"Speaking"
Thinking
"Hollow speaking"
Hollow Thinking
Pre-story rant: Yet again I find myself inspired to start a fic while I have a slew of others unfinished. However this one is special. Death of a Demon, Birth of An… was discontinued recently and this fic is supposed to be its spiritual successor. And I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure that it kicks ass!
Due note this story starts begins on a tangent where Naruto LOST to Pein during the Konoha Invasion Arc.
Summary: He'd failed once when he lost to Pein, he wasn't about to blow this second chance even if it was in death…
Through The Shadow Of Death
Chapter One: Till Death Do Us Part
'This makes Sasuke's Chidori seem like a love tap. Did Gaara really manage to go through this for three days?' was the first coherent thought to pass through Naruto's mind after waking up from his latest defeat.
Pein, the six-person villager killer, managed to subdue the Kyuubi right after he lost control.
If he could Naruto would chastise himself for losing his cool like that, but as it currently stood the vast ocean that was Kyuubi's youki was being forcibly ripped from his body.
"Nagato are you sure you should be attempting the extraction process so soon? You spent nearly all of your chakra fight the Kyuubi vessel," Konan pleaded with her leader and friend.
Unfortunately the red headed Rinnegan bearer was too wrapped up in his Messiah complex to listen to her reasoning.
"Konan the boy is too dangerous to be left alone. You saw what he was capable of when tapping into the Fox's chakra, and I doubt I could restrain him a second especially when a majority of my Paths destroyed,"
Konan just bit her lip silently and prayed for the best. Hopefully someone, possibly even the true God, would hear her pleas and spare her friend anymore suffering.
"Gai-sensei we have to mount a rescue attempt, if Akatsuki gets their hands on the Kyuubi,"
"Then Naruto dies," the spandex wearing jonin finished for his former rival's last remaining student.
Looking around them Gai was visibly sickened by the devastation. Every fiber in his body just wanted to breakdown and weep, but instead he steeled himself.
As the last able bodied jonin elite within the village, the responsibility of protecting Konoha and guarding her interest fell to him.
"Sakura I need you to gather any willing and able bodied ninja you think would be up to the task of taking on Akatsuki,"
"We're going to rescue Naruto?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"Yes, and we're going to avenge all those you fell here today. Or die trying,"
A rumble aroused Naruto from his slumber. Or the closest he could get to sleep while mind-numbing pain constantly shot through his body.
'How long has it been? Hours, days, weeks!' the blonde thought to himself with no way of knowing that nearly three days had passed and the extraction process was almost complete.
Akatsuki had caught a break. Being down so many members it should have taken at least a week to get as far as they had, but because Naruto expelled so much of the fox's chakra – enough to nearly free it in the process of defending himself – the normally sluggish and resistant youki slipped like loose sand through the seal and into the statue.
However their luck ran out about fifteen minutes ago when the remnants of the Rookie Nine and Team Gai assaulted their hide out, bringing all the ferocity of the war back to their doorstep tenfold.
Team Gai was quick to settle their score with Kisame; twin Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus) between a Soshoryu (Twin Rising Dragons) and into a Hakke: Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho (Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms), made literal mincemeat of the shark shinobi.
Guarding their sides, the remaining members of Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten consisting of: Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Ino, and Chouji slowly destroyed Zetsu and every piece of flora that the plant ninja turned against them.
They finally caught a lucky break when Ino successfully mind swapped herself with the strange shinobi. However they hadn't accounted for the fact that two minds inhabited his one body, and while Ino restrained one half the other broke away and killed them both.
The sight of another friend dead pushed Chouji over the edge and after popping two of his family's three secret pills in one go, the fat fighter ground the plant ninja into tofu.
However once Taka, lead by the traitor Leaf Sasuke, appeared on the field the tides quickly changed for the Konoha combatants.
Juugo, the original carrier of the curse seal, immediately went on a rampage. Kiba took the brunt of his wrath but was soundly pummeled to death while Shino died painful after draining all of the bipolar sociopath's poisonous chakra.
Chouji, who was feeling the aftereffects of taking two of his secret pills at once, was no match for Suigetsu. Popping the third pill, the lone Akimichi managed to shatter the swordsmen's weapon with a palm strike but was quickly beheaded with the broken tip after he collapsed from exhaustion.
