Chapter 36: Offset of Fame

Takeshi, Momoko's avid admirer, went to his business that morning. The Tsubasakage had left for Nue two days ago, and he knew that it was safe to carry out his plan now. As long as no one interfered, he would succeed with it. When the cave was only a few meters away, he stopped to rehearse his excuse for a few moments. Two Jonin shinobis were guarding the cave, and by the look of it, they would not let anyone even a small animal to enter. Taking a long breath, he walked on.

"Good morning," Takeshi said.

"Takeshi-sama!" the guards exclaimed, startled at his unannounced visit. "What are you doing here?"

"Haha-ue instructed me to check on it."

The two guards frowned at each other.

"What do you mean?" one guard asked. "Takeshi-sama, this cave is off-limits, even to you."

"We cannot allow you, sir. The Tsubasakage, herself, told us that even with a written permit, no one was to be allowed inside," the other added.

"Is that so?"

"We are very sorry, sir."

Takeshi hid an evil smile. "I see. Then how about this?" His eyes glowed red for an instant. The two guards stiffened. "May I go inside, now?"

"Yes, Takeshi-sama," the guards said in unison, stepping aside for him.

Now, he was not hiding his grin anymore. "Good. That's the way I like it."

…

Naruto was scrutinizing a display of frog-leather pouches through a glass stand when suddenly something large crashed a few yards away behind him. The old female vendor's eyes widened upon seeing the crash.

"That one looks good. Was it a girl frog?" Naruto said, fingers on his chin like a detective deep in thought. "She could be gama-chan's partner."

"Asahi-sama, look!" the vendor said.

"What?" Naruto turned where the woman was looking at. "Hey, what's going on?"

The small shacks continued on bursting into debris, dust all around. People ran off screaming in every direction.

"Oh my God, not her. Not her, please!" the vendor muttered.

"Her? Hey, obaa-chan, who's her?"

The vendor said, hastily, "I'm sorry, Asahi-sama, but I need to check on my children! I'm sorry!" She hurried away from him.

"Who's her?" Naruto said to himself, frowning at the on going wreckage.

He saw shinobis leaping on rooftops toward the direction of the commotion. He could read on their faces how serious the situation was. The next thing he knew he was leaping off roofs with them.

"Hey, what's going on?" Naruto asked the shinobi beside him.

"Asahi-sama, it would be better if you went on your way. This is an internal problem," the shinobi said.

Naruto understood what he meant. He stopped and watched the shinobi go. His eyes on his feet, he started to the opposite direction, but after a single step, he stopped. "Argh! I want to see, too!" He whirled and dashed off in the direction the shinobi had gone to. Finally, he reached a spot where he could see the cause of the ruckus. His eyes widened. It was a large, black anaconda, and its bulging stomach was a clear sign that it had just eaten breakfast.

Forty shinobis were now surrounding the giant snake. The head of the group was barking instructions, pointing his finger here and there. The giant snake slithered forward. It seemed not interested with its surrounding. Its eyes were trained ahead, at the village proper, where families went on with their daily activities.

"Kai!" the head of the shinobis bellowed.

A huge man went in front of the snake and formed hand seals. "Earth Release: Earth Wall!" A large dam-like structure grew out from the ground to hinder the snake. But the snake didn't even slow down. It smashed its head through the thick wall and went on.

Desperate now, the shinobis attacked the snake with their techniques, but to no avail. They failed to even confuse it. It slithered, its belly eating the distance little by little.

"Ooooi!" Naruto called out. "That thing is really serious! I want to help!"

"Asahi-sama," the head of group turned his head to him.

"Ringo-taichoo, the snake is almost at the village!" a young shinobi shouted.

Ringo's fists shook in defeat. The acquiescence would show that they could not defend their own village, but the snake was something else. He had no choice. If the rumors were true, he could only count on the outsider. "Please, Asahi-sama."

Naruto grinned. "Yosh! I'm coming!"

