A young girl began her climb up near the twisting mountain that was near her village. Few ventured into this location as they believed it to be guarded by a terrible beast with powers that could control Aether which it would use to attack all unsuspecting travelers. When the girl had first come to this mountain path, she thought that the legends were completely false, just tales that adults used to scare children into submission. She was proven correct that there wasn't any beast living on the mountain, there was someone else there that she had come to visit.
The girl pushed her fiery red hair out of her eyes and behind her ear and continued her trudge up the path of the mountain. For a mountain that was highly avoided, the paths looked well worn, as if hundreds walked up and down this trail every day. As the girl made her way up higher on the mountain, the plant life seemed to take a life of its own, trees and bushes, grass and plants would begin twisting around one another to create strange shapes. Some would look like spirals while others looked like a new species of plant altogether. It was quite beautiful in a way. Ahead on the path, the girl noticed the few statues that decorated the path of the mountain. Each statue looked like it was created by a master craftsman. There were some that shared a resemblance with one another which made the girl assume that the statues were a family, others stood out like one of the statues that had a man with the skin on one side of his body showing heavy scarring in a spiraling pattern.
A little farther in the girl's journey and she came up to another statue of a man with what would construed as attractive features. He had hair that covered one of his eyes while one of his arms was missing. Strapped to his back was a straight scabbard with a sword in it. The man had a harsh looking face that was brightened by the slight smirk on his face. Standing next to him was a woman with a bright smile on her face. She had hair that went down to her her shoulders and parted at her forehead to reveal a diamond mark. The woman had her hand entwined with that of the statue next to her, both looked made for one another. Past that and there was a statue of a young woman with eyes that were full of kindness. She had short hair that spiked up at the sides while on each of her cheeks were two whisker marks.
Past them were two statues whose hands were entwined with one anothers. One the girl thought was possibly related to the previous statue as it too had a set of two whisker marks on each cheek along with matching hair. This statue had a massive grin on its face while standing next to the statue with a smile was that of a woman with hair that went down to her shoulders. She wore a pair of glasses and seemed absolutely content. The final statue a few feet past these two was that of a woman. Each detail of the statue had been made with complete loving care. If the girl didn't know it at first, this statue would have seemed almost alive.
The woman had pupil-less eyes that seemed to look right through you while her hands were clasped at her chest. A small smile gave the woman a type of motherly feeling and yet, it felt like the woman was waiting for something that would never arrive. The girl always felt calmed when she saw this statue as she walked past it. She stopped when she noticed a white flower that had been placed at the statue's feet. The girl smiled at this as this meant that her friend had actually come out of his house for once.
After the girl left the statue, she saw a hut that had smoke coming from its chimney. The old man was probably cooking some food up by now which the girl was excited for. Her mother's cooking was good, but the old man's was absolutely superb. When she asked him about how he was so good at cooking, he simply replied that it was experience. When the girl had made it to the door, she opened it up and walked in. She had treated this place as a second home to the village that she and her family were currently residing in. "Hey old man, where are you?" The girl asked excitedly.
While the house seemed small on the outside, it looked a bit bigger on the inside. There were a few extra rooms in the house that the outside betrayed. "In here, Chandra." An old voice full of experience replied. Chandra walked to the left where the voice originated from and found her path being blocked by what seemed like a blade made of scales that had a yellow handle with a skull hilt at the end. It shivered ever once in a while which announced its life to the girl. Anyone else would've turned tail and run from this blade but Chandra smirked before she walked over to the blade and stroked it which caused the blade to shiver in her hands and move out of the way. She was by now quite used to the strange creature and found it to be quite friendly.
Chandra walked into the room and found an old man with short white spiky hair tending over a cauldron filled with stew. He had a orange hooded jacket on that matched his black pants while a pair of black sandals that went a few inches above his ankles covered his feet. "How are you today, Chandra?" The man asked with his back still turned to the girl. Chandra found a chair which she sat down in before she replied.
