Title: The Everlasting Sins
Rating: Rated T.
Pairings: Canon pairings for Naruto, along with slight NaruHina near the very end of the story.
Genre: Adventure.
Summary: A sin lasts forever, even if other things do not. Naruto's debilitating disease doesn't, nor does his hatred. His past, however, forever continues to follow him. Smart, powerful Naruto. Rewritten in collaboration with The Sin of Justice, the original author.
Regarding Q&A: Any questions regarding the story can be asked via PM or review to either me or The Sin of Justice.
Beta: N/A—Help wanted.
Warnings: Language, violence, and moderate blood/gore.
Category: Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist crossover.
Uploaded: July 15th, 2013
Key:
"Normal dialogue."
Thoughts—for everyone, including Bijū.
/Mental conversations./
Please note that Bijū cannot "speak" unless their host is inside of the seal, and please enjoy the story!
(Section Break)
Edward decided to return the day before the Final Exams.
As the team arrived in the stadium, they waved goodbye to Ed and Haku as they went up into the stands. Naruto and Zabuza, on the other hand, went to where all the other Chūnin-hopefuls were. The Genin were all glaring at each other and conversing with their friends. Naruto looked at Zabuza.
"You're sure?" he asked.
"'Course," Zabuza muttered. "I've already explained it to you, kid."
"Even so..." Naruto sighed.
"Just don't waste it," the former Kiri ninja replied, laughing quietly.
Naruto snorted. "Like that would help me."
"Heh."
Naruto grinned slightly, turning towards the railing in the front of the dugout-like place they were in. He glanced over the arena, taking in the dusty ground with a few trees and the fact that the Mizukage hadn't even bothered to show up, before noticing a slightly uncomfortable feeling coming from the back of his neck. Attempting to discreetly look around, his eyes met with those of the Ichibi Jinchūriki.
/Something's wrong,/ Kurama said hurriedly, nearly startling Naruto. /The seal weakened even more. He's on the verge of a mental breakdown./
/Perfect,/ Naruto sighed, feeling a grimace want to work its way onto his face. Brushing the expression away, he asked, /Why is he staring at me?/
/Shukaku probably said something, the damn tanuki,/ the Kyūbi replied. /Just ignore him./
Naruto kept his eyes locked with the redhead's, watching as his near-cyan-coloured eyes didn't move an inch. Intimidation, Naruto thought. He's not observing. He's trying to unnerve me, though because of the Ichibi, it might not even be on purpose.
Finally, the red-haired boy looked away when his brother inquired as to what was wrong. The Genin snapped and glared at him, making the kid cringe slightly and turn away.
Gaara didn't look back.
Now a bit disturbed, Naruto faced the arena once more. They waited a bit until a proctor, this time a new one, arrived. I wonder what happened to the old one. He announced that the semi-annual Chūnin Exams would begin its Final Exam, making a loud cheer erupt from the stands of people. Naruto felt a small hook of nervousness latch onto his heart. Taking a deep breath, he waited for the first announcement.
"First up, we have Minoru versus Zeku!" the proctor shouted. Zabuza gave Naruto a pointed look before sighing.
"I give up!" he shouted at the proctor. Small murmurs ran through the crowd, each of which mumbling about how they were surprised a Kiri ninja would give up and how that they weren't actually too terribly surprised that the weaker one wouldn't even try to fight the stronger one, afraid of the brutality that came with being a ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Naruto felt like scoffing but held it back, crossing his arms and not looking towards the slightly fearful-yet-courageous gazes of the Genin that have inevitably landed on him. He felt Zabuza walk up beside him and place a hand on his shoulder, making a few of them begin questioning Zabuza's decision. In particular, Naruto noted, that one Konoha ninja that beat Haku.
The proctor nodded, shuffling through his papers. "In that case, we have Minoru versus Hyūga Neji!" he announced, making delighted shouts once more come from the people watching. Naruto glanced towards the Hyūga in the corner before turning around sharply and heading out the door, not waiting. Neji's eyes narrowed at the gesture, but he continued walking towards the door and opening it for himself.
Once they were both in the arena itself, they faced each other, each of them radiating dislike. The crowd grew a bit louder at the new development, excited for the first battle and the intensity it appeared it was going to have. The proctor looked between the two and asked, "Are you both ready?" The two nodded, so the proctor then continued with, "Then let the battle begin!"
As soon as the adult jumped out of the way, Naruto crouched into a position meant for either offensive or defensive. Neji smirked and didn't move, making Naruto feel both slightly insulted and slightly angrier.
"Why aren't you preparing to fight?" Naruto asked, a hint of thick, venom-like fury lacing his tongue.
