Chapter 2

Demons of Fire and Wind

Vs

Lord of Pestilence

Naruto sat within his mind-scape, drenched in water from the sewer like prison that held the Kyuubi No Kitsune. He sighed and looked around, his eyes lost in the darkness of the tunnel. He shivered at the sensation of being watched, which was not normal in his mindscape, and drew one of his Kuni from his hip pouch.

"Hey, Fox, you there?" Naruto queried as he looked around in the dark. He Kept low to the floor, his stance an act to keep his profile as small as possible in the darkness around him. Some of the things he noticed immediately was that he did not have his normal orange jumpsuit on; or his black undershirt, gray boxers, or his blue sandals. Instead, he had on what looked to be gray armor that covered his whole body.

From head to toe, he was covered in gray pieces of armor; he had pieces on his forearms, upper arms, chest, back, shins, thighs, waist, shoulders, ass, and crotch. Each piece was more of a circular piece that encompassed his limbs while the parts that wrapped around his chest were more like a pressed barrel. Everything was very snug and moved minimally on his body.

Under his armor was a thick, black, bodysuit. It felt like a second skin that wrapped him comfortably. When Naruto further inspected his body within the shadows, he noticed that his hands were also armored; even though he could clearly feel the cool metal of the Kuni he gripped in his hand.

"What the hell is going on here?" He whispered. He was more than a bit perplexed as to the origin of the armor he wore. He would have asked further questions about it, but his inspection was cut short when a large multi-limbed creature crawled out of the dark and struck at him with inhuman speed.

Naruto only just dodged out of the way; a small scratch being his only penance for not paying attention. When he looked at the monster fully, he almost puked his guts out in horror. It had four limbs, each ending in a different appendage; be it claw, hand, pincer, or tentacle. It was bloated, green, and covered in pustules that glowed a toxic looking yellow. It had over a hundred eyes where its upper face would reside in the center of its misshapen body. Where there should have been a mouth, there was a gaping maw of needle-like teeth. Each tooth was at a different angle; up, down, left, right, diagonal, horizontal, perpendicular, it did not matter, it was facing that direction.

The monster howled angrily at having been denied its prey. Naruto saw this and prepared for a fight. He drew a handful of shuriken from an unnoticed hip pouch and tossed them at the monster's eyes. His ploy to blind the creature was only half successful, as only a few eyes were blinded. What he did not count on was being assaulted from behind by another such creature.

The new opponent latched onto his arm with its claw and pincer. In an effort to break his arm in twine, it tried to flex it in half. Naruto howled in pain, flipped around, and used his momentum to drive his knee into its face.

"FOX! I need help here!" Naruto screamed. He tossed an exploding Kuni at the recovering monster and used the one still attached to his arm as a shield from the explosion. He felt the shock wave toss him, and the monster attached to his arm, into the air. They both landed roughly against the far side of the dark sewer tunnel. Naruto tossed the writhing monster off himself and hopped to his feet.

Naruto looked to the monster he had tossed the exploding Kuni into; he was shocked to find that it was still intact and standing. Nary even a scratch marred its disgusting surface as it roared bloody murder at the blond Uzumaki.

"Why won't you just die you bastards!" He bellowed in annoyance. Naruto instinctively reached over his shoulder and grabbed hold of something he didn't even realize was there. Naruto's fingers wrapped around the handle of this mystery object and gripped it tight. With a firm tug, the object came free; he hefted the mystery item over his shoulder in a hammer swing straight at the closest monsters head. What came over his shoulder was a large hammer.

Naruto was surprised by this, as he had not felt its presence upon his body when he had fallen into his mindscape. Its presence was more than just a surprise for the blond ninja. Though, when the weapons tapered bell-shaped hammerhead slammed into the monster, and subsequently, blew it apart; he decided the questions could wait until later.

