He was tired, exhausted even.
As hard as it was to believe, Naruto had trouble just keeping his eyes open. He'd trained his ass off this morning, and he hadn't eaten much in the past few days, true. But even then, he'd done that before during a training binge and he'd never felt so tired in his life. No, his exhaustion stemmed from one fact alone.
The transparent, spiritual form of the massive Tyrannosaurus Rex slumbering off to the side of the warehouse, taking up much of the free space of the room. It was curled tightly around almost like a ball in shape and was shaking with laboring breaths, and despite himself, Naruto couldn't exactly find it in himself to resent Tyranno for the shinobi's condition. Not when he could still see the massive wounds and gouges in the Bit Beast's black hide that were slowly healing bit by bit as the Bit Beast used the newly established link between he and it to heal itself with Naruto's energy.
Naruto took a wobbly few steps towards the beast and lay down against it's side. It was hard to believe that there were creatures like this in a world full of weaklings, where the greatest of martial arts masters could be defeated with ease by mere Genin.
It seemed that the only true powers of this world were the holders of the Bit Beasts. Through their connections, they empowered each other and grew in power together.
From what he guessed, Naruto was so exhausted due to the fact that when he rescued Tyranno, the Bit Beast was little more than energy particles dissipating in the wind. And it was only through their new connection that the beast was recovering. Basically, Tyranno was drawing on Naruto's chakra, and only his, to restore himself. That meant no Kyuubi to help him out, even to give him a boost or the energy could have adverse effects on Tyranno.
Too much and Naruto had been launched into a bloodlust that made him, a mere Genin barely as strong as an experienced Chunin powerful enough to almost rip apart Jiraiya of the Sannin. There was just no telling what that dangerous energy would do to a primordial beast like Tyranno, a spirit that had lived for thousands upon thousands of years and from what he had gathered - locked without consent or just cause within a piece of rock. Sealed with thousands of other Bit Beasts, many stronger than itself and forced to fight for survival, every day for all that time.
Tyranno let loose a pleased rumble as the Uzumaki leaned against it's side, and despite himself Naruto felt a smile twitch upon his face before it was quickly replaced by a frown.
Those scientists that abandoned Tyranno. The idea made his fists clench in rage. They were so focused upon the BladeBreakers' so-called 'Sacred' Bit Beasts that they couldn't even plan properly, and that was saying something coming from him considering how much of an idiot he tended to be.
Tyranno had been locked in a stone for eons, unused to the outside world. They dragged it out, forced it to work with some randomly chosen, fatass kid who had no proper training whatsoever in anything besides pulling some rip cord, and they expected them to beat one of the greatest bladers in the world, one who'd grown and bonded with his own Bit Beast - one of those sacred ones that they were all so fixated on no less!
How disgusting...abandoning a comrade for such pitiful reasons. They deserved to be killed most gruesomely and if he got the chance he'd show them how Konoha Shinobi treated trash like them who tossed away their comrades. The most important lesson he'd learned, was how truly special each and every one of them were.
Even then, he didn't see the big deal in any of these Bit Beasts. They were big yeah, and had some good power behind them. But they couldn't keep up with the Boss Summons from his world like old Gamabunta, never mind Bijuu like the Kyuubi.
Naruto briefly entertained the idea of the Kyuubi as a Bit Beast and snorted. Sure the fox was a constantly-angry, prideful pain in the ass, but he was a powerful,constantly-angry, prideful pain in the ass! The Kyuubi could take on every Blader in the world at the same time and win with ease!
Naruto felt his eyelids began to twitch as they became too heavy for him to keep open. Damn, he'd needed to go out and steal some food, and work on looking into a way back home tonight...looked like those plans were on hold.
"...Oh well." The blonde yawned, snuggling deeper into Tyranno's side. The beast, despite being a spirit, was remarkably physical when outside a Beyblade, not to mention rather comfortable and warm. "Tomorrow…" He decided as he settled in to sleep. As he did however, he found his mind afflicted and besieged by visions.
It was a constant battle. A battle for both survival and evolution.
With each powerful foe he overcame, he fed and grew stronger. The only way to survive in this hellish world was to become the strongest.
