Author's Note: Hey all. What you're looking at is my inaugural work of fan-fiction on this site; I feel like this has been a long time coming for me. After reading some wonderful works in this crossover section, I myself was inspired to write my own Naruto/Fairy Tail story, one that I hope will be unique amongst the plethora of stories in this section.

Acknowledgements: The respective wikis for these two awesome series, and the people behind them. I honestly learn so much when I visit those websites; they provide great insights into a lot of things, and are a great help for a guy as obsessed with details and particulars as I am.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.

Prologue

"NARUTOOOHH!"

"SASUKEEEHH!"

Two angry voices, one tainted with a seemingly unending hatred, the other hoarse with indignant exasperation, yelled out, echoing throughout the Valley of the End. A clearing separating Hi no Kuni (the Land of Fire) from the bordering Oto no Kuni (the Land of Sound), it was highlighted by a gigantic rushing waterfall interposed between two incredibly large statues hundreds of feet tall that were of two of the most powerful shinobi to have ever lived: Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.

On this day, the two shinobi who fought at this very spot were, while not yet fully mature, easily the two most powerful shinobi alive, following in the footsteps of their transmigrant predecessors. After all, they had just defeated the progenitor of chakra, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, and saved the world.

Except, that was not enough for one Uchiha Sasuke.

Haggard in appearance, the last Uchiha stared down the young man who was his rival, the one who he had deemed to be the final obstacle in his latest professed goal of revolutionizing the Shinobi world. His clothes, which were once pristine, were now torn and covered liberally in splotches of blood — blood which had belonged to both him and his opponent. His cadet-gray high collared shirt with the classic Uchiha fan on the back was hanging out haphazardly, the Sound-style purple rope belt and blue cloth around his midsection having gone missing as a result of the intensity of their last clash. His dark-blue pants, though, were still in one piece, although they too were in fact slightly worn.

Due to his chakra depleted state, his right eye was now a coal black, what with his inability to maintain an activated Sharingan. His left eye, which was the unique six-tomoed Rinnegan granted to him by the Sage of the Six Paths, was closed since he needed to conserve his energy. The reason for this was, given how new the eye was to him, he was incapable of deactivating it at the moment. The left side of his face was swelling up thanks to his taking one hell of a beating from his ferocious opponent. His hair was in its usual spike-backed style, though his bangs had now lengthened to the point where they framed his face along his jawline.

While they both fought at this site once before, the reason behind that clash paled in comparison to this; where before it was all about Sasuke (seeing as how he had defected from Konoha), now their battle concerned the potential future of the Shinobi world (although the argument could be made that this fight, too, was about Sasuke, seeing as how he had initiated it). Not even Madara and Hashirama's fight held as much importance for the world's population at large, though, since it had only concerned who would become the First Hokage upon Konoha's founding.

Sasuke knew that if he wanted to achieve his latest goal, he'd have to... kill a certain man. Indeed, there was only one person between him and his own personal revolution.

Uzumaki Naruto.

The jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko, Kurama, was in just as bad, if not worse, shape than his wayward rival. His forehead protector, which he had taken to wearing with great pride over his forehead, was inadvertently discarded, lost in the mayhem of their melee. On top of that, the jacket portion of his signature orange and black tracksuit was beyond repair, completely destroyed as a result of their incredible clash. The only garment he was wearing on his upper body was a long-sleeved fishnet-style mesh armored top, which was frayed at the sleeves, leaving them to end at his forearms. His orange pants were just as scuffed up and plastered in blood and grime as Sasuke's blue ones were.

His face was bloodied and bruised, and yet only his left eye was half swollen shut despite the unholy thrashing Sasuke had laid upon him during their struggle. Despite this, his stark blue eyes were unyielding, pinning his opponent with the most threatening glare he could muster. His blond hair was at its usual moderate length, with his bangs only just covering his forehead, although it had taken on a somewhat wavy quality due to the intensity of the duel between the two descendants of the Sage's sons, Indra and Ashura.

At the base of the valley, the two commemorative statues constructed in honour of the 'Second Six Paths' (Madara) and the 'God of Shinobi' (Hashirama) were disfigured, with both of the heads of the statues having been reduced to rubble due to the incredibly explosive nature of the battle between the two rivals of Team Seven.

Interestingly enough, despite the magnitude of said battle (including, but not limited to the fact that the two strongest shinobi alive were fighting), there was now no longer any Ninjutsu being flung around, or even any attempts at Genjutsu or a proper form of Taijutsu.

The battle deciding the fate of the Elemental Nations had devolved into a petty slugfest of a brawl.

In a rapid flurry, punches and kicks continued to be exchanged at close quarters, connecting with every body part within reach of either combatant. Neither of the two shinobi even put up a pretence of blocking or dodging, the both of them just trying to pummel the other into oblivion.

Finally, after quite a bit of time of this, the two, both exhausted, could only weakly make contact with each other with closed fists, the final fight between the two rivals who once shared a complicated and difficult to understand friendship seeming to draw to a most underwhelming end. It was at this exact moment, though, that the battle renewed in a surprising and unexpected way for the blond-haired Uzumaki.

"Naruto..." rumbled the voice of Kurama, who in fact was the portion of the Kyūbi's Yin chakra transferred to him by his father via Obito. "It's taken me some time, but I've finally gathered enough chakra for you to use!" After a brief pause, Yin-Kurama exclaimed, "OK... finally!"

It was then, at that very moment, that the Kyūbi and Naruto noticed that the chakra the Bijū summoned up was being drained.

'Shit!' Naruto thought, his face so bruised and swollen that it failed to express the alarm he was now feeling due to this unexpected turn of events. 'He's absorbing the Kyūbi's chakra!'

Glancing down in pure, unadulterated shock at the latest development in their fight that was yet again in Sasuke's favour, Naruto could only scowl. First Sasuke had gotten all nine Bijū, which he had ensnared in a genjutsu thanks to his Rinnegan (which evidently had the ability to access his Sharingan powers, making it all the more potent), and now this? Even Gakidō (Preta Path) was within his grasp? What other abilities had he gained? What other skills had he been hiding in their fight with Kaguya?

"This... is one of the Rinnegan's powers," Sasuke explained smugly, using a deliberately slow enunciation in order to further taunt his rival.

Obviously under the mistaken impression that Naruto had never fought a Rinnegan user before, he took Naruto's surprise for what it was at face value, haughtily deeming it to be yet another thing his annoying ex-teammate was too ignorant to understand. However, the blond was in fact shocked by how Sasuke was so quickly able to learn the advanced techniques at the disposal of Rinnegan users without any guidance whatsoever.

Was there an inherent set of instructions ingrained within the eye? There had to be some sort of explanation. No matter how much of a prodigy one may be, some things were just not possible. The ability t use advanced techniques effectively without any training or prior practice clearly applied. Was it something the Sage of the Six Paths had imparted upon the raven-haired shinobi, like he had given the blond himself? If the foreknowledge of how to utilize his Six Paths Chakra extended to the Rinnegan as well, then it would explain the Uchiha's prowess with the eye's transcendent capabilities.

Despite the fact that his reserves were so low that he had to keep his eye closed to ensure that his constantly active Rinnegan remained out of use, Sasuke revelled in the chakra boost, which, while potent, was made all the more sweeter thanks to the knowledge that it had been meant for his former comrade.

The potency of the chakra the Uchiha had taken in could not be understated; he had essentially intercepted the chakra that had been meant for Naruto before the blond could assimilate it into his own reserves, meaning that the raven-haired teen had absorbed the chakra directly from its source in the Kyūbi. Now finding the strength to stand from his previous kneeling position, the dark-haired youth left his fair-haired opponent to fall onto his hands and knees, reeling from being on the wrong end of a chakra draining technique.

Naruto's mind was running a mile a minute, trying to figure out what, if any, other recourse he had available to him to overcome such a demoralizing turn of events. To go from having the boost of chakra necessary to finally put Sasuke in his place, to losing it to that very same person, was absolutely crushing.

