Chapter 18 - A Hollow Victory
Authors Note: Quick Note, I haven't done it yet, but I will change the age again for Naruto when he saved Ban. The short version of his timeline would be. Learns about Ban at 4 along with overhearing Sarutobi tell the truth about Minato, meets Meliodas and Elizabeth at age 5. Frees Ban at 6. Release Ban at age 7. I know it seems weird, but even Yamato became a genin age 5 so let's not play that game. I wanted to show a few flashbacks of Ban raising Naruto who was a child at the time hopefully within the next two chapters.
The New Goddess Realm, earlier before the invasion
Gamabunta, Katsuyu, and Manda all appeared in front of the massive court guarded by many wingless Goddess clan members large brute like halflings guarding the crowd who attended the case.
(Note: I kind of found it a pain to use bold for summons since I never did with any Goddess clan members, so not gonna do that here.)
"Manda what the hell are you doing here?" Gamabunta asked the snake.
"That idiot Orochimaru summoned me only for these flying ningen to wrap their chains around me and drag me away. I tried to poof away and summon more of my kin, but they were trapped as well." Manda explained.
"Same here, I can't seem to head back to Mt. Myoboku. How was your luck Katsuyu?" he asked.
"What do you think?" Katsuyu asked pointing out the obvious.
"I see." Gamabunta said getting sweat drops from the other two.
"All rise for the honorable elders and council!" Called a rather tall man with a golden chestplate and helmet similar to that of a spartan.
The three boss summons looked to see Jenna, Zaneri, Judah, and four others taking their seats high above making it difficult for some of the spectators to see them. These four were other members of the council besides Judah who was in charge of the summoning in and out of the realm. The next one was Adriel, a tall male with long black hair and wearing a white robe, he was in charge of the scholars of the realm. Next to him was Abigail, a woman wearing a hood and cloak, she was in charge in of the laws and equality among the inhabitants of the realm After her was Lucy, a blond woman with red eyes who wore a victorian an oak colored style dress, she was in charge of the sealing arts and studies of combat despite how she looks. Finally there was Donovan, a grey haired man with the a young face, he wore decorated suit which one would confuse for a naval admiral, this man was in charge of law and order.
"You may now be seated." Judah said making every spectator take their seat.
The council nodded, "What are the charges?" asked Donovan.
"Three separate charges your honor, however they all intersect. The Toad Clan is charged of tampering with potential visions of future events by spreading rumors of such visions along with advertently and inadvertently tampering with future events." explained the clan member dressed as a spartan.
"Now what about the slug and the serpent?" asked Donovan.
"The Snake Clan is charged with using humans as sacrifices along with tampering with the bodies of their summoners in order to create disturbing techniques such as turning into snakes themselves and spreading rumors of visions of prophecies as well. The Slug Clan is charged with assistance of the Toads in spreading such prophecy, leaving them as the minor of the group." the spartan finished.
"All three of you, how do you plead to these charges?" Zaneri asked.
"It's the geezer's fault!"
"Blame the drugs!"
"These two have always been dragging me into trouble." Manda and Gamabunta looked at Katsuyu like an idiot with her looking like she was ready to cry.
After a moment of silence, "What?" was the response the judges gave.
"I think someone was putting the blame on the use of narcotics along with another blaming the elderly." Adriel said.
"Could someone care to elaborate on what my colleague mentioned?" Donovan asked.
Katsuyu spoke before either the snake or toad could speak up, "These two have been listening to their elders spouting on about nonsense speaking about the end of the world and some chosen one crap. I tried and tried and tried to speak up, but Manda stopped listening to us and then Gamabunta was helping his perverted summoner tamper with a prophecy without realizing it and it turned out they were trying to follow it which involved child abandonment only for the abandoned child to turn out to be their prophecy child. I didn't want to do anything, but my summoner started threatening so I was considering removing her until I was summoned and brought to court. Please don't punish me followers of Kami!" she blurted out rather quickly which was enough for the judges to understand.
Everyone was met with silence again, "I'm sorry, did I just hear child abandonment now?" Adriel asked.
