The Will to Live
I do not own Naruto or HOTD. Enjoy. Please excuse any minor grammar and spelling mistakes, I need a beta, if anyone is interested, let me know.
Chapter II
"Nine and Four"
-TWTL-
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Ocean blue eyes opened to a familiar setting. Dark hollow pathways, rusty walls stained with a dark liquid. Naruto would rather not find out what the liquid was.
His hands stayed completely dry, as did the rest of his body, even though he was submerged in a murky water. His blonde hair was darker, as was the rest of his body, the darkness of the sewer like area seemed to wrap around his very being, sucking the life out of the bright colors he wore.
From above, there was a complicated system of pipes, some big, some small, interlocked with each other, from some you could see a slight blue tint, while the others had a red glow. However, there seemed to be a new addition. In the very center, was a long, straight pipe, that pulsed with a silver and purple like energy.
"That's new.." the teen mused to himself.
Standing up, he took in his surroundings once more, before turning his eyes to the long, seemingly endless single corridor before him that was obscured in darkness. With a gulp, the blonde to a single step forward.
From nowhere, a giant wave of pure red burning Chakra washed over him, freezing him on the spot, the amount of killing intent made his throat dry, and his pupils dilate, while the rest of his body tensed in preparation. Squeezing his eyes shut, and steeling his resolve, the blonde moved once more, taking another step, although this one felt much heavier as the pressure pushed down on him, trying to force him to his knees.
His ocean blue eyes hardened, and he began to leak his own Chakra, coating himself in a blue energy, it wasn't much against the overwhelming red Chakra, but it helped. With a deep breath, the blonde continued forward, knowing what he would face on the other side.
His very own personal demon.
The Kyubi no Kitsune.
As he walked, the darkness before him seemed to slowly but surely consume his vision, strange as it was the blonde still knew the way. One final step, and in bright flash of light, blue eyes focused once more on a large empty room, solid square walls surrounded him on every side.
The murky waters were still the same, but a sort of mist hovered above them. Multiple pipes were placed throughout the ceiling and the walls, above, him, the main silver pipe was still there, although it seemed to intertwine with the red and blue pipes as well.
All of that was minor detail however, the biggest eye catcher was the tall cell that stood before him. In the center, a small paper tag with the words seal written in kanji.
Naruto inhaled once more, his eyes visibly hardening as he took a single step forward. In the blink of an eye, the large pressure was on him once more, this time full force. The whiskered teen fell to his knees as his eyes widened once more, his mouth opening as he gasped for air. From the cage, a red mist began to flow, it seemed to clear a path through the mist as it made its way towards the blonde.
Naruto watched as the bubbly mass of energy circled him, and he felt himself being lifted up from the murky waters. Drawing upon his inner power, the blue aura surrounded the blonde once more, and he found the strength to move.
Flailing his arms around, as the red mass of energy closed in around him, the teen managed to free himself and fell into the waters with a splash. Just in time too, from the cage, a giant furred claw slammed some of the spaces between the bars. The claw was bigger than a house, and could probably crush one like an insect as well.
"Human..." a low and dark voice growled.
It sent ripples into the very waters the blonde was now sitting in, frozen by the pair of slowly opening crimson slitted eyes before him. This was his second time meeting the fox, and he couldn't believe how forgot how overwhelming it was to be in its presence.
"Shit..." the teen thought "This power, it feels like I'm being suffocated."
With the opening of the crimson eyes, a row of sharp and pearly white teeth followed. Each one bigger than a fully grown human. A red glow began to outline a figure twice as large as the Hokage building. Orange fur, long rabbit like ears, with a black strip that surrounded the blood red eyes. Finally, nine long and slender tails floating lazily behind it.
This was the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts.
This was the Kyubi no Kitsune.
"You dare face me, after what you have just done. You idiotic fool!" the beast growled out.
Now, Naruto was known for allot of things, two of the most well know qualities were one, his lack of respect for authority and power, and two, his short temper.
As if forgetting that he was facing the most powerful being in the Elemental Nations, the whiskered blonde stood and raised his fist, shaking it menacingly at the endless ocean of Chakra before him.
"Who the hell are you calling an idiot!" the teen roared, a vain popping above his head, as his eyes suddenly lost their color and turned large and white in a comical fashion.
