Okay, just to make everything clear, this story was written awhile ago and I ended up taking off this site however I've decided to repost it and many others that I've discontinued or are awaiting a rewrite.
ALL of my active stories are posted on the profile for Fenris187 and none of the fics here will be updated.
Also, I own no IP at all right now and make no money off this free access fanfiction.
Sitting in the middle of a clearing was a young boy wearing a vibrant orange jumpsuit, while a pair of green goggles taking pride of place on his forehead. His bright blue eyes were not visible courtesy of them being closed due to the massive grin that threatened to split his face in two. On his cheeks where a series of whisker like birthmarks that gave him a slightly fox like complexion.
At his feet was a large scroll with the word 'forbidden' written in large kanji over the seal keeping it closed. The reason the boy had this scroll at his feet was simple, one of his teachers had told him that if he learned one technique from the object then he would be allowed to graduate, Of course he had questioned his teacher over why he would be allowed to graduate by stealing a forbidden scroll but the man had simply told him that it wasn't really forbidden and it was labelled as such solely for the purpose of the test, which was why the techniques contained within it were beyond the level of your average genin but no higher (or so he was told).
So here he was, his heart beating hard as he removed the seal and proceeded to open the document, before he suddenly found it falling… wait, it was his hands that were falling… but his hands were still held up by him so how could they be falling?
Soon fear consumed his mind as he saw a large, spiky yellow object fall in front of him, with the handle of a kunai sticking out of it and a red stain appearing slowly… he realised exactly what it was, it was HIS head.
Snapping his neck around he saw something that would forever be etched into his mind, a maniacal grin on the face of a young, silver haired man wearing a bandana while a pair of massive shuriken were strapped to his back… it was his sensei, the man that told him about the scroll and test, and had obviously just murdered him.
"Hah, I can't believe it was that easy, what an idiot to actually believe that there was a makeup exam like that," the treacherous teacher muttered to himself before rolling over the blonds' corpse and picking up the scroll, closing it and leaving the area.
It seemed like an eternity to Naruto as he stared at his own, lifeless face, his trademark grin still plastered on his face, proof that he had been killed quickly and painlessly. Simply staring left a painful void in his heart, his dreams of becoming Hokage and being accepted by the village had been taken from him by his own sensei…. By someone he had trusted explicitly.
Suddenly he was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a hand grip his shoulder, resulting in his head jerking to face behind him to look at whoever it was that had just touched him.
He wasn't expecting what he saw. He was expecting a monstrous visage, something that invoked fear simply by looking at it, instead what he got was a man with black hair in a similar style to him, wearing a simple set of a waist length robe and a pair of hakama, both in black, while a katana was strapped to his waist.
"I'd advise against looking for too long, it's accelerating the decay of your chain of fate," the strange man said calmly.
"W-who are you? What are you?" the young blond asked as he tried his best to not cry over his own death.
"(sigh) who I am isn't important, however what I am is," the strange man said seriously, "I'm a shinigami."
"Really? I was expecting something a little scarier," the whiskered child said with a mirthless laugh.
"Yeah, I get that a lot around here… but still, you don't have that long before you start to become a hollow if the rate your chain's decaying stays the same, don't worry too much right now, you can ask all the questions you want when you reach the afterlife," the 'shinigami' told him before drawing his sword and placing it's butt to the boy's forehead before he had time to respond.
All of a sudden, Naruto's body felt light, as he lost all control over it and all of a sudden his vision was obscured by a bright light.
XXX XXX XXX
Umino Iruka couldn't help but feel his blood run cold as he looked at the lifeless body of the student that reminded him of himself back when he was in the academy. However thinking as a ninja that had been sent out to search for him, he couldn't help but take note of the fact that the forbidden scroll wasn't in his possession.
So with a heavy heart, he lifted his former students corpse before making his way back to the village. Hopefully it would be possible to extract information from the blonds' brain post mortem and discovering why he had stolen the scroll in the first place… and also who had killed him.
