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Disclaimer: I have never, and will never, own Naruto.
Summary: When Sasuke killed Naruto, Naruto expected to go visit the angels in heaven. He never knew that sometimes the thing you most desire is often found if you just open your eyes…and unlock your heart. When the mission ended, everyone thought Naruto died, but when the Sound attacks a weakened Konoha, a ghost from the past will show them that life will go on, and angels do exist.
(WARNING: Major swearing and minor OOCness in this chapter!)
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Chapter 5: Mourning Flames
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The group of 4 has been traveling for almost a week since they buried their grandmother's body. Naruto's confidence has risen slightly; of course anyone would get thick skin when you have to deal with an arrogant wolf; a crazy, hyper sister; and a fox that was constantly throwing insults and threats at you everyday. Yes, life was good for Naruto.
The group stopped for the night next to a small river, just as the sun was setting. They went about their normal activities, Mingan setting up the sleeping area, Kyuubi catching food to eat and Naruto gathering the firewood and Salira getting some water. The sun had almost set when they had finished their duties, and Salira was busy working over the fire making a rabbit stew for them to eat.
"Nee-chan?" Naruto called to his sister.
"Hm?"
"Where exactly are we going? You haven't really told us." Naruto asked.
Salira laughed. "I thought I did…oh well. We're going to visit my sensei, Seraphine. She lives in the Lotus Forest. It's the only piece of land not governed by any country and because of its rare collection of lotus flowers it's hidden under a minor teleportation genjutsu and most people just…forgot about it."
"So it's like dropping off the face of the earth?" Kyuubi asked.
Salira shrugged. "Pretty much."
"Then how are we gonna find it?" Naruto asked.
Mingan sighed. "She said MOST people forgot about, the Uriel clan are actually the peacekeepers of the forest, so they'd OBVIOUSLY know where it's located."
Kyuubi snickered. "Even I knew that dumb-ass."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY FOX BREATH?" Naruto retorted.
"You heard me IDIOT!" Kyuubi and Naruto were now both in each other's face.
Mingan sighed and covered his ears with his paws. Salira laughed. "Cut it out you two. Unless you don't want dinner."
Naruto and Kyuubi immediately sat down with large grins on their faces, trying to act innocent.
Salira laughed. She knew all the right buttons to push to make them listen to her, and DAMN if she didn't love it. Mingan sighed, peace and quiet, until…
"WILL YOU STOP DROOLING IN THE FOOD!" He heard Salira yell as she pushed the two eager foxes away from the cooking area. He sighed again, just another day in the life of the Uzuriels.
They finished eating dinner and got ready for bed. As Salira was about to fall asleep she noticed her brother still sitting up by the fire. She slowly got out of bed and walked over to him. "What's wrong?" She asked, sitting down.
"Huh? Oh its just you Salira." Naruto shook his head. "It's nothing."
"You want to talk about it?"
"No, well- I keep wondering what happened to everyone back home." He confessed.
Salira smiled. Naruto told her about his home and his friends and even about his betrayal with Sasuke. It's natural that he would be curious. "Well, they probably think that you're dead. That Sasuke guy probably didn't come back either and who knows what happened to your friends."
Naruto nodded. He just wished he knew what happened. He wanted to go home but at the same time he wanted to travel with Salira. He just hoped everyone was okay.
()()()() Konoha-10 days ago ()()()()
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S DEAD?" A middle-aged woman with blonde hair and honey-coloured eyes screamed standing up violently with her hands on her desk.
Tsunade had just heard from one of her shinobi that Uzumaki Naruto died on his mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. She wasn't taking it very well…
Shikamaru sighed. He did NOT want to repeat himself. The loss of a friend was affecting him greatly since he was the commanding officer for that mission. He breathed deeply, suppressing his tears before continuing. "Uzumaki Naruto died while fighting the Missing-Nin Uchiha Sasuke. Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee were witness to the fatal blow delivered to him and they watched as his body got washed away in the river's current."
Tsunade sat down tiredly putting her face in her hands. "What is the condition of the remaining team members?" She asked.
Shikamaru closed his eyes. He hated being the one that had to do the mission briefing. "Hyuuga Neji and Akimichi Chouji are in critical but stable conditions. Inuzuka Kiba is in the ICU but is recovering quickly. Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Lee, and myself, all have minor injuries."
"Good." Tsunade replied. "You're dismissed."
Shikamaru bowed and left silently, closing the door behind him as a single tear ran down his cheek.
Tsunade got up and walked to a window over viewing the village and the Hokage Memorial. "Damn you Naruto. You promised that you would be the Rokudaime. You PROMISED!" Tsunade kicked her desk, leaving a big hole in it. Then she started throwing things around the room and yelling obscenities, making the ninjas surrounding the tower dreading their appointments with the Hokage. She final collapsed amidst the wreckage, tears falling down her cheeks. "Damn you Naruto. Damn you."
Word spread quickly about the demon vessel's death. Most villagers were celebrating but for the few genin that rushed to the hospital, they were dreading what they would find.
Sakura ran to the third floor where the nurse said they were keeping the recently returned ninjas. She entered the waiting room on that floor where she saw Shikamaru, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and Lee sitting glumly. In the corner was her sensei Kakashi.
Sakura ran up to him. "Is it true sensei?"
"Hm?"
"It's all over town about the mission, people are saying that it failed and that 'the demon' was finally dead. What do they mean, sensei?"
"That bastard, Sasuke, left to join Orochimaru after killing Naruto." Shikamaru growled. "It's bad enough that he betrayed us but he had to go and fucking kill Naruto in the process!"
Sakura's eyes widened in shock, as she turned back to her sensei "Tell me it's not true. Tell me he's lying!"
