New story! I will be continuing with Bijuu King, but I've decided to alternate update days with this new idea for a fic which has been plaguing me since I thought of it whilst making coffee and a pot noodle earlier today. It literally didn't leave my head once. Therefore tomorow will be a Bijuu King update day, then Thursday a True Priest of Jashin day, and so on in that order.

Just as a plot point, this story is set just after Naruto returned from his trip to Wave with Team Seven where he had met Haku and Zabuza. The entire plot is shifted slightly so that it is his birthday- October 10th, on the day he returns.

Edit: 28th January 2011 hope fully I cleared up the time canon a bit.

REVIEW PEOPLE. REVIEW. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. Good idea? Bad idea? Anyone who actually would want to read this if it continued? Tell me everything, I want to know goddamit!

I LOVE YOU ALL. WITHOUT FURTHER ADO- CHAPTER ONE, THE PRIEST OF JASHIN.

Chapter One: The Priest of Jashin

Naruto ran out of the villiage. It was his birthday, and he had long since discovered that it was best for him not to interrupt the festival that the villagers held to celebrate the defeat of the Kyuubi. He had taken to heading just outside of Konoha for the day whenever it came around. He knew from past experience that if he stayed there was no doubt the he would be beaten to within an inch of his life, and that he would probably not survive this year. He had barely lived past last years festival, and the beatings got progressively worse each time.

Settling down at the base of the tree which he had chosen as he own for the past year, he closed his eyes and began to dream about what life would be like when he was older. He knew he wasn't going to be Hokage, that was true. He was a genin now, and he knew being a ninja wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He had been expecting excitement and missions with life threatening circumstances every other day, but he had not been expecting the paperwork he had to do when he returned from a mission, something which he had been told about recently by a chuunin. In fact, he was already planning on leaving the village to become a missing-nin as soon as he gained the ability to protect himself- he hated the treatment he got, he hated being looked down upon, and most of all, he hated doing paperwork. He was sick of the village now, but he wasn't stupid. He knew if he left he wouldn't make it to the next village before he was torn apart by something.

Naruto had been too focused on his thoughts, and drifted off into a miniature dream world of what would happen if he were to leave now, to concentrate on his surroundings. The ANBU of the town who hated him were still not at all deterred by the Hokage's law of protection. Creeping up on him from behind, a man in a boars mask clasped a hand over his mouth and dragged him into the brush. Attempting the scream, Naruto was punched harshly by a man in an eagle mask. His head spun as the force of an ANBU punch registered in his nerves. The pain came again, but this time from the opposite side of his face. He blinked rapidly, trying to get the small tears out of his eyes so as not to show fear but it was useless.

The boar-masked ANBU let go of his mouth and quickly tied tape around his head instead, leaving only noseholes and eye holes so the boy could see what was happening to him. The large boar ANBU bore* down on him again, and punched harshly into his face once more. Naruto was thankful that the tape cushioned the blow, but completely forgot what he was thinking when the same fist crashed directly into his throat. Coughing up blood, only to have it caught in his tape and held in front of his face forcing him to inhale the coppery taste, he attempted to cry out in pain- only to be thwarted by the tape. By the time the shock from the punch had registered, he realised the pain from his other wounds. It had been only seconds, but the ANBU had wasted no time in working on further injury. Naruto was all too aware of the numerous vicious kunai wounds and shuriken stuck in his body, which the Kyuubi was frantically healing.

The genin had learnt about Kyuubi on his own. He learnt about it after encountering the demon fox in his own mind, after an intense bout of meditating with Iruka. It was also where he learnt he didn't truly belong to Konoha. He belonged to the wilds, like the Kyuubi he held- and he held no qualms about using its power if he needed too. Although, with his intentions, he knew he would never have to use the Kyuubi's power- he would be strong enough to get by without it. But back to the point at hand.

The ANBU had moved on from simply stabbing and slashing with the kunai. The boar was currently plunging a kunai into his sternum, and then ripping downwards, causing a huge gash which leaked blood like water from a faucet. The eagle had his arm in a vice grip, twisting madly and pulling the bone up and out of the socket whilst he snapped his wrist and elbow. All this happened, and as much as Naruto wished the torture would end, and as much as the Kyuubi hated putting his kit through this torture, his animal instinct refused to allow them to die, and so continued pouring chakra into healing the wounds.

As Naruto's bones snapped back into place, and his guts regenerated themselves as fast as Kyuubi could manage (which, when working at full speed, was tremendously fast) the ANBU giggled in glee. They were proud of themselves, eliminating the bane of Konoha, the very creature their beloved Yondaime had worked hard to kill, but had failed to truly destroy it. They didn't resent it, no, they were pleased that although their Hokage was not as infinately powerful as they believed, he was more than enough to provide them with the means to destroy the Kyuubi.

Naruto moaned in pain as a katana was drawn. Slowly working from his feet up, the ANBU worked on removing his clothing. It only took a few minutes before the boy was completely stripped bare. Once again returning to his feet, the katana was brought down. The removal of his left foot was so quick he barely even realised it, but once the cold air and the stinging grass got to the wound, he yelled out as loud as he could, the ANBU pleased that the muffling tape kept this barely louder than the average speech level of the Genin. Then, starting at the skin around the wound, the katana was replaced with a trench knife, similar to that wielded by Jonin Asuma Sarutobi.

