To Hell and Back
Author's Notes
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Summary: Kakuzu is dead, but he can't rest until Hidan dies too. With the aid of a demon, Kakuzu returns to Earth, armed with the only thing known to kill Jashinists: Stygian water. But once there, a much bigger problem arises; Kakuzu and Hidan become unlikely heroes, racing time and fighting bijuu in order to prevent the demon from claiming Earth as his own.
Previewed by PurpleWolfStar35, xcupidxstuntx, Papermache and Piercings (thanks for the support!)
Beta'd by Kiroichi Tsubake (thanks so much, Donna! 3)
Disclaimer: Naruto is (c) Masashi Kishimoto
Update Schedule: Every Sunday
Setting: Eight years in the future
Genres: Supernatural, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Tragedy, Romance
Pairings: KakuHida, PeinKonan, ?Konan, GaaSaku, ShikaTema, NejiTen, onesided NaruSaku
Other notes: Madara is Tobi in this fic. Kakashi, Sasuke and Chouji are deceased, having died during the last epic fight with the Akatsuki. Madara killed Sasuke and Kakashi, Zetsu killed Chouji. Hence, Shikamaru has a son named Chouji to honor his dead friend.
Constructive Criticism would be appreciated! I worked hard, but I'm afraid I might be too confusing, so let me know if you think I could have handled something better, or if you don't understand something!
Prologue: Death
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"To think…I'd be defeated…by kids…like you," Kakuzu groaned. He lay on the ground, broken, useless. The Konoha shinobi standing before him said something, Kakuzu saw the lips move under the mask covering his face, but he could no longer hear over the pounding of his last heart. It drummed incessantly in his ears, as if reminding him it was still there, as if pleading for more time.
As if Kakuzu had such power.
Kakuzu was slipping, losing his hold on consciousness, and when he saw a white, crackling light, he knew that this was it. Death. There was no fear, however. Only a vague acceptance. Death was coming. No, it was here. It was upon him. There was no time to pray, and if he had, had the time, he wouldn't have known who to pray to. God? Jashin? That was a laugh. Kakuzu watched the hand bearing the lightning blade rush down on him in slow motion, as if time had momentarily slipped, savoring the moment.
Kakuzu closed his eyes as that sparking hand plunged into his chest. Fingers sliced through flesh and wrapped around his beating heart. There may have been pain, but Kakuzu was above and beyond pain now. As his body struggled to breathe, to live, an image burned on the inside of Kakuzu's eyelids. Silver hair, pale skin, pink eyes, a cocky grin.
Hidan, Kakuzu thought, and the white light burned out, and Kakuzu plummeted into darkness.
-xXx-
Chapter 1: Hell
"NEXT!" a high pitched, cracking voice echoed.
Kakuzu blinked his eyes furiously. Everything looked blurry, out of focus. He wiped at his eyes, and the world around him gradually cleared, as if a fog were lifting. Smoke and burning flesh stung at his nostrils. He could hear the crackling roar of a large fire nearby, yet he shivered with cold.
When he could properly see, Kakuzu sat up and took in his surroundings. Bonfires raged about him, there were piles of bones with rotting flesh clinging to them. The old missing Falls nin knocked over a skull resting at his feet as he shifted, its empty sockets looking up at him. He swore there were pinpricks of red light deep inside the skull…hellish eyes. Kakuzu kicked it away.
There was a screeching cry above him, and Kakuzu looked up. A giant crow flew past, cawing in a gray, dead sky. Kakuzu couldn't help but laugh.
This was Hell, it had to be.
The ground below the stitched man looked like hardened lava, black with glowing orange peeking through cracks in the surface. Kakuzu kicked up ash as he got up and properly stood on his feet. It was a wasteland of fire, ash and smoke. There were blackened trees, their leaves long ago burned away. The dead shinobi found a makeshift path marked with posts bearing heads in various states of decay, and began to follow it.
The path wound around the bonfires and climbed up a steep hill crowned with a lone dead tree. Kakuzu had to get to all fours and clutch at stones set in the dirt path in order to get up to the top, as the hillside was nearly vertical, and by the time he did, he was gasping for air, a jabbing pain in his side. Sweat trickled down his face.
