Disclaimer: me no own shit
Chapter 6
HEY IM aLIVE! SORRY I WAS GONE FOR SO LONG, BUT MY COMPUTER BROKE AND I HAD TO SAVE UP FOR A NEW ONE...THATS A LIE! I ACTUALLY HAD TO FAKE A COUPLE DEATHS TO HELP MY BEST FRIEND AVOID HIS CRAZY EX. ANYWAY...i'M BACK!
And then, just as suddenly as he had been pulled up against Sairento's chest he had been released and was staring up into a cold, sardonic face. Ethereal blue eyes blinked slowly and a cruel, mocking smile began to spread. The deathly cold and powerful aura that Naruto associated with Jashin began to roll in slow waves from Sairento's body, and he was dimly aware of the others in the burial chamber dropping to their knees and bowing.
"It is good to be back in this place, I can manifest myself more strongly in old shrines" the dead man's lips moved soundlessly and Jashin's cold voice reverberated in their heads.
"Now then boy, up until now my presence has repressed the Kyuubi, I deemed it unwise for him to speak to you in the past. However now we are in need of him. Place your hand on my faithful"
"T-The Kyuubi?"
"Yes boy, you are its container. A jinchuuriki., one of the greatest weapons in the modern age."
Naruto didn't move. He didn't think he could. Shock was a mild term for what he was feeling. The Kyuubi the demon that had nearly destroyed Konoha was inside him. Inside him! No wonder the villagers had hated him. How could the Old Man not have told him? Why did—his train of thought was cut off as a fist slammed into his jaw. There was a burst of pain and Naruto went sprawling onto his back on the cold ice.
Jashin was staring dispassionately at Naruto, and slowly licked the blonde's blood from his knuckles. He dipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a kunai.
"Child, I have waited hundreds of years for my new age to dawn. My empire is within reach and I will not have you standing in the way. Now you will either do as I say or I will cut you open and find another one to set events in motion."
Naruto sat up and spat out the blood that had been pooling in his mouth. He had endured years of hatred because of this demon. If Jashin could get rid of it, then he wouldn't be complaining. "What do I need to do?" he asked, climbing back to his feet.
A smile, more frightening than it should have been, stretched on Jahin's borrowed lips.
"Put your hand on the body. And brace yourself. Your about to have something ripped out of you." A sadistic smile spread across his face.
The blonde pulled in a deep steadying breath and placed his hand on the white haired man's chest. He tensed as he felt a skeletal hand wrap around his waist and come to rest on his stomach. Then, suddenly an intense burning worse than anything Naruto had felt began. He looked down and saw, to his horror that Jashin's fingers were disappearing into his stomach. He panicked and tried to pull away but the hand around his waist held his fast. He felt the hand, which had now almost completely disappeared inside him, clench and after a moment it begin to retract. The pain intensified and right before he blacked out he saw a red-orange tail of chakra being pulled from him.
He was standing in a large room, made of red stone. Jashin was lounging on his throne, a small smile on his lips.
"What happened?" Naruto asked
"You're dead" was the simple reply.
"What happened to the Kyuubi?'
Jashin's smile widened and he pointed a finger upwards. Naruto followed the finger and laughed. A small cage was hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier. Stuffed inside the cage, looking cramped and unbelievably pissed, was the Kyuubi.
"He's going to be serving as an ornament until I have use for him."
"So what happens now?"
Jashin pointed his still outstretched finger at him and he was flung backward.
He sat up with a violent start. His breath came in gasps, made visible by the cold temperature. He was back in the tomb.
"Naruto, you're alive!"
"y-yeah, lucky me."
Shitai dropped to a knee next to him, wrapping the blonde in a tight hug.
A new voice broke into the tender moment, "We need to begin moving. Speaking to the Elder is our top priority."
Naruto looked around. Tenshi was sitting cross-legged on the ground scribbling furiously in his notebook. Sairento's corpse was lying in the open tomb, it appeared that he had served his purpose and had been discarded. Standing near the entrance to the room was Fukuro, his armor glinting in the low light. His braided hair brushed his shoulder blades. A large, blood red katana was slung across his back. The sword was about the same height as Fukuro and looked battle-worn but still razor sharp. His silver eyes locked with Naruto's blue and he nodded respectfully.
