Notes: I've been hit by shitloads of inspiration for this story. So, now I'll be giving it some more attention than my other stories. Get ready for some incoherent stuff that will somehow attach into the main plotline later on.

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Define 'Human'

Interlude 1: The Past Repeats Itself

Two pairs of feet walked down a dark, metallic corridor. The footsteps' clacking made loud echoes run up and down the halls. The men bearing those feet carried identical looks of regality and intense seriousness. You could practically feel the tension on their breaths.

Kami and Akuma strode down the corridor to a simple wooden door. The younger of the two lords opened the door and both walked into the large room beyond.

Angels and demons scurried all over the room. Several closely studied strange radar-like devices while others handed paperwork over to their superiors. Some discussed battle formations on a table while others communicated to outlying bases on their radios. The room was obviously a control center of some sort.

One demon spotted the two lords at the doorway. "Praise be to Kami-sama! Devotion be to Akuma-sama!"

All beings in the room stopped what they were doing and echoed the demon in unison. They bowed.

"You may rise." Akuma told them. The beings immediately resumed working.

The two lords walked over to a table where several angels and demons looked over what seemed to be a model of a field.

"Alpha Station to the west is suffering technical failures, so we need to send an engineering team. Beta Station witnessed an assault group marching their way, but Delta Station denies this claim. They say it was a scouting group by the Darkwing Spirits according to the crests on their chests." One angel said as he used a katana to point at various places on the field. There were small rectangular boxes at each point. As the two lords came over, he sheathed his blade and saluted. "Praise be to-"

"Enough, Hiberu." Kami interrupted. "As my son, you do not need to preform such formalities."

"Still, as a superior you deserve proper respect, father." The angel, Hiberu, responded with a smug smirk.

Akuma shook his head in exasperation. "At times like these, I'm glad Ran is an only child."

"Shut up, aniki." Kami glared at his brother. He turned back to his son. "Just tell me the status on the fronts."

"The Netherbeings are being held back to their portal at the western and eastern fronts. Skirmishes have broken out on the northern front. Sightings on the southern front, but the Netherbeings' migration patterns should have most of them up north." Hiberu explained as he pointed at the places again, with his finger this time.

Kami narrowed his eyes. 'Netherbeings…'

Netherbeings were just that, beings from the netherworld: the area of unknown origin or size that surrounded the three ethereal planes. Neither of the lords that ruled the planes even knew its purpose.

The Netherbeings themselves however, were not evil. They were just beasts, having the same amount of sentience as a goat. They had many shapes that resembled earthly animals. Their only negative attribute was their extreme hunger. Although mostly pacifist, they killed anything that blocked the way to their grazing fields. So as a result, all three planes have set up borderlines of sorts that keep the beasts away. Even in the eternity that the planes have existed, no unarmed angel, demon or spirit has been able to cross the borderline without being mutilated within an hour. And with the unknown purpose of the beasts, the three lords could not entirely wipe them out without expecting some sort of consequence.

"Reinforce the southern line just in case." Kami stated.

Akuma just listened as his younger sibling started to give orders on how to distribute troops on both of their planes' borders. He couldn't help but feel proud. Kami was the tactician of the two brothers. No one could match his military genius or his ability to execute plans. Akuma was the warrior, preferring to battle on the front lines as a shock trooper. Of course that doesn't mean Kami is a weakling. Hell, if the two went all-out Kami would probably draw out the fight to a couple millennia. And when forced to, Akuma himself could also think of plans that could match any military prodigies', mortal or not.

"Do we send word to Shinigami-dono to recall his Darkwings?" Hiberu asked his father. "They might be caught in the crossfire should a battle break out."

"Hai." Kami answered. "Tell him we need another shipment of armor and weapons as well. He has a few millennia's worth of blacksmiths at his disposal that need to refine their skills."

"Right on it." Hiberu left to inform the communicators to contact a messenger.

Akuma glanced at his younger brother. "Ototo."

"Yes, Aniki?"

"My spies in Yomi have spotted a peculiar person." The Lord of Makai said with a grimace. "They confirmed it was Hantaisha Kagai."

Kami frowned. His face scrunched up with anger. "That bastard. I'll get him soon enough for what he did to Hibana."

"We'll keep lookout." Akuma told him. The two lords stared silently at nothing. They thought hard and hoped. They hoped for their newest experiment not to go awry and lose sight of his original goal.

-

A figure sat at a ramen stand, slurping lightly at the salty broth of a miso ramen bowl. He had short-cropped ebon hair and poison green eyes. His face was apathetic, but it had a hidden charming, handsome quality to it. His black leather jacket shined in the dim lighting with a crimson shirt under it. On his lower body, he wore crimson pants and a black-stained chain was wrapped around his waist. On his back was a black scythe with a crimson serrated blade. He sighed as he sensed a couple of demons watch him from a nearby rooftop.

The being, named Hantaisha Kagai, finished his dish before he turned to look straight at the surprised spies. Kagai raised an eyebrow before turning back to the scared-as-shit ramen stand owner.

"You know. I've always hated ramen." He told the owner. Then he smiled.

The stand, the block around it and the spirits within exploded in a fury of dark energy.

-

Naruto awoke on a hospital bed, clad in nothing but his trench coat, his sash and a pair of boxers.

"… I have a feeling things are going to get ridiculously complicated over the next few days."

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Like my new antagonist? Don't worry, you'll learn about him and all the crap going on in Shinkai, Makai and Yomi later on. By the way, Hantaisha Kagai translates into 'Evil Adversary'. Original, huh? Review please!