"Normal" spoken word

"Italics"Thoughts/emphasis/writing

"Bold"Non human spoken word

"Bold Italics" Non human thoughts

"Bold underline"Colossi

'single quotes' imagine author doing "air quotes" in the back

Boring legal stuff: OS owns absolutely nothing.

AN: here's part 2

Slaying Mountains

By OS

Chapter 4

She looked up just in time to 'hear'.

"Hey…Sakura-chan"

Slaying Mountains

He was proud of himself, sitting higher in the saddle; He'd been cool, calm and collected.

Naruto was worried that she thought he was dead though, what worried him more was that he wasn't sure if he was alive or not. He certainly didn't feel dead; then again he didn't feel alive either. He felt strange, his body wasn't as responsive as it was before, but then again his past had felt like a distant fantasy. Naruto could remember important things, but not details, he couldn't remember exactly what Sakura-chan looked like on the day that he'd met her anymore, nor could he remember the 9 simple seasonings old man Ichiraku used anymore… was it nine seasonings? He couldn't quite remember.

"Hey, I think we're here" Kinaga 'said' as his loyal steed reared up on his back legs, shaking the wanderer out of his thoughts.

He peered down upon a huge rightward slanting slope curving gently downward past a huge stone pillar. But his eyes were drawn downward to what, from this far away, seemed to be a huge stone door. Summoning himself from his reverie, he held his sword up, and the light gathered to a point on the door, he'd expected that.

Collapsing into his thoughts again he had just enough time to recall the conversation he'd had with Sakura… well, the important parts.

He could remember that he'd given her part of the power that he'd saved in his preparations, (He couldn't give her all of it, but Kyuubi wasn't there.) and told her how to use it, He'd also told her to contact him when he figured Kyuubi would be back in commission.

A rumble resonating throughout his body made him snap his head up to see what could only be described as a giant ox breaking through the 'door'.

Crashing out onto the beach, was a giant ox that, like the colossus he'd fought previously, seemed to be made primarily from stone and grass. With a faceplate leading up to its brow, and a spine that looked to be on the outside of the creature, it cut a menacing figure… until it stepped past him to look at the ocean.

Naruto closed his eyes and balled his fists at his sides mumbling

"Come on, come on… I gotta do it…. come on… come on…. COME ON!"

The wanderer's eyes shot open, and with a primal yell, he urged Kinaga forward. Noticing that the beast's hooves glowed orange underneath, he pulled out two kunai and with a flick of his wrist they were embedded into the soles of its feet. The living mountain gave a scream of pain, and fell to its knees.

"Here's the chance!" he yelled, grinning

Placing his hand on the hilt of the sword, he felt a jolt of running up his arm through his whole body

"Quadratus"

The word pressed upon him with so much weight, he thought it had to be important. Filing the feeling away for another time, he clicked his heels on either side of his companion's ribs, and Kinaga took off at a fast gallop, coming towards the end of the beast at a slight angle, he had enough time to discover that it's vitals were on it's head and end before he had to jump and grab the convenient ledge that the beast's 'tail' made.

With sword in hand, he made the step climb up the quadruped while it was just shaking the kunai out of its feet and stood up.

Pulling his body to the crest of his foe, the first thing he noticed was the glowing sigil inches from his off-hand, which was gripping the creature's fur. Grinning, he jumped as high as he could, and drove his sword home in the center of the sigil.

A yell of pain later, the sigil had disappeared, and Naruto was holding on to the fur with his left hand sporting an expression that can only be described as apathetic. Yawning after the colossus had stopped thrashing around, he took of at a dead sprint, jumping over the protruding ribs that branched off of the great Ox's 'spine', soon he was standing over the creature's head.

"Here's the kicker!" he screamed confidently

Throwing himself into the air with every fiber of his being, he plunged the ethereal weapon into the head of his enemy. Rumbling greatly, the colossus gave it's death wail and fell to the ground, body already darkening from the mortal wound.

Naruto pulled his sword out of the beast laughing, but his glee stopped abruptly when he faced the sobering sight of his dying foe.

The pain hit him, throwing the breath from his body, he felt the sensation of something worming around inside him.

He had just enough time to wonder what Sakura was doing before he passed out.

Slaying Mountains

Sakura flexed and unfolded her cramped legs; it had been nearly two days since the conversation with Naruto. She was worried about him; he seemed confused and fundamentally… different, she guessed that was a consequence of dying… perhaps, he was sure if he had actually died but he did look it.