XXX XXX XXX
Rubbing his eyes as the blinding light died down, Naruto was shocked to see himself on a perfectly normal street. He quickly ducked into a nearby alley in an attempt to get his bearings as he tried to understand how he felt.
He didn't know how to describe the feeling of his body, it just seemed so… relaxed compared to how it felt when he was alive. Back then he would always feel the need to move, if he didn't he would start to feel uncomfortable and that feeling would just keep growing until he couldn't stop himself from contracting his muscles, but now, that feeling was gone, he no longer needed to move like he used to.
Of course he would have preferred to still be alive but it was obvious that he had lost his only chance at living and all because he had trusted someone… his dreams, his ambitions, everything he had worked so hard for had been stolen from him by someone he had trusted.
It was then that he noticed that he had started to grit his teeth together and clench his fists, something he had never done unintentionally before. Calming himself down thinking about his favourite people, he managed to get himself back under control, until he realised something… he would never be capable of having ramen at the Ichiraku's again, he wouldn't be able to see the Hokage, or Sakura-chan's smile again, and with that fresh in his mind, his anger returned full force, as his mind focused on the person behind it all, Mizuki.
Back when he was alive, he thought he hated Sasuke, but now he realised, he simply disliked that bastard, now he knew what hate was like as his mind focused on his former sensei, as he wanted to kill, no he wanted to mutilate that bastard with his entire being.
But he realised that no matter how much he wanted to, he would never be capable of killing him now that he was dead, however it didn't stop him from gaining satisfaction from imagining him doing pretty much everything except rape the man.
After gaining some form of satisfaction from his imagination, the blond proceeded to try and find out as much as he could about his current situation and immediately noticed that he was no longer dressed in his usual jumpsuit, but a rather plain looking set of grey pants and jacket.
With a sigh, he decided to make his way back onto the street and start asking people about this new world.
XXX XXX XXX
Sitting in a large office within Konohagakure no Sato was Iruka facing the aged leader, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the sandaime Hokage. Both were waiting for the results of the mind dive that had been arranged on the blond corpse, wanting to know why the blond had done something so stupid as to steal the forbidden scroll.
They had been waiting for a couple of hours with bated breaths when there was finally a knock on the offices door.
"Come in," the aged leader ordered, resulting in the door being opened as a middle aged man with long blond hair tied into a ponytail entered the room.
"Hokage-sama, I've search through Naruto's last memories and it would appear as though he was set up by the academy instructor called Mizuki," the man stated calmly, shocking the youngest of the group with the information, while the aged leader simply stared with a fury unlike no other hidden in his eyes.
"Tenzo," came a single word from the Hokage's mouth before a man wearing a bear mask appeared out of the shadows, "take you team, track down and capture Mizuki, I want him back alive."
"Hai Hokage-sama," the bear masked ninja stated before vanishing to fulfil his latest mission.
"What are you planning on doing Hokage-sama?" the blond haired man asked calmly as he looked at the aged Kages cold rage.
"T&I will have a new toy to keep their skills sharp," came the simple reply from the old man as he simply stared into space, even forgetting to smoke his favourite pipe in his anger.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto was definitely not having a good time. He had simply been wandering around in an attempt to get a basic idea of his new environment and what happened? He got lost in a forest before being attacked by a group of giant monsters with holes in their chests and white masks with different designs, with some having streaks of red present on their surface.
He had heard off someone he had spoken to that these beasts were called 'hollows' and that they ate anything with any form of spiritual power… so here he was doing his best to dodge the surprisingly nimble demons while trying to kill them and stop them from chasing him.
Of course he would've stood a better chance if he could still channel chakra but for some reason he couldn't even feel the slightest hint of it in his now dead form and without chakra he simply wanted a blade of any sort since his strikes were causing more damage to his hands than the hollows, and as such he was being forced to not only dodge the beasts attacks but also make every strike count by hitting a vital point. He would also admit that it would've been a lot easier if he could trick them into striking each other but for some reason they were very careful to not catch each other, something that Naruto couldn't understand after what he had heard about them off the people he had spoken to.
