Well here we are, proof that I have not died but spent the last few years training in a mountain far away...Oh wait that's another story for another time. For more info read the AN that comes after the story but please read the story first as the AN at the bottom may contain slight spoilers. Without further ado, let the show begin!
"We had a deal!"
"And I did as you asked young Hokage"
The scene was chaotic in itself, while in the background where Konoha lay fires burning with its shinobi trying to douse the raging infernos, the scene in the forest was now matching the devastation as the spirit of death, its white haired, purple skinned and masked face, hung lazily in the air with a child wrapped in cloth in its arms. Before it lay a man, bloodied but otherwise okay, with blonde hair and a white coat etched with flame designs who was struggling now to raise himself to continue glaring at the being holding his one and only son.
"Then why!? Give him back and take my soul in place as we have agreed!" Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage of Konoha yelled
"Because he now interests me" drawled Death
"What!?"
"Consider this a life for another life" Death continued "and soon his life for the balance of life itself..."
"You're not making any sense!" The man cried out as he tried dragging himself closer to the being, desperately reaching out to his child
"Of course what I see doesn't make sense..." the being replied as he turned away and began to fade along with the child "...at least to a mortal man I don't"
"No! Goddamn it, come back!" Minato yelled futilely as the spirit of Death disappeared into the burning night sky
"NARUTO!" He cried out in anguish before finally falling unconscious, the strain of the events taking its toll on him
"We've found him!" a cry rang out through the clearing "He's over here!"
"Quick call for a medic!"
"Don't worry we've managed to stabilize him"
"Is he okay? What happened to my child!?"
"How did he survive sensei? The Shiki fuin should have taken his soul!?
The next few days blurred for the man as he drifted in and out of consciousness, all he could see were distorted figures and snippets of conversations going on around him. Some he could recognize, some he couldn't but all that really mattered to his lucid mind was;
Where was his son?
(11 Years Later)
"Mr. Warden are you awake?"
"Mrrhannmph..."
"Mr. Warden please get up already!"
"Hrmmnphfff..."
"MR. WARDEN!"
A yell of surprise and a dull thud echoed out in the forest clearing as a tangled mess of metal and clothes fell out of one of the many tall trees. A second later a green ball of light floated down and landed softly beside the heap before reforming into a small, wispy, and still green female child. The girl had short shoulder length hair and wore only a tattered, nearly falling apart, sundress which was plain in comparison to her now awake companion who was now bringing himself up to his full height, the dark blue ensemble of jacket, pants and trench coat unable to hide the now noticeable dull green glow of light from within. A sole wicked looking lantern was attached by lock to a chain coming out of the left skull attached to his waist, clinking and clanking along with the two keys he kept tied to his front as he stood before turning around to face her. Greeting the girl was a flaming green skull with three smaller chains forming what could be called hair on the grim visage of the now fully awake Chain Warden.
The being stared at the ghostly girl who had woke him up for a few moments before he sighed and pulled the lantern off himself which was also connected to another chain coming out this time from the right skull on his waist which led to his back and a hung sickle dangling on the other end of the chain. The young girl looked at him expectantly as he tapped the lantern to her head and soon she felt a familiar tugging sensation on her being as she was sucked into the bluish green depths of the lantern.
"Thanks for the wakeup call" The warden spoke, his hollow raspy voice clear with annoyance.
"But, next time try another approach other than yelling in my ear" he continued as he hooked the lantern back onto the his being by the side of his belt.
"I make no promises if that's how deep you can sleep Mr. Warden" replied a child like voice from the lantern.
"I'll keep that in mind" he answered as he turned to face the rays of light peeking out behind him, the sun now rising in the horizon.
Checking his surroundings to get his bearings right, he mused around for a bit before finding his bearings and walking forth southbound.
"Oy Thresh," another voice grumbled out, this one deeper than his own "Where are we off to now?"
Tilting his flaming head slightly, Thresh noticed his lantern had now taken a red glow to it and nodded in acknowledgement before turning back to face the path ahead.
"Towards the smell of death" Thresh spoke "to where I can just hear the musical tones of my father at work" he continued, a slight smile tugging at his jaws.
The lantern remained silent after his reply before flickering back to its original colour.
Eventually the trees began thinning out bit by bit until he saw an open road ahead of him coated with a slight mist. Taking the path he pulled up a hood from his coat to cover his face in case other people would pass through the road. In hindsight he thought passing through the road was a bad idea but then again the quicker he got to where he needed to be, the faster he could get his job done. Making sure the coast was clear he began running down the path as fast as he could.
Minutes went forth and bled into the hours as he pursued the path down south. To his pleasant surprise he didn't encounter anyone else in his journey, an ominous sign to a normal person but a rather different one to him.