An arachnid...a feline...more. With each foe defeated, he grew just a little bit stronger. The greatest of those whom those tribal humans had locked away in this hell were easily identified by their constantly-growing power. The fox, it started with no power of it's own besides remarkable speed, and now? Now, through defeating and devouring others, it had gained powers over the wind and illusions.
Tyranno, for that was his name, growled deeply at his wounded foe, it wouldn't get far...not since with how his bite, and even his breath could kill now since the bacteria in the rotten meat it ate from defeated foes had attached themselves to his teeth, and after biting his prey, said prey could die from the wound becoming infected, but that ran the risk of another claiming his spoil if they came across the carcass later. That could not do in this place. That in mind, spiritual power pooled within his mouth, an ability gained from a draconic foe that served him well. With a roar from his gaping maw, Tyranno fired a beam of power through the air, ripping the body of the fleeing insect spirit in half.
The defeated spirit fell and Tyranno rushed forward. The beast pitifully continued to crawl, desperate to escape and given enough time, regenerate. But Tyranno would have none of it. Massive teeth gouged puncture marks straight through the beast's skull, and with a deafening crunch the insect's head was pulped.
The spirit, now dead, dissolved into energy, a substance that Tyranno greedily slurped up revalling as he felt his power grow just a bit more.
In the aftermath of his meal, Tyranno did not notice the deadly, suffocating aura speeding towards him until it was almost to late.
Acting on instinct honed over millions of years by the species he was born from, Tyranno just managed to evade a massive, silvery spike chain covered entirely by the flames of the underworld.
With a snarl, Tyranno turned to face his attacker. That proved a mistake as pure terror filled Tyranno's being. For standing not far away was the strongest beast within the sealed earth. A beast feared by almost all other beasts even BEFORE they were sealed.
Cerberus, the tyrant king of the sealed earth.
The beast was massive, towering above even Tyranno who was one of the biggest beasts within the sealed earth. The canine was covered completely in purple fur, matted with the blood of untold amounts of beasts, and had three massive, snarling heads each. Atop each head and the conjoining chest was obsidian black armor and dangling from around each heads necks were chains of pristine silver, alight with the flames of hell.
This was not a beast Tyranno could defeat. This was a beast beyond any other beast within the sealed earth, the undisputed king. The only beasts that could possibly defeat this monster were the four sacred ones; and even then, that was only possibly...even with a four-on-one!
He had no chance to run, the tyrant was already upon him. Cerberus crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Flames rushed forth from each head, cutting off Tyranno's escape.
Tyranno had no choice, having been boxed in by the flames. With a roar, Tyranno bounded forward, energy once again pooling within his mouth. He condensed the energy right up until he was a few feet from Cerberus before he intended to unleash the attack dead on.
Pain registered in Tyranno's senses. Before he could fully unleash the breath attack, one of the chains dangling from his foes necks lashed out, striking him under the jaw and forcing his mouth upwards and the attack to be shot straight above them.
Another chain lashed out, ready to loop around Tyranno's neck and choke him out. On instinct, Tyranno spun on his feet and dodged the chain with a grace unlikely for a beast of his build and then lashed out with one of his strongest weapons, his heavy-armored tail.
Cerberus roared in rage as it's side was heavily impacted by the tail attack and was sent tumbling across the landscape. It was dazed slightly, but no lasting damage was done.
Tyranno completed his spin, coming around to face Cerberus' fallen form with power pooled within his mouth once again. With a roar, Tyranno unleashed the strongest beam of energy he could.
There was a triple-echoing roar that shook the landscape, but Tyranno didn't bother to pay it any attention and instead turned on his massive feet and fled as fast as possible.
Cerberus did not come to this side of the rock. It stayed hunting other beasts on the other side of the sealed earth. Unless...there were no other beasts on that side left to devour, and Cerberus had consumed and claimed all their power for itself.
Tyranno fled, and he never looked back. From that day, he journeyed deep into the sealed earth and fell into a deep slumber, hiding his power and his body far away from the other beasts, and Cerberus' senses, until the day he would be released.
Ozuma ignored the bickering below him. Instead, he leaned against the wall of the warehouse he and the rest of the Saint Shields made camp in and cast his eyes towards the roof, a frown on his face.
