FORGEMASTER NARUTO by RavenKnight013 and Darkshot Lestat

DISCLAIMER: I, the author, do not own Naruto. Likewise I do not own the concept of the Devil Arms. That belongs to Capcom, as it came from the infamous DMC games. However, I do own the Devil Arm Forging stuff, since as far as I know, it's unique. If I do own anything else in this story, I will let you know.

Naruto lay near death. He had been the target of yet another assassination attempt by a misguided ninja. Unfortunately, his would-be killer had managed to wound him badly. So Naruto had been rushed to the hospital and placed in intensive care, looked after by his personal doctor by order of the Hokage. This is where the story begins…

Chapter 1

Naruto looked around at the emptiness around him. It was a perfect void, nothing but an empty black space as far as he could see. How in the hell did I end up here, wondered the teen. The last thing he remembered was trying to escape the assassin who, yet again, tried to kill him. Remembering that made him sad. What had he done that was so wrong? Yeah, he pranked people, but it was to make them laugh, or at least, to make other's laugh. And it was the only way he would get attention anyway. A scolding didn't hurt much, after all.

He was yanked out of his musings by the appearance of a very strange figure. Tall, hooded, wearing a demonic mask with horns and such, holding a knife in his mouth and prayer beads in his hand. The figure looked at Naruto, who glared back, unwilling to be intimidated by this over dressed kabuki-theater wanna-be.

"Who are you? And where the hell is this?" demanded the irate teen.

"Child, I am the Shinigami, god of death and re-birth. You have been brought before me to be judged." intoned the creature in a sonorous voice.

"Wait a sec, I'm DEAD," yelped the teen. "I can't die yet, I have too much to do. I have to go meet-" his ranting was cut short by the Shinigami raising his hand.

"Death waits for no one. Soon or late, all are brought before me. But in actuality, you are not dead. Merely a hairsbreadth from it. As you are so close, I can claim you now."

"You heartless bastard! Why now? I swear I'm gonna kick you ass!" yelled the teenj as he took a swing at the Shinigami. After all, he was dead, or the next best thing to it, so what did he have to loose? If he won, forlorn hope that it was, he might be able to live again… Or so Naruto reasoned.

His swing met only air as the figure wavered like a heat mirage, then reappeared to the left of where he was standing before.

"Child, you would fight me, a creation of Kami? You are either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. Which is it?" asked the curious demi-divinity

"If I beat you down, then I can live again. That's why I have to win!" yelled the teen as he charged again, only to get caught up by the scruff of his jumpsuit. He was held up in one hand by the power of the creature he had so foolishly challenged. He expected to be ended summarily for his presumption. So it was no surprise that he was shocked to hear laughter from behind him.

"Child, no one had challenged me like that in a long time. So, You want to live that badly huh?"

"Hell yes I do! Why do you think I did this? For grins and chuckles?" demanded the teenager. He was irked that the god of death was laughing at him. Although, he admitted to himself, in hindsight it was a very stupid thing to do.

"Time has no meaning in my realm, boy. Sit, and I will tell you what you must do to earn your life."

Naruto was released. He immediately spun around and sat, all ears. He had a feeling he wouldn't like what he would hear, but he'd listen anyway.

"Now, first, I am going to explain why the villagers hate you…"

In the Hospital room, the Hokage watched Naruto lay in the bed. The injuries were healing, the doctor was hopeful, but Naruto refused to awaken. Sarutobi wondered why the boy was taking so long to wake. He had never done that before.

The young teen was laying in the bed with his arms over the blankets covering him up to his neck. Sarutobi was about to get up and leave with a heavy heart when something quite strange happened. Naruto's body arched its back and opened its mouth like it was screaming in pain, though no sound came out. The hands clenched on the blanket like it was the only thing holding the boy to life and the vital-sign monitoring devices beeped alarmingly.

Sarutobi watched as strange marks seemed to flow down the boys arm, glyphs and sigils growing and writhing like living things until they stopped, covering his upper arms. A shadowy shape covered the boy, writhing and flexing until it too solidified into a coat covering the arms. Sarutobi watched, mouth dropped open in shock. Such a thing had never happened before. What did it mean?

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up with a groan. Oh, boy was he sore. He looked to his right and saw the Hokage of the village staring at him.

"Hey, old man. What's going on? You look like you've seen a ghost." said the recent coma patient. He flexed his arms, stretching, and saw the coat. He grinned, knowing that the Shinigami had threatened to manifest directly into the world to destroy the vile suits he wore. So, Naruto had told him if he didn't like the clothes, give him some new ones. It looks like he did that all right. Hm, wonder what else he did to me? thought Naruto as he got out of the bed. Sarutobi watched as the boy stretched himself out, then reached into a pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a scroll. Opening it, he perused it quickly, then rolled it closed again.

"Naruto? What happened to you," asked the old man as he took in Naruto's new appearance. Black trench coat with crimson piping along it, combat boots where his sandals used to be, semi-baggy cargo pants similar to ANBU in style and a black mesh shirt that threw off silvery highlights as the light hit it.

"I died for a while. Talked to the Shinigami and made a deal." said the teen in a nonchalant manner. The Hokage responded to this by passing out.

Once Naruto had managed to wake the old man up, he demanded to know what had transpired while Naruto was 'dead'. So Naruto recounted what had happened.

--FLASHBACK--

Naruto listened to the god of death as he told him about being the container of the demon fox who had attacked Konoha all those years ago. He didn't believe it until the creature before him made an obscure gesture with one hand, making the strange tattoo he had glow briefly before pulsing and spitting out a strange fox creature. It growled a bit, shaking it's head vigorously.

