This chapters serves as one of the main diverging points with canon, so I hope everyone is able to follow along and continue to enjoy the story.
Chapter 6- Hidden Doors, Revealing Contracts
Naruto stood alone at the base of the far side of the volcano that resided on Duel Academy Isle. Night was fast approaching, the sky cast in many shades of orange, red and the beginnings of blue and purple. A brisk breeze swept through the clearing, caressing the skin of the blondes exposed arms, and reminding him why he was the only soul still on the island. The first semester at Duel Academy had gone by relatively quickly after the fiasco with Chazz's departure. No one, not even the black haired duelists so called friends, seemed to care that he had left, even Crowler had gotten over his leaving rather quickly after his two weeks of leave. That thought caused Naruto to frown, while he may not have exactly liked the stuck up Obelisk he at least appreciated his dueling prowess and considered him as a rival in some regard. With that in mind, he had decided that, in the event of Chazz's return to Duel Academy, he would at least be more courteous towards him and if the youth returned the sentiment, he would extend a hand of friendship.
The only other moments of interest had been when Bastion finally worked up the courage to ask Jasmine to be his girlfriend. Though, the verbal lashing Naruto gave him along with the blonde's threat of beating the genius from one end of the island to the other if he didn't hurry up and ask the redhead out probably helped move that along. After that, the rest of the semester had been all around quiet and honestly a little boring to the former shinobi. Sure he got to duel quite a bit and occasionally knock a stuck up Obelisk down a peg or ten, but to someone who was used to the danger and adventures the life of a shinobi brought, it was downright dull by comparison.
That is what brought Naruto out to the forest this night, to help alleviate that boredom, and keep his skills sharp at the same time. 'You ready sweetie?' Naruto opened his eyes and saw that his mother's spirit had appeared in front of him. A smirk spread across his face as he closed his eyes again in concentration, calling upon his chakra for what felt like the first time in a long time. His right hand ignited in a fiery blue blaze, the density of his chakra becoming too great to contain within his body. Raising his hand, Naruto placed his index and middle fingers to his mother's translucent forehead, transferring his chakra into her spiritual form. Slowly, the spectral form of Kushina began to solidify as her son's chakra gave her physical form once again.
Retracting his hand from his mother's now physical form, Naruto took a step back and the two shared a smile before schooling their faces into neutral masks and leapt away from each other, landing on either side of the clearing. "Small scale ninjutsu and taijutsu only, we can't risk discovery or destroying the island by accident," said Naruto, settling into a loose stance, ready to move at a moment's notice.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but are you really one to talk about nondestructive jutsu?" taunted Kushina, settling into a stance of her own and sizing up her soon to be opponent. Naruto had fore gone his usual attire, instead opting for something more suitable for shinobi. Loose fitting black pants, with shuriken holsters sown in on either side, similar to those once worn by Anbu, lead down to black, shinobi style sandals. On his torso was a simple white fighting gi, held together by a white sash around his waist. The upper part of his gi was left open, revealing the mesh armor he had underneath it. His wrists were bound in white tape, and he had taken his old Konoha headband from his arm and placed it where it was truly meant to be worn. Finishing off the blondes outfit, was her former katana, tucked into the sash holding his gi together, reminiscent of a samurai.
While Kushina was sizing him up, Naruto was doing the same with her; she was wearing the same outfit that Pegasus had designed for her duel monsters card. Skin tight black shorts that reached mid-thigh, along with black stockings that went from her sandal covered feet to just a few inches beneath were her shorts ended. She also had on a shortened, crimson red battle kimono held together by a black obi. On her back was a copy of the katana Naruto now wielded, and even though it wasn't the original, the blonde knew it still possessed the same powers as the one at his hip.
Grasping the sheath of his blade with his left hand, Naruto placed his right hand over the hilt of the katana, ready to draw at a moment's notice. "Ready?" seeing the stance her son had taken, Kushina grasp the hilt of her own blade, "Hajime!" Faster than the normal human eye could see, the two fighters closed the distance between them, the clashing of their blades whipping up a gale of wind. Breaking away from their deadlock, the two combatants jumped back from each other, before charging back in to engage in a deadly dance of blades.
Naruto ducked under a swing that would have taken his head off, and retaliated with an upward swing that would cleave his mother in two. However, Kushina wasn't known as one of Konoha's greatest swordswomen for nothing. She jumped and swung her body so her feet were up in the air while simultaneously positioning her katana to block Naruto's strike. The two swords met, and the momentum Naruto's swing generated was enough to push his mother's airborne body higher, just as she had planned it would. Contorting her body so that she was parallel with the ground, and with a quick surge of chakra, Kushina began to spin into a high speed barrel roll, her katana little more than a blur as she fell back towards her son. The blonde cursed as he was forced to parry his mother's attempts to cut him to ribbons. He was so focused on deflecting her katana that he didn't notice when one of Kushina's hands touched down on the grassy clearing or the helicopter kick that sent him sprawling towards the edge of the clearing.
"Come on Naruto-kun, we both know you're better than this," said Kushina, a frown marring her features as she watched her downed son get to his feet.