He didn't let it show on his face, though. He wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction.

Sasuke, though, had no qualms about restricting the downright gleeful smirk he now wore thanks to the way things had now worked out for him.

He couldn't believe how much more revitalizing than regular chakra the Kyūbi's chakra was; it was like night and day. While it wasn't a significant amount, it was more than enough for a final jutsu or two.

Naruto, meanwhile, was still baffled as to how the bastard had even managed to master the eye to such a degree; not in how exactly he had done so, but why the old Sage had given him such a marked advantage in that regard. Given his comprehension on the matter, it was not unreasonable on his part to assume that Sasuke had managed to learn at least a few more of the abilities of the Samsāra eye, including the other paths.

"It's me, the one who has the eyes of the Uchiha clan, who is destined to win," the scion of the Uchiha said arrogantly, fully believing in the unparalleled abilities his new Rinnegan had provided him.

"Finally... alone..." he muttered, charging his most favored technique, the Chidori (One Thousand Birds), in his dominant left hand. As he did this, he couldn't help but feel the slightest tremble of excitement welling up in his chest due to his impending victory.

Naruto, who had been looking down into the shallow water his limbs were submerged in, angled his head upwards slightly to look up from the rippling water at Sasuke, his eyes shining with the defiance and willfulness he had become known for.

"See you," Sasuke said, his right eye activating its Sharingan to ensure his attack struck true, "my only... FRIEND!"

As he raised his hand to deliver the final blow, his right eye, the only one open at the moment, weakened, his Sharingan suddenly deactivating unexpectedly. While he hadn't used too much of his chakra, the sudden change in visual acuity had a disorienting effect on him and, in his overexcited state of mind, this caused him to falter. The result of all this was Sasuke leaving an opening for Naruto to exploit in order to ensure the continuation of their fight.

Rising up out of the water suddenly with an energy only he himself would have been capable of summoning up in the immediate aftermath of having his chakra damn near depleted, Naruto violently uppercutted Sasuke, the force of his sudden counterattack throwing the last Uchiha bodily across the clearing until he crashed into the rapidly deteriorating statue of Uchiha Madara.

Sasuke, irritated beyond belief, looked at Naruto with a caustic glare. The blond returned it with an equal fervor after having thwarted the latest attempt on his life by his so-called friend.

"How... why the hell won't you just stay down!" Sasuke raged, fury overcoming him as he forcefully reactivated his dōjutsu, his left eye still closed.

"No matter how many times I knock you down, you keep on coming back! JUST GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK AND STAY THE FUCK DOWN ALREADY!" he screamed. Enraged, his countenance was now in complete contrast to what it was mere moments before, when he had been relishing his perceived impending triumph.

"I can't..." came Naruto's hoarse response, for once appearing to be the cooler and more level-headed of the two. "I can't give up. I never give up. You give up, trying to make me give up!"

Sasuke's only response was to growl in anger, hastily charging up another Chidori as his right eye morphed into its most advanced state: the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Unique in its appearance, it had three intersecting blood red ellipses surrounding the symmetrically aligned pinwheel pattern reminiscent of Itachi's own Mangekyō.

The reason he ramped his Sharingan up to its most powerful form was made all too apparent when he added his Enton: Kagutsuchi (Blaze Release: Added Tool Earth Lord) to the lightning technique, using the shape manipulation his right eye was capable of to infuse it into the Chidori itself.

'So it comes to this... I should have known, even when I almost ended it. But, I will end this here! With this final attack, I will ensure my own personal revolution!' Sasuke thought.

Naruto, as was becoming commonplace here in this battle, met Sasuke's wild glare with his own stern, unrelenting orbs, confident that Sasuke wouldn't deign to ensnare him within an ocular genjutsu of which only the Sharingan was capable of. It was an assured confidence, one rooted in the knowledge he had of his rival. As talented as Sasuke was, his new Amaterasu-enhanced chidori clearly took a lot of concentration to form; therefore, ensnaring an opponent with a genjutsu off of eye contact was not possible, not while said eye was being used to manipulate the shape and form of the intense black flames that served as the nucleus for his deadly technique.

Ironically enough, the blond could thank Sasuke's brother, Itachi, for imparting such knowledge about the vaunted dōjutsu onto him that would allow for such insight into the eye's capabilities.

In the meantime, Naruto was in a one-sided conversation with the Kyūbi comprised solely of Yin chakra sealed within him.

"Naruto... I'm going to give you my remaining chakra, since you went and got the rest taken by that brat of an Uchiha. Don't squander this opportunity, don't use up your chakra to the limit, and DON'T let him drain any more of your chakra! Once I transfer my chakra to you, I'll fall asleep. When I awaken, I expect to see this fool dead," Kurama said.

Naruto, who was inside his mental plane for only a brief moment to converse with the Kyūbi, looked back at him without saying a word. The Bijū, though, didn't really care that he never received any response from his partner, figuring that would be all he would get out of the blond for the moment.

Once Yin-Kurama had transferred the remainder of his chakra to Naruto (which was not an insignificant amount) and had subsequently fallen asleep to recoup his expended energy, Naruto looked up at the incredibly powerful jutsu Sasuke was nurturing in his left hand; the ominous black flames whirling around, ensconced within the chirping, flickering lightning blade.

Seeing his opponent still charging his technique, Naruto closed his eyes and gathered his chakra. "Sorry, Kurama, but I'm gonna have to use a lot of energy for this one. Don't worry though... I won't let you down," he muttered solemnly.

When he next opened his eyes, his pupils had morphed into a cross-like shape, a combination of the slitted eyes he had when he was influenced by the tailed beast's chakra and the horizontal bars seen in toad-style Senjutsu (Sage Techniques), albeit with dark red irises rather than the toad-like yellow in the standard fare Sage Mode, as well as a distinct lack of the orange-red eyeshadow-like markings seen on the archetypical toad sage.

Raising his right hand, he quickly channeled some of the chakra given to him by the Yonbi, Son Gokū, forming a Rasengan with a lava-infused nucleus. As the jutsu grew in size, blades of molten lava began propelling around it, emitting steam due to the intense heat generated by the lava-natured chakra. He knew that a standard, unaltered Rasengan wouldn't be able to stand up to a lightning blade enhanced with the flames of Amaterasu, and so added his own newly acquired advanced chakra nature to his signature technique, effectively fighting fire with fire.

As he saw Sasuke finally start to make his downwards charge towards him, Naruto willed his technique to become even larger.

'Senpō: Yōton Rasenshuriken (Sage Art: Lava Release Spiralling Shuriken)!' was the mental intonation within his mind upon the technique's formation. Once it had become moderately sized (not wanting to overpower it and kill Sasuke outright), he began his own charge towards the free-falling shinobi, who, after situating himself on the cliffside, descended down to meet his lifelong rival in one final clash.

Once Naruto got close enough to ensure his attack would hit, he threw it, knowing how foolish it would be to remain anywhere in the proximity of the inevitable clash between the two incredibly powerful jutsu, not to mention the fact that his attack itself was meant to be thrown. After all, who in their right mind would want to risk taking any backfiring damage from a Lava Release technique, regardless of its potency? And this wasn't even taking into account the nature of the technique it was clashing with, which itself was no joke.

Sasuke, seeing this, hastily formed a less chakra intensive (and thus, not-as-fortified) Susano'o (He With The Ability To Help By All Means), slightly weakening his Kagutsuchi-enhanced Chidori due to faltering in his concentration as far as maintaining the jutsu was concerned. The trade-off, though, was that he was able to strengthen his defences in the process, as well as the fact that it was now his Susano'o that wielded his attack.

Naruto, not expecting this by any means, was caught in the peripheries of the ensuing explosion due to Sasuke speeding up to meet his lava-style Rasenshuriken in midair, thanks to the stabilization his winged Susano'o provided him.

