You Deserve This

By

Warwolf

Brief author's note: This idea came to me after reading The True Monster by Lord of the Land of Fire, prompting this sequel. While I will have a larger note at the end (this fic will be incredibly short by my standards as I've only ever written one other oneshot before.), be aware that I stand by the title of this fic. Naruto is about to find out what happens when, in the course of pursuing 'an eye for an eye' indiscriminately, he sets in motion the underpinning of his own undoing, and what happens to those who have to deal with the backlash of his act of ultimate evil at the end of The True Monster. This fic was written with permission from Lord of the land of Fire's permission.

All characters belong to their respective owners. This fic is for entertainment purposes only, and I'm obviously making no money off it. ^.^;;;

It had been some two years since since 'Operation: Because they Deserve it', and Naruto, headmaster of Yokai Academy had been living as happy a life as he could have dreamed. he had a family, in the form of Issa Shuzen and Akasha Bloodriver as parents-in-law, an extended family in the other three daughters of Issa, and his wife Moka along with their daughter, Kushina. Kushina was now four years old, and had never known a day of want or fear or hardship. Naruto had seen to that. He had been contemplating new human students for the academy, but he was distracted. Kuyou and nearly all the other Kitsune almost to the last had been massacred a few weeks ago. Nobody had seen it coming, and the children and a few vixens were all that was left. All they would say about who did it was that it was a manifestation of the Wrath of God on Earth. All except one little male kit who seemed a little braver than the rest.

"He said he was the Living Spirit of Vengeance." The little boy had replied.

Naruto stood up and began pacing his office. Something in that title the boy had spoken was gnawing at him. He had been going through all the files Mikogami, the old Headmaster and former Hades Lord had. But he still hadn't found what he was looking for. There was no monster who had ever laid claim to be a 'Living Spirit' let alone one that was somehow the embodiment of a concept. Kuyou had been able to make it to the academy's dimension before dying. He had been on leave and was spending time with his family when it happened. He was a mass of fear and terror, barely making any sense. And even when they could get something coherent out of him, it still didn't make sense. he had been how they'd learned of the devastation wrought on them. It would take centuries to rebuild what they had lost.

He died less than a day later from injuries nobody could heal.

Sighing, he walked out of his office. He couldn't think straight. The events in Kuyou's home had left him rattled. Who had that kind of power? While he was the only Nine-tailed Kitsune in existence, the others had been nothing to sneeze at in terms of power, and an entire realm full of them should have destroyed anyone stupid enough to challenge them.

Who...what...had that kind of raw power?

He walked the grounds, hoping the scenery would do him good, and it seemed like it was going to. Then he heard it. The humans of a different version of Earth called it a Motorcycle. He was familiar with technology, as his own world used it. Perhaps not to the extent that the people of 'Earth' were. But he knew an engine when he heard it. He had even gotten one of the two wheeled machines himself, curious about it and had loved the thing. But this was an engine like no other bike he'd ever heard. This was louder, far throatier and carried an undercurrent of danger. He wondered how whoever the driver was had gotten in without permission. Only a handful of beings could enter his realm on their own, and most of them did so only because they were either friends, family, or employees.

Turning, he saw the machine in question, it was idling and it was a beauty. Well, all except for the wheels as they appeared to be made of pure flame. He glanced up at the driver. And his eyes widened.

"Who...what...are you?" Naruto asked. The figure with the flaming skull didn't look like any species of monster he knew. And whatever power he had was apparently being kept in check.

"I am summoned when innocent blood is shed." The figure replied. "I am Ghost Rider. The Living Spirit of Vengeance, and I have come to mete out your punishment."

The title at least gave Naruto one piece of information. He now knew who had devastated the Kitsune's home.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Naruto growled. "What gives you the right to punish me?"

"What gave you the right to massacre innocents in the name of your own selfish desires to hurt those who hurt you?"

The frown on Naruto's face became a pure scowl.

"That village tried to murder me as a child! You must know what it's like to be set on fire. I mean, Look at yourself!"

The Ghost Rider had nothing but a skull wreathed in flames, but Naruto would have sworn the creature was actually smirking at his jibe.

"For the foolishness of a few who acted on misplaced fear and hatred, you murdered a village who largely either did not care or in many cases even know you existed by the time you did what you did, Naruto Uzumaki. How many children lost their parents to your selfishness that night? How many fathers and mothers lost their sons and daughters? How many lost their siblings? You did not mete out retribution to those who actually deserved it. You simply proved to them you were what they thought you were." The Ghost Rider replied at length, his arms crossed over his chest. "You had the opportunity to prove yourself above the pettiness and anger that you had known. Instead you chose the path of evil. I have already punished all those who aided in the destruction of the village called Konoha. All that remains is you."

