Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Naruto: Menma Chronicles

Chapter22: Dawn of Peace

Land of Lightning: Battlefield

Karin felt the chakra spike one last time before a it quickly faded causing her to pale slightly and increase her speed. 'Please be in time!' she thought as she dropped down and landed at the edge of a tall cliff overlooking a massive canyon. 'Is this the battlefield?' it looked like someone or something had taken a shovel and started carving out whole chunks of the mountain range. 'There!' she felt the chakra pulse from the center of one of the nearby craters and took off towards it. "Naruto!"

He was standing in the center with a black-haired man lying face down at his feet...

"K-Karin..." Naruto's form wavered for a second before he felt backwards.

"Naruto!" Karin called out again as she quickly rushed over and caught him as he fell. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly as she quickly scanned his body for injuries.

"I'm just tired," Naruto smiled up at her. "More importantly you need to use your yin-yang release on Sasuke to separate the Juubi back into the seven Biju inside him before it breaks free of his body and returns to its original state."

"Okay," Karin nodded in understanding and set him down. "Onmyoton: Banbutsu Sozo!" she exclaimed as red and blue spheres of chakra gathered in her hands. She pushed the two orbs together and light consumed the world for an instant before it faded. When the light died down the seven imprisoned Biju and the Gedo Mazo stood around them as Karin collapsed to her knees next to Naruto. "It's done," she said as she tried to steady her breathing.

"Not yet," Naruto grinned up at her as he brought his hand branded with the key-seal to the seal on his stomach.

"Naruto?" Karin asked in alarm.

"I love you Karin," Naruto whispered before turning the key and opening his seal. A fully formed flesh and bone Kurama emerged from the seal and landed on the cratered ground next to his siblings.

"No," Karin gritted out as tears started to streak down her face. "Not like this," she said as she formed a hand-seal and gathered what chakra she had left. She then pushed her very life force into the blond but having already used it to resurrect a certain Sarutobi earlier coupled with her battle against Kabuto had already pushed her reserves passed their limit. "Damn it...it's not...enough..."

"Take some of my chakra if it will help," Kurama offered.

"Kurama?" the Yonbi—Son Goku—asked him.

"To a Biju words mean nothing," Kurama explained as he held his paw down over his former Jinchuuriki. "His actions were enough for me."

"We were watching," the Nibi—Matatabi—nodded at his words. "He was fighting so desperately."

"Is he the one?" the Nanabi—Chomei—asked the question.

"You the one that the old man spoke about at the end?" the Gobi—Kokuo—asked back. "Probably."

"You don't think he's the old man's..." the Hachibi—Gyuki—trailed off.

"...Yeah," Kurama nodded. "It's about damn time."

"So that's how it is huh?" the Sanbi—Isopu—mused.

"I'm in," Shukaku spoke up as his body formed beside the others and placed his hand over Kurama's.

"Heh...to think you would be helping out for once...the world must have ended again," Kurama smirked at the sand racoon.

"Shove off you old fox," Shukaku shot back.

One by one the Biju placed their hands over Kurama's and Karin quickly gathered portions of their chakra. "Gedo: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu!" she called out as their chakra flowed through her and bolstered her own wavering reserves. She flooded Naruto's body with the chakra she had gathered as a green glow encased him. He wasn't going to die! She wasn't going to let him just die here! Not when their dream was so close! "Wake up!" she screamed at him.

"...Damn it Karin," Naruto groaned. "Keep it down would you; some of us are trying to sleep here you know?"

"Naruto..." Karin trailed off as she pulled him into her arms. "You reckless idiot! Don't ever do something that stupid again!"

"S-sorry," Naruto winced. "But I did say I was going to free the Biju so that included Kurama too."

"Try not to die again kit," Kurama smirked down at him. "You're much more entertaining while you're alive."

"Thanks Kurama," Naruto deadpanned. "It's good to know that you enjoy watching my pain."

"Think nothing of it," Kurama waved off his words and grinned.

"You're a lot more laidback then you used to be Kurama-kun," Matatabi commented with a purr. "I wonder just how laidback you really are now."

"...You two are siblings...right?" Naruto blinked as he asked the fox. "I mean it's okay if you are-".

"Naruto," Kurama spoke with a glare. "Shut up."

"Err...okay..." Naruto shook himself and tried to stand only to be pushed back to the ground by Karin.

"Don't overdo it," Karin told him clearly.

"...Sasuke?" Naruto asked after a moment of silence.

"He's dead," Karin replied simply.

"...Then you know what to do," Naruto said as he rose to his feet.