"It's not like you'd be able to win," Neji replied. "Those who can sympathise with losers are losers, Kiri ninja."
"You mean you?" Naruto retorted sharply. He saw Neji's face morph slightly before returning to its arrogant smirk and glare.
"How uncreative," Neji muttered loudly enough for Naruto to hear.
"It's better to be uncreative than an asshole," Naruto replied, a grin beginning to form on his lips. "Of course, you wouldn't know that, now would you?"
"It is unwise to taunt those with power," Neji said, tilting his head slightly and letting the odd strap-like pieces of cloth fall into his face. "I doubt anyone in Kiri has it anyway, seeing as your teammate gave up before even trying."
"There was a reason for that, you know," Naruto responded easily, digging his feet into the ground and kicking up a bit of dirt. "I doubt you're close enough to your teammates to understand each other, though. You're not likeable enough to have friends, now are you?"
Neji ground his teeth together. "It's not like you know anything," he growled.
"Did I hit a soft spot?" Naruto wondered, over-exaggerating his curiosity.
Neji didn't reply, merely lowered himself into an offensive stance. Naruto replied by also going into a purely offensive position, grinning. He looked at the blank eyes of the Hyūga. "They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul," Naruto mumbled. "Is that why yours are such a cold colour?"
Any and all playfulness between the two died off. As it faded, one could tell that the serious chill in the both of pair's eyes meant death. Abruptly, Neji ran forward while activating his Byakugan, sandals clacking underneath his footing as he raced towards the Jinchūriki. Naruto smirked and leaped backwards, bringing his palms together to hit the transmutation circle on his gloves. He mocked a hand seal to avoid suspicion before pressing them against an invisible barrier in the air, causing small, bullet-like cylinders in the air to take on a rippling quality and shoot towards the Hyūga.
Noticing something wasn't quite right, Neji searched the air before stopping quickly and dodging the near-invisible ammunition. What the...? He jumped back once, twice before assessing his situation.
"That was elemental manipulation, wasn't it?" the brown-haired Genin inquired, a bit confused. "How...?"
"Magic," Naruto muttered sarcastically, inaudible to others. He then raised his voice. "Maybe you should try to figure it out yourself, prodigy."
Neji's eye twitched. Naruto grinned again and repeated the action from earlier, although this time instead of bullets, a very long distortion appeared. Neji looked at it and recognised the shape as a blase. Where did he learn all of this? Surely a month couldn't have been enough. Positioning himself in a defensive stance, he frowned.
Naruto, meanwhile, continued making more of the sharp objects. Once he had quite a few, he let out a low laugh and let them fly forth towards the Genin. A few of them sliced his clothes up and one got a small, thin red line to appear on his leg and a slightly larger one on his arm, but no more than that. He watched as Naruto then brought his hands together again and caused more wind bullets to fly towards him.
For Neji, though, there were too many. He grimaced and moved into a new stance, one that Naruto hadn't seen yet. He started spinning, yelling, "Kaiten! Heavenly Rotation!"
A few gasps ran through the crowd, and Naruto pinpointed them to the Hyūga in the stands. Perhaps he did something that was forbidden, Naruto thought, unsure. However...
"Is that it?" the Hyūga taunted. "Fine, then."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and brought his arms up to defend himself if need be. The Hyūga smirked and Naruto glared as he began running forward once more. He had a blue light surrounding his fingertips, Naruto noticed. This'll be interesting.
Letting the first one hit him to see the effect, Naruto hopped further back, approaching the stadium's wall. The crowd was becoming quieter as the battle went on, and Naruto checked to see what the Hyūga had done to him. He already had an idea, of course, but he wanted to check anyway. As I thought, Naruto sighed to himself, pushing his forearm's sleeve back down, there's a red dot over my one of my tenketsu, chakra points. It doesn't do a whole lot to my chakra, seeing as I don't use it, but it sure as hell hurts. I shouldn't get hit again, though I suppose Kurama's chakra could heal it.
/I'm not healing you,/ Kurama said bluntly. Naruto blanched and then sighed, but nodded anyway. He looked back towards Neji.
"The famed Gentle Fist, the Jūken, I presume?" Naruto inquired, raising an eyebrow. "It's impressive."
