Hybrid Ch.2 Brutality
By: Ferail
Author's notes: I only played the beginning of the game so I don't really know much about it if you see any flaws point them out.
Disclaimer: If you had the same idea at some point in time, or even part of the idea, just assume it's yours and that I'm not claiming credit for it. Now we can all move on with our lives.
Everybody thank my BETA shadowassasin for the prompt return of this chapter, say hi shadow… Guess he's feeling shy, anyway I forgot to mention him last chapter, but he does wonderful work right folks.
Note: Holy fucking hell!!!!! People seem to be responding better to this fic than I thought they would, wow. This story already has more hits favs, alerts, and reviews than my first one and it's been up for about six months…..damn that's sad.
"Hello, Bing Bing delivery service" talking
"Duck, flapjack, firehouse, swimming pool, dill pickle, I like tacos, mackerel" thinking
"hallo Billy Rae innut here right nuw may I be taking a massage for him" writing
"I'D LIKE THREE LARGE PEPERONNI PIZZAS PLEASE" demon speaking
"I ATE YOUR SHORTS" DEMON THINKING
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"All who does not fear me will perish, and all who come near me will burn. I will slay and I will down the pills of hatred you throw at me. No one will see me as I come."
Review reply: I have been pming people back for their reviews but since your anonymous ill do it here
Narutodevilfan: finally someone noticed the soul edge reference, I'm probably not going to do that often but it just sort of happened. I was just typing and it just felt right. That and I just think soul edge is pure awesomeness. I might put in some other references but not too many.
Maelstrom: nice idea, but I don't think it would work with the way I see his bowers working, I see it more as he becomes that person, he is them, he knows all they know, he has all their memories and can even turn into them, why bother talking to them when you are them? And I've already got an idea for a Naruto multiple personality fic.
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Kakashi approached the writhing mass of tendrils that had engulfed his most troublesome student completely ignoring Sakura's fearful mutterings about "tentacle demons" and "purity". This being had sounded like him, but was it, had the Kyuubi taken over? Was this some kind of undiscovered bloodline that had made itself known in the kyuubi Jinchuruki?
Inside the coffin of inky black and red tendrils the being that had been Naruto Uzumaki could feel the changes throughout his DNA, absorbing advantages and breaking down the newly absorbed bodies into their components and storing the biomass. The memories assaulted him, but only one set? What happened, he'd absorbed two bodies here. He hadn't gotten any memories from the two ronin from earlier, but he and Mercer hadn't really thought much about it, but now they were seeing a severe disadvantage in the ninja world, they couldn't seem to absorb memories from the dead. He had Zabuza's memories of seeing Haku perform the techniques, but he had had no idea how the abilities worked. After all a master doesn't need to know how his tool works, only that it does. Great, he had an awesome ability and no idea of how to use it.
Mercer was switching between amusement at the young infected's predicament, worried about how the young man he had tried to consume would explain the startling new abilities he had gained, and amazed at the strange sights and abilities this new breed of humans had created. Commanding the elements themselves to do your bidding, calling forth creatures from other realms, rendering the senses useless with their powerful illusions. Within the memories of this Zabuza character alone there were hints of massively powerful techniques that could possibly even destroy the last of the infected, or at the very least use up a massive amount of his stored biomass.
The quivering tendrils that had encased the boy during his absorption slithered and writhed seemingly fading back into flesh and cloth, revealing the figure who had rescued Kakashi. The scarred Jonin had to admit, this figure looked quite a bit like his student underneath his hood, but he was taller, at least four inches. The clothed he wore seemed to be non shinobi issue, they looked more like civilian retail clothes than anything a trained killer would wear (maybe an untrained one, like yakuza or vigilante), though the eyes on his clothes were rather disturbing, seeming to follow his movements like a hungry predator watching a rather juicy morsel. And the disturbing transformations that left his pink haired student petrified with fear.
Through his still active sharingan the one eyed scarecrow examined him, looking for the telltale shimmer of genjutsu and henge around the true figure. But they weren't there, there was no doubt, this was his student, or at least his body. The hooded snapped its vibrant blue eyes off to the side gazing into the thinning mist with a bestial snarl forming on his lips.
Turning to the side Kakashi noticed the small mouse like figure (he couldn't be more than 4'3") limping towards them. His gray hair slightly thinning in the front going back into drooping spikes. His face was scrunched and rat like, emphasized by the whisker like mustache he affected, his beady little eyes hidden behind small oval glasses. The Small man wore a faded gray business suit over his slight paunch and a gold handled cane assisted his slow gait. Gato, the parasite sucking the life out of the once prospering Wave country.
"Well, well. Seems the Demon of the mist failed after all, thanks brat you saved me the trouble of doing it myself" said the rat like business man said with confidence. Out of the mist drifted hundreds of ragtag mercenaries, dressed in castoffs and scavenged armor. Their weapons crude and handmade, slight bits of rust flaking off as they walked, and the jingling of metal indicated hidden surprises on their persons. Their broken and yellowed teeth revealed as they leered at the injured ninja before them distorting their scared and ugly faces further.
The Businessman sneered at the bloodstains on the bridge before turning back to the tired nin. "I'm sorry, but I can't just let you live now, its bad business to leave loose ends." Turning to the mercenaries that had come with him, "Kill them, take the girl if you must, but kill the rest, then we're going into town. These worms think they can defy me, we need to teach them a lesson." The sneering parasite turned his back and swaggered to the back of his mercenary swarm, to watch the carnage from a safe distance, after all it simply wouldn't do to get blood on his new suit.
