(A/N:Sorry for not updating this story in so long. I have really no excuses other than working on my other stories. But the good news is that for the most part I am out of ideas for newer stories so that means I can only work on the ones I started instead of writing more. But I hope you like this chapter as well as stay safe and healthy out there!)

Zagreus stepped out of the portal he had gone through and found himself in the dead center of ruins. He looked behind him, but by the time he did, the portal he had come through was already gone without any trace of it ever having been there to begin with. He smiled with a bit of a sad aura to accompany it since he had spent so long trying to find his mother, only to be told he had a destiny elsewhere. Also the fact that he now knew his mother had died by the hands of Chaos itself so as to let him get back here, but that only made the situation far more depressing to him here. But he couldn't worry about such things anymore since his mother had given her life so that he may live a life worth having as well as fulfilling his destiny elsewhere.

Before he went anywhere, he summoned up everything that he had in his inventory to see just what it was that he had with him. It was times like this that he was glad that he had magical means of carrying things so as to summon them when needed since it was convenient compared to lugging around so much constantly. Plus given the sheer amount of stuff he had it would have been impossible even for him to carry all at once and he was a God of all things. This did make him wonder though since he was a god in the other dimension, but was he one here? And if he were to die, just where would he end up since he highly doubted death was the same here as it was there with the Blood Pool to rise out of so as to be judged. But those were questions he would get answered later when he had more information about the world.

He saw that he had all his Infernal Arms, but that he already knew about. But the surprising thing was that the literal thousands of gems he had collected to pay for the Underworld renovations were there as well in a large pile that would make the greediest of men salivate at the sheer amount seen. He had bought all the upgrades he could at the time and started to save them on the off chance there were more renovations he could do, yet there never were and he amassed a fortune apparently judging by the mountain of the things before him. Not to mention the several dozen flawless pure cut diamonds he had as well to only increase his already massive wealth. He even had three containers of Titan's blood that he never got to use, which he honestly didn't know he even had.

He also had the multiple trinkets that he had been gifted by pleasing the gods themselves with gifts of Nectar, and the final things he had were two bottles of Ambrosia. He chuckled since he had no idea what he was going to do with the Ambrosia since he was fairly sure no gods here had ever had it or even knew about it so it wasn't like he could do as he did in the past and gain favor with it. But putting those thoughts aside, he stored all his items away since he had fully seen what he had to work with now.

But as he put them all away, one final item was made known to him, which shocked him more than anything else he had on him. What he had was none other than a Daedalus Hammer. These things enhanced his Infernal Arms with new abilities, but he only needed them since when he died his weapons powered down when he passed through the Blood Pool in the main house. So what he could possibly use it for here was nothing short of a mystery since he had no idea. Gems and diamonds were worth money so it was easy to use such things even here in a strange place. Or was that familiar? Interdimensional travel made his head hurt quite a bit the more he thought about it really.

He began to walk around, mainly to get his bearings since he had no idea as to where he was right now since he was only alive in this world up to the age of six. He never was taught much by anyone in his youth and what he knew now that he had faced countless trials in the Underworld would keep him alive easily enough yet that didn't help with understanding the landscape much since this world was far different than the one he had been in longer. As he walked though, he saw no one else anywhere, and the aura of death was thick here to the point he could practically taste it. He saw the skeletons of those who most likely lived here before some army came and killed them off. It made him wonder what had happened to this place since there was always a reason for such things when it came to mortals. Mostly they were selfish as well as greedy reasons, but still reasons all the same.

As he walked a bit further towards the outskirts, apparently towards where the leader of this place once lived himself given by the size of the building, he felt a dark energy that he was all too familiar with…

The aura of Death incarnate…

His father Hades reeked of the stuff as did Thanatos, so that would mean that the one who he sensed was this world's equivalent of Hades, or at the very least, its messenger of sorts like Thanatos was. Since he had nothing else to go on, and a fellow dweller of the afterlife might be a useful source of information being that his was practically nonexistent he sought out where this aura was coming from. His curiosity brought him to a ruined shrine of sorts, one where he had to move quite a few chunks of rubble to even enter and then even more while inside to get to where he was sensing the power from.

Eventually he made it to whatever the source of the energy was from and so he moved a few more pieces of rubble to find a mask of all things. He picked it up and held it in his hands and looked at it. He had to admit it was an intimidating mask, but then again he had not only faced worse in the underworld countless times but he had seen Chaos in a physical form and that was a bit too much for the eyes really so this wasn't too bad in the broad scheme of things.

