AN: And here it is. Chapter 36. Most likely the last chapter of this story. This will be the hardest chapter to write due to making sure I end this story on a good note. Anyway as for my next story, I am thinking of having it be a three way xover between HP, Percy Jackson, and Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2. I am still ironing out the details but if anyone wants to make any recommendations or comments I will always see them and respond back within a day.

Ill respond to some of the reviews from last chapter.

Crusifik70: Yeah sorry about that. I forgot sometimes that I returned his name to naruto.

Waldo Santiago: I am not sure what you are confused about but you can PM me if you wish.

Gawain-Knight of the Sun: That was actually one of the stories I considered, but HPxNasuverse is a bit overused. I mean, there are already such great fics for that such as Fates Gamble (Very highly recommended, prob my favorite Fanfiction). I know this is hypocritical saying I will include elements of PJO but it will only be minor influences.

LordGhostStriker: Of course, it wouldn't be a manga based fanfiction if I didn't kill some form of an omnipresent god for the final boss.

Anyway lets get to the story!

Chapter 36:

Messiah

Everything was silent. The thousands of shinobi, civilians, and animals; stayed silent as they stared in the direction of the goddess emerging into their world. They could feel the omnipresent feeling of despair and hopelessness prevail through them as the aura of Izanami pervaded the land. Even the Juubi was silent, recognizing the presence of his creator.

The body of Obito rippled and transformed into a black haired women who Naruto vaguely recognized from the vision he saw in his mindscape. None of them could move as the presence of the god forced them down.

Izanami did not gloat, nor did she monologue. She simply smiled motherly down upon the earth and the Juubi transformed and began to pull every human into the world into an endless sleep.

The five shinobi on top of the now fully transformed bijuu could only stare in horror as the Moon's eye plan was enacted by the goddess. They watched as the wooden tendrils slowly crept towards them.

However before they could be ensnared within the illusionary world a bright flash overtook them and they knew no more.

(?)

Naruto slowly opened his eyes as he became aware of his surroundings. He appeared to be laying on the clearest water he had ever seen. Blue crystals glittered beautifully over the landscape while a setting sun hung over the distance, bathing the sky in a nice orange color.

He stood up and looked out over the landscape and muttered, despite knowing he would not get an answer, "Am I in heaven?"

Despite his initial thoughts a voice answered him "No, but you are close."

He turned his head and saw an old man next to him. The man looked to be worn down and tired, his white hair laying lifelessly down his back. His clothes looked like they had seen better days. However despite his appearance he recognized the man "Lord Izanagi?"

Izanagi smiled sadly at the spider summoner "Yes, you must be surprised to see me. Lord of heaven in such a state."

Naruto nodded, curious to what had caused the most powerful god to become so weathered. Izanagi sighed and looked out at the setting sun "I am the god of all the goodness of humanity. My strength is reflected upon the universal consciousness of all of humanity."

The mortal pondered this information and came to a startling realization "The last time humanity was peaceful was…"

Izanagi nodded "Yes; Izanagi is very clever. She manipulated humanity from her seal to hate and despise each other. Weakening me, while strengthening her. Reviving the Juubi, the personification of hate and misery, was a masterstroke. It unbalanced the consciousness of humanity so much that she was able to break free from her chains while weakening me to this state."

Naruto frowned "Is there not anything you can do? Izanagi is currently sealing everyone in the infinite Tsukuyomi."

Izanagi chuckled lightly "I already have."

The spider summoner raised an eyebrow in confusion "What have you done?"

Izanagi smiled sadly, as if he knew he would lose something as he explained "I only saw through Izanagi's plan eighteen years ago. By that time I was too weak to stop her, but I had enough strength to provide the world with a savior that could help mend this broken world."

Naruto began to feel a sense of trepidation as he asked the unspoken question "Who is the savior?"

The god of human goodness sighed "The savior of this world is you Naruto."

The supposed savior of the world looked confused at the god "Me? I am the last person anyone would think of as a savior. I am simply the formerly neglected child of the Namikaze family. I am steeped in darkness."

Izanagi nodded sadly "All true. But those were my own mistakes that you turned out this way. As I said before, Izanagi is very clever. She learned about your existence through her latest pawn, Obito and planned a counter measure. Using the small amount of chakra she had in Inari, she coerced Obito to attack Konoha with the bijuu. Once the beast was sealed she was able to subtly manipulate Inari to caste a genjutsu to make it so you were neglected. This neglect led you down the path of darkness. It is a miracle in itself that you were able to pull yourself out from the abyss."

