Limbo’s Gatekeeper

Chapter 1: Limbo

He was bored. Very, very bored. History was the most boring subject known to man, he was sure of it. The teacher, a chuunin named Umino Iruka, was once again telling the same story they had been told at least a million times before.

“...and that, kids, is how our village was founded.” A snore was heard. Iruka looked up to see where it came from. A boy, with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes was laying face down on his desk sleeping….

Iruka sighed. “Naruto, why do you never pay attention in my classes? What can I do to get your attention?” The rest of the class was shocked. Iruka had never reacted so calmly to a student snoozing.

He looked up. “Iruka-sensei, we have been fed the same story about how the village was founded a million times, and it doesn’t ever change. Shodai this, shodai that. I mean I get that he was an incredible figure and all, but why is it that we are only taught about the shodai and nidaime from that era. I mean surely there must be something interesting and different you can tell us about from the time the village was founded.”

Iruka was stunned. He had never thought that was the problem. He had always just assumed that Naruto, like most 8 year olds, simply didn’t like learning history. Though thinking about it, he had to concede to the boys point. The kids had indeed been told the same story many times in the past. “Do the rest of you guys feel this way?” He asked. A boy with spiky brown hair and red face paint on his cheeks answered. “yeah Iruka-sensei, we have heard this story a million times before. Tell us a new story at least.” Iruka looked to the rest of the students, they we’re all nodding.

Iruka got to thinking. What should he tell them? He looked around his class and saw a kid had his hand raised. The kid had pineapple shaped hair and a bored expression on his face. “Yes shikamaru?”

“Troublesome, didn’t the shodai have any rivals? I mean my troublesome mother always tells me rivalries are what make a strong shinobi.”

“Troublesome indeed.” Iruka chuckled. “the shodai did indeed have a rival, though he was a rather troublesome individual. Are you sure you still want to hear about him?”

This got the whole classes undivided attention. Naruto, who still had his head on his desk until this point, sat up straight and looked at him intensely. If Iruka-Sensei found this person troublesome then the story must be amazing. The pineapple haired youth who had asked the question just muttered “troublesome” and wondered what he had gotten himself into.

Seeing no objections, Iruka decided to tell the story. “The shodai hokage Hashirama Senju had a rival from way back early in his childhood. There were no hidden villages during the childhood of the shodai, but rather, clans lived secluded from eachother and were often hired by feudal lords to protect their lands. There were many clans during this time, but 2 stood out from the rest. They were way too powerful for any other clans and the only one who could tackle them was eachother. This led to a great rivalry between these two clans that lasted for centuries. Those clans were the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan. During that time, if one side hired the Uchiha clan, the other would always hire the Senju.”

“This brutal time period had so much bloodshed that the life expectancy of civilians and shinobi alike was under 30 years. This led to a situation where clan kids would be sent out to fight from the moment they could walk. Unfortunately, most of these kids didn’t survive past their 8th birthday.” Iruka looked around and saw that some of the students looked grim.

This last revelation managed to make many of the students flinch. To think that at one point most kids didn’t even live to their current age was shocking to say the least.

Iruka decided to continue the story. “During this time, kids would either be sent on missions by their clans or they would join them in the main battles. This forced them to either grow up quick and become strong or perish without accomplishing anything in their short life. In-between all the chaos and violence, 2 kids from opposing clans would be destined to surpass everyone who came before them. Both of the kids had 4 siblings each. As time passed by and their clans kept meeting in combat, they would grow up on the battlefield, watching as their beloved siblings would go into battles with them and never come out again.”

“Their names were Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. By their 12th birthday, both Hashirama and Madara would only have 1 living sibling left. The desire to protect their loved ones forced these 2 to gain as much power as possible. One day, their fathers Butsuma Senju and Tajima Uchiha, who were the clan heads at the time, met in a battle which resulted in both of their deaths. After that battle, at the ripe age of 17, Hashirama and Madara became their respective clan leaders with their little brothers, Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Izuna as their second in command.”

The whole class was dead silent, listening to Iruka’s story. This was way better than anything they had heard yet in history class. Iruka looked around and saw the focused faces on his students. He smiled, it seems he finally found something the students found interesting. He looked at Naruto, who stared right back at him with a serious face. He had never seen the boy so concentrated and contemplative. He figured he should continue the story.

“The bad blood between the Senju and Uchiha clan continued for a while longer. The rivalry between Hashirama and Madara would see them meet eachother in battle all the time. Their battles are a thing of legends. Their battles went from being a contained clash between 2 youthes to becoming earth shattering and landscape changing affairs. It is said that in their primes, both of them could take on the rest of the shinobi on the battlefields on their own and come out unscathed.”

