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Ever since the attack of the Kyubi, Naruto was shunned as 'Konoha's Demon' when he was born with the Kyubi sealed in him. His life was miserable beyond grief. Time passed by and he has slowly proven himself as its jailer instead of its incarnate. But despite this, love never truly touched the young jinchuuriki's heart until death came over him.
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A/N: I do not own Naruto, Bleach or any other canonical characters. If I did, I wouldn't be here in FF now would I?
Talking
'thinking/flashback'
Kyubi Talking/Jutsu
'Kyubi Thinking'
Chapter 4
Soul Sacrifice
A new journey begins…
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Naruto's heart began to pound faster as his mind couldn't completely comprehend the overflowing love that Hinata had for him. He began to grip her tighter and brought her face closer to his. They both blushed as he came closer to her. She never dreamed that this could ever happen to her. It was a fantasy turned real as the love of her life was falling for her.
'This is it…Naruto-kun…I love you…please accept my love…'
Hinata's mind raged with this thought. As for the young blonde however, it was an overwhelming moment as he realized that the true and faithful love he was looking for was woven together into the form of this bluish black haired woman lain in his arms waiting for him with an unwrapped heart ready to receive his steadily growing affections for her.
'I can't believe this is happening. Hinata-chan loves me for me…'
Naruto's thoughts were a swirl of emotions. Their lips were now poised towards one another as his cerulean eyes met hers. This was it. Their feelings and relationship would now be forever sealed together with this amorous act of love.
As their hearts now beat as one, Naruto then turned away from this time of beauty with his back facing her, leaving a deprived, disappointed yet confused soul. Hinata felt she killed a part of herself because of her actions. With a heart full of regret, and watering eyes, she then asked of him.
"Why? Is it because of me? I'm going too fast aren't I?"
Her question astounded the blonde for he knew the reason was quite contrary to her question of concernment. He then somberly explained to her.
"It's not you Hinata, it's me. I don't want to end up hurting you. I have a lot going on right now and I'm still confused about all this honestly."
With a sigh of relief, she then wiped the tears streaming from her bluish white eyes as she leaned on his back, wrapping her gentle arms around his stomach. She then softly confessed to him,
"I see…I guess things got out of hand too quickly. It was too good to be true. After all that I said to you and acted while we were here, it feels like it's not the real me that's been doing all this."
Her words however did not connect in Naruto's mind. He then turned around and held her by the shoulders as he said to her,
"I don't think so. I think that the Hinata that I see now is the real one who gave comfort to me and tried to be there for me and fight with me all the way here. That Hinata wasn't afraid to be herself. That Hinata was the one I admired the most. I really don't know how to explain it but, to me the you I see now, is the you I've always wanted."
Like the violent flood of a broken dam, his words had shattered the barrier to this passionate woman's heart. She could no longer control herself and dove into him while hugging him so tight that movement could no longer be done by him. Seeing the situation he was in, he blushed, but gladly returned her affections for him with his own hug.
Both hearts beat as one. But so did their minds...connected and entwined together as Naruto and Hinata thought in unison.
'Hinata-chan…I'm…'
'So very happy right now. It's like a…'
'Fantasy…like a fairy tale where the prince meets his princess and they both fall in…'
'Love…yes, love…for so long I've waited for him to accept…'
'Me…and love me for me…this is the greatest time of my…'
'Life…'
A magical moment it was as both were in each other arms with Hinata's head buried in Naruto's chest as they hugged each other passionately. However like all good things, they must come to an end.
Unknown to the two lovebirds that were in this gloomy castle-like structure, the darkness released from its shadowy prison several creeping figures to wreak havoc and forever change this couple's destiny.
In the shady hallways, if one would listen closely, the sound of silence wasn't the only thing that could be heard. In the midst of the eerie silence, the soft landing of metal upon the stony flooring echoed throughout the area.
The noise resonated closer and closer towards the balcony where the lovebirds resided until it was now audible to their human ears. The bloodthirsty killing intent that emanated from the shadowy figures began to shock their spines into sudden awareness.
With their hardened years of training, they sensed the impending danger and leapt back as they reached with their right hands for the pouch of kunai strapped to their right legs.
Like the quick draw of a professional gunman, they threw their kunais with lethal aim on the walking figures in the dark and landed on their two feet with kunais drawn in a reverse grip as the prepared for combat. They knew very well that they got them but were unprepared for what stepped through the light pouring in the balcony to meet them.
It was nothing of this world. When the figures had revealed themselves in the light, the shinobi couple saw that they were nothing more than crimson colored and bare samurai armors that were fastened together like there was an invisible soldier wearing them.
