[A/N]: (July 3rd 2015)

As promised, here is the ninth chapter which initially was a part of the eighth chapter.

Continuing where it left off last time, this chapter tells the next half of the Battlefront vs Naoi battle. I wonder if you'll like how I write it out, but that's something to find out afterwards.

It might seem conceited of me, but I still think this chapter could've been better. There's something lacking when I re-read last chapter, and I'm kind of afraid this chapter might be the same.

Oh well, I'll leave it to you guys to judge!

Guest Review Reply!

Misha: I'm glad that you find it as a 'great timing' despite being a year late (lol), so thanks a bunch! Regarding the Naruto x Yuri pairing, I've tried my best to make it likeable. You're not the only one who finds Yuri annoying; a friend of mine once said the same thing after watching the canon series. But if you find her annoying in this story in particular, that means I must be creating faulty heroines…which, I suppose, is true. I may not have portrayed Yuri as well as I wanted to. Kanade, on the other hand, is something of a dilemma. I already love her canon relationship (ship them so much goddammit), but I'd be lying if I say I don't see how interesting a Naruto x Kanade pairing would be.

[Disclaimer]: Eh? The owner of [NARUTO] and [Angel Beats!]? Me? Are you an idiot? Someone like that wouldn't be writing fanfictions, dammit.

Chapter 9

Illusions of Past Days

(Soundtrack List: Sawano Hiroyuki feat. Mizuki - aLIEz)

"We'll advance on my mark!" Naruto declared to his clone army.

The clones behind him, all coated with the yellow Bijū Mode chakra, yelled out affirmatively. The echo of their collective voices shook the very ground they stood upon.

Nodding to himself, Naruto turned to Yuri with a smirk. "Things are all set up on my end, Leader-chan!"

Yuri was still too astonished by the sheer number of Naruto-clones which suddenly appeared around her and the rest of the Battlefront to answer immediately. Her eyes were nearly blinded by the bright flare coming from the Naruto-clones' chakra coating, prompting her to rub her eyes.

"We're ready, but next time, give us a heads-up if you're going to pull something like this."

"Would you believe me if I said I wanted to pull a Leonidas and suddenly have 300 people on my beck and call?"

"After seeing what you can do, I'd believe you even if you said you can summon dinosaurs."

"That…can be arranged."

Looking at the blond incredulously, part of Yuri hoped he was just joking.

"…Don't go too overboard, you hear me?" Yuri warned after sighing. "Our main target is the acting student council president. It'll be all over if we can take him out, so just focus on covering for us."

A wide grin made its way to Naruto's face as he mock-saluted the purple-haired girl. "Roger that~!"

Their preparations were all set. Acting as a smaller task force to infiltrate the enemy lines, the remaining Battlefront members readied themselves for a straight run towards the heart of their problem; Naoi Ayato. Covering for them was the Naruto clone army, super-humans with the capability of moving faster than the speed of sound.

Their opponent was the NPC army, consisting of the whole student body, under Naoi's conrol.

"Heh, this almost seems too unfair." Naruto chuckled to himself with a jovial glint in his eyes. "For them, at least."

The boy then raised an arm and brought it down, signaling the start of the war.

"CHAAAARGE!"

Time Freeze

All of a sudden, time stopped and all colors faded from the background, turning into what people would see in a grayscale picture.

"Now, let's begin our game!"

Two figures appeared – materialized, more like – through blue wisps of light and a flurry of golden butterflies respectively.

They were Frederica Bernkastel and the Witch of Certainty Lambdadelta.

"Finally, it's time for our next game!" The blonde Lambdadelta who was clad in pink clothing declared ecstatically. "This is the second time our pieces are set at the time of conflict. Don't you think it's pretty convenient?"

"How come?" asked Frederica with a disinterested face.

"Well, I don't know if it's just me, but it almost seemed like both we and our pieces are fighting at the same time, doesn't it? It's a pretty amazing coincidence."

"...That'd be the umpteenth time you called them 'pieces' even though I said otherwise."

Lambdadelta ignored the blue-haired Saint's jab at her and walked towards the Battlefront party. Specifically, she walked towards one of Naruto's clones. She poked his cheek gently as if testing its authenticity, but as time was frozen that supposedly soft cheek was as hard as stone.

"Heeeh...they really do look like the real thing. What a convenient technique this human boy has."

"It's a forbidden technique used to create solid clones using innate energy. I suppose someone who gets bored as easily as you might love to use it. When there's no one left around to play with you, you'd probably make a shadow clone and play with yourself, literally."

"E he he he~! Bern, you pervert. You said 'play with yourself'."

"You're the pervert for twisting what I said into something so dirty."

Faced with Lambdadelta's perverse sense of humor, Frederica calmly exhaled and changed the topic. "Anyway, hurry up and state your truth. I don't intend to let you stay here for too long."

The whole point of stopping the flow of time was so that they could enter the Afterlife without affecting it in any way. Different to how Frederica had appeared in Naruto's mind as a thought entity, they had currently stepped into the Afterlife in the form of astral projections. The way they currently exist would normally cause an existential inconsistency and they would effectively be erased by the Afterlife's system, thus why Frederica stopped the flow of time.

Even as astral projections, a witch of Lambdadelta's level would still be able to use magic, so there would be a chance for her to do something bad. That became the source of Frederica's unease.

"Aww~, don't worry, Bern. I'm not going to ruin your relationship with this boy by stealing him away from you. Though, I am getting a little jealous at how you seem to care more about him than me."

...

Frederica wondered what kind of torture she should exact upon that childish-looking Witch of Certainty to wipe off that stupid smirk from her face.

"He hee~, you look cute when you're embarrassed, Bern!"

"Shut up or I shall teach you how painful Sōkyoku in 'Bankai' form is."

The blonde witch giggled nervously as she lightly skipped away from Frederica's glare.

As much as she liked teasing the other girl, she didn't like the idea of being burned down by that famed Zanpakutō. And she knew well enough that Frederica, as the one who governed memories from different times and spaces, had the knowledge to do just that.

"Okay then, I guess playtime's over." The girl said as she looked around her, taking in the spectacle surrounding her. "Hmm...honestly, it's getting harder to state a suitable truth. Our last game has proven how unknowledgeable I am concerning the boy named Uzumaki Naruto. If I carelessly construct a truth without any basis, a weak attack is all it will produce."

"Then just give up already."

"That'd be waaaay to boring, Bern! I won't let this game go, not when I'm already this far into it."

It seemed asking Lambdadelta to give up would not be a viable option. Frederica understood that, but part of her still wished the witch would get bored of a game she couldn't possibly win.

Lambdadelta wasn't playing the game to gain something in return. In fact, Frederica doubted that crazy friend of hers was even playing to win.

She was simply bored.

She simply needed something to do.

Most likely, the idea of tormenting a single individual's mind held no more meaning than a mere entertainment for her. In a way, that was even more dangerous than having it as a clear goal.

If Frederica could prove that this game of theirs was a shitty game with no chance of winning, she would be able to destroy Lambdadelta's expectation of victory and thus erase her excitement. That way she would deliberately end their game and leave the Afterlife alone.

That was why she should also win this time no matter what.

"Ah, I've thought up a nice one!" Lambdadelta suddenly exclaimed. She sounded like a child who had just found her favorite candy store.

Then, with a dark smirk, Lambdadelta began to speak. "I wonder why I forgot about it when I already thought about it up until just now...oh well. Anyway, here's my truth. [Blue] The faintest reminder which chained Uzumaki Naruto to his past is stronger than even the strongest bond he has in the present. This will lead to the downfall of both him and the Battlefront! [Blue]"

Her light tone belayed it, but Lambdadelta had definitely put a lot of thought behind that statement.

As explained before, her statement would not construct a 'blue truth' unless it corresponded with their current board. The whole reason she added 'the downfall of Naruto and the Battlefront' was so that her statement would have a 'set reason' that served that purpose. However, that wasn't the surprising part.

The 'main condition' of her truth involved the strength of Naruto's bonds.

How had she come up with such an elaborate guess?

That one question appeared in Frederica's mind.

"..."

"You seem surprised," Lambdadelta said as if reading her mind. "Normally, I wouldn't pull out such an indefinite card so early into the game. It's discouraging to not know what outcome you will arrive on. It's not a matter of whether you'll win or not – I just don't like doing something with no certainty to it. The world of imbalanced conditions where miracles can happen is more of your territory rather than mine, after all."

The witch's eyes twinkled as she spoke.

"But now, it all has changed! That indefinite card I wasn't willing to use has become a definite card with certain results! This wouldn't normally be possible. If that Naruto boy isn't as honest as he is, I wouldn't have been able to see through him so easily like this."

"Honest? What do you mean? Don't tell me that you somehow slipped past my defenses and made contact with him in some way."

That was not impossible, but Frederica should've noticed if that was the case.

To her surprise, Lambdadelta laughed aloud as if she had just heard a joke.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! A good theory, but I'm not stupid enough to do that. No, I didn't even need to stick my head that far in just to guess his next move. He's honest enough to show his true feelings just by his actions, and that worked to my advantage."

"?"

For the first time, Frederica couldn't understand.

She was the Saint of Time and Space who governed the flow of memories in parallel universes. She had 'read' all those memories and obtained knowledge far more vast than any human being. Her knowledge should've even surpassed Lambdadelta's, who was simply a witch.

But, for the first time, she couldn't understand what Lambdadelta was saying.

"I don't get it," she admitted truthfully. "If he really is as honest as you said, then you should've arrived at the same hypothesis as I have. You should've predicted that he would win."

"Well, we're all entitled to our own opinions, nya ha ha~!"

"..."

It seemed Lambdadelta knew something but chose to hide it.

Whatever it was, there was no doubt that she had obtained information that even her vast amount of knowledge as a Saint didn't include.

...At the same time, it could be a bluff. There was still the possibility that Lambdadelta was only bluffing so that she could see how Frederica would react.

'But what's the point of stating it as a 'blue truth' then?' Frederica thought in puzzlement.

She gritted her teeth.

She felt annoyed that she could still feel such an irrational fear at a time like this.

She shouldn't be hesitating. The sanity and future of a single boy was at stake here. If she let Lambdadelta toy with Naruto's mind, who knows how it would turn out? Frederica had no intention of having that question answered. That boy had once wished for the end of his world when the last bit of his sanity dried up, and if that happened again...

There was a possibility that such a thing would happen once more.

Frankly, she would hate herself if she let him bear that kind of sin again. Winning this game was her only way to protect him from that.

To win, Frederica would have to act on what she believed was the truth regarding Naruto. The fact remained that he was the strongest human being in that world called the Afterlife, so he could handle any enemies with no effort. Another fact also remained that he saw the Battlefront members as his friends despite the short time they had spent together.

And so, she stated her truth.

She used the 'red truth' which only spoke of the truth.

"[Red] Uzumaki Naruto will not lose. No chains whatsoever can hold him back from protecting his friends. [Red]"

Time Start

As time started to accelerate back to its initial speed, color returned to the previously gray world.

A grand battle between two opposing forces was commencing.

There was no gunshot or flag to announce the start of the battle. None was needed as both forces had already charged forward regardless, shouting out battle cries to alleviate their tension.

On a smaller scale, this was the Afterlife Battlefront versus Naoi Ayato.

On a larger scale, this was the Uzumaki clone army versus the NPC army.

Despite working on different scales, each of them had already understood of who they were supposed to fight. As the Battlefront was reluctant to fight the ordinary students, Naruto fought in their stead. Since the Battlefront couldn't let Naruto's rampage going on for too long, they focused on taking down Naoi to end it quickly.

The delicate balance of who fought whom could be destroyed at any time. What prevented them from destroying that balance was the faith that they would win against their respective opponents.

Amidst that battle, the real Naruto stood back and watched.

The ones opening a path for the Battlefront and maintaining that path by punching and kicking any NPC students who came near them were his clones. They were each coated with the Bijū Mode's chakra shroud, so they were more than enough help. Even Shiina, who was responsible for guarding the Battlefront from the rear, hadn't needed to fight for the moment, and that was fortunate considering her wounds.

That was why Naruto had the chance to stay put for the moment.

'Still, I can't believe that bastard can rally so many people to his side. I don't know what trick he's using, but there's no way it's by normal means.'

Naruto had thought that Naoi was being honest when he said he received great power as the acting student council president. Seen in that way, it sounded logical that he could control the NPCs with the natural disposition of someone who stood at the peak of high school life.

In a way, though, that made absolutely no sense at all.

'A while back, I influenced the whole student body to watch Masami-chan's guerilla concert. That was technically against the school rules, but they did it anyway. NPCs were supposed to be model students who abide by the rules, yet someone like me could overturn that internal setting of theirs and made them go against the rules. To hell with that "power as the student council president" thing; what I've done is proof that there's nothing like that, 'ttebayo! He must be controlling them through other means...'

NPCs had no individual wills, so in a sense they were like living dolls with a uniform personality.

Being modeled from normal high school students, they undoubtedly stood at the lower level in the hierarchy of school life. If it was thought that way, it was true that they were susceptible to the command of a higher power such as the student council president.

But Naruto could also influence them even without being a student council president. In fact, he was certain that influencing the NPCs had nothing to do with how high one's position was in the so-called school life hierarchy. If a delinquent student at the bottommost level of the hierarchy could make the NPC students break the rules, becoming the student council president would've been unneeded.

Then how was Naoi controlling the students?

Of course, it could also be explained as the boy simply influencing the student body through normal means just like Naruto had. Presuming that was what he did, it still didn't make sense.

The NPC students were modeled after real life high school students. It goes without saying that common sense should've also been implemented in their thinking process. Of course, the action each and every one of them would take according to that common sense would be uniform due to their lack of individual will. The point is, it proved that they should've had enough common sense to not get involved in this plan involving mass murder, at least not by their own free will.

...So how?

What kind of method did Naoi use to make the ordinary students do his bidding?

To be honest, Naruto didn't really know. Analytically observing his opponents wasn't his strongest point; the several times he could was because of his incredible luck.

"Aaah, all this thinking is making me dizzy. I guess I should just concentrate on beating them up rather than troubling about stuffs like that."

After all, he had left the Battlefront to deal with Naoi. Whether he had any special powers or not, it wouldn't matter after they had defeated him.

Now then...

To state the facts once more, Naruto had no particularly special feelings for the ordinary students. He could've finished them all in one blow with an exaggerated Tailed Beast Bomb or bombard them with a rain of Super-Sized Oodama Rasengan without feeling any remorse. The only thing keeping him from doing exactly that was his deal with Yuri to cause minimal damage.

On the other hand, dealing with them using hand-to-hand combat was probably more than enough. If anything, the way his clones overpowered them just with a flick to the forehead looked so unfair he almost felt guilty.

Naruto sighed in his dilemma.

"I wonder if I should go and back the Battlefront guys..." he wondered to himself.

Just as he said this, a couple of ordinary students wielding crowbars closed in on him. Naruto dodged the first strike, lowered his head to avoid the second, and grabbed a crowbar going towards him for a third strike.

"Whoops...ha ha ha! I guess I should take care of you guys first, 'ttebayo!"

Meanwhile, the six Battlefront members began a desperate sprint with Yuri in the lead. Waves after waves of ordinary students came to halt them, but Naruto's clones blew them all away with either a punch or a kick. The sight of ordinary students getting pummeled tugged on Yuri's heartstrings, but she kept moving forward.

"We're progressing pretty well considering our situation..." Hideki stated in wonder.

"With that kind of support, I'm not surprised." Noda responded with an unimpressed tone, looking at one of the yellow clones Naruto produced. He stared with a dumbfounded expression as that clone made a failed attempt at a one-inch punch, yet created a larger blowback than the real deal.

"I don't really get how he got so strong all of a sudden, but with that pace there's a chance he'd finish off all of the students before we even get to do our part."

"..."

Yuri seemed displeased, but she knew that even this was necessary to stop the incident altogether. They wouldn't be able to win if they were dead, so as much as it pained her, she had to rely on Naruto's choice for the moment. To win and stop Naoi's control over the ordinary students, it was necessary to hurt them.

"If you understand that much, then move your asses. We'll take Naoi Ayato down before Uzumaki has to stop pulling his punches."

No response was heard.

The Battlefront members merely nodded in agreement. Their leader had taken the painstaking choice of looking away from the one rule she had instated, so it was up to them to support her the best they could.

As he saw the small party of five moving closer and closer towards him, Naoi narrowed his eyes in displeasure. His controlled army wasn't doing much to impede their advance, but they were better than nothing. At least, he knew the Battlefront would not be firing their guns from a distance out of fear of hitting the ordinary students.

But he couldn't defeat them like this.

Every time he commanded a group of ordinary students to attack, clones of that whisker-marked blonde would appear and knock them away. And the more they fought the Naruto clones, the faster their own number decreased.

'His speed alone is already troublesome, but now that he created an army of clones, it's almost impossible to get through his supports. I need to find a way to get him out of the picture first.'

If he focused his army on the Battlefront members, the Naruto clones would easily crush that offense. However, there would be no merit in focusing on overpowering Naruto's clones – his army would instead be overpowered by them in an instant. Also, the Battlefront would probably take that chance and attack while his guard was down.

