Devil Summoner Naruto: Chapter 27

When you're in danger, time seems to slow down. Minutes become hours, hours become days, days become an eternity. At least that is what it felt to Naruto as his instincts slowed the world for him as he faced Lachesis.

Even the spider demon, Tsuchigumo didn't relate to this demon in threat level, and he was big as a house!

Nevertheless, his opponent was angry, and angry meant sloppiness. So, with that in mind, Naruto raised his blade, signaling to his opponent that he was ready to do battle.

Lachesis, the demon, sneered at the audacity the human was showing. He would rue the day he lifted that blade against her!

Without a single word, both combatants ran toward each other, ready to tear each other apart.

Naruto reached the point first, swinging at her diagonally, hoping to sever a limb and finish this fast.

He knew it was a fool's hope, but he had to try anyway.

True to his expectations, Lachesis swung her body back to avoid the strike and retaliated with her own punch, knocking Naruto back a couple of feet back. With first attacks sent and received, both combatants jumped back to gain ground.

If this was a video game, Naruto would decide his next move. But since this was real life, he had no such luxury.

Lachesis used her jump to summon her own weapon. A whip made of a flimsy looking, but durable thread. She further proved her weapon's toughness by demonstrating its' power to the ground, which left a good gouge in the tough earth.

Naruto had to be more careful now, as he had to struggle a bit to get his blade off the ground as he retrieved it so he knew how tough the earth was. That whip would be absolutely devastating if it hit.

Never one to let the enemy take the initiative, Naruto charged in. His blade poised to end Lachesis' rampage.

Whatever gave Lachesis her power, it also granted her near mastery of long range combat as she swung the whip to Naruto's opened spot, or at least tried to as Naruto stopped his advance to deflect the whip from striking him.

He grunted as the blade met whip and both deflected with a sharp clanging sound, as if the whip was made of metal as well.

Lachesis swung her whip at Naruto's legs, hoping to ensnare the boy, but growled as the boy jumped at the last second to avoid it. She retracted the whip and shot it at him, mimicking a snake strike, trying to catch him unawares.

This time, she succeeded as the whip tore past Naruto's parry and struck him hard in the chest, making him stagger and groan in pain as the whip left a mark on his right pectoral. Naruto didn't watch his wound as taking his eyes off the demon was a very bad move.

He had to get rid of that whip, but with her complete attention to him he knew that was going to make that impossible.

His tactics relied on Kushina or an outside element distracting his target enough to disrupt their attention to him while he made the kill. His ninja trained instincts needed that distraction to make the kill, but his summoner combat training clashed with the ninja training, relying on overpowering the demon on one on one combat.

He likened the summoner training to Samurai, but without the clunky armor and frugal lifestyle.

He had neither a distraction nor enough power to overcome the whip and Lachesis and that was grating on his morale.

He needed to up his game, but he knew that relying on the nine-tailed demon's power was corrupting and would drive him mad if he used it. It was bad enough that the power left him in a Berserker state as he hacked the spider demon to bits, and it left a very bad taste on his psyche when he recovered from it.

No, he needed to find a way without copping out and using the demon's power.

Charging, Naruto used his momentum to pour some of his Chakra to his legs, allowing him to run faster. Lachesis barely reacted in time to dodge the much faster Naruto's stab at her abdomen, but not before knicking and leaving a bleeding wound on her right hip. She hissed in pain as her instincts readied to receive the faster threat.

When Naruto rushed Lachesis using the same tactic twice, Lachesis reacted much faster than Naruto and swung her whip with incredible speed and power. The whip swung erratically at Naruto, landing random hits on Naruto's body and succeeded in stopping his attack when one of the hits landed on his upper leg, leaving a huge welt and crippling Naruto's use of Chakra to that leg, leaving him immobile for the moment.

Seeing that she stopped him during the middle of his attack, the disabled leg tripped Naruto, sending him crashing to the ground. She gave him a point in her book as the blond didn't instantly bend his leg like she saw most humans do when a leg wound occurred.

