Chapter 6
New Paths
Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331
Naruto and his new friend finished their routine in Wave. They had been training there for another month before deciding to part ways with the country. Not that they didn't want to stay, but Naruto was sure that in time the Leaf was going to find out that he was not at the prison anymore and then come looking for their allies.
While he held resentment and anger to the Leaf he held none for the allies of the village, not wanting them to get dragged into his conflict with Konoha.
So, after bidding Tazuna and his family and those in the country farewell they both proceeded outward.
They got some supplies which is why they were camping in the woods.
"So," the dark hair man looked at Naruto, "Where are we going next?"
"Don't know." Naruto leaned back on the grass, "Anywhere we go someone is bound to know who I am. I mean not too many people that look like me you know? Plus, the most irritating thing is that the Leaf most likely knows of my time in the prison and escape. From there, they would send out ANBU and hunters to look for me to drag me back. Thinking that if they clear up their mess with me, things will return to how they were." Naruto snorted, "As if, I'm done with the whole shinobi life, from now on it is all about what Naruto wants and those that choose to stand with me shall profit."
The young man nodded,
"Yeah I feel you." He looked up at the stars, "I always wanted to travel but due to my affliction I was always afraid of going to places that were populated you know?"
"Yeah I feel you there." Naruto looked at the stars, "Maybe, we can find something that is interesting enough to keep us going you know? Maybe, something that would give us a purpose?" Naruto sighed, "Man it sucks my whole life was for the Leaf and now, it feels like there is a hole and I don't know how to fill that hole."
Naruto sat up,
"But first we have to get you a name." He stared at him, "I'm not going to call you no-name and I hate referring to you as the stranger next to me. So, do you have any idea of what you want to be called?"
He shook his head.
Naruto groaned,
"Man, your sometimes a headache you know that?" Naruto then smiled, "But then again that is probably what makes you a great traveling partner."
The man smiled,
"Yeah I feel the same way."
"But still we need some kind of destination."
Naruto felt his mind waver,
"Then why not travel to my homeland?"
"Huh?" the man looked up and saw Naruto's confusion.
"Is it Sukuna?"
"Yeah it is. What do you mean your homeland?"
Naruto saw a mouth appear on the side of his cheek and while normally that would have freaked him out, he did this twice while they were in Wave so that he can converse with the group. So after the second time it was not that surprising to him or his friend.
"My home; you see years ago I formed this temple during the early periods before what you call the Shinobi era began. There, I studied and researched chakra and learned a path of enlightenment unlike most around me. Others only focused on Light chakra manipulation and enlightenment and there is no doubt they got much stronger from this process. However, they never realized that to gain TRUE enlightenment, you must completely understand Dark Chakra to go with your Light chakra. I had students appear after a few years passed and people heard of what I did. They studied relentlessly under me and some even managed to achieve their own heightened states but sadly, not a single one was able to reach my state of enlightenment."
"Is there a point to this story?" Naruto was really wanting to get to the center of this matter.
"Yes there is shit head, you see while I was building my home I found something very interesting underneath. It turned out that this was some kind of temple of sorts, one I had never seen before or after. Honestly, I wasn't sure what the fuck it was and kinda left it alone for a while. But after reaching a higher level of understanding I decided to give it another look over and was surprised that the thing seemed even older than I expected. How it works is a mystery to me, however the thing was incredible. It gave me insight to the culture that was before our own, their studies, their methods, and their teachings. On top of that, I learned that this thing could grant weapons. Not just any weapons but sentient weapons of great power."
"Interesting." The dark haired man frowned, "Are you saying that it matches someone with their preferred weapon or somehow changes to suit the users desire?"
"Exactly. I used it and gained a Scroll of Infinite Knowledge. Allowing me nothing but endless information to be stored on it for future uses. However, after that bastard Hagaromo sealed me away the scroll disappeared meaning all that knowledge was lost."
"That sucks."
"Yes but then again probably for best. Hagaromo had it in his head that 'chakra should be used by all as to promote peace' or some garbage shit like that. Knowing this train of thought I was worried about what would happen if he got his hand on my scroll or the machine. Imagine him just handing out sentient weapons to every stupid fuck that came that way. Now granted I did create some weapons that MIGHT have had a bit of a negative reputation. Especially in today's age by the sounds of it. The Seven Deadly Mist swords, The great Sealing Jar, A powerful fan, and a powerful lighting blade."