"I'll help, too," Momoko said, suddenly appearing beside Naruto.

"Momoko! Wow, I didn't even notice you."

"Is that a compliment? Anyway, I was so worried when the guard told me that you had gone out. Now I'm glad I followed you." Momoko stared at the black snake. "Where did that thing come from?"

"I don't know, but the thing is, it's somewhat resistant to ninjutsu."

"Oh. You've become quite the observant."

"It will grow on you however you prevent it." Naruto had not told them about his training inside his unconsciousness or Shihai or the four past Hokages who had become his senseis. You're gonna need all the observing power you have against those monsters.

Suddenly, the snake froze.

"Hey, what's happening now?" Naruto asked.

"Look, it's Shikamaru!"

"I will not be able to hold it for long," Shikamaru said. He was having great difficulty in maintaining his binding technique. He had his shadow beneath the snake's huge belly. "Go and set up a perimeter defense around the village!"

"Nara-sama…" Ringo said, startled at the development.

"What are you waiting for? Go! Go!" The snake made a movement. Shikamaru couldn't help grunting.

The shinobis were puzzled for a moment until Ringo repeated Shikamaru's instruction. "Kai, inform the guards of the situation. Team 3 and 4, go and search for survivors in the market."

"I understand," Kai said. He nodded at the other shinobis, and then they moved out.

"I'll be counting on you, Nara-sama. Thank you." After Ringo said this, he followed his team.

"I can't hold it anymore." Shikamaru forced himself to look up at Naruto. "It's all yours!" He broke the binding. The strain of the technique had drained his strength. His knees buckled, and then he went down.

Angered, the snake turned to Shikamaru. It raised its head, staring at him. Shikamaru cringed. The snake opened its large mouth and plunged forward. There was a large explosion of dust and dirt when the snake's head collided with the ground.

When Shikamaru opened his eyes, he found himself in Momoko's arms.

"Naruto told me to stay away as far as possible."

"I thought I was done for. Thanks," Shikamaru said. "You can put me down now."

Momoko picked a roof far enough from the snake. She put Shikamaru down. "Do you think he can manage?"

"I'm not a sensor, but he doesn't have the same chakra as before," Shikamaru said. "He seems to have gotten a lot of levels higher."

Momoko was disturbed with Shikamaru's conclusion. "Do you think he is that strong now?" Naruto, do you really have to leave me behind this much? She clenched her fists.

"I don't know how he will deal with that monster," Shikamaru said. "It seems to have the ability to neutralize chakra. It can also dissolve everything made by it."

Shino, Sakura, and Ino landed on the same roof as them.

"I was just about to go to the hospital when I saw the explosion. What's going on?" Sakura said.

Shikamaru gestured with his chin. "Somehow that snake appeared from nowhere and started destroying everything in its path."

"I haven't met with that monster even once," Shino said.

"Met with it? What do you mean?" Momoko said.

"I've been wandering all over Taka to find new species of insects and animals. I'm wondering how an animal that big has eluded me."

"Who's that guy fighting against it?" Ino said, dismissing Shino. "Is that Naruto?"

The snake had turned all its attention to Naruto and, at the moment, was trying to eat him. In the process, it continuously destroyed nearby buildings.

"It is," Momoko said. "He—"

Sakura started towards Naruto, but Shikamaru caught her arm.

"You will just get in the way," Shikamaru said. "He's not of our league anymore. Right now, he might be as strong as or stronger than the Sannins themselves."

"Let me go! I won't be like before who just stood by while he was about to die!" Sakura said. She tried to use her incredible strength to pull her arm from his grip, but she suddenly found herself bound by Shikamaru's Shadow Binding, Shino's chakra bugs, Ino's Deep Freeze, and Momoko's strong arms. She gaped in disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"With your rash actions, you'll kill him yourself," Shino said, the only one who was able to say that fact, bluntly. "Watch. The snake can barely touch him."

"And I think he's having fun doing it," Ino added.

