Soon after Zagreus had aided the young man who had been brave enough to defend his home against the tyrants who were in charge, the rest of the people had surrounded him in gratitude since to see someone aid them in any manner was a godsend in their lives. But soon enough, their desire for any further sort of aid was voiced loudly so he could hear their plight. They ranged from any form of nourishment to money. The women who had been whoring themselves out before his arrival were offering their services if he was willing to pay for it.

Zagreus had no attraction to the latter, but he did wish to aid the people. While he would have provided them with the food they desperately needed, he did not have such a thing on his person. All he had were weapons as well as countless gems and diamonds in his possession. That alone could not feed them. It was like the story of King Midas all over again with the vast riches but no food.

"I am sorry to say that I am sorely without any sort of food to give you," said Zagreus with a shake of his head. He heard the groans of disappointment since the people were so desperately hoping he had something to give them, and a majority of them left the immediate area since he did not have what they wanted right now.

"Who are you," asked the kid whose life he had saved when the gangster had attempted to gut him with a hidden knife.

"Proper manners are for one to introduce themselves before asking the name of another," said Zagreus with a smirk.

"My name is Inari," said the now named kid, who had not lost the attitude, "now who the hell are you?"

"My name is Zagreus," said Zagreus.

"Why are you here," asked Inari.

"Honestly," said Zagreus in thought, "I happened upon this island country since it was along the way as I was traveling across the water."

"Wait," asked one of the men in the group, "you have a boat?"

"I am sorry to say I do not."

"Then how did you get here by water?"

"I simply walked." said Zagreus in all seriousness since that was exactly what he had done. He wasn't going to lie about it since it wasn't that big of a deal in his mind.

"Are you a shinobi?" asked Inari with a quizzical look on his face.

"No," said Zagreus simply, "I am not a shinobi as you have assumed. I am just a prince to a kingdom I have lost the means to return to."

"You are a prince?" asked Inari, but Zagreus could hear his tone of voice clearly stating that he was not believing him on that matter.

"I was," said Zagreus, "but since I have been sent away from my home, I can't really claim such a thing anymore now that I say it out loud."

"And just where did you come from?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you kid," said Zagreus with a smirk since he was one hundred percent sure of that fact.

"Try me," said Inari, who wanted to hear what this man had to say. At most to learn more about the man who had saved his life, but at worst to at least hear a good story. So Zagreus chuckled as he told them the stories of the Greek Gods he had called family back in the other dimension, and like he thought, no one believed him as he said it, but while he was busy telling them all this, the one man who had fled while his companions were killed had made it back to Gato's mansion. He told them what he had observed, and it made Gato angry that someone had dared to kill his men. He had spent so long getting the people to this point and he would not allow all his hard work go to waste because of some outsider. Now what made this whole thing bad was the fact that the intruder to their land was obviously more powerful than his normal goons, but luckily for him he had a few shinobi in his service.

What no one other than he as well as his business partner were aware of was the fact that Gato was in business with Danzo. Gato basically promised all the children of this island country, which was a massive boost in numbers for Danzo's ROOT forces, but he was doing it in a way that seemed like they died of something else instead of being abducted all at once. Danzo liked the plan and as things were it would come to fruition in a matter of a month at most the way things were now. Then when he got the promised children, Gato would do business with Danzo's village for resources, and in return for this, Danzo offered him protection via a few elite ROOT shinobi like right now. So Gato called the half dozen shinobi he had and told them to eliminate the threat to his control on the island. They had been given the orders by Danzo to do as Gato said, so they did as ordered.

And by the time Gato had given the order, Zagreus had just finished his own tales to the people…

"So you are honestly going to say that there are more than the two gods Kami and Yami where you come from," stated Inari in a tone of voice that basically said he had not believed a word of it.

"Yes," said Zagreus simply since there was really nothing else he could say.

"And you are then going to go further and say you are the son of one of these gods," said Inari, still with the same tone as before, "but not just any god, but the god of the Underworld as well making you a god yourself."

"That about sums it up," said Zagreus with a laugh, "and I know by your tone of voice you don't believe me. And I will remind you that I told you that you wouldn't believe me before I started."

"Now I am sorry that I asked," said Inari with a sigh.

"Well in the end," said Zagreus as he stood up and dusted himself off a bit, "whether you believe me or not on my origins, simply know I am here to help you. That is all you have to believe in. But if I was you, I would get inside right now for your own safety."

"Why?" asked Inari in a confused tone.

"Because we are about to have company," said Zagreus, "and since I have shown I am more than a match for a small group of bandits, the one in charge will either send stronger people or just more of the same in the hopes that their greater numbers will make a difference." The people who had been listening to his story all agreed that hiding was probably for the best right now so they did just that. Within a minute, the streets were clear with the only person standing there being Zagreus himself. But like he said, he was not alone for long since the half dozen ROOT shinobi had made themselves known to him by appearing.

"You are trespassing on private property," said the apparent leader of this group as they readied their various weapons, "and the sentence is death. You are outnumbered and have no chance of winning. Lay down your arms and your death will be quick."

"I have to ask," said Zagreus, "has anyone you ever said that to ever actually surrendered peacefully when they knew they were going to be killed anyway?"

The leader was silent and didn't respond to the question…

"I thought so," said Zagreus with a sigh, "but alright. It seems like we are doing this." Zagreus held out his hand and summoned up his Eternal Spear. "Achilles…"

The ROOT Shinobi were confused since that one word, which they guessed was a name, was so out of context. But apparently that one word did more than confuse them since it transformed the spear in the man's hand into a different shape and color. Zagreus quickly shifted it into his hand so it was able to be thrown, which he then did immediately. Well unfortunately it missed the intended target given the Shinobi had good reflexes to dodge it, but he was then blindsided when Zagreus shoulder tackled him instead.

The ROOT shinobi was thrown back to the point he fell onto his back, which worked for Zagreus since with one fluid slide given the speed he used to tackle the man was making him move forward still, he grabbed his spear and with a quick spin stabbed the man in the chest in a manner that the ends stabbed both his heart as well as his lung. In short… there was no possible way to survive the attack since that was two vital organs stabbed through at once.

The other ROOT shinobi quickly realized this was not going to be as simple a mission and planned accordingly as they had been trained for years by their master. Three of the remaining five moved to the side in both directions so as to surround as well as flank him. The other two though, they went through hands signs and threw two different jutsu towards him. One fired a jet stream of water while the other shot an orb of electrical energy. Zagreus had to admit that their plan was a sound one, but it would not work against him.

He spun his spear into the ground and held out both his hands towards the attacks. He understood that the plan was to get him wet with the water so that the electrical orb would do more damage, but Zagreus simply stopped them with his hands. His uncles had been ones to utilize these very elements and mastered them while gifting him their power many times, so containing them like he had was not hard in the slightest. Both hands now contained the orbs of the two elements, but he then ducked under the kick of one of the shinobi who had surrounded him before he shoved them into the man's chest. The resulting combo killed the man, and judging from the screams of pain it was rather painful.

