The dark, cloud-filled sky lit up in a flash with a loud roar of thunder, burning brighter than the sun for a total of five seconds as a pillar of silver light flew into the heavens before fading out like a dying star.
"Nagato-kun, something went wrong with the ritual," said a cool female voice from inside a remote cave, high in the mountains where the pillar blossomed from.
"Damn! This scroll told me nothing…" responded a voice, belonging to a male.
Rain battered the outside world like a barrage of bullets; inside the small, dimly lit cave was a group of people… well, that is to say, two people and six corpses. As the icy cold droplets impacted the mountain range, the two inside the cave warmed themselves by a fire. The cave itself was fairly wide, wide enough for the six bodies to lie side-by-side, but the stone ceiling was very low; both living occupants needed to stoop to avoid from hitting their heads.
"The scroll said six bodies were required, ne?" asked the female's voice; the voice came from a woman about twenty years old. She was fairly tall with blue hair and grey eyes, as well as pale skin; she wore a dark cloak that was ripped in various places, and in her hair she had a light pink origami rose.
"Hai," whispered the other person; he was a man, roughly a year older than the woman. He had long red hair and very pale skin, and was also very tall; he was skinny, to the point that he looked almost like a corpse, and had light purple eyes with three rings bordering the pupil; his right eye was covered by his long hair. "But it didn't go into very much detail about the seals needed… perhaps Jiraiya-sama would've known more…"
The six bodies were of various sizes, though they bore one similarity (aside from one pair, who bore another): they were all shinobi from a Hidden Village (except for the sixth, though he was a companion of a shinobi).
The largest one was a man who looked to be in his early to middle forties; he had dull blonde hair and dark skin, and he wore a hitai-ate from Kumogakure in the form of a bandana; covering his body was a standard flak jacket from Kumo, which was merely a white vest with a single strap that crossed the chest, and a pair of blue sweatpants. He was very tall and muscular, though his corpse had begun to show the typical signs of death. This was the man known as the Sandaime Raikage, leader of Kumo, called saikyo no tate, the strongest shield, by many. He was called this because of his great endurance ability, having held out against ten thousand shinobi for three days, killing all except for two: Nagato and his companion, the former having created a spear of earth and driving it through the chest of the greatly weakened Lightning Shadow. After his death, Nagato sealed the body away in a scroll and carried it with him.
Next to him lay the body of a nameless shinobi from Yugakure, the Village Hidden in the Hot Water. He was about twenty-four or so, with tan skin and snow white hair. He wore a flak jacket much like that of the Raikage's, though instead of one strap it was held up by dual straps, and of course there was a big slash across the chest, revealing a bloody and battered front, for he had died only recently. He was a remnant from an extinct clan (the clan had completely died with him) who had the power to control water in all forms; he could freeze and boil it at will, turn it into steam, or anything of the sort. He and another ninja from Yugakure had been among the group attacking the Raikage, though on the dawn of the third day (when only a few hundred attackers remained), he was killed by a lightning sword that the Raikage created through a Raiton ninjutsu. After the end of the battle, his body was also collected by Nagato.
Next to the nameless Yu-nin were two shinobi, roughly seventeen or eighteen. One was a male, the other a female. They both had hitai-ate from Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist. The male was about as tall as Nagato, with only a little bit of muscle definition and tanner skin; he wore a tattered slate grey flak jacket, with extended shoulder guards with multiple scrolls on the back, as well as a pair of greenish grey pants; he wore his hair much like Nagato—long and red, though his eyes were an icy blue. His name was Uzumaki Kirito, one of the last survivors of Uzushiogakure, the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools, and he was the lead fuinjutsu (art of sealing) master of Kiri, as well as a distant clansman of Nagato.
The female had short, dark brown hair and green, almost teal eyes; her skin was rather pale and she wore a similar outfit, though without the scrolls. Her name was Uzukaze Asuna, a member of the Uzukaze clan of Uzu, where Kirito's family was from. She and her lover Kirito were slain "mistakenly" by a stray Doton ninjutsu belonging to Nagato himself. The two were jounin and very powerful in their own right, but they were unable to defend against Nagato (who they believed their ally, especially seeing as Kirito and Nagato were distantly related; they were powerful, yet rather foolish). After the Raikage was killed, they were sealed by their murderer.
Beside the lovers was a nuke-nin from Iwagakure, the Village Hidden in the Stones by the name of Kamizuru Aianbi. He was roughly twenty-five and rather short, and his head was completely bald; while he was alive, it was covered in his ever-faithful bugs, which would swarm around it, hardening when needed and separating to attack. He ran around completely shirtless, his bare chest and stomach being covered by an armour of beetles, which were quite the defense when needed. His pants were simple and grey, barely long enough to reach his ankles, with blue sandals; he was killed right when the fighting started, being the first casualty—the Raikage let loose a blast of lightning that ran through his beetle armour like a javelin, killing him instantly. During the cleanup of the battlefield, Nagato collected his body and sealed it away.
Finally beside the insect shinobi was an unnamed mercenary who was a travelling companion of Aianbi; he was not from a ninja village, and was only known as "Samurai" and hailed from Tetsu no Kuni. His traditional samurai armour had been stripped and pilfered after his death against the Sandaime, and now he wore only a rough white cotton shirt and grey pants, with a cut on his throat opening like a grim red smile. His shirt was brought up above his stomach, revealing a seal on his stomach, placed there by Aianbi, to prevent the theft of his swords in the event of his death. The Raikage delivered the deathblow upon him with a swift strike of a chakra-enhanced kunai, killing him instantly; he fell right after his Iwa ally.
"Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!" yelled Nagato, glaring furiously into the flames. His thoughts were clouded by anger, then in his mind he whispered quietly, 'Yahiko… I shall avenge you, otouto.' as his mind turned to thoughts of his orange-haired best friend.
He stood up suddenly; "Where are you going?" asked the woman.
"I need to clear my mind, Konan-chan," replied the Uzumaki, "perhaps that was what caused the technique to fail."
The woman now known as Konan nodded; "I suppose that's wise. Try to stay hidden if you can," she said, "there's no doubt that there are some shinobi hunting for us."
"I can take them," said Nagato as he walked toward the entrance of the cave.
"Be careful…" said Konan. Nagato reached the mouth of the cave, turned his face toward her and gave her a small smile, which almost looked somewhat ghastly on his hollow-looking face; he had used quite a bit of chakra over the past few days and it was starting to take a toll on him. He raised his hand and stepped outside, and he left. "…Nagato-kun…"
A scroll lay spread open by the dying embers of the fire. Konan took it in her pale hands and examined it closely, reading aloud, " 'Note: Do NOT use more than one body for this! I cannot stress this enough! DON'T DO IT MAN!' …Well, that doesn't sound good."
Well, there goes the prologue of the story. Keep on reading the first chapter before you give up on it, please! Leave a review if you want, I suppose, though it'd be preferred after you read the next chapter, follow and favourite and all, and no flames please!
~Mitch