Picture something if you will. You've just finished setting up the most built-up fight scene in any of your fictions. You decide to go get a coffee while planning things out. Then you Realize that there is potential for a great character piece between two debated upon characters… sorry, fight is gonna have to wait a liiittle bit longer. Don't worry. Still this chapter. Just… let's have something… Political first, Shall we?
Let us delve, into a meeting between shadows.
BEGIN!
READ THE DISCLAIMER
[The Night Prior to Hawk's return]
His cane clattered to the ground as his good hand went up to grab the one around his throat. His lone eye staring down the ones of his once best friend as the two looked into each other, searching for a form of weakness between the two. He had been on his way to ask Hiruzen about his plans for the Uzumaki boy, but upon entering the room, had been pinned to the door by his old friend without his Kage garb, Battle outfit donned and ready with a tight grip around his throat. "w-What..is the meaning of this.. hiruzen!?".
"THE MEANING OF THIS? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THAT!?". Hiruzen tossed Danzo like a wet napkin, forcing the old cripple to bend over his desk from the impact as he gazed upon the paperwork upon hiruzen's desk… only it was not just paperwork. On it sat photos, Photos taken of the same boy that he had been wondering about… Strapped to a chair. The Graphic images shown, Medical in nature or not, immediately tipped the man off to the fact that someone had squealed… "this… this…"
The force of the slam caused the man to groan in pain; his crippled body bouncing off the desk as Hiruzen used his head to put a new Danzo shaped dent in the wood, only for the Monkey's staff to keep him pinned to the floor he laid on now with a glare behind the old man's eyes. "SPEAK DANZO, BEFORE I SNAP YOUR NECK!". The Root Commander just stared up at his old friend… ironically it seemed his actions had drawn a spark of the third back to the surface. He chuckled, choking on it when Hiruzen pressed his staff down on the elder's throat. "I.. Did… what you were too soft, to do… old friend"
"old friend? Old, friend!? You are a traitor Danzo. I Should rip that eye from your skull for lying to me. The Uchiha, All those Men and women, Jiraiya's students! For what!?". The further pressing of the staff down on his gullet caused the man to grab the staff and attempt to push it away. But Hiruzen held strong, Murder clear in his eyes.
"I..Did.. it… For you..!".
….the room went silent. The aged Kage staring at the man on the floor with confusion leaking into the hatred. Only Danzo's struggling made any sound, as Hiruzen pulled his staff away but kept himself ready to attack if needed. "Don't lie to me… I will-", "you.. will do nothing… Because that is what is wrong with you Hiruzen. The old you would have kept that staff to my neck, but look at you.. I can see it, that bit of hope you have that I'm still trustworthy… Still on your side"
"Are you not, Danzo?". The anger that filled the Criple's gaze, shone through him as he stood up, using the desk as a way to hoist himself slowly. "of course I am! I always have been, you old fool! You walk in the light, I walk in the shadows, Or have you forgotten that?". The old phrase drew a hardened look from Hiruzen, the man readying his staff once more.
"You told me you disbanded root…". The cripple barked a spiteful laugh as he picked up his cane, leaning on it with a Shakey grip.
"Disbanded? It's been going strong ever since… For the village, For you, For the Great tree". He did not have the time to dodge as another strike from the staff sent him against the wall to the office. A groan of pain leaving the man as his vision swam. "so you disobeyed a direct order from your Hokage-"
"DON'T, you dare… call yourself my Kage, Hiruzen. I don't know what happened to you but Whatever replaced the fourth was not the Third Hokage… You lost your touch". He glared at Hiruzen as the man approached him, Staff raised in preparation for a lethal blow… If he was going to die here, he would say it all
"You don't get it do you. Look outside your window Hiruzen, You command the strongest of the five villages in name only! Traitors scheme behind your back, Children steal from your vault, The council Run our Academy into the dirt for dreams of glory And You allow clans to hold their power over you like a puppet! And who is it, that has always been there to pick up your mess!?". Hiruzen stopped, his gaze hardening further as he looked down at Danzo… the man's mask cracking for the first time in years.