"Naruto-san, we must be on our way. Please make yourself ready."
"um…okay" Naruto responded, taken aback by the honorific.
TWO DAYS LATER
It was late, a silver sliver of moon hung in the ink black sky. A small fire crackled in the middle of their camp. Tenshi and Shitai were sleeping, leaving Naruto and Fukuro on watch. Fukuro was sitting on a log near the fire, slowly polishing his katana. It was a quiet night; the only sounds were the fire and the babble of a distant stream.
"So…what's your story?" Naruto asked, eyeing Fukuro curiously. The ancient man was a mystery. He didn't talk about his past, Jashin's old empire or Saisho no Jiin. He spoke rarely and was always respectful.
Fukuro laughed and cast a glance at him, his silver eyes glinting like mercury in the light.
"Naruto-san, my story isn't interesting, you would be bored. I am not that deep, I have no deeper motivations than my faith. Like the majority of Jashinists I don't like thinking, dealing or talking about my past; besides when you're immortal your life before, and time in general holds little importance for you. I gave up my pathetic existence to serve Jashin-sama and it was the best choice I have ever made. Our faith, our devotion is what's important. We're bound by faith to serve Jashin and with the exception of very few things we can live as we see fit."
That was the most Naruto had ever heard him say at one time and he was determined to keep him talking.
"So you only live for Jashin? You don't have any hobbies or anything? Nothing you enjoy?"
Fukuro appeared to think about it, eyes staring reflectively in the fire.
"My life before was…unpleasant. I lived in a time of constant war; I watched my family, my friends, my village, all destroyed around me. I was a slave, part of the spoils of war, taken from the cooling ashes of my home. I was tortured, beaten, and starved. I was the epitome of pathetic, unworthy of any grace or mercy. But Jashin-sama granted me mercy anyway. If not for Him I would have died, a hundred times over. I live for Him because he is the reason I am alive."
He shook himself out of his reverie and looked up, smiling, "And I enjoy killing, if that counts as a hobby."
One week later
"Fukuro-san, Jashin-sama told me you would be arriving." The silky voice drifted across the large room. The speaker was a young man, looking about 19 or 20. His hair fell at a slant over one eye and he slouched in his throne, chin resting on his hand. This was the Elder, the chosen figurehead of Jashinism, Itami Eruda. His body was covered with scars and tribal looking tattoos and he projected an aura of violence, barely restrained and waiting to burst forth. He was dressed in a simple black, long sleeved shirt and shinobi pants. Jashin's holy symbol, purple, was tattooed in the middle of his forehead.
Fukuro dropped into a low bow, eyes respectfully downturned, "Elder-san, it is time."
That was all that needed to be said. Itami's face lit up, a smile revealing sharpened teeth. He straightened up in his throne, "Really? After years and years of waiting has it finally come?"
Fukuro nodded and Itami laughed joyously, "Good, good. I will give you all the resources you need for your endeavors."
"Thank you Elder-san I will begin immediately."
"Do not thank me, Fukuro-san you are helping me bring to fruition a lifetime of waiting. And you," he pointed a finger at Naruto, "our lord tells me that you are his emissary."
Naruto straightened up a little, feeling proud.
"But, you appear to be nothing special. Any one of the uninitiated here could defeat you"
The blonde deflated a bit but managed to keep his face impassive.
"You can go back to your temple," Itami said to Shitai without taking his eyes of Naruto," You however, Naruto-kun, you will stay here. You will be my apprentice and I am going to turn you into a warrior worthy of Jashin-sama's glory."
3 HOURS LATER
Two pairs of pitch black and glittering eyes stared at Naruto from across the training room. One pair was small and intelligent. The other pair was slightly overlarge and crazed looking. These eyes belonged to Itami's other apprentice and his pet raven. Sadly, the more intelligent eyes belonged to the bird.