Kakuzu got to the tree and collapsed at its feet, resting his back against the rough bark. He looked down, and gasped again. Below the hill was a vast, parched plain. Massive black gates stood in the midst of that featureless landscape. A line of jostling people headed towards it. Kakuzu squinted his eyes. The line disappeared off in the distance. He guessed that there were at least a thousand people, from what he could see.
The missing Falls nin got to his feet once more, and headed down the hill, towards the impossibly long line. It wasn't as steep on this side, and Kakuzu was able to keep on just his two feet.
The towering black gates stood just a little ways from the hill. Two tall, black clad figures flanked the gates, while some sort of hunched, winged man standing in front of the gate called NEXT every few minutes. Most of the people seemed to be gravely wounded or sick. Upon closer inspection, Kakuzu saw that the people in the line must all be dead. Many of them sported ghastly injuries. Kakuzu saw someone he recognized: his last partner, before Hidan. He was wrapped up, his left arm completely missing. Kakuzu chuckled to himself.
"What are ya laughin' at, new dead?"
Kakuzu turned to see an emaciated old man hobble towards him, leaning heavily on his cane. Half of his face was melting, as if he'd been doused with acid. Gobs of flesh plopped to his gnarled old feet. His right eye was so much white goop running down his face. Normal people might have lost their dinner at such a sight, but Kakuzu had seen such horrors in his long life that it didn't even faze him. Kakuzu looked back to the large gates and chuckled softly again.
"This. Hell. It's…cliché."
The old, gruesome man wiped at the white gelatinous fluid melting down his face and snorted.
"Maybe you think hellfire and brimstone is cliché, but this ain't all there is to it, ya know. You're only lookin' at the outside. Get through those gates and you'll shit yourself."
Kakuzu searched beyond the gates. It was open wasteland as far as the eye could see, with the occasional bonfire spewing clouds of smoke into the sky, fueling the dark, raging clouds.
"I know what you're thinkin.' But that's a front. A genjutsu. Once you pass through the Gates, you'll see what Hell really is."
"Little surprises me now a days, as long as I've lived," Kakuzu said, smirking.
"A hundred years, 'proximately, I'm thinkin," the old man surmised, his one eye looking Kakuzu up and down, sizing him up.
"Hn," Kakuzu uttered, walking away from the old man, heading for the long line.
"Ah ah ah, not so fast! That's a loooong line, ya know. I could sell you a special ticket, bumps you up in the line."
"How much?" Kakuzu asked, quirking an eyebrow. If money worked in Hell, like he had heard, then death might not be so bad.
"Well, that depends. How much you got?"
The old man rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a tattered slip of paper, something shiny, perhaps gold leaf, at the edges. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at the ticket, feeling suddenly foolish. He was only wearing his clothes now, his cloak was gone, his briefcase full of money hadn't traveled to Hell with him. Other than his soul, he didn't have anything to offer. And he might need that, Kakuzu wasn't sure.
All of his vast knowledge gathered over the century he'd been alive amounted to nothing in death.
"I…I don't have much," Kakuzu finally admitted, his hands curling into fists at his sides.
"I smell a very strong soul," the old man said, sniffing the air. Kakuzu frowned.
"Yessss," the old man hissed, limping up to Kakuzu and poking him in the chest.
"There. You still stink of flesh…but it's more than that. You're still connected…"
Kakuzu took a step backwards, moving away from the old man. His breath stank of death and something worse that he couldn't place. It was awful, whatever it was.
"What are you going on about?" Kakuzu asked when he was at a safe enough distance.
The old man's face, or what was left of it, brightened.
"Selling you a ticket would profit me, but it'd do nothing for you…no, no it wouldn't work out all that well for me either. Much better to offer you something else."
"Just tell me what you're talking about!" Kakuzu said, his voice rising in anger. The old rotting man wasn't bothered in the slightest.
"They won't let you through those gates, not while your soul is in such a state!"
"And why the hell not?" Kakuzu asked.
The old man burst into a fit of laughter that ended in a hacking cough. He spat blood and a gob of…something…onto the ground. A puff of steam emitted from the blackened earth as the lump hit it.
"Ya smell like Earth. Not like rotten flesh like a typical New dead should…you smell…to put it short…too nice. Aye, you're an Earth Bound, to be sure."
