Change of Destinies

For Yamura, life was simple. You wake up, eat, take a dump, and then sleep. It was a cycle so repetitive that it was boring but he loved every second of it for his family was everything to him.

When they were slaughtered, he cried. When he remembers them, he cries. When he saw their graves for the 11th time, he didn't cry because he was just so tired of it. Tired of everything.

War, genocide, prejudice, and hatred, it was so pointless, he could laugh.

His sensei always told him that he was smarter than most, and he was proud at the time, but now that he thinks about it, his sensei always had that worried eyes, staring at him.

He is sad for their death, that much is true, but he is just so tired of this. Both of his remaining siblings have been distant lately, though he doesn't know much about Shoki.

They used to be closed in the orphanage but when he came back after escaping the massacre, his aniki had changed. His eyes were cold, and he was always ready to strike at something. Yamura doesn't know what happened to him, and it's scary to think about it.

What could've happened that changed his lively and vibrant older brother to this… this emotionless killing machine?

For Yamura, life is funny, like a bad joke told by a drunkard.

It's always about more power and prestige, this and that. People have died for that kind of stupidity; lives ruined for something as worthless as that.

Will they ever get tired of that? Those warlords and monarchs? Will they ever stop conquering lands?

Because of those people, his family died. His own family died for their stupidity. For their worthless greed, for their hatred, for their prejudice, his family died.

Was it because they were strong that they were allowed to do that? Is that how this world operates?

How ridiculous.

But it's always been that way, they said. He hated it. He hated how they can just justify their loss because "that's just how it is", "life is life".

For a brief moment in Yamura's eyes, something changed.

He blinked, and when he opened his eyes, his right eye was no longer amber colored but instead, it now has a more mystical and cosmic color, with a dark orb floating in the pupil.

But when he blinked again, it was gone.

Yamura's head suddenly started to hurt as images rapidly entered his mind, seeing a silver-headed man in them along with Shoki.

It was strange because this hasn't happened before, not even once in his life.

He shook it off, and decided to go out to grab a glass of water… when he suddenly heard metals clanging in the living room.

Even though he is scared, he still decided that it was best to investigate the noises.

So much for being a bright boy.

Anyway, outside, the noises have stopped, and when he peeked out of the kitchen, Yamura saw Shoki kneeling in pain, in front of a man with silver hair, and dead fish eyes.

The man said something to Shoki, though he couldn't hear it. Then, the silver-headed man turned his eyes on Yamura, and smiled, before disappearing along with the red-haired boy.

Standing there awkwardly, Yamura had some difficulties processing what just happened. Everything happened so fast, to the point that he couldn't believe if this was reality or a dream.

On another note, the entire place is a mess, and his Fubuki-nee would kill him as soon as she comes back to this place. He better start picking up the mess on the floor, along with the broken stuff, since his ass is still aching from yesterday.

Thankfully, Fujiwara-san is still here, or else he wouldn't know what to do.

With Shoki, things were not going well. He's at the mercy of this unknown man, who didn't even sweat as he defeated him.

Though as soon as they somehow teleported in a clearing somewhere, the red head started to puke his guts out due to some kind of motion sickness. It's probably because of the teleportation technique this guy used, he deduced.

"Man up, kid. Since Mei decided to let me train you, even though I've never trained anyone in my life, it's my duty to make you a shinobi in these fifteen days," looking down on him, Gin continued, "and I pity you, kid. Mei's probably going to suck you dry while you're in her force. That woman sure is ruthless but hey, she's the boss for a reason. Now, get up, we've got work to do."

"Suck a cock!" He spat.

Gin sighs, and he lowered his hand to Shoki's face, before flicking him on the forehead.

Shoki didn't just get knocked back; he flipped so many times on the ground until his momentum was stopped when he hit a nearby tree.

"Cursing me is probably not in your best interest, kid," Gin said.

He raised an eyebrow when something suddenly emerged from below him, directly under his family jewels, to which he stopped with a single stomp. But the metal turned into something akin to a snake, and as it was splitting into 2, it crawled under his pants.

As it coiled around his leg, growing sharp spikes along the way, he immediately knew what Shoki was trying to do.

He's trying to cut his leg off.

Gin only smirked. He wouldn't have survived this long if he didn't have any hidden abilities.