He then used his foot to kick his spear out of the ground before he spun and grabbed it. While he did this in one fluid motion akin to a master, the tip of his spear sliced the neck of one of the other shinobi before Zagreus was in place to throw it into the neck of the last one who had tried to flank him. The Shinobi was far too close to dodge it this time so he died once it pierced his throat. Zagreus then turned around and faced the last two shinobi who were still standing there. They were shocked to see this man so easily slaughter them like this in less than a minute, but they could not retreat given their training had conditioned them into this state of mind.

So as Zagreus walked towards them, equipping the Twin Fists as he did, they threw explosive kunai at him in an attempt to kill him still. The kunai hit their target, thus kicking up both dirt as well as smoke given they were explosive. But a few seconds after the remaining ROOT Shinobi thought they had completed their mission, Zagreus had dashed out of the smoke and uppercutted one of them. The power behind it literally severed the head from his body, thus launching it far from the body itself. Zagreus made to punch the second one too, but he stopped short of doing so and instead touched the man on the mask that hid his face with a simple flick of his finger. The mask shattered from the touch alone, and Zagreus was finally able to see his face since it was now visible.

The last ROOT shinobi at this point knew he could not win, and for the first time in so long felt the one emotion that his master had spent too long trying to stomp out…

Fear…

So the Shinobi turned tail to retreat since he knew he alone was no match for this strange man, and Zagreus simply smirked as the man had run for all of three seconds before a red magical blade appeared above him and then stabbed downwards, thus piercing through multiple organs and killing him. This was the power Ares had granted him, inflicting an effect known as Doom. It basically put your life on a very small timer, and the cruel thing about it was there was no dodging it once affected. Then again, Ares was not known for his compassion since the man was the God of War. Love and compassion were Aphrodite's thing.

So with a chuckle, Zagreus then began to walk towards Gato's mansion since that had been his next destination…

(2 weeks later)

The past two weeks had started off so strong, but now here Zagreus stood over the dead, as well as the utterly mutilated corpse of Orochimaru as well as countless shinobi the man had sent after him in a desperate attempt to fight him off. It had taken a bit to get here, so let's step back and explain the events that led from point A to the present point B.

After Zagreus had killed off the ROOT shinobi as he had done, he had then walked towards Gato's mansion itself, which while heavily guarded it was done so by thugs not warriors or even soldiers of any sort. Sure they had done the whole typical ordering of his surrender before firing a salvo of arrows as well as a few crossbolts at him, but they did nothing to him. Zagreus had been curious to just much of the term immortality he was capable of back when he was fighting the shinobi, and thus took the explosive kunai face on to see for himself. Luckily, as well as surprisingly, to him he suffered no damage whatsoever. Apparently he was completely immune to it now, which was a strange contract to the countless times he had been killed in the Underworld, but this was a new dimension as well as the Mortal Plane so things were apparently different here. And just like those kunai, the arrows just bounced off of him harmlessly, which made the guards shudder in fear as they continued to fire at him in a desperate attempt to still kill him somehow.

In the end, Zagreus grew tired of this since it was not going to work no matter how many arrows they used, but they were just too stubborn to understand that apparently. So with a simple outstretched hand towards the sky, which then darkened with heavy clouds, he called upon Zeus's name, and just like that, within a manner of second, the entire small army of guards were each struck by lightning, dying from the result of it. He then punched the gates off their hinges and continued further into the mansion. Sure he was attacked by the men still in the mansion itself, but they did no better than any of the others sent to attack him.

Little by little, Zagreus made his way to the main room, though he did get lost twice and had to ask for directions. It was funny that these people loved to cause pain to others, yet the moment you had their lives in your hands they were so willing to sell out anyone else so as to survive. It was this logic that got him to the main office that Gato was currently hiding it while shaking in fear. He had cameras and saw as this stranger was tearing his men apart with ease as well as no remorse.

Zagreus had opened the door to the office, and immediately been shot by no less than a dozen guards who had hidden in the room to ambush him. They had long rifles, but all that they did was bounce bullets off him with enough force to make it itch a bit at most. Zagreus then summoned up a Lightning bolt and threw it. It hit one target, but then it bounced to another and then another until all the guards who were still there were now dead. Gato had survived by hiding under his desk, but Zagreus simply threw it into the wall to the side to get the man's attention.

Gato had tried so desperately to bribe him with something to stop him from killing him. He offered him money, women, hell even men if that was his preference. Zagreus had only ever felt emotions akin to love for one male alone and that had been Thanatos since they had fought alongside one another so many times so the emotions grew over time. Eventually Gato saw that he was not going to be able to bribe his way out of this, nor did he have a way out since there was only one door and Zagreus was between him and it. So since the man was so vain, narcissistic, as well as greedy as all hell, he pulled out a button he had hidden on his person for situations like this. The man was a sore loser to the core and with that mindset he pushed the button.

What happened next was that the room connected to his office via a hidden door that contained all the money he had taken from the village exploded. Thus the island now had no means to recover what he had taken from them and would die poor like he had forced them to become. Zagreus looked upon this horrible excuse of a human being as he exclaimed this and then began to laugh as Zagreus used his blade to slice the man's throat. Even then the man laughed in a disturbed gargled fashion as his life slipped away.

While this might have been a major setback for anyone else if they had been doing as he did to save the people, he had a literal fortune that he was willing to give away to help others since he had no need for the money really. He did not need to eat or drink, but he wanted to though more out of slating his curiosity on taste. It was soon after the people heard the explosion that they themselves made their way to the mansion and saw the destruction that Zagreus had left in his wake.

They entered the place with purpose, mainly being to find anything of value as well as everything they had stolen from them. For Inari, it had been a different story. The reason he had done as he did with attacking the thugs was that for years he and his mother had hidden from Gato's men, but eventually she was caught and dragged against her will to his mansion. Inari was a smart kid and knew exactly what they planned to do with her and wanted to save her no matter the cost. He had already lost his father figure as well as his grandfather to Gato and his men, and he would be damned if he let the tyrant take his last surviving family without a fight. But he had been stopped when the reality of them using hostages became known to him. So Inari and others who lost loved ones to Gato's men descended into the dungeons below to free the people there. And the sight they saw was grim indeed.

Various contraptions had women strapped to them nude, with a good portion of them broken from the horrific torture they had been put through by Gato's men along with numerous cages that contained women in various states of despair. Inari's mother was locked in a cage that was suspended by a chain, and she cried out for her son the moment she saw him. The men who came with him began freeing the women who had been locked in this place for so long, and one by one they were set free.

The people were forever grateful for Zagreus and his aid in getting rid of Gato, but then the reality of what Gato had done to all their money hit them. They realized that they were screwed since they had nothing. Even if they went and begged others for help, it would take too long and many would die from starvation as they did so. Zagreus once more proved helpful as he found a large sack and filled it with the gems he had collected in the Underworld. Once filled, he told the people to sell them so the money would help them recover from their losses. Once more the people cheered for him and then went to raid the pantry of Gato. There they found vast amounts of food, but then again he had been feeding not only himself but a small army as well so it made sense that he stored away enough to do so.

