Introducing everyone's favourite manga character and the most mysterious virus ever.
Chakralight Chapter 1; a Dangerous Stranger
Pariah. That was his name. Nothing else, no other form of identity did he have. He was Pariah, nothing else. But that in itself was much, Pariah was deadly. Five scientists died by his hand.
And he was only a child, well he was actually thirty years old, but he somehow remained to look at least eight, perhaps he liked that form, or maybe he never thought to physically age. And he was going to escape. He had heard that there was a guard shift soon and he knew enough about mechanics to disarm the massive nuke behind him. Normally a child would be pretty scared to have a fifty megaton explosive device in his room, but Pariah was no ordinary child. He was a virus, the deadliest virus ever to walk the earth, a hybrid or Redlight and Blacklight. And he wanted out. Not to spread the virus like Mother did, no, that would be bad. Pariah, though unaware of the concept of right or wrong, knew that spreading the virus would result in his existence's end. Pariah didn't want that, all he wanted was to be left alone. He eyed the door, if he remembered correctly they would give him a chunk of meat to absorb once a week, which would happen soon.
Pariah watched a small opening in his door slide open. He sprung forward and yanked the man by his collar, snapping his neck with the impact. He turned his finger into a tendril and took the keys, turned the lock and got out. He darted past the guards and sliced another to ribbons when he got in the way. He made his way to the lower floors and finally entered a large laboratory. His eyes passed over an odd device that was sparking with volatile energies. He missed the small label that said, 'Warning, prototype atom teleportation device!' and the fact that someone locked him in. Scientists rushed to control modules and activated the machine.
Now if only he could—bam! The world flashed around him, and suddenly he found himself grunting from a strange impact, something had collided with him.
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Naruto ran. There was a reason why he was running, and that was because there was a mob of people after him. He looked behind him and yelped. They were getting closer. He was only eight! He could only run so fast! He turned back and ran into an alley, maybe he could dupe them. He was about to hide near a trash can or something but a flash of light made him stumble, and he collided into something solid. Naruto yelped and fell on his backside. He looked up and saw a boy in front of him, he wore a surgical gown and had sandy blonde hair. His red eyes stared at the blonde with curiosity.
For a moment Naruto was drawn to those red eyes. They were different, old, and very clever. This boy was strange, and possibly dangerous. The boy stared back, and then looked at the mob that was standing a way back.
"You there! Get away from that demon brat!" the boy looked at the crowd, then back at Naruto. Naruto hid behind the strange boy.
"I'm not a demon, I swear I didn't do anything wrong!"
"He lies!" the man in the front yelled. The boy glanced at the man, and then turned to Naruto.
Pariah didn't know many words, and barely understood what was going on, but it was clear that the crowd of humans wanted the boy. He looked at the blonde, then at the crowd, and then back at the boy again. He mulled it over in his head. These people seemed very stereotypical, and this boy was scared. There was an odd desperation in the boy's eyes, but a rare cunning and a hidden despair that Pariah found familiar.
He had heard of 'kindred spirits' and wondered if this was what it meant, he would need to look into this, and that meant the boy had to live, at least for now. He grabbed the boy roughly by the collar and sprinted away.
"OOOOIIII! Let me go!" Pariah ignored the boy and sprinted up a wall, ignoring the boy's cries of wonder. He had learned a few basic things one could do with the virus from his dreams. He often watched the life of the man known as Alex Mercer in his sleep, it was his only entertainment, but his dreams were blurred and sketchy, like bad television. He only got this and consuming, two fundamentals he would need. He landed on the ceiling with a thump and placed the boy back down.
He looked down at the crowd, somehow they didn't notice his traversal. He looked at the loud boy and growled, indicating that he should shut up. He looked back down at the crowd, who were gone. Pariah watched for a moment and the relaxed.
"They gone." He grunted. He turned to Naruto for a moment, then began to walk away.
"Hold it." Both boys whirled around to see a tall man wearing a scarecrow mask stare at them.
"I saw all that, pretty damn impressive I must say… boy." Pariah growled again and hunched over, ready either attack or run. "No need to get nasty now." The man raised his hands as he spoke. Pariah relaxed for a moment then tilted his head. He stared at the mask with curiosity, he had never seen a mask like this before. He saw no breathing tubes, no methods of creating or giving oxygen to the wearer like he had seen in masks. What was its purpose?
"Who?" Pariah asked, pointing at the man.
"I'm Scarecrow, that's my codename anyway. You guys better come with me before the mob shows up again." Naruto took Scarecrow's hand. Pariah however didn't, he was glaring at the man, as if daring him to try and touch him. Naruto saw the look and felt a spark of familiarity.
'This guy, he finds it difficult to trust others, like I do. It's only because this guy has saved my life a couple of times that I trust him.' he decided to intervene. "Hey, he's okay. You can trust him." Pariah froze, glanced at Naruto with his red eyes then slowly moved over to the man, taking his hand. Scarecrow smiled behind his mask and suddenly the three were gone.
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Pariah had never travelled via shunshin before, and the traversal via such a method startled him to such a degree that he accidentally crushed the man's hand when he reappeared. Scarecrow yelled out in pain, clutching his mangled hand while Pariah looked around, completely ignoring the screaming ninja. He found himself inside an office with the occasional furniture such as a sofa to his left, a small chair in front of a desk and a bookcase to his right. Sitting behind the desk was a man, who frowned at the sudden appearance of a screaming ANBU.