Kyubi growled once more, before the snarl on the foxes face turned into a smirk of sorts.
"I'm calling you an idiot. Now then, if you know whats good for you, you will silence your pathetic self, or else.." the fox stopped, and left it hanging.
Naruto growled, much like the fox did.
"You can't do anything to me! The Fourths seal will stop you!"
"True, it will stop me from devouring your pathetic human self, but what is stopping me from crushing you mentally, and leaving your body nothing but a brainless vegetable."
The fox may have forgotten to mention that if it were to do that, then the blondes body would shut down, which would mean he would die, but he could have some fun as well, besides, dying was something the Nine Tailed beast refused to do.
Naruto let his arm drop, and sweat fall from his scalp.
"Y-Yeah well!...If I become a vegetable, then I'll be easy pickings, remember our deal, if I die, you die!"
Kyubi blinked, and stared at the orange and blue coated teen.
"Well, maybe he isn't so stupid." it mused.
"Besides, like you could do that to the future Hokage! Uzumaki Naruto-sama!"
Take back, the fox didn't know whether it wanted to sweat drop at his containers foolishness, or crush him for it.
The crushing sounded nice though.
"This seal, I have never hated something more in my life...well expect Madara, but it's about a tie."
The giant fox retracted his claw, and placed it before him, then laid his head down on it.
"You might want to get a new goal in life human."
Confusion swept the blondes features.
"Huh? What the hell are you talking about fox!"
Crimson eyes glared at the much smaller figure, before closing them.
"If I wasn't so drained from keeping us alive, you would regret speaking to me as if you were my equal. Lucky for you, I had to use almost all of my power to keep your body from being torn to shreds."
Naruto opened his mouth once more, but suddenly stopped, the phantom pains of the 'tunnel of doom' as he calls it, fresh in his memory.
"Kyubi...what was that?" he asked, voice suddenly quieter.
A single slitted eye opened, the fox watched the teen carefully.
"That was a rift. My Chakra is potent enough to cause tears in dimensions, it is how I escape the eye of the world, and rest in my own. You're Chakra, which is arguably potent for a humans and the Uchihas cursed Chakra were already damaging the dimensional barriers, when you added my Chakra into the mix, you created the orb that transported you both to a smaller pocket dimension."
Naruto did not miss how he snarled when he mentioned Uchiha.
"It only lasted a second, and you were both free. However, when you decided to headbutt each other as a final decisive attack, you both unknowingly sent out a powerful pulse of Chakra that destabilized the rift. It went out of control, and you two were in the middle of it. Without my Chakra, you would have been torn to shreds and scattered across the multiple dimensions."
Naruto gave the fox a blank stare.
"You have no idea what I just said do you boy?"
"You lost me at dimensions."
With a growl, the fox opened both eyes and raised its head, bringing it closer to the bars.
"You fucked up, now, we're in another world with no way of returning to our original one. No becoming Hokage, no date with that pink haired loud mouth you're so infatuated with, no more of that perverted sensei of yours or the Toad Sage, no more of the big breasted blonde, no more Rookie Nine, no more Shinobi. The chances of that Uchiha surviving are slim to none. You, are alone."
Suddenly, it felt as if the world landed on his shoulders. Naruto fell to ground, his expression frozen, his eyes reflected disbelief, horror, fear, anger, and pain.
The word alone continued to swim around in his head. His body began to flow with a silver energy once more. The teen felt his eyes burning, and tears began to fall.
The Kyubi watched this all with growing interest, the familiar Chakra of his 'father' began to overshadow his own.
Naruto tilted his head back, and screamed.
The scream morphed into a roar, almost similar to the Kyubis very own.
The murky waters began to shake, and red Chakra from behind the cage flowed outwards towards the blonde. His whisker marks began to grow darker once more, and his eyes morphed, his blue eyes dissolved into purple, and from his pupil multiple rings began to surround it extending all the way to the ends of his eye.
The change did not stop there however, the pupil morphed into a slit, and the eye took on a red hue. The walls began to shake, and the pipes that ran along them began to glow and pulse even more.
"Shit! He's having a mental breakdown!" the fox thought to itself.
The fox began to pull back its energy, the raw anger and pain the teen was releasing was attracting his own Chakra to him.