Naruto had had enough, by this point. He did what was right! He did! So what if innocents got hurt along the way! The Villagers might not have all abused him, but they sure as shit didn't make a point of helping either outside of a small handful. So...so that meant they were all guilty! He couldn't go around and look for the guilty ones individually. They would have escaped if he'd done it that way! And he let some of the villagers go, so long as they escaped his net honestly! With these rationalizations in mind, he charged at the Ghost Rider, who stepped off his bike, and caught him in mid air by the throat.

"Your soul is stained by the Blood of the Innocent." The Rider stated in a tone of voice that suggested he had seen better. "You are guilty." Naruto charged his body with a full tail of demonic chakra and kicked the Rider full force in the gut. Or whatever passed for it. To his credit, it dislodged the Spirit of Vengeance, enough for Naruto to attack in earnest. But the Rider obviously had power of his own, returning every blow Naruto struck with one of his own at far greater strength. Naruto couldn't understand it. He poured in the power of a second tail and unleashed the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, calling up over a hundred clones, all of which moved to attack. But the Ghost Rider seemed unfazed and unimpressed. Faster than Naruto could see, he pulled off a chain he'd been wearing around his body and in a flash of glinting metal, destroyed them all in a single motion, returning the chain to its previous position.

Moka Uzukami, wife of Naruto, snapped her head towards the direction of her husband's flaring demonic energy at full strength, and a power she'd never felt before, which were seemingly in conflict. And that was worrisome. Her daughter had been taking a nap in the room with her when the wave of demonic energy contained within her father washed over her, awakening her with a start.

"Mama? What's happening?"

"I don't know baby. I'm going to find out. Stay here. This might be dangerous.

Before Kushina could reply, a bloodcurdling scream rang out through the grounds of the academy.

It was the scream of a soul in anguish no normal being could withstand.

It was the scream of evil being brought to justice.

It was Naruto, screaming in the kind of pain he should never have had to feel again since gaining the power of the nine-tails.

Moka was on her feet and at a dead run, ripping off her rosario faster than anyone would have thought possible.

Her daughter, nowhere near her mother's speed, followed after her. Something had hurt her daddy and she wanted to help.

Ahh, the innocence of four year olds.

Naruto had decided that he couldn't play around anymore and had unleashed the full power he possessed, though he did not transform into his kitsune form since his wife and child were in the area and he didn't want to needlessly risk their health or safety. He had assumed this would be the end of this matter. And he was right. Just not the way he wanted to be.

He had slammed all the power he could into one brutal right handed punch.

The Ghost Rider's head snapped to one side, and his jaw came partially loose.

Then he snapped his jaw back in place and turned his head back towards Naruto. Where before he'd seemed amused, now he seemed annoyed. Or embarrassed. Naruto couldn't read the skull's expression this time. But he was so stunned that anything could survive one of his full force blows that it was all the opening the skull faced being needed, grabbing Naruto around the throat and hauling him forward so that they were nose to nose.

"Your Blood is stained by the Blood of the Innocent. "The Ghost Rider repeated as the empty sockets in his skull began to glow. "Feel the pain you have inflicted visited back upon you a million times over."

It struck Naruto so quickly that he barely knew it was happening. Not that he could have stopped it if he'd tried. Ironically the Kitsune survivors had been right in a very literal sense even if they hadn't been aware of it. The Ghost Rider truly was the Wrath of God made Manifest on Earth, and no matter Naruto's claims to the contrary, no matter how powerful he may have become...

He was nothing before the Wrath of God.

Moka skidded to a halt in time to see the Rider drop Naruto to the ground. He didn't move. He was breathing, at the very least. But he wasn't moving.

"Naruto!" she screamed in horror. Then looked up to the empty sockets of the creature. "What did you do to him? Who are you? How did you get in here without permission?"

"I do not need the permission of the guilty to punish them. I go where I am needed, for I am summoned when Innocent Blood is Shed. I am Ghost Rider. The Living Spirit of Vengeance." Turning his gaze to the now seemingly catatonic Demon Lord, he mounted his bike and revved the engine. "My task is complete. I leave you now, Naruto Uzumaki, in lesser hands." He said. He was about to take off when a small form darted out past Moka, having come up running with the speed only an energetic and fear a four year old can.

