Disclaimer: Nothings mine.
A/N: Ok...I know that right now this is nothing that people want to see, they want to see ups on my other stories.
Those are coming, no worries.
Now, FYI time. First, the reason for my absense. My comp decided to die on me. Not really sure what happened, but I heard a 'pop' then the computer shut down. After, when it would boot, it was for all of a few minuets before a wonderous blue screen and a power down. Best I can figure, one of the internal termometers on the motherboard died so it thought it was melting down constantly.
So now I'm on my new rig ^_^ Not an easy task for one with no job...but still, it's nice, had to call in a few favors and IOU's, but now I'm up and running again. Now, this little story, honestly, was just a way to help me get back into the groove, I'd started on it right before the computer's demise, so now I touched it up and opted to post it. It's my version of a spiritual, seal master, Naruto. Some of these elements I may take for a few other fics I'll be concocting here in the future, so let me know what you think of some of the themes ya?
Now then, a few notes. One, this one takes liberties with a few of the gods and goddesses of japan, I made a lot girls, writer's prerogative. ^_^
Second. The poll has come to an end. I'll be doing the top three winners as one chapter stories first, and then based on responses I will write more. So those will be utterly fan driven. Fair warning.
The winners?
1. Naruto/Journey to the West cross.
2. Naruto/Yu Yu Hakosho cross.
3. Village of Lost Souls idea.
So get ready, those will be coming, hopefully, soon ^_^
The soft sound of stone on stone.
This was all that could be heard in the rundown apartment building on this late night.
This in of itself was odd, but not noteworthy.
Unless you consider that this had been going on for almost a solid month.
Stranger still what that none had come to look in on the strange occurrence.
The reasons were obvious to those that resided here, in the place known as the Village Hidden in the Leafs there were only three places that one wanted to avoid.
The Torture and Interrogation division.
Training Ground number forty-four, also known as The Forest of Death.
And lastly, the Lair of Demons. A rundown apartment building just on the 'good' side of the red-light district. That is not to say that it was on the wealthy side of the district, but more like it was just inside of the 'proper' part of the city. However, the slots around it over the years had seemingly been blighted.
After it had received its name, some ten years ago, the business and homes around it had slowly been abandoned, in all instances the people would say that they simply were moving to better homes, or stores with less rent, or off to see relatives.
Still, the fact remained that at the heart of this abandoned place was the apartment building.
And still, the stones ground on.
At the top of the structure stood, what was now, the largest of the apartments and at the center of what one would think would be a dilapidated home knelt a teenage boy, one with blond hair, adorned in a snow white garments, that almost of a priest, for those that were not in the trade of smithing.
For those that were familiar with the very best blacksmiths it would almost be common. White hakama pants, white kimono top with both the sleeves tied back by a carefully knotted rope. At the teens forehead was a white headband, both acting as a sweat barrier and reaching back to hold his longer than average hair back in an odd, spiked, ponytail.
Before him he held a mortar and pestle, stained fingers working away diligently for almost a full month. Now was the time of the last of his preparations, the culmination of six long years of work. Finally he last of the pigments were finished. Seven distinct colors, all from specially bred plants. Harvested at specific times based on the aged texts he had gathered that day so long ago. Each of the herbs and flowers treated with specific oils with water and sake gathered from across the elemental nations. Each of the inks only blended on the nights of the winter moons, praying to his goddesses a every time.
Any would call his work exquisite, if rather obsessive, but for what he was making there could be no mistakes, no errors.
With a small, almost inaudible chant on his lips he took the powder and poured it carefully into the vial he had held between his thumb, middle and pointer fingers, the arrangement one of great care as he seemed to almost count the grains that fell before placing the mortar back next to the carefully arranged parchment. He had long ago memorized the words, still, it almost felt wrong to the young man to do this without the document present, as though the writers were still watching over him even as he worked.
