บท 22: Cut Off One Head
-Budapest, Hungary-
-January 28, 2007, 0145h local-
"Naruto?"
"Aw..." Naruto exclaimed under his mask. "You still remember me. That's so sweet." A wide smile could be heard through his voice.
Natasha's eyebrow twitched at Naruto's nonchalance. If she disregarded the blood and gore around her, you could forgive her imagining for them just coincidentally just meeting in a cafe somewhere.
She was going to bombard him with her questions, but before she could start, Naruto moved back and stared at the syringe still in her thigh.
"Well, that does not look good. Do you mind if I borrow that for a while?" Naruto asked before suddenly removing the syringe. Natasha glared at Naruto for not even waiting for her confirmation. "What? You know you'll say yes anyway..." Naruto defended himself before looking at the man behind her. Natasha saw Naruto retrieved a burlap sack with strange symbols on it. "Wait there for a second. I need to do some business." He then placed it on her head to cover her vision. It amazingly also blocked sound since it suddenly became dead silent.
"Get me out of here! Naruto! Get this off me!" Natasha shouted.
The sack must have only blocked sounds from the outside since Naruto tapped her shoulder in a way that suggests he would be back. She was fuming at Naruto's audacity to place her in this position. She's the Black Widow for God's sake.
Naruto, on the other hand, sauntered towards Bloom. Looking at him. Observing him like he was his prey, which was not far off.
Bloom already pushed aside his dignity, evident in him ignoring his soiled pants, in favor of living and reporting back to HYDRA high council. This information must be brought back at all costs. He was about to go on his knees and beg, but before he could do all that, he suddenly fell face down on the floor covered in blood. Blinding pain came from his legs. When he looked at it through his cracked glasses, he was mortified at what he saw. Everything below his crotch is gone and cauterized.
"War does some fuck up things to a person..." Naruto said while playing with the syringe. "You become desensitized to violence. To death. You start to devalue human life..." Naruto squatted down to bring his face closer to Bloom. "Ever so slowly, you feel your sanity erode away. That's why I started to do some of these missions myself. To make sure I can vent out some frustration and retain whatever sanity I have left. You know, like what happened here..." Naruto could feel the fear rolling off Bloom. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not a bad guy. I should know, I met a whole bunch of them. All hell-bent on ruling the world or be immortal or some other shit. Me? I'm just a flawed man trying to the right thing. So here's what I am going to do..." Naruto grabbed Bloom's face and brought it closer to him. Bloom's eyes are now starting to the round black eyes of the mask. He showed the syringe to him and said, "I am going to make you choose how you die since obviously, I can't let you get out of here. I can tear you to pieces as I did with your bodyguards, which is painful as hell, or I'll inject you with this."
That's when Bloom surrendered to his fate. No matter what happens, he'll die covered in blood and shit. He didn't even try to beg anymore and stared at the syringe. The 5cc serum would kill him in approximately a minute with almost no pain, just his heart giving out. Hopefully, the man won't get too much useful stuff out of him at that minute.
With his resolve hardened, he looked at the syringe. Naruto understood the gesture and injected the contents at his neck. Bloom immediately felt his heartbeat skyrocket, and his mind became hazy. He prepared himself to the assault of questions he would surely get, but it seems like he's only interested in the answers to two problems. But the questions he heard are the worst ones he could possibly get.
"What organization do you work for your current task, and who's your highest positioned mole in SHIELD?" Naruto asked with specific wording to prevent Bloom from getting anything past him.
Bloom tried to fight the urge to answer until the time he would inevitably die; his consciousness is already slipping. Blood is pulling behind his eyes, making everything blurry. His blood pressure is already in critical levels, any second now he would be in the sweet release of death but as his sight begins to darken, he heard himself say,
"Hydra. Pierce." Bloom croaked out. It looks like the serum kept him alive enough to answer. He died with the regret of him spilling the truth about his organization.
