Part 1: Ancient Rebirth

Prologue: Naruto's Wrath Surfaces

A squad of 3 Leaf Shinobi was moving through a forested area that bordered Rain Country, all of them returning from a recent mission. The first Shinobi war was going on, and the group was acting as reconnaissance, gathering info on their enemies near the borders of Kumo, each of them carrying a piece of vital information needed by their village. This group consisted of 3 young men, two of which was Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura. All three were keeping an eye out for enemy forces, thankful they were so close to their home country.

"Sarutobi! How much farther is it from base?" Danzo had asked, looking around nervously, keeping both eyes on everything around him, watching for any sudden out of place movements.

"Not too far… if we keep going at this pace, we should arrive by the end of the day!" Sarutobi stated.

"The sooner we get back, the better… I don't want to hold on to this information any longer than necessary…" Danzo stated, his eyes looking warily every which way.

So distracted was Danzo, that he didn't take notice of a trip wire that his foot caught on, activating a simple pitfall trap, causing him to fall in, while the other two were able to jump to the sides.

"Danzo! Are you alright!" Sarutobi called out to him.

"I'm fine… it seems to be a hastened dug pit… I think I can get out with wall climbing… Keep an eye out for the enemies that may have set this!" Danzo called back, walking up to one of the walls.

"Alright… but be careful… the pit might have some hidden booby traps…" Sarutobi stated, keeping a watchful around them, along with the third member.

As Danzo went to place his foot against the surface of the pit, suddenly, cracks appeared all throughout the pit's interior, revealing the structure of the pit to be unstable. The bottom of the pit cracked apart and fell through, while the wall Danzo attempted to climb collapsed apart, and Danzo fell through the new hole below him, the upper part of the pit collapsing over the hole, covering it up completely.

"Gah! Danzo!" Sarutobi was about to try to perform an earth style Jutsu, but the two Shinobi suddenly found they were surrounded by Kumo ninja.

"Shit, they caught up with us! We got to go!" Said the third member, grabbing Sarutobi's shoulder, causing him to retreat together, Sarutobi looking back over his shoulder toward the newly buried pit.

|-Naruto's Wrath-|

Falling down, further down, Danzo just couldn't get a grip on anything around him. It was dark, and he couldn't see anything around him. In a word, he was panicking.

"Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit…" Danzo cursed, the expression of fear on his face. He logically knew that would eventually hit a bottom, and at this speed and height, not even focusing chakra into his legs would help him. In other words, he is going to end up going splat, and he is in a position where there is nothing he can do about it. What irked him the most though was that he never got the chance to surpass Sarutobi yet. He's going to die without even making something great of himself, or even following in his family's footsteps of greatness.

"This Sucks!" Danzo yelled out. He then tried to right himself, feeling the velocity's wind current, and just as he managed to make it so he would land feet first, he suddenly collided with water. The water was deep, thank goodness, which cushioned his fall and allowed him to get off without breaking his bones thanks to instinctively focusing his chakra on his legs.

Still feeling terrified for his life, Danzo hastily swam upwards, following the bubbles of his breath. After a few seconds, he managed to break surface, taking in a huge gulp of air.

"Gasp! I'm alive!" Danzo yelled out, his voice echoing, and he quickly began to stand on the water, using chakra to support himself on the surface. "How far did I fall down…? I got to find a way back up! If only it wasn't so dark!" He yelled out again, his voice laced with tension.

Suddenly, something began to glow in the distance.

(Play song: In Your Belief, non vocalized version… from the Asura's Wrath OST)

"Huh? What is that?" Danzo began to head toward the light, and when he got close enough, what he saw caused him to gasp in amazement.

It was a city! Or at least the ruins of a city. The very stone of it was glowing, as if responding to his presence. It was a site to behold. Unable to help himself, Danzo wandered into the city, the lights bright enough to light his way, but still a bit dim everywhere else.

'Amazing… incredible… to think there might be a civilization like this down here…' Danzo thought to himself, his eyes wide in wonder. To see such a sight was breathtaking. Everywhere he looked, he saw things that would cause a lesser man to weep at the sheer splendor and awe in its marvel.

