章 34: I Might be Human
-Natasha's Safehouse, New York-
-February 1, 2007, 1400h local-
Natasha woke up to a discomfort she never experienced before, never thinking that someone could do something like that for quite a long time.
The assassin twisted and stretched her body to relieve some of the soreness. That's when she noticed the heavenly smell of eggs and bacon. This would've normally caused her to feel elated, but now it caused her to panic. She reached for her phone on the bedside table and looked at the time.
"Fuck. I guess I'm on an unexpected mission then." She said to herself.
Natasha got out of the bed, jogged to the bathroom, and did her daily rituals. She got out of the washroom in her black bathrobe. When she got out of the bedroom, she saw Naruto plating the freshly toasted bread.
"Good morning Nat or should I say Good afternoon. I made breakfast, so I guess it's morning." Naruto greeted her with a bright smile.
Natasha sauntered over towards Naruto and gave him a deep kiss.
"This looks wonderful. Probably taste wonderful too. You could probably take over the world with your cooking..." Natasha complimented with sincerity. Contrary to possible stereotype, he doesn't only know how to cook god-tier ramen. He's range of cooking goes far and deep as supported by the cuisines he cooked up in Wakanda. "Come on. I want to taste your food again."
"Don't exaggerate. You just tasted my food yesterday." Naruto retorted with a blush. Sometimes, his insecurity peeks through his confident exterior, and Natasha could see something deeper behind those eyes. A sadder and darker history.
"Come on. I want to get some calories in my body after last night." Natasha teased before pulling Naruto and sitting down in front of the table. Naruto sat down in front of her.
"Itadakimasu." Naruto quietly said. Natasha, for her part, waited for Naruto to finish giving his thanks.
Naruto and Natasha ate in companionable silence, enjoying their meal until Naruto noticed Natasha continuously glancing at him.
"Nat. You're a world-class assassin. Just ask the question." Naruto told Nat.
Natasha choked a little when he head Naruto since she thought she's subtle. She drank a glass of water to wash down the food.
"All right..." Natasha said before dropping the food on her plate so she could focus on the talk. "There are some things I want to know about you before any of this..." She pointed Naruto and herself. "Continues. Call me old fashioned, but I want to know more about the person I'm going to have a relationship with." She finished.
"You want to be with me?" Naruto hesitantly asks.
"Naruto. I strapped a bomb on my risks because you said it's alright. I think we're past the new dating stage." Natasha deadpanned.
"Oh, right. Sorry about that." Naruto sheepishly said with a scratch with the back of his head.
"I have one question that I need a real answer to because it could explain everything..." Natasha stared deep into his blue eyes. "Are you human?"
Naruto sighed, already expecting the question. Normal humans don't do the stuff he can, and everything he did in front of Natasha was more than enough to clue her in. Naruto sat straight and said,
"Before I answer that, I want to know what you think I am."
"Two ideas are running through my head..." Natasha responded while lifting two of her fingers. "One. You're an enhanced. This could explain most of the things you could do, but there's one problem with that."
"What is it?" Naruto asked.
"Enhanced humans only have one ability. That's because whether we like it or not, the human body is weak. It can only handle one enhancement. It might be as straightforward as having super strength or as complicated as being able to control plants. Of course, each skill has a certain level of versatility that can make abilities look like two different things. An example would be the ability to fly, super strength, and telekinesis, but all of this could be explained by having the ability to control gravity..." Natasha explained. "But in your case, there isn't a single thing that unifies everything that you could do. I thought you have the ability to control space because of your teleportation. It could also explain your speed, strength, invulnerability, and your ability to take out and hide items from behind your back. Maybe even you're cloning if you push it, but there's one thing it can't explain."
"That fucking satellite really screwed me over, huh. I thought I'm sneaky enough in the beginning..." Naruto said to himself. That statement of his confirmed to Natasha that he's already aware that the US government has a video of his abilities. "What's the thing it can't explain?" He finally asked Natasha.
"The fire you created yesterday as well as the instant cooling..." Natasha answered. "I tried to think about how you did it. I first thought about the spiraling dome that destroyed the ship. The dome could also be explained by space manipulation, but the fire was just too different from it. You might achieve the heat by colliding space together and performing controlled nuclear fusion, but the problem now was that the scientists detected no radiation. In conclusion, I don't think you're an enhanced."
Naruto stood up and clasped Natasha's hand. He gently pulled her towards the couch. They sat there side by side but facing each other.
