Chapter 4: Pentagram of the Ancient Gods
When Naruto woke up it was to a dark room where Kakashi was sitting next to his bed while Sakura told him who to keep the wound uninfected. After clearing his throat Sakura rushed to his side with a glass of water. As Naruto sipped his water he noticed that his face wasn't bandaged yet. Sakura gave Kakashi a bottle of clear liquid and then grimaced when she looked at Naruto.
"Look sensei it's gonna hurt a lot more than the original cut so make sure you go easy on him okay?" Sakura said before she left the room and Kakashi sat down next to his student and took out a roll of bandages.
"Can Kyuubi heal it?" he asked in a tired voice "Because if not there is no way any surgery can"
Naruto paused for a seconds and faded into his mindscape "Kyuubi?"
The great fox was curled up and seemed depressed and shook his head "I'M SORRY KIT, BUT I THINK I HAVE AN IDEA, BUT DON'T TELL YOUR SENSEI JUST YET"
Kakashi waited patiently for Naruto to come too and when he did he saw Naruto's sad look and sighed "I guess he can't heal it either" he asked
Naruto shook his head "No he says the damage is even too much for him to heal but he said he's not going to stop trying"
Kakashi nodded and then tilted Naruto's head back, "What you did for Sasuke was a brave thing, not many could do it" he said as he unscrew the bottle of alcohol "and then to fight after it, you were amazing yesterday" Naruto bit his bottom lip as Kakashi poured the burning liquid on his eye, as the alcohol burned away any germs in his wound Naruto couldn't help but notice the stinging pain in the back of his now ruined optic.
"Kyu?" he asked in fear
"FEAR NOT LITTLE ONE EVERYTHING IS FINE I'M JUST BEGINING THE TRANSFOMATION IT WILL TAKETHE REST OF THE DAY" Naruto gulped and mentally nodding as Kakashi bandaged the right side of his face.
"Well that's the best I can do for now until we get you into the hospital" Kakashi said as he stood up. Naruto nodded and followed his sensei to the door where Sakura and Sasuke were waiting.
"Naruto how are you feeling?" Sakura asked kindly as she saw the blood seeping through the bandages slowly.
"Like I was hit by a ten tonne pole and then thrown through a blender" Naruto said weakly as he bowed his head "Dobe"
Naruto looked up at Sasuke who was standing in front of him with his hand held out "Thanks, you saved my life and Uchiha's honour that, so thanks" Sasuke said once again
Naruto smiled and shook his head slowly "It was my honour, like I said my dream is to protect all my precious people" Sasuke couldn't help but feel embarrassed at what Naruto had just said, how could he be thought of a as a precious person when they hadn't known each other that well.
Kakashi smiled at the group and ushered them downstairs where Tsunami and Tazuna were sitting at the table talking, and when they spotted them Tsunami's face split into a grin "Ah I see the handsome blonde is up and about"
Naruto turned to Sakura who giggled before explaining "apparently we are all perfect specimens Sasuke is the Mysterious handsome brunette you are the vibrant handsome blonde and for some reason I'm the exotic pinkette" Naruto's eyes widened as he watched as Tsunami fussed over Sasuke who just looked at them pleading.
"Ah Tsunami I think Sasuke has his eye on someone in the village" Naruto said as he sat down next the raven who gave him a grateful look before nodding.
Tsunami got a glint in her eyes before she latched onto Sakura who was just taking a bite from her rice "its little Miss Sakura isn't it? Of course it is she gorgeous" Sakura started to choke on her rice and Sasuke's eyes just went wide "The two of you would make a beautiful couple, I mean Naruto you are very handsome but I just think Sasuke would suit your teammate a little better" Naruto hid his smile behind his hand and couldn't help but think that a week ago Sakura would have been in heaven that was until she came and asked him some things.
Flashback
Sasuke stomped off as Sakura walked into the training clearing where he and Naruto had been training before, he wasn't in the mood to deal with the fan girl. But unlike normal Sakura wasn't there to talk to Sasuke she was there to talk to Naruto.
"Um Naruto can I ask you something?" Naruto looked up at his teammate and nodded before patting the spot next to him where Sakura sat down and hugged her knees to her chest. "Why does Sasuke hate me?"