The energy feeding off of the negative emotions.
"Boy! Calm down! There's no use destroying yourself over this! This is a new chance for you and me! No one knows of us, you can start fresh. Free all the promises and burdens placed on you!"
Naruto continued to scream, his features morphing even more, his skin pealing back revealing blood and tissue. The seal began to tear as the blonde drew on even more power.
-TWTL-
From the outside, it had been a day or two since Narutos body had been found, it was currently being held in one of the underground rooms in the estate. The room was made exclusively for situations that arose in Japan, such as Tsunamis or any other form of danger.
The teens body began to morph and change once more, power began to radiate from every inch of his body, making the room itself shake, tables and chairs fell over, the very floor underneath the unconscious blonde began to crack from the power. The machines connected to the blonde were beeping quickly.
From above, the ground began to shake as well, the residents of the house hold fell over and quickly grabbed on to whatever they could, believing it to be a powerful Earthquake.
Soichiro was away on a business trip, mostly to handle any media that would try and discover what had transpired two days ago, and Yuriko and Saya we're also away both taking a mother daughter shopping trip to ease their minds.
The only residents of the Takagi house hold were the guards, cooks, and maids.
The tremor did not stop there however, all across the Tokonosu District people could feel the Earth shaking. A young purple haired woman holding a wooden Katana fell over as her father rushed to her side. Another young woman with long brown hair walking with her mother fell over as well, her mother gripping her tightly and ducking for cover as the streets shook.
At the Central Mall, Saya and Yuriko felt the quake as well, and rushed for safety. A young teen with black hair ran inside his house for cover, while another young man with brown hair holding a water gun dropped to the ground and covered his head.
In a small office, under a table was a buxom blonde, her hands covering her head, and her chest bouncing up and down as the Earth shook.
On a small playground, a little girl was rushed inside a near by building while a small dog barked at nothing.
Back in the underground room, the walls were already forming huge cracks, and the room itself was covered in a red hue. Narutos body was shaking uncontrollably, and even more of his skin began to peel back, from around him, a bone white substance began to form.
-TWTL-
Kyubi continued to pull back its energy as the seal grew weaker and weaker, the blondes screams grew louder, and his power grew immensely.
"Shit! Why does this have to happen now! I can't even use this to my advantage with how weak I am!." the fox thought.
Naruto continued to scream, and the seal continued to falter and weaken, the fox could feel how many tails of Chakra we're being drawn into the blonde.
"Seven! He's going to blow himself and everything else around him to pieces if this continues!" it roared.
Naruto however was more focused on his rage, his anger.
Thirteen years of pain and misery, and he was finally starting to make friends, and now it's all gone again.
He was all alon-
"My, what a mess." A smooth and deep voice rang out.
A rough but soft hand was placed against the burning shoulder of the emotionally wrecked teen.
From inside the cage, the Kyubis eyes were widened at the man before him.
Spiky blonde hair, and familiar blue eyes. A long white coat fluttered behind him. On the back, the kanji for Fourth.
Naruto suddenly stopped screaming, the strange mans hand oddly comforting.
"Yondaime." the fox uttered.
Suddenly, Narutos world was enveloped in a white light, and he found himself in a plane very much like the one he and Sasuke were trapped in. His appearance was back to normal, and he faced one of the greatest men to ever walk the Shinobi world.
The Fourth Hokage.
"Hello Naruto." the man spoke with a warm smile.
A smile he had soon many times, it was a smile usually reserved for someone special, he had seen it many times before when a father would smile at a son.
"Y-Yondaime.." the teen stuttered.
The tall blonde gave a chuckle.
"Yes, although you can call me Minato. Although I would much rather prefer if you called me dad."
Just like that, the teens mind snapped.
Naruto began to laugh nervously, before full blow outright laughing hysterically.
"Alright. This is great, I must have died. My father? The Fourth Hokage? Hahaha! If this is Heaven, then where is all the free Ramen."
He was surprised when the older blonde gave out a hearty laugh.
"Ramen! You're our son alright."
Naruto blinked a couple of times, and then stood from his sitting position.
"This isn't a dream is it?" he asked.
Minato shook his head a no.
"I'm not dead am I?"
Again, another no.
"Then...you really are my dad..?" he asked.
