A/N: AAAAAYYYYY LOOK WHO'S FUCKING ALIVE
I know, I know, y'all are pissed that I've taken so long to update anything; well, imagine how pissed I am that it's taken me this long. I don't do this on purpose, it just happens because of fluctuating inspiration, laziness, and life. Job searching, fucked-up sleep hours, Dark Souls (just... just Dark Souls ._. expect it to have a bit of influence here in the future; my mind works weird like that) it's all piling up on me. And I don't exactly stay on one story as I cultivate it; I'm jumping between different stories, new and rewrites, so progress is sketchy.
...I'm giving y'all such confidence, aren't I? :D
Hopefully, you don't care about this and are just happy about a new chapter; well here it is.
I'm-a come right out and say this; this chapter was inspired by, of all things, Star Trek: Next Gen. XD The same friend I always bring up got me into it and this chapter was inspired by my favorite episode. For those of you who are also fans, you'll be able to tell when we really get into it.
Data's my favorite character :3 Followed closely by Q. I should watch more Q episodes... Shit, I should watch more episodes in general; my comprehension of the overarching story is as fractured as my psyche.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Hellsing, FMA, One Piece
"Human speech"
'Human thought'
"Jutsu/Demon speech"
'Demon thought'
Let's begin
"So, what do you say?" Naruto asked Han and Roshi after giving them a watered-down version of their collective stories and why they were here.
Han was a real mountain of a man - even taller than Kirabi - in red samurai armor under dark clothes, including, of all things, a steam furnace in the back; considering his bijuu, it was somewhat understandable. Due to his size, burden, and overall demeanor, Han was ostracized by Iwa more harshly than his elder, Roshi, and thus he wanted to agree almost immediately, only abstaining for Roshi's word.
Roshi, on the other hand, was an aged man of normal stature with burning red hair, a strange crown-like head piece and strip of armor across his nose, and magenta clothing under light armor. Roshi was a close friend of the Tsuchikage, Onoki, since the last two wars, of which they were both witness to. However, Onoki's teachings under the previous Tsuchikage, Muu, and his own tenure slowly caused them to drift apart, the villages' ostracizing of him and his many years of experience jading him to the world. He was more contemplative of their offer, almost appearing to be meditating on the idea, all eyes on him.
The boys words were persuasive, and his ability to relate - heck, even surpass them in terms of burden - played no small part. While he didn't wish to harm his friend, maybe it was time to strip the villages of their not-so-secret weapons dependent on human suffering...
"Are you prepared for the consequences of bringing us along? Our camp is surrounded by a perimeter of fuinjutsu that will alert nearly half Iwa's DUST to our leaving the area. Last time it happened, they got here in less than three minutes." Roshi simultaneously agreed and warned Naruto.
"Konoha, Kiri, Kumo, might as well add Iwa to our list." Yugito commented with a grin.
"Should we count Konoha twice because of those Ne?" Gaara asked rhetorically.
"They'll be dealt with just fine; I feel like venting." Naruto answered while telling his group that he wished to handle them himself; apparently the very idea of a perimeter seal pissed him off.
"So are we going to be transformed, too?" Han spoke up, elated that Roshi agreed; while it was nice that he'd be with fellow jinchuriki, it was nice to have a familiar face around.
"Yes; I apologize for any discomfort." Naruto stepped forward, sinking his hands into their chests and implanting darkness in their hearts, the both of them going through the less intensive process of simply receiving black hair and yellow eyes.
"Well that was... weird. And anti-climactic." Han commented, clenching his hands as he felt a new connection with those present; possibly the darkness.
"Just like Kirabi and, to an extent, Yugito-chan, your age minimizes the required changes your bodies need to accommodate your new ability to manipulate darkness. While on the outside it seems fairly simple, inside is where the magic happens; your hearts have completely subsumed the darkness I introduced to them, turning into veritable factories and doorways, connecting you to the realm of darkness and any other users, such as us. You are also connected to the various Shades we created from other shinobi and can control them just like us. Your bodies have also become like ours; you no longer bleed and will heal greater than you might from your bijuu, and any elements you may be able to control can now be replicated with darkness. How have the bijuu taken to the introduction of darkness, by the way? Matatabi was quite welcoming while Gyuuki was cautious; I'm interested in how your tenants are affected." Naruto queried.
"...Son is... antsy. The darkness makes him nervous. It's alive, isn't it?" Roshi asked.
"...In a sense, yes. The shadows all around us are connected to a realm of darkness, though to call it a realm is a bit of a misnomer; 'realm' would mean there are denizens, there are... spaces the substance the realm is known for do not occupy. Such is not true here. The 'realm' of darkness is more like a source, an all-consuming being from which the shadows are connected to. Even I'm not sure if it is a complete consciousness, but there is something connected to us on a level I believe beyond us, at least for now." Naruto provided as best he could before turning to Han for his bijuu's comments on the darkness.
"Kokuo was all huffy at first, but he calmed down as I myself got used to the feeling." Han provided simply.
"So where're we going now, Naru-kun?" Yugito asked with an excited smile.
"Well until my Shades find the Rokubi container, we're headed for-" Naruto froze mid-sentence as some of his Shades that latched onto a ship leaving the east coast of Hi no Kuni showed him something. The ship was attacked by what appeared to be summon animals and, latching onto their shadows to follow them to their 'base', showing him a strange facility on an island where researchers were apparently doing work on creating the 'Ultimate Summoning Beast.' The creature was loose and rampant, consuming any remaining summons and slaughtering the scientists before turning its eyes on the lone combatant...
