Title: A New Vessel

Author: Dragon Dung

Pairings: Naruto x Sasuke/Sasuke x Naruto

Warning: Alternate Universe, yaoi, general OOC…

Disclaimer: See first Chapter.

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Chapter 12: Shifting Balance

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How does one perceive time?

Sometimes, it feels as though time is running out. As though there is never enough time in a day in order to accomplish all the chores on the list.

Sometimes, a minute feels like an hour...as though the end of the day could not arrive fast enough.

Sometimes, time is just not on your side and the day feels both too long and too short for your liking.

Ever imagined how time perception would feel to an animal? A plant? A spirit...?

...the planet itself?

--

1000 years ago, planet Earth's 'Supernatural' Dimension:

--

Their mission was simple. The Head of the Angels asked the three of them to protect a planet until further notice. One of them became impatient and left. The two that remained were then caught in an ambush. That planet became overrun with an unknown species of demons and the two angels that were trying to protect it found themselves in an even bigger dilemma when they came back home to their dimension on Earth. Apparently their third team member was behind the whole thing.

"Just what is going on here!?" Tsunade cried. She was a beautiful and powerful angel that was strict when necessary. She was vain and selfish at times, but she was a natural leader when she had to be. Especially during times of bewilderment like the one they were facing.

"You're asking me?" Jiraiya huffed, his glowing white hair billowing behind him. He resembled a large cat whose hair spiked up in the face of fear and danger.

Before them was their civilization under siege. All of their towers and the beautiful landscape, all of their homes and the foliage...it was all being destroyed before their eyes. Their angel comrades were trying to hold back swarms of demons. Their demon allies were caught in-between the mess, trying to choose sides. The few human spirits that existed in their dimension had taken on the form of the wind, doing the only thing they could do to help their angel friends...making sure that the weather was on their side.

Tsunade and Jiraiya stood in front of the angel that they trained with since they were mere cherubim. So many things were running through their minds. They wondered when he began to change. They wondered how he could betray them. They wondered why he did all this...if he considered them to be friends at all this entire time, the angel they considered to be as close as a sibling. The one that helped them complete a myriad of missions and defended their home side by side for so long. What could have happened? Why was he doing this?

"Why," the word was whispered, but the pain was so evident that one would have to wonder how difficult it was for Tsunade to push it through her lips.

"I am tired of having to do everything on the whims of the Heavens," Orochimaru hissed. "Death, rebirth, missions...our lives are never really our own! I refuse to go on mindlessly following orders and being forced into life and death whenever the Heavens feel like it!"

Jiraiya shook his head in disbelief, no, in denial. He didn't want to believe what was right before his eyes. His near lifelong partner had completely lost it.

"Do you not see that in the end, the three of us could remain the rulers of this dimension? Of this world? Of this universe?" Orochimaru continued, his demeanor expressed the fact that he didn't care what they thought of him at all. He had already made up his mind. "The rest are mere tools. Toys that can easily break."

"How little you think of those that care about you," Tsunade's voice was no more than a whisper again, but it carried to their ears so loudly that it echoed. Tears gathered in her eyes even though her posture and stance was defiant and authoritative. She was the shortest of the three, but as she began to gather power inside of her unto a diamond on her forehead, she felt as tall as ever.

Though Jiraiya didn't know exactly what Tsunade was planning, he realized that he needed to create a distraction in order for her to have enough time to do whatever she was planning to do. He drew out his crystal shard. Fire began gathering around it and he used it to create a long whip which he used to gain Orochimaru's attention. "You have lost all the respect I once had for you as a warrior."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed to slits. He drew out his own shard and used it to bring out his sword. For a moment the three legendary angels looked at each other. Then, the three of them took to the sky and a fight of epic proportions began far above their realm.

For a brief moment, in the middle of all the chaos that was occurring below, all the angels and demons that were fighting stopped to gawk at the legendary three angels fighting amongst themselves. This was certainly end of their world as they knew it.

Behind a broken wall not too distant from that battle, Sasuke and Kakashi knelt in front of a demon. Sasuke's brother.

"Whatever happens, get the fuck out of here," Itachi demanded. The only ways in which he differed from his younger brother was in age, eyes, and the different shade of black in his hair. "I'm going to stay behind to hold the others back."

"No, why do you think that you have to!?" Sasuke argued as his face scrunched up in a full frown. "You are still an ally, just come with us."

"More of you can escape if I stay behind," Itachi countered. His affection for his brother and his duty to the realm went hand in hand. "However, since you are clearly not cooperating..." In a swift move that neither Kakashi nor Sasuke could see, Itachi stamped Sasuke's forehead with the bottom of the hilt of his sword and the younger angel blacked out as a symbol that appeared on his forehead faded. "He's in your hands now, Kakashi. Take good care of him."

The silver-haired angel nodded and took Sasuke's smaller form in his arms. "Take care of yourself as well."

Even though he had the smaller angel in his arms to worry about, Kakashi's thoughts strayed towards another demon ally. The one that owned his heart. With his red eye, he scanned the damaged land until he found him. His heart felt heavier when he saw another demon slash Iruka across the nose. He nearly dropped Sasuke in his determination to aid the brown-haired demon.

Iruka, however, had no other problems in his scuffle with the demon that took a chunk of his nose with him. He fought hard and relentlessly even though the blood ran down his face. Demons healed as fast as angels did, being descendants of fallen angels themselves. As others looked on, Iruka's wound healed leaving nothing but a scar where the injury once was. When he looked around, he caught Kakashi's gaze and smiled ruefully. He mouthed the words 'Never look back' to the angel.

Several yards away, Naruto fell to the ground. He was exhausted with all the fighting, flying, and defending. His wings just couldn't carry his own weight anymore. He choked on the dust that kicked up when he landed and felt his eyes burn. He wiped away the tears that threatened to fall. He had barely managed to get away from a high level demon that was throwing her spear into the shoulder blades of any Elder angel she encountered. He was lucky that she didn't deem him important enough to kill on the spot.

Naruto coughed and wheezed, sitting against some rubble. He let his head fall back as he looked at the red-stained sky. Everything happened so suddenly. He was training with his comrades, the angels around his age group, when Orochimaru appeared with an army of a strange species of demon that none of them had ever seen. They heard Orochimaru cackling something about shifting the balance before their realm fell under attack. How quickly Atlantis had fallen.

"Naruto!"

The blonde let his gaze fall towards the direction of the voice, making his head turn in the smallest movement possible. Sakura?

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked anxiously while falling to her knees next to him and holding the blonde's head as she checked him over. "Have you been healing properly? Can you breathe?"

"I'm better than most," Naruto replied roughly. His throat was dry and so were his lips. It was a chore to even talk. He tucked his lips in to lick them a little before trying to talk again. "What about the others?"

"We've been gathering together. I think Tsunade and Jiraiya are coming up with a way to get us out of here safely," she explained.

"Heh," Naruto began bitterly. "A little late for that, don't you think?"

"Yes," a voice that he had never heard before echoed inside Naruto's head. The ground started to shake beneath them and the blonde angel saw a figure surrounded by fire rising from the cracks. "It's far too late for that."

Orange, red, and yellow lights shot up from the ground and carried up through the sky. Everyone stopped what they were doing in shock. A moment later, the lights engulfed the planet whole. Many of the angels began to fade. They looked at each other, frightened.

Sasuke stirred with the power that cackled all around them. Though his vision was blurring, the last thing he saw was a spear being lunged through Itachi's shoulder blade before the lights blinded them all. "BROTHER!"

--

Present Day:

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"Damn it, human, I don't speak with your kind very often," the voice roared. "So when I decide to speak, you better damn well listen."

Naruto scrunched up his closed eyes before slowly opening them. Before him stood the most beautiful and the most frightening being he had ever seen. Human in shape, but with the ears of a fox and...nine large tails swirling behind him. The most disturbing shade of red for eyes, and hair that seemed to be made out of bubbling fire. Bubbling? Did fire even bubble?

Now that he had finally gotten Naruto to rouse, the being grinned, showing all his sharp teeth. "Very good, little human," he stated, pleased. "I am Kyubi, the spirit of the planet you call Earth. I have brought you here to make a proposition."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. Was this another crazy dream? "Wh-what?"

Kyubi completely ignored Naruto's discomfort, confusion, and disbelief. "The thing is," he began. "I'm a hell of a lot more of a tolerant planet spirit than I should be. Humans? They're like mosquitoes to me. They leech off of me; occasionally give me a disease that threatens my life..."

Naruto tried his very best to understand what Kyubi was trying to tell him. He was trying so hard...

"They're a nuisance, but have still managed not to incur my full wrath," Kyubi concluded. "However..." He took a few steps closer to Naruto. "There is a reincarnated asshole that has been trying to suck the very life out of me. Each of his attempts is more successful than the last." He tried to send Naruto a sardonic grin, but it came out looking more like a snarl. "And as much as it stings my pride, I have come to the conclusion that I need your help. Become my Anchor. You'll be able to save your little friends from the calamity that is sure to come...I'll be able to stomp out the leech like a cockroach...we both win."

"A-A-Anchor?" Naruto stuttered. He had barely figured out what that term meant thanks to the talk he had with Sasuke and his friends, but hearing the word coming out of such a supernatural being was freaking him out to say the least.

"It's simple," Kyubi told him with a sultry smirk. He pulled Naruto closer to him, lifting his chin with a finger. "We just have to become one."

----

Naruto woke up with a start, falling off his bed. Would there ever be a day that he could have a normal dream and restful sleep? He rubbed his lower back as he sat up, peering over the bed at the no longer sleeping Sasuke that he had completely forgotten had slept over. "Sorry if I woke you," he apologized with a yawn. "I had such a disturbing dream..."

"What of?" Sasuke asked, hardly showing any signs of groggery.

"The spirit of this planet," Naruto replied, looking on as Sasuke's eyes widened. "He wants me to be the Anchor of Earth."

"WHAT? How?" Sasuke demanded. He didn't mean for it to come out so harsh, but seeing as how the previous planet spirit had started all this in the first place, he felt justified with his instant suspicion. "What did he say?"

Naruto winced at Sasuke's tone. "From what I understood, someone was leeching off of him and something terrible is going to happen."

Sasuke briefly pondered suffocating himself with Naruto's pillows. "Argh, will this ever end!?"

"What about you? Do you remember what your dream was about?" Naruto asked tentatively, sitting down next to Sasuke on his bed.

"It was more like a nightmare," Sasuke groaned. "They were images of a war that occurred before the angels were transferred to another planet."

"A war?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Sasuke explained. "One of the most powerful angels betrayed them all."

'Reincarnated asshole,' Naruto remembered Kyubi's choice of words. "Did you catch the name of that particular angel?"

----

"I'm impressed that he managed to block us once again," Kabuto noted. "But, it takes him more and more effort to do so. We're wearing him down."

"Heh. Heh," Orochimaru replied, a serpentine smile on his face. "He can't defy us forever."

----

"Kakashi," Iruka greeted, surprised to find the silver-haired man at his doorstep and wary about the serious face he had on. "How is Sasuke?"

"Bracing himself for the storm that's around the corner," Kakashi replied with a sigh. "They know, Iruka. All of them. They know everything."

Iruka sat with his forearms on his knees as Kakashi explained to him how he came across this information. Sasuke had called him after the younger generation had gathered and discussed the oddities of their past lives.

"It gets worse," the silver-haired man grumbled. He was reluctant to divulge the next part to Iruka, knowing that the man had always been attached to a certain blonde bubble of energy. "Naruto has been contacted by the spirit of the planet Earth. He has been chosen to be this planet's anchor- no; he probably has always been this planet's anchor."

Iruka's reaction to the news was just as he had expected. "No, we have to protect him...we can't have a repeat of what happened to all of you on Yainehm. I won't have it."

A small smile appeared on Kakashi's face. "I thought so. And that is why I need your help. Tell me again everything that happened after we were sent away from Atlantis."

----

Naruto found himself sitting before Sasuke's angel counterpart once again. How could someone ever get used to this? "So, his name was Orochimaru...and he was one of the badass top three reliable angels of that time until he backstabbed everyone."

"Hn," was AngelSasuke's reply.

"Well, what if I told you that ol' Orochimaru's reincarnated and trying to suck this planet's spirit dry?"

"WHAT? How?"

Naruto winced, feeling a bout of déjà vu. "Don't you think that, had I known that, I would have told you already? Hell if I knew!"

"Hmph. Hell sounds about right," AngelSasuke admitted. "I need to talk to your counterpart. Now."

Naruto couldn't help but glare at the order. But, he didn't feel like arguing with him just then. He closed his eyes and felt the ever-familiarizing feeling of a pull. When he reopened his eyes, it was his angel counterpart that spoke. "I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, but," AngelNaruto remarked. "What used to be a black bubble and had later become red fire is starting to fade away around my human's spirit."

----

TBC

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End Notes-

After a wonderful chapter full of possible answers and perhaps even a smidgeon of clarification (or so I hope)...I'm pretty sure I ended up losing all of you again! XD Ha ha. I apologize.

And, after Riki kept hounding me about the fact that she practically had nothing to beta when it came to my chapters, I caved in and decided to just post the chapters unbeta'd and let her help others with chapters that really DO need a lot more beta-ing. This chapter's dedicated to her because of how long she put up with me! Thanks for everything Riki!

Review Responses-

Broken Sexed Up Bloody Kitten: Wow, your screenname's awesome. XD

Stoic-Genius: Ha ha, at least I cleared up the Kyubi part!

Soulcaster: I'm glad you think so!

MidnightFox: *overwhelming guilt* I am SO sorry I took so long.

Shimaki-33: Yes, indeed! Good guess! XD

evildarklore: *more guilt* I'm such a slacker. Shame on me. Forgive me.

Silent-Serpent: Hope this chapter cleared it up a bit!