The flaying began painfully. The knife was carefully forced in the small space between the skin and the muscle. Slowly, without any care to how much muscle he tore off- only making sure not to break the skin- the boar began working up the boys leg. He was careful not to cut any of the skin, allowing it to stay in a loose shape draped over the muscle as he continued his work. As the skin reached the top of his thigh, he boar ANBU took his katana, and swung down once again, severing the leg completely. By the time the ANBU had reached the top of his thigh, the foot was healed and working on regrowing new skin and muscle, but all of the chakra Kyuubi exhausted was wasted as it was once again removed, along with even more tissue and bone. Naruto's cry this time breached his tape and he screamed into the forest. The ANBU held up a small Katon jutsu he had created, cauterising the wound before healing could begin, preventing the genin from bleeding out, and preventing it from growing back.

By then, the blood from the small wounds had caused Naruto to become dizzy. He barely noticed as the tape was removed from the upper half of his face, and his eyes were literally pecked from his skull by the eagle ANBU, who true to his mask was genuinely using it's small beak to remove the orbs. Naruto was too weak at this point to scream out, barely managing a pained groan. He was punched once again, and the ANBU's thumbs were forced harshly into the sockets of his eyes- which the Kyuubi could not fix. He was also weak- whilst his chakra was unlimited, his stamina was not. Whilst he was powerful, he was wearing tired from exhausting so much chakra on healing the wounds, and now only concentrated on the serious wounds.

The smell of blood, entrails and burnt flesh was enough to make Naruto sick- so that's what he did. It only made it worse, as the tape prevented it from escaping, and mixed it with the blood from the earlier punch- causing him to throw up again. He could hear the ground scraping beneath him as he felt himself be dragged somewhere. He tried to look around, but his lack of eyes prevented him from seeing anything, and his complete numbness was also rejecting any attempts at using his other senses to pick out his location. He felt himself be picked up by the ANBU- he guessed this time that it was the boar- he seemed bigger and would have less trouble than the eagle picking him up.

Then suddenly, his back impacted harshly with a solid material- some form of wood if his bare back could determine it accurately enough. He gagged as he was punched harshly in the stomach, and when he leant forward he throat suddenly was caught in the razor wire which was tied around his throat. Then, he felt a harsh impact upon his hands. Screaming hoarsely, he knew now he was going to die. There was no doubt, as his chest was also impaled, that he was not making it through. His other hand was also nailed to the wood, and his leg nailed to another piece. Feeling himself hanging from the tree, his tape was ripped off his mouth, taking a large swathe of skin with it. He yelled as loud as he could, head darting back and forth to try and determine the location of his attackers, his murderers, ignoring the tearing of the wire on his throat as best he could.

He heard the sound of footsteps dimming and he slowly waited until they had finally dissapeared before he began to cry out. No words, no adjectives, no nouns or verbs existed in what he was yelling, just a primal cry of an animal in immense pain and torment, who knew his end would come soon. He felt his stomach burn as the Kyuubi roared in anguish. He didn't want to die. As an eternal being, dying was never something the Kyuubi had to worry about- and that was why such a prospect terrified him so. Naruto could feel the collosal beast of chakra throw itself at the gates of his cage, attempting to escape. Naruto focused on the fading sounds of the crashing until he blacked out. He knew death was coming, and he didn't care anyone- as long as it took away his pain.

An Hour Later

Naruto awoke in a daze. He clearly remembered what had happened earlier, the pain he felt from the kunai and the shuriken, the utter agony he recieved from the katana flaying his flesh from his leg and then the removal of his leg altogether. He knew it happened, and he knew the pain. But what he did not know, was why he was sat in a garden, surrounded on all sides by a pit of fine sand set into a space between the trees, just across from the completely blackened pool which lay around a fountain which sprayed more blackened water into the pool.

He sat up, and gazed down to see in amazement, his leg whole once again. It looked unmarred, as if nothing had happened. He looked around once again, surprised by the complete lack of blood the area held in comparison to the amount of blood he knew should be covering him and his surroundings. Unlike most people, there was literally no limit to how fast Naruto's blood cells could replenish and therefore no limit to how much he could bleed. The ANBU seemed to know this, and take full advantage of watching him lose his life force. Yet there was nothing here.

''I see you have awoken.'' was all Naruto heard, and it was enough to put him on edge. Flying around, he saw a man with long black hair which easily reached he bottom of his back. It was not at all messy- it looked more like the dark water flowing from the fountain than hair. His skin was so fine a white, it seemed to give off a glow. His eyes were a complete black. No iris or sclera, his eyes seemed to be a complete black with nothing else. As Naruto looked closer into his eyes, he noticed the fire which seemed to dance within them. It kept dissapearing, but the actual appearance of fire burned behind the mans eyes, as perfect as even the most well done Katon jutsus.

