Chapter 2 - 10 Years Later
Sarutobi Hiruzen the Sandaime of Konoha listened wearily to another Anbu's report on the daily life of Konoha's jinchuuriki Naruto Uzumaki. He listened as the Anbu spoke of the hatred and the KI the way he was kicked out of every shop and store, the villagers and few ninja that would actually attack him or try and throw things at him. Sarutobi listened and felt like crying at the utter failure his law had had in trying to improve the life of one Naruto Uzumaki. He dismissed the Anbu and took out his crystal ball to make sure that Naruto would be safe for the night. The ball glowed then turned bright white, he stared at it confused for a minute before he saw something that almost made his heart stop. Something bright red was slowly filling the surface of the crystal ball.
Less than 10 seconds later he had Anbu scattering all over the village looking for his surrogate grandson. He himself was dressed in his war uniform and was almost leaking KI, he swore too himself that if Naruto was dead then everybody who helped do it would join him.
10 Minutes Earlier
Naruto ran faster than he ever had before knowing that if he was caught then he was going to die. Being chased and attacked wasn't anything new to him, after all it had been happening for the last eight years but this time they weren't out for satisfaction they were out for blood.
He was sprinting down the main street of Konoha travelling much faster than he usually could; lately he had been feeling strange when people would attack him and sometimes something invisible would block projectiles that were about to hit him. The whispers in his mind and the flashes of two strange figures accompanied these bursts. Now it seemed that something had seemed to gather behind him propelling him forward.
"Duck now!"
He instinctively ducked and literally felt the shuriken that had been thrown at him touch his hair.
"Go left"
He changed direction instantly darting down a nearby alley and avoiding the other half of the mob that had been waiting to ambush him as he rounded the next corner. He had been listening to these whispers ever since they had first appeared and they had never let him down.
One of the two mostly spoke when he was feeling very emotional either calming him or soothing him. That one had a voice that was as calming as watching a still pond or small river, her words flowed softly and melodiously. When her anger was peaked however visions of storms often appeared in his mind. The other never spoke in full sentences but rather communicated with single words, thoughts or images. He could grasp what she wanted to say with just one word. She mostly helped him during his escapes as she always knew where his pursuers were. He trusted her with his life which was why he was not worried when the alley was blocked off by an enormous stone wall that separated one street from another.
He heard jeers from behind him as the mob saw that their prey was trapped, still he kept on running full pelt at the wall feeling the wind begin to gather behind him.
"Jump"
He leapt jumping over the 10 foot wall like it was nothing; he used his hand to propel himself further over the wall and landed lightly on the other side. He looked down and around him and saw something shimmering around him as he stood there. It moulded around him and was barely visible to him but he knew it was there. Sometimes it was a colourless blur as it whipped around him.
He placed the palm of his hand against the concrete wall and watched as it disintegrated at his touch the thing surrounding him shredding it to pieces.
"The Wind?" he whispered in awe as the voice in his head grew louder as it repeated something over and over that he couldn't quite seem to hear. It was like trying to find something in the middle of a deep mist. The word was on the tip of his tongue when the other voice chipped in and shouted a warning.
He leapt up narrowly avoiding the hands that had shot up from the earth trying to catch his feet. His jump had been strengthened by the wind meaning he landed on the nearest roof, only to jump again to avoid a wave of projectiles that were thrown at him haphazardly. He ducked slid and dodged sometimes in mid air to avoid the kunai and shuriken. Any that looked to be on target were thrown off their trajectory by the wind which snapped at them like a whip.
Eventually he found himself being herded into the far corner of the village far away from any prying eyes. The only noise was that of the small river that ran through the entire of Konoha exiting through the abandoned district that was where the Kyuubi had struck. Nothing grew there anymore leaving only a path of death that reminded everyone of the Kyuubi's evil.
A shout from above and from his mind alerted him to the enormous fireball that had just been released at him from the top of the outer wall. Simultaneously other fireballs were released from all around him making escape impossible. He fell towards the river with fire shooting at him from every direction. He covered his face with his arms and waited for the impact, this time the wind armour would be more of a hindrance than a help as it would only strengthen the flames.
He waited for the pain and was surprised when it didn't come; he felt his feet touch solid ground and quickly looked around. What he saw made him stumble backwards in shock.