A chuckle sounded throughout the clearing, though it wasn't coming from either combatant. "You're right, but have you forgotten about my favorite technique?" Kushina gasped as the Naruto she had been fighting disappeared in a cloud of smoke. That single lapse in focus was all the opening the real Naruto needed to appear behind his mother and send her sprawling with a powerful kick to her back. The blonde chuckled again as he watched his mother get to her feet and glare daggers at him, "Well you did ask for my best didn't you kaa-chan?"
"If that's how you want to play, then I guess I better step things up," sheathing her katana, Kushina flew through a short series of seals, instantly putting Naruto on edge. "Suiton: Exploding Water Colliding Wave," her cheeks swelled as she kneaded her chakra into water before expelling an incredible wave of water towards Naruto. Said blonde shinobi prepared to counter with his katana, only to find himself incapable of moving as numerous glowing chakra chains erupted from the ground, trapping him in place.
Seeing that he had no way of escape and the massive wave of water was fast approaching, Naruto had only one thought, 'Well, this is gonna suck.' With that the wave crashed down on him, sweeping away everything in sight, only stopping when it met resistance in the form of the islands volcano.
Kushina took a deep breath after ending the flow of water from her lungs. She had put a lot of chakra into that technique, more than what was particularly necessary, but she couldn't help being vengeful, and that kick Naruto had gotten her with was a cheap shot! 'But then again…' she thought as she watched the raging waters of her technique slam into the face of the volcano over and over again, "Maybe I went a little over board, sure hope Naruto-kun's alright."
"Your concerns touching kaa-chan," the fiery redhead stiffened as she felt the cold steel of a blade being pressed against her jugular, "But as you can tell, I'm fine."
"How?" she asked as Naruto pulled his katana away from her neck, both knowing he had won the spar.
"You can thank tou-san; he's the one who left me the technique."
"Hiraishin," deadpanned Kushina, "You know you and father could be real pains in the ass with that technique. It takes the fun out of sparring when all you have to do is teleport to one of your markers." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as his mother began another rant about the Hiraishin. Despite her status as a legendary kunoichi, Kushina still retained a childish streak that had a tendency to raise its head whenever she got worked up, like right now.
'Guess I know who I inherited that personality trait from,' just as he was about to speak up and put an end to the kunoichi's rant, a purple glow caught his attention. There, on Kushina's back, was the Hiraishin marker he had placed on her, shining with an ominous purple glow. 'What the hell? The jutsu-shiki never glows, not unless…' "Oh shit, kaa-chan, move!" faster than she could react, Naruto ripped off the part of her shirt that had his marker on it and pulled her away just before a dark pillar of energy consumed the area they had vacated.
"What the fuck is that, 'ttebayo!?" the redhead shouted, her old verbal tick coming through.
"Trouble," pulling himself and Kushina to their feet, Naruto narrowed his eyes towards the swirling pillar of energy, "When I duplicated the jutsu-shiki of the Hiraishin, I added an identification formula that was keyed to my chakra, only allowing me to utilize the marker. But should anyone else or any outside source of chakra attempt to use the marker, it would begin to glow, informing me of the interference."
"So someone managed to force their chakra into your marker, and is likely trying to teleport to its location," Kushina summarized as she drew her katana again, readying it for a fight.
"Most likely," said Naruto as he copied his mother's stance, "And whatever it is, it's powerful. It took nearly a half of Kakashi-sensei's chakra to overwhelm the identification formula, and that was without trying to teleport to it." That gave Kushina pause as the implications of what they might be facing became apparent. While she and Naruto were considered 'chakra monster' due to their enormous reserves, built up over the years of containing Kurama, Kakashi was no pushover either. His reserves had been tempered by the constant drain of his implanted Sharingan, granting him chakra levels easily comparable to those of the five kage. If it had taken him using half that power just to break through the defenses on Naruto's formula, then whatever was coming through to face them was as strong as any kage had ever been.
A humanoid shadow appeared within the field of energy, standing at a towering eight feet tall with long, gangly arms. Slowly, the pillar of energy began to dissipate, revealing the new arrival in their entirety. They were covered from the neck down in a dark, reflective green overcoat with a metallic piece of armor that covered their shoulders and upper chest. Also, spiked metallic wristbands with a matching belt and spiked collar finished the outfit. Naruto knew instantly who this being was, and the veined, deformed face covered by a green facemask confirmed it. It was a duel monster that had been made famous by Joey Wheeler during the Battle City Tournament; Jinzo.
"Finally," when the masked duel spirit spoke, it was a deep raspy sound that set your nerves on end, "I am free and it is time my masters will was done."
"Master?" whispered Kushina, "Who the hell is he talking about?"
"I don't know, but I don't like the sound of it," answered Naruto, his hardened gaze trained solely on Jinzo. "Jinzo," the physic monster finally acknowledged their presence with what could only be a withering glance, "How did you get here? You may be a powerful spirit, but there is no way you should have been able to bring yourself here under your own power." Jinzo's response to Naruto's accusation was to begin chuckling; a deep, hollow sound that grated the blondes already frayed nerves.
"Very perceptive of you... Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." The two ninja widened their eyes at the mention of Naruto's true name.
"How do you know who I am?"
"My master told me," said the duel spirit simply, uncaring of the numerous questions that answer gave the duo, "You see, it was he who sensed the opening between dimensions your power created, and it was he who opened the doorway for me to enter this world. Now be gone, it is time I completed the task he has given me."