"I'm sorry Sakura." Kakashi said eyes closed.
Sakura shook her head. "No. No! NO!" she yelled. "Not him. Not both of them gone! NO!" Sakura screamed, her loud wails flowing throughout the village.
()()()() Lotus Forest ()()()()
The small group reached the forest in another 2 days of travel. Salira and Mingan put up a shield around their small party and entered the forest without any difficulties. Naruto gasped in wonder as he got to see the inside of the forest.
All around him white flowers with yellow centers hung from trees and on top of ponds. The Lotuses were in bloom.
Salira laughed lightly at Naruto's fascinated gazes around the forest. If he thought this was amazing, he hasn't seen anything yet.
They continued walking through the forest until they came to a clearing containing a large lake with an island in the middle. Salira gathered chakra into her feet and started walking across the water, Mingan following closely behind. Salira turned back to Naruto and Kyuubi. "Don't tell me that you don't know how to walk on water."
"Hmph." Naruto crossed his arms and started walking on the water with Kyuubi. "Satisfied?"
Salira smiled. "Very. Last time I came here, I didn't know how to walk on water so I had to teach myself. Trust me, you do NOT want to fall into this water."
"Why?" Naruto asked as they all started to walk to the island. Salira smirked. "On second thought I don't wanna know."
Salira shrugged. "Suit yourself."
When they got to the island they walked through the forest that was there until they came to a large clearing with a small rock entrance in the middle. Sleeping next to the entrance was a small dragon.
The dragon had purple scales with a red underbelly and red claws. He also had red spikes trailing along the back of his head to the tip of his tail. He had two long wings curled at his side with teal eyes.
"Hey Fafner!" Salira called to the dragon. The dragon raised its head revealing three long scars over its left eye.
"Wondering when you'd come crawling back to the dragon's den." Fafner said in a rough voice.
"I didn't come 'crawling' back." Salira smiled. "I came back on my own two feet."
Fafner snorted, twin fires coming out of his nostrils. He stood up and stretched out his wings.
"Is that guests I hear!" A giddy voice came from within the entrance.
"The wolves have come back to play." Fafner growled. "And they brought friends. FOX friends."
"YAY!" The voice cried out as a teenage girl ran out of the tunnel. Salira smirked as the girl stopped to examine the new arrivals. Seraphine always was a bit…hyper
The girl had long violet hair in two pigtails on the top of her head with bangs covering her forehead and two slightly longer bangs framing her face. She had teal eyes and what looked like a big constant smile glued to her face. She wore a purple scarf tied around her neck with a red sports bra leaving her entire torso uncovered, revealing her pierced belly button. She wore a red schoolgirl skirt with red thigh high boots.
"WOW!" Seraphine giggled before running up to Naruto and stopping just inches away from his face. Then she started walking slowly around Naruto, examining every inch of him, before she stopped behind him.
"Er…" Naruto murmured uncomfortably.
Seraphine suddenly peaked out from behind Naruto to look at Salira. "Nice." She smiled before grabbing Naruto's butt. "REAL nice!"
"SERA-CHAN!" Salira cried out laughing as she saw Naruto's face go totally red. "Stop harassing my brother!"
Seraphine pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "Not my fault you have such a cute little twin." She looked at Naruto again before smiling. "And HOT! Damn he's gorgeous!" She turned back to Salira. "Can I keep 'im?"
"Well…" Salira started.
Seraphine went down on her knees. "PLEASE? Please please please please PLEASE!"
Salira smiled. "Okay!"
"YAY!" Seraphine cheered.
"Woah! Hey hey! Don't I have a word in this?" Naruto said backing away from the estranged teens.
Seraphine and Salira thought about it for a moment before shaking their heads. "No." And the chase was on.
Fafner mumbled something about sex-deprived girls before falling back to sleep with Mingan and Kyuubi laughing their heads off at his side.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZYAY! FINISHED! I've been wanting to write this chapter for SO long. Seraphine's the funnest character to write! Hope you all had as much fun reading as I've had writing!
Okay, I'm PRETTY sure I got a piccy to everyone -.-;
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Dragon Man 180-(hands D-Man a stuffed dragon) there you go! I agree, Salira WOULD probably get along best with Kiba! I'm PRETTY sure I sent the piccy to you…
Me-I'll try to slow the story down a bit…If it'll let me…Salira isn't perfect, though I MIGHT have made it appear that way P Don't worry in the next few chapters you'll see most of her flaws. Coughklutzcough
Dragon Noir-You always leave the BEST reviews! ARIGATO GOZIAMASU! I hope I got the insight that you wanted, I was crying as I wrote about Tsunade T.T! I agree, I think a calmer Naruto is a better Naruto D. You better keep praying for Naruto…he's going to need it…Ya, they're going to use Uzuriel as their name now, and I guess I forgot to mention that the Yondaime's name was Uzuriel Arashi, huh? My bad. I'm planning on having them back in Konoha either in chapter 6 or 7. So be patient, just a couple more chappies to go…you'll probably find out about Orochi-bastard when they arrive in Konoha as for akatsuki, they're invisible P. Naruto's strength will probably increase and to me all of the animal spirits have the same amount of strength just in different areas. (Example: Minganearth, Kyuubi/Fafnerfire) As for kitsune skills, you'll just have to wait and see. I haven't planned any pairings for my story. Sorry.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZWhat's in a name?
For those of you that are wondering what each name means, here:
Seraphine-Hebrew-Burning fire
Fafner-Norse-Mythical Dragon
Mingan-Native American-Grey wolf
Morio-Japanese-Forest boy
Shiva-Hindu-Life and Death
Amdis-Norse-Eagle spirit
Aurina-Irish-Golden Lady