Chapter Text
The world was on fire. As battles raged across the shinobi and civilian territories, the once-verdant landscapes were transformed into hellish scenes of destruction. The earth itself seemed to cry out in anguish, as if the very fabric of nature was being torn asunder by the clash of powerful forces. Forests that had stood for centuries were reduced to smoldering ruins, their ancient trees now no more than charred skeletons reaching towards a darkening sky. Rivers ran red with the blood of the fallen, their gentle currents now swirling with the grim waste of war.
In the midst of this maelstrom of violence, the shinobi alliances fought on with grim determination, even as hope seemed to recede further with each passing moment. They threw themselves against the reanimated legends of the past, their courage and sacrifice a fragile last stand against the relentless onslaught. But for every enemy they struck down, another would rise to take its place, an endless tide of death and despair that threatened to drown them all.
The Raikage, Hokage and Mizukage were moving with unprecedented speed towards the battle at the beach. Their brows dripping with sweat, their clothes torn and bloodstained, they hurried on to save their fellow Kazekage and Tsuchikage from an unknown fate. The army at the beach was gathering strength while the enemy retreated, the Kazekage tended to his closest friend who was reeling from the devastation of losing even a fraction of his bijũ. Gaara gritted his teeth and looked to wear Ai had disappeared; is this what you wanted!? His thoughts drifting up to the heavens to meet the humbled and weak gods that watched them. Is this the curse of being in love with her? This is the wretched, reckless, red, remorseful blood-love you all envy so much!?
Across the beach, Suigetsu felt himself buckle as Ai materialised beside him and grasped a hold of his arm to steady herself. She gasped as she became accustomed to the earthly plane once more and fell to her knees. Perhaps it was the weight of her choices catching up with her, or perhaps it was this strange sensation pulsing within her. An unfamiliar energy seemed to crackle through her veins like lightning. It was the overwhelming and exhausting feeling only felt by those unlucky enough to be burdened with the role of jinchuriki. It was the chakra of the nine tails nestling itself inside of her, the fragment of the mighty beast that she had torn from Naruto during their confrontation.
"Ai," Suigetsu's once mischievous voice was full of fear. It shocked Ai to hear him speak like a lost, lonely child and she looked up to his face, his sharp teeth gritted together, his white hair ruffling in the breeze. He was not looking at her, he was held in fear at the sight in front of him. Ai felt it before she saw him, it seeped through the air like a poisonous spore, spreading, infecting, destroying. The air was filled with murderous intent, the kind unlike the goddess incarnate had ever felt. She turned her head to see, there, standing before her with an aura of menace that seemed to distort the world around him, was a familiar man in an orange mask. The one she knew as Madara, the mastermind behind the Akatsuki's machinations. But he was different than she remembered, he was so frightening, he made her blood run cold.
"Utukushi (beautiful one)," he spoke to her affectionately although Ai could not rid herself of the fear, "did you succeed in capturing the Nine-Tails?" The masked man asked, his voice a cold rasp that sent shivers down Ai's spine.
"I managed to snatch a portion of his chakra," Ai replied, her voice trembling despite her efforts to maintain her composure. "Naruto still lives," she gasped as Kurama trembled.
The masked man made a sound that might have been a grunt of acknowledgment or a huff of annoyance, it was impossible to tell. He knelt down to her and clasped her face with a gloved hand, Suigetsu took a step away. The girl with a face of a goddess was immobilised by the sight of his sharingan. "You've done so well, Ai," she shuddered as she heard the smile on his lips, hidden by his orange mask. "One last thing you will do for me."
Ai felt a flicker of confusion and unease. This was where her part ended, wasn't it? She had put all the pieces into place for the final act of this bloody drama. "I don't understand," she said slowly, her brow furrowing, her gaze shifting focus as she tried to become accustomed to Kurama's chakra. "What more is there for me to do?" She jumped as the man, so fast she could not see it, placed a summoning tag on the floor. With a small blast, Ai shielded her eyes against the smoke that appeared as the jutsu was performed. Once the mist cleared, a coffin came into view.
"You are to perform the Reanimation Jutsu once more," the masked man informed her, his tone brooking no argument.
"But," Ai began, her mind racing, "who could it possibly-?"