So those capable of cooking set out to begin making a large batch of stew so that they could serve it to everyone in the village, which took a while but in the end fed everyone with enough to give them full stomachs for the first time in so long. It took a few days for people to get their strength back, but eventually they did. Once back to a stable sense of physical strength, a group of villagers prepared to set out with the gems Zagreus had given them so as to sell them and by the essential materials that they needed as well as hired people to protect them for the future since they knew that as they were now they were still vulnerable and someone else either just as bad as Gato or Kami forbid even worse could just take over in his stead. So they would need the protection while they built a bridge so they were no longer cut off from others.

Zagreus had been there that day when they left, and even though they made room for him to sit in their boat alongside them, Zagreus simply declined the offer and began to walk beside them on the water. Many of the adults who saw him leave had seen shinobi of all sorts walk on water, but this was nothing like they had seen before. It was then that the thoughts of Zagreus's story of being the son of a god were not so absurd as they once thought…

But once they reached landfall on the main continent, Zagreus wished the men good luck and set out on his own since he was no longer needed by them. He had begun walking for half a day, wondering what he was going to do, or better yet where he even was right now. It was then that another small scroll popped up out of nowhere in the air for him to grab. It told him to go to Rice Country, which made him raise an eyebrow since it seemed like either Kami or Yami was helping him right now, and as soon as he thought that, another scroll appeared, but this one had jet black lipstick in the form of a kiss on it along with hearts. That alone solidified it was Yami who had sent the note, and not one to overlook the wisdom and council of a god who knew this world better than himself, he set out towards Rice Country with the aid of his map that he was now certain Yami had given him before he left Whirlpool.

While the trip was not too long given he didn't need to sleep given what he was, it wasn't completely boring for him. This was mainly due to the fact that he was attacked no less than several times by bandits and missing Nin who tried to rob him. Apparently being alone made you the perfect target, but Zagreus would always flip it on them and kill those who threatened him so as to steal what was not their own. There was one unique case where they had used a little girl to try and get him to lower his guard, but well you know how this whole thing ended… While the others were killed, the little girl was left alone. Zagreus was not a monster and had no desire to kill the little girl, even though she had pulled out a blade to try and stab him herself. He had no idea what would happen to her, but she had chosen to attack him, and now she would have to survive on her own.

Another key event of note, which was greater than utterly decimating multiple groups of bandits, happened when he got near the borders of Rice Country itself. It was as he was passing through a small town that he felt a surge of power rise up in him. He determined the source, being the Daedalus Hammer itself. He had wondered just what he would do with this item, but apparently it had one of its own right now so he listened and found a forge. He paid the man who ran it for raw materials as well as for the right to use it himself for a while. THe man was a tab bit surprised given no one ever really paid to use a forge itself, but for him to make things for them. But he wasn't going to turn down more money so he allowed it. Especially given the gems he was paid with would fetch a hefty price when he got around to it, or he might just use them for a fancy weapon that nobles seemed to love to get their hands on from time to time.

So once the payment was given and he got the materials he needed, Zagreus sort of… blacked out. He had no explanation for it, but the moment he came back to his senses, he had finished what he had started out doing. The man whose forge he had used had explained that he had been like a man possessed by a professional blacksmith. He had melted the materials down, and then pulled out what he assumed was blood, which it was, Titan's Blood to be exact, and added it to the molten metal. He then whipped out a hammer unlike the man had ever seen, and before his very eyes forged an item with it. The usual process involved pouring the liquid metal into a mold and forming equipment from that, but whatever sort of magic was in the hammer he used, which was the only possible way that the blacksmith could explain what he had seen, the liquid metal had formed itself as he hammered it with the hammer. After a few hours of pounding into it, the hammer itself shattered, but the item itself was done in a flash of light.

Zagreus had wondered just what the hell he had forged, but then the man pointed to his arm which caused him to look down. What he saw was a chain of all things that had snaked its way onto his arm tightly. He felt power within it, but what it was exactly he had no clue as to what, but he had time to learn it later so it wasn't a big deal. Actually he was looking forward to learning what it could do. Once his business at the forge was done, he left as the forge closed after he did, since the blacksmith needed some time to process what he had just witnessed with his own eyes.

Eventually he made it to Rice Country itself, and there he went from place to place asking for any information about Orochimaru. He wanted to find and end the man as soon as possible since the sooner he did the quicker his father would be freed from the Shinigami. Zagreus had no clue that the villages he asked about Orochimaru were secret lairs for said man, and the more he asked about him, spies would relay this to their master. Orochimaru was at first not interested given many Shinobi had been searching for him for years given he was a wanted man, but eventually he grew irritated over the fact this man would not let up and kept asking about him. So he sent his right hand man Kabuto and some others to go and deal with this stranger personally.

Kabuto and those sent with him found Zagreus easily enough, but that was because the guy wasn't hiding. He was casually walking towards the next town in hopes he would learn something about Orochimaru's whereabouts there since no one else had been helpful in doing so. Kabuto had proclaimed he was there to end his insistent search for his master, and then ordered his men to kill Zagreus. Said man didn't even move from his spot as they did, since he was a bit too far in his head thinking about a plan to use that random piece of information to his advantage.

Imagine the looks of shock on their faces when the various weapons they used to try and kill Zagreus hit him, but did nothing more than just remain there without causing any sort of damage. This did however knock him out of his own thoughts though, and with that he used his Stygian Blade to decapitate at least half of those who had attacked him. The others had better reflexes and had dodged his blade in time, but he smirked as he changed its form into Excalibur once more and stabbed the ground so that their movement was nearly halted entirely from the magical glyph that appeared.

He then used the Twin fists sharp clawed tips to slash the throats of the rest since they were still within range of his attacks. It was then that he saw a long green energy pierce through his throat, but the strange thing about that was that he felt nothing to indicate he had been stabbed. In fact he even turned around to look at Kabuto, who was shocked as all hell to see that his chakra scalpel had done nothing to a man he had literally stabbed in the neck. What made it worse was that the man had turned around with it still in place and it neither fazed him or even cut him like it should have done. He quickly jumped back, and it was then that common sense took center stage and he realized he needed to retreat and tell Orochimaru about this, so he left just like that.

Zagreus had all chances to kill Kabuto, he really did, but he decided to use the young man to get to the person he was currently hunting. If Orochimaru was Kabuto's master, then he would tell him what Zagreus had done here and then Orochimaru would eventually come himself to attack him. This way it sped up the process of seeking him out, but while he waited for that he continued on to the next town.

And just like Zagreus had thought, Kabuto had gone back and told Orochimaru just what he had seen and the fact that the man they had been ordered to kill was apparently invincible given a direct attack to his throat did nothing to him nor did the various blades the others used against him. This information got Orochimaru's attention, since the man had been searching for a means to attain immortality through any means. If he could either capture this man for experimentation, or better yet mark him to use as a future vessel, then he would be unstoppable!

