'Survive!'
'Survive!' 'Survive!' 'Survive!'
'You were always the strongest.'
"Ahh!!"
I woke up with a scream. My mind constantly replaying my most traumatising memories. My heart was pounding in my chest, almost like it wanted to break out. I could barely breathe — barely think.
My vision was both blurry and tunnel visioned. I could barely make out my surroundings, but my brain was more focused on the events of the last day. The pain, the screams, that I was the only one left.
"Why?!" I strained out. "Why, why, why, why, why?!" My tears where threatening to spill.
"Why what?" A mans voice said, causing me to freeze. Turning towards them, I tried to see who they were.
"...Kakashi?" I muttered out. My vision was still blurry and they were in the shadows, but I could make out silver hair swooping over a silver headband.
"私のいとこを知ってる?" ...Is that Japanese. Either way, I don't think that's him.
One, he's too tall. I don't think Kakashi was anywhere close to 2 meters tall. This guy was almost as tall as the doorframe. And two, I don't think Naruto had The Church in it.
I just stared at the man dazedly, hoping he'd get that I don't understand him.
"そう,あなたはおそらくイタリア語しか知らないでしょう. それは本当に派手ではありません." He spoke before continuing in Italian, "uhh...come consci mi... cugini?" At least he tried to speak in Italian.
I think he was trying to ask how I knew his cousin, but that doesn't make sense.
"I know English, if that helps." I said in English this time. I might have said it before, but it's weird just suddenly knowing another language.
"You do?" he said, slight elation in his voice, "Well then, my name is Uzui Tengen– no, Tengen Uzui in English– and how do you know my cousin?" He stepped closer to me, allowing me to see him better.
And damn, does he look a lot like Tengen from Demon Slayer, if only younger. But why is he here? And why is he calling Kakashi his cousin?
"I– I don't. I was shown a picture of him and got told he was a heretic. I swear." I want to say that I came up with that lie on the spot, but I'm not that good.
A couple months ago, on one of his visits, the oh-so-great archbishop was ranting about heretic ninjas. He then went on to show us pictures of Guy, Asuma, and of course, Kakashi, telling us that if we were to ever run into them, we should do our best to strike them down in the name of the lord.
'I don't know what you did to piss him off, but well done Kakashi. If we ever meet, I'll treat you to some Ichirakus'.'
But seriously, what type of world did I end up in? Apparently both Naruto and Demon Slayer exist, and I don't think that's all. I need to review my new memories so nothing else can take me by surprise. Hopefully.
"Oh, okay." He said before falling silent. I think he might be studying me, checking if I'm lying or not.
Wait. If Tengen– and by extension the Demon Slayer verse– exists here, doesn't that mean Demons actually exist as well? Fuck. I'm too weak to deal with even the weakest one, and considering that Ass wants entertainment out of my existence, he might just pull some strings to get me to fight them.
Glancing at Tengen, I had a thought.
'Maybe he can help me.'
_______________________________
Uzui Tengen was slightly annoyed.
Last night, while he was enjoying the company of his wives, he got an urgent order from his Kasugai Crow. There was suspected demon activity in the eastern Alps, believed to be a lower moon. Since he had the best tracking skills, and was the closest, he was sent to investigate.
It had been a while since he had to speak Italian, so, on his way there, he brushed up on it. Rengoku would have probably been the better choice for this, as he was actually fluent in Italian, but he was unfortunately in Latin-America chasing down a lead.
Thankfully he didn't need to search much, as when he got to the area, he heard the howls of a crying child. It would have been too quiet to here from his position, even for most supernaturals, but he'd trained his hearing extensively.
Following the sound, he flashed through the nearby forest hoping to get there in time. He couldn't just let a child make their presence known to a demon. Luckily he made it in time, only getting to the child a couple seconds after the demon.
Not giving it a chance to do anything, Tengen quickly unsheathed his blades before dashing towards the demon, beheading it in the process.
'Just a regular demon. I'll have to continue scouting the area.' He thought, noting the lack of number in the demons' eye.
"Well then," He spoke, looking at the now asleep child, "what do we have here?"
If the child wasn't obviously poisoned and on deaths door, he'd think that he was just peacefully sleeping. For once he was actually glad to have gone through his training.