"Well now that I have the thing literally in my hand," said Zagreus to himself since there was no one else alive in this place to talk to, "I wonder just what to do with it. Well, not sure if this will work but might as well try. In the Name of Hades I invoke your power."

To be honest, he had not thought that doing what he did to call upon the powers of the various gods of his old world via boons would do anything here really. But his eyebrow raised in genuine surprise when in a flash of dark light, which in itself was weird to observe, the Shinigami itself appeared before him. Yet he was facing the wrong direction for some reason so he saw his cloaked back instead of a face.

"Who dares to have summoned me, know that by doing so your soul is now mine." said the entity before he turned around to see just who had. And if you think that Zagreus was surprised, the entity was completely shocked to see him there in the first place. "Dear Kami, to think that I would be in the presence of royalty itself."

"Huh," said Zagreus, who was understandably confused. Here was an entity that reaped souls and said entity called him royalty. He was fairly sure that death itself cared not for such things since in the end all things died and spirits were equal no matter the situation really. It was the same in the Underworld of his old home, so why would it be different here?

"I know who you are as well as who you once were," said the entity with a tone of amusement. The more he said the more confused Zagreus was.

"And how did you come across such information," asked Zagreus, "if I might be so bold as to ask such a thing."

"Bold you say," said the entity with a laugh, "I have seen what you have done boy, and your travels have made you far more powerful than I am. So it is not truly bold to speak to someone who is lower in status than you are."

"I'm confused here," said Zagreus, "since you state that you know me as I was. Can you enlighten me as to how?"

"Indeed I can," said the Shinigami. "You are the child of prophecy within this world, one of many who shall exist throughout time for the purpose to change the world itself in one way or another by the actions you take in it. Whether the change is for the better or the worse, only time will tell, but it is by your choices that would make changes to the world in various ways. But when you died, you were killed in a way that myself nor even the god above or below could aid you so as to keep you in this plane of existence. If you had, we could have found a means to bring you back such as reincarnation or rebirth through another mortal woman, but alas we could not. I had been there the moment you died and tried to collect your soul so as to help, but the power that had been in the blade dragged you out of this dimension entirely, and as I tried to keep you here, I caught a glimpse of the Void itself. Never had I seen such a thing, nor will I ever forget it. Yet even though you were gone, visions of your travels in the Underworld were shown to me, and me alone since I had gazed upon the Void. So I know who you are young prince, and I know who you were before that. But I must ask who do you wish to be now that you have returned to our realm?"

"I think I'll stick with Zagreus," said the young man with a shrug, "since I have lived far longer as this than as Naruto since I only lived six years as him."

"Fair enough," said the entity.

"So are you going to try and reap my soul now for summoning you?" asked Zagreus in curiosity.

"Nay, young man," said the entity with a tone of disbelief that the former prince of the Underworld would actually ask him that, "for as you are, you are my master. And I will not kill my master. Plus I am by no means strong enough to reap your soul even if I wanted to."

"Wait a second…" said Zagreus as he was collecting his thoughts, "If I remember the pantheon of this world correctly, shouldn't Kami or Yami be your master? How am I such a thing?"

"It is true that they are above me since I am only the entity of death itself that reaps souls and takes them to their final resting place. Yami rules the realms of Hell itself while Kami rules on high. You are a god, though one out of his realm, but a god all the same. This is the realm I dwell for it is the place I do my duty to maintain balance. Since you are the only god on this plane of existence, you are my master."

"Well that makes sense I guess," said Zagreus, who was not going to argue with the entity's logic and just go with it since there was no need to argue. Having such a thing as an ally as well as a companion could prove useful in the long run. "But I was the prince of the Underworld in the other world. So wouldn't I be the servant to Yami in this one?"

"No," said the Shinigami with a chuckle, "she has no control over you, and to be quite honest, it is that fact that has made her interested in you as it were. She has had me tell her about your trials to escape the Underworld multiple times, and I know she is looking forward to seeing you in the end. But until the day that you fulfill your destiny, you can neither enter her realm or Kami's."

"So I am immortal, at least for a while it seems." said Zagreus with a sigh. It seemed like things were going to be the same as in the last world. He could only wonder just how he would respawn since there was no Blood Pool here to go back to. He would figure that out when the time came, but for now he would just avoid dying altogether since that just solved thinking about the question entirely.

