I do not own Naruto. Speaking/Thoughts
"What are we doing here; this place has nothing around for miles." Kira said looking around at the land of rice paddies with its large planes filled with water.
"There's something important right around here, but my memory might not be as accurate over the millions of years that I've been in spirit form." Zale said stomping around leaving deep impressions in the mud covered ground.
"What are we looking for that's so important?" Gaara asked imitating the stomping of Zale.
"It was an old base that isn't in fire country, and shouldn't be buried too deep to uncover." Zale said slamming his fist down hard the earth immediately moving, and uncovering a door. "This is the place, line up people you're about to witness millions of years of history before your eyes." The doors were barely standing as it was, and they easily ripped them off.
"This place is really well kept." Chrome said as they stepped into the area. It was unnaturally well clean not a speck of dust anywhere, the statues even looked waxed. "You don't think that there's anyone besides us that has found this place has there?"
"Even if there was it doesn't matter, we're not here to sight-seeing we're here to collect some valuables that I left here a while ago." Zale said not sharing their suspicions.
"Who goes there?!" someone demanded, and they turned to see a women holding a weapon that took both hands to hold, it was something most of them had never seen before. "You are trespassing on sacred ground, leave now, or I will shoot."
"Please what is that thing going to do?" Kira asked cockily before he was hit with several metal pellets in his shoulder. "AH!"
"Kira." Isaribi said panicked going to the floor and looking at the wound. "He's hurt badly we need to treat him, or he'll die from the blood loss."
"What is that weapon?" Chrome asked stunned by the precision and force that it had fired at. He hadn't even seen the projectile leave it, and now Kira was lying on the ground bleeding.
"He'll get treatment when you take him to the hospital now get out of here before I lose my patience." she said waving the gun once again making them all flinch, and take a step back except for Zale who was still examining his statue. "You get away from there, if you touch that then you'll be up for execution by my clan."
"Zale maybe you shouldn't anger this girl she has that weapon after all." Satsuki said taking a step toward him only to be shot at jumping back hugging Kurumi tightly. "Zale!"
"This, it should be right here." Zale said tapping a point right beneath a plaque that had an unknown language written on it. It slid in like a puzzle piece, and immediately the plaque slid away revealing a mirror that glimmered, and shone. "I haven't seen this in quite a while."
"I said get away from there!" the orange haired girl said firing her weapon with several times at Zale, and they all waited for him to scream out in pain and fall to the floor. "Huh?" she asked shocked to see that Zale had not been affected by her weapon the name had been lost to time.
"I know that you didn't one of my own weapons at me in my own base." Zale said angrily sticking a hand straight out holding the mirror. Everyone gasped seeing the similarity between him and the statue behind him even the mirror was the same an intimidating aura coming off of them both. "You're about to stare death in the face, any last words?"
For an instant everyone saw the same thing Zale not Zale in Naruto's body, but Zale standing on the battlefield of chaos ready to order an army without any second thought. "W-w-watashi no omo!" she said suddenly dropping to her knees dropping the weapon. "Forgive me for my rudeness; I had no idea that I was in the presence of such greatness."
"Zale do you know this girl?" Kurumi asked him recovering from her fear.
"How could I; I came back to life six months ago." Zale said with a shrug, but Kurumi kept giving him a nasty glare.
"Omo-Sama has been reincarnated in a new body, I am honored to have been here to witness your first appearance at one of your shrines." she said almost hyperventilating for what reason they didn't understand. "Please come with me, and I will introduce you to your loyalist of subjects in our clan."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Zale asked crossing his arms.
"You are the Great Emperor, he who is capable of miracles of god, and will lead the world into a new golden age. You were stricken down by an enemy, but under the promise of returning to your loyalist of subjects, and giving us a new world where we can prosper." she said reciting the story that was engraved upon her memory. "We have preserved this shrine for thousands of years after discovering, and translating the ancient scriptures."
"Did you intend to start a religion Zale?" Chrome asked.
"No, but from what I saw after I was killed by the hero the world and empire I created went to hell just like it was before. It wouldn't surprise me if people saw me as some kind of savoir for making the world an orderly place again." Zale mumbled walking past Chrome, and looking down at the girl. "What is your name?"
"It is Sasame Fuma, my Great Emperor if you wish to strike me down then I would be honored to be ended by my lord." Sasame said tears streaming down her face, and tears streaming down her face. "Please end my life in any way you see fit for misdeed I have committed against you." They looked down at Sasame freaked out by the commitment that this girl had to her religion they guessed.
"Now there's no need to kill anyone, stand up, and take me to these loyal subjects of mine." Zale said patting her head this simple action seemed to make her incredibly happy. Sasame immediately stood and nodded walking quickly the others following behind her through winding passageways and tunnels. Where they came was an amazing underground cavern filled with people.