Minato gave him a warm smile, and a small nod.
Naruto lowered his head and felt his knuckles grow white as he clenched his hands tightly. His hair shadowed his eyes, but you could see the tears that slowly began to fall.
The Fourth frowned and stepped forward, closer to his son.
"Naruto, I'm sor-"
He was cut off by the blonde suddenly chuckling, and raising his head a wide grin on his face as he wiped the tears away with the back of his hand.
"My dad...is the Fourth Hokage!" The chuckling exploded into laughter.
"Take that Sasuke-teme and you're mighty Uchiha bullshit!"
Minato stared at his son with wide eyes, before a smile settled on his face.
A sharp pain exploded from his stomach, and in the blink of an eye he found his sons fist buried into it.
"That, was for putting me through hell."
Narutos arms wrapped around the much larger mans body, and he brought him in to a hug.
"This is for...I don't know..I-I.."
Minato wrapped his arms around the thirteen year old and squeezed tightly.
"It's okay...I'm sorry Naruto, for putting you through all of that."
The older blonde listened to his sons quiet sobs, and rubbed his back in a comforting way.
"But here you are, safe and in one piece. Stronger than I could have ever hoped for. I placed Kyubi with you, because I knew only my son would be able to bear the hatred, and come out fine."
He felt Narutos grip tighten, and he could not help the tears that fell from his cheeks. This was what he wanted, to be able to hold his child.
"I've always been watching. From you're very first steps, to you're very first mission. I've always been there. Not how I would have wanted, but it was enough."
The two let go, and blue eyes stared into blue.
"I placed Kyubi with you, because I felt only you could handle the immense power. You seen, when your mother-"
"My mother.." the teen whispered "What was her name?"
"Uzumaki Kushina. She was as fierce as she was beautiful. She loved you very much, as did I. We both loved you more than the world itself."
Naruto gave a smile at that. His parents did love him. He had never felt so happy in his life.
"As I was saying. When your mother gave birth to you, there were some...complications."
Minatos expression grew serious.
"The night of your birth, a masked man infiltrated the village. He had brought the Kyubi under his control, and sent it on a wild rampage. He was the reason the fox attacked. I did battle with him, and learned some things from it. He is incredibly powerful, bending time and space to his will. His most important attribute however, was his Sharingan."
Narutos breath hitched at the mention.
"He was an Uchiha, an incredibly powerful one, and there was only Uchiha that I know of with the power to control Kyubi. Uchiha Madara."
"Uchiha Madara.." the teen repeated.
He had heard of him from the Academy, and from Sasuke. The most powerful Uchiha, and a God amongst Shinobi.
"Yes, somehow he lived. On the night of your birth, I had no choice but to seal the fox. At the time, I had an idea. You see Naruto, to face such a foe. One would need immense power. The Kyubi was a force of near infinite power. So, I gifted that power to you my son, so that when you would face Madara. You would be even more prepared. For I have no doubt that even without the fox, you would grow to be an incredibly powerful Shinobi."
Naruto continued to listen to his father, his ego growing as he slightly puffed his chest out with pride.
Minato chuckled at that, and ruffled his sons hair.
"However, I did not factor in that you would cross worlds." he spoke "That doesn't change anything. Wherever you may go, there will always be hatred and evil, Jiraiya-sensei told me once that I was to bring a major change to the world, he said I was to finally bring peace. However, he was wrong. I don't think its me. I think its you Naruto. You who will bring peace to the world." he finished.
Narutos eyes widened as he gazed up at his father, those same ocean blue eyes reflect unyielding belief. Belief in him, his son.
"My time is running out Naruto, but know this. I love you. I always will. I believe in you. I know you can do it. Wherever you may go or end up, I know you can bring change, for the better. After all-"
"I am your son," the smaller blonde finished with a wide grin.
Minato matched his grin.
The world around them began to dissolve, and they found themselves back in the cage, although things seemed to be much calmer. The Yondaime turned to the cage and placed on hand on the seal, the paper began to glow, and was returned to prime condition.
"Kyubi...take care of him." the Fourth whispered.
The fox gazed at the man that was the cause of his anger, then at the shocked blonde as he watched the hole in his stomach seal up, and the familiar markings of his seal glow.