"Uchiha Madara." As he answered, Ai felt as if the ground had dropped out from beneath her feet. Her mind reeled, trying to make sense of the impossible words she had just heard. Reanimate Madara? But wasn't the man before her the legendary Uchiha? The questions tumbled through her thoughts, each more desperate than the last.
"No," she whispered, shaking her head in denial, trying desperately to make sense of what was happening. "No, this cannot be. You...you are Madara! You told me-"
"You were told what you needed to hear," the man interrupted, his voice sharp as a blade. "A necessary deception, to ensure your cooperation, towards our desired, beautiful end."
Ai felt something shatter inside her, as if the last fragile remnants of her understanding had finally given way under the weight of this revelation. Rage, hot and wild, surged through her like a flood. "Who are you?" she demanded, her voice raw with betrayal. She stood to her feet, her skin began to glow silver and gold with divine power.
The masked man regarded her coldly, unmoved by her outburst. "Who I am is unimportant," he said flatly, cupping her face in his hands with the affection of a father. Ai's full lips pouted, her eyes angled on him in rage. "Don't be reckless, Ai. Remember the dream world you were promised." But even he could see, in her eyes, in the way her brow furrowed, the way her fists clenched, that Ai was on the edge of something dangerous.
"You will do as I ask, uta (poem), or-" his head turned, his gaze seeming to pierce through the chaos of the battlefield, "or I will kill someone you love."
"Gaara!" His name escaped her lips before she even had a chance to register what she had said. She turned towards the battlefield, her heart seizing in her chest as she saw Gaara in the distance. A traitorous part of her mind whispered that even now, even after everything, the thought of the Kazekage's death filled her with a despair she could barely comprehend. It would be the end of her.
The masked man heard her say the Kazeage's name, seemed to sense her inner turmoil, and she could almost feel his sneer behind the swirling pattern of his mask. He tutted three times in pity, putting a hand beneath her chin and turning her back to him. "Sweet, Ai," he whispered, watching as an angry tear escaped her eye, her skin was glowing with moonlight as the sun began to set. "You still love him after all he did to you?" Her shoulders began to shake, the fear of losing Gaara, the fear of what she had become, was threatening to destroy her. "Love is a reckless thing, Ai. I thought you knew that-" she pushed his hand away from her face.
"Do not school me in love," she spat at him, "I still half hate him."
"The perfect, most beautiful embodiment of the blood-love," he whispered, "lovers and enemies, one from the other, both at once. Which are you? And which is he? Are you unsure, dearest one?"
"You promised me all was not lost," Ai's lips began to tremble as she spoke, "you swore a world of peace."
"And I would never break a promise to Love herself," he put a hand on his heart. "Grant me one last spell, and I will protect all in your heart." Ai was paralysed, confronted with the true depths of the deception that had ensnared her, she felt only a sickening sense of humiliation. Had she been a fool, a pawn in a game whose rules she had never truly understood?
"I…I will do it," Ai said hollowly, her voice barely above a whisper.
The masked man inclined his head, a mockery of acquiescence. "And I will keep my promise." Ai didn't trust his word, not anymore. But what choice did she have? She was lost, adrift in a sea of lies and manipulation, with no shore in sight. All she could do was keep afloat above the water.
With a heavy heart, Ai walked to the coffin, put a hand on the heavy, cold wood and let out of a delicate breath. She felt the power surge through her, dark and cold, as the veil between life and death shimmered and tore. And then, with a final pulse of chakra, the jutsu was complete.
She stumbled backwards, fear taking over her as there, standing before her with an aura of terrible power, was a face out of legend. Uchiha Madara, his eyes blazing with the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, his form wreathed in an otherworldly glow. He looked exactly as the stories had described him, a figure of myth and nightmare made flesh.
Ai had barely a moment to register the enormity of what she had done before the world around her seemed to warp and twist. The masked man, his Sharingan flaring beneath his mask, had activated his jutsu, and reality itself bent to his will. In a dizzying rush of sensation, Ai felt herself being pulled away, her body hurtling through space and time. The battlefield fell away, replaced by a swirling void of colour and light. And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the journey ended, and Ai found herself tumbling onto cold, hard stone. In a cold, empty place, she was alone. Defeated by silence.
