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Chapter 3
Cold. Pain. Darkness. These were the things Naruto was first aware of as he regained consciousness. He let out a groan as he felt his body and to his relief it didn't seem as though his bones were broken, though there was an odd feeling from his front. 'W-what happened?' Naruto thought blearily as he tried to remember what he was doing before he blacked out.
It all came rushing back to him. The village under siege, leading the noncombatants away, running into the Awakened Being, the fight, the second Awakened, and losing. Naruto would have jolted up by this point but his body still felt sluggish for some reason. 'Wait, I should have had at least some broken bones from that last attack. So why don't I feel any pain?' the blond thought suddenly.
Warily opening his eyes, he noticed the sun was in the noon position. How many hours or days he was unconscious was anyone's guess. Slowly, Naruto stood up and tested his limbs, which popped from lack of use. His clothes were dirty and torn up in places, yet still usable. What worried the whiskered warrior though was his seeming lack of injuries. All thoughts of that were forgotten though, as he started to notice his surroundings. "I'm back near the village! It should just be over that hill," he muttered as he began climbing said hill, despite the fact that he knew a battle had just taken place before the evacuation. All he could currently think about in his delirious state was how close home was, how close his family and safety was.
Naruto reached the peak of the hill and gasped in despair at what he saw. What was once a bustling town was now a scorched patch of earth with the burnt out husks of buildings here and there. There were also the corpses. Like the houses, they were so burnt that it was nearly impossible to tell what they once were. Some of the bodies were scattered about, others were in large groups, while others still were in pieces. While there were a large number of yoma corpses mixed in, it was clear the large majority of bodies were human. The only thing all the bodies shared was that they all seemed to be split open down the front. Naruto figured in his hazy mind that the other yoma must have gotten hungry before burning all the evidence and had their fill on the guts of the dead, both human and yoma, probably while a few of them were still alive.
The blond was about to sink to his knees in despair but some force seemed to want to push him forward. He walked until he got near the remains of what he believed to be once his home, and his world shattered. Lying next to each other a few feet away from the house were two bodies nearly side by side. They were almost identical to the other bodies around them but they had certain features that made them stick out to the boy. The one, slightly larger corpse held what looked like a spear with the blade at the end broken, though it looked like there were once three blades that formed a cross. The other, slightly smaller corpse, had burnt chains wrapped around its arm, the weapon Naruto knew to have been attached to its end was nowhere in sight. The amount of yoma bodies around them were staggering, nearly two dozen formed around the couple in a circle of death. It was clear the two had fought valiantly, being forced back towards their home before succumbing to the beasts that attacked them.
'M-Mom…D-D-Dad,' Naruto thought shakily with tears blurring his vision. So many emotions were running through the teens mind at super-sonic speeds. Grief, pain, and sadness were chief among them but the one that really stood out was rage. He got onto his hands and knees while his tear filled eyes were looking at, but not really seeing, his clutched, shaking hands. Nor did he feel his body shaking in a similar way or the way his front area started to give off a burning, yet pleasurable feeling to it. All Naruto could do was listen to his raging thoughts.
'Why, WHY did this happen?!' his mind screamed. Remembering what he saw before he was knocked out, the man in black talking to the two Awakened, his thoughts turned darker. 'It was all THEIR faults! They planned this whole thing! Why dammit, WHY!?'
It was at this point the whiskered boy's body started to violently spasm, as if he was going into some sort of fit. Unknown by Naruto, his eyes turned a glowing yellow before they darkened into a bloody red with the pupil becoming slit while his muscles bulged then shrank repeatedly. Veins popped up all over his body while the teeth in Naruto's mouth became wicked fangs, and his nails on his hands and feet became claw-like. Before too long, his body's reactions forced even his racked thoughts to come to a screeching halt.
