The Chosen: Chapter 8

A/N: "The following is a fan-based work. Naruto is owned by Shueisha, Viz Media, and Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release."

Chapter 8: History, and Histrionics…

Jashin to Majiwaru Activated!

The ground beneath me seemed to shift slightly, needle-like pricks of pain and pleasure all along my legs, and with a gasp I-

I…I was screaming. I was dying, again. My body burned, it melted, it shook. I was locked in place, unable to move, cut the commune, or even think. Beneath it all, however, was a mounting pleasure unlike any that I had ever felt. I had thought the feeling of the little death, as my heart was pierced and I shared in the agony of my victim was the ultimate pleasure…this, however, was a thousandfold that. If I could have moved, I'd have been grinding on the ground in pleasure, grunting and huffing as the pleasure rose above the pain.

Kuriezu…

There was a whisper…a tickle…somewhere so far away I couldn't tell from where.

Kuriezu my Chosen…Grow in my light…Grow…and Learn…and KILL!

My mind shattered as knowledge flooded me. My senses were afire! I could hear a chime-like laugh, and smell the acrid burn of smoldering flesh. My skin was covered in feather-like touches, and my eyes were a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes…and my mouth was filled with the taste of fresh blood. Before me, the world, covered in dozens of glowing white dots.

Jutsu Upgraded!

Blood Sacrifice → Sacrifice To Jashin

My soul…I could see it, twisting, screaming in agony as something touched it. I wanted to break out, I wanted to leave, but it didn't want me to. I was…owned? No…I was created…by this…by this…by…God.

As everything began to fade, a new mission appeared.

Ame - Woods

With a lurch, my eyes opened, as thin tendrils of white flesh slid from underneath the skin of my legs, burrowing back into the ground. My front, and shoulders, were covered in blood, my eyes, mouth, and ears still leaking drips and drops of blood. Hiiro was across from me, looking as flawless as she had since the night's events had begun. Little tendrils of white flesh were sliding from her legs as well, and her eyes popped open. I could tell from the look in her eyes that she had just moments ago been speaking with the creature that was Jashin.

And a creature, that it was. How I couldn't explain it. The size of it had been unimaginable…yet clearly now, within my mind, I could see it. Just barely beneath the surface of the ground here, and for a dozen meters in every direction…it glowed. Yet…the image in my mind told me that it was much, much larger. That what I could see was only part of it, rising to the surface. That's its true size was unfathomable. Hiiro moved, my reactions dulled from the experience…the horror…the ecstasy. She could have killed me then, gutted me from the crotch to throat, but instead, her lips met mine. Like a marionette, I moved, my hands reaching her sides, and pulled her to me as the kiss deepened. Fervently, passionately, with a need I didn't think I could ever have felt again, our kissing increased.

*LEMON! Search for the words Lemon End to skip!*

I moved from her lips to her cheek to her neck, as she gasped, her hands touching my chest, my side, my crotch. I kissed her neck, her back arching, attempting to get as close to me as she could. Something came over me then, and I bit, hard, the flesh of her neck parting beneath my teeth as blood filled my mouth.

"Oh god!" She moaned, her hand wrapping around me, squeezing me as I hardened. "More!"

I pulled, drinking from her neck as she pulled my cock from my pants, the cold night air directly in contrast with the burning warmth of her hand. I pulled from her then, kissing her, smearing her blood between our lips. Her eyes burned, almost glowing in the darkness. She moved to stand, the tight pants she was wearing sliding off in a single movement. She stepped forward silently, her hand taking my chin, guiding my neck upwards as she pressed herself against my face. The smell was sweet, sweeter than honey, sweeter than the sweetest fruit…sweeter even than blood, as I tasted her, my tongue parting her lips, greedy for the juices I knew I would find there. She gasped as I made contact, her hand in my hair, crushing me against her as her hips seemed to move on their own.

She was soaked when my tongue found her heat, the blood coating my face and tongue only making her messier in my rush to drink her. My hands found her hips, pulling her with me as I leaned back, falling softly to the hard ground. She was straddling my face, her hot little pussy pressed against my lips. All I could taste, all I could smell was her need. Her legs were squeezing my head, my hands on her hips keeping her pressed tightly against me as I licked, and sucked. I could hear, muffled, her gasps, her moans. She was grinding herself against my face, soaking me with her juices, as she climbed higher and higher. Her body shuddered, her legs squeezing so hard that if I were a normal man I'd have died under the pressure. With a single motion she lifted off of my face, gracefully sliding down my body, and with her hand, guided me into her burning heat, sheathing me into her pussy for the third time in so many hours. My skin was white, nearly glowing in the darkness, from having tasted her blood before.