Both boys eyes widened; those were all weapons crafted by this so called sentient being? Now they were interested.
"So you want us to find this chamber and gain something for ourselves right?"
"Exactly and before you ask, no there is no way someone could have found the chamber after all this time. Not only was the entrance sealed by yours truly, but the method to enter the room was also sealed by me. That was to stop Hagaromo from actually doing something like I previously mentioned and just making things more chaotic. I might be 'evil' by definition of the people around me but I still have some common sense."
Naruto nodded and so did the young man.
"So do you at least know what the place was called before you got sealed? Might help if we knew which direction we are going to go in."
"Land of Darkness, just because I was there. Hagaromo really was a whiny little bitch I swear. Even his sons were less annoying than him."
Naruto's eyes widened,
"You actually met both of his sons I thought you only met the older one?"
"Wait the guy were talking about is the Sage?"
Naruto looked up,
"Yeah he is apparently he belong to some clan called the Otsutsuki or something. Apparently they were just a bunch of godly beings that had access to chakra whenever it suited them. But one apparently went beyond that and became a goddess."
"I see."
"Yeah, after Hagaromo and his brother defeated their mother, he started spreading his teachings and chakra everywhere. While the Toads did help in this process, they didn't tell him to spread it among the people so wildly, even they were smart enough to know such a thing was foolish and too idealistic. But he did so that was a problem emerging with his two sons; Ashura and Indra. Both boys were the opposite of their father in every conceivable way. One being more driven by his strength and having the powerful eyes of his soon to be formed clan. While the other was considered the weaker of the two of them, he had a way with words and managed to earn the love and respect of the people."
"But then the day came and he chose the younger sibling to succeed him, angered the older one. However, from what I gathered from the two brothers there was some reconciliation between them. While the older brother was still angry to be overlooked, he came to terms that it was not his brother's decision but their father and grew to hate him. That is when he came to my temple asking me questions about things and asking me to guide him. At first I was reluctant but I agreed once he annoyed me. From there, we went through some of my teachings and philosophies and surprisingly the guy started to chill the fuck out. Even started his own family which he promptly distanced himself from his father calling himself Indra Uchiha."
"As for the younger one, well he came and talked to me and after reconciling with his brother both agreed to walk their own paths away from their father. However, that wouldn't happen as he heard what I did and after coming at me with the box sealed me inside but the last thing I did to him before the sealing was impale him through the chest. Telling him that he would die soon and that all he was doing was breeding stupidity into the world and I will one day see it with my own eyes."
"Turns out; I was right."
Naruto frowned, that was a lot to take in.
"You said," he looked at the mouth, "That the other brother distanced himself from his father but what did he call his family?"
"Ah that was the thing he had two clans that emerged from his bloodline; Senju and Uzumaki."
"I see." Naruto looked back, "So in a way buddy we are distant relatives to one another." He smiled, "Kinda funny."
The man smiled,
"Yeah. Well we should get some sleep and once we arrive in a town tomorrow we can ask about the Land of Darkness and see what it is called now."
Naruto laid on the grass and closed his eyes while drifting off to sleep while the black-haired man stared at the fire.
He would look over at Naruto and smile,
'I guess traveling with a friend is more fun than expected. Wonder how this is going to go tomorrow?'
Next day
Naruto and his friend were just staring ahead.
"So you want to deal with this or should I?"
"I think it doesn't really matter, they aren't going to let us pass without a fight."
"True." Naruto sighed before looking at a cart that was parked in the middle of the road. "Seriously they could at least try something different than this. I mean a cart blocking the road? That is a clear sign of trouble."
"Some people aren't that bright or just don't think people are smart enough to see through stupid."
"I guess."
Naruto and his friend arrived at the cart where a group of bandits and a rogue shinobi suddenly came out. They quickly surrounded the duo and laughed at their success.
"Man that was easy!"
"Yeah dumbasses fell into our trap!"
A shinobi walked to the front, Naruto's eyes widened.
"No fucking way."
His friend raised an eyebrow,
"Do you know him," he whispered.
"Sadly, thought he was still in jail though."
It was Mizuki, he was standing there. Proud as can be and seemed to be smiling at the two of them.
"Well it would seem our genius trap worked on you two. So here is the rub," he reached behind him and pulled out a giant shuriken, "You two hand over everything you have and we might let you leave with your lives."
"Why do you think we have anything of value?" His friend was more annoyed about the situation.