The eruption that materialized from the clashing of the two lethal techniques was, to put it simply, a murder of the senses: it was blindingly bright, thunderously deafening, and vertigo-inducing. Violent tremors shook the earth, as if the cataclysmic explosion itself was naturally occurring. The two statues erected in honour of the battle for the right to become the inaugural Hokage were now in pieces, crumbling apart.

It appeared the descendants of the Senju (via the Uzumaki) and Uchiha clans had stalemated once again.

Chapter 1: Anima

In a large, cavernous hall with ornate marble carved pillars lining a wide, red carpet with gold trimmings, a lone, solitary man sat in complete and utter silence, outwardly encouraging a tranquil atmosphere that, while depressing, was more conducive to his thought processes.

This man was tall and slim, but elderly, with thick grayish-white shoulder-length hair and matching facial hair which extended down to his chest in the form of a large beard. He had a cadaverous appearance with beady, sunken eyes and a flat, prominent nose. His attire, while regal, was somewhat dull, consisting of only differing shades of brown: a brown pinstriped coat, a light brown coat with a darker brown mantle (which had fur trimmings), a brown and white hat similar to that of a mitre, and light, baggy pants tucked into a pair of simple, black boots.

Seated on a cushioned, ostentatious throne, King Faust of the Royal Kingdom of Edolas leaned back, ruminating on potential solutions to his ever-pressing problem.

How to procure enough magic to overthrow the Exceeds.

No, that wasn't right. What he truly desired was to obtain an infinite supply of magic for his mobilizing army (and the human populace of Edolas as a whole) through which he could wage a war with the self-styled angelic race, thereby aiding humanity in the removal of their status as second-class citizens.

It was a bit extreme, sure, but for humanity to realize its potential, it was a necessary path to take. Nothing would vindicate him more than to eliminate that accursed race of cats, but again, that was only an ancillary goal of his, one that paled in importance to the procurement of magical energy for Edolas.

It was an ambition he had held close to his heart for many years. He couldn't think of a more infuriating prospect than to remain subjugated to the pompous race of cats any longer than necessary, except for a future without any magic for the glorious kingdom of Edolas.

Considering the counsel his Chief of Staff, Byro, had provided him, Faust knew he had nothing to worry about. While the Exceeds, unlike humans, were able to store magic within their bodies, in the end all they were capable of was Aera magic; they were not a warrior race by any stretch of the imagination.

At times, even he had wondered why it was he tolerated their 'rule' rather than rebel against them. In order to quell such foolish thoughts, all he had to think on was the possibility that, even should humankind succeed in their rebellion against their Exceed overlords, he, as King, would be ruling over a nation without any magic.

That, as one could infer, was completely unacceptable for the ambitious monarch.

Additionally, in 'ordering' he and his fellow humans to gather magic, they were only overseeing their own eventual demise. The Exceeds had gone so far as to send over one hundred of their eggs, their own offspring, to bring them sources of near limitless magic. Until they wised up, there was no need to act rashly; the Exceeds were currently an asset. 'One step at a time,' he always cautioned, calming his overly-excitable subordinates; perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask that he follow his own advice. Once they had outlived their usefulness, they would all perish, simple as that.

Faust was so ensconced within his own thoughts that he almost didn't notice the frenzied scurrying of the diminutive form of the subordinate messenger girl he had allowed for Byro to take on as an assistant.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" she yelled as she ran to and fro, her odd style of running leaving miniature dust clouds in her wake as the strange droopy ears she wore as headgear flopped around. She had large brown eyes and long hair that was secured into a ponytail that hung over the front of her right shoulder, fastened by a blue sphere-shaped hair tie. Her small nose, combined with her odd headwear, gave her the appearance of a puppy. Lean and short, she was wearing a bright yellow dress over a skin-tight dark blue bodysuit with white gloves, although her footwear was conspicuously absent; she was barefoot. Before long, Coco, the Assistant Chief of Staff, stood before the King at the base of the steps of the raised platform which held his throne.

Saluting the King of Edolas as had been drilled into her by Byro (he had stressed this vehemently, adamant that she not allow for even the merest hint of disrespect — she represented him in front of the king, after all), she addressed him with as much conviction as she could muster. "Your Majesty, our sensors have picked up readings from a new source of incredible magic!"

Despite the supposed good news, Faust frowned. While the girl's antics would endear her to a more soft-hearted individual, it only incensed him. For the sake of the news she bore, he would tolerate it, but he made a mental note to inform Byro of his disapproval of the girl.

"Elaborate," he ordered gruffly.

"It is a source of magic located in a new world that far eclipses any that we have ever recorded from Earthland, your Majesty!"

"Do you mean to say that Byro has succeeded? He has established contact with this... other world?"

"Yes! And the most incredible part is that its only taken us a day!" Coco said, beaming.

"How long until we can begin extraction?" the King immediately asked.

"We are currently working towards establishing a firm foothold in this new dimension. Chief Byro says–"

"Bring him here," Faust interrupted.

"Your Majesty?" Coco asked, nonplussed, tilting her head in a way that a casual observer would find to be endearing.

"I'd rather hear this from him; he'll be able to answer my questions. Go fetch him. Now."

"Ye... yes, your Majesty! Right away!" she squeaked, scampering off in search of her direct superior.

[|||]

(Hours Later — Valley of the End)

After an indeterminable amount of time, Naruto awoke, slumped against the base of the thoroughly ravaged monument of Senju Hashirama, having been flung there due to the backlash of the collision of powerful techniques.

Directly across from him, unconscious and thoroughly unresponsive, Sasuke laid amongst the rubble of Uchiha Madara's statue. It seemed he was half-buried, although he did not appear to be submerged within the debris too much.

Despite being at the epicentre of the blast, he appeared relatively unharmed, no doubt thanks to the stellar defence provided by his Perfect Susano'o. Using such a chakra intensive technique at such a critical juncture, though necessary to ensure his survival, was nevertheless a crucial mistake, if only because he'd left himself at the blond's mercy due to the severe chakra exhaustion he was no doubt experiencing.

Pulling himself to his feet with great difficulty, Naruto stumbled due to how wobbly his legs were feeling. He'd never really felt chakra exhaustion before, but he hadn't really seen what the big deal was.

Sure, it sucked: his muscles were sore, his throat was dry, and he felt somewhat sluggish, but he still had some chakra available from the various tailed beasts to use if he needed it, and he didn't feel any of the lightheadedness typically associated with minimal chakra levels within the body.

Yeah, he didn't really know how it felt to be bereft of his chakra.

Slowly, but surely, he staggered along, making his way to his rival's prone form. When he finally reached him, he saw first hand the toll their fight took on the last Uchiha. There were bags that had formed underneath his eyes, his body looked incredibly pallid, and he was perspiring profusely; chakra exhaustion had hit him hard. Looking a bit more closely, Naruto could see the slightest movements being made by Sasuke's chest as it rose and fell very slowly.

After a brief moment where he dug out Sasuke's partially submerged body from the rubble, he allowed himself a moment to recollect himself. He had finally won, but it wasn't over just yet; he had to compose himself.

Naruto held out his right hand, gripping his right forearm with his left hand. Channeling a fair amount of Shukaku's chakra into his arm in concert with a minuscule amount of his own chakra, he formed a Rasengan about the size of a baseball.

'Senpō: Jiton Rasengan (Sage Art: Magnet Release Spiralling Sphere).'

While a much smaller than average Rasengan, it nonetheless had the cursed seal markings of the One Tailed beast, a sign that it was using its own type of sealing jutsu.

Naruto was, oddly enough, quite pleased with being able to even do this much. Looking down at his arm, he saw it trembling involuntarily due to the strain he was putting it under trying to maintain his sealing Rasengan's stability. Looking down at Sasuke, he knew he couldn't delay any longer, so promptly knelt beside his former teammate's prone body and drove the baseball-sized Rasengan into the raven-haired teen's gut.

Sasuke cried out in pain, forcefully awakened by the legendary spherical technique that, while small, packed no less a punch.

