Chapter 1: Three Teachers and an Unusual Set-up
Centuries ago, in the land now known as Japan, there was known of a mystical mountain, as eternal as Heaven and just as magical. There, flowers bloomed anew each and every day, the seasons came and went on their own whim and fruit and vegetables grew rapidly, at all times. This was the the legendary Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, an ancient, magical place, home to an assortment of animals, demons and spirits. It is also the birthplace of one of the most powerful Immortals in history.
Long ago, on the very top of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, there was a large, round rock. This rock, caught the attention of many of the universe's forces. And so, the power of the seven elements; Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Plant and Metal, as well as the two great elements, Light and Darkness worked their power on this rock. Along with the elements, the Essence of the Earth, the Essence of Heaven and a bit of the Essence of Hell worked along with the elemnets on this rock. The power of Magic, and Might, as well as the forces of Mind, Body and Soul, also gave this rock their attention. Finally, the Sun and Moon, Oceans and Sky, also worked their magic on this boulder.
These grand forces caused the rock to become magically fertile, and it gave birth to a stone egg, before breaking in two and turning to dust.
After much time, the egg hatched and out came a stone monkey. The nature of Monkey, is unstoppable.
This Monkey, quickly becoming king of the mountain, later went out to discover the secrets of Immortality. Twenty years later, after gaining a human form, learning every magic trick their was to learn and learning the ways of the Immortal, shattering the chains of reincarnation, and freeing himself from the bonds of death, Monkey traveled back to his mountain home and claimed the Magic Iron Cudgel, from the Dragon King of the Western Ocean. With this weapon, this cudgel that pounded the stars into the sky, Monkey became all but invincible.
This did not go unnoticed by the forces of Heaven however, and they, seaking to gain a new Immortal to their ranks, and keep him under their thumb, invited Monkey up to Heaven. However he, becoming furious of the disrespect he was shown there, caused a great uproar. He ate the Immortal Peaches, drank the Heavenly Wine and topped it off with the Divine Elixer. These ingredients, mixed with Monkey's already impressive power and Immortality, made him nothing short of a god.
The Great Jade Emperor, ruler of the Eastern Heaven, for Heaven is to big to have but one ruler, was furious.
Waging war with the Eastern Heaven, and winning, the gods and Immortals sought help from the Buddha himself. Tricking Monkey, the Buddha trapped him underneath a mounatain, where he stayed for five hundred years.
Later, a preist known as Tripitaka, came upon Monkey while on a mission to claim holy scriptures from India, just as the Buddha had planned. Freeing Monkey, the two set of on their journey, they then met Monkey's two future blood-brothers. First came Cho Hakkai, or Pigsy as he liked to be called. The great Pig Demon, once a great General of Heaven, and weilder of the Indestructible Nine-Pronged Muck Rake. Then came Sa Gojyo, the Sandy Priest, or Sandy for short. A great and terrible, but kind and wise water demon, also a fromer Heavenly General, weilder of the mighty Preist Blade Staff. Also, they met the young Dragon Prince, who offered himself as a replacement for Tripitaka's horse, after he had eaten it.
Together, the Five, faced many dangers, killed many evil demons and retrived the scriptures. So pleased was the Buddha, he made Tripitaka Immortal, as well as a Bodhisattva, one of his most trusted followers, he also made Monkey a Bodhisattva and the Dragon Prince a Naga, or Heavenly Dragon. Sandy became an arhat, another trusted follower of the Buddha and Pigsy became the official Cleaner of Altars, the one who takes care of the leftovers after a feast or food offering to the Buddha, a station Pigsy loved to no end.
And so ended Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy's adventure with Tripitaka, but they became blood-brothers, swore their loyalty to eachother and travel the world to this day, looking for more battles and more adventures.
And so, is the tale of Son Goku, the Monkey King.
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Tears streaked from the young blonde's eyes as he ran at an incredible speed, desperatly trying to outrun the vicious mob hot on his heels. The mob consisted mostly of enraged villagers, holding swords, clubs, sticks and torches to light the darkness of the night, but you could see a few Chuunin and Genin mixed in as well, they were the ones hoping through the trees.
One could hear the many cruel remarks the mob shouted as they drew nearer to the boy.
'Come back hear you bastard!' 'No use running wretch!' 'Tonight, we finish what the Fourth started!' 'Be grateful we've let you live this long!' 'Tonight you die demon!' 'We will have revenge for your crimes!' 'Little shit! You can't get away fox!'
And many others that I do not feel like repeating.
Several thoughts entered the small child's mind as he ran through the dense forest surrounding his village.
'Why are they doing this?' 'Why do they hate me?' 'I never did anything to them!' 'What do they mean by 'demon'?' 'I'm going to die on by birthday…' 'I wish I could eat some ramen before I die…'
This boy was Uzumaki Naruto. Today was October 10th, the day of the Kyuubi Festival and Naruto's birthday. He was four years old today.
