• Published 12th Mar 2013
  • 16,307 Views, 600 Comments

Visual Prowess - UgalaaWriter



During The Fourth Great Ninja War, Sasuke is transported to Equestria. Longer summary in description.

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Public Humilation

Twilight Sparkle could only stare up in curious awe at the strange being that stood powerfully and prideful, before her. Even wounded as he seemed to be, this ‘Sasuke’ seemed to lose none of his influence, even leaning on an improvised cane- that looked to actually be a sword. Sasuke looked down at Twilight with unimpressed eyes as he’d expected something that was a little… more. Twilight jumped up and got onto her hooves, walking over to Sasuke, who leaned on his sword more and more as time went by.

“I need somewhere to sit.”

Sasuke pushed past her, and took her chair, soon relieving himself by resting in the small, but large enough, furniture. Twilight could only stare at him, still, her mind flowing with unasked questions that were screaming to be released from her throat. Her eyes were as round and as big as suns, and they gleamed like a kid’s who had just woken up on a good Christmas day. Trembling with excitement, she nearly wanted to start bouncing like Pinkie.

A new race of beings! What kind of things would they know? What kind of things could she learn from them? The adorable lavender unicorn barely restrained herself and attempted to act something that could pass as professional.

“So, Sas-kay? Is that how you pronounce your name?”

“Close enough,” Sasuke grunted.

“Where… do you come from?”

“I really hate repeating myself. The Elemental Nations.”

“Oh. Where’s that? It’s not on any of our maps. I would know, I got an A in Advanced Placement Equus Geograhy.”

“I’m beginning to believe it’s in a different realm.”

This drew a shocked gasp from the audience of the room as Twilight looked on in what was now unrestrained glee. A being from another world! What could’ve been simply an undiscovered species (as unlikely as it was) was now something on a whole other level. Twilight struggled for words as Sasuke looked on boredly, waiting for what would be inevitable questions.

“How do you know that?”

“Simple. My nations that I knew are not on any map here as you have confirmed, everyone here is a pony or a dragon or a griffin- I saw one flying yesterday- and there are no other humans, there are no shinobi, which is the strangest of all, and there is no news of the war.”

“The war?”

“The Fourth World Shinobi War. It was a conflict I was a part of while I was in my world. I got caught in the middle of an attack, and I’m assuming I was transported here. It’s not entirely impossible- the attack I was caught in the middle of was launched by what some consider gods, or beings that had god-like power. Stranger things could’ve happened.”

Twilight was silent as her brilliant mind raced; trying to cobble together something from the information she’d been given. It was possible- this completely proved the multiverse theory- but it wasn’t very probable. Although she was admittedly rather scared and intimidated by the idea of war- a topic which was looked on with disgust and fear by everypony in Equestria. Equestria hadn’t seen war in a long time, and even when it had, very few ponies had died. Even other races- Griffins and Dragons, while infinitely more aggressive, still hadn’t ever been to war much, much less with ponies.

“This war… how many people were involved in it? And how many died?”

“Easily over eighty thousand. As for the death toll, I’m not sure. In the thousands, certainly. Probably in the tens of thousands.”

Twilight’s breath stopped and hitched in her throat as she considered the possibility. Thousands of humans dying? That sounded horrible. She couldn’t begin to imagine ponies being involved in such a conflict, much less dying at that sort of rate or number. Gathering herself, she asked her next question.

“Which side were you on?”

“I don’t understand what you mean by that.”

“The good side, or the bad side?”

Sasuke sneered. What naivety and innocence.

“Of course you would think like that, pony. You didn’t even consider what started the war, or who was involved, or any other variable. Nothing is black and white. I’m more shocked by the stupidity of this place every day.”

“Equestria isn’t stupid!”

“How do you solve problems with relations in other countries? Humor me.”

“Well, we talk it out, and we reach a decision-“

“What if they don’t want to talk about it?”

