The Shadow of Mana
Chapter 6
AN: Hello again. Just wanted to say that the pole result for Kiba's partner was a landslide. 10 to 6 to 1 to 0. Sheesh no one likes the dog poor Canon Akamaru. Although I think I might still name his partner as Akamaru for all intents and purposes.
Oh to the CU people, thanks for the in debt constructive criticism. With it I'll try to improve my story. I hope I do it right this time…
Anyways cue the mysterious title announcer!
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Silent tears Begone! Prepare to escape little fox!
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November 13
It's here! It's here! Guess what? The pretty lights are floating right above our town! They're so BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!
Plus, plus there is this big Mister who arrived at town today! He looked mysterious…. (Ne you like that word? I just learned it), and he was a bit weird. I haven't met him yet though but he didn't stay that long. He just left after the second day… that was weiiiiird.
But anyways, my Big Brother was here and together we made 4 paintings, though his was better than mine. But no problem soon I'll be better than he is! Just you wait!
I wish you can see them but you're a book right? Ehehe. Sorry, better luck next time!
Oh, it's getting really late, I have to go to bed soon.
Goodnight Mr. Diary!
Elie Korrin
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(Courtyard of Spirits – Crystal training grounds)
It's been two weeks since Naruto learned of his status. Two weeks of pent-up frustration exploding underground, safe from prying eyes. It had hurt him, but in the end he felt lighter and free, as if belonging to the Uzumaki clan did more harm than good.
It was fortunate that Kiba and Kurama were present to help him cope with the sadness before Naruto would have ended up in depression.
But that was in the past; Naruto managed to stand up again and started to think about how he can finally do some things without getting berated or trouble by the clan. His still recovering mind you, but he isn't letting that stop him anymore.
We see him now with both hands enveloped by fire standing about 300 meters away from a stone statue with a red gem at the top and a bullseye in the center point. His eyes dilated as he moved, ; his right arm moved upwards with the pointer finger up, while his left arm went down diagonally with its own pointer finger facing the ground.
The clear diamonds attached to his gloves shone with a brilliant crimson light as he made a clockwise motion with both hands creating a circular trail of fire. A radiant aura of heat surrounded him acting as a protector incase an intruder tries to disrupt the person channeling it to a singular point.
"Flare Cannon" he whispered.
Immediately a singular bolt of fire shot forward from the center of the circle. Its flame increased before accelerating to a blinding speed creating a deafening shockwave heard throughout the entire room. It collided with the statue sending dust clouds around it while obscuring it from the view.
This all happened in the span of 5 seconds.
Naruto stood still silently gazing at the dust cloud with his sharp eyes, enhanced through the power of Mana. The fiery aura surrounding his form died down as his muscles relaxed and sighed deeply.
"Impressive kid," came Kurama's voice "but not enough." Naruto didn't even bother to look at him as his attention still concentrated on the lingering dust cloud before his eye twitched as he grumbled in an annoyed manner.
What could cause his annoyance? The statue remaining unharmed and untouched, that's what.
As the cloud cleared, it revealed a big stone statue of a sword imbedded on the ground surrounded by a transparent barrier emanating from the gem sitting on top of the stone hilt. The ground surrounding it ended up scorched and had a donut shaped crater with only an inch or two away from the sword in the center. The barrier itself is littered with cracks and damages, but nonetheless, the sword remained intact and unharmed.
"Don't feel bad now kid, it takes a lot of power before that barrier breaks. Even veterans have a hard time breaking it in one attack."
Naruto grumbled a bit more before nodding and smiling a bit at his sensei. "At least I successfully launched that right?"
Kurama scoffed and deflated Naruto's growing bubble. "You launched it yes, but it took you a while before you even managed to start casting it. You already have the gloves to help you gather Mana and it still took too long for combat use. Do you expect them to wait for you like a gentleman?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Kurama may be nice but his blunt about skill and power, especially when one lacks them.
"INCOMING!"
"ARRROOO!"
