NOTE: IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ AND LET THE CHAOS COME, READ IT FIRST AS THE PREQUEL TO THE TRILOGY OF KAMI NO NARUTO. OTHERWISE, CONTINUE READING THE STORY.
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Inari's Guardian
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The shinobi's vision and senses erupted in a multitude of colors and feelings as the fox itself suddenly seemed to freeze before thrashing about on the ground, small earthquakes created and vanquished in instants. Its cries of hatred and pleas for help were lost on the mortals, who heard no more than a great snarl before a figure appeared before them, flashing as if in rage.
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Prologue
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Among other things, the crimson flash that erupted from the earth, bathing everything in a scarlet light, was not what Namikaze Minato expected. He blinked, eyes still covered as if in tears by sweat and grime; debris from the huge dust clouds the angered bijuu had kicked up. The world faded and spun for a moment, and he staggered on top of Gamabunta before pulling himself back to his feet. He could only stare in wonderment at the scene that greeted him.
The beam of light had surrounded the Kyuubi itself in a blood-red aura, and the beast itself was thrashing around on the ground, its cries of bestial rage producing enough KI to eliminate any number of civilians as well as many lower-ranked ninja. The fox shrieked and when Minato looked up, he saw a figure, entombed in that blaze of light and standing tall before the demon. Wiping his hair from his eyes, he took a step forward-
And felt.
Images, washed over him. Feelings, sights, sounds, tastes, and many other senses that there are no names for in any human tongue, inundated his mind, as well as the thoughts and souls of all the other shinobi who had been fighting to protect their home but moments ago.
One second, he was rushed in a mountain stream to be ripped apart in roaring white rapids. Next, he was set ablaze under the roaring hot sun, a power too great to be denied. The earth itself grew up around humanity and crushed it to dust before remaking it so that civilization could live and grow and destroy itself countless times. The wind blew into his face and he screamed, the gust carrying with it shouts and voices of multitudes, begging and shouting, but yet there was no malevolence. The only thing present was power, sheer power.
Wild, uncontrollable rage washed over the forest and all human life was frozen in place even as the plants grew in a frenzy, reaching toward the spot where the fox lay thrashing upon the ground, miniature quakes erupting where its body broke open the ground. Here was the Kyuubi, creator of tsunamis and destroyer of mountains, and here it lay in agony, shrieking in anger and pain.
All the humans were stiffened as they felt the unnamable feeling of a presence, of a predator waiting in the shadows, always ready to seize its prey from behind. They twitched and thrashed while the fox screamed, an unearthly wail that shattered stones and caused birds to flee for miles around.
But then, as quick as it came, the terror was gone.
And then it was replaced by a feeling of oldness, of a place where anything and everything had its niche, and so all things of life and nature were meant to be. And humans throughout the village saw their place in nature and suddenly felt small, even as the fox's screams reached a crescendo.
Minato stood, entranced and dumbfounded by the waves of the wisdom and age of eons that washed over him, giving him but the slightest insight to the wild fury of the being that stood far above them, watching the Kyuubi indifferently as the beast yelped in agony one final time before the dust settled.
And Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, knew that hell hath no fury as to the rage of nature's wrath.
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Inari stood, clothed in red light, as he manifested himself to the surface of the Earth, right on top of where the fox demon had been attacking Konoha. His eyes, normally amused and free, blazed in bloody scarlet as he erupted with but a fraction of his power.
The usually carefree god had barely recovered from the shock of the discovery of the resurrection of Yomi that it had been a worse shock to find one of his most trusted lieutenants attacking a human village in a half-crazed berserker drive. Hundreds of carcasses already littered the ground, and Inari, the lord of nature, was angered.
Nature was free and unrestrained; it could be anywhere from the most optimistically funny of emotions to the darkest and most cruel of tortures. The god's persona itself reflected this, as nature was connected to the celestial being in a way that ran deeper than a soul's connection to a body.
Nature was bloody and ruthless, for sure. There was to be no mercy in a fight for life or superiority. Predators killed, and they did what they had to in order to stay alive. What's more, everything was kept in balance, for in the eternal struggle of yin and yang, the rule of the Earth, ancient beyond measure and originating with the gods themselves, kept the celestial forces together, filling the air itself with ambient power.
But all life was part of a higher cycle, where the bodies, minds, and souls of everything that lived, breathing, wanting, and feeling, and so all was swept up in a cycle of rage and sorrow, happiness and turmoil. Calamity and tranquility existed hand-in-hand, yet if there was one thing nature was not, it was this:
Wasteful.
The predator-prey relationship was a complex one, yet was necessary. But this… this was a slaughter, meant for no other reason than for destruction and pain.
It was an abomination.
It was a betrayal.
And so Inari clenched his fists, diving into his vassal's consciousness with his own, searching for a reason, a purpose, and finding nothing, just a blind rage with its only drive to be to annihilate all forms of life. And he dove further.
The nature god went on, even as the Kyuubi howled in pain, paws carving open deep gouges in the earth, his physical body standing still in the middle of a blaze of power with features looking to be chiseled from stone and eyes blazing with burning rage, waiting to be set free upon the mortal earth.
Inari searched further, and found naught but more rage, and blood, and hate, and…confusion?
Deeper down, the violence began to fade and Inari could find only confusion and uncertainty, buried deep under the fiery heap of hateful emotions. As he saw them, they appeared to be half-dead, piled under a pile of anger so huge that the beast had been driven into near-insanity- and, as he now found out- against its will.
He finally reached the last destination, a place at the bottom of the Kyuubi's soul, where red torchlight illuminated the walls in a reflection of the fox's inner sanctum- and where there had been an opening into the innermost instincts and mind processes of the fox, there was a seal.
