Naruto's Inferno
This story will have some strong relations to the epic poem/video game Dante's Inferno. But it will have some tweaks here and there story wise on how things are told as well as different themes from Japanese culture.
I'll also try to use all the recent powers and abilities available to the characters thus far as well as try to keep in relative personality to each of them.
Synopsis: A young man stood within the dark forest of life to which the path was not so clear anymore. For without a destination, it was impossible to go forwards or backwards anymore. But in the presence of tragedy it was clear what the journey was. For Naruto, it will be a journey into hell.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise and the characters associated with it. Also I do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.
"talking"
thoughts
Upon the setting of the sun a young man of sixteen years of age was returning from his mission from the land of waves. This blond man sporting his usual orange and black outfit was not too pleased about the troublesome mission he had to undertake. With him on his mission were Sakura and Sai, although they weren't needed it was still nice to have company. As time rode by it soon became dark.
"Naruto, let's stop and make camp here for now" said Sakura still trailing behind Naruto as they leapt from tree to tree
"I agree, it would be wise to stop for now" said Sai also trailing behind Naruto
Naruto being annoyed at the complaints of his teammates consented to rest for now. "Man, you guys really have such low stamina" said Naruto as he came to a stop on one of the trees while sporting one of his usual grins.
"No, you're just a stamina freak" said Sakura as she gave Naruto a glare placing her hands on her hips.
Naruto laughed at this comment, but then . . . .
"Get out of the way!" called Sai as he grabbed both Naruto and Sakura pulling them off the tree. Just moments later an explosion occurred right at the spot they were standing.
"Explosive tags!" thought Naruto as the three compatriots found their way onto the solid ground below. But as they landed they were soon surrounded by an enemy ninja force on all sides.
"Isn't this a bit excessive?" said Sakura surveying the situation. "I mean this was such a low class mission to begin with"
"Well Naruto-kun did make quite a lot of them angry with the stunt he pulled" said Sai calmly with his usual expressionless smile
"Well it's their fault for being dumb enough to fall for some easy tricks" complained Naruto cocking one of his eye brows while folding his arms behind his head. "But anyways this doesn't seem like a hard fight, so let's get this over with so we can get some dinner"
At that statement the fighting began. Now although the number advantage was not in team Naruto favor it was still more or a less a battle of quantity versus quality. For not so long into the fight over half of the enemy forces were already defeated. Now letting this success get to their heads generated a dangerous arrogance with the three Konoha ninjas. For this arrogance would cost them dearly . . . .
"These guys are pretty weak" said Sakura barely even developing any sweat from beating down her recent opponent.
"Indeed" agreed Sai as he was drawing a bunch an ink summoned creatures to deal with the threat before him
Naruto laughed a bit since he was still having a good time with this fight. But then something caught his eye in the forest as a glimmer shined within it. As he focused his eyes he spotted several archers taking sniping positions several meters away.
"Sakura! Watch out!" yelled Naruto
"Huh?" was all she could say as many arrows raced towards her at amazing speed. Sakura unable to completely avoid the arrows braced herself for impact.
"Sakura!" yelled Naruto as he ran in front of her with his kunai drawn
But although he managed to parry most of the arrows away some of them still got through. As Naruto slowed down to analyze himself he found that three arrows had pierced his chest in some vital areas. However, ignoring it for now he threw several kunai in the direction of the snipers taking out the threat.
At that final act Naruto slumped down to his knees as the world began to turn darker, and just before his mind went black that last thing he heard was Sakura shrieking his name.
Naruto then reopened his eyes and stood up to see that everything around him was all but completely darkness. It appeared he was in some sort of forest, but it was far too dark to simply be nighttime. He then looked at himself to see blood stains on his body from where the arrows had pierced him. It then hit him like a ton bricks about what this all meant.
"So I guess I'm dead" half-chuckled Naruto. "At least I thought would be Hokage before I died . . . . But I guess I had a good run at life" he then said but with a sadder tone.
"Uzumaki Naruto" howled a voice
Naruto immediately got into defensive stance searching for the owner of the voice. "Who's there?!"
As to answer his question, an entity in dark clothing with an undistinguishable face appeared before him. "I am to you mortals known as a shinigami" the entity replied
Naruto then gave the shinigami a serious glare. "Are you here to take me to the other side?"
The shinigami paused for a moment before answering. "No, for an arrangement has already been made"
"Arrangement?" asked Naruto
"Naruto-kun . . . ."
Naruto then immediately turned around to see Hinata standing behind him but naked as well as eerily glowing a strange light.
"Whoa, Hinata what's going on? And what are you doing here?" asked Naruto nervously as he covered his eyes while facing Hinata.