"Two people to see you, Hokage-sama. Civvies went on another Hunt again… Permission to get my hand fixed before it falls off?" Scarecrow whimpered.
"Granted," The old man said as he held back a smile. Pariah looked at his hand that was covered in blood then wiped it on his gown. He followed Naruto to the man's desk, peering around, as though he felt something was watching him. He winced when he felt a flicker of knowledge worm into his brain. He shook his head and in his surprise he released his first Hunter Pulse. The Pulse detected three guards around the room. Pariah glared at one guard, who was reclining on the sofa. The ANBU thought that Pariah couldn't see her until Pariah growled, "Go away." He remained stock still even as the ANBU materialized into view.
"How did you see me?" she asked. The old man arched a brow. Pariah continued to stare until he deduced that the woman wasn't a threat and moved to the table.
"Jiji! This guy's pretty cool, he saved me from the mob!" Naruto bounced up and down as any self respecting eight year old would. Pariah frowned.
"Jiji?" he wondered to himself. Naruto was still bouncing as he explained Pariah's method of saving Naruto, which confused the old man considerably.
"He ran up a wall? How can a boy use a ninja technique? And how did you know of my guard?" Pariah steered away from the question by correcting the man.
"Guards." He said, placing emphasis on the plural. He pointed to the bookshelf, where a ninja was sitting atop, and to the door, where a ninja was standing just a few feet to the left.
"Extraordinary…" the old man breathed. He shook himself and looked at Pariah with a critical eye. "I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage of Konoha. Who are you, and why did you save Naruto?" Pariah debated whether to tell anyone what he was, lest they experiment on him. Not telling them anything would be a problem, telling them too much would lead to difficulties. Pariah just had to get the right amount of info on him.
"I am Pariah." He stated. Hiruzen's eyes studied the boy.
'There's something about the boy, he is much older than he looks, and seems intelligent despite his lack of vocabulary.' Hiruzen waited for the boy's next answer. Pariah said nothing, but he looked at Naruto and then shrugged. Naruto was staring at Pariah.
'Someone who calls himself Pariah so casually must have been alone for a while, perhaps his entire life, is he like me?' he wondered to himself. Hiruzen frowned.
"Do you not know, or is it because you can't convey it with words?" Pariah tilted his head and raised two digits. "I see. Okay, do you trust Naruto?" he asked. Pariah knew the word 'trust' and its meaning. But he didn't trust anyone. He shook his head no. Naruto didn't protest loudly to the Hokage's surprise, but showed a hidden understanding.
'It seems this boy shows Naruto's calculating side, and he seems to remove the mask around Pariah.' "Why don't you trust him?" Pariah looked uneasy for a moment.
"Lesson." He said. Hiruzen was confused before he understood. Pariah had learned not to trust anyone, and is closed off from everyone now, just like Naruto in a way. The blonde was staring at Pariah with a calculative expression that Hiruzen had never seen before, not even he could open Naruto up like this, and this stranger did it within minutes!
"I see. Well, do you have any place to stay, if not I can arrange a place for you." Pariah considered it, and then nodded. He had no place to go, and had no choice but to trust these humans. If he didn't then most likely things will become difficult. He nodded. The man smiled. "Right, I'll arrange something for you, could you wait in the reception until then?" Pariah nodded. He walked out without talking to Naruto.
"I'll see you later, okay?" Naruto asked, sounding fairly hopeful. Pariah froze for a moment and looked back, his red eyes staring at Naruto for a moment. It seemed as though hours had past when Pariah gave a near imperceptible nod and left the room. Naruto stared for a moment until his guarded expression melted away.
"So, Jiji, I better go home now." Naruto smiled. He excused himself and walked away, passing Pariah and the receptionist. The viral boy stared at him on his way out. He definitely felt something, but couldn't place a finger on it.
Hours passed, and soon someone came. A human that wore black and had a mask, like the man who took him here, only the mask was different. Pariah knew nothing of animals save from ones he saw in some experiments, and even then he wasn't sure what they were. This animal had an orange face with black stripes on it.
"I'm Tiger, here is your address." he handed Pariah a slip of paper. He looked up helplessly at the man, oh, how he hated depending on others! "You want me to take you there? Oh… You live with… with that thing." Pariah tilted his head. He wondered just what he would be living with. Tiger took him to the place. It was a rundown apartment with tattered walls and some broken windows.
'Someone tried to break in.' Pariah scanned the walls with a skilled eye, spotting numerous dents, scratches and even burn marks in the walls. This place had been attacked several times, but has held it own. Tiger seemed hesitant to approach. Pariah had no such problem and began walking towards the building. He heard a whoosh of air and upon turning he saw that the man had gone. He didn't know what was here, but should it prove hostile, Pariah will kill it.
He stalked up to the door and waited for a moment. He figured that he should knock, as some of the men who held him at the lab would knock at his door, the nicer ones. Although whether it was from fear or pity or some other human emotion he really couldn't tell. He knocked the door, being careful not to blast it off its hinges, he made that mistake once, but it was with a steel door, not a wooden one, so he had to be very careful.
Pariah opened, and for a moment Pariah felt a surge of emotion that he had seen before, but never felt it.
Shock, surprise… relief? Blue eyes stared at his flaming red orbs in similar shock.
"You're my new roommate?" Naruto asked. Pariah stared for a moment until he answered back. "Hello… roommate."
Pariah and Naruto, living together. How nice…