“Why wouldn’t they want to discuss the problem? We reach a decision, and-“

“What if they’re angry? If they want blood?”

Twilight paled.

“Blood?”

“Yes, blood. As in the citizens and soldiers of your country killed. They’ll invade. What do you do, then?”

“Well, Princess Celestia would take care of it,” Twilight said, with complete confidence in her mentor. “She would stop the fighting.”

“You can’t rely on your leader for everything. And how good is her tongue? You can’t convince everyone, no matter how hard you try.”

“Yes you can!” Twilight argued stubbornly, childishly stomping her hoof onto the oak wood of the tree-library. “Celestia would sort it out with them and then-“

“Here’s how it would work in my world.”

Twilight perked her ears, as did everypony else, interested to hear his rebuttal.

“Diplomatic tensions are on the rise between two countries. Arguments are tossed back and forth over something- a resource, land, anything, really. Eventually, they decide a diplomatic meeting. The officials that are meeting hold a lot of power and influence in their respective countries. They carry valuable information that would certainly harm the other country if it was released.”

Everypony nodded in understanding.

“Both countries want what they’re arguing over, but they don’t want to give it up. At the date and site of the meeting, they send shinobi to deal with the problem. Depending on what helps the nation more, they will either kill or capture the diplomat and torture them for information, to weaken the other country. Afterwards, the other country, weakened and insulted, either backs off and lets the country claim whatever it wanted, or it starts a war.”

“What a horrible process!” Twilight shouted immediately. “Is diplomatic relations where you come from really that uncommon?”

“No, it happens all the time. But shinobi are used to solve problems more.”

“That seems stupid. Why would a government act that way?”

“They want as much power as possible, obviously.”

“But why so much? Can’t they be happy with what they have?”

“If you could answer that, people would call you a genius at human psychology. Greed is a driving factor in all government on my world, even if it might not be the same here.”

Twilight looked both angrily stumped by the stupid procedure that the humans seemed to use to deal with problems, and just as well, terrified of what he was suggesting. Did they have war that much? How many died every day to violence? Twilight shivered at the possibility.

“I’m part of no Hidden Village, though. Not anymore. So I could care less about the wars that they involve themselves in. To answer your original question, though, I would probably be on what you consider the bad side.”

“Why?”

“For my revenge.”

“Revenge? What happened to you that you would go into a war that you aren’t even involved in for revenge?”

“I am an avenger. As soon as I get back to The Elemental Nations, I’ll continue on my revenge.” Sasuke said this coldly. There was no emotion in his voice.

Twilight feared this ‘human’ a bit, and the answer to the question she was about to ask next even more, but she had to ask it. She was both too curious not too, and she had to know Sasuke’s intentions, as well. What kind of pony was he?

“What is your revenge, anyway?”

“To kill every person in The Leaf Village and burn it into the ground,” Sasuke spat. He clenched his fists as his Hatred roared inside his body. It wanted revenge, and so did he. Revenge for treachery, for lies. The slaughter of the Uchiha Clan. For deaths unneeded and for, above all, the sheer arrogance of the Leaf- thinking they could get away with it!

As Sasuke obsessed over his revenge, everypony else in the room was shocked by his the cold seriousness in his tone. He spat the words Leaf Village like it was poison being expelled from his lips. Fluttershy trembled a little and everypony else in the room could only stare at the thing that seemed so driven to kill the ponies that had apparently wronged him.

“Sasuke, how old are you?”

“Sixteen, dumb horse,” he answered, coldly. His eyes seemed to be shifting red. Twilight wanted to take a step back, but held her ground, regardless. She ignored the insult. She could tell that he was hurting.

“Sixteen is too young to be so murderous like that! Listen, I’m older than you, and I can tell you from experience that-“

“Twilight,” Sasuke interrupted, his voice dangerously cold and quiet, “have you ever taken a life?”