Sakura, who'd been going toe to toe with Karin for whole the battle, launched a desperate gambit and managed to break the researcher nin with a Slug Sannin class haymaker just in time to engage Sasuke one on one as he finished off Team Gai.
Neither of Team Seven's remaining members were in pristine condition. Karin managed to score more than a few glancing blows while the combined efforts of Team Gai managed to close a few tenketsu and completely shatter Sasuke's right arm before passing onto through the void.
'Sasuke made his choice, now its time to make mine,' Sakura told herself as she cocked back her first punch. Naruto had always been there for her, now it was her turn to return the favor.
"Pein we have to stop the extraction process this place is collapsing," Konan begged her childhood friend.
The collateral damage from the remaining Sannin apprentices was tearing the place apart. Realizing the folly in wasting his life and possibly releasing the Kyuubi Nagato was about to relent to Konan's demands but a familiar distortion of chakra stopped him in his tracks.
"Not so fast Nagato, do you really think I'd let you leave when we are so close to accomplishing our mission," Madara humbugged after phasing back into reality.
It was unsettling, even downright chilling, to Konan how the man seemed to be everywhere at once. However she wasn't going to let some fossil of an Uchiha and his petty grudge with his village cost her the person she was closest to in the world.
Unfortunately Madara had other plans, and with a simple phasing of his hand the ancestral Uchiha closed his grip around the paper woman's heart.
"Konan!" Nagato cried as the woman fell limp to the ground, like a doll cut from its strings.
"Oh come now Nagato, with your Rinnegan you can easy revive her as one of your Paths of Pein," Madara taunting, slipping into his Tobi voice at the end for good measure.
"I'll kill you!" the lone Ame orphan cried, firing dozens of his chakra disrupting blades in homes to skewer the immortal Uchiha where he stood.
His attempts were in vain as once again Madara phased out of reality only to reappear behind Nagato.
"You really were too naïve. Sending all your paths to Konoha to be destroyed while leaving your own – vulnerable – body here at home with me. Your lucky I have a need for you, otherwise…" Madara said as he lowered a hand down to Nagato's neck.
The Rinnegan bearer knew that his life was literally in the psychotic Uchiha's hands, but for the life of him he couldn't bring himself to care. Yahiko's body was lost, Konan was dead, and his plan – the one he'd spent decades crafting and sacrificing for – was in shambles.
"Ah don't look so glum! You still haven't heard the best part yet…"
Gleefully Madara lowered his masked covered face down to Nagato's ear.
"I was the one who killed your parents to spark the Rinnegan within you," the man revealed before erupting into a fit of sadistic laughter.
A single tear trailed its way down the broken doujutsu user's face. His whole life, from beginning to end, had been orchestrated by this one, bitter old man.
'Well no more!' the red head swore angrily as he pushed the pooled the last of his chakra to ensure the man's demise.
"What?" Naruto spoke as the unfamiliar sound of his own voice filled his ears. Realizing that he had spoke instead of thought, Naruto looked around to find that he wasn't being tortured to death anymore.
"The village!" the boy cried as he sprung to his feet. Thoughts of his home, and the destruction Pein brought to it, invaded his mind as he ran towards the nearest exit.
He needed to get back fast. He didn't know how long he'd been gone, or if anyone was still alive. Al he knew was he needed to get back, he needed…
Trip
"What the hell?" Naruto mumbled.
Looking down, Naruto found the culprit behind his fall. A simple chain mounted to a Shiki Fuin seal on his stomach.
"I don't have time for this!" Naruto shouted irritably before giving the chain a sharp tug.
A decision he regretted almost immediately as a sharp pain lanced through his whole body. Deciding against brute force for once, Naruto opted to find what exactly was chaining him down then maybe he could find another – preferably less painful – way out of his dilemma.
Fortunately his answer was closer than he thought it would be, but what he wasn't expecting was for it to be attached to another him…
"What have you done!" Madara roared.
"I've halted the extraction processed and forced all the Fox's chakra back into the host, killing them both and stopped your plans," Nagato replied in a haggard voice.
His stunt took every last bit of energy he had, but even in the face of death the Rinnegan user found the energy to smile. He alone may not have saved the world from itself, but in killing the jinchuriki at least he saved it from Madara.
"I'll kill you!" the Uchiha raved before doing just that.