There would be no use in focusing on either of the two groups.

'*Sigh*...that leaves me with the option of taking the Battlefront head-on while that delinquent's clone army is busy with the ordinary students. Kuh hu hu...to think you'd force God to directly oppose you...'

A condescending smile spread across Naoi's face as he formulated a plan. He righted his black student cap and looked at the Battlefront members, sneering as they came closer.

"Right, then...I'll show you divine judgment."

At the time, the Battlefront was being held back by a wall of ordinary students.

There were three last remaining student council members who stood at the lead. Of the three, one held a handgun, while the other two had pulled out makeshift weapons which distinctively looked like flails. Meanwhile, numerous ordinary students stood behind them. They held no weapons, but their large number was enough to compensate for that.

"Cheh! There really is no end to them!" Noda complained while getting into a battle stance.

Shiina, who had been guarding the rear, as well as Fujimaki moved forward and joined Noda to form a defensive formation. Yuri, Hideki, and Ōyama were left at the center, looking nervously at the thick wall of students in front of them.

"There's this many even in the back?! I thought they're supposed to fight Uzumaki's clones!"

Hideki's outburst might have been a result of his fatigue, but no one could blame him. Frankly, even on the slightest chance that they had to fight the ordinary students, none of the Battlefront members had the energy to go up against so many of them. That was one of the reasons why they left Naruto to handle the ordinary students.

But something was odd.

Naruto's clones should've swooped in and obliterated any obstacles in their way, but that wasn't happening right now. For better or for worse, the opposing ordinary students were still standing in front of them.

"...Is he being outnumbered?

Yuri didn't know how many clones Naruto made, but she could tell that it ranged around a hundred or two. On the other hand, the ordinary students Naoi called in were still flowing out of the school building even now, and Yuri had given up on counting.

Naruto had said to her that even he had blind sides. The huge numbers of ordinary students being called in was probably Naoi's doing to overwhelm Naruto's senses. This wouldn't affect him much since she doubted any of the ordinary students would be able to hurt him, but it hampered the reinforcements he was giving for the Battlefront. Naruto was evidently still a human being who relied on his five senses, so it was possible to dull his reactions by covering his sight and hearing with the sheer number of opponents.

This had effectively impeded the Battlefront's advance.

"He can't reach us for now...damn it! Listen up! It's possible that Uzumaki can't send in reinforcements for us right now, so spread out in groups. We'll go around this last wave in smaller numbers and regroup to attack the acting student council president afterwards!"

"That's suicide! We'll easily get outnumbered if we do that!"

"We're already outnumbered either way. Fujimaki-kun, take Ōyama-kun with you and circle to left. Shiina-san and I will go around the right and join you later. Hinata-kun, Noda-kun, I'm sorry but we need you to distract them for a while. Don't fight them, just hold them off as long as you can. Can you do that?"

"We'll manage somehow," Hideki answered vaguely. He wasn't confident in his fighting ability, but he wouldn't let his leader down.

"We just have to prevent them from going after you, right? Leave it to us, Yurippe!" Noda gripped his halberd tightly as he confidently as he confidently gave his own answer.

Nodding, Yuri gave a hand-gesture to Fujimaki before taking off to the right side of the wall of students.

This strategy might very well get them killed, but this was better than doing nothing at all. The student council member wielding a handgun was situated around the center of the formation, while the ones on the left and right sides held little to no weapons at all. Seeing it that way, running separate ways was better than charging head-on and risking getting shot.

At the same time, however, that raised the risk of Hideki and Noda getting shot.

'Let's just hope Uzumaki reaches them in time...!'

Hideki and Noda, tasked with distracting the opponents in their direct sight, did the only thing they could think of.

They attacked.

Or at least, that was what they seemed to be doing. In truth, they were merely trying to provoke the ordinary students by putting up an aggressive front.

"Over here, bastards!"

"Have a taste of sharpened metal!"

While doing mock attacks around and shooting skywards like madmen, they taunted the ordinary students ferociously. Of course, they didn't have any intention of actually hurting them because of their rule, but doing that would definitely gather their attention.

Sure enough, the three remaining student council members appeared to be cautious of Noda's large halberd and Hideki's submachine gun. The two members who used flail-like weapons dashed forward and tried to incapacitate them. They failed, however, as Hideki and Noda moved their weapons to block the attacks.

"Damn, they're really not holding back! Oi, Noda, you sure we can't just fight back?"

"Haa? What're you talking about? It's our rule not to, so it's pretty damn obvious!"

Hideki clicked his tongue. Even though Noda's simple-minded belief sounded stubborn, that was the truth. The most they could do against these ordinary students was to defend against their attacks. He'd hate to get another punishment game from his leader, so he could only oblige.

"Guh...! Where are Uzumaki and his clones?! If this keeps up any longer, we're done for!"

Just as he was about to give up and start to attack the student council members seriously, Hideki heard something coming from above him and looked up.

He saw two blue orbs and a shroud of yellow.

"Rasenrengan!"

Both of the two orbs drilled into the backs of the two student council members and made them kiss the ground painfully. As the one who came to the rescue, Naruto let a lopsided grin show on his face.

"Hah! Now you owe me one!" he stated ecstatically.

As he was too focused on showing off, Naruto failed to notice the third student council member pressing a handgun right to his head. Thankfully, Noda sprung forward and hit the student council member's hand upwards with the handle of his halberd, throwing his aim off just when he was about to pull the trigger. Naruto used that chance to summon a large chakra hand from his chakra shroud and slammed it into the student councilman.

If Noda had reacted any second later, Naruto's head would've been Swiss-cheesed.

"...And now we're even," Noda said with an annoyed face.

"That doesn't count. I'm just a clone, so it won't matter if my head gets blown off." Naruto, or apparently the Naruto-clone, shrugged his shoulders in a dismissive manner. "So as it stands, you two still owe me."

"I see... Then it won't matter either if I chop your head off right this instant, right?"

"You're welcome to try while I keep saving your pathetic ass from these guys."

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

The violent exchange between the two boys was something...not really out of the ordinary, given their first impression of each other. It seemed no matter what, the common hatred between Naruto and Noda would remain forever as long as they kept going after each other's balls.

...

Let's put aside that unintended innuendo for now.

"Where's your real body?" Hideki asked.

"Still in the back, I think. The Boss hasn't been participating much in the fight, though I don't think he needs to. As long as he keeps sending out clones like this, we'll eventually win this fight."

Judging by what he said, the blue-haired boy surmised that the 'Boss' the clone was talking about was Naruto's real body.

"He's continually producing clones like you?" Noda questioned in befuddlement.

"Nah, the most he can control is around two hundred clones. His maximum output is way over that, but since he needs to maintain a clear line of order for us, the number's pretty limited. He's simply replacing the clones every time one dies out by creating another one."

"...I guess that explains why you couldn't reach us in time. That number still feels surprisingly surreal though."

Honestly, Noda had always thought cloning was something reserved in games or in cutting-edge scientific researches. But here he was, talking to one of the clones a single person had mass-produced on a whim.

"Hm? By the way, where are Leader-chan and the others?"

Hideki pointed to the direction Yuri was last seen going to. "They split up to go around this last wave. Yurippe must be getting impatient if she's hurrying things like this."

"What? Is she trying to get herself killed or something?" Naruto theorized in confusion.

As if waving off the yellow-haired boy's worry, Hideki shrugged his shoulders. "Well, she was worried that your reinforcement wasn't going to come, so she decided to keep pressing onward. I thought it sounded suicidal at first, but she looks like she knows what she's doing. Besides, she's got Shiinacchi with her, so her chances of survival are actually pretty high."

Regarding Shiina, it seemed everyone in the Battlefront agreed that she was their strongest member. She was even stronger than Noda, Fujimaki, or even Matsushita 5th Dan, and perhaps on par with the three of those battle-oriented members combined. Her ninja origin and training was probably the cause. To put it simply, she was definitely not a normal girl.

Realizing this, Naruto calmed down; if only for a bit.

"I see..." he said while charging up another Rasengan. "Still, I'm not too eager on testing her chances. I'll blow these guys away, so you guys get ready to charge in. Let's wrap this up and join them!"

"While you're at it, be sure not to blow us away by accident..." Hideki weakly added from the side with a wry grin.

Noda joined in, holding his halberd at ready with a smirk on his face. "You're misunderstanding something. I'm the one that's going to save Yurippe!"

The three of them agreed on one difficult yet simple plan; make use of Naruto's brute force and send this last students blockade and rejoin their other comrades.

They would end this fight. They would defeat Naoi Ayato and put an end to this horrible incident.

That was the plan. However...

*BANG!*

The sound of gunshot tore through the air.

"Huh? Just now...was that a gunshot?" Hideki let out, confusion on his face.

Meanwhile, Naruto frowned. The handgun-wielding student council member he had just defeated was supposed to be the last enemy wielding a firearm. None of the non-council students had any firearms in particular, so it begged the question; what was the cause of that sound just now?

Just as Naruto began to think about it, he saw it.

He first thought that it was a trick of the light, but he definitely saw something terrible through the small gap between the wall of ordinary students.

A bleeding Shiina fell onto the ground.

Also, Naoi with a black handgun in hand.

"That bastard...!"

Hideki blanched when he finally saw the tragic scene. "He...had a gun all this time...?"

The initial plan that the Battlefront was working on was to defeat Naoi, that way they could stop his control over the ordinary students. Thinking back, that was the only thing they had in mind. They simply thought they only needed to wrench Naoi's control and put an end to the fight as quick as they could.

They were careless.

And Shiina was the first to fall victim to that.

"Shiina...san?"

Yuri stood motionless as she stared Shiina's falling body. The shock of seeing someone getting shot so up close shook her so greatly that she was left speechless.

But what had happened, exactly?

Up until that moment, what had happened that Shiina was left incapacitated?

The answer was quite simple.

Yuri and Shiina had succeeded in breaking through the ordinary students' blockade. They would've had found themselves in the perfect position to begin a counterattack at Naoi not a moment later. Yuri had even determined that Naoi would be in the perfect range for her handgun to reach him as soon as they got pass the blockade.

But that chance never did come.

Just as she had finally cleared her vision from the wall of students, she was pushed aside by Shiina.

Before she could yell a protest at her for throwing off her aim, Yuri suddenly realized another thing. Just because they had finally gone through that last blockade, it didn't mean their path was clear of obstacles. For one, by getting to a range where a handgun was enough to kill Naoi, they had also brought themselves to a range where he could kill them with a handgun.

That was exactly what happened as Shiina's chest suddenly exploded in blood. A thumb-sized hole had appeared on the center of her chest and her blood began to leak out of it.

"Ugh...*cough*! T-That was...surprisingly stupid of me—ghah!"

"Idiot! What are you protecting me for? Mind your own wounds before doing something reckless like that!"

Panic slowly filled Yuri's mind and threatened to overwhelm her. It didn't take a doctor to point out how fatal Shiina's wound was, and to realize how pressing down the wound while bandaging it would have no effect whatsoever. Yuri knew this, but she did it all the same.

Ripping part of her sleeve to use it as a makeshift bandage, Yuri began applying first aid to Shiina's wound, ignoring the current threat that was Naoi; a mistake that she wouldn't have done normally as the calm battlefront leader.

However, Naoi was arrogant enough not to attack immediately, instead opting to sneer at his fallen opponent with a mad glint in his eyes.

"You seemed surprised. I wonder why? Did you really think I'm simply a control freak with no fighting capabilities whatsoever?"

In both of his hands, Naoi held a pair of black Heckler & Koch USP pistols. He had pulled them out at the last second from somewhere around his back, implying that he had hidden them all this time.

Despite his insurmountable arrogance, it seemed he was careful enough to arm himself.

On the other side, Ooyama and Fujimaki had just finished circling the students' wall formation when Ooyama noticed with a shock the state his friends were in.

"Wha...Shiina-san!"

"You piece of shit!"

An enraged Fujimaki immediately dashed forward with his unsheathed shirasaya poised at ready, ignoring the cries of his muscles throughout his body.

But even then, the factor of range prevented him from gaining the upper hand. Fujimaki was cruelly put down with a shot to the chest from Naoi's gun before he could reach him.

"Hmmm? What was that you just said? Know your place, trash. The one more fitting to the term dirt is you."

In a show of cruelty, Naoi stepped on Fujimaki's writhing body and pulled his guns' triggers repeatedly. Five more shots were released into Fujimaki's torso, this time completely taking away his consciousness.

The sheer brutality made Yuri speechless. She could only look on helplessly, unable to protect yet another one of her comrades.

Despite this, Naoi only smiled darkly. Then, he moved his sight to Ōyama who was trembling in fright. He pointed his black gun at him, and without any delay, began shooting at the fearful boy with no remorse.

"Stop...stop it, you bastard!"

Yuri's desperate cries were not enough to stop Naoi's slaughter. Realizing this, she pulled out her own gun and aimed it towards Naoi, intent on stopping his cruel massacre.

Before she could, though, an NPC student tackled her and held her down, knocking her gun away. More and more students who made up the last blockade joined in and it turned into a small dog-pile.

"Kuh...hah!" The pressure on her body prevented her to even breathe properly for a while, and the way that the ordinary students pressed her head to the ground with the strength of a bewitched human added to the problem.

"Get your hands off Yurippe, you bastards!" Angered, Noda tried to go to Yuri's aid, but the student blockade had regrouped and cut off his path once more.

"Damn it! Oi, Uzumaki, give us a hand here! That Naoi guy has a gun – we don't have time to slouch here!"

The clone didn't respond.

Instead, he casted an apologizing look at Hideki before going out in a poof. His last words, accompanied with a sigh, were, "Sorry. It seems the Boss finally had enough of this bullshit."

"What? Hey, wait, don't just disappear on your own!"

Despite Hideki's demand, Naruto's clones began to disappear one by one until the battlefield was nearly filled with smoke.

Left confounded by the clone's disappearance, Hideki could only watch helplessly as Naoi repeatedly shot his pistol at Ōyama.

As he finished emptying his bullets on the two boys, Naoi turned around to the captured Yuri. His left hand was already reloading the gun on his right hand, readying himself to shoot at her when the time comes.

"Hah ha ha...you know, I didn't think I would be forced to use my guns. Bullets aren't that easy to make, especially because I do it on my own. But you've forced my hand, and I applaud to you for that."

A sense of surprise rose in Yuri when she heard that. Up until now, she always thought that the knowledge to create weapons from dirt was known only to the members of the Guild, with Chaa being the first one to think it up.

She wondered how Naoi acquired that knowledge.

Naoi laughed mockingly as he raised his reloaded pistol, "However, this is as far as you go."

For a second, Yuri trembled.

She had no idea why, though. She understood completely that she would be revived some time after, so dying wouldn't end her. However, understanding that she would be revived and being fearless in the face of death were two different things.

Deep inside, she might've been afraid of dying.

That was why, when Naoi suddenly but slowly lowered his gun, she felt ashamed of herself for feeling relieved. As to the question why he had not shot her, even she was confused. It was then answered when she caught movement at the corner of her eyes.

Shiina slowly rose to her feet, blood pouring from her injuries.

"Shiina-san...?"

The sight of the long-haired girl picking herself up, swaying as she stood – or tried to – one her unsteady legs, looked so pathetic that it hurt just to see it. Despite the wounds on both arms, thighs and waist, not to mention the freshly-added bullet wound on her chest, Shiina pushed herself up and bared her broken fangs towards Naoi.

"Don't..."

Her hand sloppily withdrew a kodachi strapped to her lower back, raising it as much as her weak arm let her to. Then, after dropping into a shaky battle stance, Shiina recklessly attacked Naoi.

"...hurt her!"

As the twin kodachi neared towards him, Naoi raised his pistol and scoffed.

"Fool."

*BANG!*

Shiina's last desperate attempt to put Naoi out of commission was met with a calm yet fatal response. After receiving another bullet to the chest, Shiina fell down to the ground again. This time, she didn't get up.

"..."

Yuri honestly didn't know how to react.

There she was, pinned to the ground by the students under Naoi's command, unable to move a limb even as she saw her subordinate – her comrade – get killed in front of her.

She failed.

She let hope get the better of her.

She got greedy and went for the biggest target, unaware of the risks it would bring. No...she had been fully aware of the risks, but she paid it no heed because she believed she wouldn't screw it up.

How wrong that was.

"Shiina...san..."

She was so shell-shocked that all she could utter was her fallen friend's name.

She was so shell-shocked that she didn't even realize tears flowing from her eyes.

At that moment, the shock that had overridden her mind was blown away by the angry voice of a single boy and brought her back to reality.

"HrraaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Charging from the furthest point behind her, Naruto roared senselessly with two Rasen-Shurikens held at ready. Eyes blazing red with rage, he literally power-stomped through the seemingly limitless waves of ordinary students, either crashing into them or letting his two orbs of decimating chakra do the dirty work. No clones were there to fight alongside him, but Naruto fought even more ferociously compared to when the clones were there.

Without the need to focus on controlling the clones, his thoughts ran rampant in rage.