Naruto wondered how such things could be possible.
They were shinobi capable of great things, but completely unprepared by the ghastly sight before them.
The armors however gave no time for him or his mate to ponder as they wildly assaulted them with their steel swinging left and right.
Being their agile selves, the pair leaped off and nimbly landed on the rooftops of the structures below the balcony. The armors gave chase as they followed them towards the streets until at a corner, they lost track of them.
The walking shells of armor were confused as they looked left and right for them. Little did they know that above them were two falling bodies that landed on them with fist and foot outstretched to give them blow for blow as they commenced their counter-offensive on their would be executioners.
Hinata gave strike for swing as she blocked and countered each of their attacks with her own giving double the dosage of damage which shattered their steel and armor alike.
Naruto in turn, danced around their blades and struck them down with full force like an uncontrollable hurricane.
The steel of their swords seemed ineffective to these bags of flesh that toyed with them as if they were nothing more than children swinging twigs at them only to be broken with each assault that the pair made towards them.
But the unfeeling crimson warriors didn't relent from their assault as they began to surround them in hopes of at least touching them. In fact, they still vastly outnumbered them because some of their fallen comrades still got up from absorbing the damage made on them to continue fighting as if unfazed.
The two were forced by the change of pace towards the center were they stood back to back. Both sharpened their senses as they focused with seriousness and a killing intent that neutralized their enemies'. The rhythm of their battle would soon go in favor of these arcane warriors.
"Looks like our first date wasn't completely romantic eh Hinata-chan?"
Said the smirking blonde to his lavender eyed counterpart.
"I guess not."
Replied the focused Hinata.
Feeling the need to gather information on their enemy, Hinata used the Byakugan in order to see what exactly their enemy was. Her paled face showed that they were more than meets the eye. This was reflected in her ghastly reply as she said,
"This can't be happening! They're living souls in each of the armors! Real living ones complete with chakra coils!"
Her statement did not bode well for them. 'How can you hit what you can't see?' was the dilemma until Naruto, while still back to back, noticed that some of the crumbling slabs of steel didn't get up at all from the blows Hinata sent them.
With his fox grin written on his face at this realization, he formulated a plan as he whispered in Hinata's ears while blocking a downward slash with his kunai in his right hand as he dug his stance deeper by widening his legs more to completely halt the full power of the attack.
Hinata prepared herself for his plan as she nodded to him while guarding against a side slash towards the left side of her waist. Seizing this priceless chance, one of the armors came at them with a diagonal downward slash starting from left to right as he cleaved through both of their flesh only to realize that they vanished into smoke.
Confused once again, they looked around until it was too late for the phantom swordsmen as they felt the chakra enforced palm strikes from several clones of the kunoichi and the blunt but efficient blows of Naruto's fists and kicks.
His plan was deadly effective as they began to fall in their numbers. Using this sudden advantage, they broke through to get to a more advantageous position for them to fight in.
They fought their way through the thick tide of empty steel as they pushed forward until they found themselves just in front of a red shrine gate.
This gate was at the very top of the stone carved steps at the end of the unknown street they had burst their way through. On its floor was an engraved circle that connected to an engraved kanji for love and the infinity symbol above it. These engraved symbols were also connected to a shallow ditch.
Obviously, they were in a sacrificial pit, but nonetheless ignored it as they began to come up with a plan to fight off the now growing army of specter possessed Japanese armor.
Naruto stood as still as a statue with his gaze fixated at the massive corps of otherworldly soldiers climbing the only leading stairway towards the couple. Seeing their enemies' sloppy defenses and crammed formation, Naruto leaped into the air and called out thirty Kage Bunshins In a way that one was close to another.
The thirty clones of him began to each form a Rasengan in the right hand of the other.
When they completed it in no less than a second, their free partner grabbed the armed ones and threw them directly at the armor spirits.
With Rasengan spearheading headfirst into the thick mob of armors, they rained on them like the bombardment of artillery.
When they remaining clones and the original landed, the clones took this forced opportunity and grabbed the steels of the fallen adversaries as they charged and gave steel for steel towards the broken lines of the nightmare warriors. This was as good as it could get or so it would seem.
Needless to say, wave after wave kept pouring in to devour our bold lovers.
"Kuso, they just won't stay down!"
Naruto cursed as the army kept pacing forward. He then made ten more clones that formed a pair of Rasengans in each hand and drove like a drill on the wall of steel before them. The last pair of the clones of ten was an exception as they formed a much bigger one carried by the right hand of one and the left of the other as they charged into the fray screaming "Odama Rasengan".
