Apathy (Sloth), Rage (Wrath), Loathing (Envy), Arrogance (Pride), Desire (Lust), Power (Gluttony), and Selfishness (Greed). Those are the forces that empowered a demon. Those were the powers that called, and fed the beasts of the darkness.

Persistence (Diligence), Mercy (Patience), Compassion (Kindness), Modesty (Humility), Wisdom (Chastity), Justice (Temperance), and Sacrifice (Charity). Those are the forces that empower the servants of light. Those were the energies that bind them to the righteous.

Long before the divine were as they are now, these fourteen forces moved as if alive on their own. Each side pooled their energy into one specific place, and in time something changed. The darkness gave birth to a corrupt beast of everlasting evil, and hate. The light gave way to wisdom, kindness and safety. In a way the light became the force that many call chakra. Though this was truly first expressed in a single figure, and the world moved to follow his path, and as men they turned into something far from its original purpose.

There are seven more forces however. Choice, Fate, Life, Death, Love, Hate, and Change. These seven forces are called the paths of men. Few ever manage to embark on a journey for more than one of them. It was said that the Sage of Six Paths, was truly a remarkable human being, one able to walk down six of the mythical paths of men. To this day none have done as he had, and despite that many would try, it is the way of things, that people of such ability never seek it themselves. It finds them and the world heedlessly takes notice.

-Tablet of the First Shinobi Age

Author Unknown

The Ichibi glowered at the floating figure before it. Such was its nature. Rage. It was impossible, but yet there it was. Flying, glowing with energy. Mocking him. "You brat! How is it you're not squished? Eh?"

Naruto glanced back to Sasuke, and merely waved his hand towards the encased Uchiha, and the sand fell away, dropping the hundreds of feet to the ground, but Sasuke remained suspended. Naruto's eyes were hidden behind a bright blue glow, as he floated to the raven haired ninja's side. "Rest. Sasuke." His voice was soft and yet commanding. Sasuke relaxed as he was lightly set down on a nearby branch. The Ichibi growled in fury before it threw itself at the blond planning to crush him like a fly.

"Die Gaki!"

"Stop." Naruto spoke and with just a simple word, the massive beast was suspended in midair, its expression one of confusion and terror. Naruto slowly rose up, bolts of electricity leaping from his skin, and he merely smiled. "You are like a lost child. Shukaku. Go rest now, in time that may change." Before the beast could even roar out defiance, Gaara jolted awake, and gasped in a heavy breath. The air was completely filled with Naruto's presence, it was literally suffocating to feel, but there was no rage in it. No hatred, no loathing, or arrogance. All Gaara could feel was sadness, and a bit of pity.

"You! You! What did you do to Mother!" Gaara roared as the massive body of sand began to shift, no longer bound to use it in the form it was in Gaara prepared to crush the blond boy like an ant.

"Poor boy, I can feel it. We were once…the same. I too felt the burning pain of loneliness…"

"Shut up! Shut up! I am not lonely! I am all I will ever need! Power! I will kill you Uzumaki! I will prove my existence!" Gaara screamed as the entire body of the Ichibi moved, and collided with Naruto. There was no blood this time, too much sand to see even a drop of it.

"But it doesn't have to be this way." Naruto continued, having reappeared behind the red haired demon host, with incredible ease. The glow of his eyes only barely hidden by his closed lids, and he smiled. "Let me help you…" Gaara growled in rage, as a sick smile crossed his lips.

"No! No! Uzumaki. You will surrender now! Or I will show you despair! True Despair! I will kill your friends, I will murder those you love, as easily as I have taken this pink one!" he screamed as he revealed from within his sand, the trembling form of Sakura, she was torn up by the grinding sands, her body and her clothes the worse for wear. Naruto looked truly sad when he saw this, his eyes opened to look at the insane red head's eyes. He saw fear, pain, and a collision of a million emotions all washing together. Naruto couldn't let this continue.

"Why?" Gaara paused as Naruto looked down at the horrible wounds, on his teammate and his sorrow was almost palpable. "Why are you so determined to share your pain, rather than lose it?" Naruto questioned calmly as he moved his hand and Sakura was whipped from the sand ninja's grasp, and into Sasuke's arms. Gaara glowered and the sand curled back around him, taking the form of his first monstrous appearance, a much reduced version of his most previous form, but this time with literal tons of free sand to move as he wished. "I see. I have to show you now…what it feels like to be free. Gaara!" The sand encased red head growled, as he formed a massive lance of sand in the air above them. "I will show you…what it means…to have a friend. One that will never…ever…stop trying to help you." He closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them and smiling.

"Die Uzumaki! Shukaku Spear!" the lance created a horrible bellowing sound as it careened towards Naruto, who remained passive as he watched the lance come for him. He slowly raised a single hand to his lips, and bit down.

