Chapter Text
Smoke filled the sky, blocking out the sun and the moon. Day and night merged until no one knew one from the other and life became only the wait for death.
Dragon, Dark and Light Elf, Wizard and Human fought the Demons. Blood soaked the ground. Fruit once green, golden and orange became crimson and poisoned forever more.
Dark magic, curses and fire scorched forests and turned them to deserts of ash that left the taste of torture on one’s tongue.
The Demons were strong. They were powered by the forces of darkness, the depths of the sea, the depravity of the soul and they fed freely from the magic of those that hunted them. Dragon, Elf and Wizard magic sucked from tortured bodies fed them.
To save the world, sacrifices were made. The LIght Elves attacked en masse, every last one pouring their heart magic against the Demon defenses until it broke. The Dragons burned themselves out with a surge of power so bright it turned true night into a noon that killed all Demonkin but one. The Wizards, of man, elf and magic from the unknown, backed the Last Demon into the Cell created by the Dark Elves, but not without great loss. The Dark Elves used the environmental magic of the world and all that was good and alive to seal the Last Demon.
It was over. And the world moved on.
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Naruto woke to sickening anticipation. The heavy feeling in his stomach threatened to double him over and make him retch but he refused to succumb to it. In a way he was used to this. It wouldn’t be his first elemental test, not by a long stretch, but it would be his last.
He laced his fingers on the rolled cloak behind his head and stared into the darkness of his dingy tent. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet, not that anyone would be able to tell when it did. It was raining again and the sound was deafening, but at least he had enough skill to keep himself dry. It was October 10. He was 48 just that day. Wizards, as a rule, did live longer than ordinary humans, something about the magic. But he wasn't really much of a wizard, yet.
Forty-eight was a significant age in a wizard’s life. It was another chance to determine his magical affinity: wind, lightning, earth or water. Actually, it was the last time he’d be able to try to determine his affinity. It was something that came about every three years starting their 24th birthday. If he didn’t pass any of the tests that day, then it would signal that he would never be a true wizard, only a conjurer.
In truth most wizards knew by their 36th birthday and the very best by their 30th. Master Jiraiya had known by the time he was 24.
He didn't know why it was taking him so long. He put every hour he could into study and practice. He ignored the demeaning words of the other cadets and masters they met during their travels. Only a few of them knew his true age, though. He looked like he could have been 23.
His lack of visible aging had concerned his Master more than it did him. He should have looked much more mature. Wizards may live longer but they aged only slightly less than humans. Master Jiraiya didn’t say anything about the anomaly, but Naruto had caught him looking. It had been Jiraiya's suggestion that he try to grow a beard. All Naruto had grown was stubble that made him look even younger. His blond hair though was long, like Master Jiraiya’s.
Naruto shook the thought off. The way he looked wasn’t something he could change. His knowledge was.
He sneezed. Damn they really needed a few warm, sunny days to lay the tent in the sun to get the moldy smell out of it and his bed rolls.
He sat up sideways so he could stretch his arms out. He rolled his head and then sighed as the muscles released.
With his left hand, he reached into a leather satchel worn smooth by use and blindly pulled out a blue sphere the size of the end of his thumb. He placed it in his right palm, held it before his lips and whispered, “Light.” He blew gently on it and the crystal piece began to glow. There was a little net hanging at the top of the tent for him to put it in.
He lit four more and hung them up in their places, filling the tent with light.
The test wouldn’t come until noon. He had time yet.
He pulled the small pouch from his satchel. This was made of elk skin and tied with green ribbon the color of moss. He poured out four stones: clear, green, blue, and white. He placed each in his palm and meditated one at a time on the element they represented.
Green = Earth came first, for it housed the peoples, fed them, sheltered them and deserved respect.
After that was Wind = Clear. It was synonymous with air and slow change. Without either there would be no life.
And then there was Blue = Water. Water quenched their thirst, cleansed their wounds and washed away the past. It could affect slow or instantaneous change.
Lightning = White. It was hottest heat there was, burning away the past, it was change in an instant. It could break down what had taken years to build. It could destroy. It could beget fire. And some species of plant needed that fire to procreate.
