Chapter 9

Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331

Naruto saw the bright light appear before him. Nothing was visible to him anymore but he did hear something in the distance.

"Come closer."

Walking in the direction of the voice he soon saw the light dim and he soon found himself dropping his hands. There in front of him was a sight he never thought he would see again.

It was Konoha, the gate to the village.

"What in the-"

"Calm down, it is an illusion."

'Really? It looks and feels-'

"That's how the machine works. It will test you; see your mental strength and if you are worthy. Stay strong, I can't communicate with you much due to the mach-"

'Sukuna.'

Nothing, he could hear nothing and he frowned.

"Naruto!"

Turning his head he saw Sakura standing there at the gate with Kakashi and Sasuke.

"Where were you?"

"Um, I was out and about?"

Sakura frowned,

"That's no good you have to let your team know when you going out of the village. I mean, we are teammates right? We are supposed to stick together!"

Naruto frowned,

"It was only for a bit."

Sakura sighed while Sasuke snorted,

"Like always dobe, always running off when we need you the most."

"Like your one to talk?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow while Kakashi smiled,

"Now, now children no fighting! Come on we are heading to the tower to report back to the Hokage."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Sure lets go see the hag."

"Huh?"

Naruto turned to the confused expression on Kakashi's face. "What the hag is sitting there waiting for our report isn't she?"

"Um, Naruto I wouldn't call the Hokage that."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Sure." Naruto quickly dashed through the gate and walked through the tower at break neck pace. The minute he saw the Hokage's door he kicked it open.

"Hey hag! What do you need!"

"Hag? Naruto I assure you I'm more of an old man."

The voice made him freeze up.

'No, not him. Anyone but him.'

Sitting at the desk, it wasn't Tsunade.

It was someone that made his eyes water and his heart ache.

"Old man?"

The hokage smiled,

"Hello Naruto how was your mission?"

Naruto felt his body frozen. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak. His body was just numb.

There he was, in front of him again. The Hokage, the old man that was his only family in the entire world, the man that did his best for him. He was right there, as if nothing had happened.

'No this is an illusion. It is not real.'

"Naruto?"

The Hokage walked out from behind his desk and frowned, "Are you okay?"

"This isn't real."

The hokage laughed,

"Sure it is my boy. I'm looking at you right now."

Naruto shook his head,

"No, no! NO! NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!" He held his head, "Your dead! I know your dead! You died fighting Orochimaru! You died giving your life and soul for Konoha!" Tears started falling down his face, "But for what! What good did it do for you! The village spat on you! Treated you like garbage after your death just by throwing your stuff out! Not caring about the legacy you left behind! You were treated as an afterthought by the council! Everyone seemed to be just ready to move on!"

"Naruto-"

"No! You weren't able to see Konohamaru again! You didn't get to tell him how much you loved him! You didn't get the chance to see your wife again! You won't be able to!" He sobbed, "It doesn't matter how much I think about it, how much I wish it wasn't true, but you're gone! Dead!"

"Naruto."

He felt a soft hand on his head and he slowly looked up at the man smiling at him.

"Is that how you truly feel? That I wasted my life for the village?"

Naruto looked at him and he looked down while gripping the floor. Making splinters appear.

"I do, I feel like you made a promise you couldn't keep. You tried to be a hero to people around you that didn't want you to be a hero. You fought for me more than anyone else and still you were overshadowed by the people that wanted to do me harm. You, you, you," his tears flowed down his face. "You didn't deserve to die for a selfish place like this!"

"Naruto."

"No, I refuse to believe that Konoha was worthy for dying for! What good has it been for me growing up! All alone, everyone treating me as a curse, almost killed as a child due to one child pranking me so badly! I can't, I can't stand it! Just thinking of how the village spat on your grave!"

"Naruto." He put his hands on his shoulders and Naruto looked up to see the sad expression on the old man's face.

"Do you truly hate Konoha that much?"

Naruto looked down, "Yes I hate Konoha more than anything in the world. All they have ever done to me is lied and cheated me. I was treated as a pariah for something out of my control and something that was forced on me. You tried your best, maybe made a lot of mistakes down the line, but you at least gave two shits! Everyone else I had to prove myself of being worthy of love and affection and even then, it was all fake."

