Chapter 927: 18
Chapter Seventeen – These Threads that Bind
.0.
"You are weak."
Despite the rickety state of the gates shackling his prisoner, it surprisingly held strong. Only its paw managed to break through, but Naruto was too sluggish to evade. His lower body was pinned in place under the Kyuubi's massive paw.
It leaned in close to the bars, its large sharp fangs gleaming as it spoke, "It was your weakness that made you succumb. A weakness I made aware to you, which you decided to ignore. You have no one to blame but yourself."
Try as he might, Naruto couldn't budge the offending appendage off him, struggling feebly against his captor.
"G-Get the hell off me, furball!"
"This ancient 'magic' of theirs has granted me a fortuitous opportunity, and I fully intend to make use of it. There is no escape for you. Only me. Your father will not save you this time."
"I'm your Jinchuuriki! You think I'm going to let you go without a fight?!"
"You honestly believe that I will yield to your meagre abilities? Do not be foolish. It was I who made you strong. Even then, you made no use to harness its potential." It pressed down on Naruto harder, causing him to release a pained scream. "But you had no right to my power. Instead of relying on your own might, you only sought to fasten your feebleness onto my strength. Forever the parasite. Forever taking what is not yours."
It smiled cruelly. "Remember this. For I will grant you one last use of my power." It raised a single claw, the same paw pinning Naruto down, and dotted it on Naruto's abdomen, over his seal. "Take it. Savour what is left of your humanity before I rip it from you."
Its distinctive chakra started to spread slowly from the small dot, leaving a thread connecting Naruto to the Kyuubi. The massive beast pulled it claw back, seemingly content to watch.
Unlike the initial stages of his Jinchuuriki transformation, the pain was worse. Unimaginably so.
He could feel the natural energy drain from his person. The Kyuubi's potent chakra seared flesh and sinew, slowly and excruciatingly, making its way around his body. Its chakra consumed him, burrowing deeper than he could have imagined as it poured into his ears, nose and down his throat, except for his eyes.
Naruto feared that he had begun hallucinating when the white spots in his vision gave way to a writhing mass of haunting ghoulish faces, as if forever trapped in a hellish pit of misery. He started hearing voices. Voices wailing of its suffering, its hollow hatred, and screams of despair and enmity.
"This is but a small portion. Can you overcome it?"
Naruto summoned what remained of his willpower to fight the scourge. He had made a promise to himself: the Kyuubi was his responsibility and he would not allow the Bijuu to run free, not in this world, his old one, or even the next. As if reacting to his vain attempt to fight back, the wraiths upped the intensity, tearing into his fragile psyche like a pack of rabid beasts.
It was unyielding. It was agonising.
It was suffocating the life out of him. He felt like he was being drowned in a sea of screams. Then, it stopped entirely.
For one brief moment, he heard a familiar girlish voice.
"Na-Ru-To~"
0.0
Chaos.
That was what greeted Erza.
The core members of the Light Alliance were farthest from her, at the other end of a levelled battlefield, the surrounding buildings having been demolished in the brief five minutes or so since the battle started. Her eyes naturally sought for Jellal. He was hurt, that much was apparent. Truth be told, it seemed all of them were.
Still, the former Wizard Saint was in the thick of things as he engaged Naruto alone. Her childhood companion remained on the defensive, his body glowing in a pale, golden sheen as he evaded the tails that darted after his form, intent on spearing him dead. When he could, he took pot-shots at the unnatural burgundy cloak that shrouded Naruto's quadruped form. Beyond him, she saw Hoteye, Jura, Lyon and Sherry work in tandem to support him with ranged attacks.
"Erza! Your left!" Natsu shouted.
She dug her feet in as her blade blocked the sinister green whip-like energy from drilling into her side. With a gentle twirl of her wrist, she wound the whip taut around her blade, and glared at her assailant.
Zero looked nothing like his counterpart, Brain.
Having stripped off his fur vest and kitschy ornaments, Zero was dressed in what remained of a military service dress uniform. His heavily-tanned skin was now incredibly pale, paler than hers even. There was a disfiguring burn that stretched from his abdomen to his chest, right where his Oración Seis guild mark once rested. Zero sneered at her, and Erza got her first good look at the towering Guild Leader's face. The prayer lines that had once marked Brain's cheeks were gone, and his sclera had become a dark shade of red, leaving it to glint menacingly in the night.
Zero drew his other arm back and made the motion to swing his other whip at her, but Gray drew his attention away with a well-aimed strike. The albino mage was fast despite his towering frame as he rolled away from the ice projectiles, the action forcing him to vanish the whip she had incapacitated earlier and land right into Natsu's path.
The rosy-haired Dragon Slayer shifted his body slightly as he heaved his chest. It happened in the blink of an eye and Zero was suddenly engulfed in a great torrent of fire.
Erza knew the attack wouldn't faze the man for long. She requipped her Purgatory Armour and rushed in.
Gray did the same from the other side as he fashioned himself a pair of swords.
In a flash of blinding white, Natsu's Fire Dragon's Roar was suddenly repelled, the fiery inferno dissipating into the atmosphere. Zero stood before them, unharmed by Natsu's attack but breathing deeply.
Erza registered the surprise in his eyes as she crouched low and swung her large mace at the lower-half of his body. Gray rounded off their pincer attack as he leapt to the air, slashing his dual swords at Zero's back.
It would have been a decisive attack had she not heard the faintest hint of rumbling beneath her.
Employing her better judgement, Erza stalled her attack and leapt away just as a large burgundy tail burst up from the ground, spearing the air where she previously stood. Its reach didn't stop there. Rather than continue after her, the almost-sentient tail sought for Gray, ignoring Zero after he had escaped from its clutches.
The ice-user scuttled back as the tail barrelled through the icy barriers he had erected to cover his escape. Gray's efforts to stall the vulpine appendage seemed futile. A tall geyser of ice erupted from underneath the tail, encasing it completely. However, the corrosive energy coating Naruto's tail rendered the ice capsule almost useless. It melted the hardy construct in seconds and broke free, resuming its chase.
"Over here, ya goddamn bastard!"
Natsu had abandoned his fight with Zero in favour of his comrade's immediate safety, charging in with fists aflame as he tried to physically wrestle it from chasing after Gray. Naruto's unnatural cloak didn't seem to have that much of an effect on Natsu, but the Fire Dragon Slayer's valiant effort stuttered when the tip of the tail morphed into a closed fist.
It bore down atop the Fire Dragon Slayer's head like a guillotine in motion.
Once.
Then twice.
"Natsu!" Gray shouted.
Natsu had been knocked unconscious, his eyes rolling up to its whites. His crumpled form was left waist-deep in the ground, his torso splaying back awkwardly.
Naruto's tail made to strike him again. At that angle, it would have snapped Natsu in half. Erza wasted no time in leaping up to meet the attack with her own. She batted the tail-made-fist away with her spiked mace. The tremendous force behind her attack caused the tail to reel back and impact the ground forcefully.
It afforded her the briefest window of opportunity to pull Natsu to safety.
However, in her haste, she failed to account for Zero's movements. Stilling, her gauntlet tightened around Natsu's forearm. The man was positioned behind her. She could sense him pooling his disgustingly potent Darkness magic; no doubt aimed at her back. To her front, Naruto's tail had recovered and was now reared to strike her.
Erza could hardly move a muscle to brace herself, much less change her armour to one better suited to protect her.
Zero's attack drilled into her back and threw her forward to the awaiting fist. In that split second after, it caught her full-on in the front. The sudden pinball motion sending her limp body back across the ravaged battlefield, like a carelessly tossed twig.
Her body didn't meet concrete like she expected.
Instead, it gave a loud grunt. Erza felt someone cushion her impact, whether intentionally or unintentionally, taking the brunt of the damage as they collided against a building. The structure gave way as dust settled around them.
Blood splattered on her face.
Jellal was looking down at her, his features etched in silent agony. No doubt hers mirrored his as she struggled to regulate her breathing, trying to push past the pain. Despite this, Jellal didn't move. It took a few seconds before Erza regained the strength and composure to sit up.
"Are you all right?" she asked him.
"Worry about... m-me later." Jellal gave her a weak smile before coughing harshly. "You need to... get back out there. You might be the only one who can go toe-to-toe with him right now."
Erza thinned her lips.
When she tried to stand, she had to suppress a grimace as she noted the condition of her Purgatory Armour, or what remained of it. The chest plate had caved inwards from where Naruto had caught her, the mangled bits of metal biting into her breasts and abdomen. She reached down to touch a long jagged edge, and clenched her jaw tight at just how firmly entrenched it was. Thankfully, her armour had saved her from being burned by Naruto's corrosive cloak, unlike Zero and Jellal. The latter suffered burns on the exposed right side of his body, the worst centred over his right arm.