"Sorry pal, but whatever this task of yours is, you'll have to get through us first," with that, both mother and son charged the duel spirit, moving to attack from either side.
"If you stand in my way, then you shall be destroyed," raising his arms towards the advancing pair, two spheres of dark psychic energy formed in his palms. In the time it took to blink, the two attacks had left Jinzo's palms and were almost on top of Naruto and Kushina. The psychic monster was moderately surprised when neither warrior so much as blinked at the lethal attack. The redhead held up her right hand where a glowing blue seal wrote itself into the air and absorbed the sphere of energy before moving in for a low strike. The blonde was less flashy in his counter, but his was even more surprising. His blade just simply cut through the energy, but there was no glow, no flare, no sign that he had used any kind of extra power or reinforced his sword, he just simply cut right through it.
The malevolent duel spirit didn't have time to register his own surprise before he found himself in a precarious situation; two swords quickly moving to carve him apart, one high, one low and he had no room to dodge or avoid. With a growl, he raised his hands again, forming a field of psychic energy around him to deflect the two attacks. That planned worked against Kushina, but against Naruto, the shield might as well have not been there at all.
Jinzo released a pained cry as Naruto's katana sliced clean through his shield and removed his right arm at the shoulder. But instead of falling to the ground, the severed appendage simply faded into oblivion. While the psychic monster howled in agony, the two veteran shinobi capitalized on the blatant opening Jinzo had left in his guard. Naruto made quick work of relieving Jinzo of his other arm, while Kushina placed a chakra suppression seal and immobility seal on the manifested spirits back.
What they weren't expecting however, was for their new prisoner to begin laughing, the dark, humorless noise tempting Naruto to cleave the spirits head from his body. "My master said you were powerful, and he was right. Know this however, you may have defeated me, but I am merely a scout in my master's army. Soon, you shall face my master's true power, and when that time comes, I will enjoy watching as he destroys you."
"That's where you're wrong, whoever this master of yours is, he'll be the one falling to my blade." Naruto raised his sword above his head in a classic two hand grip, ready to put an end to the annoying spirits existence.
His mother's hand on his arm stopped him, "Not yet Naruto-kun, first we need to find out why this master of his sent him here in the first place."
"You're right," said Naruto as he lowered his katana and sheathed it at his side, "So do you want to do the honors, or shall I?"
"I will, you still haven't quite mastered using the seal yet and we don't want to risk missing any vital information." Naruto simply nodded and stood back to watch his mother put her mastery of seals to work. Forming a half ram seal with her left hand, Kushina placed her hand on top of Jinzo's head.
"Whatever it is you're planning, it won't work. I will never reveal my masters secrets!"
"You don't have to, because my seal will do it for you; Fuinjutsu: Mind Assimilation Seal!" A small but complex sealing array spread from Kushina's hand, wrapping itself around the deformed visage of Jinzo. The duel spirit threw its head back in a silent scream as his mind was slowly picked apart by the fuinjutsu mistress's expertise. Once its task was complete, the sealing array receding back into Kushina's hand, leaving the now brain dead Jinzo to collapse in a heap.
"What did you find?"
Kushina frowned and folded her arms across her chest, "Unfortunately not much," the irritation she felt was easy to spot, "He was telling the truth when he said he was merely a scout though, he didn't even know his masters real identity, only the title he goes by; The Supreme King. The only useful information I was able to glean from him were the details pertaining to the mission he had been assigned. He was sent here to find areas where chakra is in abundance, so that they may be exploited and used as doors to bring the forces from the duel spirit world to this world."
Sapphire eyes widened at the implications behind those words, "Are you talking about, an invasion?"
"Exactly," nodded Kushina, the troubled look on her face matched by her sons. "But besides that, there was nothing else of use in his mind. And without enough information, we can't plan a proper defense. Hell we don't even know where these supposed doors are, or how to find them."
"Well Jinzo was sent to locate them wasn't he?" his mother nodded again, confused as to where Naruto was going with this, "Then he must have had a way to track them down. Did you find anything about that in his mind?"
Closing her eyes in concentration, the redheaded kunoichi meticulously went through the information she had acquired from Jinzo, searching for anything relating to the doors he had been sent to find. Finally, she found it, a single piece of information that she had almost overlooked, "Duel spirits, in their spirit form, can sense these locations, being naturally drawn to them because of the large amounts of chakra they possess."
"Then that's how we'll find them, or I should say, how you'll find them," said Naruto, a small smirk spreading across his lips, "In your spirit form, you should be able to detect these areas and feel the pull they have on your spirit. When you find an area, find out all you can about it before moving on to the next. Once you think you've found all the places that could potentially be used as doorways, return to me and we can plan our next move from there."
"You're sending me away on a mission?" asked the still corporeal spirit in surprise, though there was an undertone of excitement that Naruto picked up on.
"Yes, and don't worry about me, I'm sure I can survive a couple weeks or months without you, though to put your maternal instincts at ease, I'll summon you here if I need anything, ok?" the concern that had been visible in Kushina's eyes instantly evaporate with Naruto's promise. She knew her son was more than capable of handling himself, but her maternal instincts would always tell her to stay close and keep an eye on him to make sure he was safe. So with her worries elevated, Kushina released the chakra Naruto had given her, and slowly faded back into her spirit form. "Be careful kaa-chan, don't do anything reckless."