Eventually the sky turned gray and dark, the winds picking up slowly around him as he continued forward.
"Mr. Warden?" another childish voice, this time a young boy's, called out from the lantern
"Hmmm?"
"I feel a lot of energy coming from somewhere"
"Somewhere?" asked Thresh, stopping in his tracks as he stared out at the end of the path which led straight to a beachfront and to the islands far beyond.
"Yep, yep! I can feel lots of that spiritual power thing you told us about" the lantern happily replied, jingling in place to show it. "But it's coming from that place far ahead"
"I see..." Thresh mused "you did good work kids" he continued patting the lantern and eliciting a happy cry from it before it stilled once more. Putting the info aside for the moment he focused for a bit before confirming the diluted presence of spiritual energy and the rather growing scent of death and decay being carried through the air.
'So this is where my father leads me this time?' Thresh thought as he slowly began walking forward, his boots crunching against the sand. Searching for a means to get to the island he spotted a small dock down the beach. Making his way there he noticed the lack of people and sound as he got closer. Sure it was just a fishing dock but surely a few people would be there.
'Unless...' he thought as he finally arrived and peered through the broken window of one of the two shacks by the single dock. The insides were unused, covered in a thick layer of dust, confirming his idea.
"Abandoned," he thought out loud "at least the small boat is mostly intact" he observed as he walked up the pier to the single lone boat tied to one of the poles holding the place up. Sure the barnacles would hamper speed but beggars can't be choosers. Noticing the lack of a paddle he went back and checked on the 2nd shack and pulled a few out since the wood decay might cause them to break along the way. Pausing at that train of thought, he also wondered if the boat would hold him through the short trip. Though seeing as the only other option would be to swim he had to put his faith in the rather rickety thing.
Finishing his preparations he boarded the boat and pushed off, sailing forth into the proverbial storm ahead of him. His excitement growing steadily as he pondered the powers felt from the island ahead. The storm clouds flashing with lightning as if beckoning him. As he rowed forward a smile found itself forming slowly on his face.
"The storm is starting to get worse" the deeper voice mused out loud amidst the sounds of waves sloshing around the boat.
"Oh yes!" Thresh answered as the stench of death drew closer, a grin now on his face
"It's about to get much worse"
In the heart of the land of waves the people starved and suffered under the rule of their tyrant leader, Gato. What was once a town thriving with rich and bountiful catches of fish, cloths and silks to trade was now reduced to an all around slum. Excessive taxes, theft and extortion had left nothing but tears and anguished cries. What meagre food the people had could not support a family so many took to the streets as beggars or searched for some form of low paying work under the tyrant and his men. Starvation and disease ran rampant through the worse parts of the town and the people feared that soon death reports would be coming in if a solution to their problems was not found.
Through a secret pooling of the funds they had left they had come up with a plan to get the help of the ninjas of Konoha, albeit discreetly. With hope starting up again with the construction of the bridge to the mainland they would ask for a protection detail against the bandits and rogues that Gato employed as a private army of sorts. Rumours had sprung up amongst the gossip grape vine (what was left of it at least) that the man had hired ninjas as well but hopefully they believed the rumour to not hold for long.
How wrong they were.
Through the funds they pooled they had managed to get the bridge builder himself, Tazuna, to make a trip to Konoha and hire a ninja squad under the pretence of a C-ranked protection detail. Tazuna, though a bit unsure as 3 of the 4 man squad were just kids a bit older than his grandson, was happy enough and thought that it would now be smooth sailing to the freedom of their county.
Another pitiable mistake.
The squad in itself was actually quite strong and capable enough, comprised out of the legendary Copycat ninja, Hatake Kakashi, the daughter of the current Hokage, Namikaze Natsumi, Rookie of the Year, Sasuke Uchiha, and the budding medic of the graduating class, Haruno Sakura, they were a force to be reckoned with. After their numerous D-rank assignments Natsumi had protested to her father to up the difficulty, luckily they had come in at just the right time as a C-rank request just came in moments before. Reviewing their records and training progress from his ex-student Kakashi, he saw no reason to give them a little taste of the outside world. Though put off when they realized their client was a drunk, they were still quite thankful for the change of pace and set off immediately.
Now with all the assumptions of good fortune piling up one after the other, the universe saw fit to throw a wrench into all that.
Soon after leaving Konoha they were ambushed by a pair of Kiri missing-nins known as the demon brothers which they defeated soundly. With the mission now beyond parameters Kakashi sought to go back but gave in when Natsumi protested after hearing Tazuna's story. Deciding he could protect the team if worse comes to worst they moved on. After a bit of travel when they arrived in Wave Country they faced another opponent and soon the fight turned into a struggle for survival as Kakashi wound up getting captured in a fight against the Demon of the Mist, Zabuza Momochi, and leaving his 3 genins to fight on their own.
