95Hello all Storm here with a new story! Really a rewrite of an old story, "My True Dream", with this one being much better than the original, with more detail and actually showing Naruto's escape from Hōzuki Castle. So, without further ado.
I own nothing
Deep within Hōzuki Castle, otherwise known as the Blood Prison, raspy breathing could be heard, coming from inside one of the many cells. With the prisoner inside lying on their bedroll, along with definitely having seen better days.
The prisoner in question had no identifiable features, as their entire body was covered in burns, as if they had been thrown into a volcano before being pulled out before they could die. Rather than the standard prison attires, that the rest of the prisoners were wearing, this prisoner was wearing a special black uniform. The uniform having been lined with seals to act as a life-support system, keeping the prisoner alive, along with wearing a respirator mask that covered their mouth, nose, and neck, ensuring they could still breath. While leaving the rest of their horrible burned head exposed, with the only defining feature being the persons eyes.
Bright blue eyes with slit pupils.
Though, while one would no longer be able to recognize who the prisoner was, the guards and the warden, Mui, knew this prisoner was Naruto Uzumaki, a former Ninja of Konohagakure. And with the condition Naruto was in at the moment, one would think that he's been locked away for years, suffering at the hands of the guards and other inmates.
But in actuality, Naruto has only been imprisoned in Hōzuki Castle, for one month.
With it all having started, not long after Naruto had returned from the Land of Iron, after the confrontation with Satsuki, and he was immediately summoned to the Hokage's office. At first, Naruto was confused as to why he was summoned, only for his confusion to turn into shock, when he was accused of having attempted to assassinate the Raikage and killed Jōnin from Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
Of course, Naruto tried denying the accusations, saying he was innocent. But no one believed him, not Tsunade, not his team, none of his friends, no one tried coming to his defense. He had tried escaping, in order to prove his innocence, only to be restrained by Yamato and sent off to Hōzuki Castle. It was there, Naruto met the warden Mui and was branded with the Fire Style: Heavenly Prison, something all prisoners had been branded with, when they arrived.
A Jutsu that prevented them from accessing their Chakra, while causing them to burst into flames after getting too far from Mui, as well. With the only way to cancel the Jutsu, is by jumping into water. But given how Hōzuki Castle was surrounded by whirlpools, that was just another death sentence.
This would normally dissuade anyone from trying to escape. But Naruto was nothing, if not stubborn, and refused to just be locked away for a crime, he didn't commit. The Uzumaki having tried to escape several times, in order to clear his name and find the real culprit, or culprits, who framed him. With Naruto even having met and befriended another prisoner, named Ryūzetsu, who was actually a Kunoichi in disguise, that had infiltrated the prison in order to destroy the Box of Ultimate Bliss. Something that Naruto promised to help her with once he was able to find a way out of Blood Prison and cleared his name.
Unfortunately, each attempt ended in failure, with Naruto getting thrown into solitary confinement after each failure. And the few times he actually managed to escape the prison; he didn't get far before the Heavenly Prison activated, and set him on fire, since he got too far away from Mui. With it only stopping once Mui and the guards finally found him. Before bringing him back to the prison to be punished for escaping, with each punishment being worse than the last.
With Mui now simply activating the Heavenly Prison, each time Naruto tries escaping, letting him burn for several minutes, before throwing him back in his cell. With Naruto not even being able to heal from the burns, due to the Heavenly Prison messing with his healing factor, given how it drains his Chakra. Resulting in him having to wearing the special inform and respirator, just to stay alive.
To make matters worse, each time Naruto actually managed to escape the prison, the security would be improved more and more.
Suddenly, Naruto was pulled from his thoughts, when he began hearing the sounds of fighting in Hōzuki Castle. Struggling to stand up for a moment, Naruto looked outside his cell door, in confusion.
'What's going on? Was someone stupid enough to try escaping, or did a riot start? Or is someone actually attacking the prison?' Naruto thought, while wondering what was happening.
Though Naruto gasped and looked down, his eyes widening, when he felt the Heavenly Prison begin fading away from his body, while feeling his Chakra flowing through him again.
"It's…It's gone." Naruto muttered, his voice muffled from the respirator, shocked the Heavenly Prison was gone.
While relieved that the Heavenly Prison was gone, Naruto now knew someone was attacking the prison. Since the only way, the Heavenly Prison would go away, is if Mui was dead, and none of the other prisoners would dare attack Mui, with the Jutsu still on them.
That only left the question of who was attacking?
With that soon being answered, as Naruto found himself face-to-face with a cloaked figure, standing in front of his cell. This made Naruto stiffening, thinking the stranger was going to kill him as well, only to be surprised, when they merely opened the cell door.