She ground herself against me, lifting herself just to slam her hips back down. With every drop she squeaked, a mixture of scream and moan, her muscles tightening around me, coaxing me slowly, so slowly towards explosion. Leaning forward her lips found mine in the darkness, tasting herself on my lips, my tongue. Her pussy squeezed around me, the taste of herself setting off a series of pulses, as she rose, thrusting herself down once more, fucking me like I was just a cock to fulfill her needs.

"Fuck!" She moaned, as my hands found her legs, and hips, helping to slam her down again.

The ground beneath us was sinking, compressing, and my hips were surely bruised from the force we were generating.

I could feel it now, building, my balls tightening as she road me. Something must have tipped her off, as she leaned back, grinding herself harder.

"Cum for me Kureizu!" She ordered, squeezing around me. "Fill me!"

Like the order reached my soul, and my soul took the command in stride, I followed the command. With a roar, a scream, a moan, a growl; I exploded, soaking her insides. There was a sharp pain in my chest, a blossoming of pain and pleasure as my eyes opened to see the dagger buried in my chest. Blood was pouring from her breast as well, the ground burning with the symbol of our god. Her mouth was open, a scream of pain, and pleasure that would have rent the night had it not been silent. For a moment then, I knew heaven…For a moment then, I knew hell. I burned, my life flashing behind my eyes as I died, orgasmed, and died again. It was a cycle, an unknowable torment, an unknowable ecstasy. What I thought of as pleasure was gone, replaced with this moment, frozen in time as I flooded this beautiful woman, emptying myself into her heat as she died, and with her my life was wrenched away as well.

*LEMON END!*

Hours passed in this state of twilight, somewhere between life and death, hovering as something within me grew. I had changed, on this night, learning first what had snagged my soul from its place in the normal order, and placed it neatly into its plans. I hadn't known, had no way to have known, at the birthing pit, what was to come next. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say. To say that I was thrust blindly into this was an understatement. I was playing with half a deck, attempting to fill the blanks as best I could with knowledge earned with blood, sweat, and tears. As the blade slid from my chest, my heart began to beat once more.

When my eyes opened at last, Hiiro was sitting a bit away, watching me closely. I was coated in blood, hers, mine…it was dried…hours had passed since last I had been aware.

A pop-up, saying I'd earned 3400 experience, another saying I'd earned 8300xp.

"There is a river west of here about…" She begins, before pausing, rolling her eyes. "I forget, you were born here. You know the land better than even I do."

I nod, slowly getting to my feet. I was a mess, and that was an understatement. I sent her a questioning gaze, to which she nodded. She would be here when I returned. I had questions…so many questions…Her words were true, however. I knew the river, even without my map. A minute of running, and I was soaking in it, scrubbing my clothes of our blood, our juices. It was cold, but not so intolerable as to be bothersome. I took my time, trying to order my thoughts…my commune with Jashin had answered questions…but generated so many more in its place. I hoped that Hiiro, which from my memory came the thought that she was at least 200 years old, would have answers to.

I pulled myself from the river naked, with no fire Jutsu to warm my clothes, it was better to let them air dry as best they could before my return to Ame. The last thing I wanted was to catch my…death…Another saying that no longer fit me, I suppose. I made my way back to the clearing, easy to find considering how brightly it glowed to my vision. Hiiro was sitting, leaning against a tree, naked as the day she was born…and reborn, likely. Her clothes lay drying over a low-hanging branch, to which I added my own. I sat down, then, across from her. Silence filled the clearing, our eyes the only motion as we stared at one another.

"Ask." She said, the tone broaching no resistance.

"How?" I asked…a word filled with so much meaning.

She cocked her head to the side, a small smile. It would seem that of the many questions I could have landed on…I had chosen correctly.

"Understand me, Kuriezu, when I tell you that what I know is known only through much research. No one has told me this tale directly, it is not lore passed down generation by generation, to reach your ears." She said, opening her hands in supplication, "It may not be certain, it may not be one hundred percent correct…but it is the most likely origin, gathered from all the years I searched for answers. Jashin does not speak to us, he can not share more than direction, and feeling…"

I nodded, accepting the caveat. The truth I would learn now would be the truth as she knew it…but I suspected if the game system that now governed my life took it as truth, that that was what it was.

"I've told you before, that a God can be anything. A man in a cave, a deer in the forest, a humanoid fire. The form that Jashin takes, while abnormal, when taken in that vein, is not so abnormal…" She says, her quiet voice the only sound to break the silence. "You asked how? The answer, as I know it, is nature."

She smiled at the quizzical look on my face, "No, not nature as you know it. I'm sure in school you learned of the five nature releases of Chakra?"

I nodded, "Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Water."

