A/N: REVIEW FOR IT FEEDS THE ENGINE OF CREATION~!

This is rated M for a reason folks!

Update spree, whoo.

Yeah.

Yes, I know I was gone for a year. Yes, I know that's upset people. But there's a bloody good reason for it!

I had multiple surgeries due to heart issues, my computer BROKE, causing me to lose the five chapters I'd been writing and now I'm dealing with other crap.

Sorry, I'm feeling a bit...down at the moment...no, that isn't a pun. I genuinely feel like crap as I write this author's note. Why, you ask? Surgeries, health issues, and all that crap. Miiiiiiight be losing my mind. Don't worry, I'm not going to snap. Probably just having a bad day or somesuch. I'm also in terrible pain as I write this, so do forgive any grammar mistakes if you find any.

ALSO! My Aunt may or may not die soon. And the surgery to save her life may kill her as well.

T_T

In other news, I need dental work done, and my insurance doesn't want to cover it. Root canals, crowns, that sort of thing. In other words? I'm forced to pay out of pocket, which means I'm going to be out a few thousand dollars assuming I can even scrape together that kind of money. Have to pay up front too, or they won't even TOUCH my teeth. Well, I'm sure you've been there and done that before dear reader, so I won't ask for sympathy. I take damn good care of my teeth, but there it is, there they are, and it needs doing. Recently had my hours cut at work so there's that, too.

I've been trying to make updates more frequent but the pain's getting downright distracting at this point and affecting my work. Nothing's infected mind you, but it still hurts like hell.

Just wanted to apologize for that, there.

Don't worry, I'll find a way through this somehow.

Not sure if this'll get a lot of views or reviews, given all the holiday madness is going on at the moment. Eh, screw it.

Now, as a warning:

Naruto hits his lowest point in this chapter. Don't believe me? Read on. He's already been having an existential crisis but this chapter shows just how much the Iwa incident affected him. Not just on a mental level, but a physical one as well. He's in a bad way and it takes an old friend to shake him out of it.

You might be surprised.

Think of everything up until now as Part One. Setting the scene, building up characters, events, that sort of thing. Establishing Naruto's shifting mindset. From here on out, its Part 2, if you will. Pedal to the metal. After this chapter we've got about...hmm. I'd say five at max. I know, gasp. I'm actually finishing a story.

Its been a blast, so thanks for sticking around with me!

As ever constructive criticism is happily accepted. Its how I improve. Baseless responses such as "This is shit" or "you should die" will be ignored, naturally. I'm WELL AWARE this isn't my best chapter. Painfully so. Still, despite the woes going on in my life, I wanted to write this for you, dear reader. To make you smile. To make a bad day better.

Hmm, it really says something when I value the happiness of others over my own...

...then again I've never been particularly sane to begin with.

Full credit to Pirikko's comic for inspiring me. It really resonated with me in this chapter. You can find their stuff on tumblr. Omahdon's rendition of the comic is on youtube, called:

"Overwatch AWNN - At Night You Close Your Eyes and See Him".

As ever, I own no quotes/references.

They exist for fun, only.

Oh, and it gets dark.

You've been warned.

Ciao~!

"Sometimes...I forget what I used to be...

...and you know...knowing once I was not...not this thing...

...this...fucking thing! This monster! I used to be better than this! I used to be...

To be the man who regrets?

Or the monster that forgets?"

~?!

Peace is a Lie (Interlude)

Isn't it though, journal?

I'm ashamed to admit I've actually started to question the concept of peace.

You just can't have it; somewhere, someway, SOMEHOW, there will be some form of conflict. There will always be provocateurs, those who would rather see the world burn than suffer the mantle of peace upon their shoulders. You can't stop them all, and you CERTAINLY can't control everything else; to think otherwise would be naive. A perfect world? A peaceful world? Impossible. We all have misunderstandings; we all suffer through hardship in one way or another. The best you can do is maintain the balance while you're alive. Dance on that razor-thin line between sanity and oblivion. After that? Who knows.

Needless to say my actions in Iwa had...repercussions.

I lost track of time after that.

