83Review Responses:
McAwzome: Sorry it had to happen. You will understand in time. The message will explain.
meee: I still got it haha! Yeah just wait until you read this chapter. Hopefully it doesn't fall flat.
Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and every other combatant looked on in shock at the Reaper-Kyuubi. Everyone, that is, except for Rykuga. The Berserker had a grin spreading ear to ear. He was so damn excited to fight the Kyuubi. In fact, he was so excited that he began to lick his lips in anticipation as he set forward at a slow walk. He was going to take his time getting there. The longer it took to reach it, the better it would feel tearing off each individual tail. Or at least that was his thought process.
Sakura let out the breath she didn't know she was holding when Rykuga walked away. Naruto decided to let his opponents wear each other out before he would jump in. He may have unlimited chakra but even as a stamina tank he still didn't have a never-ending amount of stamina. He had to laugh at his thoughts as he sat panting, watching as Rykuga started to pick up his pace.
Naruto could practically see the sharp teeth in Rykuga's mouth, even from this distance.
Rykuga's smile wouldn't leave his face as he began a full out sprint which left after an after image of him. He covered the last 200 feet in under a second only to be met with a tail swipe that knocked him back several yards before he regained his footing. He caught the next tail before it smashed him into the ground. He pulled the tail and began to pivot on his feet. He felt the Reaper-Kyuubi loose its' footing and he began to spin. After 2 rotations he let go and watched the fox fly into the air. He leapt up and smashed the fox in the face, sending it towards the ground quite quickly. The Reaper-Kyuubi pulled himself back to his feet and brought a paw up to swat Rykuga out of the air. He began to gather a massive amount of chakra in front of him, forming a Tailed Beast Bomb. Rykuga felt the blood trickle down from his ear and mouth. He was lucky he had twisted in air and took the blow to his side otherwise his skull would have been crushed. He knew he was in a lot more trouble because in his Berserker Mode his focus was a lot more distracted by the bloodlust so he healed much slower. Suddenly the massive ball of chakra came racing at him. Rykuga quickly tried to leap to the side only to find his leg was broken and unable to support his massive weight.
"Fuck!" Rykuga brought his arms in front of him in a futile attempt to brace himself. He was confused when the blast never came. He brought his arms down and was shocked by the sight before him. A purple, cracking Susanoo stood before him with a strangely familiar man in the middle. It felt like a damn had suddenly broke in his head. He brought his hands to his head out of pain as memories began to rush into his head. Memories that the bloodlust had suppressed. He remembered his short time as a Leaf ninja, his time hunting the Reaper, the time he spent with the man in front of him. His one and only friend, Sasuke. He remembered the pain he felt when he forced Naruto to hate him by shooting his wife the day after his wedding. He remembered the countless times he was angry when the Reaper slipped between his fingers. But know he was feeling an overwhelming need to reconcile his mistakes. Even if that meant losing his life. Suddenly Naruto and Sakura were beside Sasuke. The purple Susanoo crumbled away as Sasuke collapsed from pain and exhaustion.
"Sasuke!" Both Naruto and Sakura caught their friend and gently laid him down. Rykuga felt his leg finally finish healing and stood up.
"Naruto, Sakura I'll take it from here." Rykuga began to move forward before Naruto stood up.
"How do we know that we can trust you?" Naruto was fully prepared to fight the behemoth in front of him.
"Because if I was still under the control of my bloodlust then you three would be nothing more than a powder beneath my feet by now. Now step aside, this is my fight." Rykuga stepped over the man ahead of him to continue forward.
"No. This is OUR fight. Besides, Kurama needs his other half back and I fully intend to get it for him." Naruto grinned at Kurama as he fell in step beside the giant and they both continued forward. Rykuga glanced down at his smaller companion and grinned.
"You know, I have always wondered what it would be like to fight with you instead of against you. Who would've thought that it would be these circumstances that united us." Said the still grinning Rykuga.
"I thought you were insane?" Naruto said looking slightly confused.
