The Nephalem Chronicles
Prologue: An Eventuality
Naruto looked around himself to see that he was standing in a white space with no end in sight and he couldn't hear anything so much as a pin drop. The blonde ninja took a look at himself to see that his favorite orange-and-black jumpsuit is in tatters which is a given considering that he was involved in a war where he faced resurrected legendary shinobi especially one constantly leveling up and being a pain in the ass, that was before clashing with an actual goddess who's stingy about chakra. And to top it all off; he had a duel with his former teammate who has this crazy idea of killing the Kages and controlling the Bijuu in order to start a revolution where he alone would bring peace to the Elemental Nations.
"Of all the dumb things to do Sasuke, this has to be the dumbest. Do you seriously think that the people would simply sit back and accept this kind of ruling? This wouldn't stop the cycle of hatred but rather make it permanent," Naruto scoffed "Then you show up and suddenly start saying that you'll become Hokage. Kinda wished that Itachi remained alive long enough to tell him what he told me. In the end I guess I was right…," Naruto looked down at his right arm which is nothing more than a stump "When we fight, it will be either me returning you to Konoha…or both of us dying and will no longer be weighed down by the title of Uchiha or Jinchurikki,"
Naruto looked around again and was already growing bored with all this "Look I already get that I'm dead and all that, but isn't there more than just standing here and getting bored to death even if i already am?"
"Indeed there is, young Naruto," a wizened male voice spoke up, Naruto turned towards the voice to see someone familiar appear before him.
Before Naruto is a pale-skinned man with brown spiked-up hair, he has hornlike protrusions extending from both sides of his forehead and there's a red Rinnegan marking in the middle of it besides the pair of the regular Rinnegan which he possesses. The man dons a full-length white kimono with a wide high collar, it also has a large black Rinnegan marking along with a pattern of small nine magatama arranged in rows of three at the back of the kimono. He possesses a necklace which has six black magatama, a floating black staff with one end being a circle with rings attached to it and the other end being a halfmoon. This man currently hovering before Naruto while cross-legged without touching the ground was none other that Hagoromo Otsutsuki; the Sage of Six Paths as well as the creator of the Nine Bijuu.
"I see you're as peppy as ever," said the man with a grandfatherly smile.
"Yeah, but not so much considering I'm dead and all, Grampa Sage. None of this would have happened if Sasuke didn't go and pull off that stunt of wanting to start a revolution. Seriously, that idiot should have thought things through before going ahead with them," Naruto grumbled. Hagomoro glanced over Naruto's shoulder to see the ethereal form of his son Ashura crossed his arms and nod in agreement much to the old sage's amusement.
"There are times I would wonder how it would be like if you were brothers with Ashura," thought Hagomoro.
"So, what happens now? Do I go to the afterlife or something?" asked Naruto.
"That was normally my intention but…,"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "But?"
"The gods Kami, Shinigami and Amaterasu wish to grant you a second chance and letting you live again,"
"Bringing me back to life? But why me, what about the others like Sasuke?" asked Naruto confusedly.
"Their reason was because despite being the Child of Prophecy who achieved world peace, you suffered greatly and this was their way of wanting you to fully live your life the way you want. As for the others, they were allowed into paradise but for Sasuke, the gods were very irritated with him. Shinigami best described him as a brat worse than Inari before you restored his faith in heroes," Hagomoro explained with a sweatdrop at the last sentence.
As much as Naruto wanted to defend the Uchiha, he can't deny that Sasuke was being a brat. He needn't have left Konoha, Naruto was more than willing to help take down Itachi back then, there were many experienced shinobi who could have trained him to be strong like Gai, Kakashi, Kurenai and few others. Then there was him threatening with the destruction of Konoha in order to cleanse the Uchiha clan of its disgrace which didn't sit very well with the blonde ninja.
"I get it, so you're going to send me back?" asked Naruto.
"That's the thing, Naruto. The gods wish to send you to another world instead,"
"What, but why?"
"Something serious is about to occur there and they wish to have you there to help resolve the situations, but they promised to reunite you with your friends and family when you pass on,"
"Before I say anything, what exactly is this new world?"
"…the netherworld,"
"NETHERWORLD!? THEY'RE SENDING ME TO HELL!?" Naruto yelled in shock.
Hagomoro held out a hand to calm the panicking blonde ninja down "I can understand your reason for panicking, but the netherworld isn't what you're assuming but rather a planet in general which is ruled by demons with the strongest bearing the title Overlord. That world; excessive violence, murder, theft, unwanted destruction, and many things which are considered as crimes by humans are rather viewed to be daily activities. The demons run amuck doing whatever they please without restraint,"
"Hearing this makes me think of the Elemental Nations as paradise compared to this Netherworld, but aren't there angels or something?" asked Naruto.
Hagomoro nodded in affirmation "Indeed there are and they originate from Celestia which is a heavenly realm that they inhabit. But you must know that there is no pure good or pure evil, both demons and angels can be swayed towards either moral extreme,"
"Sheesh, all this is so confusing and honestly messed up. It's like the human world is basically between a rock and a hard place,"
"Understandable, but both the Netherworld and Celestia are dependent on energy from the human world in order to survive. The Netherworld depends on the fear energy and magical energy, so if humans begin to fear themselves more than demons and monsters then it will fall apart,"
Naruto winced at that "Yikes, so what's the reason that Kami and the others want me to go there?"