When Hinata, while still in defensive stance, saw this, she then thought of an ingenious way to combine his and her techniques together in a combination that would literally annihilate their vastly superior foes.
With her Byakugan still active, she then looked at Naruto with her vein throbbing face and commanded him promptly.
"Naruto-kun, I have an idea! Make two more clones and form the Odama Rasengan with you kneeling down in the center to support it!"
Hearing her clear commands, he did as she barked at him while kneeling on his left foot at the first stair below them with both arms risen up towards the sky, while the other two clones began shaping their weapon of mass destruction above their creator's hands.
When the ball of swirling energy had fully formed at maximum concentration point, Hinata took her stance once more just arms-length behind the weapon as she took a deep breath.
She focused her chakra towards her palms as she began the technique. She coiled her two palms into 'tiger fists' once more with her right leg back and her left leg raised so that her knee is parallel to her midsection.
With her poise complete, she then let her left foot down as she pushed hard her two arms forward while shouting,
"Hakke Hazengeki!"
A sudden blast of a pressurized mixture of air and chakra sent the giant ball of energy towards the unsuspecting crimson colored steel clad foes. It literally bulldozed the enemy and exploded into a mini maelstrom that grinded all those caught in its vacuum grip into dust.
"Yata! We did it Hinata-chan!"
He said joyfully as nothing from the rubble left behind twitched in the slightest bit.
It was over.
Serenity came like the peace before a storm until that storm followed after in the form of a new batch of the soul bound armors came marching which dampened their relieved spirits.
These ones however were different in that they had little openings for the emptiness of their shells to be seen. Their armor was plated in a more western form though still retaining their Japanese structure. They even had the symbol of the black phoenix imprinted on their matching colored flags at their back and breastplate. They not only carried the same katana as their fallen comrades, but they even had large rectangular shields that covered them from neck to foot with the infinity symbol and kanji for love as its insignia.
"All that and there's still more? We must have defeated about a little over five battalions by now!"
The exhausted Hyuga shouted as she steeped herself in her Juuken stance.
"I guess they want more then."
The smiling blonde said as they gazed over the marching army. The army gave no room for remorse as they marched over the remains of their comrades to take the lives of the pair at the top of the stone stepped shrine.
Despite the continuous bravado that our favored heroes proved time and again to be effective upon these emotionless spirits, it seemed that their limits must be surpassed in order to even stand a chance against them. They steeled their hearts and calmed their minds to once again gamble with death.
Naruto once again spoke to his female companion.
"These must be the elite of the army. I bet if we manage to go through this, the boss will appear and we can be free of this almost eternal nightmare."
His words were inspirational yet somewhat ineffective to his companion's ears as the enemy before them climbed their way to the top, stepping on broken steps and the bodies of their comrades.
Gloom was all that they could imagine at this point.
Picking up the sword of a nearby fallen foe, Naruto stood poised and ready to strike as he fell into a sloppy sword defensive position.
Hinata stood firm as she braced herself to fend off the wild attacks that would definitely fall upon her.
As the final moments before the massive melee began, Naruto then ran close to her and softly spoke.
"It's all right Hinata. We'll make it… I promise."
With the death of his last sentence, came the death of another phantom soldier as Naruto gave him a clean slice from the soul disrupting blade.
With the speed of the assualt, they were given no chance to use any form of jutsus except taijutsu at this point.
For Hinata, it was just like sparring with Tenten as her Juuken style was very effective on her armor clad foes.
Naruto, though not used to fighting with a sword, had no choice in the matter as it was the only thing aside from his Rasengan that could affect his opponents.
'If I wasn't so tired and cramped by their numbers, I could make several more Kage Bunshins to even the odds.'
As the battle raged onward, they began to breathe heavily and their concentration now waned as beads of sweat flowed down their face. Naruto started to notice his hands twitching continuously. His thoughts began to gain weight as he began to think more out of context.
'I've never fought this many opponents before. And to make matters worse, only this sword and Hinata's fighting style could actually affect them. Hinata…NO! KEEP FOCUSED! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE HERE! NOWS NOT THE TIME TO…'
Before he could linger in his mind any further, he then felt a huge killing intent behind him.
As the opponent before him attempted a strike, he immediately made a two-handed side slash from right to left and in one flowing motion, dashed backwards while changing his sword grip into a reversed one, and stabbed with his left hand the swordsman before a downward killing blow could've been sent to the young blonde.
He smirked as he felt the blade pass through the phantom's heart and out the other end until the katana guard made contact with his armor and could move no further.
The young blonde smirked again knowing how he easily banished this emotionless soul to the depths of hell.
