I'm still alive, as surprising as that is. Just a warning, if you don't like timeskips, you might not like this chapter!
Chapter 8: From the Past, to the Future
"Ara, a religion? That's a very tall task, Asura-san. Aren't you already part of one?" Amaterasu was ever so intrigued by this question. In all of her many years, she had never been asked about breaking away from one's own faction to start another. Most would-be-deserters did it without consulting anyone and in secret, for good reason too.
Most considered it treason.
"Well, not quite", Sasuke chimed in. "We're not exactly from here." This caused Amaterasu to tilt her head. Did he mean they weren't natives to her land? That was a rather obvious fact, so she was perplexed why they brought it up.
Sasuke continued, seeing the questioning look in her eyes.
"What I mean is that we're not from here entirely. Not just this plane of existence, or even this dimension, but this reality altogether." He had to be extra thorough, as those terms could easily get mixed up with one another. He and Naruto had discussed this just prior to getting to the shrine, and, since they apparently had someone snooping around and trying to profile them, they figured it was time to go loud. Amaterasu was trustworthy enough, judging from her fierce loyalty to her home.
"Oh, so, you two are conceptually different beings altogether? That… explains a lot, actually. I did wonder how there could be two Indra in existence at the same time. Leaving that matter aside…"
The temperature in the room rose to scolding hot levels.
"Why did you deem it necessary to deceive me?" Apparently, Amaterasu was angry. Naruto and Sasuke stared her down, not really affected by the almost nuclear levels of heat.
"Simple", Naruto started, "You would've done the same thing in our situation. In a new land, with no connections, no allies, and no knowledge, who exactly would you trust at first sight?" Naruto punctuated his point with another statement.
"I'm sure you kept tabs on us even up to today." Naruto was once a leader himself. Threats to his home were never taken lightly, so he could empathize with her spying on them. Spying on a true sage was easier said than done, however. That Rizevim guy must have been using golems, judging by what Sasuke said. Golems weren't alive in the first place, so he couldn't sense their life energy, and they had no emotions either. Unfeeling, unnatural monsters who can neither resist nor refute their master's will.
Danzo would be proud.
Back to the matter at hand, the sun goddess' temper began to fade, and so too did the temperature of the room. She couldn't deny him, for as benevolent as she had seemed to be, she had tasked several of her lesser deities with keeping an eye on these two newcomers. These two were absurdly powerful, and they could either be her greatest assets or her greatest enemies.
She couldn't afford for the latter to happen.
"Alright, I'll admit, I'd have done things similarly. Now, as for your question, starting a religion is… not all that complicated, actually." She finished with a smirk, which threw the two shinobi off, as it looked out of place on her features. She continued, a bit amused at their expressions.
"To become a deity, one either has to be born into it, or recognized by the chief deity of another religion. You two have already covered that base." Naruto and Sasuke shook their heads, understanding what she meant. Their little white lie had already gotten them recognized by several individuals both intentionally and unintentionally, including the goddess in front of them as well as the person who sent them on their way when they when they first got here. They both idly wondered for a bit what happened to him, seeing as how he was in the middle of a war when they arrived, and nothing had been said of the outcome.
They both shrugged. They'd just find out about it later. Amaterasu continued.
"The second part of the equation is where it gets hard. You see, we deities are beings of faith. Our powers are shaped, sustained, and amplified by the followers of our regions. The more widespread our influence, and the more intense the feelings behind the worship, the more powerful we become. Simply put, humans are the foundation of everything. You must cultivate humans, make them have complete faith in you and your abilities. Perform miracles, grant wishes, fix problems that they thought unfixable."
Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes, not liking the implications of having to "cultivate" and manipulate their own kind (especially Sasuke).
"So…", Sasuke began, tone just a bit icy, "we're essentially creating a cult?" Upon the uttering of the last word, Amaterasu adopted a neutral expression.
"A cult is nothing more than a group of zealots worshipping a false idol with false faith. I can't say how it is for other pantheons, but here, all of my followers are regarded as if they're my own children. They have faith in me because I've answered their prayers and kept them safe from the more… unruly beings in this world. I've earned their worship. Anyhow, those are the only two requirements for becoming the head deities of a religion."
Naruto idly sat by and wondered about the validity of that claim, considering Tamamo-No-Mae was apparently this terrible being that had ravaged her lands for years, but he let that train of thought go. Nobody was perfect, least of all himself. There had been many things that slipped through his grasp back home as hokage, so he was in no position to judge anyone. Amaterasu was soon encased in an almost blinding, shimmering ray of light. What this signified, the shinobi pair did not know.