The river had risen around him as it flowed allowing him to stand on it's earthy bed as it formed a huge bubble around him that had blocked every fireball leaving only faint traces of steam.
This time the other voice came forward coaxing him towards the name that still eluded him, it was once again on the tip of his tongue when the loud sounds of something crackling broke his concentration and he whirled around the world seeming to slow to a crawl. He could actually see the source of the noise now. The man was wearing a mask that covered his entire face and his clothes were all black and had no distinguishing attributes. His eyes showed however and they burned with hatred and a flicker of madness.
Naruto's blood ran cold as he realised what the clothing and mask meant, the man was not planning on beating him he was planning on killing him without any evidence being left behind to pin the crime on him.
His panic increased and he closed his eyes begging for somebody to help him, no matter what he tried to convince himself sometimes he had never wanted to die.
A massive pulse of the strange energy he sometimes felt exploded out of him and left him feeling lighter in some way. He waited for the pain that he was sure was about to come and tried to prepare himself for death. He had seen the visible chakra in the man's hand and he knew instinctively that if that hit him he would die.
The pain didn't come however so he slowly opened his eyes to see what he was sure would be the assassin glaring at him. Instead he saw the assassin standing frozen at the same distance away from him that he had been at least 30 seconds ago.
One of the voices started whispering again and the vague shape of a humanoid shadow appeared next to the assassin shimmered as the voice echoed loudly and pleadingly. It was one word that the figure was repeating again and again but he just couldn't hear properly.
It suddenly seemed extremely important that he hear that name clearly so he fought the fear that was rising within him fiercely focusing all of his attention on the voice which grew clearer and clearer even as the surrounding area faded into a grey dull colour and started to vanish at the edges of his vision.
S... The edges of his vision frayed and began to go out of focus
Su... Everything started to lose its colour and go into a dull grey
Sui... He could no longer see faces of the people surrounding him
Suij.. It was like he had tunnel vision on the area where the assassin and figure were standing
Suiji. The assassin vanished and the figure came fully into focus. Darkness began to consume him and he felt himself teetering on the edge of something huge
SUIJIN He could almost feel the drop below him now, all he had to do was say the name and he would fall and everything he knew and believed would change. It would affect the rest of his life vastly and permanently. For one instant he shied away from this option and almost turned away forfeiting this part of him forever leaving himself incomplete.
Then he looked at the newly revealed woman that had been a part of him for as long as he could remember. The second voice that he now connected with the wind had only started talking to him recently and could still only get through with monosyllables. But Suijin, she had been with him since he was a child helping him when the villagers nearly tore him apart with their cruelty. She had been his rock first being his mother, then his older sister and now his protector. How could he deny her?
"Suijin" He whispered
He fell forwards the darkness rushing up to met him as his vision faded. The only thing that he could now hear was Suijin's voice along with the whistling sound he knew was the other voice that he couldn't fully hear yet.
"Thank you"
Two words were all that she said but the feelings of happiness and thankfulness almost overwhelmed him as he continued to fall faster and faster. He could feel something heavy and clumsy being pulled out of him as if it couldn't follow him where he was falling too. He forced his eyes down and stared at the numerous lines of dark blue energy streaming out of his body. They grew larger and larger as if an entire body was being fully forced out of him at some times the energy was so thick that he thought it was trying to pull him out of the fall. As the energy seemed to begin to run out pain ran through him in waves, it was beyond anything he had ever felt before or ever wanted to experience again. It was as if he was feeling every cell in his body die one by one.
The pain increased to the point that he couldn't even see through it or think of anything else. There was nothing but pain and agony, he was drowning in it unable to free himself. He could now appreciate something he had heard when visiting the Hokage about people going mad from too much pain and a certain threshold that if they passed that point then their minds never recovered. At the time he had thought that they must have been exaggerating because of his own experiences with pain, now however he understood a little too well the phrase mind shattering pain.
Already his mind was splitting from the strain and he could barely manage conscious thought anymore. It would be so easy to just give up and hide away from the unbearable agony, let his mind fall and take away the pain. He was almost at that point when for some reason his mind dredged up every memory he had of the people of Konoha mistreating him and telling him he should die and leave them in peace.
Strangely enough the memories of the beatings and death threats only served to strengthen his resolve. The resentment he had bottled up all of his life exploded outwards forcing the pain back and away from him. He would not under any circumstances allow them to win, he was a survivor and he was fucking going to show them that strength right now.