But, of course, Danzo was nervous, as he also saw many very life-like statues, all of them depicting either a resident of this city, or what would pass as a soldier or warriors. The fact they all looked so alive was very offsetting for him. Especially since the warrior class looking statues were quite intimidating. Danzo kept walking, initially looking for a way out, but slowly becoming fascinated with this city.

"What kind of people could they have been to be able to make something like this… something that still seems alive, even though it looks ancient looking…? I have to know…" Danzo said with determined look in his eyes.

He headed toward the largest area, what could have been considered a castle if wasn't in such disrepair. He entered inside, seeing more statues that were sprawled about, as if they were in the middle of something, but just suddenly died in their tracks. As he made it into what could have been a throne room, what he saw was incomprehensible. Eight Statues lined into different fighting posses, these particular ones looking far more detailed and imposing than the ones he had seen earlier. Each of these statues practically radiated dominance and power. One in particular statue, which was of a man with six arms, he could feel a lingering rage emanate from it.

Danzo looked around a bit more, and where there should have been a throne chair in the back of the throne room, up a small fight of stairs, the entire wall was covered in a large ancient tapestry, depicting pictures of some kind. He was amazed with the depictions he saw… Cities that floated in the heavens above the clouds… Boats that floated in the skies… what really caught Danzo's attention were the images of beings with what appeared to be unimaginable power. One thing that Danzo had found is that Power is certainly a factor when it comes to one's courage.

Apparently, these ancient beings had advanced far beyond humanly possible. However, the tapestry tells a tale of an evil erupting from the planet itself, and so, waged a grand battle of heaven and earth. He continued to read the fabric, finding out the ancient beings called this energy source, Mantra, and they used it to power everything. However, before he could delve himself too deeply into the fabric, he shook himself from his concentration, and realized he was still trapped underground, and needed a way out.

And so, he left the throne room, promising himself to one day come back, and find out more, and he searched through the caverns, finding out that the farther from any of the emitting lights he got, the dimmer they would become until they went out. He realized that the lights were reacting to him.

He searched around, eventually having to water walk over the underground lake, and after an hour of looking, he found a source of air flow, in which he followed to an air duct. Using his chakra, he scaled the vertical climb, making his way further and further toward the surface, until he found himself in a cave, water trickling down from the mouth of said cave. Exiting out, he found himself outside, and realized it was currently raining. By the look of things, he ended up in Rain country. That means it would take a while for him to get back to Fire country.

A few days later…

Danzo stumbled back into the base camp being used for the current war going on. He had gone the whole trip with little stops for short rests and food consumption, but didn't get to sleep at all during his trip. He was too nervous to be on his own on his way back, and couldn't sleep if he wanted to in fear and paranoia of an enemy ambush. Of course, everyone had thought he was dead, so no way anyone was looking for him, not in the world's current state. So to say that Danzo looked like someone had dragged him from the grave would be an understatement… he was ragged exhausted.

"Danzo, your alive!" a voice yelled out, and out came Sarutobi, a slight expression of relief on his face. "What happened to you?"

Danzo would have told the truth, but the fact is, he didn't feel like sharing the information of potentially great power with Sarutobi of all people, just to give him another tally on his score card. No, Danzo decided to withhold this critical information until after the war, and then he would present it to the Hokage, potentially strengthening the village to even greater heights, and putting Danzo a step above Sarutobi. "When the pit collapsed, I fell down into an underground cavern that had a water reservoir that broke my fall. It took me a few days to find my way out of the dark, and few more to get back here." Danzo lied. Yes, he would hold this information until the end of the current war, and Konoha will recover from the war with a great power at their backing. Who knows? Maybe they will make him the next Hokage.

A few Years Later…

Danzo was in a pissed mood. Turns out his plan didn't really pan out so well back then, thanks in part to the war, and to Sarutobi. Oh yes, he blamed Sarutobi for outdoing him again. What happened was, it was another recon mission with a much larger squad than last time, and they were caught and being pursued by Kumo Shinobi. In order to make it out of the situation, one of them would have had to act as a decoy, which was pretty much a suicide maneuver in this case. Danzo was planning to volunteer, thinking back on the bravery of his clan, but then he ended up thinking back to his discovery months prior, and thought about if he died, no one in Konoha would get the chance to know of this potential treasure grove of power. Because of this, he ended up hesitating in his decision, which was plenty of time for his rival, Sarutobi, to volunteer instead. This in turn caused Tobirama, the current Hokage, to volunteer himself for decoy, and had delegated Sarutobi to become the Third Hokage.