"Well, the village isn't that fun. My parents are always being so bossy about what I can and can't do." As Chandra said this, she stuck her finger into the air and slowly spun it. From the tip of her finger, a small flame grew to life and sucked greedily at the air provided to it. The old man chuckled at the Chandra's remark.
"Your parents are only trying to do what's best for you. Trust me, being a parent is not easy in the slightest. Now, would you care to get me three bowls, please?" The man asked. Chandra stood up from her seat and walked over to the cabinet against the wall and opened it before pulling out three bowls which she brought over the the old man and set down near him. "Thank you, Chandra." The man said before grabbing one of the bowls and a ladle and dipping it into the cauldron of stew before filling the bowl with the stew. "Could you hand this to Samehada?" The man asked. Chandra nodded and walked over to where the blade had moved and set the bowl down in front of it. Samehada sniffed at the bowl before opening a mouth which was hidden before by the scales and lapping the stew up.
Chandra walked back over to the man and was handed a bowl with a spoon, "Thanks, Naruto." Chandra said and walked back over to the chair she was once sitting in. She began eating the stew immediately, the heat of it never bothering her tongue.
"Your welcome, Chandra." Naruto replied before filling a bowl for himself and walking over to another chair which he sat down it. His face was slightly wet from the smoke of the stew. Naruto had three whisker marks on each of his cheeks, just like the two statues near his home. His face looked quite young for one who was old as there were barely any wrinkles on it. He had a white goatee while his eyes were the strangest of all, one eye was completely gray and rippled with some comma markings on two of the rings of the eyes, the other eye looked normal black except for the red six sided star in the center of it. When Chandra had first asked about his strange eyes, Naruto had just said that they were a gift and left it at that. Naruto began to eat his stew. "And what brought you to my home this time?" Naruto asked.
Chandra stopped eating and looked at Naruto. "I was getting bored down in the village and mom told me to go out and explore. So I came here." Chandra replied. Naruto nodded and grinned at Chandra.
"Of course. So, which story did you wish for me to tell you this time?" Naruto asked. He took a few more slurps of his bowl from his spoon before he set the spoon aside and slurped the rest of the contents of the bowl down quite greedily. After finishing his stew, Naruto set the bowl aside and looked at Chandra.
"Could you continue where you left off last time?" Chandra asked. Naruto nodded before thinking.
"So where were we last time?" He asked.
"It was when the boy and his best friend were fighting at the waterfall together!" Chandra replied with excitement. She really wanted to hear how this part of the story ended. Both the boys had been best friends and yet one decided to go off after power while the other wanted to bring him back. Naruto nodded before closing his eyes in order to remember the story. He opened them and looked at Chandra.
"Now after finally catching up to his best friend after going through the evil sound warriors, the boy found his friend at the Valley of the End. The place where once, two great friends fought one another to the death. Their battle was so great that the river that made up that land was turned into a massive valley due to the destruction that had occurred. The boy found his friend standing on one of the statues and so he shouted at him, 'Why are you doing this?!' to which the boy replied, 'I need more power in order to kill my brother. The village is just holding me back.' His friend replied. The boy couldn't understand why his friend would just abandon all of his friends in order to have his revenge. No matter what he said, the friend would just ignore him as his mind was completely made up. Nothing could change his mind." Naruto face took on a solemn look.
"The friend then activated his curse that he had received from the snake man and began to beat the boy down. None of the skills he had acquired were working to defeat his friend. Eventually in his anger, the boy contacted the demon that was sealed inside of himself and asked it for more power. And power he did receive. He began to beat his friend back as he was just too fast for him to handle." Naruto said which caused Chandra to start cheering for the boy until, "That was when his friend finally activated the next ability of his eyes. They let him see and react to the speed the boy was moving at. This turned the battle around until eventually they found themselves at the top of a cliff where upon the friend pushed both himself and the boy off a cliff together and down to the ground below. The friend used the boy to cushion his fall which broke his back. This led to the boy being pushed out into the water where he was forced to make a choice. Die, or accept the offer of demon for more power, and power he did receive." Naruto said while gesturing with his hands in order to demonstrate this. Chandra looked shocked when she heard this.
