15 The Last Shinobi.
This war had taken its toll on not just the Shinobi Alliance, but the world.
Kirigakure was the first village to fall.
No one had been taking this threat seriously at first. One mad man declared war on the world. He claimed himself Madara Uchiha, they brushed him off.
He was supposedly the leader of Akatsuki, which was the only reason the leaders even payed him the little attention they did. They "strengthened their borders" as they put it. It was a lie to calm down the lowest rung of ninja.
When the reports came, each kage became scared. In a single night, an entire village was slaughtered. All the men women and children. And the village was razed to the ground.
A message to the other villages.
They were not safe any longer, they were going to be pulled down from their lofty thrones.
So they villages finally decided to form an alliance, it was...shaky at best.
Various ambushes caused high tensions between the villages. They couldn't figure out what was going on, apparently "rogue" groups of Ninja were attacking each village systematically wearing other village identicators.
It took weeks before the issue was resolved. The monsters that "Madara Uchiha" had under his control could change shape.
While the Alliance continued, the morale was at an all time low. No one could trust the person next to them.
Large scale conflicts erupted. Large battalions of these "zetsu" would constantly attack the shinobi alliance's forces.
The forces of the alliance started to desert.
The zetsu would intentionally attack with their real forms revealed, and then slip into camps, and such under the cover of their shape shifting.
They would assassinate the cooks, medics, and other non-combat individuals.
They couldn't be found unless you delved straight into their minds. But they couldn't constantly check every ninja that passed by.
They were desperate.
It was then that they had a sliver of hope. Naruto had finally gained control of his Kyuubi Chakra, and in his chakra form he could sense the Zetsu.
He made thousands of Shadow clones and moved onto each battlefield and stronghold.
They were successful, they were finally able to push back the Zetsus' and find any spies. Naruto was being praised, he was being commended. He would never say it, but these past few days were the happiest of his life.
This teenager's life, the happiest moments were on a battlefield.
It didn't last long. When morale reaches extreme heights, it can only fall harder.
They came. The warriors of ages long past, the heroes that died to protect the world, the monsters that killed thousands in their wake.
Impure World Reincarnation.
Sunagakure was the next to fall. Gaara had fallen in battle trying to protect as many villagers as possible. From what the rumors stated, he took on all previous Kazekage.
Naruto mourned for the first time this war.
He didn't have many friends, he had plenty of people he would talk to and laugh with, but a true friend, Gaara was part of that short list.
It was hard for the villages to cope. Their former leaders, heroes, villains. They all attacked. They were immortal and unstoppable.
Tens of thousands died before they could finally seal the immortals.
The war continued for months. Surprisingly, Konoha was the only village that did not have their previous Kage attack.
Most of the alliance was happy about this news, some may be jealous and angry that Konoha got off scott free, but the senior members knew. The power the Hokages possessed.
They got complacent again.
It was called the Autumn battle, because the leaves in Konoha were died red in blood.
HE appeared. The real Madara Uchiha.
He showed no mercy, he flattened half the village and slaughtered any person he saw.
Gai sensei tried to stop him. He tried to open the 8 inner gates, and he was successful in beating the legend, but the man was immortal. He regenerated, all Gai accomplished was buying time. Though Gai would not have been disappointing with this outcome.
Gai became a hero that saved half the village.
Apparently, Madara was impressed enough to end the slaughtering that day.
Again someone close to Naruto died. He was starting to feel the effects. The village he wasn't to lead was halfway into ruins. Many faces Naruto once saw would never be seen again.
His happy expression disappeared. The up-beat prankster was no more.
He forced himself to move on, revenge, he told himself.
He started trying to learn any Jutsu he could, he adopted an extreme training regimen. He pushed himself far beyond his limits, but he got stronger.
The next few weeks were idle.
Tensions were running high, only a few skirmishes here and there between the alliance and zetsu.
Just enough so the alliance had to stay on guard. There was no rest for the wicked.
It was only days later that a proclamation came from Uchiha Madara, he explained his plan and where he was going to do it.
The Moon's Eye plan. A Genjutsu that would sweep across the entire world.
The alliance gathered their forces and would meet him at the location. At this point the alliance leaders got their collective heads out of their asses and were questioning if it was a trap.
They came to a conclusion, trap or not, if there was validity to Madara's statement, they had to proceed.
Morale was finally boosted; the war would end after this final battle the shinobi told themselves.
They just had to defeat one person, even the mighty Uchiha Madara couldn't stand against over a hundred thousand Shinobi.....
It was a slaughter.
Madara Uchiha and his comrade who everyone discovered was actually Uchiha Obito, could unleash wide ranged Jutsu without hesitation.