He stomped his foot again, but this time creating a large shockwave that shook the nearby trees and created a small crater under him, while the metal quickly turned to dust.

"Kid, don't even try. You can't beat me. Just give up," Gin said, warning the child.

Shoki gritted his teeth. That was all the metal he could bring with him, and it all got turned to dust. Though he should be able to use it, it still won't hurt that guy. In close combat, he'll simply get his ass handed to him, and even when he used his power, this guy simply broke through it forcefully.

As humiliating as it is, surrendering is his only option now.

He then stood up and, hesitantly, said, "Fine, I give up. I can't beat you anyway."

Even though they are meters apart, he heard Gin say, "You know when to surrender, that's good. That'll help you survive in the battlefield," and with a clap, he continued, "Now, come here, sit, and we'll have our lecture." Then he sat on the wet grassy field, though no water came close to wetting his clothes.

Shoki then thought, "Lecture? Really? After all of that?"

The red head walked towards his "sensei", and when he reached him, he sat 3 meters from Gin.

"Now, I'm going to teach you the basics of chakra in the first half of our lesson, and in the second half, you're going to learn how us shinobi operate and how to deceive others. With your current strength, fighting a full-fledged jounin will only lead to your death, so deceiving others is going to be an important factor to your survival. Any question?" said Gin, explaining how and what he's going to teach him.

"Yeah, how long does each half last?" Shoki asked, cooperating with his current sensei, knowing that escaping is out of his option at the moment. And besides, knowing how to use chakra is going to be useful to him.

Gin shrugged, and said, "Probably four hours each. Any more questions?"

"None," he replied.

"Perfect. Alright, firstly, I'm going to teach you what chakra is before learning anything about it, and secondly, you're going to practice your chakra control, which is very important if you're going to use any jutsu," explained Gin.

Gin tried to at least look good as a teacher because he can sense some of Mei's anbu hiding in the shadows, spying on them. He doesn't know if this will affect his pay or not but hey, it's better safe than sorry.

Time passed as he taught Shoki how to use chakra, who surprisingly managed to perfect the tree-climbing exercise in his first try, and the water-walking exercise in his third try. Though Gin forgot to teach him the first chakra control exercise, the leaf thingy, which is something Shoki doesn't need to know.

And for the rest of the first half, he taught the red head how to use the 3 basic jutsus; The Kawarimi, Bunshin, and Henge, which he all did perfectly in the first try, except for the Bunshin Jutsu because of his abnormally large chakra reserves.

It must be because of his heritage, Gin deduced, being an Uzumaki and all.

Slowly, Shoki started to grow some respect towards his sensei. Maybe because he taught him many things in the short time they had for the day? He didn't know, but he is grateful.

Respect is something he never gave to anyone, mostly because he was incapable of even respecting someone in his past life.

It must be because of his new body that he is capable of new things, such as sadness and anger. And now, he is questioning himself; are those things really weaknesses? Sure, for some situations, they are, but for his day-to-day life? No, they're not.

Soon, the hours pass, and their time together is finished for the day.

The moment Shoki left, Gin just sighed, and said, "How stressful. If only I can drink right now, but I have to write my teaching-plans for tomorrow," he looked up to the darkened sky, and continued, "Even then… this ain't that bad. Maybe I should teach the brats in Mei's new shinobi school program? Heh, I'll think about that. For now, Shoki's my priority. Good kid, but violent, heh?"

Gin turned around to see Ren in his anbu outfit but without his mask, showing his facial features.

White skin, piercing onyx eyes, sharp jawline, eyebrows shaped like swords, and around the corner of his right eye is a mole. Overall, he could pass as an "ikemen".

"Just like you, when you were his age," said Ren to his longtime friend.

He scratched the back of his head, and said, "You really have to remind me? That was years ago, man."

Ren smirked, and said, "Do you remember that one time where you tried to save a woman from some thugs, only for the same woman to try and kill you? That was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

"Screw you," grumbled Gin.

"Anyway, were those the only things you taught the kid? You could've taught him some kenjutsu style or something," said Ren, wondering why his longtime friend didn't do that.

"I figured that would be a bit awkward, considering that I've only met him, and beat him to the point of getting his wind knocked out of him. Besides, I'll first see if he has any talent in kenjutsu, and if he likes it," said Gin.