There were far more thoughts. He spent an hour on each stone. It was in how he saw these elements that would decide if any would chose him.
When he looked up from the white stone it was still raining and he sighed. He was going to get wet.
He put all four stones in his hand and looked at them. He remembered discovering them the year he was sixteen. He’d been so picky, insistent that they would call to him. Master Jiraiya had gotten so frustrated that he wouldn’t just pick up colored rocks.
It wasn’t the first time Naruto had been frustratingly stubborn. He hadn’t expected he’d need the stones until his forty-eighth year though. He didn't think his mentor had thought that either.
There was power enough coiling inside him. He could feel it. He’d thought he’d be a Wizard by the second affinity test for certain. He’d almost given up after he’d turned 30. He’d packed and started to walk away.
Master Jiraiya had flung him against a massive vertical rock and left him spread eagle overnight so he could ‘think things over.’ There had been a huge storm. It was dark as pitch and then brighter than the sun during the flashes of lightning. He’d felt the power inside him rise. He just couldn’t figure out how unleash it. It had roiled like an angry ocean. If he did release it, would he be able to direct it? He now had nightmares where he killed people who got too close to his massive amounts of power. What choice had he had but to study with Master Jiraiya? He had studied hard.
Master Jiraiya was the only one who had believed in him. His Wizard Master was the only one who had seen anything more than a starving orphan whose parent had just been murdered and his house burned down. Naruto had been 8 when they met.
Naruto closed his hands around the affinity rocks. His hand had gotten bigger, he noticed. His fingers now covered the stones, of course the stones were probably smaller from years of being worn down by his studies.
Master Jiraiya had once told him that it was Naruto’s ancestors that would determine his future. But Jiraiya had been royally drunk and had just finished pleasing two women. Naruto didn’t remember how the subject of futures came up. Only that Master Jiraiya had looked up from his tankard of golden liquid and stared at him with the blue eyes that could pierce, eyes so blue they could channel the sky. Then he said something even more creepy.
“I die when you are born.”
Which of course was a lie, since Master Jiraiya was alive and so was Naruto. It wasn’t often that Jiraiya lied to him about anything serious. But there had been some massive ones over all the years they had known one another. So Naruto shook it off. But days like these, he couldn’t help but remember and wonder what it all added up to, even if it was nothing but malarky.
He opened his hand and separated the stones one last time, giving a thought to each and before putting them them away. It was the last time he’d use them. They were learning stones. Hopefully he would move on to something new to study.
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Naruto looked at his mentor. The white-haired old wizard sat on one of the boulders that ringed the younger man, legs crossed and meditating. He was dry. Why? Magic.
Naruto was soaking wet. His gray robe, indicative of being an initiate clung to his body and the smaller rock he sat on.
This was a magical place. At his back was the Rasengan river whose roar could drowned out almost any thought. To his right, the red rock plateau of Sukaku watched over him, never slumbering. Left was the deep forest of Leaf, where the last of the Elves had taken refuge. And before him, behind Jiraiya. ended the crevasse of Isobu, branching off in the far distance into three tails. It was said to have been created when the last Dragons expended all their magic.
Naruto shook his head like a dog, spraying water around the circle and huffed before smoothing his mane behind his ears again. This test was bad enough. He supposed he was lucky he’d never had to do it in the rain before. Of course they’d never journeyed so far, to the second continent, Nippon. This was where magic was born, or so Wizards said.
He could slip easily into the trance that was required for him to begin but he was reluctant. This was his last try. He’d no longer be with Master Jiraiya, he’d be a failure. He knew there was magic in him, he just couldn't release it.
He stared at the old wizard a little longer. Jiraiya was a sage and summoner, two of the lost arts, able to call toads and predict future events. It was true, he was world-renowned. He was powerful, that was true as well. Yet the wizard was so much more than that. He’d been a father to Naruto when he’d been orphaned. He was a pervert, a writer, a mentor, and full of faults. There was no one Naruto loved more.
He had to succeed, to prove to everyone that Jiraiya had chosen correctly when he’d picked Naruto. He wanted to make the old man proud.
