Those Who Defy Fate
Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto, Negima, nor any affiliate characters or worlds.
AN: hey all, well another fic another chapter of my life. Well this one is a Naruto, Mahou Sensei Negima crossover. Now while I have seen several of these on the site, there were very few that actually impressed me. One of them was recommended to me by my editor the fic is called "Kitsune on Campus" and is exceptionally well written I enjoy it thoroughly and can't wait for the author to update so I can see what happens next. Another one that I found and enjoyed, while it may not be as epically well written as "Kitsune on campus it's still worth a read, was called "Naruto Chaos Mage". Again it's an awesome fic and again I can't wait for it to update. But anyways this is my crossover fic, now like always I have no freaking clue how this is going to turn out, but I'm going to give it a shot. Now I will admit that certain elements in this fic were inspired by some other fic's that I've read and as such there may be certain similarities. But I can assure you that this fic is all me, but if you find that I'm straying too close to other fics than let me know and I'll revise it so that is no longer the case. Anyways I've prattled on long enough for now, so without further ado, ON WITH THE FIC!
Chapter 1. A Different Sort Of Darkness
Naruto couldn't breath; his air supply was being effectively cut off and by a long assed freaking tongue of all things.
He struggled and squirmed trying to break the grip on his throat, but to no avail.
He glared in unadulterated fury at the one holding him, the one now known as Orochimaru and despite the fact that his tongue was holding someone airborne, he managed to let out a chuckle at the situation.
"Kukuku well that surely was an impressive display Naruto, perhaps there is some use for you yet. But first to take care of that irritating tenant of yours."
Orochimaru drew back his right hand and positioned it in front of Naruto's abdomen.
As he held it there a single purple flame surrounding a black kanji appeared on each of his finger tips.
With a slight grunt of effort Orochimaru slammed his finger into Naruto's gut, right over the seal and cried out.
"GOGYO FUIN!"
Naruto's world erupted into a white haze of pure agony as the fox's chakra was pulled from his body back into the seal.
Without the fox's efforts towards healing Naruto, fatigue quickly set in leaving him weak and vulnerable.
Orochimaru chuckled as Naruto's breathing became labored and heavy, it was obvious that he would no longer pose a threat to the rogue Sannin.
'Now to mark him, if the boy survives this then the mark will hold the seal in place until I choose this boy as my host. With the boy's reserves, stamina, and the potential for learning his father's techniques, added to the fox's power he may prove to be the ultimate host. Just you wait Naruto-kun soon you will be mine but not until I have Sasuke-kun's Sharingan, without it all will be for naught.'
With that thought coursing through the twisted mind of the serpent loving rogue ninja he quickly released Naruto and let him collapse onto the tree branch.
Orochimaru's hands quickly formed a twisted Ram hand sign and he felt the muscles in his neck shift.
With unerring accuracy and lethal intent, Orochimaru's neck stretched to inhuman lengths as he lashed out and bit into Naruto's neck just above the collar bone.
Naruto screamed in agony as his chakra coils felt like someone had just lit them on fire, either that or had filled them with acid.
In either case he was in a whole new world of pain.
Orochimaru pulled back and felt a grin unlike any other creep onto his face, the boy's potential was astounding, he had been expecting a mark of earth at least, a mark of heaven at best but this was so much better.
On Naruto's neck was a curse mark unlike any other, it was simply a dot inside a diamond surrounded by a circle.
While simplistic in design its power was unmatched.
There on Naruto's neck was the one mark Orochimaru had never actually witnessed before, the mark of Origin.
Orochimaru's mouth watered at the possibilities this represented, and with the glee of a child given a new toy he struck out again.
This time it was Sasuke's neck he bit and again he had to grin at the result.
Sasuke had been given the mark of heaven, while nowhere near the potential of the mark of Origin; it was still one of the most powerful marks he could bestow and also one of the darkest.
The mark of heaven was a deceptive name, it drew on all the negative emotions within the bearer and magnified them to there absolute highest potential.