Naruto's head was spinning. All his life he had searched for the final answer of his existence. He had thought Inari was the source of his pain, but now he knew that everything bad in his life led to Izanami. He looked at Izanagi again "But why me. Why of all the new born children in the world did it have to be me?"

Izanagi sighed "You must realize, Naruto, that there are many universes in the world. Each one connected to each other in the most interesting of ways. In each world there is a Naruto. Each Naruto, for good or bad, prevents Izanami's plans from succeeding. However, what if there was a world where a "Naruto" did not exist?"

Naruto widened his eyes as what Izanagi was telling him finally made sense "You mean that…?"

The god nodded, "Yes, you were never meant to exist."

Naruto did not know what to think. He was never supposed to exist? What does that mean? Was he some outsider invading in this world? He glared at the god "What do you mean I was not supposed to exist? I have a heart, a soul, a body. I have feelings and emotions just as everyone else. God or not what gives you the right to say I was not meant to exist?!"

Izanagi sighed "Because I was forced to mess with fate to bring you into existence. This world needed a savior…no, it needed a Messiah. Someone to lead them into a brighter, and better world where Izanami cannot influence it."

The confused ninja nearly gripped his hair in frustration "But I can't be some sort of messiah! I am just a"

Izanagi interrupted the boy "An eighteen year old that has mastered senjutsu, mastered the chakra of a minor god, restored an ancient people back to their true form, and master a new branch of ninjutsu. That does not sound like a normal ninja to me."

Naruto frowned "So you are saying that all my accomplishments are the work of divine intervention?"

The god laughed "Of course not my dear boy! Everything you have done is through your own hard work. You may have been brought into existence by me, but you were nothing but a regular human with the devices at your disposal to be great."

Naruto smiled slightly at the reassurance "But that does not help our current situation. How am I supposed to defeat a god alone?"

Izanagi chuckled "Who said anything about being alone? You have friends don't you?"

The jonin thought back to everyone who had helped him get this far in life and nodded "Yeah….I do."

Izanagi smiled and began to walk away towards the setting sun. Naruto looked confused at the old man before shouting after him "Wait. Where are you going, you haven't told me how to defeat Izanami!"

The god turned around and smiled "You already know." In front of Naruto's eyes the god seemed to de-age until he was a blond haired version of Naruto with golden eyes.

The look-alike spoke happily "You are a part of me after all." The god then turned and walked into the distance, breaking apart into particles of light that flew into the distance as he did so.

Naruto stared out at the sunset and realized Izanagi had never answered his question of where they are. He looked around one last time before smiling sadly. Of course, where else could he be but the place he felt closest to heaven.

Inari walked over to the boy and sat down next to him watching the sunset.

Naruto turned to the fox and offered his hand "Will you fight with me, just this once?"

Inari stared at the human for a long moment before placing his palm on the much smaller appendage "Just this once, human."

Naruto smiled happily.

(Real World)

Naruto breathed deeply as he opened his eyes. Everyone was still entrapped in the giant tree but he could still feel all of their chakra signatures as if they stood beside him. He looked at his arms and noticed they were covered in a white fire. If he had a mirror he would see that his entire body was covered in white flames, turning his hair white. His normal black robes had turned white as well and it now looked similar to what Izanagi wore.

He looked up at the dark goddess and instinctively knew how to float up to the sky to join her. Floating off the tree he leveled with the god and they stared at each other for a long moment.

Izanami sighed softly "I see that my fool of a husband's last resort has finally emerged."

Naruto glared at the goddess "I will defeat you."

Izanami laughed at the ridiculous statement "How? All of your precious comrades are in my illusion. You are alone."

Naruto smirked softly at these words "You are wrong." Izanami looked puzzled at this statement.

The human spread his arms wide and felt the very world begin to empower him "I am never alone. Humanity does not wish to fade away. Everyone you entrapped, even if they themselves don't realize it, but they all believe in me. And that is all that matters. Tell me Izanami, how are gods created?"

Izanami's face twisted into a snarl as she realized what the boy in front of her was implying.

Naruto smiled smugly as he gathered more and more nature chakra "That's right…gods are created when enough of humanity believes in their existence. That is the source of your power. And just as there is always darkness in humanity, there is always hope as well!" At these words nature chakra began to flow into him in droves. Strengthening him with the hopes and dreams of humanity.

In every cocoon among the tree the dreams of the people trapped in the tree transformed into the same landscape that Naruto has just left. In the dream world Shio looked around at the gathered people and looked to the sky thinking 'Naruto…' Without them even realizing it, they all pointed to the sky and formed chakra strings and sent them into the sky.