Karin walked over to the fallen Uchiha and turned him over so he was facing the now cloudless sky. They watched on as unsealed a glass jar filled with water and removed his eyes one by one. She stored them in the jar before backing away from the Uchiha and setting his body on fire. They all stood and watched as the man once known as Uchiha Sasuke was burned away into ash and dust, the final mark on a man who was cursed by hatred.

"Goodbye Sasuke," Naruto smiled sadly as his old friend finally found his peace.

"...Let go home," Karin whispered as the flames cackled in the morning light.

It had been a long night...

Land of Spring: Yuki / Tsunade Hospital

Following the Battle of the Ten-Tails and the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War the remaining Alliance ninja and Zetsu forces were hunted down and killed by various Yuki ninja. With the Five Great Shinobi Villages destroyed by the Juubi, Obito and Sasuke, various smaller villages tried to rise up and take their place. During this time Karin had transplanted Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan into Naruto and with Kurama's help evolved it into the Rinnegan. It wasn't long before a fully healed Naruto led Yuki in an invasion of the mainland resulting in the conquest of the smaller warring nations. Those that surrendered joined under Yukigakure no Sato's banner however those that opposed them were quickly crushed by either Naruto or Karin.

The Biju went their separate ways after being released and scattered all over the continent. Shukaku had gone back to the desert in the Land of Wind while Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken and Chomei all disappeared somewhere in the Land of Earth. Isopu went back to his lake in the Land of Water and Gyuki had returned to the Jinchuuriki Temple on Turtle Island. As for Matatabi and Kurama, they chose to stay in the Land of Spring and had taken up residence along the southern coast.

Konohamaru had taken a ship away from the Shinobi Continent saying that there were just too many painful memories for him there and so wanted to start a new life. He left after forgiving Naruto for the Ichibi Attack on Konoha having understood why the blond Uzumaki did it and disappeared into the vast uncharted ocean. Naruto was saddened that he wasn't staying but understood that he needed time to heal; before he left Naruto gave him one of his Hiraishin kunai and told him that if he ever needed anything at all then just summon him.

With the Shinobi World finally at peace for the first time in decades, Naruto was about to face his greatest challenge yet. It was something that no man was ever truly ready for but in the end this was what he had wanted since the beginning. He had always wanted a family and now he would finally get his wish. This was the re-founding of the Uzumaki clan...

This was the day he would become a father...

The newly constructed Tsunade Hospital named after the legendary medic-nin whom fought in the Fourth War sat on the east side of the village. Uzumaki Karin, a now twenty-six year old stunningly beautiful woman with long red hair was currently in more pain than any male could possibly comprehend. "Naruto-kun! I'm going to kill you for this!" she screamed at her husband as she practically crushed his hand in hers.

"Y-you're doing great, Karin-chan," Uzumaki Naruto gritted out as he felt the bones in his hand break.

At twenty-five years old he had settled into his new lifestyle as the leader of the Shinobi Continent; he was the Taiken, the Strongest Shinobi of his era and had surpassed even Senju Hashirama. Things used to be so simple when he was trying to save the world and free the Biju but now things were different. He had to do paperwork all day long! Oh the humanity! Now his wife was breaking his hand because of something they did on their wedding night nine months ago...

"We're not having any more children after this! Do you hear me, dattebane?!" Karin shouted in pain.

'Damn Karin-chan,' Naruto thought with a wince as he felt her chakra crack the floor and walls. 'Ease up a little would you? At this rate she'll bring down the whole hospital...'

"One last push, Karin-sama," the female doctor—Haku—spoke clearly without even flinching at the sheer amount of chakra the red-haired woman was flooding the room with. Karin screamed one last time before falling back on the hospital bed breathing hard which was soon followed by the sound of a baby crying. "Congratulations, it's a boy," Haku informed them as she called for one of the nurses to approach.

"Let me see him," Karin said clearly tired.

"Here you go," Karin smiled as she handed the now clean baby over the new mother wrapped in a blanket. He had blue eyes and red hair with six notable whisker-like marks on his cheeks.

"This is...our son..." Karin smiled with tears flowing from her eyes. "He's got your eyes."

"And your hair," Naruto smiled back.

"Do you have a name for him yet?" Karin asked them.

"...Minato," Naruto answered for them. "His name is Uzumaki Minato."

Author's Notes:

There you have it I'm done; epilogues aren't usually that long and I wanted to end it here on a high note. For the record the whole time I was writing this I had the song 'No Plan B' by Manafest blaring in ear and that may have been reflected in my writing style for this chapter. The Biju are free, Yuki now rules the Shinobi World and Naruto finally has a family to call his own. Konohamaru is alive but has decided to leave and Naruto now has to worry about fatherhood. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did and I'm sorry it took so long to write this up, despite its size it was ridiculously hard to write out the first scene.

Translation

Gedo: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu = Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique

Please Read and Review.

See Ya Later…