"Subjects of the Great Emperor," Sasame called out her voice echoing loudly over the cavern. "Our savior has returned to us!" People looked up to see Zale standing with Sasame beside him clearly excited about being able to introduce the Great Emperor. None of them seemed to believe her, and continued about their day leaving them all standing there to be grabbed by guards, and taken away.
Later Zale was sitting on a matt a frown on his face. He had decided that it would be better if they didn't fight back against these people and just go along with the situations and if things went ugly then they had permission to fight their way out. "Well is this the Great Emperor that we have been informed from Sasame has existed." an old man said with mirth in his voice. He had a pointed hat, and a long white beard that covered the lower half of his face.
"Don't taunt me." Zale said. He had actually been excited to see these people, and didn't like that the second one he had met was so disrespectful.
"Yes well you see we have had many fake emperors come in, and give us false hope. Unfortunately we have disproved them all, and the penalty is death for such a false claim for both you and Sasame. Your friends we will let go, but perhaps death won't be necessary in this case." He stood up, and motioned for Zale to follow.
A large crowd had gathered; Sasame had been stood wearing a white kimono behind her stood their executioner holding a polished katana. Where the others where Zale didn't know. "What is your test?" Zale asked looking around. There was water around the platform they stood upon, what looked like a flower bed that had been recently tended, and a dead bird lied down peacefully on a stone table.
"The legends state that the Great Emperor is capable of making flowers bloom, and breathing life into a dead soul. If you are capable of such feats we will believe you are our Great Emperor, and honor you as such." the old man said putting on a priest rob, and handling an old metal staff that Zale had used quite some time ago.
Zale looked around it wouldn't be hard to give life back to a bird unlike humans they had no complex body functions that couldn't be immediately repaired by Manipulation, while blooming flowers were more difficult. You would have to force to growing process to accelerate, and then have their roots expand then Manipulate the water in the ground into their bodies then force growth. If you pushed too hard then the plant would die, and you would be left with dead crops.
Kneeling down to look at the flowerbed Zale clapped his hands together, and focused hard. The flowers budded then bloomed blossoming beautiful unnatural colors that left everyone amazed with their breath take away from.
Quietly someone handed Zale the dead bird not daring to look him in the eye, and then stepped back trying not to trip. Zale took in a deep breath through his mouth breathing out a golden light (this was just for showmanship) the bird's wings fluttering, and then it hopped to its feet chirping happily.
You could hear a pin drop the silence was so deafening, and then people erupted cheering and jumping in excitement. The priest dropped the staff falling to his knees the men that had taken them earlier doing the same everyone else following. "Honor the Great Emperor!" Sasame said everyone echoing her cheer.
*Scene Change*
Zale now held a stronger position over the priest who was holding his tea cup with a jittery hand refusing to look up from his tea cup not even attractive woman that had served him the tea. "Great Emperor, please excuse my indiscretions, if I had known it was you I would have never spoken with such arrogance." he said bowing his head humbly.
"Water under the bridge." Zale said waving his hand and this immediately calmed the priest who raised his head.
"Speak for yourself you should have seen the way those guys pushed around Shiki they deserve to die!" Kurumi said her instinctive sister guard gene kicking in.
"Kurumi you shouldn't say that when your words can actually kill someone." Zale said watching the guards that had taken Shiki held at knife point by several others; he dismissed them by waving his hand once again. "Anyway I had no idea that I had this many followers as a dead guy. I'd like to know what happens now."
"What happens now?" the priest asked slightly shocked from the question. "You are the Great Emperor you are to lead us into a golden age in human prosperity, and will reward our loyalty to this religion. We have prayed for your return, and now you will reward us."
"Right, but how do you want me to do this? What you want from me is oddly general, the fact that you've been loyal to me all these years means that you do deserve some kind of recognition, but if you give me some kind of specific thing you need done then things would be much easier." Zale said, and the priest nodded stroking his beard.
"Well there are some things that definitely need some attention in both out above ground dwellings, and the underground. Along with the Fuma clan we have a few dozen more here with us as well as any outsiders that were saved by your religion. All of them wish for something, I can take you to them, so they can make their requests of you." he said leading Zale to one of the clan areas.
"First before I address our petty problems to you Great Emperor please know that it's a great honor to finally meet you." the man said bowing his head, and Zale nodded letting him stand straight. "Our main source of income the moon blooms have not been sprouting, and this has left us in a bad situation. Would it be too much trouble to ask them to bloom once again?"