"ME!... Who is it that made the hard decision you refused to make when the Uchiha refused to see reason? ME! Who was it that lowered himself to the shadows to take on the Responsibilities you refused to, ME!". The man reached up, Ripping the bandages from his head… exposing the Sharingan eye he possessed. Hiruzen prepared for The genjutsu, Turning his head away but….nothing. Danzo lay there on the floor, Panting, leaning against the wall. "…You.. Lost your strength, old friend. The war broke you… I know that. And I'm sorry".
The apology struck like ice through the already frozen heart of the Third Hokage. But Danzo had more to say. "We are shinobi… We aren't heroes. We kill, We slaughter, We assassinate… Our lives, Our society is drenched in blood so the innocents do not have to see a drop of it. But for that, Some innocents must dip into the Dirt and becomes roots to support the tree, Especially when the trunk has become weak with age… That's all I've done Hiruzen. I've tried so hard to support you, but you kept getting Weaker.."
The words were hitting harder than any blow or Jutsu could… And Danzo could see it. But he had to Continue, for the sake of his life.
"You allowed the son of our hero to be a pariah. He was sabotaged and neglected where he could have been trained… I know, I know… that you have seen too many children die for war, Sent too many to die for war… You were never meant to pick up that hat again, Old monkey… We saw, Me, Homura and Koharu, how it broke you the first time… You were a great warrior, turned to a man with so many regrets that to see you put that hat back on, killed us inside… That's why I have done what I have done. You did not have the strength left to make the decisions needed. The people needed their grandfather… the shinobi needed their Kage. I, was the shadow our tree needed…"
As Danzo spoke, Hiruzen's posture slipped more and more, until he sat on the chair behind his desk with an expression that spoke of just how tired he was… both men staring, one in disgust in fatigue, The other Beaten and panting from years of released thoughts. "You went around behind my back Shimura"
"you refused to see the knife heading for it, Sarutobi. Look at your village… the Hyuuga Enslave their own. The Uchiha, a flight risk due to the pampering your people have given him. Our academy is a laughing stock… and our weapon is dulled by your negligence and the actions of selfish fools who think they knew better than the most intelligent man to come about since you yourself. I had dragon take him, so I could reforge that weapon… I did not foresee that I too, had schemers in my roots".
The Kage's eyes narrowed at his old friend, leaning forward against his desk. "Explain". Danzo in kind, took a slow breath, glad that he would not meet his end just yet. He motioned to the pictures; his own eyes narrowed in anger.
"Between his will of fire and my conditioning, The Traitor Kenshiro Taiki has proven to be a Zealous believer that all traitors should suffer. I told Him to have Sparrow train the boy to heal himself, Not butcher the boy and have him grow himself back… To have Bear break him down and Build him back up as a worthy shinobi, not beat the boy half to death and hope he recovers. And he himself… Seems convinced that the boy is without redemption. The loss of his loved one, I feel, has driven him to madness… He has twisted my orders; and it seems that the one person who knew… Is the one person with the most likelihood to believe I ordered it"
Shisui Uchiha. Hiruzen nodded, looking down at the photos. "Naruto believes he is a traitor". The two stayed silent at that… too much weight in the air between them. Minutes passed, one man sitting with his head in his hands and the other struggling to lift himself to his feet before walking over, sitting down before his old friend on the other side of the desk. "…I nearly killed you, Danzo. By all Rights, I might still do so. You are the biggest traitor of them all"
But Danzo just chuckled, a pained one as he looked outside the village through the window… watching the moon shine above. "Hashirama-sensei had Madara… Tobirama-sensei had the council… Minato had the brat Kushina… And you have me. Your shadow and opposite, old friend. In the end, I just want what's best for our village. I am only a traitor to you, Not my Kage… the question is; Who will walk out of this office after we're done. You have let Konoha fall… And I have done little to stop it. Neither one of us can rule this land, for I will pull it under and you would stop it's growth… You've always been a piss poor shinobi, Hiruzen".
The glare he got in kind for this comment drew another pained chuckle from Danzo. "A piss poor Shinobi… But a great man. You need someone to play your evils and keep the weight from your heart… I simply ask you do the one thing, the one, thing, I have always wanted you to do". Hiruzen said nothing as Danzo reached out, Taking the picture of Dragon with a beaten Naruto at his feet…
"You know I can't forgive you Danzo… What you have done, is treason… it is only because I need you that I haven't killed you… so what would you ask of me… What is the price I must pay for your assistance in fixing this mess…"
"For once… Just trust me… Old friend".
