Chapter 10

Regular talking- Ramen

Dream/ Thinking or Flashbacks/ Taijutsu- Ramen

Seals/ Kenjutsu - Explosive seal/ Basic Split

Jutsu - Hiraishin

Bijuu - Kit

Gods - Ramen

Dream

When Yukio woke up, a bright light had flooded his field of view, effectively blinding him. Yukio jerked upwards, waving around his arms as he rubbed and blinked his eyes to get rid of the blinding feeling.

Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the blinding radiance of the place, multiple thoughts whirled through Yukio's mind. Where was he? What was going on? And where was Susanoo?

When Yukio's eyes finally adjusted, all around him blinding white clouds swirled pass him in a soothing manner. Looking up, the clear night sky dotted with stars filled his vision.

Looking back down, lush greens with sparkling with life. When he turned around a grand mountain with a huge palace filled his sight. Golden gates, guarding the entrance, somehow stood shining, seemingly generating its own light,

Suddenly, he felt himself be pulled toward the palace as if something was coaxing his body to come to them. Come to think of it, Yukio couldn't see his body. It felt like his consciousness was just floating

Yukio let himself drift away as he took in the sights. Strange men with animal halves bleated while chasing funny looking women that seemed to disappear into trees while leaving the animal men to smack their faces into the trees.

Yukio gazed at this with puzzled eyes, as he had never before seen men of that type before. Being whisked away even further at a much faster pace, he saw teenaged girls darting through the forests while wearing silver parkas. One of the girls, looking about 12 years old, older than him seems to notice him, as he zoomed by. Piercing silver eyes followed him as he picked up speed heading toward the mountain.

A shout from one of the other girls took her gaze off of Yukio, now focused on the situation at hand.

Yukio kept on moving passed now moving at high speeds, entered the palace going through the doors. Inside, 12 large giants all were interacting amongst each other.

Two men sitting at the front were the loudest. One wore a pinstripe suit as electricity crackled around the air as he seemed to be arguing with the other man who was wearing khakis and a Hawaiian shirt. In both men's hand, large weapons crackled with power, as they were tightly gripped in their hands. Yukio could feel the power in the room as the two glared at each other.

Some giants sat idly in their chairs as they observed the other giants in the room bicker. Especially a pudgy man that was reading a magazine about wine. With his bored gaze, his purple eyes radiated madness as he chuckled at various categories of wine appearing in the magazine.

Another man was wearing bronze armor while having out an extremely large sword. With a whetstone, the giant was slowly sharpening his blade, while giving winks at a woman that was sitting across from the room from him. This woman's face was always shifting, with each face seeming to be more and more beautiful yet. The woman, giggled as she caught some of the winks the man was giving her. Blowing kisses back at the man, earned the ire of another hideous man. The man tinkering with some metal parts produced catapult that seemed to constantly shoot small fireballs of metal at the back of the other man's head, whenever he wasn't looking.

Two men, one looking very mischievous and the other looking very handsome and charming, were laughing together, exchanging words, seeming to be jokes as they laughed as they shared words with each other.

A beautiful woman with a green dress was berating a dark man. This man's oily persona seemed to be further put in a bad mood as the woman constantly nagged him about daughters and cereal.

A tall imposing woman sat in her throne while an owl hooted next to her shoulder. The woman seemed to be listening to the owl, as she jotted down notes on a notebook. Her grey calculating eyes gave Yukio a shiver down his back when their eyes connected. He could feel her staring into his soul, extracting every bit of information she could get from a single glance.

Yukio's attention was turned away from the rambunctious group when the girl he saw running up to the mountain forest burst into the throne room. Once again, her gaze locked onto his form staring hard into him. When the handsome man called out to the girl, she grew to monumental heights and proceeded to sit down in her throne that was across from the handsome man. As the man proceeded to get up and walk over to the girl, who seemed to just ignore the man. Even though it seemed like she was annoyed by the man's presence a faint smile stayed on the girl's face as she listened to the man ramble away.

As all of this was going on, a soft voice spoke out behind him, making him jump in a metaphorical sense, as he was now a pseudo spirit?

"You are not a familiar face." A childlike voice came out. "I have seen many faces over the millennia I have resided on Earth, and yet I do not know you."

