Revolution
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Akame ga Kiru. If I did the amount of violence and deaths depicted in Akame ga Kiru would have ran rampant during this fourth shinobi war. Better yet the whole series.
AN: Holy Log! Akame ga Kiru is getting an anime! This is going to be so awesome! I really hope they don't butcher it since damn it's a close favorite of mine that I've started reading since it was like in chapter five or so. Hell I even started reading it before I read Shingeki no Kyojin. So to commemorate that I'm posting this way sooner than initially planned. To those familiar with the series then you'd know what kind of tone this fic will have and I mean this shit is going to be dark and characters will die left and right. Let me get this straight with this first AN, this is not going to be one of those lovie dovie fanfic where Godlike Naruto comes in saves the day, gets the girls, and lives happily ever after lighthearted comedy style. Fuck no! Anyone can die even the main characters! Actually let me change that especially the main characters can die, be they close friends, love interests, mentors, allies, and so on.
Tags: AU, Violence, Gore, Character Deaths, Strong Naruto, Smart Naruto, Darkish Fic, Extremely Graphic Situations, Torture, Original Teigu, Future Lemons.
Pairings: Undecided
Unbeta'd
-Revolution-
Prologue: The Flames of a Revolution.
Just like people gradually rotting away, countries also eventually collapse. Even the Imperial Capital of the Empire that prospered for almost a thousand years, became corrupted and is now a living hell. Evil spirits from all the lands in the form of human, run rampant as if everything in this world was theirs. It was the great evil which even the heavens cannot judge.
So it comes upon the hands of other men to rid themselves of this great evil.
Unfortunately even the most noble of men who attempted to fight the system found themselves corrupted by the dark temptations of the Empire. The great evil was so sweet, so euphoric, so addicting, that even the greatest of wills soon wavered and fell to its dark clutches; be it the pleasures of the flesh, the promise of power, the great sadism and violence upon others, or even the glorious glittering of gold, the empire had it all. So long as the foolish thoughts for change was abandoned and forgotten, then their desires were rewarded and soon they too became part of the great evil.
To those who resisted temptations, the ones who valiantly fought against the system, they who wished for better future, to rid of the firm hold of the corruption within the Empire, they too were rewarded. A simple and long-lasting gift in the form of imprisonment. Great men were tossed in jail into the dark gallows bereft of humanity. Their bodies' were beaten, battered, and mutilated for every waking moment, undergoing torture the likes of which only the devil himself would enjoy. The flames of change and the will of men were forcefully pacified, their body,mind, and soul broke to the point that they welcomed the embrace of death itself just to end their sufferings.
Some were given this gift, people who were made examples of. Their already broken bodies were paraded on the glorious streets of the Empire's capital until they were brought up to a stage like a form of twisted entertainment for the residents of the corrupt land. They were laughed upon, they were mocked, and they were degraded and insulted, until they received their just deserts, an array of different method of deaths picked by the spectators themselves. Some were hanged and beheaded, they were the luckiest of the bunch. Others were devoured by beasts, their deaths were the most entertaining of them all. Several were burned, cooked, boiled, crushed, flayed, strangled, stoned, poisoned, crucified, or even buried alive, their cries of agony during their slow death brought an unparalleled amount of joy and euphoria to those who listened on.
Martyrs dying for and fading cause.
There was no hope, no justice, no more heroes that rose to the call in order to bring about change.
But when all hope was gone a small flame appeared from the distance, a small, weak, and flickering flame which was foreign to this land. No one immediately paid heed to this insignificant dying flame, no one expected it to survive, but slowly and surely the struggling continued on until the flame slowly recovered.
Days turned to months, and months turned to years and eventually the flame was still small but already burning brightly. By then the flame actually caught someone's attention, a man from the empire who offered the small flame a place to grow and rekindle the flames that it has lost. The recovering flame accepted, joining the man's side. There the flame was unknowingly manipulated, his powers used to for the wrong cause, his great flames served only to fuel the ambitions of the evil known as men.
Though as time passed once more the and as the flame slowly recovered, its thoughts became concrete, its memories returned, it was then that it realized what it has done. The atrocities and crimes it was used for, the amount of pain and suffering it brought upon the weak and the innocent.
Such an act of betrayal did not sit well for the flame.
The once small and tiny flame grew into a large inferno, an angry blaze that promised itself to stand up against the plague which infected this lands. The evil which even the heavens cannot judge, shall be burned away by the very flames that this very evil they helped to rekindle.