So once again, like Zagreus had thought, Orochimaru himself went with a larger group of shinobi than he had sent with Kabuto to hunt him down. Orochimaru eventually found him, which once again wasn't hard since the man was not hiding himself from anyone. Orochimaru at first tried to persuade Zagreus to come with him willingly with the promise of power or money, which Zagreus needed either of. Once he saw that the man was not interested he ordered his shinobi to attack to see just what his future vessel would be capable of. Like Kabuto said, the man suffered no form of damage from weapons or even jutsu that they threw at him, but they did stop when he held up his hand for a bit. Within it was a pink orb of sorts and from it shot out what could only be described as animated heart shaped projectiles. They each hit their mark, and within seconds of doing so, the shinobi who came with Orochimaru began to fight amongst themselves to the surprise of both Kabuto as well as Orochimaru.

This was the ability of Charm that Aphrodite had gifted him with, and it worked well against the numerous enemies he had back in the Underworld with many of them not being human. So it worked perfectly here. But the downside to it was it was not permanent and was in fact only temporary so they eventually came to their senses but only after about two thirds of their numbers had been killed off. This worked well for Zagreusm who then pulled out his Adamant Rail and smirked as he opened fire upon those who still remained. They were still groggy from being Charmed so they couldn't react in time to dodge the rapid firing bullets that killed them all off. All that was left was Orochimaru and Kabuto, both shocked to see this man use weapons and abilities they had never seen before. But Kabuto saw that the Adamant Rail was out of ammo and saw this as the perfect opportunity to try and strike Zagreus down, fully forgetting how this didn't work the last time he had tried it.

But Zagreus had simply called out the name of Lucifer, which changed his weapon's form as well as ammunition type and fired at Kabuto. The thing was that this form of the Adamant Rail didn't fire bullets, it fired a laser. So Kabuto's body was blasted dead center with a laser that cut him in half, and what made Zagreus look at him with a raised eyebrow was that even though the man was cut off from his lower half he was somehow still alive. So this time he aimed lower and hired directly at the man's head.

As he had fired his weapon at Kabuto, Orochimaru made the foolish (as well as fatal) mistake to try and mark him as his future vessel by placing the Curse Mark on him. This did not end the way he or even Zagreus expected since it was the chains on his arm that activated when Orochimaru was near him so as to bite his neck like some sort of vampire. It extended from his arm, which amazed him that it was as long as it was since it didn't seem like it should be that long, and wrapped itself around Orochimaru's neck as well as his head. Then it superheated itself to the point it appeared red and he heard Orochimaru scream as his flesh burned. Zagreus didn't feel any heat, but then again it was a magical weapon made for him so that probably was the reason. He then tugged hard back, and with a sickening show of gore, Orochimaru's head was sliced in so many places as the chain melted through all the way and squeezed the bits out as it did. There was no blood though since the heat cauterized the wounds from losing his head.

Once he kicked the body to make sure the man was dead, he then called out the Shinigami who appeared before him and saw the body of Orochimaru himself. This was a surprise to him since Zagreus had accomplished what many failed to do in about two weeks. That was impressive. So as agreed, Zagreus saw the Shinigami summon up the soul of Orochimaru and then devour it while Orochimaru tried in vain to break free. He then summoned up a portal which Minato arose out of once more like he had the last time, but this time he snapped his bony fingers and the chains that held the man down shattered since he was now free. The Shinigami thanked him for his aid and then disappeared to do whatever he usually did, which Zagreus didn't really care to wonder about.

To be honest, neither Minato or Zagreus knew what to do right now given Minato was a spirit. He had been in the control of the Shinigami for so long and had neither descended or ascended so this confused them as to what to do. But luckily they got their answer in the form of another portal, a lighter one they recognized from the last time they saw each other and just like then Kushina rushed out to hug and greet them both. But this time Kushina came with a gift of her own in the form of a large scroll for Zagreus. She told him it would aid him immensely but didn't say exactly how it would. She simply smiled and kissed him on the forehead in a motherly fashion with the kind words to trust her.

Before Minato departed along with his wife to the Heavens themselves, Kushina told Zagreus to go to Konoha, which she didn't want to send him there but he needed to go there. She told him that their home was there and that he alone could enter it given the sheer amount of seals they had surrounded the place made it impossible for anyone other than blood relations to get in and he was related to them by blood. There she told him to look for a painting in the study, of which she described it in full detail, and told him it would open up a hidden staircase towards his inheritance. And the last thing she asked of him before the two of them hugged him one final time before going through the portal was to destroy the house when he was done with it. The village didn't deserve anything of theirs for their actions towards their son and since Zagreus himself was not going to live there, there was no need for the house to remain. Zagreus promised he would honor her wishes and saw the two of them smile as they turned around and walked through the portal into Heaven before it closed behind them.

So with a sad sigh, given he was probably not going to see him again in the future, he turned around and set out towards his next destination…

Konoha…

(1 week later)

Zagreus had wondered just how he would react to coming back to this hellhole of a place he once was forced to call home, and now that he was here he got his answer. He truly felt nothing towards this place. He felt no rage or anger towards them given if not for the things they forced him to suffer through, he wouldn't have become as he was being the son of a god. But then on the opposite side of the coin he had no love for this place since he had no good memories of this place either. No friends or happy memories to pull at his heartstrings or the sort. So like I said, he felt nothing.

But as he got closer to the village gates, he felt something inside him. It was a feeling unlike anything he had ever felt before, and that disturbed him quite a bit. He had felt literal Chaos flow through him as he entered the Void, along with pain from so much else. So to experience something he had never felt in either of his lives put together was a bit disturbing.

He made it through the main gate easy enough since the people guarding it did a quick check via a seal on the ground to check for hidden weapons and found nothing on him. This could only make him chuckle as he was allowed into the village since he had plenty of those, but he alone could summon them through magical means. But as he walked within the village, that feeling he had was getting stronger the closer he got to a certain location. He was not sure where that location was, but he was the curious type and wanted to find out why he was feeling this way for himself.

It surprised him that it seemed the further he moved from the center of the village towards the forested area, the greater the feeling was. Yet in time he finally found himself on the edge of a dark looking forest that was surrounded by a fence. It wasn't like the fence did anything to stop him though since he cut it with just a chop of his bare hand. Metals on the mortal plane of existence couldn't hold a candle to those found on the others so this was nothing.

He finally found the place this strange feeling was bringing him to. And what he found was a small, yet neatly carved stone with a heart carved into it on the side at the base of a massive tree. This apparently was a grave marker, and the body was buried underneath. So since he wanted to finish this whole detour all the way, he got to his knees and began to dig the dirt away.

