Chapter Fifteen
Ambush
"What do you mean the child is dead?!" Themiel was looking at the book while panicking. "My… my visions did not foresee this! He should still be alive!"
"The Tome is never wrong, Themiel," Gabriel sat in his chair while spacing out. "Father's savior died prematurely."
Themiel set the book on the table and hastily pushed out of his chair. "I'm going to talk to Zachariel about this. I need to know how he died!"
Azrael watched his brother leave and shook his head. "What does knowing how it happened change? The savior is dead and Father is not here to fix it."
"It helps to know if the Darkness are the ones responsible," Michael held his head in his hands. "For two years we never knew the child was dead. How did he pass through purgatory without us knowing?"
"I wonder who was in charge of purgatory at the time," Uriel thought aloud. "This is quite the blunder, and if Naruto died before fulfilling the prophecy his life should have placed him in Heaven."
Gabriel sighed and got to his feet. "I will find out who it was and what happened. We will interrogate the angel responsible together. Notify the rest of our family so they may be present as well."
Their family, despite not being related in a sense, was just what they called themselves as the first angels created. Others in Heaven just call them Elders and they stand below the Prince of Heaven and above the First Family. They care for everything that pertains to God, His Son, and the First Family of humanity.
There are currently ten Elders, eleven if Luciel had never disobeyed God, and all of them were much more powerful than the other angels and Seraphim. They each embodied the unique aspects and laws of the universe, like Michael being the Angel of Battle or Azrael being the Angel of Death. That was their purpose when their tasks were the protection and guidance of humanity in the first hundreds of years of their creation.
After Heaven began growing and more angels came to fill the ranks, they were spread among the different choirs. Even if they happen to be at the lower choirs, their position as Elders have them autonomous roles separate from other angels.
Michael stood up and left shortly after his brother, leaving Uriel and Azrael together.
"Well that was something," Azrael began tittering to himself. "I never expected Michael to find out first. To think he'd summon my book as well."
Uriel's fiery eyes glanced at him briefly. "This will not go well, Azrael, so stop laughing. The moment word gets out that the child of God had died before he could fulfill his destiny and has been wrongly sentenced to Hell, everything will be in chaos. Jesus will have a fit. God will be pissed. We were trying to avoid this."
Azrael rolled his eyes and got to his feet. "Too late for that. Two years and we couldn't find him. At this point, it's better that we have the help so we can find him quicker."
Uriel's eyes softened at the man's rough words. "Are you still having those dreams, Izzy?"
The man flinched at her words and scowled. "I'll be fine."
He opened a dark purple ring of magic, a transportation spell to his home, before walking through without another word.
Uriel sighed and sat back in her chair. You will not be able to run for much longer, Izzy. I know what you dream, what you fight for, and I know that you are losing against both.
The Prophecy was more than just about the savior of Ninkai. It is God's final chance to all of his creations, including Heaven and Hell, and so long as the Darkness hunts for what they want their future will forever be uncertain. Even now, without the Child, the future has two outcomes set in stone; it all depends on the path the Child takes.
In a world teetering on the edge of Light and Darkness, there will come a time when a child born under the haze of death and blood will emerge. The child, marked by a symbol of sacrifice, will hold within their hands the power to decide the destiny of all existence. As the ancient prophecy foretells, the child of God will walk among us with a power that can reach those who will become his closest companions. Their eyes will see beyond the veil given by other mortals, into the very essence of good and evil, revealing the true intentions within. With a touch, they will heal or harm, build or destroy.
The world will stand at a crossroads when the child reaches maturity. Forces of good and evil will vie for their allegiance, knowing that the child's choice will bring about salvation or condemnation. Signs of their coming will not be evident, no great phenomena or explanation, but his life will be felt in the hearts of men and women. In this pivotal moment, all of creation must confront its deepest fears and greatest hopes. Unity, compassion, and wisdom will be necessary to guide the child towards a path of salvation. Should the world falter or fail in its guidance, the shadows that lurk within every soul may rise, leading the child to bring forth a cataclysm from which there is no return.
Listen, for this is a beacon and a warning, a testament to the power of choice and the hearts of Man. The child will be a gift or a punishment, a reminder that the fate of the world rests as much in our hands as it does in theirs. Guide the child of God and sow an Age of Paradise, or reap the repercussions and be condemned for eternity.
Naruto should have known it had been quiet for too long. Whoever sent those mercenaries the first time would not leave him alone after one attempt. They were willing to attack him in the home of the King and Queen of Hell during a party that would have some of the most important and strongest members of Hell's inhabitants.
If they can attack there, then nothing stops them from operating anywhere. Their playground is wherever they desire, and it could be in the front yard of a Sin. Like right now, in the Gluttony Ring a few dozen kilometers away from the Queen Bee's home.