Silence exploded and washed over the room as Twilight, in mid pleading-rant, seemed to have been stopped in her tracks, effortlessly. She sputtered helplessly, and then started glaring at him, before she answered.

“No! Of course not! You… have?” Her fury abated and turned into a disgusted terror.

“Plenty of people. My first one was when I was twelve or thirteen years old.”

“Why… so young?” Twilight asked. She murmured the words, not being able to handle or believe what he was saying. Sasuke’s eyes looked on emotionlessly in a cold apathy as he continued. Even as weak as he was, he seemed no less hateful.

“Violence is a daily occurrence in my world, and many experience it when they’re young. And it’s an integral part to some jobs. Like shinoibi. There’s one Hidden Village that’s worse than any of this, though. Or, it used to be, anyway. There are many ranks of shinobi. It goes genin, chunin, jonin, Kage, and then there are those who are above Kage, even though they don’t have specific names. In one Hidden Village, to become a genin and start your ninja career, you had to kill the people you’d been learning with, for years. These people were friends, classmates. Sometimes, even siblings. And people did it anyway.”

“Why?” Twilight demanded, with tears in her eyes.

“Because. To become stronger. Whoever was stronger survived and their ninja force was composed of genin and above that had already killed. It certainly saved them from having to help ninja that had just killed for the first time on the battlefield.”

Silence again possessed the inside of the tree as everypony considered and thought about what he had said in silence. He came from a violent world. Was that why he was like this?

So hateful and cold, as if he could never feel real happiness again, instead feeling only a vague empty sensation in lieu of satisfaction or anything else.

“Which are you?”

“Which of what am I?”

“Rank. Of shinobi.”

“Above Kage. Where I come from, I was one of the strongest.”

“So, if you were so strong, why not stop the fighting?”

“Stop the fighting? That’s like asking humans not to breathe.”

“But if you were so strong, why couldn’t you do it?”

“First, because it’s an impossible goal. Second, because I neither needed to nor wanted to. Why do I care if they kill each other? Their conflicts and problems are their own, and that’s that. I only care about my vengeance.”

If Twilight had had tears in her eyes, then Rainbow had barely kept herself from crying, Fluttershy already had been, and Spike had a distanced look on his face- it was clear that he couldn’t process what he’d just been told.

“But, why-“

“Enough, horse. I’m tired of questions.”

“So, you’re really strong, huh, Sasuke?” Rainbow Dash asked brashly, moving closer towards him. She flew backwards in the air, with her hooves in front of her, kicking up wildly into the air, in specific orders that looked like combinations.

“I bet I could beat you with my karate.”

“Your form is horrible.”

“W-what!?” Rainbow almost dropped out of the sky, and then turned, glaring at Sasuke.

“You’ll see whose form is horrible!”

In a competitive rage, Dash shot forward in the air, charging at Sasuke faster than a speeding bullet. Sasuke only activated his Sharingan and waited for her defeat. He effortlessly blocked each of her weak, slow strikes, as Sharingan showed him the way. His eyes showed the prediction- blurry phantom hooves that waved as the real hoof would in the future. He blocked her attacks with one hand and looked like the entire thing was amusing him.

Soon enough, Dash grew angry, and huffing, gave up her assault, which had done nothing but make her hooves sore. It felt like she’d been striking diamond! What was this Sasuke guy made of? Maybe Jerk Material, the way he was staring at her with arrogant, red eyes. A cocky smile was smeared across his face, and he seemed to take great enjoyment in how weak she was in comparison to him.

“How do you do that?”

“My Sharingan.”

“Your what-a-gan?”

“Sharingan. Look into my eyes.”

Dash leaned in and glanced closer, noticing the difference that wasn’t there before. Black onyx orbs were now instead swirling red complex designs- a large, six pointed star that contained a lighter design within them; another six-pointed shape, akin to a sunflower. Imprinted over that, within the star, was a three-pointed skinny triangle that had a hole in the middle. It spun and twisted inside his eyes, as if analyzing everything around him.