Eventually he found what it was that was buried… or better yet, who it was…

Zagreus couldn't help but stare wide eyed at his own corpse, the one he had left when he was stabbed when he was six…

This made little to no sense to him as he stared dumbly at literally himself. Sure he had been reborn into the son of a god through his spirit, but that had been literally years ago. His body should have decayed or better yet become bones or the like. Yet here it was perfectly preserved like he had just been killed only seconds ago. It seemed the same source of power that had ended his life the way it did also preserved his body like this. It was like it was frozen in time with none of the decay of time between now and then showing in the slightest.

For reasons that Zagreus himself could not understand, he attempted to pull the body out of the grave, but the moment he touched it, it disappeared from existence altogether. As it did, Zagreus fell once more to his knees as the tears would not stop flowing from his eyes. All the memories of his former life came back in a flash. All the pain and suffering he had been forced to go through came back fluidly and he was powerless to stop it. But as his memories ended, he was shown one last vision that was not his own memory given he had been killed and this took place a little bit later after the fact.

He saw a little girl, one his own age he guessed, with purple hair and grey pupil-less eyes who carried his corpse to this place. She had been crying as she dug this grave with her own bare hands before replacing the dirt she had moved to bury him. It was a few days later that she had come back with the stone marker and left it there before saying a prayer in hopes his soul would find peace. That was where the vision ended, Zagreus was finally able to stem the flow of his tears. Apparently he was not quite ready for all that, but he had overcome it in the end and now smiled.

While this village had done so much to make him seem weak and worthless, at least one person here had the heart to bury him with enough love and care like she had. He could only wish that she herself was well, and made a note to himself to see if he could help her if ever came to the point where they met. But that was something to think about later in life. Now that this feeling was gone from within himself, he was finally able to set out once more towards his primary destination.

As he walked towards it, he overheard the various citizens of the village speak about a tournament of some sort happening the next day. This peaked Zagreus's interest since he wanted to know how strong this village had become in the time he had been dead to the world. He had no real plan as it were, and since that was the case, he might as well have a good fight while he was here. He was so used to fighting in the Underworld that the peace was starting to get to him. Memories of Aries came to the forefront of his mind, but he shook those thoughts out since he was not like that and didn't thrive in war like the god of said thing.

Eventually he had arrived at his destination, the home that his father and mother once resided within while they themselves were alive. It was a place he himself should have inherited but the greedy powers that be would have never given it to him and would have seen to it he never got anything that was rightfully his. But since the place was guarded by advanced seals that only one from the Uzumaki clan could come up with, ones that were not only deadly but withstood the test of time as well, they could not enter this place themselves. But you see, Zagreus was their child, albeit reborn as a god and then returned through arbitrary means he could not even begin to explain, so he could. And with a smirk on his face he placed his hand on the seal next to the front gate that stood between him and his rightful home.

The seal activated for a brief second, and then there was a simple click as the gate unlocked itself. Zagreus looked around to see that no one else was around to see him enter, which no one was, and then entered the place before he closed the gate behind him. From there it was a quick dash to the front door and then he opened it up and closed it behind him.

The inside of the place was dusty as all hell, but given no one had lived here for years he understood why. Now while he would have loved to have some sort of memory to warm up to of this place, he had none given this was the first time he had ever set foot in this place in his entire life so there was no means to get that warm feeling. But he was not going to let that stop him. He looked around as he searched for the painting that his mother had told him about in the study, which was fairly large in size. It reminded him of the Scroll room back in the Underworld, just without all the spirits doing paperwork inside it. He found the painting she mentioned eventually, and then took it off the wall. The seal was basically the same as the one outside on the front gate, and just like that one it activated at his touch.

Once again he heard a click as the wall opened up to reveal the hidden staircase his mother told him about. He saw as the lights turned on within the staircase going downwards, and so he descended easily enough. Once at the bottom of the stairs he found himself in a new room that dwarfed the size of the normal study. His mother had told him it would be big, but this was far bigger than he had honestly expected it to be. But like his mother had said, this was the place where she stashed their entire clan's worth of knowledge for safekeeping so others could not sully their memory by using it for disgraceful things.

Zagreus walked towards the center of the room, which he saw was painted with the swirl pattern of his clan, and then summoned up the large scroll his mother had gifted him with. He unrolled it as she instructed him to do and once laid out fully he sat in the dead center of it like she had said to do. Now that he was here, he wondered what this was going to do. His mother had not said what it did, only that 'it would help him' in a vague manner. While he would have loved to be told far more than that, she was his mother and loved him even as he was now so he knew she was not going to try and harm him in some way.

But now he was here, and still nothing happened, which caused him to question things more now than then. But then he chuckled since he just realized the reason why it wasn't working. For the entire time he had been back, he had been using his magical power he had been gifted with from the gods as he passed through the portal back into his own dimension. What this seal needed was the natural energy found in this world, so Zagreus took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He dove deep within himself and sought out the energy he had long since forgotten about, and eventually he found it there, suppressed like a floodgate does to water. So once found, he shattered that barrier, and felt all the energy he had suppressed flood through his body once more. And as it did that, the chakra he now wielded once more started up the seal he was sitting on.

Zagreus was glad he had his eyes closed since the scroll pulsed with a bright flash that would have made Apollo proud to see if he had been here to witness it. Zagreus opened his eyes as he saw a wonderful sight before him. The Uzumaki clan had spent countless generations pouring their hearts and souls into the knowledge hidden away from the world in this room, and it was those remnants of the soul they put into it that he saw begin to swirl around him. One by one they all began to flow into him, bestowing him the mastery of the power they themselves had used, and little by little Zagreus learned the history of his family from the beginning to their ends.

The process took hours, and yet it was so much knowledge being mastered all at once so it was not like it could be rushed any faster than this. When Kushina had made this seal for him, she had at first feared he would not be able to handle so much knowledge given the sheer amount of it was impossible for any one person to learn. But Kami herself had erased her fear by stating that her son was a god like them, albeit not as powerful as they were, and thus was not limited like most mortals were. Kushina had been happy to hear that and was even happier when her son had taken the seal she worked so hard on along with the rest of her clan who made it into the heavens so that he might bring upon the full might of their clan onto any foolish enough to challenge him.

But eventually, the process was done, and Zagreus smiled as he felt the knowledge of his family course through his mind. He had a feeling… no he knew for certain, that it would be helpful in the future. But now that he was done learning all that he could, he got up and began the long task of piling all the scrolls in the room onto the massive one. Apparently it acted not only as a means to learn in mass like he just had, but was also a powerful storage scroll as well. He had not known that when he had unrolled the thing, but after being given the gift of extensive knowledge about seals he was easily able to recognize it. So once all the scrolls in the room were put upon the thing, he sealed them within before he sent the massive scroll away with his magical power this time. It was weird being able to use both, but what was weirder was that he could not use them simultaneously. It was either magic or chakra, end of story.

