Author's note: Reviews are Kami.
Made a small change in ch1- Naruto gains the Mangekyou when his grandfather was assasinated, by Kumo shinobi when they tried to abduct him, instead of the Hyuuga heiress, so Hizashi's alive. The Hyuuga fiasco, was the Uchiha fiasco in this case, they tried to steal the rinnegan from the old man instead of the Byakugan from the Hyuuga. They failed, were all killed but they managed to deeply wound Naruto in the process, and his grandfather died protecting him, causing his eyes to transform into the Mangekyou Sharingan. All of this is also in the first chapter. Kumo in this story were too afraid to threaten war, and confessed to all their crimes. And also, this story just achieved 75000 views on fanfiction. A huge thanks to everyone who's supported the story till now.
The Shinigami appeared in front of Kani and said, "Uzumaki Kani, you cannot resurrect!"
Kani slumped down onto his knees and asked, "So his seal still has it's effect." He then started laughing.
Naruto and Mito who had switched themselves with common bandits using Naruto's shapeshifting jutsu, were watching this with utmost surprise, they had hoped to revive him and then kill him off for good, but this was unexpected to say the least..
The Shinigami laughed as he disappeared into nothingness.
Kani looked at the bandits shapeshifted as Naruto and Mito, without knowing what they actually were, and said, "Looks like I can't resurrect after all. I'll let you be."
Naruto and Mito ended the shapeshifting justu and went to where Kani was, at the bottom of the ocean, in the centre of the vortex.
Kani looked at the bandits and chuckled, "You almost cheated me into resurrecting without killing you, you sneaky bastards. Would've worked even, if not for this pesky seal."
"Our deal still stands" said Naruto.
"What deal? The one where you resurrect me for safe entry into the village?" asked Kani
"Yeah that one" answered Naruto.
"Deal's off the table, in case you haven't noticed, I cannot resurrect. The seal on me binds the shinigami, through the souls of five thousand men, to keep me tethered to this dead land, as a ghost, unable to live, unable to die, unable to leave" sighed Kani, in acceptance of his eternal imprisonment.
"I can cheat death" declared Naruto.
Kani laughed maniacally as he said, "No my boy, if you think you have cheated death before, let me tell you something, you have not cheated death, he let you go. Death does not get cheated. If you feel you have cheated him, you are wrong. If you cheat death, he will come for you. He will hunt you down until you can no longer flee. You can run from death, but you can never hide. No matter who you are death will come for you. Even if you are a God, death will come to you, and you will be left at his mercy. Death is the only constant in life. And as a man who cheated death once, I assure you the punishment is way more than what you bargained for. So leave."
"The Rinnegan can cheat death" said Naruto
Kani couldn't help but laugh, "You are a mere boy who hasn't seen eternal damnation that comes with cheating death. I am a century old and I am pretty sure that cheating death is not worth whatever you cheat him for"
"Let us in, and I'll bargain with death for you!" Naruto was getting desperate.
This man was the last remnant of the great Uzumaki clan, possessing techniques capable of killing Gods, and the only man left alive who had any knowledge of the seals on this land, and if they couldn't get in now, they would never be able to reach it, until the art of sealing developed again, and that would take centuries.
"And how would you achieve that?" asked Kani, with a hint of interest in his eyes.
"We sacrifice ten thousand humans to the Shinigami" said Naruto.
He didn't like this, he was disgusted by the words that he'd just uttered.
But what choice did he have... He could use the men of Yagura, in the Civil War of Kiri... but it wouldn't be easy.
Mito was torn between desperation and disgust. She couldn't believe that Naruto would go so far as to sacrifice so many humans. She felt the same desperation that he did, but she didn't want to go so far. She was hoping that Naruto was bluffing.
"I guess you could muster as many men in a war...
Although, how am I to know that you won't renege on our deal once you get safe entry and exit through the village?" asked Kani with a twinkle in his eyes.
"A contract in blood" answered Naruto gravely.
Mito snapped, she couldn't take this anymore. "NO! I will not let you do that, you dim-witted ASSHOLE! Sacrificing thousands of men! I thought you were bluffing, but no! You're serious! How are you even able to conceive something this messed up?! And a blood contract?! Have you lost your mind?! You don't even know what he wants! And he is a much better sealer than you, how would you even know it if he inserted conditions into the contract that would be beneficial solely to him? You would never figure it out!"
