Prologue: I

The sun was setting in the horizon, the sky was painted in red. On the ground beneath bodies laid scattered all over. The landscape of what used to be a flat grass-field was unrecognisable. It was like if the ground itself had been torn up.

"I am God"

Those that was lucky enough to be alive was either trying to regroup with their unit, or walking aimlessly around the battlefield. Looking for comrades or loved once they would likely never see again.

"Pain to the world"

A pained scream broke the relative silence that had settled over the battlefield after the fighting had ceased for the day. A teenage girl with platinum-blonde hair was kneeling next to the lifeless body of an older man with matching hair. She had her face buried into the man's chest and was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Behold, the power of a god"

Up in the sky, far above the battleground a giant 'planet' or comet was floating lazily. Several of the shinobi on the ground was on their knees praying while staring frighteningly up at the giant meteorite, afraid that it would fall down and crush them any minute..

"Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace"

To say that Uzumaki Naruto was having a bad day would be an understatement. Thus far he had received what he would guess was a lethal amount of Jūken strikes courtesy of Hyūga Neji, then their allies: Suna, decided that today would be just as good a day as any to launch an invasion… Then he had gotten an even worse beating than the one he got from Neji fighting Sabaku no Gaara. Yet through it all he had managed to come out on top! Uzumaki Naruto was never one to go down easy.

However lady luck was never one to favour him, at least not for extended time periods, that she had proven by throwing yet more shit in his direction.. After the battle with Gaara the other people on his team was not really in fighting condition (Not that Naruto himself was, really) so it had been up to him to stall the squad of five Otogakure shinobi that they had encountered on their way back towards the village.

So now he was standing there, watching his death draw ever closer, death in the form of a giant blazing-hot fireball.. He had just closed his eyes accepting his faith when there was a thug on his jacket and he was thrown harshly away from the incoming fireball.

It all happened too fast for him to interfere. After he had been harshly pulled away from danger he managed to tilt his head to see who had saved him, just in time to catch a glimpse of his former Sensei and brother figure Iruka Umino sending him a small sad smile.. Before being consumed by the fires that were meant for him.

That's when it happened! The searing pain in his head and the burning sensation in his eyes. It felt as if his head was about to explode! And while this pain was happening information about things he knew nothing about started swarming his head making it feel as if his head was literally going to burst open. Over the pain he could hear a deep masculine voice 'whispering' words inside head.

"Rinnegan"

"Shinra Tensei"

"Rikudō Sennin"

"Kami"

This was just some off the things Naruto managed to pick up on, yet somehow even more information was pouring into his head. And somehow despite not hearing half of it, everything stuck to his brain as if it was things he had always known. In the end it was all too much for him, he could feel warm liquid seeping out of his eyes and then darkness consumed him.

Naruto fell limply next to the dead body of his former sensei and friend. His face covered in blood and a mystical white light/Chakra was cloaking him. When it finally receded and the pained expression on his face seemed to lessen an invisible field of gravity exploded out from him. Decimating anything within a 20-ish meter radius.

Naruto's mind-scape

When Naruto woke up he was pleasantly surprised that the pain in his head and eyes had lessened. However he was not pleased to see were he was, the dark and gloomy sewer that was his seal was not and probably never would be a place he wished to visit.

He looked towards the cage that held the mighty Kyūbi no Kitsune and was surprised to see the fox in all it's massive glory starring at him with a calculating look. He had expected the fox to mock him and perhaps try to use the fact that his Sensei was dead as means to get him to open the seal.. But it looked curious, not malicious.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak to the fox, but before he could speak he felt a jolt of pain in his head and images started flooding into his mind. Images of the Kyūbi and other weird creatures that he could only guess was the other Bijū, however he quickly realised that this was memories, not random images.. But they were not his memories.

"I don't have long any more. Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son-Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken, Chōmei, Gyūki, Kurama. Even though you have been separated, you shall always be together. Until eventually that time shall come when you will become one… You each carry a name… And with a different shape than you had up to now, you will be shown a righteous path, different from the time you spent inside of me. What is true power… …Until that time…"

Naruto finally got over the initial shock of what just happened and looked wide eyed up at the Kyūbi. He had never really considered the possibility of the Kyūbi being anything else than a natural disaster. A creature made simply for the purpose of causing destruction. "Your name is Kurama isn't it?"

