Disclaimer: I own nothing recognised as belonging to someone else.

This story was influenced by the final fight scene between Cload and Sephiroth in FF7: Advent Children, and I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace, buth of which I was listening to, watching, during its writing.

The black clad ninja grunted and spun a kick at his opponent in retaliation to the blow to the ribs he had suffered

The black clad ninja grunted and spun a kick at his opponent in retaliation to the blow to the ribs he had suffered.

Bouncing back a few metres, he shifted his stance from the Gouken to the Lotus style. His chakra was just as pulsing and unlimited as always, but his body was beginning to buckle under the strain of so much physical damage and too much chakra being channelled through the already stressed coils.

He had already been exhausted from a fight with a higher level devil when his current opponent had decided to turn up.

The attacker twisted and landed on a piece of building debris in a graceful swirl of white cloth and long dark tresses.

"Good to see you," The enemy smirked, "Naruto."

The blond snarled and shot forward, summoning forth two long katana.

The man's smirk grew as he himself brought forth Kurasanagi to parry the blonde's blows.

The two strained against one another for a few moments before both jumped back in perfect sync.

"Sasuke. What do you want?"

The Uchiha swayed his head in movements like a snake scenting the air. "What I want, Naruto, is to live eternally without you always at my back, vying to destroy me." The man tossed his hair in the wind from the storm circling overhead. "And then I will enslave this planet. I will take all it has to give, and then I will move on to another dimension and start over."

Naruto's eyes sparked blue fire. "And what about this dimension?"

The raven quirked an amused smile. "Well. That's up to you, Dobe."

The two surged at one another in a flurry of flashing steel and falling rubble.

Sasuke let out a purring laugh when one of his enemy's blows sent him flying into one of the (previously) still standing buildings.

"Oh?" He purred at the man, eyes half-lidded in pleasure. "Where did that come from?"

Naruto hissed and sent a Kaze no Yaiba flying the raven's way.

Predictably, Sasuke dodged it with little trouble and raced back into combat.

All round them, the ruins of Konoha, old and degraded after centuries of emptiness, were being reduced to dust and rubble.

"Oh, Naruto," Sasuke crooned to his once friend as their blades clashed. "I've just thought of a wonderful gift for you."

Naruto spun away from the poisoned blade and lashed out with the blade that sprung from the tip of his left boot.

The Uchiha giggled as he danced away, his sleeve in ribbons. "Shall I give you despair?" This was followed through with a jump-kick that drove the air from the Kyuubi-vessel's lungs.

"On your knees, Dobe. I want you to beg for mercy."

Sasuke flashed through one-handed Seals, sending a Katon, Karyuu Endan at the blonde, who barely countered with Doton, Doryuudan. But what Naruto hadn't counted on was Sasuke using the fire dragon as a cloak as he came through the dust and caught the blonde by surprise, inflicting a long slash from left shoulder to right hip.

"So what do you treasure most in this world now Konoha is gone?" The darker man inquired in a mock-innocent tone as he leapt back for a propper view of Naruto's blood draining onto the crumpled pavement. "Please give me the pleasure of taking it away."

The blonde's mind flashed to the only person he allowed himself to truly care about now. Long red hair cascaded in fly-away curls down the back clad in tan desert robes.

His eyes went cold as he regarded his once-friend. "How sad. You don't understand anymore."

Red Sharingan eyes blinked before lips curled cruelly. "Hmpf."

Clashing again, Naruto gave ground to get ground.

Shifting slightly to leave his right side slightly open, allowing Sasuke to land a deep slash into his right ribcage, he used the oportunity to bring his left sword around to bury it into the vicinity of the raven's heart.

They were still for a moment, staring into one another's eyes, sad blue meeting startled black.

It was Naruto who moved, laying a soft, chaste kiss on his once-lover's grey lips.

"Stay where you belong." He murmured against pale lips. "In my memories."

Sasuke stared a moment more, the man he once was flickering in them, coming to a decision. He managed to raise a hand to cup his beautiful fox's cheek.

"I will…" He whispered, blood flooding down his chin. "Never be just a memory…"

"Naruto!"

The blonde reacted too slowly to the shout. Sasuke gathered all his remaining chakra and activated his Sharingan, lips moving.

Someone grabbed his right wrist just as everything when white.

The last things he saw were Sasuke's, his Sasuke's, mournful dark eyes and a pale face surrounded by flying red curls with tanuki-masked green eyes.

(space)

A hand was resting cooly on his heated forehead.

"…Sakura?"

The voice was soft but familiar, even though the woman he loved as a sister had been dead and dust for centuries.

"Just hold on a little longer. You're almost there."

Naruto almost whimpered, shaking his head slightly with his eyes still closed to the bright light.

"I don't want to be alone again."

He felt her smile. "Don't worry, my dear otouto. Gaara is still with you. He came at the last moment." She stroked his hair one last time. "You two be good now."

(space)

Naruto woke curved into the crook of someone's shoulder.

They were moving fast though a crowded area.

Naruto frowned.

That couldn't be right. Humans were all but extinct, therefore, logically, there could not be crowds of them.