-Revolution-
A great inferno engulfed an entire city.
There were waves upon waves of intense flesh melting blaze as far as the eye could see. It was an undying conflagration that scourged and desolated what was once a great city of nobility which laid upon the outermost mountainous regions of the empire.
Black smoke rose from the burning city, the murky dark fumes scattering all over the wide and heavenly night skies. The smell of burnt and charred flesh wafted through the air, flooding the area surrounding the city with the sickening smell of death, indicative of just how many lives has perished within the inferno.
A young man holding a beautiful katana in his right hand, silently stood so atop a small cliff which over looked the burning city. The bright and spiky bangs of his sun-kissed blond hair that stood out even in the darkest of nights hanged low, shadowing his eyes. From his spot he could smell the burning of the flesh, a choking and nauseating smell. Sadly, the smell of fresh death barely affected the young man as he was already desensitized to its presence.
The blond-haired young man was wearing a simple attire; a set composed of a dark blue shirt with the insignia of a white cross in the front showing his status as a member of the military, a pair of dark blue pants going down to his lower calves, white bandages covering the regions in between his pants and dark blue boots. His pants were also equipped for combat as the sheath of his blade tied to his left side and holster filled with tools of his trade was strapped to the side of each of his knee, and to top it off he was wearing both a necklace with the insignia of a leaf surrounded by fire which swayed freely from his neck and a long orange haori decorated by black flames along the edges that bristled with the gentle breeze of the night.
As the young man stood over the inferno he couldn't help but extend his other senses, his nose taking in the smell of death, his ears picking up on the sounds permeating from the burning city. The normal symphony played by the nocturnal animal that inhabited the mountainous range was drowned out by the screams of pain and agony that echoed off the burning city. There were also some shouts of panic and confusion brought about by the nobles waking up for the night and finding themselves surrounded by the flames which soon after burned them to ashes. However the most disturbing among all the noises from the city were the cries of relief and salvation originating from the broken slaves, sex toys, and lower classed men and women who were tortured by the nobles for their sick amusement.
It was as if they joyously welcomed the incoming flames with open arms.
A fact that was not far from the truth as the inferno that befell upon their city served as a chance to escape for those who were not broken a beacon of hope for those who lived on. But sadly the majority of those slaves were long broken, the flames represented their freedom. Freedom from the premises of their earthly flesh which met a cruel fate under the hands of the nobles. They were just happy that their suffering in the land of the living came to an end.
The young man standing atop the cliff dared not to look away, his shadowed eyes never leaving the raging inferno. His normally bright blue eyes were clouded, faded cerulean blue, the eternal proof of his fading vision that assailed him as of late. In the young man's honest opinion he thought it was too light, such an underwhelming punishment for the crimes that he committed. Those misguided assassinations, murders, and genocides that he thought was for a good cause.
He was such a fool.
In his moment of weakness, where both his powers and memories were close to none existent, he let himself get used and manipulated by the Empire. A loyal general and assassin that willingly and happily fought for the side of corruption and injustice. Just the though was maddening for him, for one who initially fought for peace and justice, for him to have been used in such a way that even the blood of the innocent, the blood children tainted his hands.
Why did it take so long for him to come back to his senses?
If only it happened earlier, then he could have prevented that tragedies that he personally created. Hell he could have even already started paving the road towards peace for this corrupt world, but now it was too late. What's done is done, the die has been cast, and now he was extremely pissed. Only once has he found himself so enraged and that involved witnessing the end of his world in the hands of a madman. The death of all that he cared for, the very same people who in a last desperate gambit threw him into a different world in hopes of sparing him from the cruel fate that awaited in a world of illusions.
All they did was unknowingly throw him from one hell to another, and by the time his memories of the past returned he had enough. He did not want a repeat of the past, an encore performance resulting in the destruction of yet another world due to the machinations of insane men.
For that he must act, he must make a statement to this world and he was going to make sure that the empire got the message, that they were going to get what was coming to them. The time for peaceful means ended when he was used, it was now the time for action and he was more than willing to be the necessary evil needed to incite change.
"Naruto what have you done? Burning not one but three cities of the Empire to the ground! Has you're Teigu* shattered your sanity into pieces? Have you gone mad?" A familiar voice accompanied by the sound of light footsteps reached his ears, such a soft yet stern and powerful tone belonging to his close friend of this world. His fellow General of the empire, the pale skinned sadistic Ice Queen Esdese.