She lay there for a moment, gasping for breath, her mind reeling from the abrupt transition. Slowly, painfully, she turning onto her back but had no strength to do any more. She blinked away the spots that danced in her vision. And as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she realised where she was.
The cave stretched out before her, vast and echoing, its walls lined with stone statues all watching her. One statue towered over the others, a haunting, terrifying husk of the ten tails watched her with unnerving silence. She could hear her own gasps of fear as she waited for the Gedo statue to move. But it did not. It remained empty. Unlike the stone and steel cages that, unknown to her, lined the wall she could not see. Within those cages, their forms as familiar to her as her own reflection, were the tailed beasts.
She could feel their chakra, dense and powerful, filling the air like a physical force. It thrummed through her body, resonating with the fragment of Kurama that she carried within her. As if drawn by an irresistible pull, that fragment seemed to slip free of her, a wisp of crimson light that drifted towards the only empty cage. Ai gasped as she felt Kurama leave her. She felt empty, alone, entirely lost. Her big blue eyes filled with tears in what felt like the first time in a long time. Hot, stinging tears ran down her beautiful face as she lay, motionless on the cold stone floor.
And then, before Ai could even begin to process what was happening, the tailed beasts began to stir. Their voices, ancient and inhuman, echoed through the cave, a chorus of welcome and recognition.
"Is it her?" She heard Matatabi hiss.
"Of course it is! Have you seen a lovelier face!?" Saiken chorused.
"The light from which our creation was possible?" The deep booming voice of Son Gokū joined the fray.
"The child of Renai!"
But Ai could not speak, could not move, could barely breathe under the weight of her impossible situation. She managed to turn her head to them and heard those lovely creatures gasp as they took in the face of, for want of a better word, their mother. She felt small, insignificant in the face of their timeless power. And yet, at the same time, she felt a sense of belonging, of homecoming, as if a part of her had always been meant to be in this place, at this moment. Their ethereal, gargantuan forms all peered out at her from beyond their cages; each one craning their necks sweetly like children trying to inspect something delicate and fragile. But what could she say to them? Her heart filled with love and grief.
"Stop talking, you fools!" A voice bellowed from the darkness and a familiar presence reached out, a tendril of sand that wound gently around her wrist as her arms were limp beside her. Shukaku, his eyes glowing gold in the darkness, peered down at her with an expression that might almost have been fondness.
"You've returned to us, Chīsana megami (little goddess)," the One-Tail murmured, his voice a rasp of wind over desert dunes. Her blue eyes narrowed on the beast with a sense of kinship and trepidation; the last time they had met, hadn't he tried to kill her? Shukaku must have known who she was, why hadn't he spoken up? Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt sand begin to wrap around her, slowly, affectionately. It helped her to sit up and face her creation. "But you come bearing the weight of many sorrows."
At the sound of Shukaku's words, Ai felt the dam inside her break, all the fear and pain and confusion of the last few hours pouring out of her in a flood of tears. She clung to Shukaku's sand like a lifeline, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.
Shukaku rumbled soothingly, his chakra pulsing in a gentle rhythm that seemed to calm the storm inside her. "You are not alone, child," he said softly. "Tell us, what is the state of the world?" Regaining her composure, Ai took a deep breath and tried to make sense of it all.
On the battlefield, Temari stood with her troops, helping medical ninja and re-organising their battle plans. "Get him to safety!" She screamed at her comrades, helping those who needed her most. Her mind was wild, her hair out of place as she screamed against the wind and wails of hopelessness to get everyone back into formation. She glanced up at the sky and felt a wave of relief wash over her as she spied the three other Kage hurtling towards them. She looked up to where Gaara and the Tsuchikage stood, tending to a weakened Naruto.
Gaara helped Naruto stand to his feet, the nine-tails jinchuriki was glowing with rage and despair. Before the Kazekage cold even ask him how he was, Naruto grasped Gaara by the collar, his face contorted in anger. His hurt-filled face, tears shining in his eyes, held Gaara captive as the blonde shinobi spoke in a dangerous tone:
"What the hell did you do to her?" The Kazeakge's ocean eyes widened as Naruto blinked away tears in the last rays of sunlight. "Gaara," he spoke again, trying to shake the Kazekage awake, "What did you do to that girl?" But Gaara could not speak, it was as though Naruto, somehow, had re-emerged having experienced some of Ai's pain and was forcing the sand shinobi to confront it.
