AN1: Hey guys! Super sorry about the long(ish) wait. Uni's started up again, and I'm taking a bunch of upper-div CS classes. It's... a time. I haven't had the time to write as much, and this'll probably continue into the foreseeable future. Expect slower updates. Like, much, much slower. Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

Edit AN: Some people are complaining that Naruto is too "nerfed", or that he's going to become a devil. First of all, no. He's not nerfed. If you read between the lines, you'll understand that he still has all his powers. The only "nerf" is a slight complication to his character- a byproduct of Kurama being ripped away from him. Secondly, no, he's not going to become a devil. It doesn't make sense. Rias has nowhere near enough power to turn him.

Ba-dum.

"Dobe!"

Sasuke's voice, promising fire and brimstone, thundered across the icy terrain of one of Kaguya's many dimensions. His Sharingan was bleeding. His Rinnegan, dim. Still, the last Uchiha glared. "Don't you fucking do it."

Naruto shook his head. "I have to, Teme."

"Dobe-"

"I have to!" It was his turn to glare. "I have to. She'll find us any second now. And Kurama's says she's close. It's the only way."

Sasuke took a single step forward. Naruto flared his chakra.

"Dobe!" Sasuke's eyes were so dark he could've sworn they were black. He could see his frustration. He could see his pain. In retrospect, he supposed if their situations were switched, he would've felt the same.

"Not another step, Teme."

Sasuke's chakra spiked.

Cloaked under the impenetrable aegis of Susanno, the last Uchiha's rage was clear to see. The eldritch flames of the legendary ninjutsu climbed higher into the night. A wrathful avatar of his will made real.

"Naruto!"

Naruto smiled. A small, bitter thing.

They were almost out of time.

The old sage's power had given him a supernatural sense for chakra, and Kaguya's was a roaring inferno. She was closing in fast. He could feel the mad goddess even now, a few worlds away. She tore through dimensions like they were paper; in a few scant seconds, she would be here. Then, it'd be the endgame.

"Naruto," Kurama's voice, deep and gravelly, brushed against the back of his mind.

"I know," he said.

"The Uchiha will try to stop you."

"I know."

There was a pregnant pause.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The Biju's tone was indecipherable.

"Are you worried about me, Kurama?"

Kurama growled, low in his throat.

"This isn't a joke, Naruto. What you're doing, it's suicide."

"I know," he said again. He wanted to laugh. "I know."

He'd gotten used to feeling his friend's emotions. It was a byproduct of their bond. And right now, their bond was telling him Kurama was just as conflicted as he was. Half of the old fox agreed it was the only way. The other half wanted to take over his body and run as far away as possible.

"Don't," he said, before Kurama could speak again.

"Naruto-"

"This is my decision. Don't."

The sudden spike of anger wasn't unexpected. The remorse he felt was. Kurama lashed out against the corners of his mind. "Listen to me, boy! It's our lives you're risking. I get a say in this just as much as you do!"

"That's why you should leave," he said. He kept his eyes forward. "Quickly. Before she gets here."

A red-hot lance of pain speared through his mind. Kurama's rage, his disbelief, was overwhelming. "Do you hear yourself, Naruto? I'm not leaving you!"

"Kurama-"

"Shut up!" Without warning, his friend wrenched him into their mindscape. He closed his eyes as a massive pair of jaws snapped at the air. Putrid chakra hissed and frothed like steam. Nine glowing tales waved like flames. And through it all, he sighed. "Kurama."

The Biju roared.

"Think about this, boy! You're going to die! I won't let you sacrifice yourself for a world that never gave a shit. You're my friend!"

"And you're mine," he said. "But Kurama, I have to."

"Naruto-"

"I have to."

Kurama howled.

Gnarled claws dug themselves into his mindscape, as if they was trying to mutilate the very foundations of reality. And they were. Naruto could feel it. Could feel him. The Biju would've given anything in the moment to change their fate. He would've unmade the world.