Hinata noticing his actions slightly blushed while covering herself with her arms before answering his questions. "Naruto-kun . . . . I don't have much time left, but know that at least I was happy to see you for this final time" Hinata smiled sadly
The young man then looked to the sad pale girl with a questioning look. "Hinata, what are you talking about? What's going on?" asked Naruto with rising concern
"Good-bye Naruto-kun" said Hinata as tears came falling from her eyes. At that statement a great darkness engulfed Hinata as she vanished before him into a gate that appeared out of nowhere behind the shinigami.
"Hinata!!!" screamed Naruto as he raced towards the gate only to be stopped by the death god
"You are not allowed to go past this point until your time" said the shinigami calmly
"Get the hell out my way! I need to save Hinata!" yelled Naruto still trying to get past
"Do not waste your time mortal. For you are already returning to the land of the living." The shinigami said
"What?!" Naruto exclaimed before he blacked out again
Naruto opened his eyes to quickly sit up and take a deep breath in.
"Thank goodness you're OK. I managed to patch up your wounds in time before it became too serious"
The young ninja turned to see Sakura looking at him with relief on her face
"You gave us a good scare for a while there" said Sai
Naruto looked around to see he was still in the forest where they were attacked and it was more or less morning at the moment. He then thought about the image he just had about Hinata and got a really bad feeling about it.
"We need to get back to Konoha now" said Naruto standing up fixing himself for a run back
"Naruto! You just survived an arrow being lodged into your gut. I think you should rest for a while until your body is back to normal." Said Sakura
"There's no time! I need to get to Konoha now!" yelled Naruto as he made a full out sprint towards his home village.
"Wait! Naruto!" called Sakura as she got up and ran after him to which soon Sai went running as well.
An hour passed before Naruto and crew arrived at the gates of Konoha. But Naruto didn't bother to wait for the guards to sign him in as he simply just ran right past them. "Hinata, please be alright!" were the thoughts that raced through his mind as he ran at full sprint to the Hyuga estate. Then a few moments later he finally arrived to the front gate to which he was greeted with a familiar face.
"Neji! Where is Hinata?! I need to see her!" said Naruto frantically
"Unfortunately Naruto-kun . . . ." Neji said with a pause. "Hinata-sama has fallen into an unexplained illness and can't be seen right now" said Neji looking a bit depressed.
Naruto then felt a sinking feeling in his gut at that news. "Neji, when did this happen?"
Neji then looked to Naruto. "This incident had just transpired late last night. Her illness at this point in time is still under investigation."
This confirmed something bad definitely happened to Hinata. Plus whatever was happening had to do something with the arrangement that death was talking about.
"Hinata, what did you do?" thought Naruto. He then looked to Neji once again. "Please take me to see her"
Neji hesitated to follow this request. But he could not deny the person that Hinata deeply cared for and not to mention someone he owed. So he then guided the blond teen to the Konoha hospital to where Hinata was being treated. As they arrived, Naruto saw Tsunade and Hiashi talking about something. But upon their entrance Hiashi gave his respect to the Hokage and left. Naruto didn't like the feel of Hiashi at times. For his presence alone seemed to hurt Hinata. But that wasn't important now as he turned to face Tsunade for answers.
"Obaasan, please tell me what happened to Hinata?!" Naruto demanded
Tsunade faced Naruto and gave him a serious look. "Go to my office now, we will discuss the details there" and that was all she said as she turned her attention back to the sleeping girl.
Naruto and Neji then made their way to the Hokage office to which they were met with the old rookie nine, team Gai, and Kakashi. Soon after Tsunade entered the room to which she took her place at her desk. She then folded her hands in front of her face while closing her eyes in order to organize her thoughts. Tsunade then reopened her eyes to begin her talk.
"Since evening last night Hyuga Hinata has entered a coma like state to which there were no explanations for. But apparently her life signs are getting weaker by the hour and within a span of a few days she'll die."
At that news everyone received a chill of sadness and shock at what was going to happen. But before any questions could come up, Tsunade continued her speech.
"Furthermore after investigation we ruled out any possibility it could be some sort of virus, bacteria, ninjutsu, or genjutsu attack. But we did discover a strange scroll which had a blood seal on it. Accordingly the blood was Hinata and the scroll seemed to be of an ancient variety. Now the scroll in question seems to be a contract which promises the one who signs it any wish they desire. Now the validity of it is rather shaky since testing it is out of the question."
Sakura then interrupted Tsunade explanation with a question. "Hold on! A wish seems too good to be true. There has to be a catch behind it."
