Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and VIZ Media, with the elements of Brutal Legend being the property of Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productions, and Electronic Arts (EA). I do not claim any of these characters or elements as my own, and am only writing this story as a leisurely past time and because I am a humble fan of both these universes. This story is rated "M" for safety, due to cursing, violence, suggestive themes, alcohol reference, and more gore than you can swing an axe at!

Sorry its taken so long, gang, but things have been kinda hectic around here, what with college starting back up and starting to try and ge my own manga published. However, the inspiration is starting to come back and I'm going to do my best to keep up with this story and my others that I'm posting here. Well, lock and load my friends, because this chapter is what kicks it all off. Sit back, relax, and crank up the Heavy Metal, because its gonna be a bumpy ride, baby!

Chapter 1: Rebirthing.

Cold.

Why? Why was it so cold? Why was he… so cold?

"Is this the first time you've watched a comrade die like this?" asked the boy from the mirrors, Haku was his name, as he got back to his feet and dusted himself off, his unfeeling voice hidden behind a masked face just as steady and calm as the tones in which he spoke.

The air around them was like ice, chilling Naruto to the bone as he knelt there on the unforgiving concrete of the bridge, cradling the body of his friend and rival, Sasuke Uchiha, in his arms. Surrounding them like their own private audience to the demise of the Uchiha clan were Haku's mirrors, overshadowing them like a dome of winter, frosty window panes to a world only he knew that had been the tools through which he'd orchestrated Sasuke's death. Stick with so many senbon needles that he looked like a human porcupine, Sasuke looked so weak and helpless, his once warm blood now beginning to chill with the air as it's flow from his wounds slower than before, signaling that the boy had reached his end. Naruto couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. Sasuke couldn't be dead, he just couldn't! And yet, there he lay, limb and unmoving in his arms, eyes shut in a sleep that would never end. The weight of the body in his arms and the weight of his friend's death in his heart now too much for him to bear, Naruto gently lowered Sasuke to the ground and just stayed there on his knees, emotions bouncing around in his mind and soul so fast that he couldn't sort them out.

'Naruto, don't let… your dream die.' That was what he'd said. His last words to him were words of encouragement and sincerity. Why, they had both hated each other in some way, for some reason. Maybe it was just because they just pissed each other off somehow, or they were enemies in a past life or something. And yet…

"He was a true shinobi of the utmost respect, sacrificing himself to protect someone he cared for by throwing himself headlong into what he knew was most likely a trap." As he spoke, Haku calmly walked into one of his mirrors and turned in the pocket dimension to face Naruto once more, his images appearing again as he did so. "It was a fitting end for an honorable shinobi such as he. This is what it means to be a ninja."

"Shut. Your. Damn. Mouth." Growled Naruto angrily, his voice shaking with a mixture of sadness, rage, hatred, and bloodlust like Haku had never heard before. Tears forming a the corners of his eyes, Naruto couldn't help but look at Sasuke's prone form for one last time, even as he felt a strange sensation wash over him, one that was so alien, so powerful, that he could only describe it… as monstrous. 'I hated you too, Sasuke. And yet, you were the closest thing I had to a… to a brother.' His vision slowly turning red as his emotions changed from solemn mourning to inhuman wrath and anger, the fourteen-year-old felt himself fading into a darkness, but still felt like he was tethered to the real world, like he was moving in between the two. Yet, he didn't care at this point. All he cared about was making Haku pay for what he'd done. "You'll pay for this."

As looked on from the safety of his mirrors, Haku was dumbfounded by what he saw. Forming in a perfect circle around the boy, tongues of steam began to rise from the concrete, snaking their way into the air like spider-webs as they intertwined into a single column high above his head. Without warning the warm steam suddenly spread outward, blanketing the ground in a fog that nearly obscured the activity at its epicenter. Watching all of this with awestruck eyes, a sudden wave of energy came over Haku, so powerful that it nearly forced him to his knees, inside his own mirror! It was as heavy as a mountain, as hot as the pits of Hell itself, as wrathful as the righteous fury of the Kami themselves, as sad as Earth in autumn, and bore a killing intent that dwarfed that of his master, Zabuza. Just what was going on in there?

