Chapter 3: The Black
I tensed, and held still. For a long moment, there was nothing, save the heat of the fire consuming the sand demon's slowly burning corpse.
Then the ground began to shake, as a single, flaming mote rose from it's corpse. Gaara, his face all but melted off, his eyes once again human, smiled tightly.
And as he spoke, a writhing darkness fell from a hole cut into the sky.
"Demonic Art: Lair of the Sand King."
"Kid! Contact the fox and get the fire user out of the area!"
I made a shadow clone and shouted out orders. It turned and ran, taking a now-unconcious Sasuke with it while at the same moment I thought, or spoke, or whatever the right verb is when you talk to a demon stored within you.
'Hey! Bastard fox!'
And then everything dissolved into darkness.
I landed in that selfsame sewer system, and the fox spoke without preamble, "NO. GO AWAY."
"What? Come on! I though you liked chaos and destruction! This is your game!"
"YOU HAVE NOT EVEN A SINGLE CONCEPT OF THE FORCES AT PLAY HERE. I WILL NOT HELP YOU BREAK THE FABRIC OF YOUR WORLD, SUCH A THING WOULD BE OUR DEATH."
"Then how do I defeat this thing⁉" I demanded, frustrated.
"LOCATE THE SEAL ON SHUKAKU'S HUMAN. USE A NON-MODAL DISRUPTIO—" The fox looked at me for a few moments, as if evaluating me. It seemed to come to a decision then continued, " JUST USE A BINDING LIKE THE OROCHIMARU USED ON YOU. IT WILL BE ENOUGH."
"But how do I—" I was back in the real world. "Fucking fox," I muttured angrily. Then, glancing at here the black thing had fallen from the sky.
I saw but didn't see the thing because it was a hole that was nothing but I saw it so it couldn't be nothing that was like darkness and fluid but also solid and The Black—
A torrent of the Kyuubi's chakra surged into me, and my vision cleared as I understood: I was looking at the truth of the sand demon sealed up inside of Gaara, and it was anathema to everything. Now, with the Kyuubi's own demonic chakra circulating through my system, I saw it's shape. A nest of black spines of something like obsidian, but not, arranged in an alien and hateful geometry. They were slowly spreading out, eating away at the forest, and in a low voice I asked, "Gamabunta? Do any toads know seals really well?"
But didn't get any reply. Then, it occurred to me that Gamabunta would be having the same problems I had had before the Kyuubi gave me enough of it's power to understand.
"GAMABUNTA!" I shouted, focusing my chakra into my voice and lungs. What came out of my mouth was more like an explosion than any coherent words— but it worked. The toad boss shivered for a second before shaking his head so violently that I was almost thrown off, then closing his eyes so he couldn't see the alien thing consuming the forest in front of us.
"Did the fox give you anything?" He cut right to the chase.
"Just some advice. Are there any toads good with seals?"
"Fukusaku is the master. Do you really need him?"
"Unless you know what the fox meant by non-modal disruption? Yeah, I do."
"Non-modal wha— Yeah, I'll call him." Gamabunta said, and launched into a summoning jutsu, continuing it for a full fifteen seals beyond what I thought the summoning Jutsu contained.
"Fukusaku-sama, we need your aid," he said. Chakra flexed, and then... Nothing.
"What's wrong?" I shouted, feeling real worry for the first time since the battle started. Gamabunta grunted.
"...only Jiraiya has the right to summon Fukusaku-sama. All I can do is give him the Chakra he needs to make the trip, and hope he's in the mood."
"Kuso—!" I shouted, feeling frustration well up.
"Problem boys?" Asked an unfamiliar voice from behind my back. Gamabunta stiffened, and I whirled around. There, in a tiny black cloak, stood a toad that looked weirdly like the old man.
Remebering Gamabunta's respect, I spoke, "Fukusaku-sama, I'm the new toad summoner, Uzumaki Naruto."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Naruto-kun." He said, smiling. There, done, I satisfied politeness, now-
"As you can see, we have a bit of a demon problem."
Fukusaku leaned to one side, and froze momentarily before jerking back.
"Yes," he agreed, his tone flat, "You seem to have a rather serious one. Well— you asked for me, so what do I have that you need?"
I blinked. That was easier than I had thought it would be. But questioning good fortune was stupid, so I launched straight into my explanation. "My own demon is refusing to help. So, we need to get to the host, figure out it's seal, and—"
"Ah! Brilliant!" Fukusaku said, seemingly understanding the rest on his own, "Then, I will do my best. 'Bunta, you have my permission."
His permission? His permission for what? My question was soon answered when a palpable weight seemed to settle around Gamabunta, a sheer force of presence that was above and beyond anything I had ever felt before. Then, Gamabunta moved. It was so violently sudden that I just lost my footing, and fell down to the ground, forming some clones in the air to grab us and throw us up to absorb some of the velocity of our descent.
"My thanks," Fukusaku said once we had reached the ground, flashing through a series of hand seals. With a minor twist of Chakra, a set of fuda tags and a pen were summoned from wherever summoned things came from, and Fukusaku began to write, explaining as he went. "We don't know the modality of the target's seal, so we cant cause a contradiction error. Unfortunately, what that means is that I will only be able to provide you with..."
He paused, forming a half-ram seal as he completed a tag, "Four seal tags at most. Any more, and the exertion would be actively harmful to me. Now, summoner, you must understand: These seals are not solely for pacifying the demon container— once you engage, he'll begin using more demonic arts—" He completed another tag, "These seals are designed to negate such things. You must land one on him. The others, they exist that you might survive to do so." He completed the third tag, and began trembling, "Whatever you do, you must end the Shukaku's ability to perform demonic arts through the host. Even if it costs your life— that nest of corruption must be ended now. If it survives much longer..." He completed the last seal, sagging visibly as he did so, "Then this world may well be forfeit. Now, take the seals and my kit, and return to 'Bunta. Tell him you are ready. He will know what to do."
With that, Fukusaku's form wavered, and popped out of existence, leaving behind the sealing kit and tags. I picked up the tiny kit and closed it, stowing it in one pocket along with the complete tags, and placed the blank ones in another. Then I began to run back to Gamabunta— and it was actually easy, because the Ichibi seemed to have lost the ability to attack on multiple fronts the moment it had begun this... This... Whatever it was.
Gamabunta was fighting a mindless swarm of black, shapeless projections, his eyes closed but somehow not causing him to be any less effective. As I approached, his posture shifted subtly, and he made a useless-looking swipe with his blade, the entire thing not even coming close to the nest of thorns-but they all shattered three seconds later.
"Kid, hop on!" He shouted, and I did so, running up his back. "Did Fukusaku come through?"
"He did. He also said to tell you that... I was ready? I think?"
Somewhere in the background of my consciousness, roaring laugher echoed "Jump into my hand and grab my knife, kid—" I did, and an absolutely oceanic amount of the heavy presence gathered around the knife a Gamabunta continued, "and whatever you do..."
Gamabunta wound up his arms as a titanic, pure-obsidian shukaku with blazing red eyes began to form from the ground-
"DON'T LET GO!"
And then Gamabunta threw his knife directly at the hole in the sky.
Questions? Comments? Hated this story? Loved it? Think I should be tortured for all eternity? Leave a review, and feed my muse! IT HUNGERS.
Author's Notes
I have a confession to make. The concept of this story is at least 20% Naruto, with more insanely badass fight scenes.
Also, first person to figure out what my muse is wins absolutely nothing. So there's some incentive for you.