So it was when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on the end and the air shift weirdly did he know that something was wrong. His experience with life and death from a young age, and his subsequent exceptional shinobi experience despite how short, prepared him for the unexpected. His reflexes were sharp and subconscious as he clapped his hands together and molded his chakra into a seal array in his palms.
"Holy fuck!"
The driver had seen the incoming missile of magic and science aimed for them from their right at the last second. He slammed his foot against the gas pedal and swerved to get out of the blast radius, his training kicking in. Working for the Sin as her chauffeur and security had put him into worse and sometimes even more dangerous situations than this.
He would not have made it, however, and he prepared for the coming end to his life. That is, until a pink box encompassed the entire cabin. The energy cut through the tires and engine block, sending their vehicle spiraling out of control, but it took the brunt of the explosion wrought by the missile.
He had never seen magic like this before, even from his boss, and he wondered who could have possibly summoned this.
"Hey, you alright?!"
The hellhound turned back to see the blonde with his hands together and black markings wrapping around his hands. He looked like he was praying, a weird action or pose to take in hiHell, and he thought the blonde used some kind of holy magic for a second. But he was a Sinner so that meant he was unable to use that type of magic.
"Yeah, I'm good, but what are you doing?!"
"Protecting us!" Naruto undid the seal array as their cabin came to a halt on the ground. "You know how to fight?"
The hellhound nodded his head. "Of course."
"Good, because we have a lot of it coming up."
Naruto pointed out the passenger window and the hellbeast looked to see at least five packs of hellbeasts standing at the crest of a hill. However, his eyes latched onto the hellfox standing above them all. Their pointed ears poked through a black, hooded mantle and their white fur made them easily seen. They wore a navy blue and white trimmed tunic that is opened to accentuate their furred chest, and their belt held up two long curved daggers.
A Tribune.
"Really wish Queen Bee was here," the man groaned as he got out of the vehicle slowly. "This will be a tough fight."
"In what way," Naruto asked as he slid to the driver's side and got out next to the man.
"They're led by a Tribune. With five packs, that means there's five Prefects, five Centurions, and twenty Standards." The hellhound looked at the blonde and he was shocked to see an unimpressed face. "That's bad."
"I mean, I have fought a Prefect before and that wasn't so hard," Naruto shrugged. "A Tribune is only a bit stronger than a Prefect, I think, and there's no hostage this time so I wouldn't need to hold back when fighting. If you need to, hang back and I'll go handle it."
To be honest, he forgot how much stronger each rank of a hellbeast actually was, but Tribune was above Prefect and he easily beat the one that tried to use Charlie as a hostage. So he was confident that even if he had to go all out there could barely be anything about this hellfox that should have him concerned for his safety. Even if he had to use a partial demon transformation….
Wait "Can I even do a demon transformation?"
Naruto's question gained the hound's attention and the man looked at him surprised. "You're telling me you don't know how to transform?"
"Nope, never had to," Naruto shrugged before sitting on the dirt. "Well, let me see if it's like trying to find my chakra."
"Are you seriously meditating at a time like this?"
"Unless you know the secret to demon transformation, then yes." Naruto took a deep breath through his nose. "Let me know if they start to charge us."
The driver looked over the hood of the car to see the large group of demons just standing there. The Tribune was just watching them while giving orders to their Prefects but none of them made any advances on their cornered position.
It was rare for hellbeasts to hold themselves or their packs back as they were most effective as shock warriors. They charged in, or infiltrated, and wreaked havoc in the opposition's lines. Savagely, in most cases.
"They're just standing there," he was confused as he noted this. "Why? They have us outnumbered."
Then he felt it. His sixth sense tells him of an incoming explosion of power. Something so incredible and marvelous that it made his spine tingle. But it wasn't coming from the Tribune on the hill but is coming from next to him!
Then the packs began charging down the hill towards them, preventing him from looking at his companion. The bestial growls and roars made his stomach drop, recognizing the frenzy the hostile hellbeasts whipped themselves into. It was primal and animalistic, no longer the sounds of a sane and civilized hellborn.
He was reminded of the underground fighting rings he had been saved from. How he was one of these people. That was, until he was saved from Beelzebub.
Fuck. He opened the door to his driver seat and pulled out a pistol and eight-inch knife.
"I'll protect you."
He wasn't sure if his boss's date had heard him, not that he checked either, and he pushed off the ground into a sprint around the car. His large feet beat into the colorful ground and he gave his own ferocious, albeit rusty roar.
He met the first few Standards, mostly hellhounds with one hellfox, with two shots from his sidearm before bringing up his knife. He plunged the blade into one's neck before swiping it to the side and cut the face of another. The first crumpled to the ground with a weak gurgle while the other cried out, bringing a paw to their blinded eye.
