Chapter 28
Creator vs Creation
"Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful..." -Mary Shelley
"Sentence." -Speech
'Sentence.' - Thoughts
'Sentence' -Kyara's/Kyuubi's mental dialogue
"Sentence." -Distorted speech.
A frustrated roar echoed throughout the sewers. The clashing of blades resounded through the tunnels. Every Necromorph had come to watch, almost a hundred of them. A majority were Slashers, and there were at least three Brutes amongst the rotting crowd. Others were different, like the Pukers, with acidic saliva dripping down from their mouths, ravaging their bodies, leaving the neck and chest filled with acid-eaten cavities. Another type was the Leaper, with their human jaws split apart, formed into fanged mandibles that slathered endlessly, their legs having fused together into a single powerful tail, with a sharp blade fashioned of bone at the tip.
All awaited the command from their leader, the Ubermorph, to jump in, and begin attacking the rival Infected leader.
And if the Ubermorph were to perish, if their leader were to die in this power struggle, they would bow before the victor. For he was the strongest.
The rival leader growled, barely keeping his fury under check. It didn't seem to matter whatever wounds he inflicted upon his accidental creation, for they would simply regenerate. Immediate consumption wasn't an option either, for it seemed the Ubermorph was capable of boosting it's regenerative powers, such so that it's regeneration outpaced his consuming.
Naruto managed to cleave both it's legs off with a single swipe of his Blade, only for the Ubermorph to begin crawling towards him, burying it's claws into the stone floor, and pulling itself along, towards him. He raised an Armored foot, and stomped down on the Ubermorph's head, reducing it to mere paste and bone fragments.
But still, the Ubermorph didn't stop. Steam jetted out of the stumps where it's legs once were, until the bones of the legs suddenly shot out, growing before his eyes. Muscle regrew, forming itself into long cords of muscle fiber. Once the muscle was finished regenerating, dark brown skin began forming, until it's legs had returned. The same process occurred for it's head. First, a skull with an oddly geometric face, a pentagon, with five eye sockets around it's edge, and with no jaw to speak of.
The regeneration process was interrupted when Naruto gripped onto the Ubermorph's shoulders, with Musclemass enhanced arms. He opened his fanged maw wide, roaring directly into the bony face of the Ubermorph, before rearing back his Armored head, and drove it forward into the bare skull of the Ubermorph. The bone stood no chance against the thick chitin of his Armor, and the skull caved in around his head. The Ubermorph stumbled back, Naruto having let go of it. It staggered for a few moments, before collapsing onto it's back, twitching all the while.
'It can heal a severed limb easy, but if I use blunt attacks, it takes a lot longer to repair the damage done.' Naruto realized with a triumphant growl.
He had found the Ubermorph's weakness. Slicing off a limb was simplicity itself for the Ubermorph to heal. But a blunt strike? Which shattered and snapped bone, it made healing the damage much more complex and strenuous.
Naruto was about to leap forward, bury his Blade into the Ubermorph's chest while it was stunned, and consume it alive, but it seemed the crowd of Necromorphs weren't pleased at seeing their leader hurt. The first to attack were the Leapers, two jumping at Naruto with a howl, mandibles pulled back, ready to sink into him.
He turned around, facing the Leapers. With the way they were flying at him, they would crash into one another if he simply took a single step forward. Naruto did so, and watched as both mutated corpses slammed into each other in mid-air, their bladed tails tangling together, the two Leapers bounced along the stone floor, before coming to a halt, thanks to the nearest sewer wall. Seeing the opportunity, Naruto ran towards the Leapers, the tip of his Blade dragging along the stone floor, creating an ear-piercing shriek, and making sparks fly in his wake.
Naruto hopped into air, and slammed the Blade down at the base of the two writhing Leaper's tails. They loosed a series of squeals and screeches, now freed from each other. The two Leapers managed to crawl away from each other, before going limp.
The Armored Prototype ducked as a globule of yellowish-green acid sailed over his chitinous head. A few drops of the acid managed to get onto his Armor, and sizzled for a few moments, before evaporating into corrosive fumes. Naruto glanced down at his Armor, to see a few small holes burned into them. Nothing to be really concerned over, so long as he didn't let himself get a faceful of the acid.