"Indeed you are," said the Shinigami, "now is there anything I can help you with while I am here?"

"Yes," Said Zagreus now that his questions had been answered, his mind was back on track as to what he wanted when he had seen just who he had summoned from the mask he found. "I wish to speak with the souls of my mother Kushina Uzumaki as well as Minato Namikaze if at all possible."

"It is indeed possible for you to speak to them," said the Shinigami, "but only you alone since you are the prince of the Underworld. But you may speak with your mother only if she wishes to speak with you."

"So does my father not get the same choice in the matter?"

"Your mother died by the Kyubi's claws to protect you, so she resides in Heaven, your father died after summoning me so I hold onto his soul as is my price for doing so. He has no choice in the matter and must do as I command."

"How horrible," said Zagreus in shock that his father had to suffer such a fate. And what made it worse was that he did it to protect him in his infancy to grant him a life that the villagers saw fit to snuff out only six years later. The price had been too steep for such a thing in his mind. It reminded him of Orpheus who was separated from his muse Eurydice for so long due to a deal that was made as well. "Is there any way we could make a deal? A means for you to set him free of the binding contract you have with him?"

"Hmmm…" hummed the Shinigami in thought since in all the many eons he had existed never had someone asked such a thing. That was mainly due to the fact that summoning the entity meant certain death when it was done, but even then people summoned him to kill others only, never to free souls. "Perhaps we could make a trade…"

"Wait," said Zagreus in thought, "couldn't I just order you to release him?"

"You could," said the Shinigami with a groan since he could actually do that if he so wished, "but the trade I wish for you to make is something that will help you along your path to seek your destiny."

"And just what is my destiny?" asked Zagreus, who was still drawing a big blank when it came to thinking about the subject since Chaos had been so damned vague about it.

"That is for you to find out young prince," said the Shinigami, "since it is something that only Kami and Yami know, and neither of them will tell you since that is the way things work when it comes to the subject."

"Fair enough," said Zagreus, "it seems like it is more about the journey than the destination really."

"That it is," said the Shinigami as he held out his hand. Doing so caused a circular portal to open up on the ground and out of it arose one Minato Namikaze, bound in chains and in tattered clothes with cuts and bruises all over his body to show he was in tremendous amounts of pain. "For now, converse with the man you wished to speak to. I will speak more on our bargain once I return with your mother to converse with as well." And with those words, the Shinigami vanished.

"Who are you," asked Minato weakly as he looked up and saw Zagreus standing there. Zagreus didn't really know how to act. Here was a father who sacrificed so much to keep him safe and was suffering for it while Hades had been cold towards him most of if not his entire life. Yet in the end, the tears began to fall as he pulled up Minato and hugged him hard since he was family, one he had been denied twice over.

"Father," said Zagreus in sadness, "I am sorry you have suffered such a fate like this."

"Father…" said Minato weakly as he tried to put the pieces together in his mind. Time was not a factor while in the hands of the Shinigami, so he had no clue as to how long he had been dead since the day he made the deal with the entity so as to seal away the beast into his son… "Naruto…"

Minato looked at the young god hard, but he could not see any of the looks he nor Kushina had, so this was not Naruto. This was apparently just another one of the Shinigami's tricks to mess with his head and he would not fall for it this time.

"At one point of my life I was called that," said Zagreus sadly since he always felt that his life had never really taken root in any sense. His entire childhood he was hindered one way or another, and then he was killed off at six so that only solidified his train of thought. "But due to reasons that were outside of my control, I was reborn into what you see now."

"And what exactly happened for you to become like this?" asked Minato, who was still not fully buying this since it seemed so far fetched to the point of absurdity.

"Please wait a bit for me to explain," said Zagreus with a smile. It was so rare that he actually did so and it felt good for him to smile. "Since I don't want to tell the same long story twice and mother is coming here as well. Well at least I hope she is."

"Kushina is coming?" asked Minato in surprise. His memory of her had been one of the few things that had kept him going as he suffered in the belly of the Shinigami all this time. It was his memories of her along with the knowledge that his son was safe in Konoha that kept him sane after so much torture. To be able to see her again was nothing short of a miracle alone and he would accept such a gift with open arms.