"Earth Bound?"
"Yes."
Kakuzu stared intently at the old man, his interest peaked. The old man patted his chest, above where his heart should be.
"It's still beatin' somewhere. Hell won't let in Earth Bounds. That heart better stop beatin, and soon."
"What…are you talking about?"
Kakuzu was getting angrier at the old man's vague answers.
"Argh. Newly dead never know nuthin. Earth Bound, connected to the World by an Anchor!" the old man growled, flailing his scrawny arms.
"People in heaven call it 'Soul Mates.' Too nice a term for sinners, if ya ask me."
Soul Mates…Kakuzu knew of that term.
"Wait…you're saying," Kakuzu started, pinching the bridge of his nose, "that I have a Soul Mate?"
"Anchor is more proper for someone like you, sinner. But yeah, basically."
"Hidan," Kakuzu growled.
"Hidan? Is that your girlfriend?"
"Hardly. Can people bind souls…manually?"
"Manually?" the old man repeated, scratching at his bumpy nose.
"Through curses…religious ritual?" Kakuzu suggested, a bloody seal etched in the ground coming to mind.
The old man burst into a fit of giggles. He hacked out something that looked horribly like a semi-digested rat into his palm, tossed it over his shoulder and continued talking as if coughing up dead rats was commonplace. In Hell, it probably was.
"Aye, it's rare, but it's happened before. Say…" the old man said, narrowing his good eye, "this Hidan. He wouldn't happen to be a Jashin's Witness, would he?"
Kakuzu's eyes widened. He hadn't expected the name Jashin to be known in Hell. Was Hidan's religion for real then?
"Yeah, he is."
"Oh ho ho, that's gooood," the old man murmured, licking his lips.
"Why is that?" Kakuzu asked, suspicious.
The old man grinned, displaying all four of his teeth. His tongue, black and diseased, stuck out between two of them.
"Well…if he's a Jashinist, and strong enough to be an Anchor without resorting to using love, then…well, first, I'll have to ask you. Do you care what happens to him?"
"Not really, no," Kakuzu admitted with a shrug.
"Jackpot!" the old man yelled happily, cackling and slapping his leg.
"All you have to do, to sever the connection, is to kill 'im."
This time it was Kakuzu's turn to laugh.
"I've tried, countless times. He's immortal. You can chop off his head, remove his organs and put his brain on a stick, he still lives."
"Oh, well I think I can help you change that, Stitches. But we'll need some water."
"Water? What kind of water?" Kakuzu asked.
"The only kind worth calling water! That which comes from the river Styx, o' course!"
"The river Styx…"
"Yep. Now if you'll come with me, I'll show you where the river is. But you'll have to fetch the water. I can't go near, being a demon and all."
"You're a demon?"
"Yep. Call me Beza, all the newly deads do! Now come here," the old man, Beza, said, holding out a hand.
Kakuzu glared at the hand.
"Why should I trust you? And why are you helping me? You didn't say."
"Sharp mind ya got. Basically...I want the Jashinist's soul. You kill him, bring him back to me, I eat the soul, you get to go on your merry way, join the army or whatever the hell it is you ninjas do now a days. It works out, see?"
"What do you want with his soul?"
"Power," Beza answered simply, nodding and licking his lips.
Kakuzu considered for a moment, and then finally nodded in return.
"Hn. Well, I suppose I'll accept the deal. Lead the way, old man."
"Beza."
"Right."
Kakuzu walked past the old man. Beza chuckled and shook his head and jogged after him.
"Now, it's not far. But you'll have to stick close to me, a lot of hungry things out there."
Kakuzu let Beza lead, keeping a look out for any of these 'hungry things.'
"Do they fly? These…'hungry things'?" Kakuzu asked, remembering the giant crow.
"Gaki, they call 'em. Some fly, some swim, some crawl, but most don't bother with any of that. They just…appear," Beza said.
"Great," Kakuzu said with a heavy sigh.
Beza and Kakuzu walked past the crowded Gates and the ground changed no longer hardened lava but something black and shiny, like onyx. It felt springy, however, like walking on tightly stretched canvas. Kakuzu wondered if he would bounce if he lept into the air.