"Give me one good reason why," Kurama's voice was like rolling thunder. "Give me one good reason why it has to be you."

Naruto looked up.

For a moment he was twelve again, and it was Kabuto's smug expression in front of him. The Rasengan in his hands pulsed like a heartbeat. Then he was sixteen, shaking hands with Gaara. The Kazekage promised him a drink, when this was all over. A few months later, he stood in front of Pain, carrying the loss of his home, his sensei, his friends. Futon: Rasenshuriken hummed like a dying star. He'd finally surpassed the Fourth.

A single tear fell, crystalline and blue.

In it, he saw another life.

Sasuke stood next to him atop Konoha, Sakura beside them. Kakashi-sensei, his face older, kinder, smiled warmly in the background. And he saw Hinata, the girl- no, woman- who'd professed her love to him. Perhaps he'd have another chance.

And maybe it was a trick of the light, but for a single second, he swore he saw two children, laughing with all the innocence the world had robbed from him. One had his whisker marks, his electric shock of hair. The other's Byakugan shone like twin silver pearls, misplaced from the sea.

He closed his eyes, drinking in their faces.

Outside, Kaguya tore a hole through the fabric of reality. Sasuke lunged.

He smiled, bitterly.

"Because I'm a goddamn hero."

-xxx-

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

"Naruto, stop. You've looked it over half a dozen times already."

"It has to be perfect," he said.

"Naruto."

"It has to be perfect."

Teal blue eyes traced over every single inch of the impossibility beneath his feet. An intricate web of chakra-induced ink and blood. It was the most complex seal he'd ever drawn, perhaps the most complex seal ever. Derived from Kurama's memory of long-lost Uzumaki displacement techniques and his father's infamous Flying Thunder God seal, it was the culmination of a year and a half's work.

The Command of Space-Time matrix.

A gateway back home.

"Naruto," Kurama nudged the back of his mind. "Enough. It's time."

"But what if-"

"Enough."

Naruto sighed. He pushed himself up and took his place at the head of the seal. From where he stood, the strange archaic symbols he'd lost sleep over for weeks on end seemed almost too delicate to be true. Every line was drawn with perfect precision. Every rune etched with steady hands. And to think the matrix beneath him could tear apart the very fabric of reality.

"Kurama," he tried to say.

"I know," said the fox.

He clenched his fists. Kurama masked his emotions well, but there was no hiding from their link. He could feel the fox's unease, bubbling like lava in the pit of his stomach. It only made him feel that much worse.

"Remember," the Biju warned. "The seal needs a continuous supply of power, so don't hesitate, no matter what. Just focus on molding chakra. I'll take care of the rest."

"Kurama-"

"It's okay. I know."

Kurama took a deep breath. He did the same.

"Are you ready?" His friend's tone was indecipherable, but he knew better. He knew.

"Let's go."

Like a living flame, Kurama's chakra surged through his limbs for the first time in months. An electric shock, without the static. His vision sharpened, everything becoming more vibrant and colorful. He could feel the individual air molecules around him, charged by the sudden influx of energy. His very presence singed the ground.

Then came the pain.

He suppressed a groan. The potent, primordial power burned like liquid fire, biting with no remorse. His ruined chakra coils could only take so much. His tenketsu screamed.

Even channeling it felt wrong. Without his own chakra to temper Kurama's flames, it was like pressing oil into water. Forcing it caused his blood to boil. Leaving it was to condemn them here forever.

He gritted his teeth and pushed through.

Little by little, bit by bit, the cornerstones of his matrix peeled back. Incandescent light, like the birth of a white star, pulled at the edges of reality. A dozen glowing chains anchored themselves in place. Then, the portal opened.

He stared.

For a brief second, he could see Konoha. A beautiful village hidden in thickets of great green leaves. His home. His legacy. A place he thought he'd never get to see. Sasuke was there, waiting for him on the other side. Sakura was waiting on the other side. Hinata was on the other side.

