AN: I warmly thank everyone for their reviews, follows and likes! THANKS TO ALL!
I have done it, it took me quite a while because I had a lot of things to get out of my chest in writing this chapter...just to let you know in advance it will focus quite extensively on Naruto himself, and there was quite a bit of difficulty on my part in writing it. All in all, I wrote what I wanted and hope you all like it. Well nothing else for me to say right now, just read on and I will leave another AN at the end.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, Mass Effect or any other implied series; this is Fanfiction for a reason.
"Conversation"
"[Elementaris/Shinobi Speech]"
"Powerful being talking/Jutsu"
Mindscape:
Erza opened her eyes again, and suffice to say she was not happy with what she saw,
She cursed under her breath, "Not again..."
As to where she was, it was hard for her to truly describe; was it hell? was it the end of the world? Those were just some ideas that came out of her thoughts the moment she witnessed this place. To describe it in the best of her abilities, it looked like the city she was born in, the place she had faced her hell in, Metropolis 11. There was however a twisted catch to the place, it was in ruins, dirt, soot, ashes and blood littered the streets, the rain was so heavy that there was not even a single sliver of sunlight to be seen. To end it all, the ruins were desolate, not a single soul to be seen or heard. She was alone, in this parody of a childhood memory.
Or so she thought...
"Queen..."
Erza snapped her head to the direction of the voice, and true to it, there was the familiar sight of herself, as bloodied as she saw herself on the night prior to her birthday...her insanity. Her Madness for the lack of a better description had an undescribeable expression on her face, a mix of a cruel smirk and a childish smile, that look unnerved Erza endlessly, she truly hoped the first time she met Madness would be the last time she would have to. It looks like this was not to be the case.
Erza's surroundings blurred and the ruined pavements and old concrete buildings from the 21st century was replaced with another familiar place in her memory, it was the park she used to go to during her less troublesome parts of her life, at the centre of the slums. There was however many differences to it, it was bigger than what she remembered and it looked...displaced. It was almost as it the original park during her time at the slums was forcibly dug out and replacing it was a large green field in the middle of a ruined concrete jungle, except the grass were dried and whitered.
At the centre of the once green field was a large tree. It looked charred much like everything surrounding it and on its branch was a simple swing, the field and the tree felt familiar to her but she could not for her life understood why.
Breaking her out of her thoughts was Madness, she was now inches away from Erza staring into her green eyes with her own deranged ones. Her expression completely unmoving but Erza could detect rage building up in her insane persona.
"We were meant to be together my lovely, beautiful Queen. I was what kept you alive all these years, feeding your anger, nurturing your resolve, made you ready for when we could be as one and grip this world by its neck, if you would only place your faith in me. That was what he called it...faith?"
The smile was now wiped off her insanity's face, replaced with a continuously growing sneer.
"Fuck faith...he told you to have faith and you scavenged it from the sheer depths of your hopelessness for something the doesn't even exist anymore. He told you to protect others in need when NO ONE protected us in our time of need, guess what you said yes too. And he had the fucking guts to stop us from becoming stronger when we needed the strength to destroy those who wronged us. He may be a God, but when we are one, we can be our own if only you will us to..." with that, Madness gripped Erza's head with both her hands and placed her face closer and made greater eye contact with her 'Queen'. Erza was shocked by the sudden movement and was slowly becoming fearful.
"We have one more chance Queen, we can still be perfect. Who was by your side the moment you were born, it was me! Who was it who made you stronger when anyone else would roll over and die, it was me! And guess who can give you the power and the potential become a God? BINGO! IT WILL BE ME! So all YOU need to to is say yes, we will become stronger and we will kick Ripple Eyes out of our body forever, he will not get a say in how we live our life...and all it takes is one word." Madness' was now grinning wickedly when she finished her monologue.
Erza knew what would happen when she said yes, she knew what would happen to the people around her if they became one. She did not want that to happen, she did not want to be someone to have killing so deeply ingrained into her person. Madness was exactly that, a personification of her insanity, and that was reason enough to not to cave in to her demands. Struggling under the pressure of Madness' grip, Erza tried to set a glare of her own and made a firm declaration.
"No!" Her insanity was rendered speechless after Erza blurted out that word, her face was blank for a short moment, and then it was replaced with a renewed sneer, one that was rage-filled.
"I am disappointed in you Queen, I would have given you everything, I would have been your shield, I would have given you the world. We are both one of the same, two sides of the same coin. I gave you my heart and in return I hope you gave me yours...but no. You just decided to drop me on the floor and step on every kind gesture that I so graciously give you, all for who? Some fool with fucked-up eyes that you claimed is a god? Oh yes, I thought him a god once, but now I knew we could be one too. I was offering it to you, so we could enjoy it together...but now it looks like you lack the balls to go along with it."
Erza's madness removed her left palm from her head and it was now facing her head and had red biotic energy coursing through it. Erza knew what Madness was going to do the moment that took place, and she was soon going to receive confirmation.
"Looks like it is time to overthrow the incompetent Queen" declared Madness, her biotically charged arm now a fist.
Erza closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to take place, but she was once again subjected to another surprise.
Gravity and wind bent around her and she felt the grip on her head now gone, she opened her eyes and saw her insanity being flung metres away from her by a familiar invisible force. It came from behind so Erza decide to look back, her breathing stopped again and time seemed to slow down, for she was faced with the familiar presence of her saviour.