Naruto heard clearly what Bloom said, and he mentally noted to himself that he needs to look into the World War 2 organization more. He stared at Bloom's body as threads burst out of his skin to shred it. The police should be focused on the brutality of the massacre instead of the motive. All the blood and bodies would also hopefully compromise any evidence.
The Earth Grudge Fear or jiongu Naruto has is rather unique. Originally, Takigakure had given him the same jiongu as Kakuzu, but reading through the Uzumaki library had given him an insane idea.
Chakra Metal is the most versatile substance there is. Conducting chakra through the metal can cause a variety of reactions depending on the type and movement of the chakra as well as the intent of the user. It can be harder than diamonds in one second, then softer than cotton in another. It can be covered in fire and water at the same time. Only the user's skill and creativity is the limit for chakra metal.
The idea was, what if the threads of the jiongu is made from chakra metal. He can instantly create flaming swords out of anywhere in his body if he managed to do it.
Naruto took samples of the jiongu and studied it with the help of the bijuu. They noticed that the threads are somehow made from the cells of the Juubi. Its origin must have come from the Juubi's body parts that Rikudou-jiji has cleaved away during their fight, and it has landed near Taki.
Months of test performed by his clones had yielded him nothing until he accidentally infused the strands with the nine bijuus chakras when he was practicing them. The threads turned into some sort of black blood that immediately switched back to threads when the chakra depleted. With that new clue, he finally discovered how to change the threads into chakra metal.
Naruto piled up a thousand tonnes of chakra metal from the storage seal left by the Uzumaki's and surrounded it with the jiongu threads. He then channeled bijuu chakras through the threads toward the metal. Slowly but surely, the liquefied threads assimilated the metal until it was all gone.
The individual threads somehow became microscopic in width and metallic gray in color. What he didn't anticipate is all the threads outside his body can't seem to fit all inside him, that's why he decided to place a storage seal on top of his heart where all the extra threads could be placed when not in use.
The improved jiongu further increased his physical attributes, made him invulnerable to almost any attacks that would penetrate his already toughened skin, and allow him to create any weapon he can imagine. The only downside he can surmise is he can't take hearts anymore, which is pretty useless now that he can use all types of elemental chakra, practically immortal, and he already has his clones.
The jiongu returned inside his body, and the skinned healed. He walked back towards Natasha and removed the sack covering her head. He retrieved a knife from behind him and started undoing the binding.
"So, how are you? Had a nice night?" Naruto asked jokingly.
"Hurry up! My team is about to get slaughtered!" Natasha shouted. The thought of the Winter Soldier targeting her team is giving her chills.
"Alright! Sheesh! Just making some conversation..." Naruto said as he finally undid her leg strap. Natasha stood up and stretched a little. "Can you walk? Cause I can carry you." Naruto offered.
"I'm fine..." Natasha said while walking towards some guns and magazines on the floor and picking it up. She removed some pieces of flesh on the firearms and strapped a Glock 26 on her holster and carried the Ruger 10/22. A tactical knife was also placed on the small of her back.
After a final stretch, she looked back at Naruto, who had somehow dropped his mask and staring amazed at her. This somehow made her felt better than all the guys who flirted around her since she knows she doesn't exactly look presentable right now.
Naruto, for his part, saw something amazing. A red-haired angel is walking around and gearing up—nothing more beautiful than a lady who can defend herself. He can't help but stare at her. When she did that final stretch that highlighted her curves and face framed by her hair, he can't stop his jaw from falling alongside his mask.
Natasha cleared her throat to snap him out of his daze, which worked. Naruto immediately picked up his mask and replaced it on his face.
"Yeah..." Naruto said awkwardly. "We should probably go."
Natasha's raised her eyebrow to him and walked out of the room.
Naruto could hear the bijuu jeering at him to mark her or something, but he immediately cut the connection. He followed Natasha outside and saw her waiting for him.
"Which way?" She asked.
"Ugh. Just hold my hand..." Naruto said while holding out his left hand. Natasha just stared at his hand, clearly not believing him his intentions. "For God's sake!" Naruto forcefully grabbed her hand, and suddenly, they disappeared.