Now he had promised to destroy this place when he was done, which he still planned to do, but he had to wait until tomorrow anyway since the tournament was then. But then an idea came to his mind. Out of all the things he had, he had retained the various keepsakes that had been gifted to him by the people he came to call his friend over the course of his many escape attempts. One of them was the Evergreen Acorn given to him by Eurydice herself. He felt the power within it wanting to take root, and since he had no need for it anymore, he decided to help it a bit. So he punched a hole into the ground with the use of one of the Twin Fists since there was a lot of stone between him and dirt. Once he uncovered the dirt, he dropped the acorn onto the ground and saw as the second it hit multiple roots sprung forth from within it to pull it further down. Zagreus had no idea as to how long it would take for the tree to fully blossom, but he knew that the sheer size of the thing would fully demolish the house with everything inside being reduced to bits. Plus it wasn't like anyone in the village could stop it even if they wanted to given the fact he alone could enter this place.

But now that he had done that, he walked back up the stairs and made his way towards the master bedroom. There he plopped himself onto the bed, and fell asleep…

(Meanwhile)

For the past 7 years, Jiraiya had been a bit of a wreck. He had seen the village he loved so much fall in a manner he so wished it hadn't under Danzo's rule, but he was not able to do anything about it. But what made the situation worse in his mind was that one of the main things he was meant to do in life had been taken from him.

Don't get your vision of this man twisted, Jiraiya knew fully well who Naruto was and knew exactly what he had been forced to go through. Jiraiya not only knew, but even agreed with his sensei's plan to rid their future weapon of the attitude and willpower he would have inherited from his parents. The plan had to wait until the brat was at a stage where Jiraiya could come into play when he was more vulnerable and solidify a teacher student bond that would have Naruto eating out of his hand, but since Naruto had died when he was 6, those plans had been utterly destroyed.

What made the situation worse was that the Toad Elder had spoken a prophecy about the brat, and Jiraiya was planning to use that knowledge to benefit their village greatly. Yet the moment Naruto passed away, the prophecy just vanished. It wasn't rewritten or anything like that, it just went away entirely. So now here Jiraiya was forced to work for a man he utterly loathed since Danzo was well known to make those who didn't lives a living hell. He had placed Tsunade in the Bingo Book the second he became Hokage officially with the order to bring her back alive. He had plans for her when she eventually was brought back to Konoha, none of which Jiraiya knew what they were. But given she was the last of the Senju Clan… Jiraiya could only guess what those plans entailed… and none of them ended well for her. But she had made her bed when she refused to come back when Jiraiya had literally begged her to so this was on her.

He was just about to head to bed himself since he was going to need to observe the tournament tomorrow. But as he was getting ready to go take a shower to clean up, he was surprisingly reverse summoned to the Toad's home. This surprised him since they didn't do such a thing unless the news was dire, and judging by the mood of the toads in the area, that was exactly what was happening right now.

"What happened," asked Jiraiya to Ma, who appeared along with Pa to greet him.

"It's the Elder," said Pa sadly, "he has died."

"What!" exclaimed Jiraiya in shock that this was the case. The death of the Elder Toad was a major problem since without his visions of the future, things would become a bit harder if there ever came a time where another person was given a prophecy like Naruto had when he was born. This did not bode well for Konoha in the future if there ever came such an event. "How did he die?"

"He suffered a massive heart attack from shock," said Ma.

"What could have shocked him to the point he died of a heart attack?" Asked Jiraiya, who was only more confused the longer he heard this. He didn't even know that frogs or toads could have heart attacks.

"In his final moments, he saw a vision. A very bad one if the look of terror on his face was anything to go on. Then he began to speak a prophecy, one that his assistant was able to write out before the Elder finally croaked."

"A new prophecy?" asked Jiraiya who himself felt faint as the color in his face disappeared. This meant that somewhere out there was a person with a tremendous amount of power to their name. Sure the person themselves might not be the strongest, but their actions would leave such drastic changes upon the world, and Jiraiya had to ensure that whatever happened that Konoha would survive the outcome no matter the cost. "What is it?"

Ma then summoned up a scroll that she then handed to Jiraiya. He looked at it for quite a bit in fear of what he would actually read within the thing. But in the end he finally opened the scroll and read the last words of the Elder that had been written out:

Killed once already, he will not again be easily taken

Returned to the home, one that he has long forsaken

The spawn of one by whose souls all are judged

With an empty heart within, but in it there is the remains of a grudge

Beware the man with the mismatched eyes

For there is no victory against him, no matter who tries

"What does this mean?" asked Jiraiya, who had no words to describe what any of this meant. So much about it didn't make sense, but out of all the words, he was able to understand the warning about the person with mismatched eyes. As far as he had seen or even heard, there was no one with such a characteristic so finding someone with it should prove easy enough. From there he would plan accordingly and see said person's attitude towards Konoha. If the person was hostile, well drastic measures would be taken…

But now that he had this prophecy in hand, he knew that he had to report it to Danzo. While he was loath to do so, this was a situation that would more than likely affect the whole village and that he did care about. So he thanked Ma and Pa before he teleported back home…

Little did he know that the one the Elder Toad tried to warn them about in his final moments was already in their village…

(The Next Day)

Zagreus woke up in the morning fully rested. This was a nice change of pace for him since as long as he could remember he never had a good night's sleep. As Naruto he was always living in fear while either in that shitty orphanage he was abused at or on the streets in the cold. And as Zagreus in the lowest depths of the Underworld, time meant nothing since there was no day or night there so he didn't need sleep and just kept trying to escape the place. It made him wonder why he even had a bedroom if he never needed the thing, but that was a question he was never going to get answered since he had no means to go back to ask his father.

But he got up and wondered what he was going to do for food given he had no money in this world. But before he set out to do that, he went back down to the secret room to see just how much the tree had grown in the night. He was impressed to see that the thing was the size of the room itself, and it seemed like it was just waiting for him to leave to burst out like a weed in the ground. Zagreus simply smiled and whispered for the tree to at least wait a day before it grew fully. He chuckled over the face he was talking to a tree, and even more so that he highly doubted it was listening to his words, but he had seen stranger things in life so who knows?

So with that taken care of, he left his parent's home for the last time, and then left through the front gate. He then began to walk around as he searched for a place to sell some of his gems to get money for food. While he didn't really need to eat, he wanted to given the fact he was on the mortal plane once more so why not sample the food they had here since he could. Sure he had given a large portion of the gems in his possession to the people of Wave to aid them so they could begin the process of rebuilding their home, but he had a literal mountain of the things. He had more than enough to spare.

He tried to think back to what he knew of this village entirely, but even that didn't help given the main things he knew were good hiding places as well as places to go if it was too cold or raining. But eventually he found a place that was owned by a merchant who sold and bought precious stones of all types. Imagine the merchant's face when Zagreus showed him a small bag full of gems the likes that didn't exist in this world. The merchant, being greedy as many were in his line of business, tried to cheat him on the price since he knew he could sell them for much more given their quality as well as their rarity. Zagreus though knew when someone was being greedy and instead swiped the bag back as well as the gems he had put into it. He had done a lot of haggling with the House Contractor back in the Underworld to make renovations, so he knew how to haggle.