In a monstrous display of strength, Madara tore Nagato's torso from his machinery. Realizing that the man was still smiling, Madara gripped the Rinnegan bearers head like an over ripened fruit before ripping it clean off and hurling it through the stone walls that surrounded his domain.
"Years! Fucking years of planning gone!" Madara howled unaware of the last two living members of Team Seven battling just outside of the newly created hole.
"Manipulating the Mizukage and forming Akatsuki. All that time wasted!" Madara listed off angrily punctuating each item with a blast of Kamui. The space warping jutsu was taking chucks out of the mountain fortress with each blast, dangerously destabilizing the area where the remaining survivors of the conflict were battling.
"Not to mention hypnotizing the Kyuubi and purging all other bloodlines that may be able to control the beast," Madara continued, this time vanishing the wall that separated the extraction chamber from Pein's quarters.
Unbeknownst to Madara, his angry rant reached Sasuke's ears. The younger Uchiha paused as the implications of what his forefather just uttered settled in his battle weary mind.
"It was you!" Sasuke yelled before cutting his opponent down without so much as a second glance.
Sakura, who'd been fighting evenly with Sasuke up until that point, could only look on in shock as Sasuke literally charged in like a blood soaked battle god.
Madara however, was not amused, and saw his fast approaching relative as the perfect outlet for his rage.
"Amaterasu!" the Uchiha cried in unison, spreading the cursed black fire all around them.
Luckily Sasuke had forgotten that Sakura was a medic nin first and foremost, and was able to heal herself just in time to avoid being consumed by the unquenchable flame. However Pein and Konan's bodies weren't so lucky.
Grimly noting how fast the two Ame orphans were reduced to ash, Sakura quickly made her way to the nearest exit and found herself in the extraction antechamber.
Along with Naruto's dead body…
'He looks so peaceful…' Sakura lamented softly as she reached down to touch her friend. Sadly the pinkette stroked her fallen teammates face, only to find that he was still warm to the touch.
Writing off the warmth as heat from the black flames burning all around them, Sakura let her touch linger as she studied the blonde's features.
Seeing Naruto's normally bright and cheerful face locked in the tranquil but expressionless mask of death, Sakura couldn't help but breakdown.
"I'm sorry Naruto, I failed. I failed to help Konoha, I failed to save Sasuke, but most of all I failed you. I-I know you can't hear this, but I still want you to know, I'm sorry. For selfishly pushing you to save Sasuke, despite how much it hurt you, for neglecting your feelings, and never once thanking you for all of it-,"
However before Sakura could say any more, Sasuke broken and battered body came careening out from Pein's chambers. Sasuke groaned – confirming he was still in fact alive – but was far beyond worse for wear.
Armless and missing his left eye Sasuke staggered to his feet, his pride unwilling to allow him to die on the ground like some sort of animal. Unfortunately for him Madara was having none of that.
"Amaterasu!" the ancestral Uchiha uttered as black flames consumed the last of his kin.
"Susanoo!" Sasuke cried using the last of his chakra to summon the spirit warrior.
Sakura, who was caught in the middle of the cursed doujutsu user's final battle, could only look on in horror as the nigh impenetrable bone armor stood firm against the onslaught. Further amazed, she watched as through sheer force of will Sasuke willed the legendary armor to fire one of its deadly chakra arrows at his opponent.
Madara countered with another blast of the Sun Goddess's unholy black fire, creating an explosion that consumed them all.
Sakura, through raw medical talent alone, managed to sustain her late sensei's regeneration technique long enough to survive the initial blast but knew her time was short.
Sparing a glance to her side, she saw that Naruto's body managed to survive that blast, the residual energies of his resealed demon still coating its faded vessel. Despite the fact that Naruto spirit had already departed, the demonic energies would continue fighting until the very last moment.
It was then she saw it, Naruto in all his original glory floating above his body. Wondering why he hadn't moved on Sakura then noticed the single chain linking her friend's spirit to his deceased body.
Naruto seemed to notice her gaze was focused on something behind her, a worried look etched onto his troubled features.
Apparently both the Uchiha were just as stubborn as she was, seeing as neither managed to die in the blast.
Sasuke now armless, out of chakra, and burned beyond recognition lay facedown, the shallow movement of his chest being the only sign of life he showed.
While Madara, who was better off only in the sense that he still had his arms and chakra, staggered forth unwilling to simply lie down and wait for death.