"He was then covered in the demon's magic which took on the form of a red energy that had a single tail waving at the end. With this power, the boy easily had his friend beat and he wanted to go further, he wanted to break every bone in his friend's body as that way, his friend would be unable to leave the village. This eventually caused his friend to call upon the curse he had which transformed his body, turning it gray and sickly, while also sprouting two wings from his back which looked like clawed hands. With this, both friends decided to end their fight with one last attack. In the boy's hand: a red orb, his friend's: a ball of lightning. Both clashed with one another..." Chandra looked expectantly at Naruto, she wanted to know the ending of this part of the story. "The boy lost the clash that day, and his friend left behind the headband that signified his allegiance to the village on the unconscious boy. Their bond was too much as it stayed his friend's hand that day." Naruto finished with a grim grin.
"But, he's supposed to be the hero, right?" Chandra asked in confusion. Naruto nodded in reply. "Then why did he lose?" Naruto chuckled at this before standing up from his seat.
"There will be days when you lose your battles. It's on those days that you must learn how to pick yourself back up and continue on even when the course seems lost." Naruto looked out the window of his house to see that the sun was beginning to set. "It looks like it's becoming dark. Monsters begin to prowl at this time of day." Naruto remarked. Chandra huffed in response.
"How about I walk you back home and continue the story?" Naruto asked with a cheeky grin. Chandra nodded in response and Naruto walked into the main hallway and grabbed his black coat that went down to his knees. Chandra followed after him and Naruto turned back to Samehada who was lying on the floor next to the empty bowl. "Watch the house until I get back." Naruto ordered and the sword nodded before curling into a comfortable position. Then the adult and child walked out of the house together and down the mountain, where Naruto began to regale the girl with the tale of the boy training with his master in the wilderness for three years. Eventually the two made it back to the village that was bright with Aether-lit lamps. The people of this village were quite used to the sight of Chandra walking into the village at night with this old man in tow. Eventually the duo made it to the house where Chandra's parents were. They entered it to see the house full of contraptions which Chandra's parents had built and yet, the house showed an air of poverty that Naruto was all too familiar with.
"Mother, father, I'm home!" Chandra announced. "I brought Naruto along with me." She added in.
Chandra's mother, Pia, was the first to come into the room where she smiled at the two. "Hello Chandra, and it's nice to see you too, Naruto." The tanned woman said. She had brown hair that went down below her shoulders. She wore a brown robe and a red shawl around her neck. "Naruto, I wonder if you'll stay over for dinner? You've been such a help with making sure that Chandra stays out of trouble that I wanted to treat you to dinner for once." Naruto was about to politely decline but he felt a tug on his coat and looked down at Chandra who had a pleading look in her eyes. With a sigh, Naruto looked back up at Pia and nodded.
"That sounds wonderful." Naruto replied with a grin. Pia clapped her hands together with a smile.
"Excellent. Kiran, set another plate for our guest!" Pia shouted into another room of the small house.
"Yes dearest. You're in for a real treat, Naruto, I managed to trade one of our inventions for some ham." Kiran said from the kitchen. The three entered to see the man cutting the ham up into even chunks and setting it onto each plate with some carrots. Kiran had a easygoing face, that had a scruffy beard and messy hair with a pair of red lensed goggles. His brown jack had multiple scorch marks signifying work with hot metals.
"That sounds delicious." Naruto replied as he followed after the family in sitting at the table. Naruto had only met the Nalaar family a few times as he rarely wished to leave his mountain. Originally, he had tried to avoid leaving his mountain whenever possible, but then Chandra found his home and managed to worm her way into his heart. She reminded him of when he was younger. It was quite easy to see why they got along with one another so well. Then again, he didn't have much to converse with other than nine others that he had been with for years, and an animate sword that was getting on in it's years. Samehada slept a lot these days as there wasn't anything to really fight. "How have you two been?" Naruto asked
"Good. It has been tough living away from the city but we have made due." Pia replied as she savored the ham as she bit into it.