As luck would have it, a chain of events followed through and with a little ingenuity from Sasuke and Natsumi, a kage bunshin disguised as a windmill shuriken hidden under the shadow of a real windmill shuriken was enough to break their sensei out of his watery prison and allowing them to push Zabuza into a corner. But just as the final blow was about to come, Zabuza was assassinated and taken away by one of the Kiri hunter nins that had been tracking him down. Now safe for the time being the adrenaline of the fight began to disappear and the team began to feel more tired than ever. Kakashi soon collapsed due to the strain of using his own Sharingan eye too much and had to be carried during the last legs of the trip to Tazunas humble house.
Tired and quite hungry this is where the team finds themselves. In a situation far out of their league but well within their determination.
"Will Kakashi-sensei be okay Sakura" asked Natsumi worriedly, a young girl with blue eyes like her father but red hair like her mother's tied into two pony tails. She wore a stylized pinkish battle kimono with floral designs and the top opened to show her slight cleavage*. Stuffed in between the folds of her kimono and obi were two small white battle fans and dark blue shinobi sandals covered here feet and lastly tied around her forehead lay the blue cloth and marked steel piece that identified her as a Konoha shinobi.
"He'll be fine with some rest, it was just chakra exhaustion from using the Sharingan for a prolonged period" Sakura answered as she came out of the room set aside for their sensei and Sasuke. Her green eyes showing weariness as she brushed her pink locks off her sweating forehead. She wore a red cheongsam with a shortened skirt that ended just above her knees with bicycle shorts seen underneath the skirts two slits on the side. Over her outfit she wore a white medic's coat with in lined holsters for vials and other equipment**. Closing the door behind her she regarded her two teammates before her before reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out her own hitae-ate and fixing her messy hair. "I've done what I could to ease some of the lesser injuries like bruises and such but I don't have the skill yet to heal him up completely"
"So he'll be fine in a few days right?" Sasuke asked impassively his black eyes hiding his concern. He wore a high collared blue shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol on the back and white shorts and combat boots for the lower ensemble***. Being part of the surviving Uchiha faction alongside his older brother and mother, he had known Kakashi a bit since he was little due to him popping in a few times to help out after the failed coup of the extremist faction of his family.
"Yeah as long as he doesn't strain himself too much" Sakura replied before looking out and noticing the dark clouds and flashes of lightning in the distance. "Looks like a storm is coming" she observed "We should help out where we can around the house before the storm hits"
"Looks like it'll be bad tonight" Natsumi added while nodding in agreement to Sakura "Well luckily with Zabuza out of the picture, this should be the last major thing aside from Gato we should worry about"
"Don't say it like that" Sasuke chided her as they walked down the stairs to find Tsunami, the bridge builder's daughter. "That's just begging for something else to happen"
"But what's the worst that could happen?"
"I just said don't jinx us!" and all he got in response was a laugh as he and the others found Tsunami and got to work though the seed of worry had now been planted.
And the streak of lightning that just flashed outside did nothing to lower Sasuke's ever growing unease.
On another part of the island around the same time a nondescript pair of thugs were inspecting the forest area by the shoreline just as the lightning flashed above them causing one to jump in surprise.
"Oy are you sure you saw a boat this way man?" the first asked his companion
"I'm sure I saw one coming in" replied the other "Bet you it's one of those townsfolk trying to smuggle in goods for themselves" he continued as he continued to search the beach front.
"Look can't we just let this one pass? This storm is starting to pick up and I don't want to chance getting hit by lightning"
"Ha, you'd have to mighty unlucky for that to even happen. Now shut up and look around, if we find that boat we can get back like you want"
Following his companions it took a few minutes before something caught the first's eye.
"Hey is that it up ahead?" he called out to the second who was lagging a bit behind him peering into the forest to check for anyone "Hey! I think I found your mystery boat!"
"Hah! Told ya there was someone smuggling stuff" the second man called out as he ran up to the boat with him, both pulling out their swords strapped to their sides. "Now let's find the fucker who thinks he can... get... away?"
The two finally make it to the boat only to find a slightly water filled interior with wood that looked like it was barely holding together. A few broken pieces of long shafts were tossed around inside as well, for what they didn't know. All in all the boat they had stumbled across was nothing but trash and barnacles, something that looked like it should be on the sea floor rather than sailing the seas.
"Hey man are you sure you saw a boat actually sailing this way?" the first asked sceptically, now rather annoyed that this might have all just been a wild goose chase
"I'm sure!" the other replied "I swore I saw a boat this size with a guy rowing the darn thing! I even saw a green light from his lantern or whatever he was using!"
"Man, I'm heading back to the base before this storm starts pouring on us" the first said as he began to walk away.
