Return to Night
I don't own Naruto. This Shot takes place directly after Shot 12. That's really all I can say on the matter. Expect updates for the monthly updated stories boy the end of next week.
Hinata watched as the final demon rise from the ground itself, as if he was a part of it, dirt trickling off of him every few seconds. It was at this moment that her two strange companions decided to make themselves known as the blond with the red eyes said, "Gaara, Yugito, Yagura, Roshi, Han, Utakata, Fuu, and Bee. My brothers and sisters, it is good to see your faces once more."
"You took your time," the redheaded boy with rings around his eyes made of dirt said, "How long has it been since we were sealed, brother? I need to know how many people I need to put down to make up for lost time. The War is not over yet, if you have been about."
"The War ended centuries ago Gaara," the only one with visible tails remarked bitterly, "I was the last of us to be sealed away. This is something new."
"What exactly would this new thing be?" the translucent, armored man with steam emanating from him asked, "We've been sealed for some time, after all."
"The humans stole the village," Sai answered, transforming once more into his more human form, "They bound us, a fate similar to your own, yet different. I was trapped in my raven form for centuries before being freed. I watched as they forced several of the others into their own image. We have some back, now, but the damage will take time to repair."
"They forced them to be humans?" the green haired girl with orange eyes growled angrily, a clicking sound emanating from the back of her throat, "Perhaps it is time for a new war."
"Peace, little sister," the pale dark-haired one with bubbles floating around his head responded, "We have some interesting company here, if you haven't noticed, Fuu."
"Indeed," the blonde girl with a light crown of blue fire in her hair grinned, "It is rather rude of you to hide people from us, dear little brother. Who is she? What's her name? What's she doing here? Is she a human or something else?"
"Remember two months before the War, Yugito?" the tailed boy smirked, cutting off further questions, "If I recall correctly, I managed to make you cough up a hairball in the middle of our fight."
"Reminiscing's good and nice, but who's the girl with the pale eyes?" asked the tall man with a white beard and a pair of horns, the left horn missing a piece. Strangely enough, the man paused and said, "Sorry for saying such a weak rhyme. I haven't spoken in a long time."
"Ah yes, you always were the Rhymer of the Night," the red bearded man with the helmet chuckled, "At any rate, I'm curious as well, Naruto. Who is she?"
"This is our savior," the blond responded cheerfully, "And I do believe that this lovely lady can introduce herself."
"My name is Hinata Hyuuga," she said nervously, "I'm not sure about Lord Uzumaki's calling me your 'savior.' However, I did cast the spell that returned you to this realm."
"You have my thanks," the redheaded dirt boy said, a hungry look in his eyes as he gazed at the village, "It has been too long since I've spilled any blood of those cocky humans."
"And yet you still take a human form," Naruto chuckled, "I will never understand why none of you take forms outside of the limits of humans. I personally use this form because it is amusing, though I do not hide my tails or my eyes."
"That is easy for you to say," Fuu quipped, here orange eyes suddenly looking like those of a housefly before reverting to their previous state, "When your eyes are their natural state, the world doesn't turn into a kaleidoscope."
"My tail has no real combat applications, unlike yours," Gaara remarked.
"You shoved both my tails down my throat last time we sparred," Yugito growled.
"True," Naruto admitted, "I am amazing, am I not?"
"What exactly do you have planned?" Hinata asked, trying to get back to the topic at hand.
"Something fun," the fox demon replied with a smirk, "I believe that it is time to show the humans exactly why one doesn't step on a fox's tail, especially not when he has nine of them."
It should have been morning in the village that was once called Konoha. The clocks all read 9:00 a.m. and by all rights, the sun should have risen by now. In spite of this fact, above the village the night sky was visible, with all of the stars shining down peacefully. It was around this time that the ones who had been unsealed by the familiar awoke.