The Hokage's apprentice decided not to worry about it, instead she would have to get back to the task at hand. Sakura had one week to get a handle on the raging tsunami that Naruto said was only twenty percent of what he'd left for her, and three months after that to learn to control the rest of it in time for the next Chunin exams.

Closing her eyes and wiping blood across the seal, she smirked at the memory of what Naruto had said when she said she wanted the seal placed over her belly-button

"Copying my style eh? Don't worry; it'll look good on you."

She released the chakra and prepared to try to control it once again.

Slaying Mountains

Searing light destroys the blackness that enshrouded him. Once again Naruto was among the living. A second idol shattered, and a new goal set in place. Yet even the sight of two dove fluttering above Yoi can't shake the feeling of dread pulsing slowly through his body. Naruto noticed another shadow looming over him, only to dive into his body once he looks at it. Once again his worries were swept to the back of his mind by Dormin's rumbling voice

"Raise thy courage. A giant canopy soars to the heavens. But the anger of the sleeping giant shatters the earth…"

Shakily Naruto got up and started walking, towards his beloved, his jerky and unsure movements leading to his pitch forward onto his face.

He found himself submerged, but he didn't care, he swam forward towards the light that had called out to him in so much pain, what seemed so long ago.

Down hall ways and corridors he swam, coming eventually to the opening that should have led to the grand hall of the seal room, but there was only a sliding door, like the one he'd used to get into the temple.

When the door opened, he was horrified by what he saw. The two idols that he'd destroyed were here, the only difference being that they were situated about ten feet higher, at the base of each idol was a set of double doors, pure white with red roman numerals on them.

Naruto swam to the I door, it was shining with an inner light, and practically stunk of the anguish the he'd felt earlier. Making his decision, he pushed the doors open and swam into the light.

He could breathe. It was bright. It was warm.

He opened his eyes to the labored breathing of the first colossus, laying prostrate on the ground in front of him, looking as though it were taking its dying breaths. Though somehow he knew, it had been like this since he'd slain it.

He reached out to it, placing his hand on it's cold stone forehead

"I'm sorry"

The colossus gave him a look that calmed the storm that was his mind, it had been raging out of control like a fire since he'd come to the end of the world. He'd been alone, he'd been stripped of his power…

He had killed.

His eyes gained their focus when the colossus seemed to stir. Panting with the effort it asked him a question.

"What… is… thy… name?"

"Naruto"

"nice… to…meet… you…"

"What's yours?"

"Do you not remember it?"

"Valus… right?"

"That… it… is"

With that, Valus gave its dying breath as its body turned to stone and it was blown away as dust by the wind. Naruto fell to his knees, oblivious to the ground underneath him changing, from barren and dusty, to a field of green and flowers. Naruto didn't notice in his grieving

"Cheer up kid."

Naruto looked up to see a man stepping out of the woods at the edge of the now beautiful meadow.

"I'm fine, you see"

The great bear of a man waved his arms with a grin, walking over to Naruto to offer him a hand up.

"Valus?"

"In the flesh kid" He said with a smirk

The man that was Valus stood about seven feet tall, powerfully built, and with a bit of facial hair growing along his jaw line, stopping just after his ears and some extra facial hair all covering some five o' clock shadow. He had a shaggy mane of brown hair that hung down around his head, not really cut into any particular style. He wore a brown shirt with the sleeves torn off and plain olive green trousers, he'd kept the stone rings around his biceps that he'd worn as a colossus. It was obvious that the man was no Shinobi, but the way he moved, and the club on his back told you that he could easily become very dangerous. He ruffled Naruto's hair with a huge smile and, to Naruto, it felt like he'd known the man forever.

"Hey! Don't call me a kid old man" Naruto said, back to his care free attitude

"Older than you kid" Valus laughed

"Whatever" Naruto snorted, lowering his perceived maturity even more.

"Anyway, what's the situation? Why are you here? And what's going on with my mind?" Naruto questioned

"Right, well" Valus said ticking off his fingers " I'm not sure of the situation, I just know I'm here to help, and my guess is that your mind's underwater from being in the end of the world. But enough of the depressing stuff."

"alright… we should probably introduce ourselves" Naruto said

"Wha? Didn't we do that already?"

"I meant like telling each other our likes, dislikes and dreams for the future"

"Okay well I'm Valus…"

Naruto listened intently, thrilled to finally have someone to talk to after being alone for days.

Slaying Mountains

AN: So here's this. So yeah, ninety percent of why Naruto was so weird was because Valus was his first kill. There you go uhh this chap is pretty self explanatory so, I guess I'll try to have something out over the weekend…probably, depends on how it goes.

Oh please review noun, adjective verb compliment etc.period.

OS out