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that? After all, I am your mother," she teased.
"Yeah, yeah, now get going, the sooner you find the doorways, the sooner you can come back and start harassing me again." Kushina stuck her tongue out in response to Naruto's comment before she faded completely from sight. Naruto shook his head at his mother's antics, before his eyes settled on the prone form of Jinzo, "Well, seeing as we got everything we wanted out of him…"
With speed worthy of a shinobi of his caliber, Naruto had drawn his katana and rendered the spirits head from body, watching as the headless body faded into oblivion. Sheathing his blade for the final time that night, Naruto looked to the sky, his heart becoming heavy as he thought about this new turn of events, 'Even after all these years, the drums of war have begun to sound again.'
Duel Academy Gymnasium- A month later
The sun shone brightly down on Duel Academy Isle, bathing it in its warm rays. Most of the Academy's students were out enjoying the peace and tranquility the island provided, occasionally ruining that peace with a duel or two. But for the freshman class, they were having their first gym class of the new semester, and not everyone was exactly enjoying it.
"Can someone please tell me again, how exactly this sport is relevant to dueling?" asked Naruto, standing along the side of the gymnasium, watching as everyone else participated in one of the strange sports mankind had come up with since the end of the shinobi era. 'Seriously, why bother playing these sports that hardly class as exercise when you could have a nice, friendly spar?'
He got his answer from Mindy, who seemed to be rather enjoying herself, "Everything Naruto, taking turns, thinking on your feet, and the harder you play, the better you do." To prove her point, she hit the tennis ball harder than before, nearly knocking Syrus's racquet out of his hand as he tried to hit the ball back.
The shinobi turned duelist scoffed at that, not to dissimilar from a certain Uchiha he considered his brother. "Yeah right, I'll take a good old fashioned spar over this any day," he mumbled under his breath. It was at that point that Miss Fontaine, the Academy's gym instructor/nurse, walked by where Naruto was and heard what he had said. Just as she was about to ask what exactly he meant by that, and possibly reprimand him for his dangerous choice of past time, Syrus' shout of alarm filled the gym.
"Alexis, look out!" all eyes immediately snapped to the little blue haired duelist, before shifting to the blonde Queen of Obelisk Blue. The reason for Syrus' warning was easily apparent; a tennis ball was heading right for Alexis' head, likely from Syrus' attempts to return Mindy's overzealous swings. That was all the warning Naruto needed as he blurred forward, placing himself in front of Alexis and effortlessly catching the ball. Apparently, he wasn't the only one that wanted to save Alexis, because only a few seconds after the threat had passed, a guy wearing the standard tennis club uniform jumped in front of the two blondes, ready to hit the wild shot away.
It took a moment for the new person to register that the threat had already been dealt with, and his attempts to play the hero had been crushed. Quite a few of the freshman laughed at the look of confusion that spread across his face, quickly turning that confusion to rage. He whirled around, ready to rip into the person that had taken the spot light from him, only to stop as he caught sight of the vision beauty that was Alexis.
A blush spread across the love struck puppy look that now adorned his face, 'That's Alexis Rhodes…'
His thoughts were brought to a crashing halt as Naruto turned to address Alexis, "You ok, Alexis?"
Completely ignoring the other guy that had tried to help her, Alexis smiled at her fellow blonde. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to you Naruto-kun." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the use of the old Japanese suffix, causing Alexis to giggle behind her hand and wink. That brought a smile to the blondes face, it had been so long since he had heard his name said like that by anyone besides his mother, and he had to admit, he liked it. The fact that it was Alexis who said it just made it all the better. Before his mind could fully process the meaning of that last thought, someone behind him made their presence known, and they didn't sound too happy.
"Hey you Slifer trash, what do you think you're doing talking to someone like Alexis Rhodes? You're not worth hers or anyone's time!" By now the wannabe hero was nearly at the end of his rope; he had missed his chance to play hero and instead wound up embarrassing himself in front of most of the freshman class. The fact that the first thing he noticed about the guy who had saved Alexis, was the red jacket he had on, just added fuel to the fire. 'A Slifer? One of those Slifer Slackers saved Alexis? That should've been me, who the hell does this guy think he is!?'
The bigotry and arrogance rolling of this guy in waves instantly killed Naruto's good mood. 'I didn't think it was possible, but it looks like this guy has an even bigger ego than both Sasuke and Chazz,' he thought as he and Alexis finally acknowledged the guy. He appeared to be one of the older people on the tennis courts, probably an upper class men, but Naruto could've cared less about that. He had dulled reddish brown hair that reached a little past his shoulder with bangs that swept to the side. His attire consisted of the typical Duel Academy tennis uniform, a metallic purple shirt with the Academy insignia on the left breast and white shorts that looked they would be more at home on a female instead of a male. The guy was also well built, not in the chiseled manner years of training and hard work brought, but in a bulkier, less refined way, probably because he used some of those muscle enhancers, steroids they were called, Naruto had heard about. "First, I'm not a Slifer, I'm not even ranked. Second, I think I was talking to a good friend of mine and third, who the fuck do you think you are?"