But before Zagreus could say anything else, another portal, this one light in color compared to the darker color of the one Minato came out of, and out of it rushed Kushina herself. She ran towards Zagreus and hugged him with all the motherly love she could muster given who he was while the tears poured out of her eyes. She had been in Heaven when she was summoned to meet Kami herself, which was a rare thing to hear anyone being summoned in general. So she made her way to the throne room where she was met by Kami along with the Shinigami of all things, and it was there that she was offered the chance to see her son again for a small amount of time so as to speak with him. She immediately said that she would, but the Shinigami had explained a few things with the main thing being her son was not the same person she gave birth to since he was reborn as a god himself. She didn't care and asked to see her child, the one she had protected with her life itself so that he might live on.

So now here she was, hugging him hard as he returned the gesture with as much love as he was receiving. Persephone had been the mother who birthed this form of him, but for reasons once more out of his control he never met her until the end, so he had so much son-like love to share with a mother figure, and Kushina was perfect for receiving it now.

"My son," said Kushina as she stopped hugging him and took a step back so as to get a good look at him. The Shinigami had been correct in stating that he did not look anything like he had before. His hair was jet black which neither she or her husband had, plus his eyes were mismatched colors of all things. It was as she noticed these things that she then saw Minato in the corner of her eye and was shocked to see the state he was in. She ran forward and hugged him as well, which he would have gladly returned, but his hands were bound behind him so it was impossible.

"Mother. Father." said Zagreus simply since he had a lot to say and he was guessing not a whole lot of time to say it. "I am so glad to see you again, but I just wish it was under better circumstances than we currently find ourselves in right now."

"What happened to you?" asked Minato, who now believed Zagreus's claim of being his son. A mother knows their child well, and if Kushina was here and weeping at the reunion between mother and son then he would accept this as fact.

So Zagreus found a stone close by, which was large, and easily pushed it over so as to sit on it. He offered his mother one, but she passed. She was just surprised that he had such strength to easily move something so heavy, and with one hand no less. Once he was comfortable, he told them the tale of what he had suffered in not only this life, but his rebirth into what he was now. And he did not skimp on the details since he wanted them to know the truth of what had befallen their son.

As he had finished telling them what he had done and ended with how he had returned here, he saw two distinctively different looks on their faces. For Kushina, it was a mixture of praise as well as sadness. She looked like this since she was proud of her son fighting against what seemed impossible time and time again to finally break free and challenged Fate itself to do so. But the sadness was over the fact that Naruto had lost two mothers, each of them sacrificing themselves so that he could live on and fulfill his destiny. She could only hope that Persephone found some sort of peace in the end, and silently thanked her for looking after her child as well as blessing him with new life when his own had been so harshly taken by idiots.

Minato's face was filled with nothing more than utter fury. And Zagreus could easily tell why that was the case. The man had sacrificed his life to protect the village from the Kyubi. He had used his own son to seal the demon into so that the boy would become someone great, and even his last words to Hiruzen had been to make the people of Konoha see Naruto as a hero. Yet the old man had done the exact opposite. He had made the boy seen as a monster and attempted to manipulate his child into a weapon for the village to use, one with no say in his own life. This infuriated him to no end that he had literally died for nothing since in six years, his son had not lived once since the people had kept him down through torture and harrasment of an inhuman nature.

If Minato had known this was the way things would have ended up, he would have simply left the village with his wife and child and left the village to their fate while he sought out another means to seal the demon away and then taken the time to train his son in its use to make him a great shinobi, one who surpassed even his old man in time. He could not believe that the people he once called his friends had all forsaken his son like that, but now his son was not only back, but a God of all things so they would not easily kill him again like they had the first time.

But as his story came to a close, two portals opened up and with them doing so, both his parents heard the call to return to their resting place once more. Kushina hugged her son one last time before she told him she not only loved him, but was proud of what he had accomplished and would watch as he continued to make her proud from above. She then went back through the portal and it closed behind her. Minato began to sink into his own, and he repeated the words his wife had said to their son, sans the looking down part since he had no means to observe the world where he was returning to.

Naruto told his father that he would break him free of his prison, but Minato simply laughed and told him not to worry about it. Zagreus had laughed as well and told him tough shit. He didn't listen to his father Hades when he was told to stop trying to escape the Underworld, so what made him think that he would listen to Minato when he said not to worry about him?

Minato had simply smiled as he fully sank into the portal he was getting sucked into, all the while the memories of himself in his teen years came back to him. He was a rebel like his son clearly was, and it seemed that even being reborn into a God had not changed that trait he had gotten that from his father.