The mission was getting more and more complicated as time went on. He was somewhat reluctant to separate the BladeBreakers from their Bit Beasts. The four sacred Bit Beasts were different now than they were back in ancient times. The evil that infested the beasts due to the villains controlling them had been cast out by the beasts themselves long ago, even at a heavy price.
They were barely a quarter as powerful as they were long ago, having lost much of their power in separating themselves from the darkness that plagued them. The evil they cast out having taken powerful forms of their own as new, evil, duplicates that more powerful than the original beasts. Black Dragoon, Black Dranzer, Black Driger and Black Draciel.
Thanfully, none of the other three had been unsealed when Black Dranzer escaped. But it was troubling that such a powerful, evil beast was somewhere in the world, free to do whatever it pleased.
The BladeBreakers had bonded with the sacred four, formed friendships with the beasts and would rather die than give them up. If it were a perfect world, Ozuma would be fine leaving the beasts in Tyson and his teammates' hands.
But the world was not perfect. The BladeBreakers were not powerful enough to defend the Bit Beasts from all who were after them. Even worse, whoever was after the sacred four had possession of the seal that encased Cerberus.
That was a problem. In ancient times, the beasts within that rock were far too weak to put up a fight against the four sacred ones, even as weakened as they were now. Somehow, the beasts had evolved and grew stronger within their prison and Ozuma feared just how powerful Cerberus had become.
It quite possibly had evolved passed the level the four sacred ones were at in ancient times. Back then, Cerberus while not as powerful as them was still mighty enough to give one of them a challenge. If the run of the mill Bit Beasts had grown enough to challenge the weakened sacred ones, then just how ungodly strong had Cerberus become?
And that wasn't even the worst of it. Rumours had it that King and Queen had arrived in town not long ago. Ozuma scowled at the thought of those traitors. A greedy pair of siblings that once belonged to his tribe, gifted with Bit Beasts because the elders believed they would be a great asset to the Saint Shields.
Only, after stealing the greatest and most valuable beyblade parts within the village and obtaining their Bit Beasts, they fled and took up a life of crime as parts hunters. Seeking the best parts money could by in the hopes of creating the ultimate beyblade.
And then, if matters couldn't get any worse, there was that mysterious whiskered blonde that had shown up. 'That guy...' Ozuma thought, clenching his fist. Whoever he was, he scared Ozuma. Every blader in partnership with a bit beast had a powerful aura, the beasts empowering the bladers and in return allowing the beasts access to humanity's limitless potential for growth.
This guy though...even when he first caught sight of him, and only a glimpse at most, Ozuma been almost terrified. The guy had no Bit Beast, as proven when Ozuma found him claiming that dinosaur beast, Tyranno.
Yet his aura...it was insanely powerful. No, calling it just that didn't describe the sheer depth of it. Ozuma had received Flash Leopard as a partner as a toddler and trained relentlessly day in, day out since then. But comparing his own against the whiskered blonde's even before he took that Bit Beast was like comparing a raindrop with the ocean.
Ozuma growled lowly, clenching his beyblade in his hand. 'There's no more time, we have to seal the Four Sacred Bit Beasts now!' He snarled inwardly, 'There's no telling what a guy with that amount of power could do if he got his hands on them.'
The four sacred ones may be weakened, but it wasn't just their power that made them so special. The entire world could be in danger if they fell into the wrong hands.
The grey beyblade was a blur, zigging and zagging between rubbish and rocks that littered the area.
Blue eyes twitched and the beyblade suddenly defied gravity and launched itself into the air, landing on the railing of a cratered staircase and grinding it's way up the pole, when it reached the top, it launched itself once again, clearing dozens of feet and landing perfectly in front of it's owner.
Naruto panted, a fine sheen of sweat trickling its way down his face. 'Man, this is a lot harder than it looks.' He thought to himself as he tried pinning down how to get the beyblade to respond to him by will alone and do whatever he wanted it to.
The science behind it was beyond Naruto. But somehow, the beyblade was connected to him. It connected to his mind, his chakra, and right down to his very spirit. It was a wholly paradoxical feeling, both completely natural and entirely alien to him. In a way, it felt like he was complete for the very first time. Except, he was never lacking anything that stopped him from being complete in the first case.
