Chapter 44: Hokage

Horror. That was the one word Sasuke could use to describe the scene before his eyes. He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it. He thought of waiting for his blond rival to grow up into the cheerful idiot he knew, and he did. 

He had waited for thirteen long years, checking in on the Jinchuuriki every now and then as he grew up. Everything had been perfect.

Till now. . .

A little bit away from where Sasuke stood in the shadows, was Team 7 of the Hidden Leaf on top of an incomplete bridge in Wave Country. 

And there Naruto stood, standing in a sea of blood as he held the tyrant known as Gato by the throat, holding him over the crashing waves below the bridge as the small man kicked helplessly at his attacker. Naruto had butchered so many of those mercenaries, slaughtering them all as if they weren't even human. 

It made Sasuke sick to his stomach. How? How could his pure friend do something like this? This wasn't the way it was supposed to go! 

And to make it even more concerning and brain-wracking, Naruto had seemingly flickered uncontrollably into his Sage of Six Paths Chakra Mode while cutting through ordinary men. What did that mean? 

Once again since arriving in this hell, Sasuke's head began to hurt from all the questions, and the questions that stemmed from those questions. Gripping his head through the blank mask, Sasuke took a step back as he saw Naruto begin having a breakdown in the distance, his shinobi hearing picking up on what the blond was saying. 

"What?" The blond took a step back, his hand shakily coming over his mouth as he come to realize what exactly he had done. What sin he had committed. "Oh god," The blond fell to his knees, blood splashing onto his face even further as his eyes widened. 

Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto slowly looked at his blood-drenched hands, his eyes widening even further as he continued speaking. "No, they were Zetsu! They weren't human! They weren't human! They weren't human!" He began shouting, his body shaking as his mind began crumbling. 

"Zetsu?" Sasuke spoke aloud, the Naruto from this hell doesn't know of Zetsu. He hadn't even encountered the Akatsuki yet, let alone that plant freak. And as far as he knew, Zetsu had no intention of getting anywhere near the Uzumaki boy. "Could you be. . ." He didn't dare utter the words. 

The Naruto from his world could never have done such a thing. 

Sasuke turned around, closing his eyes as he felt them begin to burn. The person who could change this world, was also turning into darkness. Tainted by this world's cruelness. 

Sasuke shook his head. He couldn't let his hope in his friend die out just yet, one incident wasn't enough to shake his faith. He would continue watching the blond and when the time was right, he'd approach him. 

Time had not helped his hope, in fact, it had only worsened. Naruto's acts in this world did not at all match up with the acts of the Naruto from his world. This Naruto seemed heartless, ruthless, somebody driven by a goal. He was like. . . his younger self. 

As he watched the blond, more and more hints began to come to his brain, confirming his singular thought from when he witnessed the blond's first horrific act. 

This was most likely his Naruto, transported back in time just as him. Yet, somehow sooner. Was it because they had Six Paths Chakra? Or were they both sent to hell? And if the latter, did Naruto realize this world was hell too and lose hope? Did Naruto really lose hope? 

He didn't believe it. He didn't want to. So he would go and confirm it for himself. 

Hopping off of a branch, Sasuke landed silently behind Naruto, who was visiting the Memorial Statue. "Naruto Uzumaki," He spoke, disguising his voice by using the same one Obito had used to pretend as Madara. "I've been wanting to meet you for a long time." 

"Who are you?" Naruto shouted, taking out kunai and taking a defensive stance. "You're not Obito Uchiha! You can't be Kakashi-sensei! Are you the real Madara? If so then why wear a mask?" Sasuke didn't say anything. 

What could he say? This was it. This was his proof, that this was his Naruto. The Naruto who would always wear a smile, who would always push forward without looking back, the one who would always bring him back from the dark. 

No. . .

Looking at those hate-filled eyes, his previous actions. . .

His Naruto was dead. And killed by the one who stood in front of him. 

This fake. 

"You are aware of many things. Obito Uchiha is a Jounin of this village and I watched Kakashi Hatake die myself. Why would I be either of those two people?" In an instant, Sasuke was in front of the fake, towering over the boy as he held a kunai to his throat. He wanted to shove the kunai forward so badly to end this fake, how dare he wear the face of his dear friend? 

"Kisame told me of what you said, who are you to accuse me of not being Madara? Perhaps I am, perhaps I'm not. Names are of worldly things and I have already ascended." Yes, that was it. This world was truly hell. There was no coming back from this. There was no light. 

Only darkness. 

There would be no change, no person who bring about change, only hell. Sasuke wouldn't stand for it. He wouldn't stand for any of it. He would follow Madara's, as well as the previous Obito's, footsteps and collect the Jinchuuriki and form a weapon in order to destroy this hell once and for all. 