There was an enormous explosion shook him to his core. Something tore out of his back and shot back up to the surface taking with it the pain and heaviness.
Immediately the darkness melted away as did the feeling of falling, he was suddenly standing on a sandy beach with a clear blue sea shifting to his right.
"It's nice to finally meet you face to face Naruto. I am sorry about the pain you just had to endure but I was unaware that the extraction would prove so difficult."A familiar voice came from behind him. He turned and saw what must be one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on. She was wearing a blue dress that hugged her curves perfectly and her bright green eyes contrasted well with her long blue hair that framed her face. She wore no shoes and her skin looked like it was glowing in the sun, she had no blemishes and looked like a goddess or something out of a fairytale.
"You're beautiful" he gasped then blushed red as she laughed softly her eyes gleaming with mirth.
"Why thank you"she said moving closer to him and kneeling down in front of him and looking deep into his eyes as if searching for something. He stepped back quickly although every instinct he had was telling him to trust her. He wanted proof that this wasn't some elaborate illusion before he would let his guard down. As if reading his mind she answered his unspoken question.
"Very well then I shall give you proof. I have been with you since you were born but the first time you heard my voice was when you were just three years old. You had just been kicked out of the orphanage after being beaten by the landlady; you were lying in the gutter crying. I calmed you down by singing to you and the first thing I said afterwards was."
"I shall use all my power to make sure you will never be hurt again." Naruto finished softly with a tear rolling down his cheek. "Thank you, without your voice I would have gone insane a long time ago."
She smiled her brilliant smile at him and walked towards him giving him a hug that was filled with love and devotion.
"I failed in my pledge" she whispered to him sorrowfully "You have been hurt numerous times and I have been powerless to stop it. And now you are here because of my final failure, the attack from the assassin will kill you if it connects and I failed to notice it because of my selfish need for you to know my name."
"Suijin" he whispered to her tightening his hug "You have nothing to be sorry for. I don't know what you are but I do know that you have saved me in the way I truly needed. You saved me from my loneliness and let me know that somebody cared about me. And that is something that I may never manage to repay you for."
Suijin didn't show it but she was deeply affected by his words. She had had feelings for him that far surpassed the usual bond that usually happened between her kind and their hosts. She had subconsciously taken over as Naruto's mother or protector since the first time she had been able to reach him.
"Thank you Naruto."She said to him before pulling herself together. "Now as you may have figured out you are not like the other people in your village. In fact you are the only person left in the Elemental Countries that has these abilities. You see the abilities you possess are ones that can to a certain extent control life and death. They are an extension of the true Shinigami's powers and can only be given by him personally unless the power has been given to a world as a whole. I am a Zanpakuto spirit which is the weapon that all Shinigami use to fight with. Zanpakuto are sentient spirits that are a part of their wielders soul and contain enormous power that they can give to their wielders in a time of crisis as long as they have a strong connection and bond like we do."
"So" Naruto started struggling for the right words "Does that mean that you came from me, my soul and powers." He wasn't sure if he liked that thought.
Suijin shook her head "All other Zanpakuto are like that, they are a piece of their wielders soul made sentient and given control over their wielders power. I'm different, I had a life before I became a Zanpakuto this has made some severe changes in our relationship but we don't have to go into that now. All you need to know is that I was in a lot of trouble and the Shinigami saved me by bonding me to you as your Zanpakuto."Naruto looked up as he heard that did that mean that Suijin was forced to be bonded with him and really didn't want to. Maybe she already had a family before she got stuck with him and was just acting like she was happy.
"I'm sorry you got stuck with me Suijin" He said sadly "I'm sure there is a way that you can get your life back again before you were attached to me."
Suijin looked shocked and sad but that quickly turned to a face of understanding, she crouched down until her face was level with Naruto's before saying in a firm tone that couldn't be ignored.
"Naruto if you say something as stupid as that again I promise I will fill your head with sea water until you turn old and grey have you got that? I wouldn't change what happened for anything, my life before this wasn't good and I don't have any regrets about being bonded to you. I love you like a son Naruto and I am perfectly happy to stay here bonded with you until the end of time."