"Did you enjoy your reunion with your family," asked the Shinigami as he appeared once more now that both Minato and Kushina were gone. He had disappeared so as to give them privacy to talk.

"Indeed I did," said Zagreus as he stood up and prepared to head out. One could not simply achieve their destiny if they sat on a rock all day. Not everyone was cursed like Atlas was by staying in place all day and night. "But before I head out, what exactly do I need to do to free my father of his chains?"

"Oh yes," said the Shinigami, who had almost forgotten about that, "what I ask is for you to end the life of someone who has cheated death far too many times to the point it makes a mockery of the concept itself."

"Fair enough," said Zagreus, "you are sending an immortal after another immortal. Wonder how this will play out in the end."

"The man whose soul I seek is not immortal," said the Shinigami, "he is a parasite that transfers his soul from one body to the next to avoid death. But seeing that his methods are unnatural he has to change them once every few years since they began to degrade quickly at that point. He seeks immortality given he knows that upon death I will make his afterlife pure agony the likes he could never fully grasp."

"Does this man have a name," asked Zagreus, "since you described why you hate the man, but never mentioned a name."

"My apologies," said the Shinigami since he had been right to say that. "Sorry about that. It just infuriates me to talk about him. His name is Orochimaru. Kill him, and I will set your father free of his chains." The Shinigami then held out his hand to shake Zagreus's with. Zagreus saw this and simply shook it since the terms were easy enough to understand without there being an ulterior motive or the like. The entity simply wanted someone to die that should have died a long time ago.

"Deal," said Zagreus as they stopped shaking, "but before you go, is there any way for a change of clothes or the like. What I am wearing right now is strange to this land and would make me stand out like snow in Tartarus."

"As luck would have it," said the Shinigami with a smile, which did not look friendly at all given his skeletal appearance and all, "I happen to have just the thing. While you were talking with your parents, I was summoned by Yami herself who wanted to know that you were here. She wanted you to have this as a gift." He then pulled out a jet black cloak and held it out for him to take. Zagreus took it and felt power woven into every stitch that had been put into this thing. He put it on and saw that it was a perfect fit for him, which was a bit unsettling given how someone knew his measurements was strange. But it also came with a hood that once placed over his head covered his face in darkness so one could only see his mix matched eyes.

"I am amazed at the craftsmanship that went into this cloak," said Zagreus, "And I just wish I had something just as good to give to her in return." It was then that he remembered the bottles of Ambrosia he had on him. He had given them to the gods of his old world for gifts and favors, so why not do the same here? "And I just happen to have such a thing on my person."

Zagreus then took out one of the two bottles of Ambrosia he had and handed it to the Shinigami, who took the golden orange liquid in a bottle and looked at it.

"This was the food of the gods in the other world called Ambrosia," said Zagreus, "and it tastes heavenly. Give this to Yami with my thanks."

"Will do," said the Shinigami with a smirk as he had a feeling he knew where this was all going to head. Yami had been essentially obsessing over Zagreus for years now, all but demanding any and all updates on his story the Shinigami saw through his visions. The woman acted like an obsessed schoolgirl at times since she was just too into the young man. She had personally began weaving the cloak she had gifted him years ago and had torn it apart in anger time and time again in a fit of rage from a combination of Zagreus failing to break free of the Underworld as well as when she deemed the cloak 'not good enough' for her Zagreus…

To know that the young man not only accepted the gift she spent so long making as well as loving it, but giving a gift back to her, which no mortal had ever given to her in the history of mankind, would only make the obsession worse. But Zagreus was out of her reach for the time being since he was still the child of prophecy and not even the gods could alter it les they disturb the balance of the universe itself by doing so. So with the gift he had given him to give her, he left just as he arrived… silently…

So Zagreus looked around and wondered just what direction he should head out towards since he had no idea as to even where he was right now. But as if the gods knew of his plight, which honestly they probably did, a rolled up scroll appeared in thin air before him. He grabbed it and opened it up to see a map with a dot showing his current location in the world. Zagreus smiled since this would come in handy and then stored it for later since he now had a sense of direction and began to walk towards the water. Usually one would stop at the water itself and find a means to cross it like a boat or something like that, but Zagreus just kept walking on top of the water towards the next island over he saw was on the map. Destiny awaited after all...

