Plague: Heya guys! I was just playing this game, and I had to just WRITE this!
Roamer: We apologize (or at least I do, I am unsure of Plague's remorse or not) for not updating our other stories, but creativity is like a flowing river; we do not fix ourselves with a single storyline for too long.
Plague: WE. GOT. BORED.
Roamer: Or at least, she got bored. I only lent my occasional suggestion.
Plague: Anyway, we do not own Dante's Inferno (Electronic Arts) or Naruto (Kishimoto).
Morning, Konoha Main Gates
Izumo let out a loud yawn, tilting his head back against the massive Konoha Gates. Another day, another shift of standing guard in front of the Main Gates. His usual partner, Kotetsu, was also leaning against the Gates, playing with a yo-yo that he got from somewhere. He idly wondered why their names always show up in the supposedly-randomized duty shift selection, but pushed the thought aside; while boring, their duty of standing guard basically entailed being able to laze about, at least unless travelers came.
A 'clip-clop' sound soon cleared his head of boredom, causing him to look down the road. Shading his eyes against the sun glaring down at him, he could barely make out the silhouette of a man on horseback, sedately making his way towards them.
'That's strange, people almost never travel by horse, at least outside of caravans.' Izumo pondered to himself. Still, sticking to formalities, he straightened himself out, Kotetsu replacing the yo-yo into his pocket to avoid any awkward questions. Clearing his throat to get the man's attention, in case he was distracted, he then spoke.
"Halt, sir. What is your business in Konoha?"
The man did not reply immediately, but instead tugged on the reigns and, when the horse came to a halt, dismounted onto the ground, before walking towards Izumo and Kotetsu, leading the horse on with a slight hold on the reigns. He placed his right hand, curled into a fist, against his chest, over his heart, as he faced them, head bowed slightly.
"Hail, sirs. I am a humble warrior of the lands of the west."
Izumo blinked in response. That the man was from the west actually made sense of traveling by horse alone. Still...
"A warrior?" Gesturing for the man to elaborate, who responded in kind.
"I was a Crusader during the Holy Crusades, ordered by the king. Now, however, I found myself needing a change in environment. I have heard much about the Shinobi Nations, which intrigued me enough to settle my decision."
Well, as far as Izumo could tell, the man, or Crusader as he called himself, seemed to be telling the truth, while a small hint of pride swelled in him on account for the man's interest in the Shinobi Nations. He was well aware that there were a large number of other countries and nations out there.
"Still, sir, why Konoha?" Kotetsu spoke up. Now this peaked Izumo's interest; why DID the man choose Konoha?
"To be frank, sirs, I myself was unsure during the trip here. However, Bavieca here," the man stroked the horse's black mane as he said this, earning a neigh of apparent approval, "chose my path for me. Along the way, I learned more of Konoha from others, and it seems like Bavieca has not failed me again."
Izumo was rather...curious about the man's great trust in his steed, but he supposed it was a foreigner thing.
"Well sir, I suggest you head over to the Hokage's Tower, so that you can get the paperwork for, well, settling in and all that done with."
The man tilted his head in thanks, Izumo giving him a detailed route towards the Tower as Kotetsu signaled for the Gates to be opened.
"I thank you, sir. May you have a great day ahead."
Despite himself, Izumo couldn't help but grin in return.
"No worries, sir. Have a great time in Konoha."
The man chuckled in reply.
"Please, call me Dante."
Dante mounted his horse again, before Bavieca trotted into the opened Konoha Gates, heading towards the Hokage Tower.
"Y'know, that guy seemed pretty okay, what do you think Kotetsu?"
Izumo waited for a reply, but only received curses.
"...Kotetsu?"
Izumo shifted his gaze away from the now closing Gates, only to stare as Kotetsu had already gotten the yo-yo back out, and had somehow proceeded to tangle his whole body in the string as well, and was currently busy trying to untangle himself while cursing audibly under his breath.
Sweat-dropping at the ridiculousness of the situation, Izumo moved forward to help his partner while within the gates, Dante looked up as he gazed, almost pityingly, across the massive Hidden Village, and the other lands beyond the walls.
'...So many sinners...will they be absolved, or will they be punished...'
Flashback
"Dante."
After a long journey, through Hell, Purgatory, Heaven, the three kingdoms of the Afterlife, Dante Alighieri was reunited with his beloved, Beatrice Portinari, but as he embraced her, a commanding voice resounded around them. As he looked up, he saw Gabriel, the Angel who had swooped into Hell and took Beatrice to Heaven after he managed to release her from Lucifer's grasp.
"You have come long and far, but your journey has not yet reached its end. While you have proven yourself worthy of being redeemed of your sins by preventing the Fallen Angel Lucifer from returning and potentially destabilizing Heaven again, your sins are atrocities committed on Man, and must be redeemed through Man."
Dante gently stroked the happy yet tearful face of his beloved once, before turning fully towards Gabriel.
