Prince of Souls Chapter 1: The immortals Meet, a naruto fanfic

A.N. This is my first story. Reviews will be appreciated and welcomed.

The Naruto in this story looks obviously overpowered when compared with an average nin, but what is seen is simply the potential, not ability. Therefore, Naruto has the potential to overpower entire nations, but he is not quite there yet. Be warned, Naruto will have access to many esoteric abilities from his family, which will be the backbone of his fighting style. This means that conventional Jutsu will be rarely, if ever, used by the main character.

Chapter 1 : The Immortals Meet

Fire.

This was all he could see, spreading throughout his beloved village in great gouts of flame, heat and smoke. At any other time, he would have been the first to rush to the scene, like he saw countless chunin doing before him. But today, he was numb.

He was the Yondaime Hokage, Konoha's Yellow Flash, Veteran of the Third Great Shinobi War, and Head of the defunct Namikaze Clan. He was the husband of the Bloody Habanero, the Red Reaper, the Princess of Whirlpool, the Head of the defunct Uzumaki Clan, and the second Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Kushina. He was the father of Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, Heir of the Uzumaki and Namikaze Clans, a small beautiful baby of 3 hours. And in less than an hour he was going to die by his own hand.

It was funny in a way. He had survived the fire that had claimed his parents when he was only 5 years old. He had lived through the perils of the Third War, while shinobi fell like flies around him. He had lived unscathed while his teams fell apart around him. Akimichi Akihiro, dead protecting their retreat from pursuing kusa nin from the Shitai bridge when they were chunin. Uchiha Mikoto, delegated to housewife by that despicable excuse of a man, Fugaku. Uchiha Obito, dead, crushed under boulders in the first mission that he didn't oversee. Nohara Rin, killed by her own teammate in a mercy killing after being forcibly made a jinchuuriki time bomb. Hatake Kakashi, his personal apprentice, who was driven suicidal at the loss of his teammates, joining the ANBU hoping for an honourable death.

He had weathered all these tragedies, as an aspiring Hokage, then as a Hokage, should. And after all that, he was going to die via committing suicide by Death God, as dictated by a megalomaniac and his overgrown pet fox. If it wasn't so sad, he would laugh.

He had just come back from disabling the summoning contract of the fox, and recovering his wife from the kidnapper. Now all that remained was to seal the demon into his infant son, ensuring his own death in the process.

…

The Shinigami, summoned to seal a demon in his son let out an unholy screech, and dispersed, sealing complete. As he stood stapled to his wife's dying body by a rapidly fading chakra claw, looking over her shoulder at his child that was burdened before his time, Minato Namikaze wondered where he had gone wrong. He had said his goodbyes, and watched his wife close her beautiful violet eyes for the last time. Therefore as he felt the last of his energy drain into the primordial entity he had summoned, he wondered. What would his son be like? Would he be a shinobi? Would he ever access the power of the beast within him?

Therefore he looked at his baby boy, looking at him with those eyes that looked so like his, and whispered, " Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, my son, the Child of Prophecy; I leave the world in your care. I won't say sorry for the burden I have placed on you, but remember this. I lived for my convictions, and I died for them. As my son this is the legacy I leave for you; no matter what you do, follow your convictions, not your raw emotion. You are the nexus of this world, and whether you guide the world or cleanse it; know that your parents will always love you."

Saying this, one of the strongest men in the world, looked at the baby in the platform, and his wife in his arms. He then looked at the night sky illuminated with the fires from Konoha, smiled, and letting his consciousness fade, fell back and crumpled to the ground, dead. At the same time, a group of ANBU lead by the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived at the scene to see their leader fall back dragging his wife with him, with blood pouring out of their entangled bodies. The grisly tableau was completed by the crying baby, lying on an ornate platform with an elaborate design around his navel.

With the Hokage dead, and the new arrivals rushing to him, no one noticed as the baby's eyes transformed from their bright blue to red with black accents, to a metallic purple, to red with slit pupils, and finally to a pure deep black before going back to the original blue.