"GUH! Wh... what the fuck?!" the dark-haired youth wheezed, bile rising up in his throat. When a coal black eye settled upon a familiar whisker-marked visage, he jerked violently, his anger at seeing the blond up and about as if nothing was wrong revitalizing him for the briefest of moments.

All too soon, though, he came to know of the fact that his energy was gone.

When he tried moving his body again, it was unresponsive. He struggled, but it was to no avail. His vigorous attempts to move his currently unresponsive body resulted in the adverse effect of his chest rattling as he hacked up blood.

Sasuke couldn't help but snarl in helpless anger as he noticed that Naruto, despite his slightly wavy, but mostly spiky fair hair looking as unruly as ever — with his bangs matted against his forehead due to the liberal amount of perspiration on his brow — looked to be... okay.

When he felt his already exhausted body being restricted even further as the sealing jutsu took hold, Sasuke couldn't help but gaze down in wonderment at what Naruto had done to him: the curse seal markings of Shukaku had spread over almost his whole body. 'This is the jutsu he used to bind Madara's shadow...'

"That's right," Naruto said, reading the expression on Sasuke's face. "It's over. I've won." He then placed his right hand on Sasuke's chest when the cursed seal markings of Shukaku covered his entire frame except his head; a quick pulse of chakra stalled the sealing jutsu temporarily.

"..."

"Heh... to think that me, the one who has the body and chakra of the Senju clan, would turn out to be the one to win," Naruto said with a reserved chuckle, in essence, turning Sasuke's words from earlier back on him. When Sasuke remained silent at that little jab, Naruto peered down at him, his normally warm blue eyes turning decidedly frigid as he scrutinized his rival.

Sasuke looked up at him, perceiving Naruto's stare to be a questioning one. "Hnn... you still don't understand, Naruto..."

Naruto sighed. "I don't know if I want to understand. Your idea of Hokage..." he trailed off, pausing, before saying, "...It makes no sense."

Sasuke scoffed at the blond's unsurprising lack of comprehension. "Hmph. Nothing against you, Naruto, but... for my vision of Hokage to come to fruition, I needed to cut off all relations. To get rid of all the past mistakes, and start anew. You were the last, Naruto... and still, you stand in my way."

Naruto ruefully chuckled at that, no longer surprised at how difficult Sasuke was being, but still somewhat curious at his motivations. "Heh. Of all the times to do something like this, though... why now? Why, after everyone sacrificed all they had? Why, when so many people are at risk of dying?"

When he received no answer for his questions, he said, "Sasuke... I couldn't fail. The stakes were too high, and everyone was — is — counting on me. ...I had to stop you."

Sasuke was silent for a moment, before saying, "So, are you going to release me?"

"Eh? And why the hell would I do that?" Naruto asked, astonished and quite frankly affronted at the Uchiha's audacity. After everything he'd done, after all the bullshit he'd put them though, he had the gall to ask such a thing of him?

"Because," Sasuke said smugly, a small smirk appearing on his face, "you need the Rinnegan to dispel the Infinite Tsukuyomi, just like I needed the chakra of the Tailed Beasts to do so. You need me if you want to free everyone."

Naruto frowned at that, particularly irked at the dark-haired boy's self-satisfied tone. "No, Sasuke. I don't."

"Really, now?" the Uchiha said, his tone uncharacteristically light.

Naruto paused, before speaking softly, "There's... another way. There's always another way."

Sasuke didn't know what it was he was talking about, so said disbelievingly, "What other way?! Everyone is on borrowed time — the more time you waste, the closer everyone is to being turned into those damned White Zetsu's!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Naruto snarled, his voice heated. "And you... what the hell're you talkin' for? If that happens, it'll be your fault for being such an asshole and trying to do your stupid 'revolution'!"

"So what's this 'other way' of yours, then?" Sasuke asked, his tone sharp and biting in his mocking of the blond.

Naruto sighed. "You said so yourself. I need the Rinnegan to dispel the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

"Yeah, and?" Sasuke said with a laugh. "You don't have one!"

"I don't," Naruto said in agreement. "...But you do."

"...What?"

"..."

"..."

"I don't have to spell it out for you, do I?" Naruto asked softly.

He didn't. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he looked at the blond in a new light; a look that conveyed both his grudging respect and his smouldering anger.

For the normally peaceable blond to even suggest such a thing...

Sasuke, as strange as it was, almost laughed. He didn't think the moron had it in him.

"Would you really do it?" Sasuke asked lowly. "Take my eye?"

Naruto looked surprised at how reserved Sasuke was, considering the topic. Eventually, after mulling the prospect over in his mind some more, he responded, saying, "...If I have to." Naruto realized his mistake the moment the words left his mouth. Sasuke, as perceptive as always, had taken notice of the hesitance colouring the fair-haired teen's voice.

Naruto didn't want to do this.

Sasuke almost smiled. He knew Naruto as well as anybody. If he didn't want to do this, then chances were, he wouldn't.

"You won't," Sasuke said, eyes widening slightly in realization. "Release me, and we'll dispel the genjutsu... together."

Sasuke's oily voice would have worked on anybody else in his shoes. Unfortunately for him, Naruto was as familiar with him as he himself was with Naruto.

"You'd lie... about something like this? Why?"

Sasuke didn't answer, looking momentarily stunned at Naruto's insight before he schooled his expression and said, "I'm not lying. You've won our fight. I'll help you remove the genjutsu and we can move on from this."

"Idiot," Naruto seethed. "I can tell you're lying. Your hatred is fucking leaking, bastard. You thought I wouldn't notice?"

"Who cares?!" Sasuke yelled, so irked with Naruto's inexplicable ability to detect his spoken falsehoods that he gave up all pretences of amicability. Snapping at Naruto, he spat, "You'd never take my eye, anyway! You're nothing but a peace-loving idiot! I constantly screw you over and you never do anything about it! What'll make this time any different? HUH?!"

Naruto lowered his head, an action which caused his bangs to shroud his eyes. "This time..." he said, his voice taking on a heightened raspiness as it lowered significantly, "everyone's lives are at stake."

"Wha–?! Aargh!"

Roaring in pain, Sasuke could only stare at the blond in pure, unadulterated shock; his now-lone right eye conveyed his utter disbelief at what had transpired, for with one deft movement, Naruto had ripped his left eye out of its socket.

"What... what the fuck? You... you actually did it... you actually took my fucking eye...!" the raven-haired youth rasped, stunned at what the blond had done. His voice hoarse from his roar of pain, he coughed weakly, cursing, "Asshole..."

Naruto said nothing in response, his eyes reflecting a mixture of sadness and exasperation at the measure he had just taken against the downed opponent that was his ex-teammate.

Sasuke, in a lot of pain due to having his eye forcefully removed so suddenly and unexpectedly, could only breathe hard, sharply inhaling oxygen to catch his breath and to try to mitigate the effect the pain was having on him. He turned a hateful glare upon Naruto, though the effect was unsurprisingly mitigated by the fact that he only had one eye.

Ignoring him, Naruto looked down contemplatively at the purple orb in his left hand. It was disappointing the extent he had to go to, but he needed the eye if he was to end the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Assuring himself that he'd remove the eye once he'd undone the powerful genjutsu, he steeled himself in preparation for what he was about to do next.

Taking one last moment to brace himself, the blond proceeded to gouge out his own left eye before quickly implanting the Rinnegan orb to replace it, using his yang-natured chakra to facilitate and aid in the integration process that immediately followed the implantation. After a short amount of time, his new eye was promptly innervated and connected to his brain, allowing him to see out of it after allowing a few moments for it to acclimatize itself in its new host.

In an all too immediate fashion, his world was changed in an immense way. He could feel the eye siphoning off his chakra somewhat significantly (naturally the result of him not being the true wielder of said eye), but it was a mere drop in the bucket for him; more importantly, though, was what he could see. It was like a whole new world of chakra opened up before him. "Incredible..."