Moving slightly, he heard a whimper slip from his lips when agony raced through his body.

And elderly voice swore from within the body he was curled against and the pace was picked up.

Once the pain started, it started rising in a steady ache that turned into a burning, then into the creeping feeling of corrosive acid eating through his body.

He wasn't evern aware of when he was lain down on a bed, so focused was he on trying not to scream.

He lost.

Shrill shrieks of agony tore from his throat as his body convulsed in a macabre dance of suffering. People were shouting and hands were holding him down.

The agony finally hit the point where it could reach no further level, and Naruto was permitted to fall back into oblivion.

(space)

When Naruto woke again, the pain was still there, but held in check by something he recognised as healing chakra from a human.

From somewhere to his right was a soft voice humming to themselves as they moved around the room, heels -tap-tap-tap- on a hard floor. There was a steady beeping somewhere to the right and what sounded like an air pump.

A cool breeze flowed across his face from the left, bringing the scent of flowers he had memorized out of bordom long ago–Alymumfor virtue and wordiness, Apple Blossom for beauty and goodness, Aster for afterthoughts, Balm for fun, Lesser Bindweed for humility, Bee-orchis for misunderstanding, Bramble for remorse, Corriander for hidden worth, Feverfew for protection, Blue Flax for gratitude, Frangipenny for shelter, Blue Hycinth for devotion, Peony for contrition, Pink Phlox for friendship, Rosemary for rememberance- and pipe tabacoo smoke.

Beneath him was a bed and sheets and a blanket covered him from mid-chest down, his wrists bound beside his body. He could feel many bandages around his body and places that had been sewn together. What felt like an IV was in his right arm and there was a strip of tape on his face holding the tubes leading down his throat in place at the corner of his mouth.

The blonde man tried to open his eyes, only to realise that, not only were his eyes incredibly painful even to move, but there was a bandage wrapped tightly over them and the rest of his face from mid-cheek up.

Naruto flexed his fingers and toes to make sure they were still working and turned his head slightly.

He gasped when pain shot through his head, neck and back, then moaned when the muscles in his back started spasming.

The humming to his right stopped and the person came over. A hand rested on his forehead, stroking his hair and filling his nose with the scent of what he thought might have been a perfume that mimiced Lily-Of-The-Valley.

"Go back to sleep, little one." The woman told him in a voice he didn't know, but was strongly similar to Naminé's. "When you wake again, the pain will be less."

Naruto made an agreeing noise in his raw throat and began his trying-to-sleep exercise; visualising a purple cloud spiralling into darkness.

Meanwhile, the woman sung a soft lullaby Hinata had sung to him once, long ago, after her eyes had been torn out by a lucky shuriken.

"Hush-a-Bye/ Don't You Cry/ Go To Sleep My Little Baby/ When You Wake You Shall Have/ All The Pretty Little Ponies./ In Your Bed/ Mamma Said/ Babies Riding Off To Dream Land/ One By One/ They've Begun/ Dance And Prance For Little Baby…"

(space)

When Naruto woke again, the pain was, indeed, less, and the bandages were gone from across his eyes.

His nose twitched at the scent of fresh tabacco smoke and the straps were no longer holding his arms and ankles down.

Flickering his eyes open, Naruto found himself staring up at a clean white ceiling, a rarity in this time and age. A bright splash of colour called his attention to his left. Turning his head, he found a riot of flowers and get-well cards.

It took him nearly a minute to place the lined face of the old man smoking the pipe beside the bed, clad in robes he felt he should remember.

His eyes widened and tears welled. "…Jiji?"

The word would have been a whisper even if he had been able to speak above a husky murmur or croak. He struggled to rise, reaching for the surprised old man, tears trickling down his cheeks.

Moments later, the Sandaime Hokage was seated on the edge of the hospital bed with the boy crying into his shoulder and clutching at his robes.

After a time, Naruto stilled in the old man's lap, letting the logic of the situation roll over him.

Sarutobi had died before Naruto had even reach adulthood, therefore, logically, he could not be here. But, on the other hand, he shouldn't have been able to fit into an old man's lap either.

Turning his head as if to get more comfortable, his breathing went from ragged hiccups to a calmer, normal breathing. With his new vantage point, he was able to see his hand as it was clutched into the red and white material of Sarutobi's robes.

The hand was small, nearly a third of the size of his adult hand, and the nails were chewed down to the flesh as opposed to the neat, sharp red-varnished nails he was used to seeing.

Thinking back, he remembered his fight with Sasuke and the mumbling of his pale lips at the end, just as he released pent-up chakra and Gaara arrived.

If Sasuke had really sent him, and possibly Gaara, into the past, Naruto didn't think he could handle it all again. Even after nearly five hundred years, he had only just accepted that everything he had striven to protect was gone, but he still hadn't been coping.

Naruto wasn't aware of speaking until the words had left his lips and the old ninja tensed against him.

"I can't do this anymore…"

There were a few moments of heavy silence before the Hokage spoke in a level voice. "What do you mean, Naruto?"