Rikudou's POV
Five years of never-ending torture and torment turned it into a what could best be described as a large chunk of the city the young girl stayed in with one main difference, it was in ruins. The representation of the buildings, were that of rubble, burnt foundations and the streets were filled with ashes, there were also stains of wet and dried blood across the said streets and walls. Completing the ruined mindscape were dark clouds and never-ending rain. It appeared that her darker emotions were fuelling the transformation of her mindscape, once again Rikudou was faced with an odd sense of nostalgia, it reminded him vaguely of his own in the distant past but this was without a doubt the representation of a mind that was dangerously close to being broken, worse than the mindscape that he had when he was incomplete, a child in despair.
Rikudou did not need to tarry any further, it was time for him to get to work.
Looking for a mental aspect, a bona-fide Yami was ridiculously difficult if the said aspect was not part of himself. He remembered the sheer effortlessness of meeting his darker side, it was not hard finding his Yami, but it was an entirely different story when it came to facing him. Finding Erza's dark side was paramount the moment he arrived into her mindscape, when he saw the redhead back at the slums, and he sensed that her dark side was so much stronger than what it should be, strong enough that with just a little push it could break Erza's mind entirely and replace hers entirely. If that happens, he prays to Creation what would happen to this world.
After hours upon hours of searching, he sensed a shift in the mindscape that he easily identified as Erza's dark side pulling her in. Looks like if what he thinks she would do turns out to be true, it would likely take place at the centre of the mindscape. Well, best bet to find her then...
True enough, he reached the centre of the mindscape and there was Erza, clearly about to be destroyed by her darker mind. Rikudou acted fast and released an almighty push in Erza's Yami's direction. It did the trick and Yami was forced back harshly, freeing Erza in the process. Rikudou let out a large sigh and lowered his head for a short moment, and hence did not see said redhead turning her head back to look at him with wide eyes.
"[Kuso...took a long time to actually find that damn Yami, a little longer I would have witnessed a probable Ichibi...]" Rikudou cursed quietly in his native language, he had better subdue Erza's Yami as soon as possible before she disappears again and waste another few good days searching for her.
His thoughts were interrupted when he was tackled by a red blur, thanks to his physique he managed to stay standing upright. Rikudou looked up and and saw Erza hugging him tightly her head buried in his chest and she was sobbing silently.
"It's really you...my Sage, saviour..." she mumbled silently, Rikudou did not know what to say to this, pardon his lack of forward planning and eloquence but since he is faced with an obviously hostile Yami, he has dedicated the whole of his attention on controlling it until said redhead was strong enough and old enough to do the job.
Speaking of dark side, Erza's Yami stood back up, her face contorted in unfathomable rage. Her entire body soon surged with red mass effect energy and the mindscape started to shake violently. Parts of the rubble started to detach from the ground and the destroyed foundations of the city mindscape, and when those happened, Rikudou noted Erza started to clutch her head tightly and screaming in what was likely blinding pain.
"Stop this right now Yami, the damage of the mindscape will have untold repercussions on Erza's mind. Destroying it will break her mind entirely!" Rikudou frantically yelled back at Yami. Though that did not stop her not one bit.
"Oh, no biggie, I am going to take over her mind anyway, perhaps this will speed up the process! Also, I get to kick your ripple-eyes ass on the side, two for the price of one I say it's a steal! Guess whose entrails I'm gonna rip out and skip rope with?!" The detached rubble were now floating above Yami ready to launch it at Rikudou and Erza, who was in pain.
Rikudou cursed at that, the Yami obviously did not know that destroying the mindscape did MORE than just removing Erza's base mind and personality...he then saw the rubble surging towards him and Erza in his arms, he made a quick dodge and the rubble crashed to the ground, creating more destruction. Erza's pain multiplied every moment, evidenced by her now twitching form and whimpers.
That was it, Rikudou knew only one place where she could be momentarily safe. He did not want to do it and NO ONE whether young or old should witness its secrets but it was way less hazardous than being here. He sigh and lifted Erza's head to face him, she was still conscious her green eyes staring at him weakly and tears of pain still falling, a face that broke his heart. Rikudou absently noted the lower part of her body was slowly dispersing, damage was being done to her mindscape and it must stop.
"Child, I am sorry but you will be safer this way. Close your eyes and your pain will leave" Erza closed her eyes and Rikudou placed his free palm on her head. He absorbed Erza's consciousness and her entire projection disappeared from her mindscape. Said redhead was now being stored into Rikudou's own mind and memories, at least for the duration of this confrontation.
His face hardened and he faced Erza's insane doppelgänger, he declared calmly "This has to end now Yami, you shall not cause further damage to this mindscape or I shall have to take you down in the most unpleasant way possible."
"*Gasp* are my years deceiving me? You, an almighty, all knowing lord and master are threatening a poor innocent little girl who doesn't know what she is doing?! Spare me your words ripple man, I'll rip out your eyeballs and kick you out of here before you can even lay a hand on me!" The mindscape started to shake even more violently and Rikudou could faintly see extra translucent biotic 'arms' attached to Yami's back, grabbing on to anything within the mindscape that could be used as a projectile. Any object firmly in place were sliced off cleanly by her 'arms' to create new projectiles. Once again he resorted to silent cursing, looks like this persona had no idea what damage to Erza's mind she could cause with all these wanton destruction, all just to prove a point. To add to this problem, she was arrogant AND insane, another blast from the past. Soon after Yami's declaration, the various pieces of rubble were hurled to his direction, and she even launched an endless barrage of warp projectiles towards him, all whilst wearing an arrogant smirk.
