Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Requiem of the Living ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: My first Naruto fanfic EVAH! Oh jeeze, this makes me terribly happy. Well, I thought long and hard on how I would decide to depict this, because only a very few scenes were definite in my mind, and I could have gone though a tons of ways to act them out. I decided to take a darker route, seeing as that is becoming a trend in Naruto fics. I’ll have everyone know that while I read the manga every release, and the same could be said for the anime, I still make mistakes concerning things on occasion. Also, I’ll be making up some jutsu names. My Japanese is not so hot, and even worse concerning reading, but I am going to try my best. If anyone knows Japanese and want’s to take the time to correct me in a review, please do. There will be a translation guide at the bottom of my chapters for any new Japanese word I include.

Warning: This chapter isn’t bad, but this story was added to the angst section for a reason. I intend to write some grisly scenes (to the best of my ability that is lol) in the future, and it could deal with semi-mature themes. There will also be some character deaths in this tale. Who? I don’t really know for sure yet...

In most stories I write, I tend to have “this” represent speech, and ‘this’ represent thought. Throwing in the extra element of Kyuubi, though, creates a small problem. So,thoughts are in single quotes ‘like such’ while Kyu-chan is italicized, ‘in this manner’ and speech is normal. If this causes any confusion, please comment as such in a review. I’d be glad to try to make it clearer for the next chapter.

He took a deep breath before releasing the latch, the cool material un-hatching silently against his dark, leather gloves. Everything would be over if he took it too quickly. That was the key to being in his particular line of work. Patience. It was said patience could never be taught or learned, but had to be something you were born with. Yeah. Right. There were very few things that were his birth right, and even fewer that could be looked upon in high esteem. No. Everything he now had, he had to pay for in blood and sweat. And of course, everything that wasn’t paid for in such a manner was satisfied with his hard earned money. Not that he had a choice in the matter. His idiot sensei virtually lived on the three no-no’s of a ninja; money, sake and women. That included taking his poor student’s cash without his permission or knowledge...

‘Argh! No no no!’ the gloved man growled to himself. ‘I must stay focused!’ The shadowed figure reached into a back pocket, withdrawing a kunai to cut the thin ropes along the inside of the box. The sharp knife gleamed maliciously in the dim light cast off by the moon, reflecting the surroundings with tainted discrepancies. ‘Delicate procedures call for delicate maneuvers...’ He was unsure of how long he spent trying to calculate just how rigged the small box was, but at least now he knew just what he’d need to do to remedy the situation. The figure bent forward, ever careful of the trap-wires lacing the ground like a lattice, and picked up a fist-sized rock. Giving it a casual toss in the air, the mask the man wore stretched near where his mouth would be, giving the impression of a grin.

“Heh,” the darkly clad creature taunted quietly in a deep, un-mistakenly male voice. “You’re gonna hafta do better than that if you want to out-smart me.” with that said, the large hands shot outward with a speed anyone watching would’ve previously thought impossible and cut an amount of wires and ropes in the same small box. Then, just as quickly, his left hand darted in and lifted an object, while the right hand simultaneously placed the rock in its place. An eerie blue glow burst forth from the box briefly before dying down to reveal...nothing. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary from the square contraption, except now it seemed a lot less foreboding. The apparent thief of whatever had belonged to the trap jumped back, much faster then any untrained eye could see, and landed softly on a tree-branch, a good thirty feet from the moonlight clearing he had just stood in.

Upon closer inspection, the being couldn’t have been too old, for he didn’t seem to have the full physique of an adult male. All the covering clothing he wore, however, prevented a decent guess at the age of the man. There wasn’t even an inch of skin to be seen anywhere. Or hair, for that matter. All that could truly be seen was that when the shadow straightened up to peer out into the distance he stood a few inches shy of six feet. Suddenly a deep red glinted through the darkness enshrouding him for an instant, before being quenched as quickly as it appeared, causing one to wonder if it was even there in the first place.

A sigh sounded lightly before being swept up in a wind that was unfelt a moment ago. “Crap,” the boy muttered, pocketing his treasure from before. “Now comes the tough part...” He quickly took off thorough the forest, running at inhuman speeds. Oddly enough, he used his hands just as much as his feet, grasping each tree branch daintily before roughly kicking off to soar through the air gracefully and repeat the process. He afforded a glance behind him, still engulfed in the shadows, in hopes of seeing movement. He didn’t. He hadn’t expected he would. After all, he himself wasn’t moving even a single leaf, and the pursuer was none other then the very man who had taught him most of what he knew.