Giving the child some of the antitoxin he had on hand, Tengen then gingerly picked him up before heading towards the closest Butterfly House. A subsidiary of the Butterfly Mansion. He hoped the boy would survive until he could get better treatment.
Reaching the House, Tengen was surprised the child was still alive. Even though it only took about 20 minutes, he still had to run over 80km to get there. One of the downfalls of your organisation not being recognised by most governments. Why rely on a couple of well trained humans when you can get the backing of an entire pantheon.
The Demon Slayer Corps had to be somewhat selective about where they set up shop. They don't have the funds to open Butterfly Houses wherever they wanted. They only had an average of 10 Houses per country, with there being less the further away from Japan.
'The kids' pretty resilient. Might have some potential.' He thought while handing him to the nurses. If he didn't find the kid in the woods almost poisoned to death, he would've just taken him to a regular hospital, but something was telling him to bring him here. Something was telling him to stay until he recovered.
So he did.
For the next 2 days Tengen kept a close eye on the kid while also continuing his Lower Moon hunt. He'd found and killed a few lesser demons, but nothing about a lower moon had come up. If anything, the fact that multiple lesser demons were mucking around in the same part of Italy was a great indicator for a higher ranking demon. All he needed to do was find them.
It was slightly before dawn on the third night in which the kid finally woke up. Tengen had just came back from his search when he heard a scream from the kids room, prompting him to flash there.
He opened the door to the kid clutching his chest, muttering out stifled whys to himself. He was clearly having a panic attack; or at least on his way to having one. There was only one way to stop this, distract(shock) him out of it.
"Why what?" He asked, hoping his sudden presence would be enough. Fortunately, that worked, as the kid froze before turning towards him. What he said next did take Tengen by surprise.
"...Kakashi?"
Now how does a child no older than ten know his cousins name. Especially considering the closest Hidden Village was thousands of miles away. He was so shocked he asked his next question in Japanese, receiving a dazed, but mostly deadpan stare from the kid.
He tried again in Italian, but luckily the kid knew English, one of his better languages.
"You do?" he said, with a bit more emotion than expected, "Well then, my name is Uzui Tengen– no, Tengen Uzui in English– and how do you know my cousin?" The naming conventions of teh west always trips him up.
The answer the kid gave surprised not just Tengen, but apparently the kid as well, as he had a confused expression on his face. Tengen just stayed quite, letting the child ruminate on his thoughts, while he tried gleaming more information from that little sentence.
'Heretic ey?' He thought, 'Does he have ties to The Church? They're the only faction I know that leans into calling others heretics. If I'm not mistaken, the church did apparently "lose" something a couple months ago, so that might track if Kakashi was tasked with gaining said item.'
Tengen got pulled out of his thoughts by the child looking back towards him.
"Are– Are you strong?" He asked, slightly pensively.
Tengen just gave his signature toothy grin.
"You'd be hard pressed to find someone stronger than me, kid. So I guess you could say so." He wasn't even bragging that much. When you're in the top 10-15% when it comes to strength, you've earned some bagging rights. And that's only considering the supernatural. If you also included the mundane, the top 5% would be a lowball.
"Then can you- can you train me?" The kid continued, gaining more confidence– more conviction– as he spoke.
"Oho. And why do you want me to train you?" Normally, Tengen would have outright rejected the boy. He was too young. But something was telling him to humour him. Like he'd regret not even listening to his response.
The kid took a breath to center himself before speaking.
"I want revenge."
__________ End of Chapter __________
Ash here,
Thanks for reading the chapter, this one at just over 1600 words. I could've continued with the scene, but wanted to save it for next chapter. It also felt right to end it here. If there are any mistakes, please do correct me.
What do you think of the chapter. I dropped some pretty serious lore that comes with hefty implications. It's a shame our dear MC hasn't fully realised them yet. Don't worry, he'll figure it soon enough... I hope.
To keep with my 2 a week schedule, I'll try to post the next chapter within the next 24 hours. If not, I'll try to post 4 next week as atonement.
Here's a little not-so-secret, procrastination is my personal sin. Give me motivation please 🙏🏾.
Ash out.