Unfortunately he wasn't as fast as the beasts and they were adjusting to his academy trained movements and he suddenly found himself getting impacted by a large fist that proceeded to launch him into a nearby tree, knocking the wind out of him and preventing him from escaping the beasts as they surrounded his coughing form.
Looking up he realised just what was going to happen, once again he was going to die before he had a chance to do anything worthwhile, just like before… once again his mind drifted off towards the traitor that had murdered him for his own personal gain and his hate once again surfaced as he looked at the beasts before him, they were just like Mizuki, they were going to kill him for their own personal gain, they were going to end his life before he could even come up with a new reason to live.
"And are you just going to let them eat you?" came an unfamiliar voice, one that in his hate, he didn't even care where it came from.
"No… I'll kill them, I'll kill anyone and anything that tries to end me," Naruto ground out as he clenched his fists and proceeded to raise himself, looking at the hollows as they argued over which one would get to eat him.
"Then take a hold of my blade and call my name," the strange voice called out to him.
"Call out your name… then Hikari sae mo moe: Kagutsuchi(1)" suddenly the once arguing group of hollows felt a power unlike anything they had ever felt before and they couldn't help but feel fear at the power they were feeling.
Turning to face their quarry, the monsters couldn't help but stare helplessly as their once powerless prey stood there, his hand covered in a pitch black gauntlet with sharp claws.
"Turn to ash, trash," came the cold order from the spiky haired child as he swung his hand as a torrent of pitch black flames erupted from the guantlet, effortlessly igniting them and causing their screams of agony to ring in his ears for a few seconds before the pained cries stopped as the hollows were reduced to nothing.
"Hah, try eating me now assholes," and with that last sentence, the whiskered blond collapsed as exhaustion overtook him.
XXX XXX XXX
Mizuki couldn't believe it, he had come so close to escaping and then a group of ANBU had managed to catch him.
However that wasn't what he couldn't believe, he was truly terrified at the idea that he was actually given to T&I not to extract information from but to practice on… which meant that no matter how much he gave them they would still keep torturing him until he literally died.
Oh how he wished he had never thought of killing the blond.
XXX XXX XXX
For once the classroom once occupied by Naruto was silent. No one could believe that their sensei had MURDERED one of their classmates.
A young girl with bright pink hair sat in her seat quietly as she thought back on every interaction she had ever had with the blond and couldn't stop herself from thinking about how cruel she had been to him, turning him down without even giving him a single chance to even prove himself to her.
A young boy with raven coloured hair was even quieter than usual and considering that he was never exactly talkative, made it quite an achievement. His mind was currently focussed on the whiskered blond. Despite the one sided rivalry they possessed, Naruto was the one person in the class that could actually relate to him and now he was dead… just like that he no longer breathed… just like he could've turned out if his brother hadn't spared him for some unknown reason.
Another boy, this time with a puppy sitting on his head let a couple of tears escape his eyes as he remembered skipping class with the blond and how he would liven up the village with his constant pranking. Yet despite the blonds skills (or lack of) he would've happily been teamed up with him, because he knew that the blond would've covered his back if they ever got into trouble.
A young girl with long blond hair tied into a ponytail also took some time to remember the blond, how he would transform into a naked woman just to annoy Iruka-sensei and how the Chūnin would always fall for it, thinking about it brought a smile to her face as she thought about some of the blonds other pranks and how he would always make a situation more bearable by goofing around and making everyone laugh.
At the back of the classroom where two boys, one with dark hair tied into a pineapple, while the other was 'big boned' and wore underwear on his head. The only thing that showed that the duo cared at all was that the smaller boy was sitting up while the larger one just sat there unmoving. Considering that the smaller one never sat up AT ALL and the larger one never stopped eating displayed that they too were affected by the news.
Out of all the students there was one that simply gave a nod of respect before returning to an emotionless state, he had been raised to discard his emotions and rely on logic in everything he ever did.