Soon he transformed into level three senjutsu, except this time the insect like wings transformed into a colored glass like texture. Chakra strings connected him to every person connected to the Juubi, filling him with even more power.

Izanami looked at the empowered human with disbelief, how could an ordinary human rise to the power of a god?

Naruto glared at the representation of humanity's darkness and raised an arm scythe "Let us dance Izanami." Pointing his wings downward he shot towards the goddess.

Soon they were engaged in a fierce fight. Naruto using his arm scythes along with his new sharp wings against Izanami's sword.

Down on the ground the Prophet Aragog stared up at the battle alongside the other summons who had been called for the battle. Aragog could not find the correct words to describe the battle in the skies other than "And so the spider fights fate and frees himself from the web of despair and flies free…"

Naruto flies away from the battle and flashes through some hand signs "Toxic style, Drops of the Lethe!" Golden orbs of poison flew at the goddess at startling speeds.

Izanami attempted to dodge but one of the orbs connected to her arm and dissolved it instantly. She attempted to regrow the limb but was shocked when her arm refused to regrow.

Naruto smirked smugly at the goddess "The poison of the Lethe removes whatever it touches from existence, even for you, it will be difficult to regrow."

The dark goddess growled and formed a new arm out of darkness "You will pay for that boy!" Izanami formed a bow out of black flames and began firing volleys of Amaterasu flames at the newly formed god.

Naruto clasped his hands together but knew he may too late to dodge the thousands of dark arrows. Before he could do anything a wall of green hexagonal plates formed in front of him. With wide eyes and turned to the side and saw an image of Lee grinning at him with both thumbs up.

The arrows pinged harmlessly against the green wall and Naruto flew at great speeds towards the goddess. Izanami made to retaliate with her sword but swung in the wrong direction and Naruto managed to cut her slightly with his scythes. Glancing to the side he saw Yakumo nodding at him determinedly with a template and brush in her hands.

He continued his assult at the nearly impenetrable goddess and noticed a shade of Anko placing a palm at the back of Izanami and he immediately dashed to the back of the goddess and activated Anko's death mark seal. As he activated the seal a golden kunai stabbed Izanami through the heart. The goddess growled, pulling the kunai out and healed the wound. Menma nodded to the ghost of Anko and continued to look for openings against the goddess.

As they fought, scythes against sword golden chains emerged from beside him and bound the goddess. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an image of Kushina nodding at him encouragingly. Using the opening he one again managed to cut the goddess. However as the same as last time the goddess regenerated.

Suddenly Izanami broke free from the binds and would have stabbed him if not for him disappearing in a golden flash, re-appearing behind Izanami. Looking over his shoulder he saw Minato with a hand on his shoulder encouragingly.

Izanami was shaking with rage at the insolent mortal who opposed her "How are you doing this! What is giving you this power!?"

Naruto swung his scythes down as Izanami blocked the attack. They locked themselves together and each tried to overpower the other. Out of the corner of his eyes Naruto saw Sasuke and Shio floating beside him and he answered the goddess "My friends." With strength he did not know he had he pushed the goddess away and floated next to his sister and the last Uchiha.

Naruto raised a scythe and began to pour senjutsu into the blade, making it glow green. Beside him, the spirit of Sasuke readied a brightly glowing blue spear while Shio's spirits sword glowed dangerously as they glared down at Izanami. Together they unleashed there attacks upon the goddess.

The sky lightened brilliantly as the attack connected, creating a large explosion that could be seen for miles. Izanami slammed into the base of the tree that the Juubi transformed into, toppling the massive tree into the ocean.

Naruto floated down level to the plume of smoke, hoping that was enough to end Izanami. He stared as the smoke cleared and could not help but widen his eyes in horror at the sight before him. Half of Izanami was the same as he had been fighting. But the second half was completely gone, in its place was a black blank featureless body. Soon a red eye and a manic grin formed on the previously blank face of the monster. Izanami looked down at her body before glaring at the new formed god in front of her "NOw yOu hAvE Made ME Angry MORtal!

Naruto shivered at the voice of Izanami, the still human looking half spoke in a musical tone while the monster side spoke in a deep monstrous tone.

Izanagi grinned and her dark side spoke "I will show you my true power!"

The dark mass transformed into a perfect likeliness of Madara Uchiha "I can use the power of any human who has died. Now do you see how truly hopeless your situation is?"

Naruto frowned and began pouring black blood into his scythes, extending them further and flying at high speeds towards the queen of the dead. The two met in midair and they clashed once again. Their battle took them over the sea as they fought, scythes against sword.

