บท 77: Transformation

Adrenaline rushed through the blonde's body. He, Uzumaki Naruto, a hero? No. He, Uzumaki Naruto, could live a normal childhood? NO! No, Konoha! You would not win! Naruto would not rest, Naruto would not sleep, Naruto...would not die until The Village Hidden in the Leaves became a smoldering crater in the ground where no life would dare tread. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki would make you suffer. Everything that you held dear, Naruto would take it. Everything that you loved, Naruto would destroy it. Everything that you hated, Naruto would become.

The red aura that was surrounding Naruto suddenly turned back. It quickly circled around his body like a cocoon of darkness. As the blonde rested there, drowning in the sea of his rage, surrounded by absolute blackness, his mind crafted an image that made him smile. A burning city of eternal fire, a street of flowing red, hot blood, the weeping and gnashing of teeth of sorrowful civilians, the complete and utter subjugation of one village, then two, then three, then four. In place of water, trees would feast on blood. Rotting corpses fit for the buzzards would be laid bare, and he, Uzumaki Naruto, would stand before all of it, laughing as those under him pledged their allegiance to this dark whims in his head.

From on high, looking down, would be Hiruzen Sarutobi watching all he had worked for, dying by the Hero of Konoha. "How is that for normal, Jiji? I look forward to the hope disappearing from your eyes. Just like your village did to me," Naruto thought to himself.

Inside that dark cocoon, far away from Kusagakure, Naruto released a twisted chuckle as the aura continued to surround his body. The cocoon he had placed himself in hardened.

.......

In the dead of night, far away from the streets of Kusagakure, Uzumaki Naruto opened his eyes. If one were able to peer into the heavy darkness that surrounded the blonde inside his cocoon, they would have seen that his eyes had turned from blue to an eery yellow. Inside that cocoon, buried in the depths of his contempt and his rage, his body cultivated itself to fit the immense power that had been unleashed upon it.

A chuckle escaped his lips. Despite the ache in his form, he could only describe the feeling that was coming over him as...wonderful. He did not know how long he had been in the home he crafted for himself, but his anger finally started to settle. The dream, nay the reality that he had envisioned was slowly disappearing from his mind for the time being.

The cocoon cracked and its pieces scattered to the winds before dissolving into huffs of black smoke. Naruto felt his feet touch the soft grass. He could feel the rush of the wind on his cheeks. He closed his eyes. He could hear it. He could hear...them. He could hear the heartbeats of over five hundred men and women scattered away from him. Each of them, all of them, in the palm of his hand. He could choose...whether they lived...or died.

Naruto stared at the heartbeat of one. Like a heavy rope tied to his hand. He pulled the heart and clenched his fist. He watched the heart pound and beat like mad. He could feel its very real pulse coursing through his veins. He clenched and clenched the heart until spikes of blood erupted from the valves of the muscle. Whomever this was, Naruto cared not who, they had just lost a true reason to continue living. The heart stopped and Naruto could see it whither and die just like the body soon would.

"Strange, the cultivation didn't take nearly as long as when I'm working on the memories of people I've killed. Yet, I feel so much stronger. I doubt I'm as strong as Hatake Kakashi or that fool of a Toad sage, but once I find that Box of Ultimate Bliss, I bet I will be." Naruto said to himself.

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki stood to his feet and blinked. He looked down at the ground. "Have I gotten taller?" Naruto asked himself. He swirled a piece of blood around his arm and held it in front of him. With the help of the moon, he stared upon his form in this pool of life. What he saw surprised him. He touched the back of his head. Behind it laid a full mane of red hair. His fingers brushed through it slowly. Strange, it rather reminded him of Uzumei's hair only a tad darker.

He was clearly taller than he remembered being. He felt like he had aged at least two years. Why was that? Was his former body not enough to accommodate all of the changes that had been happening to him? His hair didn't seem so spiky now. Instead, it felt rather smooth. His lips thinned. They say you never know what you have until it's gone. He kind of missed his yellow hair. Oh well, he could make do.

Next, he noticed...he was naked. The clothes he had been wearing were completely gone. He had no idea where they went. Perhaps in the transformation, they had been destroyed. Well, he could always buy more.

Finally, the former blonde turned his attention to the thing which surprised him the most out of his transformation. How could he miss them? Behind him, four red orbs floated in the air. They looked no bigger than a streetball he remembered playing with at one point. He flicked his fingers to the left. The two orbs to his left followed his command. He used his other hand to motion for the right. Those orbs on the right followed his command as well. So...they moved to his whims. Rather interesting little things.

Seeing as he had nothing better to do, Naruto called the orbs to his body. They came to him without a second wasted, but he was surprised that they wrapped around him and formed themselves into clothing that he desired. "Pretty sure, I didn't ask for this, but this works as well," he replied.

Once this was done, Naruto took in his features one more time. He wondered how Akari and Ryuzetsu would take this new transformation of his. He would have to meet with them soon. He didn't know what time it was, and he was supposed to be leaving tonight.

As Naruto stared back at the field he had laid in, his eyes glimmered in the moonlight. He then left without another word. If Naruto had stayed around, then he would have seen the fields wither and die as if the very essence of life had been sucked out of them.

Returning to Kusagakure wasn't too difficult. It took him no time to return back to his hotel room without being seen. He entered his room and quickly formed two blood clones. He then formed one of them into Uchiha Sasuke, albeit a bit smaller to make up for this new height difference of his. He then adjusted their voices. He also turned the red-haired clone of himself back into a blond.

"Go back to Konoha. You will not dispel this time," Naruto told them. They bowed to him and dashed out of his window. It would be a long trip back to Konoha, but neither clone needed sleep nor food. They would make it back before too long. They might miss a day or two of the academy, but given the little play that had been performed then it would not be so unreasonable for them to be gone for some time.

As Naruto gathered his things, his door opened. "Naruto-sama, is that you?" The blonde turned around and saw Uzumei was at the door. He fully faced her.

"Some changes had to be made, but it's still me dattebayo. What do you want Uzumei? I'm getting ready to leave soon," Naruto said. He stiffened when he felt Uzumei raise a hand to his hair. Just as he had done, her fingers slid through them like a flawless comb. When he looked in her eyes, there was something that confused him. Uzumei looked like she was about to cry. He had never known her to do that. There was a look of genuine familiarity in her eyes.

Suddenly, Uzumei seemed aware of herself and dropped her hands. "Apologies, Naruto-sama. I...I couldn't resist. Something about your hair feels...familiar," she answered him. He merely stared at her, but his thoughts were moving. Hm, so there was another lead to go off of. Red hair meant something to her. It must have been something more than just them now having the same hair color.

"It's fine. Just tell me why you're here," He pressed. He would have to get going soon.

"Ah, yes. Uchiha Sasuke wishes to be upgraded to the next training set. You advised me to consult you on this matter should it ever arise," she replied. Naruto's mouth pushed itself to the side. A stupid, pathetic pawn though he was, Sasuke was definitely not lacking in the receiving of punishment in the form of training.

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you think he is ready?" the former blonde asked. Uzumei took out a sheet of paper that had been hidden away in her pocket. She opened it.

....

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