He could actually see chakra. It was truly remarkable. Chakra had colours. Even though he couldn't see the ambient energy in nature that he made use of when utilizing Senjutsu, he could see its assimilation and transformation within his body when blending with his own chakra; it was truly a sight to behold.

Naruto, quite frankly, was in awe of what he was seeing.

Sasuke, still embittered by what Naruto had done to him, remained silent. Glancing up at the blond as said blond acclimatized himself with the Rinnegan, he opened his mouth as if he wanted to utter something, before deciding against it.

While Naruto noticed the contemplative stare being directed at him, he gave no indication of noticing it, not wanting to prompt Sasuke to speak his mind. He got the feeling that the dark-haired teen was considerably tetchy, and didn't want to brew up another argument when he had an important task to do.

'...Chibaku Tensei (Heavenly Body Bursting from the Earth),' Naruto thought, clapping his hands together in an imitation of Sasuke's use of the jutsu before their clash, essentially hijacking the technique from his immobilized rival. Moments later, the nine Bijū were released from their respective celestial prisons after Naruto used the gravity manipulation of the Deva Path; a pulse of chakra from his new Rinnegan, and they were freed from their mental subjugation, as well.

'This eye really is incredible,' Naruto thought. As expected, it had practically come with built-in instructions. When he wanted to use any technique at the disposal of a Rinnegan user, it was as if the knowledge of said techniques were intrinsic, like he'd always known how to perform them. It truly was a marvel, a revelation to anyone fortunate enough to wield it.

No wonder Sasuke became so arrogant after he obtained the revered dōjutsu.

When the tailed beasts regained full control of their mental faculties, their attention automatically zeroed in on the transmigrant duo at the heart of the conflict.

"Keh heh heh... Well, done, Naruto. You've come through once more," Kurama praised, relief evident in his voice. A moment later, though, his eyes met Naruto's. "Whoa..."

"Ukikiii! He's taken the Rinnegan for himself... how fitting!" Son Gokū laughed, very much pleased at the turn of events. Naturally, his feelings were matched by all the other Bijū as well, as they all voiced their own agreements.

"So, Naruto," Gyūki said moments later, "what will you do now?"

Naruto, beginning to form the Rat Hand Seal, said, "I'll release everyone from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, of course. And, now that I have the Rinnegan and the Six Paths Sage Chakra, no one can try anything like what Sasuke did; no one will seal and control you. This world will finally know peace."

And with that, he activated the release of the celestial mass genjutsu. 'Mugen Tsukuyomi: Kai (Infinite Moon Reader: Release)!'

Once he was certain everyone had been released from the Infinite Tsukuyomi (by using his newfound proficiency in sensing), thereby saving them from ultimately being turned into the husks that were White Zetsu, Naruto realized his body was starting to feel the strain of all the fighting he had done continuously.

Weary as all hell, the blond, despite being pleased overall with how well things were now going, was nevertheless going through the motions; he was not looking forward to what he would have to do to next by any stretch of the imagination.

Remembering that he'd left Sasuke bound and lying on the ground, he turned towards the raven-haired shinobi, but was surprised to find the ever-transparent avatar of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki appear before him instead.

"Uzumaki Naruto..."

"...Uh... yeah...?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...?"

Naruto did not think it possible for a silence this awkward to last this long. The Rikudō Sennin may have been a progenitor of the shinobi way of life, but Naruto was convinced the man had no idea how to interpret social cues. The blond gestured multiple times to encourage the man to get on with what he was going to say, but the relic just wouldn't get the hint, so when that failed to register, he spoke up, too tired to stall any longer.

"...Old Man Rikudō? What's up?"

The direct approach seemed to do the trick, seeing as how the horned man finally began speaking.

"...I put my faith in you to curb Sasuke's hatred, and despite all his power, it has proven to be insufficient against a shinobi of your ilk. Well done," the Sage said, congratulating Naruto.

"Wait, what do you mean you 'put your faith in me'? How would you know that Sasuke would try to do all this?" Naruto asked, disbelief colouring his voice.

"...Because he told me," the Rikudō Sennin bluntly replied. "I met with Sasuke in the transcendent plane of existence, just as I met with you. When I asked for your answer, you told me that you wanted to protect your friends. Do you know what Sasuke's answer was?"

"...No," Naruto said, finally answering when he realized the Sage's question was not rhetorical.

"He spoke honestly, Naruto; he told me of his intention to kill you," Hagoromo said in his usual straightforward manner.

Naruto looked down at Sasuke, only to see a placid expression that did nothing to confirm or deny the ancient Sage's words.

"And yet..." Naruto began, struggling to find the right words, "you... you still gave him that power, the Rinnegan... why?"

"Because of my past mistake," the horned hermit explained. "I erred when I solely gave my power to my younger son, Ashura. I left everything to him rather than give Indra some as well. My elder son grew to despise both myself and his brother because of my mistake."

"So you gave Sasuke all this power just because you felt bad about a mistake you made all those years ago? You gave him your power to make up for a mistake that, ultimately, led to all of this happening?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it in those terms, but in light of all that's occurred, I can say... yes."

"Well then... it's obvious that you fucked up again, old man."

The spectre of the Sage smiled grimly. "...Is that right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, you messed up the first time by only giving Ashura his inheritance, but this was just as bad. You say Indra loved you and his brother, and your decision caused a rift between them... here, though, Sasuke already had a lot of hatred. He had a lot of baggage thanks to his family and his brother. Power was all he cared about for years. Giving him more was no solution; even I can see that," Naruto said, his remarkably profound insight surprising the archetypical sage.

"Hmph," the apparition of the Sage grunted, a wry smirk on his visage. "I've been watching you for some time, now, Naruto. You may not be perceived to be the most intelligent–" the blond scowled at that; he hated that perception of himself, "–but you have proven yourself to be a worthy successor to me. Allow me to do you this one last kindness..."

"Wh... what are you gonna do?" Naruto asked, a bit wary of the of the founder of Ninshū, who floated towards him. "And what do you mean, 'one last kindness'?"

Chuckling at the formerly confident blond's sudden bout of reticence, Hagoromo said simply, "The Rinnegan."

When the blond gave him a look of bemusement, he continued, saying, "While I was not the one to give it to you, of course, I have implanted my knowledge of how to use the eye into said eye, thereby aiding you when you took it as your own. It will be more chakra intensive for you to use, since it was not originally yours, but your high chakra reserves should help in that regard. I will also seal Kurama's other half into your body; he'll be by your side once more, this time as a whole."

Naruto looked up at the gigantic formed of Yang-Kurama, who appeared to be a bit irritated with the Sage, if his annoyed stare was any indication.

"And finally, as a form of reparation for the undue tasks I have burdened you with, along with sealing Kurama and his Yang chakra within you, I will once more bestow upon you my Rikudō no Yō no Chikara (Six Paths Yang Power), as well as gift you with the Yin power I had originally granted Sasuke, the Rikudō no In no Chikara (Six Paths Yin Power)."

Having finally said his piece, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki went about sealing Kurama's Yang chakra within Naruto (thereby fusing his Yin and Yang halves and making the Kyūbi 'whole' again) before once more endowing him with the Yang Power, this time along with the Six Paths Yin power he had originally conferred onto Sasuke.

After doing all this in a brief period of time, the Sage unsurprisingly vanished, having exhausted all of his remaining energy in transferring to Naruto a significant portion of his power.

Looking down at his hands, Naruto could see each palm had a unique symbol upon them; the right one had the now-familiar light-coloured circle marking reminiscent of the sun, while the left one had a dark-coloured symbol resembling a waning crescent moon.

"Wow! I feel... incredible!" Naruto exclaimed. "How do you feel, Kurama? Is it good to be whole once more?"

"Hmph. Don't test my patience, Naruto. I won't tolerate such silly questions."

"Uh... that's not a 'no'," the blond said with great amusement; he knew being split in two had always irked the bijū. The fox only grumbled at his companion's ribbing.