"Then if you had the chance would you burn Konoha to the ground and massacre all your enemies?"

Naruto looked up and saw the frown on the man's face,

"No."

"No?"

"No, I refuse to give them my attention. I refuse to validate their existence to me. Did I want to destroy the village after the Blood Prison? Yes, yes I did but at the same time I realized it wouldn't do anything but continue a cycle. A cycle of vengeance and bloodshed, something that can't seem to be stopped no matter how hard we try." He wiped his eyes, standing up and looking at the Hokage, "But I realized that the best way to get back at people is to just move on. Leave them in the past while I pursue the future, that is all I ever wanted in life." He smiled, "But I guess, there are some things that I can't leave behind no matter how hard I try." He cried, "I miss you old man."

"Naruto." He smiled, "I miss you too. But I'm proud of the man that you are becoming and the life you have created for yourself." He then turned to face the village through the window, "It is true that I made many mistakes in my life but the one thing I'm glad I did is raise you." He smiled, "While I wasn't as hands on I am happy that you took after me in the ideal of leaving the past behind and forging for the future."

"Yeah." Naruto smiled, "Sometimes I wish I could see you one more time and tell you all the things I wanted to tell you. How sorry I was, for not being stronger to help you. How I loved you more than anything in this village. And how sometimes I didn't care that I never carried blood from your family, you were my only family."

"I know Naruto, but I can't stop being proud of you. For forging ahead and blazing your own path. Sometimes, I wonder if you are the redemption I was given for my past mistakes." Hiruzen sighed, "But then again maybe this is why we are meeting today."

"Huh?" Naruto turned and saw the world slowly fading.

"It seems our time is up. I'm glad we had this time to talk Naruto."

"Wait! It's really you?! But I thought the machine was just making an illusion of you!"

He laughed,

"Wherever you go Naruto, always remember no matter your decisions, I will always be proud of you. Because the Will of Fire, it burns brighter in you than anyone else."

Naruto saw his body starting to fade,

"Wait no! Please don't go again!"

"I have to Naruto, but I'm always watching over you. Just like they are."

Naruto reached out for Hiruzen but his body disappeared and all that was left was a white room. Naruto fell to his knees and cried,

"Old man, please. Come back, please come back."

"Naruto."

Naruto looked up,

'Please I don't want to,'

"I know. But your weapon is in front of you."

Naruto looked up and saw a dark black staff in front of him. It had intricate markings on it and some old script written on it.

Reaching out he touched the weapon and soon the world turned dark.

A sliding door was heard and Naruto looked behind him and saw the exit.

Walking to the door Naruto could only feel somber.

"Hey kid,"

'Sukuna, I really don't want to talk about what I saw. Please, just leave me alone for a bit?'

"… Okay."

Reaching the door Naruto turned around and frowned,

"Your watching over me huh? I guess that's why I never gave up." He smiled, "And I still won't."

Walking out of the chamber he saw Beelzebub standing there. He had a cane in his hand with a skull as the pommel.

"Hey," He frowned, "Rough time?"

"Yeah, don't particularly want to talk about it."

Beelzebub nodded.

"Cool staff."

Naruto looked at it and smiled, "Yeah from what I gathered this is some kind of weapon designed for my new style." Naruto swung the staff around and concentrated his chakra into it, with it releasing a powerful slam into the ground. The room started to shake and Naruto smiled, "Oh yeah I'm going to love experimenting with this."

Beelzebub smiled,

"I understand your feeling my weapon is the same way. But we can practice once we are out of here." He turned his head, "Although I wonder were our guide went off to?"

Naruto looked around the room and agreed. Buddha was nowhere to be seen, it seemed like he just wondered off somewhere or he didn't expect them to survive. But then again, he had the means of unlocking and locking the place so, if that was the case why was the door open? He was more confused.

Naruto and his brother walked out of the chamber and shut the door while Naruto allowed Sukuna to take over.