Sakura looked to see for herself, anxiety in her green eyes. "Naruto…" She clenched her jaws. "It's okay, now. You can let me go." After they did, she heaved and shouted, "Naruto, if you defeat that snake, I'll let you go out with me!"

Ino sighed. "It's not really the time to be saying that."

Momoko crossed her arms, upset. "Cheater," she muttered.

…

Naruto created a hundred Kage Bushin to hold down the black anaconda, but it easily got rid of them by hurling its body at the walls of the buildings. Naruto then tried to attack with Rasengan, but it disappeared upon touching the snake's scales. He gazed up at the monster, frustrated from its apparent invincibility. It'd be better if I observed from above. He extended his left arm and called for his surfboard. After a few tries, he gaped in horror. He had left it in his room! Shit! The snake towered over him and attacked. He hurriedly evaded and hid behind a large wine storage.

…

"Nara-sama, you should get away from here now," a masked shinobi said.

Shikamaru whirled at him. "You're a black op shinobi."

"Yes. It's an order from the Tsubasakage to ensure your safety in this village. We can't allow you to stay here."

"No, we're not leaving!" Sakura said. "A friend—"

Shikamaru raised a hand to stop her. "The black op should only be involved in extraordinary circumstances. Why are you here instead of the Jonins?"

"That is something you don't have any business to know, Nara-sama. I'm sorry."

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder at Ino. He nodded at her.

Ino formed hand seals. "Mind Manipulation Technique: Consciousness Takeover!"

The black op shinobi lost consciousness and was only able to stand up because of Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation Technique. Silence prevailed for a few minutes.

Ino's eyes widened. She let go of her technique and looked back at the rampaging serpent.

"What have you found out?" Shikamaru asked.

"That snake is called the Queen of Serpents. It was the reason two provinces in the south had disappeared from the map of Sanmyaku three hundred and fifty years ago. It wiped out ten million lives. It has the ability to render any technique using chakra useless and its scales are so hard steel is like soft mud. The only person who had been capable of stopping it was the Emperor of Sanmyaku, back in the days when the five kingdoms were still one." She looked at Shikamaru, anxiously. "No one knows how the Emperor did it. He put the snake to sleep and brought it here as insurance if ever it woke up and went wild again. Only the noble families of Taka and the Tsubasakage have known where it had been locked up all these years. No one is allowed to go near its cave. It's been enforced strictly that even children were not spared from death if they happened to be too near the place."

"Then someone has woken it up for some idiotic reason," Shikamaru said.

"If I go with this shinobi's train of thought, that someone is already dead."

"What about Naruto?" Sakura asked. "We cannot leave him alone."

"Look around you. The black ops have surrounded the place. We have no choice but to retreat."

"And leave Naruto alone with that monster?"

"Are you not listening, Sakura? Even innocent children were not spared from death!"

"I can't believe you." Tears filled her eyes. "Whatever you say, I'm still going!" She prepared to leave, but a fast fist buried itself in her stomach. She looked up and saw Shino.

"This is for the best," Shino said.

"Shit," Sakura hissed and fainted. Shino carried her on his shoulder.

Shikamaru saw the eyes of the black op shinobi blinking.

"That's weird," the shinobi said. "Where were we again?"

"What are you planning to do?" Shikamaru asked. "I think we have the right to know about that because it concerns our safety."

The shinobi hesitated for a few moments before speaking. "Do you see the perimeter my colleagues are setting up? We're going to put explosion staff around it and force that part of the floating island to sink."

"What?"

"That's the only way we know to stop that monster. Now that the Tsubasakage is in Nue, we can only count on our captain."

Shikamaru held the shinobi's arm. "I want you to know that Lord Asahi is currently fighting against it."

"Lord Asahi is there? So he was the one who confined the snake in the district market."

"You know what to do. We're leaving." He nodded at his team, and then they left.

