Note: Well, here it is, the first chapter of what I am hoping to be quite the epic story. You got the basic idea in the summary of what its about so there is no reason to talk about that. The M rating is one thing I will bring up though. This story may not live up to it's rating, but I gave it this rating just to be safe. Following is the setup of this story, it's not terribly long, just enough to set the premise for the rest of the story. So enjoy!
Prologue
"Byakugan," Hinata's cry rang through the forest, "he's coming straight at us, about a minute away!" She announced, turning to face her teammates, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.
"What does his chakra look like?" Questioned Naruto, "we need to know what scale we need to fight on in order to beat him."
Hinata turned back around toward where Itachi was coming from, she gasped, "incredible! It's at least 10 times that of the raikage!"
Sakura stepped forward toward Hinata, "does he seem to have any weak points? Where do we hit him to make it the most effective?"
"I don't see any weak points."
Naruto grinned, "well if all else fails, or he seems too powerful for us to take, then I can always go into Biju form! That ought to get him!"
Sasuke stepped up with the rest of them, "keep in mind he can use the Tsukyome, so you can't look into his eyes!"
Whoosh! Something came flying at the four, hitting the ground and exploding directly in front of them, sending them catapulting backward. They landed and looked up to see Itachi standing in the small crater that the explosion had made. Naruto glanced at Sasuke and Sasuke nodded. Naruto began running at Itachi, his body slowly morphing into the Kyubi: Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox. He sprang into the air and hurled a Biju bomb at Itachi, it was a perfect hit, and the bomb expanded, in the manner of a rasengan. When the black chakra orb receded, Itachi was standing in the center of the now behemoth crater.
He began chuckling, "it seems you have improved Naruto, of course I expected nothing less from the Jinchuriki of Kurama – who, speaking of, you seem to have obtained a bond with, to be able to be able to go into a full Biju mode and not be consumed by him!" He walked up to the side of the crater and sprang up, he disappeared, and appeared again behind Naruto.
***Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu***
Flames rolled out of his mouth, expanding, consuming, burning, hurling toward Naruto, at the last possible second he sprang up and to the side, swinging a tail over and behind Itachi hitting him square in the back. The Uchiha was flung forward, flying over the crater and smashing into a tree on the other side, his body should have been crippled, but he slid down the side of the tree, and stood as if nothing had happened.
"Ah! Naruto, I forgot to mention, whatever happened in that fight between you and Sasuke? Or did you not fight like I so hoped that you would? Because for some strange reason – "his voice dripped with sarcasm and mock disbelief "- I can sense his chakra here!"
Sasuke appeared behind Itachi, a chidori crackling on his left hand, "right here, brother," he thrust forward, but was met with an octopus tentacle, his chidori went clean through it, and the tentacle fell limp to the ground.
Naruto, or rather Kurama, roared in anguish, "what have you done with Bee? What did you do to octopops?!" The fox ran at Itachi, swinging one of its tails around to hit him and when he jumped to dodge swinging another one upward to bat Itachi skyward. As he fell, another tail met him and he hurled at an unbelievable speed toward the ground. He hit, and there was an awful cracking sound at the ground around him split. Naruto morphed back into himself, out of Kyubi form and ran at where Itachi lay, picked him up by the collar and yelled again, "what? What did you do to Bee? Where is he?" Itachi grinned and was met with a punch to the nose, shattering the bone, "I'll ask this again, and then no mercy!" Naruto stared Itachi directly in the eyes, "What. Have. You. Done. With. Bee?!" Then he let Itachi go, and staggered backwards, he dropped to the ground wailing. He was obviously in some sort of pain.
Sasuke began running at Naruto, "Sakura! Help! He's under Genjutsu!" Sasuke ran at Naruto and put a hand on him, and Sakura ran up and healed him. "What was that I said a bout not looking him the eye Naruto?" Sasuke asked, then turned around toward Itachi.
***Amaterasu***
Black flames leapt into existence on Itachi's arms and legs, and slowly they began to spread, Itachi looked at the black flames which now covered him and released his own Amaterasu, "fight fire with fire, brother," Itachi smirked.
***Kagebushin No Jutsu: Art of the Shadow Doppelganger***
Three more Narutos appeared, each began creating chakra forms in one of Naruto's hands, soon they both began to rotate like a suriken. One of the Narutos tossed a smoke bomb at Itachi, it exploded and a cloud of smoke appeared between Naruto and Itachi. Everything was silent, then a spinning chakra shuriken spun out of the smoke heading at Itachi, he jumped to the side just in time. He breathed a sigh of relief.
***Wind Style: Rasengan! Spiral Chakra Sphere!***
Naruto slammed into Itachi's back holding two Rasengan in his hands (if you are not aware of this already, Naruto used the trick that he did against Pain. He transformed into a Rasengan, and was thrown, then he undid the transformation, and struck). The sphere's hit and expanded. Naruto and his team managed to get out of the way, and good thing they did. The two spheres combined expanded, and expanded, and kept expanding, they went and went until it seemed like there was a massive sphere of chakra almost half a mile tall and over a mile wide, with Itachi in the middle. Rushing winds pelted the friends, they had to keep chakra concentrated in their feet connecting with the ground in order to not be blown away. Trees were getting torn up and blown away around them.