Now while this had its advantages, without a stable mind to balance it out, the user usually became like the originator of all the curse marks.
A killing machine whose only purpose was the bloodshed of any and all in their line of sight, whether they be friend or foe.
As he thought about that he realized that this could prove problematic if Sasuke were to succumb completely to the mark's influence but he wasn't all that worried.
Now Naruto, on the other hand, was also worrisome, as he had no idea of the effects of the mark of origin, as Naruto was the first to ever obtain it.
This twist bore careful consideration and observation, and with that in mind he melded with the tree behind him and vanished from view so as to watch from afar.
Inside Naruto's mind.
(AN: not his mindscape that comes later.)
Naruto drifted through a white realm of nothingness, and could only think one thing as he did so.
'Am I Dead?'
However, while he thought this to be the case, the answer that came still caused him to freak out.
"No young Naruto you are not dead, not yet at any rate. Now find my voice and come to me, there is much that you must know."
The thought of disobeying the voice and wandering around some more flickered across Naruto's thoughts, but, as usual, his curiosity got the better of him and he did as the voice said.
What he found when he got there; however, was not what he was expecting.
Naruto saw before him six spectral figures, all wearing different styles of clothing and they all appeared to be waiting for him.
The first one he saw was a tall man with reddish hair and glasses.
He wore black Chinese pants and a matching black Chinese vest, over which he wore a white hooded cloak.
In his right hand he held a large wooden staff, the head of which vaguely reminded him of a lighting bolt.
The man also had a unique ring, on the middle finger of his right hand, which appeared to have some writing on it.
The writing said, Rastil Mastel Magister.
The woman to his left was slightly shorter than him and had short purple hair; she had a kind smile and reminded him of Hinata.
She wore a pair of pants identical to the ones the man was wearing, only in white instead of black; she also wore a hooded white jacket. Under her arm she was holding a book of some kind.
It was then he noticed the pin on her collar. It was a white wing with the words Ala Alba stamped into it. She was holding hands with the man who, Naruto just noticed, also wore an identical pin on his collar.
He also noticed that they both wore a gold ring on the ring finger of there left hand indicating that they were married.
On the mans right stood another woman, this one gave of a sisterly kind of vibe towards the man. She had long red hair which was tied into a pair of pig tails by a pair of bells on each side of her head.
She wore, what appeared to be, an armored dress.
There was a heavy metal breastplate which extended down past her hips almost to her knees.
She also wore armored gauntlets and greaves; under the armor she wore a billowing full length black skirt. It was the weapon she was holding that really drew his gaze, however not before he noticed that she wore an identical white pin to the others.
The weapon she was holding was slightly taller than she was; it was a massive single edged sword that was almost as long as she was tall.
The edge of the blade extended down past her hand in a sort of half hand guard.
It also had a triangular hole at the pommel which appeared to be used for attaching a banner of some kind to the sword.
Etched into the blade near the tip were the words Ministra Magi Asuna, but like the other two phrases he had no clue what it meant.
To the left of the purple haired woman stood a girl who looked about the same age as him, maybe younger, however she gave off a vibe that truly chilled him to the core.
It was as if she were sizing him up to be a meal.
He also got a feeling of immense knowledge experience and power off her, as if she was far far older and wiser than she looked.
The shadow behind her didn't help matters any either, it appeared to be hers however it looked like a much older and far more… adult version of her.
Like the other three she too wore a white pin, but unlike the other's he didn't get the feeling of family flowing between them, more like barely restrained tolerance.
It was the two to the right of the warrior girl that really drew his eye.
The woman had long red hair and kind sea green eyes.
She wore, what appeared to be, a modified Anbu uniform, which consisted of a blue on piece jumpsuit and an armored Konoha flak jacket.
She wore the typical blue sandals that most citizens wore along with a Hitae-ite on a blue cloth.
She also seemed to wear another on her waist as a belt and while the one on her head bore the standard leaf insignia, this one had six lines pointing inwards at an angle forming a spiral of some kind.
Across her back was a katana instead of the typical Anbu Ninjato.
But it was the warm fuzzy feeling he got from looking at her that seemed to trigger something, this woman was family.
When his gaze shifted to the smiling man next to her however the warm fuzzy feeling vanished and was replaced by rage.
He leapt at the man and slugged him across the face yelling.
"BASTARD!"
He was about to continue pounding the mans skull in but was restrained by the others.
"Whoa there kid take it easy, don't you know who that man is?"
Naruto's head spun towards the red haired man.
"Yeah I know who he is; he's the man who made my life a waking nightmare. It's because of this asshole that I can't walk down the street without being glared at by the entire populace of my village. It's because of him that I can only get moldy or past due food. It's because of him that I can't even shower in warm water in the morning. And you know why? Because that bastard had to go and seal that BLOODY GODDAMNED FOX IN MY GUT, SO YES I KNOW WHO HE IS AND YES I HATE HIS GUTS!"
The man in question's face drooped after every statement about Naruto's treatment at the hands of the village right before he kneeled in front of Naruto saying.
"And you have every right to feel that way."
Naruto's rage left him like air from a popped balloon.
"At least tell me why, why did you pick me?"
The man sighed and answered.
"Because, how could I ask someone to give up there own child to the seal, when I wasn't willing to same with my own?"
Naruto's world dropped out from underneath him.
"No, no fucking way, there is no fucking goddamned way that you're my father."
The red haired woman hugged him from behind.
"I'm afraid so Naruto, that idiotic lug head there is your dad, and my husband."
Naruto stiffened, before spinning around and latching on to the woman and clinging for dear life, all the while sobbing his eyes out.
The blonde man watched sadly as his son cried his heart out into his mother's chest.
Naruto turned around and looked at the man before reaching out in a silent invitation.
The man smiled and accepted the invite to join the hug, and for a time the family just sat the hugging each other and just bathing in each other's presence.
At least until they were so rudely interrupted.
"Oh god I think I'm going to be sick."
"Oh shut up Eva, let them have their moment, can't you at least give them that?"
"Hello, vampiric evil mage here. I'm the apostle of darkness, death and chaos, what do you think?"
"Oh dear god she hasn't changed a bit."
"No, in fact I believe she's gotten even bitterer since we saw her last."
Naruto chose that moment to ask a rather obvious question.
"Um, not to be rude or anything, but, uh, I can understand my parent's being here, but who are you guy's?"
The red haired man smacked himself in the face.
"Oi ve is mere, of course you wouldn't know. Hell even your dad wouldn't know. Oh boy where to even begin explaining?"
The red haired girl smacked him up the backside of the head.
"How the hell could you forget something that obvious Negi, Geez no matter how old you get you still act like a ten year old sometimes."
"Sorry Asuna-chan, but come on, admit it, even you forgot that they wouldn't know us."
"You would think marrying Nodoka would have straightened you out. Apparently I was wrong; the only thing that resulted from that marriage was her gaining more confidence and the both of you becoming more perverted."
A vein twitched on the forehead of the woman now identified as Nodoka.
She gripped the book under arm tightly before she swung and whacked Asuna in the head.
"Oh so now I'm perverted am I? At least I got married, you, on the other hand, are still mooning after Takahata aren't you?"
Asuna gripped her head and groaned in pain.
"Geez library when the hell did you get such a mean swing?"
This resulted in another book to the head.
"I believe I've asked you to stop calling me that on multiple occasions. As for the swing, that was a result of training with my husband."
The three Namikaze's just sat there in awe at the display.
Naruto turned to the short blond girl and asked.
"Are they always like this?"
The girl just shrugged and replied.
"Pretty much although Nodoka's gotten stronger since last time either that or Asuna's gotten weaker since then."
Naruto nodded in understanding, this actually reminded him of his days at the academy, and it was actually rather amusing to watch.
"Ahem, we seem to have diverged from our intended topic. Now as to your question of who we are, allow me to start. I am Negi Springfield, Magister Mage, apprentice to Evangeline A.K. McDowell, and the second Dark Evangel."
The red headed warrior woman started next.
"My name is Asuna Kagurazaka, Ministra Magi to Negi, second apprentice To Evangeline A.K. McDowell, and I am also known the princess of the Twilight. Although that last part is something I wish wasn't true."
The Purple haired woman started next.
"My name is Nodoka Miyazaki Springfield, Ministra Magi to Negi and his wife."
And finally the short blond one started her intro.
"I am Evangeline A.K. McDowell, the Doll master, The Gospel of Darkness, the first Dark Evangel and also the Undying Magi. I am also the master of those two idiots there."
She indicated Negi and Asuna as she said the final part of her intro.
The blonde haired man stood up and dusted himself off.
"Well I think it's only fair that we return the favor. I am Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha and am also known as the Yellow Flash. I am also the husband of Kushina Uzumaki and the Father of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."
Naruto's mom stayed where she did, clearly not want to release her son from the hug.
"My name is Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze, the Crimson Death and the Red Hot Habanera of Konoha. I am also the wife of Minato Namikaze and the mother of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."
She hesitated momentarily but continued.
"I am also the previous host of the nine tailed demon fox the Kyuubi No Yoko."
Naruto's head whipped up to look at her face, he saw sadness there and felt sad in return. But he turned and was about to begin his introduction when he was stopped by the others.
"Don't worry Naruto we all know who you are. After all you're the reason we're all here, that and the fact that you are dieing."
Naruto exploded at this.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M DIEING YOU SAID I WASN"T!"
Negi cleaned out his ear at the noise.
"Whoa there Naruto, I said you weren't dead I never said you weren't dieing."
Naruto almost collapsed in on himself.
"How, how is this even possible, I was fine a while ago how am I dieing?"
Eva spoke up next.
"I'll answer that; it's because of the seal's that were placed on you recently. The five pronged elemental seal or Gogyo Fuin that was used on your gut has blocked the Kyuubi from influencing you. Without its influence you were weakened which, in turn, allowed Orochimaru the chance to mark you with his curse mark. Unfortunately for you this is a very bad thing to have happen, the curse mark is reinforcing the seal on your stomach preventing you from touching the Kyuubi's chakra. As a result you are unable to heal fast enough to counter act the effects of either mark. Now while the five pronged seal is formidable it would only have rendered you unconscious and messed with your chakra control until released, but the curse mark is another story. It has a very high death rate on bearers, for each subsequent mark there is a certain percent chance that you will die during the adaptation process, and an equally high chance that the mark will destroy your mind making you a brainless berserker. You were given the strongest mark there is, and as such it caries with it a 90 percent chance of you dieing, add to it the effects of the seal on you gut and your odds of surviving are point five percent. Add onto that how weakened you were and you get a 100 percent fatality rating. In short your fucked kid."
Naruto was floored, he was going to die?
"Hold up Evangeline, there is a way out of this and you know it."
Negi was the one who spoke, but his statement made even Eva go white.
"Are you out of what's left of your mind? You know damn well the consequences of that; FATE has decreed that it was his time to die today. You of all people know what happens to those who defy fate."
Negi grinned at her statement.
"Are you saying that you're scared Eva-chan? I thought you were afraid of nothing and no one?"
Eva huffed in indignation.
"You know I'm not, however this is a god we are talking about"
Negi scowled but nodded.
"A god who has turned the whole of human destiny into their plaything. The only reason that fate wants him dead is because of his potential and you know it. He has the power to defy fate and write his own destiny, something he was already starting to do."
Kushina spoke next.
"Wait, he isn't bound by a set fate? I thought all humans had a predetermined destiny from birth?"
Nodoka shook her head.
"Not everyone, in fact almost every shinobi in the world has the power to rewrite their destiny as they see fit."
Asuna shook her head.
"No not all of them, only a few from each village, primarily those of your home village of Konoha."
Negi nodded and continued.
"Naruto began rewriting his own destiny that day in wave during the bridge battle. When he saved Haku from dieing and convinced Zabuza to become Wave's protector. They were both supposed to die that day, Haku from Kakashi's Raikiri and Zabuza from numerous spears and swords in his back. But Naruto changed that, he altered their destiny and erased their fate. Now, like him, they exist outside of fate and are unencumbered by a pre-set destiny, their path is their own."
Naruto puzzled out this; he had known that something was off that day on the bridge. There was a sense of incompleteness there, as if they had left something undone. Now he knew what it was, Haku and Zabuza were supposed to die, and yet Naruto had prevented that, he had altered their fate.
"So what is this alternative you mentioned before, how can I prevent my own death?"
Negi rubbed the back of his had and let out a breath.
"Well it won't be easy, in essence we have to destroy the five pronged seal and the curse mark, and then we have to remove the Kyuubi. At which point we replace it with something else. The real problem is the curse mark, your coils have already adapted to it so we have to place something else on you in its place. Therein lies the problem I have no idea what we can use to replace it."
Eva smirked at that.
"I do, we use the Magia Erebea to replace the curse mark."
The other three members of the group all yelled in unison.
"WHAT?"
Eva cringed at the volume. Negi stalked up to her and picked her up by the front of her dress and hauled her to eye level.
"Are you out of you fucking mind? You know full well what that does to a person and you want to place it on him?"
Eva glared back at Negi.
"Yes I do, and you know damn well why, the curse mark he has is almost identical in power to the initial transformation of the technique, and we need something of equal power to counter act the withdrawal symptoms. Besides, he is your descendant after all, just awaken his bloodline."
Naruto and Minato's jaws hit the floor.
"WHAT? WE HAVE A BLOODLINE?"
Nodoka nodded in response.
"Yes indeed you do, it is the counter-spell that Negi came up with to counter act the side effects of the technique. It creates a perfect balance of light and dark in order to prevent the person using the technique from becoming a demon. It's called Magia Ligera, Negi created it to act as counter spell against Magia Erebea. Whereas Magia Erebea feeds on negative and dark emotions, Magia Ligera feeds on positive emotions. It works in the exact same way as its counter part; by using the two of them together you can achieve a level of power far greater than you could with either technique on its own."
Eva smacked her face at this.
"You created a technique as a counter-balance to an already balanced technique? Good great god's you're an idiot."
Negi shook his head at this.
"No actually that's not quite accurate. What the technique is, is the polar opposite of Magia Erebea, it's not a counter balance but a counter technique. It was created to be the light to Magia Erebea's darkness, but it is no less potent. Because it is based off the concept of Magia Erebea, which is dark magic, it demands a price for its use and like its counter it demands the price up front. The side effects are simply light based instead of darkness based."
Evangeline simply scoffed at this.
"So you took the concept for my techniques and created your own, only with a light base instead of a dark base."
Negi shrugged at this.
"That's putting it a little simply but in essence yes that's what I did. The difference is, whereas Magia Erebea makes you accept that the world is a dark and cruel place, and that it won't hesitate to consume you if you're not careful. But Magia Ligera takes it a step further, it makes you see the exact same thing, but it also makes you see that even within the purest darkness of this world, there is always a trace of light and hope that refuses to be snuffed out. And it is that enduring light that is the source of this technique."
Naruto just stood there.
"Yeah, this is all well and good but. How does all this pertain to me?"
Eva and Negi swing their gaze towards Naruto. They had, in fact, forgotten that he was even there.
"Ah sorry, what it means is that you have a choice. Light and Dark are not meant to mix in nature, so you need to choose which path to follow, will you accept the darkness into yourself and risk the price of becoming a demon? Or will you embrace that spark of light that we all carry and nurture it until it blazes with your inner purity?"
Naruto knew which path he would choose. Darkness might be easier and faster but the price, in his mind, was far too high.
"I choose light, darkness demands too high a price, and if I am to defy the god of fate than I'll need myself whole and complete."
Eva scoffed at Naruto's sentimentality while Negi, Asuna, Nodoka, Kushina, and Minato all grin and nod at Naruto's choice.
"Then so be it Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the choice is made."
Naruto felt something inside him uncoil, and he felt power, unlike anything he had ever felt before, well up inside him.
And then his vision went dark and he faded from the white plains. Negi spoke up next.
"Well we have a lot to do and very little time, let's get to work."
Everyone nodded and set about completing their various tasks.
Minato went to work on the seal and set about creating a hole through which the Kyuubi could be extracted.
Kushina took a meditative pose and focused her chakra into visible chains harpoons and waited to drag the Kyuubi from Naruto.
Asuna stood at the ready incase anything went wrong.
Nodoka and Negi set about creating the circle of power through which the Magia Ligera would be imbued upon Naruto.
And Evangeline set about summoning a being of equal power to the Kyuubi who was willing to take its place within Naruto.
What she got surprised the hell out of her.
It was a massive white dragon with four enormous wings. It had golden eyes and black highlights across its entire body.
"Well, You are not who I was expecting. Why are you here, surely not to help us?"
The dragon let out a low rumbling chuckle.
"On the contrary young vampire, while you are correct in my not being here to help you, I am, in fact, here to help the child known as Naruto."
Eva nodded in understanding, The dragons were not fans of the path that fate had chosen for the human race and as such they were constantly rebelling against it.
"Well then, let us begin the switch."
Back in the real world
Naruto groaned as he came back to consciousness, all around him he could he sounds of fighting.
But he shrugged it off and tried to slip back in unconsciousness.
He almost succeeded until a massive burst of dark energy snapped him to his senses.
He swung his head to the right and watched as Sasuke, who was now covered in black flame like markings, beat the crap out of the sound team from earlier.
He watched as Sasuke, with immense enjoyment, snapped the neck of the bandage wrapped ninja with the weird gauntlet, and ripped the arm off of the other.
He then used the severed limb to smack the female Sound ninja into a tree with immense force.
All the while he was laughing, in total glee, as he committed these atrocious acts of pure carnage.
When the sound ninja, who was now missing an arm, was unconscious Sasuke turned his attention towards Sakura.
With a Kunai in his hand and blood dripping off his arms, Sasuke stalked towards her.
Sakura scurried backwards in terror, this was not the Sasuke she had fallen in love with.
This was a heartless and mindless killer, and he was about to kill her.
Just as Sasuke was about to swing the kunai in a killing blow he froze.
The clearing was suddenly filled with an immense and choking power.
Sasuke and Sakura swung their gaze towards the source of this awesome power and were shocked, for like the umpteenth time today, at who was creating such a feeling.
Naruto staggered to his feet, he could feel the anger welling up inside of him, and he could feel the rage at the atrocities committed.
As the Righteous fury built to a head he felt something inside him seem to click into place.
With a roar he threw his head backwards and was engulfed in a massive pillar of golden white light.
Surrounding the pillar were two separate spirals of energy, one was a dark bluish purple and the other a deep red.
Slowly seven separate circles of arcane symbols appeared around the pillar of light, until a final eighth circle appeared on the ground.
Finally, as suddenly as the pillar appeared it contracted until in encased Naruto in a vaguely humanoid shaped cocoon.
The powerful feeling in the air seemed to reach a peak and the cocoon began to crack and than shatter in a blaze of light.
When everyone could see again they were shocked by the sight.
Naruto stood before them, but he had changed in those few moments.
His skin was jet black with white highlights outlining various features. His hair was, likewise, jet black however it was now hanging past his waste and had a slightly more feral appearance to it, it was also outline in white revealing its spikiness.
His coat, shirt and shoes were gone leaving him naked from the waste up, this proved to be a good thing as it revealed the arcane markings that now covered a good portion of his body.
The markings started at the backs of his hand and extended upwards covering the entirety of both his arms, they then extended down across his back before spreading off into the air behind him, and they formed a pair of golden white wings behind him giving him the appearance of a dark angel.
His face had no discernable features present except the vague outline of his nose.
Then his eyes opened causing everyone to gasp at the sight.
His eyes had changed quite a bit, the whites had now assumed the same golden white as the markings on his body, the colored parts had become the same bluish purple as the energy from before, and finally the pupils, the pupils of his eyes were slitted like a cats and were the same dark crimson of the second helix of energy that had surrounded him momentarily.
He shifted his gaze to Sasuke, and the young avenger trembled under the glare that was leveled at him.
"Just what do you think you are doing Sasuke? Surely you weren't actually thinking of killing your own teammate were you?"
Although his voice boomed out and filled the clearing, Naruto's mouth didn't move an inch.
Sasuke smirked and charged at Naruto fully intending to slaughter this new foe in front on him.
He was forced to stop however when Naruto vanished from sight and reappeared in front of Sasuke holding his right arm in a vice like grip.
Sasuke's grin slipped into maniacal glee as he began a spin to launch a back hand at Naruto's head, this was stopped however when a loud and sickening crack filled the air.
Sasuke looked at the arm Naruto was holding and saw that it had been bent sideways breaking his forearm.
The young Uchiha let out an anguished scream as the pain from the break washed over his deranged mind effectively breaking the hold of the mark and causing it to recede back into its triple tomoe state on the avenger's neck and also causing the young Uchiha to pass out.
"It seems that you still have much to learn Sasuke, and that the mark you bear needs to be sealed."
Of in the shadows of a nearby tree Orochimaru was in shock.
After he had witnessed Sasuke's awakening and rampage upon his Sound Gennin he had to fight back his disappointment at the sight.
Sasuke had succumbed completely to the mark rendering him as nothing more than a berserker.
This was good and bad, good in that it would make the possession process that much easier as the mind would be destroyed, and bad because it would mean that the Uchiha would never achieve his full potential.
And then there was the near god-like transformation of Naruto, he had initially thought it was the curse mark awakening, until he felt a flash of burning pain that signified the soul shard in the mark being burnt away and destroyed.
This wasn't Orochimaru's mark, what truly shocked him was the spectral figure that had manifested behind Naruto for a split second.
It had been a massive four winged dragon who easily dwarfed both Manda and the Kyuubi in sheer size.
He also noticed that the seal upon the boys gut had all but vanished; it was replaced by a different spiral mark surrounded by the usual eight pronged divination seal from before.
The spiral in the middle of the seal was now a dragon, its head was positioned at the center of the spiral while the tail wrapped around it forming the spiral itself, the tail however was nearly identical in design as the spiral markings on the back of each of Naruto's hands.
Just what in the Shinigami's name was going on?
Back in the clearing Naruto had yet to revert back to normal his reasoning made it clear why.
"The reason I did that Sakura was because Sasuke wasn't in his right mind even you must have seen that, or was that look of sheer terror earlier a façade?"
Sakura was confused, first Sasuke goes nuts, then Naruto beats him down effortlessly with a show of even greater power, and than Naruto stops calling her Sakura-chan.
It was as if all of her efforts in the academy to make Naruto her obedient puppet had suddenly and completely unraveled.
Her efforts had, of course, been at her mother's insistence claiming that Naruto was a menace who needed to be either controlled or destroyed.
So like the obedient brainless fan girl she was, she obeyed her mother and sought to either ruin Naruto's chances of ever becoming a ninja, or turning him into an obedient puppet willing to die on command for her.
This however was not the culmination of either scenario, but was in fact the culmination of the exact opposite of what she was trying to do.
"Oh please, you're just trying to make everyone think that you're better than Sasuke-kun. What could a no-name orphan like you possibly know?"
Naruto just stood there and shook.
To Sakura it looked like he was crying, to Team ten, who had emerged shortly after the battle having witnessed the whole thing, it looked like he was shaking in barely restrained anger.
On the inside, as she heard the things Sakura was saying, Ino was begging Sakura to shut up before something bad happened.
Everyone was proven wrong however when Naruto threw his head back and let loose a booming laugh.
"HAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ah Sakura if only you knew just how wrong you were about that."
Sakura and the others were shocked; this was not the reaction they were expecting.