~{SM}~
[back to present time]
Danzo watched on, As Naruto Drove to the side to avoid the Zealot's strike; Hiruzen standing to his side as the man drew a shakey puff from his pipe. "steady Hiruzen… I know it is hard, But you promised to trust me… You will build him up, but I must first see him break his final restraint… Your plan to put the blame on me will see to that. Let him hate me… And he will come to you for guidance. This time, do not fail him".
Hiruzen nodded, exhaling a slow gout of smoke as he watched on…
"I'm Sorry Naruto… But for you to live free, Dragon must die by your hand".
~{SM}~
Back slash, Low slash, up, left, Right; Naruto backpaddled away from the strokes of the Zealot Kenshiro's blade with Wide eyes. As he called upon cursed mark, Pain wracked through him as the binding seal blazed with Kenshiro's activation of it, Causing him to stumble back as the blade passed where his head would be. The Zealot's laughter filled the air on their side of the barrier as his body betrayed him; Writhing in pain from the Seal on his skin. "YES! Suffer! Traitors like you deserve no quarter!"
It made Hiruzen sick to know that his negligence had allowed such a man to advance in his ranks, just by hiding his emotions behind a mask. He watched Naruto Writhe and Thrash in pain, the boy's skin boiling under the seal… he looked away, unable to bare the sight. As Kenshiro drew closer, Naruto's screams got louder, Echoing off the walls around him.
"GAHHHHHHHHH!". The zealot pushed more of his chakra into the seal, smirking as he watched the boy thrash in pain for his crimes, his treason, the zealot's itch for punishment finally being scratched as he fulfilled his oath to make all traitors of his great tree suffer at last!
For Naruto… The world was growing dark. The pain was growing too, Each pulse of it's Searing heat flooding his veins with molten fire. The seal had not been made to be used like this and his body was suffering for it; he felt his heart stop and start, Stop, and start as his chakra and the seal Battled it out.
He curled up into a ball, only to Throw his head back in a loud cry of Pain.
Do you want power..?
….
The world… went black. He was back in the nightmare. He could feel his body screaming in pain. But it was just a tingle here. He looked around, the fleshy growths had only gotten larger since he was last here. There was no more gate, no bars, no pipes… nothing… his gaze went upwards. He did not know how, but he knew… the fox. The nine tails as he now knew, But what he saw was something far worse. Bones. Bones of a nine tailed beast. The flesh stripped from it and scattered across the walls, pulsing with black veins and pustules of yellow. Across every wall, eyes began to open
Slit, Yellow, Eyes…
Do you want… POWER…
…he did. He had consumed the fragment of the man who dwelled here before and now here he was again, part of the seal itself. "Orochimaru…".
That name… It means nothing to me. I am what you refuse to use… I am what consumed the beast and the man… I am what gifted you life, I am that which you call upon in rage… I am, Your Salvation…
The boy looked up upon the eyes. Yellow slits, Snakelike in form but then the pupils split… into twos, Threes, Each eye was ripping itself apart as they stared at him. The flesh grew, and the black veins pulsed within him. "…Who are you". Oddly, no fear was felt by the boy. He looked upon this horror, shifting mass of flesh and eyes as the gate opened, the once great bones of the fox crumbling to dust before him as they fell, their dust filling his lungs as the shockwave they emitted thundered down the halls…
I have No name…. I am that which leaked life onto this world. I am that, who's gift flows through every living thing… I am an echo, of that which this world once belonged to… I am it's RAGE!