"Taberu Kuso to shinu!" Naruto yelled and uppercut the monsters head with the return swing of his new hammer. He followed through with the swing and spun with the momentum. He flashed out with an armored kick to the monster's midsection and sent it flying. With a dull thud, it smashed into the opposite side of the sewer and burst into a disgusting yellow-green color.

Just as he was about to celebrate his win over the monster, the other one flew into view and slashed at his head. Naruto ducked under the vicious swipe and rolled to the side. He came up in a crouch and swung his hammer in a wide arc at the creature's legs. With a sickening crack, the monster came down. It roared at the blond and began crawling towards him in a vicious manner to continue its assault on his person.

Naruto brought the hammer up high overhead before he dropped it in an ax swing at the creatures center of mass. The monster, split in twine from the force of the strike, splattered its sickly green ichor across the floor and turned the murky water a dark disgusting green.

"What the hell are these things!" He growled. The blond ninja whipped at his brow with his off hand, he flicked away the sweat that had gathered there. He sighed at the mess and took count of his situation.

"Okay, I'm in my mindscape. There are large ugly fuckers running around in here like it's for free. I'm wearing some cool looking armor. I have a massive hammer thing that looks like it could ruin even Granny Tsunade's day. And finally, I haven't heard from fuzzy buddy, yet. Some weird shit is going on here, and whatever happened on that mountain is the reason for this shit," Naruto groaned in frustration. He was not one for critical thinking, but when shit went down hill he had to pick up the slack.

"Alright, first off let's find Kyuubi, then we can both figure out what the fuck is going on with these creepy bastards," Naruto laid the Hammer across his shoulder in a half ready position. "Alright, which way should I go?" He took out a Kuni from his pouch and tossed it lazily into the air.

With a clink, it touched the ceiling of the sewer like tunnel and came back down with a splash. The Kuni pointed off to the right-hand side of the tunnel. Naruto sighed, picked it up, and stowed it in his pouch. With a quick look around, he charged off into the distance.

"Okay," Naruto mumbled as he waded through the murky water, "Let's get some shit straight. I'm in my mindscape. That's a no brainer since I don't hurt like hell. Things have invaded my mind … Very gross things. I'm decked out in some kickass armor, I still have my ninja weapons, I also got this sick looking Hammer thing that's as big as I am, and I have no idea where I'm going anymore," Naruto slapped an armored palm to his face in a self-deprecating manner. He looked ahead at a quintet of divergences in the tunnel. Left, right, and center were three of the arched entrances. To his back left and back right were two more.

"Alright, let's try something...," Naruto huffed in indignation at how idiotic he had been. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" He cried as twenty-five puffs of smoke appeared around him. Pleasantly surprised, Naruto quickly motioned them off towards the tunnels in groups of four while he had the last five stay behind. They formed a defensive circle around Naruto encase of some kind of surprise attack.

"What do you guys think about all this?" Naruto asked his clones. He knew they were him, but it had always seemed that each one gained a different personality from himself.

"Well," Clone 1 began, "If things continue like they always do when you get knocked out, then we should be finding the Fox soon enough."

"Granted, that's if we don't get our asses killed first!" Clone 4 snarked disdainfully.

"Okay negative Nancy, don't need you bringin' us down with your attitude," Clone 2 chided playfully. Clone 4 huffed and flipped Clone 2 the bird. Clones 2 and 3 laughed while Clones 1 and 5 flipped off Clone 4. Naruto, while in the middle of all this, rubbed his face with a gauntleted hand. He gave his clones a deadpan glare that told them to knock it off.

"Alright, let's get into guard pattern B!" Naruto ordered. The clones formed a tight circle around him, each with a handful of Kuni and Shuriken in each hand. They waited and waited for a signal from their clone companions in the tunnels.

They waited and waited, each getting that much more impatient with the situation. As of yet, no word had been given. This just made it that much more difficult for the group to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Kage bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto muttered. He created three new clones and sent them around the room. Each was armed with a luminous tag that emitted a soft light. The clones each placed a trio of these seals around all of the tunnel entrances and a few on the ceiling. With the area laminated, it was now easier to watch for any-incoming monsters.