Naruto let his eyes close, his fingers unclench and he rested them on his knees. He sat back into his heels and raised his face to the sky. He was ready for the magic to find him worthy.
He had no concept of how long it was before the magic came to him. But nothing had changed. It was like all the other times. He could feel the magic of the world surrounding him, caressing him. It raised the hair on his skin and made his flesh tingle. Behind his lids, it sparked the colors of his stones, white, yellow, green and blue. Yet the magic did not penetrate. It was as if there was some ward inside that kept it from him even as he reached out to each element as he’d been taught, as he’d spent countless hours practicing.
For a time Naruto had debated the possibility of a curse but dismissed the theory. Nothing about this felt wrong. There was just some disconnect. He didn’t know what it was. But he couldn’t let it hold him back, not this time.
He reached harder, sensing the ground, rock, tree, the water, the air. His skin prickled and lightning split the air.
The thunder almost drowned out the pained cry of his mentor.
Naruto’s eyes flashed open to see the powerful wizard standing on the ground just to the other side of the rocks, Gamabunta, waist height toad at his side, fighting other wizards and swordsmen.
But why had they not attacked Naruto too? Naruto got to his feet on the rock, magic raised and unreleased, twisting around him.
Master Jiraiya must have noticed him for he cried out, “Naruto, no! Run!”
Naruto shook his head. He could no more have left his mentor behind then stopped breathing.
Fire shot from his Master’s hand, igniting the oil that Gamabunta, his summons, had spit. A wall of fire surrounded the old Wizard and Naruto jumped to the ground out of the way. He rolled to the side and behind a boulder, looking for attackers.
The magic was all around from the trial, tails of distorted air currents, but he couldn't do anything with it. He wished for his dagger or bow, both he’d been taught to hunt with but they were back in his tent. All the magic he could use was basic. At least he could do some damage with the weapons. One did not kill food with magic, it tainted it and was disrespectful to the life that was taken. Desperate, he ran towards one of the swordsmen, thinking to take the man’s sword. Naruto didn’t know how to use it well, but at least he’d have a weapon.
He jumped the man who was looking the other way, dragging them both to the ground. The tattooed, red-haired man began to scream as his skin desiccated and began to flake wherever the power surrounding Naruto touched. His face disintegrated, his eyes exploded and Naruto fought the urge to retch at the smell of releasing bowels and death. He grabbed the sword and stood to find himself facing an Anbu level Master Wizard wearing a bear mask. “I will destroy you and your Master.”
“Why are you attacking Master Jiraiya?” he demanded.
“He has predicted the fall of our Master, the one who will rule all. The Toad Master must be destroyed,” the voice was haughty and full of assurance. “Watch.”
One pale, long-fingered hand lifted above the mask and lightning shot from the sky, meet flesh. Bright light, filled with the power of the sky, surrounded the thin, white-robed figure. The fingers then pointed towards Jiraiya, who was busy fighting other opponents. He turned toward the attack when Naruto cried a warning but he wasn’t able to fully shield the blow.
Jiraiya fell with a scream, the stench of burning flesh filled Naruto’s nostrils.
“No!” Naruto shouted, running toward the Bear Wizard without thought to his own safety.
Another flash of light filled the glade as the Bear Wizard attacked Naruto. The white-hot power surrounded him. The ambient magic he had called in his test met it and the powers clashed. It was almost as if he had...
And Naruto realized deep in his soul the reason he couldn’t connect with the elements. He had armor that kept them separate. He had no idea how he knew, but at that moment he did. With that knowledge the armor manifested; liquid red and yellow dripped off his body, claws formed as he attacked those that had dared defile his Master Jiraiya.
Screams and curses filled the air. Death had it’s way there in that place. Only one thing came out alive, crawling away from that once sacred site barely sentient. It was washed and cleansed by the River Rasengan and delivered into the territory of the Leaf Forest.
But while flesh healed, memories of unspeakable power, unspeakable acts of horror remained in his mind. He was no longer merely Naruto. But what he was, he did not know. Was he a demon? Would he destroy everything?
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