Seeing him hatefully glare at her made her amused, but this wasn't the time to amuse herself, her life depended on it.

Walking over to the downed Naruto, she readied her whip and let it swing at his prone body, making Naruto scream in pain as his body collected wounds from the whip's strikes. Thankfully, it seemed to collect at his torso and back, leaving his arms and his legs alone.

Although that wasn't very reassuring when he thought about it.

Naruto had to find a way to get out of the whip's strike range, but how?

Naruto's gaze turned to a nearby tent and he nodded, he found a way!

Lachesis for her part was engrossed in whipping her downed opponent. It was exhilarating to hear her opponent scream in pain and it made her feel so good and tingly inside at every scream.

Screams that were no longer sounding...

Lachesis recovered from her euphoria to see her arm automatically whipping at a bucket of all things!

Where did he go?!

Lachesis looked around and saw the remnants of a black cape go behind a tattered tent. She smiled, it was obvious he was trying to hide to recover his wounds. Not that she would let him of course!

Lifting her free hand, she recalled a spell that she had almost forgotten due to her years living in a human shell. But forget, she did not as she recited the spell under her breath. It wouldn't do for the boy to hear her and try to dodge the spell.

When she was done, she pointed her hand at the tent and bellowed out her most powerful spell.

"Garudyne!" She gleefully shouted and watched the show.

Out of nowhere, a funnel cloud touched down to the area where Naruto was hiding and she smiled as she saw a body rise out in surprise as the winds tore him apart. She watched one of his arms was cut clean off the body, seeing blood come out a moment later to be swept by the violent tornado.

A moment of raging winds later, the tornado dispersed, leaving behind a destroyed tent and body that was surprisingly still breathing. She watched as the body tried to rise but was failing to do so.

Pity, but she was getting bored. So it was time to end his miserable existence. Walking to the struggling boy, she whipped him once more for the pleasure and readied a single string from her whip to connect to the boy. It was a specialty of hers, as it was one of her 'duties' to connect a string to every single human to measure how long the human would live.

Now? It was an ending only a Sister of Fate could do.

Watching the boy struggle against the string, she lifted his bloodied face, mangled beyond recognition. His one good eye, if she could call it that, watched her in horror and she felt good. Watching a mortal's terror always did something to her.

Dangling a very short piece of string, made intentionally to signal his life was up, she used her teeth to cut it in half. The cut string started to burn shorter and shorter to the boy's body, where his soul was dormant. She watched as he tried to put the soul searching sting of fate out before it could reach his heart.

So amusing!

When it reached the boy's body, she watched him squirm for just a moment and then drop dead.

At least, that is what should have happened if not for the fact the body fell apart in a puff of smoke.

Watching the 'Body', Lachesis saw the body was made of nothing but bits and pieces of tent and another bucket for the head!

How was this possible?!

Lachesis started to get paranoid, this wasn't possible! She watched him die!

Seeing nothing around her, Lachesis decided he must be hiding! That was it!

Spotting a random tent, she didn't bother to chant the spell and instead cried out her signature spell.

"Garudyne!" she crowed. The funnel cloud wasn't as violent as the first one, due to lack of proper enchanting, but still did its' job of tearing apart the tent. She growled as there was no blond brat among the wreckage and targeted another tent.

And another.

And another!

No body to be found!

Then the crazed Lachesis grinned. If he was hiding, then she would bring him to her! She turned to the biggest tent. It held the angel whore that the boy treasured, so if she targeted her, then he would have to come out! So simple! So genius!

"Garudy-!" Lachesis stopped mid spell to whip an icicle going for her neck out of the way. She suddenly remembered that there was that piece of garbage elemental to deal with, but he was so weak, she didn't even deem him a threat.

Oh well, if he was inside the tent, then all the better for her!

However, she felt something wrong.

Why was her instincts telling her to look up?

She looked up and found out the reason.

A large blue axe came out of the sky and rotated at insane speeds while traveling much faster than she had seen any weapon try.

"Oh!" She said in surprise as the axe penetrated through her skull and down her body. When it landed on the ground, Lachesis stood still for a moment before her body fell sideways in two parts.