"Let's go." Said the stranger, their voice showing they were a guy, with Naruto looking at him warily.
"Why are you doing this? And who are you?" Naruto questioned, not feeling very trusting to a complete stranger, especially one who's brave enough to attack Hōzuki Castle, all on their own, while being strong enough to kill Mui.
"If you want the answers to that, and any other questions, you'll come with me and I'll explain later once we've escaped. Or you can stay here and wait for the Hidden Villages to arrive and investigate why all, but one person is dead in the Blood Prison." Said the stranger, with Naruto's eyes widening upon hearing that this person not only killed Mui, but everyone else, making him worry about Ryūzetsu and if she was safe.
"You killed everyone?" Naruto said.
"Not yet. After I got you, I was going to kill the rest of the prisoners. Now, are you coming with me, or are you staying locked up like an animal?" The stranger asked, with Naruto frowning behind the respirator, not sure if he should trust this guy, but at the moment, he figured he didn't really have a choice.
"Alright, let's go." Replied Naruto, wanting to just get out of the prison.
Stepping out of the cell, Naruto's eyes widened, when he saw the bodies of dozens of guards and prisoners littering the halls, now knowing that whoever this person was, they were definitely dangerous.
"Naruto!"
Hearing his name be called, Naruto looked and saw Ryūzetsu run around a corner, making him tense before looking at the stranger, seeing them about a to throw a kunai at her.
"Wait! She's a friend!" Said Naruto, stopping the stranger, who paused and looked at the Jinchūriki before lowering his arm, just as Ryūzetsu ran up to them, while looking at the stranger warily.
Ryūzetsu had been shocked, when the Heavenly Prison had faded off of her, knowing that meant Mui was dead. While wondering what had happened, Ryūzetsu didn't question it and saw her chance to complete her mission of destroying the Box of Ultimate Bliss. Only to be shocked, when she saw the absolute carnage outside her cell, seeing dozens of guards and prisoners alike dead.
Now knowing someone was attacking the prison, she had rushed to Naruto's cell to free him, so they could get out of here before coming back to destroy the box, after whoever was attacking left. Only to see Naruto standing beside the one who's likely responsible for the attack, and thankfully stopping them from killing her next.
"Naruto, what's going on? Who is this?" Ryūzetsu asked, wondering who this stranger was, and why they let Naruto out.
"Apparently I'm being broken out. And I don't know who this guy is." Answered Naruto, before looking at his "savior".
"Can she come with us?" Naruto asked, not wanting to leave Ryūzetsu behind, while the stranger grunted.
"Fine, as long as she can keep up. Now let's go." Said the stranger, before rushing through the prison, with Naruto and Ryūzetsu trailing behind him.
The two watched as the stranger took care of all the remaining guards and prisoners, killing them all, without once stopping in his movements. The three soon arriving out in the courtyard, where they saw even more bodies than inside the prison. The stranger then began going through handsigns, before slamming their hands on the ground.
"Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" Said the stranger, with Naruto and Ryūzetsu's eyes widening in shock, that this stranger knew Mokuton.
Their shock only growing, when a large wooden serpentine dragon burst out of the ground, its body coiled around a large box, with demonic mask-like faces on each of its sides.
"The Box of Ultimate Bliss." Said Ryūzetsu, narrowing her eyes at the stranger, wondering if they had come here to take the box, only to be surprised when they went through another set of handsigns.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Destruction!" The stranger shouted, before unleashing a stream of fire at the box, which soon erupted into a sea of flames, consuming it, with Naruto and Ryūzetsu being forced to cover their eyes from the intense flames.
Though, when the fire vanished, they were shocked to see the Box of Ultimate Bliss had been reduced to nothing, but ashes.
"It's gone." Ryūzetsu muttered, shocked to see how easily the stranger destroyed the Box of Ultimate Bliss, like it was nothing.
"We're done here. Let's go, and I'll give you both the answers to the many questions you no doubtfully have." Said the stranger, snapping them out of their shock, before they followed the stranger out of the prison, now knowing that he wasn't just dangerous, but also a very powerful Shinobi, with what he just did.
*Later*
After some time, Naruto and Ryūzetsu had arrived at the stranger's hideout.
"Okay, so you broke us out of Hōzuki Castle, killed everyone, and destroyed the Box of Ultimate Bliss. But we still don't know who you are, or why you did it." Said Naruto, with the stranger looking at them for a moment before nodding.
"No, I haven't. But now that we're here, I can." The stranger stated, before they removed their cloak, revealing who they were, with Naruto's and Ryūzetsu's eyes widening in complete shock at who it was.