"Blood Seal: Dispel." In an instant he watched as the chakra flooded from the massive lance, and the sand poured to the ground, returning to the dirt it had been before the massive sand monster used its chakra to convert it to sand. Gaara look terrified as his chakra cloak, in the form of his Ichibi Armor returned to its normal gourd shape, his breath heavy in his lungs as he looked to Naruto.

"I-Impossible…ju-just what are you?" Gaara cried out as he collided with the tree beneath him, his chakra too low to sustain using his sand to hold him up.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto. Genin of Konoha. Pariah of Konoha…and yet I am Naruto Uzumaki…and I want to be your friend Gaara…let me pull you from this darkness." Gaara seemed too tired to argue, and each time he'd said it, it felt more and more sincere. Could he really…want to be his friend? Gaara let out a small smile, and then leaned back his body too exhausted.

"Just kill me Uzumaki. You've proven your existence is the stronger…I do…not deserve to exist." Gaara whispered, as a tear rolled from his eye, follow by another and another. As if a dam had broken, years of pain and suffering were suddenly pouring from the red head's eyes. Naruto merely smiled and waited, the glowing aura around him never ceasing to encompass them. "For the things I have done…I do not deserve forgiveness!" He cried, not as a ninja, not as a Jinchuriki, but as a boy who'd had his entire life turned into a form of torture. Naruto smiled and placed a hand on the boy's head.

"We can figure that out later. For now…Binding Seal: Sleep." Without fight or fuss, Gaara's eye lids closed and he fell into a deep sleep. "Sasuke…I need you to take him back to the village too. I know you can handle it…there is one more foe out here I must face." Then he was gone in a blur of movement, leaving an exhausted and wounded Sasuke to grumble in annoyance at the blond, and seethe at all the power the boy seemed to have. He wouldn't stand for this; he must know how he learned all of this.

Naruto for his part reappeared not too far off.

"Ah, Naruto-kun. I didn't think you'd notice me down here. I must say, your battle was most enjoyable." Naruto only frowned as he looked over the silver haired boy before him, even as the traitor adjusted his glasses. "I see you noticed that jutsu I was using then?"

"Truly, you are a despicable soul. Kabuto. Much like a blotch of darkness against the world."

"Hmm. Such kind words, though I have to wonder…can you feel it as well? The force of the Shinigami at work? I can. Deep, deep in my soul, I can feel it. Lord Orochimaru is killing your Hokage right now." Kabuto said as casually as one would discuss the weather. "It's pathetic, that with all of this power, you are still a weak child when it comes to save those precious to you."

"The…Hokage?" Then the feelings hit him, the pain, the sorrow, and the anger, oh how the anger began to consume him. "Orochimaru is hurting the old man! You! Traitor…Gah!' suddenly the bright glow was consumed with red light, and Kabuto leaped away, as the area was torn up, as if suddenly unleashed in a torrent from the very core of his being, the red and blue chakras began to mix. The light and the darkness within Naruto combined and in a scream of rage he was gone. Kabuto for one couldn't be happier as he moved on to escape the area completely, unwilling to have faced the boy as he had been.

Deep within Naruto, the darkness receded. Minato gave a loud gasp as if all the air had been squeeze from his lungs only a moment before. Then from beyond the cage a wave of chakra filled the chamber banishing the Hokage's presence for a moment as the Kyuubi's eye snapped open in the darkness. "Muuu! Brat! Duuu! Destroy! Urrr! Enemies!" the nearly mindless shouts of the Kyuubi roared as immense amounts of its chakra fueled the blond now, mixing with whatever force he'd been using before. Slowly, another presence within the boy's mind receded, pulling away with a calm whispered sigh 'He is not yet ready…'

Naruto: Shinigami's Folly

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Thunder…

Lightning…

Darkness…

The world seemed to grow darker than the blackest black for an instant, as the world began to scream out in agony, as if given a true voice itself. The buildings shifted and moved, the land cracked, and the winds howled in rage and pain. Then for a single moment, everything seemed to wash away, sound, feeling, sight. The world blurred together, senses, objects, everything seemed to become one for a moment, everyone, everything began collapsing.

Shinobi throughout the village collapsed clutching at their heads, covering their eyes, or merely feel into a complete comatose state unable to handle the overload to their senses, to their very beings as even the mighty Hokage, and his diabolical student felt their being impinged upon. The Shinigami himself shifted his perceptions, this power…it was unnatural, or more to say it was impossible. He as a being of divine origin could not feel the force of such a minor life form's attack, no mortal should be able to generate such a force, not even the chosen of the divine could do so. In his long existence only one or two beings had ever possessed such power, and both were known to him.

The forces of creation were all meeting in one burning red point, the power gathered there was more akin to a golden orb of energy than a single being.

Then in a sudden flash of light a massive wing of burning red, and bright colorless light unfurled from the orb, soon to be joined by five similar wings. In the center a single form of a young blond boy, eyes redder than blood, claws sharper than knives, and thrumming with power comparable to a divine being. A single sigil, a rune of powerful ancient sealing art older than the shinobi era itself, shinned from his forehead, a light of incredible power.