"Blessed are those that follow Tsukiyomi-sama…for she bring the light in the darkness. Blessed are those that follow Susano-sama…for she brings forth the summer rains, that the people may be fed. Blessed are those that follow Amaterasu-sama…for she brings us the light with which we live by. Praise be to their mother, Izanami-no-Mikoto…who shows us all that with the will, nothing is impossible. Praise be to Inari-sama…for bringing food and fortune…to one so unworthy as I. With these inks I apply the seals. With these seals I grasp the power. With this power I will judge. With this judgment…I will protect."
With that clasped both hands together in prayer, the vial held firmly between his hands as he brought his mouth closer. With a slight wince he bit into the flesh of both his thumbs and let it flow for a moment into the glass container before he licked the wound, the saliva almost smoking as it healed. Raising it to his forehead one more time he lowered it and took up a stopper before sealing it and shaking the odd mixture.
Sake' made by the priests in the Land of Demons.
Water from the Shrine of Three Worlds.
His own grown pigments, blessed daily and given soil from the base of the oldest tree in the Nations, one who's roots formed a rumored cave at the heart of Rice Country.
Even his vials, mortar and pestle were chosen carefully, from some of the oldest places in this world. Stone from the base rock of Iwa's cliffs, and the sand that formed the glass gathered from the heart of Suna's deserts.
Six years…and now was the time…laid out before him were several different tools and items.
Two sets of four pointed shuriken, twenty-four in total, steel made from the hottest forges in Iron Country.
A set of odd gloves, made of silks and steel, once more from Demon and Iron. The fingers of the gloves were largely missing save for the middle and pointer fingers on each hand. The metal was sectioned and ran up the forearm almost to the elbow. Both made in careful patterns of blacks, blues and purples that he himself dyed. Etched carefully onto the odd bracers were carefully laid seals running the borders of the metal, all surrounding the images of a variety of spirits.
A Kitsune at the heart, her face oddly featureless and angular, small wisps of fox-fire around her.
A Joroogumo, a beautiful woman who had a number of threads dangling from her long fingers.
A Yuki-onna, another lovely woman who was looking so unbearably sad, her form partially shrouded in the blowing snows.
The three were spirits he was well aware of, it was one of the reasons his home was known as the Lair of Demons. From a young age he had had odd encounters. First in the orphanage, when he was cold and hungry he had first seen them. He had been trying to go to sleep, his feet and hands already numb to the cold floor of the stone basement, a strange warmth had been slowly spreading through his body, something he was both fearing and welcoming, when he had felt the little hatch they had used to slip him food blown open, a swirl of snow racing through the room, forcing his eyes to bare slits.
When he opened them next he shuddered, what looked to be a large spider was crawling towards him, it's long legs oddly graceful, and strangely the body didn't look bloated or disgusting to him, like many of the other spiders that dwelt in the hole with him had.
He blinked once more and was surprised to see a small white fox that seemed to watch him with the spider. It's fur didn't seem thick or long enough to really help in the shockingly cold winter that had struck the village, but it was the piercing ice blue eyes that really gave him pause.
His eyes darted from the fox back to the spider, noticing that it also had a strangeness about it, it wasn't black, or even brown like the others, this one seemed to be an odd mixtures of purples and blues.
He blinked again, and the creatures, even the snow were gone. Instead, kneeling around him were three beautiful women, each one holding odd similarities, yet wholly different from the other. The first was adorned in a snow white kimono, an almost unnoticeable pattern of light blue snowflakes almost seemed to dance along the length of the cloth. Her hair was long and black as midnight, her bangs cut in a way that almost hid her eyes from him, even at his lower angle, almost making an inky black veil of sorts. Her skin though seemed to almost rival the pale beauty of her clothing, seeming to glow in the darkness of the room, only the light of the full moon gently peaking in through his food slot offered the light needed to even see these three. Her lips were carefully painted, almost blood red, and even at his young age he felt his cheeks grow warm.