Jellal noticed her concern. "I'm fine. Just be careful out there." He hung his head, shadowing his features. His voice was weak, "I shall be with you shortly."
Finding it hard to express what she wanted to say in words, Erza could only swallow thickly.
"Understood."
There would be time to talk later.
Erza requipped into her Flame Empress Armour, wincing as the destroyed remains of her previous armour vanished into her pocket dimension. The relative tightness of her corset-like armour helped to apply pressure on her open wound. Given the situation, she had to make do with what she had. Erza grasped her new weapon, finding comfort in its familiarity.
She gripped it tight and entered the fray once more.
Upon returning to the battlefield, Erza singled out Naruto's quadruped build. He was engaged in battle with the rest of the Light Alliance; their efforts marginally successful in keeping Naruto from closing the distance.
Beyond them, she saw Zero struggling to break down the combined efforts of Gray and Loke, of all people, as they attacked with frightening synchronicity. The former Guild Leader was looking much worse off; it seemed he didn't totally escape unscathed either. Lucy was tending to Natsu's unconscious form, carrying him off from the midst of all the destruction around them. Happy stuck closely on foot. It seemed the Exceed was unable to fly.
Her instincts guided her forward.
Sensing something amiss, Erza saw Naruto, brushing aside a golem construct Sherry was manipulating, and lock eyes at Lucy's unguarded back. More tails rose up from his vulpine form. He opened his maw wide, sending massive bursts of fire towards Jura and the rest, far faster than any make-shift defence she imagined they could conjure. The ground around them exploded, shrouding them from view.
Erza narrowed her eyes.
Hunched on all fours, Naruto snarled and shifted his body towards Lucy. He made to follow after her, but Erza was already there to block off his thunderous charge. Naruto didn't react, not that she knew he could, but he had already sent a tail around her, spearing towards Lucy's back.
She wasn't able to stop it in time.
Her flame sword shot to her side, pushing the tail aside in the hopes that it would skew wide off his target. She rushed through her follow-up, her sword gripped tightly with both hands as she turned on her heel to deliver a crushing backhand slash at Naruto's exposed bleach-white skull.
Instead of teetering from the blow, the upper-half of his body morphed, as the burgundy cloak expanded around its skeletal frame. The vile energy formed into another duplicate of Naruto's demonic form, sprouting from his left shoulder down to his back, except without an exoskeleton.
That was all the warning she had before Naruto spun around like a top, an enlarged clawed fist bearing down upon her head.
Her hand jerked up, bringing her sword level to rebuff his attack, but it tore through her paltry defence like a sheet of paper, the tempered steel of her flame sword shattering into innumerable pieces. She was only able to edge out of the way of its attack by the skin of her teeth. Another claw bore down on her as he continued his rotation. Erza requipped into her Flight Armour in an instant and nimbly beat a hasty retreat.
Skin exposed, her wounds now bled freely, but that was the least of her worries.
Having his undivided attention, Naruto made after her, his five swishing tails hovering ominously behind him. With a bestial roar, he stamped a hand down, generating a searing heatwave which threw her back forcefully. His tails then burrowed into the ground with such force that Nirvana itself buckled on its spindly, spidery legs.
"Enough!" she heard Jura roar.
There was rage in his eyes. This was the most expressive Erza had ever seen from the monk-like Wizard Saint. She had half-expected the man to temper his anger, considering what had happened to Naruto, but she then understood why. Beyond him, she saw Sherry trashing wildly. Erza finally registered her anguished and desperate screams; she didn't notice it until now.
The puppeteer had been burnt raw. Lyon hovered over her, icy palms held flat over the reddish-pink splotches and lesions on her exposed skin. The rest hadn't been spared from Naruto's assault, but Sherry had been unfortunate enough to suffer the worst of it.
"Richard-dono!" Jura shouted.
It was scary how fast the former Oración Seis member reacted. Swiping his fingers, Hoteye melted the ground under Naruto and his tails and pulled him under. Naruto roared, struggling to claw his way free, but the more he tried, the more he was submerged under the quagmire. Hoteye piled on the pressure, liquefying the destroyed remains around them and sent it bearing down on Naruto's form like a great flash flood.
Four of his tails burst free from its liquid shackles.
Jura extended his hand outward, and parts of the liquefied earth solidified. Pillars of rock shot forth from within the flash flood, spiralling and segmenting, and trapped his tails along its length.
Erza knew the reprieve was temporary.
It spoke volumes of Hoteye's and Jura's calibre that they, whose caster magic were polar opposites, were able to work so well in tandem despite having just met hours ago; most of it spent as enemies.
"Now!"
Hoteye obliged to Jura's request, liquefying stone and rubble and raising it up into an intense columnar vortex that snaked upwards, towering in the air.
Jura's gestures were crisp and precise. With a sweep of his hand, the tip of the muddy column hardened and moulded into a giant fist, wider even than the buildings that still surrounded them. The dynamic display of magic barely lasted seconds, but such was the mastery and prowess over their element that they were able to perform such a feat so quickly.
Jura did not hesitate.
"Iron Rock Fist!"
As the attack connected, the hardened fist broke off, leaving the muddy column as it were. It was an ingenious bit of magic as the Wizard Saint recycled the attack by moulding the tip of the vortex again. The duo did not relent, tearing away at Naruto with terrifying coordination. The ground beneath him sunk inwards, like a massive sandpit. The demonic figure trapped within could no longer be seen.
A multitude of mud spouts began to rise up as Jura and Hoteye summoned more gigantic fists to come crashing down on Naruto. As the attacks piled on, the debris from the forceful impact began to fill up the sandpit.
"Prepare yourself, Erza-dono!" Jura shouted. "Unleash your strongest attack at my signal!"
Steeling herself, Erza did just that, swapping her Flight Armour for another: her Giant's Armour. As the pale glow of her requip magic vanished, she eased into a kneeling stance, ignoring the lingering stab of pain that shot through her person. The extravagantly crafted De-Malevo-Lance, which had forged its name in folklore for its ability to seal darkness from its target, was held at the ready in her right arm.
She prayed that the legends were true.
No one was pulling their punches here, even against one of their own. It was her hope that they would be able to save the beleaguered mage from Cait Shelter, but not at the expense of their lives. A grim determination set in her bones as the ruby gem that adorned her right gauntlet began to glow brilliantly.
With narrowed eyes, Jura gestured at the massive sandpit.
"Now!"
Sprinting upwards, Erza braced herself, stamping down her left foot on the ground as she heaved the De-Malevo-Lance forward with all her might; the given armour affording her an unconditional boost to her strength. Such was the power behind her throw that the gem shattered violently as she followed through with the motion.
"Supreme King Rock Crush!"
Her thrown pole-arm connected with the haphazard tomb that had now filled up the pit. As the combined attacks met, the massive pit exploded outwards, blinding those in the immediate area and showering them with rocky debris and fine dust. There was no doubt in her mind that her De-Malevo-Lance had been obliterated as well.
Erza watched, transfixed, as the seconds dredged on.
.0.
What... happened?
Naruto's mind drew a blank.
Standing here in this vast empty space, there was nothing save for the two of them. The backdrop was a blank white slate. Looking down, he realised that the ground rippled beneath his feet, like he was walking on water.
"W-Wait... what?" Naruto asked. "You shouldn't be here."
The young Dragon Slayer giggled, not unlike the real one. "Why shouldn't I be here, silly?" Her bright brown eyes gleamed with mirth as she rocked on her heels back and forth. "I have every right to be here. In fact, I'm the reason why you're here."
"What?"
Wendy giggled again. "Honestly Naruto," she chided playfully. "You can be so clueless sometimes." She went on before he could say anything, "Don't you remember what brought you here in the first place?"
She began to fade, flickering to static.
Then, Naruto remembered. Fragmented snapshots flashed before his eyes, slowly piecing together to form a larger picture, but he couldn't make heads or tails of it. Then, the jarring static again. For a brief moment, he saw the surroundings give way to a bleak, dim ceiling. Looming above, malevolent red eyes stared down at him.
The entity grinned.
It disappeared suddenly and he grimaced, shaking his head to stave off the growing migraine.
What the hell was that?
"Stop!" he gnashed out. "Stop it!"
"Are you mad at me? B-But why?" Wendy almost whined. "I only showed you the truth. So why are you mad at me?" Her bottom lip trembled. "Do you hate me? You do, don't you?"