"You know, I could always help if you needed it." Naruto replied. The two older Nalaar's smiled at this.
"We appreciate the offer, but it just wouldn't feel right." Kiran said.
"Nonsense, your daughter managed to keep me company on my lonelier days." Naruto said as he ate the dinner prepared with gusto. He was always appreciative of good food, and this was quite tasty.
"You already help enough, Naruto. You managed to train our daughter in how to control her gift." Pia said. Naruto rolled his eyes at this and smiled. Sometimes, people were just too prideful or polite to accept free help which Naruto could understand. He nodded in acceptance of this. "All we need right now is to just lay low from the Consuls and survive."
"Fine. Just know that I'm always available if you two ever need help." Naruto ate the last of his carrots as he said this.
"Thank you. Now, on a different subject, what did you do today, Chandra?" Pia asked. Chandra smiled.
"I wandered the woods and eventually went up the mountain to Naruto's home, and then he continued telling me this great story about these two friends who eventually fought against one another, and sadly one friend went off to join this evil snake man and left the other at this giant waterfall." Chandra recounted in her quick way. The older Nalaar's looked at Naruto with matching smiles. Naruto had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.
"It's just an old story." Naruto replied. As he did so, he began to fiddle with a necklace on his neck that looked like a worn down bolt.
"So, Naruto, have you ever had children? Because it would explain how you are so good at dealing with Chandra." Kiran asked. Naruto's smile left his eyes as he remembered his family.
"I used to. A boy and a girl." Naruto replied. This caught Chandra's attention as she had never heard Naruto speak about his family before besides the mentioning of his wife, once or twice.
"Where are they now?" Pia asked a an even tone as she noticed the change of mood within Naruto that her husband hadn't.
"They've been dead for many years now." Naruto replied.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Pia said. The Nalaar's all gained a somber mood from learning this information.
"Don't worry about it. It's been many years since they have been gone. I managed to deal with it and I moved on." Naruto replied. Understanding swept through the family as they decided to end the topic there and not chase after it. After several more minutes of discussion, their food had been finished and Naruto stood up from his seat. "I'll see you tomorrow, Chandra. We can continue the story then." The red-haired girl nodded with a smiled at this. "Thank you for the dinner." Naruto said before walking out of the house. As he did so, he noticed the villagers that were still outside at this time of night were giving him strange looks. Some even went inside their houses as he passed by them. It was also something that he was used to over the years. People were afraid of that which they didn't understand, and he was one of those things. Well, he was one of the things that these villagers could not possibly understand. He had seen beings that were much more terrifying with thought processes that were completely alien from what any normal rational being could comprehend.
Staying in this tiny plane was probably the longest time he had spent from his usual wanderings of the multiverse. It was probably due to him forming one of the first real connections with another being in years. He would probably leave this plane if Chandra ever died which to him, would be blink of an eye. The multiverse passed him by in such a rush that he felt disconnected from everything these days. If it wasn't for the few connections he sometimes made, then everything would've turned to dust by the time he took a moment to care.
As he walked through the woods, he saw multiple large monsters of this plane pass by him. Creatures of the wilds took care to respect him, probably due to their innate connection to the world, that and their connection to green mana. When Naruto first entered the multiverse, he was thrown through a loop when he realized that chakra was mana at its purest form that was being produced by the residents of his plane. He hadn't found any other being out there that could produce mana from their body without first drawing it from the land and then channeling it through their body. His home was just unique in that way, along with being related to a creature that had originated from the Blind Eternities, a realm between the planes that was both infinite, and dangerous.
After reaching the end of the forest, Naruto made it to the path of the small mountain and began to climb it. He looked at each of the statues on the way up which he began creating in an effort to never forget the faces of his loved ones. Each statue was hand carved and yet, he still had many more statues to make as he still was not finished with it yet. Finally he made it to the statue of his wife. It had been so many years since she had died and yet, Naruto still felt the pain from when it first happened. He put his hand on the statue's cheek in a loving way, the flesh of the stone feeling cold and heartless, before turning away from the statue and walking to his house.
