Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
Spirit of the Guardian Ninja
Chapter 5: The Dark Summoner
A pale hand slid across the front of the corpse's face, shutting her eyes in the motion.
"And thus another summoner falls…," Orochimaru hissed, pleased.
"Lord Orochimaru…" a young man approached from behind, "Three summoners have fallen in this attack."
"Good, Kabuto…," Orochimaru's eyes narrowed into snakelike slits.
Kabuto adjusted his glasses before walking over to Orochimaru's side. His silvery hair reflected the faint rays of sunlight escaping from the clouds.
"We must destroy all of the summoners…"
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru…then you will have complete control over sin," Kabuto answered, "but aren't you going to destroy the fayth too?"
"Do you doubt my intelligence?" Orchimaru shot Kabuto a poisonous glance, "The fayth are incapable of being destroyed, as demonstrated with your village temple…"
Kabuto nodded, remembering sin's attack on the hidden village of sound. The people of course, who had allied with the dark summoner, had fled the village long before the attack was made. The destruction of the village and its temple were just a test of sin's power. The fayth, while having no temple surrounding it, had not fallen.
"We will leave the temple standing, to lure the summoners," the summoner turned to his one guardian, "and when they come to receive the aeon, we attack…"
Orochimaru turned to look at his work. The village was completely destroyed, not a house remained. There was an eerie silence that replaced what used to be sounds of a prosperous, bustling town. The huge snakelike creature looked to its master for approval. Dark green scales shielded the beast from harm, and its slit translucent eyes reflected the havoc that it had caused. Sin had taken the form of this frightening snake creature.
"Come," Orochimaru commanded, "we have more business to attend to."
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It was just as Jiraya had said. The village hidden in the mist had been desolated. Nothing had been left standing. The group lay hidden in the forestry surrounding the remains of the village so that they would not be discovered. They caught a glimpse of the back of the snakelike sin as it headed off in the direction of its summoner.
"A snake?" Sakura whispered, "Sin is a snake?"
"This could mean…" Kakashi stared into the ashes of the village, "That snake, Orochimaru summoned sin...".
"Naruto, are you alright?" Rin turned to her young guardian, who was on his knees.
Naruto grasped his blonde locks, and fell to the ground. His eyes turned a deep shade of crimson red as he moaned in agony.
"Naruto!" Sakura ran over to him, "What's wrong?"
"I-I don't know…"Naruto groaned, "I can't help it…"
Slowly Naruto regained his composure, his eyes back to their regular shade of blue. He had somehow felt drawn to sin, but didn't know why or how. The demon sealed within him seemed to react to sin's presence. He was partially glad that he wasn't the monster itself, as his dreams had begun to make him believe. It was reassuring to actually see sin.
'What was that all about…?' Naruto wondered as he slowly rose to his feet.
"You're alright now, Naruto?" Kakashi asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I should send them," Rin told her guardians, as she pushed her way through the brush.
"Send them?" Naruto followed her into the village.
"Yes, to the afterlife," Rin answered.
She began to raise her arms and perform a kind of graceful dance. It was lovely, but at the same time frightening. Her light red kimono glided through the air as she spun around. Everywhere the group looked they could see the spirits of the departed raising into the heavens to leave their once earthly life. Naruto never wanted to see this dance again, he didn't like it. The sending meant that many people had died.
Naruto clenched his fists as Rin was finishing her dance, "I never want this to happen again…"
"The sending is important…"Kakashi approached his student, "It leads the dead to the afterlife."
"I don't want sin destroying anymore places!" Naruto cried, "We have to get Rin to destroy sin as fast as we can!"
"It's not that easy!" Sakura argued.
Rin intervened before the two began to argue, "Let's go to the temple, perhaps it was not destroyed in the attack."
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Much to Rin's delight, the temple was left standing, just as she remembered it before leaving. A light mist blanketed the ground as they tread up to the large wooden doors. While being rather small, the temple was a magnificent, embellished structure. The triangular roof shone a bright cerulean shade, and the brass handles to the polished mahogany doors looked as though they were brand new.
An elderly woman with beady eyes opened the door to greet them. She embraced Rin as if she were her own daughter.
"Rin, I'm so glad to see you made it here safe!"
"Thank you, Hiromi," Rin smiled, "I'm also glad that you were not attacked."
"Yes, we were all so frightened that sin was so near to us…we thought for sure that is would attack-but that's all past us now-come in, come in!"
"These are my guardians." Rin announced as they made their way through the doors, "Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi."
"Ah!" Hiromi rushed over to each of them at their introduction, "Handsome, a beautiful warrior, and a cutie…" Hiromi pinched Naruto's cheek tenderly.
Kakashi and Sakura were left a bit dumbfounded at the compliments. Sakura turned a few shades pinker, while Kakashi just smiled politely, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck.
"Hey!" Naruto made a pouting face.
Rin laughed, "There's more to them beyond their looks…"
"Yes, of course there is," Hiromi grinned, "Please, make yourself at home while you're here."
"Stupid old woman…" Naruto muttered.
"Who is your first aeon going to be?" Sakura turned to Rin.
"My first aeon will be my friend, Yuzuyu," Rin replied, in a saddened tone, "She left as a summoner a year ago…and was caught in sin's attack far before she was ready…I'm sure she will agree to fight it along side me."
"Alright then, let's go!" Naruto charged up the stairs to the fayth's room.
"You can't go in Naruto!" Sakura scolded him, "Only a summoner can meet the fayth!"
"Sorry Naruto." Rin apologized as the door shut tightly behind her.
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a/n: ok then, review and tell me what you think so far -