Fuujin

Book One

Chapter I

Before you jump into this series, I'd like you to read my foreword. Jin has been an often-neglected series that I've been working on for the past two or three years. It's already been posted once, but I was sorely disappointed in the way I used to write, so I'm reposting this as a newly re-tooled version. Hopefully, you guys will fall in love with it. I remember when I first started this series, I was so happy with the way things turned out. Now I realize that the story is lacking… meat. And that needs to be fixed. Hopefully, I can re-write this thing and make it waaay better than it was originally. I'll be posting my disclaimer at the bottom, for those legal parasites out there. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

-Hangovergoblin

"Sasuke..."

A twelve year old blonde boy stood on the high edges of a massive lake, glaring at his best friend. The raven-haired boy, who stood on the other side shot the stare straight back. "You're a fool, for doing this," the blonde, Uzumaki Naruto, yelled. Sasuke merely shrugged. "Be that as it may, Naruto, I'm still leaving for Oto." The blonde's wilting glare intensified, and Sasuke was beginning to feel the heat on his face. The killing-intent that was coupled with it made him want to shiver. It wasn't like Orochimaru's, or even Kakashi's, but was still powerful for a genin.

The Uzumaki was growing visibly angrier. "You would trade us," he asked, pointing back to in Konoha's direction. "For power?" He ground his teeth with every syllable, and carefully pronounced every word, like they were his last. Naurto stepped forward, slowly, gingerly, onto the steep slope of the lake's edge. He was preparing to remove every bit of Sasuke's yearning for power. He would beat it out of him, with pure force. "Sasuke... I'm bringing you back. For Sakura's promise, my honor, and the village's sake."

Just as Naruto had stepped to the edge of the bank, Sasuke had, too. He knew what was coming. This was it, the paramount of his escape. The crushing defeat of his former-best friend, Uzumaki Naruto. The moment when Uchiha Sasuke would be the second heir of the Mangekyou Sharingan in four years. "-Even if I have to break your legs, Sasuke."

Kakashi sped through the forest with Gai and Asuma in tow. They had to be quick about this, or people, precious people, may die. He would not be the sensei of a dead student, he told himself. 'My students will bury me, not the other way around.' "Pakkun," Kakashi called. The small dog grunted in reply, but never missed a step. He was on the hunt for that blonde kid he had met at the Chuunin Exams. The boy was curious, in his book. He had never known a human to smell so peculiarly. Merely the lightest hints of brushfires, thuderstorms, and foxes hung around the child, so slight that it was hard for him, Pakkun the tracker, to pick up.

Kakashi and the others shot into a clearing before he as able to finish his order. The sight that met him was gruesome at best. The boy he knew as Chouji, an Akimichi, lie off to one side, as thin as some homeless beggar off the streets. 'But isn't he an Akimichi?' Kakashi thought. The Akimichi were portly. Fat, even, if you wanted to die. But it was no lie, the child looked like he had run three tri-athalons. However, in this case, everything came to light with the image of the boy's foe, smashed into little bits, and the small red half-capsule that was lying next to the Akimichi.

It was the third of the food-pills, something a normal shinobi couldn't even stomach. Each food pill delivered a massive caloric boost to an Akimichi, as well as tripling, even quadrupling their chakra. And this boy, Chouji, had taken all three. 'But doesn't the ingestion of all three pills mean death, like the celestial gates?' He was happy that the boy was still alive, at any rate.

"Kakashi," Asuma called. "I've got him." He chucked the boy into a fireman's carry, and began to run back to Konoha. "Go ahead!" he shouted behind him. Kakashi glanced at Gai, who nodded. They both turned and ran to the next area of devastation. If this was the beginning, Kakashi and Gai both shuddered to think what would come next.

Tsunade was utterly aghast with shock when the first of the team she had sent to retrieve Sasuke had returned. He was little more than a bag of bones, with flaps of extra skin hanging limply, swinging in the wind. She recognized him immediately by the swirl marks of his cheeks. The boy was Akimichi Chouji, the fattest of the group, turned thinnest. He was covered in bruises, cuts, and scuff marks, and many an imprint shaped like a massive fist. She immediately called Shizune, who took the boy to the ICU. After a short talk with Asuma about what happened to the boy, she soon followed, and with the slam of a door and a faint green light emitting from under it, she began to heal him.