Naruto, feeling renewed like never before, opened up his senses once more, feeling almost everyone having completely stirred from their induced hypnosis at the hands of the mass genjutsu.

The whisker-marked youth couldn't help but smile broadly. Things were finally looking up.

[|||]

(Earlier that Day — In Edolas)

"Ngushushushushu... you called, your Majesty?" a short, stocky man asked, his grisly laughter echoing throughout the throne room as he made his way to present himself to the King, hobbling all the while.

He was a bald man with a strangely shaped nose and large, sunken eyes. He had dark liver spots, a sign of his advanced age, as well as thick eyebrows that were shaped in such a way that they resembled horns. His unappealingly small frame was garbed in a large decorated cape with ornamental medals on the front and a wide, adorned collar, with a smaller, darker robe with a light trim underneath.

Despite his being amused (as his bearing would indicate), he was still somewhat irked that he had to make his way all the way down to the throne hall. He had that annoying assistant of his, Coco, employed as his direct subordinate for that very reason, after all.

"Yes, Byro. That... assistant... of yours presented to me some very interesting news..." the King bit out, still a bit irked by that infuriating little girl.

"Indeed. Our Anima technology has allowed for us to establish contact with a world in an entirely new dimension. Once we lock in on our target, we can open the inter-dimensional gate and begin extraction," the now-named Byro explained in that odd drawl of his that was somewhat affected by a speech impediment.

"Target? Do you mean to tell me that you actually have a specific location in mind?" Faust asked with a cautious optimism.

"Not a location. An individual," the Chief of Staff said, a gleeful smile on his face.

"What? Are you saying that there is a single person with magical reserves high enough to register on your scanners from this new dimension?" Faust inquired, his interest piqued like never before.

"Yes, but I will say that the energy may not necessarily be magic..."

"What? But we need magic! I won't tolerate failure, Byro!" the King bellowed.

"Your Majesty... all is not lost. While there is the possibility of this world not having magic, that's a risk we will have to take. The power this world contains cannot be quantified. It is so densely saturated with energy that ordinarily it would be impossible to pinpoint any one verifiable point of origin. The only reason we have managed this much is because there's a person who has harnessed enough of this energy to register on our radar," Byro appeased, desperate to avoid any punishment.

He was not out of the woods yet.

"And in the event that this world does indeed lack magic? What then? Because based on what you've told me, that appears to be a very likely outcome," Faust said, pressing his Chief of Staff.

"Well, your Majesty... let us cross that bridge when we get to it," the short man hedged. Seeing as how he was so very fearful of punishment at the hands of his leader, it made sense that he wasn't willing to risk his neck making any promises for something that was, to put it simply, a crapshoot.

"Hmm... very well. Go about it as soon as possible," Faust commanded. "We can't dismiss such an opportunity. To acquire a potential source of limitless magic from a remote dimension... there are too many potential benefits to pass this up."

"Right away, your Majesty. Gushyu, gushyu..."

"Hold on there, Byro. I trust you have a contingency in place should this... ambitious plan of yours fail?"

"Naturally. We have a new target on standby in Earthland that will serve our purposes nicely until we initiate operation ETD–"

"Don't speak of that so freely, fool! You know better than that!" the King scolded, harshly cutting him off. "There is a reason I have only told you and three of my four division commanders of this. Don't make me regret it, my Chief of Staff..."

Byro gulped, nodding shakily. He was smart enough to realize why Faust had addressed him by his official title.

"Good. Dismissed. When we next meet, I expect good news."

"Of... of course, your Majesty. Until then," Byro said, gathering himself before he left the king's presence.

Faust sighed. Code ETD, entailing the destruction of all Exceed, was a sensitive plot if there ever was one. The importance of keeping it discreet couldn't be overstated. The most important thing, however, was that his First Captain, Pantherlily, remain unaware of such a plot.

While he may have been banished by his own kind (for helping a human: Faust's own son, the prince, at that), he may still have cared enough for them to oppose such a course of action. While it ultimately wouldn't have been too much trouble to have Erza take care of him, Faust much rather preferred to have the burly Exceed working for him.

Soon, he would have unlimited magic for the land of Edolas, and once he did... his dream of obtaining an ever-subsisting source of magic would finally be realized.

[|||]

(With Naruto — Valley of the End)

Sensing the approach of the final two members of Team 7, Naruto sighed. He knew he'd get some serious shit from his lone female teammate for this. While he had decided to deal with their final, wayward member once and for all, he knew that she just wanted everything to be amicable between the three of them. Of course, their rebellious teammate in Sasuke had absolutely no desire for such cordial relations for whatever reason.

Naruto, as of late, honestly couldn't care less; Sasuke could think or do whatever he wanted, it was tiring dealing with all of his shit. In the end, Sai was right... his two teammates, Sakura and Sasuke, only caused him unnecessary grief. It was a wonder he wasn't stressed out from all their nonsense.

Naruto was truly glad for the brief reprieve he had received in the form of that S-rank 'mission', where he had to examine the ecology of the Island Turtle in Kaminari no Kuni (the Land of Lightning). Sure, it was clear that it was a farce now, but at the time he wasn't about to overlook a potential vacation when he had been offered one, and the fact that he was assured to receive legitimate payment for said S-rank mission didn't hurt, either.

Although receiving pay equivalent to that of an S-rank mission for something so simple did register on Naruto's 'bullshit' scale, he wasn't one to turn down anything that would supplement his income; at the same time, he could say that he was in it for the downtime, primarily. Travelling there also satiated his thirst for adventure, seeing as how he and Jiraiya had been prevented from visiting the Island Turtle when he had first gone to Kaminari no Kuni during his training trip.

His forging of a friendship with Killer B only helped him enjoy the excursion all the more. When he learned of the war being fought on his behalf, though, the guilt and responsibility to end it himself had quickly consumed him to the point where he felt compelled to get himself involved.

Naruto wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation. The Five Kage had all decided to keep him and Killer Bee hidden away to 'protect' them, but it was he (and Bee, to a lesser extent) who helped end the war. At the very least, the Island Turtle served as the training ground where he finally harnessed his tailed beast's power, so there was that.

He was snapped out of his reverie when he heard Sasuke's rasping cough, which had reminded him of what he had to do next.

"Sasuke..." he began, wondering what it was he was going to say to his former teammate. The bastard had always sought to fulfill his own agenda, regardless of the consequences.

"You know, I'd find your determination to be a bit more admirable if it wasn't so obvious that you were only in it for yourself. What you said you'd do... I've never heard anything more selfish. To want such a sad, shitty future for not only the Shinobi World as a whole, but also you yourself... are you really so far gone that you'd want such a thing to occur?"

"...Yes," Sasuke said unwaveringly, albeit after a significant pause. "That... is my vision of what a Hokage should be. One who walks in the darkness and absorbs all the hatred... alone."

"I see," Naruto said, his eyes half-lidded but closely observing his rival lying prone on his back, defeated, but as proud as ever.

This fight had truly opened his eyes. He knew he could no longer just put his head down and bulldoze through all of his obstacles like he once had. He could no longer overlook Sasuke's misdeeds and be so damn forgiving of the perpetually antagonistic Uchiha.

It was with that last thought that he moved next to Sasuke, actively channeling chakra into and through the two markings on his palms as he made his approach to the stock-still shinobi.

"Rikudō — Chibaku Tensei (Six Paths — Heavenly Body Bursting from the Earth)," he intoned, placing the palms of his hands on both sides of Sasuke's head.

"Wh-what?! Naruto! Are you... sealing me?!" the onyx-haired youth shouted in disbelief.

"Yeah. You wanted to live forever, in a ridiculous attempt to control this world... . Someone like you, who seeks nothing but absolute control... you're no different from Madara and Kaguya!" Naruto snapped, comparing him to both the modern-day patriarch of the Uchiha clan as well as the strange woman who had wanted nothing more than to subjugate the world through the use of a massive illusion.

"I think sharing the same fate as someone who committed the same sins as you is appropriate... so I'm going to make sure that you spend a good amount of time in orbit, just like Kaguya. Enjoy your 'darkness'."