Naruto didn't bother to turn around, his shallow blue eyes still lingering upon the large pyre of his own doing, the flames of the sword in his right hand still flickered ever so slightly against the increasingly cold wind. He knew for a fact that she was still standing behind him, her smooth and long blue hair still cascading downwards like a flowing river as her cold blue eyes gazed upon his back. Judging from her tone she was here for business, so that must mean she was wearing her military uniform. A set consisting of a military style white button up shirt with a black collar that accentuated her cleavage, a white skirt with a black belt –where her sword was fastened- that went along her top, a set of white boots that went to her high thighs which acted in tandem with a long pair of black gloves that she always wore. To top things off she wore a white military cap completing her ensemble fit for the beautiful general of the Empire.
"The Teigu making me insane huh?" He almost scoffed as those words came out of his mouth. "Demon's Extract. The Teigu lost in early war of the North, taken forcefully by the Empire by destroying the lives of many. A blood-red chalice filled to no ends with the blood of the beasts that roam this world, an unholy elixir that brings forth madness. The very same elixir you happily consumed a few years ago."
The general clad in white found raised a single brow piqued with sudden curiosity. "What's your point?"
"Goddess' Tears. The Sacred Teigu of fire given to the Eastern Lands as a sign of peace by the first emperor only to be stolen and reclaimed by the current Prime Minster of the empire and given to me during my tenure as a loyal general to the empire's army. A golden cup filled to the brim with the tears of the goddess of the sun Amaterasu. A sacred ambrosia that grants enlightenment. Do you really need to ask which one of use delves within the realm of insanity? I think it's really obvious which of the two of us has a sadistic spree and relishes for violence and bloodshed, the one who can commit genocide with a smile on their face. Though if you are going stick with your point then rather than going insane you could say that I became sane. Yes, a mad man finally reaching realm of rationality for the first time."
"You call this rationale? I understand the need to trample upon the weak, to brutally crush them under our heels for we are the strongest of the strong, but to point your blade to the Empire and its people is far from necessary. If you wanted to kill so much then you should have just told me. We could have stormed the Northern Region, trampling upon every tribe which we go up against basking ourselves in a glorious euphoria of death and carnage!" She didn't even bother trying to deny his point about her love of violence and sadism. Those two things were almost second nature to her to the point that she didn't find any fault in doing such actions.
A soft sigh escaped Naruto's lips. "I try my best to understand you and I truly do understand but you fail to see what drove me to burn down two cities, and I'm afraid you never will as long as you hold on to your philosophy of the survival of the fittest. We truly are opposites in both our philosophies, our allegiance, and our elements. It was as if were destined us to eventually part ways."
"That doesn't need to happen. You can still turn back and apologize for your actions. I am sure that Empire would forgive you for burning down a city or two in your fit of rage. Please don't go. Don't leave and become our enemy, my enemy. Just tell me what we can do!?" Her voice was uncharacteristically pleading with a hint of desperation. In all intents and purpose it wasn't far from the truth. Despite her lack of empathy to people she considered weak, Esdese had a soft spot for her comrades and those who she considered strong.
He was both.
He was her first friend within the Empire, the first person to fight by her side through each and every battle. He was her light, the only person who comforted her during her own moments of weakness and insecurity, the only person even aware that such moments existed. He was the driving force responsible for her current level of strength, the person who kept pushing her forward even when she faced an obstacle that she couldn't pass. He was the only person she acknowledged as her equal, the only person whose strength and ability in combat rivalled her own.
He was the closest person to her cold and sadistic heart and he was only moments away from tearing it into pieces.
"What's done is done, I did what I had to do Esdese. I could no longer afford to turn a blind eye at the atrocities that this empire has done." His left hand slowly rose, rough and calloused fingers tracing along his clouded blue eyes from left to right once finished his hand fell back to its previous place.
"It's really ironic that I finally see the truth when I'm slowly loosing my eye sight. Talk about me being air headed if it took that long for me to realize the truth." He chuckled bitterly. "This Empire is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Inhumanity run rampant on a daily basis while those who scream and act out for change are taken down, beaten, tortured, and if they are lucky enough executed. Is this what we fight for? Is this the nation we are willing to lay our lives on the line for? An empire of filth built upon the corpses of the poor and the downtrodden. An Empire that continuously oppresses the weak and helpless unwilling to change their corrupt system."