"Very well. I may hate you, but I have always sensed something familiar from that child. His awakening of those eyes proves it."
Minato gave a grateful nod, and turned to his oblivious son, his eyes lingering on the blondes very own for a second.
"Naruto, when you wake up, I will have left somethings for you. I sealed them within your old seal. Now, my time is up. Remember. I love you son."
His eyes turned to the giant fox behind the newly formed cage.
"You two place nice now." he stated with a grin.
Naruto watched his father slowly disappear, his eyes showing nothing but pure determination.
"I promise you dad, I will not let you down."
As if reading his sons mind, Minato gave him a smile that said "I know you won't" before vanishing completely, leaving only the smaller blonde and the fox behind.
"Things are always interesting with you boy." the fox commented.
Naruto gave a wide grin. He began to scan himself, noticing that for some reason, he felt lighter, stronger even. He stopped when he noticed his reflection in the murky sewer waters.
Everything was normal, expect for a pair of ringed eyes that replaced his usual blue ones. Being Uzumaki Naruto, he did the one thing he knew how to do.
He freaked out.
"Kyubi! What the hell happened to my eyes!" he questioned as he stared at his reflection.
The fox gave a snort, and watched the blonde flail around in amusement.
"Boy, you have what is called a Dojutsu. Much like the Sharingan. Yours however, is called the Rinnegan."
The blondes eyes widened, as his mind raced.
"Yatta! I have a super bad ass eye thingy like Sasuke now too!"
He suddenly stopped celebrating, and turned to the amused beast.
"Uh, what does it do?"
The fox grinned.
"I could tell you, but that's no fun. The most I will tell you though is you should cut off your Chakra circulation to your eyes, I would highly recommend you keep it a secret, it would be enough to explain why you have whiskers. Your eyes are another story."
"What! No fair! How am I supposed to be a bad ass if I don't even know what they do!"
Kyubi yawned and closed its eyes.
"Not my problem."
Naruto grumbled, and plopped himself down in the water. His eyes shut as he contemplated what had just happened.
"Say...Kyubi."
The fox growled in response.
"You're right."
The fox snapped one eye open lazily.
"This is a new world, and a new start...for both of us. You're not a monster, and I'm no longer a Shinobi. So let's start off fresh...as friends?"
Kyubi opened both eyes, and lifted its head once more. The blonde was reflected in his crimson eyes, a wide grin on his face.
"You pathetic fool. I have no need for friends. We stick to the basic rule. You die, I die. So I'll help you...for now."
Naruto gave a foxy grin.
"It's a start!" he stated.
"Out of my domain! I must rest."
With a mental push, the blonde found himself flying across his mind scape, the Kyubi growing farther and farther. Until in a bright flash of light, everything was gone.
Back in the cage, the fox stared at the spot the blonde once occupied.
"Uzumaki Naruto, maybe you are the one the old man spoke of.."
-TWTL-
Naruto awoke with a yelp as he found himself connected to multiple machines, all beeping. His blue eyes scanned the room to find cracks formed along the walls, roof, and even the floor. Knocked over tables and broken objects scattered around the floor. The most interesting thing however was that before him, or on top of him actually, over the seal were two objects.
One was a Three Pointed Kunai, and the other was a book.
"The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja." the blonde read aloud.
He opened the book and found a picture of his very own Sensei with a toothy grin.
"Written by Jiraiya the Toad Sage."
The blonde could not help the smile that made its way on his face. He had been spending allot more time with the perverted old man, almost every day until the recent events.
That made Naruto frown.
He was in a new world, his old one gone. He had no way of getting back, that he knew of.
Sasuke was still out there, maybe dead or alive. He had a Dojutsu, and he just learned of his parents. Things had gotten too complicated, too fast.
Either way, he was Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Fourth Hokage and of Uzumaki Kushina, he would not be backing down.
He was ripped out of his thoughts when the door to his wrecked room opened suddenly, and a tall man holding a Katana stepped in. A surprised look on his face.
Naruto gave the man a sheepish grin, and a small wave.
"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
So, it begins.
-End-
Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I hope I did a good job, let me know what you think. Also I do have an idea for the pairings, the max I'm willing to go is two girls for Naruto. The next chapters should introduce Naruto to the new world, and develop his character along with others. Review, for Kurama commands it.