Asuma whistled low to himself and lit a cigarette. Brow furrowed, he turned toward the door, muttering, "God help you and Shikamaru, Chouji."

One by one, the remainders of the team entered the hospital over the course of twelve hours, each one as bad as the last. Some were conscious, like Kiba and Lee, while others were not. The only one that hadn't returned was the person Tsunade had really sent to retrieve Sasuke. She knew good and well that he would be the only one to do it. But now, things weren't looking so great. Each of the team had been seriously injured, save Lee, who had double teamed a Jounin-level by the name of Kaguya Kimmimaro, the last of the once-feared clan, with the help of Subaku no Gaara. Gaara, like Naruto, was a jinchuuriki, and held the Shukaku, a former wind-priest, who had assumed the form of a Demon-Tanuki. He had been sealed within Gaara while the boy was still in the womb, claiming the boy's mother's life.

Tsunade was thoroughly spent, and her assistant, Shizune wasn't faring much better. So many major operations in one night could have very well killed them from chakra exhaustion, and her hands were singed with burns, where she had forced too much at one time. And she would have slept, too, had it not been for the arrival of Jiraiya, who then demanded answers about the mission and Naruto.

"You sent them on an A-Class Mission?" he had shouted, fists clenched at his sides. Tsunade had merely shrugged and poured another round of Sake, to cool her nerves. "Yes," she had replied. "And now we're waiting on Naruto to return with Sasuke." She had slammed the shot back and swallowed, reveling in the burning sensation traveling down her throat. She then eyed Jiraiya wearily. "So please," Tsunade whispered, "Let me sleep. You aren't the only one who worries for him." Her eyes had closed in a bid to shoo Jiraiya away. When he had slammed the door, she smiled knowingly, and allowed herself to drift into sleep.

A few hours earlier...

"-Even if I have to break your legs, Sasuke."

Two twelve year-olds, one blonde and one brunette, stepped onto the surface of the lake, auras buzzing with chakra. Each took four steps toward each other, stopped, and readied themselves. They sized each other up, like they both had done in their mind's eye many times before. This was the moment a rivalry became more than it ever would be. This was the make or break moment, when their fates were decided. Would one die? Would they survive? Would they kill each other?

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes registered every movement Naruto made. Every twitch, every breath, every hair and piece of fabric that rustled with the wind. The boy's orange jumpsuit shone in the twilight of evening, just like the sky behind it. Sasuke brushed a hair out of his face, and settled into a taijutsu stance. He wouldn't underestimate Naruto this time. The boy was a powerhouse, capable of damage on a large scale. Even Sasuke couldn't do damage like that.

Naruto also dropped into a taijutsu stance, but his was sloppy. Undoubtedly from months without practice that had been focused on something else, whether it be that... Thing made of chakra, the Rasengan, or whatever other jutsu the frog-guy had taught him. "Should've practiced more, Naruto," Sasuke thought smugly. "You might've had a chance at surviving today."

Then... Movement!

Naruto had moved forward at speeds Sasuke had never seen the boy capable of. In a mere flash, the blonde had covered more than half the distance between him and Sasuke. Before Sasuke could finish blinking from shock, Naruto's fist had landed a solid punch to the boy's gut, and had sent the Sharingan wielder flying back. Sasuke's eyes snapped wide open as he tried to recover, but Naruto was already in his face again, hands on his shoulders. He barely even had time to register the boy's knee, which had pulled back, and now barreled in toward Sasuke's chest. It slammed into its indended target, and Sasuke felt all of the air in his lungs force its way out. He wheezed in protest, but a tanned fist slammed into his mouth. Sasuke flew back, striking the Valley's wall with his side.

The raven-haired boy coughed up some blood, which leaked from the corners of his mouth. There was no way in hell Naruto could be that fast or that strong, without some divine intervention. Sasuke fell to his knees, and coughed up some more ruby-red liquid. He glanced from between the strands of his hair at his friend, who was crouched on the surface of the lake. Wind and chakra radiated out from him, licking up choppy little waves from the massive waterway. His canines had lengthened, and his eyes were still the same blue as ever, but his pupils had contracted into tiny slits.