She leaned back against the tree, her breasts jutting out, as she stared up into the stars above. "Correct…but what you're missing are Yin, based on the imaginative, and spiritual energies of the Nin, Yang, based on vitality, and physical energies, and Senjutsu, based on the energy of nature."

I pondered her words for a moment, noting them, and considering them for further research later on.

"A thousand, thousand years ago, a stone from the sky above crashed into the planet. With it, a seed…a seed that would one day grow into a tree so large as to block out the sky."

"You speak of the God Tree?" I asked, surprised to know anything of what she said.

"It's good to know that Ame remembers its history." She replies, before continuing. "You must know, then, of the Konoha victory over the Tree Keepers, the Ōtsutsuki?"

"I do…" I answered, unsure of where this would go.

She studies me for a moment, perhaps wondering how much Ame taught, against what she had learned. "The original God Tree lasted millennia, devouring energy from people, animals, plants, and nature. It empowered the tree, slowly growing, till one day it would produce fruit. It is that it was fruit that the Ōtsutsuki were after, giving them their godlike energy. Understand me, Kureizu, when I say that despite their prowess, they would have buckled beneath the power of even a lesser, true God."

I remained silent, enraptured by her storytelling.

"In the time that God Tree grew, many civilizations grew with it, revering it, worshiping it." She said, smiling. "I can understand it, the size it must have reached, based on the histories…it was said that to be within a thousand kilometers was to relinquish the very sun to it…In its eaves, a village grew…headed by a man named Jashin."

"They were simple people then, living in the shade of the tree. They had sacrificed the very light of day to have but a moment with the God Tree, to supplicant themselves in its ever-lasting shade. For hundreds of years, they had tended its roots, taking what the tree gave them to build their homes, tend their fires, and light their torches…it is said that to them alone the tree spoke, but I imagine that that is a myth." She explained, staring into the sky above. "Regardless, the day came when Jashin, the leader of the village truly passed. Blessed as they were, to feed from the very God Tree, death was nearly an unknown to them, extending their lives…yet Death was what came that night, taking from them their leader. It's easy to imagine the sight, imagine what they would do…they buried him at the roots, giving him to the very tree that fed them…and they prayed, begging that the person they needed most could somehow continue to lead them."

"And so Jashin was born?" I asked, breaking the silence once more.

"Aye," She replied, nodding, never looking down. "That day, the tree granted their request. Jashin's body, buried as it was, became a part of the Trees ecosystem. It grew, fed by the very energies the tree absorbed, and with it, so did the people of that tiny village. It was only a dozen years before they could feel the energy of Jashin, buried in the roots as he was. Another decade, and they could sense his desires, his needs…his hunger."

'And so they fed him…' I thought, filling in the blank. The system didn't falter, didn't argue. It would seem that Hiiro had indeed landed on the truth.

"And so he fed on their buried dead, on their sacrifices. It took no time at all, in the grand scheme, before even the sacrifices meant for the God Tree were supplanted instead to his needs." She replied her gaze at last on me. "Can you tell me, Kureizu, what became of Jashin?"

It was hard to put into words, yet the words I knew I needed were right there. She had prepared me for this moment, to speak this dreadful truth. In retrospect, it made sense…it explained what we were, how we worked…it explained why we couldn't die. I shook my head, unable to answer.

"Worry not, Kureizu, for I'll say them for you. When Jashin was interred into the darkness of the roots, it was mycelium he became. The roots, the body, of fungus. A fungus so massive that it now encompasses nearly half of the hemisphere. Where a tree grows roots downward, so that the tree may grow upwards towards the light, the mycelium grows outward, further and further."

As she said the words, the ground around us shifted, little tendrils of fleshy white seemed to reach for the sky. As clear a sign as any that the words she spoke were the truth.

"You can see for yourself that Jashin agrees," She said, motioning around us. "It is odd, I know…but the lesson remains the same. When I asked, 'What is a God?", your answer hit the truth, even though you didn't know it. A God is that which is above us, or in this case below us. It performs acts outside of the natural order…"

"How then…how does it…he…empower us?" I asked as I realized what the glow beneath our feet now represented.

She touched one of the fleshy tendrils, a shiver passing through her naked form as she did. "There are two rituals to pass one of us into Jashin's embrace. The ritual we currently use is to sacrifice, and bury, a believer, in a spot much like this. One where Jashin can easily reach, nearer to the surface…a place much like this. The body is…consumed. Consumed, and replaced, within 24 hours. As I'm sure you know from survival training, fungus grows mushrooms when it wishes to spread its spores and grow. It is the same mechanic."

She held up her arm, turning it each way, "Indistinguishable from the flesh we were born with, we are recreated by Jashin…Immortal, impervious to damage as we can heal nearly anything."

