36Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it ain't mine.
"Numerology is an oft speculated subject amongst seal experts. Numbers are said to hold so much mystery within them, keys to greater power if used correctly.
"Most people say that 'Seven is a Lucky Number', that 'Four is Unlucky', or even that 'Three is the Funniest number'. Those people are barely scratching the surface, the potential, of numbers.
"If seven is Lucky, Nine is Danger.
"If four is Unlucky, Eight is Power."
"Indeed, by far the most important, most powerful number, the most versatile number, is Eight. Eight represents so much, so much that people have forgotten.
"It encompasses the Elements, the raw Power of the planet itself-Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Lightening."
"It encompasses the trait necessary to obtain power-Determination. It also encompasses the trait necessary to maintain power- Fear, or as some put it, Cruelty.
"And it even encompasses the metaphorical position of those in power-The top of the Mountain."
"If there is one thing that you take away from this talk, let it be this: The Number Eight holds far more secrets, far more Power, than nine could ever dream of."
-From a lecture given by the Fourth Hokage to his Genin Team.
In the beginning, there were many Powers. The Gods, the Demons, the Dragons, the Spirits. Power flowed abundantly, and was fought over by those who knew its worth.
As time passes, the numbers of the truly powerful dwindled, as they killed each other off to take each others powers. Thus there were fewer Great Beings, but those that remained were even stronger then before.
Perhaps the most infamous were the Biju, the Nine Tailed Demons. The last of their kind, having killed off the rest, they created and maintained a pact amongst themselves; they would no longer kill each other, keeping their numbers static. Each one's power was represented by their Tails, and each demon had more Tails then the last, culminating in the great Kyuubi no Kitsune itself.
There were other powers out there, some known to humans, some long forgotten.
The Shinigami has always been remembered by humans, being fearful of death. The Shinigami had even more restrictions placed on how it could act, but when it was in a position to, almost no force in the Universe could stop it.
And perhaps one of the least known Greater Beings, one of the few who stood toe to toe with the Shinigami and lived, was the great Orochi, the Eight Headed Dragon.
The reason mankind had forgotten the Orochi was not because of time, but because the knowledge was suppressed.
The Orochi was one of the few Greater Beings that humanity had managed to defeat. The Yasakani, the Kusanagi, and the Yata had come together, and with an ingenious plan and some blessed artifacts, managed to seal away the Orochi.
600 years ago, mankind celebrated one of its few victories over a force of nature. Unfortunately, men will be men, and the Kusanagi stole the limelight, the fame, and the fortune away from the Yasakani family. The Yata were content being shrine keepers, but the Yasakani...they were not content to stand in the background.
Fueled by jealousy, they made contact with the very being they had so recently locked away. They made a blood-pact with the Orochi.
The Orochi twisted their birthright, their sacred Magatama. The Magatama was locked into their eyes, giving them sight and perception on levels previously unknown to man.
The Yasakani changed their name to Hyuuga, and sought out and slaughtered the Kusanagi. To make sure no one knew of their betrayal, they also slew the Yata, and stole away the sacred mirror that was a key to the seal of the Orochi.
They stole the wealth of the two other families, and used it to make themselves into nobility.
They became paranoid in their power, fearful that the Orochi would one day come to claim what the Hyuuga owed to it. They stamped the Orochi out of human history, hoping no one ever entertained the idea of trying to free it.
And for the last 600 years, they have maintained that status.
The Orochi grows restless, though. He wants out of his prison. Though sealed away as he is, he can still manifest his power, into both those humans blessed by him in ages past, and those he deems his Heavenly Kings and his Hakkeshu.
The Orochi manifested his strongest Heavenly King, He of the Wildly-Blowing Wind. He also activated the blood in one of the purest lines of the Orochi Clan, his Hakkeshu of Water.
The two met up, and began to plan on how to make their Lord's dreams a reality.
The Hakkeshu of the Wind was a man who would be known to most of the world as the Yondaime Hokage.
The Hakkeshu of Water would one day be one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsman of the Mist, Hoshigake Kisame.
They met, and they planned.
Soon, others of the Orochi blood appeared. Yuuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko, representing the Orochi's more abstract embodiments of Determination and Fear, were born a few years apart. Both were sought out by the Yondaime, and had their future revealed to them.
Maito Gai, Hakkeshu of the Mountain, hid himself so well in plain sight. Everyone knew him-and everyone ignored him. He went everywhere, and watched everything, and no one ever suspected a thing.
Because of the Yasakani's greed, and their slaying of the Yata, the seal they thought would hold forever was weakening.
Without them ever realizing, the Orochi had been carefully breaking free of the seal, manipulating the family more and more. Twisting them, using them, and breaking them.
He fanned the paranoia that the head family felt, and inspired the then-current Hyuuga head to create the caged-bird seal. The Hyuuga thought that the seal would afford them even greater protection over their secrets.
Yes, it did let them control the branch families with the threat of death. However, it also let the Orochi influence the minds of those who bore it. So strong an influence, that within the presence of one of the Orochi blood, the Orochi could even control them.
And with no one to maintain the Seal, the Orochi was able to grow in strength.
This was felt by others with Power.
The Kyuubi no Kitsune, not wanting the Orochi to return to the world again, sought to steal the seal containing him, and maintain it himself. So he made his way to Konoha, to destroy the village who dared to host one of his enemies.
The Orochi, though, felt the approach of the Kyuubi. It came up with a new plan, and communicated it to his lead servant. His remaining Hakkeshu were being born, and the Orochi had come up with an idea to increase his own power dramatically.
His chosen host, the Heavenly King of Fire, was born just a day before the Kyuubi arrived. The common practice of Hidden Villages to deal with Biju was to seal them into a host, a Jinchuriki.
But what, mused the Orochi, would happen if a biju was sealed into my future host?
It would multiply the Orochi's powers to levels untold, or it would be his own doom. To gain in Power one must always take risks, so, armed with this plan and one of the strongest sealing techniques ever devised, the Yondaime, He of The Wildly Blowing Wind, sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi into the child who would one day be the He of the Flames of Destiny.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Author's Notes: Well, my second stab at a story, with a Naruto/King of Fighter's fusion. You won't see any characters from KOF in here (outside of the Orochi), but you can certainly see whose been fused with what (and there will be more influences).
The plot will be a mix of the two, and, if you know KOF history, you'll know some of the things coming.
Reviews, comments, criticisms, anything is good.