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For ages mankind has dealt with the meaninglessness of their lives by coming up with various excuses and reasons. Things like "Destiny" "Fate" and "Purpose" let them sleep at night without losing all will to wake up the next morning. But what of those who have already lost everything? What about those who would prefer to simply never awaken again? What is left, when a person is stripped of every last comfort they have ever known and violently forced to come to terms with the own meaninglessness of their existence? What happens when this person, despite their wishes to be erased from this world, is forced to go on? Forced to accept the conditions of life, and forced to give up "Fate" and "Destiny? Forced to realize that no divine being will grant them "Purpose"? What is left then? An unstoppable, relentless force that is bound neither by physical form or mental limitations. Powered solely by conviction and the will not to just follow Destiny, but to forge it, with the burning inferno of an eternal soul. What survives, what lives on to fight and build a new dawn is no longer a person, but the equivalent of God itself.

Of Gods and Kings

Chapter I

Deliverance

Sakura pressed herself against the wall as the guard slipped by, careful to control her breathing and suppress her chakra as to conceal any evidence of her presence. She silently raged, she was a medic nin, not suited for this sort of stealth infiltration. She was chosen because of her superb chakra control and the potential need for her healing abilities, but this mission was still way outside of her skill set. Her combat skills relied on a more direct approach, and even if she knocked the guards out, hiding the bodies was one problem, and the inevitable alarm from the guards not checking in was another. As a result of this and stretched manpower, the mission needed to be completely covert and with a single operative. Still it had to be done. It had been 5 years since he was captured, long believed to be dead, and even though Sakura was assigned to this mission, deep down she wanted, no, needed to do this.

The Jashin symbol was inscribed on the opposite wall, its simplistic design, a circle circumscribing an upside down triangle, was easily recognized and still sent shivers down Sakura's spine every time she saw it. It stood only for mindless death and all the friends and allies she had lost during this war. Not wanting to quell up distracting memories and emotions, Sakura quickly moved and made her way down the hallway. If the intel she received from Sunagakure was correct, the prison cells should be at the end of the hall. Using a mirror, Sakura peered around the corner. Much to her pleasure, only one guard was posted outside the iron door, this would make things much easier.

In a flash of hand seals, she pulled a cloak of illusion over herself and stepped around the corner. She had taken on the appearance of a female guard, clad in a pair of dark colored hakama and a matching tight fitting shirt. The guard on duty was fat and the stagnate odor emanating from his rolls assaulted Sakura's nose from down the hall. He was bald with beady eyes that looked half glazed over and a stupid look on his face. It was amazing he hadn't been killed simply from how incompetent he looked. He looked down at Sakura, "When did we get such hot followers?" he chuckled.

"I'm here to relieve you, your shift is over." Sakura replied sternly, looking at him straight in the eye.

"Relieve me eh? Ah hah hah I like the sound of that" reaching out with he fat fingers, "No one comes down here anyways, lets have some fun eh?"

Sakura smirked, "Why aren't you quite the womanizer," slipping her arms around the guard's neck, "But only if you do one little thing for me."

"Ah hah hah anything you want baby!" he laughed.

"Sleep," as she stuck the needle hidden in her hand into the side of the guard's neck. His confused eyes instantly rolled into the back of his head and collapsed. "If you're lucky you'll do the world a favor and not wake up, pig." She propped the snoring guard up in the corner and plucked the ring of keys off his belt, opening the iron door in front of her.

As she stepped inside, the stench of rotting corpses almost made her vomit. The smell was so bad she could taste it, and Sakura struggled to move in further. The cells had likely not been cleaned out since the prisoners were first placed in there, and inevitably died. Not a living soul was in sight, just the smell of rotting flesh, feces, and dried blood. Fearing for the worst she quickly made her way through the stone halls, searching for any sign of life. Hall after hall yielded no results, he wasn't there; she couldn't even feel his chakra. In desperation she made her way down the last hall, sprinting to the cell at the very end of the prison. Her heart skipped a beat as the light from the torches gently illuminated the contents of the cell. A man was in there, shirtless, beaten and bloody; kneeling on the ground with his arms shackled and spread apart. His face was shadowed by his long, blood matted blond hair, but Sakura knew; she had finally found him after five years.