The Kyūbi remained calm when it gazed down at it's little jinchūriki "That is what my creator, or father if you want, used to call me yes.. However how a weak little ningen like you came into possession of his eyes is beyond even me" The last part he said with an angry frown, as if Naruto had offended him somehow.

"Same eyes?" Naruto starred curiously at the giant fox that stood before him. Last he checked there was nothing special about him.. Well except that he had a humongous fox in his gut.

Kurama simply waged his tail lazily, using it to point at the water that covered the ground in the sewer/seal. Looking down Naruto was expecting something to be wrong, however he was not expecting his normally blue eyes to have changed into a deep purple colour with a ripple pattern. "Wh-what happened to my eyes? Kurama?"

The massive fox's left eyebrow twitched noticeably when the 'unworthy' mortal used his name so casually, but he chose not to make a number out of it.. For now. "That is the Rinnegan. The eyes that my father the Rikudō Sennin used to save the world from the Jūbi and create what is today known by you mortals as Ninjutsu.. The power of the Rinnegan is comparable to a god, hence why it is beyond me that a naive little human such as you was chosen to inherit those eyes"

Had it not been for the situation he was in, Naruto would most likely not have just taken that insult to him, even from the Kyūbi. But this was different.. With these eyes, it was all clear to him. This world had failed.. It was only darkness and Pain.

Surprisingly to him however the Rikudō Sennin and the Rinnegan did not seem foreign to him, as it should have! Considering that he had never heard nor learned about either before.. It was as if it was knowledge that he had always possessed, as natural to him as breathing.

"These eyes… I can see everything so clearly. Your father's dreams and hopes for this world.. We ruined it. We humans could not see beyond our own greed and lust for power..." Naruto trailed of a bit trying to comprehend all the knowledge that was still pouring into his head. If only that would happen when he was still an academy student…

Kurama on the other hand was not entirely sure what to make of this sudden and new development from his jinchūriki. This was not the reaction he had expected.. While he did agree with him, he also new what would happen once those fools in the village found out about the Rinnegan.. He knew what he had to do -or rather Naruto had to- but the problem would be to convince him to trust him. "Naruto…" Naruto starred bewildered at the fox, did he just call him by his name? Not mortal, Kit or Ningen? No malicious undertone? "You know what you have to do, not just for yourself, but for this world.. You saw it didn't you? This world that my father cherished so much. But do you have the strength to fulfil your destiny? To make enemies of the people you consider friend's? To kill them"

Naruto stared in shock at the fox towering before him. Did he really expect him to do that? No, there was noway he could do that to them.. He could never betray Hokage-Ojiisan or Konoha. Not to mention Sakura-Chan.. Yet there was a treacherous voice in the back of his head that told him to do otherwise. 'She will never love you, and the village will turn on you as soon as Ojiisan is gone'

After contemplating it for a long time he came to his conclusion. "Ojiisan will understand. He will help us achieve your father's dream for this world.. Without restoring to that. I will give Konoha a chance to redeem itself! If not.. I will have to show Konoha and the rest of this world.. Pain. And then I will show this world the will of the Rikudō Sennin! I will give this world true peace!"

For the first time in several decades Kurama had a real grin on is face. Perhaps the time had finally come? The peace tat the old man had given to this world would be restored, and that by what had to be in his humble opinion the most unlikely character. The only issue right now was to make the Kit realise that he would never get acceptance from the village he for unknown reasons cherished. The best he could hope for was for them to tolerate him. And his dream off being Hokage? Ha! That'd be the day. Even for him to find a female willing to mate with him was at best unlikely.. He had seen enough of this world to know the fate of a jinchūriki.

In the end he decided that to bluntly tell him his fate if he were to try and convince the village to stand with him and his ambitions.. "They will never accept you. Because you are my jailer they would never even consider what you tell them. No.. You stand alone… Naruto… Well I will help, but even I can not stand up to the world.. Not when they are using my siblings as weapons against me.

If you want to achieve old man Rikudō's dream you can not stay here. And you will need me, like it or not. I know I don't.. But you already know that don't you? Father's eyes grant's you many godly powers, but you have also learned a few of his memories, like the truth of this world. And how it should have been…"

He knew that Kurama was right.. He knew that the village would never accept him, he even knew the unspoken truth about how he would live and die alone. Unloved. Yet he did not want to turn his back on the village. He had just managed to make a few bonds with some people his own age.. Chōji, Shikamaru, Kiba.. Heck even Sasuke! But was it not selfish of him to put his own want for friends and approval in first line?