"What do you expect me to do then? We need him to enter" said Naruto
"You should listen to your girlfriend. You have no means to prevent me from imposing any condition I wish to impose upon you. She is clearly the smarter one amongst the both of you. But nonetheless, you both forget a major detail, I am a ghost and thus have no blood for a contract of that sort" interrupted Kani.
Both Mito and Naruto looked at his ghostly form as they awkwardly nodded their heads and then asked Kani, "What would you have us do then?"
"A soul binding contract, if you wish to ever enter this place in the next billion years," chuckled Kani.
"Why would we do that? Bind our soul to you?" asked Mito.
"Oh I don't know, maybe because, you can't enter without me, and if you want to enter this place within the next few billion years" said Kani.
"We can just leave and come back years later with higher knowledge of the sealing arts" said Naruto.
"You will never be able to reach these seals within this lifetime. These seals took eight centuries to craft. I assure you, you won't be able to cover that much ground in one lifetime. This seal can keep even Gods out for months. The only being able to bypass these seals instantly is death himself. Not even other gods can bypass these seals as easily as I can, so how do you, mere mortals, intend to achieve this task?" asked Kani.
"I am no mere mortal" answered Naruto.
"Does our rinnegan user need another beating down?
"Step down from your pedestal, you arrogant buffoon!
"You might be smart, but you'll never bypass these seals on your own!
"Didn't you hear what I said, Gods can't bypass these seals.
"And you, you are no God!
"How about we come to an impasse? A soul contract, forged by you, you will help me die, or resurrect, after which I'll happily kill myself, and in return, I will give you entry into this magnificent village."
"How about you let us in first? Once inside, we'll make this contract" said Mito.
"If we disagree, once inside, you can keep us there, starve us to death, by the time we die, we won't be able to break the seals anyway" she finished.
"That would be agreeable. You don't have the means to come outside either. I'll agree to your terms" he said, knowing fully well that, he held more power inside, than he did outside. Keeping these two in, would be a walk in the park.
He made a few seals, and soon the seals gave way and opened up to the entire village.
Kani said, " Let me be your guide to the village. And oh, don't be afraid of me, I'm way better than what image you got of me through that battle..." he chuckled a little.
"Tell me, why did you come to this village in the first place?" asked Kani, as he led them to the vllage.
"We hoped to find scrolls and learn the sealing that Uzushio was so famous for." said Naruto.
"You wouldn't get any" said Kani. "Only an Uzumaki by blood can even see these scrolls. Even if you magically managed to enter the village, you'd be trapped forever, in an endless loop"
"Why do you think that in what was termed the second great war, when Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri attacked this village with an army of total strength of 20000 shinobi, they left with only 300 men, when they were only trying to kill around 2000 sleeping shinobi?"
Naruto knew that only 300 people survived that day, but he hadn't known that the Uzumaki had been sleeping when they were attacked.
Kani continued, "Well, the only reason they were even able to enter was because of a traitor who let them in. The Uzumaki were so sure of their seals, that they didn't bother to keep up any guard. They had become so complacent. If they were awake, things would have been different. They would have beaten the army so easily, it would have been hilarious."
"How would that make any difference?" asked Naruto. If Kani were to be believed, the Uzumaki almost beat an army outnumbered 10 to one asleep. And Naruto had a hard time believing that.
"You tend to get complacent, when you think that no human can breach your seal without you, and you don't think that there is a traitor amongst your ranks... So they slept soundly. When the uzukage woke up, it had been too late. Almost everyone had already been killed in their sleep. He went on to kill almost everyone, but was eventually killed, after a joint effort by the three other Kage. Had his men been awake, however, the one man wouldn't have been outnumber so vastly. "
"Anyways, let's move to more happy things... What do you know of dragons?" asked Kani.
"They're mythical creatures of magnificent power" answered Mito.
"They are creatures of magnificent power alright. Just not mythical" chuckled Kani.
"What do you mean not mythical?" asked Mito.
"Let me show you," said Kani. He took a bit of blood from Naruto and said, "I will be needing corporeal blood for this."
He slammed his ghostly thumb with Naruto's blood on it, and instantly, there was a huge plume of smoke, and once the smoke cleared, there was a fairly old dragon, about as large as a home.
The dragon let out a groan and asked, "What is it this time? I am not your playmate for eternity, Kani! I have an actual job to do in my realm... I don't have time to waste because you got bored of your punishment!"