Turning to his teacher the being that was Naruto made a shooing motion, "Sensei, we'll talk later, you Sakura and Tazuna need to get out of here." Turning back to the grinning horde, "Check the area where the girl and Sasuke fought first, he may have been a bastard, but at least he deserves a proper burial, then get to Tazuna's house and look after everyone, I'll meet you there."
The silver haired jonin was still reeling from the implications of the words burial and Sasuke. Had he let down another person who had depended on him? Still slightly numb he didn't even question his loudest student, rushing towards the two shocked noncombatants he grabbed their client and slung him over his shoulder ignoring the old drunk's squawk of protest and Sakura's questioning eyes he covered his donated eye to conserve energy. Making his way over to his dark haired student's former battle ground he found the boy peppered with tiny slivers of metal, that nearly broke him. At the sight of her crush's motionless form the pink haired kunoichi broke down into hysterical sobbing fits, screaming about "Sasuke, no you can't be dead you're the rookie of the year." And similar inanities.
Her cries seemed to amuse the crowd of mercenary scum, they laughed long and hard, nearly drowning out the most wonderful sound Kakashi had ever heard. Breathing. The long shuddering gasps that had escaped his formerly motionless student catapulted him into action once more, he silenced his hysterical kunoichi with a single sentence, "Sakura he's not dead," she immediately turned her attention back to the 'corpse', "but he does need medical attention, I need you to carry him." She nodded resolutely before turning back to the motionless figure standing between them and the filthy mass of humanity.
"But sensei, that's Naruto out there right, we can't just leave him here he'll be slaughtered" she said, voicing the protests he would normally have formed immediately before he had seen the one sided slaughter between his most unpredictable gennin and the demon of the mist.
"Sakura, he'll be fine, but Sasuke needs help now," was the young jonin's quick reply, 'I hope' turning his back on his blond student went against every fiber of his being, but he hoped his new abilities would carry him through for now, at least until he could stop the bleeding and leave the weaker members of their party somewhere safe. Nodding at her sensei the quartet set off into the forest leaving the frightening new being that had once been the kyuubi container against the disgusting tide of humanity that had taken up service under Gato's banner.
The blond shape shifter (1) turned fully back to the wall of rusty steel and unwashed flesh. "Aww isn't that just too sad. His little buddies abandoned him here with us." Said the lead most figure, a towering giant easily two meters of muscle and scar tissue. His sword while slightly better than his comrades was still chipped and showing the first signs of rust. His eyes held glee and bloodlust in equal amounts, "don't worry chickadee we'll make this quick, HAHAHEHEHEH-cgluck" his attempt at intimidation was cut short by a razor bladed disk (2) imbedding itself in his throat. The triple bladed instrument of death was twisted and metallic looking at the base, but the blades seemed to be made of large sharpened bones shaped into parodies of a predators teeth. Each blade was more than six inches long, all together the large pinwheel of death was nearly a foot and a half across.
As if pulled by some unseen force the enormous shuriken look alike spun and pulled itself free of the muscle and tissue that had formerly been a neck, showering the lower minions in blood and gore as it curved back to land in the hands of the oddly dressed shinobi, or at least it should have been a hand. The three thick stubby fingers more resembled some Halloween prank gone wrong than anything else. The arm bulged with restrained power, stretching the skin tighter than the skin on a drum. The warped and twister flesh had several spines of bone protruding from the shoulder and forearm curving back and forth in cruel imitations of teeth. The metal spines at odd intervals and protruding from the elbow seemed to add an even crueler edge to the demonic appendage. Looking closer one could see the studding around the knuckles and palm that could have been metal.
The transformed shinobi flicked the massive glaive to clean it of the blood staining its blade before the multitude of tendrils erupted from his deformed arm reabsorbing the biomass from the newest weapon in the mutant's ever growing arsenal. The shape shifting shinobi smiled a devils grin as he dashed forward, leaving a crater in his former position. The grin didn't falter as the tendrils exploded into action morphing his arms into the cruel claws he remembered from Mercer's memories.
The foot long swords like 'fingers' cleanly decapitated the first two mercenaries in fountains of blood. Ignoring the spear that had found its way into his gut he swung around turning the unfortunate thug's internal organs into external organs all over the bridge. Ignoring the cries of pain from his first victim and the shocked exclamations of the front ranks of Gato's little army, he continued the smooth motion shifting the moving arm into its heavy hammer fist form pulverizing the unfortunate mercenary on his left. He felt several bladed instruments stabbing into his back as he shifted his left arm this time, the cruelly hooked claws morphing together in a mass of tendrils forming the 'normal' unenhanced blade arm. Swinging the sharp instrument of death down he cleanly sliced one of the mercenaries in half while steeping forward and thrusting the blunt hammer fist through another mercs chest coating the men behind him in a fine spray of intestines and bone fragments.
'This is too slow, they're like cockroaches. I don't have time for this." Reaching for the haft of the spear that was still lodged in his stomach he ripped it free uncaring of the damage he had just inflicted on himself as the hole in his gut sealed itself in a writhing mass of tendrils that left in their place unmarked cloth. Switching his hammer fist into the tangled mass of brambles that was the hallmark of the whip fist the hooded gennin swung forward capturing another mercenary and using his body to intercept the various thrown knives and spears. "but I don't have any area effect jutsu, the spine thrust could probably do more damage to the bridge than these guys, and Kage-Bunshin aren't durable enough' Shifting the demonic blade into the monstrous arm and glaive combo he had created, he leapt into the air easily clearing fifteen feet before letting the little windmill of destruction loose severing limbs and leaving debilitating gashes everywhere it passed. Swinging the vine like whip fist towards a relatively untouched patch of thugs he dragged himself over slamming the stubby fingers of the glaive arm through the skull of one of the unlucky horde. "Still not good enough" he thought as he caught the spinning glaive before imbedding it into the skull of the thug next to him.