Naruto looked at her warily, her eyes blinking back unshed tears.
He drew a breath.
There was no other possibility to explain this surreal reality.
"Break!"
"Don't! You always do this, Naruto! You're always trying to run away from your problems!"
"Break!"
"Why can't you accept it? I'm real! I'm standing right here! Stop avoiding it and just face the truth!" He felt her grip the front of his shirt. "Open your eyes, Naruto!"
There was a lingering pause.
He did so.
Wendy smiled at him, earnest and warm despite the redness of her eyes and the tears that spilled down her cheeks. "Y-You did it." She sniffled into her free hand, then wormed her fingers around his. "Now... On a scale of one to ten, how much would you say that you hate me?"
His features twisted as he wrenched his hand free from her grasp, nudging her away.
Wendy pouted under his withering glare. "If you keep making your face look like that, it's gonna become permanent." A pause. "Sheesh, you're a real mood killer, Naruto."
"If this isn't an illusion, then what is this? What are you?"
She shrugged, bringing her forefingers to her temple and mimicking a screwing motion. "We're in here, your head-space, because you got all loopy. And who's to say that this isn't an illusion? It could be one, and maybe you're just not strong enough to break it? Ever thought about that?" she chirped. "And me? Well, I suppose you can think of me as the... personification of your hatred!" she proclaimed dramatically, pointing at him. "I am your Persona!"
"You?"
Wendy looked miffed. "What? Why can't I be one? Dig real deep, Naruto. Real... real deep," she said, wiggling her fingers. "Can you honestly say that you don't hate me, just a teensy tiny bit?"
Naruto fought the urge to laugh at the absurdity of the conversation he was having with the 'personification of his hatred'.
"No."
"Really?" The doppelgänger frowned, looking dejected. "Loathe? Despise? No? Abhor? Scorn?" She sighed. "I get it. It takes a lot to seriously hate someone who looks like me." She then perked up, saying, "Then again, hatred really is a strong word. You could say instead that... you resent me."
"Not even a teensy tiny bit," he said dryly, without missing a beat.
"Got'cha pegged. You resent me! You. Resent. Me. ~You resent me~"
Naruto palmed his face in his hand. "This is getting old. Look, you mind telling me how I can get out of this place?"
"Haha, no. You can't escape, Naruto," she said offhandedly. "Can I ask you something? In your super awesome quest to get back to Konoha, did you ever think how exactly you were going to explain that to me?"
He looked down at her oddly. "Right... Aren't you a figment of my delusion or something? Does it matter what I say to you?"
"What?! There's a real version of me out there, so yeah! Of course it matters! Oh! Don't say you'll cross that bridge when it comes! Bridges-schmidges... Practise it on me. Tell me how the most important person in my life is just gonna up and disappear in the near future? That is, if you ever manage to find your way back... Not likely though," Wendy added in a stage whisper.
"Okay, this stopped being funny again."
Wendy gasped mockingly, aghast. "This is funny to you? You're sick! Despicable! Just imagine what the real me might do when you do leave though." She proceeded to cover her eyes, boohooing into her hands, peeking at him through her fingers.
"Whatever will I do without my big older brother? Why ever did he decide to leave? Is it me? It has to be me. Why else would everyone in my life just abandon me? My mother, who coincidentally is a kick-ass dragon, that Jellal guy, jeez... my biological parents too, I suppose, and~ you... Oh! Oh! Let's not forget the guild that I've called home for the last six years is some kinda of really, really sick lie perpetrated by some smelly old fart. Can't wait to learn about that. What else is there really...?"
"What the hell are you trying to prove here?" Naruto asked tersely.
"That I have abandonment issues and a pretty shitty childhood. C'mon Naruto. Keep up with me here," Wendy said, deadpan. She then took a finger to her chin. "I suppose that's where you kinda see yourself in me. I remind you of yourself when you were young, as that lonely kid who was always on the fringes; always looking in and wishing this, envying that. Sometimes, you can't bear the thought of leaving this world. How could you? It'd be like abandoning your younger self."
Wendy wiggled her forefinger at him.
"And that's not how Naruto Uzumaki rolls. Is that how you're gonna convince yourself if you don't find a way back? That you'd give up on Konoha to stay with me? You can't honestly disagree that you've settled into a decent routine in this world. So why give that up? C'mon, the worst baddie in this world is chump change back home. You could coast through life here without hardly ever lifting a finger. It'd be so easy to give up on an impossible dream."
"Like hell I'm going to give up on Konoha! There's still people depending on me!"
Wendy laughed, harsh and cynical. It sounded alien coming from her lips.
"Now that's just delusional, Naruto. It's been three years since you've left. What are the odds that someone you love has died since then? You think Tsunade-baachan could hold out as Hokage at her age? Hmm? Sakura-chan? Kakashi-sensei? Jiraiya—Oops! Totally slipped my mind. That dirty old pervert already bit the dust."
That almost got a rise out of him. He gnashed his teeth, but ultimately tempered his anger.
"Face it, Naruto. We're shinobi. We adapt. We cope. It's the nature of our world. Just like when Shodaime died, then his brother, your father and the old man... One man does not a village make. Those whom you've abandoned back in Konoha would have moved on already. You'd be just another name among thousands etched in a stone somewhere."
Naruto grabbed the doppelgänger by her shoulders, pressing down hard as he reached down to her eye level.
She yelped at the pressure.
"Look," Naruto said. "Imitating Wendy, asking all these probing questions, the little insults... I know all of this is a trick to keep me on edge—off balance. So why don't you just tell me what your end game is?"
"W-Where is all this heroic brashness coming from?" Wendy trembled under his hold, looking into his eyes fearfully. "Huuuu~ how d-did you know my one weakness? My Achilles heel? O-Oh... I'm weakening... If you hug me now, all the negative energy binding me together will s-start to—" She made choking noises, then lolled her head back, eyes shut and tongue out. Her body was a dead weight. "Alas, I have been slain, and our hero prevails—"
Naruto dropped her.
"Ow!" she said from her position on the floor.
Naruto knelt in front of her. "You've been playing this game from the beginning, but it's not working. The thing is, I know I won't fall for it; it's kind of obvious for me not to. So tell me how this is going to end. You said it before: you're the reason why I was brought here in the first place... for whatever messed up reason that I can't seem to remember. So what's my purpose here?"
Wendy looked at him blankly. "I'm here to make you see reason," she said after a pregnant pause, rising to her knees as she crossed the short distance between them. She held her hand out, to which Naruto hesitantly took, and gripped it tight. "I'm here to open your eyes."
"To what?"
"To the part of you that you're repressing. Sometimes unconsciously... sometimes intentionally."
"Let me guess: my hatred, right?"
Wendy shook her head. "Not exactly. No, Naruto. I'm more like a seed of your resentment. Like a seed, I'll grow and grow, and my roots will burrow deeper and deeper inside of you... eventually. But like a tree, it takes time to surface."
"So I'm here to learn that I'm going to start hating Wendy in the future?" Naruto asked. "That's just beyond stupid. Am I suddenly going to start hating Konoha? Because it's just a pipe dream to you?"
"Hate is a too strong an emotion to use now, or even at all, but just imagine: every little setback you'll face trying to get back home, every decision you'll second guess because I'm holding you back. You've already done it before. Many times. Remember? You were working a lead in the Magic Council, but you backed out."
"The cons outweighed the pros," Naruto said slowly, blinking. "There wasn't a point going ahead with it. It was too dangerous."
"Too dangerous? For you?" she continued, brushing aside his reply, "Just imagine how your problems will mount up. All those maddening dead ends for an impossible dream to go home, and when your frustrations start to spill out, just who will you direct that anger at?"
Naruto scowled angrily. "You think I'm going to lash out at Wendy?!"
"Of course not. Well, not physically anyway. No, you won't notice it right away, but these feelings will manifest and sooner or later, you'll start to resent me for the simple reason of not being able to let me go."
"W-What?! That's stupid! Of course I need to protect her! She's still a kid! She's..." Naruto struggled to come up with the words, "I—"
"Face it. Even when you try to let me do something on my own, you find the need to hover close by. Don't get me wrong. Your little sister complex is endearing. There's nothing wrong with that, but... can you see the thread that lingers between us, Naruto? It's the bond we created. This powerful, unbreakable bond we share." Wendy slipped her free hand between his arms and rested her palm flat over his chest. "In the end, it is the bonds you share with those you love that will cause you the most grief. Do you remember now? Do you remember what you did when you saw me, Naruto?"