She didn't get up, obviously.

Naruto didn't need to see that his plan he pulled out of his own ass worked as the demonic pressure faded. He struggled to grin as but he was in too much pain to do so. It didn't help that he was missing his arm before he was able to use his substitution technique with the bucket he threw to the sky when that tornado hit. How he was able to launch the axe at that spot, he didn't know.

He probably used every bit of his instinct and remaining nerves to launch it. And it all paid off to boot!

As he was losing consciousness, he could have sworn Kushina was rushing toward him, but this angel was much bigger, and was wearing armor...

Oh well...

X-X

On the other side of reality, Hinata shivered as the cold bit her exposed face and hands though for some reason, she was sure that it wasn't the cold that made her shiver.

She focused, she needed to get her team out of here!

Walking briskly in the night wasn't hard to do silently. But carrying a body that groaned every few minutes across buildings was a lot harder to so so silently.

She also had two wounded teammates that were doing the heavy lifting made her feel even worse than usual. Still, her role as their eyes alleviated that guilt as they trusted her to get them out of here.

So with her Byakugan active, she lead the way, expertly dodging sentries that were slowly getting aware that something was amiss.

After rounding a corner and dodging a running pair of guards that shouted something akin to prisonbreak, Hinata sighed in relief as the city gates appeared before her, they were almost home free!

As they approached the gates, a lone figure stood in front of the gates.

A smiling woman, dressed in fine silk clothing mismatched with a patchwork dress.

"Congratulations! You've certainly made your way to the gates! I would say you are all free to go...but I can't let my secrets roam free..." She said as she snapped her fingers.

Behind Hinata, Kiba dropped and clutched his head in intense agony.

"ARRGH! Wha...what happened?!" Kiba screamed in pain as he clutched his head even harder.

"I...I remember! Shino, you!?" He gazed at Shino who had a smile not unlike the woman had. Hinata stared in horror as she watched Kurenai dissolve as insects started to leave anyway they could to return to their master. Akamaru collapsed as well, having bugs drain his own Chakra supply and lifeforce by Shino's insects.

Kiba watched as he started to convulse. The details of what happened to them before Hinata came rushed back to him.

Him fighting off the guards...

Shino blocking as well as he could...

A woman grabbed a single bug and imbued it with unnatural Chakra...

The woman grabbing Shino by the neck and forced the corrupted insect down his mouth as he struggled before he lay still for a moment.

Then Shino rising again, turning the insects against them by devouring Kurenai-sensei.

And then...

Shino taking a small bug and inserting it through his skin...

Then nothing till now.

Kiba struggled to not let the invading bug win as he kept struggling to not let the bug take control.

"Hinata! Run!" Kiba gargled before grabbing the last thing he thought he would ever need.

An emergency Explosive tag that his mother gave to him one dark night after his graduation, to be used in the most direst of circumstances.

Sticking the note to his chest, he rushed the immobile Shino, whose parasitic bug had no instinct to dodge the insane human.

Hinata screamed as the Explosive note detonated between both boys, showering the area with bugs, limbs and flaming clothes.

She felt her legs give out, the shock of having been betrayed and saved by her remaining sane friend too much for her. Her mind was overloading and she wasn't even sure what was real anymore.

What she did know that was real was the woman in front of her. She had to die.

Grabbing whatever Chakra she could muster, Hinata forewent her usual attack pattern and rushed at the woman, a kunai in both her hands. Her rage was so strong, a visible aura denoting extreme Chakra use was present on her hands gripping the ninja tool.

She didn't register that the woman grinned as she let herself get pounced by the smaller warrior. Her smile never left her face as Hinata, in incredible anger hacked and stabbed and ended the woman's life by plunging so much Chakra into her corpse, that the body, both demon and human, imploded.

When Hinata came to, she felt the blood on her hands and body, and also felt the fatal levels of Chakra exhaustion.

However, she didn't regret her actions, only that she would die in this blight of a village and leaving her younger sister alone.