A red-haired girl brought in to seal the beast.
"We're leaving now." Nauto said in a deadly serious voice, casting his hands to the ground as they were all engulfed in darkness, falling into the portal he made and thrust into the network created by his Shades all across the Elemental Nations, barreling towards the island in less than a second.
Floating within the darkness, time slowed so they could speak.
"Uh, why the sudden urgency? Where are we going, anyway?" Yugito asked, curious and concerned.
"An island off the coast of Hi and Kaminari no Kuni where researchers are messing around with summoning beasts to create the ultimate one. They bit off more than they could chew and brought in a kunoichi to seal it. A red-haired kunoichi survivor from a 'certain clan of shinobi.'" Naruto provided from his Shades searching the island for any documentation supporting his hope, hopefully conveying the urgency of the situation.
Those who knew Naruto fell silent, understanding his behavior. Roshi, on the other hand, having experienced the Third Shinobi World War, knew exactly what the signs were pointing to. "Why do you care if she's an Uzumaki survivor?" He asked. Unlike a majority of Iwa, he didn't hate the Uzumaki, having outright refused taking part in the three-way siege on Uzushiogakure many years ago.
"My apologies; I left out a detail about myself when we arrived. My full name is Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and... the Yondaime Hokage." Naruto said.
"Oh you're Minato's boy? I'd say there was a resemblance, but with your black hair and all that covering it's hard to tell." Roshi responded calmly.
"You don't care he's the son of Iwa's greatest enemy?" Gaara asked, curious.
"Not a bit. I didn't lose anyone during his attack, and the sins of the father are not those of the son. The boy wasn't that bad, anyway." Roshi commented, reminiscing about the certain... quality Minato had about him that brought many people to him. It was probably why the Raikage was a sort of friendly rival to him, in terms of speed, and why even as the Hokage with the shortest term, he was still well loved and remembered, though that may be in part to the whole Kyuubi thing...
"Interesting. I'm glad you are not clouded by hatred. I dealt with enough of that in Konoha." Naruto commented.
"Yo Naruto! Shouldn't we be there? You said this kinda travel could get us quickly anywhere!" Kirabi commented, only to receive a punch to the back of his head from Yugito.
Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion and irritation. "You're right, B-san; we should be there by now. I feel a sort of... dampener on my powers." He commented just before they began to rise, having finally arrived.
Han, on the other hand, was looking at the cursing Kirabi and sweatdropping. "Is he always like this?" He asked.
"Unfortunately." Gaara answered stoically, but there was a hint of irritation.
They rose from the portal with a sensation of breaking through the surface of some oil-like substance, dragging down their forms as they appeared to a most grim scene.
Blood was everywhere, and the various machines and containment cells were utterly destroyed. Strangely, there were no bodies to be found, but the slickness of the blood beneath their feet told them whatever occurred here was extremely recent.
"Nice to finally meet face to face... Father."
The voice, like a man gritting his teeth in fury speaking through tar, drew their attention to a seemingly carefully constructed pile of debris, before what appeared to be liquid darkness oozed through the cracks until it was completely covered, a mound of light-absorbing black that seemed to pull their souls in the longer they stared. A humanoid form slowly grew from atop it, lanky and dripping with the inky darkness that most likely made up its form. It was shaped like the silhouette of a man with his arms at the sides, almost appearing to not have any, while its face was obscured by a series of blades embedded in its flesh like a crown or helmet visor. Any other facial features they could see were hidden by the darkness of its form, but they knew it was angry, furious; but not at them, or anything in particular.
Just... angry.
"Who are you? Are you the cause of all this? And what did you mean by... father?" Naruto asked.
"Yo Yugito! When did you an' Naruto get busy? 'Cause if we got someone callin' him dad, my head's gettin' dizzy!" Kirabi commented.
"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" Yugito punched Kirabi with a burning face.
"Not you, feckless host; the deep, dark, terrible black inside you. Onikage..." The creature began to let off killing intent like a fierce wind, ruffling any loose hair or clothing.
"How do you know of the Onikage?" Naruto asked lowly, eyes narrowed in curiosity.
"I am of the Onikage. I trust you could be bothered to learn of his climactic battle with the Juubi?" The being asked almost rhetorically, slithering down the pile of debris to coalesce in a vantablack puddle on the floor, its humanoid proxy staring them down, its heavy, labored breaths unnerving them. "I am the aftermath of that tumultuous meeting. An unholy meeting of flesh, blood, and darkness. Torn and spilt from primordial gods, and absorbed from the essence around me, a damnable existence came into being; a surface on the earth that would swallow all hope, blocking finite mortality and the oblivion, a skin. Then a bastardization of consciousness began to grow, tearing itself apart and mending back as the cloudy echoes and empty concepts of my 'progenitors' fought for dominance. For millennia, I festered in nothing but agony and fury, learning to dull the pain by manipulating and taking in the darkness around, be it materialistic or metaphysical. The shadows of each blade of grass, of each pebble, of the trees, the animals, the humans... and the darkness in the hearts of all living creatures. It was mine to bend and assimilate. But even now, every fiber of my abominable being boils in pain, with no salve to soothe. I spent my time slaughtering and consuming creatures, manipulating the darkness, seeking not a mend for my pain, but for my boredom. Time and again, I committed great works to alleviate it, great losses of life and events of destruction... nothing. Imagine my surprise when I felt a stirring in my mind not a week ago. One of my creators had taken a host, and within the container of one of the bastard-shards of the other. Now here he is, creating a so-called network of sycophantic slaves and tracking down family. How... sentimental." It finished its dialogue, and everyone had the succinct feeling that if it had a mouth, it would be smiling sardonically.