"I-" but no words would come to him.
"She took a piece of Kurama," Naruto's hands curled around Gaara's collar, pulling it tighter, suffocating him. "The enemy has all tailed beasts, do you understand!?" Releasing his collar, Naruto practically pushed his friend away in anger. "I met Ai when the Akatsuki took you," he said, turning away, unable to look at Gaara, "even I know what love looks like," the Kazekage lowered his gaze. "It looks like Ai keeping a lantern lit for you in your home. It looks like her sitting in a jail cell for your honour. It looks like her smile when she walks a footstep behind you, Gaara," Naruto's voice broke, as did Gaara's heart. Naruto's anger seemed to drain away, replaced by a growing sense of empathy. He had seen the good in Ai, once, the gentle soul that lurked beneath the surface of her divine power. Perhaps, he thought, there was still hope for redemption, still a chance to guide her back to the light. "You have to find Love again, Gaara. Bring her back," he said determinedly.
Before Gaara could respond, the Raikage, Mizukage and Hokage touched down beside himself and Naruto, their chakra flowing into the air like electricity. The Tsuchikage opened his mouth to greet them but he faltered…from behind them, a chill of fear swept through the assembled shinobi. A new chakra entered the arena, bringing with it the cold of the nighttime. They all turned towards the enemy and froze. For there, standing amid the carnage with an aura of terrible power, was a face out of nightmare. Uchiha Madara, his eyes blazing with the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, his form wreathed in an otherworldly glow. And beside him, the masked man who had orchestrated so much of the war's suffering. The one who had played them all like puppets on a string, dancing to his tune of lies and deceit.
"What new devilry is this?" The Raikage growled, lightning crackling around his clenched fists. "How many more demons must we face before this bloody day is done?"
"Steady," the Tsuchikage cautioned, his ancient voice heavy with grim resolve. "We must hold the line, no matter the cost. The fate of the world hangs in the balance."
Gaara, his sand already swirling around him in agitated patterns, could only stare at the reanimated Madara with a sense of growing dread. He had heard the stories of the Uchiha's legendary power, the terrible jutsu he wielded like the wrath of a vengeful god. How could they hope to stand against such an enemy?
But before despair could fully take root, a voice cut through the air, a voice that no one was quite ready to hear. They all turned slowly to see, striding towards them grim purpose, was the only survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre. His dark hair swaying gently as he walked, paying no heed to their disbelieving stares. Naruto was the first to recover, he pointed a finger and Sasuke, his eyes widening in shock.
"Sasuke!? What are you doing here?"
The Uchiha looked haggard, his face lined with exhaustion and strain, but there was a fire in his eyes that burned with unquenchable determination. "I am a clone and I come bearing a message," Sasuke said, his voice tight with urgency, his white shirt splattered with blood.
"Speak," Gaara commanded, his own voice steady despite the wild hammering of his heart. The last time he had seen Sasuke, Ai had been unconscious in his arms. And now they were on the same side. It was dizzying enough to make your head spin.
With a deep breath, Sasuke told those gathered, in clipped and brutal tones, of the truth behind the war. Of Madara's resurrection, of the masked man's lies, of the terrible fate that awaited them all if they failed to act. Gaara listened, his face a mask of stoic resolve, even as his mind raced with the implications of Sasuke's words.
"As the wielder of the reanimation jutsu, Ai is the only one with the power to break it, to turn the tide of this battle," Sasuke said at last, his voice softening slightly as the vision of blue eyes, dark hair and red lips came into his head. "But she will not listen to me, she never has." Silenced hanged in the air.
"Then…who?" Naruto asked but they were all already turning towards the Kazekage.
"I already tried to talk to her," Gaara said, his voice rough with old pain. "What makes you think she will listen now?" Sasuke met his gaze, and in that moment, the two men understood each other perfectly. They were rivals, in love and in war, but they were also bound by a shared purpose, a common goal that transcended their personal feelings.
"Because through all this pain and deception," Sasuke said suddenly, "all the truths she has come to realise as lies, one thing remains the same. The only truth no one can deny." The Uchiha and the Kazekage shared a look of understanding. Naruto looked between them slowly in confusion.
"Which is?"