"I don't understand. Is that your reason for doing all this? For the sake of the weak? Why would you do that? Why would someone as strong as you care for them?"
"Because I believe in the philosophy known as the Will of Fire, that love shall lead to Peace. What we have now is false peace gained through both oppression and corruption. To my faded eyes this Empire, runs with the ideal known as the Curse of Hatred, that peace can only come through the use of power. I have already seen what this curse can do, and through it I lost all that I loved and cherished. Never again shall allow such a thing to happen. Not now, not ever." Though he was losing the ability to see, he could now clearly see and feel every lingering presence in the conflagration. Even within the flames he could see it, the pitch black souls of the nobles that resided in the burning city. "Greed and corruption has already tainted man's soul to the point that absolute darkness has enveloped what was once a shining beacon of hope, peace, and salvation. I can see it Esdese, the light and darkness within men, and all I see as I gaze upon this cities built by nobility is utter darkness as far as the eye can see. Total darkness that engulfs and extinguishes the small amount flickering lights that slowly fades to the void."
Esdese opted to remain silent, hands crossed against her chest, her blue eyes peering through her close friend's back as she listened ever so intently to the words that came out of his mouth.
"I love this world, after all it presented me a second chance, in life. That's why I would rather die than do nothing as the Empire's actions continue to slowly destroy this beautiful world. Though it is hypocritical of me, a person who wants peace. I know full well that peace cannot be achieved without change and change cannot be accomplished without some blood shed and violence. That is why I will stand up, I will become the necessary evil that shall go against the corrupt Empire. This world needs to be reborn and what better way to do so by cleansing the Empire with my flames? Like the ancients cities that were consumed by flames and brimstone by the divine judgement of God. Yes, I will show this Empire the strength of my will. The will that demands change."
The general of the empire shifted her eyes towards the ground, an act of silent contemplation as she tried her best to understand her friend's plight. Sadly, she couldn't. Esdese couldn't put herself in his shoes and think of why he was feeling enraged enough to torch two cities of filled with nobles to the ground. What was wrong with the Empire? What was wrong with kicking down and taking advantage the weak? She just couldn't understand, it was beyond her comprehension. "Will you reconsider your actions?" She found herself asking before she even realized it. Her mind still thoroughly confused.
"No." Naruto replied without hesitation.
This time it was her turn to sigh, leave it to her fellow General to be stubborn at times like these."Very well. If that is your wish then you leave me no choice." She drew the sword which rested upon it's scabbard on her waist. A long rapier which she used and wielded in combat. "You know full well of my ideals, that I follow the idea of the survival of the fittest. The the strong shall live and the weak shall die. Show it to me the strength of the flames that you keep hidden within you. The flames that will incite this change that you speak of. Show me it's true strength so that I will have the pleasure of extinguishing your foolishness before you're very eyes. I will beat you out of your idiocy and if push comes to shove to prevent you from leaving." Her killing intent flooded the area, a cold and deadly feeling that would bring even the strongest and most experienced warriors to their knees. "I will break you."
A dry chuckle escaped the blond's lips as the killing intents washed over him, not even affected in the slightest of such a hostile intent. "Better men has tried and failed. What makes you think that you're the one who has the ability to break my will?"
"Well sometimes it takes a woman's touch to bend the even the mightiest of men's will."
"You'll find myself to be an exemption to the rule."
"That's what they all say before I break them."
He shook his head, blond locks bristling against the nightly wind. "You never change, still the same as ever." That shaking of his head soon as he opened his mouth to speak once more, this time using a more solemn tone. "For what's it worth I'm really sorry that it had to turn out this way Esdese but I'm afraid we must part ways."
"Save you're apologies for when you're chained up to a wall, spending every waking moment of your existence in pain as I punish you for your transgressions. For the crimes of burning two cities of the Empire, I General Esdese of the Empire shall take you down."
"I'll pass since one I don't feel like losing here today and two I'm not really a masochist so I won't like getting punished by you."
"You will be after I'm done with you, and to be honest I'd be lying if I told you that such an idea never appeared within my mind. The glorious euphoria that comes in breaking someone as strong as you. Someone who I consider my equal. I wonder how good will it feel?"