Collapsing, Hinata weakly looked at the sky and saw it tear itself apart. That wasn't right...

She knew no more.

X-X

The figure who was watching the slaughter stood stock still at what happened between the two. The warp that opened below the moon but above the village used its unnatural tears in the sky to reflect the moonlight and allow a single solitary figure to stretch a hand through the tear of space and time. The light shining from the moon caught the figure hiding in the dark and revealed the face of the last sister. Chron.

She stared in shock at the fate of her eldest sister. How could that...thing kill her so easily?! She was smiling through it all too!

When she saw the warp and the hand of the being that she knew all too well, she realized it. The one who was turning time over and over again was her. She knew exactly why as well.

She didn't accept this fate at all!

Her, member of the Sisters of Fate, The Moraie...was the last one left of their ancient coven. She directly saw her eldest sister, her mentor die with a smile to summon their lord brother. She couldn't feel her direct elder sister, Lachesis' presence anymore...

Seeing her lord brother struggle trying to get through gave her an idea. She would use this precious moment to return to their home and use the crystal once again! She would rewind time and find a better way where they would come out on top, without anyone she cared about dying!

Seeing that they were near the entrance, Chron fled into the shadows and returned to their home district. She expected to walk the main road to their home, but instead found the district in complete disarray, as if a battle happened while she was away. Weaves of spider web were strewn about and buildings that held the core of the web were destroyed and blocked the direct path with huge slabs of rubble and wooden beams.

It was fortunate that the area with the webs were under an illusion and only rumored at best in the village. The farthest that any human has ventured into this part of their village was the first building touching their market place. The humans believed they moved further, but they were ensnared in the illusion of doing so until one of them dispelled and directed their attention to them.

So...how did this happen? Did Lachesis' stupid hobby destroy their territory?

Regardless, she would have to find another way into their home. Good thing she knew a bit of a shortcut!

Squeezing into a slightly tight gap between buildings, Chron wished she hadn't designed a figure that had larger than usual...assets. Oh, she wanted to have her own charm she said...so she took an appearance of a busty woman with a gentle demeanor and a friendly outlook. She took it over the objections of her elders, saying it would cause nothing but trouble!

Now that decision was really coming to bite her hard. She really wished she had the modest body of her eldest sister or the childlike figure of Lachesis...

Thankfully, the shortcut was brief and allowed the disguised demon's figure some breathing room at last. Of course, she found the main road was mostly clear of debris with a few wooden beams or slabs of wall blocking one side of the road but was not impassable.

With a small sprint, Chron dashed through the mostly clear road and into their home, which sat unharmed from the mess outside. Entering the home, Chron walked quickly through their home's hallway and into their living room. Finding their greatest treasure was easy as every sister knew how to access the gem's hidden chamber.

All it took was rearranging several books and presto!

Chron smiled as she remembered the combination and heard a subtle click telling her the lock was removed.

Reaching in, she gazed at the ruby which held so much power over this world. With it, Chron imagined what she could do, and what she could correct if need be.

Now, something needed correcting!

Gripping the jewel with all her might, Chron closed her eyes and chanted the phrase to activate the powerful artifact.

"Επιστροφή χρόνος και η μοίρα"

The jewel shined with anticipation, ready to do its master's bidding.

"Επαναφορά τι χάθηκε ..."

The ruby floated off her hand, twirling rapidly as it generated the power needed to complete the leap of time.

"Αντίστροφη ! Αντίστροφη ! Επιστρέψτε τον εαυτό μου με το παρελθόν !"

The last of the phrase said, the ruby twirled one more time before a light at the top of the ruby began to draw a crude circle into the wall of their home. The energy held on enough to allow one person to enter the gate of time to their desired destination.

Chron marched to the hole, which took a red hue from the ruby's light. She gazed at it for a moment, recalling the way to exit the timehole.

All she needed to do was to think of a recent memory before everything happened. Just picking a memory was all it took as the ruby's power did all the work.

It was very convenient for such an ancient piece.

Ready to enter, Chron lifted her leg to enter the portal when her instincts flared to warn her of danger!