Naruto collapsed into Suijin's arms with relief; he wormed his way into Suijin's warm embrace and stayed there for a few minutes soaking in the unfamiliar feeling of hugging someone lovingly instead of any contact he received being a punch or slap in anger.
After a while Suijin withdrew with a reluctant sigh "I'm sorry Naruto but there is not enough time for us to talk about everything now, time moves slower in this place but I'm not strong enough by myself to slow it enough for you to spend a great length of time here. You need to unlock your powers and leave before the assassin reaches you and we don't have a lot of time."
"Okay" Naruto replied drying his damp eyes quickly before looking up with a determined look on his face. "Tell me what to do."
Suijin smiled and pointed at the ocean that stretched out as far as the eye could see "On the ocean floor there are numerous swords stuck into the earth. To start being able to draw upon my power in large quantities you have to find the sword that embodies my power. All of the others are fakes nothing but weak imitations but they look exactly the same. You need to find the right sword before the assassin's attack reaches you or else we will all die. Do you understand?"
Naruto didn't even bother replying instead giving a quick nod before sprinting into the water and diving down to the ocean floor. Suijin created an hourglass out of water to show the amount of time they had left until the assassin struck and Naruto would be killed.
Naruto approached the first sword he came too and tried to pull it from the sea bed, the task proved nearly impossible due to the high water pressure around him and his lack of air. He tried for about 30 seconds before he was forced to return to the surface to breathe.
"Naruto!" Suijin shouted from the beach "You don't have the time to try and pull out random swords, you have to feel for the right sword with your mind not your eyes."
Naruto nodded not really understanding what she was trying to tell him but not having the time to try and get a more clear answer from her. The hourglass that Suijin had made was already half empty and he was in no way ready to roll over and die just yet.
He dived down to the bottom of the sea once again and started to pull on a random sword again but found that just like before the sword stayed firmly wedged in the sea bed. He moved on to another sword and tried to pull it out before he was forced to resurface again. He looked up at the hourglass and swore as he saw the speed at which his time was decreasing.
"You do realise that inside your mindscape you don't actually need air right?" Suijin's voice said from right behind him making him yell with shock and sink under the surface of the water again. Suijin stood on top of the water laughing as he resurfaced glaring at her spitting water out of his mouth.
"Thanks a bunch Suijin" he said sourly "I don't really have the time to drown at the minute so could you please not do that again."
"You wouldn't drown" Suijin said obviously amused "This is your mindscape the only limits you have here are the ones that you or I create and the only limit I've created is that you cannot find my sword without first looking for it."
"What the hell does that mean" Naruto demanded his patience vanishing as fast as his time was "I cannot find the sword until I look what kind of nonsense is that?"
"The very useful kind, now get back down there before you end up wasting all the time we have left." She sent a wave of water at him that sent him all the way down to the bottom, she chuckled at the glare that he sent her on the way down but quickly sobered up when she saw that 2/3 of the time they had left had now expired. Naruto had to find and connect to the source of her power within him so that she could channel enough power through him to stop the attacks. While Naruto knew about the assassin that was charging at him from the front he didn't know about the three others that were attacking him from behind. To stop all of them she needed to manifest and to do that she needed Naruto to have a strong connection to her powers so she could use him as a conduit for her power.
Truthfully there wasn't any need for Naruto to go through this test in order to gain control over her power if they had had more time he could have simply spent more time in his mindscape meditating in order to find the connection but there was no time for that now. So she had set him a Zanpakuto's test that if passed could increase the level of resonation between the two souls by a large amount but if failed the consequences were usually fatal.
"Come on Naruto" she urged "Remember what I said, feel for the connection between us with your mind not your eyes."
Down at the bottom of his mindscapes ocean that was exactly what Naruto was trying to do, after being forcibly pushed back down to the ocean floor he had started to think about what Suijin had said more carefully. Obviously he couldn't find the right sword by simply trying every random sword he came across there were hundreds of them and it would take days to try them all let alone having to do it in the few minutes he had. Also Suijin had said that this was a test meaning that there must be some reason behind it a hidden meaning. It would be a very bad test certainly not worthy of Suijin who was anything but simple. There had to be a trick to it.
He closed his eyes trying to forget about the fact that he was wasting precious time and started to concentrate blocking out everything except the task at hand. The bubbling around him quietened and eventually vanished leaving him in complete darkness with no sound to distract him or help him.