Naruto sighed and then looked up at the clear sky "Do you remember what he said about his dream?" Sakura nodded and Naruto smiled "Well think about it, if all Sasuke is focused on right now is revenge wouldn't it make sense to be his friend and help him with that goal instead of trying to get him to date you and notice you, one thing I know is that right now Sasuke isn't looking for a relationship, he's looking for comrades he can trust"
Sakura nodded and then turned to Naruto he face set in determined "Tell me how I can change" Naruto nodded and took her hand and began explaining what she had to do.
A week later Sakura had totally changed, she never asked Sasuke for dates, instead she asked for training points that made Sasuke less tense around her, she stopped worrying about him all the time, that made him more calm about being on the team with her and now she hit him on the head if he says disrespectful and hurtful things to anyone he felt like part of the family unit. So now that this woman was dragging up old memories it was quite a shock.
"Ah no worries Tsunami I don't really know what my preference is yet so" Sasuke stared at Naruto for a sec before turning to Sakura who had finally stopped choking and was giving Tsunami a look of disbelief.
"Ah Tsunami you've got it all wrong, I'm Sasuke's friend, and at the moment that's all I want to be, if I become anything else it could endanger the team plus I don't think it would really work" Sasuke breathe a sigh of relief at Sakura's mature answer.
Kakashi couldn't help but almost laugh as Tsunami pouted as Sakura tried to tell her that she and Sasuke were only friends. But when he saw Naruto wincing he couldn't help but feel the guilt as it washed over him. If he hadn't gotten caught in that jut-su then Zabuza wouldn't have gone after Sasuke and then Naruto wouldn't have taken the hit for him and then he wouldn't be sitting here with a useless eye why the demon inside of him tried to figure out a way to heal it.
"You're all idiots"
Naruto looked up and saw a small boy with a hat on glaring at them "What did you say?" he asked a little angrily.
"I said your all idiots, your all going to die because you decided to be brave and go up against Gato, your eye is only the start of your suffering-not that you would know anything about that" the kid said smirking.
Kakashi looked at Naruto nervously and then watched as he stood up and walked out the door purposely knocking into the young boy "Listen you little brat you wouldn't know real suffering if you were placed in the middle of a prison" Inari shrunk back at the fierceness of Naruto's tone "Sasuke I wanna teach you something come on" Sasuke nodded and followed the blonde out of the house and into the forest. "Okay do you remember the Tai-jut-su move I use on Zabuza?" Sasuke nodded and Naruto grinned "well I'm gonna teach it to you"
Sasuke panted as he tried to get the move once again, the attack that he was trying learn was a lot harder then what Naruto made it look, but after three hours of coaching Naruto's wound had acted up and the raven had ordered the blonde to go rest. Now he could hear the soothing music of Naruto's pipe coming from somewhere in the forest where the blonde was now hiding.
"Huh you'd think that he would listen to me" he muttered as he wiped to sweat off his brow.
"If I'm correct you said to rest" Sasuke turned around and saw Sakura standing at the edge of the clearing with a light sheen of sweat on her brow while holding out a bottle of water the him "and he's resting...just not in a bed"
Sasuke grunted and sat down followed by Sakura who sighed and lay back down on the cool grass as she tried to cool of her heated body from training why she saw how tired the raven was. "Training hard?"
"I just don't get it" Sasuke growled "Naruto makes it look so easy but yet I just can't get it" he said as he ran a hand through his hair.
"You're an idiot" Sasuke looked at Sakura as if she had grown another head. "Aren't you supposed to support me or whatever girls your age do?"
Sakura stood up and glared at Sasuke "Listen here, I'm not going to be your little fan girl anymore I'm going to give it to you straight, now I get it your talented, but so is Naruto, and he probably trained for hours to get this technique to the stage it's at and the fact that he is teaching it to you is amazing, now you are an great ninja it's true but your ego and pride get in your way to much if you could just drop them and ask for help every now and again you would become an amazing ninja, but your an Uchiha and unfortunately your all arrogant idiots" She spat before turning around on her heel and stomped off towards the house, while passing Kakashi who looked like he was holding in his laughter.
"Well that was something" Sasuke looked away and just glared at the ground "I mean I never would have thought that the great Sasuke Uchiha would get lectured by one of his old fan girls and by Sakura no less"
"Kakashi Shut Up" Sasuke growled out as he whipped his brow from the sweat. "God why is this so hard"
Kakashi looked at Sasuke and then frowned "Sasuke are you attempting the Sphere Shot?" he asked as he looked at Sasuke's form. Sasuke nodded and Kakashi shook his head "You've got the moves down but you rhythm is all off, think of this move as like Naruto's pipe playing, everything must flow together, you must be like water in a way then you add chakra to each of your moves to make them that much more effective" Kakashi said as he demonstrated how each move should look flowing into each other. Sasuke watched in awe and then nodded and began to imagine Naruto's music and began to move with it.