But his sword took not just one life, but two instead. He felt something else had passed through the blade as he felt a familiar chakra signature suddenly die away… fast.
His heart beat furiously at the possibility of the worst to come.
As he turned his head to look at where his sword had touched, he sighed in relief as he saw the blade skewered the crimson armor crumbling into nothing more than heavy slabs of steel as the bond between soul and host was cut off.
But his sigh of relief, slowly became wide-eyed horror, as the same color on the armored phantom he killed, was now flowing on the edge of the blade and on the jacket of Hinata.
His heart died at that moment and felt that time had slowed as he saw her fall into the shallow ditch that she was standing on. Only one word was permitted by his mouth to utter at that dark moment. That word was cried by his mouth as he screamed.
"HINATAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
The hulking armors had cancelled their attack as they sheathed their swords and fell in line by the stairs.
They then kneeled on their right knee with their right arm grasping their left one, their left still grasping their shield or supporting their right hand if they had none, and their heads bowed in acknowledgement as they chanted in chorus.
"The sacrifice…the sacrifice…the sacrifice…"
Naruto's world had been shattered at this point. Many lives were lost in his past, but none as this one who truly loved him for him.
His heart sunk into the bottomless pit called sadness and despair as he dropped the tainted blade and clutched her in his shaking arms.
The scarlet water began to taint his hands and soil his clothes as he hugged his dying bride to be and screamed in horror.
"NO! WHY NOW, WHY? WHAT HAVE I DONE?"
As he mourned over her fleeting life, the red water began to flow into the ditch that then filled the engraved areas on that altar. When the engraved symbols on the floor of the red shrine were filled to the brim with her blood, the space between the columns of the gate began to distort.
When the remaining soldiers noticed this, they unsheathed their swords once again and raised it to the sky as they stopped their unison chants.
The spatial distortion began to widen into a rip in the very fabric of time. It shone in a bright blue light until a figure came out walking towards the grieving blonde.
He was a fiery red haired young bishonen of average stature. His eyes had the color of gold that pierced through the darkness like a spear. He wore the same crimson armor of the elites except for the helmet and shield as he had none. In his left hand was a doubled edged sword of about the length of his arm from the hilt tip to the point of his steel. The hilt was tightly wrapped in red and the guard was in the shape of a black phoenix. Its blade was the lightest shade of pink mixed with the color of steel and glows in a red aura. But what were most amazing about him were the awe inspiring wings of fire on his back that had a twelve feet wingspan from end to end. He was no ordinary being.
As this young red head gazed upon his summoner, he then spoke with a voice full of authority and tranquility.
"I am Suzaku of the five elemental gods of the earth. I am the phoenix of passion and love. Who might you be that I might acknowledge for my freedom through this sacrifice?"
Spoke the red haired man. The blonde's ears despite his torn state, grasped every word that this godly man had spoken.
As he looked at his surroundings, he then realized what had happened. His pit of despair now rose into flames of anger and regret as they began to fill his heart.
His whisker cheek marks grew deeper and darker. His mouth now had lined in black as his canines grew longer and sharper than ever. As his hair began to spike more radically in expression of his heightened emotions, while his once cerulean eyes now were red and its pupils were slit.
This angered beastly form of Naruto emanated a dark malicious desire to kill all that stood in his path. The beast then growled his words at the man,
"Uzumaki Naruto. What do you mean by sacrifice? Are you saying that Hinata life was necessary to release you? WHAT DO YOU MEAN!!!!"
Obviously his angered state had lack of rational as he barked the last words. But the stalwart Suzaku remained calm and stared deeper into his eyes. He was reading the pain and emotional struggles that the blonde had suffered. In short, he was reading his life.
When he had finished his analysis of him, he then softly spoke to him in order to share the inevitable truth.
"I see you have gone through a lot. Love had not touched your heart. As the god over love, I feel your sympathy. Especially since your body contains two spirits, o great Jinchuuriki of the Kyubi no Yoko."
'How does he know me?'
The despaired blonde thought to himself.
The fiery, red haired bishonen's words sliced Naruto's mind in two. Seeing the blonde's staggered state, he then continued to speak.
"Your woman became the sacrifice necessary to release me from my one thousand year prison the moment she had confessed her love for you. My soldiers who were bound with me felt this and made the necessary actions to merge the both of you in this altar. One soul full of love was needed for me to take shape in the form you see now. Behind me is the gateway out of this magically sealed prison. Since I needed only one, you may go and finish your life story ahead."
