Greetings and welcome to my second fanfiction. This one is a bit darker than my first: Etched in Stone. A bit more angst, A bit more Drama, A bit deeper romance, A bit rougher on the action. This story has three main characters instead of just one. Please enjoy my prologue.
"Hey" - Demon Speaking
'Hey' - thoughts
"Hey" - Speaking
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Prologue:
There they stood, three. On a hill overlooking the Akatsuki fortress. They had reached their limits, fought the fodder the leaders of the dark cult had set upon them, and rendered them into oblivion. Breathing was getting harder and harder, broken bones, punctured organs, cuts so deep they would never cease to bleed until every drop had fallen. Still they stood, defiant, to the last.
'The last' thought the first man as he laughed bitterly, 'what the hell are we doing here? Trying to save the world? For what, there's nothing left for us.' As he looked down on the dark citadel he wondered where it all went wrong, he started out so naive, so pure and untainted.
-Flashback-
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be the next Hokage!"
-End Flashback-
'Hah, next Hokage indeed. What's there left to lead? A pile of ash and rubble.' tears would have fallen, but they were all spent over the past few months. A wave of sorrow washed over him, as he remembered all his friends fighting and dying along side him. Just to stop a group of men from obtaining absolute power over the entire world. He remember, her.
-Flashback-
Naruto fidgeted nervously under her gaze, "A-ano, Temari-chan...would you like to get something to eat? My treat!"
"Of course Naruto" she replied only smirking
-Forward Flashback-
"Ne, Temari-chan, can I kiss you?" He was fidgeting again, only a bit more this time
"No," she replied, "I'm going to kiss you."
-Forward Flashback-
The first date was nerve wracking, and the first kiss panic inducing, Naruto was about to pass out. "T-Temari-chan?"
Lifting her head off his chest she gazed at him, "Yes, Naruto-kun?"
"W-w..." he gulped and licked his lips, "Will you marry me Temari-chan?"
for once she had no smart remark, no quick witted reply, tears filled her eyes and she only managed a, "Hai" before showing her love for him.
-Forward Flashback-
He watched her fall, "TEMARI-CHAN!" He was immediately at her side.
"N...Naruto-kun?" she whispered, reaching up she ran her fingers over his cheeks tracing his birthmarks, "I...I'm...sorry I...didn't listen...I should've...," she began gasping, "I...love...you...Naruto-kun." She pulled his lips to hers one last time, "Go...save...the world." slowly she went limp in his arms.
"TEMARI-CHAN!" sobs wracked his body, he reached down and ran his fingers over her eyes, closing them forever. "You...you rest now, I love you too."
-End Flashback-
Looking up to the sky as the freezing rain fell down upon his body he smiled, in spite of everything, 'I'll see you soon Temari-chan, very soon now.' He looked down at narrowed his eyes, they wanted Kyuubi, they were about to get all nine - tails of him. Closing his eyes he entered his own mind-scape.
A low voice resounded in the back of a giant prison, "So this is it, Kit?"
'Yea, I'm done Kyuu, just promise you guys won't let one of those bastards live.' replied the blonde
The voice only growled, "That won't be an issue kit." there was a small pause, and for once the voice was solem, "For what it's worth kit, I'm sorry about all of it. I'm not good at this, I never was, but I wish things had been different. You three have seen more hurt and pain than the whole of mankind. I promise we'll burn this entire country down. Fair well, Uzumaki Naruto."
The young man had to smile, 'Thanks, Kyuu. You're a pretty decent...demon, when you aren't terrorizing the populace.' The demon in his mind only chuckled darkly. Looking over at his companions he smirked, "We'll I guess if this is it, then it might as well be with you two, ne? Gaara?"
The red-haired boy smiled slightly, "Right Naruto." looking down at the fortress his expression darkened again. Thinking back over the times he's had in his life he only frowned harder.
-Flashback-
"I can only love myself" cried Gaara as the Kanji for love ingraved itself into his head.
-Forward Flashback-
They both lay on the grounds spent, broken, and exhausted. The blonde spoke first, "It's hell isn't it? The lonliness. We have to be hard, cold, and ruthless. But in the end, even as shinobi, we can't defeat lonliness." His eyes misted over, "but I've found people that saved me from that hell, and if you try to hurt them, I'll kill you!"
'Precious people? is that what makes him strong?'
-Forward Flashback-
"We are allies of Konoha, the suna shinobi." he replied to the man with white hair as he stood between him and Rock Lee
-Forward Flashback-
"Will you always protect Sunakagure?"
"I will"
"Will you give your life for it, if the situation deems it?"
"Without hesitation"
"People of Sunakagure, I give you the new Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara!"
-Forward Flashback-
"Hyuuga Hinata, will you do me the honor of becoming one of my precious people?"
The young girl blushed and dropped the tea tray, her father and cousin only looked on in bewilderment, "Ano...Kazekage-sama, did you just propose?"