…

Think! Think! Think! Naruto was focusing all his mental capacity to think of a good idea of how an offensive shinobi like him should deal against a chakra-resistant snake. With its size, it could easily be as big as Manda, Orochimaru's summon. It had the ability to cover a large distance. Not only that. It was also fast. Its scales were so hard that no kunai, shuriken, kicks, or punches had affected it. Could a totally invincible creature like it really exist?

Naruto perked up when he felt its presence behind him. He got up and fled. The sound of head-versus-rock reached his ears as the snake destroyed the residential building he had been hiding from.

"Damn it! If only my surfboard was here." He looked behind him. The snake was chasing him from the opposite side of the row of houses. He could see its black scale through the gaps in between the evacuated homes. Suddenly, a building two lots away from him erupted. The snake crawled over the debris toward him with its mouth open. He had no way of evading. His inertia was too much for him to change direction. It was too late. He closed his eyes.

"Asahi-sama!" Kaguya called out. She was on top of a tower. She spun around and hurled his surfboard towards him.

"Kaguya! I love you!" Naruto shouted back, delighted at her timely arrival.

Kaguya stiffened upon hearing it. She groped for her heart, flustered and light-headed.

The surfboard came at him, and when it was close enough, he leaped off. He landed perfectly on it. The snake's lower jaw raked the dirt as Naruto glided away. The snake raised it head and searched for him. Was that a frown on the snake's forehead? Naruto chuckled. He flew towards Kaguya, who, at the moment, couldn't look at him and desperately wanted to get away from him. Naruto scooped her up and kissed her cheek, loudly. Kaguya was about to faint.

"I thought I was going to die. Thank you very much," he said.

"You're welcome, you're welcome. Ah, Naruto-sama, your arms…" She indicated his tight embrace.

"Oh, sorry," he said. He looked down at the snake. It was still searching for him. Then he noticed the line of black clad shinobis around where he was fighting the snake. They had formed a large circle around the place. "What are they planning to do?"

"Them? I don't know," Kaguya said.

"Let's go down." He wrapped an arm around the pretty girl—forcing a moan out her mouth—and descended down. The black op shinobis watched him with apparent fascination. He landed behind the formation. "Hey, could I ask what you are planning to do?"

Naruto saw the Adam's apple of the black op bob before he spoke. "Asahi-sama…" He seemed not to know how to proceed.

"We will sink the place to the ground through explosion staff, Asahi-sama," offered another shinobi. "We won't win against it in a face-to-face combat."

"If that's true, how have you managed to live with it through the years?" Kaguya asked.

"We didn't live with it, Kaguya-sama. It has been confined inside a sealed cave until now."

"Confined, you say? Then why not just use the technique which imprisoned it?"

"It's not that easy. It has been over three hundred years since that snake's defeat. There is no written account of how the First Emperor did it. This is the only way."

Naruto heard a sweet, melodious voice in his head.

"A-anata? May I call you Anata?"

It's not the time for that, Yumiko. We are dealing with something right now.

"That's why I called you. The human in the snake's stomach is still alive."

What?

"And there are two more. Be in Sage Mode, My Lord, and you'll see."

Thank you, Yumiko. I owe you this one.

"Anything for you, My—"

You can call me, Anata, if that's what you want. You're my wife, after all.

"Thank you, A…," she gulped, "Anata."

Naruto approached the black op shinobi. "When will the bombs go off?"

"Pardon?"

"When will you activate the bombs?"

"The placement is not yet finished. In three minutes, I guess."

Naruto thought for a while. "Give me ten minutes."

"For what?"

"I'm just going to check on something."

"Asahi-sama, what do you intend to do?"

You wouldn't believe if I told you. I don't have evidence. He ignored the question. "Ten minutes. Activate the bombs after that."

"No. We cannot put your life in jeopardy."

Naruto jumped off the roof with his surfboard. "Ten minutes!"

"Asahi-sama!" Kaguya called out.

"I'll be right back. Trust me."

Kaguya clasped her hands in prayer.