"What's going on?!" Naruto gasped out in a fluctuating pitch as he felt his body start to jerk more and more violently. His hair became even more spiked and wild looking while the veins on his face seemed to blend in with his whisker-like birthmarks, making them seem darker and more feral. The teen grasped his arms around his midsection while his head smacked into the charred earth underneath him. His lungs pulled desperately for air while his front felt like it was on fire, both burning him yet giving him chills of pleasure at the same time. It was almost like he wanted to
WAKE UP!
The demonic sounding voice echoed through his head and his world slowly was enclosed by darkness. Before there was only black, Naruto's last thought echoed in his mind, '…why?'
Scene Break
Naruto groaned as he warily opened his eyes. All around he could feel cool grass tickling his sides while what felt like a light rain pelted his face. His mind catching up with his eyes, Naruto found himself staring at a cloudy sky overhead with rain falling down at a slow yet steady pace. Turning his head side to side, the blond found he was no longer in the burnt out remains of his village, but in some wide open field with long grass swaying in the breeze and large trees surrounded the clearing.
"How'd I get here?" Naruto wondered as he slowly stood up and took in the area. "It was sunny when I blacked out and I don't recognize this place. Could all that have…?"
"…been a dream?" A mocking yet familiar sounding voice finished behind him. Spinning around, Naruto came face to face with…himself?
No, not quite himself. While the figure standing on the other side of the field looked a lot like Naruto, there were several key differences. The color of the other Naruto was almost of a duller shade then the actual Naruto, like he was surrounded by a mist of some sort. Then there were the eyes. The whites were a pitch black color while the retinas were a deep scarlet, the pupil being none existent (Yami Naruto). The figure had a cocky, and somewhat bloodthirsty smirk smeared across his face and his arms were folded confidently across his chest. The other Naruto's smirk widened and Naruto caught a glimpse of sharp teeth filling his mouth.
"Hey me!" the other Naruto called out, snapping Naruto back to attention. Even his other self's voice sounded different, like it was a shadow of what it really was. Dead and lifeless. The Other continued, "So glad you could finally come here. Sorry there's not much to the décor, but since this is your mind I wasn't really able to spruce up the place, ya know?" All of this was said in a mocking tone, all the while the Other never let up his smirk.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked/demanded while getting into a ready stance. Something theOther said clicked in his mind and Naruto added, "And what do you mean by my mind?!"
"Oh, where are my manners?" the Other said with a mock bow, "I guess you could say I'm the manifestation of the new, better you. The you that Awakened from the yoma flesh implanted in you. And this place," he waved his hand around the field, "is a representation of the inside of your mind. The reason why you're here is because it's time for me to take over." He finished with a sick grin.
Naruto stared at the manifestation in horror. There had been rumors of how Awakened Beings were formed, and there had been whispered rumors that the Organization used humans that crossed them to form new Awakened in order to send to their enemies. It was like placing a rabid dog in a room full of people, the dog would attack and kill all in the area and by the time all was said and done, the dog was put down itself. Feeling under his shirt, Naruto felt large stitches covering his torso like he was a human rag doll and flinched in pain. Now though wasn't the time to panic, Naruto thought, trying to snap out of his horrifying revelation. A loud growl formed in his throat and the awakening teen's hand grasped behind his back, luckily finding one of his long knives before he whipped it out and held it in a defensive position.
The Other looked amused at the action as he cocked his head to the side. "Oh, so you plan to fight me? Alright," he said while pulling out a blade from behind his back and getting into a similar stance, "It'll be an amusing bit of exercise before I make this body mine!" he continued with a sadistic smirk. "Then, when this bodies mine, I think I'll do you a favor and kill those bastards tha' did this to this to the town 'fore I get some guts to eat!" He finished with a chilling laugh.
"Not if I can help it!" Naruto shouted out as he braced himself for the fight. They stood there for a minute in the falling rain, that seemed to be increasing in intensity as time went on, before by some unsaid signal sent the two rushing at each other in a blur of speed and steel. The two clashed in the middle of the field, their blades forming a shower of sparks that mixed with the rain. Naruto broke off the confrontation first with the Other mirroring the action perfectly.
