Hi! DarkNutDestroyer here with the first chapter of the remake of The Blood Runs Deep into the Ground.

NOTE: This story is currently going through a makeover. I'm not changing the story but I'm correcting the mistakes, smoothing out the dialogues and making the story generally better. Thus, the style of writing may change halfway so be warned.

With this out of the way, I hope you enjoy reading my story!

Slow Vietnamese rock music was blaring through the bar's only radio speakers, mixing with the sound of whispered conversations and the occasional deep throated laugh mixed with the clinking of glass . Humidity permeated the air, causing clothes to cling to the skin with sweat. The bartender was busying himself in his redundant task of cleaning glass bottles with a dirty rag that had probably been used a few minutes ago to wipe the grim that coated the sides of the oven. However, none dared to protest, too fearful to be banned from the establishment. Only one thing stood out from the scenery, slouched on a worn out couch at the back of the room was a lone figure that radiated weirdness from a mile away.

He was wearing a simple orange tee and a pair of frazzled cut-offs along with a pair of sandals, nothing that stood out too much in particular. No, what made the eyebrows rise was the dozens of empty bottles of alcohol that littered the small coffee table in front of him. The sheer number of them made the antique wooden table seem small and fragile in comparison. The man then finished gulping down the bottle's content before lowering it down onto the table with a satisfied sigh before reaching for another one. However, he was stopped when a wrinkled hand smacked his wrist.

The blond let out a small cry of pain before looking up to whoever did it. "Hey, what's the big idea?" he said in broken Vietnamese. A muscular man in his forties stared him down with a frown before picking up one of the discarded bottles and examining it closely. "What did I tell you about drinking, Naruto? I told you no alcohol after sunset!" he admonished before pointing at the label with his finger. "Huda? Where'd you get this? We don't usually see this brand often around here."

Naruto simply waved him off. "Calm down, Sai went inland to visit one of his relatives and he brought back a crate filled of these bottles, Doan. How about you sit down and have a drink?"

He yelped when the man slapped him upside the head. "Don't talk to me like you did nothing wrong, idiot!" The man rubbed his temples before sitting down next to him and opening a bottle and gulping it down it content. After a few gulps, he said, "Anyway, I guess I won't see you again in a long time."

Naruto stared at him oddly as his hand discreetly reached for a bottle laying on the ground behind the couch. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I've got some juicy news from the underground, something that would allow you to go back home." Naruto's hand froze as it clasped around the cool surface of a bottle before he brought to his side and leaned closer. "I'm listening."

Doan laughed before taking another gulp. "You goddamn should, you ungrateful little bastard. You should feel lucky I even allowed you in town after that stunt you pulled last time."

"In my defense, no one was harmed by my prank." Naruto said, holding out his hands in defense.

"It took four hours to get Johnny out of that hole." The man deadpanned. "And six weeks for the goats to stop trying to hump him all day."

"You managed to get that off? I thought it would take at least three months." He snickered but quickly stopped when Doan glared at him. "You were saying something about a way for me to go back home…?" He asked to divert the topic of the conversation away from him.

Doan shook his head before continuing, "We've caught one of Mikogami's rats snooping around in our operations. We've had our best psychics dissecting his mind to try and find any good info we could use. Unfortunately, the guy was merely a pawn and had almost no knowledge on the bigger plans."

Upon seeing Naruto frown, he smirked. "However, there was something he completely got us by surprise. Here's some intel our spies had managed to scrounge up." He said as he handed him a heavy folder filled with documents. Naruto eagerly took and started filing through them. "To tell you the truth, I'm not actually supposed to let you see those, there's some pretty sensitive stuff in there so if you spare a few coins for the trouble, it'd be apprecia…"

He was cut off when a thick wad of money fell onto his lap. As he picked it up and started methodically counting them, Naruto was already standing up and heading to the counter to pay the bill.

"Pleasure doing business with you, kid." He said with a satisfied smile as he pocketed the money. Naruto simply sent him a lazy wave before leaving the building.

"Japan, huh?" The blond muttered to himself as he walked down the sidewalk. "Been a long time since I went there." The corners of his lips curved upwards and his sly smile slowly morphed into a full-blown crazed grin. His fists tightened until the knuckles as he gazed upwards to the heavens. "Let's see what life has in store for me."

The Blood Runs Deep Into the Ground V2

Nurarihyon, the Supreme Leader of All Monsters, had seen many things.