It was an adult man with long spiky waist-length black hair, crimson red eyes with three tomoes connected together by elongated ends, with openings in the circular parts, surrounding the pupil, and three thin bars stretching out from them. His attire consisted of a blue high-collared, long sleeve mantle that splits down the lower half, a light-brown obi and a belt, bandages wrapped around his lower legs, and black sandals.
"I am Madara Uchiha." Said Madara, with Naruto and Ryūzetsu tensing at seeing their apparent savior was in fact, the Ghost of the Uchiha.
"You…you're the Masked Man from the Land of Iron." Naruto said, with Madara scoffing at his words.
"No, that wasn't me, just someone that I entrusted my name to." Replied Madara.
"What're you talking about?" Questioned Ryūzetsu, not knowing what either of them were talking about.
"To understand the answer to that question, you would have to know my story. Going back to the days of the Clan Wars…" Madara said, before he began telling them of his friendship with Hashirama, their dream of creating a village, where children no longer had to be sent out to fight and die like they were, along with their brothers.
How they founded Konoha, only for Madara's dream of peace to differ from Hashirama. Where Hashirama envisioned cooperation with the other newly-formed villages, Madara desired control, so the peace could never be lost. With him only becoming more disillusioned, when Tobirama and the Daimyo pushed for to be Hashirama elected the Shodaime Hokage, despite his wishes for Madara to become Hokage. Fearing for the future of the Uchiha Clan, in a village that had shown they didn't trust them.
It was then, that Madara deciphered the Stone Tablet in the Uchiha Clan's possession, of the never ending cycle of failed peace and fighting, between the Uchiha and Senju Clans. But also, a means to bring unity to the entire world, the Infinite Tsukuyomi. With this knowledge, Madara knew Konoha was merely a failed experiment, and the peace that Hashirama sought for was impossible to achieve, so he left Konoha. Before returning with the Kyūbi and battled Hashirama, one which supposedly ended in his death, but Madara survived, using a delayed Izanagi to erase his death and claim his prize, a piece of Hashirama's flesh.
Madara then began his plan to initiate the Infinite Tsukuyomi, awakening the Rinnegan and implanting the eyes into Nagato, manipulating Obito Uchiha into taking his identity and eventually reviving him to become the Jūbi's Jinchūriki, having planned for every possibility.
"As for how I'm alive now, I used another delayed Izanagi, before my body fully gave out from being disconnected from the Gedō Mazō. So I would be revived once again, with my youth and eyes. But that all changed, after learning the truth of the Infinite Tsukuyomi," Said Madara, as his expression darkened,
"That I was just a pawn for Black Zetsu." Madara sneered, still angry at being tricked by that parasite.
"What do you mean by that?" Questioned Ryūzetsu, while putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder, upon seeing the angry expression on his face, at everything he's just heard.
"I believed it was a manifestation of my will, but that was a lie. In truth, Black Zetsu was the creation of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the mother of the Sage of Six Paths and true Progenitor of Chakra. The Eye of the Moon Plan, it wasn't a way to create eternal peace, merely a way to revive Kaguya, after Black Zetsu had altered the Stone Tablet's message. This is entire time, the parasite has been manipulating events from the shadows to revive Kaguya, with the intention of using me as her vessel. I won't deny my actions and plans have led to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, with even more suffering the consequences. But I did so in the belief that the ends justified the means if it meant bringing peace. Only to learn that everything, my brother's death, the Uchiha Clan being demonized and ultimately destroyed. It was all caused by that parasite, who was actually little more than a spoiled brat, that wanted to see its mommy." Madara said, his eyes shining with anger at how he was manipulated, that all his planning was for nothing, along with resignation at what he's learned from the experience.
Naruto and Ryūzetsu were skeptical at Madara's story, but they could also see and hear the sincerity as he spoke of everything he learned. Along with the fact, that why would he go through the trouble of actually freeing Naruto, rather than just knocking him out, along with sparing Ryūzetsu, when he could have just killed her. Instead, he went through the trouble of freeing Naruto, and even destroyed the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
"Alright. But that still doesn't answer why you bothered breaking me out of prison." Said Naruto, still angry at everything he's learned, his anger now being directed at Black Zetsu and Obito.
Black Zetsu for orchestrating every bad thing, that's ever happened in the world, all just so he could revive Kaguya. And Obito for all the people he's killed, the lives he's ruined, and destroying Naruto's own life, the day he caused the Kyūbi Attack. Sure, Madara just confessed that he orchestrated Obito joining him, with his actions. But Obito still had the choice of returning to Konoha, to accept that he and Rin were Ninja in a war, with the chance they could die.