It took nearly a full two minutes for the Rasengan to fade away, when it did, the land way barren and torn up for a two mile radius in a huge circle, and in the center was the most massive indenture in the ground that anyone had ever seen. Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, even Naruto gaped at it. Something falling caught their eye, it was Itachi! They all ran forward toward the hole and watched as Uchiha Itachi plummeted over half a mile to the bottom of it. He hit the bottom with a crack that echoed up through the hole, and rang out into the surrounding land.
Hinata slowly walked up behind Naruto, "uh, Naruto? It's great that you beat him, but that might have been a bit over the top. It alerted Konoha, and there is a team of shinobi approaching." Her voice was meek and timid. As she spoke, a team of shinobi came running up to the other side of the crater, "and one of them is Master Kakashi." Sure enough, there he was, Hatake Kakashi, the silver haired shinobi of Konoha, standing on the other side of the crater staring at them, along with three other shinobi – Tsunade, Shikamaru, and Shizune.
They promptly disappeared, a moment later they blinked into existence behind Naruto.
Kakashi stormed up to him, "what in all hell were you damn kids thinking?!" He grabbed Sasuke by the collar and pulled him up, "and what are you doing associating with this bastard?! He probably led that son of bitch Itachi to you!"
Tsunade calmly walked up to Kakashi and took his hand off of Sasuke, "that won't be necessary Kakashi, I'm sure that if Naruto teamed up with Sasuke, it was for good reason, besides, he had a better chance of surviving Genjutsu if he had someone along who is adept at it." She then walked up to Sakura, "although I am highly disappointed in you young lady. As my apprentice, I expected better out of you than to associate yourself with rogue ninja, and get involved in dangerous ventures like this."
Hinata spoke up again, "um, everyone, I um, well er – it's about Itachi," at this everyone's head snapped toward her, "he, er, um, he's not dead yet."
"In that case I suggest that the best strategy right now would be retreat, everyone but Shizune, Kakashi, and Tsunade. We can't have Naruto, the one who Itachi is after being on the battlefield." Observed Shikamaru.
Shizune nodded, "very sharp Shikamaru, as always."
Kakashi chuckled, "well now, if you all will just retreat to the village, and we'll handle him, everything will turn out just fine."
Sasuke stepped forward, "you're going to have to do better than that if you want us to stand down, we will finish what we started, even if it kills us."
"I suggest you stand down now, Sasuke, if you don't want there to be any trouble. Because if it comes to it, I will not hesitate to kill you." Kakashi growled at the young Uchiha.
Sasuke appeared behind Tsunade, a sword held up to her throat, "leave now, all of you, or else the Hokage dies!" Everyone stood stock still, not sure what was going to happen, because it was clear that Kakashi was not about to stand down, but it was also clear that Sasuke could just as easily kill Tsunade. He wasn't part of Konoha; it wouldn't affect him at all. Suddenly Kakashi made a move at Sasuke, but was stopped mid-step.
***Shadow Possession Jutsu***
Shikamaru had stopped him with Shadow possession, "Kakashi, do as he says, we'll never get anywhere by killing the Hokage. Even though we shouldn't let them go through with this, it would be catastrophic to lose the Hokage at a time such as this, now stand down, Kakashi and Sasuke." Still in shadow possession, Shikamaru began to walk away, forcing Kakashi to follow. Sasuke released Tsunade, but as soon as he did, she began to run, and Kakashi and Shikamaru ran back at him.
Sasuke laughed, "you really think I would fall for that?" He disappeared right as Kakashi and Shikamaru reached him, and he appeared beside Tsunade.
Whoosh. Everyone was silent, the sound of Sasuke's blade as it swung through the air was the only thing that anyone could hear, then a choking sound as the blade pierced Tsunade's chest. You could see the blood running down her body as she sank to the ground, limp, gasping, then dead. Kakashi stared, then motioned to his team members to retreat back to Konoha.
Naruto began to slide down the incline of the crater to where Itachi laid, Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata followed. When they reached the bottom, they walked toward Itachi, who was barely breathing at this point. His limbs were all in contorted positions they clearly weren't supposed to be in. His robe was torn and blood stained, and there were cuts and gashes all over his body oozing blood out of them. As Naruto and his team walked down to him, his head flopped to the side toward where they were coming from, his mouth opened, and he coughed, spraying blood and saliva everywhere.
He muttered something; no one could understand a word he was saying, except for the word "strength".
Hinata stared at him with a horrified look on her face, "guys, you may want to get back; the massive chakra reserve inside him is starting to unravel!" They all slowly crept backward as Itachi began to writhe and twist, screaming in agony, and eventually something burst out of his stomach, no, not one, but eight things burst out of his stomach, each growing in size until it was clear that they were the eight Biju. One of them put a tail on Itachi, and his wounds began to heal, blood oozing back in to his gashes, and all of the openings closing and healing themselves.