"It's no trouble at all." Zale said walking over to the flowers. They were definitely dead, and that was due to the ground. It was dry and sucked up of its nutrients, but with a little demon chakra the flowers would be self-dependent, and would be able to survive on the little sunlight they had. A slight difference was that they would bloom faster, and more frequently.
A red hue spread throughout the field of moon bloom flower before the flowers stood a little straighter, and looked healthier. "My goodness that is certainly amazing." the clan head said shocked by how easily Zale had been able to solve their problems. "Thank you, thank you, you must stay for tea."
"I would, but there are quite a few things that need to be done today. Maybe next time." Zale said shaking his hand before following the priest to the next problem, and the next, and the next.
"Well those problems certainly took their sweet amount of time." Kurumi said stretching her joints that made loud pops before her muscles relaxed.
"I don't know it was nice to see all the people that Zale's helped." Satsuki said coming out of one of the two bathrooms in the elegant room they were in. She was dressed in her usual night clothes. "How's the bed Kurumi?"
"It's so much better than all of the cheap dingy hotels that we usually stay in." Kurumi said spread out star shaped on the bed still leaving room for Satsuki and Zale. "It must be silk or something it's so comfortable religious people really know how to treat their messiahs." Satsuki sat down on the bed next to her, and they sat in silence.
"Hey looks like today wore you two out." Zale said walking in from the other bathroom freshly showered, and wearing pajamas provided for him by those that followed him.
"You know Zale it was nice to see you help people, and you know this bed wouldn't be a bad place to get it on." Kurumi said bouncing up and down excitedly Satsuki immediately blushed. "Oh come on I know that you've thought about it, and I know that you've thought about weirder things than I have."
"How do you know that?!" Satsuki demanded turning a brighter shade of red.
"You talk in your sleep." Kurumi said.
"I've never heard her." Zale said interested by the sudden change of conversation.
"That's because you sleep like a dead man Zale." Kurumi said, and Satsuki buried her face in a pillow. "Wait a second do you hear that?" They stopped, and their ears perked up trying to locate the sound. It was a squeaking one with a rhythm, and it was coming from the next room over. "That's Gaara's room; he's doing it with Shiki!"
"Well what do you know; I didn't even know he had a sex drive." Zale said.
*Gaara's Room*
"Gaara it feels so good!" Shiki said.
"Shiki get down from there, you're going to break it." Gaara said trying to stop her from jumping on the bed.
"But it's so good on my feet." Shiki said bouncing before down hard and falling on the bed asleep.
*Zale's Room*
Zale got a pillow thrown at his head. "What did I do?" Zale asked ducking under the several others.
"If they can do it then why can't we?" Kurumi asked angrily tossing pillow after pillow. Once things had calmed down the three of them were lying down in bed Zale in between the two girls. "You know this is really nice, I could get used to this."
They blew out the candles beside the bed, and drifted off to sleep.
A burst of wind awoke Zale in the middle of the night darkness barely allowing him to make out the outlines of objects, but one thing was clear the door was open wide, and it hadn't been when he went to sleep. With Kurumi and Satsuki sprawled out on the bed he was able to leave the room to investigate this. He found Sasame trying to sneak off the above ground balcony they had in the shrine they were currently residing in. "Great Emperor, I was just leaving!"
"No you weren't you were in my room, and you left the door open." Zale said, and she immediately she turned away. "What the heck do you think you were doing if someone had seen you then they would have killed you on sight."
"I-I apologize." Sasame said nervously bowing down low her eyes clenched shut.
"Look Sasame there's no judgment, but I want to know why you were in there. Actually I wouldn't mind having a few questions answered as nice as things have been since we've come here there are a few things that don't make too much sense to me." Zale said shaking his head, and Sasame froze. "For instance there were ten devils, but you all chose to worship me. Not only that, but I've been hearing rumors of the unfaithful."
"Great Emperor, Zale, I was in your room tonight trying to muster up the courage to ask you for my own favor." Sasame said her fists tightening as she steeled her resolve. "I will admit to the fact that the Fuma clan has not been as faithful as we would care to admit, but he meant well they all meant well. A man came, and he lured away several members of the clan including my cousin Arashi with the promise of restoring the clan to its former glory. We have heard nothing of them since, and I wanted to bring him back."
"What was this man's name?" Zale asked having a creeping suspicion.
"His name was Orochimaru." Sasame said.
"We're going on another adventure." Chrome said appearing from nowhere and Zale nodded not at all shocked about it. "I'll get things ready, and we'll leave in the morning."
"Yeah get on that." Zale said helping Sasame to her room before helping Chrome with gathering needed supplies.
"Should we take those?" Chrome asked pointing to the weapon that Sasame had fired at them earlier. There was a large assortment of them in a room.