"This is taking a long time Boss; what should we do?" Clone 7 asked.

"We wait. I believe in myself, so I will believe in my clones. You all should know how that is," Naruto smirked at his creations. All of them nodded dejectedly, each knowing how he felt about his clones.

Boom. The ceiling shook and dust fell to the dank floor. All the Narutoes looked around expectantly at the different entrances but saw nothing. Boooom. The ceiling shook again and a brick this time fell from the roof and splashed into a puddle. Clones 7 and 8 both looked at Naruto before they began forming their own hand-signs. Ten seconds later they had formed over twenty hand-signs.

"Suiton – Mizu Kabe!" The two Narutos launched their hand forward at the first three entrances and created a large wall of water. It was moments later when the three tunnels collapsed in on themselves. Then a large furred hand appeared out of the smoke and dragged away the debris it had created.

"Kit! You in there!" A low rumbling voice growled from beyond the opening. Naruto and his clones all were surprised at the voice, but not all too much after having seen the huge damn hand bust in the roof.

"Hey Fox, we're in here!"

"We?" He asked. His face lowered to the floor. When the huge face of the Kyuubi looked inside and saw the ten Narutoes standing around in a defensive formation, he blinked. "Get out here Kit, things have gone to shit in here!" The Demon Fox grumbled. He pulled back and got out of the way. Once he moved he revealed the twenty or so other Naruto clones that had been sent ahead on the other side.

They saw that the clones were battling more of the grotesque monster things from before, along with some other more asshole loosening creatures.

"What in the world!" Naruto shouted as he charged through the hole with his hammer held high.

"Hoped you could tell me that kit!" The Kyuubi growled as he smashed his massive claw against a large bloated creature with massive horns and blood-soaked fists. It looked reminiscent of a large bipedal boar. The horns and blood just gave it a demonic look that made the Kyuubi look like a kitten by comparison.

"TEME!" Naruto shouted as he bashed in a few heads. He dropped his hammer, flashed a few hand signs and then unleashed a wave of water that reached up to the Kyuubi's chest on his enemies. They were all pushed back by the wave, though the large monsters were only staggered by the blow.

"Taju – Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Naruto yelled. Over two thousand clones popped into existence right then, the cloud of smoke that covered their creation dispersing quickly. Every hundred clones was dressed in a different color trim around their armor. This was something that threw the Kyuubi off a bit when he saw them but figured it was something that the Kit had done.

"Second platoon, form right and hold, second through fourth, take the left and push! First with me. Tenth through twentieth, push center! Twenty-first through twenty-eighth, reinforce the right! Twenty-ninth through fortieth, enforce where needed!" Naruto shouted orders in quick succession. The Fox watched in half-amused awe as his container pitched a defensive measure against their grotesque enemies.

Hey Fox! Do you know any Dotton Jutsu!?" Naruto asked as he bifurcated a monster with his Hammer. He was surrounded by fifty clones that had orange trim on their shoulder pads, each one held a copy of Naruto's hammer in their hands.

"Why!?" The Fox asked. He swatted a group of a hundred pustule covered monsters away, their putrid bodies exploded into bits of gore and bile that painted the ground.

"We need some kind of walls! Just something to hold them back!" Naruto smacked a monster away and gripped at something on his hip. What he pulled away was some kind of boxy looking thing with a trigger. He reflexively pointed it at the nearest monster to him and pulled said trigger. What happened next shocked both him, the rest of his clones, and the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

The fact that the weapon barked, almost literally, three times at the monster was not what surprised them; its what came after. Three yellow lances flew from the end of the weapon and impacted the creature, the trio then exploded in a messy shower of gore and other disgusting refuse.

Naruto looked at his weapon, then back at the, now dead, monster, back to his weapon, back to the monster, and back to the weapon once more before he shouted in excitement. He fired the weapon again at a new target, hitting it square in the face. Its head exploded in a show of gore and bone; the disease riddled beast fell to the ground, dead.

