Prologue: The Sage of Six Paths
He gazed detachedly as his opponent fell, screaming in a fright as his face dissolved from the corrosive effects of his chakra. The landscape burned with the bitter black fire as the Goddess of Death and Creation descended upon the world. His life held no meaning now, the endless fighting, destruction and chaos had finally come to a close, and today was the day the world ended.
He walked across the cave, his blue eyes unfeeling and his gaze as cold as the day they killed his family, ready to present himself to judgment of Izanami, for the crimes he had committed in life. A lone shinobi, ready to embrace the Gift of Man, the curse of the Ninja, death.
His eyes began to glimmer for the first time as he sat down before the entrance, beholding the scene of destruction and chaos that marred the landscape, the blessed and the damned fighting to stem the tides of the underworld. But he knew, he knew with the destruction of the Biju and the death of Nagato that this would happen. Five centuries before, the Sage of Six paths had insured the survival of humanity, it was ironic that a descendent of his would be the one to insure its destruction.
He heard her before he saw her, the whispers that came with presence, the screams of Ninja fighting, begging off their destruction, and he knew it was time. He had not even needed to begin meditating, it made sense that he would be among the first of his people to die, as he was one of the primary causes of the End Game, the Apocalypse. He opened his eyes, rueful, and yet remorseless. The pain of eighteen years of life present for the first time since her demise, his beautiful Shizune.
He beheld the sight of his maker, the mother of all creation as she glided gracefully towards him. Her skin was pale, raven hair flowing down her shoulders, and a grace that was unnatural to the human form. Her eyes were sad, and soft smile was upon her lips as she gazed back, the face of Death was unlike any he had ever beheld, and it scared him just how much he longed for her embrace.
"Such odd mix of eccentricities, child." She laughed softly. "A deep seeded fear with an unnatural resolve, are you so ready to die."
"I have nothing left." He answered. "My life was forfeit the day they took her from me."
"My friends are all dead, my home is in ruins…"His gaze was mournful, unbecoming of a warrior once so proud. "And now, by world burns for the sins of one man."
"Your people decided their fate the day they took our gifts, and tainted them with ill intents." Her gaze was sad once more, Izanami gestured to the destruction before them. "The day they perverted the intentions of a Holy Man."
"And yet it was by my hand, that this world burns." He replied. "Nagato died trying to fulfill our dreams, when perhaps it was I who was the one who should have made that sacrifice."
"Had he lived, had he carried out his intentions." She gazed into his eyes. "Everything would have been the same…"
"The Nine were the severed pieces of the a greater whole, a Devil so terrible that life itself descended upon the world to end him. Nagato would have unleashed a greater destruction, than what you believe you have wrought."
"Yet now we burn…"
"Yet where there is death, there is also life…"The Goddess smiled as he gazed at her confusedly. "All souls ascend to the heavens to meet with judgment, the maker has deemed it so…"
"There is death" she continued. "yet there is also rebirth."
"Then…" his gaze turned hopeful.
"No…"her eyes, those sad eyes gazed at him. "Your destiny as yet to unveil itself."
"What?" he looked at her confusedly. "What are you talking about?"
She smiled at him, amused at his confusion. That smile, he had seen before, the day Tsunade had directed him to her, the day she had affirmed her love for him.
"You are my child. As I chose you upon the ascent of your mother."
"This world was created as a reflection of one of my children, Susanoo. It is as wild and as unyielding as he. Yet…"
"You were different. Can you guess why?"
"No." He answered confusedly.
"You were touched by the hand of Death." She answered. "The seal that was created to house the Nine Tails was constructed with my essence."
"But Shinigami?"
She held her hand, silencing him.
"Is but a carrier, the guide for the recently dead."
"It was through my essence that the seal was forged, and now it will be through my hand that you will be reborn."
"I do not understand…" She laughed at him, so vulnerable a man, yet so strong in spirit.
"My eldest son walks these lands once more. His sister following in his wake. Susanoo tears the world with his storms, floods the plain with his seas, as Amaterasu burns the all those he leaves behind."