Tenten woke up at her usual time, though she felt that something was different. For one, she felt shorter than usual, and her neck felt rather cold. For another thing, it was still dark outside. Most the most noticeable thing, however, was that she seemed to be sitting on a black horse rather than her usual armchair. Leaping off the horse, she suddenly felt an odd sensation as she hit the floor and yet only felt pain in the back of her head. It was at that point that she saw her own body bending down to pick her up. It was then that she remembered how to scream.
"Calm down," a toneless voice said as the sand for making glass suddenly began to escape the bag, forming a red-haired boy, who then said in the same voice, "This is better. I do prefer sand to common dirt. Now, I am going to assume that you are rather concerned by your current state. The easiest way to explain this is by outright telling you that you are a dullahan."
"What?" Tenten asked, confused by this entire situation, "What's a dullahan?"
"A dullahan is a headless rider," the boy replied, "Actually, to be correct, a horse-rider whose head is not attached to their body. As you've no doubt noticed."
"How is that possible?" she asked, certain that she was dreaming now.
"Magic," he responded, pulling out a wooden puppet and a small fan, "Something older and more powerful than you could ever imagine. Would you like to see some? I can guarantee that it will be incomparable with anything you have ever seen, young dullahan."
Kiba Inuzuka woke up at nine, only to find that his senses were more acute than they'd ever been. Akamaru was sleeping beside him peacefully, but Kiba smelled a foreign presence. A mixture of boy and... raven?
"Hello, Kiba Inuzuka," the raven boy said, leaping down to the foot of his bed without making a sound, "I'm sure you're wondering what I'm doing here and why your senses have improved. Well, I'm pleased to say that your senses are my doing, to an extent."
"What did you do to me?" Kiba asked, feeling a strange itching sensation all over.
"I merely returned something that hadn't been around for centuries," the raven boy explained, "Back when this was the Village Hidden in the Night, the clan known as the Inuzuka were a powerful race of werewolves. The full moon shall be coming at ten, and you shall meet your destiny."
"Who are you?" Kiba asked, watching in awe as the raven boy turned into a bird before his eyes.
"I am called Sai, and I am the familiar of Lord Naruto Uzumaki," the boy replied, transforming back to his natural form.
"Will it hurt?" Kiba asked, finding Sai easy to believe.
"Unimaginably," Sai admitted, having remembered his own first transformation, "But only the first time, and it is worth it, if you're strong enough. Now, why don't I tell you a story of a village that had not deserved to fall the way it did? It was ruled by nine powerful demons..."
Sakura Haruno, despite being confused by why the sun wasn't shining at nine, was convinced that today would definitely be a good day. The ache between her shoulder blades that had been with her for her entire life was finally gone. As a matter of fact, she felt as light as air.
It was when she tried to step on the floor of her room that she noticed that she was literally floating.
"Ah, I was wondering when you'd wake up!" a dark haired floating man with bubbles around him said cheerily, "It is so good to see one of mine as she should be."
"One of yours?" Sakura asked cautiously, "What do you mean by that?"
"Why, you didn't think the gift of flight wasn't some form of magic, did you?" the man replied, "Even if your wings are fluttering, you couldn't possibly produce that much lift with those things."
"Wings, what wing?" Sakura asked in confusion.
"Well, I'll show you," he responded as a bubble floated away from him, growing as it moved, "I may be a slug, but flight falls to my jurisdiction, so long as my youngest sister is uninvolved, young pixie."
"'Pixie?'" Sakura asked, looking at the bubble. To her surprise, it showed her, but with delicate-looking butterfly wings sprouting from her back.
"Yes, 'pixie,'" he replied calmly, "But I'm getting ahead of myself. Why don't I start at the beginning?"
Rock Lee woke up in the dark, feeling strange, as if something was different about him. Looking around his room, he was surprised to see a horned man looking at him from behind dark glasses.
"Relax Rock Lee. My name's Killer Bee," the man said peacefully, "Several centuries, I have been gone, now I'm here to tell you what is going on. Now all that green fur is part of your face. You see, you're a member of a magical race."
"Fur?" Lee asked while the man showed him his reflection, "What unyouthful creature begat this transformation?"