"Naruto" she whispered. Dropping to her knees she placed her palm against the rusted chakra lock. The lock was designed to only respond to certain peoples' chakra, but with the proper skill and control, Sakura easily opened the door and rushed inside. The Jashin symbol was carved into the floor in front of Naruto, though the dried blood was so thick that it was difficult to make out the design in the dim lighting. The symbol undoubtedly was used to perform unspeakable tortures to the blond chained before it. Reaching out, Sakura's hands found Naruto's neck as she checked his pulse; it was faint but he was still alive.

His hair was long and covered his eyes; his face was rough and covered with scruff. Sakura took off her gloves and slid her cool pale hands across Naruto's rough face. She cradled his head in her hands and looked longingly at his matured and battered features, "Oh god Naruto…what has the world done to you?" She felt as if she should cry, but she knew the tears wouldn't come, she ran out of them five years ago. After Naruto was captured, she vowed to be strong and never cry again, because the lives of her comrades and fellow villagers depended on her strength. She knew Naruto wouldn't have it any other way.

Snapping to her senses, Sakura reached out to undo the chains binding Naruto's arms. As her finger touched the metal, it snapped and she jerked her hands back. "Chakra suppression chains huh?" And a damn strong spell at that. That would explain why she was unable to sense his chakra earlier, the chains constantly drained him to a near fatal level. Carefully reaching out, she placed her hands near the chain, ignoring the stinging pain of her chakra being slowly sapped away. If she managed to match the chakra harmonic frequency of the chains, and counter it with a pulse of her own chakra, the draining effect would dissipate. Unfortunately if she did it wrong it would likely drain more chakra than she could afford; Sakura only had one shot at this.

Carefully she felt out the chakra pulsing through the chain, taking a deep breath she gathered a mass of energy in her hands, manipulating it to match the same frequency as the chain. Grunting in effort she forced the chakra out all at once and the chain went cold as the effect of the drain dissipated. Moving over to the other chain, Sakura repeated the process, but right as she broke the effect, her heart skipped a beat as the sound of a voice echoed through the halls of the prison block.

"Asleep again I see? Useless piece of trash" echoed the voice, followed by a sickening sound of parting flesh and cracked bone. The door creaked open and Sakura frantically looked for a place to hide. Leaping up she managed to use her chakra to hold herself against the ceiling above the door to the cell. The sound of heavy boots sounded down the hall toward the cell, "Idiot never used his head anyway. I did him a favor by taking it off for him." The sound stopped outside Naruto's cell, and with a click the door swung open. A burly man carrying what appeared to be a large bloody meat cleaver stepped into the cell. Sakura did her best to control her breathing and chakra, if she was discovered now she'd likely be killed. The man positioned himself in the center of the crest that was engraved into the floor and lifted Naruto's head with the tip of the blade.

"Good news, I managed to convince Lord Valjean to let you live. You see I told the good Lord that you may be of further use to us, but we both know you'll never talk." A smile crept across his face, "I've come to accept this fact, but, that's what I love about you. After our 5 years together, I have SO enjoyed killing you, over and over." He seemed to shudder in pleasure, "You survive wounds that would kill a normal person 10 times over. What a glorious specimen, the worst kind of prisoner, but the best plaything a Jashin Monk could ask for." He sighed, "If only all of my prisoners were as resilient as you, I would have been able to enjoy killing them far more; don't you agree?"

Much to Sakura's surprise, Naruto stirred a bit and murmured something.

"What was that? Speak up worm" demanded the man.

"Saku…ra…" he breathed

"That bitch again? All you talk about is that whore. For the past 5 years I've had to listen to you bitch and complain about how she would come to save you any day,"

Sakura felt a knot in her throat

"What makes you think today will be any different? I'm sure she has forgotten about your dumb ass already and moved on. She just accepted you were dead and probably found some other guy to fuck, just like the whore she is."

Suddenly the room started to get warmer, and to her horror, Sakura saw a red glow appear around Naruto's limp form.