The students couldn’t believe it. They had heard bits and pieces of the shodai’s battle prowess, but never like this. To hear that he could take on entire armies without breaking a sweat is truly shocking. No wonder the man had earned the moniker Shinobi no Kami. And to hear he also had a rival who could do the same is incredible. Iruka saw the awe in their faces and decided he should continue the story.

“But Hashirama and Madara wasn’t the only rivalry going on at the time. Their younger brothers, Tobirama and Izuna, also had a rivalry on their own. Ultimately, it was the rivalry between these two that would change history.”

“In one of the many fateful clashes between the Senju and Uchiha, Tobirama would manage to catch Izuna off guard. That day, Uchiha Izuna would be no more. Madara was enraged, but what could he do. His clan was being overrun. Hashirama, with all his mercy, would allow the Uchiha to retreat, allowing Madara to try and get his brother healed. Unfortunately, it was for naught, and Izuna Uchiha died that day.”

“Their clans would continue to meet in battle a couple more times, but the Uchiha’s hearts weren’t in it anymore. The clan had started being overrun by the Senju. Many in the clan started to get restless, wishing for the fighting to just end. Hashirama saw this, and much to the ire of his younger brother he offered them peace, he offered them to come together and form a village where kids could grow up in peace instead of the battlefield.”

“At first, Madara declined, still being emotional from his brothers death. And so they battled again, and for the first time ever, Uchiha Madara had been beat. For the first time ever, Uchiha Madara’s back had hit the ground, at the hands of none other than his rival, Hashirama. The rest of the Uchiha clan had also been beat by their Senju counterparts, and for the first time in thousands of years the Senju had the opportunity to wipe out their greatest rivals, the Uchiha.”

“When the fighting stopped, Tobirama approached Madara, and he was just about to finish him off, when suddenly Hashirama stopped him. Hashirama decided to plead with Madara one last time. He asked him to join hands, uniting the 2 greatest clans in the world. Madara looked at him, and told him that he would join hands with them only if Hashirama was able to show him his mettle by killing Tobirama, the one who killed Izuna.”

“Tobirama was outraged, but Hashirama had a different solution. Of course, he couldn’t kill his younger brother, and so he decided he would kill himself and he decreed that when he died, the Senju were not to battle the Uchiha anymore. He decreed that they were to join hands with the Uchiha, under Madara and make peace. Just when he was about to plunge the kunai into his own gut, Madara stopped him. He told him he had shown him his mettle. No more fighting, they decided.”

“The 2 clans came together and formed the village currently known as Konohagakure no Sato. Matter of fact, Madara was the one to name the village. The village prospered, everything seemed great and the people were happy. Eventually, other clans would also join the village and live alongside the Uchiha and Senju. The fire Daimyo asked them to choose a leader, a hokage, who would be the face of the village, a protector and leader.”

“The villagers chose Hashirama, and shortly after that, Madara left the village. We don’t know why Madara left, but I believe the higher-ups may know. Shortly after, he came back with the kyubi and fought Hashirama. The battle was monstrous and completely changed the landscape in the valley that would later become known as the valley of the end. Eventually, in a battle that lasted for days, the shodai came out on top, finally killing his best friend and rival, Uchiha Madara.”

“There is more history that can be told about these two, but those are stories for another day.” Iruka ended the story and looked at his students. The deep concentration and the thoughtful looks on their faces were a sight for sore eyes, in his opinion. He was glad that the students liked his story. He was just about to ask if there was any questions, but just at that moment the bell rang. The students got out of their daze and slowly left the classroom, no doubt still in deep contemplation.

Iruka was just about to leave the classroom when he noticed Naruto was still there. “Naruto, is everything ok?” Naruto looked towards his sensei and asked: “Iruka-Sensei, in your story, you said Madara and Hashirama grew much stronger because they were determined to protect their loved ones. Does this mean I will never become strong because I don’t have anyone?”

“Naruto…. Of course not, You can still become strong. Also, even if you may feel like you have no one right now, you can make some great friends and start a family of your own.”

“I see, thank you, sensei.” And with those words, Naruto got up and left.

Later

Naruto was walking down konoha’s streets. He had been walking around, contemplating what Iruka had told him. He figured he should believe what Iruka-sensei had told him. He would become strong, he had to. As he thought, he figured he did, in fact, have people he wished to protect. He wanted to protect his jiji and the kind people over at the ichiraku ramen stand. His jiji had always been nice to him whenever he came around. He knew his jiji was very busy being the hokage. Even still, he would sometimes find time and take him to get ramen at Ichiraku’s.

It was getting pretty late, he was houngry so he figured he should go and get something to eat. As he was walking down the street, 3 people spotted him and started whispering. They started following him.

