Prologue
Aftermath of the BLACKLIGHT outbreak, Manhattan
Who am I?
What am I?
My name is… Heh, I don't know anymore. Once I was human by the name of Mercer, but then I was killed and infected by BLACKLIGHT and became a clone code named Zeus. Then I trades faces and identities like I did clothes in my quest to find my past, and then to save Manhattan. Now I don't know who I am. Or what I am. Now I must search out the rest of GENTEK, and stop anymore strains from being spread. Hopefully during my travels I might find out the answers.
Los Angeles, 50 years later
It's been 50 long years but I've done it. It's taken longer than I thought but I've managed to find and destroy all the GENTEK labs in America. But in doing so I've also found some bad news. 25 years ago GENTEK went international. They have labs in every major country. Despite my efforts outbreaks have been occurring world wide. As much as I do, I can't stop them all. The infections are spreading.
250 years later, Location Unknown
Through put the years I've noticed something strange. Every year, every little change has made me harder to kill. Also I've stopped ageing. I think I've become immortal. That in itself is good. I seem to be the origin strain of the infections, meaning that any ability that evolves from the mutations can be traced back to me. Every battle leads me to discover new abilities.
It's been almost 200 years since the fall of man. The infections spread like wildfire. With each new strain it evolved. The infected evolved into worse and worse monsters. Man, animals, plants everything was tainted. Thankfully, not everyone was turned into monsters. Those who kept their humanity were still changed, they gained abilities that seemed to be weaker versions of my own abilities, they also seem to have lost the ability to infect others, but these abilities were passed on to some of their offspring.
However, even with our intelligence and abilities, we were still losing this war. Our only hope is to pump the earths crust with Bloodtox to drive the Infected to the surface then use the old nuclear warheads to create a nuclear winter. This should kill off all the infected, and destroy all traces of the contagions. The catch is that someone needs to be on the surface to make sure that the bombs detonate on time. AS the oldest, that duty falls to me.
73 years later, Location Unknown
Our plan worked for the most part. The mindless Infected were killed off, and most of the world's landmass was sunk but Man survived. In the aftermath we discovered several mutated animals that seemed to be intelligent. By the way, I am officially immortal. I was at ground zero for the biggest bomb we launched. Then I survived the 50 year nuclear winter, and I still look the same. I have decided to protect mankind as long as I live. I won't let this happen again.
2568 years Later, Konoha
I have lives thousands of lives and been thousands of people. I have had many children, but thankfully my curse has not been passed on. I watched as the survivors lived and flourished. I watched as they discovered chakra and Jutsus. I watched as they forgot the BLACKLIGHT War. I watched as man forgot the horrors of war and began new wars. I watched countries rise and fall. I watched as the surviving Infected evolved, and gained intelligence, and they've named themselves Biju. I watched as the ninja adapted to these monsters and defeated them.
My newest name is Namikaze Minato, and I am the 4th Hokage of Konoha. I have a wife and a son on the way. But I cannot celebrate. My village is under the assault of and Infected that has taken the form of a monstrous nine tailed fox. If it came to a full on fight, I have no doubt that I could win, but my village would most likely not survive. I have to turn to the new techniques of this world, Sealing. I will have to bind the fox into the body of one of the villagers. It would have to be my son, as no other body could contain infection.
Outskirts of Konoha
The fox is sealed, my village is safe, and with the last of the Infected destroyed I can finally rest. As death come for me I leave my will and my final wish with my teacher Jiraiya.
If only I knew that the presence of the fox and the hatred of the village would awaken my blood in my son, and set him on the path of Immortality.
Chapter 1 Death and Discovery, Ares is Born
Konoha
Exactly 7 years have passed since the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune devastated the city of Konoha. Today is the festival of the Kyuubi the celebration of the 4th Hokage's victory. Everyone is celebrating… well almost everyone. Seven year old Naruto Uzumaki was not having a good time. Another mob was chasing him, once again trying to kill him.