The entire freshman class tensed as at the tone in Naruto's voice. The blonde was well known among his peers as being a kind, laid back and supportive person who was glad to help out and give out some pointers to his fellow duelists. But they had never seen him like this, not this angry. Sure there was that time when he fought off the Disciplinary Action Squad, but he had been more annoyed then angry. Now though, they were all getting their first look at an angered Naruto Namikaze.
A smirk, complete with shining teeth, crossed the upper class men's face as he introduced himself, "I'm Harrington Rosewood, heir to Rosewood Sports. Now I'll ask again, what do you think you're doing talking to my little Obelisk Pixie?"
Naruto's frown deepened as he turned to face Harrington fully, "Alexis is no ones, she is her own person. What she does and who she talks to are none of your concern." Behind him, the frown Alexis had when Harrington called her 'his' melted into a warm smile as Naruto defended her. All around them, girls were having the same thoughts as Alexis, all of them wishing that they were in her position; well, except Jasmine, who was leaned against Bastion's side watching the drama unfold.
"Yeah, yeah whatever," Harrington's callous dismissal to what Naruto said, earned him quite a few glares from the females present. "Listen pal, I'm willing to be the bigger man here, so just walk away and learn not to mess with another guy's girl, and we can forget this whole ordeal ever happened." Even Miss Fontaine couldn't help but glare at the tennis star for that. She may have been a teacher and supposed to be impartial when it came to helping students resolve conflicts, but she was also a woman, and no woman could help but be angered by the vitriol spewing from Harrington's mouth.
Naruto, being the chivalrous gentlemen that he is, didn't exactly take kindly to the things this guy was saying either. "Are you deaf or just plain stupid? I told you, Alexis is her own person, she is allowed to make her own decisions, and no one can make them for her!"
Harrington frowned as he crossed his arms and glared at Naruto, "You don't get it do you freshman? Well I shouldn't be surprised, you are a Slifer Slacker. But I'll try and spell this out for you. I always get what I want, and no one gets in my way." The tension in the air could've been cut with a knife as Naruto crossed his arms and met Harrington's glare with one of his own, "Last chance freshman, walk away."
"I don't think so."
"Then I guess I don't have a choice, be here in one hour, we'll settle this in a duel. The winner will become Alexis' fiancé." Turning his back on the blonde pair, the Rosewood heir walked out of the gym amidst the shocked and appalled faces of the freshman.
Once Harrington had left, murmurs broke out amongst the crowd of duelist, only to be silenced when Naruto spoke up. "My apologies Miss Fontaine, I did not mean for things to get that out of hand and disrupt class."
The maroon haired nurse seemed slightly surprised by the sudden apology, but recovered quickly, "No, I should be the one apologizing Naruto. As a teacher I should've stepped in before things got as far as they did instead of succumbing to my emotions. For that I apologize," she finished with a short bow.
A soft smile came over Naruto's face, one that had almost every female swooning, "You had every right to feel the way you did Miss Fontaine. The things Harrington was saying were crass and sexist, any self-respecting woman would have been angered by such remarks. But perhaps we should dismiss for now, after all we have a duel to prepare for and a stuck up snobs ass to kick!" A resounding cheer swept through the gathered freshman in response to Naruto proclamation.
Alexis smiled at the support everyone was showing Naruto's actions in her defense. Almost subconsciously, the blonde Obelisk stepped up beside the former shinobi and slipped her left hand into his right one, interlacing their fingers together. Naruto smiled down at her as an even larger cheer erupted from their fellow freshman duelists.
"Are you sure you wish to go through with this duel Naruto?" asked Bastion as he Jasmine, Mindy and Syrus walked over to stand with the blonde duo. "While I agree Harrington needs to be taught a valuable lesson, it's rumored that he is as good a duelist as Zane."
"What?" said a shocked Syrus, "That guy's supposed to be as good as my brother?"
"It doesn't matter how good rumors say he is," said Naruto before anything else could be said, "He belittled Alexis and I'm going to make him pay for it. That is, if you don't mind Alexis," the wicked smirk he got from her was all the answer he needed. "Then it's settled, I'll duel Harrington and take him down," with one last cheer, the gathered freshman quickly dispersed, planning on spreading word of the duel to the rest of the student body.
One Hour Later
Excitement filled the air as students prepared for the duel that was about to begin. Word of the impending duel and the reason for it had spread like wildfire across the island, garnering the interest of nearly every soul on the island. Even the teachers and Chancellor Sheppard had shown up to watch, either to see how Naruto, Duel Academy's rising star, matched up against one of their top senior Obelisk's, or in Sheppard's case, to see just how much arrogance was present in his school and hopefully find a way to put an end to it all.
As when Naruto and Alexis had dueled against the Paradox Brothers, the division among the student body was apparent. Many of the students, most of them from either the Ra or Slifer dorms, stood along the side that Naruto was on, firmly showing their support of the blonde. On the other side were Harrington and a small selection of Obelisk's that stood with him. They were mostly students in their senior and junior years, all of them being from very well off families. Of course, there was a group of students who had decided to remain neutral in this matter and they were standing with the teachers. Those students were only interested in seeing how the duel itself played out. One senior Obelisk however, had made his allegiances known quite clearly.