…

Naruto Uzumaki, was small, as 4 year olds are wont to be, unnaturally pale, with sunny blond hair and cerulean blue eyes. He was quiet, antisocial, and not prone to showing emotions. Therefore he was definitely not looking as terrified as felt as he fled up the 21st Street at 2 AM, followed by a mob of villagers.

This was not the first time that the ever inquisitive boy had escaped the orphanage to go exploring the streets of Konoha, but it was the first time that the villagers had caught sight of him in the attempt. He, looking at the faces of the mob and their weapons, was quickly coming to the conclusion that it was not in his best interests to get caught by the villagers that were chasing him through the streets. However, just as he was coming to this conclusion, he suddenly found himself in a cul-de-sac in the 12th District, an area on the outskirts of Konoha, where the ANBU did not patrol. Rather, this was the responsibility of the Uchiha Police Force, which he knew from experience would rather see him dead than alive.

He was knocked out of his contemplation when a large, meaty fist hit his head with such force that he spun around collapsed against one of the numerous 7 foot earthen walls that were found in this district of Konoha.

"That'll teach the demon to run from us!" shouted a burly man who was responsible for the punch, before he was hit on the head by the man next to him.

"Are you mad Osamu? You're going to bring the police here!"

Osamu simply smirked. "You worry too much, Hisashi!"

"I met Ryuu on the way here, you know my ex-teammate?"

The first man, Hisashi, looked confused. "The Uchiha? Yeah, so what?"

"He works in the police now. The Uchiha are all going to be subduing a riot in the 1st District", said Osamu, smirking at the form of the boy who was trying to crawl onto his feet. His foot lashed out, and with a snap of broken bone, the boy fell again.

Even over the agony of what felt like a couple of ribs breaking, Naruto kept hearing the conversation over and over in his mind. He felt numb. He knew that the Uchiha hated him, they had arrested him for vagrancy enough. But this had gone beyond harassment. They were basically throwing him to the wolves. No, not even he could forgive that.

Now, until today, Naruto had been, while aloof, not a person to bear a grudge. If he did, he would be vowing the deaths of the entire village in short order. But, looking as the mob closed on him with their weapons, the boy curled up into a ball on the ground held onto one thought. 'If I survive this, the Uchiha are going to pay!'

…

He was wet. That was the first thought of Uzumaki Naruto as he woke up. He opened his eyes and noticed that he was in a sewer of some kind. The second was that if he could think, he must be alive.

"Great, not only did they try to kill me, they had to dump me in a freaking SEWER!"

As the yell reverberated on the stone cave-like walls of the sewer, Naruto finally decided to look around. Then promptly let out a scream, which joined his earlier yell in echoing around the sewer.

The reason for his yell was quite simple. A scant few feet in front of him, lying on its belly and floating in the water, was his body. It was mangled, with new wounds appearing as if invisible knives were cutting into it. The older wounds were continuously closing with flashes of reddish, bubbling chakra. It was distinctly creepy, like watching a torture session with invisible torturers. Slowly, Naruto knelt beside his clone that looked near death, and tried to wake him up.

"Hey you! Wake u… AHHHHHH!"

Suddenly the whole world was spinning, and then he was in pain. He opened one blood crusted eye just to see the outline of an enormous man plunging a kunai straight at it. He let out a gurgle, and then the pain made itself felt. He felt his back arching; a scream tore itself from his throat, and awareness left him once more.

…

Drip.

This time, it was the sound of continuously dripping water that woke Naruto from his unconsciousness. As he woke up, Naruto could not help the sense of déjà vu that gripped him. Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself back in the odd sewer. There was even his body in the water, but now it was on its back, with the strange red chakra stitching together the left eye and most of his face.

'Hmm', he pondered, 'that wound looks just like the one….'

"Holy shit!"

In a sudden panic, Naruto leapt backwards, tripping and landing in the tepid water in the process, as he stared in wide eyed shock at the figure in the water. Then, getting over his shock and disorientation, he started examining the body with detached interest.