Grabbing the two severed tails with his left Clawed hand, he whipped the twined tails at the Puker responsible for the acid attack, the sharp bones cleaving the corroded skull off it's shoulders. Blinded, the Puker stumbled backwards, only to lose it's legs with another crack of the make-shift bladed whip, A stream of acid flowed out of the stump of it's neck, as the Puker tried and failed to get back to it's now absent feet, eventually ending with the mutilated Necromorph stilling.
'Kyara! Give me your chakra! It's time to end this!'
The vixen nodded, and her chakra began to flow into Naruto's body.
He growled gutturally, feeling his fangs grow slightly longer, and gain serrations along the backs, his Blade and Claws becoming serrated as well. Nine luminous red eyes shined through the black Armor of his face, before nine circular disks of Armor slid away, revealing them. Blood-red chakra began to surround his form, with what looked like a tail forming behind him.
Naruto gave a thunderous roar, feeling the intense power flowing through him. The Biomass within him was strengthened as well, and roiled within him, itching to burst out from him. And it did.
Countless tendrils, with glowing red veins, erupted out from him, all with a target in mind. Every single Necromorph surrounding him was impaled, and they ignited.
The light from the scarlet fire bathed the tunnels in crimson, and the screeches, growls, roars, and howls of the burning Necromorphs echoed throughout the tunnels, even being heard from above, the cacophony being faintly heard through a majority of the manholes in Konoha.
Eventually, none of the Necromorphs, save the Ubermorph, were left. Just a large pile of ashes, and charred pieces of bone. Nothing would be obtained from the remains. The Tendril Barrage having been successful, they all began winding back into Naruto, and receded into his form. The Armored Jinchuuriki focused nine blazing red eyes onto his accidental creation, just as it fully healed.
The now fully-recovered Ubermorph staggered to it's feet, and gave a telepathic command for all the Necromorphs to attack. But nothing happened. Confused, it looked around, and realized. Every single Necromorph it had created, that it had nurtured into the killers they were meant to be, were all dead.
Something foreign began welling up inside it. Having never needed them, emotions were something it never felt. It could not name the emotion it was feeling, but it knew that it now wanted it's creator destroyed now, more than ever. Throwing caution to the wind, it charged forward, overwhelmed by the nameless emotion. The Ubermorph raised a single clawed arm, intending on tearing it's creator asunder.
It never got close. Naruto stepped to the side as the now enraged Ubermorph sailed past him. In it's fury, it was incapable of slowing down, and crashed into the sewer wall, it's clawed arm burying into the stone. The Ubermorph struggled to get it's arm out, and felt Naruto's Clawed fingers wrap around it's skull. He brought his fanged maw close to it's head, and he hissed out.
"You made a mistake encroaching on my territory. The villagers of Konoha are my prey. Not yours."
Naruto proceeded to slam the Ubermorph's head into the wall, dazing it.
"You were a mistake. Never meant to be."
Once more. The sewer wall had a large crater within it now.
"I created you."
A third time. The Ubermorph's geometric head was starting to crack, and shattered bone was poking out of it's flesh.
"So too, will I destroy you."
The fourth, and last time. The Ubermorph's head was splattered against the stone, Naruto letting go, and allowing to fall back. He raised an Armored foot, and stomped down on it's chest, shattering the ribcage, and burying his foot ankle-deep into it's chest. The flesh felt squishy, and slick underfoot. A few tendrils emerged from his ankles, and began consuming the Ubermorph alive. While it was blind, and lacking a head, it was still conscious.
It felt itself disappearing, and in it's agony, it writhed, legs kicking, clawed arms swinging, desperate to free itself. At least, until it's legs and arms were consumed. The last thing it felt, was the sensation of probing tendrils burrowing into it's shattered skull, and then...oblivion.
The Ubermorph now consumed, Naruto gripped at his head in pain. Instructions on how to create Necromorphs, the mechanics behind the organic bombs of the Brute, and the Ubermorph's own memories were shoved into his mind.
It was damp. Dark. Granted, since it currently didn't possess eyes. It started to feel itself being eaten by something. It responded by engulfing the small furry thing. It's form shifted, until it was one of those small things. Now with vision, it looked around it's surroundings, but it couldn't describe it. It didn't know how.