Izanami pushed away and Madara's eternal mangekyou spun as Susanno'o emerged into existence around the transformed god. Unlike the original Madara's technique; Izanami's Susanno'o was female and wore an armored priestess outfit. The priestess readied a bow made out of black flames and began firing Amaterasu arrows at blistering speeds.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he began rapidly dodging the arrows. As he flew closer the Raikage appeared next to him and nodded. The Konoha shinobi felt the power of lightning armor surround him as he dive bombed the giant chakra construct. In a flash of light that resembled a lightning bolt he shot through the hardened chakra and pushed Izanami out of the rapidly disappearing Sussano'o.

Izanami growled and Madara transformed into the first Hokage. The goddess smirked at her opponent "Even your ancestors betray you." The image of Hashirama formed a hand sign and roots began emerging from the ocean below them and rapidly growing to attack the floating shinobi. Onoki emerged as a spirit next to Naruto and glared at the image of his old rival before blasting the roots to dust with his bloodline limit.

(Inside Naruto's mindscape)

Kushina held a hand up to her mouth as she viewed the battle between her son and his opponent "This is…"

Minato nodded, similarly distressed "It is amazing that all of these high level attacks have yet to truly land a blow."

Sasuke stared at the image and spoke "This is a one hit battle. The first side to truly land a hit will most likely be the winner."

Shio nodded "All we can do is continue to lend our support."

(Real world)

Naruto swung his scythe down upon the goddess and cut through the image of Hashirama, turning it back to a tar like state before it transformed once again into Nagato. Izanagi grinned crazily as Nagato's arm turned into a charka cannon and fired huge blasts of chakra at her opponent.

Naruto swiftly dodge and glared down upon the sickening image of Nagato being used in such a way "How dare you spit in the face of the memories of such great men. You are not a goddess. You are nothing but a demon pretending to be god!"

Izanagi grinned as the female portion of her face cracked "A demon? Fitting I guess. After all. It was humanity who created and strengthened me! So I am nothing more than a demon god ruling over demons! And I will show you the power of the perfect example of how far humanity can fall!" The face of Nagato transformed into a beautiful white haired women with a horn that vaguely resembled a rabbit ear.

This time both Izanagi and the unkown woman spoke "You see!? This woman nearly sacrificed the world itself for her lust for power! And your people call her the Rabbit Goddess!"

Naruto felt his eyes widen as he gazed upon the progenitor of chakra in the human realm. Kaguya Otsutsuki. He knew she was the perfect example of how far humans could fall. But then he remembered the faces of many of his friends and reaffirmed his resolve, he knew that not all humans were evil.

Naruto scowled and flew down to engage her in kenjutsu as they continued their debate "You may have been created by the darkness in every human's heart. But I know that there is two sides to every coin. I have met Izanagi. And I know he is nothing like a demon and certainly nothing like you! He proves that humanity can rise above their innate darkness and rise to the level of angels!"

Izanagi glared harshly as more of her face cracked "Hah! Every human is born evil. Your race is nothing but a stain upon this earth. If you knew how twisted your race is then you would be begging me to destroy each and every one of you!"

Naruto was silent for a moment as they locked blades before he looked back at the two faced woman in front of him "What is better? Being born good or overcoming our evil nature through great effort? I believe it is the latter. I am proof of this. I may be evil. I may be called a devil. But at this moment I don't care. For I am the devil that fights on the side of the angels!"

Half of the bright light that radiated out of Naruto turned black as he accepted his true nature. Throughout his life he could easily have been considered evil. He had tortured, murdered, experimented and manipulated people. But he had also healed, comforted… and loved others as well. He was the perfect contradiction. A perfect example of humanity. A race with no set lines that defined if they were evil or good.

Izanagi's face was completely cracked as she gazed on Naruto's latest transformation "What is this!? How can you have energy of darkness and light! That isn't possible!"

Naruto smiled as he poured dark and light energy into both of his blades "This? This is simply humanity's accumulated potential to do good and evil! This is the power of life itself!"

In a blur of speed he slashed the dark goddess with both of his scythes, causing an explosion of energy to be released all around him. If one were to look from a great height above their position, they would see the explosion is the shape of the yin-yang symbol.

Izanagi's power fluxuated wildly as her physical form was destroyed. Naruto quickly flew away as the black mass that composed Izanami's power expanded into a huge orb, filled with the faces of the dead and the negative energy of the universe.

Naruto stared at the orb 'How can I destroy this! If I destroy it I kill off every soul to ever transcend to the afterlife. The only thing he could do was seal it back into Yami. But the power it would take… It would require the life energy of a very powerful human to accomplish.