Not liking where this was going, Naruto glared at the creature. "What do you want? What's your name?" He asked.
"I want for nothing. I need to destroy you all. Each of you are an abomination, mindless followers created by a disease of a being. I will destroy every last remnant of the Onikage and the Juubi, and you so foolishly gathered yourselves before me. I can search for the other two after I destroy you all. As for my name... you should know it. Just as I am connected to you and your network, you are connected to me. Everything you know, I know, and vice versa." The being provided 'helpfully.'
"Pretty hypocritical of you to call us abominations that need to be destroyed when you called yourself one not one minute ago." Yugito commented, fists on her hips.
"I can never die! I am a bastardization of primordial gods and the darkness in the hearts of man; as long as man exists, so will I. You six, however, are very mortal, and mortals are very... fragile." The creature slid backwards slightly, the puddle that was its form slithering into the debris and parting the rocks as a large mass was pulled into its central form and raised up, revealing a humanoid figure. The creature had taken to sticking to its apparent hostage like a parasite, its 'skin' over their face peeling back to reveal... Honoka.
Her red hair was held back by what remained of a white hair band, possibly torn from the battle with the Beast and attempting to fight off this creature. Her dark eyes were filled with fear and confusion, and her mouth was held in grit disgust at the living tar sticking to her body, putting pressure on her various injuries. Everything happened so fast... the head researcher brought her in to begin the sealing process for what they called the Ultimate Summoning Beast, but her fuinjutsu wasn't enough, and it broke free. It began killing the researchers and almost put her on that long list, were it not for this creature of living darkness eviscerating the Beast, saving her. However, before she could get a word in, it fell upon her, and the fight was back on, but she was haggard, injured, and low on chakra; she barely lasted five minutes. Then the creature decided to amuse itself...
(Five minutes ago, prior to Naruto & co.'s arrival)
Honoka was lying in the dark, beneath the debris her savior-turned-assailant laid around her, moaning in pain and exhausted from her low reserves. She always had larger chakra coils than most other shinobi, so it was rare for her to face chakra exhaustion, but here she was. Thankfully she was a sensor, and using her ability required little chakra of her to use it; attempting to reach outwards with what could only be described as a 'chakra sonar', she was interrupted by her captor.
"Your friends are all dead. No one is coming for you." It taunted her with.
"...You're lying." Honoka denied, returning to using her sensor ability to prove it wrong.
Nothing. There was nothing. Her sensing ability, when pushed to its limits, could engulf nearly half the island... and there was nothing. The minor chakra signatures in the civilian researchers didn't show up in her mind's eye.
"Do you see now? You are alone on this island. Save for me." The creature said.
"...Why?" Honoka asked lowly, spirit waning. The head researcher was like a father to her, having informed her of her heritage as a survivor of a once-great clan in the Elemental Nations. He raised her from the baby he found into the woman she was. And now he, and all their colleagues and friends, were gone. "You could have let them escape; it's clearly me you want. Why else would I still be alive?" She reasoned.
"Yes, I could have." The being simply agreed.
"Then why?! Why did you kill them all?!" Honoka yelled.
"Do you really want to know? Maybe I did it for a higher purpose you could never understand. Or maybe they're not dead, and are actually suffering eternally, subsumed within my being." The monster proposed.
"WHAT REASON COULD YOU HAVE FOR KILLING THEM?!" Honoka screamed, climbing to her knees.
Almost immediately, the creature formed its humanoid proxy within her prison, growing so close she could feel it's cold breath on her face. "There was no reason. They died because I wanted them to. To see if it would amuse me." It finally answered.
"AND DID IT?! ARE YOU SATISFIED?!" Honoka questioned, furious.
The being tilted its head almost quizzically. "No. It was too easy."
"WHAT, DID YOU WANT THEM TO SUFFER?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!" Honoka wondered angrily.
"...Yes. That might be fun. Now quiet down; your screeching is ruining my concentration on keeping your dearest family behind us." It complained.
"What family?! I'm the last Uzumaki; Kagami-tou-san said so!" Honoka denied.
"If it were so easy for a band of cockroaches to be exterminated, I would have done it myself. Instead, a handful of you slip away and go about your lives, ignorant of the world around you. The very reason you are still alive is because another of your blood, and in a sense mine, is coming. Hmm... I suppose that sort of makes you my aunt. I was wrong; this was amusing." It commented with a sick cackle before sinking away.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Honoka yelled, confused and still angry.
(Flashback end)
"Let her go." Naruto demanded lowly.
"She's the reason you're here, correct? You seek to preserve your familial ties, connect with those of your blood. How... sentimental." It commented sardonically, simultaneously forcing Honoka to outstretch her arm.
"Let. Her. Go." Naruto demanded, his voice and glare deadly.
