How's it going friends, fans, and casual readers? This is Chaos star951 with the next chapter.

Keep in mind that this is still part of Koji's flashback, so don't get confused reading it. It may take awhile for me to upload new chapters because of a serious case of writer's block. (and also, I'll be on a trip for almost a month in a couple weeks.)

But I'll keep writing on my trip so hopefully there'll be a few new chapters to read.

"Whoa" -- Normal Speech

'Vengence' -- Thought


What Am I?

Chapter 7

His eye flickered open. He saw...a white ceiling, like one you'd find in a religious temple. He sat up slowly, pain coursing through his body. 'What happened?' Raising an arm, he grazed his fingers across his right cheek. But he didn't feel skin, he felt something similar to...bandages?! He pressed his entire palm over his face, remembering the events from the previous day.

"She's gone...she's gone, they killed her." The men's faces pictured perfectly in his mind, haunting the deepest reaches of his conscious and subconscious. Their acursed images forever etched in his brain. He growled hatefully then yelled as loud as he could before saying, "I'm going to kill every last of of them, this I swear!"

"Revenge is not a wise path to choose." he heard from the corner of the room. His gaze darted over to the voice to see an old man dresed up liked a priest. "It seems you are awake. That is good, you've been unconscious for nearly three days now."

"Three days, huh?" Koji looked down at his hand. Clenching it into a fist tight enough that blood dripped from his palm. "I don't care if revenge is right or wrong." he stood, "I will kill them...I'll make them suffer for the deeds they have done."

"You should rest now." The priest said, his voice full of some sense of urgency. "You're inuries are still serious." He rushed over to the boy to try and help him sit back down but his arm was slapped aside. The thirteen year old stared up into the person's eyes. He could feel the hate within the body's frozen stare. It was as if he was being suffocated by a dark tainted malice.

"Touch me, and I'll kill you..." his voice had such an edge, it would've sliced through steel had it been physical. The priest backed against the wall and watched the boy stagger out of the room.

Koji stuggled to stay on his feet the entire time he was on his way home. Though it still stood, the house had been partially destoryed. He wandered slowly throughout the building. As he entered his parent's room he heard a strange squeak of floorboards. Glancing down at them he noticed one was cracked and sticking up slightly. His anger raged, he kicked the board and it broke off and crashed into the wall. His gaze drifted down and what he saw bewildered him. There was something under the floor. He broke off several more boards to unveil a staircase. His curiosity getting the better of him, Koji followed the path.

At the end, was a long hallway with a strange red door. There was a seal of some kind upon its surface, and something behind the door reaked of power. Slowly he opened the red door and looked inside. It was a large square room, its walls made of stone bricks and had unused torches, but what was really disturbing were the black markings all over the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"What is this place?" he stepped into the room. Suddenly the door slammed shut and the torches lit one by one along the walls. Koji looked around, 'What's going on?!' A strange platform appeared on the wall across from him. On it there was a scroll with the character 'Ashura' on it. Hestinantly the boy approached it, carefully reaching his hand towards the parchment when it unraveled itself. Its contents now exposed, the brown-haired boy read aloud what it said.

"'The power of the Ashura is close to the power used by monks and mikos. It is said that long ago a warrior of justice was given these abilities by the god, itself. (I say itself because I don't know if god has a gender.) The power to suppress and injure demons became a trait that was passed down. Though God blessed these powers upon them, they commanded that they help those in need.'"

(Author's note: A miko is a priestess)

Koji became angry at this. "Why should we help them?! They came to us for help, and then scorn us because it was too much for us!! Damn them all to hell." He was about to stop reading when something caught his eye. "'The forbidden seal?'" He read the information that lay beneath that heading. A dark chuckle sounded from his throat. He grabbed the scroll and walked to the center of the chamber. Biting his thumb, he drew the seal described in the text around his feet with the blood. He read off a bizarre chant, and repeated it over and over, faster and faster each time.

The markings around the chamber began to slither around like hundreds of ebony snakes. The markings suddenly concentrated on Koji. They slid off the ground up his legs, winding around him. Soon he was covered from head to foot, the marks began to scald his flesh. He cried out in pain as light filled the room, wrapping around him in a mighty hurricane lifting him off his feet. His pain began to fade, as something else replaced it. What was this sensation? He didn't know, but another feeling came over him. Power. The power to crush his enemies now resonated within him. The light vanished, causing him to collapse to the stone floor.

He panted there on his hands and knees, beads of sweat dripping from his brow. Glancing around he noted that his surroundings hadn't changed at all. Getting to back up, he clumisly walked back up the stairs and out of the room. Passing the mirror in the hallway he stopped and examined himself.