Covering the wall, the three huge tomoe were set aflame in a sickly purple light, bathing the room in a black light of filth and toxicity. They spun, almost lazily, mocking Inari with the corruption that they so freely spread amongst the room. Inari felt sick, not just for reaching the root of the problem, but also because he recognized the three swirling commas as a symbol that had not been used in eternity- the symbol of the forces of Yomi.
Inari felt a wave of dread wash over him- and then he roared in rage, his bellows syncing with the pitiful cries of the fox in the real world, outside of the cavernous mindscape of the bijuu. A column of flame blasted over the seal and it vanished in a pillar fire as the Kyuubi screamed in pain, its yelps eventually subsiding into soft whines of pain, the great demon still not fully done with the agony of the breaking of its chains of madness.
"Kyuubi," was the word spoken, and thus the beast froze in its thrashing to flinch back from the now-cold fury of its master. The Kyuubi whimpered in the face of the Lord of Nature, and Inari restrained himself from tearing apart the land in a whiff of ozone and a blaze of fire.
Who did this to you was the question asked by the god, and it wasn't a word, nor a thought, but a feeling, and so Inari's mind was assaulted by visions of a mask, a cloak of clouds, a cloud of malevolence, and those three swirling pupils, making up an eye of entrancement and illusion.
Inari snarled again and the fox flinched back once more.
Not fifty yards below, a blond-haired Hokage was coming to his senses at last.
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Minato stared, breathlessly, mouth dry, at the pinnacle of power that stood before him. His mouth moved soundlessly as he watched the fox quake under the wrath of the being that stood there, unmoving in the face of the fox's agony. Three words managed to escape hi mouth though, and they fell out into the screaming air with a sense of helplessness, a feeling that the Hokage was not acquainted with.
"What…what is that?"
Echoes were heard from all over the field of shinobi even as the Kyuubi began to quiet, and suddenly, before Minato's eyes, was a face of ancient rage and power, staring into the depths of his soul, before that cold glint faded and he was left looking into the irises of a red-haired man, fair-skinned and crimson-eyed.
"I believe you know me as a Inari, mortal," spoke the man, as his voice faded from a sky-splitting cacophony to a more normal tone, yet one still filled with power, so one still to be feared and respected.
"I-Inari?" Minato's tongue stumbled over the words at the sight of this ageless being standing before him. "Why… why have you come?"
Inari snorted, some apparent humanity reappearing into his features, the anger fading from his eyes somewhat. "I had to subdue my subordinate, of course. I would like to apologize for the trouble he has caused." He smirked a bit at the other man's dumbfounded expression. "Did you see any shinobi not attacking Kyuubi."
Minato's mouth moved, and eventually, words came tumbling out. "Y-Yes. I saw… a man, masked, with red clouds on his cloak. He and I clashed some time before the fox came, and he fled soon after its arrival." He shook his head in confusion. "But, surely you can't be implying that-" He was cut off by a wave of Inari's hand and fell silent.
"Yes, indeed, this attack was staged." The god's expression grew grave. "My lieutenant is not one to attack villages at random, and so I suspect other powers at play."
"How-?"
"Enough."
Inari suddenly spotted the small bundle at the Hokage's side, tufts of yellow hair poking out of the top, and heard the wailing of an infant. As he unwrapped the bundle, his thoughts were assaulted with images, and his sharp intake of breath drew Minato's attention. "What-?" He was cut off once more.
"This is the one I was sent to find," said Inari, and Minato's mind was sent reeling. "I had planned to give him a gift, but… now there is one more thing I can provide."
A spark flashed between the god's finger and the center of the babe's forehead, and the child grew quiet, eyes slowly closing. "There is but one other thing I will do now," said Inari. "Kyuubi!" he barked, and the fox itself stood up shakily.
"Y-Yes, Master?" it asked cautiously, and then bowed its head in thanks and shame.
"You have brought shame upon yourself for succumbing to manipulation, my friend," said Inari. "For that, I will assign you a task: you are to stay within the room of this child's soul, protecting and guiding him for his lifetime." When the fox made no response, Inari lifted a hand and placed it upon the fox's head, smiling sadly. "You will learn the importance of this boy soon enough," he whispered, and the Kyuubi twitched, seemingly unsettled with this new revelation even as Minato's thoughts were kept in turmoil with every word spoken by the god.
With a nod, the Kyuubi disappeared in a swirl of fiery chakra and vanished into the spot on the child's forehead where he had been marked- not, as Minato noted unconsciously, the stomach where he had planning the Shiki Fuujin.
Suddenly, a wave of nausea attacked the Hokage and he stumbled, leaning for support on the shoulder of the god. Inari looked at him for a moment, and said solemnly, "You have used up too much of yourself tonight. Even if I had the power of my brothers, I could not keep you tethered to life." He shook his head sadly and the world flashed once in Minato's eyes before spinning out of control as the world split in two and crashed on his brain. He groaned and collapsed on top of Gamabunta's head, who was still frozen in place at the divine presence.
"Don't worry," said Inari softly. "For I will protect your son."
The Yondaime doubled over one last time, and spoke his last words. "H-His name… is Naruto."
And so Namikaze Minato passed from earth to heaven, his spirit fleeing from his body, which fell to the earth, leaving Inari cradling the child in his arms. He disappeared in a column of fire and reappeared in the office of the Hokage. When a weary Sarutobi entered some hours later, he would be very surprised to find the son and heir of his successor lying on his desk.
Inari vanished once more.
To watch.
And to wait.
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AN: DAMN! I'm on a ROLL! This chapter just seemed to write itself!
So, you know, R&R. Tell me what you think!
- SoS, out!