Naruto descended down. He was careful not to let the snake see him. The leader of the shinobi raised his hand, closing and opening it twice to tell his troops that they would be activating in ten minutes.

"Sage Mode!" The feel of the surrounding changed like a surge of wind blowing into one's face upon opening a window during a storm. His sensory range had expanded dramatically since he became husband to the Crimson Queen Yumiko, the Demon Fox. Now he could even feel the presence of the black op shinobis who were over two hundred meters away from him. The presence of the snake became more powerful, but there was no more. Yumiko, are you sure you felt something?

"Yes. While you were running from the snake, I felt them. Their presence was very faint. I'm sure they are inside a deep place. The aura of the snake must be hiding them from you."

"How about the one in its belly?" Now he was talking aloud.

"It's fading too fast."

"We quickly need to do something."

Finally, the snake saw him. It raised its head, its tongue going in and out its mouth. They stared off for a while: the snake with an expression of smug confidence; he with an expression of assured uncertainty. Then the snake jerked its head into another direction. It was now looking at the ruin of a building.

"Anata, there!" Yumiko said. "I can feel them from there!"

"Oh, no. Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A large population of Naruto clones appeared around the snake. They started pulling and pushing the giant snake away from the ruined building. The snake struggled. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Hordes of Naruto flooded the snake.

If he could only see, he would be laughing silly, because behind the masks of the stoic looking black ops, faces were as white as paper in disbelief.

Naruto felt dizzy after the four consecutive execution of the forbidden technique. One average shinobi could have died already after such feat. He could hear Yumiko moaning in his mind. The technique had undoubtedly drained her. Even if she had already surrendered herself to him, they remained a separate entity. That was the reason why Yumiko could sense chakra, independently. They would only be one and the same when Naruto entered his complete Kyubi Mode, the mode he had used to defeat Shitto.

Naruto composed himself and landed beside the ruin. He searched for an entrance. His clones were doing well in pushing the snake away. They would give him enough time to search for the survivors. At the far corner of the ruin, beneath a shaggy, snake-made pyramid of thick logs, he found a hole. He entered it. The place was dark.

"Hello? Anybody here? Please, speak." No reply. "Hello?"

"Here…" It was coming from a child. "Please, help us. I have my little sister with me."

Naruto pushed through the wreckage and found under the sink a young girl crouching over a baby. The girl had been crying but the baby was unbelievably acting like…like a baby! Still cheerful despite of the chaos around her.

Naruto was genuinely concerned. "Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?"

"My ankle, commoner. It's sore."

The baby reached out and honked his nose, squealing in delight. She had a gold forehead lace with a green gemstone at the center. "Abu…abu…" she said, excitedly.

The young girl smiled. "Wow. This is the first time she takes up with another man. Are you of noble birth? If you are, then I'm sorry. Well, except for my brother and my father, she doesn't approve of anyone else." She beamed at him. "You must be someone special."

"I don't understand what you're talking about, but we need to get out of here fast. Here, I'll both carry you." He started to slide his hands under the young girl. "Easy now." Suddenly, the roof was swiped away. Blinding sunlight rushed in and ate the darkness up. The baby shut her eyes and whimpered.

"Shush, shush, Mika. It's all right," the young girl said.

The snake came up with its deadly eyes trained at them, taking its time. Mocking. Its tongue went in and out, in and out, in and out—curled—in and out.

"Don't let the baby look. You, too, close your eyes." The young girl did his request. "Don't be afraid. I'll not let you die."

"Um," the young girl muttered, shivering. Naruto tightened his embrace on them. The baby cooed, putting a hand on his chest, crumpling a small patch of fabric there.

The snake retracted its head, preparing to spring forward. Slowly. Slowly.

