Written: May 8, 2021 (rough draft then forgotten) 

Kept on writing: March 22, 2023 —March 28, 2023

Edited and Revisions: N/A, last known: March 22, 2023, and March 28, 2023

Edit 2: May 13, 2023, revised as well.

Edit 3: Fixed errors and added more details to the prologue.
July 7th, 2024

Edit 4: Grammar, and spelling fixed. Added a few more details to the prologue. November 15, 2024 

Revised: June 26th, 2023

Published: March 28, 2023 

——————————————————————————————

Blood.. was practically everywhere, you know? 

Blood was in every little crevice, so much so, that everywhere you looked, it was just blood, stained deep red color that filled your vision. 

Blood stained the grounds as it seeped deeper and deeper into the soil.
Red was what Naruto saw. 

Red didn't seem to disappear much to Naruto's disbelief...  

Red just seemed to haunt him even more. 

It was everywhere, and everywhere he saw were the bodies of his comrades.. limbs were scattered around the plains. It was horrifying to see if you were an ordinary human or a sane human who hadn't seen war before or even a retired shinobi who maybe had seen moments of war or lived one, they would have puked everything they had eaten. 

For Naruto and his friends? They were completely numb to the tragedy. They were so numb to the point where the deaths of their comrades were... normal.. to see because they didn't believe they would win.

Until Naruto became a lone survivor..

It's pretty ironic really, funny really, because there was tens of thousands of shinobis whom had came together from across the lands of nations that had shinobis, and they were versing against one man & his reanimation corpses, literally only to be defeated by a one-man after sealing the rest but yeah here we are in an empty land of nothing. Not a single life. 

Well, only 2 that are alive. But that number was about to change.

War had changed and shaped Naruto so much so that he didn't look like himself anymore.
The once energetic hyperactive boy was gone, it was replaced by a war-torn figure. A survivor no less.

The once blond hair turned into what is renowned for Uzumaki, red. His hair was darker than what the color was supposed to be.

His hair remained a bloody red color to the point where he couldn't wash it off as the color stayed permanent on his scalp. But that didn't help as much as it reminded him too much of Kurama's eyes. His former champi— no his champion, his partner, the one whom he called a friend before he had merged with Kurama.

His whiskers faded so much that it didn't look like he had it on him. His baby face became unrecognizable as malnourishment had taken place. His baby fat was gone. Many years of fighting were harsh and sharpened him too much so he didn't look like himself anymore.

 The burden on his shoulders had weighed so much that he barely had the motivation to just keep on moving, to keep on fighting against this one man, one man alone was enough to overpower the whole armies of shinobis.

His thoughts roamed freely as these words began to slowly take over:

'Stay alive...'
'Fight..'
'I love you..'

The very last words from his lover, his best friend, rival, and now...it.. didn't matter anymore.

Naruto collapsed onto the ground tiredly as he finally used the last of what was left of his chakra. His hands were aching in immense pain as his final rasenshuriken was used.

He wanted to scream and yell out into the open plains. Screaming at the top of his lungs to say that the war is over. Madara is dead. 

He wanted to scream so much but he couldn't. 

His voice just won't let him. 

He looked around the dead silent plains and stared. Staring into the empty abyss as he slowly takes in the surroundings.

Everyone was dead around him.

He couldn't protect them.

He failed them.

He failed to protect them all.

He failed. 

He failed to become what shinobis hoped he would become, a hero, a protector, a Hokage. 
A hero..
The savior of the Great Shinobi War..
But what does he have left?
Nothing...
To everyone else...maybe living these final moments..that the very war that was created.. it was over.. 

He finally killed the man responsible for the number of deaths. 
But at what cost?
What was the sole reason that he was the only one remaining?

The guilt in him hurt. It burns.
He hated this feeling of being a sole survivor..

The only survivor of this war.
Surviver's Guilt..
The suffering of seeing everyone dead but him really is about to take that final stance and break him..

But.. now what matters is.. the
10 year war is finally over. 

He looked down at the very dead body of Uchiha Madara who has multiple stab wounds, and numerous of rasenshuriken to ensure that he couldn't heal to the point where not even Hashirama's cells can save him. 

He moved away from Madara's body after making sure he was dead for good. Even stabbing his heart for good measure. 
There was no more tears left to cry..
He has no voice..to even shout, yell, to scream, to laugh..
He couldn't take it anymore..
He looked at the blood seal that he created moments before Kurama had merged with him.. He gathered himself up and began to walk across the empty wasteland to where he created a seal.

A seal that would fix everything. Even if it means rewriting the past, rewriting the future, and stopping Madara in the past. 
No matter how severe the butterfly effect was.. he didn't care anymore.
Even if there was a rip, a tear, a fabric being rewritten, no matter what it will be it won't be stopping him not till he fixes everything.

And so, after a few or so hand seals. 

Everything around him glowed a bright white as he disappeared into the light with only one thought,
'stay alive, and save everyone..'