The next almost seemed to be the opposite, her clothing a similar cut of kimono, though hers were the same darker blues and purples he had seen on the spider. Her skin standing out nicely in a dusky tan that let her steel grey hair be all the more visible. While the first's hair was long and free, this one seemed to be more wild, strangely spiky and held back in a high ponytail that, even in its tied state, reached the bottom of her shoulder blades. Her face was lacking the makeup that the former seemed to have though, but held a more earthly, natural beauty to the first's ethereal one.
The last bore a kimono that was a bright sky blue, one that matched the color of her eyes, and had skin not unlike the second, though a bit lighter, like the color of sand he had seen children playing in, where the other's looked much darker, like wet clay. Her hair was not unlike the first woman's skin, a stark white that seemed to radiate its own light, even as she looked on with a sad smile.
"Ten…Tenshi…is…is it time."
The three gave him small, sad, smiles before they shook their heads. The young boy feeling a tear slip from his eyes that almost instantly froze before he was engulfed in warmth, when his eyes opened once more the three were gone, but now he was wrapped in a thick blanket, one softer and smoother than the finest silks. Next to his head was a small bowl and spoon, steam rising from as it held a hearty rice porridge, the last was a small bamboo water pipe with a stopper in it.
He still had the items to this day, each precious to him, but his stories of how he got them had made him all the more alienated, and lead to him being removed from the orphanage, his blanket stolen from him by the matron, though the very next day he awoke in the alleyway with it wrapped around him.
The matron being found dead of a spider's bite.
And so he honored those that brought him life, and the goddesses he believed did so much for him by sending them over the years, and when he found the scrolls on seals and rites on his doorstep he once more didn't question it, instead giving thanks for what he had received, now and again, as the years passed, more deliveries, the materials that he would so desperately need to finish his work. Now the time had come to finish, and he was more than happy to complete his long task.
The last items before him were brushes of different sizes, all very finely made from shed fox fur he had collected in the woods. Next to them were a series of tattoo needles, all bone honed to the finest points and bathed in blessed sake'.
Lastly, his blanket, the only thing that would grant him sleep to this day.
Placing the last of his inks in a stand he carefully uncorked all seven vials, picked up one of his etching chisels, and dipped it in the first ink, a midnight blue concoction with metal shavings in them. With a quick pulse of chakra the metal began to grow hot as he took his gloves into his lap, and started to color his saviors.
For this night, Naruto Uzumaki, would not know sleep.
"Where the hell is that BAKA! He's going to be late to his own match!"
"Maa…maa…Forehead, I don't think you're the one to talk, you didn't even get into the finals."
"NEITHER DID YOU!"
The platinum blond blew her long bang out of her eyes in mild annoyance, "Ya, but you don't see me making fun of those that did make it, are you?"
The pinkette glared at the girl sitting next to her she had a point, but that didn't mean that she had to like it, "Why are you being so quick to defend him! I mean he is the class dobe! The demon."
That put the girl on edge, it was rather common knowledge that Naruto lived on the top floor of The Demon's Lair, though why was a bit beyond her. In the academy he had been odd, seemingly so full of energy at times that he could power all the lights in the village if you gave him a treadmill, while at other times…when it seemed like no one had been looking, he looked impassive, cold, analytical of all that was going on around him. She had seen his tests in school, they didn't make sense, being far beyond what the others, even Shika, had to take, yet even then he had answered enough to just barely pass, though it put him in the lowest rankings. It was one of many things that made her question the teen, like why he wore that odd clothing, while it did have her favorite shade of deep purple in it, why the blue streaks that seemed to break up the pattern? Why the white belt and the red headband? It made for a unique style, that was for sure, but nothing like anything she had seen before.
"Ya, he was the class dobe, and you were the kunoichi of the year, and who's got a match down there in…' a quick glance at the boards, 'two minutes?"
"Pfft, it was luck! You saw that move against Kiba! He slipped!"
Well…she had a point…for all intense of purposes Naruto had seemingly slipped, one foot extending a bit and tripping Kiba while he had been in mind attack, sending the dog lover into the wall with stone shattering force. "I can't argue that."