(Meanwhile)

Konoha had changed in the years that Naruto had been gone, and it was not for the better in the slightest. Things were far darker than they should be, but the one in charge of the village, both the old one along with the newest leader did not see things like that, for he saw the village going in the way he always thought it should go. The village had gone downhill since events that would have happened that would have greatly benefitted the village had not happened, and the reason for that was simple…

The one who made the events happen had been killed when his destiny had yet to even begin…

Without Naruto to aid them on the mission towards Wave, Kakashi and his squad had been successful in defeating Haku as well as Zabuza, yet they were too weak to fight off the men Gato had hired to eliminate them and Tazuna. And since Naruto had not been there to speak words of encouragement to Inari, he hadn't riled the people up to defend their home since he as well as his mother had to flee from their home when Gato sent men after them as leverage. So seeing that they had failed their mission, Squad 7 had fled the village, leaving Tazuna to the mercy of Gato who executed the man as he had killed another one years ago in front of everyone to show just what happened to those who opposed his rule. The people since then had lost all hope of ever being free of the greedy man and were very near death as they were now with no funds to even afford the simplest of essentials such as food. So with the country on the verge of collapse, they did not make any trade agreements with Konoha that could have been a boost in their economy…

Speaking of situations that could have let the village prosper economically, Koyuki, the rightful ruler of Spring had nearly lost her life when her uncle had paid Konoha to bring her to him under the pretense of protecting her. The only reason she lived to see the current day was that the Shinobi that were sent to 'protect' her had been given a secret mission to squeeze as much technology as they could out of the deal with Snow country in return for helping the man stay on the throne that was not his. But when they learned that he planned to use the Konoha Shinobi as scapegoats after murdering his niece, they got into a fight, one that they did not win since those from Snow Country had the advantage. Koyuki escaped in the turmoil and with the aid of a fisherman who was loyal to her father, she escaped under cover of night to a safer location. Since then she has been hiding one place after another, which is hard to do when you are a famous actress…

These were just a couple of the many events that would have helped to prosper Konoha, but with Naruto dead, events did not play out as they should have with him inspiring many to rise to the challenge. And now the village was recovering from a failed, or semi-failed invasion. The forces of Suna had allied with the newly formed village of Sound and attacked the village during the chunin exams, and for the most part they lost in the end since Konoha still stood. But the one who prospered in the end was a man known as Danzo since he had been secretly funneling information to a certain individual so they would successfully infiltrate the village at least long enough to eliminate the current Hokage Hiruzen.

And his plan had worked, with Hiruzen being killed by his former student Orochimaru. Hiruzen had tried to summon the Shinigami in a vain attempt to take Orochimaru with him in the end, but for some reason the entity did not come when summoned. He had done the hand signs right and even did them multiple times, but the entity still refused to show itself. So in the end, Hiruzen died by the hands of his student, and then said student was cornered and barely escaped the village with his own life.

So with the position of Hokage left vacant once more, the Fire Daimyo himself had arrived to appoint a new one to take charge. Jiraiya, another former student of Hiruzen, had been there and knew that Danzo would try and appoint himself one way or another, so he offered another choice entirely. He suggested the last of the Sannin, the group he was a part of, Tsunade. The Fire Daimyo listened to his suggestion, and asked that Jiriaiya seek her out to offer her the position.

Jiraiya had eventually found her, yet things did not go as he expected. She had flat out stated she would not return to the village since there was nothing there for her anymore. Jiraiya had asked repeatedly, even going so far as to beg on his knees for her to take the job, but still she refused. He told her that if she didn't take it, then Danzo would more than likely get the job and he would ruin the village. Tsunade had simply glared as she heard this and told him the village was already ruined when the higher ups in their so called wisdom erased the history of the Uzumaki from their books. She refused to protect a village that saw her family like they were nothing to the point of completely forgetting them like that. So in her mind, the village was well beyond ruined already. So since at this point she was done with Jiraiya's constant begging for her to take a job she never would, she kicked him hard enough to the point he was flung out of the town itself. By the time he came back, she was gone along with Shizune and her pet pig.

When Jiraiya came back to deliver his report on the failed mission, he knew deep in his mind that his sensei would have been less than pleased with how things were turning out right now. To make matters worse, the Fire Daimyo was not pleased to hear that the candidate of becoming Hokage not only refused the title, but chose to straight up abandon Konoha over some past history he wasn't aware of.