With these eyes he understood everything.. He knew that the only possible way for him to bring true peace was to do what the fox said, but he already knew that, the Rinnegan was a powerful tool but more than that it was a curse "I-I don't want to betray them, but neither do I want to turn my back on this world.. I was chosen to have this divine gift for a reason. I must be the one to correct the mistakes. To show this world Pain! My eyes see it clearly, my memories of the Rikudō Sennin does not lie: Only when you know true Pain you can now true peace!

Yet part of me can not be convinced.. Even as I see it so clearly I keep thinking about the people I will hurt by going this path of peace.. Sandaime-Ojiisan and my new friend's, they will all hate me.

Then again.." He looked up and the jinchūriki and the captive locked eyes together, a rare moment were there was no hostility between them like you would expect. Only understanding and -for a brief moment- respect.

"Will I not be helping them in the long term? Their children will grow up in a world of peace. True peace! And I will be the one to lead them on this path. I am the one chosen by the Rikudō Sennin to be a God wandering this earth, sacrificing everything that he is -again- so that they can live happy life's knowing that the Pain I brought with me was only a temporary means to put an end to all Pain and suffering on this corrupted earth?"

Kurama nodded sagely at his words. Yes it would appear that the day had finally come. The day had finally come for a new 'Shinobi no Kami' to rise and restore the world that the Rikudō Sennin created to how it was supposed to be. It would take time and effort, but he choose to put his fate in Naruto.. One last time he would put his fate in the human race just like his father did.

"I told you that I will help you achieve my father's dream, and I will! However there I have one condition; When the day comes. When peace have been restored, I want you to unseal me and my siblings from their containers"

Kurama flared his chakra to shut the boy up when he saw Naruto was about to flat out deny him.

"Father never meant for the world to turn out like this, you know that. But humans can not contain themselves when it comes to power.. They will always seek what they cannot have, just like they will fear what they cannot comprehend. We Bijū were never meant to be tools for you humans to use in war..

No he created us for two main purposes, the first and most important was to keep the Jūbi from ever re-emerging and the second was to keep you humans in check. He knew they would not be able follow his will forever, not when the memories of him faded into legend and myth as they are now.. We were meant to guard you. To keep the peace.. Whenever you would start a foolish conflict we would be there to stop it before it turned into unnecessary bloodshed. But as time passed our legend faded as well, they forgot what we were there for and they started to fear us instead.

And as I already mentioned you humans fear what you can never hope to understand so instead you turned against us, you tried to control us… And in the end you succeeded. When we were split up you managed to take us down one by one, and then you learned to harvest our power.. Or in some cases get my siblings to cooperate with you.

My request is simply that you give us back our freedom and our former 'job' as keepers of the peace so that when you are gone we will be there to guide this world so that the peace will never be broken again.. And we biju have learned from our past mistakes I can promise you that.. When we bring peace to this world it will never be broken again!"

Satisfied that his little speech had made the desired impact on his little container Kurama laid down and rested his head on his paws.

Naruto had adopted a rather uncharacteristic emotionless look on his face while listening to Kurama added with the things that he had learned from his Rinnegan he had lost his happy-go-lucky attitude. He just couldn't find that spark to smile any more, there was too much Pain in this world.. He knew too much Pain to ever go back to that fool!

"I'll do it..." It was barley above a whisper yet the fox heard it clear as day. "I will leave the village so that we can sett out on our quest to bring.. Pain to the world. I can never reach my full potential here anyway, out there I can grow stronger so that I can reach my goal"

Naruto looked up at the fox and smiled, it was a smile void of all happiness, filled with sadness and anger. Then he let out a rather creepy chuckle considering the reputation of the boy it was coming from "Who would have ever thought the village fool would snap and runaway before the mentally unstable Uchia?"

Kurama despite himself actually shared in a chuckle at the irony of that. He could totally dig this new Naruto.