A part of Rikudou could not wait to beat that arrogance out of her, and that part noted the best way to do it was through shock and awe, making sure what he did to Yami was strong enough to subdue her, but could also leave a statement.
He lived multiple millennia and one of the surefire ways to shut smug people up was to show them you were better in every way.
As the rain of death was quickly approaching Rikudou, his eyes shone a bright purple and the six tomoes surrounding his Yin/Yang pupil started to spin madly. His entire person was engulfed in a bright white flame, Rikudou then muttered.
"Susanoo" the fire around Rikudou reached new heights, multi-storeys specifically, soon the white flames started to take form, becoming increasingly humanoid in appearance. Seconds later, the projectiles launched by Erza's Yami were now approaching a multi-storey behemoth of flames instead, the sage within it and standing very still. It's appearance resembled Rikudou, it was heavily cloaked and armoured, the six jewelled necklace around his neck was completely replicated, and so was the same striking ripple eyes. The only real difference was that it was wearing a horned helm complete with a mask that covered its entire face from view instead to Rikudou's horned headband. The moment the projectiles touched the flaming behemoth, the rubble vaporised whilst the warps completely dispersed.
The smirk was wiped off Erza's Yami, and replacing it was an expression of panic and fear mixed in with a generous amount of awe. This was exactly what Rikudou wanted and since Erza's Yami was caught extensively off guard from the sheer uselessness of her attack, Rikudou decided to act fast before she snapped out of it and...run. That would be really troublesome.
He willed his Susanoo to lash out its arm and grab onto Erza's Yami before she could do anything, but alas nothing in existence ever took place without a little difficulty. Yami snapped out of it and made a quick dodge with a biotically enhanced dash to the side. She tried sending another warp towards the thing but that did nothing to it at all, it was engulfed into the fiery projection.
Rikudou then observed Erza's Yami teleported a fair distance away from him, and started to form significant amounts of mass effect in both of her hands, believe him when he said significant, the amount of energy was enormous considering the most powerful Asari Ardat-Yakshi could only muster about 40 per cent at the sheer maximum before they die of exhaustion. Green fire burst out of Yami's eyes giving the impression of burning eyes. Rikudou grumbled at the sheer futility of her efforts, even without Susanoo her chances of causing him any damage was a stretch at best and this was certainly going to cause her more harm, and especially so for Erza's mindscape.
Rikudou tried to reach for Yami as fast as he could and with his Susanoo's aid, his reach multiplied ten-fold, but by the time he was close enough, Yami was done and launched a supercharged singularity at the Sage and his summon.
It was perhaps the biggest singularity to ever be formed if it did not take place in the most SENSITIVE part of the human mind, if Rikudou was not too busy trying to break free from it he would have admired the sheer power, it was comparable to his Chibaku Tensei at 20 per cent which was NOTHING to laugh about, even at 10 percent power, a Chibaku tensei from the Sage of Six Paths was capable ripping hundreds of men into base matter, and suffice to say any stronger and it was capable to construct a moon of varying sizes...
BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE A CRITIC, Yami was keeping the singularity intact, and it looks like she was becoming increasingly strained, but it is slowly and surely destroying everything in Erza's mindscape. He had to break free this instance and stop that insanity, so he place more chakra into his Susanoo and with that he broke through the singularity and finally lashed Susanoo's hand and grabbed on to Yami's small frame and crushed her towards the ground.
Yami's channeling stopped and the singularity collapsed, all that was left was the ever present Susanoo, a very damaged mindscape and an exhausted evil doppelgänger, who was looking back at the fiery behemoth in terror.
The Sage looked around, he had to keep this persona in check, scare her a lot and place some kind of restriction seal on her, otherwise this will not bode well for Erza at all. He hated acting like an arrogant prick with a god-complex, but for someone like Erza's Yami, that was the only way to get the point across...
He released choking amounts of Killing Intent, and spoke to Yami, "You claim yourself capable to be a God, well girl now you understand the power of a true God. Do not cross me, or I will give you pain and I will give you horror unimaginable. It is just so simple for me, do you understand?"
Throughout Rikudou's ultimatum, his Susanoo was slowly searing Yami's skin. She had not choice but to nod furiously, he knew she would be kept in line, at least for the time being...
He released his Susanoo and approached Erza's Yami, the fingers of his right palm now burst into purple flames, he raised his palm towards Yami's stomach.
"Gogyō Fūin" and strike her stomach hard, Yami's eyes widened in the sudden surge of pain throughout her entire body and she made a silent scream. After the pain was gone, she was reduced to a whimper. Rikudou knew this would block off her biotic powers and any other latent abilities she had in Erza's minds cape. So essentially she was reduced to an insane little girl who yells out profanities and death threats.
Rikudou kneeled down towards the prone form of Erza's Yami, his voice remained firm, but now lack the hardness from before. "What you did was stupid Yami, the destruction of this mindscape will not only destroy Erza's mind, but everything else in it, including you. Now as you know I have sealed off all your EZ Nodules, but worry not for when the time is right, and Erza herself is strong enough, I will unseal them and what happens next will be beyond my right to control."
Rikudou saw Yami's confused look, so he made one last statement, "You are Erza's inner darkness, given form and power from all the experiences she has had, and only she herself can reconcile with you. Whether she succumbs to you, or rise up from the darkness, it is all up to her when the time is right."