Tsunade nodded to her apprentice's observation. "You're right Sakura, there is a price as well as the fact to why we can't test the validity of the contract. For the one who grants the wish is some unknown summoning whose name have been lost in time, and the price it asks for in return is . . . . the user's soul"
"Your soul!" thought Naruto as he flashbacked to that moment in the darkness
"Obaasan! I think I might know something!" said Naruto as he recounted the moment he died with the events of the arrangement as well as Hinata presence being there. With this new information things became clearer.
"Hmm, it seems there is some truth behind this contract, and whatever Hinata wished for resulted in her soul being taken as payment. But by these facts it seems Hinata wish most likely had something to do with Naruto revival" Tsunade said analytically
Naruto then felt a gaping hole in his gut. For it was most likely that Hinata wished for his life to be saved even knowing it was going to cost her own. He then felt it breaking him inside how Hinata had sacrificed so much just for him.
"But Hokage-sama, there has to be something we can do!" stated Kiba feeling the weight of the situation.
Tsunade hesitated for a moment before continuing again. "There might be something we can do to save her"
Immediately everyone's ears perked up to hear what the plan was.
"We are going to attempt a dangerous plan which requires us to cross the boundaries of existence into the world of the dead. Kakashi will further address the matter."
On cue, Kakashi picked up where Tsunade left off. "It seems whatever was summoned came from the underworld, and by theory using a reverse summoning jutsu should get us to the location where they arrived too." Kakashi then took a breather before continuing. "Furthermore I'll have to be the one to send you there since there is no one on the other side to take you which requires me to use the jutsu in conjunction with my Mangekyo Sharingan. Also I can only send at most a small team of people since the trip back and forth will completely exhaust my chakra. But it will take some time to prepare the transport, so it is advised to come prepared for we don't know what to expect when you get there."
After Kakashi finished his explanation Tsunade gave the final piece of information. "This mission will be deemed an S-class for the dangers you'll encounter. It is also imperative that Naruto be active in this mission"
At hearing this Naruto did not need to be told twice what he had to do. For he did not care what he would encounter or the obstacles he had to face. He only knew that someone he cared for is suffering because of him and he needs to do something about it.
"It would be foolish of me to let you go on this mission due to the emotions playing on this, but you would have most likely disobeyed me and gone anyways." Tsunade gave a slight grin at this statement. "Naruto, you're are to gather a team of people you trust as well as skills you need because whatever is down there you're going to need all the help you can get." But she then gave the grim news. "Unfortunately most of the village ninjas are out on missions. So whoever is left to assist has all been assembled into this room."
At the end of that, Naruto already had the people in mind to who he wanted to take with him. For right off the bat he wanted to take the entire rookie nine with him along with the members of team Gai. Since they were all in the room he asked them to come along.
"Man oh man, a trip literally into hell" Kiba said sourly. "But to save Hinata I'll gladly do it" said Kiba with vigor
Shino, Chouji, and Sai simply nodded to Naruto request
"I'm on board because you're going to need a medic right" said Sakura
"And you can't completely depend on forehead girl as the medic. So I'll come along as well" Ino smiled
"There won't be any trouble from my end. For Hinata-sama is someone I wish to save as well. I believe my old teammates will not object to wishing to help." replied Neji even though it seemed obvious he would have come along without even needing to be asked. Ten-ten agreed with Neji since she was like an elder sister to Hinata and couldn't leave things as they were.
"This will be a great training opportunity. So of course I'll go" stated Lee in his usual overwhelming spirit.
"This is going to be rather troublesome, but we can't leave a teammate behind right. I'm in" replied Shikamaru
"Alright, we'll all get back to Kakashi-sensei in two hours. So let's get prepped for the trip ahead." said Naruto
With that everyone departed to make preparation for whatever they may face in hell.
But before Naruto went to do anything else there was one thing he felt he had to do and that was going to the Konoha hospital for a visit.
As Naruto entered Hinata room he then took a seat right next to the Hyuga heiress's bed. He then sat for a while before deciding to speak.
"Hinata . . . . I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. If only I were more careful with my life you wouldn't be in this state." said Naruto with a sad tone
"And I know things have been awkward between us since you confessed to me and I've been kind of delaying my reply to you, and I know I've hurt you with my indecisiveness when it took so much of your courage just to tell me how you felt." he then took Hinata hand into his own. "But I swear on my ninja way that I will bring you back and then I'll give you my answer!"
Naruto soon after left the room, but if he had stayed a bit a longer a single tear would have been seen leaving the eyes of the comatose Hyuga Hinata.
Author's notes: I hope this chapter was good to read and I hope this turns out to be something interesting. But yeah Naruto and gang are going to take a trip through hell in order to save Hinata soul and bring her back to life. Well I hope to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.
So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.