Because of that, there was no way in hell Danzo was going to hand power this potentially great to his rival. No, he would save this power solely for Konoha itself, and leave Sarutobi out of the knowhow. However, nothing was ever going to be made or get done for Konoha if Danzo didn't take any action with this secret. If he was to leave it out there, the worst case scenario would be for it to fall into the hands of another Shinobi village. No, Danzo would rather see this power be buried and destroyed then to let any potential enemy be granted this power. So, Danzo made a choice.

Taking his loyal group of Root Anbu agents that he recently formed covertly out toward Rain Country, and he had them carry enough equipment for inconspicuous transport back to Konoha. It took a time span of years, but he managed for the Root Anbu to covertly transport as much as they could carry and find of artifacts from the underground ruins back to Konoha.

And now, he and his Anbu were in Rain Country, using the cave and air shaft as the primary entrance into the caverns. Once underground, the water walked toward the ruins, and as they approached the ruins, the lights of the ancient city grew brighter this time, reacting not just to Danzo, but to his men as well, which almost caused his men to stare in awe.

"Hmm… interesting… " Danzo mused to himself. "Grab anything you can find, and make sure you handle it with care! I want these relics in as close to the same condition as we found it when we get back to Konoha!" He ordered his men, who saluted in affirmation.

Danzo continued forward, toward the great the great palace of this city. He eventually entered into the great throne room, the eight statues in the same position they were in before.

"Impressive… After all this time and they still emit the same presence I felt back then." Danzo mused in slight respect and revere. "I want these statues personally brought back to be studied!" Danzo then moved toward the familiar tapestry. As he continued to read it, he had found that the entire right side of the tapestry was faded and had lost all of its information. Whatever clues to what happened to this civilization were as good as lost.

"No matter… their loss shall now become Konoha's gain… Have the Tapestry transported as well!" Danzo ordered.

A few more years later…

Over the years, Danzo had had scientist underlings of his research and study all the relics they gathered up over time, trying to find any trace of the energy, Mantra, and any sign of how to recreate it and/or how to use it. While the tapestry provided clues to what it could be used for, it didn't provide the information for how to obtain it. It wasn't until later that they had found that Mantra exists within humans, mainly within. It was an entity all itself… one could even say it exists within a human's soul, and help make up their very being. Problem is, unlike chakra, humans in today's age couldn't access Mantra on the same scale. It wasn't until the scientist had begun to study the statues themselves did they find out the statues were formerly alive, and despite them being in a dead like state, their bodies could continue to use Mantra. His scientist came to realize that in order for a human to manipulate Mantra, they needed to be physically modified in a way that would allow it.

Under Danzo's order, the scientists were able to extract the Mantra from the 8 statues, and so, animal and human testing had been performed. Sadly to say, out of the humans or animals that had been tested on, 25% of the animals survived, while all of the human test subjects had perished. It wasn't until later; researchers had discovered that the bodies of the humans and animals had rejected the Mantra due to their chakra network, mainly fully developed chakra network, which caused a sort of expelling of the Mantra from the body. It was then; Danzo had come to realize that they would need younger humans, ones whose chakra network hasn't fully developed, to fully integrate Mantra into their system. Sadly, Root had yet to obtain any young operatives, a problem that Danzo plans on rectifying in the future, and so, this forced the Root Anbu to discretely find children who would be perfect candidates for the Mantra integration, for in the event the process ends up killing them and no one would miss them, and someone who would be easy to manipulate into working under him.

