The war was over. In hindsight, it had been for a very long time.
There was no single event that called for the war to have been finished. No great battle. No cataclysm. Just an unrelenting, effortless, unstoppable march towards the end. Never once did the Allied Forces have an upper hand. The endless onslaught of once-dead enemies and friends alike, puppeted by Kabuto and Obitio, was the first sign of the end.
But, like a frog in boiling water, there was nothing they could do except feel the heat begin to grow.
First, Kiri fell.
The Village that had been responsible for the death of Rin faced the full wrath of Obito's Sharingan. The Mist had lasted less than a day. The Mizukage, Terumī Mei, was now an immortal puppet, the same as her most powerful Shinobi. There could be no greater humiliation than to become the thing she had hated Yagura for having become… a tool for the wretched Sharingan.
Next was Kumo.
Even Bee, a perfect Jinchūriki had been unable to resist the overwhelming will of the Sharingan. Under the might of a potent genjutsu, Gyūki had rampaged through Kumo for two days before 'A' had brought down the beast, and his brother along with it. Bee died in his arms.
He vowed revenge on the bastard who had destroyed his village and killed his brother, only to be met with a fate equally as unkind. His father and namesake, the Sandaime Raikage, speared him from behind with a Hell Stab, revealing the emergence of new Edo Tensei puppets in the field. Following the death of the Raikage, White Zetsu flooded the streets, feeding on the villagers and shinobi alike. Without the leadership of A, or the protection of Killer Bee, Kumo crumbled without any chance of ever being repaired. It was a ghost town within three days.
By the time the other three villages heard of the destruction of the first two, an army was knocking on Iwa's doorstep.
Ōnoki had gone to meet the army with his own of Iwagakure's strongest and best Shinobi.
What followed was a bloodbath. It was an army of a single man. Kiiroi Senkō. A sea of blond hair and the strange kunai rained down upon his men as the world filled with yellow streaks. Onoki's men were cut down in droves. Any copy they killed simply turned into white paste, collecting on the ground as another flash saw more dying.
Men and women both screamed and ran in terror as the greatest foe Iwa had ever beheld returned to their doorstep.
Ōnoki's head was delivered to the walls of the village by his still-living corpse. The headless body was forced to destroy his home and all of the inhabitants with a Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu. A cube formed around the village as the inhabitants and the entire infrastructure were vaporized in a single moment, their atoms dismantled and turned to dust. Obito had laughed as the old man's body went slack and had fallen to the earth. Now, only two were left.
Suna had gone quietly. There was no great battle. No great destruction. The city was simply deserted with no sign of anyone. Not even Gaara. It was as though everyone had simply gotten up and walked away. All major defensive items and positions were still intact and armed.
Everyone was just gone.
Konoha had been last. Obito had been saving something special for them.
In the middle of the village, a sprawling summoning seal was cast as the first four Hokages appeared accompanied by Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru appeared in six puffs of smoke. The greatest heroes and villains Konoha had known were now all there for a singular reason… the destruction of the village.
It only lasted a few hours before it was smoking rubble. The Hokage Monument was destroyed and Tsunade along with it. Obito also took the liberty of relieving his friend Kakashi of his other Sharingan.
Now, he was whole.
Now, he could finish what Madara had started.
Sasuke was having a very bad day. No scratch that. Sasuke was having a very bad year.
As his chokutō cut through another White Zetsu, he ducked the swipe of some ninja whose name he did not know. The amount of Edo Tensei Kabuto could use was infuriating. As a strike came from behind, Sasuke mused that he should have killed the glasses-wearing bastard long ago.
"Naruto! You need to hurry!" Sakura's voice echoed from the ruined halls of one of the old Uchiha outposts.
"I'm hurrying! I can only write so fast!" The tide was turning and all three knew it. They had been besieged for days by Zetsus, but Obito never arrived. Sasuke was getting tired. His reserves were running low. Sakura was not much better. Her punches, once strong enough to shake the structure, now barely shook the walls of the room she was in.
They were fading, and fading quickly.
Sasuke slid under another punch as a White Zetsu's knee connected with his sternum. "Anytime now," he coughed, mostly to himself as blood poured from the corners of his lips.
An Edo Tensei zombie, Rock Lee, Sasuke dimly recognized, sprinted towards the last Uchiha. The form of his once Taijutsu rival said nothing, instead immediately throwing himself at the Uchiha.
Naruto, covered in splotches of black ink, had worked for forty-eight hours straight to complete the seal. It, in theory, would be able to transmit their souls to another place and another time, but it was still wholly untested.
He had used the Shiki Fūjin as a base for the formula, that being the only seal he knew that could interact with the souls of mortals. However, just like with any other so-called God he had interacted with, the Shinigami was just a manifestation of chakra. Jashin was the same way.
This seal would direct the entity not to seal their souls, but to transport them somewhere else. According to Sakura, it should work. Sasuke had, surprisingly, agreed. It seemed he had grown tired of his hatred.
Naruto stood back.
"Alright, you two! It's ready!"