"I trust that I've answered your question thoroughly enough." They both shook their heads. "Now, I must retain to my abode and take care of some business. Whatever you two do from now on, is on you."
"Thanks, Granny Sunshine!" Naruto returned to his jovial, kidlike nature.
"Likewise", Sasuke added on.
"Oh, but before I go, what are your real names or titles?" The sun goddess was ever so curious to learn just a little bit more about them. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes briefly, smirks evident on their faces.
"I'm Sasuke, the Last Uchiha."
"And I'm Naruto, the Orange Hokage dattebayo!"
-Training Grounds-
It took a few hours, but Naruto and Sasuke had successfully negotiated being able to keep this place as their base. Of course, since they were going to be on the move, the venue would need to move as well. That meant they needed to shrink it, basically, but neither of them could do that without actually destroying the building.
Good thing they had an easily convinced Dragon god following them around.
"So, by merely shrinking this place, you two will teach me a 'super-secret shinobi technique'? Very well then, I will grant your wish and hold you to this promise."
"Does that mean you're gonna keep following us?" Naruto would be lying if he said he didn't kinda want to ditch the annoying dragon, but seeing as how she was doing this for them, he didn't see any harm in letting her follow them for a while longer.
What's the worst that could happen?
"I will be adorning the headband you two occasionally wear as well. I will learn all of your secrets, even if it takes eons."
"… SASUKE!"
"Your deal, your problem, dobe." The raven-haired Uchiha smirked at his friend's obvious irritation. "However, since we're going through with this, we do need to discuss a plan of action. As was outlined, building a religion takes time, sometimes even centuries."
"Yeah, I know. I've given it plenty of thought. We don't need a worldwide following, but we do need to get out there and learn more about the world at large. Splitting up covers more ground, but staying together is safer." Naruto was leaning more towards heading out as a duo, that way they'd be able to cover each other if one of them found themselves in a sticky situation.
"… No, we should split up", Sasuke responded.
Naruto's jaw nearly hit the floor in shock. Sasuke was a loner in his early days, but he thought he'd gotten over that a long time ago. Was he still…?
"Teme, are you…"
"No, I'm not." Sasuke could practically read Naruto's mind from the expressions on his face. "You're just forgetting one, or actually, two big elephants in the room." He gestured to the two identical dragons standing by dutifully. Naruto instantly caught on.
"Yes, we won't be alone. She was our guide when we first came into this world, and she can do so again. She's strong, maybe as strong as you and I, and she knows her way around better than we do. The sun goddess even seemed to be scared witless of her, so she's got a reputation." Naruto nodded, taking in the details. Since she was going to be following them anyway, why not have both halves of the dragon kid accompany them? That'd knock out two birds with one stone.
"Are you up for that, dragon gaki?" Naruto chided Ophis, who maintained a neutral expression on her face.
"Whatever furthers my goal-"
"Is what I shall do." Naruto rolled his eyes at them finishing each other's sentences again.
"Great! Now all we need to do is plot a course for everyone. I'll go east, you go west, and decide from there. Sasuke, you take the original dragon gaki, I'll take the clone." Sasuke simply nodded his head at this, prepared to move out. Naruto, upon turning to head out, felt Sasuke's hand come to rest upon his shoulder. He turned to look at him.
"Naruto, this is a very large undertaking we're about to embark on. It could be years before we see each other again. Are you prepared?" Sasuke was the slightest bit worried about his friend's mental state.
Naruto laughed.
"Look at you, actually caring about someone else's wellbeing. I'll be fine, Sasuke." He brushed his hand off his shoulder, a bit surprised that Sasuke was openly worrying about him, but happy nonetheless. Sasuke simply smirked.
He should've known that his best friend wouldn't let loneliness break him that easily.
And so, they set out. The days turned into months, the months into years, and the years into decades. Both of them worked hard for their goals and wound up in some interesting situations along the way.
-Principality of Wallachia, 300 years later-
The night was cold, and the terrain was rocky and mountainous under Sasuke's feet. The moon was full tonight, illuminating his path along the dirt trail he was currently trekking along in the forest he had found himself in. Peering off into the distance, he saw what seemed to be a dead-end cliff drop, but…
Something was off.
"I smell… blood." Sasuke's senses were keen, and he trusted them above all else. He looked back to the supposed dead-end and activated his sharingan. Sure enough, the scene in front of him had changed. Where there was once a cliff leading into the abyss, now there was a grandiose castle that seemed to be filled with dark energy and… corpses. Sasuke's body tensed, his hand ready to draw his blade.