She turned to see a large metal hammer strike her forehead, causing her to drop like a rock. Unusually, she was still conscious for a moment and gazed at her attacker.

One leg.

A grimy apron...

Then nothing.

Gazing at the body of Chron, now a confirmed demon, Ippon-Datara looked at the floating crystal, fascinated by the jewel's power.

He followed the suspected demon after he caught a movement in the shadows he was hiding from and found his way to their lair. He long suspected Naire was a demon, but Chron? If he caught her messing with time, then that really cuts the list of demons who even knew of such things.

From what he knew, Chron, Naire and a little girl he never got the name of lived in the same area. So if he filtered his knowledge of demons into those who traveled in groups of three, then the only demons that came to him were the Moraie sisters. Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho.

Ippon-Datara grimly reminded himself that maybe being Victor's...maid had its perks every now and then.

HE still wouldn't return...nothing was worth that humiliation again.

Now...how to return to an earlier point in time and keep the jewel? He found it fascinating and ideas ran throughout his mind on how to harness its power.

Suddenly, a thought came to him...

X-X

When Louis Cypher felt a tremor across the plane of time, he knew there was something trying to cross dimensions using brute force to destroy the unusually fragile plane that governed time.

Such a shame that it had to happen while his chosen entertainment readily amused him again by proving victorious over a foe he...modified to fight against. She certainly needed no push to accept his power, but he was slightly disappointed over how wasteful and incompetent a "Sister of Fate" had become, to lose against a Devil Summoner.

When he saw the boy and his wounds being cared for by an archangel of all things, he knew he had to act fast. Newly born Archangels weren't as powerful as their legendary brethren of stories past, so he had an advantage over this being.

Not a big advantage, but enough to leave a lasting mark.

Disappearing into air, Louis Cypher materialized next to the distracted archangel and rendered her unconscious with but a touch.

Looking over her patchwork, Louis Cypher found that she had treated his severed arm with unusually high skill, as if she had been a surgeon in some past life. However, Louis reasoned, the knowledge might have come from the ancient Aquans that fused within her and gave her a new form as well as medical knowledge.

Now this would not do...he needed the boy in his pocket.

Gazing at the fallen Archangel, Louis lifted her body mentally and started to...modify her a bit.

Nothing serious, mind you...just creating a new form of entertainment.

His work complete, he watched as the Archangel regressed back to her original form, of a lowly Angel he was used to seeing long ago.

He fixed her mental and Physical connections to near impregnability. Nothing short of an attack of his magnitude could break his meddling.

A latest act in rebelliousness against his father, showing him that his fallen son could do what he could not, or wouldn't do.

Gazing at the half-restored arm, Louis melded and fixed the supposed image of his father to his liking and found something interesting.

Half way through his meddling, his body started to fix itself, as if trying desperately to heal itself quickly.

This had Louis intrigued, was there another being in this boy's body?

He was curious now.

Louis charged energy to his hand. He had to satisfy his curiosity, even if it was for a moment. Keeping his hand rigid, Louis lunged at Naruto's body with his hand. However, instead of blood or harm to the boy, Louis' hand went through as if magic.

Louis knew what he was doing of course, as his body followed his hand and into the boy's subconsciousness, looking forward to where it lead him.

Upon landing into the boy's subconsciousness, Louis likened the place to a sewer or at the very least, an abandoned pipe room. However, there was something strange, perhaps the source of his curiosity.

A large cage stood above the water, although you couldn't tell given the steam coming from the boiling water. Louis noted that the water itself wasn't scalding to his feet, almost as if there was some protection against it.

When he stepped closer to the cage, Louis sensed a colossal creature behind the cage waiting for him to step closer. With a small smirk, Louis stepped forward to meet the creature behind the cage and was not disappointed when the creature came face to face with him and roared with all its might, as if hoping to make him submit.

A pathetic notion, but he let it go.

"Have you come to mock me jailer?! How bold of y- wait, you aren't him..." The creature before him started to rant against him but trailed off as it studied him. Suddenly, the creature was guarded.