Naruto went for an overhead slash while the Other mixed it up and slashed his blade in an upward arc. The blades once again met in a loud clang and the Other whipped his left foot that dug into Naruto's side. The whiskered blond gave a gasping cough that had blood spitting out of his mouth. Naruto swaggered but remained standing, before he sent his unoccupied fist into a punch that connected with his doppelganger's face. Unlike the original, the Other merely grinned as blood leaked out of the corner of his mouth. The two once more charged at each other in a clash of blades that went at speeds with increasing intensity. The speeds got to the point that their arms and blades were like a blur, the occasional spark shower being the only sign that the blades were actually meeting. After this continued for what felt like hours (which was more likely several minutes) the two once more broke apart in near mirror images and slid across from each other to five yards apart. They then charged at each other with near superhuman speeds and in a flash of lightning, where facing away from each other nearly the same distance apart. All was still for a few seconds when a sudden spray of blood appeared on Naruto's forehead, and a similar cut appeared on the Other's shoulder.
Much to Naruto's surprise, he heard his darker half chuckle to himself, audible even over the now pouring rain and, with a boom of thunder, the chuckle suddenly escalated into an insane cackle that raised the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck. Both turned to face each other and Naruto asked the still laughing shadow, "What's so funny?!"
The Other merely glowered as he sheathed the blade behind his back. He then cracked his neck and Naruto noticed the cut on his shoulder was healing at a rapid pace. The Other then spoke, "Oh, I just got a little bored with this fight. Y'see, while we're nearly even at this level, I can crank it up a notch. You can't." he finished in an animalistic growl and a red, wispy energy started to pour off his body. The energy continued to build, and the hairs on Naruto's body stood on end as if the double was releasing a static force.
Suddenly, the Other's appearance started to shift and blur while the energy continued to rise. His teeth and nails seemed to lengthen into sharp points while his hair grew wilder. The manifestation's lips became a blackish hue while a similar color appeared to shadow his red eyes and his whisker marks darkened. There was a cracking of bones as the Other's face seemed to lengthen into a muzzle as well as the now pointed ears. The legs gave another crack as they bent and twisted to resemble that of a dog's, and a red-orange fur started to cover his body. Naruto then noticed his opponent's body seemed to be getting larger as his muscles seemed to swell with an unknown amount of power. Soon, the transforming creature was towering over even the tallest tree, easily passing 100 feet in height! When the creature stopped growing, there was a rumbling noise and suddenly nine long, furry, and majestic looking tails suddenly burst forth from the thing's spine, the red energy sinking into the beast's body.
Naruto could only continue to stare in both awe and fear at the ghastly transformation that occurred to the being that once looked like him. Even while sitting, the being now towered over him like a human would to a cockroach, it's now vulpine head nearly as big as his house was. The creature looked like a fox, though in other ways it was also wolf like in appearance. The thing's torso looked human though with pectorals and shoulders that went down into human like hands that were covered in fur and had wicked long nails on the ends of the fingers. Turning its inhuman eyes downward, the nine-tailed fox spotted the only other being in the area: Naruto. The beast smiled at the boy, its razor sharp teeth now the size of one of the surrounding trees and gave a terrible, booming laugh that was even louder than the surrounding thunder.
"Now, do you want to surrender this body to me or do we have to do things the fun way?" It boomed in a horrifyingly demonic voice, similar to the one Naruto heard before he lost consciousness.
Naruto was terrified. If he wasn't paralyzed at the moment, Naruto was sure he'd wethimself with how hopelessly terrifying this all was. But, in either a moment of extreme bravery or extreme stupidity, Naruto gave a strangled war cry and rushed the beast, pulling his second dagger out as he went.
"Fun way it is then," the Other chuckled as he saw the insignificant insect charge at him. Rearing its head back, the beast gathered air and gave a deafening ROAR at the blond, the force behind the sound sent Naruto flying across the field to the edge of the trees with his ears ringing. Struggling to get up and regain his sense of balance, Naruto once more tried charging the creature. While the teen knew his situation was hopeless, he nevertheless wasn't going to go down without a fight! He'd never be able to face his fellow villagers in the afterlife if he did anything less.