Zane Truesdale stood next to Alexis and the rest of Naruto's friends, his arms crossed and his normally impassive features set in a dark scowl as he glared at Harrington. He had been one of the first informed of the duel, being closer to Naruto and his friends then most, and to say he was angered by the so called stakes his fellow senior had set was an understatement. When the cyber duelist had first arrived at the gymnasium, even the teachers had been at a loss of how to handle the situation; they may have been used to dealing with angered and hormonal teens, but they had no idea how to handle an angered Zane Truesdale.
Thankfully Naruto had intervened before Zane could unleash his anger. With a simple hand on the seniors shoulder, the blonde freshman had managed to quell Zane's rage and avert the brawl that likely would have ensued. As it was, a brawl still seemed eminent as the looks Harrington was sending his fellow senior all but screamed Zane would regret his decision.
Deciding to get the duel started before tensions boiled over and it came to blows, Chancellor Sheppard stepped forward to address the crowd. "Good afternoon students. I'm sure all of you are aware by now why we are here. Mr. Harrington Rosewood has challenged Mr. Naruto Namikaze to duel. Now if both contenders are ready, let the duel commence!" cheers and shouts of support rang throughout the gym as Naruto and Harrington deployed their respective duel disks and drew their first hands.
Naruto: 4000/Harrington: 4000
Acting before his opponent could, Naruto drew a sixth card from his deck, "I'll start Harrington, and I'll begin by playing one card face down. Next, I activate the spell card Defenders of the Hokage. You see what this handy spell does is allow me to summon an Anbu Token for every card that I have face down on the field; and since I have one card face down, I get one token." A monster clad in the traditional garb of Konoha Anbu and wearing a bird shaped mask appeared kneeling on Naruto's field, arms crossed over its chest.
'Defenders of the Hokage: Normal Spell- Activate this card only when you have no monsters face-up on the field. Summon one 'Anbu Token' (Atk 2000/Def 2000) for every facedown card on your side of the field.'
"You call that, an opening play? Please. Let me show you how to really serve a ball," said the sports enthusiast as he drew a card from his deck. Smiling at what he drew, Harrington placed the card in his spell and trap card zone, "I think I'll start off by volleying a spell at you, Service Ace. This is a card with some real bite to it; you see I select one card in my hand and you have to guess whether it's a monster, spell or trap card and if you're wrong you get aced with fifteen hundred points of damage. So choose wisely." The older teen's taunts didn't even faze Naruto; he still stood relaxed and composed on his side of the field.
'Service Ace: Normal Spell- Select 1 card in your hand. Your opponent must guess whether it is a Spell, Trap or Monster Card. Reveal it to your opponent. If they guessed wrong, inflict 1500 damage to your opponent. Removing from play the selected card when this card resolves.'
What no one else knew though, was that the blonde had positioned a handful of shadow clones behind Harrington to spy on him and his cards. So when Harrington activated his spell, one of the clones dispelled to let the original Naruto know exactly what the card was. Now Naruto may like to play fair and was not one to normally use his skills to cheat, but he was willing to make an exception this time and besides, he was a shinobi, he was taught to do whatever it took to win a fight and that's exactly what he was doing. "I choose monster," Harrington's scowl told everyone that Naruto had guessed correctly.
"Hmph, lucky guess, but your luck is about to run out. I place one card face down and end, balls in your court freshman."
"You know, your stupid sports cliché's are really starting to get on my nerves," said Naruto as he drew his next card with a flourish. Deciding to enact his plan when he realized what he had drawn, he looked over his shoulder and winked at Alexis. A smirk slowly crossed her lips, very reminiscent of his own foxy smirk, when she realized what was about to happen. Since they had begun her training, the two blondes had grown close and Naruto had revealed more about his previous life to Alexis, censoring less and less as time passed. He had also told her more about chakra and the things one could do once they had enough control. While word of the duel was being spread by their friends, Naruto had pulled Alexis aside and told her that he would be giving her a practical demonstration of his power, with Harrington being the unfortunate recipient.
A still calm fell over the duel and everything within the gym and surrounding area. Most wouldn't have noticed the shift in atmosphere or even paid it any heed, but a small handful of onlookers did and they understood what it meant. While Alexis may have been the only one aware of Naruto's plan, the more skilled and experienced amongst the crowd, Naruto's circle of friends in particular, easily put the pieces together.
It was the calm before the storm. Whatever Naruto had drawn was obviously powerful and they knew that that power was about to be unleashed.
Just as quickly as the calm had come, it was gone, replaced by chaos. The wind began whipping around, forcing people to brace against one another to prevent from being blown away by the wind. Thanks to the open skylight, everyone could see the sky darkening as ominous storm clouds formed, bathing the island in a shroud of darkness.
"What on earth is happening!?" Crowler's shrill voice carried even over the high whistling of the gale force winds that filled one of the few structures on the island.
"Look at Naruto!" screamed Syrus, pointing towards the blonde duelist. Everyone looked up as best they could against the wind and the sight that greeted them would forever be engraved into the minds.