"W-What...?" Naruto asked hesitantly, swallowing the uncomfortable lump in his throat. "What did I do?"
Wendy smiled, troubled and sad.
Her form started to unravel, then static and white noise overcame his senses. It came in flashes, with startling clarity. He could see the man with the jet-black hair standing over her, grounding her face into the ground; the overwhelming and oppressive anger that consumed him...
Then nothing.
Naruto closed his eyes.
Like turning on a light switch, he was painfully aware of how infinite his surroundings were; how small and insignificant his presence was in this void. When Wendy had stopped speaking, he was overwhelmed by the silence that permeated and despite the vast white canvas that enveloped his vision, he felt eerily claustrophobic.
Alone.
Ill.
Naruto found himself desperately wanting to hear her voice again.
"I... I—" he said, his throat dry.
"You did the one thing you said you wouldn't ever do again... You gave in."
Just like that, the floodgates opened. It was akin to an out-of-body experience as he relived the one-sided massacre, the images coming in fast and heavy as it was seared into his mind. He could feel the staggering blood lust and primal animosity that flowed within his Jinchuuriki form.
Even now, he was fighting.
Nothing could stop him.
Wendy had her hand on his cheek in a comforting gesture. "How did you feel when you gave in, Naruto?"
Numb.
"Peaceful."
He didn't mean to say that.
Naruto furrowed his brows. Something was wrong. In front of him, one of Wendy's eyes had bled red. One of his had done the same when he looked down at the reflective surface of the ground. When she spoke, her voice was no longer hers. It was an amalgamation of a child and an adult's; a man and woman's.
Androgynous.
Tranquil.
Equal.
"Wasn't it just? You could be at peace now too. All you have to do is to give in to your hatred, and it will all be over."
No.
"What do I have to do?"
"It's simple. All you have to do is sever your bond, Naruto." A kunai materialised in his hand. Wendy lifted her head, revealing her bare neck to him. "Sever our bond."
No.
Don't.
"All right."
Naruto struggled against his mental shackles, helplessly fighting the hold over him. His body was on auto-pilot, acting on pure muscle memory as he twirled the kunai by its ring twice before snapping it in a reverse grip. He held the blade to her throat.
She smiled pleasantly. "Bye-bye, Naruto."
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
"Bye, Wendy."
He then slit her throat.
0.0
Lucy was aware that everyone had stopped fighting, even Zero incredulously.
"Come on, Lucy. We have to keep moving," Happy urged. The cat was exhausted. Having spent the entire day flying around, the little bundle of energy had run out of steam. Now, of all times.
"Right."
Somehow she was able to keep her voice from quivering; a feat in itself.
Lucy e had been caught staring. Not moments ago, had it not been for Erza's incredibly well-timed effort, Naruto would have killed her on the very spot she was standing on. Instead, the tide of battle had shifted remarkably. That final push by Jura, Hoteye and Erza seemed to have done the trick.
Lucy allowed herself to hope.
"Lucy, watch out!" Happy shouted.
Transfixed by the sudden lull in battle, Lucy almost didn't notice the ghoulish green beam of light aimed for her. She caught it out of the corner of her eye, but could do little to avoid it. A blur of blue suddenly came in her field of vision. The arm slung around her shoulder stiffened. Then, she was grabbed and pulled down roughly.
Natsu moved, tucking Happy into his arms, and bore the brunt of Zero's attack on his back. He was blown forward forcefully.
"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy screamed.
She scanned the area, wary of a follow-up, but there wasn't one.
They were gone.
The former Guild Master beat a hasty retreat, with her two comrades, Gray and Loke, doggedly pursuing. Lucy had been disregarded completely; attacking her seemed more like a final parting shot—an opportunity to get rid of a nuisance. She bit her tongue hard and scrambled on her hands and knees towards the duo.
The Fire Dragon Slayer had propped one of his arms up, with an unconscious Happy nestled in the other. His slanted eyes narrowed at the carnage around them, baring his teeth at Zero's back until the man disappeared from view.
"Hey, is Happy okay?"
"He's a brave little dude. He'll be fine," Natsu said, then leaned down to whisper into Happy's ear, "Thanks for tagging me in, bud. You were awesome."
"What about you?" she asked him.
"Never better." He then grinned at her. "Oh, yeah! Thanks, Lucy."
She made a face. "W-What for?"
"You got me out, right? Gave me another chance to knock some sense into whitey and that Naruto-guy... Heh, it looks like Erza got to him first, huh?" Natsu seemed to pick up on her anxiety. "Hey, trust me. It's the one thing I'm good at: beating people up. That goes double for what they did to Happy... and me!" He held Happy out to her. "Here. Get him somewhere safe."
Lucy remained silent and clutched Happy tighter.
Natsu got to his feet. When he spoke, his voice was firm and assuring, "Don't worry, we're gonna—"
It was so sudden that Lucy thought she imagined it; the searing, ungodly heat emanating from the massive pit in which Naruto was forcibly buried under. A moment later, a concentrated orange beam shot upwards from beneath the pit, cleaving the ground apart. As far as she was from the origin, she could clearly make out the spider-web fissures rippling in the ground towards her.
Nirvana rocked dangerously.
Her back was to it, and when she turned, to peek over her shoulder, her breath hitched. Lucy felt something else seize her heart entirely when she witnessed six trailing tails burst up from beneath the pit.
Naruto's form finally broke free from the haphazard pile of detritus, but he had changed, grown larger since gaining another tail. The burgundy red cloak that shrouded him had begun assimilating, for a lack of a better word, with the exposed exoskeleton. Lucy could see pale pink muscles knitting over his skeletal frame. She was certain that the image of his half-formed vulpine face, his flesh generating around hollow eye sockets, would haunt her dreams forever.
Naruto had sustained some damage, but as he trained his attention slowly over the battlefield, Lucy knew it was utterly insignificant.
She was right all along.
He really was an unstoppable monster.
"—win," Natsu continued unwittingly.
For the first time, Lucy didn't quite believe him.
.0.
In the battle for his soul, Naruto was losing.
Miserably.
Back in the chamber, he was only partially aware that he was losing his grip on the Kyuubi's chakra. He tried to suck in a breath, but found that the vile taint had sealed his mouth and nose shut. Like a mummy, he was paralysed in place. The only sense that remained was his sight, but even that was restricted to his right eye.
In his hand, where he once felt the familiar grip of cold steel, was instead the seal that had once shackled his prisoner. Had he been able to look down upon himself, Naruto would have seen the large gaping hole in his abdomen.
Trashing wildly, his subsequent anguished howl was muffled.
The gates holding his prisoner was crumbling before his eye. The mass of foreign black matter was ever-present as it worked its way over to the exposed locking mechanism. Without the seal there to protect it, the lock was slowly being eroded. Beyond the gates, the Kyuubi stood before him in all its menacing glory, sitting on its haunches as it stared down at him. The chakra thread connecting him to the Bijuu had grown.
He didn't understand the circumstances behind it, but he could feel his strength ebb from his body.
"So it's come to this," Kyuubi spoke, its gaze pitying. "You were unable to prove your worth even when you were given the chance—the one time it mattered. Just know that I take no pleasure from this, squashing a bug—a parasite. However, there were times where I found you agreeable. So I will offer you this gift. A final one. The gift of knowledge. I will allow you to die in peace knowing that those who have acted against you in this world will perish.
He tried to speak.
"You have no reason to fear death. Welcome its embrace. For you are finally free... Naruto."
His eyelid felt heavy, and he inadvertently felt it close shut.
0.0
Roubaul chastised himself.
It was hardly a time to reminisce. Then again, it was hard for him not to. The memories weren't particularly kind; his subconscious was a bastard like that. Not once had he ever entertained the thought of returning to King's Landing and helm the monstrous construct once more. Directing its movement was second nature to him.
Using it as a means to plot the downfall of one of his own? Again, very familiar. At the very least, he was in control of his faculties, unlike aeons ago.
"Who are you?"
Roubaul didn't turn to regard the intruder. When the jet of sickly green energy phased through his being, splashing harmlessly on the ancient mechanical console, he spoke, "Would you mind kindly to let an old man work in peace? There are matters to be resolved, a world to be saved, and a boy in desperate need of help."
"The Guild Master of Cait Shelter," Zero said. "I have erred. Just what are you?"
"Something all-knowing and all-seeing, young one. Tell me, was Naruto another mistake as well?"
Zero was quiet, though he caught on quick. "The creature... Yes, it is quite amazing to see one turn on his allies like he had. Those of your tribe truly have outdone themselves," he said. "What vile manner of magic lies within these walls, I wonder? To have illicit such a strange transformation? One could only imagine its effects on the rest of Fiore."