His last two sentences were direct and straight to the point. Naruto then started to lose his mind at that because he said it as if he didn't care. God or not, he wanted her back and angrily asked of the god before him.
"How can you just say that and expect me to follow? My life was a wreck from the beginning. It was hell living like this everyday. Nobody liked me. In fact, a lot of people hated me and always beat me up until an inch of my life whenever they got a chance to, all for the reason that 'I was the kyubbi incarnate'. Though I had friends who steadily began to like me, I still didn't have someone who would be with me and love me for me no matter what! When I finally found that person, she just died by my own hand. Am I that evil that I didn't deserve love like that at all?! Give her back to me now! I NEED HER!"
He poured his heart out with tears of blood streaming from his face from the stress that he felt at that time.
While Naruto was crying in blood, the fiery bishonen's thoughts were filled with sadness.
'I had expected this to happen. The poor boy has suffered enough. Unfortunately, fate has its own twisted sense of judgment. The penalty for my release was high enough, but of all people, the mate of the most powerful jinchuuriki on earth. What is Kami up to?
While the blonde and the red head were glaring each other, a soft touch from a hand cupped Naruto's left cheek in efforts to wipe his tears of blood.
When Naruto felt this he left his blazing gaze and looked down on the woman in his arms.
All this time she was still breathing. She heard and saw everything that Naruto had done and spoken at this moment.
Her eyes had gazed upon his red slit ones. She made a weak smile as she touched his face while blood streamed from her mouth all the way to the blood filled ditch.
She used the last of her strength and uttered her final words of endearment.
"This is the reason you didn't want to share your secrets to me. I understand now. All those times you were hated, scorned, beaten and tortured and only you know what else happened. It all makes sense now. But, I really care about you Naruto. It doesn't matter to me if you were the kyubi or not. You are you. And I care about you that I would gladly die for you like this. Please don't regret anything anymore. Don't wallow in sadness. It's not like you to always be this sad. Go with Sakura-san. She can love you for you now. I'm just happy that I can see the real you. Because…"
She said to him as she brought his face closer to hers. Softly and lovingly, she then whispered to his lips, once more, the greatest words that would impact Naruto's life.
"Aishiteru… Naruto-kun"
With that said, she sealed it with a deep kiss. It was a fragile yet wonderful moment. Her tongue attempted to gain entry which he permitted and made the same move as well. Both were battling for dominance and massaging the tongue of the other for a whole minute as their lips locked.
Their hearts beat as one as their feelings reached each other for the first…and last time at that moment.
Her hands then dropped to the blood filled floor now lifeless.
She had finally passed on in peace signified by the smile on her face.
Naruto then relieved himself from the kiss of death as he said his feelings towards her lifeless body with tears streaming down his eyes.
"Aishiteru… Hinata-chan"
He then laid her body down in the blood filled ditch as he grabbed the tainted sword next to him in a reverse grip and kneeled down in a traditional Japanese fashion while pointing the blood tipped steel towards his chest.
Suzaku then barked in distress to the saddened jinchuuriki, as he leaped in to action.
"YAGERO NARUTO! ONLY ONE WAS NEEDED! DON'T DO IT OR ELSE SOMETHING BA-"
Before he could finish his sentence and grab the blonde, Naruto who was filled with regret and sadness could not take it anymore and readied himself for the next world as he said before stabbing the sword down his chest.
"I'm coming…Hinata-chan."
The sword then released his two spirits in a wild flash of blue and red.
As his blood overflowed the filled engravings on the altar, the engraved symbol for infinity and kanji for love began to glow blue.
The engraved overflowing circle glowed in the same color as the blood of both lovers mixed together in perfect harmony.
The distortion then filled the altar as a magical circle appeared on the floor and glowed in the same color.
The two spirits in Naruto's body then flew into the time and space wormhole intertwining each other like a rope would as they passed through towards the gleaming light at the end of the astral tunnel.
This marked the end of Naruto's life as he had died there.
But the moment he passed on, it marked the beginning of a new journey.
I, Suzaku, now am to bear witness and account the story of this great man and his journey in death and his afterlife.
Sacrifices are made so something in return can be given. For Hinata's love, I was set free.
From Naruto's death, the journey towards love and redemption was reopened for his soul sacrifice.
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This is a sad chapter. Is it sad enough though? This chapter needs to be sad enough to make the next chapters even more thrilling.
I can already expect some flames in this one. Please review this one so I know how to improve the next chapter.
For those who are wondering, Suzaku is a made up character based on the Vermillion Bird. Don't think there's Fushigi Yuugi in this.
Thank you once again for reading another one of my chapters in Naruto: Death's Second Chance.