Consigning oneself to house arrest sounds easy enough on the label; actually enacting it, well now...that's another matter entirely. You don't really appreciate freedom until you've lost it. To lose something you've never been without, to find your entire world suddenly compressed to a mere four walls and a roof; its stifling to say the least. Family and friends dull the pain, can even help you pull through at the best of times, but in the end its up to you. Granted, locking yourself up in your own home is FAR better than someone locking you in a cell and throwing away the key...but I digress.

It feels like weeks; in reality, its been all of two days trapped beneath my own roof before I went stark raving mad.

Still, can you blame me?

Think on this for a moment; you made a mistake, a terrible, horrible mistake, one you have no idea to correct. Said mistake results in your indefinite imprisonment. All the while you're forced to live with the knowledge that your arch-nemesis is still out there besmirching your name, still stirring up trouble, still trying to tear the world down around your ears. Knowing that, it threatened to drive me over the edge. In truth, I was ready to be done with it. I'd long since lost track of time and with it, any semblance of hope. I was ready to make an end of things, to find that damnable prick, rip him out of whatever hole he was hiding in and lop off his head.

But now I can't, and I only have myself to blame!

Its like KNOWING you have a roach infestation, yet you can't find their bloody nest! Instead of being allowed to take the fight to the enemy...

...oh what fresh hell is this?!"

(XxXxX)

Naruto frowned at the vision of resplendent beauty looming over him.

Strands of ashen hair wafted across his face to tickle his nose, bringing with them a faint scent he couldn't quite recognize. Milky white eyes gazed down into his own with quiet curiosity. In that moment he became keenly aware of a gentle weight pressing against his hips alongside a pair of pale hands resting gently against his collarbone. That didn't bother him. What concerned him was the owner of said eyes. On a certain level he knew he should be alarmed, startled even, but when faced with that placid expression he simply couldn't muster up the energy. All that emerged was a soft sigh into the blank, empty white expanse of the horizon.

"This is a dream, isn't it?" he muttered, frowning up at Kaguya.

The soft rustle of skin across his chest drew his attention.

A small smile plucked at the corners of her face.

"Then it is a good dream."

...fair enough."

Surely it must be; because he couldn't recall the Rabbit Goddess ever doing something like this when he was awake. While he remained clad in his battered uniform-often worn even during his house arrest-she wasn't clad in anything at all. Her long, flowing hair served to conceal several choice bits from view but the fact remained that she'd essentially mounted him in her birthday suit. Judging by the impish grin she wore, he suspected this was a deliberate act on her part, one that promised him no end of a migraine. Spirits, what was she up to this time? Nothing good, he suspected...

"Why're ya naked?"

A coy smile dimpled her cheeks.

"Ara, I thought young men liked such things?"

"Not saying I don't," the time traveler groused, "But I wasn't expecting this."

"Ah," she purred sensually, "But the best things in life happen unexpectedly, wouldn't you agree?"

"Wait, did you knock me out?" When her smile only deepened, his frustration-in more ways than one-piqued further still. "You did, didn't you?!"

Sharp horns poked playfully against his forehead

"I neither admit nor deny anything."

"Not fair. Not at all."

"Tough."

In response his unlikely ally leaned forward, crushing her substantial bosom against his chest. Naruto stiffened. Moreso when she laid her forehead against his. Unwittingly his arms chose that moment to betray him, rising to encircle her waist. Pleased by what she no doubt saw as a total victory for herself, the pale deity nuzzled her nose into his cheek, thereby causing him to inhale sharply as the fresh fragrance of her body sidled up against his senses once more. Then she began to lay a series of soft delicate kisses against his neck, trailing playfully with each passing moment.

"Gods, that just not fair."

"Why? Does this displease you?"

"I don't remember you being quite this...forward." he ground out.

Pale palms pressed against his back, easing him upright.

"Then you remember very little about me." her lips sought his, momentarily obliterating all thought as their mouths molded marvelously together before she came up for air. "I'm a fragment of a goddess, or have you forgotten? Restraint is simply not in my nature-ah!"