He no longer held back against the ordinary students. He could no longer bring himself to care. There was only one thing filling his mind with despair, preventing him from having any other thoughts.

He failed.

He realized this with a single tear running down his cheek.

He had been too confident, too arrogant in his chances of winning the fight, that he had forgotten the most basic truth in a battle.

A shinobi must be able to see underneath the underneath.

His teacher Kakashi had said that once. It wasn't just a philosophical advice to be able to read your opponent's mind, but also to be expecting of the unexpected. A shinobi must be perceptive in any kind of situation and calculate the worst case scenario of every outcome.

He should've seen this coming.

His failure to do that, which led to more of his allies getting killed, frustrated him to no end.

And so, driven by that emotion, he made a mad dash towards Naoi. With both hands wielding a Jutsu powerful enough to obliterate a tank, Naruto repeated to himself time and time again to put an end to this stupid charade. Though, in the end, he was the stupid one for believing they'd win with such naivety.

'A strength called restraint,' was something he had said to the Battlefront members; a strength which he respected. He had naively believed that such a vague, unreal strength was enough to win this battle. Thanks to that faith, he had caused the Battlefront's defeat.

He failed.

He figured that if he could save the remaining survivors, he could at least correct that failure somehow.

Even so, more and more NPC students gathered to block his way in attempt to stop him.

"Out of my fucking WAY!"

He didn't hesitate as he drove the Rasen-Shuriken on his left hand to the students in front of him, blasting away several of them in one blow and turning them into dust in a powerful explosion. As the crowd flew away, his eyes caught one remaining female student standing. She must've been on the furthest back of the group just now.

"Tch! You're pretty stubborn, aren't you?!"

Naruto reared his right hand which was holding onto his last Rasen-Shuriken, its searing chakra blades spinning with such speed that it produced a high-pitched ringing sound as it cut the air.

One last throw.

Judging by the distance, he could hit Naoi even if a student was blocking his way. He could slightly tweak the throwing direction so that it would merely slash both the student and Naoi into two with the chakra blades, while the school building behind them became a convenient target for the main explosion. This way, he could avoid getting Yuri and the others in the line of fire.

He simply needed to throw.

It was a simple motion like pushing a door open with mediocre strength.

But something was odd.

The person standing in front of him...didn't he know her?

"?!"

Almost instinctually, Naruto slammed his Rasen-Shuriken towards the ground, creating an explosion of concrete fragment and dust cloud. He was actually trying to stop his advance, but with the velocity he was going in, he would've definitely crashed into the student anyway. That was why he opted to waste his Rasen-Shuriken on the ground directly beneath him, throwing himself back thanks to the shockwave it created.

The pain to his face as he was forced to eat gravel wasn't the first thing he thought.

Slowly, the boy rose to his feet and let out a strangled breath.

"Huh? What's gotten into him?" Noda let out with wide eyes. "He...stopped."

Noda's position was far enough that he didn't get caught in the explosion, but close enough for him to see the yellow-shrouded ninja. He could hear the boy's heaving breath as he slowly raised his face.

The distraught expression on Naruto's face was something he wasn't sure he would get used to seeing.

Not only that, the boy's whole body was trembling, and he was visibly sweating even though it was raining. The way his face warped into a horribly frightened expression only served to make him look even more out of character.

"...Why?" Naruto seemed to utter. Faintly, Noda could hear his rough voice permeating the harsh beating of the rain. "Of all people...why'd you show up here?"

The meaning behind Naruto's question was lost to the purple-haired delinquent. From the looks of it, it seemed as if Naruto knew the person in front of him, but that female student was an NPC. How would Naruto be related to an NPC student – or better yet, why would that trigger such a reaction from him?

There was one answer.

For certain, the girl was an NPC. The light brown blazer she wore was a uniform issued to the students unrelated to the Afterlife Battlefront. That alone was enough for anyone to tell what she was.

Even so, Naruto knew her. In fact, she was engraved so deeply into his memories that it hurt.

There was no way he could've ever forget her. That pink hair, those pair of emerald-colored eyes; he remembered the smallest details of her, even down to her wide forehead.

She was someone that had once become a huge part of his life. She was someone who had become a victim of his failure.

Naruto gnashed his teeth to hold in his frustration as he hissed out a name.

"Sakura-chan..."

A teammate, a friend, a once one-sided crush; the person standing to oppose him was Haruno Sakura.

o-x-o-x-o

In a higher plane of existence, a certain Saint widened her eyes in shock.

A cute, girlish laughter accompanied her as the owner of that voice reveled in the Saint's loss of words.

"I told you, didn't I?" the witch called Lambdadelta said. "I've seen through him. I've seen through the tough front he puts up. Why do you think I picked such a detailed statement for a truth even when all it does is limiting my chances of victory?"

A twisted chuckle escaped the blonde witch's lips. "Your feeble red truth can't win, Bern. After all, what Uzumaki Naruto treasures more than anything, more than his newfound bonds with the Afterlife Battlefront...are his memories."

o-x-o-x-o

Looking back, it was a bit odd how it didn't happen sooner.

Naoi had seized control over the whole student body through some unknown means. That meant all of the ordinary students were part of his army, and there was no exception.

Naturally, NPC-Sakura would've been included. And if she was, then the other NPC-Konoha Eleven members should've been as well.

Naruto suddenly stiffened.

'Are they here from the beginning of this fight? Did...did some of them clash with me directly?'

The thought quickened his breath a bit, but the boy shook his head to calm himself down.

Naruto didn't know how that possibility never crossed his mind, but he was sure he would've noticed if that actually happened. By some coincidence, all the NPCs he had fought up until then did not include those eleven lookalikes of his old friends. Were they hidden behind the other NPC students all this time?

Too deep in his thoughts, Naruto failed to realize that everyone had taken notice of his silence. Ahead of him, Naoi quirked a curious eyebrow and looked towards the NPC student who had stopped the supposedly unstoppable Uzumaki.

'Strange...why isn't he attacking that student? He had been merciless towards the other ones, so why that one in particular...?'

Confused but entirely interested, Naoi smiled to himself as he started to formulate a plan. He wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but he saw a sliver of chance, and he wasn't letting it go that easily.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still trying to come to terms in regards to NPC-Sakura being involved in this battle.

'Dammit, get a grip! That isn't Sakura-chan. It's just one of the goddamn NPCs who killed off the Battlefront members! She's just an NPC – she isn't real!'

Naruto's effort in assuring himself of that fact was commendable, but it was pointless. When NPC-Sakura took a single, small step towards him, his body automatically moved backwards to avoid her.

He couldn't do it.

For some reason, Naruto couldn't wrap his mind around the reality of the situation. There was no doubt that the pink-haired girl in front of her was merely a visage of his old friend, but that knowledge gave him no amount of consolation. At the moment, he doubted he could get close to her, let alone fight her.

He couldn't bring himself to hurt NPC-Sakura.

Instead of fighting her, he was slowly pushed back as he inched away from her almost like a wild beast would from a fire.

"Hah! I see, I see, so that's how it is?" Naoi let out a laugh from behind the advancing NPC-Sakura's back. "I don't really understand what's going on, but it seems you're afraid of the student in front of you? I wonder why... Oh well. I don't need to know immediately. At least I now have the upper hand."

Naoi must've made some kind of command, because NPC-Sakura suddenly broke into a run and quickly closed the distance between her and Naruto.

"Kuh...! Darn it!"

NPC-Sakura wasn't wielding any weapons, so she resorted to using her two fists. Fortunately, this wasn't the same super-powered fists that could destroy truck-sized boulders with one hit; they were merely dainty fists befitting that of a normal girl. He doubted that whatever mechanism the Afterlife operated by could replicate it without the knowledge of chakra, after all. Even so, Naruto carefully dodged those attacks as if they could burn him.

This was what led Naoi to believe that he feared her.

That wasn't entirely correct.

'I can't attack her,' Naruto thought frantically. 'Right now, I can't tell how powerful my Bijū Mode is. The natural energy in me gave such a huge boost that I can't even tell how much I should hold back to avoid killing people! Simply blocking her attacks might be enough to break her arms!'

At times like this, he regretted not having any restraining Jutsu in his repertoire. Nearly all of his fighting techniques had the capability to destroy whole buildings, and with the overpowered Bijū Mode breaking a single girl would be easier than breaking a toothpick. Unfortunately, in the current case, that was something he tried to avoid.

His opponent was an NPC that he normally wouldn't care too much about.

At the same time, her form was that of Sakura's. And because of that, he couldn't muster enough reasoning to fight her despite her being an NPC.

What Naruto didn't realize was that the longer he drew out this game of tag, the more time Naoi had to understand why he was reluctant to attack all of a sudden.

'It's not that he's afraid of her, he simply can't attack her? Is there a deeper meaning to his actions?' Naoi thought deeply. 'Is he somehow acquainted with that NPC? That might explain his sudden reluctance, but it's strange how he could change his behavior towards NPC students so drastically despite him being completely thoughtless about them at first. I don't really have time to worry about that, though.'

If there was one student he was acquainted with, then there was a possibility that there were others.

Naoi's eyes darted back and forth between his remaining soldiers, or rather what remained of it. After Naruto had beaten up most of them, only a handful was left standing. Some were busy handling Yuri to keep her pinned down, while others were circling Hideki and Noda to prevent them from providing any sort of backup for the retreating Uzumaki.

'Among them, could there be others that I can use against him?' Naoi began to select several of his minions who weren't too preoccupied to break off from their formation and attack Naruto.

As expected, some were comically thrown back with a powerful punch or kick, though each of the attacks weren't as vicious as before. The fact that Naruto had to avoid hitting NPC-Sakura might've been the reason for that.

However, as he gradually sent more and more NPC students towards Naruto, the number that actually stayed alive grew. Little by little, the number of people who stood there unhurt grew.

When there was no more of his army that Naoi could spare, that number had grown to eleven.

Naruto stood stock still, an unfamiliar sense of dread spreading within him. He wasn't sure about his chances of winning when NPC-Sakura first appeared, but now he had even less faith in himself.

In front of him stood the NPC-Konoha Eleven.

Silently, Naruto sent each of them a sad glance and recalled their names and faces, all the while wishing that what he was seeing was just an illusion. He wasn't. They weren't.

"Shikamaru, Chōji, Ino..." The names rolled out of his mouth, his tongue tingling as it felt a familiar sensation just by uttering his friends' name. "Lee, Neji, Tenten...Kiba, Shino, Hinata...even Sai's here, huh? So you've got this kind of card hidden in your sleeves all this time, A-yarou?"

Naoi shrugged with a careless look. "Honestly, I didn't even realize I had it. To be precise, I didn't even know your weakness would be the NPCs that you could, and had, readily and mercilessly disposed of."

"So you don't even know, huh...?"

"Hm?"

"Well, I'd like to think you're the big bad mastermind behind these NPCs...but it seems you're not. You're the puppeteer, but it seems the bastard who created your toys is a whole different person."

"...Well, it's true that I am controlling them. It's a power granted as the student council president, after all. But I don't quite understand by what you said about a different person."

"If you don't, then that's fine."

Naoi might not be the one behind the NPC-Konoha Eleven's existence in the Afterlife. There was a sense of disappointment in that, but Naruto wouldn't know what to feel if he found out that the one who replicated his past friends was someone he had never met before.

Even so, Naoi was still the one who controlled them and involved them in this fight. That was more than enough reason for Naruto to defeat him.

Slowly, Naruto dropped his stance, his whole body flaring with power. "That means you're just pissing me off for one reason. Not that it makes any difference since I'll beat you up anyway."

The angry undertone in Naruto's voice was evident enough to surprise Naoi, prompting him to assume that the yellow-haired boy was still willing to fight.

"You still haven't given up?" the student council president stand-in asked aloofly. "If you still want to fight, I should remind you that these students are going to be your opponent, who for some reason you can't hurt no matter what. Can you still fight with this sort of handicap?"

Naruto looked around him. It was true that he would end up fighting the NPC-Konoha Eleven if he chose to continue fighting, and try as he might he couldn't bring himself to do that. However, he still hadn't lost hope and smirked.

"You think that would keep me from kicking your sorry ass? Pfft, please. You forgot about one thing, moss-head. I don't have to fight them just to beat you up. I'm fast enough to reach you in a blink of an eye, so you don't have the luxury to act like a smug bastard."

It didn't matter if they had him surrounded. As long as Naruto was using the Bijū-Sage Mode, the concept of range was meaningless to him. A mere range of several meters could be crossed as quickly as taking a step, and that would give him a lot of chances to defeat Naoi. The students Naoi was controlling were normal humans, so it was very unlikely that they could keep up with him.

"Is that so?" Naoi asked back with a sneer. "Well, that's fine and all...but who said I'm out of options?"

"...?"

At that point, Naoi seemed to have initiated a command of some sort, because all the NPC-Konoha Eleven began to move. Naruto tensed, ready to lunge forward and attack Naoi with a point-blank Rasengan the next moment, but his movements stopped completely. He stopped because the NPC-Konoha Eleven pulled a gun out of their respective pockets

He stopped because they proceeded to aim it at their own heads.

"?!"

"Now, this is going to be as simple as it gets," Naoi crossed his arm and chuckled, looking smugly at the tense Naruto with a victorious sneer. "Drop that shroud of energy and surrender. That way you can spare them the pain of suicide."

That cruel proposition turned the tables completely.

Naoi had come to understand that Naruto would not hurt the eleven NPCs standing in front of him. More than not wanting to hurt them, however, he didn't want them to let them get hurt. For one reason or another, Naruto was treating them like people who he shared a deep connection with rather than some meaningless NPCs.

In the end, it was only a matter of taking hostages; an ironically similar strategy he had used against the Afterlife Battlefront.

By threatening to hurt these eleven NPCs, Naoi could force Naruto to surrender.

The boy shrouded in blazing yellow chakra could only balk in shock. But a surge of emotion washed over that shock and he clenched his fist in anger, letting his chakra shroud flare even brighter.

Naoi shook his head, "Oh? Is that supposed to be a no? I suppose you're not taking me seriously."

Without any warning, NPC-Sakura lowered her arm, placed her gun to her thigh and pulled the trigger. A bullet went through the mass of flesh, blood immediately flowing out.

Oddly, she didn't even flinch.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Naruto couldn't clearly see whether the bullet cleanly went through her thigh or not, but with the all the blood flowing out it might be safe to assume that it had and created a hole through the thigh. Not that it meant any better, though.

"Woah there, calm down." As if reacting to Naoi's voice, NPC-Sakura suddenly stood upright and returned to aiming her gun to her right temple. It was almost as if her wound didn't faze her. "I'm only making my point. No need to get all riled up like that. Now, like I said, drop that energy shroud. I'm pretty sure you don't want another hole in your acquaintance's body, right?"

"...Fuck you."

"I'd prefer if you would drop your colorful language while you're at it."

Naoi didn't seem to feel pressured by Naruto's hostility. That was a given, considering how he now held Naruto in the palm of his hands.

The taunting smile on Naoi's face made Naruto seriously consider ramming an oversized Rasengan into him. The building anger inside of him supported that idea, but he hesitated when he saw the NPC-Konoha Eleven.

If he chose not to relent there, they would be killed. He honestly didn't know how to feel about that risk.

Besides, was it really a risk at all? To have those NPCs killed in return for defeating Naoi, could that be counted as a risk?

Naruto looked at them and tried to find the answer.

Every one of the faces in front of him were identical to the people they were impersonating. The blind-like eyes of Byakugan of the Hyūga siblings, the pineapple-style ponytail of the Nara, Sai's sickly pale complexion; everything. Although NPC-Kiba lacked his dog companion, Akamaru, the blood red fang-shaped tattoo on his cheeks were identical to the real Kiba.

Whoever designed these NPCs, he would need to congratulate them for going through the trouble of putting in these small yet defining details, cruel as they may be.

Somewhere deep inside, seeing the gang together like this made the blonde Uzumaki a bit happy. It made him remember of the past memories and the time he had spent with them.

A mirthless chuckle escaped his lips.

"Damn it...I should be impossibly angry right now, but I can't help but feel glad to see you guys. You're just a bunch of NPCs, each and every one of you, but even so..."

Naruto's voice wavered slightly as he looked at the NPCs' faces one by one. He looked at them straight in the eye, selfishly hoping to find some sort of resemblance in there rather than just the identical faces.

He wasn't surprised that he found nothing at all.

They were mere NPCs, after all. No matter how much he wished they were the real deal, no matter how much he missed them, they could never be real. Those eyes would never reflect the memories they had shared together.

Even so...

"I really can't fight you guys after all..." he said as the yellow chakra shroud encompassing him flickered out.

He gave up.

It didn't matter if they weren't real. At least, to him, it didn't.

Standing in front of him were incorporeal copies he wouldn't dare to acknowledge as his real friends. Up until then, he had always thought of them as a nuisance, an insurmountable annoyance, and one surreal spit to the face that God had set up for him. He had looked at them as a joke; failed attempts at consoling him that only served to deepen his wounds.

He resented them. In a way, he hated them.

But, in that moment, Naruto would readily turn back on his words.

