My apologies dear reader. Due to some unforeseen events at work and in my life I was unable to complete this story in the week I promised. Here is the current version of the incomplete story:
RIPPLES: FINAL WAVE
This acts as a true and final ending for the Ripples saga. Please join me in this hopefully worthy surprise. Yall spoke and I listened.
"Her eyes snapped open yet she couldn't see. Her arms wouldn't budge. Her chakra was gone. She couldn't stop it. She was useless." -???
The pair fought ferociously, thousands of clones lay at their feet. They were in too deep. Even the strongest of men can be overwhelmed in numbers. A relentless wave of imitations flooded the battlefield. The brothers were swallowed by the overwhelming force of clones. "Brother!" Itachi shouted, using his Susanoo to push Sasuke out of the Tsunami. The Uchiha clan had gotten its revenge as the hands of Fugaku and Masaki dragged Itachi deeper into the abyss. The deeper he sank the more his eyes shut, his lungs filling with his own water. His vision finally left him.
Sasuke scratched at the sky trying to claw his way back to his brother, not bothering to look at the growing ground beneath him. What little bit of air was left in his lungs left as he made contact, thud. His eyes shot open when he heard a primal scream thunder, "AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!". The world was bathed in a red light as the moon grew rings on its surface. Sasuke felt as his body was wrapped in a white cloth. He couldn't stop it, he was part of the tree.
It was the worst pain she'd ever felt. "Just one more push," a gentle voice whispered, "One more should do it". In one last scream of agony a child saw the lights of the makeshift hospital. Soon Ino's cries of pain faded to joy and were muffled by the light sounds of her newborn. "Hey baby," she whispered as she reached for her child, "I can't wait to meet you!". On the outside of the tent, Naruto fought like hell to keep the wolves away. Every cut and laceration, every bruise another thing he would make Obito pay for. He began to push deeper into the pack, forcing the enemy further from him family until he had gone too far. Naruto had gone out far enough that the enemy could surround him. Naruto looked back, he couldn't see his shore. He thrust his arms deep into the waters, pushing it behind him in a frenzy like a drowning child. He gasped for air, not letting any water enter his lungs. But, the waters began to cover his face until all he could do was tread water. He couldn't make any ground against his enemy. All he could do was let them rain down upon him and pray for his family on the rocky coast.
On the shores the forces crashed against the levy. The enemy nearly reached the tent when a mortal scream echoed across the waves. "AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!".
Back in the village Obito stood upon a ledge, overlooking the waves of men he commanded. Slowly, he began to focus every bit of chakra into one small point on his forehead. Slowly, his forehead would split as if it were torn by two enormous hooks. Obito's hands trained into hooks of his own, but he persisted. With one last bellow his third eye emerged. His body soon tensed, as his new eye looked to the sky. Slowly both the moon and Obito's new eye became red, with black circles adorning the surface. A small ash tree began to sprout from Obito's third eye. The Uchiha grasped at his eye, trying to pull the tree away, but the roots held him back. Obito managed one last scream before the roots filled his body, "AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!".
The small ash fed off the Uchiha survivor, slowly matching him in size until shooting past him. The beast kept growing until it met the height of the moon it was preceded by. Once it had reached its max, thousands of vines shot into the sea of men beneath it, connecting to whomever its appendages could find. Each vine connected to the back of a man's head, causing a white material to wrap around the victim. The vine never left, only the chakra of the captive in a slow orange burn.
At the base of the trunk a small ash wood box began to rise from the dirt. The lid was cracked open as if by a tormented captive. The lid slowly began to slide off revealing a young man. He was unashamedly shirtless, with black pants to match his long hair. His body was marked with deep scars. The man's feet and hands were nailed to the sides and his neck was bound as if whoever buried him was afraid of the man waking up. Chakra seemed to emanate from the nails, indicating their true purpose. Slowly the nails and collar melted into the man, his eyes shot open; chakra burst in flame from the box just before the man lept out. The man's eyes shot around his new desolate birthplace, "Hmph, such low chakra," he scoffed as he stared in the direction of the makeshift birthing room. Madara slowly walked to the base of the ash, kicking it in a slow manner, "Poor Obito never should have trusted me. Within moments I have ended discrimination against my clan! Fool should have lived to see it!" Madara laughed.
Madara soon got down to business, ignoring the few local survivors to find what remains of his clan; disappointed to only find one. "So," Madara mused, "this is what remains of the illustrious Uchiha clan. One lone boy". He hastily cut Sasuke from the tree, waking the boy from his dreams about Sakura helping Naruto raise his child. A strange dream for an Uchiha.
The boy hit the ground with a thud. The boy rubbed his head before it hit him, "Itachi!" he cried out. "Quiet boy," Madara demanded, "are there others?". "What?", Sasuke tried before Madara quieted him. "Where are the other Uchiha?", Madara asked. Sasuke's eyes strained red, staring at the elder. "That's right!", Madara cried out, "They're dead! Every last one of them! And for what? Their boy to lay pitifully on the ground like they did those ten years ago? But I can fix this. These eyes can change everything! It needs something though," Madara picked Sasuke off the ground, grasping his throat. "I need a conduit," Madara stated as he delivers his hand into Sasuke's chest cavity. A blood red chakra began to surround the conduit. The light in Sasuke's eyes began to leave as the boy sent out one last burst of chakra in the direction he knew Naruto to be. "Naruto I leave the rest to you…" breathed out as Madara removed Sasuke's heart.