"A magical creature, much like you, did some unsealing, as he knew what to do," the man replied, "You are by birth a goblin, as you can plainly see. Now here's a lesson in history from the Eight-Tailed Demon Ox: Me!"
"Hey, wake up!" was the first sound Neji Hyuuga heard, a distinctly female voice he hadn't heard before. Looking around he found a blonde girl with blue flames in her hair smirking down at her with a smile that didn't look natural.
"Who are you?" he asked, rising from his bed despite his strangely stiff limbs.
"I am Yugito Nii, the Two Tailed Demon Cat, and the stiffness you feel is due to you not being used to having joints made of clay. Welcome to the right world, homunculus," the girl grinned.
"Homunculus?" he inquired, very confused by this entire situation.
"You know, an artificial person, created as a servant to a witch or a wizard, though usually it's only done by alchemists, who, as a collective, are a specific group of witches and wizards, but they specialize in chemical magicks and, well, why don't I start at the beginning? It started several centuries ago..." she answered, switching into a lecturing tone. Neji sat down on his bed, realizing that this would take some time.
"Good morning," a voice said as Sasuke Uchiha woke up hungry. Looking to the sound of the voice, he turned right and found a man who seemed to be made of a mist that billowed off of him in some places. Sasuke found himself strangely interested in whether the man had a pulse or not as the man said, "Yes, I am talking to you, and no, I do not have a pulse. You are hungry, though the food of humans will no longer appeal to you."
"How did you know what I was thinking," Sasuke asked in surprise, "And what do you mean 'the food of humans' won't appeal to me?"
"You have become something magnificent," the man replied cheerfully, "You are a vampire, boy. One of the true creatures of the Night."
"There's no such thing as vampires," Sasuke responded simply, "Everyone knows that they're just fairy tales."
Saying that was a mistake. The man seemed to transform, his face becoming distorted as steam began issuing from him at a rate that Sasuke had never thought possible.
"What about demons, boy!?" he roared in a voice that sounded like the voices of many people speaking at once, "Are demons 'just fairy tales' as well!? I am the Five Tailed Demon, the fifth most powerful demon in the world, and you believe yourself to be wiser than I!?"
To Sasuke's surprise, the man's rage suddenly died as quickly as it had sparked as he said, "Now then, boy, you are a vampire. You will have to accept my word on that matter. I will train you in controlling yourself, otherwise your hunger will consume you completely. First, we must begin with with how this village was started, as there is a task at hand that needs to be done."
Shikamaru Nara woke up feeling heavier than usual, as well as feeling somewhat hostile towards the man with the red beard and the strange headpiece sitting by his bedside.
"Good, you're finally awake," the man remarked in an amused tone, "Now, if you feel an inexplicable hatred of me, that's excellent. It means that I know what you are."
"What?" Shikamaru asked, trying to puzzle out what was going on.
"You're a draugr," the man said, "Essentially, you're a dead man walking, heavier than the average person of your size and body type, and were your head to get wet, it would appear to all who saw it to be a ball made of seaweed. Any other questions?"
"Who are you?" he inquired, trying to learn what he could. Not knowing what was going on would be too troublesome.
"I am Roshi," the man replied, "And you have no need to fear me. I come for many reasons, but harming you is not one. Sit down. I have much to tell you, young draugr."
"Wake up, little one," a peaceful voice said, rousing Chouji from his deep sleep. Said boy suddenly wanted to eat some very rare meat, which was odd, but he merely turned to look at the man standing in front of him. The man had light grey hair and pink eyes that had no pupils, as well as a single stitch running directly below his left eye.
"I'm sorry for what has happened to you," the man said in his still peaceful voice, "You will never be able to gaze at the sun again, else you turn to stone. Fortunately, we will be able to cast a powerful glamour on you so that you may walk in its rays, and you will be able to travel at any time in the village. Now, to business. I'm sure you want to know what's going on. The first thing I should tell you is that you are a troll. Now that the unpleasant revelation is out of the way, allow me to explain what is going on, little one. I am Yagura, the Three Tailed Demon, or the Giant Turtle."