The difference, though, was that Kaguya was sealed in a moon in her own dimension, so at the very least, the veritable space prison Sasuke was bound for would be orbiting the world in their own dimension.

"What?! No! Naruto! Shit man, don't do this!" the Uchiha solicited, pleading piteously, but the Uzumaki would not be moved.

Suddenly, the representation of the Yin and Yang markings developed within Sasuke's right eye socket. The implementation of the Yin and Yang chakra of the Six Paths to the gravitational technique also had the benefit of sealing the victim's dōjutsu (in this case, Sasuke's Sharingan) as well as his ability to manipulate chakra.

Before long, the Yin and Yang markings had completely enveloped the last Sharingan eye in existence, leaving Sasuke as blind as a bat, and bereft of his chakra.

"Naruto! Undo this! I... I don't deserve this! Please!" Sasuke implored, outright begging at this point.

"No," Naruto said, "and since I'm the only one who knows of this, nobody but I can break this seal." And he had no intention of doing anything of the sort. ...Not anytime soon, anyway.

Pausing, he peered at his direct counterpart, his rival in many respects, and could only shake his head at the way he had forced things to end between them. As the earth and various other debris was pulled towards the gravitational core with Sasuke at its center, Naruto stared unblinkingly.

"Goodbye, Sasuke."

"Argh! Naruto! Don't do this! Don't do this!"

His desperate shrieks were not only heard by the young man who had begun sealing him, but by their third teammate and by their squad leader, as well.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" came the familiar voice of the second apprentice of Tsunade, their lone female team member, Haruno Sakura. By her side was their jōnin sensei, the ever-unflappable Hatake Kakashi.

Sakura was a young woman who, at seventeen, was the same age as both Sasuke and Naruto. She had bright pink, shoulder-length hair and jade green eyes. On her forehead was a diamond-shaped marking denoting the Byakugō no In (Strength of a Hundred Seal), which identified her as a kunoichi with impeccable chakra control. Her figure, while slender and not as pronounced as some women as far as the more prominent of the female secondary sex characteristics were concerned (in other words, she had a small bust), was still quite feminine and curvy in her own right (thanks to her slim waist and attractive, wide hips).

Her current attire did not serve to accentuate her physical features, though, as she was wearing the standard shinobi uniform of the village of Konoha, which was unflattering and baggy on her lean frame. Without her flak jacket, which had been discarded in their fight against Kaguya, she appeared rather disheveled: her clothes were torn and frayed, in particular the right sleeve of her shirt, which was ripped off entirely.

Kakashi, a relatively tall man with spiky silver hair and dark eyes, was wearing the standard jōnin attire with a black shirt, pants (which were taped off at the cuffs) and sandals, as well as the forest green flak jacket donned by Konoha shinobi. He also had the new forehead protector of the joint Shinobi Army and his signature black face mask, which hid the lower half of his face from view, as well as black gloves with armor plating and the typical kunai and shuriken holsters on his leg and waist, respectively.

"Sakura-chan... Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto replied, barely turning over his right shoulder in their direction in order to regard them coolly with a sidelong gaze. The right side of his profile was visible to them, his lone, piercing blue eye scrutinizing them.

"So you've won," Kakashi said stating the obvious, appearing to be as nonchalant as ever, but Naruto knew him well enough to know that he was clearly concerned at the events that had transpired once they had defeated Kaguya.

Sakura was speechless at what she saw of Sasuke. "Naruto... wh-what happened? I..."

"I'm sorry, guys, but this is the way it has to be," the blond said firmly. They both were more than smart enough to infer what he meant by that, especially after seeing the pathetic state Sasuke was in. He was covered in Shukaku's cursed seal markings, which itself utilized a magnetic field to bind its target, and was also surrounded by debris after being further sealed with Chibaku Tensei.

"What are you going to do?" Kakashi asked.

"I was always too lenient when it came to Sasuke," Naruto said. "Even when he became a wanted man, first by Kumogakure and Old Man Raikage for attacking Uncle Bee, and then by every major Shinobi village by leading an attack on the Five Kage Summit, I still defended him."

Seeing his sensei and teammate listening raptly to his little monologue, he continued, saying, "I let that crazy Kumo girl beat the shit out of me rather than sell him out. I begged... begged Old Man Raikage to forgive him, even when we all thought he killed the man's own brother! Oh, and I haven't even mentioned that he joined the fucking Akatsuki! Y'know, the ninjas who wanted me dead for years!"

Seeing the looks of surprise on Sakura and Kakashi's faces made him realize that he was just as surprised as they were. Naruto didn't even realize he had been holding this stuff in; he thought he'd stopped doing this shit when he visited the Falls of Truth on the Island Turtle.

"And now," he continued, "after all this, how do you think everyone will react when it gets out that he tried to have the Five Kage killed? That he wanted to basically follow in Madara and Kaguya's footsteps?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke sadly, who was almost entirely engulfed by the rocky terrain in the form of a large sphere. "I know, Naruto... I had my doubts when he showed up to fight in the war, too. But... isn't this too much?! Please, I..."

"Sakura-chan... in the end, you always did love Sasuke, didn't you?" Naruto asked rhetorically, taking the opportunity to interject when the pink-haired girl trailed off. As he did this, he turned fully towards the imprisoned Sasuke, his back facing Sakura and Kakashi.

Sakura didn't answer, her head down as tears trickled down her nose out of her glistening green eyes, which were clenched shut.

"I'm sorry... I have always loved you too, you know," Naruto said, his voice taking on a nostalgic tone. "No matter what, I always wanted you to be happy. But, for someone who's so smart... you can be so dumb sometimes, you know? It's stupid how you won't stop loving someone who brings you nothing but pain and grief. He's always hurt you, always upset you, always failed you, but you still love him. Why?"

Sakura could not answer that question.

"I asked myself that same question about you, though, too," Naruto said. "Not about those things exactly, but about why I always loved you. Deep down, I'll always care for you. You supported me for so long, I could never hate you. Even though you loved him, you still had some feelings for me; even I could tell that much. It was why I didn't give up on pursuing you.

"Sasuke didn't give you anything like that, though, did he? Seeing you put yourself through so much, seeing you suffer because you can't move on and love someone else, love me..." Naruto sighed. "I don't want to do that to myself. I don't want to put myself through that heartache."

The tears were now streaming down her face, and despite rubbing at her eyes, the flow did not slow down much at all.

Her tears did stall out of surprise, though, when Naruto turned in the direction of both Kakashi and Sakura herself, peering at them with his incongruous eyes. In his left eye socket was none other than Sasuke's Rinnegan.

Kakashi was the first to give voice to his shock. "Naruto... you took Sasuke's eye?!"

Naruto didn't answer, his eyes lowered at the reminder of what was to come next.

Sakura was stunned speechless. The blond's next words, though, managed to evoke a response from the pink-haired apprentice of Tsunade.

"I'm going to seal away Sasuke."

Sakura gasped, more out of surprise than anything else. The boy who made that promise to her just a few years ago, the one who kept faith in Sasuke even when she had lost it, was gone. In his place was a young man who seemed to have realized the importance of making the tough decisions for the greater good.

"While I'm doing this for the future of the shinobi world at large, to prevent him from ever violating the peace we have finally built, I'm also doing this for selfish reasons; for our sakes, to end our heartbreak. Sasuke won't hurt you anymore, Sakura-chan. You will live happily with whoever it is you want, and we won't have to suffer from anymore of his selfish actions, trying to do damage control whenever he does something stupid."

Naruto was firm in what he had decided. He wouldn't let Sasuke jeopardize the budding peace that the Elemental Nations was on the verge of building.

"Naruto..." Sakura whimpered, but Kakashi put a firm, but consoling hand on her shoulder. He had long decided to support his sensei's son, who had proven himself to be a man even greater than his legendary father.

The jōnin couldn't have been more proud of his student.