Yukio whirled around (Can ghost whirl around, or are they just willing themselves to physically manifest backward?) and came to face a young eight-year-old girl tending a giant fire in the middle of the throne room. She was poking the hot coals of the fire with a stick, shifting around the fire tending to the flame.

She looks up at Yukio. "Come, sit down."

Yukio looked at the girl numbly. The girl looked at him and patted down the area next to her expectantly. Yukio just sat down in confusion as he knew nothing that was going.

As Yukio sat down the girl, she spoke. "It's not every day a demigod like you stumbles into the meeting of the gods. What's brings you along here to the hearth?"

Yukio looked bemused at the girl. "Nani…?"

The girl looked surprised at the language he was speaking, but not be fazed at all, she tapped Yukio on his forehead like he was solid.

A rush of warmth flooded Yukio's head filling it with information, causing Yukio to stumble and blink his eyes rapidly in the sudden influx of information.

Yukio frowned as he tried to speak. "H-hello?"

The girl smiled. "There we go. You can understand me now right?" She sat down next to Yukio who was now mouthing new sounding words that filled his head from the rush of information.

"What brings you here young hero?"

Yukio's head snapped back to look at the girl which caused him to look so confused. "What is going on here?"

The girl just giggled simply. "You are here at the winter solstice meeting of the gods." She took a pondering look upon her face. "You are here at the presence of the gods, yet none of them seem to truly see you. Some of them like Artemis and Athena seem to sense your presence, but they cannot seem to see your physical body."

Yukio looked even more confused. "If the other gods can't see me then how can you see me? You look younger than me!"

The girl looked kindly at the boy as she poked the fire once more with her stick as the fire crackled. Out of thin air, she produced a bag of marshmallows which she proceeded to stick one at the end of her stick and started roasting it on the hearth. "I am the eldest of the gods. I may not have major powers or domains over beings, but I still am the first Greek god." She took the stick out of the fire and manifested some chocolate and gram ham crackers.

Yukio looked around. "Why was I brought here?" He took a pause. "Greek Gods?" He muttered.

The girl simply smiled as her eyes twinkled with bright orange embers. She put the pieces together and handed the s'more to Yukio. "Here, eat. You seem hungry."

Yukio took the s'more, inspecting the treat before slowly putting in his mouth. When he bit into the treat, his eyes widened in surprise as he took another bite. The girl seemed really happy at the facial expression that Yukio was making because she was making another one while grinning. Hestia giggled into her hand from the way the boy seemed to change moods and thoughts in an instant. When Yukio finished his s'more he looked expectantly at the girl hoping for more of the delicious treats.

When the girl shook her head as she held back the s'more, Yukio huffed, not realizing that he was pouting.

The girl began giggling again she saw the expression upon Yukio's face. "I will give you this-," she paused to think. "If you give me your name young hero."

Yukio blushed slightly as he mumbled. "Yukio Uzumaki."

The girl smiled as she replied with, "Hestia."

"Huh?"

"It is my name, young hero," Hestia replied.

"Oh…" Yukio went silent as he stared awkwardly at Hestia. "Could I have more of them… " He drawled off.

"S'more," Hestia answered.

"S'more."

Hestia smiled as she handed Yukio the s'more. Yukio gabbed the treat and immediately began to devour the treat.

"So Yukio," Hestia began, "Where do you come from?"

Yukio looked up from his treat. "Me? I…" He frowned. " I come from nowhere. I don't have a home."

Hestia frowned. "What do you mean you don't have a home?

Yukio looked up. "I guess I just don't have someplace to call home." Yukio looked back down into the hearth. "I guess my home was destroyed after my mother was killed." A strained look donned Yukio's face.

Hestia pondered this. One, she felt the energy of the child in front of her, telling her that he was dangerous, destructive even. Threatening to her very existence. But on the other hand, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic to the boy.

Yukio sleepily answered, "Yes," before rambling on about his mother and all the travels he had gone with her. He described Kyouko down to the small verbal tick she had when she had gotten frustrated or angry. He told Hestia, a complete stranger that he had never met his complete life story. When he started going to the end, when he recounted the tale of his mother's death, his mood dropping, stopped talking.

Hestia noticed this and looked down her observing the council just in case if things got out of hand. "Yukio?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hestia asked, hoping to get the young child to open up.