'What is this?' thought Haku cautiously, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as the eerie feeling that he was being watched came over him, compelling him to cast a fleeting glance over his shoulder. 'This chakra I feel? Is it… is it even chakra at all?'

His question was answered only a fraction of a second later, as a miniature shockwave blasted away the veil of mist, revealing the nightmare that lay within its heart. Coursing about the two boys in a circle of hellfire were two spirals of blood-red energy, rising high into the air with frightening speeds. Both forming into a sharp pike at the height of their ascension, the energy easily smashed through the mirror placed at the top of the dome, shattering it in to hundreds of thousands of shards that rained down upon the field of battle, only to disintegrate in seconds at the mercy of the heat that radiated from the tendrils of hellish power. A thick miasma began to layer the air as the radius of the circle began to increase, several more lines goring themselves into the concrete, sending chunks of debris and clouds of dust flying into the air. Only a few feet above Naruto's head, the energies collected themselves into a massive ball of power, its surface shifting and changing until it finally took on a comprehensible form. The sight of it made Haku's blood run cold in his veins. Staring back at him was the face of some demon spat up from the bowels of Hell, its eyes like pools of magma, its breath like fire, its teeth like spikes, and the tusks jutting from its mouth like twin hooks that looked as though they would spear him at any second. So horrible was this sight, that Haku was forced to tear his eyes away from the monster and direct his attention to Naruto, who had also begun to change.

Naruto was standing now, arms at his sides and his hands twitching as if ready to reach out and snap someone's neck at the drop of a hat. With a series of sharp pop, pop, popping sounds, each of the senbon that Haku had used to pierce his tenketsu (chakra points) shot from their sheaths in his flesh like miniature missiles, impacting with a high-pitched ting against his mirrors and against the concrete before falling uselessly to the ground. A hissing sound ushered in the healing of the cuts and wounds that the small needles had inflicted on the boy, steam rising from the surface of the wounds as they miraculously began to close up.

Suddenly, Naruto's body convulsed as it was racked with the beginning of a metamorphosis, the energy having become so great at this point that his jacket burst open to reveal the black t-shirt underneath… and something else. There, on his belt, was a metallic buckle that bore the face of the demon. Having little time to register this, Haku simply watched in horror as Naruto began to change. His fingernails lengthened and became a set of cruel talons on either hand, the same happening to his toenails as well. His once sea-blue eyes became as red as the blood of his comrade that now stained his fingers, their irises slitted like those of a wild animal. On his cheeks, the faint whisker marks thickened and became darker. A small trickle of blood began to flow from either side of his mouth, the source of this wound only revealed when he opened his mouth to reveal that his canine teeth had erupted from his gums as they became sharper and more pronounced. It was then that the hair on his head suddenly began to lengthen and become more wild and unruly, stretching out like a wave of blonde that stopped just before it reached the base of his spine, giving the appearance of a lion's mane. Just then, Naruto sharply whipped his head around to glare at Haku over his shoulder, his face a horrible mask of hatred and wrath, eyes now burning with an intense amber light. It was in that moment that he finally spoke, for up until then, he had only snarled in pain and anguish, and when he did, his voice was a mix of his own and that of a demon, practically dripping with malice.

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill you!"

"Ugh, my aching head," groaned Naruto groggily as he gingerly picked himself up off the ground, rubbing his neck and the base of his skull, the pounding there continuing. It took him a moment, but he finally realized that something was out of place. A second later, as his vision came into focus, he figured out what that was. Somehow, the thick veil of mist that had blocked his view of everything but what was directly in front of him was gone, as though it had just lifted in a sudden gust of wind. Not only that, but everyone had suddenly vanished into thin air! Kakashi, Sakura, Tazuna, Haku, Zabuza, even Sasuke's body was gone! Strange, he could still feel and sense the presence of their chakras, but they were nowhere to be found. It was like they were invisible, or simply not there at all, leaving a faint echo of their existence in their wake.

"Kakashi-sensei! Sakura-chan! Tazuna-san! Where are you-!" It was then that he finally got a good look at the world around him. What he saw caused his eyes to bug out of his head and his jaw to drop halfway to the ground.