The Kazekage turned his head down and replied, "Er...yes?"
-Forward Flashback-
Since Sunakagure had been obliterated the citizens had moved to Konoha, until one night the leaf village was also attacked en'mass, "I'm sorry Kazekage-sama, she...she died protecting the hospital. She wouldn't leave, the...the structure collapsed, we still haven't found her."
Then the Gaara that died the day he was defeated by Uzumaki Naruto, was revived. He wanted blood, and he would have it.
-End Flashback-
'The world isn't fair.' He thought silently, as he passed through his mind-scape, also reaching huge prison, swirling sand inside.
"It never has been." replied a high-pitched voice in his mind
'Shukaku, you've been a source of pain and anguish for me, but we've survived each other. I'll be glad to be at peace for once.'
"Well it's not like you're much of a talker anyway, however, this once I'll be happy for you to be able to rest. Sleep well, Sabaku no Gaara."
'Leave no one alive' he replied.
"Won't happen"
The last young man looked on, his name was Zaiaku (sin). It was the only name he dared use. It was what he was, his existance through and through, a sin. A sin against his fellow man, against nature, and against god.
-Flashback-
"Kaasan? Do I have a Tousan?"
She leaned down and smiled, "Hai, he is a great shinobi."
He didn't know it at the time but he would learn, she lied, she was raped and impregnated with him. Sure, his father was powerful, but he was also a bastard traitor to his village. A cold existance, bent on obtaining more and more power. One day his father would show up.
-Forward Flashback-
"Wow! You're really my Tousan?" asked the young man, his ice blue eyes twinkling
"Hai, we should leave this place" the man replied
The boy hesitated, "What about Kaasan?"
"She'll meet us at my home."
He had been lied to again, the man had killed her, without hesitation. This was something else the young man would find out later in life. Another bitter lesson.
-Forward Flashback-
"Who are you?" Questioned a man of 17 as he came upon two travelers, a girl with bubblegum pink hair and a man with golden yellow locks.
"Uzumaki Naruto and Hanuro Sakura, pleased to meet you...Ano...what's your name?" replied the young man
"Zaiaku" replied the man as his snow white hair blew in the wind.
-Forward Flashback-
"Naruto tells me you assisted them in some trouble they ran into in snow country, thank you. However I am wondering why you returned with them. Won't your village declare you missing nin?"
"No, hokage-sama. I have no village."
"Well that won't do will it? You shall be an honored guest here and if you so choose, a shinobi of the leaf." replied the Godaime
The young man bowed, "Arigato"
It was the first time someone had showed him true kindness without some alterior motive. It was, nice.
-Forward Flashback-
He turned his ice blue eyes on the woman in his arms, "Aishiteru, my hime"
She leaned up and kissed him gently, "Aishiteru, Zaiaku-kun"
-Forward Flashback-
A cold voice laughed at his recent accomplishment, "Heheheheh, it seems that you didn't love her enough to save her."
The temperature in the room dropped rapidly as the young man turned his eyes on the murderer of his love, "I'll kill you, Tousan!"
-End Flashback-
"I'll meet you on the other side then" he said to his two companions, as he looked at the frozen prison in his mind. This housed no tailed demon, but something nearly as strong. It was his burden, forced upon him. He still remembered his body going cold, the feeling of his blood freezing in his veins as the entity was sealed in his small body. 'Are you ready? Shiva-san?'
"I am" she smiled softly at her vessel, "Be at peace young one."
'I will Shiva-san, I will be with her again.' he replied
"That you will, my little one."
All three reached up to the tags that sealed their entities away from the world. Naruto went to his thoughts one last time, 'Temari-chan, Sakura, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Tsunade-obaa-chan, Ero-sennin, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, shikamaru, ino, chouji, Hinata. We'll be there soon.' Simultainiously all three ripped the tags, destroying the seals. The resulting explosion of power leveled the Akatsuki fortress in a heartbeat.
"Ahahahha we're free!" cried Shikaku, glancing over his shoulder he saw Kyuubi and Shiva looking down at the three fallen vessels. He sighed, "We aren't free are we?"
Shiva looked up at him as tears of ice fell from her eyes as she stroked her vessels bloodstained hair, "They haven't died yet Shukaku, the unsealing didn't kill them."
"Then do we?" questioned Shikaku as he looked down at his redheaded vessel, he would never let it be known, but he was fond of the young man once he was sealed properly. He didn't know if he could kill him, honestly.
"No," replied Kyuubi, they were demons not monsters, "We're sending them somewhere. When they arrive we shall be resealed, no one should suffer as they have."
"Where are we sending them Kyuubi-sama?" asked Shiva
"Back," Focusing all his chakra the winds started to swirl around the six gathered. Shikaku and Shiva added their chakra as well. In a blinding flash of white all six were gone, only the ruins of the Akatsuki organization remained on the landsacpe.
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End Prologue. I should have another chapter up for Etched in Stone soon.
Read and Review please!