Yami just gave a sardonic chuckle, he voice now devoid of power, the voice of a little girl "Queen...she can try, and she WILL fail. I have always been stronger and smarter. What makes you think she could control me o' lord and master?"
The Sage was silent for a short moment before giving Yami a wide grin that creeped her out, he said, "Because...I still have faith, believe it." he bridle-carried Erza's Yami and teleported to the centre of the mindscape which he was relieved was untouched by the chaos that happened before. He laid her on the side of the tree, and could hear her weak scoff and whisper of "faith". Thinking back again, he realised the large disparity of strength between Erza and her dark side were, that was testament to the dark world she lived in for the early parts of her childhood. He would have to remedy that without question. But first, he had a mindscape to repair, he had to restore it at least until before it was damaged by her Yami, then he could extract Erza's consciousness from his mind. That was the last place he would ever want the girl to be but it was there or the pain of a damaged mind. Though with her mind so heavily damaged, by the time he was done repairing it, he hoped she would forget everything that took place here...and there.
He made his way to the tree, created a stone platform for him to sit, one that was leaning against the tree. He sat on the platform in a meditative stance, both of his palms facing upwards. His rippled eyes started to burn a brighter mix of white and purple light, his tomoes spinning wildly, and his Yin/Yang pupil doing the same. On his left palm a small black flame burst out, whilst to his right palm a larger white flame burst out. There was a few seconds where nothing else happened, then a sudden white pulse was released from Rikudou across the ruined mindscape. He whispered a word that could not be heard by anyone, not even by the exhausted Yami.
Slowly but surely, the mindscape began to mend, and the damage caused by the fight were being undone almost as if time itself was being reversed...though spillover from his power to Erza's mind was inevitable.
Memory
Scorched earth...
It was a battlefield, and from what she could discern it must have been a filled with life before whatever happened took place. She was left wondering the dead field looking for any signs of life. She did not know for how long she had been walking but eventually she settled upon a large crater, in it was a large mist of black and white energy and at the centre, two prone figures, trying to stand up. She walked slowly to the centre of the crater and took a closer look at the two figures. Both of them were black haired men, and heavily injured. One had short spiky hair and a half of his face was ruined, the other had long spiky hair and his faced was...cracked. They were both looking at the mist that seemed to gather together slowly but surely.
Soon it started to take form and became increasingly human in appearance, it's head soon had horns and the cloak became visible. She caught sight of his eyes and was slightly frightened by it, two blood red orbs that had four concentric circles and three commas attached to each. But they soon dissolved and reformed into the eyes she knew all too well, it became purple, had the same concentric circles, the odd pupil and the six commas surrounding, she knew immediately it was Rikudou. The mist of energy fully converged and his body became tangible and his unmistakeable appearance was clear for her and the two prone figures to see.
Speaking of the two men, their looks were hard to discern, perhaps anger? Despite the state they were in, it was obvious they had their full attention towards her saviour. Rikudou and the two prone men were silent for some time, waiting for the first person to break it.
Rikudou decided to break the silence himself, he once again spoke in the language she heard but did not understand, key word being 'did', for now she knew what he was saying and she did not know why. Frankly she did not care.
"[Obito, Madara, was it all worth it?]" Rikudou asked both prone figures, Erza identified that her saviour regarded the short-haired man as 'Obito' and the long-haired man as 'Madara'. She would hazard a guess that these were their names, the fascination of suddenly understanding a new language almost without explanation was now replaced with curiosity as to what her saviour was about to say to these two men, and who they were exactly.
"[*Cough*, *cough*, it would have all been worth it boy... the Uchiha would have reigned supreme, just like they always should have. The Juubi was to be our weapon, the Eye of the Moon would have been our achievement. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan is the pinnacle of human perfection, so much so that the Rinnegan itself is bred from a Sharingan. I would have made the worthless herd understood their place but you, you just had to ruin everything, EVERYTHING I worked for!]" The long-haired man, she remembered as Madara was the first to respond, he was now standing nearly upright, almost ready for a fight.
For most parts, her saviour remained unaffected by the man's rant, after a short moment he voiced up again, "[You believed that the Uchihas were fated to reign in this world, that you believed no one will change that? The Sharingan, the most powerful bloodline, superior in every way that the Rinnegan is an extension of it? Do you,both of you truly believe that is to be the case?]"
This time the short-haired man spoke up, he too was back on his feet "[We are the strongest of the Shinobi in the whole elemental nations, we have the Sharingan as our birthright, the Rinnegan, the very eyes of the Sage of Six Paths is also our tool to use at will. While you boy...those new eyes of yours are only 'given' to you when you absorbed Juubi, they were never yours to begin with, you are no Uchiha for you will never master the eyes of God-]" The short-haired man paused in his speech when he apparently felt a surge of invisible pain throughout his body and it got him to his knees, if his sudden screaming was of any indication, Erza looked back at Rikudou and saw his fierce, deathly gaze on the man in pain. This lasted for a few seconds and then it stopped, the man was now breathing heavily, but still glaring fiercely at Rikudou.
She heard a sigh from her saviour, "[close to a thousand years and yet the Uchiha remained the same as they were, the millennia of experience, and extermination taught you nothing. You even stoop yourselves so low to consider your eyes to be stronger than the eyes of the Sage...]"
Obito seemed to lose his temper even more and started shouting, "[What do you know about the way of this world, all you have ever been was the naive little boy who always dreamt of being Hokage, believing that all the hate in this world can be magically erased because you believe it so.]" It was obvious that Obito was letting his emotions fuel his words, since Madara took a contemplating look, almost as if there was something that was vital to understand but was beyond his comprehension as of yet.