Elsewhere in the forest Naruto gripped the tree branch he was sitting on tightly as another wave of pain hit him for the last hour the pain from his eye had began to radiate out to other parts of his body, like his chakra pathways and his brain making the pain nearly unbearable. Twice now Naruto had to stop himself from crying out in pain when a really painful strike hit him."Kyu what are you doing"
"SORRY KIT, BUT IT'S ALMOST OVER, AND WHEN IT IS I PROMISE YOUR GONNA SLEEP FOR A FEW HOURS" Kyuubi said in a worried tone. Not even in the most dire battle had Kyuubi ever truly pumped as much chakra into the young boy as he was now to create a new eye for him.
Kakashi stood at the window looking out at the forest through the window, dusk had finally settled on the land of waves and the silver haired ninja hadn't seen his blonde haired charge since that morning and it was beginning to make him nervous. Naruto was injured and had walked off and gotten lost in the forest which was even worse.
"Kakashi I'm sure young Naruto is fine, he always is" Tsunami said as she gave him a cup of tea "Naruto seems like a survivor, he'll be fine" Kakashi nodded and then looked at Sakura who was glancing around nervously why Sasuke kept shifting on the spot which was very abnormal for the Uchiha heir.
Suddenly a pained scream tore through the night and in mere seconds Sasuke was on his feet and at the window next to Kakashi with Sakura only a step behind. "That was Naruto" she whispered.
Kakashi looked down at Sasuke and shook his head "I'll go get him, you and Sakura stay here and get his bed ready, I don't know what's is going to be wrong with him but I can tell that it's not going to be good" Sakura nodded and then pressed a bottle of green liquid in his hand.
"It will help bring down fevers" Kakashi nodded and jumped out the window if Naruto screamed that loudly then it must be bad
As Kakashi rushed through the forest he saw drops of blood everywhere, and as he spotted these small drops he couldn't help but get worried and more urgent to find the boy. When he entered the clearing he had to stop a sob from escaping his throat, Naruto looked dead. He had blood dribbling out of his one uncovered eye, his ears and even his mouth, his hands had what looked like several needle wounds and his gaze was lifeless, but when he bent down next to Naruto and checked his pulse he was relieved to find a light but steady beat against his fingers.
"Don't worry Naruto you're going to survive" he mumbled as he hoisted the boy up into his arms.
Naruto opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room with only a faint purple light surrounding him on the floor in a circle. The last thing the blonde haired boy could remember was the immense pain of the final change Kyuubi had done to his body and then darkness.
"So the kid has finally come to see us, about time" a deep growling voice said and suddenly the purple light pulsed outwards and the floor became engraved but the purple light like a lazar in the form of a six pointed pentagram.
"Who's there?" he asked. A loud chuckle filled the room and suddenly a gust of wind blew from behind him and when he whipped around his jaw dropped when he saw Valor hovering above one of the points of the pentagram.
"Fear not little one, it's only me" The great bird said it's voice calm and smooth like a gentle breeze. When Naruto looked into the mask that encased the birds face he was shocked to find two bright golden glowing eyes.
"Valor, god of wind" Naruto whispered as he stared at the divine entity he had been praying to for the last few years.
"My when you said he was strong I didn't think he would be able to gain entrance to here" a beautiful bell like voice said making Naruto feel happy, and when he looked over to the next point of the pentagram he was shocked to see a large beautiful green armour wearing seal lying all curled up.
"Who are you" Naruto asked in an awe voice as he saw how long the seal's tail was. "You're not like any of the gods I pray to"
The seal laughed and nodded and drew herself up "I am Magna, Goddess of Water, and the reason that I'm not a god you pray to because your temple isn't a place that I can go" she said sounding a little bitter about that.
"Oh Magna give it a rest just because you were rejected by the fourth's spirit" said a wise voice. Naruto spun around and saw Rai stepping onto the point opposite Magna. Naruto had always thought that the horse was impressive but now that he was staring at the god up close Naruto couldn't help but admire the great beast. "Hello young one"
Naruto gulped and nodded when a loud snorting filled the air, "So this is the young sender who has gained your approval eh Rai?" Naruto couldn't help but gulp, if he thought Rai's voice sounded old and wise then the voice that had just spoken sounded ancient.