"Geez, hate people messing with this so gonna lock this back up." He went through two hand signs and soon the place glowed with an ominous purple and black color before he handed control back over to Naruto.

"Okay now we find our so called scout."

Once the brothers reached the surface they saw Buddha but he was standing next to a pile of dead people and doing a silent prayer for them.

"May you find peace in the next life." He turned, "Oh, I see you both passed your trials. Congrats!"

"What the fuck happened?"

"Well,"

Flash Back

Buddha wondered to the surface again while concealing the entrance under an illusion.

"Geez, kinda doing something here can you guys come back later?"

Out of the tree line came a few figures.

One was a man like figure with horns growing out of his head, dark red eyes, and blue skin. He had fangs in his mouth and dark scales around his face.

Another was a woman like figure with the bottom of a horse and carrying around a weapon in her hand. Buddha saw that it was a bow with some arrows in a quiver on her back.

Next to her was another horned man and another woman with snake skin and dark yellow eyes with slits.

"So, again can I help you?"

The man growled,

"Move, we seek the tomb."

"Oh? You mean the machine?" Buddha picked his ear, "Yeah sorry not going to happen. I'm afraid that this is off limits to the likes of you."

"Us?" The woman with the bow pulled out an arrow and aimed it at him. Her bowstring pulled back and ready to end his life on the spot. "We said move human filth. This place doesn't belong to your kind."

Buddha rolled his eyes.

"Yeah well it sure doesn't belong to someone like you either." He raised his hands over his head and yawned, "But if you guys really want to try your luck then fine." He held his palm out and his weapon appeared in his hand, "Lets play then."

The woman fires an arrow at him.

Buddha tilts his head to the side while placing his weapon on his shoulder with a bored expression.

"Want to try again?"

She growled pulling out two arrows and firing them.

Both arrows missed him as he just took a small step to the side.

"What in the hell!"

Buddha smirked, "Come on, you gonna have to do better-" He ducked.

The man with the horns and red eyes had appeared behind him with a strike aiming for his head.

"I see so you use your chakra to blend into the shadows of the tree and attack me from them. Meaning that you can only access the shadows and travel based on them all connecting. Which is the reason why your so confident in the forest."

The man growled and dipped back into the shadow. But he appeared yet again and aimed his claws at Buddha's throat.

He grabbed his offending hand with his free hand and threw him over his shoulder.

"Man you guys are pretty weak."

The other male demon roared and held his hand out and he saw some kind of red energy forming in the palm of his hand.

"Huh, how annoying." Buddha took a step forward and kicked off to the right. The ball of red energy missed him and the monsters were confused about how he was predicting them.

"Where, how!"

Buddha appeared behind the second female demon,

"Sorry about this." Buddha reached out his free hand and grabbed her by the back of her neck.

"W-"

A quick twist of the wrist, the neck snapped, and she fell to the ground dead.

He turned and dodged around another swipe from the man in the shadows who growled and quickly ducked back into it.

Buddha sighed before closing his eyes and stood there.

A hand reared out of the shadow, reaching for his back.

But the hand was grabbed by his hand and he was pulled out of the shadow. He growled and swiped at Buddha who quickly released his hand and sent a straight kick to his stomach. The man crashed into the tree and found his neck stomped on there. The tree gave way from the impact alone, but the man died from the sickening sound.

"Two left." Turning around he focused on the woman with the bow who fired three arrows.

He held his staff up and in a flash of light a shield appeared blocking the arrows. They hit the shield but flew away from him.

The woman found one arrow in her side, another in her neck, and the final arrow in her head. Killing her before she could hit the ground with a massive thud.

"Then there was one."

The man roared and held both of his hands close. Soon a dark red orb started materializing in his hands and the energy started to form into the shape of a sphere.

"DIE!"

The man aimed the sphere in the direction of Buddha who just raised an eyebrow.

"Okay."

The energy ball flew from his hand and went straight into the shield.

"Should warn you," he spoke from behind his shield. "This shield doesn't just reflect attacks away such as arrows, but it also sends them straight back at full force."

The energy orb left the shield and flew right back at the man who held his hands out to stop it.