Danzo had given the order to have the latest generation of children discretely be the guinea pigs, taking great care to select the right ones. Danzo had specifically targeted mainly tried to aim for children that weren't part of any clans, however, in the event the children would suddenly dying off or showing signs of great power, he had ordered a select few of the clan's children to be part of the experiment, mostly aiming for members of the clans that didn't carry heavy leeway in the village. When the procedure was done, none of the children had suffered from any rejection of the Mantra; however, there also appeared no sign of it manifesting either. Danzo decided to be patient, and wait to see if anything happened over time.

"I have waited a long time to bring this power to Konoha's forces… I can wait a little longer…" Danzo stated, overlooking some files of the selected children, one of them being a young girl with fiery red hair with the name, Kushina Uzumaki.

Many years+ 13 years after the Kyuubi assault…

Chunin Exams, the Forest of Death

Team 7, which consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha, were in the middle of a fight for their lives against a Snake using Kuso Kunoichi, and were losing badly. First, Naruto got blown away by a blast of air, and then he got eaten by a giant snake. Sasuke then had to fight like a frantically frightened mouse, while Sakura was literately useless during the entire affair. Naruto was then able to escape the snake, backpedal to the group, and had fought on par with the Kuso Kunoichi, or at least on par with her current level of strength, by using the chakra of a Nine Tailed Fox sealed within his gut. However, the snake user's strength turned out to be incredibly unfathomable, as she managed to restrain Naruto, and to place a Five Pronged Seal on his stomach, cutting his power off from the Kyuubi.

Now, Naruto was hanging by the neck, held in place by his current enemy's super long tongue, on the brink of passing out. Kuso Ninja tossed Naruto with but a flick, and Naruto began to fall from a height that would most likely kill him. As he fell, his consciousness was slipping, so there was no way for him to catch himself from his impending doom.

'Damn it… even with the fox's chakra… it wasn't enough…' Naruto berated himself in his head. 'I can barely think straight… whatever she did; I won't be awake for long… If only I had more power… something just to get this ninja to back off...'

'You're not very bright, are you?' A voice spoke, catching Naruto's attention. Suddenly, Naruto's body stopped in midair, and time seemed to come to a still.

"Huh? Who's there?" Naruto called out.

(Play song: The Golden Spider … from the Asura's Wrath OST)

'After using all that power… and you still couldn't defeat that snake… you really are a bit of an idiot…'

Naruto looked around, trying to find the voice, when suddenly, a spider made of solid gold descended down in front of him, a thin line of gold holding it up.

'Of course… intelligence doesn't always equal one's strength… just their competence.' The spider spoke, its mandibles moving while it spoke. 'I guess your strength is really determined by overcoming your opponent with brute force... I guess everyone has their own methods of how they handle a fight…'

"Who… who are you? And where do you get off calling me an idiot!" Naruto asked with a yell, upset this spider had the nerve of insulting him.

'Well… at least you're smart enough to ask good questions… problem is, that isn't the right question…' The spider stated. 'The right question would have been… who you are?' It said, referring to Naruto this time.

Naruto then got himself ready to answer. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm going to…"

'The question was rhetorical… I know who you are…' The spider interrupted. 'Naruto Uzumaki… Jinchuuriki of the 9 tailed fox… village pariah… dead last of the Shinobi academy… and the most unpredictable, knuckled headed Ninja of Team 7 who goes around claiming he is going to be Hokage… and also is a huge fan of Ramen noodles, mainly from the Ichiraku Noodle shop, and always goes around saying, "Believe It!" all the time… Am I right?'

Naruto was caught off guard. "How… how did you know that?" He asked.

'Another good question… but again, not the right one… what you should be asking is… "How am I going to be able help protect my friends from a psycho snake woman without the help of that damn fox's chakra?" That one would be a lot more helpful…'

Naruto thought about what the spider had said. He made a good point. However, at the same time, there was something off about this spider. Though Naruto may have been known to be awfully gullible, sans his experience with Mizuki, this spider just practically screamed he had a secondary agenda, something that even Naruto could pick up on. However, since things were looking grim for him and his teammates, Naruto decided to throw caution to the wind, and do what he always did… went with his gut.

"Alright… how?" Naruto asked.

'Good… you're willing to listen… to answer your question… you already have what is needed… you just have to let it out…' The spider responded.