"Mah mah you're being such a sadist against Esdese-chan. " He looked away from the flames turning his body around, and for first time upon this meeting finally meeting face to face with his long time friend now turned enemy, her blue eyes meeting his own reuniting for one last time before the inevitable would occur and force them apart. "So I think we should get this started. After all I don't want to get delayed here and get caught before I escape. This is your one shot to stop this rebellion before it arises."
"So impatient, I guess the time of talking is over. Understand this, I shall defeat you, and then I will break you, maybe then some sense can return to that hard head of yours." She shifted her stance, her sword now being held horizontally in her right hand, with its tip pointing the ground. As she took this stance the temperature within the vicinity drop several degrees. "Let's get this execution started." She said a small smile marring her face as she poised herself for combat.
"This is not execution..." Naruto quickly corrected as he brought his blade to his side, holding it in reverse grip with his right hand as he slightly crouched down while leaning his body towards his opponent's direction. As she took this stance heat emanated from his body quickly counteracting the chilling temperature that was starting to take over. "...This is the birth of a revolution!"
"All will freeze before me!/Reduce all creation to ashes!" The two simultaneously shouted. From their position the combatants swung their blades, both fully drawing upon the power granted to them by their respective Teigu.
"Hagel Sturm! (Hail Storm) /Ryujin Jakka! (Flowing Blade-like Flame)"
In an instant, an army of large house sized eternally cold icicles formed from the moisture lingering in the dry air, filling the night sky with no less than a hundred large frosty spikes. With a swing of her sword Esdese commanded the ice elemental projectiles to shoot through the night skies, moving faster than the speed of any bullet as they flew towards their blond target intent of skewering him limb from limb before each icicle expanded and flash freeze him from existence.
At the same time the Naruto swung his blade. Not one to be bested so easily by a single attack, the blond ex-general responded in kind by slashing his peerless katana towards the incoming barrage of icicles. A great inferno in the form of a large fiery river of intense flames was released from the sharp edge of his blade. A devastating conflagration of deadly flames that obliterates all that went against it, reducing them into ashes. Be they man, beast, or even god himself, all would burn in the hell fire of his blade.
The harsh never melting ice met fierce unending flames, both attacks easily blanketing the night sky.
The momentous exchange lasted for but a second, a second of true peace and serenity, the calm to a storm. With the passing of that second all semblance of peace was shattered as a cataclysmic explosion of a violent white light produced by ice and fire surrounded the both Naruto and Esdese as their attack tore and carved the very earth itself destroying what little remained of the burning city.
It was but the first of exchange of their battle.
The very battle in which the earth itself cried despairingly as it was repeatedly wounded by the violent and apocalyptic clash of ice and fire that made the very battlefield itself uninhabitable for years to come.
The clash between the two titans continued for hours on end until the break of dawn when the victor was finally decided. As the sun rose from the far away horizon, a lone person basked by the glory of the early morning sun walked away from the desolated battle field, moving ever so slowly due to pain and exhaustion. Walking away and never looking back on the battlefield where the battered and wounded form of their worthy opponent rested.
This battle would later be regarded by many historians as the start of the great and long-standing rivalry between the Ice Queen and the Fire King, but more importantly that day will be forever remembered as the day which heralded the coming of a storm which will engulf the Empire in chaos.
The day that gave birth to the great revolution.
-Revolution END-
EN: There we go the prologue. Done and done. Before anyone asks yes this is Naruto from his verse. Reason why he's here won't be disclosed until later on. He still has chakra to a certain extent but he lacks Kurama's presence as big fuzzy was ripped from his body by the big bad Mada-chan. Oh and no, he doesn't have Yamamoto's Zanpakuto but rather his attacks and the abilities given to him by his Teigu Goddess Tears (aka Amaterasu's Tears) are based on the fire attacks of old man Yama's and some other fire attacks from Naruto verse. He's a bit OOC here in this chapter but that's mainly because this is somewhere close to his despair event horizon and his heel face turn, he'll be back to his somewhat light hearted self by next chapter.
Handy Dandy Dictionary:
*Teigu: Mysterious and extremely powerful relics created by the First Emperor of the Empire. There are only 48 which were created, but almost half of them were lost in a civil war 500 years before the start of the series. More often than not Teigu takes the form of a weapon, equipment, or even a humanoid with amazing powers such as being able to control the elements, produce a poison that can kill anyone with a touch, protect and enhance a user's capabilities through the use of an armour, and even control space to a certain extent.
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