"Heh, you've always got a soft spot for brats. You should try asking Lady Mei if you can become a teacher in her school program, you might even become the headmaster! Imagine that, a drunkard becoming the headmaster of an entire school," said Ren, thinking that would be funny.

"Nah, that ain't gonna happen. Mei's too uptight to let someone like me be a teacher, much less the headmaster," said Gin, knowing his previous boss' personality.

"Well, if you say so. The pay there is quite high, if I remember correctly."

Gin raised an eyebrow, and asked, "… How much?"

Ren raised 5 of his fingers.

"Five thousand a month? That's too little," said a disappointed Gin.

"Let me correct you; per quarter-a-day. It's five thousand ryo per quarter-a-day. So it's actually 20K per day," said Ren, who just saw his friend's eyes become even more disappointed.

"I mean, that's like, a single D-Rank Mission every day. I can do D-Rank Missions ten times a day, to earn more than that. The only reason I'm not doing it is because it feels humiliating," said Gin, not really caring much for the pay.

Ren then furrowed his eyebrows, and asked, "But you accepted teaching the boy for twenty thousand, so what's the difference?"

"The difference is that I'm teaching one kid, and the other is where I'll be teaching a bunch of kids. Got it?" said Gin.

Ren sighed, and said, "Fine, I will not try to convince you anymore. But," he looked between his left and right, as if he was checking if anyone other than them were around, and then continued with a whisper, "if you can teach the boy something good in these fifteen days, I'll give you 1,000,000 Ryo. How about it?"

Slowly, Gin's facial features started to contort to a disgusting U-shaped smile, as he said, "Ehehehe, don't worry about it, my friend. I'll be teaching the kid something good, that's for sure. Ehehehe."

Shaking his head, Ren said, "Really, you wouldn't be having money-problems if you just continued being a shinobi."

Gin shrugged, and replied, "You know why I quit in the first place. Your boss is too much of a slave driver, especially when I'm around. Remember when I finished Five S-Rank Missions in just a single month? I didn't sleep for the entirety of that month!"

"Well, what did you expect? We're tight on Ryo, and funding our soldiers is our top priority at the moment. Imagine the amount of rations that is stored and given daily to our soldiers," said Ren.

"Anyway, why are you so concerned for that child? You'll even give me a million Ryo just to teach him something good," asked Gin, curious.

"Lady Mei wants that child to work for us for free, except for the free housing and food. I just want the boy to have some chance of survival out there, in the battlefield," he paused dramatically, and then said as he stared at Gin with his onyx eyes, "I don't want a child to die, just for a single mistake he made. I may be called the Red-Eyed Demon but even I have my limits, which Lady Mei doesn't seem to have."

Nodding in understanding of his friend's plight, he said, "I know that feeling, too. I've done things for the Third, many of them were inhumane to the most extreme of the word. I've done things I wished I didn't do. I killed countless others, all for the sake of my mission. What I'm saying is that, I understand."

As a shinobi, he couldn't care less, but for a man, a human, Ren knew that letting a child die for basically no reason is something that would turn into a guilt that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

For Lady Mei, however, Shoki is just a disposable pawn. Nothing more, nothing less.

He can't really fault his Lady there since the boy really pissed her off, but to make an untrained 9-year-old child go out into the battlefield, where corpses are present everywhere, just… ticked something in him. Maybe this is not right, maybe this is wrong.

No matter what, he had to do something.

But this is the best he can do for the boy without garnering much suspicion from others.

Either way, the life of the boy is now within the boy's hands. He can choose to die, or choose to live.

But unknown to him, to anybody at all, that Shoki will become something much more… something that will shake this world to its core… someone that becomes the very symbol of death.

This decision of Terumi Mei to send out the red-haired boy out to the war, will become her second greatest regret.

The fates of others have changed. Those who would've died in the future, will live to see the next day. And those who would've lived to see the future, will enter the Shinigami's grasp.

The future has changed… but is it for the better or worse? Only time will tell…

Meanwhile, in Konohagakure no Sato…

"RAAAAAAHHH!!!!" The roar of the monstrous beast in front of them shook the entire village, as its shockwave was enough to decimate the right part of their village.

Hiruzen, sporting his combat gear once again, with the Monkey King Enma as his weapon, watched helplessly as the beast ravaged his beloved village.