Wise move.

"Who are you?" the creature asked, ready to retaliate. Louis smiled pleasantly, all the while wondering how long it would take for this creature to die...or not, he hadn't decided yet.

"My name? Why if you'll tell me yours, I shall do as well!" Louis greeted the creature.

"I am the Kyuubi, greatest of the nine!" The creature, Kyuubi, boasted his power against Louis.

Louis wasn't impressed, but hid his judgment behind his smile.

"Hello Kyuubi, my name is Louis Cypher and it is a pleasure to meet you..."

X-X

When Louis returned from his pleasant chat with the Kyuubi, he noticed something different from his surroundings. If his infinite memory hadn't failed him, wasn't this area a desolate battlefield?

In fact, the area looked pristine! Untouched even!

As quickly as his confusion came and went, so did the answer. Someone must have used that bothersome relic and turned back time.

However, due to his influence, major characters would not be returning to the stage...at least not in their original roles.

The ancient water creature was all but erased and served as the catalyst to the Angel's enhancements. Great entertainment was expected from that one in the coming years, of that he made sure.

The boy's...changes were now permanent, but he would know who saved his life. Louis would be sure to call in the boy's loyalty when the time was right.

As for that demon that squandered his barest scrap of power? He personally made sure to gather her fading energy and trap it.

But what to do with it? He had no use for such a pathetic creature...unless?

He gazed at the unconscious Naruto.

He had an idea...

X-X

When Naruto came to hours later, he had woken to see himself back in the real world.

How did he get here? How-

A sharp and shrill noise resonated in his brain, causing him to clutch his head as if doing so would ease his pain. During that painful time, he received memories and a strange message.

"Ram, idiot!" A voice he could have sworn he heard before was the last message he heard during his painful moment.

When Naruto was sure the pain was gone, he began reviewing what he learned. Kushina somehow turned into an Archangel, a stronger form of her regular look. Looking at Kushina's summoning tube, he opened it and released the demon only to find that she looked nothing like Gouto's description of the powerhouse warriors.

She looked exactly the same when he met her.

Still, something seemed off and Kushina knew it as well. Kushina inspecting her body as if looking for the change told him that much.

Reviewing the next item, a certain benefactor had healed him and Naruto didn't like it. Louis Cypher, for the handful of times Naruto had met him told Naruto that he wasn't someone to do charity.

He wanted something from Naruto. Grateful, but wary was Naruto's impression of the blonde young man.

Flexing the arm that Naruto was sure had separated from that wind assault, Naruto couldn't find anything wrong with it. That worried him as nothing demonic had any semblance of normality when it came to humans.

Naruto almost didn't see the strike taken by a wild Slime demon and as if on instinct, Naruto put out his newly attached arm out.

What would've been an early demise of his new arm, Naruto stared in shock at his arm.

It was coated in a mixture of red energy and white light as it held the struggling demon in place. Naruto watched as the palm of his hand drew in the demon's energy and body into itself, to the panic of Naruto who thought he was being possessed.

However, the arm's amazingly terrifying demonstration ceased instantly and Naruto's eyes followed a white piece of paper fall from his grasp. When he grasped it in his hand, Naruto saw it had a picture of the Slime creature!

What the hell was going on here?!

Gazing at Kushina, Naruto shared the look of unease with his partner while recalling what had lead to this.

What did Louis Cypher do to him?

X-X

Hey everyone! I am back among the living and hoping everyone had a good start to 2015!

I am back at a computer and learning the joys of the internet again!

Also have a working light source...and a new home!

Because my home was turned to cinders after an apartment fire.

Fortunately, I wasn't thrown to the streets, as my Family helped me immensely and due to them, this chapter is dedicated to them.

That being said, my first priority is to reestablish a new source of income as my company had laid off dozens of employees as part of their restructure. So I may not be able to write for a while.

On the upside, I graduated college! Got a AS degree!

So still smoking of plastersmell and gripping a diploma, I look for a job so I can make my parents proud!

Terra ace, signing out!

Words without the bold: 5086