Naruto stared at the ghostly apparition above him as it held the murderous blade at bay finally e managed to choke out the words "wh... who a-are you?" there was a vague movement but he was sure the figure was now looking at him
"My name is Edge and I will not be forgotten"
There the screech of steel on steel and Zabuza was forced back, Naruto's apparent rescuer wasted no time and dove forwards, a fist the size of Naruto's head struck the ex-Demon of the Mist in the chest and re-emerged on the other side covered in gore. The other hand dropped the shield-though it seemed to be made of ethereal mist- it certainly sounded solid- and grasped Zabuza by the head, lifted him up and dashed him against the ground. He or rather it then stamped on the recumbent swordsman as he tried to rise. This continued for several minutes without any noise bar the dull thud of blows, finally Zabuza was pitched over the side of the bridge; it was a long time before a splash was heard.
The figure then turned its attention back to Naruto who was cowering in the corner; he could hear the crunch of the figure's feet on the ground where it had been torn up by his fight. He felt a hand grasp his head 'this is it' he thought 'I'm dead' however it seems his rescuer had other plans; the hand on his head simply gently ruffled his hair in an almost affectionate way. Then he was carefully lifted to his feet. he opened his eyes and for the first time got a good look at the thing that had saved him bar the gauntlet on its right hand the rest was made up of some kind of mist, it was hard to pick out details but where a regular person would have eyes it had two hot pinpricks of light coming out of slits in the visor as though a star was going nova in side the helmet. "You found me boy, thank you" the voice sounded like it was coming from far away but at the same time like someone was speaking right into his ears. "Who are you? What are you?" there was a chuckle from among the mist "I am Edge, a knight. Now then boy where is the rest of me?" it indicated towards the gauntlet, Naruto simply shrugged glad to have something to take his mind off of what had just happened "don't know, put the glove on but I couldn't get it off, when I tried to use chakra I ended up here" he shivered "again". "Naruto!? Wake up!" a familiar voice echoed around the two, Naruto jumped "that was Sakura!" "Who?" Naruto's face lit up "she's the most beautiful girl I have ever met!" he felt a strange force grip him by the shoulders and pull, the thing that called itself Edge disappeared rapidly into the fog.
When Naruto awoke the first thing he felt was a large amount of pain, this is only natural however as he'd kept Sakura waiting when she could have been doing more 'important' things with 'her' Sasuke. "Idiot, what the hell were you doing? You were just lying on the floor drooling! Honestly how did you ever become a ninja?" "Aww come on Sakura-chan, you don't mean that really"....
Several minutes later team 7 where assembled at their usual training ground.... correction the genin of team 7 where assembled. As usual Kakashi was no where to be seen. The three of them where content to do their own thing. Sasuke was hurling shuriken at a post, each barely a second ahead of the next. Sakura was busy perv.... observing Sasuke. What Naruto was doing however went unnoticed by the other two. He'd managed to slip the other gauntlet on and hide them in his pockets before Sakura had noticed. If that thing in his head is going to protect him it could probably do better with both hands! At this moment in time he was slumped against the opposite side of the training post, the repetitive thumping of the shuriken impacts where causing him to feel slee.....
When he opened his eyes he was standing on the bridge once again. The thing that called itself Edge was once again grappling with Zabuza, this time the dead Demon of the Mist sported a gaping hole directly where the heart would be, ragged strips of flesh surrounded the puncture, it was as though something had punched straight through....
Kakashi charged forwards, hand full of chirping lightning. Zabuza watched his death approach on screaming wings. 5 metres, 4 metres, 3, 2, 1. A blur in the air resolved itself into Haku who dived in the way just as Kakashi stabbed the Chidori forwards at Zabuza's exposed chest....
The memory hit Naruto with the force of a charging Akamichi, he felt like he was going to vomit, he staggered away as he saw Zabuza dashed against the floor, the thing called Edge placed one foot on his chest and reached down with one massive hand. There was a soft noise like someone tearing velvet. He looked up from where he was cowering just in time to see (most of) Zabuza hurled once again off of the bridge.