"You give my people credit where it is not due. My foolishness? That, that is what you should give your thanks to," Roubaul said. "And you overestimate your situation. Nirvana does not call to you. Its rightful has returned. It has no desire to beckon for a bastard any longer."
"Watch yourself, spirit! Magic may anchor you to this world, but I have means to banish you back to the aether."
He chortled despite himself. "You believe my continued existence here to be so simple? You fool. Nabura had punished me then, and Nabura will punish me now for daring to return."
Roubaul could sense the potent build-up of dark magic.
"I grow weary of your—"
"As do I. Perhaps the two pursuing you would be better served to have you returned to them." Roubaul curled his fingers into a fist, then levelled an open palm at the white-haired Guild Master.
In a flash of white, Zero was gone.
.?.
The surface beneath him rippled.
"Naruto..."
He jolted upright to an all too familiar surrounding, right down to the setting, because he wasn't alone once more. Across from him stood a pale red-haired woman in nondescript clothes.
He inwardly cursed.
She was smiling at him, violet eyes dewy with unshed tears. "Hey, do... do you recognise me?" She held her cheek in her hand and looked away, embarrassed. "Heh. Probably not, huh? The resemblance isn't really all there," she said, grinning cheekily. "Sheesh, even with your hair all short like that, you still look like Min—"
"Fuck you," he whispered under his breath, glaring at her. "Seriously. Fuck. You."
Her expression turned, her earlier optimism replaced by hurt. Distraught, she opened her mouth, wanting to reply, but all that came out was a strangled cry. Blinking, she asked:
"W-What?"
He clenched his fists tight, trembling in unrestrained anger.
"Why did you bring me back here?! What the hell is all this cryptic bullshit for?! Whoever the hell you're supposed to be now, you can cut it out. You want me to hate you, right? Well, you got it! I fucking hate you!"
"Naruto, please. You must be so confused. I can explain!"
In the blink of an eye, Naruto closed the distance between the two of them. He swung his foot out from under him, aimed for her head. However, his opponent proved adept, blocking his reckless advance with the outside of her forearm. Using the momentum from his run, he somersaulted and twisted, planting a hand on the watery surface to gain purchase. His other feet shot out at her head again, and with his spare hand, he directed a hastily-created Rasengan at her mid-riff.
Familiar.
The sudden sense of nostalgia threw him off and caused him to falter for a fraction of a second. Then, metal chains, thick and heavy, emerged from beneath the watery surface, deterring his attack but not doing much else. It allowed the woman to retreat, the chains trailing after her back. She looked around, all but ignoring him. The chains then plunged into the reflective surface of the ground.
Naruto staggered for all but a moment, like something had pushed him. Looking around, there were no immediate effects; none which he could see at least. He couldn't discern its purpose, but the fact that her technique shared physical traits with the Kyuubi unsettled him.
With an elaborate twirl, Naruto righted himself into a crouch. Inwardly chastising himself, he materialised another Rasengan in his hand. However, looking across to his opponent, he was momentarily taken aback by the look of scorn she directed his way.
"That's dangerous, dattebane! Didn't whoever teach you that warned you not to wave it around willy-nilly?! A-Rank techniques are forbidden for a reason!" Then, a flash of pride gleamed in her eyes. It made him blink. "But you made it so fast though! I think you did it faster than Minato ever could." She laughed heartily. "Superior breeding, I tell you! It was tough, but that extra month really made the difference!"
She suddenly teared up again. "Oh, by the bloody will... I can't believe how fast you grew up. I mean, look at you—"
Naruto ignored her. He was not about to play into another demented mind-game prompted by the roller-coaster display of emotions. Still, the casual way in which whatever this woman was used his father's name irked him.
Ducking low, he charged forward.
When she spoke again, she sounded different; her voice was soft, wistful. "—and if you really do hate me that much, then I won't stop you, Naruto."
Even if she was smiling, her misty violet eyes shined with resignation.
Once more, he couldn't shake off that feeling of familiarity; that sense of déjà vu. It was like looking into a mirror. Naruto allowed the Rasengan to dissipate. His steps faltered, and he found himself standing before the woman, unable to look at her.
"What more could you take from me?" he asked quietly.
"Nothing. I'm only here to help you see this through." He must have made a face because the woman frowned, continuing slowly, "For when you wrest control from the great, dumb cat—the Kyuubi?" She made wavy motions with her hands to illustrate what he assumed were its tails. Unconsciously, her red hair did the same. "Your father put me as a fail-safe for when you unlock the gates. Surely, you went through the process, right? Getting the key from Jiraiya or his cute little frog summons... All that?"
"They... They're toads."
The woman laughed mirthlessly. "T-That's exactly what Minato would always say," she said, breathless. "That always used to rile him up." Then, a look of fear flashed across her face. She covered her mouth with her hand, gasping. "You got a lot more of your father than I wanted... Oh, you must be boring... and serious all the time."
"I—I'm not! Wait, what?!"
"I mean, I see a lot of him in you, but where am I? Where am I in my baby boy?! Damn your genes, Namikaze!"
"Don't you dare talk about the Fourth that... way?!" he roared, in no small amounts of confusion.
"I can curse Minato all I want! However which way I want!"
"What gives you the right?!"
"I'm his thrice-damned wife-ttebane!"
Naruto stilled.
"...Mom?"
She too made a face. "Wait, you didn't know?"
0.0
Insurmountable odds.
Jura had said this to her, but Erza couldn't get a reply in. Naruto held all of her attention as the combined efforts of her, Jura and Hoteye worked to stall and combat him.
Erza herself had taken on the role of fighting Naruto up close, her form shimmering as she seamlessly requipped her armours in quick succession to maintain her bearing against Naruto's vicious onslaught. Such was Naruto's ferocity that she, Jura and Hoteye, all extremely accomplished mages in their own rights, could hardly keep up. His larger mass made it harder to mount an offensive against him. Any means to do so stuttered before a blow could be landed, and whatever hasty defence they could conjure hardly deterred his attacks.
Surely, there was another meaning to Jura's words; his unspoken question was obvious.
What was their plan B?
Retreat.
It was the only thing that came to her mind.
Everything went against them from the start. Coming into this battle against a beleaguered Naruto in his current Take-Over state was impossible enough at full strength, but they did so battered, exhausted and low on morale. It didn't help that they had to contend with fighting against Zero as well.
The situation was beyond their control.
Naruto was growing, evolving with each passing tail. He had already starting generating flesh, absorbing the cloak around his skeletal frame. That had to mean that he was about to reach maturity—a final form of some kind.
Then what?
She was glad enough that he hadn't been able to recreate that devastating blast from earlier. Whether it had come down to him being unable to do so again, luck, or their combined efforts at keeping him distracted, it had ultimately meant a reprieve from an instantaneous death.
That was why the thought of retreating terrified her.
If they didn't stop Naruto now, Nirvana would continue on its warpath towards whichever unsuspecting towns or villages that stood in its way. It would mean more death and destruction. More lives ruined. More broken families because they had failed. She couldn't allow that, not if there was a breath left in her body. Her determination was never in question, but she feared for the safety of her allies; she couldn't willingly lead them to their deaths.
"Groaahhh!"
Hoteye liquefied the ground under Naruto's feet, but it barely halted his thundering advance. The earth mage's efforts to contain him seemed nothing more than a nuisance to Naruto. In fact, all of their attacks met the same end.
Backpedalling, Erza brought her arms to a cross in front of her, hissing lowly despite the gauntlets of her Flame Empress Armour blocking the worst of the ball of conflagration Naruto sent her way. She lost her footing as the ground around her exploded, throwing her back.
The snarling visage of Naruto pounced through the resultant cloud of dust that enveloped her.
In a flash, Erza salvaged a passable defence, switching out her current gear for the Adamantine Armour. The bulk and density of the defensive suit made it hard to manoeuvre around properly, so she steeled herself on one knee and locked her arms together, her body hidden behind its tall, bladed shields.
It happened all too quickly.
Erza was unable to activate the Adamantine Barrier, the armour's signature spell. It was a lengthy process to undertake its activation, and time was not something Naruto could spare her.
Her eyes widened.
Naruto's first strike loosened her grip on maintaining her shields, but she held strong. His claws had penetrated her shields and curled around the jagged edges of the openings, just mere centimetres from her face. It was a terrifying feat of strength, considering the nigh impenetrable defence her armour provided.
Only from a single glancing blow.