Suddenly the odd disappearance of his friends dropped a bit on the priority scale.

Somehow, the bridge, the Land of Waves, the entire world as he knew it had simply vanished off the face of… well, the Earth. From what he could tell, he was sitting on some large rock formation, nestled miles above what looked to be a barren, lifeless desert that stretched for miles below. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but dirt, dust, whirlwinds, and a few random spires of rock and earth that shot up from the earth like ugly sores on the land. Looming high overhead was a thick blanket of storm-clouds, thunderheads as black as the night itself that bordered the horizon like a seam of darkness, its surface sparking every moment or so with brief flashes of lightning, piercing the silence of the air with roars of thunder that echoed loudly in his ears. Normally, in this situation, any 'sane' person would begin to panic, having found themselves in some strange, new world that was so alien from their own. However, Naruto didn't feel unnerved in the least. Strangely enough, all of this seemed so… natural, to him, like this was a second home that he had never known. Curiosity taking root in his mind, he edged to the lip of the rock-face and cautiously peered over to see how far up he was. Not only did he find himself hundreds of miles into the sky, but he also discovered that this mountain wasn't just made of rock and stone.

It was made from thousands and thousands of bones… both human and animal alike. Tibia, rib cages, finger bones, skulls, broken pelvises, crushed metacarpals, spinal columns, teeth, everything that held a human or animal together, it helped make up the entire mountain! Somehow, his movements at the apex of the corpse pile had sent a series of slight vibrations down its frame, shaking loose a few of the bones and causing them to tumble chaotically down the side of the structure, though it seemed as though it would hold his weight and then some.

"Whoa," breathed the blond Genin in disbelief, unable to take his eyes away from the tower of carnage that he found himself seated upon. Something like this would've made anyone else sick to the pit of their stomach, but to Naruto, somehow it seemed to tied the rest of the environment together. Like this world was modeled from one of his Heavy Metal album covers or something. Somehow, some way, this world felt as though it were made specifically for him and him alone. Just then, he felt something against the back of his neck. A hot- no, scorching- blast of wind blew against his bare skin, both warming his cold dermis and causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand straight up. 'Th-th-that felt like... something's (gulp) breath.'

"Yeah, you should've seen this place before I got here," growled a voice behind him, a deep, booming, guttural tone that echoed roughly through the air even louder than the thunder that crashed overheard, like the voice of one of the Kami themselves. "I mean, damn, if someone's mind can be in a gutter, yours was a fuckin' sewer! Trust me kiddo, this place was one big mother of a fixer-upper. Took me a few years- and when I say years, I mean it; fuckin' years- but I finally got the place lookin' at least halfway decent. What do ya think, are the constant lightning and the giant fuckin' corpse pile too much? I for one think it's a nice place to rest my shiny metal ass after workin' it to the bone managing your growin' angst an' shit all damn day."

Cold shivers of unease and fear rushing up and down his spine like a steady current, Naruto swallowed this mixture of emotions and slowly but surely turned his head to face the speaker, whether he wanted to or not. When his head was finally turned around enough to see who it was, his eyes grew as large as dinner-plates in a matter of seconds and his mouth nearly hit the floor. Naruto found himself staring up at a creature that was far more menacing than Zabuza or Haku, a steel behemoth that loomed over him like a mountain of metal, blowing steam in his face accompanied by the pungent stench of sulfur, brimstone, ash, and charred flesh. The monster's metallic skin shone brilliantly in the dim light, bluish flashes of azure appearing at random whenever lightning flickered in and out of existence from the clouds above. Its eyes stared down at him like two hellish pits of magma and flame, sending chills throughout every nerve in his body as though the creature were seeing into his very soul. As it watched him with those searing orbs of gold, it lazily tapped its foreclaws against the hard earth, huge metal talons that gleamed like cruel knives. Somehow amused by his unsettled repose, its crude mouth, already devoid of lips, drew itself up into a gleeful grin, showing its dagger-like teeth that mirrored the two tusks that stuck out from either side of its maw like a set of hooks.