“Why does your eye look like that?”

“It’s Sharingan. The visual prowess granted to members of the Uchiha Clan. It’s very powerful.” Sasuke spouted all of this information arrogantly, as if he wasn’t boastful enough already. Dash seemed mesmerized by the swirling red-black designs.

“It’s so… cool!” Dash whispered, never seeming to want to pull her eyes away.

“How does it work?” This time it was Twilight who spoke, unquenchably curious.

“It can predict movement at an extremely fast rate allowing me to counter any and all physical attacks, and I can see through any sort of illusion or genjutsu.”

“So that’s how you beat me, huh? The eyes?”

“I don’t need them to beat you, though. You’re pretty weak, and your form is horrible.”

“Aaaugh! I am NOT weak!”

“Compared to me, you are.”

Rainbow Dash huffed and didn’t respond.

“So, how do I get these things?”

“You don’t. Only I can have them.”

“What! C’mon, I won’t misuse them! Tell me the secret.”

She was unknowingly starting to piss Sasuke off. While playing around with these weak ponies was semi-amusing, he was only even bothering to answer anything because of how tired he still was; there wasn’t much else to do. And he didn’t like his clan’s power to be thought of as something that was easy to get, or something common. Only the elite had Sharingan.

“It’s in my blood, only. You’d have to rip the eyes out of my skull and switch ours if you wanted the Sharingan.”

Dash seemed off-put by the casual way that he talked about such violence, but she managed to shake it off and ignore it like he’d never even said it.

“What do you mean your blood?”

“It means when I have children they’ll probably get it too. It runs in a family.”

“Oh.”

Rainbow Dash lazily floated around in the air backwards, almost like she was swimming in the air, but stopped abruptly when she took a bored glance out of the window. She didn’t expect it to find purchase-that is, anything remotely interesting. She squinted out of the window as she floated level to it, and soon announced what she heard.

“Hey, everypony! There’s some huge crowd outside. It looks like there’s some pony up on a stage or something. She’s saying something but I can’t see what. Do you guys wanna go see what’s up?”

Twilight perked up. She was getting tired of such depressing and shocking discussion with the mysterious, dangerous being that she’d just met.

“Well, I’ll go. Sasuke, do you want to come?”

“Hn,” Sasuke said, pulling himself up from the chair slowly. He didn’t say anything else, but by getting up, everypony figured that he meant he was going.

Shrugging, Twilight began to trot lightly to the door, and soon the entire group was moving towards what seemed to be a huge scene right in the middle of Ponyville. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Fluttershy, and Sasuke watched as some pony- looking to be a showpony- paraded herself around on the top of a stage.

It was some blue unicorn mare with a stylish, but simple mane, and a large purple hat and cloak that had stars as a pattern, all over them. Her cloak was held together by a large beautiful gem in the front. She shouted and boasted to the crowd.

“I am the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie!”

The unicorn continued to show off and pace back and forth on top of the stage. Sasuke decided he already didn’t like this pony either; she was boastful, but she looked weak.

“I have the most magical ability in all of Equestria! There is no pony stronger than me in magic. I have no equal!” Trixie continued in these statements for a while.

“What makes you better than anypony else! You’re not that special!” Rainbow Dash called out.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will have you know that I once saved the town of Hoofington from a large, powerful, and above all, DANGEROUS Ursa Major!”

Many ponies in the large audience that had gathered seemed amazed by the pony’s firework show. She continued to shout, and boast, and go on and on and on. Applejack, an orange earth pony with a blond mane mostly covered by a big, ten gallon hat, and with three apples as a cutie mark, was in the crowd, and her, along with Rarity, soon grew annoyed at her false bragging.

“Yer lyin’! The most magical pony in Equestria is mah friend, Twilight! Besides, even if yew weren’t lyin’, what’s the point of all yer power if all you do is brag ‘bout it?”

