Chapter 33:

"Because this time," Naruto's Rinnegan seemed to glow. "I'm different!" 

As Naruto Uzumaki said those words, he dashed forward. Forgetting Obito, Sayuri, Sai, and Sakura and leaving them behind him as the cause of his pain stood in front of him. He roared as he punched the masked figure straight in the chest and sent them flying a hundred feet through the ruins of Ame. 

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto roared, his voice getting tainted as his hatred seemed to take over his body, the yellow glow of his Sage of Six Paths mode turning a twinge darker, it now being a light orange instead of a bright yellow. 

"Heh," The masked man chuckled as he stood up, dusting off the rubble from his cloak as he suddenly tore it off, revealing plain grey attire that went well with his white mask, his Sharingan glowing as he held open his palm. "Not before you kill yourself you won't." 

A pulse was visible coming off of the masked man as debris flew wildly. Sayuri and Obito encased themselves, including Sakura and Sai, within their Susanoos while Naruto just rose his hand in return. "Almighty Push," He whispered to himself, knocking the debris out of his path as he disappeared in an orange flash.

Reappearing above the masked man, Naruto's fist grew ten times the size as he went to hammer his fist down onto the man, only to completely miss as the man disappeared from his sight as he had several times before. "Oh no you don't," Naruto whispered as he suddenly stretched out both of his hands. 'Universal Pull,' He thought, reaching out for any bodies within ten meters from him. 

Nothing.

He frowned, where was this piece of-

His thoughts were interrupted as a fist suddenly appeared from under Naruto, the masked man springing from the ground and delivering a devastatingly strong uppercut to Naruto's chin, causing the blond to fly ten feet up into the air. 

"Chibaku Tensei!" The masked man uttered those words and Naruto's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he suddenly felt himself getting pulled into the air, the destroyed buildings that scattered the ruins of Ame lifting off the ground and slamming into him.

Sayuri watched in horror as Naruto's figure disappeared behind the rubble. Soon enough, there was a gigantic meteor suspended in the air. The masked man chuckled and turned to the remainder of Team 7. 

"I'm afraid he won't be breaking out of that, only one person has been able to do so in the past and I'm afraid Naruto's power isn't something that can be compared." He looked up. "The amount of pain he must be feeling is immeasurable." 

"Release him!" Obito threatened, the Mangekyou in his eyes spinning wildly, ready to act at a moment's notice. He had already missed his chance when Naruto was distracting the man, he wouldn't miss it again. 

"Obito Uchiha, one of the sole remaining members of the Uchiha Clan. Interesting, you have both Mangekyou and certainly you'd be a very troubling opponent to face with your Kamui." The figure chuckled once more. "But you do not have the Eternal Mangekyou, therefore," The man's hand erupted into lightning, it crawling up his arm as he rose his hand. "You are not the main player in this dance." 

"No," Naruto whispered from within the boulder. He couldn't feel his body other than the pain that coursed across his skin. "No," He whispered again as he felt a fire burning in his chest. A familiar feeling.

Anger. 

"THERE'S NO POSSIBLE WAY!" He shouted as his Rinnegan flared up, the debris and rubble that made up the meteor Madara had used so many times back then, was instantly turned into nothing but dust. 

"Oh?" The masked man said as he turned his attention back to Naruto, the lightning on his arm disappearing. Obito seized this moment as blood trickled down the left side of his face. A vortex appeared right in front of the masked man and consumed him.

It was silent for a moment before Naruto landed on the ground, glaring at Obito. "What right do you have to do that?" He whispered venomously. "That was MY kill!" Obito glared right back. 

"Don't be stupid Naruto, he's gone and he won't be returning. If you want to fight him so bad, then maybe you'd like to get sent to my Kamui Dimension." Naruto's glare doubled as killing intent flooded the ruins. 

"Do it," Naruto whispered without hesitation. 

"No," Obito replied. "You're coming back to the village."

Naruto growled. "Are you fucking deaf?" He asked rhetorically as he stomped towards Obito. He grabbed the slightly taller man by his collar and dragged him closer, the anger in his eyes never disappearing. "I already said I'm going to die! It doesn't matter what I do! I had one thing in this world, ONE THING! And you just took it away from me," He met Obito's Sharingan eyes, the Uchiha's stare never wavering. "Just like you did before." 