"Everyone, new plan!" He shouted as he clambered atop a nearby pile of dead bodies. "Fire at will!" He shouted; he hefted his hammer towards the heavens and then struck it towards their enemies. His clones yelled and charged with a new found determination to kill the monsters that had invaded their creator's mind.

At the sight of his clones continued assault on the enemy, Naruto clambered down and headed towards where he last saw the Kyuubi. His guard soon formed up on him, each with their own boxy weapons in their left hands and their hammer in their right. The ambidextrous ninja was more than pleased with his imaginary weapons, but could not even fathom where all the new ideas for weapons, armor, and tactics were coming from. He wanted to thank whoever it was that was helping him, but he was also wary of their help as well.

"FOX!" Naruto called as he traversed the ever greener field of battle. 'Where are you!"

"Over here, Kit!" The fox yelled as he landed atop a massive bloated creature wielding a massive butchers knife. It was putrid and decaying, its intestines leaking out of it form the holes in its rotten flesh. Its breath was like a thick miasma that killed any clones that got near it. It was a wonder that Fox was even standing up to the thing as it easily tossed him off.

"You shall fall before Grandfather Nurgle!" The thing proclaimed. It was the first time any of them had heard the things speak a coherent word, let alone sentence, and were now wondering who in the realms of the dead Nurgle was. "Grandfather has seen you, and wishes you to become his newest child of decay! Accept his wishes and-gurk!" The massive creature of the plague was cut off when both the Kyuubi and Naruto hit it with their respective ultimate jutsus'. Naruto had, somehow, managed to throw his Rasengan at the massive thing while the Fox had launched his own Biju-dama at the thing.

"SHUT-UP!" The two powerhouses cried in unison as their attacks each blew a part of the massive sentient beast apart. The things left arm, and much of its massive gut, were obliterated in an instant thanks to the Biju-dama, and the right side of its skull and most of its face were gone thanks to Naruto's Rasengan. A massive dust cloud of fallen rock and pulverized brick covered the area where the monster landed. Their view obscured, both chakra users became tense.

"Is it dead?" Naruto asked the Fox.

"Not yet Kit," The Fox muttered.

Both combatants got into their respective stances, the Kyuubi's a massive four-legged interceptor style stance that would enable it to use its great agility, and Naruto's simple to drop brawler stance. The jinjuriki of the Kyuubi held his Hammer in a low guard towards his leg, ready to bring it up in a hay-maker shot should he need it. His gun, pistol, thing, was held at the ready, aimed at the spot that he knew the monster to be in.

AS the massive dust storm subsided, the two were treated to the obscene sight of the monster bodily stuffing what was left of its intestines back into its body … back through its gaping maw. Both the Chakra monster and its container gaped at the grotesque show of self-cannibalism.

"Am I seeing that right?" Naruto asked almost rhetorically of his furry companion.

"Yes, yes you are, Kit. I'm just trying to figure out where it all goes," The Fox asked himself as he watched the monster pack away more than half of its won body into its gorged maw. Its needle-like teeth were covered in viscera and gore as it continued to pack away its blown apart chunks of rotted flesh and maggot infested gore.

"How do we get rid of this thing?" Naruto muttered disparagingly. Both of their most powerful attacks had done a tremendous amount of damage, but in reality, it was all for naught. As the monster devoured its own putrid flesh, it had begun to grow back its missing mass. Right before their eyes, the monster of Nurgle, regenerated its disgusting flesh.

"Okay, new plan...," Naruto cringed as a sick popping noise echoed around the cavernous room.

"What kit?" The Fox asked.

"First, do you have any fire jutsu? And second, how much could you produce?" Naruto asked his larger than life friend.

"Of course I know how to use fire! I am the Kyuubi no Yoko!" The Fox said with mock indignation. "I could expel enough fire to turn Suna into a glass top!" He growled.

"Then let's burn it with fire!" Naruto smiled evilly. He began going through several hand seals just as the Fox caught on and took a large breath of air.