'I remember getting cut across the thigh in the same spot as that gash, and the stab wound in the face is in the same spot that the man stabbed me in', noticed Naruto. "How odd."

'I don't have any of the wounds here, but I clearly got them', he pondered. 'The only way this body has the wounds and I don't is that it merely shows the state of my body, in which case they won't show on my current body as this is just how I think of myself. That means that this body is also a mere mental construct, so this place would be…'

"So this is my mindscape, huh?"

"Yes, and it took you long enough to come here, Godling"

The voice was calm yet turbulent, melodic and yet monotonous, rough yet soft; it sent shivers down his spine and reverberated in the sewer, and the sheer paradox of its overtones made his body freeze in the ingrained instinct to escape the predator's notice. Still, steeling himself he slowly turned to the source of the unexpected voice.

There, framing what looked like an entrance to a cave was an unnatural figure. Huge, it blocked the whole entrance with its body, was more than 50 stories tall. The figure was vulpine, with 9 enormous appendages flaring out behind it, with their pointed tips facing him. In the dark, the figure seemed to have an inner, blood red glow. It looked terrifying.

Then Naruto looked down, at his body that was lying on the ground behind him. The red chakra that had baffled him earlier seemed to originate from this massive creature, bleeding off into a thread like structure that formed from one 4 foot tall claw leading to the navel of the prone body.

"Excuse me, but who are you and what are you doing here?"

"He, He… You are truly amusing, Godling!", boomed the unnatural voice "Know not you the tale of the demon sealed in your gut?"

"D-Demon? Wait… You're sealed in me!"

"Of course, little Godling, why else would I keep you alive when any mortal would have been dead 10 times over?"

"How does that work anyway? I mean you're a lot bigger than me, or are you smaller on the outside? Did they chop you into small pieces and feed you to me? Did they use a ninjutsu to shrink you? Did they-"

A sweatdrop began to form on the giant figure's head. "Enough !"

"-Did they flatten you with a roller and paste you on my tummy? Did they curl you into a ball and slip you in my ramen? Cause if anybody touched my ramen…"

"I did not touch your ramen!" The figure roared, continuing in an undertone "Disgusting salty slop that it is"

"Oh. As long as you didn't touch the ramen. And don't insult the ramen gods!"

"There are no ramen gods… "The demon interjected.

"Silence, infidel! The ramen gods will hear you!" Naruto took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from starting a crusade to convert this poor heretic to the faith of the compassionate, all powerful ramen. All Hail Ramen!

"Well then, if we are going to be roommates, we should introduce ourselves, shouldn't we?"

The sweatdrop continued to grow as Naruto continued to randomly change subjects.

"… And Miso ramen is the best for the morning, oh and I'm Uzumaki Naruto, super genius, ramen connoisseur, and master ninja! What's your name?"

'Well he's not lacking energy, that's for sure', thought the fox wryly, before he caught the question. 'Hmm. Should I go all angry demon lord… nah. What to do, what to do… I know, I'll do that cool Kabuki dance act like that white haired guy did!'

Visibly perking up, it began to skip a little on its paws, causing tremors to travel across the sewer.

Then it opened its wide snout, showing of huge, pearly canines, before it burst into a song and dance routine.

"I'm the Scourge of the Mountains,

The Walking Disaster,

If ever I'm around,

The world needs a plaster,

I'm the Red Fang of Fury,

The undoubted best,

My food calls me Kyuubi,

But I'm Kurama to the rest!"

Finishing off the last verse, the newly named Kurama struck a pose, with one paw pointing at itself and its huge head pointing upwards.

Naruto sweatdropped.

"Excuse me, Kurama-san, are you sure you're okay?"

Naruto could not be sure because of the dim lighting, but to him, it looked like the giant fox was sulking.