Naruto's eyes had turned into a pair of blue gems filled with furious determination. The snake sprang forward, fast. Naruto was not moving. He would not let the two girls die. There was a promise of death in his eyes. "If you inflict even a single scratch on these two girls, I'll turn you into minced meat." He said this under his breath, but the snake seemed to hear him. It stopped two inches away from his face, its eyes growing wild. The lines on its belly started to surge in rhythm. Froth appeared at the side of its mouth. It began harking as if a bone was stuck in its throat. With a fast sweep, it crashed its head into a water pump. Water spurted out from the broken pipe. Harking, harking, it turned to Naruto again. It sprang forward with all its weight. Unexpectedly, it avoided Naruto and crashed into the heap of debris at the right wall. Naruto just stood there, shadow of his bangs draping the upper half of his face, his posture sturdy, his calm chilling.

…

Up on the roof, Kaguya was shivering. She seemed to forget her admiration of Naruto. Her lips were pale like a frozen finger. Around her, all the black ops eyes were focused on Naruto.

"Never in my life have I felt this frightened before," the leader of the black ops said.

"His killing intent is incredible. I can't even move," another said.

A young black ops shinobi fell down on his knees, clutching his head. "Make him stop! Make him stop!"

His sister pulled him up. "Stop whining like a baby. Feel it and learn. This is how high Lotus-sama's standard is. You are aiming for a spot under his banner, aren't you? Now, get up and endure!"

"I can already imagine how it would feel like if I were that snake," the leader of the black ops said. "Poor thing."

…

The snake went on harking. It slithered around Naruto and attempted to attack from behind. But, like its first try, it couldn't finish its attack. Its instincts told it to avoid, so it avoided Naruto and collided with a house ruin across the street. While down, the spasm along its belly continued. The bunch in its stomach climbed little by little to its mouth. It raised its head and opened its big mouth. Sticky saliva clung disgustingly on its short fangs. A mass of it with froth dripped on the ground. It harked twice, and then lowered its head. A body came out its mouth, covered with thick mucus and gastrointestinal acids.

Naruto looked up. "Go away."

The snake considered Naruto for a while. Then it lowered its head and softly nudged Naruto's forehead with its nose, an act of respect and acceptance of defeat. The Queen of Serpents had been bested a second time. It turned around in the direction where it had come from. A few minutes later, it was gone.

Naruto found himself at the center of the district market. Around him, people had their faces on the ground, prostrating themselves in front of their hero: the black ops shinobis, the Jonins, Chuunins, and Genins, the head of the clans, and the thousands of villagers who he had saved. They had witnessed how the Queen of the Serpents accepted its defeat and spared all their lives. This was history that they would tell their grandchildren in the next generation. A legendary monster had submitted itself to a human being, a mercenary, a handsome, young man with an aura as warm as the sun.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Naruto said, deeply puzzled.

The young girl got off from his arms. She gave her baby sister to him and bowed at his feet. "You have saved Taka from destruction. We will be forever in your debt, Asahi-sama."

"Eh?" Naruto was really confused, now.

A person from the last row started to clap. The bowed heads turned towards the sound. A second person began clapping as well. It became contagious and the people just found themselves sharing a thunderous applaud for their hero. Children chanted, "Asahi! Asahi! Asahi!" Mothers and fathers surged forward to personally thank him.

"Wait! Wait! The baby will get crushed! Help me! Someone!" The shinobis hurriedly formed a barricade around him. "Whoo! Thank you." He checked on the baby. She looked up and smiled at him.

"Gagabu…" the baby said, and then giggled. She reached out and honked his nose a second time.

"Let me have her?" the young girl asked. "You're getting fond of her."

"Well, she's really cute." The baby squealed in response. "Here you are."

As he set the baby in the young girl's arms, his eyelids fluttered.

"By the way, I'm Princess Sagai Tamiko. My father is Lord Sagai Haruo, Taka's current and living king."

There was a thud. Naruto had fallen asleep because of exhaustion.

Tamiko smiled. She was only nine, but she could already compare Naruto with her late grandfather. "I wish you were here, Grandpa. I'm sure you two will get along well."