"Heh, what's the matter kid?" chuckled the creature with a bemused gleam in its eyes. "Looks like you've seen a ghost."

"I-I-I know you from somewhere," Naruto finally managed to spit out, stammering frantically as he turned himself fully to face the creature, ignoring the stream of its hot breath as it continued to stare down at him. Pictures and images that he'd seen of this monstrosity looking at him in books and on albums of Heavy Metal bands flashed through his head, things that didn't seem to make sense when facing the creature. Somehow, he knew the thing's name, but he couldn't remember it for the life of him at the moment, and his life might actually be the thing on the line right now. "Like… I've heard your voice before."

"Of course you've heard my voice, kiddo," said the monster matter-of-factly, unmoving from its reclined position as it spoke, watching him with its blazing eyes. "It's the pounding of my death-cry that you've heard, still pulsating through the music of the Titans that you listen to." As he told this to Naruto, the boy could tell that the creature was studying him, watching the movements of the muscles in his face and the shifting of his eyes as he searched his memory to find the answer.

Naruto didn't know what to think, even at this moment, his head was swimming with thoughts and questions. Why did this creature say 'mind' when he referred to this place? What was this place? What happened to the world he knew? Where were his friends? And why did it feel like he knew this monster from more than just the pictures on the covers of his Heavy Metal albums and the sound that pulsed in time with the music in his ears? Finally, he came across the right memory, the first time he'd ever bought a Heavy Metal CD. He couldn't place the name of the band, but he knew the album cover right off the bat. It had the creature's hellish face placed smack-dab in the center, its magma like eyes staring back at him. He remembered that it made his skin crawl at first, and yet, he felt compelled to at least give it a try. Suddenly, it all clicked; the creature's face, the mentions of his death-cry, and the reference to 'the Titans.' Having finally realized just who it was that he was speaking to, Naruto whipped his head around to face the silvery creature of chrome that still towered over him, pointing a shaky finger at him as he attempted to stutter out an answer.

"Y-y-y-y-you're…" he tried to say in shock and disbelief, eyes wide as a pair of dinner-plates in amazement.

"That's right, you've got it kid," said the creature calmly, a toothy grin spreading on his face as it continued to be amused at the boy's antics. "I am Ormagödden, the Immortal Firebeast, the Cremator of the Skies, and the Destroyer of the Ancient World of Metal."

"No way…" breathed a dumbfounded Naruto. "I thought you were-"

"Dead?" interjected the Fire Beast nonchalantly, still smirking at the child's actions. "Believe me when I say that the reports of my 'demise' were greatly exaggerated. Fuck, if it weren't for your dad sealing me inside your pathetic carcass, I'd still be tearin' it up out there. But, ya live an' learn I guess. 'Sides, I would've had to pick my champion at some point or another. Lucky for me, you kinda picked me in some weird way."

"My dad?" pondered the blonde genin aloud, now more confused than ever before.

"Damn son, they really kept you in the fuckin' dark, didn't they?" Sighing in annoyance, which caused Naruto's face to be assaulted with another blast of hot air that made his eyes water, Ormagödden massaged his temples to stave off a growing migraine, and resigned himself to explain everything to the boy. "Okay, kid, here's the short-bus version: your dad was Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage. When you were born, some punk-ass bastard named Madara Uchiha decided to pull a dick move and turned a monster called the Kyuubi no Kitsune loose on your village for kicks. Your dad was going to use you to seal away the Kyuubi, so that you could have access to its power to stop a war that Madara was planning for the future. However, I showed up at that moment and fuckin' screwed up everyone's plans by killin' the damn fox. But, I was pissed as Hell at getting dragged into another war, and your dad jumped the gun and sealed me inside your ass instead."