Madara who was nigh-unkillable, and Obito who could teleport and phase-out his body at will.
The battle reached a certain climax when Obito killed his former teammate, Hatake Kakashi. The Copy Cat ninja of Konoha had finally fallen.
It was at this point that Naruto finally raged, he threw himself at obito. The latter of which only laughed at him, flailing around like a child.
Obitio was ready to kill Naruto, until a certain black-haired renegade intervened.
Uchiha Sasuke had entered the war and was allied with the shinobi. Naruto didn't question it, if it was before, he would be screaming and incoherent at the presence of his missing friend.
But now wasn't the time, he only gave a nod as they prepared for battle.
They were able to push Obito a bit before Madara rejoined him and the summon it.
They had all the components ready, chakra from all the Bijuu, though they only had a small portion of the Kyuubis' it was enough to activate it.
The Jubi. The beast of calamity.
It was no surprise when Madara Uchiha had utilized some underhanded methods to force Obito to truly reincarnate him with the power of the Rinnegan and then betray him to steal back his eyes.
With his full power, Madara easily crushed the alliance.
He killed Sakura right in front of the Duo to add insult to injury. He didn't give them time to mourn as he killed them as well.
With their corpses' lying on the ground, he enacted his Moon's Eye Plan, the Jubi transformed into its true form. Its true form was that of a giant tree. Its petals opened up at the top to reveal a large eye that was reflected onto the moon.
It released its "genjutsu".
The people of the world did not try to run or fight back as the vines from the tree encased them, they were too engrossed in the dream they were having. Any being in the world that had even the tiniest bit of chakra was wrapped up by the vines.
The entire human race was taken.
Moments later, Naruto and Sasuke stood up. They had received the inheritance from the Sage of Six Paths.
Kurama at this point had accepted the boy as his partner.
Sasuke awakened his Rinnegan in his left eye, and Naruto awakened the Sage's Chakra.
Naruto and Sasuke fought against Madara. The fight lasted well over an hour. And as Madara was finally about to be defeated, She made her appearance.
The true conspirator. The one who set up this war and manipulated even Madara.
She convinced Madara to take in the God Tree in his last moments and when he did, she took over his body. She was revived.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. The origin of all chakra in the world, the Rabbit goddess.
The exhausted Naruto and Sasuke fought again. They pushed harder than they ever had before.
Kaguya had power, more power than they had ever felt before, but she was inexperienced. She never had to fight with her life on the line before, she never knew what it was like to pull yourself up from the brink of death to achieve victory.
They used this. They used the teachings of the Shinobi. They used trickery, Schemes , deceit. And they won.
All they had to do was use the power givin by the Sage and seal her.
When the seal was closing in, she raged. She laughed with rage as she did it. She claimed that they too were going to feel like it was like to be trapped and alone.
The inhabitants of the world were still sealed and caught up in the Genjutsu. She had control over the roots even though they were no longer attached to the tree.
They tightened. The squeezed every being to death.
Naruto and Sasuke could hear the crunching of the ones around them.
The last they saw of the would-be god, was her laughing face at their loss.
It was their victory, only to be tainted by utter defeat.
The days passed, they searched for ANY survivors. Even the non-humans with chakra had all been killed. Every man women and child. They were truly alone on this world.
Various thoughts crossed their minds. Should they just kill themselves? Try to reincarnate everyone that died? No, they didn't know the jutsu and it had been lost in the destruction of Konoha.
Sasuke's Rinnegan didn't have the ability to access the revival effects.
They despaired.
Over a week had passed. They were at the valley of the end, it was one of the few places not consumed with destruction. They dared not venture back to Konoha. It hurt too much.
They both sat on one of the statues, they hadn't spoken in days. There was not much to be said.
That was, until an odd portal opened up near them.
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Ichigo and his group stared at Naruto and Sasuke.
It took a moment before Naruto and Sasuke caught their wits and got ready for combat. It was instinct for a Shinobi, hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
"Not here to fight" Ichigo said to the duo.
Ichigo took Zangetsu off and handed it over to Yoruichi.
He approached the duo alone, and unarmed.
"Just want to talk if that's alright with you." He said while gesturing for his peerage to give them some room.
They left the area.
They were hesitant, when he sat down here on the monument. He didn't speak immediately, just admired the view.
They had never seen the clothes this person wore before, and his group's matching colors. Not only that, his hair color was a little odd as well.
They would continue to observe for a few minutes.
"It hurts" Ichigo finally said, breaking the silence.
"Being the last survivors"
"The thoughts that go through your head, if you had done something different here or there, if you had just been stronger….."