"No the originals that we used jammed and exploded a lot; these are based on those terrible designs, and are probably even more dangerous." Zale said with a shake of his head grabbing a few extra kunai. They had put an arsenal in the shrine, and they were grateful for that.
"Great Emperor what are you doing?" Gomu asked seeing that he seemed prepared to go on a long journey. "You don't intend on leaving do you, you've not been here a week. There are still many things that require your attention."
"Don't worry I'm coming back; I'm just going to take care of some business with a guy that I don't like." Zale said replacing his old shirt.
"But sir if you were to leave now then everyone would be horrified, and I cannot guarantee that the people will allow you to leave." Gomu said.
"What do you mean not allow me to leave?" Zale asked.
"Well Zale you're like a god like figure to these people; if you were to suddenly leave then they'll probably go ballistic." Chrome said putting a hand on Zale's shoulder to calm him. If there was one thing that Zale hated it was people trying to keep him locked up. "We need to think about this they're your followers, and it would be better to keep them happy for now."
"Yeah okay, but at the first sign of trouble call me on the communicator, and I'll be there as soon as I can." Zale said and Chrome nodded before getting the others and giving them their equipment before they left with Sasame.
"This wouldn't be that bad we could start a family here." Kurumi said happily putting on the clothes that were provided for her. It was a white outfit that complimented her figure held closed by a red sash, but it definitely wasn't a kimono just a few inches below her knees, and the sleeves were very loose.
"Still this outfit seems a little more revealing than it needs to be." Satsuki said trying to pull out the fabric only for it to stick to her body. "What's Zale wearing?"
"Don't want to talk about it." Zale said with a frown. He was wearing full battle armor exactly alike to the one he wore on the statue, and although on Zale's original body it would have looked intimidating and fierce on Naruto's still small body it was almost laughable. In an attempt to make him look more like he did before they had even dyed his hair to an unnatural black color, and had him decked out in old fashion war paint.
"Oh don't worry Zale it looks cute." Kurumi said trying to hold in her laughter cheeks turning pink against her tan skin in effort.
"It wasn't meant to be cute this outfit was meant for combat, and to strike fear in my opponents." Zale said angrily tearing off a few pieces than making a few changes to the war paint. He revealed himself again, and now his appearance was less comical and more intimidating.
"Aw you look like a real warrior." Kurumi said happily.
"I am a real warrior." Zale said angry at how patronizing her voice sounded. "I was a ruthless killer that was the first to take the leap of forced human evolution on myself making the next step in the evolutionary chain, and became an established machine of death and turmoil. Not only that, but I couldn't be sealed."
A tick mark appeared on Kurumi's head as well as steam coming off her head in anger. "Yeah, but you died." Kurumi said feeling victorious. Zale decided to leave it at that before things got ugly.
"It's fun to watch you two go at it; it's like watching children fight really." Satsuki said flinching when she received glares from both of them. "Anyway when are we going to appear to the public?"
"We're going to leave as soon as Gomu comes for us." Zale said. "Why do you suddenly look so happy Kurumi?"
"You know Zale since technically this is a religion, and technically Gomu is a priest he can marry us." Kurumi said with a devious smirk on her face, and she tackled Zale to the bed pinning his limbs and keeping him from moving. "Oh come on consummating the marriage early won't hurt anybody, and I know that Satsuki's on my side with this."
Zale turned to look at Satsuki she was blushing, but wasn't making any move to stop Kurumi if anything she was watching a bit too intently. "I uh." Zale was speechless watching as Kurumi lifted her hand from his arm, and started undoing the buttons on his shirt.
"Come on I promise it'll feel nice." Kurumi said in a sultry voice neither of them had heard before.
"Great Emperor it's time to address the public." Gomu said walking in to the scene opened mouthed.
"On it." Zale said somehow escaping from under Kurumi and buttoning up his shirt on the way out Gomu following closely behind trying to get details from him.
"I was this close." Kurumi said angrily fixing her clothes before following with a seemingly frustrated Satsuki behind her. "Then again Zale's such an innocent guy when it comes to this stuff, it might have taken a long time to get in a rhythm."
"You mean Zale's never you know done it before?" Satsuki asked.
"From what he's told me about his past life he never has, but it'll be fun to teach him." Kurumi said with a perverted grin on her face. "What about you Satsuki, do you think it would be fun to teach him every little thing, and how the female body works."
"Oh I don't know." Satsuki said blushing red not daring to look Kurumi in the eye.
"You know that you'd like to." Kurumi said right before they stepped out onto the balcony with Zale greeting the mass of people that had gathered all of then unaware of the discussion that had happened right before they had come out here.