Then there was the last notable member of the class, a young girl with lavender eyes and short, dark blue hair. Unlike the rest of the class she wasn't grieving, instead she was desperately trying to convince herself that it was all a cruel joke and that the blond would just barge into the classroom and call them all suckers. But as time passed and Iruka proceeded to call out the team placements, she couldn't help but break into tears.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto slowly opened his eyes as consciousness returned to him, desperately hoping that everything had just been a nightmare. Looking upwards he noticed a white ceiling, before turning his head to the side and noticing someone wearing a white haori with the kanji for four written within a rhombus in the centre of the back., leaning over someone on a bed next to him.
Quickly figuring out that what had happened wasn't a dream, Naruto couldn't help but let out a sad sigh that was picked up by the stranger who turned to face him.
Now that he was capable of seeing the person from the front he realised that it was a woman with long black hair braided in front of her. She wore a similar outfit to the stranger who had sent him to this strange world, though with an obi worn around her waist.
"Hello, I will admit that I wasn't expecting you to wake up this soon," the woman stated with a soft tone and a small smile.
The blond was about to respond enthusiastically when he remembered his death and suddenly his mind was filled with images of what this stranger might be attempting to do. With his mind focused, he decided to cut out any pleasantries and get straight to the point.
"Who are you, where am I and why am I here?" he asked in a tone that left no room for argument.
Suddenly he couldn't help but feel nervous as the woman smiled a sickly sweet smile before walking over to him and before he could react, she had nailed him in the gut.
"I would appreciate it if you would at least show some gratitude to someone that decided to nurse you back to health," the dark haired woman stated as the blond coughed violently in an attempt to get his breath back, "but to answer your questions, my name is Unohana Retsu, Taichō of the fourth division. You are currently in our barracks and you are here because someone found you laying unconscious where a group of hollows were detected," the newly dubbed Unohana stated calmly.
"Fourth division? As in the sewage workers?" the whiskered child asked as he repeated what someone had told him when he was information gathering.
"We are not sewage workers, we are medics but many people don't see us that way," the captain informed him against what he had been told previously.
"Oh, sorry. I only died a few hours ago so I still don't know much," Naruto told her before clutching his mouth as he remembered that he shouldn't let himself trust anyone anymore.
"Did you just say you only died a few hours ago?" Retsu asked with a hint of surprise in her voice, earning a nod off the young blond who decided that there was no point in lying when he had already slipped up, "that is incredible, to think that you have already activated your shinigami powers after just a few hours."
"Is that special?" Naruto asked, he had already learned that every shinigami was once a human courtesy of his information gathering session.
"Indeed it is, most people take several years just to realise they have the potential to use shinigami powers and then several more to unlock them," Unohana told him seriously, "may I ask how you died?"
"No, I don't want to talk about it," the blond said without hesitation.
"I see, well then I won't pry anymore but I will ask that you speak with the Sōtaichō before you decide to do anything else," Unohana said calmly before turning away from him.
"Well there is one problem with that, I don't know where this 'Sōtaichō' stays or how to get there," Naruto said with a hint of annoyance in his tone.
"Well then, just stay here while I get someone to take you to him," she told him before walking out of the room and leaving him with only the other sleeping occupants.
"Can you still hear me Uzumaki Naruto?" came the same voice from before. Now that he actually paid attention to it, he noticed that it possessed a deep and powerful tone while at the same time, it seemed impossible for him to fear it.
"Who are you?" the young blond asked quietly, looking around for the owner of the voice.
"You already know my name," the voice said calmly.
"But that doesn't answer who you are, a name means nothing without a face to put it to," the whiskered child stated seriously.
"Indeed, tell me, do you see a nodachi near you? The sheath should be red with black flames decorating it," the voice told him.
Deciding to follow the strange voice, he quickly noticed the weapon he was told about. The sheath was just as it had been described and was easily as long as he was tall, though only a couple of inches wide. The hilt was shaped like a flame and pitch black, while the grip possessed the same design as the sheath.
"Now, pick up the blade and lay it on your lap," letting out a sigh of frustration, Naruto proceeded to follow the voices instructions, pulling the blade free from its sheath, causing him to marvel at the pitch black blade before sharpening his senses in case it was a trap, "now the real problem starts, if you want to see me you will have to focus purely on the blade and let your heart touch it."