His spiky brown locks now were a deep crimson. Also he noticed a strange tattoo protruding from beneath his wrappings on his wrists. Removing them with his shirt, he gazed in wonder over the tattoo that had seared itself in an intricate design all over his arms and torso. Laughter pulsated in his belly, then bubbled its way up his throat and burst from his mouth as nothing less than dark maniacal hysterics.


The boy wasn't heard from again, not that too many cared...until nearly four years later. Rumors spread around the village of sightings of a strange young man with red hair. Some thought it was a bad omen, others said it was some punk looking for attention. But after those rumors surfaced several men vanished without a trace. Many people refused to leave their houses for fear that a monster was loose around here.

A tall burly man with short brown hair left a small restaurant one evening. The owner called out to him, "Are you sure you want to walk home now? What about all the disappearences, Ein?"

"You buy into all that hocus pocus? Its all coincidences, besides I'm the toughest guy in the village. I ain't scared of no stupid fairytales." And with that the man walked off.

It got extremely cold as he was walking, an icy wind blew past him. Ein shivered as another frozen gust came by. But as it did he heard a threatening-sounding whisper.

"You're next..."

He stopped and looked all around him before trudging off. "Stupid punk-kids," he grumbled. Glancing up at the moon he turned down a street. On the street there lay a woman, blood pouring from her shoulder, he ran over to her. He reached out to touch her only to feel cold night air. Blinking, Ein looked again only to find that there was no one there.

"Lousy rumors," he mumbled as he stood up. Another gust blew past him, much stronger than the previous gales. He turned away to block the wind, and turned back around to see a figure standing on the road about ten feet before him.

The figure seemed to stare at him, causing Ein some slight nervousness. "Who are you?" he demanded. The figure said nothing, not moving an inch. "You messing with me? Then I'm going to kick your ass!" Ein ran up to him with his fist clenched. But when he made to strike the figure's arm shot out catching Ein's hand. Now that he was close he could tell that the stranger was smaller than him and had red hair covering the right side of his face. "What the?!" Ein tried to jerk away but he couldn't, so he reared his other fist at the person but was cut short when the stranger's foot lodged itself in his gut.

Ein dropped to his knees, as the man dropped his arm. "Think you're tough, punk? Well allow me to show you who's tougher!" He bolted up to slam into the man, but a hand attached itself to his face and pushed him back. The man finally spoke, "Four years...I've waited four years to do this."

"What? What Are you talking about?" Ein said in surprise as he was pushed away easily by this smaller person.

"Revenge." He looked into Ein's eyes. Upon inspecting the man's face, his eye's widened. "You're that Ashura kid that I met on that road years ago."

"You mean this road."

Looking around Ein recognized the area as the one that he and a few others attacked that girl. "You're the one behind the disappearences." he growled pointing an accusing finger at Koji.

"Perhaps, but you deserve it since you are just a bag of worthless flesh."

"Take that back, you little fucker!" Ein now stood up glaring at the boy. "What did you do to those other guys?!"

"I killed them, what of it?"

Ein was about to attack when he caught a glimpse of Koji's eye. Suddenly he felt like the world was spinning out of control. He collapsed in his dizziness.

He woke up, belly-down on a patch of grass. "Where am I?"

"In my yard." came an omninous voice.

Ein looked up to see Koji standing before him. "What do you want?"

"You're such an idiot. I already told you. Revenge."

"You think that you can scare me? feh yeah right."

"I can do far worse than merely scare you. Before I'm finished you'll be begging for death."

"Do your worst." Ein spat at him, glaring at the redhead.

"It'll be worse than that. You'll pay dearly for my sister's death."

"She was good." Ein grinned as the boy's eye narrowed before continuing, "Yeah she screamed real loud, that just made it even better." Suddenly his world went black.

Opening his eyes, Ein glanced around to see the open night sky. He tried to move but found that he was bound to something.

"Greetings." He looked over to see Koji standing there next to him.

"Damn bastard!"

"Your threats are meaningless here. Now hold still." A searing pain shot through his leg as he yelled out in pain. He craned his neck to see that he had metal stake lodged completely through his right shin. Koji stabbed a second stake into the other shin. Again, Ein cried out in pain. Next he had a stake lodged in each of his forearms. The pain was unbearable, coursing throughout his limbs. Now another stake was lodged into his stomach. Ein hacked up a rather large amount of blood as a result of the burning sensations shooting through him. The next thing he knew he being lifted into the air by some unseen force.

Once he stopped rising, he took in his new surroundings and made a startling conclusion. He was now hanging upside-down on a large cross. His blood dripped down forming a puddle beneath him. He felt his limbs begin to go limp as all his of precious crimson fluid poured out of him.

"What the hell?" he coughed weakly.

"As expected your mental strength is very limited." Koji's voice commented out of nowhere.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

A huge flash erupted around him. When he could see what happened he shot up and clutched his arms. In doing so he realized the injuries were gone but that that incredible pain still lingered within each part that he thought had been previousaly stabbed.