He stepped back when a hellcat had come from the side, her lithe and nimble body nearly evading his sight. He brought down the handle of his pistol to club her and kicked her away when she collapsed into the dirt. That was the best he could do before being cornered by more members of the pack.
The hellhound that came for him is the Centurion of another pack, a ferocious lion-like hellbeast. His claws are extended and latched onto his arm, piercing his flesh easily, before throwing him over his shoulder and onto the hard ground. He caved into a small hole from the impact and he was almost done in by a stomp on his head but he was able to roll away.
"Grah!" He was barely on his feet when a hellcat came around and cut into the back of his legs with his claws.
He shot them in the head as he stumbled backwards, bringing his knife back up to guard against any more attacks.
I'm rusty.
He must have gotten too lazy while in Beelzebub's service. It wasn't like the Sin often needed protection. Most of the people he could handle or be equal to, she could erase easily. He was only a Prefect before she saved him and from then on he didn't fight everyday like before.
"Our fight is not with you."
The hellbeasts, even in their craze, backed off when the voice began speaking. They stepped back and he realized that it was the Tribune who was speaking. The hellfox, female now that he could see it was more than just fur she was showing from the front of her tunic, was dressed more ritualistically than he thought.
Her outfit and jewelry are adorned with old runic symbols and the bones of other hellbeasts. Her blades, which he thought are for battle, are purely ceremonial now that he saw them close up. But it was the weirdly designed raven on the chest of her outfit that got his attention.
"We want only the one you were driving," she spoke with a thick accent that was unfamiliar to him. "If you step aside, we will leave you be."
"He is my boss's guest," the driver told her. "If I were to just let him be taken, she would kill me."
"Then the choice is you die here and now by being in our way, or you run and live for a few more days to years." The Tribune looked at him mercilessly as she spoke. "What is your choice?"
Naruto had been staring at a mirrored version of himself for minutes now, or at least he's hoping it was just that. He could not tell the passage of time from here. It was almost like time has yet to exist here, detached from any anchor that kept the chronology consistent.
It had taken him moments to realize that the clone he has been staring at is how he would look as a mortal. His blue eyes looked back at him joyously, a confident smile on his lips as if there was nothing that he could worry about. He looked healthier, not exactly stronger but he was mentally… calm.
"Are you really me?"
His clone chuckled and nodded his head.
"Literally or figuratively? Is this where you tell me you're 'what I could have been' or something stupid like that?"
"Nah, I'm neither and I will not say that either." His clone's voice is different, a bit lighter than his own, surprising him with how much Hell has changed him. "You will understand me more in the future but we need to figure out your transformation first."
Naruto scowled at that. "Bee's driver won't last long by himself. Do you know where I need to go?"
Naruto's mirrored self shook his head. "You don't need to go anywhere. The transformation comes naturally. It usually happens to Sinners in times of need and stress, like when their life depends on it, but to find it on your own requires patience."
"I don't have time for patience! Someone's life is in danger protecting me!" Naruto grabbed his head in frustration.
"You misunderstand." The clone put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and his smile brightened. "You merely have to be here and listen to and experience what comes."
Naruto was confused by what his clone said but he was not able to question as he was not left alone. His clone had disappeared into the void, simply fading away.
The silence and isolation did not last long as he found himself thrown into a world of fire and heat. His skin felt like it was peeling from the intensity but nothing was happening in reality. His lungs strained in the humidity, bringing tears to his eyes.
"The fire's flames are fueled by hatred, and it burns and rages on," it was Itachi that spoke but he was nowhere to be seen. "But eventually, it will fade and die down to nothing."
The missing-nin's hand reached out from the darkness and a flame burned above his palm. The fire crackled and popped like a campfire but it began to get violent until it suddenly shot outward. It curved itself into the symbol for Fire, burning brightly before imprinting it onto Itachi's floating hand.
As if that could not be any weirder, the floating hand reached out for him.
The feeling was instantaneous. The mark was burned into his very soul.
"Water can do anything, it can go anywhere." He remembered this voice. It was that fishman partner of Itachi, the one that threatened to cut off his arms and legs. "The shape it takes depends on you. Whether it is a cup or a river, it's all up to you."
The man's arm reached out like Itachi's, but this time a rippling orb of water was in his hand. It trickled into an infinite circle before it curved and moved until it finally made the mark for Water.
Kisame's hand rested on his shoulder and he felt this mark be burned into his soul as well.
It was weird feeling all of this, because it was almost as if he was taking in the very nature of the element into him. He grew the innate nature of fire and water from the marks that were pushed into him, understanding not just its personality but the essence of what creates this energy.
"No matter how much the wind howls, the mountain does not bow to it."
This voice was old and reminded him of the old man Hokage with the raspy tone he spoke with. Whoever it was they are wizened and experienced, especially since he recognized the words as a proverb of his home world.
With it, an elderly hand reached out with what looked like mud. It quickly built itself into the mark of Earth, drying into some kind of clay figure.