“I must say, I agree with Applejack. You’re quite obnoxious.”

“Well, well, well. It seems we have some ‘neigh-sayers’ in the audience. Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

Applejack worked her way through the crowd, coming to the front.

“Ah did!”

“Care to challenge me? I’m sure if you believe that I’m “lyin’” then you’ll have no problem accepting a chance to prove me wrong.”

“Fine then! Ah’ll do it right now!”

Applejack angrily stepped up to the stage and, after Trixie told her to go first, began performing rodeo rope tricks. Trixie soon turned it on her as the rope became a sort of snake-rope that tied Applejack up and left her humiliated in front of the crowd.

Applejack looked angry and sad, and was removed from the stage. Rainbow Dash piped up next, shouting from the crowd that she’d beat Trixie.

“Dumb showpony! I’ll do something you can’t do!”

After this, Rainbow Dash soared up into the sky, and began gathering water and moisture from the clouds. Darting and rushing from cloud to cloud, she soon had a lot of moisture. She hurried to the stage and used her weather manipulation powers to make a miniature rainbow. The crowd seemed impressed by this, and then watched as Trixie used her magic to turn it into a funnel and bounce Dash around inside it until she was dizzy.

Dash left the stage next, and Trixie called out who she thought had been the other complainer. Rarity stated that she wasn’t going to take part of this.

“I’m above such nonsense.”

“What a horrible mane!”

“HOW DARE YOU! MY MANE IS NOT HORRIBLE! IT. IS. ON!”

Rarity proudly strode up the stage, not thinking that she could be humiliated just as everypony else had been. Rarity tossed back her purple curled elegant mane as her horn began to light up and the curtains around the stage were surrounded in the same light blue aura. She quickly cut up the fabric and used it to form an outfit, smugly showing her work.

Trixie wasn’t going to have that, however. The second that Rarity was done, Trixie again used her magic and Rarity’s beautiful, ornate mane turned into a garish green. Rarity began screaming and shrieking loudly.

“GREEN! ANYTHING BUT GREEN!”

A pony with a green mane in the crowd looked insulted and angry, but said nothing.

“So, is it true? Is there no pony else who will try to prove themselves against me?”

“Twilight, you can go!”Encouraged Spike, just as he had been the entire competition.

“Show that dumb bragger whose boss!”

“No, I can’t.”

Twilight froze when she heard her own name called. Sasuke leaned on his sword and watched as Trixie ran her mouth some more. It was starting to really annoy him. Wasn’t anyone going to put her in her place?

“Twilight Sparkle is your name, is it not? Your friends all tried, and failed! Will you challenge me as well?” Trixie asked, narrowing her eyes balefully at Twilight.

“….No…” Twilight said quietly, with her ears laid back.

Trixie scoffed and shouted again once more.

“See! I AM the most powerful! I am the most powerful pony!”

Sasuke sighed.

“I guess I’ll have to do it, then,” He said, surprising Twilight and Spike. They quickly realized what he meant and watched, intrigued, at what he’d do.

As Trixie continued to boast endlessly, only annoying Sasuke more and more, he spoke up, loudly, above the crowd and above Trixie.

“Where I come from, they say the crow that caws loudest is the weakest.”

The crowd caught his meaning, and began laughing at the jab. Trixie fumed immediately at being humiliated at all in the slightest.

“So, what are you called, thing? I’ve never seen a monster like you before.”

“Uchiha Sasuke. Stop bragging. You’re weak. And annoying.”

“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! I demand you take those insults back at once!”

“No.”

“Sasuke Uchiha, you say? Uchiha sounds like a family name! The Uchiha sound rude and shameful, and pathetic, if they can’t even know when they’re wrong or when to take back insults! Or knowing when they’re addressing their bett-“

Trixie didn’t get to say anymore. Sasuke jumped up on the stage. Easily, with speed that no one here could see, he drew his chokuto and swiftly held it to the throat of Trixie. His eyes flickered into Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and they looked incredibly hateful and cold. Until now, no pony had insulted or even asked about the Uchiha clan. But now that somepony had, they weren’t getting away with it.