"What. Is. My. Name?" The creature responded just the same.
Hastily feeling inward for this supposed connection he shared with the spawn of darkness, Naruto found the bridge in question, but attempting to mentally cross it proved more difficult than he expected; it was purposely blocking him, forcing him to concentrate when his emotions were running rampant. "What do you want?"! He yelled, hoping to buy time.
"I want to see you and everyone like you lying before me in agony! I won't kill you; until you awakened your damnable blood, I had no purpose. With you here, I finally have one: to pay you back for the millennia I suffered in agony and hatred! Now, WHAT. IS. MY. NAME?!" It howled, Honoka's grimacing face showing it was putting pressure on her arm, possibly intending to break it.
"I DON'T KNOW! YOU'RE PURPOSELY BLOCKING ME!" Naruto pointed out; against a being with infinitely more time to train in its darkness manipulation than him, he stood no chance at penetrating any defenses it had, physical or mental.
"How intriguing, for the child to be disappointed in the parent. I'd say I expected more from you but... I didn't."
CRRK!
"AAAAARRRMUUUUUUSSSS!" Naruto roared over Honoka's howl of pain, the harming of his family pushing him over the edge, tapping into the eldritch essence of the first Onikage sleeping within him. A being on par with a primordial god against a bastard child, cobbled together from bits and pieces, brought easy access to the now-named creatures mind, just as it did him.
Armus. A strange name. Taken from the mind of one of many foreigners from the western lands. It had no meaning. It had no purpose. It was simply a label for an insane being to latch onto, a focus amongst the agony.
But none of that mattered. Naruto liked to think he had a good grasp on his emotions, that he could channel any wayward fury or sorrow toward the systematic destruction of the perpetrator, Konoha-vendetta notwithstanding, but he had never been furious, had never been buried in a hate so black it made Armus look like the sun, but here he was. Much like a jinchuriki, Naruto's power could be fully tapped into when he immersed himself in emotion, and at the moment, he and the concept of anger were quite indistinguishable. Conscious thought, the ability to identify friend and foe, basic support of bodily needs and functions, all cast aside to immerse himself in the strength needed...
Needed to make Armus hurt.
Make him bleed.
Make him stop being.
Unfortunately for Naruto, he had passed through the earlier stage of fury and the calm lagoon of rage, where the voice was steady, the manner measured and polite, with nary a hint of the loathing underneath save for something that slipped through the cracks, like a hair out of place, or the repeated clenching of fists. No, he was beyond even that; he was a berserker, a creature of rage that would destroy any and all things, subconsciously knowing it would do nothing.
Such was his hate that Naruto's entire upper body almost immediately transformed into that of the Onikage's, the suddenness causing the blood vessels in various parts of his bodies to burst violently, molten pitch painting his body the same vantablack as his target and scorching the earth. The influence of the Demon Shadow began to dip south, converting Naruto's lower body so he was completely consumed, an armored skirt of similar material to his shawl-like plate slowly forming as cloth gave way to ebon flesh.
Armus began to cackle with glee, casting Honoka aside like a rag, causing her to almost land on her broken arm, were it not for Yugito zipping in to catch her, the Nibi jinchuriki being below the radar of the combatants. "Yes, father! This is what I've been waiting for! While losing yourself to these pesky emotional ties somewhat dulls my inevitable victory, I can get over it as I torture you for millennia to come!" It declared, its black influence growing at its 'feet' in preparation for the battle to come.
Shunshining her back to Gaara and Kirabi, Yugito set Honoka down as gently as she could. "Okay, on a scale of one to ten, how fucked is this situation?" She asked almost rhetorically.
"Would it be in bad taste to say 10, what with all this mentioning of the Juubi?" Gaara responded just the same. "We need to fall back, possibly vacate the island. With Naruto the way he is, simply retreating to a distant chamber, or the facility in general, may not suffice." He said before either of them could answer his question.
"I always knew snubbing Iryou ninjutsu would come to bite me in the ass... best we can do is put this in a splint and treat the rest of the injuries as best we can." Yugito commented.
"I suggest we do that after we go, otherwise we'll be in the crosshairs of Naruto." Kirabi commented in his own special way, drawing up a point. Honoka was still conscious, so she would react quite understandably when they set it back, and her screams would put them in his firing line; best to retreat through the shadows and tend to it afterwards.
Nodding, and ignoring his rhyme, Gaara caressed Honoka in his sand for maximum gentleness before they all sunk in their collective shadow, vacating the island and leaving Naruto to his battle.
"GRAAAAAAAAAGH!" Naruto roared, appearing before Armus in a black blur, fist reared back for an attack, his arms having gone through another transformation. Armus, being a less-than-solid being, merely splattered across his currently-giant fist like the substance he appeared to be before flying off with the momentum, coalescing a ways away, looking over his opponents new form and going over his fragmented mental library from the original Onikage. Expectedly, Naruto was incomplete; even as his lower body began to transform, what would be the final result was a mere shell of the true demon whose blood Naruto inherited. Half of it was from his inexperience, and half from his emotions getting the better of him right now.
Naruto's arms were about four times as large as they normally were, and similar to those he used against the Ne shinobi, yet also different. They appeared to be made of separate, overlapping plates of armor, but they looked particularly metallic, as opposed to the previous organic-looking armor. His black ichor was slipping between the plates and mingling with the contained, yet unstable chakra, creating a deadly crimson glow between them, and the snarling visage of a demon atop his arms, the excess dripping from his fingers as though from a fresh, and violent, kill.