Resigned, he knew what to do. As soon as he came to his conclusion the information how to do what he wanted came into his mind. It seemed even the world wanted him to succeed in this endeavor. Putting both his hands in a prayer motion he called upon all the culminated power of his new form and a sealing array extending around him, covering the black orb as he began to give life energy to keep the sealing process going.

(Mindscape)

Shio shouted above the crowd "No! If he does this he will die!"

Kushina and Minato could only stare in horror as their son sacrificed himself for humanity.

Shio began crying "It's not supposed to be like this! We were supposed to grow old together! Raise a family together! I love you Naruto!"

Sasuke stared at his teammate before his resolve hardened and prepared the technique he never thought he would need.

(Real World)

Naruto suddenly felt a hooking sensation before he was forcefully removed from the seal. Staring in shock at the person who took his place. Sasuke was standing before him with his hands in the same handseal that would seal Izanami as well as his own fate.

Naruto yelled across at the Uchiha "Why Sasuke!?"

Sasuke turned his head and answered "Its simple. This is all for Shio."

Naruto widened his eyes "What?!"

The former traitor of the leaf looked ahead and continued with the sealing "Shio loves you, you idiot. What do you think would happen if you died?"

The Namikaze could not accept that and shouted "But what about you! You need to restart your clan, find love, you have your entire life ahead of you!"

Sasuke's hair covered his eyes as the first tears since his family's death rolled down his face "I know that idiot. But how can I find love when the only woman who I ever love, loves another man?"

Naruto could not speak as a person he once wrote off as simply a traitor sacrificed himself. Sasuke shouted as the light began to grow brighter "Oi, take care of her will you? Make her the happiest person in the world. Will you promise me that at least?"

Naruto nodded as tears began to form in his eyes.

Sasuke nodded "Then I can die in peace. Take care of the world…Naruto."

The light turned blinding and Naruto was forced to close his eyes.

…

…..

…..

When the light died down Naruto opened his eyes to see that it was now morning. Hundreds of shinobi behind him were stirring and waking up as if they were simply asleep. As they woke up they looked around at the rising sun and began to celebrate.

The horror they had all faced had finally been defeated.

Shio walked up beside him and stared out at the sunrise and spoke softly "Sasuke…"

Naruto felt the powers he had gained from Izanagi bleed out of him, transforming him into a normal human once again "He was a hero."

"That's right." Naruto turned and saw the five Kages standing behind them, there eyes shining in gratitude. Minato stepped forward and spoke "Sasuke will be remembered forever for his heroism. Just as you will as well, Naruto."

Naruto looked away "I don't deserve any recognition."

He was surprised that Shio suddenly slapped him "Don't be a fool. You are everyone's hero even if you don't admit it. You defeated Izanami and saved the world."

Naruto looked slightly stunned as he turned to gaze at the crowd of ninjas of every nation, all chanting and cheering his name, there gratitude hitting him in waves.

Slowly he smiled and turned around and hugged Shio as the realization it was finally over. Shio grasped his cheeks and smiled happily. Naruto looked down at her and smiled before leaning down to kiss her.

(Epilogue)

(10 years later)

Naruto closed the book he had finished writing and sighed tiredly. Shio came in and smiled at her husband "Did you finish it?"

He nodded "Yeah. It feels like everything happened just yesterday..."

Shio nodded "I agree. These past few years have been so peaceful."

Before they could continue two young children ran into the room. The boy had black hair like his father but had his mother's crystal blue eyes while his sister has red hair with purple eyes. Shio looked fondly down at their two children "Sasuke, Elise, what are you doing?"

Sasuke lazily looked at his sad "Elise wanted you to read the story about your childhood again Dad."

Elise glared at her brother "You wanted him to read it too!" Immediately she shifted attention to her father "Well dad?! Will you read it to us?"

Naruto smiled and looked down at the book he had just finished "I don't see why not. But instead why don't I tell you the entire story."

The children settled down on the couple's laps as he opened the book from the beginning. Naruto coughed once before speaking "There once was a lonely child who lived in the village. His name…was Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."

(End)

AN: Omg that was so hard! I hope I have met everyone's expectations with this last chapter. However before I give my final message for this story I would like to give some special thanks to:

Buterflypuss

Swordmanwielder

Waldo Santiago

These three have commented on nearly, if not all, of my chapters and have been so supportive. I want to extend my thanks, seeing your names saying nice things about my story after each chapter, good or bad, was always very motivating.

And everyone else who has commented on my story. You have all been amazing as I have written this story. I am happy to have been able to provide a good story for every to read and enjoy. But do not worry, I will definitely continue to write. Speaking of which…

Stay alert for my next story: The Sorcerer.