~~~
Naruto sighed, standing at the edge of the cliff that he had frequented due to Madara's training. It had been some time since then and he simply stared off into the horizon.
What a beautiful sight.
For a moment he appreciated the scenery as he sat down on the rough edges of the cliff that hung between life and death. The fresh breeze brushed against his skin.
He should be dying soon. Madara was at the end of his life, his heart taking the last few steps before doing what ultimately dying.
He was waiting for such a moment.
He wished to see the face of a man that was nearing his death; and the man himself was but a monster that could no longer be called human.
And once he did die, Naruto could - hopefully - start anew. It was a simple wish, but this place was merely a trivial containment hindering him and his goal.
One can hope for such a thing. Naruto mused, his eyes looking up into the sky as he closed his eyes for a moment or two.
He felt the life of the world course through him.
~~~
He wiped the sweat that hovered around his pale skin, feeling the moisture of the sweat engrave itself into the skin of his hand.
His body turned into a chilly freezer as the breeze touched where the sweat had been originally. Naruto had a shovel as he placed the dirt on top of the dead bodies of Yukari and Madara.
It had been a long time; but the moment he had waited for had finally came to him on a silver platter. Madara had died without trouble and he was able to kill Yukari without much trouble.
Her Fuinjutsu was out of this world, but her combat abilities severely lacked behind it. Naruto stayed quiet as each plump of dirt crashed into the dead bodies.
It soon took a full 30 minutes before everything was complete and Naruto was now completely free from their shackles.
He walked away.
He stopped for a moment, turning back to see one last look at what he did and nodded to himself as his hair swayed across the skies.
"Goodbye."
Naruto turned back around as he marched towards tomorrow.
~~~
Rain shunned the world as the droplets of water trickled down as though the world was a pachinko machine. The water droplets landed on various things.
The dirt that covered Yukari and Madara became dampened, the mild brown color darkening into a darker shade of brown. Soon, water begun to pile over the make-believe graveyard.
The dirt that held the water cracked under its pressure and became a malleable mud that had an odd texture. Time went by and the mud soon gained a puddle of water.
RUSTLE!
A sudden turn of movement begun to make the mud shiver. And it didn't take long for the mud to erode apart, becoming a shirt that had been ripped apart by its owner.
What came out of the erode dirt was a hand that was as tense that it could be. The hand shivered as mud and water coated its exterior.
As though blind, the hand begun to fling in all sorts of directions, before clamping down on the mud and ripping it away. On the opposite side, the mud also became eroded.
Another hand appeared.
The hand ripped the mud apart just like its other counterpart. Soon, the entire ground begun to rip apart due to a force far greater than itself.
"Haaah... Haaaahhhhh.... haaaahhh." A person rose from the collapsed dirt, breathing heavily as they saw the darkness of the skies once more.
"I survived..." Yukari was breathless as she had barely managed to survive the entire process. Due to Naruto having to bury them, Yukari was barely managing to hang on the thread of her life.
Normally, someone would've died immediately if they were in her circumstance, but she was able to use her Fuinjutsu to slowly 'heal' the wound on her forehead.
But even though she had done that, her body was temporarily suspended in a death-like state, making it so where her pulse was flatlined for a tiny bit.
This was a miracle for her-- Naruto would've noticed her breathing if she wasn't suspended in such a state to begin with.
"That boy--!" Her face scrunched as she breathed in ragged forms. She was filled with rage, but the pain that coursed through her was far too immense.
Yukari got up from the muddy grave, piecing it back together in terrible staggering. Now that her forehead was finally closed shut, a small sealing mark was left on her forehead.
Live.
Live.
That's what she needed to do.
~~~
POV: Naruto
I sat at the desk in front of the window that showed me a great horizon. I had recently went into Konoha and found a place to stay in this apartment complex.
The Moon shined down upon humanity as I wrote in this journal of mine. My hand wove through the pages with the pencil that wrote with fluid motion.
As I felt the calm atmosphere around me, I soon recognized the major difference between this place and where I had lived before with Madara and Yukari.
My writing stopped, and I closed my eyes.
Things were beginning to diverge from everything that Madara had wanted me to do; and I was fine with such, but that did left me with one thing.
What's next?
Konoha was a great place, but I knew that I couldn't stay here forever. I'd have to leave this place sooner or later if I wish to pursue my goal.
It was a wonder, but it was something I'd have to think about on another day, in another time. Everything needed to be sorted out neatly; and only then will everything come together and form as one.
Opening my eyes, my eyes landed on the Moon. Looking at the Moon for just a second, I made an unexpected comment.
"The Moon... It's shining so brightly."
~~~
Done. Maybe I'll do another one some day; but this will be my way to send off Grace and put it behind me and to solely focus on Fallen Grace. There has always been some inadequacies with Grace that I was unsatisfied with but was far too late to change.
So Fallen Grace will be what makes up for those lacking qualities.
The characters-- I wish for it all to be fleshed out in the 400+ chapter fanfic that I will be committed to for the next few years of my life.
With my current schedule, I'll be posting 3 chapters every weekend. Fallen Grace will very ambitious even for me. It's something that'll take time and effort for and I'm willing to do such.
Grace has been a fanfic that I didn't think would go so over the top. Despite its flaws, I have enjoyed and am content with the journey from Chapter 1 and all the way to the Epilogue of Grace.
So, as the creator, I do think I'll give this a fair and unbiased rating. Counting everything from start to finish, I do think this rating will be fair.
8/10.
Haha... I do think an 8/10 is fair since I'm quite critical with the flaws of the story. But Slashed - for me - was a slid 3-4/10 in terms of everything.
And that reminds me.
If you haven't already, read Fallen Grace since I've been updating it constantly for the past 2-3 weeks. As of right now there are 10 chapters out right now.
Read it.
Vote it.
Uh... but until next time.
CYA!