The oppressive smell of blood, steel, and fecal matter became worse with every unnecessary breath filling his nonexistent lungs, as his whip like appendage wrapped around another poor souls neck he stopped breathing all together. The screams of his victims rang in his head as he spun around the glaive screaming as it sliced through the air towards another unlucky mercenary striking him in mid step. The former jinchuruki spared only a moment to retrieve the piece of himself with the whip fist before burying the spike of his nightmarish arm in the bowels of a former soldier who had tried to sneak up on him. In a show of brutality he ripped the spine up through the dying mans shoulder before burying the glaive in his jugular, silencing his screams permanently.
Suddenly struck by inspiration the monstrous gennin dismissed the grotesque glaive arm and concentrated on the slight claws of his whip fist. He could use the ability he had absorbed from the Kyuubi. While most of its abilities wouldn't mesh with his physiology and would require a full transformation there were a few that he could make use of in 'human' form. The bijuu's ability to mutate its own DNA to allow for the fusion of beneficial mutations, such as when it used multiple elements at the same time or created another one. While he couldn't do anything with the elements in his current form until he had done a few more trial runs, he could combine already existing mutations to form something new, something he could use right now.
He could feel the talons of the whip fist fusing together, forming a massive ball of flesh, steel, and bone…the hammer fist on the end of a whip fist… a morning star. He swung his new instrument of death forward, pulverizing a man who was attempting to shove his rusty pike into his skull (fat lotta good that would have done) as well as the five men behind him before they even had time for more than a strangled gasp. The Newly infected gennin grinned once more, enlarging the heavy end of the flail he twisted around bringing the newest tool of destruction down in a classic overhand strike crushing half a dozen under its colossal weight and momentum.
"It still needs something" almost instantly he got an idea, grinning mercilessly he swung the cumbersome weapon to the side forcing more biomass down the stretchy whip like arm to the mace like appendage. Instantly spines began to form at uneven intervals, cruelly hooked and barbed, they tore through a dozen of Gato's men as they formed before the former jinchuruki leapt upward once more calling the deadly morning star back to himself.
Swinging the newly created mutation once more he smashed it into the dense patch of scared mercenaries immediately below him pulverizing a dozen under its great weight and eviscerating half a dozen more with its twisted mockery of a flails spines. Forcing chakra down his arm into the demented hammer fist he forced the spine out of his 'flesh' in an explosive shower of black blood and tendrils as they quickly began forming new spikes. The former ones had manages to lodge themselves in the bodies of the three a dozen mercenaries who hadn't fled or died.
One spine had gone cleanly through one man to imbed itself in another's eye socket. Here three men had managed to survive the initial attack only to find they were incapable of moving, their spinal cords severed as they slowly bled out screaming out for help, but their cries were ignored by their brethren who had already fled or were dying themselves. The only one completely unmarked was the quivering business man huddled near the edge of the bridge, eyes alight with terror. This was no shinobi; this was a leashed demon, more so than Zabuza had ever been. What kind of monsters was this that he had caught the attention of?
Hoping to avoid the creature's notice he slowly made his way towards the edge of the bridge, jumping from such a height would probably break bones, but it was better than staying here with that thing. Keeping his eyes on it as the enormous flail burst into those horrible writhing tentacles once more before settling into the human like appearance it had before the creature began its massacre. His heart leapt into his throat as he saw the eyes of the demon on the back of the creatures shirt shift their crimson orbs onto him. The demonic face's mouth split open revealing tusk like teeth and three pitch black forked tongues waggling furiously in the beast's maw.
The terrified mobster could only watch in horror as the creatures entire form was covered it those demonic black and red tendrils completely covering its form. Less than a second later the mass of tentacles receded back into the creature's body revealing its new form. "ZABUZA, BUT YOUR DEAD?!?!?!?!!?!??" screamed the corrupt business man as the form of his former employee advanced on him, tendrils erupting from his back, twisting and binding to each other until a gleaming blade of unmarred steel was in their place. The familiar slab of metal honed to a razor's edge with a slight curve near the tip, Kubiki hocho, the head chopper cleaver, Zabuza's signature weapon.
The menacing figure hefted the unadorned zanbato high in the air; "Goodbye scum" came the guttural voice of the mist demon as the giant blade descended on the cowering wannabe mob boss.
"You really are a demon" Gato whispered before the unwieldy horse slayer crushed his skull and split his body in twain. It seemed rather fitting to use the ex-mist shinobi's form to kill his traitorous employer, vengeance was sweet. (3) Turning back to the scene of carnage on the rest of the bridge the being that had been Uzumaki shifted back to his new 'default form,' examining the mauled bodies of the bandits gone mercenary the newly minted gennin shifted several large tentacles from his back, he had to clean up a bit at least, after all 'make a mess clean it up' was always his motto around the house and it just seemed rude to leave trash all over someone else's nice things.
