Okay, first things first, I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out; for one thing my muse abandoned me for a while, and for another I just couldn't find the time to write what with everything going on in my life (school, classes, chores, games, you know the deal). I am happy this story was well recieved, and I'll try my best to focus on it as the response to my poll's votes, but I will make no promises on how fast I will be able to churn out chapters. I'd also like to say thank you to those of you who reviewed/alerted/favorited this story—it really means a lot to me to have people like my works, even if they're just small chapters like the previous one was. But anyways, I digress.

Review response(s):

To Sage of Eyes: Could you point me to the places where I capped words or sweared excessively? Because, as far as I know, there was only one or two instances of actual swearing, and no entirely capped words in the whole previous chapter. I hardly find that excessive, especially considered the ficlet has been rated M from the get-go, but if you can point me to where it irked you I would be happy to look into changing it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other characters/locations/whatever that appear in this ficlet, those belong to their corresponding author(s). This fanfic is being made merely for both my own and my readers' entertainment purposes, with no profit being made by anyone.

Key:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Story Text

Shinigami's Office [Purgatory]

Little Naruto was currently sitting beside the Shinigami on a small couch as she read him a story about his parents' adventures. Of course, having never met them himself, the young boy was literally bouncing up and down in excitement over finally learning something about his immediate family.

However, before we continue you must understand a certain aspect about Naruto's life; in all his five years spent in the mortal realm no one, and I mean no one, had told him who his parents were, no matter how much he pleaded or how frequently he asked. This wouldn't have been a problem if no one actually knew who they were, of course, but when the Shinigami had told him of his origins (and subsequently who knew the truth about his parents) he had nearly thrown a fit because of how furious he was, both at the Sandaime and at himself.

You see, the Sandaime had passed a law forbidding anyone who knew his parents from telling him who they were, supposedly for 'his own good'. Granted, the Shinigami had also told him that he was supposed to learn of his origins when he made Chūnin or turned 18, whichever came first, but he hadn't known that until she told him. Needless to say, what little trust he had in the village and its people was forever destroyed when he learned of this; after all, if they withheld information from him once, what was stopping them from doing so again?

The answer, as Naruto had correctly deduced at the time, was there wasn't anything in the way of people withholding information from him. For all he knew, if he hadn't wound up dead he could have been left in the dark about his parents for the rest of his life. And as shocking as it sounds, he wouldn't have put it past the old Hokage to conveniently 'forget' when it came time to tell him...

But that was neither here nor there, as that future would now never come to pass. Anyways, back to our story.

"You know, Naruto, if you keep bouncing like that the couch will eventually break, and then I won't have anywhere to read more stories to you..."

The Shinigami couldn't help but giggle softly at the look of mock-horror that crossed his face as he somehow stopped mid jump, before falling back down with a pout. This, of course, only prompted more giggles out of the death god, who had to resist the urge to glomp him while squealing 'Kawaii!' in a fangirlish tone. He was just that cute, though she'd never say that to his face.

It had been roughly a week since Naruto had arrived in purgatory, and Natsumi—the Shinigami—saw to it that he had adjusted accordingly. She'd made certain that he felt at home, because the way matters were going purgatory probably would be his home for quite a while, at least until they got the whole 'save the world' plan figured out once again.

Of course, it was certainly possible that one of the resident deities would come up with a nifty strategy in a very short amount of time, meaning he could actually move on to the afterlife, but she figured it was best to be prepared for any situation. Hence the reason she set things up so he would have a place to stay. Sure, it had meant knocking down a few walls here and there and adjusting living spaces slightly, but nothing too serious.

Anyways, having already told the boy many different stories of his parents' exploits, Natsumi was now explaining the circumstances of his birth; namely how his parents had died protecting him, and of Akane, the Kyuubi no Kitsune who had been sealed inside of him at birth. When she had explained that the Kyuubi had been controlled by a powerful genjutsu during the attack, however, he couldn't help but stare at her with wide eyes.

"Wait, you mean the Kyuubi isn't evil?"

"Yep, that's precisely what I mean." she replied, unable to completely stifle her laughter at his bug-eyed expression.

"Would...would it be possible for me to...speak to her?" He asked, glancing hopefully at the death god after a few minutes of contemplation.

"Oh? And why would you want to do that?"

"Well...I kinda wanted to apologize and all. I mean, she was trapped within me for something that wasn't exactly her fault, so...yeah."

Natsumi merely arched an eyebrow, surprised at his maturity, before starting to draw glyphs in the air in front of the sofa. Naruto watched in fascination as the glyphs forming from the trail her finger took slowly arranged themselves into the shape of an empty doorway. When the final glyph fell into place, Natsumi stood up, a slight smile on her face as she offered her hand to Naruto.

"Well, now that I know your reasons are honorable, why don't we pay her a visit?"

Kami's Monitor Room [Heaven Observatory]

Kami was pissed. Scratch that, she was beyond pissed. As for why she was so angry, well….she'd just found out about young Naruto's game-changing decision after watching the scene play out on one of the many monitors in front of her. Now, granted, in retrospect she should have seen this coming given how his life had turned out, but that didn't change the fact that years upon years of planning and coordination with her fellow immortals had just gone down the drain in the blink of an eye. She sighed. As quick as the seeds of anger had sprouted within her, they withered even faster; she would have liked to place the blame on the young boy for the consequences his decision would cause, but Kami knew that it wasn't—and never would be—his fault. And she could never placed blame where it wasn't due, at least not without breaking some of the rules she herself had set up. If anything should have been blaming herself, as it was her own fault for allowing his life to become so out of hand….