Armus knew those limbs well enough; they were a technique forged from a particularly large demon known for using his foul chakra as a sort of propellant, taking a great many lives and tearing up the land in his wake. Lacking in brains, the Onikage didn't even need to strategize in order to defeat it, turning his soul into an ability that would be used properly and effectively.
Highly doubtful this half-breed could do the same in his current mindset.
"You aren't the only one to have amassed an army, but just like you, they are abominations, forged from the hearts of human beings, while mine... are blessed purity. The darkness around us is mine to bend..." Armus brought up, as the shadows within the complex became infinitely darker, an inescapable black just like his 'skin', before bulging and forming his supposed 'superior Shades.'
Unlike Naruto's, they lacked any definable characteristics that might denote their human origins; appropriate, considering their abstract formation. Instead, they more closely resembled a cross between some sort of demon and ghouls, while the darkness that formed them had a center of bubbling white, similar to when Naruto used his bijuu or Boton chakra. Mostly smooth heads lacking lower jaws and instead bearing a pair of fanged mandibles below the top row of most likely razor-sharp teeth, these broad-shouldered phantasms bore many appendages on their backs that seemed akin to spider legs, but they weren't being used for transportation, as the ghouls were content to float above the floor, a trio of thick and most likely prehensile tentacles replacing their lower bodies. They all had four arms, the top pair ending in large scythe-like blades that they kept folded along their backs for later use, the lower pair ending in hooked claws that looked quite painful.
Shrieking like banshees, the horde of wraiths burst forward akin to a swarm, Naruto meeting them halfway with a fury-fueled roar and burst of a combination of crimson chakra and black blood from vent-like protrusions on the backs of his large arms, disproving Armus' theory that Naruto would be able to use them to their full extent in this state. Slamming the entirety of the closest wraith's chest with his fist sent it flying, and Naruto jumped over the horizontal slash of a second, attempting a heel drop only to be met by the mess of appendages on its back crossing each other for a block before it attempted to impale him from below with its bladed arms. Roaring and punching downward, Naruto buffeted its attack violently and pushed himself up slightly before blasting back down for a double stomp, bisecting it from the force of his drop, only for the tentacle-legs to attach to his shadow and bind his legs, allowing the other 8 creatures to swoop in.
Slamming the central mass into a fine paste, the enraged reincarnation of the Onikage suffered only several slices to his person instead of dismember-
Oh there goes his arm.
Well shit.
"Just as I thought; you speak of being the scion of the Onikage, yet you are harmed by creatures of his realm. I had thought this would at least be amusing to see you rage against your inevitable demise, but you disappoint me even in that respect." Armus commented from his perch atop the debris caging Honoka, almost seeming to lounge on it.
Naruto, in his rage-addled mind, proceeded to metaphorically flip Armus the bird by rearing his stump back as if he still had a fist to use... and punched out a wraith that believed the same, chakra and blood propelling his newly regrown arm fast enough to splatter the creature like ink, while the detached arm began to move as if it had a body attached to it climbing up... and formed an entirely separate clone of Naruto, Onikage-influence and all.
By this time, the conversion of human to demonic demi-god was complete, and his legs matched the rest of his flesh, save for his enlarged arms. The organic armor of his legs was shaped almost like greaves, indicative of such by the slightly wider knees tapering down the legs and the plates interlocking in such a way that what appeared to be a spine was down the center of the shin, and spikes lined his calves, his bare feet bearing clawed toes. The armored skirt, about shin-length in the front and back and hip-length on the sides, appeared to be made of the same unearthly stone material as his shawl, bearing the glowing Onikage symbol on the front and a ring of spikes around the waist.
Had he had eyes, Armus would be glaring at Naruto inquisitively. 'So, he's adapting, using a different kind of darkness; not of light, but of sight, perspective. Since he isn't invulnerable like the original Onikage, he's unconsciously using the darkness around us to both heal himself and the limb into a separate entity rather than simply the former. Nothing I do will dampen his ability to manipulate the shadows while he's like this. Since he'll most likely defeat these wraiths at this rate, I must prepare myself. Even using his blood-kin as a shield won't work; he'd probably kill her if I did that. And while that sounds amusing, it will not benefit me; if he recognizes what he did, he might get worse, and while entertaining, he may tap into his true power, then this'll be a problem.' He thought to himself, pulling the darkness around him inward for his supposed preparation.
Naruto and his clone began to systematically destroy the wraiths, their combined blood-rage too much for the 'superior' Shades as they had no self-preservation instinct or tactics, tanking through their attacks and returning it tenfold.
"HOOOOOOAAARRRGGGHHH!" One of the Naruto's actually created some kind of Void Release technique in its mouth, pulling in the remaining three Wraiths, the ambient darkness around them, and even the clone itself, consuming the shadows. What color could be seen from the environment around them seemed to be drained, momentarily leaving them in a world of grey before reality righted itself. Rather than exhale the darkness as some form of attack, he fell onto his arms, echoing his battle with the Sanbi what felt like a lifetime ago, and the pods on his back folded open almost like the wing shells of insects, smoking pitch wafting from them in six straight lines, before his blood rose up like a thing alive and stormed around them, solidifying as more arms, each those he donned against the Sanbi, six blazing eyes glaring at Armus in blind fury.