"To think a child could push me to the same point Hashirama did all those years ago. No matter I will escape with the same method I used that day. Izanami!"
Madara's eyes glowed darkly with the hellish light of the Amaterasu before his body was consumed with the flame. From the ashes rose his burning spirit; the only thing recognizable from his human body was his Mangekyou Sharingan.
"Now to take a body," Madara's voice echoed before setting his sights on Sakura.
Charging forth Madara's plan for reincarnation came to an abrupt halt when Naruto's spirit collided fist first into the flame.
"How can you hit me while I have Izanami activated? No matter I'll just find another body,"
However before Madara's spirit could leave Sasuke, having copied the last of the Mangekyou techniques mere moments before, now wrestled for control of Madara's spirit.
Sparing a glance to Naruto's spirit, the genjutsu weaving abilities of his cursed eyes sent Naruto one last message.
'I'm sorry, now end this all for good,'
Realizing what he must do, Naruto simply nodded to the spirit of his doomed friend before ripping the chain from his stomach with one gut wrenching pull.
The effects were immediate as a pain – greater than that of the extraction process – washed over Naruto's soul. Miraculously though Naruto somehow managed to stay conscious through the pain, and his noticed that he was now dressed in a black kimono set complete with an average length katana before his body disintegrated into the tiniest of particles.
His disappearance didn't last for long, because soon after a wave of energy – similar to youki but at the same time remarkably different – flooded the chamber and slowly Naruto's body began to reconstitute itself.
"Oh what's this?" Madara wondered aloud, having momentarily repelled Sasuke and fixed his gaze onto the spectacle before him.
Gone was Naruto and in its place was something more in line with his jinchuriki transformations. However aside from the three swishing tails, blood red fur, and gaping hole in its stomach, the feature that stood out most on the transformed container was the white bone mask that covered the beasts face.
A snarling fox mask…
Not waiting to see if his opponent could still damage his Izanami form, Madara opted to retreat and live to fight another day. Too Sasuke was about to let that happen.
Latching on Madara once again, Sasuke poured all of himself into weighing down the ancient Uchiha's spirit.
Naruto didn't hesitate and tore into the spirits without a second thought.
It tasted delicious, and Madara's howls of pain only serving as fuel for Naruto's hollow appetite.
Once Madara's soul was completely devoured Sasuke's soul, having being torn in two from his fight with Madara, drifted slowly – weary from all the fighting. However there was no rest for a soul as wicked as his, and from his wound a blind light escaped.
Revealing two skeletal figures guarding a hellish gate.
Slowly the gate opened before Sasuke allowing him to peer into the true face of Death.
His instincts screamed from him to run, but looking behind him he saw what that wrought onto his teammates before. Sakura lie dying and Naruto transformed himself into a monster all because he chose to run from Konoha – from them…
'Well no more!' the Uchiha resolved, and after sparing one last look at his teammates, Sasuke walked willing through the gates of Hell.
Sakura watched with tear stained eyes as the doors closed, and she drew her last labored breath as the skeletal guardians crumbled into dust.
Naruto seeing both of these things realized that it was time for him to leave as well. Eating Madara's soul had revealed to him two uncomfortable facts. One being he enjoyed the taste, so much in fact that he was already hungry for more, and two…
He wasn't sure if he could stop himself from eating his friends' souls if he stayed much longer.
Choosing to exile himself before that happened, Naruto followed his instincts and tore open a portal in space.
Wherever he landed, only Kami knew.
Read and Review
Original Techniques:
Izanami (She Who Invites): The Sixth and final Mangekyou Sharingan technique, this ability is named after the Goddess of Death and Creation, and as such it gives the user power over both. By placing all their very spirit into their Amaterasu flame, the user can transfer their mind and chakra into another body achieving immortality.
Author's Note: So that's it. This is my premise for my Death of a Demon reboot. Just to make things completely clear Naruto is a hollow and he still has Kyuubi (that'll come up soon), however there are a few other things that make him special when compared to other hollow. One being his soul was a shinigami before changing which will also become a point of interest later so do remember it ;). Anyway I definitely will have the next chapter up sometime soon (I'm taking a good bit of advice to heart and making myself write at least one scene a day so that my fics will get finished) so watch out for the update.
Thanks again to everyone who has supported me, and anyone who has taken the time out to read this. And till next time…
Black Saint