"Well this Eye of Insanity can make people go insane but that was an act for the most part. Now are we gonna kill this guy or should I just sit down for a nice chat?" Naruto laughed at Rykuga's question and jerked his head at their enemy.
"Let's go."
Minato slapped the last seal needed onto Riku's chest, watching it fade from sight before his enemy even noticed. He heard two people breathe in behind him and turned around.
"Wind Style: Air Bullet!"
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The two massive jutsu fused together and came speeding towards him. He quickly activated the seal on Mifune and teleported out of harm's way. He slammed a Rasengan into Mifune's chest before he had time to blink. Mifune went soaring through the air and slammed into the ground. When Minato seen that Mifune was either dead or incapacitated he turned his attention back to the three 10 year old kids. He was impressed they were doing so well against him. The most surprising had to be the girl, Misaku. He had an idea behind how she knew Wood style but the only person he knew that was still alive to use it was Yamato.
His thoughts were interrupted by the tree that was encasing him by growing on him. His legs were already inside the trunk and it was slowly moving up. He flashed to the girl and was about to attack her when her brother, Riku, appeared in front of him and looked him right in the eyes with his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan activated.
"Tsukuyomi!"
He found himself submerged up to his neck in a red world. He could also feel the bugs burrowing through him.
"G-genjutsu." Minato hissed in pain as a bug went through his chest.
"You will be like this for the next 2 days." Riku stated before he became quite again.
Misaku quickly took the opportunity to encase Minato in a tree as Hotaru reinforced the tree with minerals from the ground through the use of Earth style. Hotaru, Misaku, and Riku, who had just finished the jutsu, all slapped tags onto the tree.
After 1 hour of fighting, Team 7 finally defeated the Fourth Hokage.
Boy were they proud.
Rykuga felt the burst of power that he was waiting for. Thanks to the bloodlust his chakra control had been nonexistent because he couldn't focus on anything but shedding blood. Now that he was able to focus again his chakra control was back so he could now heal himself from the cellular level again. He caught one tail in each hand and held them down so Naruto could run up them. At least that was the plan until another tail slammed down on him and slapped him away into the treeline.
Naruto used all nine tails to block the paw that tried to squash him. He strained under the amount of force the Reaper-Kyuubi had put into the blow and sweat beginning to form on his forehead. He risked decided to try to use Kurama's chakra directly and was pleasantly surprised when to red chakra hands extended out to slam two Rasenshuriken into his massive enemy. He jumped back just as the dual Rasenshuriken expanded to cover the entire fox.
Sakura's hopes were dashed when 4 tails shot out of the smoke to try and smash her husband. She watched Rykuga quickly re-join the fray to land several devastating punches and kicks to the Reaper-Kyuubi's back left leg. She watched it buckle slightly as the bones were cracked and could barely hold the weight placed on them. She watched as the fox grabbed Rykuga and, to her shock and horror, proceeded to place him in his mouth and swallow him. She heard Naruto cry out and watched him get his leg almost cut off by a glancing hit from a claw. She looked to Sasuke and decided to place a genjutsu on him so he would appear invisible to keep him safe. After that she went rushing in to help her husband.
Naruto was horrified when Rykuga was eaten and that nearly cost him his leg. He knew that Rykuga had survived worse but considering he had been swallowed alive multiple times, he knew how bad it was and didn't want the same to happen to Rykuga. He winced as he tried to stand on both legs and tried to stall long enough for Kurama to heal his leg. Needless to say he was absolutely stunned when a certain pinkette smashed her fist into the Reaper-Kyuubi's face. He was even more surprised to see the massive fox get lifted off of its' feet. His wife landed next to him and he found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wipe that stupid grin off of his face.
"Hey Sakura you know I love you right?" He tried to give her his best smile despite the situation.
"Yes Naruto, I know. Still you do something perverted I'll do the same thing to your head. Now focus on the fight!" She remained focused on the enemy ahead of her as the fox shook out its head and looked at her with a look of extreme hatred.