"What... are you?" Sasuke coughed. "You can't be better than me." He righted himself, wobbling slightly on his legs. The Curse Mark on his shoulder expanded and radiated outwards, the black, flaming tattoo bleeding over his skin. "I won't let you," he shouted. Black chakra exploded around him as he shot toward his best friend. The two collided, red and black, and began the most fearsome taijutsu battle either had ever experienced or watched. Blows were traded but none would land. Always blocked, always dodged. They roared at each other in primal fury as they rolled over the lake, punching, kicking, biting with fangs.

This would have carried on for much longer, had it not been for a particularly vicious blow to Sasuke's chin, courtesy of Naruto's foot. The boy rocketed skyward, up and nearly out of the Valley. Naruto summoned a Kage Bunshin as he prepared for an attack as Sasuke, while in flight, had recovered, and was going through a quick set of hand seals. A Rasengan, an orb of destructive chakra used by the Yondaime, formed in Naruto's hand, and the sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air.

Naruto turned his eyes skyward, setting the image of Sasuke with his chidori back into the depths of his mind. When he was old, he'd cherish the feeling that he was experiencing right now. He wasn't sure why he was so excited about the coming moment, when Rasengan and Chidori would meet in a clash of directed chakra. Maybe it was the surge of power he felt when he realized he was standing against 'The Uchiha Sasuke.' or maybe it was the fact that he knew he would hold on to Sakura's promise.

He wasn't sure, but none of it mattered, as the beast neared the gates, as the hurricane neared the shore... As Sasuke neared Naruto. None of it mattered when the crackle of pure electrical energy met the swirl of a typhoon, nor when the chakra exploded around each other. No. It didn't even matter when the world faded to black, and Naruto knew he had failed.

Uchiha Sasuke gathered himself, aching head and all, as he pulled himself from the lake's watery grasp. He coughed and sputtered all the blood and water that had accumulated in his throat and mouth on the shore, covering small rocks and mud with a slight-red hue. He turned back and looked over the surface, catching a small glimpse of orange out on the lake. He had done it, killed his best friend, for power. His chest swelled up with pride at his accomplishment, but a wave of bile swept from his stomach up into his mouth. He had killed his best friend. The only one who had shown him true kindness in his life after the massacre. Sasuke was not one to cry. Not anymore. But he couldn't help the small tears that escaped the sides of his eyes as he yanked himself from the bank and up the Valley's steep wall. "Was it really worth it?" His answer came when he focused his eyes, remembering the old legends. He activated the Sharingan and searched for something, right behind his eyes. Another small pouch of chakra, along with the normal Sharingan chakra pouch, had formed. He tapped into it, and before his very eyes, the world slowed to a crawl.

This was it. He had acquired the cursed Mangekyou, the Kaleidoscope Mirror-Wheel. But he couldn't help the hole in his heart, which had grown icy over the past few minutes. His stomach was a knot, his eyes leaked fresh tears, and he constantly had to fight wave after wave of bile. He was not a killer. Well, in the traditional murderer type, anyway. Itachi could handle what it meant to have the Mangekyou, but only because he had no emotions, something else he had killed off in ANBU.

But Sasuke...

As he dragged himself from the Valley of The End's edge, he set an agonizingly fast pace toward Oto. If he could make it there, perhaps Orochimaru could offer some solace, if any.

"Guah..."

Naruto held his head as he took in his surroundings. Concrete, circular walls, leaky pipes of assorted colors, and a fresh coat of moss and mold on the floor. Doors lined the halls with labels like 'Hopes', 'Dreams', and 'Fears.' "Great. Back in my mind..." He walked toward a small door at the end of the hall, where a glowing, ominously red light shown out from under its bottom. A menacing growl was heard from the behind it. This was where his tenant and prisoner lived. The Kyuubi no Kitsune, lord of Foxes and king of Youkai lived just behind the small, white door.

He opened the door, stepped through, and closed it behind him. In front of him was a great cage, stretching toward the endless abyss above him. The room had a dome-like structure with an opening at the top, much like Roman architecture, where a great blackness radiated out. All the pipes that ran through his mind exited here, so he could only guess it was the first of the eight Celestial Gates.