Her words dissolved into a startled yelp as Naruto abruptly scissored his legs beneath them, threw his body to the side and rolled with her still in his arms. A flicker of wild surprise flitted across that pale visage as gravity seized her in its claws; as she quite suddenly found herself pinned beneath the very prey she'd sought to claim for herself. A curtain of ash splayed out behind her back as she instinctively clung to his neck, eyes wide. In that moment, with her guard down, Naruto almost faltered. He'd never seen Kaguya vulnerable before; here, in this moment, all her plots and facades were stripped bare as her body.

Traitorous eyes flitted downward before he could think to countermand them.

A lone arm slithered away from his neck to conceal her extremities.

"Don't stare." Kaguya murmured. "Its embarrassing."

Then sense reasserted itself with a jolt and he realized he'd played right into her hand. Worse, he'd probably done the one thing he shouldn't have. Kaguya might've been content to tease him before, but now he'd gone and accidentally provoked her. Her, of all people! Triumph roared high in those pale crescent orbs, wilder than ever before. There was something more to it this time though, a hunger that genuinely frightened him. Not the fear of death, but the fear that, for once, he'd pushed her too far.

'Oh." belatedly, he realized his mistake. 'I've fucked up.'

...oh, well done." she growled. "You actually made me blush. I believe you deserve a reward."

"Don't suppose I can opt out?" the weary shinobi replied.

Again that glimmer of madness.

"No."

With a grow she surged upright and crushed her mouth against his.

Theirs was not a gentle coupling; they took from one another roughly, shearing clothes away, rutting with all the grace of wild animals.

She felt warm to the touch, amazingly solid in spite of his quivering hands, mewling under his grasp. White fingers drew bloody lines against his back and over his torso, tormenting old injuries he'd all but forgotten about. Pain. Pleasure. She wasn't gentle, but neither was he-yet her presence soothed the pain enough for him to breathe. To feel.

To think again, if only in some limited capacity.

If this were a hallucination, a dream, he wasn't sure he wanted to wake from it. He longed to close his eyes and drift away, but the forces that tethered him in place simply wouldn't allow it. Though the strain showed on Kaguya's face, she didn't release him. No, she only held him closer, one hand pushing against the scarred plane of his chest for leverage as she held the other, allowing him to admire the gentle sway of her body as she rode him on unto sweet oblivion and beyond.

"So? Why the sudden interest in me?" he pressed some time later.

"Silly boy." she sighed, rocking gently against him, caressing his whiskered visage with a clawed hand. "You were always mine. From the moment that shinigami plucked you from death's door and thrust you into this life, I chose you. When you threw away your humanity for the sake of others, I chose you. When you chose to face your sins and conquer them, I CHOSE you. Now, I'm simply taking matters into my own hands."

Dark eyes narrowed.

"And this has nothing to do with my mood?"

Leaning back, she regarded him for a long, silent moment.

"I admit, your pain does displease me. How long are you going to sulk like this?"

By rights it was a simple question with a simple answer; yet try as he might Naruto couldn't bring himself to answer it.

He knew how he must appear to anyone gazing upon him; after all, he hadn't eaten or slept in the last two days. It wasn't that he didn't want to-rather, he couldn't. When he closed his eyes he saw their faces. On the rare occasion that he didn't, Kurotsuchi's cries served as a poignant reminder of his sins. A legion of dead, murdered in his name. An endless host of bodies who would never again know had long since lost its taste for him. Hope turned to bitter ash in his mouth. His face bore the beginnings of a telltale stubble, one he really ought to shave, yet he simply couldn't bring himself to do so. It wasn't even apathy on his part.

He simply felt...hollow.

At the time he'd thought he'd mastered his guilt. He was wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong. It was one thing to discuss matters of mortality with a disembodied deity on the road, another to face the fearful scorn of an entire village. To see them shy away from him, witness the terror rounding their eyes whenever he was near. Some respected him of course, but what little goodwill he'd managed to muster had been largely erased by his actions in Iwa. It would take weeks, months, years to build it back up again.

Apparently Kaguya had enough of his mindless grief.

To the point of staging an intervention.

Humbling, that thought.