The reaction was instantaneous. Obito yanked himself back and looked at Naruto with wide, hurt-filled eyes. He knew what he had done in Naruto's timeline. He knew what sins his other self had committed. He had been trying to make up for it by being there for Naruto ever since he found out the truth, and yet. . .

"Explain," Sayuri demanded. 

"It seems no matter where I am," That same dark voice spoke up, piercing the tense atmosphere. "That annoyances will always be in my way. As time goes on my path simply keeps getting cut off by boulders." The masked man was standing a few feet away from them, now on-guard unlike his casual stance just a few minutes before. 

"How did you get out?" Naruto questioned quietly. He knew nobody escaped Obito's Kamui. The only person able to counter it effectively was Kakashi in the other timeline. So how? 

"As much as I'd like to indulge you," The masked man began as he formed a single seal. "I'm afraid I'll be taking the Kyuubi out of your body now. Summoning Jutsu: Gedo Mazo!" He slammed his hand on the ground, an array of seals spreading beneath him as a loud boom was heard, filling Team 7's ears as the ground shook, smoke coming from the chakra that was used to summon the beast. 

"Not again," Naruto whispered as he heard the inhumane roar, the air around them vibrating from the sheer intensity. 

"Next, I'll be taking possession of every one of you filthy beasts!" Madara yelled, his single Rinnegan eye glowing as he held a single sign. 

That had been the moment that the war had turned tides. They never won a single battle after that. They only stalled. Stalling until they were dead. . . 

'Is it really going to happen. . . all over again?' Naruto thought as he watched what appeared to be a dragon that was only barely transparent, it coming out of the statue's mouth. It shot straight towards the blond Jinchuuriki, whose eyes were still wide with shock. 

'Did I do everything again? For nothing? Again?'  His thoughts turned darker with each passing moment, the dragon roaring as it came straight for him. 'Again? They're going to die again? I'm going to die again?' 

"Naruto!" Obito yelled out as his left eye began bleeding, a vortex appearing around the statue. He would save his sensei's son. He would protect this boy to his dying breath. He owed him that much. 

A single crackle was the only warning Obito got as he suddenly felt a pain in his chest. He slowly looked down, his Sharingan deactivating and revealing his coal-black eyes as he peered down. A single bolt of lightning was right in his chest, piercing his lung and coming out of his back. "What?" Was all the Uchiha got out before he felt his legs weaken and fell to his knees, blood slowly trickling down his chin.

"Sensei!" Sakura screamed in a panic as she rushed to the man's side, her hands lighting up with emerald green healing chakra as she tried fruitlessly to heal the mortally wounded man. Naruto's eyes met Obito's form.

The masked man's arm was outstretched, the lightning crackling around his hand as it disappeared. "Well, at least you had an honorable death. Unfortunately for you, however, even if your Kamui did work at the Gedo Mazo then I would simply just summon it back. How pitiful," He took a step forward, not caring for the glare that Sayuri was sending him. "The life of Obito Uchiha was uneventful, it's almost amusing. To think that I was the one to kill you." 

Crack

"You bastaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrddddddddddddd!" Naruto roared as he disappeared in a dark orange flash, running as fast as his legs would take up as he leaped into the air, right in front of the statue's face. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He smashed his fist into the statue's face, using all his strength in that one punch. 

The statue flew backward, a large crack appearing from the top of its head down to its right foot. 

"Impossible!" The masked man shouted in disbelief. "There is no way the Gedo Mazo cannot be destroyed!" His eyes narrowed under his mask as he saw Naruto's glowing form about fifteen meters away. "You will pay dearly for that. . ." He said menacingly, anger evident in his voice, the first emotion besides amusement that Naruto has seen come from the masked figure. 

"I've paid enough," Naruto whispered in barely restrained anger. "Now it's time for you to pay the toll," He held up a single hand, a Rasenshuriken that was twice the size that Naruto was in height appeared above the blond's head. "Now watch as your dreams are shattered!" 