''Who..who are you? And where am I? And how can I see, my eyes were taken!'' Naruto yelled in surprise, shock, anger, fear and above all, panic that the process he had just been through was about to repeat.

''Calm down child. You are not in any danger. I shall answer your questions in reverse order, if you will allow me.'' the figure said, the fire in his eyes burning less intensely now. Naruto stumbled out a nod. ''The answer to how you can see...simple. I restored your eyes. They are no longer the eyes you knew however, it was both impossible and un-wanted for me to restore them to how I wanted. Healing is not my forte- it took a full hour to restore you to your current state. You are currently in my garden. It is a place of peace- I and a few wolves share this place in tranquility. And to answer your question...my name is Jashin, my title, Lord of Slaughter.''

Naruto was now beside himself in panic. ''S-slaughter? You ARE going to kill me! I can tell, Lords of SLAUGHTER kill people!'' the genin attempted to run, but it appeared his leg was completely artificial- merely an illusion, and he fell on his face as quickly as he had managed to stumble up.

''Relax, I shan't kill you. Whilst it is true I am not a peaceful man, I am benevolent. I shan't harm you, not today or ever. Believe me, if I wanted to, I would have slain you whilst you slept- and I would not have healed in you in the first place for that matter.'' the more Naruto thought on those words, the more they made sense.

''Well then, you told me your name and title, Lord Jashin, but who are you? What do you do? Why am I here, and why did you heal me?'' Naruto answered, his voice calmer than before, but still holding a tinge of panic and his timbre wavered slightly at every other word or so.

''Naruto, you are here in my garden for one reason and one reason only. And that reason is not to question my motives. However, due to my wonderfully kind nature, I shall answer you. I am Jashin, Lord of the Slaughter. I am not a god, as some followers on your Earth believe- but a middling. My father a demon, whilst my mother an angel. I was born in a forbidden relationship by the two, and as such was ejected from heaven and completely rejected from hell. I set up my own world here where I rule. Unfortunately, people have begun thinking I was a god on Earth...it sucks, as I think kids your age would put it. What do I do? Many things. I run my garden. I carve things from rock. I create designs for wonderful things in my sand, and then create them in 3-d space. I lead my followers, and I grant my most promising priests immortality. So far my follower Hidan has been the only person to achieve such a thing. You are here because I have chosen you as my new priest and the prophet of my religion. And I healed you, because I cannot do with a crippled saviour. When you return to earth, you will find you have a robotic leg. This is due to the fact that my ability to create things at will is lower on earth. It was the best I could do.''

Naruto's mouth was agape. He had met...a demons child...who favoured him and saved him from death...who he had never heard of before today, but wanted him to become his prophet, and someone who's killing intent was so large it covered all of the land- but to Naruto it felt more like a warm blanket than the smothering of Killing Intent he had seen before. He could sense the malice in this beings existance, but it was definately not directed at him.

''Stand Naruto, I shall support you.'' Jashin said, holding his hand out in front the boy- which allowed Naruto to notice the bizarre lack of nails, it was as if his skin just connected instead of having the nail there...unusual. ''Walk with me, I shall explain everything.''

And so Naruto arose, his arm over the taller mans back, and relishing in the rich texture of his hair- it truly was as soft as it looked. And then they walked, as Jashin began conversing about his plans.

Back in the real world.

The Hokage was pissed, to say the least. He knew he was not able to find and prosecute whoever had done this, but he wanted to kill whoever it was. He wanted to tear them apart just as they had the young boy. Above him, Sarutobi saw the blond boy (not that you could tell any longer due to his blood-matted hair) crucified on a large tree. His body was impaled on a long, sharp looking branch and his arms were nailed to two outstretched branches beyond that. On his face were two blank holes where his eyes would have been, and two long streaks of blood and gore made their way down his face. The blood trail from outside of Konoha had led him here, and it continued up the tree.

The boy was naked, and his entire leg was removed. Sarutobi knew what had happened, because the leg was laid on the ground beside the tree, flesh eviscerated, bone completely shattered, but the flayed sheet of skin lay unharmed stretched between two branches. The blood from numerous cuts and gashes was still leaking to the bottom of his body and dripping to the ground. Several of the kunai and shuriken had been removed, showing gashes which revealed chunks of muscle and even glimpses of bone. This was what the majority of his unmarked body looked like. The body which contained weaponry still was worse. It was literally holding together with a network of shinobi weaponry. Around his neck was a rope of razor wire, which had revealed his vocal chords, obviously from twisting and screaming ,ripping away at the flesh. His mouth area and chest where covered with a mixture of blood and vomit.

The Hokage had seen some cruel sights in his life, but this was undoubtedly the worst- even more terrible than what he had discovered in Orochimaru's old lab in Konoha before he went missing-nin. Sarutobi removed the body from its makeshift crucifixtion area, and took it in his arms, closely against his chest. He may not have been able to save the boy, but the very least he could do was give him a proper funeral.

Sarutobi couldn't help but grimace in disgust at the cheers and grins he got when he walked back into Konoha, on the anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat, holding the completely destroyed body of the one the citizens had grown to know as the demon itself. He barely resisted the urge to kill them all.