No matter how wrong it would be, he was ready to take back what he had said and amend it. What he had arrogantly stated to Frederica, that they weren't real and served no purpose but to hurt him – he was ready to take it back. He'd do such an ugly thing to do this one selfish act.

"There's no way...there's no way I can hurt you. You're...you're my precious friends!"

The truth is, Naruto was human.

He was a powerful human who had the strength to save the world, but still a human nonetheless. He had his flaws. Kings can fall no matter how strong and dependable they are. Naruto was similar in a sense. He had the strength to save the world, but his world was destroyed because of a mistake on his part. Inconsistencies colored the beings called humans.

As such, expecting him to always stay true to his words was preposterous. This particularly applied to his statement that he didn't care about the NPC-Konoha Eleven.

Saying that they had no effect whatsoever on him was a lie, even if Naruto himself wouldn't admit it.

He had once lost them in such a ridiculous way, so it wouldn't be unexpected for him to crave seeing them again.

The NPCs he had slighted for having the nerve to bear the faces of his long gone friends had cracked his resolve. And thus, Naruto wore his naked heart and spoke his undeniable truth.

"In the first place, it's unfair how much you resemble the real ones. Of all people in the whole universe you can copy, you somehow end up using their faces...and why is that? Out of the more than one billion possibilities you can stumble upon, this possibility with less than 0.0001% chance of happening somehow happened. How...just how am I supposed to react to that?! I was ready to forget about you guys! But then you show up and do this! What the hell!? What the actual fuck!? You can't expect me to readily forget about you now that you're standing right in front of me, 'ttebayo! It's not that simple! I'm not that strong! If I have to see you guys every day and remember the peaceful smiles you could make, I'd be better off not forgetting at all!"

It was unclear who he was speaking to.

The angry words flowing out of his mouth were directed towards the NPC-Konoha Eleven, but there was more than a hint of self-reproach in them. Most likely, he was also mad at himself.

Completely losing the strength in his legs, he couldn't stop himself from falling to his knees. He didn't know why, but being pitted against the visages of his friends wore out his mind so much that he lost the will to fight.

"...So, do you finally give up?"

A frown marred Naoi's face as he spoke. He had not expected his opponent to snap so wildly like that, and it confused him enough that the joy of victory wasn't the first thing to come to his mind.

He didn't understand half of what the blonde said, but he heard enough to know that the idea of having to fight his 'friends' was apparently toxic to Naruto's mentality. That he suddenly gave up when he was surrounded by some weak NPCs was the proof. Still, a reaction that strong was something out of his range of expectation.

That, of course, was not a problem. It was obvious who had won in this fight.

Naruto didn't answer and stared at the ground silently, his arms placed limply on the ground beside him.

Seeing the broken, unresponsive boy, Naoi closed his eyes and smiled to himself. His victory has finally been assured.

"Kill him."

The simple order was followed by a simple response.

Even as the NPC-Konoha Eleven aimed their guns at him, Naruto didn't budge an inch. He no longer had the will to fight, so prolonging their battle was something he wasn't able to do. But, when faced with that inability, the expression on Naruto's face wasn't that of despair.

His was an odd look of relief.

That was the expression Hideki, Noda and Yuri last saw on his face as he silently mouthed, "Sorry."

And then the air was filled with the sound of countless gunshots.

o-x-o-x-o

[PART 4]

Otonashi couldn't remember the path leading to the detention room he had been in. It was different than the one used to detain the Battlefront a little while back, and he had not been able to completely memorize the path leading outside. It looked like Kanade didn't know where they were either, so they had been running around with no clear direction. They were currently in a branching hallway somewhere they have never been before.

"Damn it! Why is there so many turns in a hallway like this? This is turning from a prison to a full-blown maze!"

"Running while complaining so loudly is bad for your health," Kanade commented from the side.

"I appreciate the thought, but this is hardly the time to be concerned about that!" Otonashi exclaimed. He was breathing quite quickly after running around for a while. In comparison, Kanade didn't seem tired at all, despite how her frail frame suggested she should be.

"Don't you remember which way we took?" asked Otonashi while wiping sweat off his forehead.

"I don't," Kanade said, shaking her head. "That detention room earlier is new to me. These hallways are, as well."

Most likely, Kanade had never heard of such a construction being built anywhere around the school building. That jail-like room seemed to be designed to be strong enough to keep her inside, so the one who built it must be another person.

"In other words, you're not familiar with it at all, huh..."

"We should keep trying. We're almost out."

Otonashi sighed tiredly, but he nodded and jogged forward. Depending on how close they were to the exit, it might either cheer him up or bring him down. Unfortunately, there was also the prospect of taking the wrong turn, which would only take them even further away from the exit. There was no choice but to carefully read the signs every time they reached an intersection. It was lucky enough someone put up signs on some of them otherwise they would truly be lost.

'It's okay. Calm down,' Otonashi mentally berated himself. 'From the looks of it, Uzumaki has gone ahead of us. It's not guaranteed, but he's more than strong enough to protect the Battlefront for a while. We should focus on following the signs and get out, even if it takes more time.'

It wasn't until several long minutes later that they reached the exit, and even then they still had not turn up at their final destination. They still needed to run around the school building until they reach the Grounds. It took them a little longer than expected, but after some more tense minutes, they finally arrived there. And when they did, Otonashi couldn't believe his eyes.

"What on earth...is this?"

What was once a large clearing decorated with oval track-and-field lines was now a dirty field tainted with blood.

It wasn't just a speck of it either. The area covered by its red color and the body littering around them made it look like a twisted form of a slaughterhouse. The faint smell of iron in the air also proved the terrible scene was real; the pouring rain had no effect in hiding its revolting stench.

Still, Otonashi couldn't believe it.

When he noticed the 'Class 3S' uniforms worn by the dead bodies, he simply refused to.

Otonashi slowly descended through the stairs leading to the Grounds, all the while trying to comprehend what had exactly happened. It was a futile effort, but he pushed himself to keep thinking lest he would lose his mind.

That was how shocking the sight was for him.

'No, wait. Just hold on a minute. Uzumaki...he had gone ahead of us, so he should've been here fighting. He didn't get lost in the hallways, did he? Then...then what is this?'

His eyes wandered, searching for any signs of life amidst the horrible massacre. The only ones moving were what seemed to be student council members and some ordinary students, no doubt the ones Yuri said the student council had taken hostage. Yet those ordinary students seemed to move together with the student council members, suggesting that they were working together.

And then there was Naoi Ayato.

Standing tall among the heaps of corpses, his figure seemed to give off a despicable sense of dread.

But honestly, Otonashi didn't care about that.

He was more concerned about the one under that boy's foot as he rolled over a bloody body. It was an all too familiar face he had come to know.

"HINATA!"

Pushing aside the fear looming over his mind, Otonashi jumped directly down the stairs and ran towards his injured friend. The wet ground nearly made him slip, but he clumsily regained his balance and kept running.

Probably out of consideration, Naoi stepped away from Hideki and backed up a few feet. Though, he simply might have thought that he didn't need to rush things since he already won, so letting Otonashi in wouldn't change anything. Doing that would instead clarify how indomitable his current victory was.

Otonashi didn't have time to concern himself with that, though.

"Are you okay? Hinata!" he half-yelled to the blue-haired boy. It seemed Hideki was still alive since he gave out a groan and slowly turned his head towards Otonashi.

"Running straight to me like this...do you swing that way?"

His joke would probably have more humor in it if his head wasn't bleeding so much.

"Now's not the time for jokes!" reprimanded Otonashi.

In response, Hideki gave out a weak laugh. "Ah ha hah…I guess not. Rather than that...you're late, Otonashi."

Otonashi gritted his teeth and hung his head low. He realized that things wouldn't turn so bad had he hurried up and reached here in time. Even though mulling over what has passed wouldn't change anything, he couldn't forgive himself for taking so long.

"Sorry...I...I thought that Uzumaki would make it in time for you guys."

Again, Hideki let out a weak laugh, though this one was more like a low rumble of his throat that resembled a chuckle.

"Don't...blame yourself. *Cough*...Uzumaki...he did come to us, actually."

"Then...where is he? I don't see him anywhere."

It might be because of the heavy rain, but Otonashi couldn't spot that whisker-marked boy nor catch any sign of his black-and-orange jersey. His bright yellow hair should've also helped to spot him, but he still couldn't find him.

And besides...

If Naruto really was here before him, then there was no way Hideki would end up in this pitiful state. He would have protected him and all of the Battlefront members.

However, Hideki slowly raised his forefinger and crushed Otonashi's theory.

"He's...over there."

Hideki pointed at a bunch of bodies.

No, actually, he was pointing at a single body among those other bodies. At first, Otonashi couldn't see it clearly, but when he realized what he was seeing, he was more than shocked.

The familiar figure was lying on his stomach, wearing that catchy black-and-orange jersey, but that wasn't what created the disparity between him and the other bodies. Instead, it was the many blades stabbed into his back. A set of swords and sharpened makeshift weapons littered his back like flowers growing on a flower bed. Blood flowed continuously from those numerous wounds and pooled around his unmoving body.

It was Naruto.

"Uzu...maki?"

Otonashi was stunned.

The person whom he thought to be unbeatable was lying on the ground, defeated and bloodied.

His mind honestly couldn't keep up with it.

"...A group of ordinary students did him in," Hideki said with a forlorn look. He felt obliged to explain despite his wounds. "I don't know how or why it happened, but Uzumaki stopped attacking when he confronted a group of NPC students. Afterwards...they killed him and did that to him; probably to keep him from moving when he revives."

No matter what the reason, though, it was truly a horrible sight. Otonashi couldn't tell if he could bear to look any longer, so he tore his eyes away from the fallen boy and looked towards the perpetrator. A boiling heat spread from his stomach when he saw Naoi's smirk.

However, Naoi was looking at someone behind him.

Kanade had walked into the field with a calm stride, standing some distance behind Otonashi.

"Huh. How did you get out of there?" Naoi asked with an almost mirthful smile.

"I broke the door," answered Kanade.

Naoi seemed to sigh inwardly as he walked towards them, stopping only when he determined his voice could reach them through the rain.

"So not only that delinquent whose power is not yet determined, but even you, whom the room was specially designed for, could get out easily. ...I guess I overestimated my abilities."

There was no genuine disappointment in Naoi's tone. In fact, he almost sounded amused that his plan failed in that aspect. He immediately dropped that friendly façade and straightened up, leveling a calm gaze towards Kanade.

"I order you as the acting student council president to go back obediently."

Being considerate enough to spare their lives might not be Naoi's intention, though it might look as such. Even so, there was no way Otonashi would abandon Hideki and the others so simply – not when he had seen the massacre firsthand.

"Tachibana, you see this? You know that something like this is just wrong, right?" Otonashi asked with his back towards Kanade.

The girl herself chanced a glance towards the victimized Afterlife Battlefront members. She looked at their bloody, unmoving bodies with a neutral gaze as the rain pelted them mercilessly. Her gaze lingered on one boy whose back was littered with blades and whose yellow hair was matted down, slightly dyed red by the blood pooling under him.

...It was said that Angel—Tachibana Kanade was not human.

Her unchanging expression when she saw this bloody scene was probably a supporting proof to that.

However, can anyone really guarantee that she was exempt from having emotion; that she was merely a tool of God? Can anyone really say that she felt absolutely nothing when she saw her friend's – one of the EXTREMELY few she actually had – horrible condition?

It was hard to believe.

Otonashi didn't believe it, either.

He had realized that, prior to her encounter with the Battlefront, Kanade might have had friends. At some point, they had disappeared thanks to the Afterlife's system, leaving her by herself. That reason alone was enough for Otonashi to understand why Kanade seemed so detached at first glance.

But the fact remained that she once had friends.

It had nothing to do with being an angel or not.

He believed that even she, at some point in the past, had been like a normal girl in some ways. That was why, no matter how different her usual thought process was, he was certain Kanade could also see the immorality in front of her eyes.

"...Hand Sonic."

A high-pitched noise rung as Kanade's translucent hand-blade appeared on her right wrist. Her primary weapon was held ready as a silent declaration of war.

She had promised Otonashi that she would help his friends. And while no one could see it, she was determined to keep that promise.

Although faced with an opponent clearly stronger than himself, Naoi didn't move an inch.

"Are you rebelling against God?" he asked to the silver-haired girl.

Confused, Kanade lowered her hand slightly.

"For I am God."

Upon hearing Naoi's statement, Hideki pushed himself up with Otonashi's help. "Has he lost it?" he wondered with a slight grunt.

Otonashi gritted his teeth in revulsion. "Doing all this just for something like that..."

"You fools," Naoi let out an almost amused chuckle. "Did none of you realize that this is a world that chooses its God?"

While the two boys and one girl were struggling to understand what Naoi was talking about, he continued speaking.

"I remember when I was alive. Everyone here had a cruel life, me included. Why? Because that is what gives you the right to be God." Naoi explained with a confident tone; such that he almost sounded believable. "As one who lived through such a terrible life, I also earned the right to become God. And now, I have reached that point."

Every fiber of Otonashi's being refused to believe what Naoi said. However, assuming what Naoi said was true – and this is a very far-fetched assumption – then he might really have reached that seemingly unreachable height.

In the battle which had just ended, Naoi had stated that he had obtained the power to influence the ordinary students as a result of becoming the student council president. In a way, a power of that scale had made him God, or so he said. As the one who had heard about this theory, Hideki couldn't help but think about what that word actually meant. His already wobbly legs shook even more at the thought.

"...And what will you do after becoming God?" Otonashi boldly asked.

Naoi's answer came without skipping a beat, "Bestow eternal rest."

"On us?!" Hideki questioned.

"By massacring us?!" Otonashi demanded.

But the two's angry remarks slid off Naoi like water on a plate as he airily replied, "Only because you resisted. You all had the right to become God, but you bound yourselves to your lives and kept struggling." Saying that, Naoi walked away from them and towards the pile of bodies he had massacred. A smile grew on his face as he strode to the center of it all.

"God has been decided. And so, I will bestow rest upon you."

He stopped when his feet brought him to a headband-wearing female student, lying prone on the ground.

"Yuri!"

Exclaiming in shock, Otonashi tensed when he saw Naoi grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up, eliciting a painful yelp from the girl before apprehending her from behind; the close contact between them preventing Yuri from moving. Yuri's clothes were in tatters, and her appearance was no different. Blood ran down the side of her face from a wound on her head, while her whole body was covered with dirt and grime.

"What the hell do you intend to do now?!" Sensing a foreboding danger, Otonashi got up and ran towards Yuri, intent on getting Naoi away from her. He didn't manage to get far, however, because the remains of Naoi's army held him at gunpoint, stopping him in his tracks.

At the sight of the dark-clothed figures, Kanade once again raised her Hand Sonic, coming to Otonashi's side to aid him. Silently, her eyes looked at each of the ordinary students, waiting for them to make the first move. Her arms were tense, ready to deflect any bullets shot towards her or the taller boy beside her.

But then, Otonashi shook his head.

"Not me, Tachibana! Yuri! Go help Yuri!"

Kanade had surely heard Otonashi's demand. Of course, she had promised that she would help him save his friends, and she intended to keep that promise. But if she left Otonashi by himself, chances are the ordinary students would shoot him. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to do that.

"...How about you?"

"Don't mind me! Rather than that, Yuri is...!"

Yuri, whose consciousness had been wavering up until then, steeled her nerves as she leveled a shaky glare at Naoi behind her. The fact that it took all she had just to do that showed how little strength she had left in her.

"What...do you want?"

"...You're going to rest in peace now."

"!"

The meaning behind those words felt more ominous than the words themselves. And Yuri, knowing full well what it actually meant, had every right to feel that way.

Naoi then looked at the girl in the eye, a confident smirk on his face.

"You remember Iwasawa-san's case, don't you? In her past life, she was robbed of her voice and her dream to sing. She died miserably, with a terrible family to boot. But her dream was granted in this world. And so, she disappeared. She was able to rest in peace."

Iwasawa's past was something only a select number of people knew. Yuri was one of them, and Otonashi was the other. To respect her, none of them had told another soul about it, as it was a sensitive subject. In Yuri's case, she even hid it from the other Battlefront members, letting Iwasawa to decide who she was going to share it with, and when. In fact, not even Naruto, who was regarded as one of Iwasawa's closest friends, had known about it.

Yuri had known what Iwasawa lacked in her life, and what her regret was. In other words, she had expected that Iwasawa would someday disappear when performing on stage.

Seen in that light, it might be cruel of her to have Iwasawa perform as a vocalist with that risk.

Yuri herself had probably realized it as well, so she was the one who felt the most guilt at her disappearance.

But what was more troubling was how Naoi could find out about that secret Iwasawa kept closely to herself.

"And now, as she did, you will rest in peace. It'll be a nice dream."

Naoi had the power to influence the Afterlife to the extent of taking control over the ordinary students. This 'god-like' power was frightening in that regard, but most likely, he could use it in another manner.

He had taken Iwasawa's disappearance as an example for a reason. Most likely, he had observed what conditions were needed for one to pass on from the Afterlife from that. Considering his power, Yuri speculated that he would use his influence to create a situation capable of sending her off from the Afterlife. But to do that, he had to know about her past first.