Naruto stood in the eye of the storm, arms crossed, not showing any sign of being bothered by the chaos around him; but that wasn't what mesmerized the audience. No, it was the shroud of fiery blue chakra enveloping his being that shocked and awed the onlookers. With a burning determination shining in his eyes, Naruto grabbed another card in his hand and revealed it to a startled and scared Harrington Rosewood. "Congratulations Harrington, you will be the first to feel the true power of my deck, and with the spell card Retirement from the Anbu, I have everything I need to unleash it!"
'Retirement from the Anbu: Normal Spell- Activate only when you have no monsters on the field. By sending one Warrior-type monster from your hand to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 2 Level 5 or lower Warrior-type monsters from your hand or Deck.'
"Now by sending one of my warriors to the grave, I can summon two more from my deck; rise Chuunin- Kiba Inuzuka and Chuunin- Shino Aburame." Each wearing the same clothes they had worn into battle during the Fourth Shinobi World War, the two expert trackers appeared alongside the kneeling Anbu Token. "But neither of them will be staying, because I sacrifice them along with my token, to summon Kurama, The Kyuubi no Kitsune!"
No sooner had the card been placed on Naruto's duel disk, than did the chaos inside the gym flee and become a raging maelstrom outside. A single bolt of lightning struck the island, illuminating the darkness that surrounded the island. When the flash died down, everyone could see the dark silhouette of a massive creature outside through the open roof. Its only visible feature being the pair of shining blood red, slitted eyes that sent shivers down the spines of those who met the beasts gaze.
Harrington was the most shaken of all. He had begun the duel assured of his victory over this freshman, but now here he was, facing down a monster of enormous power, and if what he was feeling was real, it wasn't a hologram. "W-wait a second, I surrender! I surrender!" he pleaded, covering his deck with his hand, a sign of total surrender to any duelist. Unfortunately for Harrington, Naruto wasn't in a forgiving mode.
"You may have surrendered, but this duel will only end when you lose!" exclaimed Naruto, the chakra surrounding him increasing in intensity. "Now attack Kurama, finish him off!" the shadowed monster shifted slightly, before a beam of black and yellow energy consumed Harrington. The resulting explosion rocked the gymnasium to its foundations, bringing nearly everyone to their knees, Naruto, Alexis, Zane and Sheppard being the only ones to maintain their footing.
Naruto: 4000/Harrington: 0
Once the aftermath of Naruto's attack had subsided, numerous gasps filled the room.
On the ground was the battered and bruised body of Harrington Rosewood. His overly muscled physique and handsome face were now littered with countless injuries, ranging from bruises, to burns, to minor lacerations. Many of those wounds would likely leave disfiguring scars in their wake, forever marring Harrington's image. It was as the holograms faded away that realization struck home in the minds of the crowd, that in his current state, Harrington was in very real danger of not recovering. Miss Fontaine was the first to reach the boys side, already calling for assistance in moving the unresponsive Obelisk to the medical wing.
As this was happening, Naruto had moved over to his friends. Idly noting that all eyes were on him, the blonde decided to leave them with one final word of warning. "Let this serve as a warning to everyone. I do not take kindly to attacks against my friends, and that is exactly what Harrington's words and actions were. Should anyone else make such a foolish decision," he turned and pointed to were Harrington was being carted away, "That will be your fate." With that said, the blonde left with his friends, leaving the student body either in awe of his power, or terrified of his wrath.
While the students slowly got over the things they had witnessed during the duel, the teachers had convened for an impromptu meeting. "That boy is a menace!" screeched Crowler, "Not only does he disregard our schools traditions and regulations, now he's gone and injured one our most prominent students! He needs to be expelled immediately!"
"While I may not be as concerned about Mr. Namikaze's decision to remain dormless, his actions today cannot be ignored. Provoked or not, the very real injuries he inflicted on Mr. Rosewood are a serious matter." Professor Sartyr, the rarely spoken head of the Ra dorm said, "If something like this happens again, and word got out that we allowed him to remain at the Academy, fully aware of what he was capable of, then I fear it would ruin the school and our student's chances at promising careers. Like in dueling, sometimes we must sacrifice things to remain in the game. That is what we must do now; expulsion would be the best course of action."
Closing his eyes, Sheppard sighed before glancing at the last member of their circle, "Banner, what are your views on this matter?"
The head of the Slifer dorm looked as calm as ever with his cat Pharaoh in his arms. "The others bring up valid points, but perhaps they are being a bit to critical. After all, this not the first time a student has been injured in a duel, or have you already forgotten about the students from the Abandoned Dorm?" neither of his colleagues would meet his eye at that comment, "How can we justify expelling Naruto for using his powers to defend his friend, when we set students to duel each other with similar results in the Abandoned Dorm? I agree that punishment is necessary, but if we expel him, we would be little better than hypocrites."
"A fair point," said Sheppard with a small nod, "Very well, instead of expelling him, we shall forbid Naruto from dueling for a set period. If he chooses to ignore this and duels before the period is over, then we shall have no other choice but to expel him, agreed?" Banner and Sartyr nodded their ascent, while Crowler scowled but gave his consent as well, though grudgingly. "Then it's decided, I will inform Naruto of this decision this afternoon, until then, I suggest we get things back on track. I'm sure the students have better things to do than just remain here all day."