"Until I've gotten my priorities in order." he managed at last, glowering down at his companion. "Or until you betray me. Whichever comes first."

"Perish the thought." her pale face dimpled in a slight, predatory smile. "But you're not telling the truth. Come." her expression softened and a hand descended, taking his in her own, guiding him to her. "Talk to me. Tell me what ails you."

It tumbled out of him before he could think to hold it back.

"Madara."

Her gaze tightened.

"You would mourn for that imbeclie-

"NO!"

He snarled and it drew a startled flinch from Kaguya.

Slowly, gingerly, she pulled herself away from him, heedless of the growl it drew.

"Speak, then." she cooed at him. "I'm the only one who can truly understand you."

Hardened eyes leered at her and for a nanosecond the Rabbit Goddess feared she'd pushed too hard.

...I doubt that." yet he didn't challenge her, and so she waited in stoic silence for him to continue speaking.

"Do I not?" she retorted in a rare fit of pique. "I know you Naruto. An Uchiha you are not. You're merely masquerading as one with the Reaper's gift. In body perhaps, but your soul? No. You pretend to be something-someone-you are not, and for what? A distant dream? Peace? To avenge yourself on the man who took everything from you?

She wasn't prepared for the laughter.

Sharp, jagged, cutting like a knife against her confidence.

"You think you know me." dull eyes gazed back at her, deceptively blank. "That's cute."

Silence reigned in the void.

"Sometimes...I forget what I used to be. Who." Naruto muttered, hiding his face in his palms. "I was better than this, you know? When this started, I had principles. There were lines I wouldn't cross. Extremes I refused to go to. Until I did. I killed them. Like I did that village. Not just the men, but the women and the children, and knowing once I was not...not this thing." Dark eyes snapped into scarlet fury and crimson horns burst from his head, his voice warping painfully against the rage mingling with chakra in his throat even as his eyes blazed with unholy flame.

"This...fucking thing!"

He roared at her and she accepted his anger stoically, even as her body recoiled and the dream world trembled.

"This monster! HIM! I'm becoming more like him everyday!" White eyes, eyes so much like her own, rooted her where she stood, in the face of his rage. "Look at me, Kaguya! LOOK AT ME! I used to be better than this! I used to be...

...human?"

He seized her by the throat.

Kaguya thought she knew pain, but this...this was hell.

"Will you kill me too, then?" she challenged. "In cold blood?"

With aggravating slowness, those clawed fingers fled from her windpipe.

Gently, she reached for him cupped his face, held it against her ample chest.

"Shh." she breathed against the tattered mane of his hair, "Hush now. Come here."

With a supreme effort of will, the former blond mastered himself; white faded back to black, then, for a fleeting sliver of a second, the faintest shade of blue.

"Human. Right. Funny how that word's lost its meaning these days." those haunted orbs rose to meet hers and for a moment, just a moment, the goddess felt a flicker of pity. "I...I'm changing. Into what, I'm not sure. Whatever it is, I won't let it stop me."

"And what will you do about it?" the goddess graced him with a beatific smile.

"What I must," he swore to her. "I won't slip like this again. I won't. I can't. I'll kill Madara. I'll find him, and I'll kill him. I swear it." a fist rose, fingers grinding painfully against one another. "Then everything will return to normal. Then it'll end. It has to."

This poor boy. Did he truly think that way?

"Do you honestly believe that?"

Naruto grit his teeth, but he didn't challenge her on that point. That suited Kaguya just fine. He wouldn't be an ideal mate if he simply caved to her without cause. Nor did she want to break him, even. She wanted someone who would fight as much as fuck, a warrior without compare. Someone who stood strong in the face of adversity, one who would face their doubts and conquer them. After all that would make their physical meeting all the more pleasing when they finally met in the flesh. Then she wouldn't have to settle for dreams, for this facsimile. Then he would be hers in body and soul. Then she might know some measure of peace, if not happiness.

Soon.

Idly, her gaze turned distant.

"Ah. You have a visitor. I suppose I should release you...for now."

Red eyes bulged.

"Don't you fucking blue ball me-

That startling grin was the last he saw of her.

In a roar of sound she, and the dream with her, dissolved.