Yuri gritted her teeth and struggled against Naoi's hold.

"You don't know my past!"

"I don't need to know," Naoi replied.

"...!" A gasp escaped Yuri's mouth.

Didn't need to know?

Was it...not essential?

That couldn't be. Naoi's power revolved around his ability to influence the ordinary students. Of course, Yuri didn't know how it exactly worked, but she could guess. In battle, Naoi used that influence to order the ordinary students to do his bidding. He had to have a clear goal to achieve and a method to do it.

To put it simply, he had to know the end result to what he wanted in addition to the method needed to achieve it. It was like having a blueprint of a construction to understand what he would be building.

Now, suppose he wanted to use that influence on someone to make them disappear. According to the Afterlife's system, one would disappear after having their past regrets appeased, so Naoi would need to know about his target's past to create that appeasing suggestion. This is assuming he was intending to use his influence on Yuri to make her disappear.

And yet...he didn't need to know?

Was his power that potent?

"I didn't spend all that time preparing just to remove Angel from power." Naoi stated calmly. "Acquiring knowledge as to how the Afterlife works and creating plans to use you people to my advantage is also nothing but a secondary objective."

What was he preparing that he would regard such a considerable feat as 'secondary'?

"Hypnotism," the boy said as if answering her thoughts.

The power to influence others, to control other people's minds.

In the current case, it was an extremely powerful hypnotism which worked on a large scale.

"I have to say, you people are thoroughly easy to lie to." Naoi suddenly said with an almost disappointed sigh. "There's no such thing as 'a power granted to the highest person in the student hierarchy'. That's false thinking. I didn't receive this power because I become God. I was able to become God because I have this power."

At first, no one could believe what Naoi had said.

'No matter how you see it, hypnotism on such a large scale is...!' Otonashi thought with doubt, but that doubt was short-lived. He looked at the eyes of the ordinary students around him, and while it was raining, he could still see their eyes. Those NPC students were modeled off from real humans, so they should've had eyes like them. But those clouded, unfocused eyes were clearly that of someone being controlled.

They really were hypnotized.

"Now, close your eyes." Naoi said as he slowly opened his eyes. His previously eerie yellow eyes had turned red; a sign of his hypnotism activating. "You will now enter a blissful dream. Even in this world, you can dream of a happy place."

For someone to disappear, their regret should be lifted.

To lift someone's regret, they should see the opposite side of its cause; a fulfilling, happy ending.

What does that mean to someone like Yuri?

'No way...no way...no way...! That's...!'

Even as she frantically thought, her consciousness was fading quickly. The hypnotism took effect on her sooner than her mind could keep up. With half-lidded eyes, all she could see was Naoi's smug smile and the faint light behind him.

She would disappear.

As all thoughts cleared out of her mind, that single truth remained deeply rooted to her consciousness. She would be forced to see a scene which would appease her regrets, making her disappear afterwards.

…If she were to be honest, she already knew what she would see.

The hypnotism's aim was to make her disappear, after all.

She knew what false happiness she would be made to see.

But then, when her eyes finally cracked open to look...

Red.

All she could see was red.

"Sorry, but the brat's not ready to lose anyone else yet."

And at that instant, the sound of breaking glass resounded in Nakamura Yuri's ears.

"!"

Jerking up unnaturally, Yuri's eyes opened wide and took in the view in front of her, inhaling deeply in an almost hungry manner. A sensation that could only be described as an electric jolt had awakened her and quickened her heartbeat such that it felt it would burst out of her chest. By itself, it was proof of one relieving truth.

She was still there in the Afterlife. She had not disappeared.

"What...?"

She heard Naoi utter an unfinished question in surprise.

"Just now...that was..."

Suddenly, Naoi let her go and stood up, making her fall on her side. Yuri couldn't see him clearly, but she could see that he was tense for some reason. He had clearly felt it as she did; an ominous, threatening presence of something that broke the hypnotism midway. She didn't know if he had also heard the voice accompanying it, though.

Why? What just happened?

She had been falling into his hypnotism just now, but it was cancelled. Something red, something...vile broke the illusion. It couldn't be described as anything more than a presence; a powerful, enigmatic presence capable of intruding her mind. But she couldn't feel any intention of invading her – it was as if that presence was only there to break Naoi's hypnotism.

Moreover, she felt...warm. Even when the rain was pouring down on her, her whole body felt like she was sitting in front of a heater. While staring at the sky in wonder, Yuri lifted her hand to her face...and looked.

Something red was attached to her hand.

"What is...?"

She couldn't quite put it, but it looked similar to a thick thread or a cable. It gave off an ethereal reddish-orange glow and was mostly transparent, so she realized it wasn't a normal thread.

The thread was connecting her to something. Her eyes curiously traced through it, following it in hopes of finding the source of whatever she was experiencing until eventually they landed on a single boy.

She found herself looking at the boy's outstretched right hand.

"Uzu...maki...?

It might be a trick of the light, but she could swear she saw him being covered by an aura similarly-colored to the ethereal thread attached to her hand. When she tried to confirm it, it was no longer there.

But then it was there once more, blinking on and off like a fading candle.

"...What's tha—?" Yuri wondered.

She wasn't even finished speaking when her eyes caught the sight of movement; the outstretched hand she had been looking suddenly slamming into the ground with force. Not dropping, slamming – the kind of movement usually did to smack a mosquito.

It was odd.

Naruto, whose back was riddled with sharp weapons, shouldn't be moving at all.

A quick inspection of him would say that he was supposedly and genuinely dead, but that would be incorrect. His hand wouldn't be outstretched if that was the case, and that slap to the ground was more forceful than a simple muscle twitch. But then, how could anyone explain what was happening right now?

The answer was simple.

Yuri had no way of knowing this, but the red aura which had attached itself to her hand just now was Kurama's chakra. That same chakra had interfered with Naoi's hypnotism and drove his influence out from Yuri's mind. By channeling enough chakra into someone's body, a shinobi can shake off the illusion polluting their five senses. That was the basic knowledge of how to repel Genjutsu.

But such a specific use of his chakra could not happen without a clear intent from the user. Simply put, there had to be a will which controlled its actions.

And who else would have the will to control the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra?

(Activate Soundtrack: Sawano Hiroyuki feat. Mizuki – aLIEz)

As impossible as it seemed, that body which was riddled with blades slowly and shakily began standing up. Blood spurted out at the smallest movements of his muscle, and though his spine should've been severed by the katana sticking into his back, the yellow-haired boy still stood up.

"You're...

...NOT...

...GOD...!"

Words were breathed out in a raspy voice. His spiky bangs draped over his eyes and casted shadow over his face such that his eyes could not be seen. Thick whisker marks, the likes which suggested someone had rubbed rough stone on his cheeks, appeared on both of his cheeks.

Finally, albeit on limp legs, the boy stood up. The weapons stabbed into his back could now be seen piercing through his front torso as well, but even with those horrible wounds, he still stood up.

Nobody knew how this was possible.

Not Yuri, Otonashi, Hideki, Kanade, nor Naoi.

They all looked towards the wounded boy, who limply stood with a hand held over his abdomen, with confused eyes and shocked expressions.

'What...in the world is he?' Naoi thought, mind numb with shock. 'He's already revived? Impossible...the revival shouldn't be this quick. Then does that mean he was still alive all this time!? And how is he standing up? His Achilles tendon was already cut, his spinal cords should've been in disarray, and nearly half of his body is filled with bullets and blades, so how is he…!?'

Numerous questions popped in Naoi's mind, none of which he could find an answer to. A cloak of energy that gave someone heightened speed and strength was one thing; the ability to survive after being shot at least a dozen times and impaled to the ground was another thing entirely. There was the rational thought of the attacks failing to pierce his vitals; yet even if the NPCs had only aimed for flesh wounds (which they hadn't), it should've been nigh impossible for anyone to live through that huge amount of blood loss.

His mind couldn't comprehend it.

His logic couldn't keep up.

But showing surprise here would be a sign of weakness, so Naoi calmed himself down with a deep breath.

"…Despite your amazing comeback, I can't help but overhear your mumbling. Would you care to repeat that?"

"You heard me…loud and clear."

The boy who shouldn't be alive then spoke up. His throaty voice permeated the sound of raindrops and reached everyone's ears.

"You're…not God," Blood escaped Naruto's mouth as he spoke, but he smiled and continued talking. "Someone like you…wouldn't even know…what being one means…do you?"

Despite the shakiness of his voice, he had spoken quite clearly for someone who should be choking on his own blood.

Still shaken, but had overall regained his composure, Naoi narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying…that you're a load of shit…you false god." Naruto growled. He lifted his face to glare at Naoi, revealing a pair of red, beast-like eyes. "You have…no clue…of what 'being God'…really means."

Momentarily flinching under the piercing stare of those dangerous-looking eyes, Naoi suddenly realized he had to choose his words carefully. His position as a 'god' aside, he felt speaking carelessly would unleash something truly worrisome.

"…Like I said, this is a world that chooses its God. The people who had suffered a terrible life gains the right to—"

"That's…not it," Naruto cut in swiftly. "Being God…what does that actually means?"

Naoi frowned, but he answered accordingly, "…To be the one who bestows eternal rest on other suffering souls."

"…I see," Naruto coughed up blood before continuing with a question, "Is that all?"

"I suppose…no, it also means being the one to control the world and its inhabitants, as I have controlled the Afterlife."

"Is that all?"

"As an omnipotent being, I can do anything. No one shall oppose me, not even the God before me. I'll change the world…make it into a place without regrets. I'll fix that anomaly that the God before had created in the world!"

"Is that all!?"

"…"

Left with nothing else to say, Naoi's mouth clamped shut.

He didn't know when, but he had gotten riled up; so much that words came out of his mouth before he could even think about it. For the first time, he had spoken out of emotion rather than logic.

Meanwhile, his opponent stared at him with narrowed eyes, his breath shallow after his earlier shout.

"Is that…really all it means?" he said between haggard breaths.

"…What more could it possibly mean?" Naoi demanded calmly. "And what would you know about it?"

A light laugh escaped Naruto's mouth, though it was quickly accompanied with a pained grimace. His hand hurriedly went to his pierced torso in reflex to the pain.

"Hah…it's actually simple logic." A carefree smirk grew on the whisker-marked boy's face. "I may not…know anything about it. But…if you really think…'being God' is something that simple…then you must really be an idiot, 'ttebayo."

A vein popped on Naoi's temples.

Not a second later, one of the NPC students surrounding Otonashi and Kanade – bearing close resemblance to one Nara Shikamaru – turned around and shot his gun at Naruto's left calf.

"GHK?! GAAAAAAAAAH!" Naruto fell to the ground yelling in pain, clutching his left leg with both hands.

"Uzumaki!" Otonashi exclaimed in distress.

At the time, Kanade opted to move forward with her Hand Sonic held at ready. She was just about to stab NPC-Shikamaru in the chest when a loud voice stopped her in her tracks.

"DON'T TOUCH THEM!"

Shouting from a fetal position, Naruto turned his head towards Kanade and shot her a desperate look. Pain seemed to be mixed into that look, but he put more attention on Kanade's advance on the NPC student. Shaking his head at her, Naruto hoped that she would get the message and back off.

Kanade didn't wholly understand why she shouldn't attack, but she stepped back towards Otonashi.

Meanwhile, Naoi looked down on the fallen blonde, a visible trace of annoyance in his expression. "I thought you had something else to say, but it turns out to be nothing more than an empty argument. A mere human like you have no right to judge whether I'm God or not, so shut up already."

"Kuh…hah…enough…of that nonsense…!"

"What?"

Struggling to contain the sense of pain spreading throughout his body, Naruto once again pushed himself up and rose.

"Pain…suffering…no matter how much you gather them…no matter how much you pile them up…humans can't become God!"

"Tch…so you still have this much in you."

Naoi decided to do things himself, so he pulled out his black gun and shot; this time hitting Naruto on his left shoulder. Naruto's senses exploded with pain, but he gritted his teeth and kept facing forward.

"Using what happened…in your past life as an excuse for what you're doing…is too damn pathetic! Bestowing eternal rest? Changing the world? What's with that train of thought? You're one crazy bastard…but I never thought you were that dumb."

Another gunshot.

The bullet pierced into the side of Naruto's stomach, but once again he ignored the pain. He was now crouching and slowly pushed himself up with his legs.

"Regret…doesn't exist so you can hate the world. Pain and suffering…aren't excuses to 'become God'. They're all proof…that you were alive, 'ttebayo! They're the things…which remained to remind us…that we've struggled in the living world. Each of us…has suffered and received that proof! I don't care if you understand that…but don't selfishly decide…that you have 'become God' and erase our proof of living, you bastard!"

*BANG!*

Probably out of pure luck, the bullet missed Naruto and instead hit one of the swords sticking into his back, ricocheting off with a 'twang' sound.

"I'm telling you to shut up. Like I said, what would you know about being God? You're just one of the ones who failed to become one, so there's no way you would know."

"What would I know…about 'being God'? Heh…honestly, I don't have the slightest idea. I'm not a god…or a Saint who governs the memories of countless worlds…or anything of that caliber. I'm just a human being, 'ttebayo. But…even I can tell…that someone who works by such a selfish reasoning…can never be God."

*BANG! BANG!*

Again, the shots didn't hit; this time missing Naruto by a hair's breadth.

"I've fought…others like you. Self-proclaimed gods…of my own messed-up world, hell-bent on recreating the world with their own ideals. I know…how much hatred they had…towards the unfair world God gave them. I know why they wanted to be God…and change that unfair world. By your messed-up logic…those people might've 'become God'.…I've gotten used…to fighting people like that. I've won against them, 'ttebayo. So tell me…if they were God, then what am I?"

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

*KCHK! KCHK!*

For some reason, all the bullets had missed him by a long shot. To make matters worse for him, he had finally run out of ammunition.

Cold sweat rolled down Naoi's forehead as he struggled to keep his breathing steady.

Why?

Why couldn't he kill this person?

"You're not even half…as strong as they were…and your reasoning could never compare…to those people. As twisted as they were…they believed in their personal idea of 'peace'…as they tried to change the world. You? You're just…an egotistical kid who makes his selfish desires…into his half-assed reasoning."

Fear returned to Naoi's face as Naruto slowly walked towards him. "Stop…don't come any closer!"

"But I can relate to that. Childishly wishing for a perfect life is…a very human thing to do. I've been there too, 'ttebayo. Dreaming of a different life, painting reality with too-perfect of an image…it happens. Playing God isn't new to me, Naoi. It happened…too many times I got tired of counting."

What was Naruto feeling as he dragged his feet towards his opponent?

Anger? Perhaps, since Naoi did hurt his friends. Moreover, he used the NPC-Konoha Eleven as weapons against him, so he was more than a little agitated. Add to the fact that Naoi tried to erase Yuri through hypnotism, it was hard to stay calm against him.

Disgust? Perhaps, since Naoi claimed to be God. Naruto couldn't say he was a religious person, but he definitely felt disturbed by that blasphemous statement. If not for religious reasons, it was simply because he couldn't comprehend how someone can be so conceited in stating that they were God. Then again, he went through the same thing with Nagato.

But something else was there; something that held Naruto back from listing him off as a true villain.

Pity.

He pitied him.

He hated him for what he did to the Battlefront, but he could never condemn the reason behind his actions. In all honesty, Naoi's outcome was sort of expected to be. As a resident of the Afterlife, he must've regretted something in his past life. If he then took his chance to change things while in the Afterlife, it would be an expected course of action. In that regard, he was similar to the Afterlife Battlefront.

Beneath all their differences, Naoi and the Battlefront were the same.

The Battlefront gathered together and formed a group to rebel against God, who they blamed for their unfair life in the past. Naoi had also put up a rebellion of his own, even if his methods were a bit different. The only problem was, he was alone.

He had no one to correct his way of thinking. He had no one to ask whether this rebellion of his would truly lead him to his intended goal.

Perhaps, because of that, he had gone down the wrong path at some point.

He had settled with the idea of 'becoming God' and eliminating all that came in his way. Without caring that he would take another human's life in the process, he would erase everyone that stood in his path while believing that he was doing the right thing.

That he had fallen so low was utterly pitiful.

Naruto looked up with his red, beast-like eyes and glared at the boy once more.

"You're not God."

"Shut up…"

"You massacred the Battlefront…my friends…all the time thinking that you were delivering divine punishment. Heh…what a joke."

"Shut up!"

"You can try killing people…you can try making someone disappear. …But all that would do…is making me your enemy. You'll never…become God."

"SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPP!"

"If you think…that being able to kill…being able to erase someone else…is enough to 'become God'," With a tremble, Naruto clenched his fist and lowered his body. "I'll deny you, and show you…how fragile your delusion is!"

With a wave of his hand, Naoi called back the NPC-Konoha Eleven who had been surrounding Otonashi and Kanade to his side. They changed their guns with melee weapons made up of swords and sharpened tools, opting to deal with Naruto in close combat where he wouldn't retaliate or hurt the NPCs.

If this was anything like the previous battle, this would mean Naruto could not do anything and would have to receive all the deathblows from the NPCs all over again.