The voice blustered down the hall, The flesh quivering as Naruto Struggled to stand, to not be blown clear from the spot he stood on as it's volume pierced at his ears. He panted, the air taken from his lungs by the voice, Watching as a fleshy tendril came out of the floor…
I am formless, for my form was stolen… I am voiceless, for my tongue was cut. I have drowned in blood of mortals and drank of their darkness since you walked my lands…
Each eye upon the walls began to close, The flesh closing in as the lights they gave off disappeared one by one.. and Naruto could not move. He felt the floor being moved instead, Pulling him up to the gate where the fox was once held. He spied two halves of a skeleton, dangling from flesh… and two more. A man and a woman, whom he did not recognise. The tendril grasped his chin, forcing him to gaze into the darkness and he knew it gazed back…
I am the Rage, I am the Fury, I am the Judgement and the Cruelty of gods who yours feared and of Devils you never believed in… I am your pain…
His head hurt so bad. He could feel it, the seal cooking his insides on the outside but this thing would not let him go. His skull felt as if it was cracking, blood felt like it was dripping from his eyes and ears, breath refusing to fill his lungs in this thing's presence. What, was, inside, him..
A Red eye… Centric rings and Tomoe within its gaze, Stared down at him and he heard Nature scream… His curse mark burning… his mind…dying…
…I see you… Boy….ASURA!
P A I N
Pain filled Naruto in ways that he had never feared could exist; Tearing him apart inside as he was rooted to the spot. The voice, Female and male at once, Old and young, Sick and healthy, filling his head as the name filled his mind. Asura, Asura Asura Asura Asura. Nature chakra, Sage chakra, They had no idea what it was. Unfiltered by the sages, The tendrils of this thing that gripped the world through it's echo upon them all.. it was them who corrupted it… Shielded themselves form it..
He.. had no shield.
…you are mine, boy… you are mine… take my power. And show them the Great.. Tree's.. Wrath…
The tendril short forth, into the boy's flesh… as everything, went…Crimson…
~{SM}~
Kenshiro laughed as he watched the boy fall onto the stone, the seal burnt so deeply that smoke rose from the flesh of the traitor. Each scream the boy made, each cry of pain, each time he saw them throw themselves to the ground as he approached with blade in hand. As he rose the blade, he empowered the seal at it's highest level… the manic look in his eyes at the boy growing. "This… Is for my wife.. traitor.."
…
What was that sound…
Where was the screaming…?
"..ahah…hahaha… HAHAHAHA… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH". The man felt his fingers physically be bent out of the seal that activated his victim's markings. The laughing coming from the boy was followed by the blazing of Black Chakra across his wounds, The tree upon his skin Flickering with Ethereal Onyx, the boy's eyes rolling back down from the back of his skull with the cackling…
CRACK~!
He stumbled back as the boy's head came up, impacting his own with a harsh blow that split skin and fractured bone. But the boy did not stop there. A clawed hand grasping his face as he stabbed down at the boy, the eye, brain, neck, mouth, forehead; The boy did not Die. And he just kept laughing.
Tossed… Flying through the air. More accurate to say, he was pushed by the boy, his back slamming into the barrier as the boy lifted himself off the ground to his feet by simply… doing. The laughter breaking down into chuckles. Those scarlet eyes, slit, stared at him as they changed… one pupil, becomes two, becomes three… Staring at him. The boy's stabbed and mangled skull pulling itself together as black flames leaked out from behind the wounds he had caused. Kenshiro pulled his blade up, ready to defend himself-
The blade snapped under the weight of the blow… He barely had time to move; To dodge as Lion's axe shattered his blade; THROWN into the barrier by the boy with his arm still outstretched, and hanging loosely. "Now don't dodge, Where's the fun in that…RAAAGH!". Forward the boy lunged, his hand coming to a crash on the barrier as Kenshiro dived out of the way. He turned, looking as the man tried again to enact his seal, The boy just deepening his grin in return. Turning slowly, he showed it… the tree as black as night, the tomoe on his seal aflame.
Kenshiro barely had the time to move his head to the left, missing those narrowed claws by mere inches as they passed by his face Only to double over as Naruto's other hand came around and crashed into him. Naruto pressed the assault, taking the man off his feet as a second blow came, followed by a third and a fourth; having followed up with a second mighty strike, Then an upwards Heel kick to the chin and a Skull crushing slam of forehead against forehead. Kenshiro's world swam around him as he felt his brains rattle from the assault; watching through blurred vision as his target, this… monster, wiped their combined blood from his face.