The flailing tentacles stabbed into the disgusting splatters that had once been people, the mostly whole one's he left alone(4) after all he needed some sort of evidence a battle had taken place here, but the splattered forms of his newest weapon's victim's would most likely draw some odd questions. He couldn't do anything about the craters but they looked like a couple of explosive seals had been detonated on the spot and he could work with that, but the crushed bodies didn't look like anything any gennin should be capable of. He could feel himself approaching some sort of internal limit as he absorbed the last puddle of ooze that had once been a person, he knew from Mercer's memories that was his maximum biomass levels, he could still absorb more, but that was the most he could absorb without altering his shape to accommodate the excess mass.
Finished with his gruesome cleanup for now, the currently blonde shape shifter headed towards the forest, he needed to think. The newly created killing machine meandered in the general direction of Tazuna's home, taking a longer route whenever possible, trying to puzzle out what he could say to his teacher. He knew he could lie convincingly due to various people within the web of intrigue as well as his most recent acquisitions, what jonin couldn't lie convincingly especially one who relied on stealth and guile like Zabuza.(5)
But what lie to tell, should he use the Kyuubi angle?, an undiscovered bloodline?, a new technique he had just finished?, the truth?.... the sentient virus giggled a little to himself at the last one, the truth was the one least likely to be believed and most likely to get him in serious trouble, well other than the Kyuubi excuse. By the time he had made it back to Tazuna's rather well kept home he had a basic idea of what he thought would work, he figured he could wing the rest 'hey its worked out rather well for me so far.' He thought, ignoring Mercer's strangled cry of 'dumb luck' he pushed open the front door as the sun began to set behind him.
There was never any doubt in his mind that Kakashi had senses him as soon as he entered the property so he wasn't surprised when the perverted jonin grabbed him by the shoulder the minute he walked through the door. "I just need to talk to Naruto for a minute okay guys," he tossed over his shoulder at his exhausted and injured gennin. Hearing their grunts of affirmation the one eyed-sensei steered his student back outside towards the clearing where they had learned about tree walking earlier that week.
"Okay Uzumaki, what the hell is going on, back at the bridge, that killer intent and those odd transformations. Zabuza was right no known ninja technique or bloodline does anything like that, spill." There was as slight hint of concern throughout the copy-nin's speech, he needed to know what was going on with his currently most enigmatic student, how long had he been hiding this ability?, and if he could hide something like this what else could he be hiding? Fixing his uncovered eye onto the nervous looking gennin the legendary shinobi made himself comfortable on a large protruding root.
"I haven't been able to do that for too long," he said truthfully completely ignoring the grunt of disbelief from his teacher, "only about a week, I noticed a little bit during the fight with Zabuza." Now he was lying and lying hard, his sensei had leaned forward slightly scrutinizing his posture searching for deception or any hint that this wasn't his student, with a slightly stunned look on his face. "You know Zabuza's killer intent? How strong it was?" seeing his teachers nod he continued "As soon as I felt that I could feel my body reacting without me wanting it too, telling me to run away or to destroy the threat immediately, I could actually feel my nails turning into metallic claws, my body felt lighter and I felt my arms becoming more dense stretching the skin, my legs felt stronger faster, I felt like I could run forever."
Taking his sensei's silence as a signal to continue, "it was the first time I'd ever felt killer intent like that, I think it woke something up, an advanced fight of flight reflex or something. I didn't know what was going on," time to play up the scarred little kid routine, "everybody calls me a demon as it is, I thought this was proof at first." He said his voice becoming slightly softer, near the end he was mumbling. His one-eyed teacher's face softened a little, he had read the reports on the kid's life when he had gotten him for a gennin, and it wasn't a very pretty picture. "So I hid it as best I could throughout the fight and after Zabuza was 'killed' I felt the transformations going away."
"Then when we were tree walking," he said waving his arms at the multitude of scars adorning his and Sasuke's trees, "I felt that feeling again only this time it was just that incredible feeling in my legs when I channeled chakra to my feet, like I could run forever. That's actually why I fell down the first time, it was a major shock." Turning to his stunned sensei he smiled widely, "that's actually why I stayed later than everyone else; I was experimenting with it seeing how much control I had over the transformations I had noticed."
Here his fingers elongated about an inch or so taking on a slightly metallic sheen, turning to an un-marred tree the most surprising konoha nin ran his talons lightly over the tree leaving inch long gouges in the bark. "I freaked out at first, but I gained control and learned a little bit about it," turning back to his sensei with his clawed hand presented he forced the shift to the full razor hands mode, the hand smoothly transitioning without the dark tendrils overwhelming his flesh, forming the corrupted flesh that was the black-light virus's hallmark. The scarecrow jonin's eye widened fractionally as the disfigured skin and bone was revealed.
Quickly shifting to the sword form the sun kissed virus watched the awe and disgust warring on his teachers face as the tendrils burst forth remaking the cruel talons into the equally wicked blade that Mercer AKA Zeus had been known for. "The tentacles only happen when I change quickly or transform it all the way into this." He said presenting his new arm to his perverted sensei. "I found that the forms I can take are only limited by what I can come up with." He said shifting his arm into the glaive tosser he had made earlier, then to the studded hammer fist, and finally to the tangled mass of vein like tendrils that made up the whip fist. "I don't really know what it is, but I don't think it's the ," he glances around shifting his eyes to the glowing orange that signifies his heat vision was active, "you know what" he said evasively deactivating his luminescent eyes.
His sensei had a thoughtful look on his face, or at least he thought it was a thoughtful look he couldn't really tell with so much of his face covered. He really thought he ought to be up for an Oscar(6) for that performance "I'd like to thank the academy" he thought dryly, keeping up his smiling expectant mask and hoping the legendary nin had bought it. "But what about your eyes and those tentacles? What are they and what happened to Zabuza's and the girl's bodies? And you were cut in half, I had the sharingan activated at the time, that was no bunshin, that was you, how did you survive?"