"So let me get this straight. I hear illegal prophecies, the ability in which our Supreme Deity blessed the Toad Clan caused the abandonment of a child?" Lucy asked getting a nod from the Slug Boss, "What does this have to do with the elderly and narcotics?" she asked.
"I can answer that, unfortunately." Gamabunta spoke up.
"Please enlighten us." Donovan said, already seeing a lot of trouble with the elderly, drugs, prophecies, oh and let's not forget human sacrifices. Who knows, they may as well add acts of terrorism to that list.
Gamabunta sighed, "Basically back in mt. Myoboku, we have Gamamaru who we refer to as the Great Toad Sage... or honorable geezer since he's senile and forgetful." this earned several sweat drops, "Anyways, when he was young he started coming up with prophecies and the first one was of Kaguya, the Rabbit Goddess and mother of the Sage of Six Paths."
"Yes we know of this Kaguya. She is the exact reason why the Supreme Deity had blessed him with the ability to see the future as long as he kept it to himself and never reveal it until dark times would come soon. Seeing this, he already broke his promise." Jenna explained getting a gasp from Gamabunta.
"However, how is it that the Snake Clan managed to obtain this ability? This was only shared to one clan to prevent catastrophe among the animal kingdom and abuse of the future." Donovan said pushing for answers.
"I'm not saying anything." Manda said stubbornly.
Donovan was not someone to infuriate or mess with when it came to the eyes of the law or potential crime. He quickly got up from his seat and charged up a heavy amount of energy and fired an Ark at Manda who cried it pain before collapsing on his side. This was going to be a long trial and it didn't help that a good portion of the clan was ready to jump out and protect Naruto's village from some invasion they were warned about.
With everyone else at the mansion, present time
Arthur engaged the Demon King in another sword battle while Vivian focused on support awaiting for everyone else to jump in and help exorcise the Demon King from Naruto's body. Herodias stood by and started working on some technique involving these strings and wooden handles summoning wooden warriors and ordered them to surround the Demon King. The Demon King smirked finding the challenge amusing and started putting more pressure into his slashes and dashes forcing Arthur to slowly stumble back. He then raises his hand to block Rhitta and lifting it in the air and tossing it along with Escanor who refused to let go of his weapon before finding Ban grabbing him in a headlock.
"Get out of my son you damn pedophile!" Ban yelled making the Demon King laugh.
"You are hilarious Fox Sin, for I do not know what pedodphile is, so your insult means nothing." he continued laughing.
"Pedophile means a man who has intercourse with young boys." Herodias said making the Demon King stop laughing and turn red from anger.
"Now you've angered me by calling me something... something... vile... disgusting... on a new level for I the Demon King am to proud to commit such... such... disgusting..." he continued trying to describe Ban's insult while holding off Arthur and ignoring Ban's chokehold.
Escanor managed to get up and ran back to the fight, 'And they call me prideful? Does that man even hear himself?' Escanor wondered.
"For I am the Demon King and have a large... massive... greatly proportionally sized manhood that all women of all ages..." the Demon King trailed off.
"Does that include young girls as well?" Ban asked with a snicker angering the Demon King again.
"How dare you further spread my anger. You dare continue to insult me!? ME!? The Great Demon King!? The Ruler of the Demon Realm!? The..." Everyone else started sweat dropping at the man's speech who somehow maintained himself in combat despite going on a tangent.
"I think we found someone more prideful than the Lion Sin of Pride." Vivian said getting more snickers.
While the Demon King was blowing more garbage out of his mouth, he was cut off guard by a heavy fist impacting his face sending him flying into the dirt before taking a kick to the face followed by being grabbed by both legs and slammed into the ground.
"We ought to defeat this man before we do too much harm to our friend." Escanor said seeing the Demon King recover quickly and engage Escanor in hand to hand combat.
Merlin floated to Vivian's side wondering what she was doing, "Vivian, what is it you're trying to do?" she asked.
"No greetings? No acknowledgement of any kind? Is that any way to treat your student?" Vivian asked sarcastically making Merlin raise a brow, "I'm working on a seal to help Naruto break free, but I need help from the Goat Sin." she explained.