The orb shifted ever so slightly and crashed through the man's neck causing blood to explode out of the wound.

His body hit the ground with a thud and his eye's dulled while Buddha turned his shield back into his staff.

"Well, that was messy." He walked over to the bodies and after grabbing the two bodies on the side, he put them close together. The monsters in question were put close enough with their arms over their chests.

The man sighed before putting his hands in a praying motion.

After the silent prayer he turned to see his two new friends staring at him in shock or boredom.

Flash Back Ends

"And that is what happened?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and saw that everything he said matched up but he was still confused.

"Who were they though?"

"Don't know." Buddha shrugged, "Probably people so consumed by Dark Chakra they couldn't see straight anymore." Buddha sighed, "Sad they had to die but I wasn't about to let them hurt me or you guys."

Naruto nodded.

"Well should we just burn the bodies? I feel like burying them is a bad idea given we don't want to attract attention to this spot."

Buddha rubbed his chin and after snap of his fingers the bodies caught fire.

"Well, that should end this mess in a flash." He waved his hand around and with another snap of his fingers, the flames dissipated leaving nothing behind.

Naruto had to admire the level of skill he was demonstrating. It was unusual to see someone produce such control currently without using hand signs to pull it off. But him? He just snapped his fingers, rolled his wrist, and snapped one more time and it was done. Nothing he had seen outside of Sukuna was this impressive.

"So," Buddha walked up with a smile on his face, "Looks like your weapons are pretty cool?"

Beelzebub touched his skull cane, "Yeah I think mine works in conjunction with my power so it should be useful. But I feel like there is more hidden in its power that I have yet to see so it is going to be interesting."

"Indeed." Naruto held out his staff, "I think mine is a reflection of my new path. I'm not 100% sure what it can do and while not as impressive as either of your weapons I think mine has something that is more than meets the eye." Naruto twirled the staff in his hand and then swung it down.

The minute his staff hit the ground the earth cracked under the impact and he smiled.

"Now then," Naruto focused his chakra into his staff and aimed it upward. "Lets see if this works." Naruto imagined wind appearing around his staff and he soon found the wind out of the tip of his staff. Smiling, he swung his staff and released a large gust of wind, sending it flying through the air and into the nearby trees.

At first, nothing happened but then the trees slowly slid off the base and onto the ground. Naruto nodded his head.

"So this staff works in conjunction with my charka and what I want to do with it."

"Indeed." Beelzebub rubbed Naruto's head, "But we'll have more time to practice when we are away from here."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Stop rubbing my head."

He smiled,

"Sorry little brother but it is just fun to see you so annoyed at such a simple thing."

Naruto growled.

Beelzebub smiled and Buddha laughed.

"Man you guys are funny." He smiled, "I've decided!"

"Decided what?"

"I'm going to be joining both of you on your journey!"

Naruto's eyes widened while Beelzebub stopped his action and stared.

"Why on earth would you do that?"

He smiled,

"Because I want to," Buddha walked up to them. "Besides I think traveling with friends who you can one day call your family is more interesting than traveling alone." He smiled, "So, where to first?"

Naruto sighed. This guy was an enigma even by his normal standards. I mean he was sure he was this pragmatic at a point but he was also realistic when he encountered some strangers in the past.

But this guy? He was just out there, he already had his mind made up and was convinced they were going to let him tag along. Then he thought about it, how would they stop him from tagging along? He could follow them in the distance or follow them closely, there was no reason he couldn't. They also couldn't stop him physically as neither of them knew his full strength or talent so, what is really stopping him?

Besides Naruto didn't mind the guy too much and did see him as a reflection of him as a child but also mature enough to handle the weight of the world. While he loved having Beelzebub traveling with him another person wouldn't hurt.

Turning to him he saw his brother shrug.

"Up to you."

Naruto nodded.

"Welcome aboard Buddha."

He smiled and threw his arm around his neck and smiled,

"Call me big bro!"

"Not gonna happen."

"Oh it will after all if he is your older brother and I'm older than him that means I'm big bro! So, lets get moving!"

Naruto sighed, he wondered if he would regret this decision down the line.