The merchant grew pissed since he honestly thought this young man would not fully know the value of the gems he had in his possession given his appearance. Apparently he knew enough to know they were worth more than the merchant was offering. But the merchant asked for him to stop as he placed his hand on the door to leave. The merchant tried to bluff his way out and state that he was willing to pay a bit more for the gems since they were in pristine condition, yet Zagreus still opened the door and left the place. The merchant was pissed about this in the end and called the several men he had under his employ who guarded the place. He ordered them to follow the man and when the perfect opportunity showed itself, for them to rob him and bring him the gems he had. They did as ordered and began to tail Zagreus.

It became apparent that these men were not shinobi nore did they even receive any sort of training from them since their tailing skills were abysmal to say the least. Zagreus didn't even have to try and notice them, but now that he did he smirked since this worked perfectly for him. So when he came to one of the dead end alleys he knew about, he walked into it, all the while knowing the men would follow him like idiots. And low and behold, they appeared and blocked his exit while demanding the gems he had on his person…

It went a long way to show that the merchant hired men who looked tough but had no actual fighting skills given they were easily beaten by him. Just a single punch to the head for all of them and they were out like a light. He then took the time to drag them all back to the merchant himself, the entire way people got out of his way since a man who beat up four people like that was not one to mess with, plus given it was none of their business so they weren't going to get involved.

Zagreus threw the men at the merchant's feet, with said man losing all the color in his face since he knew he screwed up. This time, the merchant paid a large price that nearly bankrupted him for the gems, but given enough time he would make it back and more with them. Zagreus was happy, and with his newfound wealth he went out to find a place to eat. He wondered just where to start this journey of the culinary arts, and he decided to start off small and went to a ramen stand he saw in the distance. There he ordered a bowl of ramen, and he had to admit it was delicious. He then kept ordering more and more of the stuff, all the while unknowing that his stomach was basically absorbing everything the second it entered so that he was never full. It took about an hour, but the stand ran out of ingredients to make more, and so Zagreus could not eat anymore. The bill for the food was large given he had eaten an entire day's worth of product, yet he had more than enough money to pay the check and did so easily.

Once he was done eating, a bit upset that he felt like all that was pointless given he didn't feel like he had eaten anything and was the same as he was before, he continued onwards to find something to entertain himself until the tournament took place. He wasn't going to participate himself, but he was curious as to how the village was doing in strength since he had last been here.

While he was walking around aimlessly, he did eventually see something that caught his attention. He saw a young woman being yelled at by someone who appeared to be even younger than her. While Zagreus was just going to keep going since this was not his problem, he took one look at the young woman getting yelled at and immediately recognized her as the girl who had buried his body. This changed everything since he made a promise to pay her back for her kindness, and right now it seemed like she needed the help.

"Damn it Hinata," growled said woman's younger sister Hanabi, "can't you do anything right!"
What had happened was that Hanabi was forcing Hinata to be her courier for the day and was carrying fruits Hanabi wanted since the best produce was sold earlier in the day. Hinata had slightly tripped due to a small crack in the road and one of the fruit had fallen out the top of the bag itself. Hanabi was the type of person who exploded at the smallest thing, case in point…

Hinata couldn't meet her eyes as she looked down towards the ground and then knelt down to pick the fruit up. It was still good, it just had to be washed like they would have been anyways. But the second she went down to pick it up, Hanabi slammed her foot onto the back of Hinata's head forcing it onto the ground. Hinata cried in pain since it hurt a lot, with the blood flowing from her forehead to prove it.

"Now apologize you pathetic excuse for a human being!" demanded Hanabi with a sick smirk on her face as she did.

"I'm sorry Hanabi," said Hinata weakly, but then she began to scream in pain as she felt her Cage Bird Seal she had placed on her about a month ago activate. The elders of her clan had been pressuring her father for years to try and get him to seal her like this, and eventually he did so after he made his two daughter's fight. Hinata had always held back when it came to fighting family, but they didn't feel the same and Hanabi used that knowledge to her advantage. She beat her sister into the ground and watched with sick glee as she was then sealed on the spot. No one, not even her own father had pitied her that day. So now here she was, no more than the slave to her sadistic sister who had essentially tortured her for the past month, but had grown easily tired of it and just wanted her sister to die. She looked at Hinata and saw weakness, and in her mind you were only as strong as your weakest so she had to be eliminated if their clan as a whole was ever going to get stronger.

"No!" shouted Hanabi in anger, "Do it the way I told you to do it!"

"I'm sorry Mistress," said Hinata painfully, but as she did as Hanabi wanted she felt the seal stop hurting her. But then Hanabi kicked her hard in the gut.

"That's more like it," said Hanabi as she then spit on Hinata's face. "Look at you now. Pathetic. I swear I would sell you to the next person who offered up a good price if I could. Maybe I'll whore you out to Kiba, since that mutt has just been dying to get a piece of you for years."

"I couldn't help but overhear that you were willing to sell this slave of yours if the price was right," said Zagreus as he made himself known. It had taken him a bit to learn this since the Shinigami had never told him, but the cloak Yami had made for him had the power of making him unseen by those who weren't looking for him directly. This way he could pass by through crowds without anyone paying attention to him like he was a shadow or a ghost of some sort. This worked well for situations like this.

"Yeah," said Hanabi as she saw a strange man come out of nowhere, "And what if I did?"

"Well I would say that I was interested in purchasing her from you," said Zagreus, "since apparently you are having quite a bit of trouble with her."

"Look here mister," said Hanabi in a snobbish tone of voice. The elders had trained her well to be this way. "Even if I was serious about selling her, there is no possible way you would have the amount I would..."

Zagreus rolled his eyes as he heard her say this, since twice in one day he met someone greedy as sin. While he would have just knocked her out in a manner to let her captive escape, he was trying to keep a somewhat low profile here. Beating up four civilian men wasn't that big of a deal since they weren't shinobi and so people didn't look his way. This young woman was clearly a kunoichi so attacking her would end badly, and while he would be fine given his immortality he wasn't so sure Hinata, whose name he had heard, would survive intact. So he summoned up a diamond, which while massive in size like the others were in his possession. This one was the smallest one the size of his fist, while the others were the size of his body.

"I… how…" was all Hanabi was able to say as she stared at the priceless gem with such greed in her eyes.

"I came across this in my travels," said Zagreus with a shrug of his shoulders, "and for the longest while I had no idea what to do with it. But I saw your slave there and thought to myself that I could use one on my way back home far to the West past the borders that make up the Elemental Countries."

"You are from the West?" asked Hanabi with a raised eyebrow. As far as she was aware, no one further than Iwa ever came out this way. She wasn't sure why that was, but it wasn't like there was no one else out that way.

"Indeed I am," said Zagreus, who while his words weren't exactly true, he was not from here in a manner of speaking, "so do we have a deal?"