“Damn it, old man...” the runner groaned. This wasn’t fun. It wasn’t fun when his sensei had first stated having him do it almost four years ago, and it wasn’t fun now. The figure gave another phantom-grin. Okay, so it could be considered a bit more fun today. ‘After all. I can give him a run for his money now...’ With that encouraging thought, he sped off in another direction, passing tree by tree until he came to another clearing.

Knowing he had precious few seconds, he briefly inspected the small field. Luckily for him, much of it was dominated by a large lake of sorts, and he nodded, seemingly satisfied with this particular location. Jumping down from his perch without even pausing, despite the fact that it was close to a twenty foot drop, he landed without even a tiny whisper on the soft grass below. The dark boy shoved his hands into his pockets while he lazily meandered towards the lake.

He cast a quick appreciative look at the foliage around him. It definitely wouldn’t be good to use any sort of fire or heavily destructive techniques here. He’d really beat himself up if he were to disrupt the natural chain in this area.

He stepped over a fallen log, making a mental note of where it was incase he needed it, and kept walking right towards the pool. Even when one would expect someone to stop or hesitate before proceeding into water, he kept going. And he didn’t walk in the water. He was walking on the water. The boy didn’t seem to take any excess pride in doing something that by all means should be considered impossible. Instead, he just walked to the center and about-faced, looking back towards the trees he had just left.

Another deep breath was taken as the masked figure fell into a defensive fighting position, one gloved hand raised, while the other rested near the holster at his back, where he had previously taken the kunai from. He knew. He knew just how important this battle was. It might not be the deciding factor on the life or death of the world, but to him it might as well have been. This is what he’d been training night and day for the past three years for. It was all or nothing now. His sensei had mad that clear, at the very least. This wasn’t a battle he would be losing. No way in Hell. The prize promised was far too great. He just didn’t know what it was.

It was then that the dark figure tensed, a few tiny ripples echoing through the swampy surface of the water. He whipped around and brought the kunai up, successfully blocking eight small projectiles in a flash of steel as sparks flew. He called out into the darkness, apparently seeing something in the pitch blackness that was the forest. “Shruiken won’t work on me! Try again!”

Just as he had asked, four more objects came whizzing by. He arched his body as a cats might, dodging by a large distance as they landed just a bit behind him, beyond the shore. Just as he was about to call out once more, there was an explosion behind him, sending large waves throughout the serene surface of the water and causing his feet to glow blue.

Again, if one caught him at the right second, the eerie red glow could be seen for an instant, before being snuffed abruptly. “Oi! Watch it!” the boys’s voice hollered. It wasn’t for himself though. He seemed upset that the landscape behind him was lightly charred. “I’d rather have fought at Suna if you wanted to use explosive tags! C’mon! Weapons! I a’int got all night!”

There was a chuckle from the depths of the inky darkness as a figure came sauntering out. It was difficult to make out any distinguishing features, for the man was wearing dark colors also, but not black like the boy. His outfit seemed to be fairly traditional, at least in comparison to what the other had on, and was in a scheme of dark colors that couldn’t quite be made out at this late hour. He could easily be called an adult, for he was built as such, and stood a bit above six foot. He also carried himself with an arrogance that could only be gained from having an extreme amount of talent and years under his belt.

“What did I tell ‘ya?!” He barked in a low gravelly voice, further pushing an opinion of older age. “You’re going to lose if you keep up that attitude.” With that, the man was gone, a stream of white hair behind him. The snowy-topped man grunted out of annoyance as he hopped over something invisible on the ground. “Once more, gaki. You aren’t going to touch me with this low grade junk!”
Right when he finished his leap to land on the ground near the lake, he made a bee-line in another direction. “Makibishi! Very interesting! Lets take things up a notch!” And the older man then pumped a fist forwards, a blue maelstrom forming in his palm. “Prepare yourself!” Said sphere was thrust into the lake with a cry of ‘Rasengan!’, causing the water to bubble for a brief second, before the water swirled about dangerously, and the boy on the water was forced to take ground.

“Damn it!” the dark clad youth swore, avoiding his own traps and safely landing on the dampened grass. Not giving him a chance to recover, the other one launched at him, punching and kicking in a frenzy of quick moving appendages. Most of these the younger one dodged, but a few he had to block with moves of his own. After narrowly dodging a roundhouse kick, he back-flipped onto a tree with ease. “My turn!”