"Daddy!" Kushina wailed, seeing her father apparently laying dead on the ground. "Daddy, daddy wake up! Wake up!" Moka was right beside her daughter in only moments, not sure how to react. She had run out so fast she hadn't thought to lock the doors to keep her daughter safe. She looked up at the Rider who was looking at Kushina with an idle seeming stance as she tried to rouse Naruto, but what emotion was behind those empty eye sockets she had no idea. She pulled her daughter closer to herself to protect her.

"Now what? Are you going to attack us too?" the silver haired vampiress snarled. The Ghost Rider fixed his empty sockets on her.

"My mission is to punish the guilty. For all you have done, you have yet to truly shed innocent blood, and the child is untainted by evil. I do not make war on the Innocent."

"Then what possible reason could you have for doing this to Naruto? He was innocent!"

"No." The Ghost Rider replied. "He was not. The souls of the innocents lost in his massacre of the village of Konoha screamed out for vengeance. And so I have come. Those who survived sought refuge on Earth and reside there now under the protection of the Ghost Rider. No harm shall ever come to them again."

The Ghost Rider revved the engine of his bike, and peeled out, leaving a trail of flame in his wake.

Four months later

Despite it all, Moka was unable to let go of her rage at the way her husband had been taken from her. Strictly speaking, he was alive. But he never moved. Never spoke, or reacted to anything. When Issa became aware of what had happened, he knew almost immediately what Naruto had been exposed to. The Penance Stare. When Moka had begged her father to avenge Naruto he had only sighed sadly and shaken his head.

"I can't daughter. The Ghost Rider would simply do to me what he did to Naruto. And I would not live past it. The Penance Stare ruined Naruto. It would kill me outright." He had said. "Naruto simply laid waste to a single village. I have destroyed ten times that many over the centuries, if not more. I would never survive it."

When she had suggested hunting down the survivors of Konoha who sought refuge in the human world on Earth, he had shot that down too.

"That would simply bring the Rider upon us as surely as it did Naruto. I'm surprised he hasn't come riding for me already, given as I am hardly a saint myself." He had answered. "I would not see Kushina lose both her parents to the Spirit of Vengeance."

Moka's mother Akasha had, reluctantly, agreed with Issa. She wanted revenge as well. But taking revenge on the very personification of Vengeance, the actual Wrath of God, would be tantamount to trying to snuff out the sun and she knew it. Issa and Akasha were well aware of the Ghost Rider, and others like him. At one point there had been numerous Spirits of Vengeance, sometimes one or two for various countries and nations. At least two Spirits had been married, that Issa had been aware of. One had actively fought in both of the Humans' World Wars, and this one was a precursor, Issa believed, to the Ghost Rider that attacked Naruto, as it was the only one known to have survived the strange disappearance of the Spirits of Vengeance. Something had gone to war with the Wrath of God and lost. But now only one Spirit remained: The Ghost Rider. And he had taken into him the powers of all his brethren. The Wrath of God made manifest into a singular being with one purpose. Protect and if necessary avenge the innocent while punishing the guilty.

As proud as Issa had been of Naruto taking his pound of flesh from those who had tormented him as a child, the fact that he had brought the Ghost Rider upon himself made him wonder if Naruto's indiscriminate attack upon his former home had been the most well thought out of revenges.

Moka would have none of it. One day, she slipped out, asking Tayuya and Akasha to look after Kushina while she went on what she called a minor errand.

They never saw her again.

Two months later, with no signs of recovery apparent, Naruto was given a mercy killing. Better he pass on than live like he had been.

Fifteen years later

Nineteen year old Kushina Uzumaki looked out over the city of New York with a curious eye. She'd come seeking her mother after years of never getting a straight answer from her grandparents about what really happened to her. Eventually it had come out that they had no concrete answers. Only a suspicion, and one they could never confirm. They had eventually told her the truth about the creature who had put her father into such a state that he may as well have been dead when she was fifteen. They believed her mother had tried to take her own personal vengeance on the Ghost Rider, and failed.