Chandra woke up with a grin as today would be another day that Naruto would continue telling the story of the two friends. She rushed to put her clothes on and almost missed her breakfast if her mother hadn't stopped her from leaving beforehand. "Where do you think that you're going, young lady?" Pia asked. Chandra turned around quickly while backing away to the door of the house.
"I'm going to meet up with Naruto." Chandra replied. Pia crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.
"Eat your breakfast first, and then you may go." Pia replied. Chandra looked at the table and saw the eggs that had been set on a plate. With a groan, Chandra ran over to the table and began to quickly eat her breakfast in an effort to leave the house oh-so-quicker. Eventually after finishing the eggs, Chandra began to run out the door. "Take care, Chandra! Be careful!" Pia shouted after her. Chandra just waved back and continued running to the forest. While in the forest, she didn't notice anything odd until she heard screams coming from her village. Chandra put her heels in the ground and stopped at this and turned before she began trekking through the forest and back to her the village. What she found when she exited the foliage of the forest were the familiar uniforms of people who Chandra would've been fine to never see again, Consul soldiers. All of them were led by the tall and confident form of the Captain Baral. A man who had chased her all throughout the city of Ghirapur.
Chandra noticed how all of the soldiers surrounded the small village while herding the people around into their homes. Above the village were the mechanical forms of Thopters which moved about from the sky, searching most likely for her. "No, how could they have found us!?" Chandra asked aloud with fear filling her eyes. She ran out of the woods while Baral gave out orders and shouted, "Hey, leave them alone! It's me that you want, then come and get me!" She taunted to the soldiers.
The soldiers looked at one another and spoke, "It's the Nalaar girl." In hushed tones which announce their fear to Chandra.
"Leave all of these people alone! They have done nothing to you!" Chandra shouted at them. Small candle sized flames spouted up around her body at random intervals in response to the growing rage within her.
"You will surrender, and we shall take you and execute you." Baral said in a bored tone. "You and your kind are a danger to us all, and that danger must be extinguished."
"I'm not dangerous. I have complete control of my abilities." Chandra replied.
"It matters not what you think, girl. What matters is that your existence is a very danger to the world, that is why these villagers gave you up." Chandra looked at the man in disbelief. How could these people that had let them into their lives, just give them up to die?
"That's a lie! I've never done anything to hurt these villager!"
"Not until today." Baral smirked at this before turning to one of his soldiers, "Do it." As he said this, the soldiers then began to use there Aether powered lanterns to set fire to the thatch roofs of the houses in the village. Chandra shouted at this and fire burst up around her. She aimed her hands at the soldiers and was about to launch fire at them when a small copper orb landed ahead of her. She was about to question this when she heard her father shout from behind her.
"Chandra, run!" He ordered from one of the buildings. Chandra let the flames that were consuming her extinguish before heeding her father's advice and running after him. She tried to keep track of him through the flaming wreckage when she tripped over some cloth. When she looked down, she saw the crumpled remains of her mother's red shawl which she always wore. Chandra picked up the piece of clothes and gripped it tightly. It could only mean one thing, her mother had been killed.
"No! Mother!" Chandra shouted.
Naruto sat on a chair that he brought out to the porch of his house. He enjoyed sitting outside and listening to the sounds of nature in its purest form. Laying down next to him was Samehada who was snoring. Naruto remembered when he first was given the blade by Killer B. Sadly the man was dying after getting Gyuki extracted from his body and then fighting with Naruto in a final battle. Samehada had accepted Naruto as his new master after that and both had been together ever since. Something was off about today, though. Chandra hadn't yet arrived.