With a start, Naruto felt his eyes burst open and the waking world returned.

All at once his surroundings returned to him; the compound and its four walls, the porch upon which he sat, the fading light of day. Belatedly he realized he'd been sitting here, watching the sunset. Alone. Why? His mind conjured the memory readily when he tried to recall; he'd asked to be alone and thus was given his space. He trusted in Pakura to take care of little Kurotsuchi and the others, even if Mikoto was somewhat sullen about it. The rest would understand...eventually. He simply needed time to think. To be sure the path he'd chosen was the right one.

And yet despite all this-or perhaps in spite of it-he had a visitor.

Turning his gaze outward, he found a familiar face.

There, waiting for him at his back.

"Well, you look like shit."

Despite his best efforts to quell his rising temper, a muscle still jumped in Naruto's jaw at the sly retort; three veins pulsing in forehead alongside it. Naturally his first instinct was to lash out at the shadow in his door, to leap up off the porch and swipe that smug smile right off her face. It spoke volumes of his control that he merely snatched up a nearby tatami pillow and flung it in her direction instead. With skill expected of one such as them, the newcomer effortlessly batted the offending missile aside with a flick of the wrist.

"Hey, no need to get rough."

"Tch. Bite me, Tsunade."

The blond grinned.

"Don't tempt me, kid."

Spirits, she wasn't going to leave him alone, was she?

"Why the hell are you here?"

"Wanted to check in on you. Mikoto said you weren't eating." even as he opened his mouth to refute her, the sanin crossed the yard to join him on the patio. Despite his own internal war, Naruto caught himself making room for her, allowing her to plop down on the worn wood beside him. That pointed gaze found his, demanding an answer. One might think she wouldn't be as intimidating in civilian clothes. One would be wrong. Even in her trademark red/white dress, she still projected that same aura of determination. In his anger, Naruto made the mistake of dismissing it.

"She worries too much-OW!"

Five taut fingers crashed into his head in a harsh chop, drawing a yelp.

Cringing, he clutched at the rising welt upon his skull.

"Hell was that for?!"

"For being an idiot." the blond snorted, shaking her hair with a toss of the head. "Seriously, what were you thinking?! Half the village wants to exile you, the other half's worshiping the ground you walk on! If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to start a civil war or something! Are you insane?!"

"I made a mistake." understatement of the century, right there! "I was an idiot." he sighed. "It won't happen again."

"Good."

Naruto choked.

"Eh? Whaddya mean, good?!"

In that moment the light caught her eyes just so.

Those hazel orbs narrowed upon him, half-lidded with intent.

"Exactly what I said." she purred, offering him a slight smile. "That earnest look suits you."

Urk.

Gah! No! Bad Naruto! Down!

Despite his best efforts, Naruto felt his heart lurch painfully.

For all his attempts to ignore her less-than-subtle flirtations, one couldn't deny Tsunade's beauty. She was gorgeous. In her prime no less. Age and bitter cynicism had yet to exact their toll upon her, and if he had his say, the latter never would. Once, in another life-one long since lost to him by the ravages of time-an iron wall of age and immaturity prevented him from noticing such a thing. As a boy she'd always been known as "grandma" to him, just as he was a "brat" to her at worst. Their relation had always been informal, downright familial even. He'd never lent credence to such thoughts, never considered the possibility of something more.

Now?

He almost considered her a friend.

They'd fought together.

Bled together.

And yet...

Gentle yet firm fingers danced across the exposed plane of his arm, jolting him.

"So you fucked up." the bluntness of her reply earned the Sanin a startled look. "We all do. Granted," she amended with a grimace, "Yours might have been a bit more...spectacular than most, but at least you're not acting like some mustache-twirling villain. You just need to do better."

"Mwahahaha." Naruto groaned halfheartedly into his palms. "You're not helping. At all."

"See?" she ribbed him with an elbow. "There it is. You feel guilt. Its eating you up inside. Speaking of which, have you been eating?"

His back stiffened at the implications.

...yes?"

"Don't lie to me."