“Suiton: Gekirou no Jutsu!” spouted forth from his mouth, and from both extended hands came a spray like that from the ocean, and the previously abused lake erupted viciously, water swirling this way and that, and completely engulfing the older man.

Rather then rejoice his supposed victory, the masked one simply made an irritated noise in the back of his throat and jumped down onto the rapidly draining water. As the last of the liquid faded from existence, the others body was no where to be found. The boy was alert once more, one hand resting lightly on a saya on his back, the other reaching up to adjust the goggles covering his eyes. Without any sign from the mass of trees, the youth whipped both hands back, tightly grasping the hilts of the two thin katana blades crossing his back in the fashion of an ‘X’ and held up using an intricate display of buckles and straps.

He placed a foot forward and on a slight angle as an instant sound of metal broke the silence of the glade. The boy now stood with the swords drawn in front of in a crude imitation of a cross. A soft “Let’s go.” left his covered lips in little more than a whisper.

The lighter clothed man flew into the clearing, whirling a gigantic, four-bladed, windmill-shaped item nimbly through his fingers. He charged the other, stomping over the slick grass with ease. The senior of the two veered to the side just as it appeared they would collide, lifting the arm with the fuuma shruiken back and pitching it towards the shadowed boy. The victim of the attack caught the spinning blades between his own, grunting as he pushed it back.

Unexpectedly, the bleached figure darted forth, wielding a large metal staff with both hands and assaulted the younger, weapon raised. The metals clashed with a grotesque noise, which resounded angrily against the nature and was answered by a flock of crows taking flight overhead, cawing harshly. More abrasive noises sounded as the two on the floor danced, blades catching the moonlight and glowing unearthly.

It looked like the twin-blader was gaining the upper-hand, forcing the other back and closer towards the water. “Using the environment to your advantage, eh? Nice!” the deeper of the two voices said. “But I won’t let you win so easily!”The man continued his attack with one hand while he brought the other to his face, index finger glued to the middle with the rest of the digits folded over, the metal of his gauntlet glimmering. “Doton: Mojkozai Sashikaeru no Jutsu!”. In and flash of light the steel baton became wooden, losing the vibrance it formerly held. Not able to react quickly enough, one of the goggled boy’s katana wedged into the dowel. Before giving him a chance to retrieve it, the elder grabbed the hilt and flung the dangerous object backwards, where it imbedded itself into the rough bark of a tree with a dull thud.

Now on more even ground, the younger continued slashing with his remaining weapon, the neat arcs cleanly intercepted by the other’s instrument. Loosing a grunt of annoyance, the shadow tried to swipe his rival’s legs, aiming for the kneecaps. The one wearing gauntlets jumped over the easy-shot and purposely landed on the blade, kicking the end up and flipping it into the nearby water.

The sword less yelled in frustration. He grabbed something from one of his many pockets and threw caution to the wind. He charged the other man, running speedily around him in four sharp, tight circles. Curiously, the man frowned deeply as his arms were pinned to his sides by an invisible force. The youth then darted towards the water, a peculiar fist angled down his side and the older man was dragged behind him, right onto the lake.

The masked one ran to the center, conscious of the splashing behind him, and stopped. He looped something through a buckle in his belt and placed his gloved hands together, one above the other with the pinky extended, and the other crossing under it, with the pointer and thumb out. The boy’s form slumped over slightly, and within a few seconds the water in the lake started sloshing noisily against the shores. Despite the fact that it should be impossible, a current was forming.

It seemed the powerful waves were coming from the individual located in the middle and swirling outwards in a large spiral, only slightly perturbed by the splashing and fumbling man in the water. The frothy waves becoming stronger and faster until it the entire pool resembled a huge whirlpool. Even through this, the two figures remained untouched by the fury of the choppy waters.

Suddenly, like the abrupt rising of the sun, a beacon of light shone through the oily darkness. While not intense, it was still difficult to look at, for the light was cruel and sinister. The vibrance of it lit up the glade, resonating an creepy, dim red glow. There, at the apex of it was the boy, now fully hunched over, as though in pain. While even simple features were still difficult to make out due to the haziness of the light, especially around him, one thing was frighteningly clear.

The boy now had a tail.