The ground quaked beneath her. From above, more of his tails were reared up to strike, aimed for her unguarded back; the obvious flaw in her armour. All the while, Naruto's claws tried to prise her from her shields, his unoccupied arm waiting in anticipation for the opening.
It left her in a lurch.
Move and be shredded by his tails. Stay and be mauled by Naruto's claws.
Suddenly, she caught movement out of the corner of her eyes, a blur immolated in a neon orange blaze with raised fists aflame.
On the other side of her shields, Naruto paused his onslaught and snarled. His airborne tails, then poised to attack her, lashed out at the onrushing figure. His attention sufficiently diverted, Erza darted out of the way, switching out for her Flight Armour, just as two of his tails pierced the space where she had vacated. Despite some assistance from Hoteye and Jura with running interference, the tails continued chasing after her.
She requipped back to the Adamantine Armour in time to catch the attack on her already mangled shields. There was no reprieve however, as the other tail hovered in the air above her, and at the last second, angled itself over her shields.
It snapped out, the pointed tip sailing for her head.
Death beckoned.
"Yeaarrgghh!"
Something big came charging through the half-hollowed remains of a building behind her, showering debris everywhere. What followed from the wreckage was a tall, hulking physical specimen of man.
Erza was glad to see a familiar face.
Despite Naruto having grown considerably, Ichiya was still bigger than him. She had seen Ichiya in this state once before, during the ill-fated mission that led to their meeting some years back. She could only see the white of his eyes, and that could only mean Ichiya had inhaled a dangerous, concentrated mix of his Power and Pain Relieving Perfume. With his incredible strength and pseudo-invulnerability, it made him virtually unstoppable, though only until the effects wore out. She knew they had to do everything possible to help him maximise the damage he could do to Naruto in the meantime.
The orange-haired Adonis caught the tail between his hands, saving her from a certain demise. He pulled it like a rope, leaning his body back to gain leverage. Naruto was lifted off his feet, his limbs flailing wildly as he scrambled for purchase. His tails struck out at the ground and anchored him in place. More of his tails sought out for Ichiya.
Aware of the threat, Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armour.
A large magical seal hovered in the air above Naruto. She struck her hand out and unleashed the large stockpile of weapons she had secreted in her pocket dimension, raining it down upon Naruto. The damage was minuscule, as the hail of swords bounced harmlessly off his form, embedding deep into the ground. It had served as a decent distraction at least.
Hoteye had taken the opportunity to liquefy the area under Naruto, sending waves of the liquefied concrete to crash against him and loosening his anchor to the ground. Hoteye combined with Jura once more, first in an attempt to nullify the threat of Naruto's tails, then summoning a gigantic fist, not unlike earlier, in a matter of moments. In a show of ingenuity, the duo used the mountain of swords from her attack as an added impetus; the soft ground hardened with the tip of her swords poking out from the front of its knuckles. The fist spiralled upwards, reared back and bore down hard upon Naruto's exposed skull.
It did the trick.
With one final tug, Ichiya was able to wrench Naruto free. Using the resultant momentum, Ichiya grunted loudly and swung around like a top, dragging Naruto's body against the remnants of the buildings and levelling it clean. It might have been Ichiya's intention to fling Naruto across, and as far away from, the battlefield, but Naruto regained his bearings almost immediately.
A tail smashed into Ichiya's face, staggering the Perfume mage so badly that he was left stunned on his feet. Naruto escaped from his grasp. Given the distance between the two, the others couldn't do much to prevent Naruto from wrapping a tail around Ichiya's neck and lifting him aloft. With a savage growl, Naruto returned the favour, pounding Ichiya onto the concrete floor with reckless abandon.
As the others closed in, with Erza at the forefront leading the charge in her Lightning Empress Armour, Naruto snarled. Opening his maw wide, a pencil-thin orange beam lanced out, tearing an arc at ground in front of them and blocking them off. Erza lost sight of the others. Naruto continued directing the beam across the battlefield, gouging whatever got in its way.
Natsu leaped in, stance rigid as he bared his elongated canines. Squaring his shoulders, he heaved his chest and swallowed the concentrated beam of fire.
Naruto didn't relent.
A momentary stalemate occurred as the two sides vied for dominance.
With his five remaining tails hovering behind him, the tails-made-fists struck out randomly—swiping at them and brutally hammering down at Ichiya in particular. A tail thrust forward and pummelled Natsu in his chest, sending the Fire Dragon Slayer careening through the air and beyond Erza. The distraction allowed Ichiya to sneak it a few blows at Naruto's face, but the orange-haired man was faltering.
Erza knew they had to do something quickly. She didn't know how or why Ichiya had been able to set Naruto off so badly, but the man had become the sole target of Naruto's rage and bore the brunt of it.
Naruto roared point-blank into Ichiya's face, causing his body to tremble violently like his brain had been scrambled into mush. Even from afar, Erza could see the lines of distortion in the air from the bestial roar.
Ichiya laid flat, unmoving.
"Ichiya-dono!" Erza heard Jura shout.
Naruto paused.
Everyone did the same.
Around Erza, she saw how the others stilled, steeling themselves in preparation for whatever was to come despite their exhausted state. Natsu had trudged his way back, but remained mindful to keep some distance between them. He looked worse for wear, but there was a sharp glint in his eyes as he glared at Naruto. Erza didn't know whether it was a trick of light, but his skin had taken on an indistinguishable reddish and scaly sheen.
However, Jura hadn't escaped unscathed.
He was deathly pale. The beam had cut through his right arm, just below his elbow. What remained was a cauterised stump, which had been burnt raw. Jura gritted his teeth hard, trembling. It was a miracle that the Wizard Saint was even able to stand.
Beyond him, Gray and Loke, together with Zero, were gone. In the midst of their battle, Zero must have escaped, with the duo hopefully giving chase. Apart from Lyon being ordered by Jura and Hibiki to retreat with the unconscious Sherry earlier, which only left Lucy and Happy as the only unaccounted party aboard Nirvana.
A streak of blue hair caught her attention as Jellal stumbled to the scene with a panicked, wide-eyed look. She didn't think Jellal could have been able to recover so soon, much less rejoin the battle.
"Jellal?" she said, almost to herself.
"Stop him! Stop him now!" he interrupted her, shouting.
Naruto had his head tilted back, face angled upwards. The air was heavy, and Erza could finally feel the potent build-up of oppressive magic hanging ominously over them. Tiny, malleable globs of an unknown black and white mass began to rise up, gathering over Naruto's mouth. It formed into a sphere, smaller than her fist, but she could see that it was growing.
That was all the attention Natsu gave it before he charged in.
"Natsu, wait!" Erza said in vain.
The Fire Dragon Slayer roared, unleashing an unending torrent of fire that snaked and spiralled upwards. A trail of small explosions followed in a delayed burst before Natsu directed the attack at Naruto.
"Metsuryuu Ōgi: Guren—"
There was a blinding flash of light.
Natsu's half-formed attack met empty air.
"Where the fuck did he go?!"
.?.
"Hmm, you have your father's eyes. I'm sorry, sweetie. I know you wish you could have gotten these old dark mysterious peepers, but trust me: it's not so bad. I had to stare into those loving, beady blue eyes of his every night before I fell asleep. It was torture. Pure, unmitigated torture."
"Mom?"
"I know it sucks." Kushina checked herself. "Watch your language, Naruto."
"Mom?"
Saying it so many times didn't get old at all, but Kushina had a tendency to go off at a tangent at the drop of a hat. Her attention tended to stray wildly too. As did her hearing...
"Mom, look... I'm not saying I don't want to hear all these stories about you and dad, but I don't think I have time. I'm still fighting out there—my allies, Carla... and Wendy. I-I don't know what's happening. I need to turn this around. I need to get back. Fast," he said. "That's not even starting on the whole mess of trying to find a way back home to Konoha."
His mother hanged her head and chuckled weakly.
"I'm not really the one to turn to for these kinds of things. I mean, a whole other dimension? You'd go to your father for all that nonsense. I'm supposed be the fun mom. I kind of figured my role here was to be your cheerleader and give you the mother of all pep talks, while I helped you neuter that big brute up there. Heh... see what I did there?"
"Yeah, you're awesome... mom."
"Thank you, honey, moon of my life, my awesome little man, my darling angel."
"Mom?"
"Give your mother a break, Naruto. She just learned that her son is already a single parent before she even had you. Worse, he grew up to be as boring as his father."
"Wendy's my apprentice, mom."
Kushina's hearing remained as selective as ever. "Don't get me wrong. Minato did have his moments. But I always imagined you'd turned out to be like a mini-me; kicking ass and taking names—"
"I do those things."