As Naruto glared, Armus seemed to bleed away into the background, becoming it as he resupplied the darkness Naruto took, expanding his influence like the presence of a god. "Since this is the only thing you understand, let me reciprocate, Father." A hand the width of the entire room grew from the wall as if buried within, even though the wall was separating two rooms.
Charging an orb of unstable crimson chakra in each of his hands and his mouth, Naruto prepared to obliterate the giant hand, chakra cloak bubbling to the surface around him, but constantly shifting as if it couldn't maintain itself.
The hand loomed forward like a rolling boulder, intent on crushing him.
(Hi no Kuni mainland)
Apologizing under her breath as Honoka hissed and growled in pain as they set her arm, Yugito wiped the sweat from her forehead once her work was done, unable to admire her work when a violent tremor shook her form, and the earth itself. Wide eyes darting to the east, she saw something that forced a frozen mass to drop in her stomach.
The facility, the island, and nearly half a mile of ocean around it were all engulfed in a massive ebon pillar that pierced the heavens, pushing the waters back with pure force. With the lot of them, minus Honoka, staring at it for over a minute, they deduced it wasn't going anywhere.
"NARUTOOOOO!" Yugito howled, tears streaming from her eyes, as she attempted to cross the sea on foot, only for a lightning-enhanced chop to the back of her neck to stop her in her tracks, an unusually serious Kirabi catching her.
"I doubt he's dead, but we can't do nothin' for the boss. We gotta make tracks, find somewhere to hole up; this' way above our pay-grade." B said, Gaara nodding in agreement after he got over his surprise at the lack of any rhyme. All the while, the black pillar of energy remained.
"Where can we go? How long do you think he'll be in there?" Gaara asked as he used his sand to carry Yugito and Honoka.
"I know a place we can use where no one'll bother us. As for how long... can't say. Let's hope it ain't too long." Kirabi said as he headed north. "We're gonna hafta skirt the southern coat 'til we can get close to where we gotta go; c'mon, Sandman, shouldn't keep the girls waitin'." He advised.
With a final glance at the pillar where his friend was surely fighting Armus, Gaara followed Kirabi, the unconscious girls in tow. 'Don't make us wait too long, Naruto; this isn't a group that can last long without a leader.' He prayed.
(Eight years later)
A lot happened in eight years. And a lot didn't.
Considering the Onikage metamorphosis sped their bodies up to their peak physical conditions, the five shadow shinobi did not age a single second. Honoka, on the other hand, aged into a fine young woman. Once she came to hours after they retreated, she demanded answers; who were they, where were they, where was that other man, what the hell happened at the facility?
...Why was that woman crying?
Gaara and Kirabi answered as best they could, B going uninjured the whole time since Yugito was... preoccupied. She learned their names, who they were in relation to the greater Elemental Nations - heck, the brother and niece of the Raikage and son of the Kazekage! - where they currently were - a sort of safehouse island Kirabi had access to - and what they were.
Not human.
To explain that, they needed to bring up Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. Her family. Probably the last one, save for her. They shared his story, how he was hated in Konoha for containing the Kyuubi, how he died not too long ago.
And how he was reborn. The blood of a powerful demon, impossibly old and impossibly strong, coursed through his veins somewhere deep inside. The Kyuubi's chakra, fluctuating from a killing blow, vitalized the blood and turned him into something great and powerful, terrifying and ancient.
The Onikage. With powers of darkness and shadow, he cut a swathe out of Konoha, eventually happening upon Yugito, pulling her and Kirabi along his journey for, regrettably, revenge, stringing Gaara in as well, but giving him the freedom he was denied in his own home village. Finally, they took to the west, and took in Han and Roshi.
Then, when they were next going... somewhere, Naruto suddenly looked like someone shat in his cereal - B's words, of course - and they showed up at the facility, much too late. After the beast triggered Naruto's latent power by breaking her arm, all hell broke loose; Naruto became a berserker, Armus showed his true power, and the last thing they saw was the island and a bit of the ocean around it explode in a black pillar.
That pillar last for four years before finally fizzling out.
There was no sign of Naruto. Or Armus. With the Shade network still up, under Gaara's supervision, they kept finding echoes around the nations, something just on the edge of the creatures' senses. It was something dark, but... they couldn't tell what kind of dark. Naruto's dark was familiar, powerful but welcoming - to them, anyway - Armus' dark was oppressive and carried the intent to wipe away all life. This dark was... something new. Something in between, yet nothing like either.
It confused them.
Honoka decided to stay with the five of them, hoping she'd run into her family again; her arm healed right up in a matter of months. Kirabi didn't change much on the surface; he spent most of the time writing in his notepad about his stupid rhymes, laughing at his own jokes here and there, but everyone could tell he was just as worried about Naruto as the rest of them. Gaara immersed himself in training in his darkness manipulation, hoping to bury these complex emotions, only to be faced with them when he ran out of ideas to test out; he had never 'missed' someone, was never 'sad' when they were gone, never 'hoped' they would return.
Having finally been given comrades through Naruto, he didn't want to return to that life of loneliness.
Han and Roshi weren't as affected by Naruto's disappearance as the others, since they had only just joined, but Roshi could respect and mourn the loss of someone with great potential, yet his old bones told him Naruto wasn't dead; that he would return.