"Don't fuck with me kid!" He pointed at his clothes, "Only someone from a rich family background wears clothes like that! Meaning you must come from a very rich family or are independently wealthy!"
The man looked at Naruto,
"Is that true?"
"Not sure, honestly your clothes are pretty fancy. But I'm just surprised he picked you out first." Naruto turned to the man, "After all, I figured he at least wanted to greet a former student."
"Huh?" Mizuki looked at the blond kid in front of him. He looked about 15, his hair was familiar, and-
"What the hell? Naruto?"
The group raised an eyebrow and Naruto smirked.
"Hey Mizuki been a while. Thought you were in jail."
Mizuki stared at the kid in front of him. Before breaking out in a wild cackle,
"Oh man the fates must be loving me right now! In front of me is the little dip shit that managed to get the drop on me and send me to that fucking prison! Oh this is swell, now I get to take my revenge and get filthy rich at the same time!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow,
"Really? I guess some people just don't change but I have to ask how did you get out? Last I checked committing treason is punishable by death but you got commuted due to the old man."
"Impressive yeah? Well if you must know one of the civilian council members heard my tragic story and commuted my sentence. However, when he did, I just took off and left the village as a whole. Since then I've been robbing everyone that dared to cross this road and prayed I would get my revenge and here you are. First I'll kill you and then I'm going to find that bastard Iruka and kill him!" He gained a sinister smile, "What do you think Naruto, me killing oh so special Iruka?"
Naruto stared. Was this meant to rile him up? Was this all he thought it would take to do so? Man, he wasn't sure what to make of him.
"Is that it?" Naruto picked his ear, "Don't make me laugh. First of all you couldn't get close to Iruka since he is still in the village and they have been on high alert since the invasion. Second, successful raiding? Yeah right I can tell just from the shitty gear and the way that your friends are dressed, you haven't had that much success. I mean, maybe one or two raids, but if someone survived or people start disappearing on this road too often, then someone is bound to notice. This would lead to people to stop coming down this road wouldn't it?" He sighed, "Man your dumber than I expected. But then again you duped me as a rookie so I can't say you're the dumbest person I have met." Naruto narrowed his eyes, "But that doesn't change this situation as you threatened us and I think it is high time someone sends you to the next life."
Mizuki laughed before pointing,
"You guys take care of the black hair guy, the blond brat is mine!"
The men roared and rushed to the black hair kid.
He sighed,
"Make this quick Naruto I would like to get back on the trail."
Naruto waved his hand,
"Don't worry this will be fast."
"Yeah for me!" Mizuki flung his shuriken at Naruto. The weapon was spinning rapidly and he just stared. "Ha paralyzed with fear! No wonder you were a failure! Too bad that shitty old bastard didn't realize it himself!"
Naruto grunted.
He took one big side step from the weapon, put his arm through the center of the blade, and then reversed its momentum burying it in the earth.
"Nice try."
"Tch, lucky brat!" He grabbed a kunai from his bag and threw it at Naruto.
He just sidestepped.
"Is that all you can do Mizuki? Throw weapons? No wonder you were a failure of a teacher I mean even Iruka could fight better than you. But you just got lucky in the midst's of the fight."
He growled,
"You shitty brat!"
He rushed at Naruto and engaged in hand to hand.
He threw a right hook and Naruto just swatted it to the side.
A left soon followed, the same result.
The pattern repeated with his punches, and Naruto knocked away one of his round houses.
"Well this is boring. I didn't think the gap between us would get this wide. But then again you were always lazy."
Naruto slammed his fist down on Mizuki's right wrist making him scream from the pain.
"Shut up please." Naruto slammed his open palm into his chin sending him flying backwards a few feet. "You're disturbing the peace."
Mizuki quickly dashed away from him and saw that his wrist was discolored and he couldn't make any movements with his fingers.
"You little fuck!"
"Sigh, can you actually come up with a better insult?" Naruto stared, "I guess it is time to end this though. Hate to keep my friend waiting."
Mizuki frowned and his eyes widened when he turned slightly to see the young man standing in the midst of a puddle of blood and body parts.
"W-w-w-What the fuc-"
Naruto performed a single hand sign and dashed at Mizuki cutting through his neck and appearing behind him.
"I did tell you to quiet down." Naruto sighed, "So stupid, you just wasted my time and your life dumb bastard."
Mizuki's head rolled off his shoulders and soon blood exploded out of the now opened wound.
Naruto stood there with boredom in his eyes,
"Well that is one less annoyance in this world I guess."