But something else was here. A light, whispy voice, carrying phrases in a language he couldn't quite grasp, but understood perfectly. It spoke of the wind, and all it could do. He glanced around, and saw no body to go with the voice. "How odd..." he said.

"You ain't kidding, brat. This bastard arrived here a few moments ago, and hasn't shut up since."

Naruto's eyes shot up a few hundred feet, and he found the scarlet, slitted eyes of Kyuubi staring back at him. They were scrunched up in what Naruto guessed to be annoyance, but you never really can tell with foxes, considering the fact that they are animals. So he asked a legitimate question of the fox with near-limitless power. "Don't you have like... a human form?" He cocked his head to the side like a dog who's heard a curious sound. The fox looked at him like he was insane. However, with the incessant gabbing it was hearing out of the voice that called itself 'Kaze', it could do little to argue with the boy. The Kyuubi's eyes lowered and shrunk to a decent level, which, in Naruto's own book, was just a bit taller than himself.

A large, muscular man stepped out of the shadows of the cage and approached the bars. His eyes were a dark crimson color, like freshly-spilled blood. He was dressed in a dark purple robe that reached his ankles. Nine tails swished back and forth behind him, like malevolent banners proclaiming his title of, 'King of the Demon Beasts'.

"I take it you're here because you're near death." The beast gave a short, clipped laugh. "Bleeding out, floating on the surface of a lake, face down… Who would have thought we'd meet our end like that?" He crossed his arms and regarded Naruto. "How do you feel about that, meatsack?"

Naruto returned the Kyuubi's stare with one that had equal amounts of authority. He was the demon fox's jailor, his keeper, and his host. He was only 12, but he knew exactly what type of position he was in. He needed leverage.

"This won't be the end, and we both know that. Stop acting like an arrogant prick for once and realize we're in real danger here."

He touched his chest with his hand. "I'm the one bleeding out, but if I die, you die. And we both know you have enough chakra to heal any wound I have, short of being beheaded." Naruto was growing heated. Talking to the Kyuubi always made his hackles rise. The beast was such an asshole. Leave it to the King of Demons to have no sense of humility at all. And what the fuck was that voice saying in his ears?

Naruto shook his head violently, as if trying to rid it of some kind of insect, causing the Kyuubi to laugh again.

"It looks like you've met my new cell-mate. How wonderful."

Naruto paused and looked the Kyuubi in the eye. "Cell-mate?" he asked, arching his eyebrow. "What does that mean?" He looked around momentarily before resting his eyes on the fox again. "Who's here with us?"

The fox began to pace, ignoring the boy's question momentarily. Those dark, malevolent eyes roved around the cage, as if trying to find a way to say something. He, the great destroyer of men, was at a loss for words.

"Well?" Naruto asked, hands on his hips.

"There is something inside of you, boy." The man-fox spat the last word out contemptuously. "Something ancient… As ancient as I am. This, I must add, is really saying something." His tails flicked randomly, as if agitated by his thoughts. "This thing… is not foreign to your body, as I am. This is something that has been inside of you from day one. Something I must have overlooked, although I don't quite understand how I couldn't have seen something so important."

Naruto was growing impatient, and it showed on his face.

"Will you tell me what the fuck you're talking about?" he yelled.

The Kyuubi's tails lashed the bars of the cage, causing the boy to shrink back. The Kyuubi was his prisoner, but that didn't mean he had no fear at all reserved for the monstrous beast. The King of Demons had nearly destroyed one of the five great ninja villages in a single night. That was a fearsome power to behold.

"Enough!"

The beast pointed with one clawed hand at the ceiling. "Do you not hear that voice? Do you not understand what it means? What it's saying to you, boy? You really are as dense as I had always thought. Shut your mouth, you worthless meatsack, and listen!"

Naruto did as he was told and really listened to the voice for the first time since he arrived. It was no longer an incessant humming, but a steady, even tempo with a faint lilting quality to it. As hard as he tried, though, he could only make out a single word. 'Wind,' it had said. The voice was long and drawn out, and would flutter in volume.