But that was neither here nor there; the past was the past, and while it was within her jurisdiction to rewind time, with Naruto now here in purgatory doing so would only create a conundrum of epic proportions. You see, while Kami could be considered an omnipotent god there were still boundaries to her powers, put in place out of necessity. She could push past these limits, of course, but in doing so she would be breaking the rules that held the very fabric of the space-time continuum together—something she wanted to avoid at all costs if she still wanted something to govern. After all, her power came from the mortal realm, and if those who worshiped her disappeared...Kami didn't want to think about what would happen after that.

But anyways, back to the conundrum at hand. The real problem, she supposed, was that her hands were bound no matter which way she looked at the matter; unless she and her fellow gods could collectively come up with an alternate solution to the fake Madara's Moon's Eye plan, everything they'd worked on up until this point would have been for naught. And because the Naruto here in purgatory would remain in purgatory even if she rewound time back to the point of his birth and changed events thereafter….that wasn't an option either. As much as she loved the blond bundle of energy and his antics, having two of him running around at the same time would create enough paperwork to make a Kage's worst nightmare seem like a piece of cake in comparison.

Still, that wasn't to say no good came of young Naruto's decision; while it certainly created a right mess out of their planning for the mortal realm, having him in purgatory served to make the gods' lives a lot less gloomy, even if he did occasionally get into trouble. Speaking of trouble, though…

'I'd better warn Akane that those two are coming to Makai for a visit, just to make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble while in the demon realm. Knowing him, though, he's probably going to create more paperwork for us while he's there….'

Smiling slightly to herself at the thought of what mischief the blonde bundle of energy might cause, Kami dusted off her ceremonial robes, before warping to the lower regions of purgatory where the Shinigami's office was. She did remember to leave a clone of herself to watch the monitor room though, just in case anything happened while she was away.

Makai Palace [Demon Realm HQ]

As much as she would have liked to desert her post and wreak havoc in the mortal realm once again, Akane knew that if she did so she would be liable to be put under that man's jutsu once again. And while mindless destruction held a very dear place in her heart, she wasn't one who liked to be under the orders of anyone else. Especially a mortal like that wretched Uchiha.

As the acting head demon—the Juubi was currently off on another 'vacation', damn his infernal hide—she was also required to fill out and complete the paperwork for governing Makai...which of course was where she was now, surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of proposals and forms that needed her attention to keep everything running smoothly. Akane was perfectly capable of completing said task, but, as she was fiery and impulsive by nature, was easier said that done. So when the the head mistress (aka Kami herself) poofed into her office out of nowhere, she was glad of the interruption.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Kami-sama?" She asked in a bored tone, though on the inside Akane was bouncing around with glee at having a legitimate excuse to not do the stupid paperwork.

"You can drop the act, Akane; I know as well as you do just how much you despise doing this stuff." Kami deadpanned, gesturing at the mountain of papers all over the office. Akane merely sweatdropped, before pouting childishly at Kami ruining her fun.

"Well, regardless of that, it's good to see you Kami."

"Likewise." The head goddess replied, as the two shared a quick hug. "Anyways, I came to tell you that you should be expecting two visitors in a few minutes."

"Oh? it's not often that we get visitors down here in the lower realm..." Akane arched an eyebrow at her elder, pouting once more when Kami only grinned at her.

"I won't tell you who they are, but I'll leave you a hint; you met them both approximately five years ago."

With her message delivered, Kami vanished once again, but not before adding more papers to the already huge piles sitting on Akane's desk.

"DAMN YOU KAMI-SAMA!" Akane yelled, only to sweatdrop for the second time in three minutes as her guests arrived just in time to catch her outburst. Smiling sheepishly at the two new arrivals, she waved her hands, causing two chairs to phase into existence where there had been nothing but floor previously.

"Um...did we come at a bad time Akane-chan...?"

"Not at all, Shinigami-sama; Kami just gave me another bucket of paperwork to deal with and then vanished."

This time it was Natsumi's turn to sweatdrop, though she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at how Kami handled passing out the paperwork that plagued them all. Akane merely shot her an annoyed glance, before turning her attention to the final occupant of the room. She couldn't help but notice the resemblance he held to the young Hokage who had sealed her in a small boy five years ago...

'Wait a minute, this must be his son...and my former container.' She thought to herself, a sad smile marring her beautiful face. Though said smile quickly turned to a frown when she realized he must have been staying in purgatory for him to be here. Now, Akane was no fool; she had seen his life up until the point he died, and the way he had been treated had left much to be desired. So it didn't take her long to figure out that, given just how he had been treated in the mortal realm, he had made the decision to remain in the afterlife instead of returning and fulfilling the destiny that Kami and the others had laid out.

"Um, excuse me miss...?"

Startled, she blinked, focusing her crimson, slitted eyes on the young boy in front of her.

"I...I'd like to...apologize. For everything..."

Mwahahaha, a cliffie (albeit a small one)! How will Akane take Naruto's apology? And what will happen to our favorite blonde troublemaker now that he's meeting the important people in the gods' realm(s)? Find out in the next installment of Requiem of the Fallen!

Anyways, thanks for reading, and please review! Reviews tell me what I'm doing right and wrong, so please help me out by posting a comment about my story.

-ZGS