Kushina, despite herself, had little choice but to accept the truth. Her father may have done what he thought was right, but he still killed innocents who'd had nothing to do with the torment he suffered. It had been a blow to the image she'd had of her father as a little girl. But she liked to think he would have been proud of the way she'd grown up. She was strong, independent, but with a caring and friendly nature. She had lived in the human world for the last two years, attending a human college called New York University, and, true to the Youkai Academy's goals of coexistence, had come to enjoy living amongst humans, especially once they became more fully aware- and surprisingly accepting, of the existence of monsters. She later learned this had largely to do with monsters who often attacked various cities. With a strange concentration of attacks occurring in America. Or more specifically New York. The appearance of Superhuman defenders had gone a long way to showing that coexistence in the open sort of, since monsters still appeared in the human world in human form so as not to frighten their fellow beings, unless they had no choice was possible. She even had a human boyfriend. It had surprised the heck out of her grandparents, but they gave her their full support. Though it took a little 'encouragement' from Akasha to make Issa get over his hang-ups about humankind. She was very much in love with her human, and was considering offering to turn him, as she wanted to be his wife and couldn't stand the thought of only having a handful of decades with him when they could have eternity.

However, he had an odd habit of disappearing every so often, and coming home looking like death warmed over. She may have been an independent sort of girl, but she was still a woman as much as she was anything else and so she often fussed over him when this happened. But he usually shrugged the injuries off, and they seemed to heal at an accelerated rate. She had begun to suspect he might be a monster, but she never once sense any Youki from him. All he would say is that it was a recent thing, and it was something he had to deal with on his own before he could tell her anything about it.

But eventually she started tailing him out of worry for his safety. Discreetly, of course. And she saw that he seemed to have a largely normal routine when he went out at night on his motorcycle. But tonight, something odd was happening. She had followed him, at about the same time as a fight began to break out between a being calling himself Loki, whom Kushina had learned was actually theLoki of Norse myth, as was Thor whom he was currently in conflict with, and that they had been battling on Earth and beyond for years. While others among the super hero team called The Avengers had started to age past the point where they could sustain combat for long periods of time or became to riddled by injury to continue the good fight, Thor held steadfast to the protection of Earth, standing side by side with new heroes taking the reins from the old.

She had been surprised to see her beloved riding full bore towards the battle site. She followed with all the speed she could muster. It was when he began to glow that she started to wonder...

And then, he erupted into flames. She gasped in shock and fear believing the bike had suddenly imploded or worse. But the burst died away...leaving behind a figure she could never forget so long as she lived. She had heard the tales from her grandfather. She knew one day others would return, she had been sure of it. Nobody could contain that much power alone forever could they? Or was he simply the newest to inherit the power...the curse...as the specter that had haunted her nightmares for much of her childhood roared down the street, having once been the boy she had fallen in love with, and despite herself, couldn't bring herself to hate, even if he was the newest incarnation of the being that had ultimately lead to her father's death.

"I AM GHOST RIDER, THE LIVING SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE!"

The Ghost Rider leapt into battle, greeted warmly by the Thunder God and his compatriots. She watched in a kind of fascinated horror. The Ghost Rider had been the monster in her worst nightmares, the boogeyman in her closet or under her bed when she had been a child. That flaming skull still caused her to wake up in the night with a scream on her lips, only to be comforted by her lover...her lover who was the new possessor of the power of the Ghost Rider. Or maybe the Rider possessed him. The stories said it worked both ways sometimes, and that sometimes host and Spirit worked together.

Unable to stop herself...Kushina leapt into the fray when Loki looked ready to run the Rider through. It was instinct. Part of her was terrified and hateful. He was the Ghost Rider. He had the same power that had taken her father, and possibly her mother from her!

But he was still the boy...the man...she loved, and a Vampire's love, a woman's love, was often stronger than her hate, and so it was this time.

Naruto watched from the afterlife, confined as he was to hell. Mephisto watched, cackling as if it was the most hilarious thing in the world. Mephisto hated a great deal and that included the Ghost Riders. But this time, a Ghost Rider had inadvertently caused Naruto, who still tried to fight him to gain freedom as a wandering spirit—he found it amusing to watch him try and fail again and again—even greater pain than the previous Rider had shattered his mind with the Penance Stare. Without knowing it...what Naruto and his wife, who had been unable to attain revenge and been cast into the multiverse, considered their family's most hated enemy had won the love of their only daughter.

"My, my, my Naruto-kun," Mephisto laughed, "this is quite the turn of events don't you think? Your daughter, in love with a boy who possesses the same power as the being who was, in effect, your killer."