"Correct, brother" Naruto couldn't hold back his gasp when a dark forest green stag with large antlers stepped out of the darkness and to the spot next to the thunder horse.
"Hello Naruto Uzumaki, I am Arabi, the god of earth" Naruto nodded and bowed to the great god and took the time to inspect the god further, at first glance the stag didn't look like anything special but now that Naruto looked at him closer he saw that the deer had bright mist green orbs perched on each end of his antlers and his tail was longer and had a spiked tip on the end of it.
"Ah stop being such a stuffy old guy Arabi" said a joking almost childlike voice. The great deer seemed to sigh and looked over to the other side of Valor, when Naruto turned around a bright flaming ball leapt down next to the bird of wind, and Naruto immediately knew who the next god was.
"Inferno, enough" Valor said in a patient voice, and suddenly the flames disappeared and Naruto was starring at the horned wolf that was Inferno, but unlike his statue, Inferno's paws were surrounded in fire and he had a black marking all over his body.
"Well it's about time you got here we've been waitin" The wolf said in good humour and Naruto couldn't help but smile.
"Naruto this is Inferno, if you can't tell...he's the youngest of us" Rai said mirth in his voice. Inferno puffed his chest up and the flames around his paws flared up a little which made Naruto hold back a giggle.
"So the young sender has finally arrived" a deep voice said from the darkness, and Naruto couldn't help but notice that the air had gotten really cold suddenly. "There is no need to fear Naruto I will not hurt you" Naruto turned around and saw Fennier step out of the darkness, his chains broken off at the ankles and his orb floating between his wings.
Overwhelmed by the sight of all six god Naruto turned in a full circle and then sat down on the ground which was still shining purple.
"Where am I and how did you guys get here" he asked weakly as he stared at each god closely, it wasn't that he wasn't grateful to meet the gods, it was just he had no idea how they were in front of him.
"We are in your soul little one, and we are here because you let us be" Naruto looked at Rai who was gazing at him kindly before hanging his head.
"Kyuubi reached out to us and told us about your eye and we thought it was about time you gained your sending powers" Magna said in the same kind voice that Rai had just used.
"But I'm not a sender" Naruto protested weakly.
Fennier's booming laughter filled the room "we know that young one, which is why we have decided to grant you a different wish, thanks to Kyuubi's help we have decided to give you your own bloodline" Naruto looked up at the dragon in shock.
"But this power is not to be used lightly" Arabi said in a stern voice "You will have great power because of it"
"Like what"
"The power over the ancient jut-su's" Naruto looked at Valor in confusion "back when senders and ninja's lived in harmony together they created what is now known as ancient chakra, it is something only ninja dealing in the sending arts could be granted, it allowed them to access great and powerful jut-su and we are giving this to you"
"Although it doesn't stop there, you will also have the gift of knowledge" Naruto looked at Magna who was starring down at him judgingly "Once activated you will have the ability to see into your victims past and see everything from the beginning of their live to the moment you looked into their eyes" Naruto nodded and then took a breath.
"So basically I get all this power and knowledge-what's the catch" he asked in a quiet voice.
"Nightmares" Inferno said in a sad voice, "when you use the knowledge power you gain every memory they did which means that your mind has to store them somewhere and all of that comes to the forefront of your mind when you're sleeping" the flaming wolf said being serious for the first time since Naruto had met him.
"Also once you've chosen an ancient pathway in a battle you can't swap, it is the only way from overloading your chakra pathways. You have access to all six different elements but you can only use one" Naruto nodded as Arabi explained the power of his new bloodline to him.
"That is all young one" Rai said in a calm voice "we will not appear before you again, this was a onetime deal, the rest you must ask Kyuubi, may you live a long life" Naruto watched as each god slowly disappeared from view until he was standing on the glowing purple pentagram alone.
"KIT IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP"
Naruto's eye flew open and suddenly a huge wave of pain flew through his whole body and the blonde was so shocked he was unable to hold back the cry of pain that escaped his throat. But suddenly Sakura was by his side.
"Naruto please stay down" you been unconscious for the better part of a day" Naruto looked at her like she had grown an extra head and then pushed himself up into a sitting position which made Sakura give him a death glare that would make even Zabuza shake.