Shino Aburame woke to the sound of his hive buzzing rapidly inside his clothes, each saying something about missing flesh or something reverent about someone they referred to as 'She.' Looking around, he found a girl with mint green hair and orange eyes staring at him
"Am I to assume that you are the 'She' that my beetles are talking about?" he asked, eying the scythe the girl was toying with warily.
"One and the same," the girl smirked as a clicking sound began emanating from the back of her throat, "I am Fuu, the Seven Tailed Demon, and you, my young reaper, are Shino Aburame."
"What do you want with me and why did you call me a reaper?" he asked, unsure of how to proceed, as he felt lighter than usual at the moment.
"Because that is what you are," the girl remarked, tossing him a hand mirror, "Now be patient, because I have a lot to teach you and we don't have much time."
Shino slowly lifted the mirror and saw what his beetles had been talking about when they spoke of missing flesh.
Sai had been very busy by the time the clocks all said that it would normally be noon. His Liege Lord had requested for him to gather everyone together for an important occasion. As such, it took him some time, as they had been receiving lectures on the truth behind the abominable village they intended on dealing with a mild glamour had rendered him and those he had follow him to the location he'd been ordered to get them to invisible to any non-magical eye.
"Are they all here, Sai?" Lord Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox asked, observing the crowd as he entered with Hinata riding on his back.
"They are, my lord," Sai answered, having even brought the Yamanaka elf, who pulled the knowledge from his mind, and the Kurama poltergeist, who he had only to inform of the plan, as he'd explained the history the night before.
"Excellent," the blond grinned, revealing his fangs as he returned to his more human form, his tails hidden and his eyes glamoured to look blue, "Now, we need to wait to speak to the Hokage. Hinata, would you mind dispelling Sai's glamour for here? No offense to you, Sai, I just wish to see if she's as powerful as I suspect."
"Illusio depellendam," she said, remembering a spell from the book. To everyone's surprise, they felt a strange feeling as the illusion did as she commanded, alongside the glamour on Naruto's tails and eyes. Several Anbu arrived at once, only to be batted aside by nine fox tails.
"Greetings, soldiers," the blond greeted, smiling widely at the group before him, "We wish to speak to your leader. I promise you that we do not intend him any harm at the moment. Please alert him of our presence and tell him that his presence is requested."
"I am here," a man with a red triangular hat said, walking out of the tower they were in front of, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
"We are here to seek retribution for a theft that had occurred here centuries ago," the blond said cheerfully.
"What theft is that?" the Hokage asked, looking at the group warily.
"Why, the theft of our village," the blond responded, "This land was stolen by the Senju clan, and to a lesser extent the Uchiha clan. They stole the village that our father, the Sage of Six Paths, told us we were to keep until the sun died."
"What are you talking about?" the man who looked like a grown human version of the demon in front of him asked, "The Senju and the Uchiha were both descended from the Sage, himself and had built this village from the ground up."
"That's a lie!" the younger looking redhead shouted as the sand that made up his frame shifted rapidly, "Those thieves were not children of our father!"
"The only one of the two groups who supported us," the blond demon continued, pretending to ignore both statements, "was Madara Uchiha. He offered to work with us and share the village. Of my experience with humans, he was one of the best of you."
"What exactly is it that you want?" the man asked, "There are so many innocent people here. You can't really want to seek a violent resolution to something no one here had taken part in."
"Of course not," the demon replied, "Well, I don't, though two of my siblings would love to. What I'm offering is a simple truce. You do not have to vacate the village if you agree to my terms. All you have to do is keep your civilians and ninjas in line. We can coexist peacefully, as Madara suggested. All you have to do is not meddle with us and accept that this is the Village Hidden in the Night, as it once was. You only have to deal with us when you have need of our aid or we need something from you, and we, in turn will not destroy you, and we will not prey on you. So the question is this: Are you willing to live with monsters, or do you wish to be nothing but a memory?"