Her saviour snapped back at Obito, "[You are allowing your emotions to cloud your rationality child. You agreed to it yourself, nothing in this world is as simple as it appeared, and to quote an old comrade of yours, you have failed to look underneath the underneath.]" That seemed to make something in Obito's head snap and in seconds he was charging towards Rikudou in unbelievable speed, a dagger in his hand obviously intent on causing harm to him.
Unfortunately for him, Rikudou blocked the strike with no effort in his part and planted a well-placed palm strike to the man's abdomen. Obito was forced back a distance, but he did not let up, both of his eyes started to glow (which Erza started wondering what was with people and glowing eyes)... She looked closer to the man's eyes and saw them to be morbidly mismatched, his right was a deep red with strange blade-like pattern, and his right was awfully similar to Rikudou's though it only possessed the concentric circle and the purple sclera and nothing else.
"[DO NOT MOCK ME BOY, I will show you the full extent of my power, the power of an Uchiha] Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu", with that an incredibly large ball of fire came out from the man's mouth and was headed towards Rikudou's direction. Erza was getting used to all these little surprises that she seemed to witness, so all she felt was worry for her saviour... but knowing him to some extent she was confident he could get out of this encounter.
Escape he did, Rikudou's entire body dispersed into a mist of energy moments before the fireball touched him, the mist then rushed towards the Obito person and Rikudou became fully formed and tangible again, Obito started to engage in melee combat with Rikudou. Obito was relentless in his assault but Rikudou effortlessly weaved through each strike and returned a few quick strikes on Obito, all of them hitting their mark.
Obito jumped back and raised his right palm towards Rikudou, a very familiar gesture considering her saviour did something similar himself. "Shinra Tensei!" those were the same words she heard her saviour whispered as well, but this man seemed to yell it out in blind rage. To see the destructive force being formed and heading towards her saviour, Erza was worried as to how he would handle this new problem.
To her shock again, she saw Rikudou, fully unaffected by the gravitational destruction, it literally phased through him. This shock seemed to be emulated by the Obito person as he was motionless for a few seconds. That was all the time for Rikudou to react accordingly;
"Bansho Ten'in", Obito was dragged harshly by gravity itself. A bright blue sphere of energy that resembled a drill was formed in Rikudou's hand in less than a second and when Obito was in arms reach Rikudou shoved the sphere into the man's abdomen. Clear drilling of flesh was heard and a large explosion launched the man a few metres back from Rikudou, Obito was now on the ground and in moments golden chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the downed man, fully trapping him.
Just like that, the one-sided engagement came to an end.
Rikudou now laid eyes back at the other man Madara who was standing motionless, but was also demonstrating silent shock to the turn of events.
"[You are all children to my eyes, young gakis with too much hot air and too much arrogance to understand the truth behind your existence, a gift and you are consumed with false delusions. 'Curse of hatred', foolish little tantrums bred by envy, you lot were my biggest regret.]" As of this point, Madara and even Obito took on mildly confused looks, something not missed by Rikudou and Erza herself.
Madara expressed his confusion "[What is that suppose to mean, that you understand the Uchiha better than us?] Rikudou gave whithering looks to the two-black-haired men with his Rippled eyes before saying, "[Let me tell you a tale, perhaps that will give further clarification, if you wish to humour me]" The long-haired man seemed to comply begrudgingly, perhaps his urge to know Rikudou's point of view overriding any sense to refuse.
Prior to the age of the Shinobi, there lived a Sage, he was regarded as a messiah to some, a god trapped in the body of a man to others, deemed a Child of Prophecy capable of many feats;
He taught the people his arts, shared his knowledge with any person willing to learn, and protected them from destruction;
Like any man, the Sage fell in love with a woman, and she in turn fell in love not with the Sage, but the man;
With them as one, the Sage and his love gave birth to three children;
The first two were sons, both similar in appearance, whilst the third and youngest was a daughter, whom bore the spitting image of the mother who brought her to this world;
For few years the Sage knew peace, but he hearkened the laws of nature, he was born a mortal and hence would die a mortal;
The Sage knew he needed an heir.
One of his children would be made his heir, so the Sage considered his first son and was saddened;
He wield unyielding determination, ruthlessness, the discipline and decisiveness of a warrior;
However with those strengths he had weaknesses;
For he was petty, prone to holding grudges, his heart filled with spite, and he held ambitions that he had no right to bear for he wanted absolute power;
The Sage deemed him unfit to be his heir, but he was the Sage's son, and he his father;
Hence he would give him a fragment of his eyes, and nothing more;
Thus he would be called Uchiha.
One of his children would be made his heir, so the Sage considered his second son and was saddened;
He was benevolent, virtuous, merciful and his sense of morality admirable;
However with those strengths were his weaknesses;
For he was too indecisive, his ideals stunted his rationality, his unwillingness to go against moralities, stunted his actions;
The Sage deemed him unfit to be his heir, but he too was the Sage's son, and he his father;
Hence he would give him a fragment of his body, and nothing more;
Thus he would be called Senju.