"Already have it? But I already used the fox's chakra, and it wasn't enough… now I can't even feel it anymore…" Naruto argued.

'I wasn't talking about the fox… you, my boy, have a great rage inside of you… yet you keep it bottled up…' The spider commented.

"No I don't! I always cuss at Sasuke for being an ass… and, if the Kyuubi is anything to go by; I think I release a healthy amount of anger when needed…" Naruto argued back.

'Again, you are insinuating I am talking about your false prideful anger… no, I am talking about your real rage... the one you always keep bottled up…' At this, the spider began to move slowly around Naruto's head. 'Your rage with the Fourth for sealing a giant demon in your gut… your rage toward the Third for not being clear about your real parents… your rage toward the villagers for always scorning you, or ignoring you, and your frustration to your own ignorance as to why… your rage toward the children of the academy for being even worst then their parents, and always ostracizing you… your rage towards Mizuki for betraying your trust… but I think the most prominent rage you feel is toward your own teammates…'

At this, Naruto's attention was caught, and he couldn't help but slightly growl from hearing these harsh truths. "Shut up…" Naruto growled out quietly.

'Your so called "Sensei" who is supposed to be training you to be a stronger Shinobi, yet the only lessons he has truly taught you is how to walk up at a vertical angle, and about teamwork…'

"Shut up…" Naruto whispered harshly, a little louder than last time.

'Then there is your rival and so called friend… Ha! If you were to ask him anything about you, would he be able to answer in a positive way? He is so self absorbed in his own path of vengeance, he is oblivious to everything and everyone around him…'

"Shut up…" Naruto angrily said, now more clearly than before.

'And finally, your so called "Love interest…" she will never love you… no matter what you do, she will always only have eyes for the Uchiha and for him alone…'

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Naruto yelled out, anger boiling over, red energy beginning to flare from his body. Naruto swung his hand at the spider, only for it to vanish in a blink of an eye.

'Yes… that's it… let your anger out… show them all… let everyone know and cower before Your Wrath!' The spider goaded.

"GAAAHHH!" Naruto roared. The red energy he was feeling was like the fox's, only it was different. While the fox's chakra used his anger to manipulate him, this energy was practically feeding on his anger, and the angrier he was getting, the more powerful he was starting to feel. Of course, Naruto was not in a state to comprehend that, as his thoughts were clouded in a raging haze. All he could focus on now were on how pissed he is, and he was focusing that anger toward the Snake user. "GRRR!" Naruto growled, as suddenly, the red energy engulfed his arms, shredding the sleeves of his orange jumpsuit, leaving his arms bare. Suddenly, a silver armor coated his arms up to his elbows, making it look as if his very flesh turned to silver. What remained of his orange jacket then suddenly tore open, showing his black shirt he always wore underneath.

Time then began to kick back in, and Naruto found himself still falling toward the ground. He quickly adjusted his weight, and managed to position his feet toward the tree. He then jumped from the tree, splinters exploding from the tree where he jumped, heading straight for the snake user, his eyes now a pure glowing white. "RAAAGH!"

|-Naruto's Wrath-|

So far, things had been going according to Orochimaru's plans. He was able to sneak into Konoha, steal the face and identity of a Kuso Kunoichi, enter into the exams, and locate Sasuke Uchiha's team. The fact that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was part of said team was a bit of a bit of a nuisance, but all Orochimaru had to do was put the 5 pronged seal on the brat, and the kid was out of the way. Now he can truly test Sasuke's skills, and apply the Curse mark seal on him before any Konoha Shinobi figure out he is here, and decide to interfere.

"RAAAGH!"

Suddenly, Orochimaru caught sight of Naruto jumping right toward him, his arms covered in a silver substance, and his eyes a glowing white. Not to mention that Naruto was really moving fast toward Orochimaru, like a thrown kunai. Naruto threw a punch toward Orochimaru, the snake Sanin moving his head to the side. Orochimaru felt a huge gust of air from that punch, letting him know that if Naruto managed to hit him with that punch, he would be severely injured. Naruto suddenly followed up with another punch, which Orochimaru also sidestepped, however, Naruto's other hand came just as quickly, Orochimaru having to dodge this punch. Naruto then suddenly kicked out with his leg, Orochimaru having to avoid that attack, and then this was followed by another punch for his stomach this time, Orochimaru having to dodge again. Orochimaru began to notice that Naruto's attacks were kicking up speed, and giving him less opportunity to counter attack.