"I remember you. You're the pink haired bitch that was always with Naruto. It's going to be a pleasure to kill you and crush his heart. Maybe then I'll finally break him!" The fox's voice was laced with hatred as he spoke. Suddenly the air next to her was filled with a terrible chakra. She could feel the hatred coming off of it. She turned her head to see Naruto's skin finish peeling away as he began to grow in size. Nine red tails shot out from behind him and he dropped to all fours. She watched the skeleton form around him and watched as the red chakra took on the appearance of orange fur which quickly covered the bones. The last change was the size of the body. Sakura now gazed upon the true Kyuubi and it looked pissed.
"You will not hurt anymore of Naruto's friends. I will finally be able to unite myself and become whole again. I refuse to miss that chance but if I must, I will sacrifice my other half to save his pink vixen." Sakura couldn't help but blush at the term Kurama used. Kurama then turned his head to her and said two words: "Get back."
She quickly followed the order and went back to Sasuke. When she turned her attention back she was awed by the sight. Both fox's tails seemed as though they were fighting individual battles as the foxes swiped and bit at each other.
Kurama quickly clamped down on the exposed throat of his enemy and grabbed hold of the Reaper-Kyuubi's legs. He pulled his head back only to blast a massive Tailed Beast Bomb directly into the other fox's face. Kurama kept up with the onslaught as claw and teeth all made contact with his opponent. Finally when he felt the other fox was weak enough, Kurama bit onto the throat again and began to pull on every bit of his chakra. Suddenly, a hand ripped out of the Reaper-Kyuubi's stomach and mad a hole in it large enough for Rykuga to drag himself out. Kurama felt his other half weaken considerably and pulled. He made sure to pull on ALL of it so he could fully remove the other half from the Reaper while reuniting himself. He was satisfied when the Kyuubi form started to recede and was finally ripped off, and out, of the Reaper. After he fully absorbed the new chakra he gave control back to Naruto. His job was done.
Rykuga had never felt this happy to feel a breeze in his life. He was just happy that he had remained conscious long enough to tear out of the stomach. Now he dragged himself back to Sakura and collapsed. He felt his body begin to change back just as the sweet darkness of sleep overtook him.
'You're on your own Naruto.'
Naruto walked up to the Reaper. He could tell that the Reaper couldn't move anymore. His body was going into shock from the hole in his stomach and he was so physically drained that his limbs weren't working properly. The fact that he was still awake was a miracle in itself. Naruto slowly approached the immobile form and dropped to his knees out of exhaustion.
"An...Any last words? Y...your wounds...are going t-to kill you." Naruto said between pants.
"M-my master has...has already done what was needed...to be done...You're doomed wh-when he makes his move...I only wish...I could see...the light leave your eyes!" The Reaper laughed/gurgled out the last words. Before Naruto could ask anymore he seen the Reaper's eyes go blank.
"You may have been...my enemy but the man...you were before...was a good man. To him I say rest in peace." Naruto suddenly saw black dots and began to fall. He felt a pair of arms catch him. The last thing he saw was pink hair before sleep overtook him.
Kakashi threw his last explosive kunai into a group of resurrected soldiers. He prepared to use his taijutsu when they all suddenly collapsed. He watched them try to cling to the ground as all of the undead soldiers were pulled back into the fiery gates by some unseen force. When the last one was pulled in the ground began to shake as the hole was closed. Everyone looked dazed and tried to figure out what was happening. Questions could be heard spreading through the army before they were answered quite loudly.
"We have prevailed through the Power of Youth!" Kakashi didn't have to see to know Guy had just shouted out a "We won" statement. At first everyone looked even more confused until the Leaf ninja began to cheer and shout "We won!" The chant of "Victory" and several other variations spread through the army.
Kakashi looked off into Naruto's direction and quietly said "We won Naruto. You did it."
AN: The next chapter will be the last chapter of (Re)Setting the Stage. I want to thank you all for sticking with me through this book and I would like to extend this thanks to everyone who has also Favorited this book. Also I would like to tell you that Book 2 will be coming out within a week of this one ending. Please leave a review of your favorite part and/or any suggestions. Enjoy!