"Vivian, how are you aware of what was going before you were unsealed? Better yet, where were you during the last Holy War?" Merlin asked wishing to know what happened to her student after she was frozen in time.
"A lot of things happened Lady Merlin and one of them was almost literally having manners beaten into me." Merlin raised a brow, "You can thank my sensei when you meet him in time... I hope." she whispered the last part.
"Who is your sensei?" Merlin asked.
Vivian looked nervous, "I can't say yet, it involves Master Lars as well and we were given specific instructions to not say anything until Fillmore shows up." she answered.
"So that Fox is frozen?" Merlin asked as Vivian shook her head and rolled her eyes thinking about it.
"He's still alive and probably at some bar somewhere." she said thinking about how useless and rude Fillmore was.
"What about Lars? Is he alive as well?" Merlin asked feeling close to unravelling some hidden mysteries that Meliodas didn't mention in his note such as Arthur being sealed away with Vivian.
Vivian sighed remembering what her sensei told her, "No Lady Merlin he's... he's dead... he died shortly before we were sealed away." she said in a sad tone Merlin noticed.
'Something must have happened between her and that man. Perhaps Arthur could elaborate.' Merlin thought before joining in the battle.
Meanwhile with the Holy Knights
The knights all grouped together and watched as the Oto shinobi started retreating leaving the Kumo shinobi behind to fend for themselves. Gil and Howzer naturally work together creating some combined techniques stunning a few before Jericho traps them in ice giving them a few prisoners to use as bargaining chips for when the invasion was over. Guila and Slader also did their own teaming up cutting down burning anyone who managed to sneak past the main defense at the entry as well as those were trying to scale over the walls.
Hendrickson and Dreyfus also ran to Sarutobi's side who was leading at the front lines before meeting with the Raikage who finally made his appearance with two guards of his own. Not having time for words the Raikage attempts to use a lariat on Sarutobi who quickly dodged out of the way and countered with a kick to A's face.
The white haired, Darui, guard fired some kind of black lightning jutsu at Dreyfus who stood his ground and used his sword to slice it in half causing the power to fade away. The blond man, Cee, engaged Hendrickson by firing several lightning jutsus attempting to distract the grandmaster before using a genjutsu to distract him and take him out from behind while Hendrickson fought an illusion. Cee was well known for his intelligence and tactics, but his weakness was not having enough information to combat the enemy properly, such as not knowing Hendrickson's incapability to use chakra making genjutsu useless. He learned the hard way by taking a large slash towards the arm making him jump back.
This fight was close to an end, it was only a matter of time.
With the rest of the Sins
Gowther has been maintaining stealth and used the information he gathered from the minds of enemy officers to help pass on plans to the tactical divisions along with manipulating some of the Oto shinobi to attack the Kumo shinobi causing a negative reaction between both sides. It was rather amusing for both sides to begin turning on each other as both Goddess Clan and Konoha shinobi started to surrounded the number of invaders that were slowly cutting themselves down. He could see Diane chasing the enemy away while King stayed close to her side.
Then suddenly, a loud explosion occurred and taking the moment to study where it came from, he deduced that something was going on back at the mansion. The allied shinobi here appeared fine and were able to take control of the situation leaving Gowther a chance to return quickly to the mansion to lend a hand. He only hoped his surrogate little brother's sentient house was enough to defend everyone else as he slowly, but surely opened up to others without accidentally saying something insulting or offensive.
Back at the mansion
Merlin created a perfect cube to contain the fighters within the front yard seeing as Escanor attempted to blow up the Demon King using his Crazy Prominence before remembering that he was supposed to keep Naruto alive. Seeing this, everyone, but herself and Vivian were in a large cube fighting the possessed boy who refused to go down and started healing himself after the explosion had hit him directly. The Demon King smirked enjoying his fight and continued to trade blows with Escanor before finding several wooden and steel restraints grabbing onto his arms and torso, stopping him from attacking.