"What are you fools doing, nothing can be rid of the great grand father nurg-!" The creature was stopped cold as a great torrent of fire tore from the massive maw of The Kyuubi no Yoko. The torrent was then enhanced by the great gust of wind produced by the young Uzumaki. With the power of the fire, potentially tripled, the forces of nurgle were swept away in a great tide of burning flesh and ash.

Nothing that was not apart of the duo made it past the great fire wave.

"That was … AWESOME!" Naruto shouted. He jumped up and down with his arms waving in the air like a maniac. He smiled insanely up at his tenant, his eyes bright with some unknowable emotion while his smile elicited a knee jerk reaction of happiness.

"That it was Kit," The Fox chortled blithely. He eyed the blond at his feet with a narrowed gaze suddenly; this set Naruto on edge, though the smile never left his face.

"What's up Fox?" the blond Uzumaki asked.

"Where did you learn the 'Great Breakthrough'? I do not remember you learning it," The great demon Fox inquired.

"Oh, I remember seeing Asuma-sensei using it during one of our mission with team ten. Just thought it would be best to use it. Besides, this is my mindscape right? Anything I want to happen should happen!" Naruto laughed sheepishly as he laced his fingers together behind his head. His grin lessened some as he tried to piece together what emotion it was in the Fox's eye. He could not tell if it was pride, or anger that hid behind its crimson orbs.

"I am surprised, ningen. Not just for the fact that you pulled it off, but that you made it so powerful," The fox smirked grandoisly down at the blond, his great canines glinted in the low light of the cavern. "You may not know this, but it is near impossible to create a jutsu in your own mindscape. It takes a level of concentration, that even the great Tobirama Senju struggled to obtain, to produce even the simplest of jutsu's. But to create them on such a scale needs a mental fortitude that not even he possessed. I'm impressed kit!" The fox laughed at Naruto's gobsmacked face. It was the best thing he had ever seen in his long tenure as a prisoner.

"Um … Um … Thanks," Naruto gulped at the very thought of being better than one of the great Kage's at something.

"Why did you never put that mind of yours towards bettering yourself?" The Kyuubi suddenly asked.

"Um, I did. Didn't you ever wonder why I wore Orange?" Naruto asked. The kyuubi stopped, pondered his words, and then blinked. Struck dumb by the very notion of that hideous color being a boon to his containers training was a blow to his pride as a thinking sentient being.

"Yeah, I mean, how do you think I got so good at hiding so well. I hid from the Anbu, pranked the living hell out of everyone with an ounce of power I thought better than me, and stole the Hokage's hat at least a half dozen times. How do you think I survived the years with everyone trying to kill me?" Naruto asked, a bit thick headedly as he scratched at the back of his head. While Naruto tried to think of what else he had done that people seemed to overlook, the Fox was busy trying to figure out how he had misjudged the boy before him so badly.

'How did I not see this? Just on his chakra reserves alone, he should be Kage level... Forget the fact that he has only ever used my own chakra once, and he was emotionally broken when that had happened. He's taken on ningen that were almost the level of Hashirama … Damned chakra battery that he was. Not to forget the skill of his own teammates and his sensei. He's taken on the likes of his villages strongest members, even their Hokage, and humiliated them thoroughly for years. He only ever failed when it was something that was out of his grasp; mentally, physically, or control wise. If he has the skill to accomplish it, its as good as done, and even then he works to finish what he started.'

"Kit, you are one scary ningen," The Fox muttered somberly as he watched the boy stare out towards the impromptu barricades they had erected. The Fox's eyes caught that the boy was watching how his Clones were busy checking the area for any survivors of the firestorm.

"Think we are done here Fox?" he asked.

"I think so Nin-Naru... Kit," The fox tripped over his words for a second but resigned himself to calling the blond by his favored nickname.

"Hmm?" Naruto looked up at the Fox's stumble. He saw that it was something that the fox himself was internalizing, and thus deemed it none of his business. "So, what now?"