The impeccable grey steel was held just so against her throat that it was slightly cutting into her- there was a thin red line across her entire neck, and the sword, as well. Sasuke didn’t even bother putting Lightning chakra into the sword, it wasn’t needed. As his Hatred and Anger roared inside his psyche, he stared at her with even more iciness and abhorred her with her eyes. Even though he was doing nothing, it seemed that Trixie was going pale.

She stared into Sasuke’s eyes.

As soon as she did, the world broke. She saw death. Blood, splashing against the stage. Her blood. Her head, decapitated gruesomely, sailing through the air and landing in the dirt, face down. Her stomach, disemboweled, and her guts spilled onto the floor- organs- heart, stabbed- stomach, crushed- intestines strung around her body and choked her lifeless corpse like chains- at the same time, she was soiling and urinating herself- she jerked horribly, dying, as Sasuke stabbed her over, and over, mercilessly.

The blood- she choked on it. It came out from everywhere on her body- her empty eye sockets, as her eyes had already been ripped out and tossed on the floor- and her neck, oh Celestia, it gushed from her neck, going everywhere, and it was so red and it kept coming and coming and coming- and it came from her torso, where she’d been stabbed tens of times, huge gashes and slashes and tears and holes in her flesh, all weeping red tears, and then the red blood came from her horn- it had been torn off, like a limb- and it spurted from the stump of what used to be the source of her arrogance- it spurted and dribbled out- and she had been dismembered, all of her legs were cut off, and they were spurting blood too, and it wouldn’t stop no it wouldn’t stop it wouldn’t stopstopstop-

Trixie jerked, and realized with wide eyes it had been some sort of death-vision. It didn’t matter, she was urinating herself, and crying at the same time. She broke down and cried and pissed herself right there in front of all of ponyville, and Sasuke only stared down at her with cold, hateful eyes that possessed the glare of something that lived in Tartarus or maybe something that was even more evil, possibly.

“See, weak. Dumb horse. Never insult the Uchiha clan again, or I’ll kill you where you stand. You’re lucky I decided to spare you this time. Leave and never come back.”

“Get fucking lost.” Sasuke spat, his Hatred incomprehensible. It soared high above anything Trixie had ever felt before- how could one being possess so much malice? This was a random thought in the back of her mind. She wasn’t concentrating on it, though.

Trixie snorted uselessly, still unable to move, sobbing helplessly, completely traumatized, and still was peeing herself, still crying, still sobbing. A humiliating, shameful, embarrassing yellow pool of urine formed below the shocked mare. Sasuke re-sheathed his sword. He limped off the stage calmly, not caring or even paying any attention to the shocked crowd in front of him. Unknown to Sasuke, he had not only directed his Killing Intent at Trixie, but it had exuded off of him, his Malice rolling in waves and washing onto the ponies that had been right by him. They all stared in disgust, shock, horror, and terror as the terrifying monster calmly limped off of the stage and walked away, heading out of town.

Everyone in the crowd- including the entire cast of the Mane Six, and Pinkie, who was probably the one shaking the worst in the entire crowd- took a few moments to fully come to terms with what they’d seen. Slowly but surely, the crowd dissipated, with a random mare or two walking up to the stage, and helping the mentally destroyed Trixie walk off the stage and clean her up. The rest of the Mane Six stared in shock, slowly gathering together.

“Holy clop. That was brutal.” Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.

“He, he did it to me before… not as strong as that, though.” Pinkie Pie muttered.

“What!? Pinkie, is that true?” Twilight Sparkle asked. She was getting frustrated, though, even when angry, Twilight was still smart enough to know not to go against something like that. She knew that it would only end in her death.

“What gives him the right to do that!” Rarity spoke up, this time.