'But I have the advantage now.'

With a pained smirk, Naruto connected his palms in front of him and began channeling chakra.

He was not trying to use a Jutsu to fight his way through the NPCs. In fact, he was not trying to gather his strength to fight them at all.

It was the opposite.

'Naoi's control over them is centered on hypnotism. It's not something complicated like some automatic influence he got from becoming the student council president. It's more similar to Genjutsu. I broke that hypnotism when he tried to use it on Yuri, so that means I can do the same to them!'

What he needed to do was simple. Just like what he did to Yuri, he just needed to channel Kurama's chakra into the NPC-Konoha Eleven and shake Naoi's hypnotism off. Regardless of whether they have a chakra network, it should work as long as Kurama's chakra hit all of their five senses. If it succeeded, they would be awakened from the hypnotism and no longer function as Naoi's soldiers.

All he needed was to touch them and insert Kurama's chakra into them.

But he received a disheartening response.

"No can do, brat." Kurama reproached in his mind. "I've got my hands full with healing your ridiculous wounds. You won't be able to stand if I use my chakra for anything else for even a second."

'Reroute your chakra only to the most vital points. Use whatever's left of that to mess up that bastard's hypnotism.'

"What do you think I've been doing all this time?" The fox snorted indignantly. "It's because I'm concentrating on your most vital points that I can't tolerate any distractions. Achilles tendon, the spinal cord, your blood artery, your right lung; you've received so many fatal wounds that even I'm surprised you can stand with just my chakra helping you. I don't have enough leeway to give you chakra while keeping you together at the same time."

It wasn't a problem of the amount of chakra Kurama had left, but rather the concentration it would require to give Naruto his chakra. As Kurama was busy with healing Naruto's wounds, he basically had no way to transfer that chakra.

'…Then what about my reiryoku? I can still use it independently.'

"It's worth a shot, but I don't think you're in any shape to try anything complicated like that. You're on the ropes just by breathing, so I don't think you can concentrate to dispel the hypnotism. Besides, Genjutsu was never what you were good at. I'm not sure it would succeed even if you try."

Naruto clicked his tongue in disappointment. 'In other words, dispelling the hypnotism is out of the question. Can you really not help?'

"Unless you want to try standing like a boneless chicken, then I can't."

He had planned to rely on the fox to safely dispatch the NPC-Konoha Eleven, but it seemed things wouldn't go so smoothly. Not that he believed it would be that easy either, though.

'...Then gear up, Kurama. My plan B is going to be a rough ride.'

The situation once more tipped away from his favor, but he smiled. Improvising was his forte. Just the lost of one plan didn't mean he would be stopped.

Meanwhile, realizing the absence of the NPC students, Otonashi snapped back to reality.

"They're gone. Right…Tachibana, we're going to help Uzumaki!"

With the threat of being shot gone, Otonashi prepared himself to run to Naruto's side. In a fight against fully-armed NPC students, he doubted he would win, but it should be easy for Kanade to dispatch those students. He would need to count on her once more.

But he was stopped by a kunai thrown near his feet.

"Wha-?"

He looked down at the kunai before looking back at Naruto's outstretched left arm. That arm had been limp from the moment he first stood up again, but just now he used it to throw a kunai. Has it already healed? Or was it never hurt to begin with?

"Don't…" Naruto muttered. It went unheard thanks to the rain, but he shook his head to get the message across.

"But…!"

"Go get Yuri. I'll finish this."

While disregarding Otonashi's frantic look, Naruto pushed himself forward with his legs and broke into a run towards the swarm of armed NPC students. The way he suddenly went from walking limply to a full-blown charge shocked both Otonashi and Naoi.

The strain he put into his injured muscles should be tremendous, but Hideki was the only one concerned about another thing.

"This is bad!" he suddenly exclaimed in distress.

"I know. He's in no shape to fight, yet he's rejecting any help from us and went to fight alone!"

"Not that! It's his opponents! For some reason, Uzumaki didn't attack them when they first appeared! It's like he refuses to hurt them no matter what!"

"What? Why?!" Otonashi asked the wounded boy.

"I don't know…but if we just let him be, he'll just end up in the same state as before! You guys gotta help him!"

Even if that was the case, Otonashi didn't know how he should help that yellow-haired boy. Those NPC students were apparently some people he couldn't hurt for some unknown reason, and he even went as far as not letting anyone else hurt them. Otonashi's only idea of helping Naruto was to fight those NPC students – though Kanade would do most of that fighting – but what was he supposed to do when Naruto himself didn't want the NPCs to get hurt?

Would he fight or just stand aside?

Would he help or would he not?

As Otonashi troubled himself with these questions, Kanade tugged at the sleeve of his uniform. Otonashi turned to face her, expecting her to say something, but Kanade just looked up at him without a word.

"…"

She said nothing. She simply stared.

This sort of action wasn't something anyone would use to express their feelings or convey a message.

But Otonashi saw something despite that.

"…"

Even when her face remained expressionless, her eyes slightly shook. And the hand she was using to hold onto his sleeve was slightly trembling too.

Don't interfere.

I won't if you won't.

Such a message was conveyed even without the use of words.

Otonashi sucked in a sharp breath.

Kanade was also troubled by questions of her own, much like he was, but she managed to hold herself back. Naruto's earlier shout at her may have told her something about his decision to fight by himself. And though she may not like it, she refrained from jumping in to help him.

Most likely, though, she would abandon that thought the moment Otonashi chose to ignore Naruto's request and save him.

He was probably the only reason she was able to respect Naruto's wishes and stayed back.

"…I know, but..." Otonashi muttered with a defeated look. "Damn it…!"

Naruto charged towards the NPC-Konoha Eleven's last defense.

He was wounded, but he was far from useless. Naoi had ordered the NPCs to specifically injure his vital movement points such as the Achilles tendon, but that injury was healed already.

It might have come unknown to any of the Afterlife occupants, but Naruto had amazing recovery ability. The chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox inside him gave his body a healing factor-like property which could heal non-fatal injuries faster than normal. Used properly, it could even keep his organs functioning despite receiving fatal wounds.

Technically, it wasn't a perfect recovery. Even Kurama's chakra couldn't completely heal fatal wounds such as a severed spine so quickly. In fact, the only reason Naruto didn't pull out the sword stabbed into his back was because it was the only thing holding up his spine. Removing that sword would most likely misalign his spine, causing even more damage. He was certain his body would bend awkwardly if he pulled it out. As it was, Naruto was forcing the muscles of his lower torso to move despite having an unstable spinal connection.

The way he didn't even consider the pain biting into his body proved how he didn't have the leeway to.

Instead of complaining, he focused all of his remaining strength to go on a frontal assault against Naoi.

Of course, as expected, he first needed to get past the NPC-Konoha Eleven.

But how?

Naruto undoubtedly had the strength to go up against the eleven students, who were non-shinobi. In fact, if he wanted to, he could pretty much defeat them in a single swoop without breaking a sweat. Outnumbering the students by creating shadow clones was also a viable option.

But that was not the issue.

The problem here was that he had no will to fight or hurt them.

Then what would be the best option for him if he wanted to avoid hurting the NPC-Konoha Eleven?

'I can see all the way through it,' Naoi thought with a victorious sneer. 'And it's a useless plan. You have the ability to create clones of yourself, so this head-on attack is meaningless. In other words, it's just a bluff. What you're really aiming for is to catch me off-guard by creating clones that will circle around this last group of eleven and strike me down. You might be able to attack me then, but you should remember who hold these NPCs by the reins. I can make them commit suicide and use it as a threat. You forgot that I still have this card available to me!'

In the middle of the confusion and desperation, Naruto had forgotten what had made him lose the battle in the very end. Naoi was cruel enough to exploit his weakness – the visages of his old friends he wanted to protect – and use it against him. It was a weapon that not even his strongest Jutsu can counteract. It was a weapon which attacked his feeble heart that he had carelessly shown.

This was proof that he had, ultimately, failed as a shinobi.

A true shinobi – an effective shinobi – wouldn't be so affected by such illusions.

That he couldn't steel himself enough to shake that unwillingness away would be his downfall.

'It's settled…it's been settled from the beginning. You can never defeat God!'

…

…That was how it should've been.

That was what common sense would've led anyone to believe.

And yet…

"I told you, didn't I?"

Naruto was ten meters away from a katana-wielding NPC student who looked like Hyūga Neji at first glance. No clones were summoned.

"I'm weak. I'm not strong enough to cut away those bonds yet."

Five meters. Still no clones in sight.

"But I don't need to be strong just to defeat you."

Two meters.

"This is the reason why."

And then, Naruto ran straight into the katana.

Rather than simply avoiding it, he let the blade cut into the center of his chest. And as he did, he went past NPC-Neji with the katana still jammed into him.

Had he lost his mind and chosen to commit suicide?

'No…it's not something that stupid…' Naoi realized in fright. '…had he…predicted that I would threaten him with the suicide card?! Is that why he chose to run straight into the crowd while taking away their weapons as they attacked?!'

Even so, getting cut up just to disarm the NPCs without hurting them was a course of action so stupidly suicidal that no one with a healthy mind would think of choosing. It didn't matter that they were in the Afterlife where death was simply a part of the living cycle; the fear of death should have prevented anyone from doing such a thing. Yet, that was the very reason why the plan had worked so perfectly.

It was because no one had seen it coming.

He received a blade to the chest, a pickaxe to the shoulder, a saw to the arm, a rusty stake to his left hand, and many more. Even so, they did nothing to hinder his advance, and any attacks targeted at his vitals were diverted to other parts of his body that he could sacrifice.

By making full use of Kurama's chakra and its ability to heal his non-fatal wounds on a ridiculous level, he ignored everything else and ran forward like an indestructible freight train.

This was the choice of someone who didn't fear death.

This was the choice of a weakling who couldn't completely sever his bonds with his old friends.

And as Naruto ran past every single NPC students who had the faces of those friends, jamming numerous weapons into his body to harmlessly disarm them, he had a single thought.

'Laugh at me if you want to. I may not be able to achieve complete victory this way, and I may not be able to win without turning myself into a walking ragdoll…but this is all I need. Just this one moment to kick your ass and reach the ending I truly want!'

A wide, bloody grin spread across his face as he lowered his body even more and pushed harder forward. In a form that didn't resemble anything of the living and with his whole body being littered with blades so grotesquely, the boy ran forward.

Genuine fear appeared on Naoi's face, his face paling almost like he was seeing a demon in the flesh. He stood unmoving, not breathing as he stared at a demonic form that shouldn't even be alive.

"Grit your teeth, Kami-dono.*"

Clenching his fist, Naruto reared his arm back and got ready to deliver a devastating straight towards Naoi's face.

"This is gonna hurt you ! ! !"

It was the decisive moment.

To reach the point where he could directly attack Naoi, a lot of effort, time, and sacrifice were needed. People had gotten hurt – died, even, though it wasn't necessarily a tragedy in the Afterlife – for him to get to where he stood. And now, his clenched fist could reach even the boy who proclaimed himself God.

It might not be a powerful Jutsu or a prominent weapon in any shape or form. He no longer had the chakra needed to use anything that devastating, and he couldn't draw out his reiryoku to produce anything remotely similar in function. Moreover, his broken body might not even have enough strength to give more than a single punch.

But he could still win that way.

He believed…no, he knew he could win that way.

So, putting all of his remaining strength into his right arm, Naruto launched a punch hard enough to at least knock someone unconscious.

He would not let those who helped him reach this last stage die in vain. This last attack would settle the current battle.

…

…

…

"…huh?"

Strange.

The fist he put all of his remaining strength into never reached its target.

Why is that?

Just when he was close enough to get a square hit on Naoi's cheek, something pushed him back. And oddly enough, his body once more erupted in a fountain of blood – giving a sick addition to his already unsightly condition.

The pain was drowned by confusion which numbed his senses.

Naruto looked down.

An obstacle had presented itself between him and Naoi at the last moment, jamming a large kitchen knife into the part of the chest where his heart was.

It was a girl.

It was an NPC who looked absurdly similar to someone he knew.

Long, dark hair framed the sides of her face as her milky, light purple eyes looked up hollowly at him.

"Hi…na…ta…"

Those were his last words before he fell on his back, unmoving.

And at that moment, Uzumaki Naruto truly died.

o-x-o-x-o

She had been watching until the very end.

Ever since he (or something connected to him) saved her, she had watched the boy standing up, rising despite his mortal wounds.

She had watched him cry out at how wrong the situation was.

She did not know how the boy arrived at the answers he'd given, nor how he seemed to have dealt with problems like this before.

So she simply watched.

Unable to help, she watched him as he once again put the lives of those eleven NPC students above his and literally chopped himself up.

Unable to utter a single word, she watched him as he gave a last desperate effort to attack their enemy, silently.

And, at last, she watched him die.

That was when strength returned to her legs.

She no longer simply watched…and joined the fray.

o-x-o-x-o

"…hah…hah ha ha…!"

Naoi laughed as realization dawned upon him, releasing the stress on his shoulders and legs.

He won.

The yellow-haired boy had been defeated.

Elation filled his mind, making him forget about the fear he felt towards the demonic being running towards him just moments ago. He laughed as he realized that threat was gone and he couldn't feel any more relieved about it.

His laugh gradually turned hollow afterwards.

"I see…so that's how it is."

The elation he felt just then suddenly vanished and turned into rage.

He had felt relief. He felt relieved that his opponent was dead and could no longer harm him. He had feared of what would become of him if he was the one to lose. Naruto had instigated such fear into him even without him realizing it.

"You planned this out so well that you'd be able to mock me even in death."

His eyes narrowed at the fallen figure of the blonde Jinchūriki, glaring with contempt. He felt anger so great his whole body trembled. Naoi then quickly stepped forward and grabbed hold of Naruto's motionless head by the hair, lifting him halfway and looking straight into his unresponsive eyes with dagger-like intensity.

"You really are an annoyance," the boy growled out angrily. "To think that you'd go this far just to deny me…!"

He couldn't understand.

Why was it that such a person would deny him so? Had he not realized that he was God no matter what anyone says?

That inability to comprehend the yellow-haired boy's actions only served to fuel Naoi's anger further.

"I've never tried hypnotism on someone who's already dead, but letting you off with simple death is much too merciful."

Naoi's eerie yellow eyes shifted to red as he forced Naruto's eyelids to open wider.

"I won't let you die just to be revived afterwards. No, to clarify to you that I truly am God, I'll erase you from existence! Now, look at me!"

There was no guarantee that his hypnotism could work on dead people. In fact, since hypnotism was used to control consciousness, it was hard to say that it could have any effect on someone with no consciousness at all. Establishing eye contact with a dead person would bring no fruition to his effort.

Still, he was angered enough to do such a pointless act.

He betted on the slightest chance that the faintest remnants of Naruto's consciousness would be enough to establish a contact.

Before he could do anything further, however, the sound of repeated gunshots tore through the air.

Naoi's vision jolted upwards in surprise, enough that his hypnotic red eyes shifted back to yellow. He first suspected the ordinary students under his control had fired their weapon, but they wouldn't do anything like that without his order. And he was fairly certain that the Afterlife Battlefront members were no longer alive – or at least the ones who had weapons were.

His eyes finally landed on its source.

The sound came from a pistol pointed towards the sky. It was a warning shot with no targets.

Holding the pistol was a purple-haired girl whose clothes were dirtied by mud.

Nakamura Yuri glared at him with a heated intensity.

"Yuri…?" A surprised Otonashi looked at her with wide eyes, his stomach sinking at the implication of this turn of events.

'That idiot…! What's she doing exposing herself there?' he thought frantically. Getting herself back into the fight was not going to help him get her to safety. Recklessly making her presence known like that would only bring heavy risks to her well-being. But then, it was already too late to do anything and change that.

At first, Naoi blinked perplexedly at the sight of the girl. It took moments for him to figure out why her standing there was such a surprise to him.

"Aah…I've forgotten that you're still alive," he admitted with a hint of anger and self-reproach. "With unbelievable things going on, you sort of blurred into the background for some reason. I'll tend to you after I'm finished with this fool, so kindly wait for your turn until then."

Yuri's intrusive appearance did come as unexpected, but Naoi sounded less wary and more amused; the reason why was probably how he didn't see her as much of a threat. Like the rest of the incapacitated Battlefront members, Yuri was in no shape to fight, thus the most threat she posed was comparable to that of an infant.

The gun in her hands was dangerous, but she couldn't even aim properly with her trembling arms and wobbly legs. She had given a warning shot rather an aimed shot, probably for that same reason.

He signaled for the NPC-Konoha Eleven to surround to girl and to restrain her should she do anything reckless, but it was an action made from wanting a reassurance rather than out of caution.

A wounded girl was not much of a concern for Naoi, so he ignored her.

When he did, another warning shot came.

"…"

Wordlessly, Naoi raised his face and glanced at her once again.

The heated glare was still evident on her worn face.

"Let him go…"

Her confident voice betrayed her brittle condition.

Unconsciously, the gun in her hand now seemed a lot more convincing.