He drank it all in with wide blue eyes.

"Kurama," he whispered.

"We did it," his friend breathed. "We really did it."

Silence hummed for one peaceful second.

Then, space-time shattered.

The seal glowed an alarming shade of red.

He watched, horrified, as the chains snapped one by one. The portal twisted. And reality folded upon itself. The natural world sought to correct his perversion of its laws in the only way it knew how. With catastrophe.

"Kurama!" In front of him, the unstable vortex howled. A shrieking supernova of energies, an imploding blackhole. The matrix shook, destabilized from the sudden imbalance in power. And all the chakra, pooled and saved for over half a year, churned violently beneath his feet.

"Kurama, your chakra! It's-"

He was cut off by another crack. A piece of the seal flickered, before ripping off completely. Somebody screamed; he wasn't sure if it was him or the wind.

"Naruto!"

Kurama's voice, drowned out by the storm.

"Naruto, let go!"

He tried to focus, tried to rally his thoughts and open his eyes. A sea of swirling colors greeted him. The remnants of his once proud gateway.

"Let go! You have to let go!"

Left from right and up from down- he couldn't tell which was which. He was anchored in place by the whimsical will of gravity; he was teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

"Naruto!"

He let go.

Kurama's chakra sapped from his muscles, leaving him with a vicious sense of whiplash. He hunched over, disoriented from the sudden loss of strength. The golden fire that had once cloaked his form spluttered and died; he was left frail and defenseless against the brutal pressure of the storm.

Then, it was silent.

He swayed on his feet, staggering forth a step.

"Kurama?"

Nobody answered. A cold pit formed in his stomach.

And the world detonated.

-xxx-

Rias Gremory was confused.

Conflicted.

Above all, she was livid.

Seafoam colored eyes glared at the barely conscious blonde beneath her. How? How? The scorching red heat. The monstrous power. He shouldn't have been able to generate this much blood-lust. He was human. He was human.

Evidently not, whispered a small part of her mind.

Beside her, Akeno shared the same sentiment.

"H-How?" her Queen stuttered.

Rias shook her head, unable to answer.

Akeno grabbed her arm. Bruising. Tight. Her Queen's eyes were wide with an unease she hadn't seen in years. Akeno had always been the confident one, even in the direst of circumstances. Now, her expression was tight with caution.

"We should leave," she said, pulling her away.

Rias didn't respond.

"Rias," she said again. "We should leave."

Rias glared.

Akeno's trepidation wasn't unfounded. Her Queen's instincts were almost always right, especially when it came to danger. The Shinto Shrine massacre had made sure of that. As a result, she'd learned to trust in her friend's strange sixth sense on the battlefield.

"Rias."

Rias closed her eyes. In her mind, she saw herself turn around. Saw herself follow Akeno, leaving behind the strange blonde and the carnage he'd wrought. Saw herself step into the teleportation circle that'd take them both from this wasteland.

When Akeno began to drag her away, she found herself rooted in place.

A dark flame ignited in her palms.

"Rias!" Akeno whirled around, alarmed. Garlands of electricity singed the air, leaping to their master's defense in an instinct born from hundreds and hundreds of battles. Rias felt her own flames rise.

Still, she didn't move.

"What are you doing?" her friend hissed.

"I'm…"

What was she doing? Why didn't she just leave?

Perhaps it was pride that stayed her feet; perhaps it was indignation. He had once been an insignificant ant to her. A weakling she subjugated in her dreams. She'd relished in this power over him. Now, she wasn't so certain.

And it scared her.

"I don't know," she said.

Akeno seized her arm. "Look at me, Rias. This isn't the time. Whatever the hell happened here just released enough energy to alert every Fallen in town. If they find us- when they find us, we're screwed."

"We have an agreement with them," she heard herself say.