"Yet I choose but a mere mortal to descend to."
"A fragile spirit to gaze upon."
"Why Uzumaki Naruto, why do you think I came? To destroy? No, I came to claim a son?"
"What?!" He was surprised.
"You believed yourself mortal?" She asked him. "Your father, the man that gave you life. He made a deal with me, a solution to his problem for a sacrifice. It was not his intention to give away your soul, nor your body. Yet I knew, the strongest portion of the great beast could not be housed by a mere mortal child. And so I gave you life, made you anew as I will do again…
"I still don't understand!" He yelled desperately, driving himself backwards and away from the Goddess.
"You do not need to." She sighed, approaching him. "You merely have to live…"
"But my wife?!" he screamed. "How could I continue?!"
"All that I have loved is now gone! All that I dreamed of is gone! How can you expect me to live?! How can you expect me to fill this festering would!?" He held his chest, desperately trying to make her see. "Fate has ripped her away from me, and now you try to keep her away?!"
She slapped him, and for the first time since his outburst he noticed the tears that fell from her eyes. Obsidian black orbs that beheld him tenderly, gazing at him with pride, and yet filled with compassion. She descended to his level, kneeling before him, gazing deeper into his blue eyes, before embracing him. Taking him deep into a hug, as he mourned for himself.
"How can you be so selfish?" She asked softly. "She watches you, she gazes at you, and she pities."
"You destroy yourself to avenge her. And she longs more and more to hold you into her arms, she mourns the loss of your life, what have you turned yourself into, my son?"
"I had to…" he cried. "They took her from me, they took them!"
"My love…"
"My child…"
"They live through you." She replied, a sad octave from the song that is her voice. "They mourn for you."
"You have not yet begun to live. Yet you seek dead so desperately…"
"A mother mourns for her son, as a family cries for their father, their husband."
"You only hurt us more, the longer you seek your destruction."
"But what of rebirth?" He asked.
"You are not ready…" She answered. "The great journey will only destroy you."
"Then what must I do?" he asked.
"Live…" She kissed his forehead. "Truly live your life. And when the time comes, we will come for you?"
"Then give me strength, Mother."
"Always, as we will always watch for you…"
He gazed into her eyes, a sense of longing entering his heart and mind as he felt sleep encroaching him. She hummed softly, holding him in a loving embrace as he fell to sleep. For the first time in years he fell asleep to no nightmares…
"May the Creator watch over you, my son…"
The wrath of heaven descended upon the world, burning the life that came before. The age of Ninja was at an end, its sins washed away by raging seas, burned asunder by the fires of Amaterasu. Yet he slept. With destruction, came creation, the dawn of creatures great and terrible, the age of the great winter came and went, and yet he still slept.
His mother, out of love and desire to protect him, constructed for him a great tomb. The wrath of the Nine Tails slowly washing away, the spirits of the past devils, the nine devils of old, siphoned and surged through the protective embrace of his mother. The solution to their threat, the birth of the son of a Goddess, and the destruction of the great destroyer. He was immortal now, yet he did not even know it.
The loving tune of his mother's hum echoed through the halls, the age of man had come. And yet it would be many years before she would deem him ready to awaken. Ready to face the trials of his life, trials that she did not tell him. Trials that were foretold, yet deemed unfit to be whispered into his ears at his weakest point. For he, like the Sages that came before him, would once more set the stage for the renewal or destruction of life. The Father of the teaching that would one day guide all of creation to everlasting peace.
The Trials of the Sage of Six Paths.
Authors Note: This is the first time in a long while that I've decided to begin writing again. I was bored one day, while browsing the net, and found this sit once more. A lot has changed, more stories are written, and the drama of authors vs. flamers even more intense then what I remember. But enough with the small talk. As my past readers would know, I'm not one for both conventional stories or pairings. So, you can expect a lot of crack pairings. Like always, flamers are laughed at, constructive criticism is encouraged, and angry Hinata Fanboys… well, I hate you back!