"It still hurts thinking about the world I lost" He said to the Shinobi.
This tipped the duo off. They could read between the lines in what he was saying. He was from a different world, which wasn't that surprising at this point from hearing the history of Kaguya.
"My world was also destroyed by a would-be god, and like you both I was able to defeat him but the damage had been done, the world literally was destroyed" He said with tears forming in his eyes.
"I still remember my father, and my little sisters, the smiles on their faces when we ate meals together or when I walked them to school…" He had finally let the tears fall at this point.
The ninja had finally joined him on the ledge. They could tell the difference between fake and real sorrow. This man before them, he was crying and baring his heart to complete strangers, and yet it drew them in.
"Why are you here" Sasuke finally asked after the man calmed down.
"I wanted to help….i wanted to give you a chance to start over." He said to the Shinobi.
"It's a long story, but I don't mind telling it" Ichigo said with a small smile.
They were captivated.
The one before them was a real Shinigami. That was surprising at first. He told them of his adventures, how he gained his powers. His losses and finally his death, and what came after.
Up until the point where he was now talking to them.
They had a lot to take in. A whole multiverse. They felt small. It was almost infuriating thinking that their loss was so small in the grand schemes of things that it almost didn't matter.
"Does it get any easier?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
"It does... you will eventually wake up in the morning and the happy memories will become what you remember over the pain." He said while staring off into the distance.
"So you want us to become your weapons?" Sasuke asked with a hint of anger in his voice.
"No" Ichigo flatly refuted.
"What I offer is not servitude, it is not employment nor slavery. What I offer is friendship….a family" He said.
Family. The thought had always been connected to bad feelings. Sasuke losing his when he was young, and Naruto always wanting one.
"How did you cope at first?" Sasuke asked. He was no longer the avenger that bottled his feelings up. He had tears in his eyes after thinking about everything that had happened.
"You remember the good times, you ask yourself: What would the people who cared abut you want you to do. Would they want you to stay depressed and shut yourself off or would they want you to move on?" He said to the Uchiha.
The Uchiha and finally burst into tears as he covered his face. He hadn't cried since Itachi had died.
Naruto also had tears running down his face, thinking about the friends he had lost in the war. He had become emotionless since the destruction of Konoha. He pushed everything down so he could continue to fight.
These emotions finally made their way to the surface.
He cried along with his best friend.
He would push on he told himself, but for now…he just wanted to mourn his loss.
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After the three settled down, Ichigo called over the rest of his peerage.
They were busy introducing themselves, they all sat together and told their stories. The shinobi listened on with great interest. New worlds, it was still fantastical to them.
Saber told about her life, and her time in the Throne and meeting Shirou. Shirou also gave his perspective and events that led him to that point.
The girls gave their stories, Rukia told of her days at the academy and becoming an official Shinigami. Yoruichi shared very little, it was apparent she had some bad memories in Soul Society. Tier's history blindsided the duo, she was apparently an evil spirit that regained her humanity. Orihime told about her early days with Ichigo and some rather comical stories at the Strawberry's expense.
The shinobi got along well with the rest of the group and it was finally time to become devils.
They had legends of devil in the shinobi world, so they were a bit hesitant at first until they met his peerage.
Sasuke took the Knight piece and pushed it into his chest. His chakra network flared up in response, but it eventually accepted his transformation. He was now a devil.
Kurama had been surprisingly quiet at all of this. He too was getting a new lease on life, no longer would Ninja bind him and turn him into a weapon, he was with someone who treated him as a friend. He was happy. And besides, he was already a demon as the world would have told anyone.
Naruto then took In the Rook Piece. His transformation was a bit more difficult, since he housed Kurama inside his body the piece went into overdrive trying to make sense of everything.
Ichigo's King piece drained his energy at a massive rate.
It eventually succeeded, it reworked Naruto's body around Kurama. The kyuubi had barely any discomfort.
"We have a couple more worlds to visit before we can go back home" Ichigo said to the group.
"If you two want to bring anything with you, you'd best hurry" He directed towards the Shinobi.
They took everything they could. Scrolls, secret techniques from the various villages. Some items just for the memories associated with them.
Thank god for storage scrolls, they couldn't help but think in this situation.
They stocked up on enough Shuriken and Kunai to last them a lifetime. Thousands of feet of Ninja Wire. And all the various weapons they came across. Sasuke may have stolen the seven swords from the mist storehouse as well…..
They all met back at the valley of the end.
"I have no idea what we're going to face in these next two worlds, be cautious" Ichigo warned.
"The only thing I have to go on is what Gramps named the world in the Dagger, so here we go."
"Open Port to: Zerg World" He said before vanishing with his peerage.
