Chapter 1: Contact of Souls

There was once a world where only spirits existed within it. The world was said to be unparalleled and endless. The existing spirits fought each other over territory in this vast plane. Countless amount of time flowed significantly since the birth of the fighting. Multitudes of entities lost their way from this world and ended up existing in an empty void. The void itself was also unparalleled and endless.

The spirits that were still existent to their world later acknowledged this void. Through theory, the void was floating alongside their world in a parallel manner. Both spaces were limitless and non-existent to each other.

Their world was divided thoroughly by the amount of space that each spirit claimed and protected. This void was however unclaimed and free. At least that was what most of the spirits thought.

They knew that the spirits that existed within that void were of the ones that they themselves have already defeated. The spirits decided to find a way to purge this void and take over the infinite realms. Of course, a few of the spirits felt no need in partaking of this separate world. In the end, only nine entities planned on seizing the void. Each failed in entering the void.

None of them were strong enough to break into the other world. They observed each other's strategy of going about this ordeal. The innumerable amount of times they failed left them in acrimony. Singly, they knew that they were too weak to surpass the barrier that secluded both worlds. In disdain, the nine spirits acquiescently banded together in order to traverse into the unknown void.

They successfully disappeared into the void through the expanse of losing nearly all their energy. They feared that they have become pitifully weak enough for the felled spirits of the void to overcome them. So in full regret, the nine foreign spirits decided to stay as one until they were able to recover back to their full energy.

It was in no short time that one of the void's spirits had discovered their existence. The nine spirits viewed the void's spirit as a being with flesh. The spirit of this person was simply held within the flesh. They sensed immense power contained within this person. He was a dangerous person to them.

The person had a strange, swirled symbol within both his eyes. They saw him smile as the man charged them. Over countless days, the nine spirits fought this man as one. They were at a standstill. Both sides were evenly matched. The nine spirits gleaned the man's abilities over their exchanged blows. This man was able to use all types of chakras; these include fire, water, lightning, ying, yang, ying-yang, light, earth, wind, shadow and light.

Aside from all these capabilities, he was also able to read their moves before they acted and used their actions against them. The fighting was tiring both sides. The nine spirits sensed that the man was running low on chakra energy. They saw this as their chance to finish him off. They charged him at full speed. The man's posture was that of a lazy slump. It was evident that he was losing energy with each passing second.

As they approached him, they saw a smirk spread across his face as a large expanse of energy surged from within his body. The nine spirits quickly realized their mistake and stuttered in the middle of their attack. They saw the man's energy consume the space around him. The nine spirits could not tell what type of energy he was emitting. To them, it was unclassified and unheard of. They completely stopped their attack towards him and pitifully turned away to retreat.

The man saw this and took matters into his own hands. He focused energy into his right hand for the next attack. A large discharge of energy spewed out from the man's right hand in the form of piercing blades. The blades homed in on the nine spirits and separated them from each other. The man's body began to evaporate all of a sudden.

The nine spirits were unsure of what had happened. They were now their own being once again. They sensed each other's weakened strength and took their separate paths. Their lethal enemy had disappeared before them under a mysterious circumstance. They didn't care about that though. All they cared for was regaining their former power. That is why they left each other alone for the time being. In the near future, they would eventually finish each other off until only one is left.

Aside from all this, there was still the thought of that one man that remained inside their heads. Who in the world was he? What happened to him? If he was just one of the spirits that existed in the void, then how strong were those surrounding him? There could be so many others that were in his league existing within this world.

The nine spirits remembered that the man's soul was encased within a slab of flesh and bones. Were those their containers? If so, then there was probably a way for the spirits to blend in with the man. That would be their best option for now. So they each took it upon themselves to locate the body of a human being.

Seven out of the nine spirits eventually found a body to take control of. As simple as it sounded, the seven contained within a human realized that it was nearly impossible for them to throw out the other soul within that body. Instead, they found themselves sealed within the bodies of these humans. The last two remaining spirits were aware of this and went into hiding from the humans.

The humans were smarter than the spirits had deemed. They were able to track down the spirits adroitly. The eighth spirit was sealed within a body in no time. The ninth spirit became frustrated at its weakness. It became filled with its hatred towards the humans as the fear within it converted into fulminating energy. It let loose a large expanse of its spontaneous, eternal energy into the area surrounding it.