And very soon.
Yugito... it was heartbreaking to see her. During the first four years, she cried herself to sleep most of the time, other times simply being unable to sleep. Considering their bodies were no longer strictly human, that was the only thing keeping her health from declining; she rarely ate or drank, let alone spoke. When the pillar of darkness dissipated four years ago, everyone saw a window into the woman she used to be: lively, hopeful for Naruto's return, slowly gaining her bubbliness.
But when he didn't return, she fell back into a slump.
Not even Matatabi's consoling words helped her.
*Knock knock knock*
Everyone jumped and spun to face the door to their safehouse, even Yugito.
Their safehouse were absolutely no one knew where it was or that they were there. Honoka set up seals around the perimeter that hid their chakra signatures, and no one without an affinity to darkness could sense them through the seals.
*Knock knock knock*
Everyone made eye contact and gave subtle nods before Gaara slowly approached the door; his Suna no Yoroi would protect him from initial attacks if this was an assassin while the others captured them. Reaching for the doorknob, Gaara looked through the corner of his eye to see everyone prepared to grab whoever was behind the door; seeing this, he gave a final nod and swung the door open.
The five blurs of his compatriots shot through the doorway, grabbed the person in question, and ducked back inside, the door closing silently in case he was a scout sent ahead, Honoka holding a pair of kunai to his throat while the others had a limb sheathed in their respective dark elements very close to his person.
The supposed enemy was a young boy with shoulder length, tousled blonde hair, his alarmed grey eyes poking through the bangs over and around his face. He wore a lavender long-sleeved shirt with a green scarf around his neck, black pants held up by a brown belt, and normal black shoes. "Uh... hello?" He greeted meekly.
"Who are you, how'd you find us, are you with anyone else?!" Yugito demanded, shadow claws held over his chest.
"Um, okay, I can see how this looks. Uh, my name's Menma - well, it's probably not, but I forgot my old name, long story - my friend lead me to you, and he's with me; it's just us." The boy answered, almost laughably calm in his current situation.
"Who is your friend? Did he send you ahead as a scout?" Roshi asked, his tone more tempered and wary.
"Uh, that requires some explanation, which also necessitates my freedom. Can you let me go? I swear to you I am not an enemy; if anything, I'm a messenger." Menma said, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face.
Everyone glared at him but after a subtle nod from Gaara - who subtly used his sand on the boys clothes to gauge his chakra reserves and heart rate, they weren't primed and fervent like a lying enemy - they let him go and stepped back, but made sure to surround him. "Who is your friend, and how did he lead you to us? We haven't interacted with people in the past eight years." Gaara inquired.
Rather than answer, Menma closed his eyes and calmed his breathing before going stock still. Everyone noticed a second pair of hands knit their way between his fingers, and they jumped into stances in case it was a jutsu, only for every fiber of their beings to rise on end when the boy seemed to spin inward upon himself, becoming engulfed in a cloud of darkness that lingered like a smoky aura, changing shape and size entirely moments later.
Then it hit them. The overwhelming power, as if they were dropped into the ocean, filled the safehouse; those who were capable of thought at this moment feared it pierced Honoka's seals due to its strength.
Crimson slits stabbed through the darkness, and an all-too-familiar symbol appeared around 'Menma's' forehead, the finer details of stark-white teeth and horns cementing the wonderful truth.
Naruto had returned.
"...Please contain yourselves." Naruto's familiar voice, distant and airy, shook them from their stupors.
Tears long-thought run dry spilled from Yugito's, and she couldn't contain herself enough to not throw herself at him, ignoring his grunt of surprise and slight pain as she attempted to crush his ribs. "Please... please say this is real. Please don't let this be another dream..." She whispered.
Arms phasing through her grip, Naruto held her close and looked down on her with fond, if guilty, eyes. "It's real, Yugi-chan, I'm here. I'm sorry for making you wait, all of you. How long has it been? Clinging to an amnesiac has its cons, obviously." Naruto asked his friends as he consoled Yugito.
"Eight years." Gaara answered simply, Naruto wincing as if struck. "What happened?" He asked.
"...I lost myself." Naruto answered before looking at a suddenly nervous, fidgeting Honoka. "I don't know why; we had only just met, all I knew was your name and facts in a journal. But the second your arm broke, I stopped being me and became a beast, incapable of thinking, only destroying. I stayed like that for four years; Armus and I fought all that time. That entire time, I was drowning in a sea of blood, the Onikage's blood that I forced to the surface, to give myself the strength to eradicate him. But it wasn't enough. He was an age-old creature of darkness and chakra, while I was basically a child throwing a tantrum, albeit a child with unfathomable power over darkness and, at the time, his own body, but a child nonetheless. I'm pretty sure I was dismembered at least a thousand times over those four years, a thousand times I simply roared through just to attack him. As you can see, that came back to bite me in the ass."He gestured down to his less-than-solid form, a cloud of darkness in the shape of a man, and when they looked closely at his face, they noticed his skin became translucent and they could see his skeleton in patches. "It was only after those four years did I finally break through the haze of my anger; unfortunately, that was also when Armus tired of our physical plane and pulled me into the realm of darkness to continue our fight, if you can call it that." He added.
