Naruto hacked back a wheezing breath as he looked up at the sky above the Valley Of The End, or what he could see with his dimming vision. The coppery smell of the growing pool of blood under him was almost overwhelming.
To think, less than three minutes ago he and his former teammate, Sasuke Uchiha were fighting each other. The fight lasted up both collided with their preferred attacks: a Curse Seal boosted Chidori verses a Kyuubi-enhanced Rasengan..
And he won! The spinning orb of chakra was enough to overpower Sasuke's move and enough remained to drive right into his face, slamming him into the rock face and putting him down for the count. He had actually won!
Unfortunately, he made a major mistake and dropped the chakra shroud...then the searing pain in his chest.
And the sight of another electrical jutsu sticking out...right through his heart.
Kakashi.
His own sens..no, scratch that, a sensei had to be someone who actually taught you. All he learned was tree-walking from the man. Everything else was from others.
The bastard..
The son of a motherless whore literally backstabbed him with the same move he taught the teme. Fucker was even smug enough to gloat about ' finally avenging his sensei' or some bullshit; he didn't catch the whole thing due to the pain.
"H..hat..ake..I hope..Oroc..Orochi ass-rapes you..royally next..next time he's..around,you...one-eyed piece..of shit!" Was all he could respond with. Sadly the cyclops had already left with the teme.
"Oh, no need to worry about them, ningen." An unwelcome voice cackled in the back of his head before he found himself back in front of the Kyuubi's cage, staring at the sneering bijuu, "I'll be more than happy to deal with them while I raze your precious Konoha to the ground!"
"Don't get cocky...you stupid hairball" Naruto snapped back, trying his hardest to stand "When I..when I go, the seal's gonna drag your ass with me."
He narrowed his eyes when Kyuubi's sneer grew, "Heh. Stupid insect; when the cyclops stabbed you, he managed to take off a piece of the seal!" The fox turned his attention to the tag covering the cage's lock; a small section looked like it had been blown off. Cracks were radiating out from the damaged part, slowly covering it.
"Just a few moments more and it'll be weak enough for me to break free! You might die, but I will be free!" Kyuubi started to laugh, "I WILL have my revenge on that miserable village! Your precious compatriots will fall before my might and there is NOTHING you can do.."
SHUNK!
THOCK!
The fox's victory gloat was abruptly interrupted when a pair of large, nasty-looking spikes suddenly rocketed down from the ceiling...
One pinning him to the floor as it drove through his lower back, the other piercing the back of his neck. He barely had time to scream before they began to spin. A dull red glow could be seen traveling up the spikes with each turn.
"WHAT!? A..AUUHHH!" He howled as more spikes began coming down. These were thinner, but went through him just as fast. Two more impaled his front limbs and more could be seen in the back, quite literally nailing him to the floor, each one spinning on impact.
"No..no! This...!" Kyuubi screamed again, though this time it was more of fear than rage or pain, "My ch..MY CHAKRA! THEY'RE RIPPING MY CHAKRA OUT!"
"Good boy. Nice to see you can state the obvious." A new voice spoke up from nearby.
Both looked in the direction of the new addition: standing near the bars, hand pressed against a glowing seal on the wall, stood a man dressed in a Kage coat. The spiked blonde hair was unmistakable.
Minato Namikaze, the Fourth.
"You/YOU!?" They hollered in unison.
"If you really thought the seal wouldn't come without a failsafe and contingencies, then you're as dumb as you are arrogant..Fluffy." He calmly flipped the fox off before focusing on Naruto.
"W-when..h-how.." He stammered until the older blonde held up a hand to halt the inevitable torrent.
"Easy, kiddo. First off, I know I look like the Fourth, but technically I'm just a chakra construct. Part of the seal's security system pretty much. The real Minato gave me just enough memory and knowledge to explain things you."
"I-Impudant..AHH! Impudent cre *gasp* creature! When I escape..!"
"Oh shut the fuck up, you overgrown leg-humper!" The construct snapped at Kyuubi, who was still writhing in pain, "The only way you're going to get out is as a drained husk."
"What's happening to him..?" Naruto asked, cringing slightly as the spikes sped up some, increasing the red glow.
"Well, like the mutt so eloquently put it a moment ago, those spikes are aggressively pulling out every bit of chakra he has to be processed into your own stockpile. When the seal was damaged, me, along with several emergency components, were activated. I'm like the instruction book." He spared the fox the barest of glances. The bijuu's normally dark crimson was beginning to give way to a sickly ashen-gray "Given the extraction rate, he's got about another minute and a half."
"So, I'm gonna have that..that's good right? That means I can heal up and.."
"Unfortunately..." 'Minato' sighed with a reluctant expression, "The most you have is another 2-3 minutes. Hatake's jutsu completly obliterated your heart; you've pretty much bled out now. your chakra is the only thing keeping you going at the moment, and that draining fast.
Naruto felt his stomach turn to lead. "I'm dead..?"
"Pretty close, though you'll be full dead if those three minutes run out, and even if he helped willingly, you'd need at least a couple of hours to regenerate a complete organ along with the five pints of blood you've already lost."
"Then what the fuck's having the fox's chakra gonna do me?!" He snapped, wondering how sick the man was to add this to a seal.
'Minato' responded by pressing certain bricks in the wall, a seal lighting up on each push, "Because we're enlisting the help of a god. The Shinigami, to be specific.
"The who ?"