"Why are we arguing at all! And where is Sasuke-kun!"
The blond gave a nervous laugh, "Well…if what you've told me about your sensei is true…"
Sakura paled, "Oh…crap…he's going to be late…isn't he?"
She only received a nod.
"Alright! Would everyone but Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga exit the arena. The first match will begin in one minute!"
The group were quick to leap into their assigned areas even as two individuals looked down from the Kage Box, Sarutobi was looking more than a bit weary at the thought of this bout, it wasn't going to be pretty. He knew that Naruto was tougher than he seemed, but to be up against the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan…it was madness! Add to that the fact that for the last month no one had seen hide nor hair of the teen while all attempts to visit him seemed to be ignored. That is to say, if he was meeting anyone they had never seen them come or go, or the boy leaving his apartment. So what exactly he had been working on, largely, was a mystery. "Well Hokage-dono…it seems that one of your competitors is not going to arrive in time…strange, I heard from my daughter that he seemed quite adamant about avenging some girl…going so far as to swear a blood oath,"
The elderly leader looked to his younger counterpart, "Indeed Kazekage-dono. Neji, the boy currently in that arena, grievously injured his cousin, very nearly killing her. Naruto, who had been rooting for her after Neji's insults, was enraged and had to be restrained by his sensei to keep him from attacking Neji then and there."
"I see…so then this Naruto…"
"Is probably just intending to make an-"
The two were cut off as suddenly the skies above them began to darken as clouds began to swirl, the weather had been so nice these past several days that it was easy to forget that this was the start to a rather mild winter, however, as the sudden storm seemed to form directly over the arena the temperature plummeted from a cool sixty-five down to the point that those in the stands could see their breath, the walls of the arena being kissed by a thin sheen of frost. The winds began to blow almost alarmingly, a blond girl from Suna's eyes widened as she seemed to understand immediately what was forming.
"TORNADO!"
Shouts of fear rang through the crowd as the clouds seemed to start swirl, but even as the people made to run all at once seemed to concentrate, the winds whipping into a concentrated frenzy at the heart of the arena before the air itself seemed to freeze, snow scattering throughout the crowd as a figure appeared clothed in white, deep, ocean blue eyes locking on the teen across from him. "Forgive me for my tardiness Sir. I didn't get much sleep last night…"
The jonin before him narrowed his eyes even as he gnawed all the harder on his senbon, "Name."
It wasn't a question, still, the teen answered, "Naruto."
The man gave a curt nod before stepping back, Naruto only bothering to uncover his head, letting the rest act as a long cloak. "Naruto Uzumaki Vs. Neji Hyuuga! BEGIN!"
The black haired teen's eyes narrowed as he watched the blond for a moment before his lips parted, however, before he could speak he felt a swell of chakra come from the man across from him, he quickly rolled to the side to see a long, narrow gash appear in the floor of the arena, the dark depth vanishing into nothingness.
There was no sound, no hint other than the spike of chakra, one that seemed to only be the tip of a massive iceberg. "W-What was that!"
The blond didn't answer, only leveled a hand at him before his pointer and middle finger parted, if his palm had been up he would have thought he was flashing a peace sign, instead, with the hand leveled at him, it just formed a wedge.
One right at neck level for the Hyuuga, who quickly leapt into the air.
A large section of his hair fell away.
The crowd was stunned to silence, here was the dead last, the boy who won his prelim by tripping his opponent, simply pointing and making whole sections of earth turn to nothingness, a large section of the wall, and under the stands, simply vanishing after that last jab. "N-Naruto…what have you done…"
The 'Kazekage's' eyes narrowed as he watched the teens, "Interesting…" The Third arched an eyebrow, "The boy's bracers…there seems to be an intricate seal array on them…Did your sanin seal master construct them?"
"N-No…Jiraiya has been out of the village for some time…I have no idea who made those…"
The leader of Sand's eyes curved to show his smile, "Fascinating…"
"Fight me fairly!"