"Indeed but I did see something on Mizuki as you called him." The man approached the body and picked something off his corpse. "Strange it has a symbol I'm not familiar with and it seems to be locked by the looks of it."
Naruto walked over and examined it closely,
"By the looks of it, this is a summoning contract of some sorts. Strange I thought it would be bigger but that might not be the case with all summons." Naruto handed it back to him, "Why don't you try summoning whatever this is and see how they react."
He frowned,
"Are you sure that is a good idea?"
"Tell you what we can summon a Toad and have them here to negotiate if things get hairy." Naruto smirked, "But then again I never took you for a chicken. Maybe it is a chicken contract or something. Something that would suit you."
He glared,
"Fine I'll summon them. But be prepared."
Opening the contract he went through the hand signs after Naruto instructed him on it and soon slammed his hand on the ground with his dark chakra.
'Wait can he summon with dark chakra?'
"Summons will answer the call of chakra, no matter the alignment so he is good."
Smoke exploded and both of them stood there until it cleared. Naruto was the most surprised at a young girl with wings standing there. She seemed to be wearing a gothic dress, with her dark red eyes staring back at them.
"Um, hey didn't know you were into loli."
This made his friend gain a tickmark,
"Shut up."
Naruto laughed and held his hands up.
"It would seem I have been summoned." The girl stared at the boys before her, "Which of you was it?"
Naruto waved his hands and pointed at his friend.
"Hm," she looked him over while walking around slowly, "You do seem to be strong enough but I wonder, can you handle the pressure?"
"Pressure."
"Yes. You my child have stumbled onto the contract of the Flies. I am their queen Amelia. Do well to remember as failure to do so might mean your death."
Naruto whistled,
"Woah, I didn't know there was a Fly Contract out in the world."
"Yes," She nodded, "We are overlooked as inferior to the other contracts around even though we have the most unique skill sets that would benefit shinobi more than others. Plus we also have the ability to shift our form unlike the others."
Naruto shrugged.
"Now then," She turned back to the man, "You have summoned me and wish to become our contractor?"
"Yes. I would be honored to be your contractor as you see, I don't really need powerful partners of massive size or intimidating presence. I would prefer to align myself with someone who would improve me in the areas I lack."
The girl stared.
"You are a strange one; most are seeking power and abilities. Once most learn about our hidden arts and our Senjutsu skills, they come crawling to us begging for our power but you, you are different. You didn't seek me out for those but you sought me out as someone to help make you strong in the areas you are weak." She smiled faintly, "How intriguing I think you might be an interesting summoner."
"Indeed?"
'Yes. I approve welcome to our clan. However, you must sign your name in blood so that we may stayed allied."
The man frowned,
"I have no name."
"Hm," she rubbed her chin, "Very well; since you are now our summoner I think it is only fair that I bestow you the name of our previous lord. Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies."
Naruto smiled,
"Sounds ominous and intimidating while having a somewhat regal feel. I like it."
I do as well," He bowed his head to her, "Rest assured I shall do all I can to spread the greatness of the Flies."
She smiled more,
"I know you will. After all there is a pact that we must complete but that will come in time. For now sign your name and we shall consider our contract completed."
Beelzebub cut his thumb and wrote down his name on the contract, with him putting his thumb print on the edge.
"Henceforth you are now Beelzebub, wear the name with pride and don't disgrace it, otherwise," She flared her chakra.
The entire area shook and Naruto gulped at the pressure she was creating.
Then she vanished.
Naruto picked up the contract and handed it to his new friend, Beelzebub.
"Well Beelzebub shall we continue on our journey?"
"Indeed. But Naruto may I ask you something?"
"Sure,"
He smiled,
"I know it has been a short time but I feel a form of kinship with you. I can't explain it since I never had anything remotely close to it growing up. But I feel something there and I wanted to ask, would you mind if I call you brother instead?"
Naruto's eyes widened and he swore he saw Sasuke standing there for a second. But he shook his head,
"Do what you want man, but if we are brothers you're the older brother meaning when I get in trouble you have to take responsibility for the mess." He walked to the cart blocking their way, after examining it and seeing it was empty, Naruto did a single hand sign and puffed out his cheeks before releasing a torrent of flames making the cart explode.
Beelzebub chuckled,
"Whatever you say just be ready to be punished for causing me trouble."
Both laughed and continued down the road in silence; now as brothers.
Chapter End