One of his children would be made his heir, so the Sage considered his only daughter and was content;
She had strength of will, wisdom beyond her age, and possessed a great perseverance fitting for a sage and a warrior;
Though with her strengths, she was not subjected to weaknesses;
She was merciful when needed, wrathful when necessary, gentle at the best of times, pragmatic at a time of crisis;
The Sage deemed her fit to be his heir, and she was the Sage's daughter, and he her father;
Hence he would give her everything, his eyes, his body and his soul in their entirety when his earthly vessel fell;
She would bear his name, she would be called Uzumaki, after her father.
His first son, Uchiha received the Sage's gift, he was dissatisfied, resentful, jealous;
He wanted more;
The resentment and jealousy bred a self titled Curse of Hatred, with it the hate for his siblings;
Uchiha deemed himself worthy of more, power to destroy his enemies and to rule over the land that was not his.
His Second son, Senju received the Sage's gift, he too was dissatisfied, blinded;
He needed more;
The ideals bred a self titled Will of Fire, with it the blinded love and mercy for his enemies that would end him if given opportunity;
Senju deemed himself worthy of more, power to bring peace to the land through an ideal that was never to be.
His only daughter, Uzumaki received the Sage's gift, she was humbled, but confused;
She need not nor did she want it;
She understood why she was chosen, her brothers were too deep into ideals and with them their weaknesses;
Uzumaki deemed herself unworthy, power too great it would cause discord, power she felt her father should take to the afterlife.
The Sage admired his daughter's resolve, though he gave her everything, he kept her gifts dormant;
On his deathbed, he gave his dormant soul to her daughter, a long slumber befell him;
And in a time of need, he will be reborn and he will adorn the gifts he had given to his daughter;
He took his gifts to the afterlife, and he will bring it back upon his return, he was the first, and he would be the second;
A cycle renewed..
With that the story ended, Erza was thoroughly confused with the tale. Though the other two of the audience did not reciprocate her thoughts. Both of them bore expressions of bewilderment, defiance, and denial. It looked like this story affected them far more than her, she wanted to ask Rikudou for more details or to explain but she was very aware that she was invisible to them.
Madara looked enraged, "[Lies all of them! The Uchiha are the masters of this world. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan are the eyes of god, and you are suppose to be the Rikudou Sennin?! Madness! You may have defeated the Juubi, but you are never capable of besting me. I will have to show you myself the mistake you have made crossing me boy, and the mistake of insulting an Uchiha!]", potent dark purple flames started to burst out of the long-haired man in waves, soon both of his eyes morphed in to a different patterned red. Erza then heard him scream, "Susanoo!"
She was treated to another breath-taking sight of a behemoth, its entire body constructed from the man's flames. For most parts, it resembled a cloaked humanoid and its presence intimidating as it towered over everyone else by metres. All that while the long-haired man had an increasingly deranged smirk, "[The Complete Susanoo! The pinnacle power of an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, not even the Rinnegan is capable of this power! You will die today Uzumaki!]"
The large behemoth raised its arm to utterly destroy Rikudou. This was reason enough for another panic attack on the little red-head, the behemoth of energy was massive and she was afraid for a her saviour, despire her growing confidence in his abilities, she could not help it.
Rikudou looked at the behemoth with cold indifference, his body unmoving. She heard him sigh and watched him raised an open palm lazily towards the approaching arm of the behemoth and a whisper "Susanoo". A maelstrom of white flames became visible around his body as well and soon enough Erza was faced with another energy colossus, but different in appearance. It looked strikingly similar to Rikudou himself but it was a head bigger than the long-haired man's behemoth. It formed in only a few seconds and Rikudou's colossus grab hold of Madara's own attacking arm.
Madara himself was now genuinely shocked, and had a look of panic and denial. Erza herself, was tempted to just lie down on the ground and ignore all these surprises and flashy demonstrations. All the 'shock and awe' was really draining on her psyche...she was just a little girl for the love of...then she realised her saviour was the closest thing to a God she knew.
Rikudou's colossus ripped the arms of Madara's own, and in a swift movement she would think impossible for something so large, a sword of golden flames materialised in the colossus's hand and swiftly sliced the head off the the long-haired man's construct. It was destroyed in moments with a fiery explosion that launched Madara a distance back. Rikudou released his colossus and walked towards the downed man. When he was close enough, he grabbed the man's neck, pulled him up from the ground and his metallic purple eyes now bore into his red patterned one.
"[The Sharingan is a fragment of the Sage's eyes, my eyes. I willed it to be inferior to The Rinnegan in every way, and it has always been so. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, the pathetic parody of my eyes that you think is my Rinnegan as foolish as that is, are merely imperfections to my designs, imperfections exploited from the Uchiha's greed for power, exploits that resulted to more death.]" Rikudou declared coldly.
Madara struggled to voice out, but his voice sounded resigned and bitter "[So, what does that mean? That you are indeed the Sage, the God among men?]" Obito continued with his own questions, there was without a doubt a sadness in his voice "[Does that mean...being the son of Minato-sensei meant nothing to you?]".
Erza saw a look on her saviour's face, was it sadness? He glanced back at the chained man on the ground and said nothing for a while. The silence was soon broken, "[I was, I am and I always will be Rikudou Sennin...and Uzumaki Naruto. We are one of the same. I am the father of three children with different legacies, achievements and mistakes but I am also the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, and I care for each and every one of them. They were and always will be people precious to me even in their death... even when I am now whole" A lone tear fell off his right eye and he looked back at Madara.
Madara then spoke out, "[Whole? What is that suppose to mean?]"
"[The Uzumaki Naruto you knew, that Obito knew, was merely a fragment of the real person, of myself. He was a fragment that represented my compassion, my faith, my morality. He was incomplete, but now I am whole.]"