Naruto's eyes widened comically before he hastily jumped away from his previous location. He tumbled and laid on the ruin's floor covering his head with his arms as another dust cloud was created in the room.
After a short while Kurama merely looked on with a raised eyebrow as Naruto stood up and glared at the offender.
Low and behold in the center of the crater was the second student of the Nine tailed Keeper, and the brother in all but blood of Naruto; none other than Kiba, and his animal partner Akamaru.
Akamaru was a Mana beast that managed to find a bond with Kiba. He is still pretty young and well known for being playful and active. Akamaru quickly warmed up to Kiba and got along nicely with Naruto and Kurama, although the latter does hate it when Akamaru gives him some Wolf-slobber as he calls it.
Kiba didn't change after his temporary exile; he did however receive his own pair of training gloves from Kurama. His fuzzy black wolf ears still remained on top of his head twitching at random times.
Kiba merely smiled brightly and scratched the Azure colored head of Akamaru who sat on his arms as if he and his partner didn't create an explosion where Naruto was standing.
"What's up Naruto?" Kiba asked innocently. "What's up!?" Naruto repeated incredulously "You almost hit me with one of your electronically charged combos and all you can ask is what's up?"
Akamaru, who was still on Kiba's arms, raised his head revealing that the lower half of his face and body had white fur. His Crystal blue canine eyes looked curiously at a ranting Naruto with his head tilted to one side. Internally he was laughing at Naruto and Kiba's entertaining interactions. Hey even a wolf cub like him can get bored once in a while. He yawned again and used a paw to try and scratch the sapphire blue gem on his forehead. It itches very badly… why won't his human sla- partner scratch it now. Oh yeah, Kiba was still trying to placate an irate Naruto…joy.
Kurama on the other hand was simply shaking his head at the two boys. He was however happy to find that the two are starting to get a bit livelier than they were before. He can't have depressed Vanguards watching over the Mana stream. Kami knows what'll happen to the already deteriorating world.
He glanced at the two boys again before walking around the old, yet beautiful ruins of the courtyard, once a place teeming with Vanguards and their allies; now left abandoned and uncared for. Every step he took sent him a memory of his time here, oh how this Keeper missed those bright and easygoing days.
Now all that's left are the Mana Beasts, two fledgling Vanguards in training, and the small amount of Keepers that are still under corruption. As for the allies of the Vanguards, he has no clue whether any of them still survived today; The Pack Masters, The Navigators, The Seers, and other allies. Perhaps they were alive, but for now Kurama still remains in the dark.
As Kurama kept moving he ended up going back to the Concentration of Mana. It shouldn't stay motionless for long, he'll need to teach the boys how to create the 'streams' soon and create a temporary new concentration point. Perhaps the old tunnels underneath the Sea Cavern still stand.
Thinking about the boys, these lead him to reminisce all that they have learned and achieved. True to his assumption both boys took Mana training like a fish to water. Both were naturals in the art, but they did have obvious weaknesses. Naruto still takes too long before he can gather the right amount of Mana while Kiba has trouble with ranged skills especially water and fire based ones. Even the basic once like Fireball and Waterball gives him a hard time.
That's not to say that they don't have any strengths of their own. Naruto's a quick learner and his spells are powerful for his skill level making him a very wide ranged spell user. Kiba was a powerhouse for guerilla tactics. His surprise attacks and precision are well executed and very dangerous, especially when he started with trying to incorporate Akamaru who is able to sense and find anyone close enough for his advanced senses and Akamarus Natural connection with Water.
Kurama mused and had planned on changing their training. He's been focusing more on fire since that was his realm of expertise lies and has limited access to higher level spells and skills from other elements.
Perhaps he should start Naruto to focus on Wind based spells, he taught one to Naruto and so far he managed to cast it faster than other elements. Kiba on the other hand should be introduced to either Electricity, not lightning, or Nature as his way of combat seem to suit those elements, especially if he learned Electricity as it can augment with the water attacks that Akamaru will learn in the future.