"What does that mean? Wind?" he asked of the great caged beast.

The beast, who had calmed down from his previous state, sighed.

"It is an ancient voice, an early manifestation of the… madness to come. Boy, you were marked to be different from the very moment you were born. You were different from the rest because of something that was already lurking in the shadows of your gene pool, not just because of me. Though, I must say, you probably owe it to me that you even discovered this ancient secret in the first place. Without my subtle manipulation of your body, or the extra chakra in your coils, you might have gone your entire life with this thing being dormant. But now it has awakened, and you must reap what your ancestors had sewn. A very… beneficial harvest, I'll add."

Naruto's head cocked to the side in confusion and the Demon King deflated in mock-defeat.

"You, boy," the monster continued, "are of an ancient race known as the Jin. Separate from humans, but not separate enough for your kind and theirs to not interbreed. My presence and your genes created a sort of 'perfect storm' that caused you to actually manifest your blood's secret. Welcome to the Kekkei Genkai club, boy."

"Whoa…," Naruto started as he moved closer to the cage. He imagined a seat in his dreamscape, and one appeared underneath him as he sat down. One of the benefits of being inside one's own mind is the ability to change its landscape at will. As he took his seat, the Kyuubi turned his back to the boy. The monster's tails flicked once, and a great rushing noise filled the cavern they were in as a set of immense bookshelves were summoned to the front of the cage. This, Naruto presumed, was the vast stores of knowledge the Kyuubi had as the King of the Beasts.

The red-eyed man selected a large, dusty volume from the shelf. It was bound in beautiful smooth leather, and had hinges attached to its spine made of polished brass. He beckoned Naruto closer to the cage and relinquished the tome to the boy. Naruto returned to his seat and opened the great book in his lap.

"What you're looking at," said the Kyuubi, "is an ancient volume of history I had my progeny create for me when the world was young. We foxes are not known for our intellectual pursuits… We are more typecast as the most cunning of animals. This is not the case, though. Foxes once, and still are, great keepers of knowledge. This particular volume is dedicated to the Jin, a sub-group of humanity that you belong to."

"The Jin are a race of men who hail from the southernmost regions of the continent. They have spread out amongst the other groups in humanity, but have distinct qualities that stratify them from the other groups of men. Jin are elementalists: beings that have control (in varying degrees) of certain elements in nature. The Jin are further stratified in their own race by their elemental abilities. Each Jin is born with an affinity that has been passed down from their father's side. Unfortunately, some Jin cannot use their affinity; they are often forced into subservience by those who have control. The control of a Jin's particular element can be trained to the point of god-like feats. The feats a Jin can perform can range anywhere from turning rain into mist or moving entire mountain ranges (such things have been recorded by the foxes). In recent years, the population of pureblood jin have diminished slowly, and continue on a steady rate of decline.

"… What the fuck? You expect me to believe this shit?"

The Kyuubi's head jerked back sharply as the words entered his sensitive ears. He was dumbfounded by the boy's stupidity. His initial shock morphed into annoyance, and from there into anger. That anger began to boil, and the red chakra that constituted his body began to boil along with it. This all happened within a few moments of Naruto's outburst, and the rage that had begun to boil suddenly made itself known… violently.

"Are you retarded or something? What the hell is the matter with you, you stupid fucking kid? If any of my progeny showed even the slightest hint of your level of stupidity, I would have them culled from the den! And by culled, I mean fucking executed! You worthless sack of flesh! You've been given one of the greatest gifts you could ever imagine, and you didn't even have to earn it! It's right fucking there on the page, you sack of shit! Be grateful that your parents left you with something that wasn't malevolent and destructive, you fool!"

The great beast had lost all control during his tirade, and had morphed back into his fox form. His immense maw gaped wide with fury as his breaths came out in titanic rushes of air.

"You're such a fool sometimes, boy! For once in your life, show some maturity!"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by the Kyuubi.

"This is one of the most important events in the history of your world, child. You have a chance to resurrect a power that could trump any shinobi that walks the earth, but you choose to be a fool about it! What the hell is the matter with you?"

Naruto waited for the beast to calm down, and then he deadpanned the monster. "I have a sense of humor."

The beast drew in one final gulp of air, and then his head jerked back for a second time.