He stood up, grinning, "you like them? I'm a collector, and all I'm missing is Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox Demon. And that is who I am here to collect, yes, from you Naruto." He flicked his hand forward, and one of the Biju – One-Tail launched itself at them. It swung its tail around, attempting to wipe them all off of their feet, but they jumped back in time.
***Susano'o***
Sasuke had finally unleashed it, the chakra armor that gave incredible power to the user – the legendary Susano'o. His wielded a sword in one hand, and a massive crossbow in the other. As One-Tail turned around and began charging at them again, he aimed an arrow at it and let it loose, it flew through the air, a purple streak flying out behind it. As it hit its mark on One-Tail's chest the monster let out a high-pitched screech, and collapsed on the ground. Itachi motioned again, and this time two of them came at the group of friends – Two Tails and Three Tails! Naruto made his Biju transformation, and Itachi sent in Son – the Four Tails as well. One of them charged at Sasuke, who quickly cut it down with his sword, and the other two launched themselves as Kurama. Naruto wrapped a tail around Three Tails neck, quickly snapping it, and then hurling the dead body at Four Tails. It hit him in the face, sending him toppling into the other Biju. He quickly got up and began charging at Naruto again.
***Biju Bomb***
Kurama hurled one at Son, and it made its mark, Son was thrown backward, now dead.
Itachi, still down in the crater laughed, "well, that was well played Naruto, but let's see how you take this one!"
***Mangekyo Infusion!***
A dim light flashed behind Itachi and all of his Biju, Naruto blinked, going back to his normal form, along with Sasuke. Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, and Sasuke looked around, confused about what had just happened. They looked up at the Biju, and down at Itachi, then back up at the Biju. It was a second too late when they realized it. The Bijus eyes had all become the Mangekyo Sharingan. Instantly, the four of them were plunged into darkness.
Itachi's voice rang out, "despite what you may think – this is not the Tsukyome. This is something completely different; I am literally transporting the four of you into another dimension. As long as you are in that dimension, no time will pass in this realm. However, if you are in the realm I am sending you to for over two years, then you will die; I will be watching your progress. You have two years to find a way out of there, otherwise, you will perish, and I will obtain the final Biju – good luck."
Although it was pitch black, the four of them could see each other, but it wouldn't remain black for long, soon, it began to get slightly brighter, and surroundings started to take place. They were in a cave, there were people lying on the ground everywhere all staring at something. A duel. There was a fight going on in the middle of the cavern, a young boy with short-ish black hair, and a long black coat was fighting with a slightly older man with shoulder-length grey hair and a flashy red and white uniform. Sounds began to form, and Naruto could hear the clanging and clashing of swords. The young boy was recklessly attacking the other man, faster, faster, faster. But then in one moment, he slipped up and the man's sword came down toward him.
"Kirito!" Came a cry of despair from a girl who looked about the same age wearing the same uniform as the man. She jumped up and ran toward him, attempting to intercept the swing.
***Eight Trigrams Air Palm***
Hinata had run up and thrust a palm out at the man, and he went flying backwards. The girl went flying through the path of where the sword would have been. The boy – Kirito stood there astounded, then he seemed to come to his senses, and ran over to where the girl now lay on the floor of the cavern. He kneeled by her, stared at her for a few seconds, then reached down and took her in his arms.
He held her close, and began to cry, "A-asuna, oh Asuna I was so scared. When I saw you jump, I thought for sure I had lost you." He pulled away and stared at her. They just stayed that way for moment, gazing into each other's eyes, "I-I love you Asuna." Kirito murmured.
Asuna brought herself up, closer to him, "I love you too Kirito." They embraced again, both of them crying now.
Hinata was standing over the man who had almost killed Kirito, "what the hell was that?" She demanded, "who are you and why were you trying to kill him?" The man stood up, brushed himself off, dropped his sword and walked over to Kirito.
"Eh, I hate to interrupt you two, but I would like to express my regret at not being able to finish this fight. I would also like to inform you, that since neither of us actually won this fight, you will continue to advance through the floors, and I will await you as the final boss."
As the man turned around to walk away, Kirito stood up, "I will not forget this unsettled score – Heathcliff, or shall I call you Kayaba Akihiko?" The man ignored him and disappeared.
A moment later, his voice echoed through the cavern, "I address you, players of Sword Art Online, to bring you an announcement. The 75th floor has been cleared, so from this point onward, the way the game is played will be changed. First of all, the pain receptor will be set to zero; you will feel all the pain you would back in the real world. Second of all, there will be no fancy special effects regarding wounds and death; it will simply look like what it would back in the real world. That is all, good luck to all of you."
Kirito walked over to Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, "thank you all, especially the purple haired girl."
"Hinata."
"Especially Hinata, I do not know where you came from and why you are here, but for saving Asuna, and myself, you may tag along with us. As far as introductions go, I am Kirito."
"Sasuke."
"Saskura."
"Naruto."
Kirito smiled, "well Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata…..welcome to Sword Art Online!"