"She has always been in love with you, Gaara." Sasuke said simply, admitting it even to himself. "She always has, even when she was with me." As Sasuke spoke Naruto tried to prevent his eyes from widening and instead stole awkward glances at the gathered Kage. "I tried to deny it, to believe that I could be enough for her, but I see now that it was a foolish dream."Gaara closed his eyes, a wave of emotion threatening to overwhelm him. To hear those words from Sasuke's, to know that even he, the last of the Uchiha, acknowledged the depth of Ai's feelings...it was almost too much to bear. But there was no time for sentiment, no room for the luxury of feelings. The world was teetering on the brink of annihilation, and every moment counted. Gaara opened his eyes, his resolve hardening into diamond certainty.
"Are you willing to place a bet on that, Uchiha?" The Raikage asked, wondering if they should really waste their time with this.
"I'm betting all our lives."
As Sasuke's words hung in the air, a heavy silence descended upon the gathered Kage. The Raikage's eyes narrowed, his massive frame tensing as if preparing for another blow. The Mizukage's delicate features were etched with a mix of surprise and contemplation, her gaze shifting between Sasuke and Gaara as if trying to puzzle out the depths of their history. The Hokage, her face lined with worry and exhaustion, seemed to age before their eyes as the full weight of Sasuke's revelations settled upon her shoulders. But it was the Tsuchikage who broke the silence, his ancient voice crackling with a lifetime of hard-won wisdom.
"The heart is a battlefield all its own," he mused, his eyes distant as if seeing into the past. "And it seems that this war, for all its grand scope and terrible carnage, may hinge upon the fate of a single love." His words seemed to galvanise the others, their expressions hardening with renewed resolve. They knew, now more than ever, that the future of their world rested on the actions of the young shinobi before them, on the strength of the bonds they had forged and the depths of the feelings they carried. It was a heavy burden, but one they knew Gaara, Naruto, and Sasuke were uniquely suited to bear.
With a final nod to Sasuke, Gaara strode forward, his voice ringing out over his troops. "Listen well," he called, his tone commanding the attention of all who heard it. "The masked man is an impostor, a liar and a traitor to all we hold dear. And Madara, the true Madara, has been resurrected to aid him in his vile schemes." A ripple of shock and fear ran through the assembled shinobi, their faces paling at the mere mention of that legendary name. But Gaara pressed on, his words a rallying cry that seemed to ignite a spark of hope in even the most battle-weary hearts.
"But all is not lost," Gaara declared, his eyes blazing with fierce determination. "Lend me your strength once more. Believe in our strength, united and there is still a chance, a single thread of hope that we must grasp with all our might." Temari's eyes shone with tears as she took sight of her younger brother, speaking like a king, on a cliff at the edge of the beach. The nighttime was descending around them, the darkness threatening to engulf them, but Gaara stood strong. His courage and fire warning the air around all the shinobi. The soldiers cheered and the Kazekage could feel his shoulders relax a little In relief.
"Hello!" the Raikage boomed, making them all jumped, "Madara is moving, we don't have time for this!" Gaara nodded, his own resolve burning like a flame in his chest. He turned to the gathered Kage.
"Let's hold him off for as long as we can, give Sasuke, Naruto and me some time to find her-"
"Godspeed, Kazekage," the Mizukage said in her gentle voice as Gaara and Naruto produced clones to join Sasuke's.
Before anyone could ask, Naruto was already running, Gaara cursed and jumped onto a cloud of sand, Sasuke followed swiftly. "Can you sense her?" the Kazekage asked Naruto, his voice tight with barely suppressed emotion. "Can you find her?" The three shinobi, all with different understandings, relationships, feelings towards Love, sped sped across the war-torn landscape.
Naruto closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration. For a long moment, he was silent, his whole being focused on the task at hand. And then, with a gasp of relief, his eyes flew open, a smile breaking across his face like the dawn after a long and terrible night.
"I can feel her," he said, his voice thrumming with excitement. "The piece of Kurama that she took, it's like a beacon in the darkness. I can guide you to her, Gaara." The Kazekage felt a rush of gratitude, a surge of affection for this boy who had been his first true friend, his constant guiding light in a world of shadows.
Well I personally think Valentine is doing a great job with this fic.
Feel the same way?
Why not leave a comment and let me know?