“If I knew that ruffian was going to do that, then I wouldn’t have sewn back his clothes!”

“Fluttershy, you’re taking care of that thing? Let him go on his own!” Dash said.

“M-maybe. But what if he doesn’t want to leave? I couldn’t make him leave.” Fluttershy said, meekly staring at the ground. Just the idea of it alone was already starting to frighten her.

“Well, you need to. We’ll come with you!” Dash said, trying to encourage into Fluttershy. But it wasn’t working; her ears were laid back, her eyes were closed, and she was shaking like a leaf as she stood, imagining the confrontation.

She couldn’t even imagine what his world was like. He had said that not everyone there was a shinobi, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be hateful, too. As The Element of Kindness, Fluttershy couldn’t understand such malice and cold uncaring. It was below her, and she would hopefully never feel such feelings herself.

“Even if we all went, it wouldn’t make a difference… he’s too strong,” Fluttershy said, with closed eyes and wings drooping.

“There’s no way he’s really THAT strong… right guys?”

Rainbow tried to get the hope of the group up, but they all seemed to be equally as hopeless as Fluttershy. Rarity said she needed to make dresses, Pinkie Pie mumbled something about going back to Sugarcube corner, Applejack said she had to get back to work on the farm, and they left Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy to think about a solution by themselves.

______________________________

Meanwhile, back at Fluttershy’s cottage, Sasuke laid down in the bed. He was almost practically healed by now. Mostly full strength. He started to doze off, and soon fell asleep, dreaming of revenge against the Leaf.

______________________________

Somehow, they’d done it. They’d won.

That’s what the Rokudaime of the Hidden Leaf, Naruto Uzumaki, was thinking.

He sat proudly at his large Hokage desk. He’d gained the respect of everyone. No longer was he called demon, or monster, or go-away-trash-go-find-a-hole-and-die-in-it.

He was referred to as both Hero of The Leaf, and Hokage-sama.

It was one of the only things that Naruto ever wanted, and, idly, he thought, he should’ve been happy. He’d even started seeing Hinata, and now that things were starting to get serious, they were thinking about having a spring wedding.

All he’d ever wanted.

He fucking hated it.

He’d failed Sakura.

He’d failed to bring Sasuke home.

And he’d failed to save all his friends, as he’d promised.

He turned in his chair, staring out at the prosperous village of The Leaf. It had taken some time and hard work, but all the villages were beginning to recover from the Fourth World Shinobi War. It had been a few months since it happened, around four, and Tsunade had only stepped down recently. In fact, his Hokage Coronation had only been a few days back.

He’d been trained for the position for a while, first.

The war had matured him, in a way. While he was still fairly childish, he had seen too much death in that war- and it had changed him. Like it had changed all of them.

Naruto’s outfit was similar to both Jiraiya’s and his father’s. He had a long cloak that was just like his father’s- an orange one, with dark red flames. His toad scroll sat in the corner of the room. He had a high collar on his orange cloak, and he wore a better version of his jumpsuit under that. He still looked a lot better than he had, though. The blond continued to think about Sasuke as he watched the sun set over the Hidden Leaf.

I could’ve sworn I saw something, that day…

The Jyuubi had just been playing with them. After Sasuke had left, the real fight started. It had gotten only infinitely harder, and they thought they were going to lose for a while, but the turning point had been when, somehow, the First Hokage broke out of Orochimaru’s jutsu. No one could figure out how he’d done it to this day, but he’d then managed to free the four Hokages, but not dispel them, so they stayed, still summoned. Together, they’d beaten back Team Taka, and had also managed to trap Orochimaru in a jutsu so that he couldn’t break out, couldn’t fight, and couldn’t cancel the summoning. Then, they turned to the bigger foes.