"What' you're other idea?" He asked when they were finally settled in on the couch.
"You're an alien." Natasha answered straightforwardly.
She can see Naruto thinking hard about what he should say next. They were sitting there for a few minutes when Naruto stood up, did some hand signs, and slammed his hand on the ground. The same as the last time, writing spread out across the room before disappearing. She assumed that it was some kind of anti-surveillance measure since the sound of traffic outside suddenly stopped.
"I'm not exactly sure what I am..." He said in a quiet voice. "But I know, at the very least, I was born human."
Natasha hid her surprise. Even though she expected some form of confirmation to her question, hearing it was still a shock.
"What happened?" She asked, drawing from her skills and experience, trying to make it easier for him.
"There's a few basic knowledge that you need to understand first..." He said. "I'm not from this world. Hell, I'm not from this universe..." Natasha finally connected a lot of details. The light, his initial lack of identification and background, and some gaps in basic knowledge. "The world I came from is called the Elemental nations, named after the five largest countries; Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water. Think of it as Feudal Japan, except for one major change. We can use chakra."
"Chakra? Like spiritual energy?" Natasha couldn't help but asks.
"It's more like the combination of environmental physical and spiritual mental energies, but it's almost the same..." Naruto answered. "There are three specialized units the Daimyo can call. The Monk, The Samurai, and the Shinobi ranked in strength..." He created a single hand sign, and a stereotypical Monk with a staff appeared. "The Monk, as the name suggests, is a religious man who had forsaken all worldly possessions. They are trained in temples to pray and to fight. Skilled in hand to hand combat and the staff, a single monk can decimate a group of bandits with well-placed hits. They can also use chakra to reinforce their bodies and expertly control a single element. The reason monks are rarely called upon by the daimyo is that they would instead make peace than war..." Natasha can't take her eyes off Naruto's representation of the monk since, as he was explaining, the monk would move to show its skills. The monk then turned into a samurai themed metal armored man. "The Samurai. The right-hand man of the Daimyo. They help him with all the bureaucracy and administration. But don't be fooled by their day to day job, when it comes to war, they are efficient and deadly. Trained in the art of kenjutsu and chakra enhancement since birth, they can cut down battalions of men. Their chakra swords and armor makes them almost invulnerable in the battlefield. They follow a strict code of honor that makes them fight everyone face on. Any violations of the code would immediately label them as ronin. Their only downside aside from their code of honor is that the daimyo needs them to run the government efficiently, that's why they are rarely called onto the battle."
"I'm guessing you fall onto the shinobi category?" Natasha asked.
"That's right..." The Samurai then turned into a younger Naruto, maybe around 12 or 13 years old, wearing a god awful bright orange worker suit. "The shinobi is the most potent and versatile warrior. They are like a combination of monk and samurai, but without all the constraints. We have no code of honor, only laws of war. We would stab you behind the back if it made the job easier. The Shinobis are mercenaries. They would do almost any job for money as long as it doesn't have a negligible negative impact on them. Trained as young as 6 in hidden villages, most of us would graduate at 12 or 13 and having our first kill not long after..." Natasha couldn't help but draw parallels between the shinobis and her. That's when something struck Natasha.
Naruto was a Shinobi, making them more alike than she could imagine. "There are three primary skills shinobi can learn; Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu. Genjutsu is the ability to create illusions with your chakra, just like what I'm doing now..." He said, pointing to the image of his younger self. "Taijutsu is the ability to strengthen one's body and fighting styles. You can also throw in weapon fighting skills in there. Ninjutsu, on the other hand, is anything not in the first two categories..." He showed a blue spiraling sphere in his hand to demonstrate ninjutsu. "Of course, there are other categories like Kekkai Genkai or simply any specialized skill that can be inherited, and fuinjutsu, which are sealing techniques using characters that can give instructions to chakra and perform a function."
"Almost everyone can use chakra in your world, right?" Natasha asked, still trying to comprehend everything he said.
"Yes."
"Then why do you say you're not sure if you're human?"
"Let's go back a bit..." Naruto said. "In a world full of chakra, some things are bound to be different too, right?" Natasha nodded. Behind him, nine monstrous beings are formed. "In the Elemental Nations, there are nine immortal beasts made of near-limitless chakra. Each of them can theoretically wipe out all life on the planet. They are walking calamities that have individual types of abilities. Now, what do you think the hidden villages would do with these powerful beings?"