He had fought in countless wars, waged in the battlefields and butchering any enemy that were fool enough to defy his authority. Many had fallen to his hand. He had strangled newborns in their sleep, massacred entire countries and before he knew it, he was standing alone in a sea of blood. Alone and forgotten.

Times have changed. The world no longer needed a rampaging god and had entered a time of relative peace despite the hatred deeply rooted in the hearts of the Youkai. He accepted that fate and had now taken a well-deserved retirement as a bus driver. The years have passed and he was now only a shadow of his former power but still had enough Youki to completely obliterate any idiot who tried to attack him.

Well, that was what he thought until a certain blond had entered his bus.

A sudden jolt made him lose balance and fall head-first to the ground of his bus. The former destroyer of worlds was now bound and gagged and dropped like a sack of potatoes on a random seat as he had watched helplessly as the buffoon had taken HIS seat and HIS hat and-most importantly-was now driving HIS bus!

He grit his teeth in anger. He hadn't been expecting the blond to suddenly attack him from behind. Taken completely by surprise, he had been quickly restrained and the bus was now under the blonde's control. Damn it all to hell!

Nurari calmed himself with deep calm breaths and took the opportunity to gauge of his attacker. The person was very young which was how he managed to attack him by surprise, definitely in his teens unless he had used some sort of illusion or permanent youthfulness was his species' special trait.

Apart from the whisker marks on each cheek, nothing exceptional stood out of the teen. He was still wearing the school uniform he had worn when he had entered the bus and had scruffy-looking blonde hair that looked like it hadn't received a decent haircut for weeks.

He grit his teeth in anger and fought the restrains. Suddenly, he screamed in agony when an incredibly powerful charge if electricity passed through him. He hoped that Mikogami would soon notice the high-jacking and come rescue him. It hurt his pride to hope for help but these particular circumstances called for desperate measures. He looked up and saw the brat fumble with the controls. It seemed like he wanted to activate the dimensional teleportation. What did he want?

He relaxed his body and controlled his breath to calm himself and keep a cool head. He bid his time and waited for an opportunity to escape.

-X-

Naruto felt like his luck had finally run out.

He should've known that fate was coming to bite his ass since the first week he had arrived in Japan when his contacts have contacted him telling him they had found the bus he had been searching for. A quick session of observation of the neighborhood later and he already found himself on the trail of a brown-haired boy. A few days later he determined the boy was definitely NOT a part of the Youkai species but still managed to put his hands on the admission form of the school.

Thus, he felt no regrets when he stole it from him before he could send it on the mail and put his name on instead. He knew the boy was in a difficult part of his life after failing for the third time a high school entrance exam but anything would be better than be thrown in the middle of a battle to the death. To ease his conscience a little, he had sent a letter containing the address of the one who had taught him everything to know in this world when he had found himself here.

After two weeks, he had received a letter confirming his inscription and a list of all the supplies he might need there accompanied by a cellophane bag containing a horrendous green school uniform but even its ugliness couldn't stop him from grinning like an idiot as he stared at the letter. When he had seen the bus turn around the corner this morning, he had almost blown his cover by jumping around in giddiness.

After quickly knocking out the driver, tying him up and dumping him at the back, he became the proud owner of the bus that would finally enable him to go home.

And then he realized that he had no idea what to do next.

He felt a cold sweat run down his back as he stared dumbfounded at the myriad of colorful buttons laid before him. He scratched his head in thought and tried pressing buttons randomly to see what would happen. The interior of the bus was suddenly filled with deafening music that made his ears bleed and he quickly abandoned the idea. He pressed the button again and the speakers luckily turned off.

He thought about a solution to his problem for a few moments before sighing. It seems like he was going to need his help. He already felt a headache pounding at his temples.

He reached into his pocket and retrieved a jar filled with a black substance. After opening it, the content flowed out to become a small puddle on the counter. The liquid suddenly came to life, gathering together to become a small orb. Two lights came to life, serving as a weird parody of eyes and a mouth opened, revealing razor sharp teeth.

"Well hello, Naruto," Zetsu greeted him, a tiny arm forming on his side which he used to wave at him, disturbingly. "How's been your morning? I guess it must've been a jolly good time to, you know, eat breakfast and breathe fresh air. Me? I was just busy being stuck in this jar. In the dark. Alone. Fun times!"

