The Cost of War

The boulder shattered under the tremendous impact of the mans hand. "Damn it, we won, but at what cost?!"

The war was over, and so were the lives of countless shinobi. Naruto's mind drifted to his fallen comrades.

"Neji-nissan... bushy brows... even Sakura-chan..."

The list continued as Naruto thought of each and everyone of the fallen Konoha 11. But it did not stop there. Kakashi. Guy. The Kages. Tens of thousands of shinobi from the Leaf, Sand, Cloud, Mist, and Rock. They gave their lives to defeat their enemy.

"Damn it to hell! I swore I wouldn't let my friends die!"

Naruto quivered as he closed his eyes, tears were now openly flowing down his face. He never even told "her" he loved her. Pervy Sage said that Naruto had the power to change people. Naruto even saved Sasuke in his dying moment. Yet she changed him. Suddenly he raised his sleeve and wiped away the tears. Naruto opened his eyes with a fire ablaze in them, his eyebrows slanted, his jaw set firm, fists clenched. The Kyuubi voice came in

"Naruto! Are you sure about this?!"

His only answer was…

"I WONT LET MY FRIENDS DIE!"

And then his feet dug into the ground, the earth caved in under him leaving a crater behind from the astounding power and speed Naruto had just pushed off the ground and into a run with. He headed right for Konoha. For an ordinary shinobi the trip would have taken a week... Naruto was no ordinary shinobi. He made the trip in a little under a day. Ignoring the cheers he received from the villagers when they saw him and praised his victory that saved the surviving ninja world, he headed right into the temple were the sacred scroll with all the forbidden jutsus on it was. He grabbed the scroll and turned to leave. A cloud of smoke and an all to familiar black cloak and white mask with colored stripes appeared before him. The ANBU spoke.

"Naruto, I don't know why you are trying to take that scroll, but you know I can't let you. Even after all you have done, I can't allow it!"

After a pause all Naruto said was

"I'm sorry."

It was already to late, as the ANBU turned around his world went dark. Naruto's clone struck his head. Naruto looked down at the unfortunate ANBU as he again uttered his apology to the out cold ninja. With that he left to the outskirts of the village, scroll in hand with a determination unlike anything he had known before. Once he felt he was a safe distance away he sat down and unraveled the scroll. His eyes fell upon the first jutsu. Now that brought back memories. But he didn't spend much time reminiscing. Naruto prowled through the lines. Jutsu after jutsu, until he found what he was looking for. Kyuubi spoke again for the first time since the previous day.

"No wonder this technique was forbidden, the amount of chakra it would take! You would have to sacrifice hundreds, no thousands of ordinary ninja to use this!"

Naruto's voice came through more somber now.

"But I am no ordinary ninja, and I have you inside me Kurama"

"Even between the two of us, we might not have enough chakra to pull this off, and if we do there's no guarantee we will go back far enough, we have no way to guide it."

Naruto took off his headband.

"This will be our guide."

He then placed it on the ground.

"ARE YOU CRAZY NARUTO?! THERE'S NO WAY WE COULD GO THAT FAR!"

Kyuubi's words fell on deaf ears.

Naruto bit his thumb creating a pool of blood on it as he formed the seals, and then placed his hand on the ground.

"Summoning jutsu!"

He poured every last ounce of his chakra into the jutsu. There just wasn't enough, the jutsu was failing. Sensing Naruto's life force fading, Kurama was left with no choice but to give it everything he had to. The rush of red chakra that left his body into the summoning seemed to be enough, barely. A massive smoke cloud appeared covering the area around them. As the smoke cleared they stood before nothing, yet everything. Existence and oblivion. Old and new. Then Naruto's world went cold as the last of his chakra left his body. Then darkness.