"WH-what do you mean Naruto-baka?"
"I meant that I am not some no name orphan. But you'll have to wait like everyone else to discover just what I mean by that."
"Baka Tell me or you're in for a world of hurt."
Naruto eye's snapped towards her.
"Watch yourself Haruno; do not for one second believe that I'm the same person that you beat on before. And yes I know that you did so under orders from your mother." The others gasped in shock at this. "The days of me being an obedient punching bag for you are over. Touch me again outside of a sparring match, and I'll make what I did to Sasuke seem pleasant in comparison to what I'll do to you. Is that in any way Unclear?"
The entire time he had been talking his voice had been low and coated in glacial ice.
His eyes flashed dangerously promising that he would follow through with his threat, unfortunately Sakura while very book smart wasn't the brightest bulb in the box when it came to boundaries.
"Hah like you could do anything to me."
With that said she made the idiot move of trying to hit Naruto in the like she normally did, only to have Naruto grab her fist and crush it in his own before vanishing and reappearing behind her and silencing her with a swift chop to the neck.
"Sigh, By Kami she's an idiot. I did warn her didn't I? Oh and sorry that you guy's had to witness that, but she's had this coming for a long time."
Team ten only nodded dumbly in response but they were all thinking the same two things.
'Geez what a stupid bitch/Sakura you idiot' and "When the hell did Naruto get that strong? / When the hell did Naruto become that awesome?' (AN: Three guess as to who said the last comment both times, and the first two don't count.)
Naruto looked down at his two unconscious teammates in exasperation before walking over to the, now, unconscious and still one armed sound nin and pulled out the scroll.
It was an earth scroll, exactly what they needed.
Naruto turned to team ten and asked.
"Were you an earth or a heaven?"
Shikamaru spoke up, as he was the only one not paralyzed by fear or, in Ino's case, lust.
"Um, earth why do you ask?"
"Because we were heaven and we have an extra scroll. You can have it if you don't already have one."
"Uh, thanks and no we don't have one yet."
"Perfect, just let me signal the Anbu to come clean this up and then we can all head to the tower and get the rest of the exam over with."
Naruto held one hand above his head and glanced at the skies above him and with a grunt of effort forced part of the black, gold and white aura surrounding him to gather above his outstretched palm.
With a resounding 'Whoomph' the sphere launched skywards and erupted in a blaze of golden white light.
High in the sky was a blazing golden Anbu tattoo with an arrow underneath indicating the area that Naruto and the other's were in.
"There I think that… should…"
Naruto staggered and Ino dashed to grab him.
"Whoa, heh okay remind me not to do that again any time soon."
Ino just sighed as she pulled his arm over her shoulder.
"Sigh, why must all men be such show off's. Look Naruto you may have this awesome new power at your disposal but you clearly aren't used to it. So be careful okay?"
"Heh, careful Ino, you almost stopped sounding like a Sasuke fan girl there for a moment."
Ino blushed and slapped him in the stomach.
"Maybe it's because I found someone better and more mentally stable, than him, to chase after."
"Heh, I feel sorry for that guy. Fan girls are scary enough, but I can only imagine how frightening it is to be the one that they're hunting."
Shikamaru took Naruto's other arm and pulled it over his shoulder.
"You really are dense aren't you Naruto? She's talking about you, you troublesome idiot."
Under the black layer of energy, currently encompassing the majority of Naruto's form, Naruto paled and glanced at Ino finally noticing the almost predatory gleam of barely restrained lust that appeared in her eye's every time she looked at him.
He only sighed in resignation.
"Sigh, alright Ino I'll take back my fan girl comment from earlier. However only if you agree to my one, single, condition. That, you never lead one of those mobs after me, which you and sakura always lead after Sasuke. Do we have a deal?"
Ino nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
Naruto sighed, he wasn't sure how, but he had suddenly, and against all logic, gained a fan girl.
Little did he know that Ino was merely the first of many more still to come.
Some of whom were already after him, even if, not even they knew it yet.
End Chapter 1.