Naruto was running for his life, from the mob of angry villagers, like he had done for most of his young life. He didn't know why they hated him or why they chased him, he just took it as part of daily life in Konoha. Part of him was glad for it, because it trained him to avoid capture, a useful skill for someone who has to steal to survive in a ninja village. He finally managed to lose the mob near one of the parks by making a clone and sending it off while he turned into a tree.
Naruto was special, in several ways. The first was he had a large amount of chakra for a civilian; he was also very hard to kill. At first he had thought it weird to talk to himself, but this voice wasn't him, it knew too much to be him. The voice had taught him several skills, which most civilians didn't know, and that helped him evade both ninja and the villagers.
After losing the mob, Naruto wandered around the park, thinking about life. Even viewed through the innocent eyes of a seven-year-old, his life sucked. He was hated by the adults, shunned by the children, and had had to many assassination attempts to count. As he thought about his life he wandered the city. He was so lost in thought that he forgot the date, and that then mobs were more persistent today.
As he was wandering through the streets, he eventually found himself in a dark alley. Hearing a noise, he turned around and was confronted with a large mob of villagers and ninja.
One of the villagers shouted at him, "Today you die, demon!" before the mob of civilians charged him and ruthlessly beat him. When they finally stopped two of them lifted him up by his arms and held him as a black haired man approached him.
The man closed his eyes and then reopened them, revealing two scarlet orbs, each with three commas in them. He stared into Naruto's eyes and Naruto could see the commas spinning in his eyes. He watched them spin faster and faster, until they where just a black blur over crimson spheres, and he felt himself falling.
Naruto's Mindscape
Naruto woke, standing in front of a large cage, with the red eyed man. On the door of the cage there was a large paper seal. At first the cage seemed to be empty, but then he heard sound from inside the cage. Both the man and Naruto saw a large mass of shadows form eyes and a fox's face which turned to look at them. Noticing the man's eyes the beast asked "Can I help you Uchiha?"
The man looked at the visage then back to Naruto in confusion and asked "Who are you," and pointing at Naruto, "and who is he?"
The face smiled at him, revealing enormous teeth "I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" Its large eyes flicked to Naruto it said "and that over there is my jailor, Naruto!"
The man pointed at the boy, "But he's supposed to be the Kyuubi! He's the demon!"
"Silly boy," said the voice from behind the cage, "whatever gave you that idea? I'm pretty sure that you and the council where told that Zeus's son was the prison for the fox."
"Who the hell is Zeus?" shouted the man.
The voice chuckled, "Blonde hair, blue eyes, sealed me."
"Minato?" asked the man.
"I think that's what he called himself."
"Minato's son? Minato never had a son," claimed the man.
"Are you really that stupid?" asked the voice, as the figure stepped between Fugaku and Naruto. "Without the whisker-marks, he's the carbon copy of Zeus!"
"But, but," stammered the man
"You're just going to deal with the fact, that you had a hand in torturing your hero's son for 7 years, and finally contributing to his early demise. Fortunately for you, though you're most likely not going to live much longer." You could hear the smile in the voice as he cheerfully said "Have fun in Hell, you red-eyed bastard!"
Outside
The red eyed man fell to his knees and clutched his head in pain, blood pouring from his eyes. Seeing this one of the ninja shouted, "He's done something to Fugaku-sama!" drawing a kunai he charged Naruto. Many of the others in the mob joined in beating and slashing Naruto. Finally growing bored with the torture, one of the ninja charges wind chakra into his blade, before he stabs it into Naruto's stomach. Soon after red chakra bursts from the corpse and swirls around the boy before fading away. Cheering the crowd disperses leaving to tell their families about the death of the demon. After the crowd left a Shinobi wearing a mask with the symbol Ne approached the corpse. Checking it for signs of life he takes it to his base.
ROOT Base, Morgue Unknown amount of time later
A single ninja was hovering over the naked corpse of a child lying on the table. He was charged with making an autopsy of the boy to see if he had any useful bloodline and to confirm the death of the demon he held. As one of the ninja pressed his scalpel to the corpse's flesh to begin, he heard a noise from the boys head. Following the sound he, looked to the boys head, and was surprised to see the corpse's grey eyes staring back at him.