Everyday, Chandra always came by around this time unless her parents needed her for something. Now Naruto knew that her parents rarely ever needed the girl to hang around with them, but still...Naruto decided to sense the area around him for the younger girl's energy. What he found angered him, the life signatures of the villagers were disappearing one by one. All of them were getting killed while Chandra was in the center of it all. What truly broke the camel's back was when he sensed Kiran get killed right in front of Chandra. "Samehada, time to work." Naruto said while holding his hand out. The sword shook itself awake and stuck it's handle into Naruto's hand. In a blink of an eye, the two teleported away from the house which left behind a pile of leaves.
When he reappeared he stood in front of a tall man with a face full of satisfaction that quickly disappeared with the appearance of Naruto standing in front of him. He swung his dagger at Naruto who brought Samehada up to block the strike. Naruto looked behind himself to see Chandra clutching her father who had now died. Slowly, Naruto turned his head to the man in front of him. "What did you do..." Naruto asked in a calm voice that betrayed none of his anger yet his eyes were completely cold, the warmth that had once filled them had disappeared and in their place, a being older than what Baral could possibly comprehend.
"We are here to apprehend the pyromancer next to you as well as eliminate all of those who have been hiding her." Baral replied. Samehada began growling while it's scales began shivering. This caused the dagger that the Consul was wielding to break in half which caused some fear to enter the man.
"You scared of Samehada?" Naruto asked as he kicked the Consul to the ground. "You should be. Samehada shaves off flesh, it doesn't cut." As Naruto said this, he sliced the Consul's legs off in one fell swing which caused the man to scream in pain. The soldiers in the area approached when they heard the noise and began surrounding the area. "All of you, leave now, or your lives are forfeit." Naruto calmly said as he swung Samehada over his shoulder. The soldiers took no heed of his advice which made Naruto sigh, "Kids these days." With one hand, he made seal which caused the area surrounding both him and the soldiers to be covered in smoke. When the smoke disappeared, the surrounding area was filled by clones of Naruto. Each wielded a copy of a growling Samehada. "Disappear." Naruto said.
As he said this, the soldiers were annihilated by the army of Naruto's that had appeared from thin air which just as quickly disappeared. Flying high in the air, the thopters tried leaving the area but Naruto glared at each of them. As he did so, blood began to flow out from his eyes and each thopter was consumed by black flames which crashed the thopters into the now lifeless village except for him and Chandra. Naruto turned around to the girl and set Samehada down before kneeling next to Chandra and he dead father. If there was something he could do, it would be to help the young girl who had become his friend.
"Chandra, stand back." Naruto commanded. Chandra's tear filled eyes looked up at Naruto with an unvoiced question of why? Naruto gave the girl a reassuring smile before putting his hand on her shoulder, "I'm going to help your father, now please stand back." Chandra sniffed before backing away from her father's body. Naruto stood up and took a deep breath before making a seal with his hands. "Outer Path: Samsara of the Heavenly Life Technique!" Naruto shouted. Erupting from the ground right next to him, a massive head of a statue towered next to the two while Chandra watched on in awe.
Naruto wished that he could bring everyone here back to life but he needed a whole body that wasn't that damaged in order to do so. Sadly, the villagers here had been burned to a crisp which meant that his ability would do absolutely nothing for them. Kiran though, he could save. The statue head next to him opened it's mouth and from within, a green light emerged from the statue and quickly entered into Kiran's body. A moment later and the former corpse began coughing which made Naruto smile. He then opened his eyes and looked around.
"What happened?" Kiran asked as he began checking his chest. He was sure that he had died. He looked over to Naruto and the statue next to him before looking around for Chandra. He eventually found his daughter looking at him with a shocked expression. "Chandra, are you alright?" The man asked as he lifted himself into a sitting position. What Naruto and Kiran did not expect to happen was for Chandra to blur and flicker out of existence. "Chandra!" Kiran shouted. Naruto just looked at the spot that Chandra had once been in shock.
"She's a planeswalker." Naruto said as the new information slowly dawned over him.
Well, I hoped that all of you enjoyed this. This has been burning through my head for a while and I just wanted to get it out. See you all next time. Stay frosty my friends.