With Naruto and Company
The group of eight walked in relative silence as they traversed the perimeter of the island. The clouds conjured by the power Naruto had unleashed had all but dispersed, allowing the sun to once more shine through. A break in the silence finally came as the group arrived at the same clearing Bastion had dueled Wheeler. "Hey… Naruto," said Syrus, "What exactly happened back there? And what was with that weird glowing energy?"
Silence answered him as Naruto, standing on the trunk of the tree on the edge of the cliff, continued to stare out at the ocean. His sapphire eyes betrayed the inner conflict raging inside of him; should he tell them the truth? Was it finally time for the truth of his life to come out? Turning his head so he could look at his friends out of the corner of his eye, he decided that no, they weren't ready to know the truth. They were too young, too innocent, to understand the things he had done and experienced in his life. But even if they weren't ready for the whole truth, he could at least start preparing them for it, by revealing all he had to Alexis to the others as well.
Lowering his gaze, he found Alexis standing at the base of the tree, a smile on her face. It still surprised him somewhat that she was perfectly fine with what he had done to Harrington. But when he thought about it, with the things the rich snob had said, he wouldn't be surprised if what he had done wasn't enough in Alexis' mind. Returning the blonde beauties smile with a small one of his own, he turned back to their friends, "That energy Syrus, is known as chakra. It is a power that resides within all living things, from humans, to even the tiniest insects, chakra is everywhere around us."
"Ok, but that still doesn't explain the glowing. Was that 'chakra' as well?" asked Mindy, struggling slightly with the old Japanese term.
"Yes Mindy, that was chakra. Now, before you ask, allow me to explain a few things." Raising a hand to stall the forthcoming question, he continued, "You see, because chakra exists inside of us, and is a part of us, it is possible to gain control of it and harness it. That is what you saw during the duel; I called upon my chakra and used it to give my monsters true, corporeal form. Which is why Harrington is in the state he is now, my monsters were no mere hologram, they were real."
"What? You can make your monsters real? I thought only a shadow duelist or shadow game could create real monsters!" everyone shared Bastion's surprise; even Zane raised an eyebrow at the information. The only one who didn't seem surprised was Alexis, and that didn't go unnoticed.
"Lexi, you don't seem surprised by any of this," pointed out Jasmine, shifting attention from one blonde to the other. The sudden attention on her caused Alexis to sigh before holding up her right hand. A soft blue glow started radiating from her hand, though her face betrayed the concentration and effort the small display required. This time, not even Zane could contain his surprise as six sets of eyes widened. "You can control chakra too?"
Releasing the breath she had been holding, the glow faded away, leaving Alexis breathing a little heavy. "Yeah," she breathed out, "But I'm not very good at it. Naruto's been teaching me how to control it, but with classes we haven't had much time and I haven't gotten very far with it."
"Wait, you mean it's possible for others to learn this skill?" asked Zane, speaking for the first time.
The blonde shinobi nodded the affirmative, "Yes, and even though she thinks she hasn't gotten far, Alexis' control at this point is staggeringly better than mine was when I first began training. Now I know what you're going to ask next, and the answer is yes, I could train all of you to do the same; provided you possess the necessary chakra to do so."
Before anyone could ask him how to find out if they had enough chakra, Naruto closed his eyes and evened out his breathing. Alexis immediately recognize the signs of one beginning to meditate; having meditated herself multiple times since her training began. So with a silencing motion and small glare, she shut everyone up so Naruto could meditate easier. She still didn't quite understand it, but Naruto had told her that when he meditated, he could sense the presence of others and the strength of their chakra.
What she didn't know, was that to do so required him to partially enter Sage Mode. It didn't take him long to draw in the necessary natural energy and form it with his chakra into senjutsu chakra. Once he had all he needed, he extended his senses outward, feeling the world around him before honing in on the chakras of his friends. As he noticed before winter break, Bastion and Syrus' chakra levels had grown quite large since their arrival to the island, both now about at the same level an average chuunin would be expected to have. Jasmine and Mindy both had about the same amount a genin would, while Chumley sadly, only had as much as an Academy student; enough to train, but it wasn't likely he would ever make it past the basics. It was Zane who was the biggest surprise however, his chakra rivaling that of a jounin's in size. He could easily be trained to be a strong fighter, however he was also older and his reserves seemed to have stopped growing, so it was likely his chakra would not grow much more than what it was already.
"Well, well, this is a pleasant surprise," Naruto said, coming out of his meditation, "It seems all of you possess enough chakra to go through the training." Excitement filled the clearing as Jasmine and Mindy squealed with delight, while Bastion, Syrus and Chumley cheered. Zane merely smirked and crossed his arms across his chest. "Don't get to excited," the sudden seriousness in the blonde's voice caught everyone by surprise, but they listened all the same, "Just because you have enough chakra does not mean you will automatically get through the training. We may be friends, but I will not be easy on any of you. If you want to complete the training, you will have to work hard for it, harder than you have ever worked before."
The tone in his voice unsettled most of them, but none showed any signs of backing down. Smirking at their determination, Naruto turned to Alexis, who was wearing a matching smirk, "Looks like they're not gonna back down Alexis."
"Looks like," there was an undertone in her voice, and it set their friends on edge even more.
"Then I guess there's nothing left to say except," his smirk widened as he turned back to his new trainees, "Let the fun begin."
There you have it everyone, let me know what you thought. If you have questions, PM me.
See you later,
BSW