Naruto crawled out of his hiding place and stood before the entity known as Edge, its massive form towered over him, one fist alone would be enough to crush his skull. He glared up into the visor slit, "who are you? What are you? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HEAD!!" the fog swallowed all the echoes, nothing moved now bar the swirling of the mist. Edge slowly raised one giant hand and placed it on Naruto's head. "You wish to know boy? Very well, this may hurt". Light played around his fingertips as they seemed to pass into Naruto's head, Naruto screamed, long and loud, the pain was intense it was burning through him, he was on fire yet he was freezing, then he saw it....
Light shone through the slits in the helmet as he surveyed the land before him, he felt a hand clap onto his shoulder with a metallic ring, he turned to see his brother in arms ****** standing beside him "are we ready brother? The enemy draw near, our alchemists are preparing the final invocations, our riders are chewing at the bit, we are prepared all we need is an enemy to fight" he chuckled "although slaughter is a better word. Come they are ready for you".......
The image split down the middle to reveal a bloodbath, men and women in armour fought an enemy so monstrous it defied his imagination, curved fangs rent holes in armour, swords blazing with silver flames hacked at venom coated scales. High above another battle was being fought; winged creatures battled against.... winged men? They danced and weaved through the sky tearing at each other, the victims falling screaming to the ground, one of the men fell and he saw that the wings were of steel and leather, he was knocked down as roaring creature shredded a fellow warrior with jagged claws. There was a bang and a long spear like object erupted from its side, then another, and another, it was surrounded by soldiers and brutally torn apart....
The scene changed, he was standing in a building of stone in front a double throne, the woman upon the throne sighed "you will be missed ***** you are one of our finest knights, the elemental nations are at war and Hi no Kuni has asked for our help, go to the alchemists and engineers, they will equip you with weaponry deserving of a knight of your calibre....
... Another place, another battle, but this time the darkness closed in, he could feel where the blade had slipped through the joint in his armour. A shadow crossed his vision "you will be remembered". Darkness rose......
Naruto woke with a yelp, he was still on the bridge but Edge couldn't be seen, he touched his forehead, he had felt the fingers pass into his skull. The pain was still a not too distant memory. "You saw it didn't you? My life, my death?" Naruto span around to face corporeal knight "those were... memories, your memories. I'm right aren't I?" "Yes, from the battle of Aegis plain, to my final orders from my queen, to my ultimate end at the last battle of the 3rd shinobi war. I don't know who I really am anymore; my only memories are that of violence and death." "Why the hell are you in my head!?" "The armour I wear, I wore is..... You could say it's highly enchanted. There are many glyphs and runes placed upon it, these use the bodies natural energy-you call it chakra- and amplify it allowing us to perform what we call Acts of Valour –like your jutsu- I've heard of dead knights leaving an imprint of themselves within their armour, some like the Grave Legionaries are able to move around on their own. When you put MY armour on you must have activated the imprint within it" he realised Naruto was giving him a blank look "so your a.... ghost?" "That will do for now" "how do I get you out of my head?" "You can't at least as far as I know" "okay that's it! As soon as I get out of here you're heading for the scrap heap! "Again that won't work; once the armour has been activated you can't remove it without first putting on the rest" "what kind of stupid rule is tha..." Naruto's voice trailed off as he stared at a point behind Edge, it was Zabuza, he marched towards the two of them with murder in his remaining eye. "Oh fuck not again, I think your presence is aggravating them" "what is he?" "a remnant, err... a really bad nightmare but in here, in your mindscape thoughts become solid, until we're strong enough to get rid of him for good he'll just keep coming back" Naruto felt something tug at his shoulders, a thin blue cord was attached to his waist and was slowly becoming taught "ahh just in time boy that's your 'lifeline' it means your subconcious is trying to wake you up" "can you deal with Zabuza?" Edge jerked a thumb at the deceased swordsman, "who, him? Yeah easy. Just give me a few minutes". Naruto felt the lifeline tug at him, the bridge was starting to disappear, the last thing he heard before blackness took him was the noise of violence and a voice that carried out over the mist "right you undead bastard, I'm gonna get MEDIVAL on your arse!!".....