He allowed himself a momentary internal sigh of relief, he seemed to believe him so far, but he'd hoped his sensei wouldn't ask about the tentacles at least, he didn't really have a good excuse for those. "Oh yeah," the blonde said as he forced the shit eating grin he had adopted wider, "the eye thing, I almost forgot about them. They feel so natural and it's so easy to activate them I kind of forgot." He said completely truthful for probably the second time in the entire conversation.
"I don't really know what they do, when they're on its strange. I can't see details and all the colors change… I think it sees heat." Seeing the quizzical expression on his sensei's face he tried to elaborate, "hot things like people show up red, orange and yellows, with the hottest parts glowing the brightest. Cold things are blues, greens, and purples, and they get duller as they get colder. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of light I'm in or if anything like smoke, mist, or really thin walls I can see." The grin on his face wasn't faked this time; it really was a cool ability to have.
"I don't really know what the tentacles are." He forced don his exuberance as he replaced it with a puzzled frown, "it was the first time I've done anything like that." Okay slip in the slight bits of truth among the lies, even if it was a half truth, this body never had done something like that, "All I was thinking about was that I wanted them to disappear and those things that some out when I change too fast just started attacking him, no idea what was going on or what happened to their bodies." He might tell the old man about his full abilities, but for now he just didn't know enough about Kakashi to risk it, he might be a heavy team player, but he was also an unknown for the most part. And unknowns can be dangerous.
"The cutting in half thing… I don't really know myself." Seeing his sensei's disbelieving look he knew he wouldn't accept an answer like that, "I've always healed faster than everyone else, but I've never been hurt THAT bad before you know." He shrugged his shoulders evasively. "I always thought it was just something special about me, and after Mizuki told me about…you know what" he forced his features to droop almost imperceptibly. "I thought IT was behind my healing, but now I don't think so, I think it might have been whatever ability it is that allows me to 'change' pulls my pieces back together or something. Could be…you know what just not wanting me to die or something." He plastered a slightly lost look on his face as he looked up at his sensei expectantly, inside he was screaming 'PLEASE BUY IT, PLEASE BUY IT, PLEASE BUY IT.'
"You and me are having a talk with the Hokage when we get back, and you may have to take some leave," said his jonnin before losing his impassive features and 'eye smiling' at his student once again, "after all, you can't leave a newly discovered bloodline loose without at least some study and supervision."
'No need to stress him out without proof." He thought to himself, 'and a bloodline is easier to explain and accept than a jinchurruki whose seal is weakening. We're going to need someone to take a look at the seal, or if Jiraiya isn't in town we may have to have a Yamanaka go in and investigate.' Pushing his thoughts aside he motioned for the wildest of his gennin to follow him. "let's go tell your teammates, I'll even let you rub it in Sasuke's face for a little while that he's no longer the only natural bloodline user on the team." He said tauntingly, after all a little healthy rivalry among teammates never hurt anyone, what was the worst that could happen. (7)
Naruto grinned, not the psychotic grin of a demon from the bridge, but his old happy go lucky smile. Not only did he get one of the most experienced shinobi in the leaf to at least partially believe his collection of half truths and outright lies, but he also got to rub his most annoying teammates face in his newly activated 'bloodline' abilities, SWEET. It would be even better if he hadn't seen the obnoxious boy's red eyes on the bridge earlier in the day, but you can't have everything you want (look at him and Sakura (8) for the past two and a half years.)(9)
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Oh, this was absolutely fantastic!!! Sasuke had briefly activated the copy wheel eye on the bridge, but he had no idea how he had done it. Naruto didn't think for an instant the rookie of the year wouldn't figure it out by the time they got back to Konoha or he was feeling better (whichever came first, Kakashi wanted them gone as soon as the bridge was finished), but for the moment he was the only member of the team who could use the advanced un-copy able skills a bloodline gave its user. (10) It was nice to have on up on the bastard.
As soon as Kakashi and him had stepped through the door they had been greeted by the fan girlish squeals of delight and the slight tinge of disappointment as Sakura screamed out "You really activated it" quickly followed by "I'm sure you'll figure it out Sasuke-kun." The two current team powerhouses looked at each other, one giggling slightly at the prospect of being better than his smug teammate for once, while the other just sighed as he pulled out his newest volume of Icha Icha. It was going to be a long day.
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Naruto snickered slightly at the glare his brooding teammate was shooting him as they began their trek back towards their home village. After a quick discussion with his teammates that had included both of them shouting about "No way that loser has a bloodline" and exclamations of disbelief when he has shifted the hand he hadn't been eating with into one of his most intimidating forms (at least in his opinion). Seeing their teammates arm suddenly become the wicked looking sword from his battle with Haku, its bloodshot eye staring at them with undisguised hunger left them and the civilians at the table slightly green, while leaving his other arm free to grab another spoonful of what looked like mashed potatoes. (11)
He had given an abridged and edited version of his battle on the bridge, which no one had believed until they had arrived the next morning to see the various scavengers feasting on the multitude of corpses that had been left out after Naruto left the day before. The blonde shape shifter almost felt bad as his pinkette teammate rushed to the edge of the bridge and purged her stomach of everything she'd eaten in the last three days, "Huh, didn't see any carrots at the table last night?" said Kakashi unsympathetically, death was part of a shinobi's life and even if it rarely took place on such a scale she should take the moment to get used to it, "at least Sasuke is holding up okay…"
"GLAUGHT" came the unmistakable sound of someone tossing their biscuits at the other end of the bridge from Sakura, "Dammit." He thought turning to see his most celebrated student hunched over the railing trying to pretend like he hadn't just vomited.
