox spirit watched with rapt attention, dark amusement shining into its eyes at their futile efforts. They met the baleful red eyes fearlessly.
The way they moved was a tantalizing display, a testimony to the levels of ability humans could reach. The night sky above them roared with the fury of a thousand storms, and the clouds around them parted; as though the very mountain was ready to split itself apart.
Inari's own spirit rose, higher and higher.
Naruto and Toru's hands met in a final, desperate gesture, and for a moment, it seemed as though the world held its breath.
And then, with the subtlety of a whisper, they vanished.
Inari stilled.
There was only quiet around the empty arena.
The kami's head whipped around, locking on to their chakra signature, far in the distance. Where it knew one of them had discarded a sword beforehand.
Inari moved like a shadow, fading into vapor and crossing the distance at a dizzying pace.
Naruto and Toru leaped away again.
And again.
Further and further.
A distant laugh echoed behind them, a haunting reminder of the kami's presence. It was enjoying the chase.
And it sounded remote to the humans, because the great being had been ensnared by its own arrogance, caught in a web of deception similar to the one it so proudly spun.
Toru's two ringed, red eyes gleamed in the dark. He and Naruto had never left the wooden platform on the mountain.
They used this short moment of respite and hastily opened a portal, using Amatsu-Mikaboshi.
Inari realized the trickery one instant too late. By the time he reached the mountaintops again… they were already gone.
In the end, their ruse worked. They had outsmarted the kami, harnessing the very power of illusion that it wielded against it.
Well, Toru had, technically.
The grand spectacle he had created in a short moment of direct eye contact with the kami's manifested form… was nothing more than a masterful illusion; a ruse designed to captivate and distract.
Inari stood still for a long while.
The trickster kami stared.
Time stretched into eternity before it erupted into laughter, a crescendo of madness rising to the heavens, the very fabric of this reality trembling with its intensity.
It laughed, harder and harder.
...
The two of them reappeared near the Uchiha compound.
There were many eyes on them. Including Madara's. And the man could try and hide it as much as he wanted…
He flinched when they glanced at him.
None of the Uchiha were likely to attack them, in any case.
Toru gave Naruto a tired grin, and a thumbs up. Naruto knew what he was about to say before he did, and he began chuckling; it was a painful thing that made everything hurt.
(There was a hint of a question in Toru's eyes, too. Something that was dangerously close to understanding, but not quite there yet.)
Toru told the stupid joke anyway, and his tired smile pulled at his eyes.
"…Nothing like a good bro trip, right?"
And he finally had gotten his Rinne-Sharingan, too. Toru smiled.
Sakura had told him how… but he had never managed until now. Perhaps it was the orange moon in that deity's realm… perhaps it was Sakura being wrong, again. Naruto noticed his satisfaction.
"That's great." Naruto nodded, amused but weary. "We're still leaving."
"Don't be grumpy just because you haven't got one." Toru grinned, slipping an arm around his shoulders.
"Hardly." Naruto chuckled. "I'm just glad this is over — You seem in a great mood, though."
"Of course!" Toru laughed. "That was refreshing! Just me, the boys and some cold beers when we get back."
"The other boys…?"
"They should be gone." Toru acknowledged. "…Probably. Let's check and go home."
This went well. Just like they had imagined.
They had gotten some half-decent intel, and unearthed a few ways that didn't work.
Uchiha Madara stared at them. And so did Izuna.
The Eternal Mangekyō that unknowingly lay in each's left eye had allowed them to see glimpses of something.
Something that they hoped had been an illusion, no matter how terrible the implication that even their powerful eyes could be fooled was.
They thought they had seen a battlefield be ravaged, its once-verdant landscape becoming a picture of devastation, as if the very earth had been torn asunder. Amidst the chaos and ruin, the brothers had watched the two "civilians" standing tall, burning bright with power beyond comprehension.
And a terrible kitsune that could only be the Nine-Tailed Fox.