"My dad… Was the Yondaime?!" Naruto exclaimed in astonishment, everything starting to click, again. So this was the reason why some of the few people that didn't hate him used to call him the spitting image of the Fourth, he was his son! He couldn't believe it! All this time, he was the son of a hero and no one ever told him! It was then that another question came to mind. "But… Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"I guess it's because he'd made a lotta enemies over the years and didn't want them comin' after your ass," reasoned the Cremator of the Skies logically, seeing the pain and regret starting to build inside the young genin before him. "Look, kid, I know you've gotta be feelin' a lotta different emotions right now. Hate, anger, hurt, regret, pain, sadness, remorse, and that's all fine. Those emotions are a natural thing to feel for someone bein' put in your position for the past thirteen years. But your dad didn't want any of that for you. He didn't want those people treating you like a monster, and specifically decreed that you be treated like the hero you are. However, those ass-fucks on the Council decided everything needed to be hush-hush and opinions were left as is now. But your dad knew you'd be better than them, that you wouldn't let yourself be bogged down by hatred and rage, that you'd rise to the occasion and use my power wisely. He knew you would be the one to carry on his legacy, and bring peace to your world in the wake of the war to come, and that you would need my power to help you. Besides, what has listening to Heavy Metal for all these years taught you if nothin' else? Huh?"

"… Even in the blackest of nights, a single flame can start a roaring fire." It had been the lyrics from some song he had heard many years ago, a song who's author and name had been lost for even longer than that, but he could remember the words as clear as day now. Somehow, he knew that his dad had to be smiling down on him from wherever he was in the universe, as if to say, 'I know you will do well, my son. Have faith, and you can change the world.' Even though he couldn't hear those words physically, he had some sensation nagging at the back of his mind that they were being said, and just that alone gave him strength and courage. Blinking back the hot tears that began to well in his eyes, Naruto wiped them away and got to his feet, a determined look on his face as he put everything he'd ever been through behind him. The teasing, the name-calling, the angry stares, the brutal treatment, the alienation, all of that was in the past. He had a mission now, he had a purpose bigger than all of that. He wasn't living just for his dreams alone now, but shouldering the dreams of his father before him. "What war is coming?" he asked the Fire Beast firmly, an unshakeable confidence building within his chest as he stood proudly.

Ormagödden's smile widened at the sight of the young blonde embracing his destiny, his pike-like teeth glistening brilliantly in the lightning. The moment was so powerful and inspirational, he himself almost felt moved, and he was the one that prompted the boy! But, now it was time for him to get serious. There was only so much time that he could stay here, and there was still much to be done. "At least thirteen years ago, months before I arrived in your world, the essence of my immortal foe, the demon king Doviculus of the Tainted Coil, shed his flesh in my world and transcended the boundaries of my dimension to come to yours, in search of a vessel through which he could enslave your race and rebuild his armies. To save your world from the pain and torment mine endured at his hands, I reconstituted myself from the life-stream of the world and opened a portal of hellfire to your realm to chose a champion to stave off this threat and finally destroy him. Now, we both already know that I've found my champion, but we can't assume that Doviculus hasn't found his either. We need to find the fragments of my world that have bled over into your own, and build an army to resurrect the power of the Titans if your people are to survive this conflict. And that is where you come in. As my champion, I am to bestow upon you the basic knowledge of my world and the weaponry to achieve this."

"Why just the basic stuff?" probed Naruto, a bit confused. "Can't you give me all of the knowledge so that I'd be better equipped to kick as much ass as I have to?"

"Heh, I like your attitude kid, I can tell workin' with you is gonna be a fuckin' blast," chuckled the Cremator of the Skies for a moment, swiftly returning to his serious side. "But, absorbing too much power at once would be too much for your mind to handle, and I oughta know, we're in it right now."

"We're in my mind?" exclaimed Naruto in amazement, unable to completely fathom such a concept. "How's that possible? I was fighting Haku, and then I wound up here! If we're in my mind, and we're still in my world, then how am I fighting Haku?"

"That's actually simple to explain," replied Ormagödden matter-of-factly. "You see, when you enter into my council, whether willingly or by my call, time here moves slower than outside. Right now, you've probably blown his ice mirrors to high Hell and sucker punched his sorry ass halfway across the damn bridge. Also, when you're here in the middle of fighting, your body goes into what I like to call "auto-pilot," acting on raw animalistic instinct based on your will to survive or whatever you're attempting to do at the moment. It helps ensure you don't fuckin' die on me while we're talkin'." Seeing Naruto actually grasp this concept, Ormagödden decided that they had spent enough time on these explanations and it was time to get down to business. One look into Naruto's eyes conveyed his thoughts and the boy understood, fists clenched at his sides as his eyes steeled in resolve for what he knew lay ahead. Slowly, the silver Titan outstretched his hand and placed his finger before the boy's forehead, the razor-sharp talon only inches from cutting his skin. "Now, the transfer of power will be slightly painful at first, but once its complete, you will know many things about the world of Metal. How to build stages and cars, how to cast the mystic power of the Titans through music, how to play any instrument, how to prepare for battle, and most important of all, how to fight. Are you ready?"

Naruto's eyes held no trace of fear or hesitation.

"Do it."

"Very well then," answered the Fire Beast with a voice like the thunder that crashed dramatically overhead as he moved forward and made contact with the boy's flesh.

The cold metal claw touched Naruto's skin and there was a slight cutting sensation that he forced himself to ignore, gritting his teeth in defiance. Then came the real pain. In a moment, it felt as though every last nerve ending in his body had caught fire and his blood had turned to boiling hot magma as it coursed through his veins, some of which popped into view on the backs of his palms, on his neck, and on his face as he forced himself not to scream in pain. His eyes shot open even as he opened his mouth wide in a voiceless scream, light shining from them with intense radiance. Suddenly, just as quickly as it came, the pain vanished and he saw everything flashing with blinding speed before his eyes, and yet he could see it in his mind and he understood it all. He saw the blueprints for hotrods that could outrun the fastest creatures on earth, the way to build stages the size of monuments to accommodate more than ten Heavy Metal bands at once for a concert that would melt more faces than the fires of Yomi themselves, the scores for music that could command the very elements with a single strum of a guitar, and fighting techniques that could put any taijutsu to shame.

This was his destiny, his legacy.

And it was epic!

Haku could barely move a muscle, yet through some miracle, he found the strength to force them to allow him to stand painfully to his feet, wincing at the new spike of blinding agony shot through his body from his broken wrist even as his mask began to fall from his face to reveal the saddened, effeminate face beneath it. For a moment, as he had been flying through the air from the force of Naruto's punch, he had seen his entire life flash before his eyes, and he regretted nothing, save for having to put Naruto through so much pain emotionally and physically, the only person whom he'd ever identified as someone like himself, someone seeking to become strong for the sake of others. It was this that he felt as though he might weep for, he, who hadn't cried a tear for anyone-else since his parents attempted to kill him all those years ago. And not just for this one thing alone.

'Zabuza-sama... please, forgive me,' thought the androgynous assassin morosely as he felt the full weight of his guilt and sorrow descend upon him like a tidal wave, threatening to swallow him whole. Any moment now, he expected Naruto to come through the mists on all fours like the wild animal that he had made him into, eyes burning with rage and pain as he moved to disembowel him with his claws. He wouldn't blame him. After all he had done, death at the hands of someone he had wronged would be a welcome release from his life of suffering. For once, he would be letting someone else get justice, instead of he getting a false sense of having achieved a mock justice. 'I am no match for this boy. I cannot kill him, even if I wished to, for I do not. Master... I have failed you.'

Just then, the effeminate boy felt something strange, something that caused him to give the mist before him his full attention. All of a sudden, for some bizarre reason he could not fully comprehend at the moment, the wild, massive, inhuman chakra that had been only seconds before, which nearly destroyed him simply from the spiritual pressure it exuded on his immortal soul, vanished. It just... evaporated into thin air, as though it had never been there to begin with. Unable to understand this, Haku peered deep into the mist's fold curiously, as if trying to see through its veil of obscurity to find the blonde-haired angel of death that had bore down on him only moments before. After a minute of silence, something finally appeared, though only silhouetted by the fog. (1) However, whatever it was, began to make its way through the icy air towards him, as if wanting the assassin to see the fate that awaited him before it took his life.

What Haku saw both shocked and confused him.