Most of all, he could feel Tyranno deep within himself. Contrary to what he believed, it seemed the beyblade was just a medium for the bit beast. Bit Beasts in fact seemed to inhabit the very body and soul of the blader, and through that connection manifested themselves through the beyblades.
Naruto was stronger than most in this world already, yet it was obvious to Naruto that himself had grown stronger. Physically, he was stronger and faster. That wasn't even the end of it either. Instinctively down to his very core, Naruto knew he could perform the attack he saw Tyranno unleash in his dreams; which, he suspected, were actually Tyranno's memories.
And that was a whole other can of worms he didn't want to think of right now, inside that rock was a brutal world. Those sanctimonious idiots, the Saint Shields, more than likely had no damn clue about the ramifications of their sealing method, or that they had Basically given that Cerberus creature Naruto had seen in his dreams an all-you-could-eat buffet and therefore grow in power to the point it was now more that just a possibility it was stronger than the "Sacred Four" Bit beasts the Bladebreakers had, and those four were the only ones strong enough to beat that tri-headed mutt. IDIOTS!
Pushing those thoughts aside, as hard as it was for Naruto to come up with even these simple answers, he still managed to piece it together after a few hours. Somehow, he and Tyranno had entered a symbiotic relationship. Tyranno fed upon his chakra and grew stronger, and in return Tyranno, who was bonded with him now, empowered him like the other bit beasts did for their bladers.
Naruto was quite happy he decided to take pity on Tyranno now. He had been lacking totally in long ranged attacks before, and now he had a pretty powerful one that required no hand seals at all.
Being a good person did pay off sometimes it seems. He had even already come up with a name for the attack.
Smirking, the blonde pointed towards a tree at the other end of the area they were in, the collapsed building he first found Tyranno in. "I've seen how you use your attack normally, so let's see how it works in beyblade form." He stated, "Alright Tyranno, let's go! Tyrant Buster attack!" He commanded.
A roar resounded within his mind. It was the roar of a king declaring their dominance. The roar of a king declaring his power to the world.
The grey beyblade erupted with blinding orange light. The light compressed around the beyblade, the sheer power being brought forth causing the very air the crackle with orange electricity. Then, with a resounding boom, the beyblade shot forth like a rocket. The force of the lift off shook the entire clearing, and before Naruto could even blink, the beyblade had cleared the distance between it and the tree and blitzed right through it, snapping the tree in half.
And the one behind it, and the one behind that and continued on for another four trees until it shattered a stone to pebbles. Naruto whistled, mentally commanding the beyblade to return to him. "Man, you're pretty powerful Tyranno and to think, this is without even your own customized blade." He commented as the beyblade shot back to his feet, spinning steadily. He really should go find a way to get some parts soon to build Tyanno a proper beyblade. It would help for when he went to win a tournament or two, the prize money for winning in this little game was ludicrous, no wonder so many people wanted to beat the BladeBreakers they must have been raking it in.
The wind suddenly whistled, as if an incredibly sharp blade was swung with great force. Naruto didn't even twitch as two beyblades launched themselves from the trees and as one crashed into Tyranno's beyblade, one was a bronzed color while the other was white.
So...those presences he'd noticed were making a move against him, huh? Naruto had been content to leave them alone if they left him be, but it was clear that live and let live attitude wasn't going to be reciprocated.
A loud grinding noise blanketed the area as the two beyblades ground against Tyranno. It was a good thing that even though the beyblade was drab-looking that those scientists had designed it and it's counterparts to be of league-level quality, otherwise Tyranno's blade would have been shredded already, these two were pretty strong.
Not to mention, Naruto could sense the deep wells of power within them, meaning they had Bit Beasts.
Snorting, the blonde cast his eyes towards the trees just in time for an older pair to walk out and join him in the clearing. A dark-skinned boy with long, styled, white hair and a pale girl with shoulder-length ebony colored hair; they both appeared to be around eighteen years old and were wearing a matching pair of black pants and designer white jackets. "It took you two long enough." He commented idly, forcing Tyranno to push back against the two beyblades with enough force to counter them. It was a good thing Tyranno's main strength lay in physical strength and it transferred over to his medium. "I caught you two stooges spying on me the minute you started, so what do you want?" The blonde asked, forcing his eyes not to stray under the girl's neck, despite the male clothing she wore she was pretty curvy and, to Naruto's great regret, Jiraiya had more influence on him than he'd like to admit.