Light flared behind his eyes and started to separate into colours, numerous colourless ribbons started to drift around him some falling across his face and head. He raised his hand and touched the ribbon trying to feel what it felt like. As soon as his hand touched it however the ribbon dissolved along with every other ribbon filling the area with blank spiritual energy that dampened his ability to sense spiritual energy.
He growled and sank deeper into his trance mentally pushing at the mist like spiritual energy that continued to try and impede his task by surrounding him and deadening his senses. He lashed out angrily hating the smothering feeling the mist gave him. For a split second he could feel things clearly and like a breath of fresh air he got a blast of Suijin's presence and power like a wave upon a cliff.
As soon as he felt it the feeling was gone covered in a fully recovered and even thicker mist, Naruto smirked keeping his eyes closed. He might have been immediately cut off but he had managed to catch a glimpse of what he was looking for and that one brief glimpse was enough. Now he would be able to locate Suijin's power no matter how many obstacles were put in his way.
He gathered his energy clumsily but quickly instinctively grasping the ability to use spiritual energy from the times that the energy had flowed through him to heal his wounds and sustain his body. It was just like controlling chakra except instead of having to grasp a harsh chaotic force and bring it to order you had to merge with a calm and malleable energy and direct it to do the task that you want it to.
With that thought in mind he called upon every last drop of spiritual energy he had and compressed it inside himself forcing his spiritual senses to increase rapidly. The numerous colourless ribbons that had clouded his view before were now little more than thin wisps of vapour that were barely more than an annoyance with his improved senses. He quickly found a glimpse of Suijin's sealed power and tried to follow it back to the source only to find that it led to nowhere it simply vanished at a random point in the sea. At the same time he picked up on a different strand of Suijin's power and followed that until it vanished at another random point.
"I have no time for this" he growled angrily sensing that Suijin's life-force was starting to slip away, her immense release of spiritual energy was starting to slow and get smaller. If she ran out of energy at this point then she would vanish forever. He could feel panic starting to rise within making it hard to think straight. He knew that there was an answer as to why Suijin's sealed reiatsu seemed to be everywhere in the damned ocean but he was to worried to think it through. All he could think about as Suijin lying on top of the water as the last of her life energy spilled from her body into the clear ocean merging her with the very substance that was the source of her power. That thought struck a cord and repeated in his mind 'The source of her power'. It hit him like one of Sakura Haruno's punches to the head. "THAT'S IT!" he crowed racing back to the top of the water and standing on top of it effortlessly.
He closed his eyes and reached out with his spirit energy separating it from a heavy blanket like shape into numerous threads that raced out and away from him and connected to every single one of Suijin's ribbon fragments. If someone who could see spiritual energy had been watching they would have seen a millions of white spiritual threads connecting to millions of blue threads that made up the entire of the ocean. It was like a gigantic spider web of coloured threads all interconnected with only one central point who was currently standing on top of the sea of reiatsu looking at the sight below him in awe and determination.
With an almost bestial roar Naruto pulled every single one of the spiritual threads to him in an instant focusing them all into his hand where they began to merge together seamlessly slowly turning into a corporeal form. In less than 5 seconds Naruto was holding the hilt of a sword and the blade was slowly starting to form. Sweat poured down his face as he concentrated every ounce of his energy and willpower on forcing the tiny spirit ribbons too unite. The blade ever so slowly began to grow until it was almost taller than Naruto. The process stalled at the very end and for a second it looked as if the blade was about to break apart until finally Naruto felt the unmistakable feeling of Suijin's reiatsu joining with his and bonding. The sword's tip formed instantly and the blade exploded with power blasting Naruto into the air and taking with it the last of his strength. Darkness immediately took the exhausted blond as he plummeted head first towards the now raging sea.
Before he smashed into the crashing waves he was caught by a blue blur and placed gently on the smooth warm sand of the large beach far away from the stormy seas. Suijin stood over the sleeping blond with a look of intense pride on her face, the stab wound in her stomach was gone as were the bloody clothes. In her right hand she held a long katana which had a dark blue handle and a blade which held a tinge of light blue. She opened her mouth to say something but was stopped by a gust of wind which blew her long hair into her face. She brushed it out of her eyes irritably and glared at the sky.
"Yes I know I'm going right now honestly." She huffed before vanishing in a flash of light.