Naruto buried his face back into the robes, inhaling the scent of tabbacco, paper and ink that clung to them.

"I just can't." He mumble, his voice muffled by the heavy fabric. "It's too much. I don't wanna be here anymore." Naruto pulled back and gazed up into Sarutobi's dark eyes with a pair of tearful blue ones. "I don't care where you send me, just as long as it's anywhere but here!"

Agony and regret flashed in the old man's dark eyes. "But if you leave, you won't be able to be a ninja or Hokage."

Naruto let out a bark of wild hysterical laughter, tears flowing again. "Ninja? Ninja?! Who do you think did this too me?! And I know I'll never be Hokage so it's a moot point anyway!" It was true. Naruto, despite giving everything to his village and more, was never even considered as a candidate for Hokage. "If I stay here any longer, I'll go mad!"

The Kyuubi-vessel's rant was cut short when he choked and buried his face into the old man's robes, overwhelmed with emotional pain.

"Alright." The Hokage murmured into his hair. "I'll see about finding you somewhere so you can leave as soon as you get out of the Hospital."

(space)

Naruto stood unobtrusely by the East Gate, waiting for the Hokage to arrive with the person he would be travelling with to his destination, a small hut in a heavily forested region near the Wind-Fire border.

The hut had belonged to his paternal grandfather and was where his father, Namikaze Minato, had grown up until the old man died and he was moved to Konohagakure since he was still a minor at the time.

Speaking of minors, Naruto was only seven at this time and he had been found by the Academy class at the end of the day after he had been sent out earlier for disrupting said class. All the potential ninja had gotten a good look at his mangled and barely alive body, blood pooling on the floor and splattered up the walls, and it had caused mass panic in the children. The Hokage had been called and rushed him to the hospital where, even with the Kyuubi healing his body, he had undergone seven emergency surgeries for broken bones, internal bleeding and facial reconstruction where his eyebrow and cheekbones had been shattered, one of his eyes actually hanging out of the socket, and the propping up of his on-the-verge-of-collapsing chakra coils.

While many of the parents of his classmates hadn't really liked him, most had been horrified by what had been done to him on just the other side of a wall from their children. Naruto suspected their pity mostly stemmed from their children being traumatised at such a young age at the sight of someone they knew being mangled beyond recognition.

In the three months it had taken the blonde to fully recover, many shinobi he barely even recognised had come to see him, had sent him flowers or candy, and nearly the entire class had come to see him with their parents, staring at him like he was some kind of animal on display. He later heard so many children dropped out that it was eventually the smallest class to reach graduation since the founding of the village.

He had had to fight off tears each time one of the original Rookie Nine had come to see him. Ino and Sakura had come with Ino's father, Inoichi, and many flowers. Shikamaru and Choiji had come with Shika, baring food and a portable Shogi set. Shino had arrived on his own with several books on bugs and plants, shyly offering them. Tsume had turned up with both Kiba and her genin daughter, Hana, baring offerings of homemade, barely edible sweets (It was the thought that counted). Hinata had come with a Hyuuga Branch House member, a kunoichi who had given him a truly pitying look, and given him a few novels and snuck him several jutsu scrolls when she thought the Branch member wasn't watching.

What had really confused him emotionally had been when Sasuke had come to visit, his face mostly hidden behind the skirt of someone he thought must have been Uchiha Mikoto, Sasuke's mother. When the woman had first seen him, a look of total horror had passed over her face as she took in his condition.

She had been kind for the entirety of the visit.

Later that night, someone he thought might have been Itachi had come by and left a package amongst the other gifts. When Naruto had opened the package the next day, he had found a multitude of items useful to a ninja in a worn wooden chest, up to and including poisons, caltrops, eggshell granades, fukumi bari, a blowgun and several jutsu scrolls. In a child's scribled in the box lid was written 'PrOppertee Ov UchIha MIkOtO'.

His hair had grown longer during his stay in the hospital, hanging shaggily to his shoulders in spikes, and his face was slightly different because of the facial reconstruction, making the cheekbones higher and the brows more arched, but he was still recognisable enough that he got a few glances in the street.

Standing against a wall with a medium-sized bag at his feet, Naruto's sharp blue eyes surveyed the people coming and going, noticing that, instead of the glares and hateful looks he recalled from his childhood, he was on the receiving end of pitying and ashamed glances.

For the most part.

Naruto merely stared back emptily when a man glared at him as he passed.

It was about 10:30am when Sarutobi eventually turned up with a female anbu with long black hair past her waist. She was carrying a small back-pack of what looked to be mostly scrolls.

"Naruto," Sarutobi smiled sadly, running his hand through sunny blonde hair. "This is Rin-san. She will be your guard, guardian and teacher for the duration of your stay at the hut. Feel free to return anytime you wish."

That said, the Hokage left, but not before Naruto caught sight of the misery in the old man's eyes. He resolved to return before the Genin exam in four years time.

He turned his big blue eyes to his guardian. "Shall we leave?"

Rin-san, in possession of a Horse mask, nodded. "Hai."

Rin is pretty much Rin from Fruits Basket, in case you were wondering.

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