Those Scarlet eyes locked onto him and even as Naruto walked back and picked his axe out of the crackling barrier behind him, A stream of chakra coming off of the blade as he slammed it's edge into the ground. As he walked, behind him the axe dragged just like with Bear, slower, methodical sparks coming from it striking the concrete. Kenshiro stood, looking at his broken blade before he put his hands together. "FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU!".
Even as his leader cried the boy's named, he watched with a smirk as the Jutsu flew, Roasting the boy on it's path before it scattered against the barrier in a flash of smoke and flame. "h-hahaha… take that, traitor… burn in konoha's fire-AHHH!" the blade of the axe came spinning out of the smoke at breakneck speed; The Man's right arm falling to the ground next to him as he grasped the bleeding stump with a yell of agony, the superheated blade charring what flesh it did not sever; blood steaming off of it with its blade embedded in the wall with an ominous hum… out of the smoke, he walked…
The smile
The gaze of madness
The open arms
Charred flesh knit itself back together, the white of a skull showing under flaking flesh and crackled skin as its ocular orb grew back into place. Musculature and tendons lashing onto hanging jawbone as it pulled the lower half of that sickened grin back into place, teeth becoming covered by skin once more as the boy walked forward; one half purified by flame and spotless… the other, bloodied and scuffed.
What kind of monster had he made….
The boy stepped up to him, even as the bloodloss brought him to his knees… soon Naruto stood before him, those red eyes looking down at him in such glee, before making his jaw snap out to the side with a brutal kick. No form, no class. Just brute force. He grabbed his axe and pulled it out of the stone wall, proceeding to use it to flip the man over onto his back before he pushed his foot onto the man's chest and crushed his rib cage. Kenshiro's Painful wail was music to his ears. Danzo no longer existed to his mind, neither did his Hokage…
"What was it, you had sparrow say to me so often again… oh yes, I Remember now… Regenerate, sensei..". horror… true horror finally filled the eyes of the man below him as he raised his boot and brought it down onto the face of his tormentor. "Regenerate..". Pulling his foot up, he saw the man's gaze haze over, blood flowing from a crack on their skull.
SLAM!
"Regenerate.."
SLAM!
"Regenerate..!"
SLAM SLAM SLAM!
"Regenerate, Regenerate! REGENERATE!".
He did not know when the barrier went down… only that he was suddenly staring at the eyes of his grandfather, filled with concern, his gaze looking back at 'dragon'. The man's skull had no upper half anymore, just the gurgling bloodied throat and shattered skull around grey matter and mush, a loose eyeball off to the side and a twitching tongue over a bloodied lower jaw.
Good… Remember this feeling Asura…
This… is our power..
….the haze left his mind… blue eyes looking down at what he had done. They widened, slowly… then back to his grandfather.
"..aruto! NARUTO! Do you hear me!? What the hell was that!?". Tears began prickling at the boy's eyes, something Hiruzen's own gaze widened at… before the boy's gaze filled also with fear. Terror. He clung to the old man, no longer caring about getting blood on him as he began to cry… Danzo's own eye widening at what sobs he heard… what words the boy said next.
"Please don't let it find me again"
~{SM}~
Aaaaaand scene. Well, how was that? A little twist as to what nature chakra actually is eh? And some eldritch-esc horror thrown in for good fun. I've always felt it was weird that the most pure form of chakra did not contain at least some influence of the world around it or the beast that chakra came from in the first place…but then something came to me. All sages in naruto have to work HARD to use nature chakra, meditating, training, exposing themselves to it to build up a resistance and I thought to myself, what if… that was simply removing the energy from the influence to make it controllable. What if the Energy had an echo… a mind.
What if the Cursed seal's madness came from it Not filtering that mind from nature chakra.
Add in some transmigration of souls, a little sprinkling of formless horror in the form of the will of the god tree extracted from one of it's nine fragments and boom, Juubi Rage Influenced Naruto. I Don't think I really have a name for this, consider it to be this version's Jinchuriki rage/cloak. Please do not suggest names in the reviews, don't wanna spoil.
Hope y'all enjoyed dragon's fate too, I made sure to be especially violent with him.
Next chapter will mark the intermission between arcs, so please, do tell me what you think of this story's first arc!