"No." With this word, the atmosphere turned frigid and Hestia's hearth nearly sputtered from the sudden temperature change in the area.

Yukio felt his chest tighten. He still felt the pain from the loss of his mother. He wanted to hear his mother speak to him again and laugh with him when he was happy and cry with him when he was sad. He missed his mother terribly. For some strange reason, Hestia emitted the same homely feel his mother used to make whenever he was home. This just made him really sad as he lay curled up in the lap of a girl that seemed around the same age as him.

Hestia watched sadly as the young demigod before her seemed devastated. Hestia than made up her mind. "Yukio."

Yukio made no visible note that he had heard Hestia.

"Do you want to hear about my mother? At this Yukio jerked slightly as he indicated that he had Hestia's offer.

Yukio nodded and feeling drowsy he decided to lay down next to the warm fire and the pretty girl he had met.

Hestia was slightly surprised when the boy suddenly lied down next to her and the hearth. A slight pain went roughly her heart as she pitied the boy. "How long have you looked for a home? You were almost out of hope and feelings of home that you feel that in tune with the original hearth?" Hestia thought.

All Yukio felt was drowsiness as he listened to the bickering of the gods with mild attention. "Hestia?"

"Yes, Yukio?"

"Can you tell me about your mom? Who was she?" Yukio asked as he listens to the voice of Hestia.

Hestia sat down and pulled Yukio's head toward her lap and began to comb his long and messy hair with her fingers. Her fragrance of honey and chocolate made Yukio more drowsy as he snuggled into her lap.

Hestia smiled sadly as she summoned a little bit of her power into her hand creating a soothing feeling of home and pushed it into Yukio. Yukio visibly relaxed as he felt the soothing magic flow over him like him being tucked into a warm blanket from his mother.

Hestia than began on tales of her own mother, Mother Rhea. "Millenniums ago my own mother…"

Yukio listened to the honey-sweet voice of Hestia as he slowly felt like he was drifting off to sleep. Before he knew it he had fallen asleep and Hestia was now humming a small lullaby to him. When his breathing evened out, Hestia checked him before kissing him on the forehead.

"I wish you luck young hero." She whispered as she watched his spiritual form fade away from sight returning to the cold and cruel world. This would be the last time she heard from

Yukio in a long time.

Yukio woke up in a dark space with the ground rippling with water away from where he was stepping. A dull color seemed to permeate the area as he stood up.

"Are thou up now child?" a voice rang through the void. Yukio once again whipped his head toward the voice.

Yukio saw a floating man resting on what seemed to be black orbs. His grey skin and white hair were paired with a great sage robe which had ornamental markings. Horns sprouting from his forehead, tomoes seemed to decorate the collar of his robes while on his back, a concentric circle was sown above nine tomoe signifying his position as the sage of six paths.

Yukio jumped up to his feet in a ready stance to fight with the unknown floating horn… guy. "Who are you!" He shouted. His eyes shifted around. "And where are we?"

"I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Otherwise known as the Sage of Six Paths. We are currently in your deep mindscape."

Yukio stared at the legendary figure that his mother used to tell him as bedtime stories now floated before him.

"Come now I do not have much time due to using what little Chakra I have to communicate with thou," Hagoromo said.

Yukio could only gape and sputter at the sight of the legendary figure. "What is going on!"

"I need thy to listen to what I have to say," Hagoromo explained.

"Ok…Why?" Yukio questioned.

"Everything depends on you now."

Yukio sat down and listened to the old sage.

"Countless years ago I faced my mother who was possessed by the God Tree." Hagoromo started. "I faced her with my brother for seven days and seven nights, but we managed to defeat her. But my brother and I learned of something much more horrible than that. The God Tree was not what we had originally thought."

"What was the God Tree?" Yukio asked.

"The God Tree was only a fruit from the heavens above that accidentally fell down to the impure lands. The gods in the heavenly realm often ate this fruit to gain immortality. When my mother had eaten the fruit and bonded with the tree, she herself had become a goddess. One of the high ranking official rulers of heaven was her given position due to the level of the chakra fruit she had eaten. But that's not all. She was a gateway to the human realm and the Hagoromo explained.

Yukio took a moment to process this. "Wait. Doesn't that mean…"

"Yes. The war between the gods and the humans will resume again. This time more devastating than the last."