Her arm seemed to glow then, a white wispy chakra, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. "We're connected to Jashin through Nature Chakra, which infuses him. Through it, we feed him the life energy of our sacrifices…and through it, he in turn empowers us."

I was shocked to my core, looking down at my own body. "Are you saying that this isn't my body?"

"No, Kureizu. As I said, there are two rituals. You were not sacrificed, and buried…no, you were taken to a birthing pool." She shook her head as the Chakra faded, clearing her expression of awe. "The older ritual, involving many sacrifices, and the blood of a Jashinist, does not fully replace your body. Jashin takes the blood, appearing before the ritual user, and infests their body, slowly turning them into one of us. Until that happens, you won't fully grow into your powers. That's how it was done many, many hundreds of years ago, but it fell out of favor as the Ashemic Order grew. It can only be done in specific places, most of which are watched heavily. That Jushu found one without interference is interesting."

"What does that mean, then? Not fully grown into my powers?" I asked, struggling to make sense of her words.

An owl hooted in the distance, silencing us both for a moment before she continued.

"We are immortal, but not unkillable. The Ashemic Cult has found a few ways to destroy us, to remove our connection to Jashin…but they are not the only ones to try. Over the many millennia, one way that was thought up was to separate our bodies and bury us. Unable to move, unable to reconnect, we were stuck…" She says, motioning around us. "If done in an area that Jashin has not already grown into, that is a fate worse than death. We could spend hundreds of years in darkness…before eventually, a change takes place. We…grow, into a new separate fungal mass, that eventually connects to the main mass. It is through that connection, that Jashin changes, and evolves. He absorbs qualities from whomever it was originally, some good, some bad."

"Many hundreds of years ago, there were much less of us. As our powers are gained through the deaths of others, the believers most likely to go through the birthing ritual were of course those more likely to commit terrible acts…there is also a belief that the Birthing Ritual more often turns the receiver into a psychopath, but there is no proof of that. However, those followers were also more often caught, dissected, and interred in the ground to rot…eventually joining with Jashin, and turning him further down the path of evil." She explains further. "However, after the new ritual was created, or discovered perhaps, many more of us could be created. No longer required so many sacrifices, we trended more towards believers, instead of simply those wishing for power…and as we are already made from the flesh of Jashin, when…if we eventually expire, we can rejoin him much faster, causing changes faster. We have done much for Jashin, evolving his needs into much more than they once were. Gone are the days of mass murder, and blood revelries, but gone too are the instantaneous benefits of Jashinism. The immortality, yes, you got that immediately; but your body isn't strengthened yet. Your durability is lacking, you don't have the enhanced speed, agility, or intelligence that the new ritual grants you. It will take decades for those to be gained."

"So then…Jashin doesn't require you to kill?" I asked, confused. I still had the timer and had always had the timer.

"Require? No…though each kill can strengthen me, can bless me with a deeper connection to Jashin, there is no compulsion to do so…" She studied me closely. "Do you feel a need to kill for Jashin? It's possible the Birthing Pool ritual…"

I considered her words and the information that I had received during my commune with Him…What she had told me made sense, it fits with what I'd felt, what I'd seen, and what I'd heard…with a small exception. Was that exception due to how I was created? Or was it because she was wrong?

I shook my head, "No, but I can tell that making sacrifices to Jashin would make me stronger. I suppose that isn't a compulsion or need." I lied.

Was it that this game ability that empowered me strived to make me stronger, and those sacrifices would be the fastest path?..I'll admit it was possible, but it didn't make sense…What I'd felt, what I'd heard during the commune…what I'd learned…What my new mission was telling me.

"Take a moment, Kureizu. I know this is a lot to learn." Hiiro says, smiling softly in the moonlight.

We sat in silence for a bit, Hiiro giving me some time to digest what I'd learned…but I didn't need it for that, though. With how my abilities worked, I had long since learned that what it told me was the truth. It had never been wrong so far…So gaining the experience from learning what Jashin was, tells me that she is correct, or, as correct as she can be. It was easy to believe her when I had something within me to corroborate the story. So no, I didn't need this time to come to terms with her story; instead, I used it to read my new mission over, and over, and over.

New Mission: "Return To Glory"

Rank SSSS+

The Jashinists of today have crippled your God through forced evolution, turning him from the path he wishes. Destroy them, and return Jashin to his former glory.

Objective 1: Kill Hiiro No Shi - 3600 XP

Objective 2: Kill Sho-Gu No Ki - 3400 XP

…

…

Objective 57: Kill Byako No Ha - 12,700XP

Objective 58: Perform The Rite Of Glorification - ?

A/N: Sorry for the long ass wait! I thought I had more time before work got busy, but I did not. The audit just finished, and Real Estate Taxes are done, so 'free time' is back on the menu boys.

Kureizu has a choice to make…

See you next time!