"Even Itachi wasn't this brutal, what happened to the dobe, and how can I learn how to do it." The brooding avenger thought to himself, looking around at the destruction, dismembered bodies soaking in their own fluids as various birds and wild animals gorged themselves on the remains. "Itachi killed with efficiency, one stroke one kill, never anything this massive, and most of his kills were quick and painless, these were all put down quickly and brutally. Most of these look like they survived the initial attack only to die of blood loss or complications." Turning his eyes onto the upper torso of one of the corpses who looks like he had expired while trying to crawl away, only succeeding in spreading his internal organs all over the place behind him.
Naruto had volunteered to help clean up his 'little' mess with the help of Kage bunshin, but he was shot down and hurried off the bridge after his clones had started just hurling bodies over the sides of the bridge for "nature to take care of" as the young Uzumaki put it. The young infected had whined incessantly as Kakashi dragged him into the training clearing and told him to practice tree walking and improving himself in the various shinobi arts until the sun went down, busy work basically to keep him out of trouble. "Seriously, why waste limited space on an island by burying people or setting up a funeral pyre for scum like that when there is a perfectly good ocean right there full of things willing to dispose of them for you?" he grumbled a she began trying to figure out new combinations and transformations he could use while pacing up and down one of the unmarred trees.
All in all about two weeks had passed before they could return to the hidden leaf, Tazuna had been mumbling about names as they left saying something about "Slaughter bridge 'll just drive people off," as they hefted their packs and leapt towards the forest. Sasuke still hadn't activated his eyes, which was why he was currently glaring at the class dead last. He had taken it as a personal affront that Naruto had unlocked and attained proficiency a powerful and unknown 'bloodline' before he , the mighty Uchiha, had even truly unlocked and begun acclimating to his new eyes.
Sakura was still fawning over the Uchiha and giving her blue eyed teammate a wide berth, she did not want to end up on the bad side of the unbalanced and quite likely outright disturbed boy. She might have lacked basic shinobi skills that most people had before their second year in the academy ended, but she did have enough common sense not to needlessly antagonize someone who had already proven they could slaughter several dozen people and not feel bad about it later.
That last bit had slightly concerned Kakashi, not once had his gang member lookalike shown any signs of remorse or guilt for his actions as was normal for a new gennin who had gotten his first kill. It was just odd. He was definitely having him checked out at the psychological wing of the hokage memorial hospital the minute they got back, whether the Hokage thought his suspicions unfounded or not there was no way that it was normal for a twelve year old to be unaffected by such bloodshed.
As they stepped through the gates to their home village he had dismissed his two slightly less abnormal students, saying something about reporting to the Hokage about a previously unknown bloodline making itself known in a member of their village. He had grabbed the hooded blonde by his shoulder and flashed away in the familiar swirling leaves of the shushin before he could protest. The two shinobi had appeared in the reception area of the Hokage's office and proceeded to rush into the Hokage's office completely ignoring the secretary's screeches of "you need an appointment." Pssh, since when did a military unit with important intelligence need an appointment to see their commanding officer.
Seeing the slightly disgruntled gang member wannabe that bore a striking resemblance to his adopted grandson, except for the height and the clothes, standing next to his successor/ predecessor's ("now that was just a dick move on Minato's part" he whispered to himself) final living student immediately carrying their travel packs set off all kinds of warning bells in his mind. Turning fully towards the two figures who had intruded on his alone time (he discreetly whipped away a small trickle of blood from his nose as he hid the small orange book in the confines of his baggy kage's robe) he assessed the two, the one eyed jonin had the same lazy posture as always his single exposed eye trained on his perverted novel ("soon my precious," he thought silently giggling to himself as he stroked the small book on the inside of his sleeve in its specially made hidden compartment (12)) thought he could tell that most of the perverted jonin's attention was trained on the strangely dressed figure he had managed to identify as a shinobi of the leaf, his headband shadowed by the strange hood he wore.
The second figure looked up at the taller silver haired nin before speaking "Not cool Kakashi sensei, not cool at all. You couldn't even let me put my stuff away at home?" that voice was definitely Naruto, so was the attitude, if a slight bit quieter and more sarcastic. What had happened to the boy on their last mission? He had gotten the basics from Kakashi by nin dog earlier in the week, but it seemed like such nonsense that he had dismissed the letter as false information from another village that had somehow obtained the summon contract for dogs as well.
"Yes I could have, but Naruto we need to tell the Hokage about the various…complications on our last mission and have your new bloodline examined by the hospital staff for any oddities or disadvantages you might have, better to find out now than in a fight right." He said with a customary eye smile to help set his young charge at ease. The boy never really had a use for hospitals with how quickly he had healed (currently chalked up to either Kyuubi or the new bloodline if they were not one and the same).
"So the report was real." Said the aging Kage as he examined the young boy before him. The two spiky haired nin had begun their reports normally enough with Naruto interjecting every now and then with his false facts that lent more credibility to their bloodline theory. "Naruto, even if it is a bloodline we will still have to check the seal for adverse effects" Naruto could feel the oh crap meter rising, he could replicate the seal on his skin, but he wouldn't be able to replicate the energy empowering it, and that was what any trained seal expert would be looking for when examining the seal, at least if the memories of Zabuza and Kyuubi were to be believed, "However we are currently lacking our resident seal expert and he is the only one who would be able to tell if the seal had been tampered with from the outside," the young infected could feel his nonexistent blood pressure dropping as his mild panic attack settled down. "But there is a certain clan within Konoha that could check on your seal from the inside."