"Hey come on! You gotta believe me here, there's a smuggler going right under our noses!"
"Yeah he's under our noses!" the first called out as he continued walking "and far under the ocean floor if he tried riding that thing!" was the last thing the second heard before his partner disappeared into the forest back on his way to the base.
The second man was trying to make sense of the situation and eventually was about to give up and head back as well a few minutes later when something caught his sight at the edge of his vision. Turning around immediately brandishing his sword he yelled out "I saw that! Where are you!"
Suddenly he noticed the glow from behind the trees as the figure run deeper into the forest. Seeing whoever it was that might be responsible run away from the scene he quickened his pace and ran after the figure. A few minutes into the chase and he believed he was getting closer to the person as he followed the sounds of footsteps ahead of him.
"Save yourself the trouble!" He called out "I'll catch you one way of the other!"
He then came to a stop as he realized the footsteps had stopped. Believing whoever it was had given up, he tightened the grip on his sword as he moved forward amongst the trees. A grin formed on his face as he thought about the praise he'd get for busting this little smuggling operation.
"That's right!" He spoke "Turn yourself in and maybe Gato won't hurt you too badly" looking around he tried to think where the person was now hiding before a light in a nearby bush caught his attention. Creeping up to it he readied his blade before grabbing a portion of the greenery and ripping it away yelling "aha!". His smile died when it revealed it was nothing more than a lantern with a strange glow.
"Damnit they must've gotten away by now" He grumbled kicking the lantern away before turning around to head back.
A chilling feeling suddenly gripped him as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice down his shirt. Looking around he realized that he had run deep into the forest area and each way he looked were nothing but trees, trees and more trees.
"Oh man" he moaned out "Where the hell am I?"
He began mumbling out incoherencies as he tried to pinpoint where exactly he had come from when he noticed that the lantern he had kicked nearby had disappeared. A sense of unease washed over him as he frantically looked around, the dark storm clouds now looming over head.
Suddenly something moved around the edge of his vision and like last time he spun around trying to get sight of whoever or whatever was around him. His hitherto aggressiveness from being the hunter now dying away only to be slowly replaced by the fear of being the hunted. His sword shaking in his hand, he swung around left and right, the sounds of the forest starting to get to him.
Then as if someone had turned the dial of the radio down, all the sounds around him just seemed to die away. The fear now gripped at his very being as he recalled the stories of terrifying demons he heard back at the base. Of monsters and other things that go bump in the night and suddenly his thoughts were filled with new grim possibilities. It was with these thoughts that a new sound hit his ears.
clink, clang
A new noise that sent more chills up his spine.
clink, clang
He dared not look behind him, his terror building up ever more as the sounds came closer.
clink, clang
They were close for him to identify now, the sounds that chains made when hitting each other.
clink
Closer and closer.
clang
Against his better judgement, his fear and irrationality taking over he spun around, swinging his sword at the sound, a scream almost coming out of his mouth, only to meet air. Behind him lay empty space and suddenly as if the volume had been raised again the dim sounds of the forest and the gray clouds rumbling above him returned. Releasing a breath he didn't know he had been holding, he let loose a weak laugh.
"Heheh" he wheezed out "must be just my imagination, I should seriously stop listening to those bastards"
And with a smile he turned around again.
And this time he screamed for real.
On the next chapter:
"Have you heard the stories coming out? Of a reaper in the forests?"
"The children! They sing! The last song you will ever hear!"
"Only a monster could work like this"
"Me, mad? Haha! Quite likely..."
AN: I hope you liked the beginning. It's been a long time since I've written again and honestly I've got no excuse for not updating other than depression and I won't go further than that. I've got a plan and a layout along with a rough outline of this story written out (I've learned my lesson from my past failures that you should not start a story and write it as it comes) and I also got a quota for each chapter which I will try to meet to make sure my story doesn't go on too long per chapter or is too short.
You'll also have noticed some discrepancies in the history of the series, with Minato living to fight another day. You will see more and explanations will come to light as the story progresses. This chapter is meant more to set the scene and introduce the characters and their personalities.
For those who will question Thresh's personality, just remember the soul used was NOT that of a sadistic jailer as the lore goes but someone else. (You'd be stupid not to realize who became Thresh).
Also don't expect me to answer all of your questions in ANs so consider this a one time thing, it's a good sign if a writer can keep his reader guessing, at least so I'm told.
So stay tuned for the next chapter which I will release hopefully this upcoming Friday or Saturday depending on whether or not the internet connection at Hamilo resorts doesn't crap out on me.
*The outfit has a basis on Yumi's alternate outfit in Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus
** A variation of Haruka's coat from the above mentioned series
***Sasuke already had a good design going for him early on, no sense changing it.