"Once Kyuubi's been drained, a secondary Summoning Seal will activate. The real Minato was worried he might've just been paranoid in adding all this, but he had good reason. Hell, not even his wife, Kushina, The Third, or his teacher, Jiriaya, knew about these additions. Their ment to serve two purposes."
He held up a finger, "One: to make damn sure the Nine-Tails didn't get out."
Second finger, "Second, and what he felt was more important: to ensure his son's safety and survival."
"Son!? You saying he was my FATHER!?"
"Correct. He didn't have the callousness to order another's child to be used, nor did he trust certain parties with that kind of power. His initial instructions were to announce that the fox's defeat and leave it at that, letting Kyuubi suffer a deserved fate: being forgotten. And for you to live a decent life."
"So much...AUGH! So much for that plan.." The fox tried to sneer, only to grimace in pain
"He's got a point, sadly enough. Someone who knew about the sealing blabbed, starting all the shit you had to go through."
Naruto's legs gave way fully as he tried to take in everything, "He really cared about me?" It was probably a stupid question, considering what the construct said, but part of him wanted more confirmation.
'Minato' shrugged, "I doubt he'd go to these lengths if he didn't. Especially since the sealing requires a sacrifice to the Shinigami for it to work and he offered himself to do it."
The blonde mulled it over a moment. He had a point, Minato Namikaze would have most likely used someone else if he just wanted to capture, along with what he was told was added to the seal just protect him, "What happens next?"
Glancing at Kyuubi, who was now almost all grey and still struggling, albeit feebly, 'Minato' grinned, "Once the draining's done, the second Shiki Fujin, modified as well, will activate. This one will have the request imprinted in it: to repair the damage to your body and transport you elsewhere. Unfortunately, because your chakra is all that's sustaining you, you're technically considered dead by traditional medical terms."
"I..I can't go back to Konoha..?"
"Not as Naruto Uzumaki, no. It's considered in just about every hidden village a blight on nature to revive the dead. " The constructed shook his head sadly, "That and Minato didn't have time to pick a specific destination. It'll be in the Death God's hands."
"Heh..foolish..." Kyuubi laughed weakly, his last traces of chakra pulling away, "Where will you..*cough* get the...sacrifice..he requires in exchange?"
'Minato' shot him a smile that was almost malevolent, "Waddaya think YOUR job is? Once you're empty, your presence will no longer be needed."
The fox's eyes widened, unadulterated terror visible in them as the last traces of red made their way up the spikes. "N-No..! NO! You..you can't! Please! I beg you; no!"
Naruto looked at what was left of the creature that almost destroyed Konoha. It was a marked difference from what he encountered when Jiriaya shoved him down that chasm, "Will the Shinigami really accept, well, that, as an acceptable trade?"
"Without chakra, Kyuubi has little more than his soul left. Odds are he won't mind a Bijuu soul over a human. Speaking of which," 'Minato' looked up as a foreboding chill filled the air even where they were, "Heee'ss heerree." He looked over to Naruto, "Unfortunately, this is where we part ways as well"
"What do you mean?"
"The chakra used to create me has almost ran out as well. At most I have about 20 seconds left. Before I do, Naruto, just remember; wherever you end up after this, don't stop being you, even if you can't be Uzumaki. That, and be ready, there are supposedly tales of Shinigami having a strange sense of humor at times." With those words, 'Minato' dispersed into rapidly fading whisps of chakra.
"Wait! Waddaya mean by 'strange!?" Too late, "Oh crap.."
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Outside, the skies above the valley were already darkening as the infamous being came into view and loomed above the orange-clad body, the activated Fujin Seal glowing underneath it.
A dark chuckle escaped the Death God's throat as he interpreted the imbedded message within the seal, "The soul of that egomaniacal fox in exchange for evacuating his former jailer from the area, huh?" He ran a nail along his chin momentarily before shrugging absently, "Heh, why not? Think I know just the place to send you to as well, Former-Jinchuuriki Naruto Uzumaki." He reached for the body, the chuckle increasing, "Never let it be said I didn't do a good deed at least once an era."
Later on, anyone that had the misfortune to be within earshot would claim to hear a fading cry of mercy followed soon after by dark, mischevious laughter.
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*Knock, knock*
"Onii-chan!" A young-and slightly boisterous-female voice called out from outside the apartment door.
*No response*
Another knock, "Onii-chan! Wake up! You promised you'd walk me to the academy!
"Mmrrff..wha?" Came the response from inside, this one sounding a little older then the female one, and a little gruff as well.
"O-Baa-Chan said I can start at the Ninja Academy today, remember? And you said you'd go with me, Naruto; you promised!"
"Ok, ok. I'm coming, Naruko. Just give me a few minutes."
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I know, why a new story.. this is the first chapter to anything that I've managed to finally finish...in over half. .year... (Take my advice, DO NOT TRY ANY TO WORK ON CHAPTERS TO MORE THEN TWO STORIES AT THE SAME TIME! Burnout is NOT fun..)
On a lighter note, I'll let you guess just what kinda fic this will be.
Dunno what pairings there will be yet so that's on the to-do list.
As for Kyuubi's fate: I'm not the only one who's toyed with the notion of safeguards/countermeasures installed in the seal, right? Seems logical since Minato was supposed to be really good with seals.
And last but not least. As you know, Italics is thinking, if it's Italics and underlined it's a technique, bold is speech from anything non-human: demons, summons, ect.