The older boy snorted in apparent amusement, a haughty look on his face. "The name's King, and this is my sister Queen." He replied, waving towards the girl who was eyeing him with a predatory look in her eyes, "We're parts hunters." He said simply, as if that explained everything.
King and Queen? Where these two serious? Who named their kids those?!
Naruto stared at him blankly for a moment before grunting, he forced Tyranno to up the ante and pushed back with all his strength and launched the two beyblades towards their owners, where they landed spinning at their feet. "And...?" Naruto questioned.
The girl, Queen, gave a chuckle at his apparent cluelessness. "See, when we see parts we want, we simple beat the owner in question in a beybattle and take them when we win." She replied.
Both King and Queen erupted into laughter as he stared at them. Apparently they thought he was shocked. Well...he was. But probably not in the way they were thinking.
Now Naruto knew he wasn't the smartest guy around, but were the people in this world freaking lacking common sense? Did it ever occur to them that he might just pick up his beyblade and leave, or did that never occur to anybody they'd ever faced before?
When their laughter finally died down, King reached into his pocket and pulled out a decently large brown bag. The olde boy tossed the bag down in front of Naruto and the blonde's interest was peaked when beyblade parts slipped through the opening, pretty high-quality ones at that, if he wasn't mistaken. "So here's the deal kid, when we beat you we'll be taking whatever parts of your beyblade look good, but if you somehow beat us, then you can have all of these parts." King stated, lifting an eyebrow in challenge, "Deal?" He questioned.
Naruto couldn't help it. He just couldn't. The blonde threw his head back and laughed loudly. He laughed for near thirty second straight before he died down to a chuckle, wiping tears of pure amusement from his eyes.
He'd noticed something while watching all the beybattle's since he'd arrived here. While beyblades with Bit Beast were much stronger than those without, that really only applied when the blader was concious. Without the blader being awake, the connection dwindled immensely and very little of the Bit Beast's power made it through to the blade, and with the blader unconscious the beyblades themselves were little more than sitting ducks with the inability to fight back.
Shaking his head, Naruto smirked at them both. "I have a better idea: I think I'll just take the parts and not bother at all with the beybattle." He commented, then he disappeared in a burst of speed.
The pair's eyes widened in shock, "What the!?" King exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Where'd he go!?" Queen hissed.
There was an amused whisper behind them. "Behind you."
They both screamed in fright, but before they could even whirl around, they both felt small pinches at the back of their necks, and then they both fell to the ground unconscious.
Naruto smirked as he eyed their down forms. "Morons." He commented, snickering while stepping over their comatose forms and picking up the bag of parts.
He cast his eyes towards their beyblades, idly spinning in circles with no aim or reason. "Take them out." He ordered.
Tyranno blitzed forward faster than any normal human eye could hope to follow and deftly smashed into both beyblades one after another. Both beyblades fell limp just like their owners, without even the power to fight back.
Normally, Naruto wouldn't really steal other people's prized possessions, but these two quite deserved it he mused, what goes around comes around after all.
With a mental command, Tyranno's blade shot up into his hand and he stowed it away within his supply pouch. Then, Naruto crouched down and took apart both King and Queen's beyblades.
"Oooh, that's pretty cool." He commented as he found a second, smaller form of attack ring under Queen's normal attack ring that stuck out like two wrist blades under her top attack ring. "I like this, I might use it." He mused, standing up and sealing the parts into a small tattoo under his wrist for safe keeping.
When he was done, he found himself standing above the unconscious forms of King and Queen, holding the bit pieces of their beyblades. They depicted two ram-like creatures that Naruto guessed were their bit beasts.
He debated for a moment whether or not he should take them. After finding out the boons he gained from Tyranno, he was sure if he brought back such valuable creatures, he might just get promoted straight past Chunin to Special Jonin.
Ultimately though, Naruto set the bit beasts down within their owners' clenched hands. As deplorable as these two were, he just didn't want to be the one that knowingly separated friends, possibly even family depending on how close they were, from each other.
Still he mused as he left the clearing, today had been pretty profitable. Now all he had to do was build a custom blade, win enough cash from tournaments to make a fair living until he found the means to return to Konoha from this world, and he'd be golden.