The old man began to hum, picking a tune that sounded eerie and yet familiar to Kakuzu. He let Beza's voice wash over him as his eyes wandered. A faint glow could be seen on the horizon and Kakuzu wondered if Hell had its own sun.
"Don't walk so loud, you'll stir the critters," Beza barked. Kakuzu tried to step lighter, though the trampoline-like floor made it difficult. Beza returned to his humming.
"Soooooo empty," a faint voice whispered. Kakuzu looked to Beza, who was still hobbling along, humming to himself, as if he didn't hear it.
"Empty…"
"Did you hear that?" Kakuzu asked Beza, but the old man broke into song, waving his arms in time to the strange tune. Ignoring him. Kakuzu was about to repeat himself, but he heard the voice again, this time, it was louder. Closer.
"Look at me."
Eyes appeared, large, white and bulbous, floating free of a face. He tried to pry his eyes away, but he couldn't move. His throat tightened, he couldn't breath. Invisible fingers were wrapped around his neck, applying a steady, crushing pressure. Kakuzu gasped for air, and inhaled the monster's breath as it blew in his face. He could taste rotten meat on his tongue, and choked.
The white eyes snapped shut, there was a loud screech and Kakuzu crumpled. He saw Beza's thin legs dancing around wildly.
"Damned Tengu! Get your own Earth Bound!" Beza cried, swinging his walking stick at a manta ray-like creature fleeing in the air, its screeches carried away by the wind.
"You okay there, Stitches?" Beza said, pulling Kakuzu roughly to his feet. Kakuzu felt a surge of chakra from the brief contact. Kakuzu quickly jerked his hand away and brushed himself off.
"What the hell was that?"
"A Tengu. Winged Gaki. I told you, most Gaki just appear. You didn't listen!"
Kakuzu glared.
"How am I supposed to look out for things that pop in and hypnotize me?"
"You're a ninja, aren't you? See the unseen, look beneath the underneath all that jazz. Ah, you see that up ahead?" Beza asked, pointing towards a faint orange glow a few hundred feet away.
"Yeah."
"That's her. Styx."
"It's on fire."
Beza looked at Kakuzu as if he were mad.
"Yeah, 'course it is! Special fire, special water."
"So I need to bottle some of that water?"
"Yep. Here, I got somethin' special for ya to use…somewhere…" Beza mumbled, searching his ragged robes. He pulled out a golden locket from an inside pocket, wiped blood off of its smooth, shiny surface and handed it to Kakuzu. The dead nin took the small charm. It was warm to the touch, the chain so tightly woven it felt like cord.
"Put it round your neck," Beza instructed. Kakuzu did so, pulling it over his head. It slipped under his shirt and began to vibrate slightly.
"Ah gooood, seems it likes you."
Kakuzu didn't bother asking what the hell that meant. He walked towards the flaming river. As he got closer, a breeze carried a salty scent his way. Kakuzu held his hand over his mouth. The salt stung his throat and made his eyes water.
"Run for it, Stitches! Gaki and Tengu stay close to the water, lookin' for food!" Beza cried, swinging his walking stick and nearly hitting Kakuzu on the head.
Kakuzu didn't run right away. He didn't like being ordered around by a walking corpse. But when he heard something whisper against his neck "Sooo hungry" he broke into a run. The ground, which had been bouncy, was now smooth and hard, slick as ice. Kakuzu couldn't gain traction and slipped. He skidded onto his belly and felt something big swoop in over him, unseen claws grazing his back, pulling out strands of his hair.
The dead nin's instincts took over and he tried to throw his hand out at the creature, crush its bones, but nothing happened. He then realized that he had no control over his chakra.
"Don't rely on your fancy ninja voodoo here, just ruuuuun!" Beza yelled at him.
Kakuzu got back to his feet as the Tengu turned and dove at him again, screeching. Kakuzu dodged its claws, and sped towards the flaming river ahead. The glass gave way to mounds of flat stones, some as large as boulders. Kakuzu scrambled over them and dropped down to a flat, sandy area. He was finally at the river bank. There before him lay the river Styx, he knew it, but the surface of the water was shrouded in violent flames and black smoke.