Normal children get a story book, or a new toy, or maybe even a pet for their fourth birthday. But Naruto? Naruto gets an angry mob, bent on his torture and death.
The boy was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice three shadowy figures strolling through the forest ahead of him. Looking up a second too late he collided with the middle figure and fell flat on his rear. Fear gripping his heart, Naruto slowly looked up, expecting to see a villager with a sword or a ninja with a kunai, instead he saw three very unusual characters.
One was a very tall man, with large muscles, he was easily 7 feet tall. He wore what the blonde recognized as a priest's battle clothing. It was colored red, with many decorative sashes and stripes. He wore a pair of big black boots that seemed like they could stomp anything. Around his neck was a large necklace of...skulls... human skulls, nine of them, strewn together in a necklace. The man was rather ugly, the boy saw as the tall man had many scars on his face and seemed to have a look of permanent anger on his face. The man had long red hair, that was partially covered by a priest cap, he also had a long red beard that had many knotts in it. The man was carryin a long staff that was just as tall as he was. On one end of the staff was a blade that looked like a cresent moon, on the other ende was a shovel-like blade. The shovel-like blade had six holes in it, through these holes, six golden rings adorned the weapon. Wrapped tightly around the metal shaft of the weapon were strips of rotten, red-colored leather. A priest's battle staff, though it looked much more dangerous than the ones the Naruto had seen in the past.
Another was a short fat man, who seemed to be barely 5 feet tall. He had bright, pink skin and wore a pair of grey trousers, a pair of ordinary sandals and an open, sleevless gray vest, that showed off the man's impressive gut. Naruto noticed the man had a kind face, but it was strange. For one, he had the nose and ears of a pig, and his eyes were small, and black, and seemed to shine. The pig-faced man had short black hair that was done into a very short ponytail, and he wore what looked like a gray fighter's cap on his head. Slung over his shoulder was a tool the blonde recognized the farmers of his village used, a muck rake. But while most rakes hade seven or ten prongs, Naruto noticed this one had nine, and the way the man was carrying it, it seemed more like a weapon than a tool.
The final member of the group, the one Naruto had bumped into, was standing in the middle of the other two, and seemed to be the leader. The man was an impressive height of 6 feet even, and carried himself with a grace that seemed familiar to the blonde. The man wore baggy black pants and a loose fitting black shirt, over which he wore a torn white and yellow vest, he wore no shoes, going completely barefoot. The man had a tan skin, with thick hair covering the top of his hands and feet. The stranger had a young face, but his blazing blue eyes that seemed to look right through the young boy in front of him seemed to belong to someone far, far older. The man in the middle had short, spiky brown hair that spiked out in all directions. The boy noticed something move behind the man and saw… a tail?! This man in front of him had a long, fur covered tail that moved like it had a mind of its own. Drapped over his shoulders as if it were nothing was a long, black iron cudgel. Naruto could tell it was heavy, but this man was carrying it as if it were a stick! It was as tall as the man, and was completely made of iron, the shaft was black in color, but the two ends, the ends designed to smash an opponents skull were a bright yellow. On the side Naruto saw writing. 'Immortal Star Iron Cudgel'.
The boy was in complete shock. The mob only a few feet behind him completely forgotten and replaced by these three very strange, but very intimidating men. The mob however reentered the boys mind when he heard their fast approach.
Not knowing what else to do he ducked behind the man with the tail and shut his eyes tight, while whispering 'Please don't let them hurt me… please'.
Seeing the mob approaching the three strangers performed strange hand signs in front of their faces and gone were their strange features. The tall, priest man now had a softer looking face and his scars were gone, the short, fat pig-man now had a small nose and rounded ears. But he was still very fat. And the stranger that Naruto was hiding behind changed the least, his tail simpy vanished, his eyes seemed to glaze over and the thick hair on his hands and feet receeded a little.
The mob stopped as the saw the three men and the 'little demon' hiding behind the middle one. It was a Chuunin that spoke first.
"You there, travellers! You have something of ours." Said the cocky ninja, sure these strangers would listen to reason.
"Oh?" said the man that used to have pig-like features said, that sounded as though he had a mouth full of food. "And what might that be?"
"That demon brat there!" said one of the villagers raising his sword, the rest of the mob cheered loudly.
"Demon?" said the man that used to have a tail. His voice was calm, but held a large amount of arrogance.
The stranger looked down at the boy. There was something demonic about him… the stranger's eyes seemed to flash and they then widened in shock.
"This is no demon you fools! This is a container! A Jinchuuriki!" the man said, his voice now angry, which sent shivers up eveyones spine.
"The boy died, the second the Kyuubi invaded his body! He's a demon and he needs to die." Said a Gennin, preparing two senbon.