Natasha thought hard, but she doesn't like where her thought is continuously going even after thinking about the positive side of humanity. Even now, they're trying to do the same with the Tesseract.
"They would capture them and harness their power." Natasha quietly answered. Naruto chuckled darkly before continuing.
"Got it in one..." Naruto mumbled. " The hidden villages fought over the tailed beast or bijuu, but no one can continuously and safely control a force of nature. That's why they did the next best thing. They would place a bijuu in a newly born baby to make it have the chakra reserves of the beast."
"Jinchuuriki... The power of human sacrifice..." Natasha weakly whispered, remembering about his titles in Wakanda. She looked upon an image of a nine-tailed fox, and that's when she connected the dots. "You have a Nine-Tailed Fox in you."
"The Kyuubi was released from it's previous vessel on the day of my birth, wreaking havoc to my hometown, killing thousands. With no other viable candidates, he was sealed in me..." Naruto said while lifting his shirt and pointing at the spiral around his navel. "I left the Elemental Nations after the Fourth Shinobi war because I just had enough of all the death and war. I guess I just can't get out of that kind of lifestyle since I'm still doing this now." He finished with a chuckle.
Natasha digested everything he said. Categorizing and tagging everything he said. As she was running through the stuff, she noticed something. The only thing personal about him that he added is that he's the vessel of an immortal beast and an orphan, which is still pretty big but pretty lacking. She knows he's not saying something, but maybe they're more alike than she likes. They both play things pretty close to the chest.
"I guess we should continue with our meal, huh?" Natasha suggested.
"Yeah. Go on. I just need to use the bathroom." Naruto replied before standing up and walking to the restroom. When he got inside, he locked the door and turned on the faucet.
"Kit. Why didn't you tell her about the nine of us and you basically being a god?" Kurama asked.
"I like her, Kurama. I don't want to scare her away. I think saying that much normally would've her running towards the hills."
"I think three years of mourning is more than enough." Gyuuki said.
"Hinata would've kicked your ass if she found out you mourned for her for that long." Chomei added.
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. Hinata would certainly kick his ass. He glanced at the mirror and saw a tear rolling down his eyes. He washed his face and dried it off before walking out of the bathroom and headed straight towards the table.
"I just realized something yesterday..." Natasha said when Naruto sat back down. "You destroyed 50 million dollars worth of Vibranium just like that. The same thing Captain's 'indestructible' shield is made out of."
"That stuffs worth 50 mil!? How rich are those guys they just let me do anything with that?" Naruto exclaimed. Natasha can't help but laugh at naruto's reaction.
"How did you created that black fire yesterday?" Natasha asked.
Naruto didn't answer immediately but stared into her eyes. She was surprised when it suddenly spun and changed into something entirely different. His sclera turned black. Iris turned blood red, and the pupil turned blue. A silvery-white floral eight petaled pattern formed around his pupil, with each petal tip having a golden comma. It has an eerily white glow that seems to be coming from the inside.
"What's that?" Natasha asked with a small quiver in his voice.
"This is what I call a Shinigan or the Death God's eye. It's a combination mutation of three different eyes..." Naruto explained. "One of its abilities is to call the fires from hell. It's the hottest fire that can be produced."
"One of its abilities?"
"Yeah. It has a shit ton of it. Too much to get into right now."
Natasha understood Naruto's message that he doesn't want to talk about it right now.
They finished eating and cleaned up the table. When they were done, they walked back and sat down onto the couch.
"Fury would skin me alive. He would want to know about what happened in my office and what the hell I've been doing since you decided to kidnap me." Natasha said with a groan.
"Don't worry about it. Just tell him you took a piece of Vibranium from a Russian oligarch." Naruto answered with a shrug.
"Come on. This is Fury. He would investigate what I report."
"Just give him this." He said while handing over a piece of rock.
"Is this a Vibranium ore?"
"Yep. Took down a Russian Oligarch this morning. He's funding some terrorist groups in Afghanistan. One of his hobby's is collecting meteorites or anything that came from space..." Naruto explained. "This rock, on the other hand, came from Wakanda. Just put two and two together. Et voila."
"You know what. I'm not going to question it and say thanks..." Natasha replied, a little exasperated before taking the rock. Her phone suddenly ringed. She picked it up from the table and checked the number. "Speaking of the devil.." She said to Naruto before answering the phone. "Hey, boss! I was just about to call you."
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