A voice came from the darkness.
"Oh, you're a special one. Your scent, it's almost… divine." The voice was gruff, almost alluring in it's tone. Sasuke felt the disembodied voice's words tugging at his mind, compelling him to come closer to the source. He stood firmly in the same place, a stern expression on his face. Both his mind and body were trained to the peak. This wasn't the first time someone had tried to control him, and he doubted it'd be the last.
"To think, you'd be able to see past the illusions in this area, and even more, so readily resist my own power. You are special indeed." Instead of Sasuke coming to the voice, the voice drew near him. The force tugging at his mind grew stronger the closer in proximity the voice got to him, yet still, he didn't budge an inch outside of his own accord.
"Not even this close, huh? I can see that I can not sway you this way, so I'll have to be a bit more proactive."
A speeding figure came out of the darkness, claws poised to rip into Sasuke's side. He drew his sword at lightning speed, slashing at the figure and chopping off a limb. He turned and looked at the figure that was now missing it's right arm. It was dark, but his eyes had no problem seeing what it was.
In front of him was a woman with long pink hair.
"Hmph. You're merely a blank slate, a slave. That voice couldn't have come from you." The woman had eyes devoid of any emotion, like she was in a trance, and wore a rather ornate dress that wasn't suited for combat. Her arm started to regenerate, reforming in a matter of seconds, which didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke.
The nameless woman rushed him again, this time baring her abnormally long fangs and claws. She swiped at him, and Sasuke dodged each hit masterfully. All the while, he studied the shadows, watching how they moved in response to his own movements. The woman retracted her claws, and started using actual martial arts. Her eyes had turned into slits and batlike wings had sprouted from her back, seemingly giving her extra mobility.
"… A coward who hides in the shadows. Not even worth my time." Sasuke parried another blow from the nameless woman, fixating his gaze on her. She looked into his eyes, and the world seemed to stand still for the two of them. The scenery fell away, and it was just the two of them in a black void. No longer was she relentlessly attacking him, instead… she shed tears.
"H-How did you-", she spoke, her voice almost sugary sweet in contrast to her prior actions.
"I've placed you under my genjutsu temporarily. Now, you can tell me who's controlling you without any interference."
"I-I don't understand. I thought the binding was absolute…" The woman was bawling by this point.
"I take it you're still conscious of your actions but can't stop your body?" Sasuke asked a different question, hoping to get some answers.
"Yes, I am. I hate doing this to people. Countless lives lost, all that bloodshed, all to feed him." She spat out the descriptor with venom, indicating that she hated whoever was controlling her if it wasn't obvious enough already.
Sasuke was not an overly sentimental person, but he could empathize with this woman. She might even have it worse than him, as she can't even move her body as she wanted whilst being manipulated.
So, he hatched a plan.
Back in the real world, only a second had passed. Anyone who didn't know about genjutsu would be none the wiser to what had just transpired. The two combatants continued to fight fiercely.
Sasuke swept the woman's feet from out underneath her, pinning her down with his body. He streamed six paths chakra through his katana and raised it, ready to pierce her heart with it. He plunged it down, keeping his eye out for how the shadows moved. One shadow swayed.
He had found his target.
Using the power of his eye, he swapped the woman with the beast in the dark and plunged his sword directly into it's chest. The beast howled bloody murder, it's demonic visage twisting in pain and rage.
"AAGH, DAMNIT! How did you-" The beast coughed up blood before it could finish it's sentence. Sasuke stood up, retracting his sword and swiping the blood off it before sheathing it again.
"Simple. It's one of my powers. You may think you're stealthy, but you're nothing compared to the foes I've faced." Sasuke chided the beast, knowing he had struck true with his sword. "Facing a god in combat wasn't the best move."
"So… you really were… divine." The beast breathed it's last breath, looking at Sasuke with all the malice it could muster before it died. It bounced off Sasuke, having faced down much worse. He turned to the woman, who stared at him as if he was something that shouldn't exist. He couldn't say he was surprised, honestly. The gods apparently didn't intervene in affairs like this too often, preferring to sit in their ivory towers. He wouldn't be like that, though.
He was a man of action.
"… Thank you for saving me", the pinkette blurted out. She felt a bit apprehensive, now knowing that she was standing in the presence of a literal god. Sasuke waved off her anxiousness, not one to put up with formalities if it made others uncomfortable. He's used to praise and people gawking at him, but it would take some time to get used to people revering him.