Naruto frowned. "Hey! It's not my fault! I couldn't sleep at all since you kept singing the same GODAMN tune ALL FUCKING NIGHT! You are lucky I didn't simply flush you down the toilet!"

Zetsu let out a snort. "If you did it, I would've simply bit you in the ass when you would have to shit."

Naruto repressed a shudder as he imagined this situation in his head as he pondered on the time they spent together.

The last memories he could recall were glimpses of his battle with Kaguya and her horrified face as she realized she was about to lose and a tear in space appearing before him before everything turning to black. When he had woken up in this new world, he had been sorely disappointed to realize that the only person that was here with him was Zetsu who seemed as surprised as him to find himself here. Fortunately, Zetsu, as he had been partially merged with Kaguya's body, was considerably weakened and was easily forced into submission.

Naruto had used the opportunity to trap him in a jar but before he could kill for good, the entity had made a proposition. In exchange of leaving him alive and bringing him along, he would help him by teaching him ninja techniques and helping him return home. Naruto had accepted the deal and since then, the unlikely pair had travelled the world, trying to find a way to return home. Zetsu, despite his weakened form, proved himself to be invaluable by fusing with a man-albeit partially-and rummaged through his mind to learn about the world they found themselves into and, as they travelled from one country to the other, Zetsu would repeat the process to learn the local language and customs.

Then, after a few months, they discovered the existence of the monsters. The monsters, from what Zetsu learned from a lizard man that they had knocked out previously, lived everywhere but hid themselves from the humans in enclosed communities. This had been an important milestone for their search as they scoured through the earth, pursuing any monster artifact that would allow them to return home.

Zetsu was definitely dangerous if left unchecked but for the moment, they both knew they needed each other and because of that, he'll tolerate him. However, that doesn't mean he won't do anything in his power to make his life miserable.

"Let's cut the crap. I need your help to pilot this bus."

The blob looked at him for a moment and looked at the controls. Naruto saw his smile widen as he told Zetsu about the situation.

"So, you actually managed to find it. I have to applaud you for that." Zetsu said as he clapped his tiny hands together mockingly. "Yet you still managed to fuck this up by coming here without ANY plan whatsoever. I thought I had seen the limits of your stupidity but you still defy my expectations. You weren't called the 'most unpredictable ninja' for nothing."

Naruto felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "Zetsu, we don't have time to talk. I don't think that the driver's friends are going to be happy when they learn that I knocked him unconscious. So let's just let bygones be bygones and concentrate on the task at hand."

Zetsu frowned, disappointed from the lack of reaction of the blonde before reluctantly nodding and turning to face the controls. After a few seconds of careful thinking, he said, "Look at your left, it seems like there's a manual. There should be instructions in there that could help us."

Indeed, as Naruto reached to the side of the driver seat, his fingers came in contact with the rough surface of a book and he heaved it up to his lap. Letting Zetsu drive in his place, he started flipping through the pages.

After a few seconds of frantic turning of pages, he found the section he was searching for. He read the instructions carefully that seemed to indicate a lever at his left as the switch that would activate the teleporting process.

When he found it, his hand fumbled as they grasped around the handle. His hand tightened around it until his knuckles turned white as he couldn't hold in his excitement. He let out a deep breath as he remembered every challenge he encountered on his search for a way home. Was his search finally done? It almost felt surreal, like he was in a dream, to hold in his hand the thing he had searched for desperately all those years.

He pulled down the lever with a sense of finality. He had a feeling that whether or not this endeavor succeeded, his life would change dramatically. Immediately, bright LED lights came to life and the wheel escaped from his grasp like it had a will of its own. Suddenly finding himself in the place of a spectator, he could only sit back and wait anxiously for what was going to happen to him.

The bus turned on the next corner, waving around the surrounding traffic before heading inside an underground tunnel. Suddenly plunged in darkness except for a few lights that lighted their way, Naruto blinked as his eyes adjusted to the shadows and his eyes widened as he noticed a fracture that distorted the space around it open before them.

Struck by cold fear, Naruto reached for the lever but jumped in fright when an ice cold hand grabbed his wrist like an iron vice.

"Well well well…" the man draped in priest clothes said in a sickly voice as he stared at him with lifeless yellow eyes that glinted in the shadows of his hood. "What do we have here?"

Chapter end!

Here it is! The first chapter! Please tell me what you think about it and give me feedback. Tell me what you think of it, what would make it better, what you like and don't like…

Like it? Hate it? Please review!