"Let's do this." Naruto stated as he was engulfed by Kurama's chakra and lifted up into the air, floating over the foxes eyes as the body of chakra rose up from the ground. He saw Shukaku slowly forming out of sand next to him and smiled. Madara's susanoo had stumbled back when Gaara's seal was opened, giving them enough time to form up.
Flashing through a series of hand signs, Naruto smiled, seeing his orange cloak do the same. Ending the sequence, Shukaku grinned, as Naruto charged forwards, his orange hands glowing red. Slowly two spheres of red chakra were forming in his palms as he approached his opponent. The charging beast was hard to overlook so Madara had braced himself for the impact, bringing his wings forward to shield himself. Naruto grinned, as he slammed the first Rasengan into the wings, pushing more chakra into the second attack. The wings parted again, as the force of Naruto's first Rasengan vanished, the attack having used up all of it's chakra. Smiling, the free hand of Naruto pushed one last bit of chakra into the still rotating rasengan before pushing it forward, exploiting the small gap between the wings that was left there when Madara had opened his wings. The Uchiha's eyes widened as the blue sphere exploded against his chest, sending him and his susanoo flying through the air.
"Temari, prepare a sealing scroll, we'll have only one shot at this." Naruto shouted down towards his girlfriend. Taking advantage of the fact that the Uchiha was still struggling to make it to his feet, Naruto lept after him, Shukaku already two steps ahead.
Temari didn't ask as she quickly unsealed a scroll from a storage seal in her pouch, opening it swiftly and sprinting after the three giant fighters.
Naruto watched as Shukaku delivered a devastating blow to Madara's head, sending him back down on one knee. A small smile allowed itself to creep onto his lips as he saw that the man was even slower to get up then before, apparently having been injured by the raccoon's powerful fist. Drawing back his own fist Naruto watched as orange chakra made contact with blue, before he got a hold of a wing, using it to draw the susanoo back towards his free fist.
Seeing Temari reaching the fight, he let go of Madara, Shukaku strangling the prone giant with sand.
The blonde teenager quickly channeled chakra into the scroll in her hand, before throwing the scroll at the blue chakra mass, hoping that it would still be able to restrain the man within.
Shukaku saw the seals snake over the blue samurai pushing more chakra into the sand, trying to hold the man down, whose struggling against his hold became more desperate the further the seal had snake around his body. It seemed as if they were successful, as the sealing matrix closed, a faint glow of white enveloping the kanji, before the blue chakra dispersed and Madara fell to the floor, his body not responding to the impact.
"Shukaku let Gaara take over again, we need him now." Naruto stated, as Kurama's chakra silhouette receded and he landed on his feet next to Temari. Quickly jumping towards their downed opponent, the two kept their weapons ready as they inspected the body to see if the seal had properly taken effect. They were relieved, when they saw that it did and that it had translated perfectly from the overly large body of the susanoo to Madara's. Nonetheless, they were still not satisfied as Naruto and Temari set out, drawing a complex seal around the unconscious leader of the Akatsuki.
"What are you doing?" Came the question from Gaara, as Shukaku had given him back control over his body.
"We are constructing a larger seal to be sure that this one can not come back. Could you maybe envelop him in sand?" Naruto asked, as the blondes continued working on the matrix.
"Yeah sure." The redhead sounded unsure, what was going to happen or how his sand would help but didn't question it and did as he was bid.
Naruto and Temari finished the last brush strokes in sync, looking up at each other with a smile. Temari stood and took a step back while Naruto went through a few hand signs, his fingers glowing bright with chakra. Connecting his fingers with certain points in the seal's matrix the seal started to glow, before it began to slowly circle around the pill shaped sand coffin that once was Madara. The seal started picking up speed, before it became impossible to decipher it, inching closer and closer to it's target. Once it reached the sand it was over in an instant. A blinding light erupted from the seal, blinding everyone for a brief amount of time.
Looking at the sand after the light had died down the three teens smiled, seeing black kanji everywhere.
The light was seen everywhere on the battlefield. Most of the fighters knew that it meant the fight was over when the blue and orange masses of chakra had disappeared from view, along with Shukaku, but they didn't know who had won , since Madara had led Naruto and the others a fair distance away from the other fights. Tsunade had been able to get herself away from Jiraiya's corpse, when she had felt the chakra wave of Gaara's seal being opened. Realizing that Naruto was facing off against one of the strongest shinobi ever to have lived, she got up and ran towards the battlefield seeing the susanoo and Kurama dissolve before she had made it close enough to make out how the battle was going.
The rest of the shinobi saw Tsunade making her way to the top of the small ridge that was blocking their view, her pale blonde hair standing out against the blue of the sky. The light blinded her just as she was about to reach the top. Shielding her eyes with her hands she walked forward, scared what she might find when she looked at the battlefield and incredibly relieved when she found Naruto embracing his fiance and her brother next to a sand coffin.
"Where is father?" Gaara asked, as the trio had made its way back, meeting a few of the others who were congratulating them for defeating Madara.