It was at this point in time, Danzo finally saw his moment to manipulate things further with his hidden Sharingan Eye, the one he had implanted years back, and used its power to influence the Daimyo to make him the new Hokage, much to Jiraiya's horror along with the rest of the Clan Heads in the room when it happened. Homura and Koharu had agreed to it instantly, seeing the one they sided with on many occasions over the years become Hokage, and a chance to make Konoha the military powerhouse they wanted for years. The only thing missing from this whole thing was the Kyubi brat, but he was dead and it wasn't like there weren't other Jinchuriki out there for them to take.

Once he became Hokage officially with the Daimyo's blessing, Danzo ordered his Root program be brought back officially, and that one third of all Clans with the most potential be sent to the Root program to be given "proper conditioning" to be the elite Shinobi among the village. Naturally, the Clan Heads outright refused the order, saying they had seen what Root did to their clansmen in the past, and would not allow more of them to become emotionless like all the other Root Shinobi that Danzo had under his command. Danzo countered that disobeying his order was an act of treason, but Shikaku reminded him that it was against Konoha's Charter that Clan Heads must surrender so many of their members to an organization of Konoha. The Nara Clan Head also reminded the new Hokage that it was also against the law, one of the few that even the Hokage himself could not change, or break since it stated clan members must volunteer willingly to join without any influence from outside forces.

Naturally, it upset Danzo something fierce knowing there were laws in the village even he must yield to as Hokage despite his position, but given his massive ego and narcissism to the point of seeing himself a god amongst mankind, it was easy to see why…

Regardless, the man made it his mission to make his ranks among Root swell with new recruits, and the most elite among them would be assigned to guard him. Not surprising when he got said recruits right from the orphanage or stole them from other places all throughout the Elemental Countries. It didn't matter if they were homeless or had families to call their own. In Danzo's eyes, if you were taken, then you belonged to Root, and thus belonged to him. As for his own position as Hokage, the man made it quite clear that his authority as Hokage was absolute when decisions were made for the good of Konoha, and the Civilian Council easily caved while the Shinobi Council were already behind him one hundred percent. And while his methods were inhumane even by Shinobi standards, it was working in the long run and that only made it worse...

This was the state of the once great village of Konoha, a thriving village that no longer shone as it did in the past…

(Wave)

Zagreus had finally found footing on the island country of Wave, which was the island he saw on the map. He wondered how the people here were doing, and he wondered how being an island country worked out for them since in his mind it didn't make sense since you needed supplies and being on an island made that more difficult. Even with boats, the supplies were limited and they could succumb to the elements of nature and be lost in a storm so it seemed like a bad idea when laid out like that.

But he need not worry about the lives or choices made by other people since it was their life to do with as they pleased. He walked a bit inland before his vision flashed for a second. What he saw was a group off in the distance next to what he assumed to be the construction site of a bridge. Out of everyone in the group, the only one he could recognize somewhat was what he assumed was an older version of himself if he had been allowed to grow up instead of being killed. Apparently what he was seeing was what would have happened if he had not perished when he did, and he saw a brief glimpse of another larger group showing up, but ultimately being killed by one man alone before he succumbed to his injuries and died.

Zagreus had no idea why he was being shown such visions now, but he was going to guess that it played a part in his destiny of all things. Seeing that he was not here to do as his vision showed, he wondered how history had been altered, and knowing that messing with prophecy has drastic consequences, he began to worry a bit. So he resumed walking towards the town, and what he saw was utterly devastating to say the least.

There were so many houses in major disrepair with the people themselves looking no better. They were starving in the streets with mothers holding their children closely to give them any sort of comfort whatsoever. And there were quite a few of them who were openly whoring themselves out to the men who Zagreus could easily see were in charge as well as the reason behind this situation. They resembled the large group of men he had seen in his vision, but he did not see the short man with glasses who had led them. Zagreus walked through the streets with the people seeing him doing so and begging for just about anything he could spare. He would have offered any of the gems in his possession, but given their state of starvation they wouldn't be able to keep them since the people who put them into this situation would just rob them and not care about their wellbeing in the slightest.