The horrific tales did not do it any justice, its reality-bending power had not been exaggerated, and if anything… the creature was closer to a horrible kami than a chakra beast.
And worse… Madara knew it had been real for sure, now.
Even now, faded remnants of the swirling mists of vapor flew away from the strangers' bodies. And certainly, their hair was not this off-putting silvery white color anymore… But the unparalleled feeling of power that enveloped them was very, very real.
As though he had felt his thoughts, the blond man turned to face him. He gave him a knowing look, and his purple eyes rippled. Torrents of raw energy washed across the field like a storm.
It made the contained hurricane from before look like a candle in the wind.
A man pissed himself. That was Kisuke, who had been one of the blond man's guards, one that Madara was pretty sure had beat him up. More people fell to their knees. Madara prepared for a confrontation he knew he could not win, eyes going wide, spinning.
The Beast was gone.
Still, for the first time in a while, Madara felt fear because of an enemy.
And he had felt some inkling of it days ago, which had made him wary of their former prisoner. It had made no sense to him at the time. Something he had pushed away.
The only thing that had remained had been the notion that he had needed him alive.
He had thought it was this encroaching thing, this thing that felt a little bit too much like madness, at the start. Awakening his Mankekyō had come with a few unwanted consequences… most he wasn't willing to acknowledge fully...
And strange thoughts.
The Uzumaki man had seemed all too familiar, for one.
It was strange... but some things seemed much clearer, ever since he took Izuna's eye as his own. Some… didn't.
Such as the fact the man seemingly knew all too much about their eyes.
Madara's head hurt, as though he were fighting himself.
He had been certain that the man was no shinobi, then, and certain that he carried no weapon they could detect, but that was about it. The secrets he knew about…
Everything the man had done over the past few days suggested that he wanted them to use their Sharingan upon him... and still, Madara had been tempted to do it. And something had told him not to.
This instinct was getting weaker by the minute, though, as though a great mist were clearing. The headache redoubled.
There were plenty of questions.
Right now…
The ground shook beneath his feet as the Uzumaki man continued to release his terrible chakra absentmindedly. Izuna did his best to prepare himself and Madara felt at a loss for words, his spirit shaken.
Uchiha Madara was a man who had built his reputation upon his unyielding resolve and a healthy amount of fearsome power.
Right now, Madara was left frozen by the casual display of sheer might. In that moment, he was reminded that there were things beyond his comprehension. And he refused to wonder about it now.
Madara clenched his teeth—
The man gave them an enigmatic smile. "Later, Zuzu-tan."
They winked out of existence.
Sasuke punched Naruto in the face, when they went to check up on him and Chōji.
"Gods!" Naruto grunted. "What was that for?"
"What do you think?!" Sasuke growled.
"It's okay." Toru placated him. "Don't worry, neither of you were in any actual danger at any point. Remember that necklace we had to make Rinnegan-invisible before we left—"
Sasuke kicked Toru in the balls.
He fell to the floor, moaning. "Gods, not the jewels… Why…?"
Chōji seemed to consider stomping on him for a moment, but he chose not to. He looked at Naruto with a similar expression… and took the same decision again — not because he was scared of him.
"He's right, though." Naruto nodded sagely, with a bright red cheek. "Safety first. Like these plastic things civilian men wear on their—"
"Why the fuck didn't you warn us?!" Sasuke howled.
"Fun comes second?"
Sasuke's training apparently bore fruit, because that was a decent punch, too.
There was a strange feeling of déjà vu in Naruto's stomach.
...
"…What the hell?" Ino asked in disbelief. "How can you still eat that much? You're not a teenager anymore."
Naruto heard her, of course. But he didn't stop his feeding frenzy. He had reserves to replenish.
Toru leaned back, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Ah, well… It was a hard adventure, one that pushed us to our limits." He said. "I could tell you all about it… if you wanted, of course."