"We wait. That is, unless you want to fight me?" The Kyuubi No Youko asked with a sinister grin that hid his true feelings.

"After seeing what you could do with just a breath of fresh air? Hell no, I don't want to die today-thank you very much!" Naruto laughed uproariously. This caught the Fox off guard for a moment, but he soon recovered and laughed along with him. "We should work together more often, Kyuubi-san."

Caught off guard once again, the Great Demon Fox shot the blond child a look of surprise.

"And why should we do that, Kit?" he asked.

"Because, I think we'll die here if we don't," Naruto quipped. This through the Fox for a loop, but the honesty in the blond Uzumaki's words made him stop short of the derisive response on the tip of his tongue.

"Why do you think we will die?"

"Remember what it said? It wasn't the true form of whatever it was that attacked us in here, just a 'Son' of a bigger bad guy. And if that is just the lesser of them, we need to be on guard. We need to get stronger, faster, smarter, and just all around a better bad-ass than we are now!" Naruto declared with his fist held high towards the great big fox.

"What do you say, Fox, partners?" He asked. The Fox blinked, and blinked again. He sat, blinked, and stared at the boy for a few moments more before he even did anything. When he did react, his reaction was not what Naruto had thought it would be.

"Alright Kit, but call me Kurama from now on. No partner of mine will call me anything else!" Kurama, smirked deviously at his partner. At that, he brought his own massive fist down and bumped it against Naruto's.

It was in the blink of an eye that things then changed. Everything went dark, Naruto could feel a comfortable surface underneath him, and his body was sluggish from some sort of trauma. He could feel a dull ache from most of his body. He slowly spread his concentration throughout the rest of his body, and found that he was not missing anything, and instead felt like there was something new to his body that he hadn't noticed before.

"Nice to see you awake again Dobe," a very familiar voice said from his left. It was happy, kind, and nothing like what he remembered it to be.

"Welcome to my mind, Falkus," Sasuke's voice reverberated through the empty landscape. Falkus was instantly on guard. He had never seen somewhere so empty before, nothing like this within the minds of his brothers, it set his teeth on edge.

"What is this place Sasuke," The giant in white-gray armor growled. He materialized his staff into his hand with a blue flame and a simple bolter in his other.

"This is the entrance, to my memories. I took you past the defenses I have set up for any intruders, and let you closer than you would have gotten on your own. Now, let me show you, everything!" The world around Falkus boomed with the overwhelming sound of Sasuke's voice. His head rung like a beat gong, and his eyes blurred when the room seemed to spin out of control for a second. He saw so much pain after the lights came on, as memories played. He saw happiness, in the oddest of places. He saw how an entire group of superior human beings were brought down by one of their own. He saw how the blond they had just started turning into an Astartes was more than just a child. He saw how the two children, no … Soldiers … had become almost brothers and then had their bond of brotherhood twisted by some abomination of science.

He saw how in their earlier days they had bested, almost single-handedly, a force of humans with abilities similar to a blooded Astartes. He marveled at the two as they called upon powers that should have been impossible to wield; saw how they used these powers to decimate their enemies.

The might of their strength and valor was the stuff of legends among the Astartes, a group, smaller than their own tactical squads, taking on an entire army, winning, and then free a country. Something that would have been akin to a squad of Luna Wolves taking on the armies of a single planet, on their own, winning, taking it under their wing and performing compliance upon it. Acts like those were unheard of, and simply not done.

He later saw how the blond, without any apparent urging from an outside source, had come to his brother's rescue and then, with some hidden power, protected them both from the warp. He saw how in the duo were tossed through the warp, almost untouched by the wiles of the vile place. He saw the creatures, he saw the doom that could have befallen them. He could not believe his eyes when they were dumped atop the mountain.

"How old are you, Sasuke Uchiha, second son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha?" Falkus asked as he watched the boy's memory self fight, and best, Garviel with his bare fists.

"I'm fourteen years old. Naruto's the same age as me," He answered freely.