"There was another war?" Yukio asked.

"The First Heavenly War happened Ten thousand years before I was born. A war between the humans and the gods raged in these lands specifically. The war was instigated from one of the other gods fighting against the Jade Emperor. A civil war if you must. But what matters most is that the human race managed to seal the gods away from the human realm, but not before the gods placed a taboo on the humans.

"A Taboo?"

"A seal extending through time and space, through generations of humans, preventing them from ever surpassing the gods."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"Everything. There are only four people in this world currently that can overrule the gods Taboo, breaking it so that Humans may surpass the gods once more."

"And I'm one of these people that can break the Taboo."

"Yes."

"Who are the others?"

"I had two sons" Hagoromo started. He smiled softly as he seemed to remember them. "Indra and Asura. My Yin and Yang." A look of sorrow flitted over his face.

"Well, what do they have to do about the others?" Yukio asked.

Hagoromo's face returned still as he faced the eight-year-old. "My sons, Indra and Asura are in a never-ending cycle of hatred and destruction. One generation after another fighting till the end of chakra." Hagoromo's rippled eyes seemed to bore right into Yukio's soul. "Your existence as an anomaly in the universe. Even my Rinnegan cannot seem to see through the veil of life and death to your Chakra.

"Uhh… Yay?" Yukio muttered.

"I need your help." Hagoromo started. "With your… condition I need you to help stop this cycle for my sons. They will be able to help you in breaking the Taboo and fighting the gods. Mind you, one of them reincarnated into a girl…

"But… How am I supposed to help you? I'm only eight years old." Yukio lamented.

Hagoromo smiled softly again. "You will become a great force on this world. Whether it be terrible or venerable, you will leave a mark on this world." Hagoromo walked forward. "I'm sorry but you won't be able to remember much from this experience.

Yukio frowned. "Than what was the whole point of telling me this information?"

"The strain of my chakra at your age would have drawbacks, Losing memories is just the smallest side effect. But since I have reached out to you the residual chakra in your body will be there.

"To do what?" Yukio asked.

"Once you meet both of my sons' reincarnations, the residual chakra will resonate with them and bring back your memories of this meeting. Hagoromo started fading. I don't have much time. I entrust the fate of the world to you. Help the brothers and Humanity might stand a chance against Heaven.

Yukio than paused for a moment. "Wait you said that there were four people in the world that could break the taboo. Who is the last person?"

"The Taboo will break under the sight, presence, and thoughts of the God Tree," Hagoromo stated. His body was now visibly half gone. "I also hope you can help her…" Hagoromo thought.

Yukio panicked. "Wait! What does that mean? That doesn't make sense!" Suddenly Yukio saw darkness creep up at the corner of his eyes.

Nami No Kuni

Stars twinkled in the night sky as the soft waves of Nami no Kuni washed ashore. Soft lappings of the low tide were filled the night sky. With the occasional swell of the tide rushing in. Many, if not sleeping were partying tonight either from special personal occasions that might have brought them joy that day.

Men were laughing and drinking in bars, guzzling sake down as if someone was going to take it from them the next moment. Children would be sleeping in their beds, soundly ignoring the everyday problems that plagued the adult's minds.

While all this was going on Kisame silently washed up to shore on a little boat. Samehada was wrapped in bandages hanging on his back. He was also lugging the unconscious body of Yukio with him over on his shoulder, and on his other shoulder, he was lugging around a huge scroll that Yukio had along with him.

Kisame grumbled on how annoying it was to carry around a child on his shoulders and focusing on not letting him fall. Yukio wasn't showing any signs of waking up, and that pissed Kisame off. "Why the fuck do I have to carry around this Gaki!" He grumbled. Then he paused. "Oh yeah… he kept on trudging on. "You are lucky that your cooking skill makes up what shit I have to go through to cover for his ass.

Kisame walked up the beach and up onto the harbor where there was little commotion going on, as almost everyone had turned in for the night. All that remained was a few fishermen cleaning up their stall ready to go home to their families.

Some saw Kisame and wisely backed off due to the crazed look that the swordsman had on his face. Soon exiting the harbor, Kisame wandered around until he found a dinghy old hotel that read "Gato Hotel". Kisame grunts as he moves to enter the hotel.