"Let my heart touch it?" Naruto asked in confusion at the way the voice said that.
"I am fully aware of how ridiculous that sounds however it will all make sense when you succeed in this task," the voice assured him, causing the blond to attempt the so called task.
Allowing his breath to slow and his body to relax, Naruto proceeded to concentrate on the large sword currently laying on his lap. He didn't know how long he sat there and try to touch the blade with his heart but he suddenly found himself getting pulled out of his meditation by a now familiar voice.
"May I ask how long you intend on sitting there like that?"
Suddenly opening his eyes, Naruto was about to shout when he realised that he was no longer in the fourth divisions barracks. Instead he found himself sitting in the middle of a traditional Japanese street leading towards a large shrine while black clouds cut off the sky and a heavy rain patted down on the many buildings even though he couldn't feel or hear it.
However it was the person in front of him that got his attention, a man easily twice his height, wearing black armour, with every edge cut in a flame like pattern, while a helmet with similar stylisation covered his head, with a partial mask covering everything except his eyes, which possessed a black sclera and red iris's. Strapped to his back was a large flame shaped blade that just like the rest of his armour, was pitch black.
"Hello, I am Kagutsuchi and I would like to take the time to welcome you to your mind," the armoured figure stated calmly, causing the young boy's eyes to widen in shock.
"Wait, how can you be here if this is my mind?" the blond asked loudly.
"It is because I am your Zanpakutō, or in other words, a sword made out of your fighting spirit and spiritual energy," the armoured figure stated seriously.
"You mean you're my fighting spirit?" Naruto couldn't help but ask in confusion.
"In simple terms, yes. But for now I would prefer to talk to you about Mizuki's betrayal," the spirit told him.
"What's to talk about? I trusted him and he betrayed me," the azure eyed child stated coldly as he thought back to the event.
"And how much did you trust him?"
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Naruto responded in confusion.
"Why did you trust him?" the Zanpakutō asked him seriously.
"Because he was my sensei," the young child said.
"And would you have trusted him if he wasn't your sensei?" came the spirits simple question, causing Naruto to think back to every interaction he had ever had with the silver haired Chūnin.
"No, every time I talked to him I always felt he wasn't what he made himself out to be but he was my sensei so I never gave it any thought," the spiky haired child admitted to his blade.
"Exactly, your gut told you that he couldn't be trusted but you ignored it because of his position, that is why I will tell you this, do not close your heart off from others but never ignore your gut because you have a good one and it will never fail you," Kagutsuchi told him, placing a surprisingly warm hand to his shoulder in the process, "now that is all we need to talk about right now, it would be best if you return to a conscious state before Unohana-san returns."
"Hai partner," Naruto said before proceeding to focus on his body and leave his mindscape.
Once the blond had left his mindscape, Kagutsuchi looked towards the sky and the newly revealed portions of sky, though there was still no sun visible.
"I hope someone can clear this sky and make the sun shine," the armoured figure muttered to itself before heading towards the large shrine.
XXX XXX XXX
Slowly opening his eyes, Naruto once again lay his eyes on his sword, which he immediately sheathed before strapping it to his waist.
Once his blade was firmly secured to him, he proceeded to sit on the bed he had woken up in and wait for the Taichō to return.
"I'm sorry for taking so long but most of the division is out completing their out of wartime duties so it took awhile to find someone," the dark haired woman told him with a kind smile as she walked through the main entrance to the room.
"Actually, I'm glad you took so long, it gave me time to get my head straight," Naruto told her with a small smile, "and I'm sorry about before, I hope it isn't too late to say thank you for helping me."
"Don't worry about it, from the way you acted I would guess that you had a bad death and were still trying to cope with it," Unohana said kindly, "now I think I should introduce you to my fukutaichō."
Immediately a young man with shoulder length black hair and black eyes walked through the same door the Taichō. Once again the new person was wearing what Naruto had come to realise was the standard uniform for shinigami.