Once more a mark was burned into him.
"Wind is a blade. It can cut through anything, leaving no obstacles in its path."
This was the old man Hokage's son, who he met a few times before. The man was also the sensei of his friends Shikamaru and Choji.
His large hand reached out with a swirling mass of wind. The wind cut against each other, creating an outline for the mark of Wind.
That, too, was pressed into his soul.
This will be standard, then. I just have to take everything that comes.
"A flash of lightning cuts through darkness like a sword. Swift. Precise."
Kakashi-sensei.
The man's lazy voice sounded oddly serious, like when he would lecture him and Sasuke on their plans in missions.
He really missed the man.
"The essence of the shadow is the mind. The power to create from nothing, to give form to the intangible."
This time it was not a nature element he was unfamiliar with; Yin.
It wasn't a well studied field even from his time alive, but the moment it was imprinted into his soul he understood it. Genjutsu, the most common application of this nature, is child's play to what it can truly do. Imagination is the limit.
"It is what breathes life into form. It governs physical energy, giving strength and vitality to all living things."
This voice is unfamiliar to him, although it was another elderly man. Unlike the others before, it was not just an arm that appeared but a whole person. He stood with a shakujo in his hand and ten floating black orbs in a full circle behind him.
The man was looking at him this time, his wizened, near-human appearance giving a patient and caring emotion. His ringed, purple eyes were soft and he extended his hand with his palm up.
This time, the mark of Yang appeared in his extended hand. The old man gave a smile and pressed the palm of his hand against Naruto's forehead.
Yang. It controls the very essence of energy. Vitality. Invigoration. Life.
Everything went blank the moment he felt the information flood his mind, but in that he heard his own voice. Not from himself, but it was his clone.
"I was not the hero of the story, I was just a guy who had a dream. But I was not the only one who had a dream. Many more shared in my vision, in my hope, and in that we were able to rewrite the stars."
"Gah!"
He crumpled to the ground again as he was injured by the curved sword of a hellcat Prefect. His right ear is bleeding heavily from the chunk that was taken earlier, but not he was bleeding from the face.
Putting a paw up to touch his closed eye, he brought it down to find a large amount of blood pooling in his hand.
I guess I lost that.
An injury by heavenly metal, too. There's no recovering that even with Hell's strongest spells and rituals.
"You enjoy suffering, don't you?"
The hellfox glared down at him in frustration and pity. She had long gotten bored of his defiance even when she had given him second, third and fourth chances. He was pretty sure he wasn't getting anymore.
"Call it one of my kinks," he laughed as he got to his feet.
"Why are you going to die for him?" The Tribune tilted her head quizzically.
"I don't know, I'd like to say it's my job but…" he staggered back but caught himself from falling. "There's just something about him that makes me want to protect him."
The hellfox's eyes widened for a second before narrowing and she drew her blade. She walked up to the hellhound who could barely keep his arms up to protect himself and lunged forward. She aimed her blade into his chest and plunged the blade through his heart.
He gasped and gripped her arms holding the blade before she yanked it out and let him fall to the ground.
Crackle!
A popping and static noise suddenly began to fill the air and everyone's attention was drawn to the car. A golden and scarlet light was pulsing from behind the vehicle, giving mixed feelings of awe and fear to the remaining packs.
The Tribune, however, was taking shaky steps back. "He… he's awakened."
A hand grabbed the hood of the car and Naruto lifted himself off of the ground. His eyes are shining and are completely red, no longer having a pupil or iris, and his golden hair lightly whipped around and above his head from an inexistent wind.
Along his back are three pairs of white and black feathered wings. The top two are five square feet each, the middle two are 10 square feet each, and the bottom two are three square feet each. They were spread out majestically, but from them a shadow had been cast and all the hellbeasts could only see the glowing red eyes of the Sinner.
But on top of that, seven arms could be seen fanned out from behind his wings. All of the arms are different, belonging to the various people from his mindscape, and they all glowed a different color. Red for fire, blue for water, brown for earth, gray for wind, yellow for lightning, black for yin, and white for yang.
Innately, he understood each of their purposes and how to use their powers. The combination of which he could use them for more elements and abilities. The possibilities were endless…
Naruto looked up and his eyes caught the deceased form of his driver. "You killed him."
I wasn't fast enough.
His eyes turned to the Tribune and he took a step forward. "This is the part where you tell me who sent you, then I kill you and everyone else sent here with you."
He lifted his hand and caught the paw of one of the Prefects that charged him the moment he finished speaking. It was surprisingly easy and he accidentally crushed the bone in the hellbeasts forearm. Was he always so strong?
No matter. Three of the arms crushed their marks; Fire, Earth, Wind.
Poof!
The Prefect hellbeast exploded into ash and within seconds even the ashes had disintegrated.