"Yeah, in peacetime. But if it looks like we blew up half the fucking town, they won't hesitate to kill us."

"We can take them."

"Rias!" Akeno spun her around. "Do you hear yourself right now? Snap out of it!"

Rias shook her head, disoriented. It was like she was watching herself from the third person, like she was an outsider looking in. Her actions weren't her own. The Power of Destruction waned as she lowered her hand. "Sorry, I just…"

"It doesn't matter," her friend's voice was taut. "Let's go."

Rias took one last look at the blonde at her feet. His eyes flickered erratically from beneath his eyelids. His brow was furrowed with grime. A small part of her mind wondered what he was dreaming about. Then, his eyes fluttered open.

She saw a sliver of blue.

And that was all it took.

Her anger came roaring back. Indignant and full-force.

How dare he? How dare he?

Only hours ago, he'd introduced himself, seemingly without a clue of who she was. She was Rias Gremory, and he was human. She was Rias Gremory, and he was a worthless fucking human. She'd resisted the urge to incinerate him back then. She wouldn't be so merciful now.

She ignited her flames, ready to destroy him- damn the consequences- only for Akeno to slap her across the face.

Her Power of Destruction spluttered and died. Her vision sharpened. And she stared, shell shocked.

The pain was like being doused with cold water. The resulting sound was the vicious crack of a whip.

Akeno had just slapped her. Slapped her.

Her Queen was her best friend, her loyal confidant through good times and bad. They'd argued before, sure. They'd sparred with both words and magics. But Akeno had never hit her. Not like this.

Rias touched the side of her face. It was throbbing. "What..."

Akeno, for her part, also looked shocked. Her Queen stared at her with widened eyes, as if she couldn't believe what she'd just done. They locked eyes.

"Rias," she tried to say.

Rias shook her head. "It's- It's okay. It's okay."

"I'm sorry," her Queen looked pained. "It's this place. This energy. It's affecting me. There's just so much."

Rias understood. She could feel it too- this horrible, malignant power that saturated the air. It was a crimson sand storm, seeping beneath her skin and poisoning her thoughts. Even now, she could feel her blood boil at the tingling in her cheeks. And as artificial as the feeling was, it wasn't something she could overlook.

"It's okay," she said again. "It's okay. You're right. Let's just go. This energy- whatever it is- is messing with both of us."

Akeno nodded, her expression still tight with regret. "Okay."

They stepped over the blonde's body and climbed up a set of rocks that would take them back. Dimly, Rias was aware of the growing cacophony in the air. The sounds of a hundred black wings flapping. She quickened her pace until they stood in front of a familiar tunnel.

Just as she was about to summon the teleportation circle that would take them home, Akeno stopped her. Rias looked at her questioningly.

"No magic," her Queen said. "They'll sense it."

She paused. "Right."

Akeno turned to look back at the ruined landscape. "What about him?"

"Who?" she asked.

"The guy on the ground."

"Uzumaki?"

Akeno blinked. "That was Uzumaki?"

Rias nodded.

"But," her Queen said. "I thought he was human."

"So did I," she said.

Now that they'd stepped out of the blistering heat, Rias felt herself breathe easier. Her mind was her own again. Her decisions seemed more rational. She looked out at the prone form of Uzumaki, laid out across a heap of rubble. She glared.

"Is he the one doing this?" Akeno asked.

Rias shook her head. "I don't know."

"Should we just leave him?"

She shook her head again. "I don't know."

"Rias," Akeno's voice was hesitant. "The Fallen…"

That she did know. The flapping of angry wings now resembled the prevailing thunder before a distant storm. They were close. Very, very close. She could almost make out the first blips of energy on her radar.

She needed to decide. And fast.

Akeno touched her arm, "Rias."

Rias closed her eyes.

On one hand, she hated Naruto Uzumaki. Hated his eyes, hideous and blue. Hated the way he held himself, walked, and talked. He was the splitting image of Riser Phenex; he was evil incarnate. Once, she'd relished in the fact he was only human. Now, she wasn't so sure.