"I swear, I really have-owowowow!" her fingers tightened upon his bicep explosively, drawing a pained burst that sent the Uchiha flailing about on the floor. "Alright, alright! Give, give! I haven't eaten in two days! You're gonna break my arm! I need that!"

"What you need is a good meal!" To his dismay, Tsunade burst upright, dragging him with her. "C'mon! We're going out!"

"Out?! I'm under house arrest, remember! This is a terrible idea! Baaaaad idea!"

"It'll be fine!" she snapped "Now stop dragging your feet and man up!"

"I do not consent to this!" Naruto squawked! "I need an adult!"

A cheery grin flashed over the blond's armored shoulder.

Really, he should've expected her reply.

"You are an adult!"

A/N: Feels good to get back into the groove.

Especially writing that Kaguya bit. Hope ya liked it.

There you have it. Naruto and Tsunade moments at last.

More of that next chapter, and it'll be a loooooong one to be sure!

A lot of people were asking for it, so I decided to give it to all of you~!

Don't worry, the next update won't take a year; I can promise you all that much.

I'm going to be on the operating table AGAIN by the time you read this, so I hope you enjoyed. Yes, its short, and I'm sorry. I'm literally about to undergo SURGERY and they're gonna keep me for a bit, so I thought something would be better than nothing. Again, I apologize for up and vanishing, but health woes and personal issues kept me away for longer than I would have liked.

Now I'm going to be in a lot of pain for a few days, so hopefully this little tidbit will be enough to tide you over in the meantime.

Not to mention the last time I had surgery I dropped a TON of weight-not intentionally!-had no appetite, and go dangerously thin, so there's that.

Wish me luck if you will; I certainly need it at this point.

Aaaaaaand there we go! Dark times ahead, and for the first time, Naruto isn't aware of it. They say the worst enemy is the unseen; no one's realized what lurks on the horizon-that's going to come back to bite them. Hard. The tension's ramping up, and we're in the home stretch, folks! One can only guess where we go from here, as events spiral toward the inevitable center.

So...in the immortal words of Atlas...

Review...would you kindly?

And enjoy the previews!

Potential ones, at that!

I own nooooothing!

(Preview(S))

"You're fulfilling your destiny."

...shut up and kiss me you absolute idiot."

Warm lips pressed against his.

"Why'd you go through all this today, anyway?" he groused. "It couldn't have been just for my sake.

The fainest flush colored that pale visage for a fleeting moment before concern chased it away.

"Honestly? I was hoping you had some news about Nawaki." she took a fingernail between her teeth. "He should've returned by now."

An alarm sprang to life in the back of his head.

Looking back, he couldn't explain what made him suspicious in that moment; only that it did.

"What're you talking about?"

...you were hoping for this."

Kaguya performed a delicate twirl, sending the white sundress lilting about her body. "In a sense. This temporary body is hardly ideal but it suits my needs...for the moment."

The little girl gazed up at him with smug satisfaction, hands clasped behind her back. At first glance she didn't look like much of a threat at all; it was only the broken knife in her hand that served as a reminder of just how close he'd come to death. A child assassin. The thought made him ill.

"Explain. Now."

"Oho?" she tilted her head and for a moment, just a moment, he glimpse a crimson horn jutting out of those dark locks. "You should be happy I laid claim to this body when I did. She was sent by Kumo you know; she was going to kill you. Really, her will was positively shattered already so it was pitifully easy. I dare say I did her a favor by putting her out of her misery."

"You can't just go around possessing people!"

A small finger rose, poking her lip.

"Can I not~?"

"OI!"

"FOUND YOU~!"

An irritated iris turned to regard him.

"Ah, there you are, brat. Do you hate me?"

His sole response was a towering sphere of azure light.

"I understand now."

One hand dropped to the soil.

"If you're his enemy then I just have to kill you before you can hurt him."

The earth writhed beneath her like a living creature; a bucking beast trying-and failing-to escape the deformity inflicted upon it.

"Who are you?"

"What, you don't remember me, red? I'm hurt-URK?!"

Strong fingers wrapped around his throat, hoisting him upright.

"What am I to you?!"

Sorry for the cliffhanger!

R&R~! =D