"Nobody said that when that toad freak did it." *humph*

He shook his head to rid himself of stray thoughts. "I thought you were dead. The Yondaime killed you!" suddenly looking at the fox out of the corner of the eye, his eyes widened and he scrambled back in a hurry. "A-are you a g-g-ghost?"

Kurama's eye twitched. 'He faces me without fear but he's afraid of ghosts? "

Then Kurama caught onto his own last thought. "The Prince of Souls is afraid of ghosts! Oh this is going to be fun'

"Godling, I am immortal. Beings like me cannot be killed." The fox looked at the boy along its long snout, condescendingly. "Surely you knew that?"

"I am primordial, and a fragmental deity by way of the Juubi, just like you are a fragmental deity by way of the Shinigami. What you have to understand, Godling, is that we are conceptual beings, you and I. I was there in a form when the world started, and I shall be there when the world ends!"

"Wow", Naruto exhaled, enthralled with the tale, when he processed the rest of the sentence. "Wait, WHAT? What do you mean, you and me? What about the Shinigami? And why do you keep calling me Godling?"

"Caught onto that, did you? Well you are a fellow deity, and an extremely young one, Oh great Prince of Souls", exclaimed the fox, grinning toothily all the while. "It would be improper otherwise, wouldn't it?"

"What do you mean…? I mean… I'm not… You're joking, aren't you?"

"I see you are ignorant of the great heritage you are now a part of. Hmm. What to do, indeed?"

"Ne Kurama, why did you call me Prince of Souls?

"Well, Godling, on the day that I was sealed in you by the Shinigami, something went wrong with the process. You apparently did not like Him sealing you in me, so in your own mindscape, where any being is the ultimate, you overpowered Him. When He escaped, He left about half of His power inside you, sealed alongside me in the Shiki Fujin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)."

"I see that I shall have to teach you. But before that, you must unlock your powers. And they are vast indeed." The fox seemed ready to continue, but it was interrupted by an excitable nearly 4 year old.

"Powers? I knew I was awesome! Can I shoot death rays from my eyes? Can I fly? Can I make everyone do as I say? Can I?"

"Calm down, little Godling. To understand what your powers are, we should go back to their origins."

"You have many powers, Godling. You are an amalgamation of human powers, demonic powers and divine ones."

"The first of your powers are the doujutsu, which are powers that they all have an identifying mark in the eyes. Now remember, this doesn't mean that the powers are based in the eye, just that they are the focal point of the power."

"Ne, ne, is that swirly eye that those bastard Uchiha have…"

"Yes, that is one doujutsu",Kurama sighed, and mumbled under its breath "Ungrateful whelps they are. Imprisoned by my own gift… Nibi will never let me hear the end of it…"

"But that is for later. Come now, we must stop this now", Kurama commanded, snapping out of his stupor to gesture at the body at the boy's feet. It was now sporting blunt tears across the torso, and the guts were starting to spill out. "Sooner or later they're going to chop off pieces of your body, and regenerating body parts when your body is already flushed with my chakra is not a good thing."

"Stand back, I'll take care of this for now." Kurama stated, holding one paw over the body and lightly touching the body with its pad. Then he seemed to slump, his eyes clouded.

"Man, I wish I could see what's going on", muttered Naruto, staring at the currently comatose fox with wonder. Therefore he let out a surprised yelp when a mirror appeared in midair near him and Kurama's voice echoed from the walls.

"Use That!"

Naruto stared at the mirror with wonder; it seemed to show the world with his eyes.

…

Kurama was having the time of his life. Finally, he was going to get some payback for the behavior towards his container, and fellow immortal. When he came to in the body of Naruto, the villagers had apparently decided that carving him like a Christmas turkey was not enough, as they were lighting a pyre. Kurama grinned; fire was by far his favourite element!

As the villagers were tending to the fire, Kurama finished healing the mangled body that was nailed to the wall and pushed himself away, standing on his feet. Then, a far too wide grin splitting his face, he looked at the villagers and said "Boo".