Naruto gave a growl of rage from where he was chained, forced to watch as his daughter and her Ghost Rider began to explore new aspects of their relationship as she joined the ranks of Earth's superheroes while she lived together with his human self. This Ghost Rider was a case of the human being in control of the powers and Rider body, rather than the Ghost Rider entity, whose mind was almost entirely dormant, save for lending knowledge and skill to its host. It wasn't even the same entity as the one that had used the Stare on him, but Naruto couldn't have cared less.

"I must say, the destruction of Konoha at your hands really came to bite you in the ass, didn't it? Just remember one thing, as you watch your daughter and her Ghost Rider live and love each other for eternity. This was the result of your actions." the demon said smugly. "In other words..."

"You Deserve This."

End notes:

Okay, I know a lot of you will probably be looking at this and generally going 'What the Fuck?' if you've read Lord of the Land of Fire's fic The True Monster, which this fic is a twisted sequel to.

Many people will doubtlessly be wondering why Naruto went down so easily since in Monster he was essentially invincible at the end. This is because of the sheer difference in the nature of Naruto and the Rider. Naruto is powered by the demonic essence of the Kyuubi and is therefore a demon lord. However the Ghost Rider, in the last official in-universe incarnation which seems partially based on the information given at the end of the Daniel Ketch Ghost Rider series is an angel. But not just any angel. He is the angel of Vengeance. Literally speaking, the Spirits of Vengeance are described in the last Rider series as being the actual Wrath of God made manifest on Earth. Powerful Naruto might be. But despite his claims in True Monster demons have no chance against the fury of the divine.

Bear in mind that during World War Hulk, Dr. Strange flat out says the Ghost Rider is the single most powerful being on earth, and that he is essentially however powerful he needs to be as the need arises. Naruto is incredibly powerful due to having the power of a demon lord. Therefore the Ghost Rider needed to be stronger than Naruto in order to punish him. Therefore he became that powerful simply because he needed to be, as part of his powerset. Remember that in one of his two appearances in animation, the Ghost Rider defeated GALACTUS simply by the use of the Penance Stare. And Galactus devours planets as a source of sustenance and is essentially unstoppable by most standards. Powerful Kyuubi might be, but he would have paled in comparison to the power of the Planet Eater, whose energies are on the level of the cosmic, rather than the Demonic. Not even Naruto can do what Galactus does and the Rider took him down without even lifting a finger.

Many may also decry my decision to send Naruto to hell as the result of his actions in Monster. Let's face the facts though. While Naruto may have suffered abuse from some people in the village, not everyone took part. Some simply ignored him. Others were probably new to the village and just didn't care one way or another and many were too young to even understand what was going on, let alone join in. Naruto could have been the better man and lived happily with his wife and child, as Konoha was by that point utterly unable to control him, and one often hears the saying that the best revenge is a life well lived. Instead, Naruto not only sank to the level of his abusers, he murdered countless people who not only had not done him any harm, but a great deal of children who either had no idea he existed, or just thought he was some kind of Missing Nin or whatnot. If the murder of one innocent human life would condemn a soul to hell, what would the blood of multiple innocents do? While some might claim the Penance Stare is enough of a punishment, I disagreed. Naruto was utterly convinced he was in the right to do what he did, and refused to allow the Stare to cleanse him of the evil in his soul since he believed he had done nothing wrong. This is why he ended up catatonic for the rest of his life. There have been instances of those who have suffered the Penance Stare and continued their evil ways. Naruto was attacked by what was at the time the most powerful of the Spirits of Vengeance as new Riders for the rest of the world had not yet been recreated after the absorption of the Rider powers seen during the last series by Daniel Ketch when he worked for Zadkiel.

Kushina's unnamed lover being a new Ghost Rider I felt was the perfect torment for Naruto to be forced to watch during his eternity in hell. Knowing your daughter has fallen in love with someone who possesses the same power as the guy who more or less damned you to hell in the first place is the final humiliation. Seeing her forgive a Rider, any Rider even if it wasn't the one who shattered his family's idyllic life, has to be a blow to his sensibilities even after years of torment by Mephisto. One has to wonder what Naruto would do if he escaped from Hell and made it back to Earth. And what side of the divide his daughter would stand on.

As for where Moka ended up? Let's just say Moka probably wishes she were dead. She's been cast into a wholly different part of the multiverse with no way back, and will have to deal with issues of her own in her 'new life'.

While this is intended as a one-shot, I may expand it if there is enough interest. Consider this a 'snapshot' set of events that could take place during the course of a full story. If enough people want me to, I will flesh it out into a full story, and try to give more on the fate of Moka and everyone else involved in the story.

Ride on, People.