"You will have to prepare yourself Naruto. You will have to wake up from your coma soon, and then.. You will have to make your escape. I recommend doing it now while the village is still dealing with this invasion" Kurama paused to think for a moment, considering whether or not to give him a little parting gift to help him on his way. In the end he remembered that he did give his word to help, so help he would! He stretched a fisted-hand through the gate that separated them "Bump fist's with me. I will give you access to enter into the version 1 jinchūriki transformation without being consumed by rage like you normally would.. Combined with the divine power your eyes hold it will give you a significant advantage over your enemies. Least until you are strong enough to rely on your own power"

Naruto did not hesitate this time, if he was to work with Kurama they would have to trust each other. He bumped fist with the fox, he was overwhelmed by the feeling off power flowing through him. He had used Kurama's chakra a few times before, but he always had to force it, now it just came naturally and without giving him the feeling of rage/berserker state. When the chakra he now had access to receded into him the cage in-front of him started fading away before it was all dark again.

When Naruto woke up from his conversation with the Kyūbi he found himself exactly were he had been before he went into his mind scape and by the looks of things no more than a few seconds had passed in the outside world.

Taking a quick look around he spotted the burned corpse of his Sensei laying a few meters away from him. He calmly walked over to take one final look at the man that he had come to love so much… He was barley recognisable now, and that only because he knew the man so well. He gave the man one final prayer before taking another look around, to see if there was anyone else nearby.

The Otogakure shinobi that he was half expecting to be there still was dead. As if they had been blown away by some invisible force 'It was me. My power' he thought quietly to himself before calmly walking over to the battered and burned corpse of what appeared to be a boy around his own age, killed before his time in senseless conflict..

Making a quick decision on what he had to do he quickly took of his orange jacket and laid it close to the boy. The corpse was so burned that it could easily be mistaken for his if he were to arrange it that way. Then acting impulsively he took out a kunai and made a deep and long cut to his arm, letting the warm blood spray over the corpse of the boy and on the ground surrounding them.

'From this day Uzumaki Naruto is dead. All that is left of him is Pein…' With those parting thoughts he turned and left the clearing. There was just one last thing he would collect before he left this village, to set out on his quest to bring the peace that the Rikudō Sennin had wanted.

With his goal clear he disguised himself under a Henge no Jutsu to look like one off the ANBU members and started making his way towards the Hokage's tower. It would be risky, but there was something there that would aid tremendously to his ambitions so much so that it was worth the risk involved.

The fact that the fighting had not yet died out served him well on his way towards the Hokage tower. On his way there he saw a few shinobi rushing towards the front line, but they were all too busy to take notice of the lone ANBU member making his way over the rooftops.

Even when he made it to his destination his luck seemed to last. The village was at the moment in to much turmoil to take any form of notice of him. Had there been anyone there to guard the tower they were long gone to join in the battle. And the few civilians there did not question the authority of an ANBU member walking towards the Hokage's office with purpose.

So now Uzumaki Naruto -wait no.. Pein! – Stood yet again on the same spot were he had fought Gaara, taking one last look back in the direction of the village. On his back strapped much in the same manner as Jiraiya kept contract for the Toad summons was now the Scroll of seals the same one that he had stolen almost a year prior.

He took a deep intake of air before setting of on his way to his next destination to meet with some old friends, and hopefully gather his first followers.

Aaaand that is the end of this first chapter!

So what do you guys think? Is it completely horrible, or is it something you would be interested in reading more of? Let me know by leaving a review telling me about what I could do better, or if I did something right! It helps with my writing to get feedback :)

I know that the chapter is rather short, but this is not the length that I was planning on having in the future! This chapter was originally 4500 words, then it was 5000 aaaand then it was 4500 again… But I decided that I would split the prologue in 2 simply because I feel that it will be better for you, the reader..

In the future I plan on having my chapters between 4,5 – 6K words and 'split' them up so to say instead of stuffing all in one long chapter.. Much like the author of the story "Sage" did :)

Also I have not decided 100% about pairings in this story, or well I'm pretty much decided on Naruto x FemHaku, but then again it might change.. Leave suggestions if you disagree, also if you would prefer no pairing.

Next chapter is almost done and will be out next weekend at the earliest! I might delay it until the weekend after depending on how much time I get to work with this story between school and other shit that eats away my free time…

*Oh and I hope you agree on what I did with the Rinnegan? I was uncertain of how I wanted to do it, but I feel like I found a semi believable and original way to do it.. Also I hope it's fine how I did the interaction with Kyūbi.. I personally feel like they came to an understanding too fast, but I was not really sure how to do it.

Thanks for reading!

Ja né !