Instead, he gladly caused untold amounts of pain and death, just so he could see a girl, that didn't even like him as more than a friend. And not even the real version, but his own illusion version of her, that wasn't even real.
Madara may have given Obito the weapons to use, but he had the choice to use them or not, and he did.
As far as Naruto's concerned, if he gets his hands on Obito Uchiha, he was going to make him wish he died in that rockslide.
"Because, with this knowledge, I've made a new plan, to destroy the Shinobi Era once and for all. The Hidden Villages, the Kage, the Daimyō, I will burn all of it to the ground. I've seen the truth, no matter what attempts this world makes for peace, all their attempts are futile. Either only being temporary or leave things worse than were before. The creation of the Hidden Villages was meant to bring peace, but it only helped make wars more organized and bloody. Hashirama gave the Bijū to the other villages to promote peace, but that only gave them bigger weapons to use. How much longer will it last, until all that's left is a blood-soaked world? No, the only thing left to do, is destroy the Shinobi System, a system that's brought nothing, but pain and suffering." Said Madara, knowing that was the only choice left, to destroy the Shinobi System and let everyone else figure out the rest.
But whether humanity decides to move towards peace or not, when it's all said and done, is up to them. As Madara refuses to try and act like a savior anymore, for a world that doesn't want to be saved. When all it's done is brought him nothing, but pain and suffering. With his latest attempt having backfired in the worst way possible, nearly resurrecting a threat more dangerous than he could possibly imagine.
"Why am I here, though?" Naruto asked, feeling oddly numb at everything he just heard.
"Because, like me, and many others before you, you were ultimately betrayed by the same broken system. And I wish to offer you the chance to join me, in my plan." Said Madara, surprising Naruto at the offer.
Looking down, Naruto was unsure and hesitant at taking such an offer, the naïve part of him still clinging onto the hope, that he could bring peace. But then he started thinking of everything he's done, stopping Gaara during the invasion, bringing Tsunade back to become Hokage, risking his life to try and bring Satsuki back. Then, when he returned from his training trip, rushing to save Gaara, fighting against the Akatsuki, fighting Nagato and getting him to revive everyone he killed, when he destroyed Konoha. Even going all the way to the Land of Iron to beg the Raikage to not go after Satsuki, after it was believed that she kidnapped his brother, Killer B.
After everything he did, they still accused him of those crimes, and threw him into Hōzuki Castle.
Naruto knew he couldn't look a thing through the same rose-tinted glasses anymore, nor believe he could solve everything just with his words. His time in Blood Prison made it clear, that no matter what he did, how much he risked, he'd never be accepted. Even if he proved his innocence, how long would it last, until he was accused of another crime, how long until they decide to kill him, instead of locking him away?
Just looking at his burned body, Naruto knew there was only one thing, he could do.
"I'll do it." Said Naruto.
"I'll join, as well." Ryūzetsu said, stepping forward, convinced at what Madara said, having already been disillusioned with the Ninja World, after Mui sacrificed Muku to the Box of Ultimate Bliss, with this just confirming her own beliefs.
Madara nodded at this, pleased at having gotten Naruto to join him, along with getting another new recruit.
"Good. Now come, we'll begin by getting your body repaired, and making it better." Said Madara, knowing the first thing to do was getting Naruto back in top condition, along with making him better.
*Hōzuki Castle*
Meanwhile, the Five Hidden Villages had moved onto Hōzuki Castle, after the Raikage's informant from within failed to report, making them believe something was wrong, and went to investigate. Only to be met with a massacre, finding all the guards and prisoners lying dead on the ground, including the Raikages' informant.
With Naruto's "friends" being shocked and horrified, when they couldn't find Naruto anywhere, whether he was alive or dead. Much to their devastation, believing that Naruto was killed, while his body was likely destroyed by whoever attacked the prison.
None of them aware that Naruto was still very much alive, and that the next time they see him, he'll make all of them pay for their betrayal.
With them paying in blood.
So, what did you think, good. Yep this time we see Naruto's actual escape from Blood Prison along with Ryūzetsu joining him, with their savior also destroying the Box of Ultimate Bliss. We then see their savior is the revived and rejuvenated Madara Uchiha, who then tells them of how he's still alive and why he freed them, having learned the truth of what Black Zetsu is and the true purpose of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. This leading Madara to realize that true peace is an impossible goal to achieve and the only option left, is the complete destruction of the Shinobi System, with Naruto and Ryūzetsu agreeing to help him in his goal. With Naruto also getting his body repaired and some upgrades as well. So, review if you liked go away if you didn't.
Storm out