Hanabi looked from the diamond in Zagreus's hand and Hinata, who was still on the ground in pain. She then smirked since this was perfect. She could sell her sister for far more money then whoring her out to Kiba would have ever gotten her, and since this man was not from around here he would have no idea as to what the Cage Bird Seal was. She would wait a few days until the man was out of the village, and then activate it so that Hinata was killed by the Kill Switch and be done with her. If this man were to come back, well he would be out of luck given he was just one man while they were a clan. Plus if he had this large diamond on him, he might have more so they could then take everything from him if he came back.

"Deal," said Hanabi as she held out her hand. Zagreus placed the priceless gem in her hand, which she had to admit was heavy. She knew her gemstones, and this one was of a purity the likes she had never seen. She used her Clan's signature eyes to see if there was any impurities or worse yet if it was a fake Cubic Zirconia, but it wasn't. "Pleasure doing business with you. Goodbye Hinata, you worthless bitch." Hanabi then left to go home to tell their father about the trade she had made with this strange man.

"Are you okay?" asked Zagreus as he held out his hand to help Hinata to her feet. He saw that she was hesitant to even look up towards him, and it angered him to see her like this. What had her family done to shatter her self esteem to the point she couldn't even look up like this. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

Eventually, though very slowly, Hinata was finally able to meet his gaze. When Hanabi had slammed her head into the ground, her headband had gotten loose so it was still on the ground now. So Zagreus was able to see the seal that she was hiding underneath it perfectly. Yet that wasn't what he was noticing right now, since what he noticed was the tears coming from her eyes.

And if that wasn't enough, Zagreus had a vision now of all times. He saw this woman support him as he overcame many obstacles in life. He saw as she took a blade for him as he defended this place from a powerful enemy that nearly destroyed everything. He heard her exclaim her love for him, and then the vision fast forwarded to the two of them together with two children. One boy, the other a girl. It was there that the vision stopped. And he couldn't help but look at Hinata with more of a face that showed he was sorry for the pain she had gone through.

"Everything will be alright," said Zagreus as he placed a hand on her head in a gentle manner in an attempt to get her to stop crying, "she can't hurt you anymore."

"They are going to kill me," said Hinata weakly, but Zagreus still heard her loud and clear.

"What?" asked Zagreus as he looked her in the face, only to see her face now full of fear to go along with the tears.

"My clan will activate my seal and kill me," said Hinata plainly. Apparently the fear made it impossible for her to convey emotions right now.

Zagreus just then noticed the seal on her head, which made him mentally slap himself since it was hard to believe that was even the case. It was a fairly big seal on her forehead, but as he saw it, the knowledge of the past came to him via one of his clan's ancestors. He remembered the Hyuga Clan, a clan that had special eyes capable of unique abilities, coming to them and asking for a seal to protect them from those who would try and steal their eyes for themselves. The seal then was different than the one he saw now, but the base was still there, it was just the usage that had been altered to become this abomination of a seal that apparently they used to enslave their own family.

Zagreus sighed as he placed his hand on her head, and for some reason she felt a feeling of calm come to her out of nowhere. She felt a strange sensation as she saw his hand glow for a bit before he retracted his hand. His ancestor had thought far ahead when he had made this seal before it was changed like this. The base was solid as well as essential to make the seal work. That was the way he made it on purpose so if ever came a day where this exact situation happened and the seal was altered for some nefarious purpose, it could be countered if need be. The reason that the counter was never discovered or used was that the Uzumaki had died years ago and never learned about the changes made to the initial design. But Zagreus now knew and he used that knowledge to break Hinata free from her shackles.

"Not anymore they won't," said Zagreus with a chuckle. Hinata's eyes opened wide as she heard this and needed to see for herself that he spoke the truth. Luckily for her, there was a reflective pool of water on the ground near her that she was able to see with her own eyes that the bane of her existence was gone. The tears began to flow once more, but this time they weren't of sadness, but joy over the fact she was now free. It was only then that her mind cleared up enough to think more on the subject of just why this stranger had helped her in the first place, and she was not really liking some of the reasons that went through her mind.

"Why did you help me?" asked Hinata, who was still so shocked that someone had broken her free of the Cage Bird Seal, which she had thought impossible as all other members of the Branch Family did, "Who are you?"

"I helped you to simply repay a debt that I owed you," said Zagreus as he walked by her towards the arena, but not before tossing her a stack of money to help her out a bit. "nothing more. Now you can leave this place that saw you suffer like you did and did nothing to help you in the slightest. Find a new home, one where you won't be enslaved by your family like you were."

"But I don't know who you are, so how do you owe me anything?"

Zagreus stopped in his tracks as she said that, but he didn't turn around. He did turn his head so she could see at least one of his eyes, but nothing more. In another life, he would have remained by her side to love and care for her, but as things were now it would never work out. She was a good person stuck in a shitty situation like he himself was before he was murdered, so if she continued to remain good at heart she would ascend to the Heavens upon her death. He was a man born of the Underworld, and even though it was from another world, there was no way for him to do the same, not if Yami the god in charge of Hell itself had any say on the matter. It wasn't a bad thing in his book either since he would thrive in the Underworld of this dimension, it was just a matter of learning the layabout of the land really.

"You were the kindest person to me in this entire forsaken village," said Zagreus with a smile, "so much so that you were the only one who cared enough to bury my body all those years ago."

His response stunned Hinata, since that was not what she had expected to hear, yet before she could say anything else Zagreus had continued walking towards the arena since it was getting close to the time when the tournament would begin. Hinata could only stand there as one final tear fell from her eye…

"Naruto…" was all she said before she turned around and took off towards the wall. He had been right to say that anywhere was better than being enslaved like she was by her own family. She would set out into the world and make a new better life for herself in time, and she had Zagreus to thank for that chance…

(A/N: For any/all people who will question why I had Zagreus, a Greek God, go through the whole scenario of learning his former clan's seals and abilities, well the answer to that is easy to explain. Zagreus is strong, this is apparent over the fact he literally fights entire armies single handedly time and time again in his attempt to escape, but while he might have the strength, perseverance, and willpower that his Godhood has gifted him, he sorely lacks in other things altogether. One major thing Zagreus lacks in the game is consistent magical power. He is limited by the amount of Blood Shards he has on his person, but even then his magic is affected by which God's Boon he has selected to enhance it since otherwise he just throws the shard like a Shinobi does a kunai. This way he has access to the elements without having to call on the aid of the Gods who he has no means to reach anymore. He might call their names to activate the various forms of his Infernal Arms, but it is not the gods themselves that change the weapon.

Plus on a side note to another thing he sorely lacks, Zagreus is slow. In terms any MMO player can understand, he is a tank. He has strength as well as literal godlike defense but his speed is no better than any mortal athlete. Sure he can dash faster than humanly possible in the game, but not only is it limited in use before he has to wait to use it again, it also has a short range as well so it is not ideal against Shinobi who are far superior to him in speed. True he is immortal, and as such he can't be killed, but I had to find a means to bridge that gap between him and his opponents for the future. With the knowledge of seasoned Shinobi as well as kunoichi from a clan from one of the most powerful Clans in the series, that bridge has been not only crossed, but overcome entirely. So until next chapter!)