The owner of the raven was strange, even by Jashinist standards. He was slightly taller than Naruto (not that this was unusual, most people were taller than him) and had a thin, but muscled body. His face was thin and angular, with his crazed chibi like eyes and mop of slate grey hair that framed his face and fell into his eyes. His body thrummed like a high tension wire and on his shoulder, looking completely unaffected by the vibration, was a raven. The bird cawed and the boy who, as far as Naruto knew had no given name other than Raven, twitched his head violently.
"I can't" he said, his voice, shaking like his body, came out in a child-like whine. His head continued to twitch towards the raven perched on his shoulder, "Priest-sama wants me to GAH! train him…" the bird cawed and nipped at his earlobe, causing it to bleed, "I can't it! would be against the GAH! Tenants!"
"Hey…uh, you alright?" Naruto called cautiously. The kid's eyes snapped onto him, he smiled shakily, "Yeah, fine, fine hahaha. Nevermore just won't shut up."
"Nevermore?"
"yeah Nevermore, it's the raven name…I got it from the…GAH! never mind. How's your hand-to-GAH!-hand?"
"It's good" Naruto responded confidently. If he had read the situation correctly the kid would attack him soon, in the name of training of course. If he could survive an onslaught from Hidan, he could surely win against a psycho kid.
The kid's shaky smile turned positively frightening as he chuckled, "Good, that means GAH! I don't have to go easy on you." He held up one skeletal hand to the bird on his shoulder and Nevermore promptly began to regurgitate. The bird's beak opened impossibly wide and a red sword handle began to slide out.
"Wha-? How? That's not even possible, that makes no sense!" Naruto protested, quickly going through a mental checklist to see if he had possibly been placed under a genjutsu at anytime.
"The world's a lot more fun when you GAH! don't try and make it make sense."
With that Raven flicked his wrist and the sword broke into segments held together by a single thin line of metal and flew towards Naruto.
Naruto jumped to the side, cursing as the blade tore through his shirt, missing his skin by a hair. He heard a flutter of wings and ducked instinctively. Nevermore dive-bombed through the space he had occupied less than a second ago, razor sharp claws extended in front of him. Suddenly Raven was within a foot of him, thrusting the sword towards his ribs. Naruto twisted to avoid it and slapped the black-haired boy's hand away. It wasn't a particularly effective hit but it distracted him enough for Naruto to land a hard punch on his stomach, followed by a knee to the head and he bent over to catch his breath. Raven sprawled on his back, the sword clattering off into a corner. Before Naruto had time to relish this small victory a sharp pain tore through his cheek. He cursed and took a swing at the bird who had just scratched him. While he was distracted Raven had regained his feet and slammed his fist into Naruto's face before starting an onslaught of punches and kicks. The blonde took a step back to regain his footing and then began to swing in kind. Neither boy attempted any sort of dodging, Raven was too crazy to care that his nose was broken and gushing blood. In fact the grey-haired boy was laughing joyously and actually leaning into some of Naruto's hits. Naruto, on the other hand, was ignoring the pain, determined to prove to Itami that he had the potential and the will to be Jashin's emissary. Soon the floor around them was coated in blood and as Raven took a step back (Naruto had landed a strong right hook on his already broken nose) he slipped on the blood, falling into Naruto and sending them both tumbling into the ground. They both lay there on the ground panting; and when it became apparent that neither were going to get up and resume fighting, Nevermore flew down and settled on Raven's stomach, cocking his head inquisitively and cawing.
Raven laughed, a much more stable sound then before, (Naruto found himself wondering if maybe getting his ass beat was therapeutic to him) and lightly ran his hand over Nevermore's head and down his back. He thrust his unoccupied hand into the small space between their battered bodies and said, "I'm Raven, GAH! you're fun."
Naruto took the proffered hand and gave it a quick shake, smiling, "I'm Naruto, You're fun too. Even if you are completely insane."
The two boys turned to look at each other and then smiled. Raven may have been smiling for a multitude of reasons (the fact he was enjoying the pain, a new person to play with, the fact he had bacon in his quarters, Raven liked bacon) but Naruto was smiling because he had the feeling that he had just made another good friend.