Naruto, Bee, and the Four Hokages of Konoha fought bravely against the Jyuubi, Madara, and Obito. Despite Madara’s previous arrogance, he soon lost his courage when he saw the First charging him- the First, the only ninja who had ever beaten him. It was a hard fight, and they still all almost died, but they’d managed to kill Madara, kill Obito, too, and split up the Jyuubi and turn it back into its split forms- seven tailed beasts had popped out, at the end. They promised not to harm humans- Ichibi said promises were meant to be broken, though- and they left, splitting up, going to the ends of the earth.

The amount dead was gruesome. Piles upon piles of bodies littered the battlefield. It had taken weeks to fully assess the dead, and at the end of it all, when they returned to their countries, the surviving shinobi were hailed as the heroes of this generation. Naruto himself had then been asked by Tsunade the next day if he thought he had what it took to become Hokage. Of course, without a doubt, he’d answered yes. She’d begun training him in political matters, diplomatic ventures, speech, etiquette- and, for once, Naruto paid attention.

And only a few days ago, it had been his pleasure to become the Sixth Hokage of Konoha. His face was being chiseled into the mountainside that hung over the entire village.

But, even after the War, when he’d talked to other Kages, to his friends, to any other shinobi that had been there that day, and was still alive- when he talked to them about the hole in the air, in reality that he’d seen- they’d all said they hadn’t seen it.

Naruto, you’re imagining things.

It didn’t happen.

Sasuke… died.

Naruto pounded his fist angrily into the desk restraining his strength- otherwise; he’d have smashed it to pieces. He refused to believe it.

“Bear.”

Instantaneously, the Anbu member appeared in front of Naruto. Loyal to the death, the Anbu-nin stood there, waiting for instructions.

“Get me a hawk. I need to send a message to the Land of Lightning.”

“Of course, Hokage-sama.”

Within a minute, Bear returned with a hawk, that cawed loudly when it saw the Hokage. It flapped its wings energetically, clearly ready for travel.

Only one man had believed him when he’d told everyone what he’d said.

Now, he needed his help.

Killer Bee,

The New Hokage of Konoha formally requests you to inspect the area that the final battle of the Fourth Shinobi War took place. I know that you know you saw it too. I refuse to believe that Sasuke is gone. I want to have this cleared up- to make sure he’s not a threat to the Five Nations, but I’d be lying if I didn’t mention I wanted him back as a friend, too.

You obviously don’t have to accept this. It’s a request- I’m a foreign Kage, I have no command over you. But, I’m asking you to do it, as a friend- help me find a friend.

Use your Jinchuriki powers, and your chakra. See what you can find. I know that I sensed something that day. It was… weak, but the air there changed. That area will always be permanently different, but I’m not talking about geography or terrain. You felt it, too. I saw the look in your eyes.

It almost felt like when you summoned something.

Something’s been done to reality, only around that area, because of that battle with the Jyuubi. Something. I don’t know what, but it was something.

Anyway, as your friend, please investigate.

Sincerely,

Naruto Uzumai, Son of The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, The Sixth Hokage of Konoha.

Satisfied, Naruto rolled up the message into a scroll and gave it to the hawk, with specific instructions to give it to Killer Bee personally. The hawk was smart; if it couldn’t find Bee, it would find the Raikage and he would find Bee.

After all he’d done for the world at the Fourth Shinobi War, they would be willing to do him a favor or two.

The Anbu-nin only known as Bear disappeared, and Naruto looked out over the Leaf Village again once more.

I’ll find you, Sasuke.

I will.

______________________________

There was a few minutes of silence, as Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all thought what they could do- and then Twilight stomped her hoof into the grass.

“I know what to do,” Twilight said.

“Huh? What!?” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shouted, clearly excited by the prospect of somehow getting the thing to leave them alone.

Twilight Sparkle, a potent unicorn, stared up at the sun and sat in the grass of Ponyville. The light was beautiful- the sun, it was so powerful. Certainly powerful enough. She jerked her head back down and then stared at her two friends confidently.

“Get Princess Celestia.”

TO BE CONTINUED