"What?"

Naruto closed the book and laid it at the foot of the beast's cage. "It was a joke." He looked up at the monster in the cage before him and smiled. "Next time you decide to go mental, let me know so I can leave." He folded his arms across his chest. "Now heal me, and show me what to do to get this Kekkei Genkai running. I've got an asshole to go catch."

"You arrogant son of a who-"

The great beast, the Kyuubi no Yoko, King of Demons, and prisoner of a twelve year old boy was cut off as the teen's mind went black, and we has transported through his mindscape to the waking world.

Sasuke ripped through Rice country like a madman, taking no heed of the condition his body was in. The further he got from his surrogate brother's corpse, the better he thought he would feel. Well, as his own witness, he would personally tell you he was in no better shape than when he had started out of the Valley. He was still experiencing waves of nausea, and his sharingan eyes had recorded, in perfect detail, the image of Naruto, floating on the surface of the lake, facedown and leaking blood. Tears were still prevalent on his Sasuke's face, and he scolded himself for being such a pathetic loser. Uchiha men didn't cry. They steeled themselves against any emotion that would cripple them in battle. There was only hate and anger for the Uchiha in the thick of a fight. No regret, no sadness, no grief.

But Sasuke did feel those emotions.

Maybe what his brother said was right. Maybe he really was too weak to kill Itachi. But that was why he had killed Naruto in the first place, wasn't it? He had the Mangekyou Sharingan now, so what was holding him back?

Did he really need Orochimaru now? Now that he had achieved the greatest feat an Uchiha could ever hope to accomplish… now that he had unlocked the sacred Mangekyou Sharingan, did he really need anyone else besides himself? There was one person he could think of that might have been able to help him now that he had the prize, but that Kakashi would be sure to turn his back on the boy after he had killed Naruto.

"Don't say his name," Sasuke thought to himself, bringing on a wave of fresh tears. What had he done? Is this the sort of monster he wanted to be?

As he passed through a glade, he was almost sure he caught a glimpse of orange to his side. Seeing nothing, he shook his head and continued at a breakneck pace. He had even deactivated his Sharingan to conserve every last bit of energy for the remainder of the trip. Had he still had it activated, he could've picked out the small, almost imperceptible hints around him that Naruto was still alive. He could've also avoided jumping through the last small thatch of forest lining Rice's border.

But he didn't, and as his face lit up with joy at the fact that he was only several leaps from Oto, something caught his wrist and yanked it with incredible force. He fell, face first, through the trees, and on his descent, blinding pain followed his every move. He was being accosted, without even seeing his foe. Crack! As he activated his sharingan for the final time that day, he caught an after-image, something that had long been negated by the effects of his Kekkei Genkai. The image was of a blonde boy, with deep blue eyes, and an orange jumpsuit.

He landed back first on the pine needles lining the forest floor, and as he feebly raised his head through the pain, he realized that one of his legs was twisted behind him, and his right arm was snapped at the wrist. A faint crunching sound became louder to his side, and as he turned, he saw the boy he had just killed. He wondered briefly in his slight hysteria, that maybe he was seeing a ghost. But ghosts couldn't lift a person's leg. His sharingan met ocean-blue eyes, with four black triangles whirling within them.

"Naru-"

He interrupted himself when a brutal roar of pain ripped from his throat. It was a horrible, heart-wrenching cry of complete agony, which was born on the wings of the blonde before him, who had just snapped his other leg right before his very eyes. Sasuke's eyes poured tears of anguish, like he had never cried before. He would've continued, too, had the blonde not shifted in front of him. He was now kneeling beside Sasuke, staring the raven-haired boy down with those horrible, beautiful eyes.

"I told you, Sasuke, that even if I had to break both your legs, I'd bring you back."

Uzumaki Naruto punched Uchiha Sasuke squarely in the forehead, brutally forcing unconsciousness on the raven-haired boy, right on Oto no Kuni's doorstep. Naruto hauled Sasuke up by his shirt collar, and threw him into a fireman's carry. "I won't drop you," he whispered. A blink's worth of time later, all which remained of the two was a slight whispering in the air, one that was neither Naruto's, nor Sasuke's.