The pain grew, and Naruto fell to a knee, clutching at his Armored skull. He could faintly hear Kyara shouting, asking if he was alright, but he couldn't respond. It hurt too much.
It had been a few years now. The entity, for it had no name to call itself, was now currently within a roughly humanoid form. Two reverse-jointed legs, and two thick, multiple-jointed arms tipped with Claws. Five glowing red eyes enabled it to see. It had chosen this form, after managing to consume an Oto shinobi, assigned to spy on Konoha, the village in which it resided. It could remember it's creator now. His name, was Naruto.
The Armor receded into Naruto's body, and he had collapsed forward, gritting his teeth, and trying his best to wait out the initial surge of memories.
Naruto was here. He was intending on destroying everything it had created. No. Not if it had anything to say about it. It had contemplated allying with him, but realized that Naruto would view it, and it's creations as competition. It made a decision. It, and it's own creations would attack him, and once he was dead, it would take Konoha for itself. Perhaps, even the world. And maybe, once done here, onward, to other worlds.
Naruto growled deeply, and he began punching at the floor, causing cracks to spread out around him. Anything to stop the agony.
It was over. All of it's work, destroyed. Why? Why did it's creator do this? It had never been hostile to him, never made itself known to him. Why did he seek to destroy it? Emotions were deemed unnecessary by it, having learned how to feel by consuming living humans. It never felt anything yet however, as it never found a reason to. But it felt something now. What was it called? Yes...Rage.
The hooded blonde could scarcely think straight. Damn it all, he hated this! It hurt like a fucking bitch!
It had failed. Naruto was standing over him. It could feel itself being consumed. But it wasn't angry anymore. Yes, being consumed was painful, but, it also meant that it's existence could come to an end. It had failed in killing Naruto, and that meant all future plans had failed as well. Now without purpose, it accepted death. At least, it's creator would be the one to kill it. It was almost poetic. Darkness overcame it.
'Naruto! Can you hear me!? Naruto!' Kyara screamed as loud as she could.
With the pain now gone, Naruto managed to get back to his feet. He rubbed at his forehead, grimacing.
'Ow. That fucking hurt like hell.'
'Are you there?! Naruto!'
Naruto flinched as Kyara's yelling within his head triggered a short burst of pain.
'Ouch! Yes, I am! Perfectly fine! Stop yelling!'
He heard the vixen give a quiet sigh of relief, and the faint sound of bedsheets being moved around.
'Thank Kami. I couldn't do anything to help you at all, and you were screaming so loudly...'
'Screaming?'
'Not in reality, but in here, you were screaming.' She sniffled slightly, brushing away a tear that had the audacity to begin forming in the corner of her eye. 'You were in agony...I was so scared...'
He sighed heavily, and began to walk out of the central hub, stepping over the large ring of ashes that surrounded it.
'Well, I'm okay now. Please don't start crying. I have absolutely no idea what to do when someone's crying.'
He heard Kyara make a sound somewhere between a giggle and another sniffle.
'Really? You handled Saiyuri pretty well.' She smiled, and Naruto felt phantom arms wrap around his neck gently. He would swear he felt invisible tears dripping onto his shoulder. 'I think you could deal with me.'
Naruto inwardly scoffed.
'Don't start now.'
Kyara's quiet giggling helped soothe him somewhat. Naruto reached a ladder that would lead up to the street above. So as not to draw too much attention, he climbed up the ladder, and pushed the manhole cover up, and slid to the side. Placing both hands on either side of the manhole, he pulled himself up, and once he was on the street, grabbed the manhole, and put it back.
Naruto had a lot of research to do. A few experiments with corpses to see if he could reproduce the Necromorphs, as well as finding out a way to use the organic bombs in combat effectively. With his bunker in mind, Naruto strolled off, hands in his pockets.
Hopefully, the bunker wasn't too damaged by Kushina's childish, yet endearing antics.
Maybe.
Naruto defeats the Ubermorph! Well of course he would! He's the protagonist! So yeah. My own personal opinion, Necromorphs vs. A Prototype = lots of dead Necromorphs. Next chapter, Naruto will be heading off to war, in Kiri! Make sure to review!