He would end it. 

"What do you want?" Naruto grit out, his glaring blue eyes shining with hidden desperation and helplessness. 

"I just wanted to confirm something." Sasuke said darkly. "It seems my hypothesis was correct about you," He paused, the next two words coming out like filth. "Naruto Uzumaki. We will meet again one day, either when you're being sealed away or on the battlefield, the end result does not matter to me."

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't kill him. Not here, and not yet. This fake would get what's coming to them, and then Sasuke would break out of the hell he was placed in. He vanished from the blond's sight. 

He would end it all. 

Another step forward. Another step forward. Another step forward. Another step forward. Another step forward. 

Sasuke looked down at the unconscious blond below him, his eyes tracking the teen's face for his signs of his consciousness, but showed nothing. "I saw everything," Sasuke whispered as he fell to his knees, hovering over Naruto as a kunai appeared in his left hand. 

"I saw everything," He repeated. "Your murders, your brutalizations," He bent forward to Naruto's ear and whispered. "Your sins." Lifting himself back up, Sasuke allowed himself to smirk as he looked up at the grey clouds above. 

"I'll end your suffering now, you damned fake." With that, Sasuke brought down his left hand at blinding speeds. Instead of the sound of metal sinking into the flesh, the sound of metal hitting away metal sounded within the crater, ringing in Sasuke's ears as his mismatched eyes looked up.

Standing in front of him, was a severely weakened Sayuri who didn't even have her Sharingan active, glaring defiantly at him. "I can't let you do that," She huffed out, panting slightly. She didn't have much left in terms of energy or chakra reserves. But from the looks of it, neither did her male counterpart. 

They were both weakened, and thus, the match was even once again. 

"Grrr," Sasuke growled as his nose curled in anger. "God damnit!" He shouted. "When are you demons going to learn to STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" He shouted as he threw a punch at Sayuri, who just jumped back and avoided the blow. 

"You're weak," Sayuri stated it as if it were a fact as Sasuke glared at her. "And you're outnumbered." Sasuke's eyes pulled upward, widening as he saw more than fifty shinobi standing at the top of the crater, all of them wearing a different style headband. 

Along those noteworthy, stood Tsunade Senju, Gaara of the Sand, Guy, Mei Terumi, and many other ninja from various Hidden Villages stood. "Naruto prepared us for the day Madara would attack," Tsunade called out from above. "He went to great lengths in order to prevent the disaster that you would've caused, even sacrificing his own future for it." 

She knew Naruto would never become Hokage. He had caused too much trouble in the world for such a title to be granted to him, even if he were to be deserving of it. His crimes were too real. Real enough to where both the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Stone refused to cooperate with the Leaf, Mist, and Sand in order to form a small army to combat the threat Naruto warned them about at the Kage Summit. 

Tsunade didn't blame them at all, if she were in their position and was humiliated in such a manner at the Summit without any sort of context, she was sure she'd be prideful in helping too. And now that she was here, she was glad she had listened to the Uzumaki she had placed her faith in. 

The scene of this battle was extraordinary, making even the tales of Hashirama's and Madara's battles look like child's play. In the small army, many shinobi were having the same thoughts. 

"It looks like a couple of Gods went and fought here. . ." Neji Hyuga breathed out as he stood next to Guy. The scale of this battle was bigger than two Hidden Villages combined! Only when he poured half of his chakra into his eyes was he able to see the ends of the destruction the battle had caused. 

"Naruto. . ." Gaara whispered as his teal eyes gazed softly at the fallen Jinchuuriki. "Is this what you've been preparing for? Is this why you fought?" His wild red hair blew with the wind as he couldn't help but feel a bit of regret when looking at his friend. If he had reached out back then, if maybe he had tried to have a proper conversation with the blond, then maybe this wouldn't have had to happen. 

Then maybe Naruto Uzumaki could have a fulfilling life.

Sayuri raised her sword, her teeth gritted as she strained with all her might. "You don't have much strength left, and no matter where you go, we will hunt you!" She declared. She wouldn't let this man get off lightly, not with what he's done. "So give up! There's no where to run!"

Sasuke finished observing all of who were at the top of the battlefield, his eyes slowly shifting down to Sayuri as he saw the serious look on her face. His face tilted down slightly, his bangs shadowing his eyes and his body began shaking, the upper corners of his lips turning upwards.

Sayuri's eyes widened in shock, a chill running down her spine as the Uchiha in front of her opened his mouth, and a frightening laugh began to spill out. "Hahahahahahahahahaha, ahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaaaha!" Sasuke laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. 