Alas, Kurama would have thought more but an explosion from the courtyard cut his train of thought. He probably shouldn't have introduced Naruto those highly explosive fire-spells, but one can't exactly change the past bar historical books. The ones he saw and heard being taught in the ninja academy are very different from the ones he saw in the sealed records deep within the tower.
Honestly, how lax can the security be? True he can turn invisible to the naked eye but there was absolutely no one guarding the hidden archives. Maybe he went in and left during rotation hours? Who cares…?
One thing was for sure, they can't stay in these ruins for long. They'll need to move soon so that the trainees will get some outside experience.
"Tomorrow…" Kurama murmured before teleporting back to where Naruto and Kiba trained once more "I'll get them to see the world and start their duties as entry-level Vanguards."
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(Hokage Tower)
Back in Konoha two people were sitting in silence inside the tower of the Hokage.
"You still think we did the right thing and agree Minato?" asked Naruto's red haired Mother, Kushina to her husband.
"As much as it pains me to admit it, Naruto will have less pressure on him, and have more freedom if his banished from the clan." replied a tired father. "I hate this decision as much as you do but you've seen how others in the clan treat him. Although I suppose it was my fault for not giving time for him…"
Minato placed his head over his tired arms who sat on top of the red desk filled neatly with organized paperwork. His wife placed a hand on his shoulders and said in a sad and regretful tone. "No, it was both our fault. But I still don't know what changed Arashi, he used to be so protective of his little brother when he was younger."
Minato sighed as he and his wife turned to the window to see their eldest son lying down on a rooftop lazily while holding on to something neither of them can see.
"I don't know Kushina… I don't know…"
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(With Arashi)
Ignorant of his parent's conversation, Arashi remained alone and looked at a small metal pendant of a kunai he wears on a necklace. His eyes were unfocused yet hid something mysterious in them.
The pendant itself wasn't special, nothing different to what others bought from one of the more popular shops, but for Arashi, this was his sacred treasure. One he will always bring everywhere with him.
He swore he would protect the person who gave this to him and from that day, he silently swore himself in an oath of his own blood that he would protect this person and his family… he'll sacrifice everything and ruin his own life, as long as they are safe from him… even at the cost of his own happiness and life.
For their protection he must cast away and wallow in his own world away from the trigger. Or risk losing everything to it.
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(?)
Drip….drip….drip…
Shadows and Darkness. That's the only thing two figures know. Captured and trapped inside a cage shipped by slavers and black-market salesmen. They have never felt the hold freedom in a 3 months yet one of them smiled silently, while she held on to her little brother inside the same cage.
"…"
"Yeah Sis?"
Drip…
"You really 'saw' it?"
"…"
"I'm glad… soon, we'll be free right?"
"…"
"I love you to sis. I hope we get to see the ancient lights to…"
Silence once again. Their captors will never know what the two occupants of the dark and rusty cage talked about as they stayed hidden behind several others filled with animals and containers hiding drugs and weapons. Nothing but the silent drops of water inside a rocking wet ship.
Drip….drip….drip….drip
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Who were the two chained together inside the cage? Why was Arashi acting different? Was there something more to Naruto's boisterous and selfish brother than meets the eye? The world is filled with mysteries… never trust the words immediately… after all, I haven't revealed the three voices from an older chapter yet have I? *smiles mysteriously*
AN: Hi… uhh sorry about the time it took for me to publish this. I got a bit sidetracked and was thinking about this idea. I'm also sorry to see that's it's kinda shorter than the others.
You see I was thinking of an Okami and Naruto idea where Naruto gets all the powers of the brushgods and has the same powers as Amaterasu from the game Okami.
I was thinking of maybe making him the Envoy of Amaterasu. Although I'm not sure if I'll do this, but if anyone is interested in this idea pm me and feel free to write about it. Oh and I also have other ideas on the lower part of my profile, anyone interested can go ahead and look, if you guys want to try a hand in any of them pm me please.
Anyways thanks for reading this. If you have any ideas for the story, feel free to pm me or put in the review.
Thanks again.