"Nah." Hanabi filed her nails, seemingly very uninterested in what he had to say. "If I wanted to hear a romanced version of something that was undoubtedly another weird journey into a world where an alternate version of my husband made lovers out of the entirety of the world—"
"You'd stay home, right?" Toru asked evenly.
"…I suppose I would." Hanabi admitted with a rueful smile.
Ino rolled her eyes and Naruto continued to swallow the food at a pace that made it look more like drinking.
"We have yokai to kill." He declared.
Ino stared at him. "…I beg your pardon?"
He gave her an even look. "Each and every single one of them will have to go." He said. "In this world, at least. Anything even remotely kami."
"…What brought this on ?" Hanabi asked.
"Ask Toru about his story." Naruto gestured. Toru began smiling.
"Nah." She said, after a moment's thought. "I'd rather ask you."
Toru sputtered and Naruto told the rest of them.
...
"—And there was Tsunade's ancestor, too." Toru added. "She looked exactly like Orochimaru's teammate, except she had purple eyes."
Sakura stiffened.
Ino picked up on it. Before Sakura closed her mind, she managed to glean enough information about the subject matter. "Oh no, you didn't."
"I'm entirely unsure what you're talking about." Sakura said innocently.
"That woman was Senju Tsunade." Ino announced.
Naruto nodded. "We know."
"Same name." Toru acknowledged. "Must be a Senju thing."
"There were four Uchiha Madara through history." Hanabi said dryly. "Before the last one managed to make the name fall out of favor."
"…Now how would you know such a thing?" Toru frowned. "I've been to Uncle's ramblings—… lessons about clan history for years and I don't remember that part."
"I have my theory about why that is." She stated mockingly, sliding him a drawing of a peanut. Toru growled.
"Guys—" Ino tried.
"Oh yeah?" Toru asked defiantly. "Why don't you share your thoughts with us, huh?"
"I would, but that would be like summoning a shadow clone after the battle is won." Hanabi smiled.
"…Trying to use genjutsu on a puppet, you mean?" Toru asked. "You were always the worst at metaphors."
"What does that make you?"
"Guys!" Ino tried again.
"The most powerful Uchiha to have ever lived?" Toru snarked.
"If you discount Jinsuke, perhaps. The bar's pretty low."
Ino glared at the two of them, then at Sakura, who was smiling blandly, as though she had seen it coming.
Naruto paused.
It was a familiar sort of scene at home. Very familiar.
And just the sort of return Naruto had imagined. His stomach dropped.
"What is it?" Ino laughed, nudging him. "You just stopped eating. I didn't mean to make you feel bad about your terrible eating habits." She joked.
Naruto stared at her, really stared at her. She seemed to squirm under his gaze a bit. "Okay… You're being weird, now." Ino muttered.
Naruto blinked and shrugged it off. That sort of intrusive thought had led to a lot of trouble before.
"It's nothing. I'm just… not that hungry anymore." He said.
Because his unraveling thoughts were stuck.
What exactly were the limits to Inari's power…?
He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but their escape had been easy.
…And so had been his escape from the Uchiha compound.
Too easy, in fact, whether Madara had been away at the time or not. As though the security around Naruto, assuming it had been tight in the first place, had been lessened.
And if that kami was able to create illusions so easily… What prevented it from doing so before manifesting…? And if it had twisted people's minds, how far back did it start doing so…? When they first came there…?
Even before? No. No, that was something he would have noticed. At least, he thought so.
Madara hadn't killed him, which Naruto had thought had been solely because he knew of the man's triggers well; now it seemed as though the explanation could have been more somber in its nature.
But… Madara acting strangely was also something he would have noticed. Unless… Something cold settled into his gut. The same thought that had seemed to slip away from his mind so damn easily.
Naruto would have noticed. Unless…
Unless his own mind had been tampered with, in a way even he couldn't notice.
And he hadn't noticed anything, even once his powers returned to him.