Naruto knew the silence, they held as Gaara's eyes widened, realization dawning on him. Taking Temari's hand he felt her tremble, trying not to break down, when Kankuro presented them their father's battle helmet, his tears already flowing.
"Go to Gaara, he needs you more. I have Naruto." Said blonde heard his fiance whisper to her older brother, when he came to hug her.
The brown haired teen pulled back and nodded, before going to his brother, while Naruto pulled Temari into his arms, the girl breaking down as soon as her head was on his shoulder.
Looking around, Naruto noticed that there were a lot more people missing than he had thought at first.
The group from Iwagakure was kneeling around Onoki's fallen figure, his short stature the only one missing from the group, making it rather obvious who they were mourning, the shinobi from Kiri stood over Ao's corspe, his blue hair almost completely red with blood, Samui had been slain as well, the Raikage and his entourage standing watch over her.
His eyes landed on the familiar mop of white hair, his breath hitching as he tightened his grip on his girlfriend, silently wishing that it wasn't true. Tsunade saw where he was looking and put a hand on his shoulder, not saying a word. Naruto didn't need to look at his Kage to know what her gesture meant. He had tried to stay strong for Temari, but he couldn't hold back the tears as Tsunade had just confirmed his fear. Burrowing his nose in the blonde hair of the girl in his arms, he sobbed.
She didn't know how much time had passed, when the two let go of each other. Somehow they had found their way under a tree, Naruto leaning against it and Temari leaning against him. There was a fire burning somewhere, she could smell the smoke, but she didn't know where. The sun was still in the sky, although it was almost touching the horizon, dusk creeping over the world. The tears had stopped long ago, but both Naruto and her had been afraid to let go, afraid to look up, afraid to make this bad dream reality.
However they both knew that this was no dream and they would have to face reality eventually. A look into the blue eyes of her fiance told her that he was thinking along the same lines.
She had thought that Naruto would go to Jiraiya as he let go of her hand, but was surprised when she found him unsealing a small black rose from a scroll, before taking her hand again, staying by her side as they made their way to Gaara and Kankuro. H
Her brothers stood next to Rasa's corpse, their heads low, unmoving. Gaara didn't even look up, when Temari put an arm around him, but a hand of his found hers, squeezing tight.
Kankuro's eyes met hers as she put her other arm around him, a small sad smile on his lips, until the frown returned and he looked back down at their father.
She knew that it would eventually have come to this, but she had thought that she would at least have a few more years with him. She had wanted him to give her away to Naruto on their wedding, to see the glimmer of joy in his eyes when she gave him his grandchild. She had wanted to do so many things with him, that had now been taken from her and most of all from him.
They had moved him, so that his arms were crossed over his chest. It looked almost as if he was sleeping, if there wasn't the wound over his heart and the massive blood stain on his clothes. Kneeling down, she placed the black rose Naruto had handed her in her fathers hands, giving his fingers one last squeeze, before she broke again and fled into her boyfriend's arms.
The sun had set, when they moved away from Rasa's corpse, making their way towards Tsunade, who was still standing next to Jiraiya's deathbed, her hands clutching a book.
Naruto let go of Temari as they moved up next to the Hokage, his arms pulling her into a short hug. She only smiled at him in return as they pulled back.
Kneeling next to his former sensei Naruto smiled the same smile, placing another black rose in his hands, his thoughts going back to the day he had started that tradition.
The evening was dark, not even the moon could break through the clouds that hung on the sky. Still it was brighter than Naruto felt, his thoughts spinning around one thing since that morning. Vengeance.
"Naruto, come on, we have to move soon." Jiraiya said, appearing next to him.
"Do you have a flower on you?" The raven asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper, his throat too hoarse from crying.
"Yes, I have." The sannin replied, rummaging through his various pockets until he found a small storage scroll. Unsealing a black rose he presented it to Naruto, a sad smile on his lips.
"Give me ten minutes." Naruto stated, as he made his way towards his sister's form lying on a bed of wood. Jiraiya nodded, walking back to the small camp the group had set up, passing Temari who was standing there, watching Naruto with a worried look in her eyes.
"I promise you, we will find those bastards." Naruto vowed, placing the black flower in between his sister's hands.
"I'm sorry Kyouki." He muttered, as he stepped back, tears once again flowing from his eyes.
A few handsigns later and the small funeral pyre burned. He watched as the rose was the first to catch fire, his sister's clothes closely behind, then her hair and lastly it seemed as if the flesh melted away from her bones. Deciding to let the fire burn down completely he turned around, seeing that everyone had come together, when they heard the fire, his remaining two genin and his sensei standing behind his fiance a good distance away to give him his privacy.
A small smile crossed his lips, as he walked back to them, taking Temari into his arms.
It had been Temari who had brought him down from his revenge fueled rage, asking him if Kyouki would have wanted him to become so obsessed with murdering people. He pulled the girl into his arms, as he had done back then, finding some sort of calmness in her touch.