"Where are the wounds?"

"There are none, that was an illusion. But that doesn't mean the pain wasn't real." Koji stepped forward, "That was only a small sample of what's to come..."

(Author's note: I'm not going to go into detail of the torture as it is rather gruesome. So I'm sorry if wanted to know what all happens but just use your imaginations. To those of you who believe that vengence for personal suffering is justified, you can be sure that the torture was immensely severe, that is all.)

Ein lay face down on the grass stained crimson from his blood. His entire body was so limp, he couldn't even lift a finger. Pain. That is what filled his entire being. Sorrow. His will and soul had been broken along with his body. He had wept tears and begged for mercy but was shown none. His reply to his call of help was..."My sister undoubtably pleaded for you to stop, but you didn't so neither shall I. You deserve this suffering."

Now he was being dragged down and stone staircase by the back of his tattered shirt. He heard his tormentor speak again. "The final judgement has yet to occur." A door creaked open and Ein was cast inside violently. He now lay on a cold hard surface. "Enjoy your fate..."

Instantly the door slammed shut and something began to slither around him. Soon pain began to course through his limp body. The pain grew far more severe, surpassing all of the earlier punishiments that had been inflicted on him. The air was so thick with malice that it was imposible to breathe. Soon the shadows consumed the very flesh of his being. He cried out in anguish one last time as the darkness mutilated his remains, leaving absolutely no trace.

The scream signaled his prey's expiration, so Koji opened the door and stepped in. As he did the torches once again lit up one by one, illuminating the black markings around the room.

"At long last, my revenge is complete." At least that's what he thought, but he felt an emptiness deep inside him. 'Takara,' he thought, 'Avenging you has left me feeling empty, why? Why do I feel so incomplete?!' Punching the wall, he glared at the ground. 'Is it because I now have no purpose?' The redhead collapsed to his knees. "Why? Because you're dead, and its my fault...Please, give me a reason...a reason for me to exist." 'Make this emptiness go away, Takara...like you used to' Tears fell from his emerald eye.

Weeks later, he got his answer from the priest who had saved him those years ago. He spoke of witnessing horrible treatment of something called a jinchuuriki. A person with a bijuu sealed in them. Deciding to look into it Koji discovered that the Kyuubi was considered to be the strongest of all the bijuu. In his research he heard a rumor of the fox being sealed within a human, still alive. He traveled around from place to place gathering any information on this rumor.

He ventured for several years before confirming that the monster that was the root of his family's shame was indeed alive within a person. A person from Konoha. Swearing revenge, Koji went to Konoha where he discovered the identity of the demon fox's host...Naruto Uzumaki.

Now he stood just outside the gates to Konoha. "Prepare yourself Uzumaki...no, kyuubi-container is far more appropriate. I will unleash the heaven's wrath upon you, demon! You hear me, fox?!! He shouted his last sentence into the sky, as dark clouds befuddled the horizon.


Chaos's Corner

Chaos: Welcome to another edition of Chaos's Corner. First off I'd like to thank everyone who sent in their suggestions and everyone who has reviewed the story. Thanks a lot for all your support.

(Chaos goes and sits at his desk.)

Chaos: I've had a couple suggestion, so it wasn't easy to pick someone to interview. After meditating for several hours under a waterfall, I made my decision...Please welcome the Yondaime!

(Yondaime walks on stage...crowd cheers, fangirls swoon)

Yondaime: Hello, everyone. and Chaos thanks for inviting me.

Chaos: Actually the pleasure is all mine. After all you're one of the greatest Hokages. So tell us, is your name really Arashi Kazuma?

Yondaime: No, that's not my name. and I've been forbidden to tell anyone what my real name is.

Chaos: Damn. Oh well, this next question comes from BigQuise. Are you a big pervert like your teacher Jiraiya?

(Yondaime fidgets slightly)

Yondaime: No...I'm not. Sorry to disappoint you all who hoped I was.

(He bows apologetically to the audience, a small green book falls out of his sleeve.)

Chaos: What's that?

(Yondaime picks it up hastily and hides it behind his back.)

Yondaime: Nothing, Nothing!

Chaos: Wasn't that Make-out Tactics?

Yondaime: No. (shakes head) No it wasn't.

Chaos: Yes it was.

Yondaime: No it wasn't.

Chaos: Yes it was.

Yondaime: No it wasn't.

Chaos: (Sarcastically) Whatever you say. Next question, also from BigQuise, are you Naruto's father?

Yondaime: Ah, I get that question a lot and the answer is...(Loud ringing is heard)

Chaos: Oh, I'm sorry but we're all out of time today. So remember review the story and send in your character suggestions and interview questions. That is all.