Sakura dodged a slam from Ino's puppeted corpse. Pushing off with her powerful legs, she launched herself over her blonde-haired rival, landing at the door to the sealing chamber.
She saw Sasuke leave his sword pressed into the body of Rock Lee, pinning the zombie to a wall. He rushed towards her as she slammed her hands down in the doorway. "Doton: Doryūheki!" A large, earthen wall filled the doorframe, blocking them inside.
"Alright dumbass," Sasuke began as he stared at the seal, "we only have one shot at this. You sure you did it right?"
Naruto scoffed, cracking a slight smile. Even in times of great distress, he could always trust Sasuke to be an asshole.
"Only one way to find out," he shot back, staring at the formula painted on the ground.
Sakura hummed as the wall blocking them in began to shake. "It's time to use it. That wall won't hold much longer and I'd rather not be here when it breaks."
She placed her hand on one point of the seal and began to glow with chakra.
Sasuke did the same on the second point, releasing his heavy chakra into the seal.
Naruto was last. He placed his hand on the final point, pouring his ocean of chakra into it. The three intoned "Yomotsu Hirasaka: Shiki Fūjin!"
They intoned not only the name of the Shinigami but also the name of the rolling slope that allowed those strong enough to slide between the barrier of life and death.
The candles flickered in the room as time seemed to stand still. From the center of the seal, a massive, demonic-looking chakra construct rose, powered by the energy of Team 7. Its eyes, dead and unseeing, seemed to stare through the trio.
It stared at the three of them before opening its mouth and screeching loudly. Darkness, as thick as mud, began to rise from the seal. Bubbling, thick darkness as cold as ice began to pool around them.
"Don't let go of the seal! It's the only way to make sure you stay safe!" Naruto's voice sounded far away, even though he was right next to them. Space seemed to stretch and warp around them as the Death God tried to consume them, but could not.
The cold, slimy darkness began to rise, moving beyond their ankles, and up to their knees quickly. It would only be a few more seconds before it completely covered their heads.
The screeching of the Chakra God got louder as the three Shinobi were submerged in its darkness. Naruto closed his eyes almost reflexively as the inky blackness consumed him.
The distinct feeling of rolling down something could be felt. Tumbling down into death. Then, it abruptly stopped. Light filled his eyes as he opened them to see a man floating cross-legged above an endless expanse of shallow water.
"Ashura…" his eyes looked at Naruto fondly. "Welcome home, my son. You do not recognize me, but I see you in all of your incarnations."
Rinnegan eyes, so eerily similar to the ones held by Nagato, stared back at him. "I am truly sorry, my son." He was stone-faced as he looked at Naruto.
"My name is Hagoromo, but you may know me as the Sage of Six Paths. I am the progenitor of the Chakra Arts and Father to the Bijū. You, Naruto, are the reincarnation of my son, Ashura. Your friend, Sasuke, was my other son, Indra. Come, listen, I have much to tell you of what happened before, and what will occur now."
Hagoromo spoke for hours, telling Naruto of the events leading up to the creation of the Chakra Arts. The subsumption of the Shinju into Kaguya, the creation of the Zetsu and Bijū, and Madara's plan to create the Mugen Tsukuyomi.
It felt as though hours had passed. The truth of the world was made plain to Naruto. The rivalry of the Sage's sons, their falling out, and the Uchiha Curse of Hatred. It was all a cycle, playing out over and over again.
"The man who was impersonating Madara enacted the plan. Even now, the eye of the Jūbi shines upon the world. There is no place for you to return to. Normally, I would have granted you my Chakra in order to defeat such a threat, but the time for that has passed. You are the last survivor of this world." Hagoromo's voice hummed softly.
"This is a place between worlds. Your friends have already moved on. Sakura chose a world without Chakra. She was reincarnated into a simple woman who worked hard. The horrors of this world were forgotten by her soul long ago. She was not one of my sons and so, I granted her this boon."
"Your friend, Sasuke, likewise, had chosen another place to transmigrate to. He wished to live the life of a simple tomato farmer without the need for revenge or combat. He remembers, as his soul is far too strong to forget, but he is content with his peaceful days. But you, young Child of Prophecy, do not get to make such a decision. You carry a burden of duty others do not." He held up his hand to stop Naruto's interruption.
"It can be no other way." Blue eyes stared into rippled ones.
The blond opened his mouth for the first time in what felt like hours, having sat in silence while he had listened to the stories the Sage had weaved for him.
"Then where am I going if I don't get a choice?"
"A boy, another version of yourself, lays dying in his bed at this very moment. He is you, but also he is not. His world is like yours, and yet, it is not. You will be surrounded by the unfamiliar and familiar alike. Your prophecy of Peace Bringer must be fulfilled. Until then, your soul may not rest." Hagoromo's geta touched the ground as he stood, his face softening.
He embraced Naruto. "I would not task this of you if I did not have faith in you, Ashura. Please know that I am proud of you, no matter your incarnation." Without another word, Naruto's soul faded from the Sage's arms. A singular tear fell from the rippled eyes of the Sage, as he sent his son onward to his next life.