"There is a being known as Overlord Baal but he is also known for the title; Overlord of Overworlds who travels to various netherworlds and taking control of them after defeating the Overlords who were in charge,"
"The hell? An Overlord who takes down other overlords, I'm getting some serious Madara vibes just hearing about him," said Naruto with a frown.
"You wouldn't be any further from the truth with that statement, but because of him, many lives were whether it being human, angel, monster or demon,"
"…*sigh* I just got done with a war and now I'm about to dive into yet another crisis,"
"So…will you go?"
"Can't really say no and be done with it, I wouldn't be able to look in the mirror if I simply decided to look the other way and act like it's none of my business," said Naruto, Ashura nodded in agreement.
Hagomoro nodded with a fond smile "I expected no less from you Naruto, but I need to inform you of certain things before you go there,"
"What is it?"
"First and foremost, you won't be a human but rather a Nephalem which is best described as a hybrid being, born from the union of an angel and a demon. They're known to be equally more powerful than either race alone but are also endangered as any and all known were hunted to extinction by demons out of fear so I suggest you be careful," the old sage explained.
"I guess in a way, I'm not with them and at the same time against them. But does this mean that I won't be able to use my chakra when I go there?"
"Not to worry, you will still be able to utilize chakra thanks to the gifts I'm about to give to you,"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "Gifts?"
"First thing's first, let's get you healed up," Hagomoro snapped his fingers and Naruto felt his body being rejuvenated to the point that Naruto's right hand was restored as well as his jumpsuit "Much better, first thing that I'm going to give you is both the Yin seal and the Yang seal,"
Naruto noticed his palms glowing before raising them to see the Sun marking on his right palm and the Crescent Moon marking on his left palm "But why give me these seals especially the Yin which you gave to Sasuke?"
"Let's just say that Tsukuyomi-sama 'requested' that I give the Yin seal to you as it would help you greatly along the way," said Hagomoro, recalling how the goddess made her 'request'…she and her sister really don't like the descendants of Indra except Itachi "Next one is the ability to utilize the chakra chains like your mother who asked me to do so,"
Naruto felt something emerge from his back and looked back to see several golden chains wriggling about before returning to his back.
"And one more thing,"
There was a flash of light before revealing a shakujo staff just like the one Hagomoro has which floated towards Naruto to be taken into his hands.
"Why am I holding a copy of your staff?" asked Naruto confusedly.
"You're already on the path of being a Sage of the Six Paths, the toads set you up on that route with the basic sage training which only a handful successfully completed, it went even further when you received the chakra from the nine Bijuu before finally being granted the Yang seal by me," Hagomoro explained.
Naruto crossed his arms in thought "So let me get this straight; I'm going to be reincarnated into the Netherworld as a hybrid being of angelic and demonic nature to face a guy who's going around and taking over other netherworlds, I can still use my chakra along with getting my mom's chakra chains and my very own staff like yours, is that all?"
"Actually…,"
Hagomoro was speaking when something shot out from his kimono sleeve, revealing to be a vermillion red blur which rushed at Naruto who couldn't react in time before it suddenly stopped atop his left shoulder. Naruto looked to see that it was a small fox with fur as well as long rabbitlike ears and nine furry tails.
"…Kurama?" asked Naruto confusedly.
The fox scoffed in response "Who else do you think it is?"
"Apparently, he didn't want to let you go alone and desired to accompany you," said Hagomoro.
"It's nothing, I'm just going to make sure that he doesn't get into more trouble than he's already going to get himself in,"
"You're such a tsundere, Kurama," Naruto smirked before yelping when Kurama slapped him with his tails.
"Don't be so annoying and besides, things are sure to get boring in the Elemental Nations. As much as I like to sleep, I could also do with some action from time to time. I've been witness to everything that you went through since the day I was sealed into you, it's never a dull moment,"
"Yeah, kinda wished that we were friends much sooner. Wouldn't have gone berserk all those times," said Naruto grumbled, Kurama scoffed but the edges of his lips curled upwards a bit and didn't exactly refute the statement.
Hagomoro smiled at the interaction, happy that Kurama is no longer bitter towards humanity before speaking "So, are you both ready to begin your journey into the other world?"
"Ready and willing, Grampa Sage! Can't really take another second of being in this place," Naruto muttered at the last part whilst slinging his newly gifted shakujo staff on his other shoulder and making sure that it doesn't hit Kurama.
"Let's get on with it old man, I'd like to see just what these netherworlds are all about," said Kurama.
"Impatient as always, very well then," Hagomoro took hold of his own shakujo and tapped one end of it onto the ground to summon a portal before the duo "Step through this portal and I wish good fortune on your journey together with your future companions,"
"Thanks Grampa Sage, hopefully we won't be meeting up anytime soon,"
"I've also placed several scrolls which will help you along the way,"
"Thanks old man, no doubt we'll be making use of them over there," said Kurama.
The blonde shinobi and miniature Bijuu bade the Sage of Six Paths farewell before leaping through the portal and towards the beginning of a whole new adventure.
This is Hussbek online with the latest story, this one's a crossover between Naruto and the Disgaea series. I know full well that many of you prefer that I simply focus on the ones I already put out and there being no need for new stories until I've at least completed some of the stories beforehand.
To be honest, I've gotten several prologue chapters of certain stories picking up digital dust in the shelves. So every few updates of my regular stories, I'll be putting prologues of these stories up. This way I can quickly pick up once my focus isn't too divided up so don't worry as my first batch of stories are placed in higher priority of updating. Be sure to stay tuned and see what will pop out of my archives, might be a Naruto x ? you like or find interesting to read.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.