End of one world

Prologue

Ruins of pride

Sasuke remembered a time when he hadn't been so blind to this sort of things. Time when seeing something like this would've made his eyes wider and his breath catch up in his throat. Time when he had been innocent enough to feel horror because of something like this. It felt it like it had been ages ago and in a way he wanted that Sasuke back, that innocent little boy who hadn't known really anything. On other hand, he was glad of his utter and complete lack of ability to comprehend any of this in emotional level. He was positive he would've bursted out to bitter tears if he would've been able to.

Not that it would've helped any. Hidden Leaf was in ruin and everyone was death. His lack of emotions or some tears he wasn't even able to shed would not change that.

It was still a nauseating sight. He walked pass the place where the Ninja Academy had been and tried to wonder how many kids had died before the building had turned into nothing but a crater in the ground. The ramen stand where Naruto used to eat his favourite food was now just ashes and burned wood. The old man and the girl who had kept it, had they been evacuated in time or had they died in the blazing flames which had devoured most of the once prosperous village? He didn't know and didn't really care either. The shop where he had bought his ninja tools when he had been nine - enormous order after which he had never again bought tools in Leaf… now the shop was a pile of burned wood. The apartment building where Naruto had lived, it too was nothing but long since cooled embers.

Sasuke hadn't been there to see hidden Leaf burn, he had only heard about it later, but he could imagine it. He had seen another villages fall to destruction in exactly same way and by exactly same creature so it wasn't hard to conjure mental images of it. Feet made of lava which crushed and burned everything they stepped on. Hands of fire and wind, breath of toxic gas and hell flames, breathing balls of fire down to the village. For a thing literally incarnate of all five elements, it certainly favoured fire.

There were no bodies here, Sasuke realised after while. But then again, why would there be? It wasn't like anyone had buried of burned them, though. These people hadn't gotten the luxury of burial. No, they had all been eaten by the hell beast, the glorious Akatsuki creation they hadn't been able to control. All the people had been eaten by the demon and then the demon had moved on, headed for the nearest concentration of human lives to destroy and devour.

I hope you're happy in hell, father. Your creation was far greater than you ever anticipated, the man thought without feeling bitter or even angry. Orochimaru had certainly done what he had been paid for in those three years Sasuke had learned from the snake Sannin. Since then Sasuke hadn't really been able to find any emotions in himself. Not that he had even tried all that hard, though. Back then he had thought that emotions were a weakness. Now he would've given all he had - which wasn't really much - to have them back.

Finally he came to the Hokage tower, or what was left of it anyway. It hadn't been destroyed by a blow but it had certainly burned. It had probably been the highest flame in the entire village. Now there were only half fallen walls and sea of cool charcoal left of the Leaf's greatest pride. And beyond it, on the other side of the ashes was the Hokage Mountain. The beast hadn't even touched it and now it was like sign telling of how useless it was to cling to past glory. The mountainside had been saved from devastation, but it hadn't helped the people at all. The stony faces of the five Hokages had just stared lifelessly down to their village as it had burned to ground.

Somewhere in the back of Sasuke's mind, nearly innocent voice of a boy murmured that there was a head missing from the mountain. "You never made it there, did you… Naruto?" he muttered aloud and for a moment wondered where the dead-last's body was. Probably in the beast's belly. It wouldn't surprise him at all if Naruto had been the first thing that demon had devoured - just before it had devoured those left of Akatsuki.

Turning back to the ruin of the Hokage tower, the former student of a snake Sannin narrowed his eyes. Before his death, Itachi had told him that there was a chamber underneath the tower, containing the Last Art which had been created by the Third Hokage sometime after Fourth's death. It had never been used, its existence had never been confirmed, but Itachi had been positive that it existed. While his hands flashed into series of seals, Sasuke wondered when he had begun to trust his brother's word in such manner. While his jutsu blasted through the ruins and blew away the charcoal and ashes, he realised that he had never stopped trusting. Even as a heartless murderer, Itachi had never lied to him. Misled him, yes, but not lied. Sasuke had been so completely capable of lying to himself that Itachi had never needed to.

Walking through the now somewhat cleaner foundations of former glory, Sasuke looked for an entrance to the chambers underneath. If it had been hidden underneath wooden trapdoor like his brother had said, then the door should've been burned in the fires and the way should be open. After ten minutes of searching, he finally found the way from surprisingly near the spot which had been the entrance to the tower. A staircase led down into darkness. He didn't hesitate, just kicked the pieces of burned wood out of way and begun his descend. It was ironic how his last hope was in place which was a near metaphor of his journey here. Deep in the darkness

How futile it had been in the end. Once he had learned the truth behind almost everything which had taken place since the Uchiha Massacre and most of all the reason behind the massacre itself… everything had seemed to change. Shift. In the end he hadn't killed his brother out of hate or anger; he had killed Itachi because of mercy. And before his final breath, Itachi had thanked him for it. If Sasuke still would be able to, he was positive he would've cried then… but then had already been too late. For all of them.

Now it in a way disgusted him, the way he had used Leaf nin as distraction so that he could fight his brother alone. While he had sought his failing revenge on Itachi, Naruto, Sakura and gods know who else went against the rest of the Akatsuki. Many of them had died. Naruto had been captured. While Sasuke had been talking with his brother, Naruto had been sacrificed and the Nine Tail inside the blond had been extracted. He had been the last demon host at the time and so in that moment all nine demons had been brought together. And there the world's end had begun.

Concentrating onto his eyes and turning the Sharingan on, Sasuke looked around in the chamber he had come to. There was a door ahead of him, thick iron door clearly made to keep intruders away. Quickly making few seals, Sasuke lit the entire small chamber in eerie white glow and sound of electric chirping, before he plunged his Chidori-wrapped hand through the iron door's handle. With a bang and a crash his hand made it's way through the door before the thing easily swung aside and let him in.

There were only two things in the room beyond. One was a table. Other was a simple small scroll sitting on the table. Taking the scroll, Sasuke headed back up and to the light so that he could read it. Once he was again in the sunshine, he opened the scroll of the Last Art and begun reading through it without closing his Sharingan. He needed to memorise the scroll before destroying it, and Sharingan was the quickest way.

"Hm… surprisingly easy for a forbidden art," he muttered while rewrapping the scroll. Then he threw it to the air, made a short set of seals and blasted it out of existence with a simple Fire technique. Then, looking around himself one final time, he began to form the seals of the Last Art. Once he was done with the seals, he could feel a strange energy beginning to envelope himself. With a bitter smile he murmured the art's name… and fell to the ground, dead.

x

Pretty ominous for a prologue. Now, this fic will have spoilers till kingdom come, I've read the manga till 377 chapter and that is how far the spoilers will go. My grammar and sentences might be off here and there, as my first language is not English. Either bear with it or stop reading. And yeah, I'm making some artistic changes to the original plot line