Neji nodded in confirmation. Naruto grinned and brought his hands up and pressed them against the air once more, letting several wind-spears show up, surrounding the pair. Neji looked around cautiously until the spears rained down on him. He repeated his last defense, seeing it as pointless to continue hiding it. When he was done, he then ran towards Naruto once more, bringing his hand back and letting it lay flat. That's what he did to the Hyūga girl, the Jinchūriki noticed. Blue energy began swirling around Neji's hand, more-so than last time he used that move. Naruto frowned slightly and waited until Neji was only a few meters from him. Naruto brought his gloves together and moved his hands in front of him, making some onlookers think he was crazy. To them, it looked like he was trying to stop the Genin using the universal "stop" gesture, but in actuality, the atoms themselves were rearranging.
Neji noticed it was getting harder to breathe, but he also knew that his chakra was nowhere near depleted enough for him to breathe heavily. He glanced at his opponent, and upon seeing the knowing gleam in his eyes, Neji glared at him. It was too late to stop his attack anyway, and since the boy appeared to use wind-based attacks, he knew something wasn't quite right. Is he...trying to choke me?
Unfortunately for the Hyūga, Naruto was indeed doing something a bit similar to that. The atoms began condensing themselves until the point where they were barely not touching each other, making the air surrounding Neji much thinner, whereas Naruto's was much thicker. Naruto himself was breathing a tiny bit heavier than normal, seeing as he still hadn't perfected the technique, and Neji seemed to be on the verge of being unable to breathe at all without heaving his chest. Up in the stands, the two Kage looked at the duo curiously. Suffocation had been attempted in the history of Konoha's Chūnin Exams, but not the way that the Kirigakure ninja was doing it.
Finally, Neji's attack hit the weird technique that Naruto used, causing both of them to disperse immediately. Neji coughed as the air shifted itself back to the way it had been, his eyes watering slightly as it rushed by.
"How are you doing that?" the brown-haired Konoha ninja asked, still trying to recover his breath.
"Magic," Naruto repeated, only this time the Hyūga could hear him.
"An odd technique probably only used in Kiri, then," Neji muttered. He reactivated his Byakugan, which had been turned off to preserve Neji's eyes from the large and bright construct that Naruto had been making. The Jinchūriki laughed and brought his hands up once more, only for the Hyūga to channel a bit of chakra into his hands and rush towards, the ninja, immediately tearing the gloves apart but being unable to harm him, as he had skidded back. Naruto looked at the Hyūga questioningly.
"Why'd you do that?" he asked.
"Your gloves had a pattern on them," Neji replied, jumping back and standing up straight. "A seal, perhaps."
"Ahh." Naruto grinned slightly. "In that case, you must have noticed the extras."
Extras?
"Or not," Naruto continued, noticing no change in Neji's expression. "In that case, let me show you." Deliberately, Naruto slowly took out another pair of gloves from an inside pocket in his white-and-blue coat. Pulling them on, he grinned. "Shall we continue?"
Neji glared at him and lowered himself into another offensive position. Naruto smirked and waited for the Genin, who came forward and engaged in combat. He wasn't using his feet to fight, unlike Naruto was taught, but his hands only. Laced with sharp points of chakra, Naruto made sure to block all that he could from his body. A few hit him, but as he swiftly deflected most with the sides of his arms, he was alright. Neji continued the onslaught, not letting up until Naruto jumped and hit him in the torso, a small crack resounding through the Hyūga's body. The Genin flew back but regained his footing before he fell. Naruto then brought his hands together again and practically threw a large gust of wind at Neji once he had prepared himself, making the Genin shield his face from the dust and rocks it was kicking up. During the confusion, however, Neji had prepared himself.
"Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō! Eight Trigrams: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"
It hit.
(Section Break)
Panting heavily and grimacing, Naruto felt his arms drop to his side, almost entirely useless. He didn't even bother aiming for the rest of me, save my legs, Naruto thought bitterly. Evidently, he didn't think I was of any use in hand-to-hand combat, though against a Hyūga I'm not sure I would be. He missed enough that I should be able to move them slightly, but...
Neji smirked. "You can't use your arms anymore, you know. That might be permanent, too."
"Obviously you overestimate yourself," Naruto replied shakily, bracing his red-dotted legs. "I can move them, if only slightly."
"Then be thankful that you're better at dodging than most people." The Hyūga walked up to Naruto, looking down at him. Height difference, Naruto thought. He's not actually above me, though I'm sure he'd like to think so. Neji shoved Naruto, making him stumble. The Jinchūriki glared up at the Genin and growled, only to be met with another push, causing him to fall. His legs weren't able to take it, needing the help of a medic. Chakra wasn't only for fighting, after all, and a civilian should have already been paralyzed.
Naruto let out a choked breath as his back hit the ground. He felt Neji dig his heel into his ribcage, making him grunt in pain.
"You see?" Neji whispered angrily. "You can't win."