"—become the fun prankster Hokage that stuffy village deserved—"
"I haven't given up on that dream yet."
"—and I was half-expecting you to go around shouting 'dattebane' like a bad case of Tourette's. I'm so glad that didn't happen at least. Small mercies..."
"I actually did for a long while; kinda grew out of that phase."
Kushina was askance. "What? You did? Why?"
"I guess I grew up? People said it was annoying."
"Don't let society dictate your unconscious verbal tic, Naruto. Who gives a flying duck what other people think?! As long as you know you're cool, you're cool!" Kushina looked at him oddly. "What?"
"Duck?"
"Ugh, that was all your father's fault! When I was pregnant with you, we had to watch our disgusting potty mouths around your pure impressionable little mind. He made it into a game! That was how boringly mundane your father was! It was infectious."
"Mom?"
"I fear it's too late for you. Minato had to get to you first."
"Mom... what do I do?" he pressed on quietly.
Kushina sighed. After a pregnant pause, she continued, "I don't have the answers you need, Naruto. I wish I had; I wish I could help you so much that it hurts... but I can't. If what you're telling me is true, and the Kyuubi doesn't even know, I'm afraid I'm just as in the dark as you both are. But I know something it doesn't—I know you. I know who you are. You're the best of everything that made Minato and I the people we were. Telling you that is the greatest compliment I have because your father, despite everything I've said, is the most amazing man I have ever met, and your mom... well, she's—"
"—ducking awesome?"
Kushina clutched at her sides, giggling. "O-Oh, that was so cheesy and corny," she said helplessly. "Well... I guess now we know what that makes you, right?"
He couldn't help the massive smile that erupted on his face.
"Heck yeah. Naruto Uzumaki-ttebayo."
His mother returned it. "Ah, my baby boy is so precious and sweet, and all things nice and warm and cuddly... I threw up a little in my mouth."
Kushina punched a fist in her open hand, and said:
"Right, that should be an adequate enough pep-talk for you to kick some butt now. We got to get back to work; we can pick this up later. My chakra chains can only hold down that great fuzzball for so long, and without the key that your father made, we're going to have to improvise the final seal as we go along. The good thing is that you have a bona fide Uzumaki by your side.
"So... you ready, sweetie?" she asked him.
"As I'll ever be."
0.0
Roubaul tensed.
A flash of bright white announced Naruto's arrival.
Then, an explosion rocked the forested expanse of the Worth Woodsea, and not for the first time today. Although, the scale was undeniably smaller than the one he had unleashed previously. It seemed that Roubaul had caught and interrupted Naruto before his terrifying technique could gather steam. At the very least, he was able to stop Naruto from turning it against his allies.
The Guild Master thanked Nabura for timely mercies.
Situated in the relatively safe confines of King's Landing, Roubaul had a perfect bird's eye view of his surroundings from the large circular monitors that encircled his mechanical command console. It zoomed further on its own accord, focusing on Naruto's demonic form. The sight was enough to give Roubaul pause. Even as far away as he was now from Naruto, and even then when he could feel the pervasive malevolent presence that Naruto emitted, it was another thing altogether to actually witness his transformation.
The Naruto he had known, that once infallible young man, being reduced to this mindless husk driven by hate and vengeance.
It made him sick because it was him that led Naruto down this path.
So Roubaul steeled himself. There was little a man could do to prepare himself to turn against a comrade and stab him in the back with his own knife. Yet, here he was, ready to do it all over again. Nabura would ensure that the fiery brimstones of neraka awaited him at the other side, burrowing him deep in the lowest depths, as the world awaited its final days of days.
It was no less than he deserved.
Naruto took little time in recovering. He growled lowly, hunched down on all fours. He stared ahead with his half-formed eyes, its corneas still a milky off-white. It was still generating around the pink knitted flesh of his vulpine skull. Roubaul felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Naruto was staring directly at the lacrima orbs that relayed the feed back to the monitors, as if he could see through it—at him.
He wanted to play it off as a coincidence at first, but could not shake the feeling.
Activating the switch, Nirvana ceased its movements, its very presence violently shaking as it drew eternano—drew from the very essence of life as it drained the everlasting colour from its surroundings. The colossal construct angled downwards, the joints groaning from the effort. The build-up of magic was sharp and palpable. The visual aids that popped up in his console highlighted the activation sequence progressing; it was already charged more than three-quarters of the way through.
Naruto was not sitting idle. He was gathering energy of his own. Roubaul could only assume it was the same attack that levelled the surrounding forest earlier. He could not afford to wait any longer. Ignoring the on-screen prompts, he recited a short prayer and pulled the lever—the same one that would send his boy to his doom.
"Survive, you fool."
He prayed the boy could hear him.
.0.
"Naruto..."
When Naruto next opened his eyes, he found himself back in the chamber. The settings of his mindscape were crumbling around him, the very ground beneath him quaking, as if in anticipation of their pending battle. As cliché as it was, he knew it to be the last; the chamber would be nothing more than a memory after this.
For better or for worse.
Forcing himself to a crouch, he could feel the last of the disgustingly potent chakra of the Kyuubi recede from his person and return to the thread of chakra attached from the seal on his abdomen to the Kyuubi's own. The towering mass of chakra tore off the last of his mother's chains with a frustrated growl.
Naruto stared up at its menacing visage.
"Do you believe it was simply resolve that you were lacking? You think a chance meeting with your mother is all it takes? What can my hosts—past and present—do to stop me at the cusps of my revival? Anger me no further, Naruto. What I've showed you before amounts to mercy."
Naruto smiled tightly.
"Better bring it then, asshole."
0.0
Magic thrummed into life.
The outlay of magic was minute at first before millions upon millions of tiny apertures, all connected via a vast network that fed to the six main chambers of the ancient construct, started the process of converting the steady flow of eternano. The output was channelled into the large magical ordnance that rested beneath the capital. The ungodly amounts of unstabilised kinetic energy coalesced around the wide, gaping barrel, swirling like the majestic glory of a galaxy in motion. Slow, yet its power was undeniable.
Without fanfare, Nirvana fired.
Cataclysm.
The world bled white, and it bled and bled and bled as the discharge ensnared the surrounding forest, decimating tracts of wildlife and trees that have stood for centuries without disturbance. Despite its incomplete state, the lancing purple beam swallowed the area Naruto was in whole; he could no longer be seen on the monitors. It did not relent, pulverising and drilling into the earth beneath, and creating a yawning chasm that burrowed ever deeper by the second.
Roubaul shivered.
The sheer magnitude, it was... divine. It was as if it gave him the power to pluck an unwitting soul and thrust him into the tempestuous inferno of neraka. He willed his hand to move, to stop the chaos from furthering. Such was the unconscious temptation to abuse it again. However, a great sense of unease stopped him from doing so.
Naruto could not have surv—
A savage roar, laced with such ungodly killing intent, floored him into a stupor. The rest aboard Nirvana must have felt the same. It triggered something primal inside him, breaking past centuries of memories, of experiences, of inured conditioning, and tapping into the essence of the human condition—fight or flight.
Roubaul couldn't help but be swept along the crushing tidal wave of fear.
Tails, rigid and ungainly, flared out from within Nirvana's unending enfilade. Five emerged at a canter, then two more followed; the reddish-black taint of his tails seemed to pulse with Roubaul's every heartbeat. As if to further prolong his agony, the last emerged, snaking slowly to rest in the middle; reaching the apex as the other tails flanked it.
Eight of them.
Naruto was... If nothing remained of him then, now, in his evolved state, it was almost unneeded to refer him as such again.
The demon had grown considerably, Roubaul could see. It was as if it was at the cusps of maturity. Pink-knitted muscles stretched across the entirety of its towering frame. It was actively fighting against the tide, its massive claws digging in the earth for leverage. The tremendous swell of magic was just barely able to pin down its form.
Barely.
For how long more, he couldn't say.
Roubaul could see the crown of its head cresting just beneath the surface of Nirvana's attack, before it finally broke free, revealing its snarling visage to the world.
It roared again, and hellfire rained down upon the capital.
Roubaul mashed the buttons and levers of the console; all but willing Nabura to heed his prayers. Faster. Stronger. More. More. More. As unprecedented as it was, Nirvana had to be pushed further. Roubaul could feel the minute magical bonds, that held the ancient construct together, begin to rupture under the immense pressure of maintaining and escalating the output of their magical ordnance.
Nirvana buckled dangerously.
Its tails had found purchase in the construct's arachnid-like joints. Despite the demon's massive size, it proved to be equally nimble; something Nirvana was not. With another terrifying bestial roar, Nirvana lurched forward, and given the fixed placement of their magical ordnance, the sudden displacement allowed the beast to scamper free.