"Sakura I'm fine just a little sore" Naruto said as he looked her in the eyes begging her to calm down and to stop mothering him.
"Really" both genin looked up to see Kakashi standing in the doorway with Sasuke next to him. "Because when I found you I thought you were dead" Naruto looked down and Kakashi sighed.
"Sasuke take Sakura to get something to eat, she needs a rest" Sasuke nodded and pulled Sakura from Naruto's side and then down towards the kitchen where Tsunami was waiting for them. "So you want to explain what happened out there today?"
Naruto shook his head and then touch his bandage and winced "Not really" he whispered. Kakashi walked over to him and ripped his bandages off making Naruto gasp and grab to cover his eye up only to be halted by Kakashi.
When Kakashi saw Naruto's new eye he picked the blonde up and threw him in front of the bathroom mirror where Naruto was able to see his new eye, "Want to explain that?" Naruto gulped when he glanced at his new eye. The colour was the same deep blue but unlike his left eye the pupil in his right eye had now formed the shape of a six pointed pentagon where the points touched the edges of the irises.
"It's my new eye" he whispered as he touched the still bleeding wound which made the new eye look even freakier.
Kakashi spun Naruto around and looked him in the eyes "you will explain this to me do you understand" Naruto nodded and Kakashi walked out of the bathroom followed slowly by Naruto.
"It was Kyuubi, he couldn't heal my eye, but he was able to create me a new eye for me" he whispered as he brought his hand up to his eye once again. Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair before nodding.
"Okay but I think you should hide it until the wound heals, it's still a bit fresh and well, I makes your new eye look kind of scary" the silver haired Jonin said chuckling a little as he said this.
Naruto scratched the back of his head and nodded. Kakashi nodded before leaving the room to give Naruto a little privacy to get dressed, when he was finished Naruto stared at himself in the mirror and he frowned when he couldn't figure out how to cover his eye without using bandages.
"Kyu any ideas" he asked in a perplexed voice.
"HOW ABOUT YOU COPY THE COPY CAT NINJA?" Kyuubi said with a mirth filled voice and Naruto grinned before tying his headband on and then pulled it down across his right eye. When he looked at himself in the mirror he couldn't help but grin: Kakashi was going to flip.
Naruto was right about Kakashi flipping out when he saw Naruto's method at hiding his eye, when he walked down into the kitchen Kakashi had froze and fallen off his chair and Sakura had to hold back her giggles why Sasuke just smirked. When asked why he was wearing his headband like that Naruto just grinned and said "I just want to follow in your footsteps sensei" this made Sakura burst out into laughter and Kakashi just gave him a deadpanned look before clearing his throat and explaining to the others the real reason why he was wearing his headband the way he was-a lie to them of course.
"Naruto's eye has healed over but the scarring is still pretty bad and there is the big chance that it could get infected so I told him to cover his eye up, I just didn't think he'd do this" Kakashi said in a firm voice that told him that it wasn't funny. Naruto shrugged and the laced his hands behind his head. "Now onto serious matters, I think Zabuza is still alive"
Naruto froze and they looked up at his sensei "what do you mean"
Kakashi gave Naruto a disappointed glance and then sighed "Think about it, the weapons the masked Nin used were senbon needles normally used for medical Nin jut-su or acupuncture, not normally used as a weapon, and why a hunter ninja knows every vital point in the body, they also don't need the whole body"
"They only need the head" Naruto finished off gloomily, he had run into many a Konoha hunter Nin on his ANBU missions; they idolized him and would never pass up the chance to go on missions with him so he knew how they worked.
Kakashi nodded and then sighed "but that hunter Nin took his whole body, it's just not adding up"
"Couldn't he have been taking the body away to take the head" Sakura asked and was then stopped by Naruto, who was shaking his head,
"No you see a hunter Nin doesn't have that liability, they don't care about on-lookers, they have a job and they do it, they don't care who sees and a mist hunter nin who was chasing after Zabuza wouldn't give a rat's ass about four Konoha ninja" he said in a calm tone.
Kakashi nodded and then ran a hand through his hair "Which can only mean that Zabuza is still alive" Naruto sighed and got up and walked to the door "I'm gonna start training then, if Zabuza thought I was good before then he's gonna be amazed by the time I'm through with him" Sasuke smirked and then nodded and followed Naruto out the door followed closely by Sakura who just grinned at the small family. Kakashi smiled as he watched his team walk out together, this team is going to be legendary sensei I can already see it.