It let out a deafening battle cry that shook the lands within its eyesight. It was letting its existence be known. It was going to show the citizens of the void who was stronger. It was going to harass the humans just as they had harassed it. It was going to shove its pain back into the whole world.

Every step it took shook the ground beneath it. Every breath it took stole away all the air around it. Energy was channeling in and out from its body at an unstable rate. Chaos reigned around the ninth spirit as it walked this world.

It wreaked havoc in its path as the lands it passed crumbled into ruins. It was now in a leafy forest that was untouched of any tainted colors. A village was located across the horizon just a few miles away from the spirit. A few humans appeared from the shadows of the trees and stood atop the canopies.

The sky began to darken as the spirit's energy intensified from within and around it. Its lunatic energy danced across the forest in an ominous pattern. The sparks of energy it released drained the forest of its health as the creature's floating energy flew around the forest.

The humans threw all manners of jutsu toward the creature. As their jutsu neared the spirit, they saw that their attacks were turned into chakra which became a part of the spirit.

"What the hell?" someone said. "It can't be damaged with our jutsu!" He attacked the creature with another one of his jutsu. "Dammit, what do we do?"

"Maybe we could try to put physical damage on it," another shinobi offered.

"Fools," a black-op said. "Don't you see the chakra masquerading around it? On step into that, and you're goners." The other two frowned as they observed the spiral forms of chakra splurging around the spirit.

"Then what the hell do we do?" the first shinobi asked. "Many of our fighters had already fallen victim to death just from confronting this thing." The black-op took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders.

"The only thing we can do is stall it in time for the third and fourth Hokage to come," he said. "The fourth Hokage knows of a way to defeat it."

"Really?" the two asked in unison.

"Yeah," the black-op said as he flashed a handful of shuriken from his outfit. He leapt into the air and shouted, "Now let's finish our duties until he arrives." The other two nodded as they maneuvered away from the massive waves of energy that reverberated around the spirit. Another wave of humans appeared from the branches of the trees as they provided aid for these surviving ninjas.

"Reinforcements have arrived," a new coming shinobi shouted to the other three.

"That's great!" the black-op said. "Now help us slow this thing down." He hurled another handful of shuriken at the creature. The monster slowly trudged across the forest undamaged. Its chakra was protecting it from all attacks. Its pace never slackened or picked up. As it saw the number of humans appearing increase, it let out piercing howl that froze each shinobi in their step.

"Goddamn, what's with this thing," a kunoichi said. She shot a fireball at the creature. "What the hell is it anyway?"

"That is the nine-tailed fox. A demon said to have come from another world," the third Hokage said.

"Sarutobi-dono," a few of the shinobi said in an odd order.

"The nine-tailed demon?" a shinobi asked. "I've never even heard of it."

"Where did you hear of it, sir?" the surviving black-ops asked. "I've heard rumors of it when I was on missions to other villages, but I thought that they were only rumors. A beast said to have spawned from another dimension. Its eyes are filled with complete and total hatred towards life. The nine tails signify its strength. They were just rumors…"

"A living rumor, I'm afraid," Sarutobi said. "I've heard about it from the fourth."

"How do we stop it, Lord?" a shinobi asked.

"I apologize, but even I don't know," Sarutobi said. "We will have to hold it off until the fourth hokage arrives." He executed a summoning jutsu that brought forth a lizard-like creature. He commanded it to assault the nine-tailed beast at a safe distance. The creature did as it was told and breathed fire at the approaching beast.

Sarutobi extracted some shuriken and threw them high into the air. They returned at an extremely high rate and crashed into the nine-tailed beast. The collision created a strong shockwave that blew away from the impact area. When the current of air stopped, everyone returned their gazes back to where the monstrous spirit was supposed to be. Smoke and clouds covered the area, making it tough to see.

Another quake sounded and trembled the whole forest. Everyone nearly lost their footing. After the quake, the beast slowly emerged from the smoke and continued its unending stroll toward the humans' village unharmed. Everyone began to feel hopeless as their attempts to stutter the beast failed.