It wasn’t any sort of large furry tail as one might expect. Instead it mirrored something someone might see in a nightmare. It was long, but oddly see-through. In-fact, it seemed to be made up of the very red substance flowing around him. It swished angrily behind him, water parting for it even with it was feet above the liquid. The figure, still slouched over in a very animalistic pose, raised its head, looking directly at the other man, who was now close to the shore. There was no mistaking it now; there, under his goggles, was another red glow, even more vibrant and terrifying then the light spinning about. It flashed for a heartbeat and was extinguished.
The water started to bubble. It wasn’t as though something large was swimming under the broken surface. It looked more like it was beginning to boil. Within the span of a few seconds the bubbled became larger until steam poured off the top. “Shit!”. The elder cried out and quickly pulled himself onto the bank, panting heavily. The bottoms of his pants had been partially burned away and the small amount of skin that could be seen was raw.

A canine-like growl burst from the tailed creature before the waves stopped, leaving uneven water in their wake. The red was sucked into the being on the surface like a vacuum, swirling around him and dispersing into nothing. The tail melted away.

The boy sighed loudly and put his hands in his pocket. He straightened himself upwards again and confidently walked towards the recovering man. The man’s white hair shone in the barely rising sunlight as he stood up, cracking his back noisily.

“Well then, lets finish this!” the daemonic boy cheered, bringing his fingers up to his chest in a cross shape. Before he could do much else, his hands were slapped away by the other.

“Remember the rules!” he scolded. The younger just scoffed and swatted at his fists, fighting hand to hand now. They both moved with such fluidity that they resembled the water settling behind them, ducking and blocking without a noise. Five minutes of this; punch, grab, turn, flip, when the youth grinned. He reared a fist back, aiming it towards the white haired man’s stomach, and when he saw the motions for a counter-defense, the hand changed it course. It glowed blue sharply for a second, and then punched the air right by the taller’s face.

Neither moved. The early stirrings of morning creatures were blending into the background. The goggles were trained upwards on the other figure’s face. There, on the left cheek, parallel to a tattoo running down the side of his face and just beside the extended wrist of the shorter, a cut formed, leaking out the tiniest drop of crimson liquid.

“First blood.” the muffled voice came from behind the black mask. “I win.”

The tattooed man threw back his head and laughed heartily. “Wonderful job! I really hadn’t counted on you getting close to beating me. Motivation works, huh?”

“Ero-sennin, you said I’d get something good if I could win this week! Tell me! I wanna know!” The shorter one said to ‘Ero-sennin’, excitement ringing as clear in his strong voice.

“Yeah, I know kid. And you’ll get it, don’t worry. Lets get cleaned up a bit first, okay? And for the love of all that is Women, use my title. My title! I spent my life earning the damn thing, you could at least use it. Hell, I’d be thrilled with Jiraiya even. Anything but ‘Ero-sennin’. Show your teacher some respect, you ingrate! ” So said the self-proclaimed Jiraiya exhaustedly as he walked away to fetch his fallen weapons.

In the rising sun the battleground looked pretty good for ware, especially considering what it had just witnessed. It also looked like these two, who were previously fighting with their lives on the line, were the best of friends, or father and son even.
The student walked up to the rim of the pond, looking towards the bottom distastefully. Breathing out ruefully, he shed his gloves, revealing his tan skin underneath. He also reached behind his head and removed his mask, showing more tan skin and strange whisker marks along his slender cheeks; three per side. Lastly, he took off his hat, allowing the messy blonde strands to fall haphazardly at his ears. He dove in, shoes and all, and in the blink of an eye he broke the top of the water, katana in hand.

He cast a glare over at Jiraiya, mumbling under his breath. Once on the grass, he shook himself down like a dog might, features tinged a shade of red cast down by the sunrise. The clothes he wore were very strange. For the most part, they were all black.. He had a half-jacket on, made of dark leather, and garnished graciously with silver zippers. You could see as he took said garment off that he wore a deep orange muscle shirt underneath. His pants were long, baggy and black, with cargo pockets adorning the sides. Securing those pants to his trim waist he had a thick belt, full of pockets, holsters and silver-rimmed loops. Aside from a pair of sandals on his feet, the only thing left were the goggles covering his eyes.

The boy moved over to the tree his other blade was embedded in and pulled it out, fastening it on its back next to its partner. He then plopped down in the grass next to his teacher.

Jiraiya had a much more simple style to him, traditional clothes in natural colors of green, reds and beige and traditional shoes. He had a long ponytail cascading down his back in white spikes and matching tattoos on his face fashioned to look like red trails of tears. Atop his head, barely suppressing a crown of platinum spikes, was a spiked head piece.