Nothing out of the ordinary. No chakra affecting him, before he had stepped in the godly realm. They had worn wards to warn them of this sort of thing, and any significant alteration to their bodies or minds, such as a powerful illusion, in case.
The four of them hadn't exactly counted on running into any Uchiha, but they hadn't discounted the possibility either.
And there had been no strong illusion. None powerful enough to trigger the wards, and that included things like the cursory checks of Naruto's identity before he had been brought into the Uchiha compound, or Izuna's compulsion.
None.
The cold feeling became ever present, as though he were headed in a direction he really shouldn't—
Naruto pushed through.
The kami didn't use chakra, not in the form that he knew.
That was more of an human thing, more of an Ōtsutsuki thing. Why had he seemingly omitted that fact…? As though he had...
He had seen it, with his own eyes—
He—
Naruto stood up from the table.
…
"Something's wrong, Toru." Naruto said, once he managed to corner his friend. "Really wrong."
Toru's smile dimmed.
"And what… do you mean, exactly?" He asked slowly.
"I don't know how to even start to explain it." Naruto said, mouth dry. Was Toru part of it…?
Naruto hesitated.
Then he pushed through.
"Do you… feel it too?" He asked.
This time, Toru's smile disappeared entirely. "Yeah." He said softly. "I've always been pretty good at recognizing the signs, I suppose. Or paranoid, I guess."
Naruto shook his head and decided to do the exact opposite of what his gut told him. "That's… Gods. When would it have ended…?"
"I'm not so sure. It could have been short… very long, too. Maybe forever, who knows." Toru tried to shrug, and didn't manage to look casual. "I… still wasn't sure if I was imagining things, and…" He laughed a bit. "I was kinda afraid I would just find myself awake and facing it alone in the void of space, I guess." He admitted. "So I was waiting for a bit longer to think about what to do — for you to figure it out, too, maybe. I figured I'd tell you — if you weren't part of it, too. Pretty pathetic, huh?"
Naruto smiled slightly. "Not really, no." He said.
He felt as though he were about to plunge headfirst into icy waters.
Toru extended his hand and Naruto grasped it. "Together, then?"
"I suppose some near-godly power might do the trick."
Chakra screamed to life.
The cold receded.
They brute-forced their way out of the illusion, summoning enough chakra to destroy a small world. Which was the point entirely.
The world broke apart, turning into slivers of glass-like material.
They were back inside Inari's realm. Had never left, really.
The kitsune stared at them, amused… and impossible to figure out.
Escaping with the same plan they had used the first time was likely out of question—
They were forced to move out of the tails' way again.
Naruto snarled and Toru didn't look any less displeased. Then they paused.
Inari's smile only grew wider.
The two shinobi called upon the pale chakra, even more so than before.
Not to attack, but to escape.
...
By the time they did manage to escape — or at least, by the time they were almost sure they did…
Naruto couldn't bring himself to care about the bruises, cuts and burns adorning his body.
The most harrowing thing was the havoc wreaked upon his mind. His memories, the most precious of them… the secrets he kept locked away within him. All of them felt as though they had been laid bare for Inari to toy with.
Toru's eyes told him the exact same story.
They escaped, but Naruto felt closer to weariness than he had been in a long while.
It took them a half-dozen more times of running down illusory mazes, of doing the exact same thing… to get out.
The kami had no mercy, and whether or not he was able to even see the troubling illusions he conjured at all… or the memories he dredged up… remained unclear.
Knowing it might have intimate knowledge of them was distressing.
And the uncertainty that came with it did not help matters. Maybe Inari did know, maybe it did not.
Things Naruto and Toru had buried deep were brought up again, perhaps to break them, perhaps for the kami's entertainment. Perhaps it didn't even realize, content to just let the humans' minds turn against themselves.
Losses, laments, regrets… all of them felt raw again.
And by the point they broke free, it was unclear whether it was because of anything they had done… or because the kami's time in the physical realm had simply run out.
Its laughter followed them.