Naruto stood before him as before, dressed in his goofy Day-Glo orange jumpsuit (something he swore to personally toss once he got home and exchange for something more suitable to his new tastes), the jacket undone to reveal the black t-shirt beneath, the orange spiral in the center of his chest almost as hypnotizing as the rest of his appearance. Gone from his forehead was the hitai-ate he had worn so proudly only moments ago, now synched tightly around his right arm, like some badge of courage earned by a soldier who had stared death in the face. Some remnants of his other-worldly metamorphosis still remained. His ears still retained their elven appearance; the whisker-marks on his cheeks remained as thin as before, but were a bit darker now; his canines were not as large as they had been, but were still just as pronounced; and his eyes had returned to normal, though the cat-like irises still remained.

Indeed, his physical appearance was odd, but it wasn't near half as bizarre as the two objects that he wore strapped to his back. The first was a large, razor-sharp battle-axe, not as big as one a soldier in the imperial army would bear, but large enough to get someone's attention. The handle was bound in a thick black leather, with the end brought up with a sickening looking pike. The dual-bladed head was engraved with a flame design, the black blaze so mesmerizing that Haku could almost swear it was alive. The other object looked to be an instrument of some sort, like a lyre or a sitar, but forged from a strange material that shone spectacularly in the dim light. The strings were made of some kind of metal, thick and heavy, suggesting the tune produced from them would be either deafening or ear-piercing. The actual body of the instrument itself was made into a "v"-like formation, and had deep-purple flames painted at the ends while the rest was a dark black. Engraved in shimmering chrome on the neck of the object were a set of Western characters that it took Haku a moment to read, but finally stood out as saying "Steppenwolf."

"Sorry about that, Haku," said Naruto nonchalantly, breaking the silence of the moment, while startling the surprised Haku even more than he had been before. Paying the assassin no mind, he limbered himself up by cracking his neck loudly and rolling his shoulders, calm as you please. Suddenly, his resolve changed and a battle-hungry look came to his eyes even as a savage grin spread across his face, far more frightening than normal, thanks to his new fangs. In one fluid motion, he pulled his axe free from the strap that held it in place, brandishing it skillfully with one hand as he made a series of quick slashing movements in the air before him. "Now, as I was saying before, I'm gonna end this, here and now. Not just for what you did to Sasuke, but for what Zabuza and Gato have been doing to these people. You see, I've had a little paradigm shift, and I'm ready to share what I've learned with the world. But first, I think that Manowar needs to be broken in, and your skulls should be perfect for the job." Those last words he said were with an even wicked smile than before.

'What in the hell is he?!' thought Haku in bewildered horror, the sight of the axe's swinging blade petrifying him where he stood.

"Enough talk," growled the changed Genin throatily, dashing forward with speeds that on human could match, his axe-blade singing a song of death as it came around to cleave Haku's head from his shoulders.

SKLUTCH!

Naruto didn't even think to look back as he halted his attack, the only sounds in his ears being the heavy thud of Haku's body hitting the ground and the lighter one of his head following suit even as a soft spray of blood shot from his neck. Though remorseful for having to kill someone he had once thought of as a friend, he remembered his mission before him and quelled those images, whipping his blade through the air once more to clean the blood from it before returning the weapon to its place upon his back. Taking a moment, he offered up a silent prayer to both the Amatsu-Kami and the Gods of Metal for the souls that had been claimed this day, both friend and foe.

'…And,' he thought solemnly before his battle-grin returned to his face as he cracked his knuckles and ran towards the sounds of battle beyond the mist, knowing that Kakashi and Zabuza were still engaged in combat. 'Make room on the ferry for more. Because Hell's about to get a few more bad pieces of kindling to add to the fire!

An: Ho boy folks, looks like things are gonna get really heavy from here on out! But, then again, what else would you expect from Heavy Metal? Stay tuned, True Believers, because next time we're gonna see a lot of things happen. Is Sasuke really dead? Will Zabuza die by Kakashi's hand, or Naruto's axe? How will Naruto's new powers start to affect the world of the Shinobi? The answers to these questions and more are coming up next, so keep it right here. Until then, stay cool and rock on!

(1) Start playing "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath here. The opening riff meshes pretty well with the intro.

Next Time, Chapter 2: Mob Rules.