Hearing that, Falkus almost blanched. Fourteen years old, and they had done things worthy of a full-blooded Space Marine. The battle experience rolled off the boys in waves now that he knew what to look for. Their muscles were taut, even while asleep, and Sasuke's eyes were always looking for a weak point to exploit should the need arise.

He was more than pleased to see such skill, though it also pained him to see such innocence destroyed so early in one's life.

"How do you smile, Sasuke?" he asked.

'I don't," Sasuke answered with finality, "Naruto does it for me. I told you, he's the only one that has ever understood me. And here's the kicker, I don't even think I know the half of his pain… And I've lost everything I ever had," Sasuke stared eerily at Falkus, his eyes almost dead and devoid of emotion.

Falkus stared for a second, just as his mind tried to truly comprehend what the boy was telling him. When he did, he felt a shiver run down his spine, something he had never, in his hundred and a half years of service to the Emperor, felt before. He then made a note of Sasuke's words, and vowed to peer into the mind of the boy they had just, unknowingly, inducted into their ranks.

"What do you mean, exactly, Sasuke?"

"Naruto has more pain in his heart than anyone I've ever known," he stated as if by rote. The fact hit Falkus in the face, as it was hard to piece the knowledge of such pain with the smiling face he had seen in Sasuke's memories. "He also has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. His strength of will is the stuff of legends."

A long silence engulfed the room after that. Falkus, wrapped up in his thoughts. Sasuke, privy to his own. Neither wanted to talk with the other, not out of spite, but out of courtesy for the others thoughts while they mulled over the new development coming into being before them.

Falkus tried to understand the powers that the two boys seemed to possess. Powers that he knew were not apart of the warp, nor any society he knew of. They were human, in the basest sense of the term, and had enough genetic similarities with the Humans of his universe to be able to reproduce should that have ever been what they wanted to do. Granted, with the boys already enhanced body, he doubted that he would be able to reproduce anyway.

"I think it is time to leave. I have seen your heart. I have looked upon tour pride, your hatred, your love, and your character, and judged you clean of the warp. Your heart, while filled with hatred, true hatred, is something that concerns me," he ignored the sound of Sasuke snarling, "I find that it is a righteous anger. It is an anger that befits the station of an Astartes, of a warrior of the Imperium of Man. If you would let us, we would mold you into a warrior without peer, save for those you make yourself. Do you accept this offer, Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yes. I accept your offer," Sasuke replied with a solemn air. But, what was left unsaid was the threat that should they betray him and his, he would tear them apart. Falkus shivered at the prospect of creating their own self-destruction. But, he also saw the greatness that the two young men would bring to the Legion and his Primarch.

As if from a dream, the legion Librarian, master of his psychic power and eternal seeker of knowledge, stumbled from his upright position in front of Sasuke. He blinked a time or two and zeroed his gaze in on the flint-like eyes of the young Uchiha. He chuckled, at first, then guffawed, and then outright laughed. The entire time he did this, two things were happening; first was there Sasuke was trying to not smirk at the incredulity the massive marine was showing, and second was how flabbergasted Loken was being as he watched the mesmerizing show.

For the Tenth Captain, it was a rare sight to see a Librarian laugh, mostly because of their stoic demeanor and how they viewed the world around themselves. So, to see one laugh, and at a something the child had done inside his mind no less, was simply amazing to him.

"Are you done yet?" Sasuke asked. His eyes, though filled with irritation, held a bit of mirth at the giant man's laughter.

"Ye-yes! By the Emperor boy, it is a wonder you didn't do more against Loken here!" Falkus exclaimed. He belted out another laugh and gently placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "You'll have to show me how fast you really are before we make you an Astartes... The simple fact you and your friend survived the warp untainted, sans the fact your friend has beat back a warp-spawned infection, is a miracle!" Sasuke had the decency to turn a bit red at this, both in embarrassment, and an odd sense of accomplishment.