"Hehehehehehehahahahaahhahahahaahaha, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaahaahahahaahaaahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahaah," He laughed hysterically. 

The shinobi around him stood still, not knowing how to react or what to do as the man in front of them just laughed like a mad man. And then, suddenly, his laughing ceased. Hearing him take a deep breath, the shinobi felt their blood turn to ice as Sasuke's face twisted from one of amusement into one of seriousness. 

"Run away?" He asked as Sayuri took a step back, all of her insticts screaming at her to run away as fast as she could. "Who's running?" Sasuke's voice was cold, and Sayuri took another step back as she felt the rock behind her hit her back. "Running where?" 

A blanket of silence covered the large group of shinobi as they all held their breaths, awaiting for whatever happened next. 

Sasuke lifted his head, his face one of pure fury and rage as he looked at Sayuri, his Eternal Mangekyou and Rinnegan shining brightly than ever before as purple chakra began swirling around him. "WHY WOULD I RUUUUUN??!?!?!!!?" 

It was instantaneous. One moment, all of the shinobi had their feet placed firmly on the ground beneath them, certain that it was solid and not going anywhere. So when the shinobi began falling, they didn't understand why. 

Nor did Sasuke intend to give them any time to think about why. 

"GGRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Sasuke's Susanoo roared as the arms crashed down on the falling shinobi, crushing them and turning them into red mist as he continued his rampage. 

Sand began wrapping itself around the arms of the Susanoo, slowing its movements. Hovering in the air on some sand, stood Gaara with sweat pouring off of his forehead as he strained against Sasuke's struggle while trying his best to catch any shinobi who survived Sasuke's initial attack. 

Tsunade launched forward, traveling through the air before cocking back her arm and planting a right hand in the head of Sasuke's Susanoo, where she met Sasuke's glare with her own. "You're going to pay for what you did to Naruto!" She cried out. 

". . .Amaterasu." Sasuke replied as black flames sprouted from his Rinnegan as they traveled towards Tsunade. With her body moving on its own, Tsunade jumped off of the Susanoo and landed on all fours like a cat. Standing straight up, her eyes widened as she saw the flames still coming straight for her. 

"Damn it," She cursed. She knew what these flames were and what they would do if they touched her even once. 

"Fear not!" A voice cried out before the black flames were replaced by a piece of paper and a white-haired man. "I can't believe you thought you'd leave the village in my care, Tsunade. I'm a traveller after all," His eyes narrowed as he saw Sasuke staring at them. "And I've heard plenty about you from my student." 

"What could a fake possibly know about me?" Sasuke asked bitterly, intending on keeping the question rhetorical as a bow formed in his hand. 

"You say that," Jiraiya spoke as he bit his finger. "But I don't think you know Naruto all that well either, especially if you keep calling him a fake." Jiraiya slammed down his hand on the ground and two puffs of smoke appeared on his shoulders. "But to me," Jiraiya's nose began to buldge as the two toads began to sync chakra with the Toad Sannin, the red lines on his face spreading even further as boils appeared on his nose. "Naruto is one of the realest people I know, his struggles, his joys, they're all human!" 

"Jiraiya. . ." Tsunade breathed out in amazement as she saw the man in front of her become almost unrecognizable. The power he exerted now, it was almost unreal! To think that her idiot of a teammate had a trump card like this up his sleeve. 

"Ma, Pa," Jiraiya spoke to the two toads on his shoulder. "I'm sorry if I interrupted you, but this is important, Naruto's life is at stake. I really need your help." 

"No need to fuss, Jiraiya-chan." Ma said, patting his forehead while still maining concentration. 

"You barely call on us anymore, it's a nice surprise to be honest." Pa said, mimicking Ma's movements as they continued to help Jiraiya gather up Nature Chakra. 

"That's because I didn't want Tsunade to see me with this ugly mug," Jiraiya said jokingly as he steeled his resolve. This was going to be one of the biggest battles of his life, he needed to go all out from the start if he wanted to survive, let alone win. But. . . "Tsunade!" 

"Right!" Tsunade shouted, punching her palm as she stood next to her teammate. They were one down, but the spirit of two Sannin was enough. "Let's kick this bastard apart and bring our Naruto home!" 

And done. A day late, or two? I'm not sure. How was it? Good? Bad? I feel like I keep dragging on this fight holy shit how long have they been fighting now? 10 Chapters since the final battle began? Damn, I'm dragging my feet huh? 

Well all of its been planned, so I guess its just a really long battle. They really are pretty strong. Anyway yeah

Til next time my lil demons!