Somewhere in the woods, he can sense two people fighting, one he recognized and the other, he didn't.

"Minato," he muttered, "how did the kyuubi escape?" asked Hiruzen to the air.

Behind him arrived his two students, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, both of them wearing their Jounin uniform. The team would've been complete, if Tsunade didn't leave 2 years ago. Fortunately, he and the two are enough to push the kyuubi away from the village.

"Sensei," Jiraiya said with a face filled with somberness, "do you have any plan to at least push the kyuubi away from the village? We can't have it just rampaging and destroying everything."

Sighing, Orochimaru said, "Jiraiya, shut your mouth."

Turning to his best friend, the white-haired man snorted, and said, "What? I know you don't have any plans either, you pedo!"

Gaining a tick mark on his forehead, Orochimaru rebutted, "For the last time, toad brain, I am not a pedo!"

Jiraiya smirked, "Well, sure you're not. It's not like I didn't fin—"

Hiruzen finally had enough of the two's childish squabbling in the middle of the battlefield, as he said, "Both of you, shut up!"

Both of them shut their mouth, knowing full well what awaits them if they make their old sensei angry.

"The plan is for the both of you to summon Gamabunta and Manda, and I and Enma to push the kyuubi out of the village, to at least minimize the damage. And then, you two will lure it away, and I will go to Minato. I've noticed that he's been fighting someone this whole time, possibly the one responsible for our current situation," explained Hiruzen to his students.

"You can count on me!" said Jiraiya, proudly.

"Don't worry, sensei," said Orochimaru.

The two of them went near the Kyuubi as they readied themselves to do what needed to be done.

Biting both of their thumbs, they then slammed their hands on the ground as they yelled.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!/Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

And then, two giants appeared behind a smoke fog that slowly went away, as it revealed a giant snake and a toad, each head of their respective clan.

"Why did you summon—you have got to be kidding me…" said 'Bunta as he quickly realized why he was summoned.

Manda turned his eyes on Orochimaru, and said, "If we ssssurvive this battle, it'ssss your assssss, got it?"

The sannin only chuckled, as the summons knew what they had to do.

The battle between the great nine-tailed fox vs Konoha herself lasted for about an hour, before, finally, the fox was defeated by the Yondaime Hokage after he killed the masked man, only for the face behind the mask to be revealed as his previous student, Uchiha Obito.

Minato wanted to ask his student 'why' he did all this, but alas, he has died… this time, permanently.

Pushing his emotions aside for now, he went on to deal with the kyuubi. When he managed to send the tailed-beast away from the village, he decided to take his newborn twin sons to the location of the kyuubi, with the plan of sealing each half of the great fox to his sons using the Shiki Fujin, that will also kill him but he has no choice.

And when he finished sealing the kyuubi into his sons, this happened…

The Shinigami appeared before the fox, and with a single swipe of his right hand, the gigantic fox that was as tall as the tallest of mountains, seemingly vanished into thin air. And within the Shinigami's right hand was a red energy, shaped like a ball.

With ease, the god of death ripped the energy in half, just like how Minato asked him to. With a flick of the deity's fingers, the two energies flew into each twin's abdomen before getting absorbed into it. And then a seal appeared on their stomachs, signifying the success of the sealing.

With this Minato smiled, knowing that each half of the kyuubi are in safe hands.

"You can take me away now, as part of our deal," said Minato, getting ready to complete his end of the deal.

Glancing at the father of the twins, the Shinigami only said, as his deep voice resounded, "Why would I take your soul, child of man, when many others, greater than you, have offered theirs?"

Minato is confused. Wasn't his end of the deal being his soul??

"I do not understand, o pale one. What must I do to complete my end?" asked Minato.

"By killing Uchiha Obito, you have changed your destiny, along with your village, and this world. But beware, someone wearing a mask will appear again. He will slaughter many, and with the eyes of Kronos, he will lay waste to this world. Your end of the deal is for you to bring me his soul. But if you fail, remember that you will not only be the one to suffer," the deity took a glance at the twins, and Minato immediately knew what the god meant.

"I… understand," said Minato, albeit a bit reluctantly, "But o pale one, can you at least tell me his name?"

The deity only spoke with silence, before saying, "No, I cannot."