"Survived the- how in the frozen wastes of Cthonia did they do that!" Loken asked, incredulous at the fact two small boys traversed the warp, and for their troubles all they got was a bit of poison.

"Aye! Loken, you should have seen some of the things these two young men have done, they could put some of our own men to shame!" Falkus exclaimed. "Aye, these two have toppled nations, fought monsters the likes of which would have been found in the swarms(*), and faced opponents that would very well have beaten our Father Primarch! They are more than blooded, they are battle tested!" Falkus boasted of the two boys' skills. Sasuke grew ever more embarrassed to have someone else, besides himself, laud his praises.

"Wha- I mean, how! They are but ten, maybe twelve at best, how have they done these things?!" Loken asked with disbelief.

"They were taught to fight since they were, what," He looked to Sasuke.

"Six, we were taught since the age of six to be shinobi, ninjas. Warriors for our villages that went out and either brought in revenue for our Hokage, village leader, or defended our village from invaders. I know I remember showing you the invasion of Konoha … And how explosive everything was," Sasuke hinted towards Falkus.

"Ah, yes, the Invasion. Watching that through your eyes was … Exhilarating. Loken, did you know they can create energy from within themselves? Not how I or my brethren harness the Warp, but a separate energy from everything. From what I gathered from your memories, Sasuke, it flows through everything … Does it flow even here?" The large man asked the boy, his rapid changing of subjects leaving both Loken and Sasuke in the dust.

"Um … Yes, I have felt it here. Though, it's not as strong as it was in my … World?" Sasuke asked the man. He was not sure if he was on another world, or what.

"Yes, you are on a different planet, and most likely in a different galaxy to boot. The fact that you can still feel your planets base energy means you have not traversed the fabric of dimensions like I had thought, but simply the vastness of space... I think, the trickeries of the warp can be fickle. For all we know, it may have created this energy here just so it could confuse us. There are many possibilities," Falkus ranted off, his mind trailing into unexplored territory as he puzzled out the meaning behind the two boys' appearance in heir universe.

"That was... Enlightening?" Loken oddly said. He had meant it as a statement, but with how uncertain he was, it instead came out as a question.

"Yes, yes it was," Sasuke affirmed, confirming that at least one of them understood the babble that had escaped the Librarians lips. Sasuke turned away from the two large men and faced the window. As he peered through it, he watched the two Apothecaries work tirelessly over his friend. He contemplated the information he had gleaned from within the Librarians mind, something he had learned to do after spending so long getting his own mind probed by the Yamanaka in his home village. What he saw surprised him.

An entire race of people, all brothers, all warriors, all ready and willing to aid in almost anything that would harm the rest of their people. It was what he had envisioned the Uchiha to be when he was a child. But he also saw the veins of deceit and betrayal creeping in, even among the ranks of these … Luna Wolves. He had seen what betrayal had done to his village, the invasion, his brother, and almost himself. He would not allow that to befall those that had saved his blond brother.

He had also seen the rest of the Imperium from within Falkus' mind. He saw the Emperor, as he was before the rest of the legions had been swept up and given their Leaders, their Primarchs, their Fathers. He saw how the man had led his people, like a true Hokage. He also saw how powerful the Imperium was, and how vast. He saw the monsters arrayed against it, and the atrocities they had had to commit to save their peoples, and defend against the monsters hidden in the dark.

It was almost no different to what the Hidden villages did on a daily basis to safeguard their borders and their people. The only difference was the almost unimaginable scale that the Imperium fought on.

"Captain Loken?" Sasuke asked over his shoulder. He heard the man shift in his direction. "When they are done with Naruto, I want to see him."

It was more of a statement of fact that he would see him, and not a question of if.

"I will make it to where you can see him soon, but remember, he is healing. He will not be able to do much else besides sleep and talk if he wakes up."

"That's more than enough for me, and I wouldn't put down for the count just yet, he's very resilient that way," Sasuke smirked as he said this, knowing for a fact that any sort of hospital setting would almost make the blond menace heal fast enough to get out.