The monster fox simply raised its hand and swatted Naruto away as one would a fly. The blonde's body bounced across the field, smashing into several trees, before coming to a halt nearly a mile away, broken and defeated. The large fox stalked towards him at impressive speeds, the ground trembling with each mighty step. No longer smiling, the fox growled in its terrible voice, "Does it become clear now? Even if that was a mere love tap, you lie there battered and broken. You've no prayer of defeating me so just submit to me. It will be far less painful and I'll take good care of your body."
Naruto could barely hear what was spoken to him, the blood pooling around his body along with broken bones poking through the flesh in some areas. Not even when that other Awakened blindsided him had he felt this much pain! A large shadow crossed his face as the titanic fox shadowed his body. 'This is it, huh?' Naruto thought with a strange feeling of acceptance. 'Forced to become a raging beast that'll terrorize humanity until it's put down. Never thought I'd go this way. My only regret…is that I couldn't save anyone. Hell, I can't even avenge them. Mom, Dad, I'm sorry,' Naruto thought as he slowly started to close his now heavy eyes. The rain feeling cool against his battered flesh, though on the inside Naruto thought it felt much colder.
…
…
"…it's also our duty as parents to trust in our children."
Naruto's eye's twitched as he remembered his father's last words to him.
"Remember Naruto, your parent's love you no matter what."
Now a previously broken finger dug into the ground as one of his mom's favorite sayings repeated in his mind.
"You'll look after the others if anything happens, won't you Naruto?"
The sun broke through the rain.
Naruto's eyes snapped open at that, remembering the question both his parent's asked him during his last birthday when he officially became a "man." It was his duty now to protect everyone! Images of his parents, Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo, and other members of the village flashed through his mind.
'I can't give up yet! I have to be strong for my family!' "For EVERYONE!" Naruto shouted out the last part as he leapt up, catching the gigantic claw that was just about to impale him. The look on the fox's face was one of complete surprise and maybe just a hint of fear. The blonde's injuries just seemed to melt away as he now stood whole and healthy once more. 'That's right. It's my mind so it's my rules,' Naruto thought in understanding.
Before, when he first saw the Other, he looked like him so he assumed they'd be evenly matched, and so they were. Then, when the Other transformed, he looked unbeatable and so he was. Now though, with Naruto's mind focused on what was important, the monster fox might as well have been a small rabbit trying to escape its cage. With a heave, Naruto sent the fox sprawling onto its back, causing a massive earthquake to shake the land. The demon quickly scrambled to his feet with a roar, though to Naruto now that roar sounded like the mewing of a kitten.
"I'LL SHOW YOU!" the beast roared as the red energy that previously surrounded him returned and started to gather by his now raised mouth, the tails pointing towards the mouth as well to form a focus point. The energy formed into a ball that started as even larger than the fox until it condensed into a much smaller sphere. The monster then shoved the ball into its mouth and its cheeks bulged with the built up energy. It then looked at Naruto with hatred blazing in its crimson eyes before it unleashed the attack in a large explosion!
The ball headed towards Naruto at blistering speeds but Naruto simply held fast before raising his hands in a defensive position and catching the ball before it could make full contact. The force behind the energy ball was enough to cause Naruto's legs to sink into the ground but he held firm. The manifestation looked utterly gob smacked as his most powerful attack was stopped so simply, against a simple human as well! With a large grunt, Naruto tossed the ball back at the fox who tried to dodge but unlike Naruto was unsuccessful in his attempts. The resulting explosion was enormous! All of the surrounding trees bent back from the force while the closest ones were disintegrated. Others were knocked down or set aflame due to their close proximity.