Kisame opens up the door when he looks around for the manager. At the front desk, a short man with spiky hair and poor cheap clothes was giggling at an orange book as he continued to read it. When Kisame slammed his hand down on the counter, the man finally took notice of Kisame and shrieked like a dying hyena. Kisame just bared his sharp teeth at the man before growling "One room. NOW." leaking a little bit of Killing Intent did not help Gato's case at all.

Blubbering in fear Gato gave Kisame the key to a room before asking for payment. Kisame glared once more at Gato before unsealing a pouch of money and tossing him the bag of yen. When the bag hit the counter, the rolls of yen spilling out faced a wide-eyed Gato as he stared at the money that was definitely much more than what was needed to pay off for the meager hotel. In fact, the amount was enough for Gato to think big and go for a more prosperous business in Nami no Kuni.

Kisame quickly jumping up the stairs with chakra enhanced jumps got to his room. Inside, blank walls faced him as two rolls of futons was leaning against the wall, facing a dingy old television. There seemed to be signs of water damage on the walls and a broken window was visible through the metal netting of the window.

Kisame sighed in relief at the sight of the futons. Setting Yukio aside against the wall, he opened up the futon and rolled them both out. Grabbing Yukio's unconscious body, he played him down on the futon, letting himself rest from the day of carrying around a dead weight body and supplies around.

Kisame stared at the wall in a lethargic manner that would have a Nara proud. His beady eyes were pink due to the stress of fighting non-stop and carrying around an unconscious child through the water of Nami no Kuni. While at that he had to steal a boat from one traveling fisherman that was just unlucky.

Looking at the child he had carried from the shore to the, he snorted. Why the hell did he bring dead weight with him? He pondered as he slumped into the wall. Visions of blood splattering across his face while haunted screams echoed in his mind. He sighed once more and black shadows of unconsciousness enveloped him.

Yukio woke up with a start as the morning sea breeze pooled into Nami no Kuni. Soft cries of seabirds cawed in the distance as Yukio woke up. The Sun shone through the netted windows casting a grid-like shadow across Yukio's face.

Rubbing his eyes, Yukio realized that he was in a futon. Scrambling to get up, Yukio got tangled in the cheap bed and ended up rolling around stuck in his futon. The grunts as he tried to get out of the futon woke Kisame up to a laughable scene of where the kid he had carried with him was tied up in the cheap futon bed.

With a snort, he grabbed an end of the futon and ripped it away from the body of the kid. Tumbling out of the sheets, Yukio quickly got to his feet whipping his hair around looking for the one who freed him from the fluffy deathtrap.

Brushing the long locks of hair out of the way, sea-green eyes met beady round eyes. Kisame noted the way Yukio's pupils were shaped as black lines expanded out from the center and reached four points to the ends of his irises. "Kekkei Genkai?" Kisame thought.

Suddenly Yukio yelped out as he pointed at Kisame. "What the Hell? Land-shark?"

A vein popped from Kisame's forehead as he heard Yukio's words. "Damn it gaki! My name is Kisame, not Land-shark!" Now angered, both started to butt heads with each other, but with Kisame's superior weight, Yukio went sliding back from the impact of Kisame's hit.

Rubbing his forehead in pain Yukio blinked. "Wait where is my stuff?" He turned towards Kisame. "You did get my stuff right?" His vibrant sea-green eyes took in the surroundings, while Yukio took a deep sniff.

Kisame snorted at Yukio's antics and handed Yukio his scroll. "How are you so calm right now?"

Yukio glared at Kisame for the comment and started to explain. "You saved me from the shinobi. I guess… I trust you."

Kisame whistled at the conviction that Yukio presented and laughed. "What are you like 10?"

Yukio grunted. "I'm 8."

Kisame nodded at the new information. "I see."

"I assume that you want me for something else? You did bring me to another shore with you." Yukio asked.

Kisame raised a brow and grinned. "Spot on. I do want you for something."

At Kisame's words, Yukio perked up and looked at Kisame. Kisame just grinned and said, "I want you to come with me."

"Why?" Yukio questioned him.

"You are interesting and seem to have lots of potential. I want someone like you to come with me." Kisame replied.

"And be a Nuke-nin?" Yukio replied eyeing the scratched out hitai-ite.