On unsteady footing, Roubaul scrambled to an adjacent console.
However, the creature had latched onto the underside of Nirvana, using its thick tails as leverage to manoeuvre the direction of the concentrated lancing beam, as it tore through the forest and beyond. It continued to wrestle the construct into submission. Its towering gangly frame was wrapped around a leg, as it tails simultaneously worked to subdue and destroy the next nearest limb and tear into the capital with reckless abandon.
Out of desperation and fear, Roubaul hesitated to stop Nirvana's attack. Yes, it was causing unnecessary harm as the eight-tailed monster employed it against them, but it was the only weapon that stood a semblance of a chance to stop it.
Unfortunately, the decision was made for him when the magical ordnance slowly sputtered to a stop.
"No! No... No, no, no..."
Roubaul fiddled with the mechanical controls of his command console, the blaring red prompts doing little but highlight the futility of his actions. Overload. The connections had been over-saturated with magic; the resultant conversion of energy that fed the attack had all but melted it. It wasn't long before the monitors fizzled and met the same end as Nirvana's magical ordnance.
How ironic.
Throughout his dreary existence in this world, Roubaul had yearned for the day that his visionary project would meet its end. He had waited and waited for the fated one Nabura had chosen to arrive.
It was him all along.
Yet now, here he was, begging Nirvana to spur back to life.
The not-so-subtle crunch of crumbling stone drew his attention forward, as massive claws dug into concrete to gain purchase. There wasn't a need for monitors. For the creature was in front of him, large and imposing, its beady red eyes trembling with unsuppressed malice and bloodlust. Roubaul could see the the exposed muscles on its vulpine features quiver and elongate. Beyond it, eight tails whished madly.
It opened its maw wide.
"Nabura help us..."
.0.
The rumblings ceased.
Although, it didn't afford Naruto the opportunity to pause; as winded and exhausted as he was. The Kyuubi was faring no better. Their battle of wills came to a standstill.
He did see his adversary's sharp ears twitching, and momentarily pull his attention to the walls of his mindscape; at the remains which had not yet been eradicated by the mass of black infestation. That moment of hesitation proved costly. Chakra chains shot up from beneath the watery surface. It wound around the Kyuubi's nape, the chains slack then drew taut, yanking and trapping the massive beast down to the surface.
Silently thanking his mother for the timely intervention, Naruto didn't allow the opportunity to slip. His clones converged on the Kyuubi from opposite ends, completing the pincer move. Each bore a fully-matured Rasenshuriken and heaved it at his ancient adversary. Yet again, he bore witness to a legend—a living myth that spun countless anecdotes of terror and despair, of the fallacies of human existence, and otherworldly horror of a plane not of their own—crumple and fall. Its shadow had always loomed over Naruto and defined his identity. Yet here it was, eating metaphorical dirt.
It galvanised him.
"Go!"
Splaying his fingers in front of him, Naruto directed the horde of his clones to press the advantage. That they did, barrelling forward and shouting like crazed devotees chasing spiritual enlightenment. They had but a single purpose: to deliver the payload. Chōōdama Rasengan. Dozens of them. It was thrice the size of its sister technique, the Ōdama, with all the added heft and power behind it.
Bigger was always better.
Alone, he wagered it was enough to destroy a small mountain. Combined, as it was now, it was enough to take the entire mountain range and the city that lied beyond it, grinding everything up into nothing but fine dust. Such was the power that he feared using it. Was there a need for it in a world that held the closest semblance to peace that his father and Jiraiya-shishou could only dream of?
But here and now, in his mindscape, it was different.
Looking back, it had been forever. Since he was tested. Since he remember what a real battle was like. To yearn. To have his resolve questioned and find it once more. To overcome. To bare everything. To let loose.
So Naruto smiled.
He squared himself, bending his knees slightly. His hands were wrapped around the chakra thread that bound them together—that tied their existence in their world, in this, and the next.
When he was young, he yearned for nothing more than companionship and acknowledgement. Then, to define himself as something other than the warden of a much feared entity, so much so that it was near taboo to speak of it with those around him. As he grew older, he understood what it meant to be accepted; to have others see underneath the underneath and be cherished and loved.
Ahh... To think that he had it all figured out at the tender age of sixteen.
Growing pains.
However, in this new world, he felt lost. Three years had done enough to silence the small niggling fears lurking beneath the surface, but with age came an ever deeper pit of regret, and that monster began to rear its head more and more, as time passed in Earthland.
Perhaps the illusion that had taken the form of Wendy had been right in some ways. He did resent her. He resented what she represented: an anchor that tied him to this world. He was being unfair. Seeing underneath the underneath had its drawbacks. Paranoia being one of them.
Naruto was seeing ghosts were there were none.
He banished it.
Wendy and Carla. They were his precious people. The two stood few among many, and they needed him now. That was all he cared. He would live for the sake of those precious to him, and he would die for them. That was all he needed to define his identity and move on.
To move forward.
"Naruto...!"
Naruto heaved at the chakra thread with all his might.
Then, everything changed. For the first time, it felt like his eyes were truly open.
0.0
Yo-yo.
That was how Lucy would best describe how her emotions were being toyed with.
Or like a fiddle.
One minute, Naruto had vanished. Then, hope sparked into life. Next, it turned out that Nirvana itself was fighting him. Her hope dimmed at the implications. When it appeared as if Nirvana had won, she nearly leapt out of her skin in joy. Then, Naruto returned with a roar, like had done before.
Stronger. S-So, so much bigger.
With eight of those terrifying tails.
The scene of the two behemoths going toe-to-toe was something akin to the super-sentai novels she used to read when she was young. It was anything but comical.
Everyone present had felt the moment Nirvana gave out. This was Naruto Uzumaki, the kind-of nice sort-of intense guy she met in Hargeon, who brought her back her change—all two thousand Jewels of it. He was a random no-named mage from Cait Shelter... and he bested an ancient coveted magic. By himself.
Then, Naruto turned his attention to them once more.
For the first time, Lucy saw him up-close, staring with wide, trembling eyes as he loomed over the capital, snarling. His serrated fangs, dull and white, were even bigger than her modest frame. So she learned then what it meant to fear and despair—of a being beyond words and imagination. Through the darkness that man so rightly feared, but could not shy away from, beady red eyes stared back.
It hungered.
Crying was an afterthought. She had sunk to her knees by her body's own volition. The small embers of hope that she clung onto wasn't just snuffed out, it was mercilessly crushed. Candle and all.
Naruto opened his maw wide.
Lucy reached out to the nearest body to her and sought his warmth; threadbare tunic, rough scaly skin and all. She tightened her hold around his back and silently cried in the crook of his neck.
If this was the end, then this was how she wanted to die.
Her, Natsu and Happy together.
"Oi, look..."
She opened her eyes to witness Naruto's entire mass quivering, as if breaking apart. His tails were no longer in the air. Steam rose up from his body, the superheated gas quickly shrouding Naruto from view. The last she saw was the white of his eyes rolling up before he threw his head back. His massive claws scrambled loose from its concrete perch.
Then, Naruto fell.
Hard.
It took a good few seconds to processed what just happened.
Natsu was kind enough to sum it up for her. "Told ya we were gonna win," he said cheerily, smiling.
Lucy didn't have the heart to correct him. She didn't know what had happened to the beleaguered mage from Cait Shelter, but she knew this. It was impossible to win against a force of nature. They could only hope to survive, and they did.
She was scared still. So, so, so scared.
But she was glad too.
"I-It's over," Lucy breathed quietly. "It's finally over."
Side Note: It took me the better part of three years to end this arc, but dear God... I share Lucy's sentiments. Trust me. Again, I cannot thank you enough for the support despite me being inactive. Happy fifth-year anniversary too! Why not? Not sure when the next chapter will come out.
Also, Richochet-Kushina is best Kushina.
Any mistakes are my own. If you expect a reply, please create an account.
Action: So hard to put together, convey the right tone, and give the scenes the respect and weight it deserves. Blame this for bogging me down. At least, I had an eight-tail Kurama fight Metal Gear Nirvana. That was a cool idea, right? Hope it came out okay.
Mermaid's Cove: I need to point out how old this story is. Back then, Game of Thrones wasn't even a thing. The truth is that Mermaid's Cove came way before Mashima introduced Mermaid Heel. It did, however, give me leeway to assimilate my world with canon, and give my endearing OCs future screen-time.
Next Chapter: Auld Lang Syne…
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone