Samsara: The Sage's Journey Chapter 3, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto

Summary: Yet again, the Chosen of Samsara died. Once more, They were forced to return to the world of living. Their Master, Their friend has died and yet the Curse remains. This time, the Sage was prepared, to fight once more for Their world of Peace and Order. However, Heaven seemed to have other plans. Rikudō x Female Naruto.

This chapter has yet to be Beta'd.

Still an idea, I might revise it later.

Review Responses:

Jostanos: NOOOO! That means I have (Once again!) become rusty. Training! Seishun!

dregus: Indeed, ...I find it ironic when you said 'god' read the note below.

Knight of elves: Thanks, I'm trying to keep it balanced (as there are spoilers for Game in Journey).

imsabbel: Either narm or ham, both are what I'm targeting.

DrakenSword0z: Thanks, for the compliment and cookie.

ElementKitsune: Well, he is 'a' God of Shinobi, still no match for the original, though.

Kitsune Mask: Like in Game, yet another world. About Shio being Naruto's descendant, that is just a guess in Rikudō's part. Always remember that in my story, narration lie, because they are from a character's POV.

Reishin Amara: I blame insanity, and my obsession with religions and mythologies.

TertiusArmada: Yeah, Sarutobi is strong but against Rikudō... Rin... will appear this chapter. ...well, the Phase-3 of her will (See explanation at the end of chapter).

KHARAKI TAKAN: Hmm... Shio's difference with Naruto still haven't been shown yet but this chapter will show their difference in motivation. Uzumaki Naruto's (canon) motivation is so that he could be respected (and later, to protect his precious people), Shio is more... obsessed than him about respect.

DruidFWY: The monk staff, with Six Realms Rings, is begging to be used. To be fair for other authors, the Uchiha fan is actually seen in manga being used in fight.

...well, Archerko Rin is Phase-2 Rin. The one who appear here is Phase-3 Rin. See explanation at the end of this chapter.

GoldenDragon14: ...yeah, that was the plan. I only made prologue as teaser but... events happened and in the end, I continued it. Yeah, no 'shinobi'... hence, the note below.

8Swords: Hmm... I still say that I'm bad with fight scene though. Not as good as other authors I've seen...

Toaneo07 ver2.0: Thanks!

Warning for Readers as Journey is sequel of sequels, there will be some parts that might seem 'doesn't make sense' until it is explained in later chapter.

Also, Journey happened after Phase-2 of the story. Let me explain, Samsara series is a series that I made with 3 Phase in mind.

Phase-1: Prologue (AKA Peace and Order), and introduction to mythical world (Game of the Gods, especially Rin and Zaō-Gongen's presence in it.), only has Shinto and Buddhism elements for now. ...maybe later Cthulhu mythos but I don't know, maybe I'll replace them with easier to understand mythology.

Phase-2: Naruto's adventure with mythical world, I haven't reached this yet. Here, more religions and mythologies will appear notable ones include: Hinduism, Judaism (Especially Angels and Devils), Greek Olympians, Zoroastrianism and other myths.

Phase-3: After Naruto's adventure. The only one I plan in this phase is this story, Journey. Which actually is supposed to tie up any loose ends and giving more explanation about the mythologies. ...well, with Journey being a spin-off now, this plan is shot down. I'll just improvise, and try to keep the spoiler minimal.

From the middle of Phase-2 and Phase-3, don't be surprised when I introduce mythological characters Ex: next chapter, I plan on bringing three characters from different mythologies, here are the clue:

1. Son of the Sun, from Mahabharata.

2. Goddess of Hunt and Moon, Olympian.

3. The Heavenly Scribe, the Angel Closest to God, former human who have never known death.

Don't worry if you are unfamiliar with mythologies. I will provide explanation both in story and as footnote at the end of the story. You can PM me or if you are a guest, leave a review here with your question. I will answer your question and do my best to help you.

My apologies if any elements of Samsara offends you. I am someone who is very interested in religions and mythologies, that is why any story I made (even those that is not published in ), always have mythical elements in them.

Samsara: The Sage's Journey

Chapter 3 Settling In

When she saw Tennō-san returning with her grandfather, she let out a sigh of relief.

She was afraid that they would fight again.

"Shio-kun, are you alright?" her grandfather asked.

She nodded, "Tennō-san saved me..."

Shio saw her grandfather wince while Tennō-san gave another amused chuckle.

...he seemed to do that out of habit.

"Think nothing of it, little Uzumaki. It would be a waste for Us to lose an interesting mortal such as you."

Shio blinked.

No, not only her, the many jōnin around her also seemed to be surprised hearing the man's words.

"Tennō-san, your way of speaking is strange," she told him.

Rikudō raised an eyebrow hearing that.

His speech pattern is strange? He did not recall Naruto ever stating such thing.

Now that He thought about it, the other Mortal God's speech pattern is also peculiar.

He had thought that the behaviors of the mortals of this age seemed to be too friendly, too trusting.

Perhaps the He and Namikaze Naruto were the strange ones?

He supposed it did not matter.

"Is there a problem with it, little Uzumaki?" He asked the girl.

The girl shook her head frantically.

"No, I thought it was cool. It's like you are a prince or something."

Hearing that, Rikudō could not help but laugh.

He? A prince?

The original owner of His body was but a mere farmer. A lowly peasant.

In fact, the reason why His other self was not killed by the bandits, was because He worked at the farm that fateful day.

"We are not a prince, little Uzumaki. However, We thank you for the praise."

The Uzumaki smiled, her eyes seemed to lit up brightly.

Why? He met her eyes and He easily identified the emotions inside her with His own Eyes.

She was happy, happy because of His words.

How... curious.

That was the first time someone thanked her.

It felt nice. She liked the feeling.

Then she felt a hand on her head, she looked towards the owner of the hand and saw Tennō-san, smiling with amusement.

"Tennō-san?" her voice came out a bit squeaky.

Tennō-san simply patted her head. Warm feelings filled her body and her cheeks reddened.

"Tennō-dono, perhaps you should stop before Shio-kun fainted," her grandfather asked, grinning towards her.

The Uzumaki pouted as he lifted his hand.

"Tennō-dono, would you like to continue our conversation in my office?"

"...very well," He nodded. "However, We would like to escort little Uzumaki to her home first."

Sarutobi nodded.

The journey back home felt like a blur to Shio.

Tennō-san carried her on his arms all the way and he placed her on her bed.

Even after the mysterious Angel left, she could not get his image out of her head.

She guessed this is how the other girls in her academy felt when they saw Uchiha Sasuke.

A crush, right?

...she doesn't want to be a fangirl though.

What would Iruka-sensei say?

"...Iruka-sensei..." she muttered, the memories of when she saw him falling in front of her appeared in her mind.

She felt guilty for paying more attention to Tennō-san instead of worrying about him.

But Tennō-san did save him...

"Who is he?" she asked herself.

He appeared out of nowhere and saved her. He offered to help Iruka and asked her to be his apprentice in return.

Her? He actually asked her to be his apprentice?

She couldn't recall someone showing that much interest in her.

She was close to Iruka-sensei, she was close to grandpa Hokage. She thought of them as a caring older brother and a kind grandfather.

...but they had to keep up appearances...

If Iruka-sensei is too friendly with her, he could be fired for showing favoritism. He always took care of her whenever he could, he risked his life for her. That's more than what anyone have done for her.

The Hokage is always busy, the few times he visited her, he would always tell her about how she should remain strong. About how one day the village will accept her.

Honestly, she doesn't care about the village. She wanted to be respected, she wanted people to listen to her. But they don't have to be Konoha.

Seeing Tennō-san's amused and interested eyes when he looked at her was enough.

She want more, more people to pay attention to her.

Then she recalled how even the Hokage showed respect to Tennō-san.

A new desire flared inside her.

"...I want everyone to respect me. ...even the Kage..."

Rikudō's mind worked automatically as He answered Sarutobi's questions of His new false identity.

First name? Tennō.

Last name? Unknown, an orphan.