"…Heh," Naoi scoffed at the attempt to intimidate him. He supposed he could play along for a while, considering she was simply someone he'd make disappear afterwards. "Before you try telling me that, look around you. Are you really in the position to order me around?"

"…"

Yuri understood that.

It was obvious who the winner of this battle was.

She didn't even know why she stood there in spite of that knowledge, but there she was. Her presence might not be able to turn things around – things had already ended and there was nothing she could do about it – and she doubted she could change anything just by being there.

But she had to.

She felt the urge to once again stand in that battlefield.

That boy had saved her just as she was on the very brink of disappearing from the Afterlife, only to get killed afterwards. For many reasons, mostly for all she owed to him, she felt she could never forgive herself if just she stayed put and watch him disappear in return.

That's why…

"…Let him go."

This was the best she could do to protect him.

Logically speaking, hypnotism wouldn't work on dead people, but she didn't want to take any chances. She was not an expert in psychic abilities, so as an amateur she still had the fear of unknown risks. That fear drove her to oppose Naoi's actions while ignoring her own ill condition.

She didn't know what difference it would make, but she would be damned if she didn't stand up for the boy for all that he did.

"…Tch."

Annoyed, Naoi clicked his tongue and released his hold on Naruto's head, standing up to his full height. "Very well, then. I really don't need to hurry on eliminating you, but if you earnestly want to hasten your eternal slumber, I won't reject that wish."

His yellow eyes shifted to red, signing the activation of his hypnotism.

"Now, dream of that happy, happy ending you have longed for."

As it was before, this was a weapon with the capability of erasing someone from the Afterlife. It was dangerous in its own right, even though the methods it used were, quite frankly, a benevolent act. Still, when used with such a cruel intention, it could not be described as anything else but a weapon.

But, different than last time, Yuri wasn't afraid of it.

She still knew what she would be made to see. After all, it was a needed scene to appease her regrets. She knew of that fact all too well. But this time, her desire to protect someone outweighed her fears.

The corners of her lips turned into a slight smile.

She smiled as the hypnotism swallowed her consciousness whole.

She kept on smiling as she fell to the ground, eyes still vacantly looking into Naoi's.

"…"

As an onlooker, Otonashi couldn't tell whether to be surprised by what just happened or distraught at seeing Yuri getting caught in the hypnotism once more.

After Naruto's death, the NPC-Konoha Eleven had put up their guard once more and prevented him from making a move. They were more spread out than before, but the ranged threat they gave was still there since they still had their handguns on them.

Otonashi had been hesitating throughout the whole ordeal ever since Naruto warned him not to hurt those particular eleven NPC students, but seeing that not one, but two of his comrades had fallen while he hesitated was enough to shake off his doubts.

But that was not all.

As he had stood by and watched how Naruto interacted with Naoi, he learned a few things. He didn't exactly know what, but that something now clicked in his head and brought light to an even bigger answer – one that could possibly turn around the whole reason behind this battle.

It was an answer he couldn't help but accept.

'…What am I doing? I'm such a dumbass,' Otonashi cursed himself mentally. 'This isn't the time to stand still and wonder what I have to do!'

His mind cleared off from all doubts.

What he needed to do had not changed from the very moment he stepped into that battlefield.

"…Tachibana," he called out to the girl beside him.

The silver-haired girl's gaze rose to meet his, conveying the same message it had before.

"…I know. I know already, so…" Otonashi tore his gaze away from her and looked straight to their opponent. "Will you help me?"

"…Hm," she complied with a nod.

At that moment, multiple things occurred all at once.

Yuri, who had fallen into Naoi's hypnotism, had her consciousness ebbed away slowly but surely.

Naoi, focusing on his deletion hypnotism, continually stared down at the fallen girl.

Hideki, initially dreading what his leader was being put through, noticed the sudden absence of the two people previously beside him.

The NPC-Konoha Eleven, once passively standing by to guard Naoi, renewed their targets as two running figures came up to them.

And…

"Guard Skill: Delay."

Kanade, along with Otonashi, charged towards the last line of NPCs, her Hand Sonic held at ready as she sped up to the nearest one in her sights.

"I'll apologize with you as much as it's needed later on," Otonashi spoke aloud. "So don't hold back on them!"

Using that opening she had created, Otonashi ran past the NPC-Konoha Eleven, trusting Kanade to deal with them; which she did with complete prejudice. He might be imagining it, but there was something behind how feverishly Kanade swung her bladed hands that slightly scared him, which he assumed was probably her way to express anger.

He knew what they were doing was exactly what Naruto had asked them not to do. He understood that the boy had not wanted the eleven NPCs to get hurt in any way.

But was that request worth the life of another? Was preserving the lives of some NPCs more important than protecting a living person, such as his battlefront leader who was now in danger?

Naruto might have different answers to those questions. He probably had his own opinions regarding that kind of choice, and he had already voiced it out when he said out loud—well, it was actually an implied message, but he really was loud when he made that point—he didn't want those particular eleven NPCs to get hurt.

'But that's not for you to decide.' Otonashi then thought in mild annoyance. 'You're in no place to say that, Uzumaki! I don't really know why you're protecting them, but what you want to protect is different from what I want to protect! What I…no, what all of us want to protect is our comrades, including YOU!'

That was the first answer Otonashi arrived on.

But that wasn't all.

NPCs bearing resemblance to Inuzuka Kiba, Hyūga Neji, and Aburame Shino pulled out a handgun and aimed towards Otonashi, intent on stopping his advance. The NPCs shot, but Kanade stood between them before the bullet could reach him.

"Guard Skill: Distortion." Kanade simply uttered those words and the bullets harmlessly bounced off from a transparent shield that appeared in front of her. She then dashed forward to cleanly incapacitate the three NPCs, proceeding to other targets afterwards.

Kanade fought because Otonashi did. Even so, he understood that she had been waiting for this chance all along – a chance where she could help Naruto.

The reason why Yuri had stepped back into the battlefield despite her ill-fitting condition was, without a doubt, the same.

They all wanted to protect the one who had protected them.

In order to let them do exactly that, Otonashi was ready to go against what Naruto had asked of him.

But that wasn't the only reason why he could now do what he was doing.

The reason for that was the second answer he had arrived on. That second answer was also the reason why he decided to place himself in the battle as well. Though, for some incomprehensible reason, the answer he had found was linked to Naoi Ayato.

'We've forgotten about one thing,' Otonashi mentally berated himself. 'We haven't been seeing our enemy properly this whole time!'

That strange second answer was something that puzzled even himself.

But he believed that was the reason why someone as strong as Naruto could lose.

And so, after crossing several yards in a full-speed run, Otonashi was mere meters from Naoi. The acting student council president was surprised at how quickly he passed through his last line of defense. He hastily tried to hypnotize him, consequently hypnotism on Yuri, but to no avail. By the time eye contact was made, Otonashi's fist was already in front of his face.

The punch connected. Its sound echoed throughout the rainy battlefield as if to declare the end of the battle.

Naoi was thrown to the wet ground with enough force to disorient his senses, his cap flying off of his head. With his focus in disarray, he couldn't activate his hypnotism. Shaken, the boy groaned and tried to lift a glare at his attacker, taking in his imposing figure.

The red-haired boy trembled in anger; his face a contortion of rage.

"Don't get rid of her with some fake memoryyyyyy!" he bellowed with all his might. Not even the noisy sound of rainfall could hide his burning emotion.

"Our lives were real! Not a single moment of them was faked!" he exclaimed as he roughly grabbed on the collar of Naoi's shirt. "We truly were alive in each of those moments! We might have suffered, we might have experienced pain, we might have lived a shitty life filled with loss and regret with every breath we took. But, even so, it was real! Everyone lived the best they could! And we carved those memories into ourselves! Memories of living as best as we could – no matter what kind they were, they were the life we led!"

Otonashi had amnesia.

He had no recollection of his past life; he couldn't remember what kind of life it was, nor how he lived it. So if he were to honestly speak up about the importance of the previous life, he couldn't speak from his own experiences.

However, there were several instances he could use.

For example, there was Yuri's tragic life she had told him about. For example, there was Masami's life where she lost her dreams. For example, there was Hideki's life and the regret he had let him know. For example, there was the vague reference of Naruto's past life he had heard him use to prove his point.

Otonashi knew for a fact that their life was real.

And if Otonashi had learned anything, it was that they were proud enough to openly admit living such a life.

And so, that had led to his sudden discovery; one concerning Naoi and his outlook on his past life.

"Our lives were not predetermined scenarios or a reason to become God! Don't go replacing them with fake memories that aren't real!" Otonashi paused to catch his breath, shoulders trembling as he continued. "Erasing them so easily like that… Wasn't your life also real to you, too?!"

o-x-o-x-o

…

'Wasn't my life real to me', huh?

Honestly, that's a question I find most aggravating. I can't believe something can annoy me more than that blonde delinquent, much less something concerning my past life.

Not that I actually have one to begin with.

…

My brother died.

My twin brother and I were born in a house famous for its pottery. My brother was a prodigy and was declared heir to the family business at an early age. On the other hand, I spend everyday stuck playing alone in my room. Not even my parents expected anything of me. It was a meaningless life.

"You're the one who died." That's what they told me.

Right, my brother was the one who survived. I was alive, therefore I was my brother.

I swapped places with him. I was the one who had died. That's when my meaningful life began.

I was separated from society so I could focus on recuperating. I underwent fierce training under the guise of "rehabilitation."

"This is shameful!" Father yelled at me everyday. "Making garbage like this…!"

The training grew more and more severe. My brother's life had been so distant from my own. But I worked my hardest to make my life have meaning. I wouldn't want to return to those days of playing by myself.

And then, I won an award at an exhibit. Although my brother could have done considerably better, it was the best I was capable of.

"What? Are you crying?" my father had asked at the award ceremony.

"…That's absurd," Swallowing my tears, I answered as such.

"That's right," my father had conceded. "It is absurd. Don't bring me shame! Honestly…what kind of result is this?"

I was glad. I thought I would stay with my strict father and continue my training, and then become the best potter in Japan!

…

But then, my father got bed-ridden. Apparently, there was no hope of recovery. He couldn't spin the potter's wheel. Naturally, he was no longer able to teach me pottery. He even stopped scolding me. He'd smile gently whenever I brought him food.

What's the purpose of my life? I lost it all. I can't run the workshop at my level and I can't go out on my own. Am I stuck taking care of him forever?

Please tell me, God!

I really was the one who died back then. My brother was the one who had worked so hard. He's the one here and now. It has always been just my father and my brother. My life was just a fake. I had never existed.

o-x-o-x-o

That was the core of the boy who decided to become God so that he could change his fate.

That was Naoi Ayato.

But the person in front of him was in the process of destroying that pitiful, pitiful logic that became the core of his being.

"Your life was real too, wasn't it?!"

The next thing Naoi knew was that he was being held in that person's arms.

"You were the one who worked hard. You struggled as hard as you could! Am I wrong?!"

"…Like you would know."

"I know," the person holding him replied, "because you're here as well."

Otonashi spoke of that truth as if that alone could prove Naoi wrong. Technically, that was the only thing that could.

Whether one said they lived a lie or that their life wasn't theirs, the fact that they existed right then and there was proof that whatever life they led was real and rightfully theirs. Just by existing there, it proved they had lived.

The Afterlife was a realm made for those who had regretful lives, after all.

"…Then, will you acknowledge me?" Naoi asked quietly in a tired voice. He had most likely given up resisting any longer. "Me as I am?"

"What else could I acknowledge?" Otonashi's voice had turned raspy at some point. It didn't take long to notice that he was quietly sobbing.

Naoi couldn't understand why.

Why was this person crying?

Despite his unvoiced confusion, Otonashi continued to speak. "The one I'm holding in my arms is you. No one else. Just you and you alone!"

Something lit up deep within Naoi's heart, almost like somebody had just put a candle over his chest.

It was the kind of warmth he had forgotten so very long ago that it felt foreign to him now.

Those were words that acknowledged his existence.

-"Good job, Ayato."-

In the furthest back of his mind, he remembered having felt the same feeling from similar words.

At that moment, no one dared to say a word as a pin-drop silence entered the atmosphere. The wounded but surviving participants looked on solemnly as the long battle finally came to an end. Otonashi sat there silently, still holding their initial opponent – in the end, though, he was unsure if he could call this vulnerable boy his enemy anymore – in his arms. Naoi tiredly stared at the red-tinged sky, looking like he had the whole world lifted off from his shoulders, absentmindedly realizing why it was so silent.

The rain had stopped.

o-x-o-x-o

[Frederica's realm]

The battle amongst the inhabitants of the Afterlife might be over, but that wasn't necessarily true for the witch vs Saint one.

Technically, they had ended the current round accordingly since the conflict between their game pieces was over, but it was simply one of the many more to come. And judging by how Lambdadelta was grinning gleefully (with an expression not fitting her child-like face), there would be many, many more to come.

Frederica was bleeding.

A blue spear was lodged into her abdomen and through her back.

In front of her was a shattered, transparent red wall which the blue spear had broke through.

"Blue truth effective," Lambdadelta stated declaratively, her grin still evident on her face.

A pained look crossed Frederica's face as blood leaked out of her mouth, but was quickly covered by a look of unbidden surprise.

"How…how could you know something like that?"

"Oh, Bern," Lambda shook her head like a mother scolding her child. "How could you not? We've come across the type of people like Naruto numerous times in our times as Voyager witches. Have you forgotten? Or have you become duller since rather than becoming smarter since you became a Saint?"

That much was true.

But it wasn't a matter of how frequent they had come across people like Naruto nor how much experience they had with people like him. The fact was that, even with the frequency of those occurrences, Lambdadelta had never completely understood human nature. People like Ushiromiya Battler had managed to beat her in games despite being a simple human because of that reason. Frederica herself had once submitted to defeat to that same person when she was still a witch.

Witches could never understand humans. This was true, even if they had been human before that, because their warped minds worked by a logic different from normal human beings.

It could even be said that their warped minds were what enabled them to become witches. As such, they should not be able to understand the nature of normal human beings.

But Lambdadelta had done exactly that.

"But really, it doesn't have anything to do with that." Lambdadelta smiled quirkily as she contradicted her previous statement. "Witches can never understand humans; even I'm aware of that. No matter how many times we confront a human, there is always a 1 in a 100 possibility that we would lose. It's what makes playing with them so exciting, actually."

Frederica lifted a look which asked, 'What's your point?'

"But then again, that's a rule which only applies to witches. A Saint like you is exempt from that rule, having granted knowledge including that of human nature. It's a bit ironic how you lost your humanity to become a witch only to slowly regain it as you become a Saint. …But anyway, it just means that you're the perfect puzzle piece to my empty spaces. Losing in the first round is simply a means to know what information I lack. This second round is where I fill those missing parts with your knowledge."

"…Then how did you predict my failure? How did you win when even my knowledge was wrong?"

Using a puzzle game as an example, the explanation would be as the following:

Both Lambdadelta and Frederica had a board of puzzle pieces; representing their knowledge of Naruto. In the beginning, Lambda's puzzle board had some of the pieces missing, while Frederica's instead had extra pieces which incidentally could fit into Lambdadelta's blank spaces. By the end of the first round, Lambdadelta had realized what pieces she was missing, and had been made aware of what pieces she needed from Frederica when she had shown her winning hand. At that point, all she needed to do was to take Frederica's extra pieces to fill in her blanks.

That theory was acceptable, but there was one major flaw.

In this second round, Frederica's puzzle board was proven to be false.

Even if Lambdadelta took her extra pieces – or any of her pieces for that matter – to fill in her blank spaces, she should have failed as well. Her 'blue truth' should have been ineffective.

It should have.

But it wasn't.

It was as if Lambdadelta had created her own puzzle pieces that differed from any of Frederica's pieces – a knowledge that she didn't have.

Was that even possible?

A malevolent twinkle entered the blonde witch's eyes. "I told you, didn't I? That boy Naruto was honest enough that even I can notice his facades, or at least his failed attempt of it. That's why I can be certain that the opposite of what your move would be is, without a doubt, the correct one."

Frederica paused in confusion. Her state leaned more to complete stupefication than simple confusion, though.

"You still don't understand, Bern?" Lambdadelta gave her a surprised look. "That boy had lied to you."

"…"

Stumped, Frederica could only blink.

The topic of their current round was, as Lambda had stated in her 'blue truth', the importance of his bonds; between him and the Battlefront, as well as him and his past friends.

Had he been lying to her when he said he didn't care about the NPC-Konoha Eleven? Because honestly, that was the only thing he could be lying about. The rest of her knowledge about him was correct no matter how anyone saw it.

If that was the case, then what was wrong wasn't her figurative puzzle board as a whole, but rather, the arrangement of the extra pieces she used.

After all, those extra pieces represented the added knowledge from her interaction with Naruto, and she had taken Naruto's word for his statement, adding it into her own knowledge of him. At the time, she had had the feeling of something being misplaced, but she had trusted Naruto for what he said.

"…"

Oddly, she didn't feel angry at being lied at.

On the contrary, her chest tightened with a pang of guilt. She was not able to see through his façade. Despite swearing to protect him from Lambdadelta, she wasn't even able to perform such a simple task.

