Never Again: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 45: Naruto Uzumaki

'It. . . hurts. . .'  Was Naruto's first thought as his mind erupted from its forced slumber. He could hear the echoes of war that seemed so far, yet so close. 'What happened?'  He thought slowly, his eyes still closed as he struggled for consciousness. 

Oh. . .

The memory of the events that had happened today melted into Naruto's mind slowly. Sasuke was alive, and Sasuke was trying to destroy this world that he thought was Hell. Perhaps he was right, since Naruto's arrival, this world had done nothing but cut him down at every chance it could. Whenever it would let him take a breath, he would only get a lungful of smoke. 

This world truly was. . .

"No," Naruto croaked out, stopping his thoughts from going further down the dark path he had been walking down in stride. "Every world," Naruto's eyes opened, revealing his blood-shot blue eye and glowing Rinnegan eye. "Is hell." 

He couldn't keep blaming the world or others for the results of his choices, if he didn't stop, then eventually he'd be just like Sasuke. Something he thought he wanted, long ago. 

The sound of the battle grew louder as Naruto's body began to heal, his hearing returning. "But it's also heaven," He whispered to himself as he looked up to see Tsunade and Jiraiya fighting against Sasuke's Susanoo, the two Sannin working in perfect unison to barely hold off the Uchiha's onslaught. "It seems you just forgot." 

Jiraiya and Tsunade, along with the rest of the shinobi forces from the Leaf, Sand, and Mist, were beginning to lose ground to the crazed Uchiha, who fought with a fury and determination none of them had ever seen before. Every step they took was calculated, if it wasn't, they were dead. Even with all of the support from the other shinobi, Sasuke Uchiha and the power he wielded was just too expansive and deadly. The fact that he was weakened from his previous fight with Naruto did not seem to matter as he continued to push forward.

Sayuri grit her teeth as she was forced to extend her Susanoo to protect a group of Jounin from the Mist from a shot from Sasuke's Susanoo's arrow. She hated the fact that she was responsible for the lives of others, especially at the cost of her own chakra, but at the same time she couldn't just let them die. 

"Come on," She shouted at them. "We need every shinobi we can get so watch out!" She barked, annoyed as she glared back at Sasuke, who was wrestling off one of Jiraiya's large Toad summons. The Mist seemed to get agitated at being saved by a famous missing ninja, but were nonetheless thankful. They'd be dead without her. 

Working in unison, the Mist shinobi ran through several hand signs before they each spit out a cannon of water from their mouths, displaying their water jutsu proficiency as the jutsus combined with each other and smashed onto the ground, creating a tsunami that towered over both Sasuke's Susannoo and the gigantic Toad summon. 

"YES!" Jiraiya shouted as he and Tsunade retreated ontop of Katsuya, who had split herself into half, and then had one half of that break down into smaller versions of herself, which had then spread across the battlefield to all of the injured shinobi, flooding them with healing chakra as a form of support. 

The water from the Mist's jutsu crashed over the two wrestling figures, sending them crashing into the ground as water surrounded them. Sasuke hissed in frustration as he suddenly felt the Toad he was fighting become stronger. This was the turning point, Jiraiya thought, water buffed a Toad's strength almost tenfold, and with the added water to the battlefield, the Toad was now able to use its powerful water jutsu. 

But Sasuke wasn't going to let them have that chance. With a shout of pure rage, black blood pouring down his right eye as a yellow flame erupted from the Susanoo's mouth and black flames shot out of the Susanoo's eyes.