"[Then what of Juubi? What of-]"
"[The Juubi is not yours to understand, nor is it of your benefit to do so.]' The Sage firmly dismissed.
But his gaze on Madara softened very slightly.
"[You were merely a star in my son's eyes, but you were very much like him. His strengths and achievements, as well as his weaknesses. As a father, his mistakes are mine to bear, and your actions are the product of my shortcomings...which is why I will take responsibility of my wrongs before this chaos spreads further.]" His face hardened and a grim determination spread across his face. Rikudou placed his free hand firmly on both sides of Madara's temple, "[I gave my son a fragment of my eyes, I can just as easily take it back from his descendants.]"
Madara's eyes widened in panic and he started to move violently in Rikudou's iron grip, but he could not escape. Black energy coursed through his arm and into Madara's eyes, and a haunting scream was heard, Erza winced at the likely agony the long-haired man must be experiencing. As soon as it started, it ended and Madara was promptly dropped on the ground, he opened his eyes soon later and they were...a dark violet colour, the read patterned corneas gone.
This was repeated on the man chained to the ground, another wave of agonising screams were heard but that ended as fast as it started. Erza saw the same violet eyes on him as well. These turn of events were soon followed by another anger-filled scream by Madara, Erza could feel the rage, hopelessness, agony and sadness from the scream. It was almost as if something vital, that was part of him was forever taken away, as if his purpose in life was forever gone. Obito, the short-haired man was now silent though she could have sworn she heard sobbing coming off from him.
Madara's screams ended, now his voice weaker and broken, a little above a whisper, he spoke "[Konoha...I would have seen it destroyed. A place where I knew nothing but hate. I gave them everything, and I received nothing.]"
"[Rin, I am sorry I could not avenge you...could not bring justice to your death. Kakashi still lives, the village of hypocrites still left standing, all the hate I thought I could use as a weapon, became worthless in the end.]" He looked back at Rikudou, all the fire in him gone, "[you have done it then Naruto...Rikudou, whoever you are. We are done, the Fourth Great War is done. Konoha stands, all the villages stand...so what now-]" Obito did not finish his question when he was promptly stabbed through the heart by sword conjured out of thin air by Rikudou. A brief look of shock grazed Obito's features but soon enough the life drained from his face, the short-haired man was dead.
Rikudou placed his body on the ground, and closed his still-opened eyes, the moment he started walking away from the body, fire erupted from it and in moments all that is left of the man was ash. The Sage contemplated out loud as he walked back to Madara.
"[Konoha, all these problems always revolved around the village that my sons have forged in such a fragile alliance. On the surface, it talks of peace, love, unity and camaraderie. Underneath the surface, it holds the bitter nature of greed, hate, bigotry, idiocy...hypocrisy. Will of fire and curse of Hatred, two childish ideals that made up a village, a contradiction in itself, contradictions that breeds chaos.]"
Madara's now violet eyes widened when he heard Rikudou's declaration, but that did not stop the sage from continuing, he soon was facing a powerless Madara, "[Konoha will be destroyed, and so will every other Shinobi village. Perhaps this will be my parting gift to you...as a father, I am sorry I could not be better parent to my son and his children...but as that little boy born on October 10th, I forgive you for everything, that would have been what my parents would have wanted.]" He stabbed his sword through Madara's chest, much like he did with Obito. Rikudou saw the life slowly leave Madara's eyes and soon enough his now violet eyes dulled completely, "[you, your brother and your sister, we are Uzumaki in all but name...]". Upon his death the man's body crumbled into dust.
"[Shinobi...their very existence breeds violence, Four Great Wars upon my slumber, and with it the deaths of millions. My children were born into this cycle, a cycle of hatred, a cycle of madness.]" Rikudou looked up at the now visible moon "[Kaa-san, Tou-san, we were all born in this world of madness, a world I have created, and a world that I will undo. The last of the Uchiha, Konoha, and every other village will be removed. The cycle of the Shinobi is over, and I hope the both of you will lend me your strength.]". His eyes then closed in contemplation.
Erza watched Rikudou, his figure unmoving. She tried to reach to touch him but her arm merely fazed through the Sage; she had undoubtedly learned more of her saviour but she could not for the life of her make sense to anything that had been said and done. Who were the two men he killed, what were Shinobi? Her saviour's behaviour was also her biggest source of confusion, throughout this...encounter for the lack of a better description, he seemed to posses different personalities, almost as if he was two people at once. They were distinct to each other but on the other hand were united, their contradictions bred harmony... He was ruthless but caring, merciless but remorseful, old but young as crazy as that sounded...suffice to say what she found out about her saviour only created more questions.
But alas, not all was for naught, as Erza had finally known her saviour's true name...Naruto...she would never forget his name...and October 10th, she would always appreciate that special day, not for her, but for him.
Riku...Naruto suddenly tensed almost as if someone was approaching him, and Erza soon found out someone really was approaching. Her saviour turned his back and she follow and look behind as well. Behind them was a boy, 16 years of age if she had to guess, he could certainly come across as a relative of the two men who died, perhaps he was. He wore a red and white cloak and a strange triangular hat with writing in the ancient language at the front of it. Behind him were a group of 30 cloaked men she recognised in her previous dream, their plain white masks were a dead giveaway. The boy facing her saviour had a cocky smirk on his face that she immediately hated to see, though she could not help but wonder where did she see him before.