Sasuke and Sakura were watching Naruto from the same spot as before, and both looked in awe and shock.

'Is… is that really Naruto?' Sakura thought to herself.

'He looked like he was on his last leg… where did he get such a boost in power?' Sasuke thought to himself.

'He should have passed out by now… how did the brat do it? I cut off his supply from the Kyuubi… it must be a different source… but from where?' Orochimaru thought to himself.

Naruto suddenly backed up, as if focusing, and suddenly, his fist came flying out in a rapid succession, all of them coming so close to hitting Orochimaru, that he was forced to switch with a log at the last second, Naruto's fist colliding with both the log, and the trees behind it, each one gaining a gaping hole that tittered them on the brink of collapsing. Naruto turned to see that Orochimaru had avoided his attack, and thinking quickly, he grabbed the top part of the tree that had been broken, and ripped it all the way off of its remains, amazingly lifting the tree above his head.

Everyone's expression, even Orochimaru's, were dumbfounded by how physically strong Naruto had become. With a growl, Naruto hoisted the tree up, and swung it down toward Orochimaru, but also, unintentionally, toward his own teammates.

"Shit! Sakura, Move!" Sasuke yelled, as he grabbed Sakura, and jumped away. Orochimaru also jumped away, avoiding the tree coming down on top of him.

"You idiot! Watch where you're aiming, you almost hit us!" Sasuke yelled out.

"GAARRR!" Naruto ignored Sasuke outburst, completely enthralled in the battle, and was currently oblivious to everything around him except for Orochimaru. He then lifted the tree above his head again, and this time, began to twirl it around as if it were a pole, knocking the top of other trees off.

"What has gotten into him?" Sakura asked as she and Sasuke were jumping to lower branches out of the radius of Naruto's twirling tree.

"He's completely gone berserk!" Sasuke commented.

Naruto then laid eyes on Orochimaru, who managed to jump on to a higher part of the trees, and with a great roar, Naruto threw the tree toward Orochimaru, who easily slithered past the tree. Naruto was about to follow up, when suddenly, the red energy that had been permeating his body suddenly cut off. The moment it did, Naruto's muscles instantly eased up, his expression becoming blank, and then Naruto began to fall backwards, falling off the tree he had torn apart. Sakura saw him falling, and quickly reacted by tossing a kunai toward him, catch his open jacket before he could fall any further.

"Well… that was certainly unexpected…" The disguised Orochimaru commented. "But now that the interruption is out of the way, let us pick up where we left off."

Sasuke then got himself ready to fight this Kuso Kunoichi, unaware that it is actually the traitor, Orochimaru, behind the mask of flesh. Sasuke would put up a valiant effort, and fight with all he has got, but unfortunately, he will have failed against the overwhelmingly strong opponent, who will then place a curse on him, causing him to pass out and undergo a horrible transformation. As for Naruto, you will have to wait and see…

To Be Continued…

On the next Naruto's Wrath:

Naruto and Sasuke are out cold, and Sakura is on her own facing an overwhelming force. Meanwhile, Sasuke faces his own inner turmoil that threatens to shatter all that he is and ever will be. Will he overcome it, or will the flames of hatred and desire consume him, body and soul?

Next time: The Melancholy of Sasuke Uchiha

Nobody: To be honest, I was expecting there to be at least 1 Asura's Wrath Fic on FanFic... however, I have yet to see any... so, I will take my chances, and try for one myself...

Also, I will say, Asura's Wrath is a game worth playing, and not passing up... I definitely suggest it for those who are fan of Action and epic scenes...

Next, I challenge anyone to try and make their own Fic or X-over with Asura's Wrath... Just let me know if you do...

I hope all of you enjoyed this, and look forward to the next chapter... and don't worry, I haven't given up on any of my other fics... just letting the inspiration come to me...

Signed,

Mr. Nobody