"Seraphim." He murmured before colliding with the dark barrier that surrounded the aged Hokage and his apprentice. Only those within the powerful defensive barrier seemed to be unaffected by the blonde's power. Orochimaru sneered as he saw the boy.

"How child-like, nothing can take this barrier down from without, Sarutobi-sensei…another foolish brat to die for nothing. Just like you." Sarutobi coughed in pain, as he felt the burning of his own body breaking down, beginning to weaken his hold. He wouldn't be able to take his entire student into the seal that much was for certain. He glanced to Naruto, and smiled, resigned to his fate.

"I-I suppose this is it, all I can do…" then he growled as more blood fell from his lips. "…Seal!" The Shinigami in its massive awareness of the events was both shocked to see its chosen, and yet jarred into motion by the event of his summoner as well. So he pulled his blade up and sliced down, tearing the arms of Orochimaru's soul from him.

"No! Old Man! Gah…." Naruto called as he could see. He could see the older man's life begin to be pulled towards the effigy that he didn't recognize. The burning of the deadly barrier against his skin seemed to mean nothing. He couldn't lose him now…he…just couldn't. "I made a promise…to never…let my precious people come to harm…to someone I love...I-I…I won't fail here!"

Then with a scream he was thrown away from the massive barrier, his six wings fluttering with rage, as the massive electric and demonic power gathered in them slammed together in one point in front of the young ninja. "Shine brighter…and brighter…SHINE BRIGHTER!" He screamed, and it would be then that he began to use that power; the power had given him the name he was famed for. The name that would be feared by many after this day. The technique would be known as Lightning God of Konoha's Signature Technique…

"Shinsei Sukai Sakeme!"(True Sky Reaver) he shouted, and everything seemed to pause for a moment, as if the world itself couldn't believe that such a force was going to be unleashed once again.

The force of destruction, several magnitudes stronger than the same power he'd once used in the wave country, it was truly something that match his name. The sky began to crack and scream at the force, the world shook more violently than it had all that day. It was only now that many of the fighters began to recover, if it was only to flee the area around the flying teen. The bolt that arced from the central mass each shattered buildings. Then as sudden as a bolt of true lightning, the mass moved slamming into the barrier. Each of the four guards within fell to a knee as the energy was drained from them to hold the barrier, to no avail.

The powerful, demonic electrical energy cracked the barrier within seconds, and a moment later it collapsed, letting the energy slam into the form of the Shinigami himself, normally untouchable to such meager mortal affairs, the energy tore him away, long before he'd taken his price from the old man. Even before he'd take the soul arms of Orochimaru for himself. The Shinigami screamed with rage, as the energy continued to push on tearing across western Konoha, and onwards into the distance, colliding angrily with a far off mountain top. The explosive light from the attack caught many throughout the elemental nation's attention, as the peak of a massive mountain crumbled to ashes and rubble.

"W-What was…th-that light?" Orochimaru hissed as his arms fell dead at his side, "Sound Four! Kill the old…" in that instant, Naruto closed the distance, and was between Orochimaru and Sarutobi, crouched down, with a kunai in hand. His amazing energy gone, his body no longer empowered, but his crystal blue eyes met with Orochimaru's. In that instant, Orochimaru's blood ran cold, that position, those eyes. He hissed in rage before taking a step back. More and more Konoha shinobi began to show up now, each one even more emblazoned by Naruto's actions.

"Retreat! Retreat!" the four recovered themselves quickly, and within instants the five sound ninjas escaped from the leaf ninja's finger tips. Naruto smiled as he stood, and looked back to the older man, who was still alive, though surprised.

"Old…man…" Naruto said with a bright smile, before collapsing into his arms blood slipping from his lips.

"Medic!" the nearby ANBU shouted, calling for assistance for both the blond and their Kage. Those with the ability to sense such things, would have seen, if they were looking, two arms of pure chakra slowly disappearing into the now unconscious blond, as he shivered in the aged Kage's arms, the old man smiled.

"Naruto-kun…thank you."

Nearby, a pair, one tall and dark and the other short and greying looked to one another. "It seems our fears have been realized, Raikage-san."

"Hmm. So the plan is in motion then? Four years from today."

"Quite. In four years…we will crush the Hidden Leaf, and their Lightning God…before we are all doomed to serve at their heel." Then the two Kages shook hands, and the forces of Kumo and Iwa became aligned in one of the most powerful, and dangerous alliances ever to be seen in the elemental nations.

Far off from the plots, far off from the recovering nation, the Shinigami smoldered in the ruined mountaintop. He would figure out what was going on. There was only one force that could allow such a thing to happen to a being such as him. As he disappeared back to the divine realms, he cursed the woman he'd have to meet. 'Fate! I will not suffer your insults!'