"Now do you believe me, boy? This is the demon fox who resides in you."

Naruto looked at the bedraggled creature, who looked purely miserable right now. Acting on an impulse, he moved and began to comfort the forlorn demon. The Shinigami was surprised that he would do that. He had expected the boy to try and kill the beast.

The fox looked at Naruto and attempted to move away from the lad, but Naruto stopped him. "Why are you trying to run away? What, do you hate me too?" asked Naruto in a hurt voice.

"Kit, you got it wrong. You should be hating me, not the other way around. I mean, I attacked the village, was the cause of your father dying, and made your life a living hell by being inside you all this time. Why don't you hate me?"

"Simple. You looked like you needed a friend, and since the village hates us both, we're not likely to make friends there, so it's you and me, bud. Yeah, you've got some explaining to do, but we can cover that stuff later. We have other things to worry about, like this guy," he said, jerking his thumb in the general direction of the Shinigami.

Chuckling to himself, he said, "Indeed. Other things to worry about. You want your life back, and by extension, fox, you would get yours back as well. Well. I have no problem with that, but to do so, we have to make a deal. I will return your life to you and grant you a power that has not been loose for many years. In return, you will swear to undertake any jobs I need completed in your world. These jobs will mostly involve killing someone who should be dead many times over, so you will be doing your world a favor if you accept."

"What's the mysterious power," asked the suspicious Naruto. He wasn't sure he liked how this deal was going so far.

"The powers of forging Devil Arms. Not many people have been able to master it. It's a type of alchemy, taking several pieces of something and forging a new item from it. Once the forging is done, then it's yours."

"Okay, what do I have to do to earn this power? I mean, you're not just gonna give it to me, after all," said Naruto suspiciously.

Shinigami nodded. "Quite true. While you are here, you will learn what you need to under my eye. During certain stages of your training, you will face challenges to earn the next step. If you wish to stop at a given step, then you can resume your training later, but it will be better to master as much as possible before you leave this realm.'

Naruto thought about it. It sounded like a good deal to him. He'd get the training for this new skill and the necessary materials, presumably. Plus, at the end, he'd get his life back. That was a major plus, so far as he was concerned. So, in the end, his decision was no decision at all.

"Okay. Bring it on!"

For the next four 'months', Naruto was drilled in the basics and fundamentals of his ability. He was tested three times during those four months. He was forced to subdue three guardians.

One was a tall warrior who defended the knowledge of making weapons. Once Naruto had defeated that guard, he was entitled to forge himself a new set of weapons. The next guardian was a dragon, a celestial dragon, who guarded the knowledge of defense. Once he had conquered that beast- and that was a pain, said a griping Naruto- Naruto had been allowed to create a set of lightweight armor for himself.

The final guard he had been forced to defeat had been himself. He guarded the knowledge of Mastery. Only by defeating himself could he earn the title of Master for himself. It was a laborious process, but in the end, he did it. After he had achieved mastery, the Shinigami stood before him again, grinning. Now, that wasn't unusual, as he always looked like he was smiling because of the mask.

"Congratulations. You have attained the rank of Master in the Devil Arm Forging Arts," he said as Naruto picked up his coat and put it on. The boy was sturdy. Even though only a few heartbeats had happened in the world of the living, four months of continuous work had helped his mental self toughen up.

"Thanks. This has been tough, but worth it… I think," said Naruto.

"What! After all this time you don't know if it's…" the Shinigami trailed off seeing the smirk on his young apprentices face. "And just what is that smirk for, brat?"

"Heh. I can even get a rise out of you now. That's great," said Naruto, his smirk growing into a full-blown smile.

"Brat," he muttered. Why, oh why, did I agree to spare his life? Oh yeah, I remember now… he thought to himself. "Well, you have mastered all the training I have to give you. Take this pendant as a mark of mastery. Wear it with pride."

The great death god handed Naruto a pendant. It was a piece of obsidian engraved with two celestial dragon's spiraling around an ornate sword. On the back, it had the words Naruto Uzumaki, 13th master of the Devil Arms Forge.

"This pendant will allow you to gather the materials required for the forging. As I explained, you forge weapons out of rogue demons. Once you defeat them, you can harvest the energy and vital materials easily. After that, transmute them into the desired weapon. The demon determines the power and element of the weapon."

"I understand, Master Shinigami. Once I'm established back in Konoha, I'll harvest some materials. After that, I'm sure you're gonna be sending me assignments, so I'll work them in around my ninja missions. Deal?" he asked the deity, offering his hand.

The shinigami nodded his cowl covered head. And that was the end of Naruto's training under the feared God of Death.

--FLASHBACK ENDS--

Sarutobilistened to the list of Naruto's exploits while under the tutelage of the Shinigami. Frankly he was astounded. He even had the proof that it was not a strange hallucination on Naruto's part when he pulled the pendant out from under his strange shirt.

"So, what will you do now," he asked.

"Well, I'm going to go home and gather up the materials needed to forge myself a weapon or two. You have me on a genin team, right?" seeing the old man's nod, he asked, "Who are they? I hope I can get along with them."

"I was planning on putting you with Kiba and Shino. Your Sensei would be Kakashi Hatake."

"Alright. I can deal with them. Two outcasts and a brash one on the same team huh? Well, that's okay. I don't know Kakashi, so he's the wildcard here…" murmured the blonde demon vessel. He has changed, thought the aged leader, before he never thought much, or never showed how much he thought. This will be interesting to see.

A/N: Well, Naruto's on his way. How will things play out for our intrepid new Forgemaster? Only time, and I, can tell. But I won't. Not even for a cookie. You could go ask Time if you wanted, but I doubt you'd get anywhere...