Naruto only cocked his eyebrow at that, the ocean like depths of his eyes only holding cold indifference, and an almost cruel intelligence. "Why."
"I am a Hyuuga! You sh-" Neji's scream rang through the stadium as he tried to dodge once more, only to have one of Naruto's fingers flick at the last moment, causing what would have been another level jab to cock and scoop a section out of the earthen floor.
There was no sign of the soil that had been hit, not a trace of rock or even dust, it was simply as if the ground and sections of wall had never existed.
With the vanishing earth, went two of Neji's fingers, the ring and pinky.
"I'm sorry Neji-san. I think I misheard you."
The teen was quick to wrap his hand in a section of ripped off cloth, the white fabric instantly darkening. "WHAT ARE THOSE!"
The blond merely cocked his head, "These?' He held up his hand, the images etched on the bracers glowing brightly as odd seals leading down to his fingertips seemed to pulse with energy, 'These are merely storage seals Neji-san, I thought you would be well versed in them thanks to your teammate."
The seemed to throw not only the dark haired teen, but everyone in the stadium for a loop, storage seals were just swallowing everything he pointed at up! At RANGE!"
"Y-Your lying! There's no wa-" He was forced to bend backwards at an extreme angle to dodge again, his eyes showing the waves of chakra lashing out from his fingertips.
His headband fell away, shorn neatly in half, revealing the seal on his forehead, "I see…so that's why you hate her…you are branch, she is main…how petty…"
"How DARE YOU S-"
Naruto's eyes hardened further as the temperature seemed to dip around him, "I DARE! HYUUGA! BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN FAR WORSE! You cry and whimper about your lot in life, lashing out at those that are kind to you! Because of an accident of birth! You wouldn't BEGIN to know SUFFERING!" His hand vanished into his cloak before both came forth, held between each finger was a snow white shuriken, "I tire of this! Now you may feel them…the Tears of the Ice Maiden!"
His hands crossed, six shuriken becoming white streaks as Neji's eyes widened, "Hakkeshō Kaiten!"
Hiashi's eyes widened in the stands as he saw the main branch technique be executed flawlessly, a dull pulse of sadness rushing through him as he was reminded of his brother, almost seeing him down in that arena, like he had been so many years age.
The dark haired teen smirked as the shuriken impacted his chakra shield, his long weeks of training with Tenten making him more than ready for the projectiles.
Then he felt the temperature drop.
The shuriken seemed to just hang in the air for a moment before they began to glow, Naruto's soft voice carrying over the grind of steel against hardened chakra, "All things…that bring tears to the Yuki-onna…', the glow expanded, each of the shruiken giving off pure white energy the size of a man, when the light faded there were six large globes of crystal clear ice, at their heart stood Neji, his arms trapped in the ice as he was still locked in the half-crouching stance from his spin, though it was clear to that looked closely that the sudden stop had dislocated his arms from his shoulders. 'SHATTER!"
The ice exploded.
Six shruiken fell back into his hands with a snap of his fingers.
And screams filled the air.
Other than Neji's cries, the whole of the stadium was in a deadly silence, watching with wide eyed horror as the teen knelt on the ground, his bloodied arms looking more like poorly de-thawed ground meat than actual limbs.
"W-Winner…Naruto Uzumaki…"
With a swirl of ice and snow, Naruto vanished, reappearing in the stands next to Hinata, the girl having tears in her eyes at the sight of her cousin, as medics rushed into the arena. "Should he apologize to you, let me know, and if it is the will of my Goddesses, I will restore his arms…"
"H-How…W-why…Naruto-kun…how could you?"
Naruto's eyes seemed to soften slightly, "Because he belittled you, because he hates you for things beyond their control. Because you are my friend…what more reason do I need?"
With that he was gone once more, the chill in the air having nothing to do with the shiver running up many a person's spine.
They had hurt him so badly over the years…and now, it seemed, he could hurt them back.
A/N2: And that's that. if enough people bug me I can make this more, but for now, this be it. just had to break out joints and scrape off the rust ^_^