Zagreus grew infuriated that human beings could do such a thing to others, and his rage grew as he saw the men walking around and hurting the poor people of this land with no one to stop them. But before he could take action of any sort, he heard as a man was screaming in pain behind him. He turned around and saw as the same man was silenced when an arrow pierced his head. He looked up, as did many others, to see a young boy, most likely no more than 10 at the most, cocking an arrow in his bow before he let it go. The arrow soared through the arrow and struck true so that another man fell. This went on for a bit before the gangsters got wise and began to use the villagers as human shields. The boy, who was obviously doing this in a desperate attempt to save his home from these people, could not do anything else, and one of the gangsters demanded he come down or else they would start killing people in front of him.

The young man, in fear of them actually doing it, hopped off the roof he was on and threw his bow and quiver away from his person in surrender. The closest gangster smirked as he did and moved to deal with the boy personally. Zagreus saw the glint of a dagger and knew that he planned to kill the boy where he stood. Zagreus would not allow that to happen though so he summoned up his trusty Stygian Blade and cut the man's head clean off with a single swing.

This had shocked just about everyone who saw this since no one here had expected anyone to fight for them like this. True the boy had, but he was a citizen of their village so he was protecting his home as he did. This was a stranger, one who had no reason to aid them and had made a powerful enemy with that one swipe of his blade.

"It makes me sick to my stomach to see human beings do this sort of thing to others," said Zagreus as he slung his blade across his shoulder, "you waste your gift of life itself to make others miserable for your own selfish desires."

"Just who the fuck are you!" demanded one of the gangsters who was still holding onto a hostage.

"Someone far beyond your understanding," said Zagreus with a smirk. It was true given just who he was. He then took a step closer towards the men, but he then had to hold his hand out since the boy had picked up the dagger dropped from the now decapitated man and was going to rush in blindly in a fit of youthful rage. "Remain here child. No need to risk your life so easily like this."

"I don't know who you are or what you are thinking you can do," said the same man as before as he held a knife to the woman who he was holding hostage's throat. "But take one step and I will slice her open!"

"Mortals…" sighed Zagreus with a shake of his head, "you truly believe that you know everything…" He then flipped his Stygian Blade through the air and then caught it by the blade itself instead of the handle. This made the gangsters' look at him with confusion since this was strange to see, but then they saw the blade itself transform from the light red one it was before to a bright glowing blue one instead within a second. This was Excalibur, and Zagreus then threw it hard at an angle. But he wasn't aiming at anyone in particular, but the ground next to them. As soon as the blade hit the ground, a massive glyph of a complex nature appeared out of nowhere with a holy glow to it. But it was then that those inside it realized that their movements had slowed to the point they were barely moving at all.

Zagreus capitalized on their surprise as well as their new slower speed and rushed forward. The glyph did not affect him as it did anyone else, so he moved normally, which was still faster than humanly possible. Within seconds, he had thrown the men away from the hostages they had used in a vain attempt to stop their own deaths, and once they were now no longer holding them, but were now in fact among the other gangsters who had not done as they did, Zagreus smirked. He then pulled out his Bow, called upon the name of Hera herself to add the effects of a God's boon into the tip of the arrow he had cocked, and then let it loose…

The men had no time to react to his actions, and while there was only one arrow he had used which pierced the head of the man in the dead center of their group, they had no idea as to what would happen next. The arrow was explosive, but with the added element of the freezing cold winter granted to him by his grandmother Demeter herself. So the men died, frozen in place with the looks of shock and horror forever frozen on their chilled corpses.

And as the people all weakly cheered for their newfound hero, none of them noticed that one of the gangsters, the smartest of the bunch really in the broad scheme of things, had seen what happened and quietly made his way out of town so as to report this to his boss…

No one noticed… save one person…

And Zagreus could only smirk as he saw the man do just what he expected him to do...

(A/N: I hope you enjoyed this second chapter of the story, which I enjoyed writing. There has been a major update since I began, which granted me more powers as well as weapons to give Zagreus for this story, which I can't promise I'll use a majority of them since there are so damn many to name. But I would like to defend the fact that Zagreus can walk on water. In the second area known as Asphodel, the place is covered in lava all over the place. At first I was sure it was just shallow due to the design of the areas that you travel in game, but you get on boats to get to the new area as well as fish in spots I swore were shallow so that shows they are not since if it was you would visibly see the fish. Plus there is the region boss known as the Bone Hydra that is submerged in the liquid, and you can walk beside it. It hurts you, being lava and all, but the fact you can still walk on it means he has the ability to walk on liquids. So I am just going to run with it. Until next chapter!)