"You're just trapped in your own world," Naruto muttered back. "You're keeping yourself that way."
Neji glared at him. "You don't understand shit, Kiri Genin."
"And you do?" Naruto asked, breathing heavier as Neji dug his foot into his ribs harder. One of his eyes was squinted in pain. "You're caging yourself."
/Sneaky,/ Kurama murmured. Neji's eyes had gone from hatred to livid disdain.
"I'm being caged by my clan," Neji said quietly, nearly cracking one of Naruto's ribs. "Not myself."
"The Caged Bird Seal, am I right?" Naruto asked softly. "There're people who understand you that aren't in your clan, you know."
"Who the fuck are you to tell me that?" Neji asked furiously, still hushed.
"Have you thought about the civilian-born children?" Naruto inquired. "They're limited by blood. Your female teammate and possibly the odd jumpsuit-wearing one, too. People don't believe they'll be great because one, they're not prodigies like you, and two, they're civilian-born."
"What are you saying?"
"They'll never be as great as they could be because not everybody believes in them," Naruto said. "The Main Family in your clan doesn't believe truly in you because you are of the Branch Family. You'll never be as great as you could be."
"I know that," Neji hissed, letting a small crack appear in Naruto's ribcage. Naruto arched his back in pain, then looked at Neji's face through his hazy eyesight, air becoming scarce to him as the foot pressed deeper into where his lungs were beneath his bones.
"If.. you know that, then...you should know...that it's all an illusion. You...are the one...who is truly holding...yourself back. They...are not actually part...of this. They may...have succeeded in...holding your potential back...but you're...believed in...by many."
"Like who?" Neji sneered.
"Your...male teammate...he fights you because...you're strong...right?" Naruto coughed, looking at the proctor of the match. He pinned him with a look saying, Don't end this.
"And?"
"You're strong because...someone believed you would be. But...if you say to yourself...that you can't be free...or strong...then you'll never have the...right mentality about it. You'll...just be a fool...that can fight."
"I am caged by my clan to do their bidding," Neji growled out. "I can't be free."
"Is that why...you hate that girl...?" Naruto wheezed. "She...believes in you...but she's from...the Main Family. That's why...you..."
"What the h-hell do you know?" Neji asked, accidentally choking on a word. Naruto looked up at the Hyūga.
"Nobody believed...in me."
"...What?"
"I was by...myself the whole time," Naruto murmured. "The voice...in my head...was the only one...who believed...but he wasn't...even tangible."
"A voice?" Neji inquired quietly, letting some of the pressure up.
"I'm...a Jinchūriki, you know...a human sacrifice. My Bijū...kept me company, but...it wasn't the same...as a family member." Naruto closed his eyes tightly. "I was...shunned because of him, and maybe...he felt bad, or something, but...the reason I was hated was...the reason I kept myself alive."
/He seems to understand in some sort of way, although your speech is very vague and makes little sense,/ Kurama chuckled. /Glad to see you got it off your chest, kid./
"You..." the Hyūga whispered, "were trapped by a seal...weren't you?"
Naruto sighed. "Yes."
Neji raised his head slightly as his lip began trembling slightly. His eyes are watering, Naruto realised, his own eyes growing larger before returning to normal. "I'm surprised, honestly," Neji said solemnly. "The...Yondaime didn't object to our seal, not even after he discovered what it did."
He left off any sort of respectful title, Naruto thought, eyes widening.
"He...just left us," Neji murmured sadly, lifting his foot off of Naruto's torso. "Didn't even object when they wanted to put it on anybody." Neji slowly fell to his knees next to the Jinchūriki, who swiftly tried to sit up and sort-of succeeded, but he was left in an awkward hunched position. "Even if the seal was tradition...why would he...?"
"You'd have to ask him," Naruto mumbled, looking at the sheer pain reflected on Neji's face. "As much as I hate him, I doubt he'd just leave people for no reason." Naruto sighed. "But, you know, this is still a fight."
"Yeah," he mumbled. He then looked towards the sky, also sighing. "Do you really feel like fighting, though?" Neji whispered hoarsely. "I don't. And I sure as hell don't feel like attacking someone who can't defend themselves."
"I take offense to that!" the Jinchūriki joked. "Well, actually, there's someone I want to fight later," Naruto replied. "I think I can still stand, so I could always..."
"No, it's...it's fine," Neji mumbled, a sardonic smile on his lips. "Just don't waste it, you idiot. Do something useful for once, will you?"
"I do useful things," Naruto grumbled.
Neji smirked slightly and turned away from Naruto, looking towards the proctor. "I give up."