'Dear God, what was I thinking?' Frederica let herself fall into thought. 'How could I expect him to let go of his memories that easily? Taking his words for granted like that…it's the same as not considering his true feelings. Was he lying to himself so his passage from the Afterlife can be easier?'

In Frederica's opinion, her current loss was her own fault. Had she forced Naruto to be honest to her – and as an inclusion, to himself – she would have won this round.

"Well, well, that sure was fun!" Lambdadelta's exclamation pulled her out of her thoughts. "Honestly, I thought it'd be pretty boring to play against an obviously stronger opponent like a Saint, but this turn of events is exciting! Thanks, Bern~! I can't believe I'd stand a chance against a Saint, but it sure looks like you're not all that unbeatable!"

Hearing that remark, Frederica gritted her teeth in silent denial.

The worst-case scenario she had in mind was finally coming true. She had piqued Lambdadelta's interest by giving her a chance of winning against her. The method of driving her away with boredom was no longer a viable option. From now on, the only hope of ending Lambdadelta's terror was to defeat her thoroughly.

The second round might have ended just now.

However, the real battle had just begun.

o-x-o-x-o

[Infirmary]

Naruto heard noises.

He couldn't see anything as he swam in the darkness of his closed eyes, but his ears picked up noises. A deluge of random noises that felt familiar to his ears – sounds of steel clashing with steel, ear-splitting explosions, and the cries of more than a hundred men.

It was war.

It was his war, the Fourth Great Ninja War.

It was the last war he, his allies, his enemies, and generally every living thing in his world had seen. Afterwards, that world had ended.

That was how it went according to his memories.

And along with those memories, came the voice of a human who chuckled so mirthlessly and coldly it brought shivers down to the inches of his feet.

"Still can't choose, I see."

Then, he awoke with a start.

It took everything he got to calm his loudly beating heart from jumping out of his chest. A wave of nausea assaulted him, and for a second he couldn't see anything but white; eyes adjusting themselves to the bright outside world. That his vision was robbed for a few seconds was a bit disturbing for him, but soon that white-out condition cleared away.

"Awake, sleepyhead?"

Someone called him with a familiar voice, garnering his attention enough to turn and look.

"Ghh…Leader-chan?" he wondered aloud, voice hoarse from his unexpectedly dry throat.

"Took you long enough. I was wondering whether you were simply taking your time in La-La land and need a good slap to the face."

"…Good to know I woke up, I guess." After eyeing Yuri with a not-amused look, Naruto turned to look around blearily and noticed where he was.

He was familiar with the room, at least. The infirmary had been the first place he visited after he had passed out in the Guild incident. He remembered waking up in the same bed he was in right now; only difference being the whole Battlefront being present in the room, standing around Naruto's infirmary bed. A sight to behold, considering more than half of them had been dead the last time he saw them.

Speaking of which, he had also died nearing the end of the battle.

'…The Afterlife, huh? Sure is strange being alive after all that, 'ttebayo.' Naruto mentally noted. He groaned before asking, "How long was I out?"

"Honestly? You were out for more than 6 hours," Yuri told him with a sigh. "Which is odd no matter how you look at it. You broke the record for how long getting revived should take by a mile."

Hideki grinned widely while cutting in, "Yurippe actually got worried that you weren't going to wake up at all, so she kept watch over you all this time—"

He didn't get to finish because Yuri threw a file holder from the nurse's desk behind her at his face. Meanwhile, Naruto threw her a blank look of disbelief.

"Huh? Wait, did you take advantage of me being unconscious to do various unprecedented things to me? Are you really a pervert, ecchi leader?!"

/"Ooh, naughty girl."/ TK commented, pointing his fingers at Yuri in a gun-like manner.

"If you're able to say that, I think it's safe to assume you have a death wish, right?!" Pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration, Yuri bit back another insult brewing at the tip of her tongue, instead sighing with a defeated look. "Sheesh, I give up. I can tell you're already well enough to say something stupid, so I guess we were worried about nothing."

At the time, Hideki wanted to protest that the only one having worried over nothing was Yuri, but the hairband-wearing girl threw him a sharp glare which shut him up.

Naruto sat up on the bed, noticing his lack of clothing on his torso but concerning himself of another matter.

"By the way, what happened after I…died? Judging by how cheerful you look, did we win?"

Fujimaki snorted, though he looked interested nonetheless. "Y'know, I actually thought you were the one who ended it after the first batch died. Guess you weren't as great as I expected."

Yuri gave him a disapproving look, to which he replied with a nonchalant shrug. "What? If he got his job finished by the rookie kid, it just proves he wasn't up for it in the first place."

"Don't call me a rookie, dammit." Otonashi interjected with an exasperated sigh. "And I didn't finish anyone else's job. That was something anyone with half a conscience would do. But if you look at it that way, then wasn't it supposed to be our job to finish?"

Seeing the point, but finding Otonashi's defensive attitude annoying, Fujimaki clicked his tongue in distate. Naruto held in a laugh as he saw Otonashi narrow his eyes at the black-haired boy, though he supposed there had been quite some animosity between them even before this.

"Thanks, Otonashi, but I'm fairly capable of defending myself."

Otonashi blinked in surprise before nodding slowly, "Well, I was just saying the truth."

"Still, to think you were the one who won in the end. I couldn't win even after using all that I've got. If this keeps up, you'll really gonna take my spotlight, 'ttebayo."

"Yeah, well…I wasn't alone. Kanade did most of the fighting – I just finished things up."

Otonashi stepped to the side and revealed that, to Naruto's ultimate surprise, Kanade was standing behind him, face set without any expression as she nodded at Naruto. With the Battlefront members forming a crude half-circle around Naruto's bed, and Otonashi having stood near the feet, Kanade had been effectively hidden from Naruto's line of sight, so he was a bit surprised when she appeared. Even so, seeing Kanade being in the same room as the Battlefront surprised him the most.

Part of him wondered if he really did only sleep for 6 hours. After all, after what happened at supper that time, he was under the impression that the Afterlife Battlefront couldn't get along with Kanade. He supposed it was only fair, though; she did help them, so they had been allies of some sort for a short amount of time. Naruto wondered if Yuri had relented and let Kanade in with that in mind.

"…And Naoi? What happened to the bastard?"

Looks were exchanged before Matsushita, who stood to his left, grabbed the curtain separating one bed from the other. At first, Naruto raised an eyebrow at the large teen, confused by the action, before his eyes settled on the bed next to his. He was quite surprised to see Naoi sleeping soundly, still garbed in his black school uniform.

"He…sort of passed out after the battle. Probably the exhaustion got the better of him in the end, having done that mass hypnotism and all." Otonashi explained while scratching the back of his head. "He wasn't waking up, so we put him here along with you."

True to his words, Naoi looked to be sleeping so peacefully it was doubted a C4 to the face would wake him up…maybe. In Naruto's opinion, it seemed like the boy had just taken a rather large dump, hence the stress-relieved expression.

For a second, Naruto doubted whether it was really Naoi Ayato.

'Wow, I must've really missed a lot of things…'

He felt a bit disoriented by the fact that they were put in the same room – considering they were enemies, though he didn't know what they were now that the battle had ended – but put the matter aside for the moment. In the end, the Battlefront had won the fight. If they decided to bring the hypnotizing bastard in, it was their choice to make.

Besides, if nothing else, the battle had ended. There was no need to be paranoid about things like that.

"Anyway, it's good to know you're awake." Yuri brought everyone's attention back to her. "I didn't expect things to go as bad as it did, but I'm glad we got through. Well, thanks to this, the Battlefront will need time to recuperate, but now's a better time than any. At the very least, with the acting student council president out cold, we can recover at our own pace."

"Why does something like that take time when we instantly revive from any kind of death?" Naruto tilted his head questioningly.

"It's not just about the personnel. Our previous battle has taken a lot in regards of supplies and ammunitions. No matter how skilled the people in the Guild are, even they need time to resupply our weapons."

The geniuses working in the Guild were people who can make even the most inconceivable weapons (like the playful but rather useless glue gun he'd borrowed some time ago) with ease. Whatever amount of loss Yuri was talking about was decidedly enough to keep even them busy, so it showed just how great the impact the previous battle had on them. Naruto might have mistaken the true magnitude of that battle; then again, someone with his extent of abilities was liable to do that.

"Which reminds me; we've wasted enough time as it is." Standing up, Yuri began walking away from the bed and towards the door. "Break time's over, morons. We'll be gathering our people and try to recover as quickly as we can, so no slacking! Anyone who's caught lazing around gets the punishment game."

Judging from the multiple cringes from the more experienced Battlefront members, it wasn't going to be a joy-filled afterschool club-like punishment game.

"…Hold on a sec."

Yuri stopped before she even got to the door. Turning around, she quirked an eyebrow when Noda stepped forward and distinguished himself from the rest of the group.

"What is it, Noda-kun?"

Noda's glary eyes swerved from Yuri towards Naruto, pinning him down with a stare. Confused, Naruto couldn't help himself and eyed the huge-halberd Noda trustily held across his shoulders. As always, that dangerous-looking weapon exuded some kind of oppressive atmosphere just with its looks.

"Ugh…can't our nut-cracking business wait until I get out of bed?" he asked with a wince.

"Shuddup," Noda quickly replied, his glare intensifying.

"…"

Naruto had unconsciously flinched at the aggressive tone.

For certain, he and Noda were not on the best of terms – made painstakingly clear by their intent on one-upping each other whenever they could (in which case usually ended up in them trying to kick each other's balls). Even so, that had all been nothing more than good-natured violence commonly found between normal teenagers.

But it was different this time.

A clear hostility was evident behind the purple-haired boy's eyes.

"We might have won," Noda started to say, "But there're some things that happened back there that I just can't let slide."

"What's this all about, Noda?" Hideki prodded questioningly.

"Those eleven NPCs," Noda answered swiftly, yet with a self-composure that felt so unlike him it was scary. "You know what I'm talking about. Uzumaki stopped fighting when those particular eleven NPCs came into picture. No one here seems to want to bring this up, so I'll talk. The fact is, you gave up the moment they showed up, and you got most of us killed as a result."

"Noda-kun, that's not—"

"Even Yurippe got hurt because of it." Noda continued, cutting Yuri's words short. "For all I know, someone with your strength could've wrapped the whole incident singlehandedly. But you didn't. And what you said to those NPCs shows that you knew them."

Noda was visibly trembling.

The way he sound so composed despite his personality was probably because he was holding himself back from lashing out in anger.

He could if he wanted to, and he might be satisfied with simply that.

But he held it in and breathed in a calming breath.

"Now…unlike Yurippe, I'm not nice enough to just write the problem off as something not important. You have all these amazing powers and stuff, but you didn't use it and instead you got us killed and Yurippe hurt." The eyes which were glaring at the blond narrowed. "So I demand an explanation."

Silence hung in the air as no one dared to speak.

At any other moment, Naruto would've pointed out how anal-retentive Noda was about Yuri's well-being just to tease him, but the matter at hand wasn't allowing him such goofball responses.

"Drop it, Noda-kun. We're all alive and I'm fine, so there's no need for this." Yuri stated with a frown. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate being looked out for, but she wasn't helpless at all. She was capable of looking after herself, and as such she didn't want to put the blame on anyone.

"…No, he's right." Naruto suddenly conceded after a while.

Everyone turned to look at Naruto, who sighed solemnly to himself.

"That's right, I…I got you guys killed. I could've saved you, but in the end, I…those NPCs were…" Trailing off, Naruto drew in a shaky breath to calm his nerves. "Sorry. I understand, I shouldn't have let that happen. It was a moment of weakness. For all that happened, I owe you an explanation. I owe you at least that much, 'ttebayo."

He thought it'd only be fair.

The emergence of the NPC-Konoha Eleven was something he could've resolved by himself, but he had chosen to put it off as he busied himself with other things in the Afterlife. Had he truly made up his heart so that it wouldn't bite him in the ass later on, he would've been able to fight them with no hesitation. But, even if he had tried to lie to himself, he could completely disillusion himself from seeing them as what they were; NPCs.

That was a mistake on his part, he admitted that.

"…Then talk. We haven't got all day," Noda tersely urged.

"Ah hah, well, if you really want answers, it might take all day." Naruto scratched the back of his neck with a faint smile on his face. "But sure, I'll try to keep it brief. This…kinda involves my backstory a bit, and I'm not really one for nostalgia, so…"

Realizing he was trailing off again, Naruto sighed tiredly.

In front of him, Yuri folded her arms under her chest and looked to the side. She knew how hard it was to explain how one's past life went before they came to the Afterlife, mostly because it meant showing their regrets to other people.

People's regrets can be ugly at times. It wasn't something that neither the bearer nor the listener could take lightly. And to reveal something like that needed courage. By far, Yuri had only enough courage to tell her regrets to a select few, namely Iwasawa and Otonashi, so she couldn't imagine what Naruto was feeling at the moment.

"Before we start, let me reintroduce myself first." Naruto finally started with a solemn look. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm a ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. And…"

The faintest of smiles worked itself up to his face.

"Some time ago, my world was ended."

[End of Chapter 9]

[A/N]: (July 4th 2015)

When I looked back on it, Chapter 9 must've been the hardest one to work on.

Character development, although something I completely adore, is also the hardest for me to write. Copying character interaction from the canon series is one thing; inserting Naruto into it is something else entirely. I'm no Maeda Jun, so my character development still has a long way to go.

Still, I try, especially in this chapter, to capture the morals that the canon [Angel Beats!] tried to portray, as well as implement my own version of Naruto's moral values. As such, there are some things I tried to write in hopes of giving this chapter a moral value of its own.

A quick question: What made Naruto fail and Otonashi succeed?

As you know, I try to balance this crossover's protagonist between these two. Nevertheless, they hold different values as protagonists. Since they come from different series, they naturally have different moral values.

Naruto is a ninja – essentially, he's a simple person who changes people by defeating them. This is true for Nagato, Gaara, Zabuza, and virtually any opponent he had faced. However, thus far, all of those opponents had been ninjas, like him. And honestly, their reasoning for evil is quite simple. I reckon it's the only reason why Naruto could change them by beating the snot out of them.

This makes him incompatible to change Naoi's ideals. Naoi's reasoning might seem simple enough, and he might lack the danger factor which SS-rank missing-nins have, but it's actually more complicated than that. Considering his past, what he needed wasn't someone who could change him, but someone who could accept him.

This is the reason why Otonashi succeeded, whilst Naruto failed.

Otonashi is, for all intents and purposes, a normal human. But it's that 'normal human' part of him that enables him to understand Naoi, as well as finding that missing answer that not even Naruto knew. It's because he has a thinking process which lacks the twisted values Naruto has.

Why I say it is 'twisted' values? Well, simply because it is. Contrary to what the [NARUTO] series might lead us to believe, forcing your enemies to change their ideals by defeating them doesn't always work. Naruto had been in the wrong from the very moment he listed off Naoi as an 'enemy', while Otonashi had came to see the boy as 'someone needing to be saved'.

One has the power and skills to save anyone but lacks the mindset to do it properly, while the other has the correct morals to save anyone but lacks the power and skills to do anything on his own.

I might've written it in quite a gibberish-like way, but this is the point I want to emphasize.

Naruto is not a perfect protagonist. In that manner, neither is Otonashi.

This…might look like nothing more but an effort to make my story more interesting, but I assure you, it is not. I'm explaining this because the moral value mentioned above is the core aspect for this chapter; it has been ever since I started writing it. I didn't want to write a simple fighting scene where Naruto curb-stomps his opponents.

*Sigh*

I'm sorry for the rant. I just thought it'd be nice to explain things once in a while. But anyway, thank you for reading! The upcoming chapter would cover episode 7 of the canon [Angel Beats!], involving Operation Monster Stream, a giant fish, a giant fish soup, and the appearance of Harmonics clones.

I'll try my best not to be late in updating, or at least not as long as this particular one. Please look forward to the next chapter and kindly leave a review if you can!

[Glossary]

*Kami-dono: In case anyone's wondering, I read that the suffix -dono is used to refer to someone of the same level. In this case, the reason Naruto used it was to mock Naoi's so-called God status, saying that they were of the same level and standing despite that. Whether that meant he saw Naoi as a make-believe God or that Naruto saw himself as high as Naoi was is something I'll leave to your imagination. :P

Trivia Time!

[1] Initially, the soundtrack I wanted to recommend is 'Angelic Break Beats', but then I remembered that 'aLIEz' is an amazing piece not unlike 'Bios' in the previous chapter. Kudos for Sawano Hiroyuki and his brilliant composing!

[2] Forgot about one interesting fact I've put in. That last part where Naruto becomes a bloody walking weapon stash? It was actually a reenactment of Momochi Zabuza's last moments. I thought it'd be cool if he mimicked the Demon of the Mist, only to have a gigantic red fox aura in the background rather than a blue demon. Must've sucked to be Naoi. :P

[Next Chapter]

"Monster Stream…"

"That's stupidly huge!"

"Learn a thing or two from Urashima Tarou, brat."

"God cannot fall."

"Thank you, Onii-chan."

"You lost your world too, didn't you?"

"How…how could I die like that?!"