When the resulting smoke cleared, the fox was shown to now be the one on its back with scorch marks covering most of his body and patches of fur were missing. Bloody cuts and bruises were everywhere and one of the monster's eyes where forced shut from the damage. Naruto fearlessly walked up to the downed beast and jumped onto its arm where he proceeded to walk to where the head was. Looking down blearily, the defeated monster simply looked at the approaching blond and asked in a much quieter, raspy voice, "…how?"
Naruto merely shook his head and, with a snap of his fingers, chains erupted from the ground and pinned the fox firmly in place. Continuing his trek, Naruto stood right in front of the fox's black nose and looked it right in the eye. With unwavering eyes, Naruto spoke, "I've got too many things to do and too many precious people to protect for someone like you to stop me. That's why I won."
The beast seemed to struggle to speak as it ask, "Why would you want to protect these pathetic meat bags anyway? You're so much more than them now…surely you can see that! Even if you want to protect them, they'll still see you as a monster for what you are now. You know there is no going back, right? Besides, anyone who would have accepted you is dead now, so what's the point?!"
Naruto kept his cool gaze on the struggling fox before answering, "I want to protect them because it's the right thing to do. While I may no longer be considered human, I was born human and have lived as a human all my life. If I can make sure that others can have that experience, I'll gladly carry this burden. As for those who've died, I still carry their wills and their memories. All of this is precious to me, and my parent's always taught me that in order to be strong, you must protect what's precious to you."
The Other gave a weak chuckle as the red energy from earlier started to leak off his body and go into Naruto. "Heh, well-spoken Naruto. While losing sucks, I guess it ain't so bad that it was to a guy like you. Hope you make good on that resolve of yours, otherwise I'll come back and kick your ass!" With that, the other gave a laugh as the rest of his body was converted into red energy and was absorbed into Naruto. The whiskered blond smiled at that and looked at his clenched fist, feeling the near limitless power now coursing through his body.
"Don't worry," Naruto said out loud as he saw his surroundings once more start to fade away, "I will."
Scene Break
Naruto awoke to find himself once more in his burnt out town. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here," he grumbled as he picked himself up. One of the first things he noticed, much to his embarrassment, was that he was now as naked as the day he was born. Luckily, it looked like no one was around for now.
At first, Naruto briefly wondered if the whole thing had been a dream, but then he felt the burning, powerful energy now coursing through him and his now unmarked front, Naruto banished those thoughts. Looking at his hand once more, Naruto figured he'd try something. With a push of concentration, Naruto's hand suddenly transformed into that of his beastly counterparts. After looking at his paw-like hand for a few seconds, Naruto transformed it back to normal. Looks like he could Awaken to his fox form now. While he wanted to test his new abilities, he first looked back to the bodies of his parents, a twinge of sadness going through his entire being before he pushed back such thoughts else they consume him. There would be time to grieve later. First, he had to give a proper burial to the dead. Then, he'd look for survivors of the village and hope he'd run into Suigetsu and Juugo again. Hopefully, they didn't get treated in a similar manner.
But first thing, he mentally noted as a breeze blew by, was that he needed some clothes. Odd that what would normally cause him to shiver just was a minor annoyance now. Oh well, he'd have plenty of time to ponder it later. Right now, he had more important things to do as he went towards the wreckage of his house, hoping some clothes survived.
AN: Hey all! Hope you liked this latest chapter! Now the fight here was inspired by Naruto vs. Yami Naruto and Naruto vs. Kurama with some key differences. The next chapter involves Naruto testing his new powers, finding the other three members of his team, and setting off to train. The following chapter will move back to the present. There are a few secrets of Naruto's new abilities that will be revealed in time, as well as why the whole mindscape battle happened in the first place, seeing as none of the other Claymores seem to have experienced something similar. Now I have a little announcement to make. During the month of August, I'll be taking a small break from my main stories to write several more of my challenge chapters. Now before you freak out, I want you all to know I have every intentions of continuing by the end of August/early September, around when school starts back up. Until next time, please Read, Review, and Enjoy!