The villagers were ecstatic. They had finally caught the demon that threatened their existence daily, and it was finally going to die; in the same element that the monster was born from even! The ANBU weren't nearby to stop them, the Uchiha were actively helping them, and the old Hokage wouldn't even know until the demon was dead. By tomorrow they would be heroes in the village. Then they heard it; a whisper, hardly audible over the breeze, but carrying such a promise of violence that they felt faint. The power, bearing upon them, was immense. It was as if the gods had called judgment, and like a wounded gazelle in the sight of a lion, they could only hope for clemency from this overwhelming power.

When the bravest of the villagers turned to the source of the gigantic killing intent, what they saw terrified them even further. A small child, with stakes still driven through its hands and sticking out of the palms, clad in rags that had, until today, been clothes. A child with a torn open abdomen, bits of intestine threatening to fall out, visibly sealing itself shut. A child with thick whisker-like markings across both cheeks, with an obvious scar through one eye that was rapidly fading into nothingness. A child with glaring, crimson eyes that gave the impression that they dissected your soul, and judged you unworthy. This was not a child.

The figure was wreathed in a caustic looking, crimson, bubbly chakra. Its surroundings were dying, trees turning yellow, grass drying. Above its head a silhouette of a fox with many tails was visible, each tail moving independently of the others in a hypnotic movement, mesmerizing the observer.

It was quick. One moment, they were staring in horror at the hellish apparition before them, and in the next, all except one of them were caught in the flames of their own bonfire, the flames now coloured an ethereal blue.

Idly observing the villagers burning screams, Kurama turned his attention to the sole villager unharmed by the flames that were roasting the others alive.

"Hello, mortal. Osamu, was it? I am the Kyuubi, and I would say nice to meet you, but it's not, ne?"

Osamu merely looked back at his monster from hell that had appeared before him. The air was filled with the smell of burning flesh, and the dying screeches of humans burning to death. A particularly loud shriek made him flinch, and the monster in front of him looked amused.

"Ah, yes, the barbeque is coming along nicely, isn't it?" Kurama enquired sarcastically, inwardly quite pleased at the look of utter terror on the man's features.

"Know this, you pitiful creature. The only reason I intervened was that young Naruto is not quite ready to ascend yet, and a forced ascension leads to quite uncontrollable powers, as I'm sure you understand?" Kurama stated, mockingly.

"Y-you m-m-monster", Osamu accused, still in shock, staring between the burning corpses of his co-conspirators and the demented creature in front of him.

"Let me explain it so that even a fool like you can understand." Kurama growled. "If I had not intervened, Naruto's divine powers would be awakened now, and the whole of Konoha would be home to corpses. You have no idea of the folly you almost committed, do you?"

"Now I would personally prefer that scenario, but as he still entertains some form of attachment to the village…"

Then It, for no such monster could be a He, gave him a fanged grin through bloody teeth, with the fox silhouette above it echoing it eerily. Then one of the tails became corporeal, with stiff, needle like fur tapering to a point. The tail drew back, and started smoking, with a fiery aura surrounding it, and halted. Then the demon looked him in the eye, and growled "Today, your village survived only because of my compassion and his love. Something to think about in the afterlife." Then the tail flashed forward.

As he watched the tail approach his chest, tear through the skin and muscle and pierce his heart, Osamu couldn't help but wonder; was this what an ant felt like, when facing a human?

As the last of the mob died, Kurama scoffed, and manipulating the fire in the half built pyre, burnt the bodies in a flash of heat and light, leaving behind only a fine ash that scattered in the wind.

Afterwards, Kurama, yet again using his fire manipulation ability seemingly created a wall of flame, and walking through it, emerged from the naked candle flame in Naruto's dorm in the orphanage. Later, when the shock of the immediate events had subsided, Naruto would wonder how much ability in fire manipulation it would take to fulfill such a task, seemingly effortlessly. Currently, he was too overwhelmed to think of anything other than the oblivion of sleep; maybe this mess would make sense in the morning?