Naruto woke up slowly, he looked at his watch, barely ten minutes had passed since he had fallen asleep. Sasuke was still hurling shuriken at the stump, Sakura was still squealing with fan girl joy at each hit. Naruto spotted Kakashi walking towards them across the bridge and ran to meet him. "Hey Kakashi-sensei! You're not late today!" Kakashi looked at his own watch "well would you look at that, I've still got an hour left" he turned on his heel and vanished in a puff of smoke leaving Naruto twitching with rage. He felt something tap his shoulder the metallic ring echoing throughout the clearing Naruto jumped and span around looking straight into the visible part of Kakashi's face "psych". He then called over the rest of team 7 and produced three pieces of paper "these are very important, they hold the keys to the next stages of your careers as ninja, however as a team we have not yet completed our quota of missions" he pocketed the papers, that's why we're going to the Hokage's Tower to receive ANOTHER C-rank mission!" he beamed at the assembled genin or attempted to as well as a man who only showed one eye could.
Naruto felt a cold shiver run down his spine as they walked towards the Hokage Tower, 'a C rank mission' he thought 'I have a bad feeling about this' "boy" Naruto jerked to a halt, "what? He said aloud, people turned to look at the strange boy talking to himself. They turned back again when they saw who it was, who cares what the demon brat was doing? "he he seems like I gave you quite the start boy, try thinking about what your saying, you'll get less strange looks that way" 'what the hell do you want?' "Well in case you haven't noticed, I can now talk to you when you're awake" 'no shit Sherlock and this helps how?' "Well it means that I help you" 'and how exactly are you going to do that?' "Remember boy, I am a veteran of more battles than even your leader, I've been fighting and killing since I was 10 seasons old. Besides this is MY armour you are wearing and only I know how to use it properly, you're more likely to kill yourself on your own" "NARUTO!! What the hell are you doing!?" He blinked and looked round, the rest of his team where staring at him, a mixture of confusion and contempt on their faces, Sakura prodded him in the chest "you've been stood there staring into space, you completely zoned out!" "oh, err sorry he he" Naruto beamed at his incredulous teammates. "meh ignore the dobe lets get the mission already" muttered Sasuke as he stalked off, Sakura hot on his heels. Kakashi stared at Naruto or rather at his new gauntlets 'where have I seen these before?' he mused 'meh' he gave a mental shrug 'it'll come to me eventually'.
Deep in Naruto's mind Edge leaned against a pillar and fought to catch his breath 'it's getting stronger' he looked up into the infinite blackness above him "is this really how it should go? The boy is strong, he will have power far beyond even your expectations" in the blackness something darker cast a silhouette as it moved. "Is this truly the best way?" High above him a single eye that shined like the mouth of a volcano opened, the iris shone like hot steel, the pupil a gate into oblivion itself. Slightly below it a cavernous mouth opened. "YES" Edge waited until the echoes disappeared. "I know you say this is for the best. I know the true reason why you attacked and where sealed. But you are a fox and a giant demonic one at that, if I find out that you are misleading this boy. IM GONNA COME IN THERE AN MAKE MYSELF A NEW FOX SKIN COAT!! YOU HEAR ME IN THERE FURBALL?!!" the eye seemed to consider this for a moment, Edge braced himself as he heard the in rush of breath. The great Kyuubi- Nine tailed Demon Fox, Lord of hell, King of demons- was about to speak, not many living things had heard its voice and lived. It said "BRING IT SHORT-ARSE"
Outside Naruto felt a headache coming on....