The proctor looked at the Hyūga with surprise. "If your opponent can stand, I will declare him as the winner." Neji nodded and looked towards Naruto, who put a grim look on his face.
"My arms aren't working right," Naruto said.
"Try to move them," Neji suggested, adjusting himself into the traditional Japanese way to sit. "Usually it takes a few hours, but since you have such little chakra, they might be okay. Then again, it might be the opposite. I've never really hurt a civilian before."
Naruto nodded and tried to move them, happily surprised when he noticed he could at least have basic motor functions in his arms. He slowly put pressure on his right arm and stood up, his knees shaking slightly. He brought himself up to full height and looked at the proctor, who then shouted that he was the winner. Naruto nodded and slowly walked towards the staircase to the polite applause of the audience, who were disappointed at the loss of the prodigy. He looked back at the Hyūga, who was being escorted off the arena to be tended to. He waved goodbye when Neji's blank eyes met his own. He was a bit disappointed when Neji didn't wave back, but the small grin on the Hyūga's lips was worth it.
When Naruto finally reached where Zabuza was, he found Edward also waiting for him.
"If I could've heard it, I'm sure it would've been immensely interesting," Ed laughed. "Seems like the Hyūga realised something, though."
"Why are you here?" Naruto asked, sighing and leaning against the wall, letting himself slide down to the floor.
"Healing," Ed replied. "You'll still be exhausted, but you'll at least be able to fight."
"You can heal this, too?" he inquired.
"Of course I can," Edward responded, kneeling down. "Just don't move."
"Sure, sure."
(Section Break)
During the time that Naruto was being healed, the next fight that was between Kankurō and Natsuki occurred. Not much happened other than Natsuki using some random, blue technique of her father's that everybody seemed to recognise and using some of the Kyūbi's chakra, along Kankurō's cunning failing fairly badly against the oblivious blonde girl. Kurama made sure to gather the excess chakra Natsuki let off, of course. After that, a fight between Temari and Nara Shikamaru happened, which ended in Shikamaru surrendering after performing a surprisingly complex strategy and technically winning. The girl was very angry at his surrender, but accepted the win nonetheless. The fight between the redheaded Jinchūriki named Gaara and the Uchiha prodigy Sasuke had been pushed back due to Sasuke's lateness, which was blamed on his teacher. Sasuke used a new technique that had been taught to him and caused Gaara to snap as the technique pierced his skin.
Edward cursed as the Jinchūriki screamed and looked towards Naruto. "Look," he said, "if I'm right, Orochimaru is here. I suspect that he's after the Yondaime. If he succeeds, which is very possible, everything is going to go bad. I'm going to go stop him, but I need you and the others to go after the Ichibi Jinchūriki. Can you do that?"
"I think so," Naruto replied. "What's with the feathers?"
"Genjutsu," Ed replied, clapping his hands together and pressing them against Naruto. "There, you should be fine. Be careful, though—ninja from the Sound are swarming everywhere."
"Why didn't you stop this if you knew it was going to happen?" Naruto asked.
"I'm an alchemist, not a miracle-worker," Ed responded, laughing. He turned to Zabuza. "You two—go get Haku and go!"
"Roger that," Zabuza grinned.
(Section Break)
In response to Guest: Personally, I think that getting used to fighting might be hard for him since he's never gone against a real opponent one-on-one before. Also, since his only resource was the Yondaime's personal library, I think you'd find that the Yondaime has no need for books on simple things like that. He never went outside as a child, either, so...And I don't believe Kurama gave him an outright answer. Plus, why wouldn't he use a source of knowledge like the Kyūbi to his advantage? I'm sorry if it's difficult to read, but I don't agree with your points.
In response to another Guest: I sued a sword once. I lost. (:x) Oh, I don't disagree. Bears are not my favourite :p PS4 for me too, I think, haha. It just seems better at this point in time. Poor Chōji :s
In response to Peter Kim: It's a secret ;) Himitsu desu yo~!
In response to Peter Kijm: Naruto's plans are his own. Edward's only trying to make them possible for him.
I burnt my ear with my straightener and now it's all gross and peely and scabbed over and it makes me sad and :((((((((((((((((((((((((
My parents totally know that my sister has a boyfriend. It's really funny, seeing how she thinks they don't know.
TSOJ has some other challenges posted on both his and my profile, so check them out :p
Well, thank you for reading! If you review, virtual cookies. If not, that's fine too. As long as you like the story, everything's all good!
Shameless advertising: If you're a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter crossovers, I have a story called Molten up. It's a bit drabble-y. I also have a Naruto one-shot called A Way to Win, if anyone's interested.