Naruto was walking down the street when he suddenly got a weird feeling. He felt like he was being watched. He could, for some reason, feel the hate that was directed towards him. He started to run. He ran and ran as fast as he could. The feeling didn’t go away and he could feel it was closing in on him.

He was frantic and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest like a relentless drummer, every beat echoing through his body as adrenaline surged through his veins, pushing him to the edge of panic.

Yet, for some unknown reason, his mind started to clear up and he calmed down. He turned down an alley and ran down it as fast as he could. When the wall at the other end blocked off his escape, he turned around and glared at the smirking trio that was leering at him as if they had won the greatest prize in the world.

They started inching towards him. “So you finally accepted your fate, demon!” Why was he being called a demon? He didn’t know, but he figured he should find out later if he managed to get out of here.

“It’s time we end your existence, just like you ended the existence of our families, with no mercy!” one of them said with a sneer. Naruto just looked at him, thinking about what he could have done in the past that would have ended someone’s existence.

The third one, who had been quietly sneering at him until this point, pulled a kunai and started running towards him. “Die DEMON!!!” Naruto couldn’t do anything but watch, as the man came closer and thrust his kunai forward. He raised his arms in a X shape in front of his head to block the kunai from piercing his skull.

“Aaarghhh!!” He screamed out in agony as both his small arms were impaled to the hilt. He couldn’t move them individually anymore, as they were linked together by the kunai. He wondered if this would be his end? He hadn’t accomplished anything yet. He hadn’t gotten himself a family. He briefly wondered if, perhaps, it would be better if he just allowed it to happen? He wondered if anyone would miss him. Three people popped up in his head. He had promised the old man he would take his hat, he had promised the ichiraku’s he would pay them back for their generosity when he got older.

He could feel a warmth starting to envelop His body. His blood started to feel like it was boiling, he could feel the adrenaline pumping into his veins and for some reason, it soothed him. He wouldn’t let these mongrol’s get the satisfaction of ending his existence. If not for his own sake, then for the sake of the people to whom he had promises to keep. He didn’t cry out in pain. These mongrol’s didn’t deserve to see him cry.

As a thick, bubbling, red coat started to envelope his body, he gave a fierce glare towards the fuckers who had dared attempt to end his existence prematurely.

They were scared shitless. They had expected him to breakdown and cry, or to just scream in pain. Yet, as his fierce glare was directed at them, they felt as if he had already pierced their hearts. The feeling he was giving off was as if they were his prey, not the other way around.

He started inching towards them, with adrenaline pumping, it didn’t take long before his walk became a sprint, and the fools started attempting to flee. He wouldn’t let that happen…

He didn’t know what it was, but he felt two words coming to him. Perhaps it was his adrenaline, or maybe it was his rage. He didn’t know, and frankly, at this moment, he didn’t care… The words simply left his mouth in a snarl, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to him. “Rinbo: Hengoku (Limbo: Border Jail).”

As the attackers were running away through the narrow alley, one of them felt himself hit something, something he couldn’t see… “Huh??” he eloquently got out as he was tripped to the ground by some invisible obstacle. The other two, who were running at full speed, couldn’t avoid his falling form in the narrow alleyway and they also fell to the ground.

Naruto pounced on the one closest to him as he put his still X-shaped arms around his neck. He used the tip of the kunai, which had pierced all the way through his arms, to slice the man’s jugular. Blood fountained out of him as his two comrades stared at the scene in horror. They quickly got up and attempted to flee once more. As they ran, one of them bumped into something invisible. He had no idea what it was, but he didn’t intend to stay and find out. 

Naruto got up and snarled at his prey. They tried to flee again. That wouldn’t do…

He burst into a full sprint once more and quickly caught up to them. He leaped and jumped at the man on the left, as he put his arms around him like he had done to the first one. The man was struck by horror, he knew he wasn’t long for this world anymore. He looked towards his comrade next to him and his eyes widened. The third assailant was being held down just like he was, but he couldn’t see anything holding him down. “What?” he gasped out as his last word, before his jugular was sliced in the same manner his first comrade was.

The third man could feel himself in a headlock. Yet, as he looked down, he saw nothing. “What the hell is this?” He ground out through clenched teeth. He could feel something pointy had pierced his neck. Whatever it was, it wasn’t budging, and as he felt the hold around him moving, he fell to the ground, lifeless.

Naruto could feel the adrenaline that had kept him going slowly fade from his body. He felt weak, as he started stumbling towards the exit of the alleyway. He looked down, and as the last vestiges of adrenaline left him, he could feel the world starting to go black.

The last thing he could remember as he fell forward towards the ground was a rumbling, dark voice uttering a single word…

Interesting….