Chapter 1: A Fresh Start
Naruto slowly open his eyes in the dim room. He was back on the bed and the lights were off this time. He saw that the outside was still dark. 'A few hours must have passed since I was chased, may be even days.' Naruto thought frowning. He didn't understand any of this. The treatment, the chase, his death...
Naruto eye's snapped upon his realization. He had died. He was sure of this, there was no mistake, he was sure that he had died. Multiple questions flew into his head like an endless storm. What happened after he died? Where was he now? When did he die? Who had saved him? Why was he saved? How did him, or they save him?
Who, what, when, where, why, and how. Something six words all too familiar to Naruto. As his eyes got adjusted to the dark Naruto was able to see the door. He rushed to it and quickly opened the door.
What greeted him on the other side was the man, the same man that Naruto first saw when he had woke up before, the same man with the scars. His face was covered in a mask this time, and he wore the same black robes that seemed as dark as the night sky and that seemed burnt around the ankles. Naruto backed up from the door slowly with his eyes widened in fear. He feel to his bottom, but he continued to crawl backwards into the table.
He brought his knees up to his face hiding it and covered the back of his head with his hand closing his eyes. He felt like he was in some bad horror movie and this was the part where he had to die. He made a small yell of help and kept quiet.. However he felt nothing, not a touch, a push, or anything for that matter.
He slowly got out from his position and saw the man handing him a bowl of rice and chopsticks. Naruto noticed that he was hungry; he hadn't eaten for hours, maybe even took the bowl and quickly ate the bowl of rice.
"Seems like your fine." The man in the masked said. Naruto put the bowl down and looked at him, still a little frightened but not as frightened as before. There was something about him, maybe it was the tone of his voice or his mask hiding the scary scars, but something had made the man seem less like a monster, and more of a human.
"The name's Nero, by the way. How about you? Do you have a name?" Nero asked Naruto holding out his hand. Naruto nodded.
"The name's Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto managed to say as he grabbed and shook Nero's hand. Nero smiled underneath his mask, or so Naruto thought. They both slowly got up. Nero got a chair to sit on, while Naruto sat on the bed.
There was a moment of silent between the two. Nero tried to start a conversation by decided against it multiple times. Naruto broke the silence between the two, "Why did you save me?" He said.
"Well for two reasons really. First, you weren't meant to die yet, well not today that is, and I need an apprentice, and you have something special that makes you the perfect candidate." Nero said looking straight into his eyes.
'Apprentice? Did he just said he wanted me to be his apprentice!?' Naruto thought. He couldn't believe it, if what he was saying was true this was probably going to be the best moment of his life. It made him feel special, almost. He still had a lot of questions before he could act excited. "Where are we right now?" Naruto asked.
"We're in my house, well my landlord's house. I just live here while I pay him." Nero asked. The answer was reasonable, he did have a long time to find a chair and if this was his house it wouldn't be much of a problem.
"What are you?" Naruto asked. This question was important, if he was going to be his apprentice that would mean being his successor, and he needed to know what he was going to be taught before he agreed to be the apprentice.
"What am I eh? Well I have many names, some often mistaken for brother's persona, but if I have to summarize it then it would, a grim reaper. One who takes souls and release them to the afterlife." Nero said. Naruto eyes widened. He was a grim reaper? No wonder the man had countless scars. The bodies of ninjas where not limited. Each one of them would probably put up a fight just to live longer, even if it was for a second longer.
"Is that where the scars come from?" Naruto asked. Nero just slowly nodded his head as another awkward silence was yet again cast upon them. "So do reapers live forever?" Naruto asked again.
Nero chuckled. "No we don't. Our lives are just the same a normal human being. We just have the blessing from the gods to not fall in the line of battle until out duties our over." Nero said looking up. Naruto looked up, from what Nero had said, there was a god; maybe this was god's present to Naruto at long last.
"Is being a reaper... a sad job to do?" Naruto asked with sadness in his voice. Nero looked at him and smiled under his mask.
"It's hard yes, especially when it's the good kind hearted people who die. But we grim reapers have different opinion about it; to me this job shows me how important I am in keeping the balance." Nero said. Naruto looked at him with a confused look. Nero took off his mask showing his scarred face, but it had a look full of life. "If grim reapers weren't around then the world would be unbalanced. Materials and other needs would be gone, there would be too many people in the world, and the world would be destroyed. But with grim reapers we let the world live longer by making more room for people to enjoy in, by letting it grow the things we need to live. That's my opinion any ways." Nero said with a smile on his face.
Naruto just nodded at his soon to be sensei. 'Being a grim reaper is like being a super hero, almost?' Naruto thought. "Is their more than one grim reaper?" Naruto asked, he probably knew the answer to it, but it wouldn't hurt if he had asked. Would it?
Nero looked at and nodded. "There are hundreds reapers in this world, there some in the demon world too, each with their own apprentice." Nero said looking at Naruto with wide eyes, which widen Naruto eyes. Naruto just mouthed the world 'hundreds' and stared at Nero blankly. Nero couldn't help but chuckled at the young child. "So, you want to be my apprentice?" Nero asked.
"Do you even need to ask?" Naruto said with a fox like grin that looked like it had reached his ears. Nero just smiled and put his mask back on.
"Then I guess this a fresh new start for you. Think of it like being born again, except without all the screaming." Nero said, "I just need to talk to my landlord about you staying in this house, and then we can start our training." Nero walked over to the door and looked back at the smiling Naruto. He smiled again and went outside of the closing it behind him. One job was done.
"So how's the kid." Nero heard a voice from behind. Nero waved at him.
"Sup you bastard of a landlord." Nero said with a chuckle. His land just chuckled back at him though there was killer intent coming out of the chuckle. Nero flinched but quickly came to his senses. If his landlord has one really good talent, it would be his killing intent, a killing intent that it could match a demon.
His landlord was pale and tall with long black hair. He could easily be mistaken for a girl due to his weird ways, but he wasn't called like a girl as much as Nero had thought. "So, has he accepted you as his sensei yet?" His landlord said crossing his arms. Nero nodded his head, the landlord just sighed.
"Damn, another stupid mouth to feed." His landlord mumbled under his breath. Nero laughed a heart filled laugh.
"Don't worry, I'll pay double. What do you want this time, dead bodies or money, Orochimaru?" Nero asked not facing the paled man. His landlord Orochimaru just smirked and looked at him with as if he was looking at a god or idol he loved.
"Money would be fine my dear friend. I have no need for the bodies you collect, those are just bonuses." Orochimaru said laughing. Nero just nodded and went to his room to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
To Be Continued...
Just so you know, this is not a Naruto becomes evil and destroys the village story. It's just a nicer Orochimaru who is still insane and sadistic. He still will do his experiment, don't worry, but won't try to destroy the village. Also Orochimaru doesn't switch bodies in my story.