Once they both had their possessions in order, Jiraiya stood up, motioning for his student to do the same. He looked towards the sky and set off at a good speed in a direction, his charge loping after him.

“Tell me what my prize is!” the boy moaned, looking up at the sennin with what could’ve been a pleading look, but it was hard to tell without his eyes visible.

Jiraiya put on a smile and looked down at him. “You passed the test.” he said. “Take off those goggles and look at what you got from the box.”

The student looked at his teacher briefly before unstrapping the head-gear with his head bowed, putting that into a backpack and procuring the wrapped item from his pocket.

Unwrapping the green fabric, he paused in his steps.

There, in his hand, was his Konoha hitai-ate.

It was on different fabric, black and with extra long tails in the back, but his just the same. The lustrous metal reflecting the morning sun merrily, reminding him of happier times. He swiped a rough thumb over the engraved leaf symbol before quickly strapping it to his forehead, pushing back some of his fleecy bangs. Even the very motion of tying it on was so familiar to him it brought a warm feeling to his stomach.
He just then noticed something. He knew where they were. He hadn’t truly known any of his surroundings for the past four years, since he left on his training mission. This area...it was right outside of Konohagakure. He looked up and saw the huge gates leading to his home looming in the distance, fifty-foot walls towering over them even from where they stood.

“Welcome home, Naruto.” The senior said, looking down briefly to meet the sixteen-year-old’s mismatched eyes as they gazed forward adoringly, the left eye a clear, crystalline blue and the right that piercing slitted red reading unspeakable horrors.

Translations:

Sensei - teacher, master of an art
Suna - common reference towards the ‘Sand’ in Wind Country
Saya - Japanese sheath for katana
Gaki - brat, kid
Ero-Sennin - perverted hermit. Naruto’s nickname for Jiraiya. Not to be confused with the term Sannin, which is used to describe the three most powerful ninja around, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru.
Hitai-Ate - Forehead protector. Signifies recognition in ones village as a shinobi and bears the symbol of your villiage.
Kunai - single bladed knife instrument used for throwing or hand to hand combat
Shruiken - more commonly a ninja star
Makibishi - almost miniature shruiken, usually thrown on the ground as a booby-trap or a deterrent for enemy shinobi.
Fuuma Shruiken - Gigantic shruiken. Has curved edges to be more aerodynamic and can fold up into a singular, quadruple enforced blade.
Rasengan - ‘spiral-gun’. A powerful sphere of chakra-molded air. Extremely difficult to master and a very high leveled jutsu. Created by the Yondaime, fourth Hokoge.
Suiton: Gekirou no Jutsu - Water element: Raging Sea Technique. (Or, depending on translation, heated discussion technique XD). Can only be used close to a body of water. Calls forth a stormy sea. Not wise to use if you aren’t on higher ground then your victim.
Doton: Mojkozai Sashikaeru no Jutsu - Earth element: Wood Transmute Technique. Lower class earth elemental. Changes chakra infused weapon’s properties into a wooden weapon. Isn’t as impressive as it sound’s because the item must already be prepped with chakra beforehand. And, most people wouldn’t want to turn a weapon for wood, as it isn’t better then something like steel in most cases. Either way, pretty simple.



Post Note: How was my first chapter? I am very new to writing any sort of action scene. I don’t think it was that bad though. Most people are probably concerned over what the pairings are in this fic. Well, keep in mind that it is foremost an action/angst story, with romance taking a backseat. Either way, I’d probably die if I didn’t include pairings. I don’t have anything set in stone yet, but there will not be any yaoi in this fic. I apologize to those who may have been hoping for it, and while I have nothing whatsoever against it, I am simply uncomfortable writing it. Feel free to post couple choices in your reviews, but remember that there will be at least one or two character deaths, so if it includes one of those characters, I’m sorry.

I am extremely pleased with how short an amount of time this took to write. Altogether, I probably spent four to six hours on it, and that includes the whole thought process. I literally just sat down and thought ‘Why not write a Naruto fic?’. I am posting this a few days after my latest chapter of my Inuyasha story, Wrong Turn, making it the quickest update in my history! *cheer*.

On another more random note; has anyone heard the song Naruto Ondo yet? I find it extremely delightful. I mean, Gyu-ru-ru is hilarious, but when I hear “Tsuyo kunare wa yo!” and “Datteba-Dattaba-Dattabayo~!” It makes me squeal insanely. Not that I don’t squeal insanely anyways...

Please review?

~Hanyoupup