"Your parents would be proud of the man you've become, Naruto," Kakashi praised.

Naruto cracked a mirthless smile at the compliment. "Strangely enough, you won't love me for this, Sakura, even if this ends up giving you a much better outlook for your life. Girls are weird like that..." he said, chuckling ruefully.

"But... I've realized that even if you did want me, it would only be because Sasuke would be gone. In the end, I would only be second place in your heart. Before all this, before the war, I don't know... maybe I would have been okay with that. It would have been kinda weird and pathetic, but I still may have done it, if it meant being with you."

Sakura, despite always rejecting his advances, couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of admiration for the blond, for his ability to speak frankly about these things. Where others would be reserved or reticent, he was upfront and candid about it all.

"And now, after seeing all this, I'm afraid that I have too much pride," the blond said. "I can't settle for second to anybody, especially Sasuke, even if it comes to you, Sakura-chan. I still care for you, and perhaps I always will, but... I have to look out for myself, too."

Naruto paused, sensing the gradual approach of multiple chakra signatures. They were all familiar; they must be led by a tracker or something. Given the fact that these pursuers were still quite a ways from Team Seven's current position, which was the Valley of the End, Naruto knew that it would take some time for whoever was coming to arrive. It was time to wrap things up.

"In the end, Sasuke chose to do this," Naruto said, further justifying his reasoning behind sealing away Sasuke. "He chose this path; he could have returned home to Konoha peacefully, his crimes pardoned thanks to him being a war hero after helping us stop Madara and then Kaguya. But it wasn't enough. More, more, more. He always wanted more." He sighed.

"It's time to finally end this."

As he raised his hand, clenching his fist to ensure the spheroid rock formation imprisoning Sasuke was as compact as possible, the sphere of earth rose up into the air above them, now complete and ready for the final step.

Using his newly procured Rinnegan, Naruto made use of its ability to manipulate gravitational forces to propel the spherical mass into orbit. Once it was there, he finally relaxed, shutting his eye as the recently acquired orb throbbed painfully in his eye socket. 'Goodbye, Sasuke...'

Plopping himself down on the ground with a hiss, Naruto laid spread eagle in an effort to stretch his tired muscles out, feeling incredibly exhausted; he closed his new left eye, feeling the chakra it was siphoning off ramp down significantly at the action.

"...I doubt he survived that," Kakashi observed from his place next to him. Sakura had stepped away, clearly grieving. When Naruto turned his one-eyed gaze toward her, Kakashi decided to counsel him.

"Give her some time," his jōnin sensei said soothingly. "While she knows you did the right thing, she still loved him. Let her mourn."

Naruto almost scoffed, a bit bitter at how, after all this time, she still loved him that much. He felt like a fool; even in death (or practical obscurity), Sasuke still took precedence over him in Sakura's heart.

His pitiable thoughts were all but forgotten, though, when he looked skyward, taking note of the latest development in what had become the most insane day of his already hectic life.

There was a goddamned hole in the sky.

Dark cumulonimbus clouds had begun forming in a wide, far-reaching circle over the valley they were currently in. The sky, which just moments before had been a clear, resplendent blue evocative of a typically beautiful sunny day, had in the blink of an eye become filled with a gathering of roiling, tempestuous dark clouds.

When an acute feeling of lethargy started to encompass his entire being, Naruto started to feel panicked. His feeling of dread only intensified when he noticed that the rumbling thunder of the storm clouds coordinated with the painful pulses of a foreign energy within his body.

This, he realized with a dawning horror, was no coincidence.

When he felt it latch onto Kurama's chakra, Naruto gagged, heaving in pain. What the hell was going on? Was this... thing... trying to take the Kyūbi from him?

'Ku... Kurama!'

"Hang on, Naruto," his lifelong companion said calmly, with nary a hint of panic in his voice. "I can't resist this, but by spreading my chakra through your body, I can force this thing to take you as well. At the very least, we won't be separated, so you'll survive."

Naruto didn't relax until he felt the warmth of Kurama's chakra running through the entirety of his body, but even then he was on the verge of freaking out, desperately trying to figure out what the hell this was.

"Naruto... are you seeing this?" Kakashi asked, unable to mask the pure, unadulterated awe his voice indicated he was feeling.

"Oi... Kakashi... sensei..."

"Hm?" Kakashi didn't realize what had happened, occupied as he was with the empyrean phenomenon occurring directly above both him and his student. When he took in the adolescent blond's form, his eyes widened in horror.

Naruto was disappearing.

His form was bathed in an ethereal, golden light not unlike his Rikudō Sennin Mōdo (Six Paths Sage Mode), although Kakashi could tell immediately that this was not just his Sage Mode. The blond's form was inconsistent, incessantly flickering between transparency and continuity.

"Sakura! Get over here, NOW!" the silver-haired jōnin yelled. "Naruto's in trouble!"

In a flash, the pink-haired girl was by their side, running her hands over the blond's fading frame, the pale green glow of the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) enveloping her hands. While the jutsu did its job, soothing and eventually removing his pain, it did nothing to stall the inevitable. Naruto was fading away, and the process was torturously slow.

"Naruto..." Sakura whispered. "Don't die... please. Not you too..."

At this point, Sakura was keen enough to realize what the end result of all this would be. Tears were running down to the lowest part of her face angled downwards (her nose) before falling rapidly to the ground. Her chakra almost depleted, she settled for clenching her fists on her lap, helpless to prevent this unforeseen situation.

"Sakura... despite everything... even my stupid feelings... you... you're still my best friend. You kept me grounded, you looked out for me, you and Kakashi-sensei..."

Pausing briefly as Sakura let out a choked sob, Naruto continued. "I'm not dying, but... I don't know what's happening to me. Tell them I'll be fine... Tsunade-baachan, Shizune-neechan, Uncle Bee, the rest of the Konoha Eleven, and everyone else... tell them..."

At this point, he began to float in the air, as if the sky was trying to suck him in. The ominous clouds had now formed a funnel, a veritable spotlight shining on its target, one Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura, in her desperation, hugged Naruto close to her body; Kakashi, feeling helpless, struggled to even move.

The jōnin sensei, himself almost brought to tears at the inevitability of his student's impending departure, placed his hand on Naruto's head, which rested on Sakura's shoulder. To his surprise, Naruto smiled at him. "Sensei... Sakura-chan... don't cry. The world is finally at peace. I've accomplished... Ero-sennin's dream. And I'll... I'll be back..."

And with that, Uzumaki Naruto evanesced, departing from the Elemental Nations as if he were an angelic being, dissolving into a mass of golden particles that were promptly funnelled into the hole in the sky.

Moments later, the billowing aperture closed up, the shadowed clouds dissipating as if they were never there, leaving the sky as clear as ever. Horror-struck, Kakashi and Sakura could only stare distantly at the sky, equally catatonic at the horrendous sequence of events that had taken place.

With the departure of both Naruto and Sasuke, and with the Elemental Nations now bereft of the transmigrant lines of succession from both Asura and Indra respectively, Sakura and Kakashi could only lament what had happened, remaining where they were until they were found by their fellow Allied Shinobi a short time later.

And there we have it, the opening chapter of my maiden work of fan-fiction. I don't know if other first time authors feel this way, but this feels like a momentous occasion for me. Naturally, I'd love some feedback on this, ranging from adulatory to censorious, and any and all in-between. What did you like? Dislike? Let me know.

I'm just going to say straight up that you shouldn't expect any sort of frequency or consistency with updates for this and any other stories I upload here (and there will be others). Future instalments will be published intermittently, but they will come, rest assured. Having said all that, I am excited to see what sort of feedback this story will garner.

As for the story itself, I'd like to say that I like the way the fight between Naruto and Sasuke turned out here. When I was writing this, the possibility of Naruto sealing Sasuke occurred to me. I truly believe that this has not been done before; Naruto treating Sasuke as a second Madara or Kaguya and sealing him away? I fancy that to be something unique about my story.

Thanks for reading.

CS.