While the Ōtsutsuki God clashed with him using Existence Deletion, he split off a strand of divine consciousness and killed everyone in the Ninja World.
Not one person remained. Once it was done, that strand returned to the battlefield and kept fighting him.
From then on, Naruto fought for three days and three nights. For three days and three nights, he repaired his own existence. He succeeded, but everyone else was gone.
Naruto crouched amid the ruins of Hokage Rock and reached out to touch what remained of the Fourth Hokage's face.
That face belonged to his father. As a child, he had often come here to sit on Shadow Rock and stare at the village.
Back then, the four figures on Shadow Rock had seemed like four mountains that would never fall. Now the mountains had fallen.
Half his father's face had shattered, though that gentle smile still lingered at the corner of his mouth. A crack ran through it, from the left eye to the right corner of the mouth. Naruto touched it, his fingertips trembling.
"Dad," he called.
No one answered. His father had died long ago. Naruto knew he had died and left him the Nine-Tails. But he called out anyway.
"Mom," he called again.
No one answered. His mother had died long ago, too.
"Kakashi-sensei. Granny Tsunade. Pervy Sage. Sakura. Sasuke. Hinata. Shikamaru. Neji. Rock Lee. Gaara."
He spoke each name in turn. His voice grew quieter and quieter until even he could no longer hear it.
"Ōtsutsuki Juzhi." Naruto stood, his voice suddenly changing from hoarse to cold. "You got off too easy. When Yang Jian killed you, you should have suffered more. You should have been cut to pieces, mutilated, burned alive, and torn apart by horses. You should have died ten thousand