""Where am I," asked the boy, "and why am I naked?"
The head coroner looked at him impassively, "You're supposed to be dead."
The boy looked at him confusedly, "Why?" asked the blonde child
"I am performing an autopsy, so I need you to be dead, demon," he answered before he raised the scalpel and struck at the boy's heart. As the scalpel struck his heart, the boy acted. Solely on instinct, his hand shot out and grabbed the man's throat, constricting on it. Pulling himself up, his other hand reached around the man's head and grabbed the back of his skull. With a jerk stronger than his frame would suggest he snapped the man's neck. As the man died, fleshy crimson and black tendrils extended from the wrist holding the man's neck and stabbed into him and began deconstructing him. The boy watched, entranced as the tendrils tore at the man and absorbed him. Clutching his head at the influx of memories from the man, the boy changed into a perfect copy, clothing and all, of the doctor.
From the memories the boy saw that the man was named Gakumono Zei and was a member of an illegal organization called ROOT, led by Danzo. Drawing upon Zei's memories, the boy left the room and quickly made his way to the surface. Making it out of the base, he quickly avoided the ninja and made his way to the Hokage tower. He needed to inform the Hokage of this, and put to rest any rumors of his death.
Slipping into the tower he found an empty room and focused on changing back to his base form. He even managed to form a black and crimson jumpsuit for clothing. AN :(Its his clothes from Shippuuden, but with crimson instead of orange) Exiting the room, he slipped into the council chambers, when he realized they were discussing his 'death'.
Konoha Council Chamber
Hiruzen Sarutobi was having a bad day. First the council had decided to move as slowly as they could get away with for this quarters meeting. Then there was the Uchiha massacre that was supposed to happen tonight and finally there was the report of Naruto's death. He had sent several ANBU to find the boy, but any search of the boy was turning up nothing. However ANBU had reported finding an ally filled with his blood, enough blood to lend credence to the theory of his death. And now with his supposed death, the council was pushing for him to repeal his law and reveal the boys burden.
"Hokage-sama," said one of the councilors, "the boy is dead. There is no longer a need to try and hide what he is! Now that he is gone the people deserve to know."
"We don't know that he is dead," replied Sarutobi, "he may simply be in hiding; he knows the villagers don't like him especially today."
'
Danzo smirked "Unfortunately Sarutobi, he is dead," he said, "One of my bodyguards found his corpse and after confirming his identity and death, disposed of the body."
Sarutobi sighed "Did you keep proof of his identity Danzo?"
"Of course Hokage-sama" replied Danzo, "I'd be happy to have my men bring it."
"Really?" said a voice from the door, startling everyone in the room, "I'd like to see proof of my death." Everyone turned to see Naruto leaning against the door. Smirking up at Danzo, he said, "You've been misinformed. As you can see rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated. If I were you id fire him."
"Boy, where have you been?" demanded a pink haired women, "ANBU has been searching you for hours. We should arrest you for hindering an ANBU investigation!"
"I've been hanging around the village," said Naruto with a smirk, "enjoying the festival. I was never approached by ANBU. I came to find Jiji when I heard some drunks started bragging about supposedly killing me. " Looking at the various councilmembers, Naruto smiled as he turned to leave, "Now if that's all it's about time for me to go home, I have to get to the Academy tomorrow. Later," as he spoke he disappeared in a swirl of leaves."
Naruto's Safe house
Naruto entered his safe house and prepared for bed. As he did he though back to his conversation with the Kyuubi, and his discovery about his heritage.
FLASHBACK
The blast of red chakra had just erupted from him forcing those near him to cover their eyes. The blast had disguised the many tendrils that had burst from his stomach and momentarily cocooned him before reforming his body. As they did so he found himself fully forced into his mindscape.