"Don't you ….you EVER speak about her like that again!" Naruto growled, the heat intensifying.

The guard took a step back, "What the hell are you talking about?" his silver eyes flickering in confusion. Naruto's head snapped up, his eyes a deep crimson, irises narrow slits as his body burst into a flame of red chakra.

The guard opened his mouth, "….shit".

In a single tug, Naruto shattered the now spell-broken chains holding his arms and was on top of the man in a second. Falling to the ground with Naruto on top of him, the interrogator lost his grip on his weapon and the blade clattered to the ground. An instant later it found its way into Naruto's hand. The interrogator struggled to flee holding out his arms to stop the furious blond, was it was already too late. The blade smashed into the man's face, the sound of his skull splitting under the blow echoed in the cell block but Naruto didn't stop here. The blade found its mark over and over and over, smashing into the man's destroyed head repeatedly.

Sakura dropped down behind the blond, "Naruto…stop, its over." But he didn't stop, and continued to mutilate the man's body. Sakura reached to grab his shoulder, "NARUTO STOP!" the blond whipped around, arm pulled back with the blade ready to strike. His face was covered in the interrogator's blood. "Naruto…" she said again calmly, "It's me, I'm here to rescue you"

Naruto's eyes flickered, "…Sa…Sakura-chan?" Sakura nodded and the blond's eyes faded back to blue and the red chakra cloak dissipated. "Sakura…I knew you'd come" he collapsed into her arms, "I knew…"

A pang of guilt hit her, but she set it aside and focused on getting them out of here. Surely someone would have heard the commotion and the place would be swarming with Jashin soldiers soon, a situation Sakura certainly didn't want. Any latent desires for stealth evaporated as she pulled her gloves back on and helped the blond to his feet. Checking the mental map she made of the complex, Sakura made her way over to one of the cell block walls and decimated it with a single punch. A very confused Jashin warrior stood in the clearing dust which Sakura was on top of in a second, grabbing him by the head and crushing his face in her hand. He tried to get back up after slumping down to the floor but her foot slammed into the side of his head and finished the job. Grabbing Naruto and hoisting him on her back, Sakura pressed forward, decimating wall after wall and taking out anyone that tried to bar their path as the two made their way to the edge of the complex. If they were lucky, the chaos would keep the Jashin busy long enough for the two to make it clear of the complex.

Finally the two came to a wall that was a slightly different color, and the sound of hissing wind could be heard through a small crack; it was the outer wall. Reeling her arm back, Sakura bellowed "Hell yeah!" and decimated the wall. Hot sand immediately rushed inside, the harsh wind beating at their skin. The pinkette quickly pulled a cloak around herself and Naruto, covering her face and mouth and rushed into the swirling sandstorm. It was a dangerous move but she was out of options, and the storm would help facilitate their escape.

They moved quickly through the sand, knowing full well that their pursuers would be hot on their trail. When they were a safe distance away, Sakura turned around to complete the second part of her mission. Making a hand seal and muttering under breath, the countless remote detonation explosive notes she had left throughout the complex on her way in exploded. The resulting shockwave blew the two to the ground and were quickly half swallowed by the sand. Quickly recovering, Sakura hoisted the half conscious Naruto onto her back again and continued away from the complex. That explosion leveled most of the building but the warriors would soon recover and continue their pursuit. The two needed to find a hiding place and shelter quickly.

After 45 minutes of struggling through the whirling sands, Sakura's strength began to leave her and she started to stumble through the shifting sands. She tripped, tumbling down a dune, sending the two sprawling across the ground. Struggling to breath and wiping the sand from her eyes, she pulled herself across the ground to Naruto. Coughing and squinting she saw a black spot through the swirling sands; pulling together the last of her strength she grabbed Naruto by the collar and made a sprint towards whatever the darkness was. Diving towards it she rolled into hard rock and realized what she had found was a half submerged cave in the side of a dune. She felt herself losing the last of her strength as pulled herself on her hands and knees as deep in the cave as she could, dragging Naruto behind her, before finally collapsing from exhaustion, her vision fading to darkness.