"NO!" The masked man shouted as he tried rushing towards the blond, but it was too late. He couldn't even use his Rinnegan to absorb the jutsu if it wasn't coming towards him. And sadly, it wasn't.

Naruto hurled the jutsu filled with pure wind chakra towards the already badly damaged Gedo Mazo. He watched the jutsu hit and envelop the statue, causing more cracks to appear on its body before beams of light began shooting out, eight in total. 

The eight beams of light flew through the air and the curved, landing side by side on the ground just a few meters away from Naruto. The blond's eyes, still filled with anger, looked over to the beams as the lights began to grow.

"It seems you wish to be difficult," The masked man said as he walked past Naruto as if he wasn't an enemy. Naruto took advantage of this fact and swung, hitting the masked man in the back of the head, causing him to skid forward a few feet. "Fine!" In an instant, a sword was in the masked man's right hand and a kunai in his left held in a reverse position.

"Grgh," Naruto grunted as their blades met, a spark appearing from the clash of metal. He quickly ducked under a swipe of the kunai and kicked the masked man in the air. The mask-wearing man threw the kunai down at Naruto, electricity sparking across the chakra conductive metal as it flew towards Naruto at blinding speeds.

Naruto held up his sword in order to block the kunai, but his eyes widened as the kunai suddenly disappeared just a few inches away from his blade, being replaced by the masked man whose Sharingan eye was in the midst of transforming. "Amaterasu!" 

Naruto's mouth opened in shock as he felt the masked man's sword slice across his shoulder and down his back, it feeling as if lava was being poured down his back from a showerhead. He bit back a scream of pain before his eyes widened, the same kunai that disappeared suddenly hitting him in the other shoulder, electricity spreading across his body as he freely let himself scream in pain.

"Agghhhh!" He got out as he stumbled backward, falling to his knees as the electricity flow stopped. Smoke came off of Naruto's figure, flowing up into the air as the masked man stood next to Naruto, his sword placed at the blond's throat. 

"If you think destroying the Gedo Mazo was the end of my dream," He chuckled. "Then you are sorely mistaken, Naruto Uzumaki!" He brought his sword up, thunder booming from the grey clouds above. 

Naruto saw the reflection of the blade in a puddle that he was currently crouched over, his body wracked with pain. No, he couldn't die yet. He had to defeat this man or else everything would have died for nothing. 

He was tired. He had already pushed himself too much. He had fought Sayuri and used too many flash jutsu. He hadn't slept properly in the past two months either. He chuckled inside his head. He really was a mess, wasn't he?

 He still felt the heat the beams of light were emitting, the beams getting larger and taking form slowly. He had one chance to win. He couldn't mess it up. 

In an instant, Naruto rolled over, the blade missing his head by mere inches before he through an uppercut, hitting the man's mask and sent him flying across the ruins. Naruto shakily stood up, in his base form as the rain began trailing down his face as his single blue and single Rinnegan glared defiantly at the prone body of the masked man. 

The masked man stood up, a clear crack in his white mask. "Heh," The voice was no longer the voice of Madara's, but the voice of someone familiar. The mask fell down to the ground and Naruto felt his lungs stop breathing, the oxygen being stolen as he heart dropped down to his stomach.

The figure took a step forward, their black hair slowly being pelted by the rain, sticking to their scalp. "I haven't been pushed this hard since I've left the hideout all those years ago to release the Kyuubi from your mother's body." His atom-pattern Mangekyou Sharingan and Rinnegan with six tomoes on the first two lines. "But it's been a long time since I've revealed this eye to someone seriously, the first being Madara Uchiha when he destroyed our world, isn't the right, Naruto?" 

"Sasuke. . ." Naruto whispered in a tone filled with despair.

There standing in all his glory, was the believed to be dead Sasuke Uchiha, now being a full-fledged adult the same age as Obito had been when he had started the Fourth Shinobi War in Naruto's timeline. 

"Let the final battle begin, my rival," Sasuke said with outstretched gloved hands, his signature smirk on his lips. "Let us dance to the death, Naruto!" 

And done. How was it? 

I lied when I said the masked man wasn't Sasuke. 

Ye

Til next time my lil demons!