"You see me for the first time in two centuries, and this is what you say... I have missed you so much old friend... Finally there was real blood, to summon you, old friend," Kani replied to the dragon.
Kani said, "One person in almost every century holds a dragon contract. There wasn't a summoner in the last century either. The person wielding the contract is usually invincible in their era... Like I used to be." His eyes darted to the sky, reminiscing of an era long gone by.
"I used to be like you." He told Naruto. "I used to be the most powerful man... So powerful I had been, that I thought myself capable of cheating death.
"I attempted it. I succeeded even. Brought back the lives of 800 of my men, who'd died over a day ago, for the cost of nothing. The exchange is at least one soul for the souls you're reviving. That is the most basic transaction when dealing with death. A soul for a soul. I managed to make the transaction with no souls. Death took notice. He was not happy, so he used the souls of the 5000 men I had killed that night and took back the lives of the 800 men I had revived," guilt crept into his eyes, "and bound me, to never be seen by anyone in this land, and I was bound to this land. I was damned to an eternity here, of loneliness. This in fact is only the third time I have been able to summon Ryuzen here. I have seen 5 centuries as a dead man... Mark my words, don't let your arrogance get to you..." and Kani told Naruto. "Let my suffering be a lesson to you"
Naruto and Mito were in awe of the dragon in front of them, barely even hearing what Kani said.
Kani said, "HEY, don't ignore me... Anyways... I present to you, Ryuzen- an ancient dragon."
Naruto just asked in unfiltered excitement, "How many dragons are there? How large do you dragons get? Are you the average? Are you above or below average in size? How powerful are dragons? How powerful is dragon sage mode? Can I become a dragon summoner as well?!"
The dragon and Kani just stared at him. The dragon then asked Kani, "Is he Ootsutsuki?"
Kani said, "Nah... He's a descendant, about 2000 years apart..."
"Ah... thought I'd finally met another one" replied the dragon.
"Kid, you wanna become a summoner?" asked Kani.
The both of them nodded vigourously.
Kani said, "No! Why should I? I am helping you so much by letting you in"
"We can introduce you to the last Uzumaki in Konoha" Naruto said, desperately hoping to succeed in persuading this ghost.
"There are other Uzumaki?" asked Kani in surprise and bewilderment. "Are you sure of that?"
Naruto replied, "Yes! My brother, Menma, is half Uzumaki"
"Your step brother?" asked Kani
Mito interjected, "Menma was adopted into their family after his parents were killed in battle. They are brothers in all but blood"
"Perhaps... Is he Kushina's son? I remember a little girl named Kushina leaving the village right before it was destroyed, to become the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi" Kani asked with a glint of recognition and in his eyes.
"Yes" Naruto and Mito nodded.
"And here I was thinking that they were all dead. Isn't that amazing, Ryuzen?" Kani asked the dragon.
"That is good news. There are more of your kind" replied Ryuzen, the dragon.
"I need to teach them all our traditions and our techniques. How old is this Menma?" Kani asked Naruto and Mito.
"12, as old as us" replied Naruto.
"This is brilliant news. If only I could go there right now.." reminisced Kani.
"So, we'll introduce you to him, so will you please let us sign the contract?" asked Naruto.
"Unfortunately, it's a clan contract, and even a secret of the clan. No outsider has known about it until you. So, there isn't much I can do about it." said Kani...
"Why don't we let the dragons decide?" asked Naruto.
"He is right you know? We dragons should be able to decide our summoners, your clan has been great, and while there may be more than one of you, I think it's time that we dragons looked outside your clan as well... You do know that we weren't Uzumaki summons in the beginning don't you? We aren't even exclusively Uzumaki summons now... There are other clans across the dimensions who possess the dragon summoning contract. Besides, there hasn't been a dragon summoner at all in a really long time across the many dimensions... We might actually take more than one summoner this time around."
"We can reverse summon you to our realm. There, the sages will decide if you are worthy summoners. But be prepared, for the trials to become a summoner aren't simple. They shall test your prowess, your intellect, your will, your mental stability, your sanity will be pushed to it's boundaries. But if you succeed, you will be a dragon summoner, something that less than two hundred people can lay claim to, over hundreds of millenia, across too many dimensions to count, only the greatest fighters stand a chance at the summoning contract."
Naruto and Mito said, "We're willing to take the trials"
The dragon smiled and said, "The trial, is to be able to beat the spirit of every single summoner to date."
Reviews are Kami.