"If this will unite me with my beloved Beatrice once and forever all, then so be it! What is my mission, messenger of the Lord?"
Gabriel's voice seemed to chuckle, even as he continued,
"Dante, your mission is to travel to a...'relatively' isolated land, where you will decide judgment of those who have sinned, and-"
He was cut off with a sharp retort from Dante.
'So I must repeat again what I did to the demons and the Damned of Hell, yet on Man this time?"
Gabriel's chuckle resounded even louder than before.
"Trust me, sir Dante; you may face a good challenge amongst these humans. However, there is a penultimate goal in your pilgrimage to these lands. For if you fail, the world may be torn asunder by mortals attempting to be Gods."
"But-there is no other God than the Lord Himself!"
"Since you have obviously forgotten, Dante, there are many other religions out there, and their followers, if you have already forgotten Saladin and his Saracens. They have their own Gods, yet the divine rules agreed between the Gods state that we are not allowed to directly involve ourselves with either their own people or themselves, which unfortunately also applies to their own mortals. The people of the isolated lands are of a different religion altogether, which also leads to the current situation, yet we Angels of God are unable to interfere. Of course..."
"You send me instead, in your place..."
"Indeed, Dante. Your success will not only ensure the continued existence of your fellow mortals, but ensure there are no more usurpers, such as what happened with our greatest mistake."
Dante and Gabriel matched their gazes, neither speaking or moving, both knowing who exactly was the greatest mistake. Slowly, Dante shifted his gaze to the side, upon the beautiful features of his beloved, before facing Gabriel again.
"...I have so many questions...but for humanity, and for the Lord, I will uphold this task with fervor."
Plague: Aaaaaand CUT!
Roamer: *simply proceeds to take out a baseball bat, before smashing it against Plague's head, knocking her unconscious* Now that she is 'occupied', I now have time to continue work on Prototype Versus Infection.
Oh and as a final side note, this is currently waaaaaaaaay at the bottom of our 'to-do' list. So even if you like it, well...meh, tough luck.
Notes to consider:
The Shinobi Nations is a part of the world, but is isolated and secluded because, well, no one else bothered to 'visit'.
Disregards the Rikudo Sennin and the Juubi; the Tailed Beasts may or may not have a special role (still debating).
Dante wears his normal outfit from the game, with the exception of the tapestry he sewed onto himself, and Death's Scythe is in its dagger form, curled around his left arm (for inconspicuousness). An explanation of how he got back the Scythe will be given the next chapter (hint: Death got better).
For realistic geographic purposes (I'm not sure if that's the correct phrase), the mountains around the Land of Earth and Land of Wind make it nigh-impossible to access other lands from west, with travel by sea (that is, from the east) being the only way.
Finally, a small prize to whoever responds first with the correct answer on why we chose the name Bavieca. The horse is the one Dante rides home on in the game, just prior to discovering Beatrice's dead body (and thus venturing into Hell). We thought it would be 'symbolic'.
EDIT: Due to being unable to reply to anonymous reviews, and as it also ties to a registered review, I thought it'd be best to address things here:
Usage of the Tailed Beasts is still being debated upon. Besides, I'm sure Cerberus got better.
Oh for...the 'adoption of Naruto by the new guy' is OVERDONE. Our writing style is pretty much like Dirty Reid described it in his review.
The Prototype Shinobi IS GOING TO UNDERGO A REMAKE. DON'T REQUEST FOR AN UPDATE, ESPECIALLY IF IT'S IN A REVIEW FOR ANOTHER OF OUR FICS.
(assuming we are interpreting it correctly) We did not outright say that Dante's going on another Crusade, at least for the Shinobi Nations. We could have easily just said that Dante's simply going to judge everyone in the Shinobi Nations, and you'd already get the idea. If we interpreted this wrong, please inform us.
Stating that part about the Holy Crusades was simply...habitual? I suppose. There will eventually be people who would be curious enough to ask, but that's a later part of the story.
No comments on Dante's current status.
We actually had the assumption that the Crusaders had, at the very least, an inkling of a different religion in the Holy Lands, seeing as they were quite sure that the inhabitants weren't Christians, and were came to two possible conclusions. A: The people of the Middle East just didn't have a religion (and God(s) to worship), or B: they DID have a religion. It's more logic than anything else.
Frankly, I actually doubt that Saladin and the Saracens were actually there. Remember, Lucifer personally said that the Hell that Dante experienced was his own; as far as Saladin and the Saracens are concerned, they could be just representations, not the actual souls. There is also a bit of nit-picking in the Dante's Inferno wiki that Saladin died about 2 years after Dante (or Dante in the game at least). They eventually concluded that Dante delayed returning to Florence for quite a bit. (of course, this would lead to the question of WHY WERE OTHER SOULS OF OTHER PERIODS OF TIME ALSO IN DANTE'S HELL, which we do not intend to answer. AT ALL. Unless we absolutely have to.)
We admit it, we did not the research regarding Saracen gods (or in this case, god).