-Budapest, Hungary-
-January 28, 2007, 0200h local-
It looks like it's true what they say. In the face of death, time does slow down, and your life flashes before your eyes.
Clint has been in many life and death situations, but this is the first time it happened since he became a Dad around seven years ago.
Clint saw her wife, Laura, during their wedding. The birth of his daughter, Lila, and son, Cooper. He saw the hardship of his training and the joy of building his homestead.
Clint stared at the Winter Soldier, firing the grenade, and prepared for death. The shell moved slowly through the air directly toward his team. But all the preparation are for naught.
He saw a masked man suddenly appear between them and the grenade. The grenade impacted the man and covered him in flames. That Fucking Winter Soldier must have used an incendiary round. Clint fully expected the man to drop almost immediately after the round hit, but to his surprise, he's still standing. The flames suddenly roared high in the sky and then returned, seemingly absorbed by the masked man.
"Clint!" He heard his name called from behind him. As he turned around, he took a sigh of relief. Natasha was running towards them, although a little paler than usual.
"Nat! What happened to you? Do you know who the weird reinforcement is?" Clint asked rapidly, hoping to get some answers, but it wasn't Natasha who answered.
"Hey! Who are you calling weird, ungrateful birdbrain!?" The masked man shouted back at him.
"Shut up and do what you came here to do!" Natasha defended Clint.
Clint's eyebrows twitched in annoyance to the obviously a stab to his alias. He started back at Natasha, urging her to answer his question.
"I'll tell you all about it later, but the answer to your second question would definitely annoy you more..." Natasha paused for dramatic effect, but Clint didn't appreciate it. "That's 'the Broker.'"
Without a second thought, Clint fired at the back of the head of Naruto. It dead center at the back of his head.
"Hey! What's that all about!?" Naruto shouted, obviously incensed.
"That's for all the overtime you put us through!" Clint shouted back, aiming again at Naruto. But before he could take another shot, a grenade exploded again, this time directed at his head.
Naruto only shrugged off the explosion and absorbed the fire again.
"This isn't over yet." Naruto said to Clint before he rushed toward the Winter Soldier.
Clint was giving a hard glare toward Naruto's direction before he was smacked at the back of his head by Natasha.
"What the hell was that!?" She asked angrily.
"Oh come off it. The moment you saw he could take a grenade, you wanted to shoot him too." Clint said confidently.
"Whatever..." Natasha said while looking away. "I'll triage these guys while you give him support..." Natasha was already walking to her team members when she looked back with a glare. "And don't shoot him again."
Naruto rushed the Winter Soldier and aimed a punch directly at his core, but he immediately moved back, pulled a pistol, and fired at Naruto's face though the fox mask just shrugged the bullets off.
Naruto then ran towards him again and launched a right hook, which was promptly blocked by the Winter Soldiers metal arm. This had proven immediately as a bad idea since the arm was shredded upon impact.
Everyone, even the Winter Soldier, was shocked by the development. The arm is made of titanium steel alloy reinforced with tungsten. The arm could take a direct missile strike and still be operational.
Seeing the predicament they are in, the other hostiles open fire at Naruto while the Winter Soldier retreated. The first-ever failure of Hydra's super-soldier.
Naruto just stood there and took all the shots before he rammed himself against the cars and somehow making it all explode with a ball of fire. He retrieved a knife from his back and rushed all the remaining hostile and slitting their throats.
When Naruto looked back towards where the Winter Soldier went, he's already gone.
"Eh, doesn't matter anyway. I already slapped a hiraishin seal on him." Naruto thought to himself.
Naruto was going back to heal the other members of Natasha's team when suddenly multiple light beams from the sky hit him. Looking up, he saw six quintets hovering above him. All of which are armed with 20 mm Vulcan cannons and 40mm Bofor guns.
"Nine-Tails! This is SHIELD! Under the authority of the United States of America and the United Nations, you are under arrest." An amplified voice said.
"Hmm. I should probably ask for a date." Naruto said to himself before putting his hands behind his head and kneeling.
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