The fire stopped at the river's sandy bank, and Kakuzu didn't know of a way to get to the water flowing beneath it without getting burned. The fire rose to about ten feet in the sky, three feet over his head. Kakuzu dropped to his knees at the edge of the fire, and tried to slip off the necklace, planning to swipe the locket into the water by its long chain, but he met resistance. The necklace vibrated harder and grew so heavy that he couldn't get it over his head.
Growling in frustration, Kakuzu tried unfastening the hook, but it had melded itself together. There was a clatter nearby, and Kakuzu saw the old man's cane land nearby. He looked at it and saw a note attached. He ripped it off and in scribbled writing he read "Use Your Head."
'My head…I have to stick my head in the fire?' Kakuzu thought.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, opened up the locket, and plunged his head into the waiting flames. Kakuzu bit his tongue to fight the scream as the white hot fire burned his face. He could feel his skin bubbling and melting off of his bones. But he didn't pull his head out. He'd felt worse. He'd been impaled with a hand charged with hundreds of volts of electricity and lived. The first time, anyway. He'd had all the bones broken in his body. Kakuzu could handle a little burn.
Kakuzu lowered his head until he heard the little BLOOP that signaled the locket had slipped under water. He closed the tiny latch, the water a shocking frigid cold compared to the roaring flames resting at its surface, and fell backwards.
The locket vibrated and hummed violently against his chest like a caught bee, then fell silent. Kakuzu thought he was going to vomit, his upper body was screaming with pain. He could smell burning flesh and hair, and knew it was him.
Could he die in Hell?
Kakuzu waited to black out, to fade away again, but after a moment of lying prone on the sandy ground, he opened his eyes. The pain had subsided. He sat up. Beza was jumping up and down, screaming at him. Hordes of creeping, crawling Gaki edged towards him. Too many eyes, far too few arms, pale and slimy as if they'd never seen the light of day.
And in Hell, Kakuzu wasn't sure that there was day.
"Get your stitched up ass over here! They're hungry, and you're cooked to their likin'!"
Kakuzu didn't need to be told twice. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the monsters snapping at his heels. He lept clean over the piles of rocks and skidded part of the way. When he reached Beza, he was in one piece. The monsters stopped a few feet away, as if hitting an invisible barrier, and backed away, hissing and growling, gnashing their teeth and snapping their claws. They fizzled out like smoke in the wind.
Kakuzu doubled over, hands on knees, wheezing. The locket hung down, a single drip of water clinging to the hinge keeping the locket shut tight. Kakuzu started to straighten up, watching as the bead of Hell water fell to his feet. It landed on the glassy surface and cracked it. Steam issued out of the crack and Kakuzu stepped away from it.
"Dangerous stuff, that water," Beza said wisely, nodding his head.
"If it can crack the foundations of Hell, imagine what it can do to a man!"
"But I touched it," Kakuzu said, holding out his hands, which were smooth and whole.
"Ah, but your body is made of sturdier stuff than Hell. You're still connected to the World, your body is strengthened by the Anchor. Now I, on the other hand…" Beza trailed off, gesturing to his half melted face, his scrawny limbs.
"It's time we left, I think" Beza added. There was a loud boom, and a flash of light. Kakuzu looked up. The sky was now dark, clouds thick and churning. A fork of lightning struck a nearby tree, and it burst into flame.
"Time to leave, time to leave!" Beza howled, frantic, pushing Kakuzu away from the direction of the river.
"H-how?"
"Don't ask questions, they know we have it! Hurry, go!"
"GO WHERE?" Kakuzu bellowed.
"There! Look, it's opening!" the old man squealed, pointing at a dwindling fire. Kakuzu ran up to it and the old man did too. The smoke from the small fire whirled and Beza blew at it. The circle of smoke formed a loop, expanding until it was large enough for a grown man to stand in.
"Here!" Beza cried, hurriedly sticking a finger into his mouth, biting down, and smearing the blood first on his forehead, then Kakuzu's. Kakuzu winced at the cold touch.
"Now go! And don't come back until you have the Jashinist's soul!"
Beza pushed Kakuzu forward, and he fell through the ring of smoke, falling down instead of forward, the screeching of Gaki reverberating in his ears as he plummeted into darkness once again.