"Kuh," the surviving black-op gasped. "Ah, I nearly killed myself just from overusing my chakra…"

"Everyone!" a familiar voice said. This caught all the shinobis' attention. "Stand back…"

"Minato," Sarutobi said. "You made it just in time." Sarutobi disappeared and reappeared next to Minato with a hint of smoke. Nearly all the other shinobi did likewise. Minato looked at everyone. His gold tinged blonde hair blew from the slight breeze. His long hair was tied in a low ponytail. He had a solemn, yet calm gaze as his eyes shifted over those around him.

"You all did great!" he said enthusiastically. "But now it is my turn to fight and end this beast's horror." The shinobi went into a group cheer when the heard this. The chanted his name in a way that would bring him strength and bravery.

"MINATO, MINATO, MINATO, MINATO!" the group sang in praise. The fourth hokage raised his hands to quiet them. The beast was a distance away from reaching them. His face grew serious as he focused his gaze upon the walking monster. It was either cocky with the way it was walking or just plain slow. He felt that the beast was secretly reserving its strength and that its true self wasn't quite active yet.

He didn't want to involve anyone in this fight. It was going to be a harsh fight with a celestial being that nobody really knows anything about. It surely did not come from the spirit world. As some people have said from other villages, nine horridly massive creatures purged their way into this world to overrun it. The beasts were not that all apparent when they first arrived to this world. In fact, some say that they appeared here at a severely weakened state.

Many others say that there was another beast apart from the nine beasts. This other spirit was far much stronger than the nine combined. Though this creature suddenly vanished for some odd reason and these nine other spirits came into the story. In whatever case, Minato had heard from some of the other nations that there was in fact a way to contain, not absolutely destroy, these foreign creatures. If he remembered correctly, eight had already been sealed.

He had mastered the jutsu to seal the spirit from a summoning guru from a distant village. All he had to do now is execute the jutsu correctly.

"It has come for the time for me to put down this beast," Minato said.

"We'll cover for you, rising Lord," a few of the shinobi said. Minato smiled as he saw everyone's willingness to help him with this ordeal.

"I thank you, my friends," he said. "But I must do this alone." The group of ninjas began to oppose his decision.

"We won't just let our leader fight this monster alone," someone said.

"Yeah," a kunoichi said. "It is our duty to keep the Hokage safe in such dire times." Another cheer sounded as they drew their weapons and ran off in separate directions.

"We will divert the beast," the surviving black-op said. "Everyone, get the beast open for the lord fourth's attack!"

"Minato," Sarutobi said. "How do we go about defeating this creature?" Minato smiled.

"We…don't," Minato replied. A shadow clone of himself appeared and touched the third on the arm. Sarutobi was caught off guard. When the shadow clone came into contact with him, he was unable to move. A feeling of dense gravity pulled down on his limbs as he tried to break free of the jutsu.

"Guh, Minato. You-," Sarutobi began, but the shadow clone disappeared. He saw Minato's face blossom with gratitude as Minato shifted.

"I thank you for everything, Lord-sama," Minato exclaimed with a perfect ninety degree bow. His head was facing directly at the ground. He raised his head so that Sarutobi could see his face again. "And I'm sorry for troubling you with myself and this," Minato finished with a turn.

"Hold on, Minato," Sarutobi whispered. "What are you saying? And what do you mean by 'this'?" Minato didn't answer. He took off into the canopies of the forest and headed toward the nine-tailed demon. "What are you planning to do, Minato?" the third yelled out.

"Lord-san!" Sarutobi heard another shinobi, not far from him, shout. "Don't take it on by yourself!" The third hokage heard many of the other voices of the remaining shinobi.

Did Minato do the same thing to them?Sarutobi thought. He realized that Minato had already stopped anyone from moving any closer to the beast. There was nothing for them to do but watch as their rising leader takes on this formidable opponent. Sarutobi felt an aching feeling lurch within his heart as he thought about this. There was no way he would let one of his fellow shinobi fight such a creature all alone.

He tried to break away from his successor's jutsu. To no avail, he found himself still unable to move. He could not concentrate enough to break away from the jutsu. The situation had him too distracted to even think. He was not even sure of what was happening. It all felt like a dream. He only wished it was one. Yet, he could not ignore the severity of the situation.

A friend of his was fighting an invincible beast. His friend disabled his allies from helping him with the fight. That is why he is alone, just like how he was back then…