"Say nothing of it. Just go somewhere where you'll be safe. Your family, preferably. I can tell you're not weak, so I won't be escorting you." The mood shifted, and the woman appeared to be sad. He raised his eyebrow at this.
Was there some unknown tragedy afoot?
"Actually, I don't… have a family to go back too. My race was nearly wiped out. To my knowledge, only he", she pointed at the dead creature on the ground, "and I remained. I suppose it's just me now, though…" Sasuke's eye nearly twitched. This woman was clearly not human, but all the same, she had basically gone through the same developments he did when he was a genin (though she appears to be fully grown in contrast to him).
"Take her with you." Ophis leaped out of the darkness, landing right next to Sasuke. They had a brief stare-down, trying to silently assert their wills over one another (as they often did). Ophis grew to Sasuke's height for added effect. When 5 minutes passed without anyone saying a word, the staring contest was broken.
"No", Sasuke said.
"Yes", Ophis responded.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
The nameless woman watched them argue like the brooding pair they were. She didn't quite know how to interject, but she knew that she didn't want to be a bother to her savior if he didn't want her around. To that end, she found the courage to speak up.
"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but…" The two turned towards her, slightly unnerving her. "I'd hate to be a bother to you, especially after saving me, so I'll take my leave if that's ok with you." Sasuke smirked, as this meant that he had just won the argument against Ophis without having to really put any effort in. The woman unfurled her wings, taking off into the night sky… only to hit an invisible wall and fall pitifully back to the ground, nursing her bottom as she landed hard.
"I've put up a barrier", Ophis called out. "You won't win this." Sasuke felt the urge to facepalm. This was just like her, petulantly asserting her power whenever she felt like it. It's a miracle 300 years of this hadn't made him commit seppuku. Turning back to the woman who was in moderate pain, Sasuke deigned to ask a question.
"How long is your lifespan?"
"My lifespan? Well-"
"She's a vampire", Ophis interjected. "She'll live until she is killed."
"An immortal, then?", Sasuke questioned.
"Yes. The one you just killed was the king of the vampires. He used to be called Dracula, but more recently started going by Alucard." Sasuke went over this information in his head. He had learned of vampires about 50 years ago, but hadn't encountered one personally until now. They were entirely nocturnal and sustained themselves off human blood, which would explain that smell from earlier. A small smirk made it's way onto his face, now knowing that he had dispatched of the king of the vampires with ease.
More importantly, what to do with this woman? If her story is to be believed, she's the sole survivor of a clan extinction just like him. Leaving her be probably wouldn't be harmful, as she didn't seem to want revenge for him killing her captor, but…
What if?
Deciding on his course of action, he spoke in a commanding tone.
"Very well. You", he gestured to the pinkette vampire, "if you want to come with us, then come. If not, we'll take our leave and leave you to your own devices." He decided that he'd give her a choice. It was a simple thing, but it's something he never had when he was in this same situation. He always wondered what would've become of him if his brother had just been truthful with him from the start, and they ran away from the village together.
There's no sense in crying over spilled milk now, though.
The vampire woman stood silently for a second, becoming introspective. She did not know who or what these two beings were, and would hate to simply be trading one cruel master for another, but… something told her that wouldn't be the case. She had no family to go back to, and trying to mingle with the humans who did this to her was still a long way off (she didn't hate them, but she knew that rebuilding their relationship would take time). She dug her heel into the ground, dredging up the courage to answer.
"Ok. I'll come with you, but could you answer a question?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, indicating that she could proceed.
"Why?" It was a simple question, but a weighted one for Sasuke. He decided he'd be truthful, feeling empathy for the woman.
"Because you are like me, and I don't want you to become even more like me." The vampire woman was puzzled at this, and it showed on her face. Sasuke turned, walking back down the trail with Ophis. This alarmed the vampire woman, and she hastily made to catch up to him, only to bump into his hard body as he had stopped. Her rear was going to be a shade of red from all the abuse it was taking lately, she just knew it.
"One more thing before we leave. I can't just call you 'vampire' when we speak, it's demeaning. What is your name?" The woman stood up, a look of embarrassment on her face. This was a god, and she hadn't even formally introduced herself!
"Akasha. Akasha Bloodriver, sir!" Sasuke cringed at the title of authority she threw in, and could swear that he could see Ophis smirking out of the corner of his eye (a habit she apparently picked up from him). "If you don't mind me asking, sir", Sasuke's eye finally released that twitch it had been holding, "what do you want me to refer to you by?"
"Well, for starters, drop the 'sir'." He didn't know what he'd do if he was called that for an eternity. "As for my name, it's…"
"Sasuke Uchiha."