Naruto's Mindscape, just after he was stabbed
He had been hovering in and out of his mindscape since Fugaku forced him to the cage, but he had fully reentered it when the tendrils cocooned him. He found himself once again standing in front of the cage with the giant beast.
"Welcome back son of Zeus" said the fox.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Naruto.
"Your father, was known by many names but his most well known name was Zeus. He was the oldest of us and the strongest, he was the first."
"You knew my father?"
"Of course I knew your father, in fact I fought him and he sealed me into you. There once was a time when everyone knew of him and feared him and his powers."
"Why?"
"Because he was the only survivor of the first outbreak he defeated the Mother and thousands of men and Infected within days of his birth. He was adaptation made flesh. You could not fight him and win, at best you could flee as he adapted to defeat you. He became immortal. He led the resistance in the Great War, and he lead the final attack that defeated them. He survived the strongest weapon in the world, a weapon made to destroy continents and he was at ground zero and came out strong. Even the Biju had fled from the weapons. He was immortal. His death came after nearly 3000 years and it only came when he allowed himself to be consumed by a seal. To defeat me he partially consumed me and allowed a seal to consume him, using your body as a medium. However this had unforeseen consequences"
"What do you mean?"
"Using you as the medium, caused you genes do activate. He was not a human, but a virus clone of a human. He believed that his viral nature was not passed on, but he was incorrect. The Virus was passed on but it was dormant. When he had the seal consumed my spirit, your body viral genes reacted and consumed a small portion of his physical body. This reaction jumpstarted your genes, which in turn caused you to start consuming the seal; which began mutating your body. You are the only child strain of the BLACKLIGHT virus code named Zeus."
"So I am a monster, just like they said I was?"
"Hell. No." replied the fox. "I am a monster. The Zeus strain is a super-human. The Zeus strain makes you to perfect as it is possible for a mortal to become. Your muscles are both lighter and stronger, you replace dead and damaged flesh much more efficiently, your metabolism is made to use everything you take in as quickly as possible. If you develop a fraction of Zeus's powers you will be unstoppable."
"Why are you telling me this? Don't you want to escape, or something?"
"I would love to escape, however contrary to popular belief we are not bodiless creatures. We need a physical body. When I was sealed Zeus absorbed my physical most of my physical body and took it to his grave. My only hope for any freedom is for you to get good enough with your mutations to create a body for me to inhabit. I am entirely dependant on you to leave this seal."
"So what are these abilities would I have?"
"As a child strain of Zeus? Almost anything. His basic abilities were Regeneration, Consumption, Disguise, and Evolution. Regeneration made him practically immortal. He could regenerate any part of his body using stored biomass. Consumption is the ability to absorb and assimilate the biomass from the bodies of your enemies. This will increase your regeneration as well as enhance your evolutionary abilities. It also gives you the memories of the consumed, and stores a map of their DNA. Disguise is the ability to breakdown portions of your DNA and reforms it into another stored map. This will also include clothing and weapons. Evolution is your greatest ability. It is the ability to adapt your body into better forms. This includes changing your body into weapons, or turning your skin into armor, almost anything you can think of. Zeus's favorite evolutions were his claws, his blade, his eyes, and his armor."
"How do I do all that?"
"Most of it will be instinct, I can teach you to consume and the basics of evolution. The rest will come with practice and age. You'll have to assimilate more biomass. Most of your abilities will be limited by how creative you are with you abilities. Since you are becoming a Shinobi, it will be easy to disguise your training. You should also pick a code name. "
For the next few hours the Kyuubi trained Naruto in the basics of evolution and memory assimilation. They discussed killing and the ethics of consuming human. They also made a training schedule for him. Finally it was time for him to wake up. As he faded from his mindscape he decided on a name.
Root Base, Morgue
As he faded from his mindscape he woke in an unfamiliar place. With his eyes still closed he whispered, "Son of Zeus. Codename: Ares." Opening his grey eyes he found himself in a strange room, with a man standing over his naked form holding a scalpel. As he watched the man turned to him and started.
Naruto looked at him and asked "Where am I, and why am I naked?"
END of Chapter 1