"The pillar." Gaara's voice interrupted. "Four years ago, the pillar disappeared; that must have been when you were pulled to the other side." He surmised.
"A pillar? I can only theorize that was from one of the many explosions during our battle; what was left when it disappeared?" Naruto asked, obviously ignorant of the goings on of the outside world while he was fighting Armus.
"Ocean." Roshi answered. "The facility, and the island it was on, were gone, as if they were erased from the planet."
"I'll bet that was fun for everyone to deal with." Naruto commented, referring more to the greater Elemental Nations than his little group, who probably didn't care beyond wondering about him and Armus.
"Konoha's Council tried to raise a stink about it, calling it an attack by Kumo, while the Raikage felt it had to do with you and just drank his night away." Gaara informed him.
"Why me?!" Naruto inquired petulantly.
"It was black and an explosion." Gaara answered simply.
If he could, Naruto would blush mildly in embarrassment; during their little dialogue, he had a feeling A thought that about him. "W-well, anyway, once we were in the darkness, our abilities were heightened to new levels, but I was overwhelmed by the power and suffered many blows from Armus, who had taken to play with me. Since I was now on conscious thought instead of instinct, it got... interesting; I had to rely on my wits and ability to dodge his attacks-"
"Y'mean run like a bitch." Kirabi chose that moment to speak.
"...Gaara."
"On it." A limb made of black sand formed behind Gaara and slapped B in the back of his head, nearly dislodging his sunglasses.
"Thank you. Anyway, long story short, I eventually came to the conclusion that I couldn't actually beat him, and I was left with one thing to do: I had to seal him away. Unfortunately, I wasn't proficient enough in fuinjutsu to do it the traditional way, and I didn't exactly have anything to seal him in, so I had to do it the hard way." Naruto said before gently pushing Yugito back and reaching for his nearly imperceptible coat and opening it to reveal what he meant.
In the cloud of darkness that was his form, a scab of soul-crushing black revealed itself to them, a vast majority of his stomach, chest, and even up his face to connect just under his left eye, replaced by what they could surmise as Armus himself, faint roars and heavy breathing reaching their ears as his bladed face-crest grew out of the puddle in Naruto's skin before sinking back in to arise somewhere else.
"...What on earth have you done?" Roshi asked.
"I ate him. I lined a wound he scored on my body with teeth, grabbed him, and sewed him into my body as he continued to attack. I'm fairly sure I blacked out a few times from the pain. While the teeth-needles bound him to my body, the darkness inside my got to work inside; Armus himself gave me the tools to consume him. It was only our present location that allowed me to continue to bind us together; what he tore away, I replenished from the 'air' around us. The will of an avatar of hatred against the determination of a hopeless fool. Obviously, I was only partially successful." Naruto gestured to his smoky form. "My injuries caught up with me, and I am left as something not quite dead yet not truly alive, teetering on the edge once I finally escaped. For some reason, I appeared around Sora no Kuni, where I ran into Menma. When I first ran into him, after he jumped off a cliff, he had amnesia, so I clung to his shadow without his knowledge. Over time, his memories returned, and he remembered he was a member of a gang of bandits, and he sought to atone for his sins; that was when I revealed myself to him. Long story short, he saw bringing me to you lot as a way towards that, helping an injured person and all; he's a good kid. But then we ran into a snag..." Naruto's tone took a dive, almost mournful.
"Why do I get the feeling this is going to get sad?" Yugito asked.
Naruto spread his arms out as a display of his form, not quite solid, not quite there. "I'm dying like this. Too much power in one body, too much life force spent fighting and holding him in and... being this parasite." He sounded tired and full of self-loathing. "Clinging to Menma is only delaying the inevitable; if I don't do something, I am to be lost to the darkness, a part of the natural world. My only hope is... Menma. In bonding with him to be here, I've doomed him; he's tied to me like the Kyuubi before, or rather... I am to him as such. Only I am using his life force to sustain myself. He knows, and gave me consent, but... not like this. This isn't how I wanted to come back, piggybacking off a young boys life. The worst part is, he's okay with it, and I can't think of anything to stop it." He fell back, sitting on the table in the middle of the room.
"Is there anything that can be done?" Gaara asked, understanding that Naruto did not wish to take the life of someone who has barely just started living.
"I have an idea or two..."
End Ch. 4
I'm trying something a bit different here: instead of giving you everything right now, I'll sprinkle it in the future, building the scenario over time. Obviously my forte is fight scenes and a bit of comedy, but I'm trying to branch out.
So, Honoka, a curveball if I've ever read one. Karin's a bit overused but I wanted to have a connection to Naruto that, with an immediate threat, would move him to action. Speaking of, don't think this is the end of Armus' influence on the story; his role of an active, physical threat has transitioned (not disappeared) to a background element that won't be content staying that way, so look forward to that. If you've got an inkling to what I mean, then know I love these type of things.
Now Menma was another curveball; obviously, this is Menma from a Filler (withhold your shudders) Arc, not the Road to ninja movie; for clarities sake, I won't be using that one so when you see "Menma", know that it's Filler Menma and not Edgelord Menma. Obviously (CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THE WORD OF THE DAY IS) I won't kill off Menma since I brought him into the story in the first place; there will be a solution to Naruto's problem, and he'll become a side character with a regular appearance.
That's about it, so as always, tell me what you think.
Ja ne!