Previous affiliation? Takigakure, with Naruto's memory, it would be simple for Him to provide answers to curious minds.

Age? 18, it seemed that He had returned to the age where His body stopped growing. The time when He took over His host. Eighteen years old should be sufficient for his identity.

Rank? ...jōnin, however, as Takigakure does not possess a jōnin shinobi at this time, the Hokage changed His rank into chūnin.

Bloodline? He chuckled in amusement as the Hokage wrote 'unknown' on the paper. He had decided to use the same method Naruto used to hid his Eyes. A pair of blue contact lens covered the Eyes of God He possessed.

He answered several more questions until finally Sarutobi declared that He was free to leave.

Sarutobi gave Him a key and informed Him that He would live in the same apartment as little Uzumaki. He was also told that He would join her in her first team meeting tomorrow.

That would be interesting.

Would her team be similar to Namikaze Naruto's? Or would it be similar to the other Naruto?

The other Naruto, the mortal Namikaze Naruto met in another world. The child's team is riddled with disorder.

A hate-filled, vengeful Uchiwa, a weak, obsessed Haruno, in addition, a broken scarecrow as a teacher.

He was surprised they managed to pass the scarecrow's test.

Rikudō ceased His movements as He realized that He had reached His new lodgings.

The room beside little Uzumaki's.

He opened the door and sat cross-legged on the floor. He closed His Eyes and began to focus His mind.

"Meditating? Saying prayers to the Diamond Buddha?" a girl's voice asked Him.

Most people who heard the voice would assume that the speaker was a teenage girl, perhaps about thirteen years old.

He knew better.

He had expected her to appear in front of Him the moment He was alone. He knew that she had something to do with His presence in this world. If she is not the cause, then she should at least know who sent Him here.

He had entertained the thought of asking her the truth but He knew better.

She and Rikudō would never be civil, not to each other.

"Explain your presence here, Blacksmith."

The Blacksmith God's Avatar of Power, ripple-patterned circle with nine tomoe formed on the wall in front of Him.

The mark glowed red and a girl stepped out of the Avatar.

A white haired 'girl' with lone visible Eye.

"How many years has it been?" the 'girl' asked Him, her voice held none of the innocence she possessed years ago.

Back when Namikaze Naruto was still alive. Gone were the little girl who happily played with dogs, gone were the little girl who innocently asked Naruto questions whenever she was confused.

What left, is nothing more than a wraith bound to his memory. A girl who refused to believe that her 'big brother' is gone.

He watched her with cold Eyes, noting that her posture did not indicate that she wished for a confrontation.

"Didn't you hear Us, slave? We asked you, how many years has it been?" the girl asked, her voice growing colder.

"...how many years since what, exactly?" He questioned her, raising an eyebrow.

Of course He knew what she meant, He simply wished to hear the answer right out of her mouth.

"Don't try to act a fool," the Degraded Blacksmith's lone Eye began to glow and a tense silence passed between them.

Then the Goddess, Rin opened her mouth, "how many years has it been since you left mortal God to die?"

Shorter than I thought, but for the sake of drama, I'll cut it here. What do you think about the 'grown-up' Rin. Or as I would call her, Phase-3 Rin. Phase-1 Rin is the child in Game, Phase-2 Rin is grown-up Rin when Naruto is still alive. Phase-3 is after Naruto's death.

Just in case there are those who did not read the note above:

Warning for Readers as Journey is sequel of sequels, there will be some parts that might seem 'doesn't make sense' until it is explained in later chapter.

Also, Journey happened after Phase-2 of the story. Let me explain, Samsara series is a series that I made with 3 Phase in mind.

1. Son of the Sun, from Mahabharata.

2. Goddess of Hunt and Moon, Olympian.

3. The Heavenly Scribe, the Angel Closest to God, former human who have never known death.

I have given a warning, if there is any flame about how a reader is angry because he/she didn't expect religious and mythical elements in this story, I WILL ignore them.

Criticism of my writing skill is acceptable but religion and myths are my passion, and if you criticize me for incorporating it in my story, ...you are welcome to write your own story.