Minato would've grumbled under his breath, if the deity of death wasn't the one in front of him. He only said, "I understand, I'll do my best."

With that, the god vanished, but not without leaving a few words, "Remember our deal, Namikaze Mianto."

Minato nodded, and when he was sure the death god was completely gone, he sighed.

It was stressful, to say the least, but anything for his children, he supposed.

Smiling, the Hokage laid down on the ground, with his children in each of his arms.

As he saw both of his children crying, he said, "Don't worry, Naruto, Arashi, dad will always protect you… always."

But he wondered, who is the other masked man that the Shinigami said to him? And what is the "Eyes of Kronus"?

(The Next Day, In Mizu no Kumi)

"Achoo!" Yamura sneezed, looking sick, while being covered with numerous blankets.

"Kazuki," Fubuki said, "go buy medicine for the flu. Here, I have around… five thousand ryo on me." Clearly, his elder sister was worried. For some strange reason, that made Yamura happy.

With an "Alright!", Kazuki ran to the door to get the medicine.

Meanwhile, Shoki stood on the sidelines as the teen took care of her younger brother.

The reason why Yamura is sick all of a sudden? It's because he stayed up all day, cleaning the house, and got wet because of the rain, while he was taking out the trash.

Shoki felt a bit guilty, knowing that the reason the kid cleaned the house was because of him, which resulted in their current situation.

While this world is advanced enough for it to develop light bulbs and such, he has to remember that vaccines haven't been invented yet, and probably not in a few decades or so. So diseases such as flu are quite common in children, and some may die because of it.

He was worried for the kid; however, he has no knowledge that can help him at the moment.

As Fubuki changed the damp towel on Yamura's forehead, she said, "I thought that Lady Mei might've executed you yesterday, but I am relieved that you were only given the punishment of completing a few hundred missions. Did Milady say anything about me to you?"

"Yes, she said that you are her disciple," replied Shoki.

Nodding, Fubuki, after finishing changing the towel, said, "Yes, that is true. Are you curious why I became her disciple?"

"Not really. I'm too preoccupied by something at the moment," said Shoki, getting ready to go to the training ground his sensei took him to yesterday.

"All right, the reason why I became her disciple is because…" she started explaining.

In his thoughts, Shoki said, "Are you braindead? I told you no, and you start explaining to me why you are her disciple? I know that being that red-headed bitch's disciple is probably great and all, but why are you explaining why you became her disciple to me? With Yamura also there? Are you trying to show off?" Yeah, he called the leader of this village a bitch. So what? It's not like that bitch can hear his thoughts.

Outside, though, he only kept a neutral face. While this is dumb, he decided to not be rude to the one housing him, and just listened.

"I was there, on that fateful night, when Lady Mei and Shiro-sensei met near the back of our house. They were talking with each other, and then they hugged, before Lady Mei saw me spying on them. And after some more talking, she took me in to become her disciple, and learned ninja arts from her every time she came to our house. That's why I was able to fight off the people trying to kill us, and took Kazuki and Yamura with me…"

She continued on and on, to the point that it was nothing but praising her Lady Mei for how "gracious" and how "beautiful" she is. PAH! He's seen more beautiful women when he was a soldier than Mei. If there was a 'Low', 'Mid', 'High' tier list for women, Mei would only be around 'Mid'.

Heck, even in the army, there were some women there that were too beautiful for their own good. And he says that because, well, rape is not really uncommon in the army. In fact, it happens from time to time. Mostly, the higher ups do the raping, but some soldiers also do it.

Anyway, those women get silenced anyway after they do the deed. Sometimes, their family also gets killed, if they don't accept the bribes.

As she went on for over 30 minutes now, he decided to just leave a bunshin, and sneak away from her. Since she was too occupied telling her story of how Lady Mei did this and that, he was able to get away easily.

God, who knew that such a cold girl was also a fan girl for an older girl.

Ugh, now that he realizes it, he's two times older than Terumi Mei, if he counted his past life. Imagine getting reprimanded by someone twice as young as you. Hopefully no one will ever know his real age.

(Note: Terumi Mei is currently 18 or 19, if that's not obvious since this is way before the start of the cannon. I don't know if you guys want Shoki to go to Konoha or something, but I'll probably do it in the future. For now, I'll establish Shoki's personality, likes and dislikes, and his relationships with other people).