"[Hokage-sama...]" Naruto said, though that word was laced with veiled disgust and disappointment.
The smug man responded, "[Dobe, you look different, but I suppose that is irrelevant right now, you have destroyed Juubi, and removed the thorns on my side. Turns out Madara and Obito were useless Uchihas after all.]" The cloaked man took out a single edged sword from his back, and the masked men armed themselves as well.
"[On behalf of the village of Konoha, I the Shichidaime Hokage charge you Uzumaki Naruto for the death of millions of Shinobi, from Konohagakure and every other hidden village, the punishment is execution.]"
Naruto's eyes remained closed throughout the exchange, but Erza saw a single brow quirk up, then her saviour spoke, "[On what evidence?]" The other man responded, "[for holding the Juubi.]" This resulted in the Sage's head shaking in disbelief, "[what makes you think you and a handful of Root can take me down, teme?]" she saw the other man scowl.
"[Your bijuu is weakened, myself and my tools are more than enough to subdue you-]", cue a scoff from Naruto, "[had the many years of experience not erase your stupidity Sasuke? I acknowledge you have grown stronger, but strong enough to face me? Well we will just have to see about that, shall we?]" Naruto opened his eyes, Sasuke caught eye of it instantly and he tensed, his face in surprise and worry.
The ground started to shake, then pieces of flaming armours that she remembered from her previous dream rose up from the ground by Naruto's side, numbers matched the masked men facing the sage.
"Onmyoton: Yojinbo", Naruto muttered, the flaming armours came to life, their eyes bore plain purple rippled eyes. They each unsheathed the flaming swords at their sides and took combat stances in perfect synchronisation, each facing an individual masked man.
"[I am afraid your 'tools' will not be of use to you. For the record, Juubi has become me, but a demon I am not, I am the Sage of Six Paths. You are a disgrace even to my son, and I will give you hell, before I destroy Konoha and you with it. In memory of an old war-hawk, hope you will get used to bandages.]" Naruto's form dispersed into mist again and surged towards this Sasuke, and the flaming armoured humanoids charged to their respective targets.
Then all became black...
Real World
Her eyes opened and she was greeted by the ever rude introduction to sunlight to her eyes. Erza groaned before getting up from the most comfortable bed she had ever slept on and rubbed her eyes quite violently. She then waited for her mind to reboot, which was incidentally the best way to describe the situation. Erza felt her muscles aching quite badly, perhaps due to the fact that she had a horribly uncomfortable life so far and being introduced to something comfortable for a change subjected her to some form of 'withdrawal'.
"Strange... I can't help but feel I should be remembering something." She muttered to herself, the little red-head felt that there was something she should remember, a dream, premonition whatever the heck it was.
"Had a nice sleep sweetie or did the sun decided to be an ass?" Erza tensed, snapped her head to her left and saw her mother sitting next to her bed, her violet eyes shining with amusement and she had a warm smile on her face. That was reason enough to relax herself again; she gave her mother a small smile and nodded back to her, "Good morning mother."
The older red-head just shook her head and replied, "Oh good morning indeed, who would have thought you had been a heavy sleeper...you must have rarely rested well for it to be that way." Erza frowned slightly before replying, "What do you mean mom?"
"What I mean is that you were so deep asleep that not even gunfire could wake you up. You were asleep for close to two days, luckily you moved and squirmed in bed quite a bit otherwise your father and I would have been really worried." That got Erza's attention, how was she asleep for that long? She would have been convinced if that was some form of a coma, even if an express one...
She stretched her arms and legs, and heard a generous bit of her bones cracking, her muscles were still aching quite a bit. Despite the two-day sleep, Erza remained quite tired.
"I knew one week off rest would be good for you, and what little girl said she wanted to get to work and train the next day huh? Come on two days of sleep has got to make you hungry! If it were me I would have taken 8 cups of instant ramen..." her stomach growled which made Erza blush. Her mother apparently found it adorable and giggled lightly.
When her mother left the room, Erza got out of bed and she started contemplating what she had forgotten, she knew every time she slept there was never blackness, never dreamless...she always had dreams, be it a nightmare, or childhood memories which might as well be nightmares themselves. Suffice to say if she had a dreamless sleep, something was amiss; call her an unusual little girl and she will admit it, but little discrepancies like that grounded for contemplation in her opinion.
Then almost on instinct her mind picked something up...a name and a date she knew all too well..."Naruto...October 10th, why did I think of my birthday?"
AN: This chapter is finally off my chest, my thoughts when writing this up is that I am still somewhat amazed (and offended) that the Rinnegan could be described as the 'final stage' of the Sharingan. Here is me reacting to it by saying, the only TRUE Rinnegan is the eyes of the Sage, the ones by Madara, Nagato and the likes are merely watered-down versions of his, it is an insult to the Rinnegan and to the sage to say the Rinnegan is the final stage of Sharingan.
So, what did you think about this Chapter? I had my reservations as to whether I pulled it off well enough because it was pretty much some theories I had bunched up into this chapter. Hope you also like the 'tale' which I will now officially call the "Sage and his Children", the writing style was actually inspired by old Mesopotamian stories like 'Epic of Gilgamesh'.
I will also reread my previous chapters after posting a new one so that I can further correct any grammatical errors, plot holes or irregularities and perhaps neaten them a bit more. I find when I post them and then read them as a reader myself I tend to find my own mistakes better...
Hope you enjoyed it, I warmly appreciate any reviews and constructive comments. Thanks!
Druid