"Hello, my name is Yamada Seinosuke and I will escort you to the Sōtaichō ," the young man suddenly said with a small bow.
"Uzumaki Naruto," the young blond stated calmly as he returned the bow.
"Well then Uzumaki-san, if you would please follow me," Seinosuke said before turning around and leaving the room, Naruto follow right behind him.
The journey was traversed in silence as the older of the two decided to not spare the child a second glance, not that it bothered him, otherwise he would've attempted to start a conversation with the fukutaichō.
"We're here," the fourth division member stated as they stopped outside a large door, "make sure to show the Sōtaichō proper respect."
Without even giving the blond the chance to ask him what he meant by that, the second seat knocked on the door and opened it, revealing a large office with a large desk at the end, and behind that desk was an old man.
The man was bald, though a very long, plaited white beard and eyebrows that were literally long enough to frame his face. Just above his right eye were a pair of scars that crossed each other and covered most of his forehead. He was wearing roughly the same clothing as Unohana though his haori seemed to just rest on his shoulders instead of being worn.
"Yamamoto Sōtaichō, I was ordered to bring this child to you by Unohana-Taichō," Seinosuke stated to the old man.
"I see, you are dismissed," Yamamoto stated with an air of authority that the younger man immediately obeyed, leaving the room and closing the door, "so you are the child that recently activated his shinigami powers."
"That would appear to be the case," the whiskered child stated as he attempted to look in the older man's eyes, only to fail due to the fact that they were nothing more than tiny slits.
"Show me your blade," was the next thing to come from the old mans mouth, his tone commanding such authority that Naruto couldn't have disobeyed him if he wanted to.
And so placing his right hand on the grip, he pulled the pitch black sword out of it's sheath… well he would've if he knew how to. It was something he had never thought of about it before, but even with his arm fully extended the blade still had about a fifth of itself contained within the red and black sheath.
"I see you don't have any experience drawing your blade, then again a nodachi isn't the easiest of swords to unsheathe," the bearded man told him calmly. "when you attach you Zanpakutō to your waist you should ensure it is easy to move the sheath and when you draw the blade you should use your right hand to pull the sword out of the sheath while using your left to pull the sheath off the blade."
Quietly listening to the older man's instructions, Naruto loosened the strap on his sheath before pulling the rest of it off his blade, revealing the tip of the black blade to the Sōtaichō.
"Now tell me, would you be interested in attending a school for training shinigami?"
"HELL NO! I hate schools, all they do is make you listen to boring lectures and waste your time doing simple exercises!" the whiskered blond shouted angrily before crossing his arms and pouting.
"Is that so? Well I will admit that the shinigami academy does have lectures, however they never take more than one hour a day, with the rest of the day either learning new skills or practicing old ones," the scarred man stated calmly causing the blond to look at him out of the corner of his eyes.
"Are you being serious?" Naruto asked suspiciously, earning a simple nod confirmation from the Sōtaichō.
"Fine then, I'll give it a shot but if it isn't like you say I'll quit," the azure eyed child stated.
"Well then I guess I'll give you an escort to take you to your new home," Yamamoto told him earning wide eyes off the blond.
XXX XXX XXX
Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but let out a sigh as he looked over everyone that had taken the time out of their day to watch the now deceased academy student get buried. There were only a few people that decided to show up, Iruka being one of them. The only others of notice were a middle aged man who owned a small ramen stand, and his daughter who helped him as both a cook and waitress. There were a few others, mostly ninja that had found the blond a good distraction with his constant pranks and incredible skill at escaping his pursuers, and some of his classmates.
The speech was short. Then again there wasn't much that could be said about the child considering his circumstances and lack of friends, not that it was his fault he didn't have any friends.
The mood was solemn as the coffin was lowered into the six foot deep hole, though everyone couldn't help but think that the beautiful weather made it seem almost as though the gods themselves were celebrating the child's death.
"I hope you can rest in peace Naruto-kun," Sarutobi muttered as the ceremony was finished.
(1) Burn even light: Kagutsuchi