The young blonde really had no idea what the wrinkly fire shadow was talking about, and it showed on his face, "The seal also has an astral form inside your mind, the Yamanaka clan specializes in entering the minds of others to attain information, however it can be used to check on the seal if necessary. If you will allow it we can have someone I consider extremely trustworthy come in and check. What do you think Naruto?" said the kindly Kage as he examined the blue eyed prankster before him, it was extremely rude to just barge into someone else mind without their permission, as acting Hokage he could order a ninja to undergo the process, but he felt it was better to give his shinobi more autonomy than was normally allowed within a hidden village.
"Sure, why not" he said with a slightly contemplative look on his face, inside he was asking Mercer to do him a favor. "Hey, Alex, can you recreate the seal chamber and pretend to be that oversized plushy the nine tails when the Yamanaka person comes through here?" Ceasing his mindless wandering of the twisted mass of organic tissue and spines that had become Naruto's mind the elder infected simply nodded his assent, he had never been a man of many words and he knew that his intent would carry over to the boy who was slowly devouring him.
He made his way to the area where the seal had been before the assimilation of the Demon king it was hard to tell among the multitude of interlacing membranes and the various spikes spines, tunnels and random elevation changes they made, but he could feel this was the place. "Hey, Kid you think you could make the prison, it is kind of your mind and I don't want to try and alter it if I don't have to" his voice echoed through the empty space between the pathways and various nodes scattered about. The reply came back almost instantly. "yeah hang on a sec.", the node that had been where the great demon king was imprisoned quickly began to shift, the familiar black and red tendrils erupting from various areas around him, twisting and writhing together into the huge bars he had remembered with a few changes. As before there was a rather large lock on the front covered by an elaborate seal inscribed on a piece of paper, but the bars themselves were extremely different. Instead of the clean solid lines of the 300' steel bars he remembered, these were warped and twisted, jagged blades erupting at odd intervals, not always on the inside of the cage, with a multitude of what looked like enormous manacles made of the corrupted flesh from their transformations. "A little reassurance to the old guys that the 'kyuubi' is incapable of escape, the better our act is now the fewer times we have to repeat it." Thought the amalgamation of Naruto Uzumaki and all the beings that had been absorbed into the Web of Intrigue.
"Nice, not what I had in mind, but it'll do." Thought back Mercer with a slightly demented grin on his face as he stepped through the bars. He began the shift as soon as he thought he had found a spot the right distance away from the bars, it would hurt quite a bit to expand into some of those barbs. He felt his jaws elongating into the massive drooling muzzle of the beast as his ears elongated and shifted towards the back of his head before the first of the cuffs sprung from the wall encircling his neck, surely choking him if he had needed to breathe. His body posture shifting from upright to quadruped form as the shift in his center of gravity from his spine and limbs elongating and gained a denser musculature, before they were encased at every joint by the disgusting looking manacles. He could feel the foreign sensation as a series of tails erupted from where the human tailbone used to reside, as they flailed wildly before being they too were clamped down by the new restraints. He tried to make himself comfortable in his temporary incarceration and hoped whatever mind mumbo jumbo these ninja needed to do was over with quickly.
The currently symbiotic duo (not very accurate but parasitic doesn't really cut it either.) didn't have to wait long, for which the faux-Kyuubi was thankful for (the cuffs were a major annoyance as he knew he couldn't shift them looser, it just wouldn't have the same effect), as the head of the Yamanaka clan arrived within minutes of the Hokage sending for him. The platinum haired 'man' (the Hokage assured him the clan heads was indeed male, but the younger blonde got a too much of a kick out of calling him missus Yamanaka and seeing him twitch to give it up, even though Mercer kept warning him not to upset the man who was about to get an all access pass inside his head.) had quickly prepared himself for the technique, he didn't want to possibly put himself in danger for any longer than he needed to, and this kid really annoyed him. He wasn't allowed to hurt him due to his oaths to Konoha, but he wanted to spend as little time with the brat as possible. He finished the hand seals for the more advanced form of the Yamanaka's most basic technique just as the boy finished making himself comfortable on the Hoakge's couch.
Forcing his 'mind' outside himself and into the boy was child's play; he had done it thousands of times to much less willing participants and had never had any real problems. As the outside world faded from his view and the boy's inner world came into focus he was shocked and slightly appalled. The mind reflects the users state of being and can be affected by things like bloodlines, but he had never seen anything like this. The mindscape was a massive web of interconnecting masses of what looked like vines but on closer inspection revealed themselves to be muscular tissue, veins, and what looks suspiciously like brain matter at certain junctions, but that wasn't what was currently freaking him out. No the masse of tissue had random spikes and spines, probably mental defenses, adorning the 'bridges' at odd intervals, they looked to be razor sharp bones with the area around them turning a sickly grey, their edges coated in what looked like steel. He might have been able to put up with the boys odd mental defense if it hadn't been for the eyes, they were spread throughout the boys mind, disembodied eyes, larger than Inoichi's head in some cases, roving their sockets with a hungry look about them, each one slightly different. The one he was currently staring at, and being stared at by, for instance had no sclera; it was dominated by a yellow colored iris with an ovoid pupil staring into his eyes with undisguised curiosity.