"If my brother says this boy is not a demon, believe me, he is no demon." Said the man dressed like a priest, in a stern voice that seemed to be devoid of all emotion.
"Please! What would three no-name travellers know about demons?" came a feminine voice from the mob.
The three strangers looked at eachother before letting out loud, hearty laughs.
"Heh heh, more than you could ever know lady." Said the fat man.
"Enough! Hand him over or you will die with him!" shouted a Chuunin.
The three stranger's eyes flashed dangerously and they gripped their weapons tightly. Despite all their provodo and their larger numbers, the mob couldn't help but feel terrified of these strangers and the high amount of killing intent that seeped to be pouring out of them.
"Was that a threat?" the leader of the trio asked, his eyes flashing again.
There was silence for a bit before a voice, louder than the others shouted 'YES!' and juped forward, kunai raised. Naruto noticed the uniform of a Jounin.
Everyone expected to see the stranger to be stabbed in the head, but everyone was shocked, besides himself and his companions, to see the stranger raise his weapon with amazing speed and with incredible skill blocked the blow with his cudgel, twisted it in his hand, disarming the ninja and then twirled it, causing the other end to smash into the Jounin's face, sending him flying.
"Stay back kid." The leader said to Naruto as he and his comrades raised their weapons and rushed the mob.
Said mob was still so shocked to see an elite Jounin defeated so easily, they did't realise that they were under attack until half of them were unconcious due from the wacks from the stranger's blows.Naruto could tell they could have easily killed the villagers, but were settling for knocking them out. In little under a minute the entire mob, icluding the ninja, were out cold.
"Huh, boring. Too short and too easy to be fun." Said the fat man.
The moment the words left his mouth, the trio's strange features returned. The pig man was once again a pig man, the priest had his scars and the leader had his hair and tail.
"True, but these were the weakest this country had to offer. We'll find worthier opponents." Said the man with the tail.
"I hope you are right Brother Monkey, or else we shall all become to rusty to fight the true battles." Said the priest.
After sharing a small laugh, the trio approached Naruto, who was still in shock.
"What's our name little one?" asked the pig man.
"N-N-Naruto. N-Naruto U-Uzamaki." Naruto stuttered loudly.
"Well Naruto, where do you live?" asked the priest in a kind voice.
Naruto pointed in the direction of Konoha.
Following his pointing, the trio nodded and the man with the tail picked him up, giving him a piggie-back ride.
"Well little Naruto, hows about we take you home, eh?" said the man with the tail.
"Thank you… but who are you?" the blonde asked, curious to who these powerful warriors could be.
"Oh! Just you're average travelling warrior. But my name is Cho Hakkai, but you can call be Pigsy, everyone does." Said the pig man, now known as Pigsy.
"I am Sa Gojyo, the Sandy Priest. But my friends call me Sandy." Said the priest called Sandy.
"And I'm Son Goku, the Monkey King. At your service little Naruto." Said the monkey man named Goku.
And with that, Sandy, Pigsy and Monkey set out for Konoha. With an excited and awe-struck Naruto with them. Naruto had just gotten three new heroes.
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Okay, just a few things.
The prolouge at the top is a summary of Journey To the West. The ancient Chinese classic and one of the most recognized stories in the world.
You're probably going, wait if it's a Chinese story, why do you say the mountain is in Japan?
Well, in the story, the Monkey King crosses the Ocean to learn the secrets of Immortality and finds himself in China, since this story was written in the 16th century and China didn't know about Enland, France or the Americas in the 16th century, and they only knew about Japan I'm guessing Son Goku, the Monkey King is Japanese, and the rest of the characters are Chinese.
In this story, its sorta like the Monkey King is returning home to Japan and his brothers come with him.
A Cudgel is a staff-like weapon ussually made of a heavy metal with two blunt ends, meant for bashing!
A muck rake is exactly how it sounds, a rake used to bring in vegatables. But Pigsy's rake is special, its an Immortal wepoan and many gods helped create it, just or him.
In this Story Naruto will combine Ninja's arts of Jutsu and the Immortals magic.
Naruto will have a weapon of his very own, but it will be up too you to decide what it is, but we'll cross that path when we come to it.
You're probably going, what can a monkay, pig and water demon do? Well, these three are some of the most powerful creatures in the Immortal world, everyone fears them, even more so that they are under the Buddha's protection. They are Immortal and can fight on par with gods. If I had to Hazard a guess, I'd say Sandy and Pigsy could probably match the Kyuubi, while Monkey could beat him.
As for the group dinamics, Monkey is the leader and the one with charm, Pigsy is the one with experience but he is a glutton and a pervert… I think he and jirayai will get along, and Sandy is the calm, thinker.
And finally, if you don't like where this story is going just don't read, I can't take flames… sob
Now, remember my three R's! Relax, Read and please Review!