On the other hand, she knew she was being unfair. Naruto Uzumaki, for all her spite, was innocent. She'd never seen him mistreat a person. Never seen him threaten a man nor murder in cold blood. She knew she was just projecting, and that was all it was. He wasn't immortal like Riser, so she'd burned him in her dreams.

But now, now, she'd seen this side of him. Seen him froth with unholy magics and come back from the dead. She had no idea who he was anymore. She had no idea what he was.

Could she really leave such an enigma to the hands of the Fallen?

They'd kill him without fail. Or worse, they'd torture him.

And as loathsome as he was, he didn't deserve that fate. Nobody did.

She glared out at the vicious red energies that choked the air. She glared out at the center of the pit where he laid. Just this once, she told herself. Just one time.

And for this, he'd owe her.

"Akeno," she stepped out of the shade and back into the heat. "Prepare a teleportation circle."

Akeno's lips tightened. "Rias."

Rias didn't reply. She was too angry to. The crimson heat seeped beneath her skin again and turned her head into a roaring furnace. Her chest felt like it would burst. Still, she forced herself to move.

Towards Naruto Uzumaki. Towards those hideous blue eyes.

"Rias!" Akeno called out from behind her. "Hurry!"

The cacophony of wings was so loud now it drowned out even the roar of the storm. Foreign energies, decidedly unfriendly, blinked into existence left and right on her senses. She ran faster still.

She reached the prone form of Uzumaki just as the first black wing eclipsed the moon.

-xxx-

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Naruto opened his eyes. Tried to, more like, as his eyelids weighed like twin iron casts. He could barely lift them. When he did, he couldn't comprehend what it was he was looking at.

A well-lit room. A desk set. Two blurry figures.

There was a sharp pain in the front of his mind. Then, his senses returned.

He suppressed a groan. It started with his spine. An uncomfortable heat that ran a finger from his neck to his pelvis. Then his neck cracked and blood started flowing again. Pins and needles pricked up and down his entire body; he choked out a strangled gurgle.

One of the figures noticed and rushed over.

"Stay still," the voice was decidedly female. Soft and firm and reminded him of wind chimes tinkling. "You're still hurt."

He tried to say something, but in his addled state of mind could only manage a hacking cough, "Where- Where am I?"

There was a small, pregnant pause.

"You're safe," was all she said.

He looked at her, really looked at her, and tried to focus. A pair of purple eyes, framed by soft black hair, stared back.

"How are you feeling, Uzumaki-san?"

He coughed and shook his head. His body felt like it was on fire, even with Kurama's power. The potent energy that had once coursed through his veins seemed almost diminished. Weakened. But, that was impossible. It was Kurama's power. The last time his energy levels dropped this low was…

He felt another presence shift.

Crimson hair, awash with candlelight, moved into the corner of his vision. A girl who held herself with authority. He looked up, weary. He wasn't impartial to how the raven-haired girl seemed to defer to her, nor how her body language reflected that of a servant's. Perhaps that was why he felt a flicker of genuine surprise when he saw a familiar face.

A blood-red sun. A pair of iridescent green eyes. And two bat-like wings.

"Who are you?" he rasped.

The crimson-haired girl- Rias Gremory, if he remembered correctly- glared at him. A decadent, irate glare. He'd seen this once before. The first time around, he'd been annoyed. Now, despite the pain that wracked his bones and the haze that clouded his mind, he felt himself intrigued.

Rias's glare darkened. Poisonous and green.

She crouched until they were face to face.

"I'm your goddamn hero."

AN2: And voila! Just a disclaimer: the plot's progressing pretty slowly because I want to flesh out the relationship between Naruto and Rias. It's not as much as a story-driven piece as much as it is a character-driven piece. Anyway, I hope you liked it and leave a review please!

Until next time, Orion.