The clan head quickly moved on, who knew the kids head could be more annoying (he wouldn't call it creepy, ninja clan heads don't get the creeps) than he was in person. He carefully made his way between another set of blade like protrusions before coming upon the colossal distorted parody of a jail cell that housed the mightiest of the tailed beasts. It was almost sad seeing the Demon confined so thoroughly by the warped seal.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT HUMAN, COME TO GLOAT A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR LEADER'S VICTORY?" Was all Mercer had to say to destroy few still lingering doubts within the elder Yamanaka's mind, but he decided to play it up a little anyway, crashing against the bars in a show of impotent fury the mighty beasts form let loose a roar as he struggled against his constraints, "IMPUDENT MORTAL, I SHALL BREAK OPEN YOUR BONES AND FEAST ON YOUR MARROW." He cried as he was painfully jerked back by the 'seal' pretending to be trying to reach for the terrified human who was quickly fading out, his jaws snapping at the human he could not reach, saliva coating the walls as the creature mindlessly wailed and thrashed trying to reach its prize. When the last traces of the Yamanaka had left the extensive network that had become Naruto's mind the creature smirked, a facial expression that lent an even more demonic feel than the blind slavering rage from when the mind walker had been there.
"Too easy." Said the living virus as the manacles disengaged and his form shrank back in on itself, once more taking the shape of the being who had once been known simply as Zeus. The two infected left the cage for now, who knew if they would ever need something like that again. As the sentient plague set itself to wandering the web of intrigue, cataloging and bookmarking areas with interesting information, skill, or abilities they hadn't noticed, didn't know they had because they hadn't examined closely enough, or had simply been forgotten, he began to wonder "what are we going to do now?"
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When Inoichi had emerged from Naruto's mind he had been terrified, he had quickly reassured the two worried looking nin that he was fine, just a little shook up. Once he had finally gotten his shaking form back under control and the only Uzumaki in Konoha had awakened he began to speak about what he'd seen, starting with "The beast is still well contained, as a matter of fact I think the boys bloodline might have even reinforced the seal." Seeing the proclaimed 'God of Shinobi" waving him to continue with an interested quirking of his wrinkled brow he told them about the horrific cage and manacles that had seemed to come up out of the very substance the boys mind was made of, "I think his Kekkai Genkai identified it as a Hazard to his body, similar to a white blood cell identifying foreign matter and took steps to contain it." he had absolute faith in his idea, "even if it was absolutely wrong it was a rather interesting theory" thought the boy in question.
Nodding his head the aged shadow grasped his pipe firmly between his lips, sucking a deep lungful of the deadly tobacco before exhaling it in a perfect ring, "Well than, seems everything is in order," flipping through the massive piles of paperwork on his desk, the wrinkled shinobi withdrew an envelope before handing it over to the Torture and Interrogation specialist, "give that to the man at the mission office, you will be paid for a double A ranked mission for your help today." The warm smile on the man's grandfatherly face, as well as the nearly S ranked pay he had received for about an hour of his time and extreme danger, sent the man home with a smile to take his wife out for a night on the town, she had been complaining a little about never going out anymore and a payday like this was the perfect opportunity.
As the whistling Yamanaka left his office, trauma immediately forgotten like a true shinobi, the old man faced the two other active ninja in his office before dismissing them with a casual wave. They had just gotten back from a rather stressful mission, he already had their mission reports, Kakashi's notes, as well as ironclad proof that the demon had not broken free; anything else could wait until after they were rested. Smiling indulgently at the newest bloodline user in the ranks of Konoha as the young boy hefted his pack and began demanding his sensei teleport him back to his home since it was his fault he had to walk so far anyway all he could think was "Hhehehehe, this'll put a twist in the council's collective knickers, it was getting a little too quiet around here anyhow." The old simian shinobi took one last drag off his pipe before settling back into the monotonous reading and signing that had existed since the dawn of bureaucracy.
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1) Wow there's a dumb phrase, talking about the physical characteristics of a shape shifter. 2) This is a weapon from another game; the weapons cool even if the game wasn't that fun. Guess the weapon and I'll be willing to give an OC of yours a role later on as a major/minor villain. Only the first person to get it right gets to have their OC to be the villain (if no one gets it I have someone in mind) applicants should be cruel, ruthless, and non squeamish. 3) Zabuza got a kill from the grave…hehe 4) this means anyone he didn't splatter with his new morning star. 5) Hey he does rely on hiding and usually kills in the first stroke. 6) Hey mercer's from our time and so are the people he's absorbed, I think he knows what an Oscar is. 7) not so epic foreshadowing 8) you know I just thought about the teams dynamic, Naruto Likes Sakura and hates Sasuke, Sakura is obsessed Sasuke and hates Naruto, and Sasuke who intensely dislikes Sakura and… I think I need some mind soap. 9) I'm averaging 10 as the age that kids start to at least look at their opposite gendered peers as more than cootie farms 10) you can mimic with enough skill but not exactly copy without examining the body. 11) fuck you all I'm American and I wanted potatoes. 12) Come on the guys a kage, and that kind of guy continues living by being paranoid, I doubt he doesn't have a way to hide his porn immediately if he is somehow surprised while at the same time keeping it handy.
Oh that reminds me go over to Soulblazer87's profile and vote on a name for Naruto's bloodline in his fic. Me and him are putting together ideas for names and we just put them all up on his profile, I'm kinda partial to the body arts one. We might share the first place one or one of us used second place we don't quite know yet. Anyway review and tell me what you think.
