Saints and Suffering: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 2- Torture

It has been said that the Uzumaki clan possessed life force like a fire. As long as there was still an ember, the flame could be rekindled.

The clan held to life with a tenacity unknown to others.

As Narutos body lay crucified against the God Tree, it turned to ash, it didnt fall apart though, and it held its form.

When Narutos chakra was pulled from his body, his fire of life was blown out. However, a single ember remained.

That ember was absorbed by the God Tree where it continued to smolder.

The ember didnt understand its existence. It had forgotten its name. It had forgotten what a name was, all it remembered was that it should have one.

The ember smoldered quietly inside the God Tree. The Tree had stolen the life and chakra of every living being in the Shinobi world, and condensed the chakra within the chakra fruit.

After the Fruit ripened, it was consumed by Kaguya, who left the planet, and never looked back.

The planet was dead in all senses of the word. Not a single thing lived upon it, except of course the God Tree.

By stealing the life force of the planet, the God Tree would live for uncountable years on the silent world.

The ember burned though.

Years passed. Nothing changed.

The ember still burned though.

Years passed. Nothing changed.

The ember still burned.

The ember wouldve smoldered in place for eternity had it not one desire. It desired a name, but it did not know what a name was nor where to find it.

The ember had waited long enough. It would find the name if the name would not come to it.

And so, for the first time in a long time, there was movement in the silent Shinobi World, and the ember moved around the tree.

The ember moved slowly, it smoldered from place to place.

The Tree was very large, but the ember did not know time, and it searched.

Its search eventually led it to the body of Naruto, still formed of ash, still crucified to the bark of the Tree.

The ember felt a calling, and nestled within the ash.

Normally ash would smother an ember, but the ash was special.

It had spent uncountable years soaking in the aura of the God Tree. The Tree contained immeasurable life force, and some of it found its way to the body of ash nailed to its bark.

And so the ember found a place to burn. And Burn it did.

The ember settled in the very center of the ashen body, and starting from there, the body slowly regained its color.

What had once been ash, reformed to a living body due to the influence of the God Tree.

The living body could host a flame, and for the first time in a long time, the ember became a flame.

Naruto awoke with a start. He remembered dying, and his last memory was the of Kaguya. He was incredibly weak, he had never felt such weakness.

Try as he might, but he could not open his eyes.

A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he fell into a fitful sleep.

The dreams were not good ones.

His first dream was the moment of his death. The feeling of his body turning to ash, his chakra being ripped from his body and taking something much more important with it.