Kisame grinned in joy. "All the better." He stuck his hand out. "Do we have a deal? I teach you everything I know, and you follow me around. How does that sound?"

"Where are we going?" Yukio asks.

Kisame unseals a map from his wrists before pointing to a marked position on the map. "Right there." He states, "Is what is rumored to be a base for the rebels. I got this information from when I managed to capture one of the shinobi from the resistance. We go there and we kill Yagura."

Yukio's eyebrows rose slightly as he listened to Kisame. "You want to kill a kage?"

Kisame looks down at the ground with shadows covering his eyes. "That bastard…" he mutters. "That bastard is going to die for the crimes he committed. He sent my group into slaughter. He betrayed me when I had brought valuable intel for him. Announcing my presence as a Nuke-nin." Slightly crazed beady eyes met once again with Yukio's raging sea-green eyes. "So yes. I'm going to kill a kage. And you are going to help me to do so."

Yukio pursed his lips. On one hand, receiving training from a shinobi is what Yukio least wanted. Shinobi killed his mother and shinobi were the ones to take everything away from him. But on the other hand, this would become an opportunity to be stronger to find out who his mother's killers were.

"Well? Do we have a deal?" Kisame stuck his hand out again. Yukio grabbed the appendage before firmly shaking as hard as steady as he could.

"Deal."

OMAKE

Konoha

"Mikoto-chan! I'm here!" A loud voice echoed out in front of a household, alerting the Uchiha family of a certain redheads arrival.

"Shit its that woman again." Fugaku thought. His head shifts deeper and lower into the newspaper he was holding, trying to hide. Itachi sitting next to him preparing tea shifted his eyes toward the front of the house wondering why the Red Death was at their house.

A squeal rang throughout the house as Mikoto rushed to the sliding doors and pushed it open. "Kushina-chan! You're here!"

"AHHHHH" As both women met they screamed and hugged each other. "I missed you so much Mikoto-chan!"

"I missed you too Kushina-chan!" As both women met each other in hugs, they rubbed each other, one child was watching this in a sweatdrop not fully comprehending what she was seeing.

"Ano… Kaa-chan. Who is this person?" Naruko asked.

"Ehhh? Naru-chan, this is my long time friend Mikoto!" Kushina exclaimed.

Naruko's azure eyes met Mikoto's black eyes and took in her appearance. Mikoto cooed when she saw Naruko and scooped her up in her arms.

Naruko squirmed to try to get of the powerful grip of the mother when she heard a voice. "Eh? Kaa-chan, what going on?"

A boy that was slightly taller than her stood in the doorway looking confused at the scene. His raven black hair was stuck out in a way a ducks ass would making it a cute hairstyle for both mothers to look at. For Naruko that was the one defining trait that seemed to cross her eyes.

When his eyes looked down upon Naruko's squished expression, something about that face seemed to aggravate Naruko. "What are you looking at pretentious duck-ass!" She screamed.

Immediately two different reactions occurred. I fist came down on Naruto's head as the angry visage of her mother came into full view. "Naruko Uzumaki-Namikaze! Who said that you could say that!" Kushina yelled.

Sasuke choked on his spit as he listened to what Naruko just called him. Uchiha's were supposed to stay stoic and calm, even at the face of insult, and yet something about the blond's presence and her comment invoked something deep within Sasuke. Anger. "Duck-ass? Who are you calling duck-ass, Usuratonkachi!"

In the meanwhile, the chaos in front of their house was happening Fugaku dug his head further into the newspaper to try to filter out the ruckus the two families were causing. Itachi sitting down next to his father quietly sipped his tea as he smirked at the enraged shouts Sasuke seemed to yelling at the opposing female. "Ano, Tou-sama. How long do you think this will last?"

Fugaku looked up from his newspaper. "From my experience, Itachi, they go at this forever."

I'm so sorry for being unresponsive during these past months, it's just been so hectic during this time of year, and I haven't gone around writing and uploading though. But happy Thanksgiving! I'm also pulling down my other stories just to get them polished them released again. Thank you for your patience and positive reviews. Also, check out another story I'm going to starting soon for a crossover on Fairy Tail and Naruto. If you feel like that would be a story You might want to read, feel free to check it out. Peace!

Manus Manem Lavat