He looked back to see Herodias manipulating the restraints with her tools as she maintained her distance while Ban started increasing his own strength before landing a few good blows knocking the Demon King on his face. A few minutes later, Gowther arrived at the sight of the battle and gasped at seeing Naruto's transformation and ran up to Merlin demanding answers.
"Merlin why is my little brother's appearance different!? And why is everyone ganging up on him!?" he yelled out.
"Gowther to keep it short, that's not Naruto. I'm not sure how, but he's been possessed by the Demon King. Vivian here said she's been working on a seal to exorcise him out of Naruto's body and said that we would need you." Merlin explained.
"That's right, since the Demon King is only a powerful fragment of the real Demon King's soul, he's just breaking into the boy's mind so we need your help to hold him down or expel him from Naruto's mindscape if possible." Vivian added.
"I'll lower the barrier once you're close enough." Gowther nodded and started doing the shinobi run (Naruto run meme) ironically considering he's been doing it since before the dawn of the shinobi.
The Demon King managed to toss his adversaries off of him along with destroying the restraints that were keeping him from attacking. He quickly set his sights to Escanor managed to lift him up before repeatedly punching him in the face rapidly and tossing him towards the ceiling of the barrier. Ban quickly did a front flip and landed a kick on the Demon King's head only for his leg to get caught and ripped off along with one of his arms followed by repeated punches in the chest while he was down. Herodias attempted to grab his attention by firing two Arks at him.
The Demon King tossed Ban aside and Charged Herodias who fired another Ark before pulling out a sword to combat leader of Demon race. She struck the Demon King on the arm forcing it to bend and stiffen before he grabbed her and lifted her by the throat. Just as he was ready to crush her windpipe, Escanor quickly shoulder bashed him and started hitting again while he was down. Having enough the Demon King kicked Escanor back making the two engage in a trade of fists yet again not noticing the perfect cube go down for a moment.
Escanor saw Gowther running up behind the Demon King and quickly smashed his knee into his face before tackling him down in a headlock ready for Gowther to invade his mind. Screaming out in pain, the Demon King attempted to rip the pair off only for Escanor to tighten his old along with Ban who quickly regenerated his limbs and used his increased strength to keep him down along with extra restraints, courtesy of Herodias.
"Good, now all I need is a couple of more minutes and we'll be able to expel the Demon King's soul fragment from Naruto's body." Vivian said reassuring everyone else who took cover. Hawk also made a quick appearance revealing that he was hiding underground for some odd reason after digging himself a hole. Then again, if Danzo was able to break in, then maybe a hole in the ground was much safer than a sentient mansion that operated itself as if it were haunted by ghosts.
Naruto's mindscape
Gowther soon found himself in a dark space and turned to see red energy forming next to him in the form of Ban.
"How did you get in here? Better yet why are you in here?" Gowther asked curiously tilting his head.
"I was having trouble returning to the seal, so I hopped on using part of my consciousness." Ban explained.
"It is hard to believe how intelligent you became after all these years Ban." Ban frowned at the comment.
"How about we try to save the wise cracks until we save my son." Ban suggested getting a nod.
The pair travelled around the darkness until they ran into loud screaming.
"Little brother/Son!" the two yelled simultaneously.
The ran towards the noise to find Naruto floating in the air being surrounded by black tendrils with purple outlines going around his body. The pair sprinted towards their loved one only to stop at the noise of ominous laughter. Turning towards the laughter, a large armored man wielding a curved sword stepped from the shadows.
So you managed to enter this space to free my grandson, how wonderful.
"Who the hell are you!?" Ban yelled.
I'm surprised you have forgotten me Fox Sin Ban. I am the sole reason the one you claim to be your child was not trapped in that arrogant man's illusion technique. As well as the technique from the stolen eye from that cycloptic man.
"You are the reason my little brother went insane and almost hurt himself!" Gowther yelled out.
So my deceased servant's broken toy has become emotionally attached to someone yet again. However like you, my grandson can just forget about his pain. It is pain that builds character and makes you stronger. It can either build or destroy you, in your case Goat Sin Gowther, you slowly let it destroy you.
Had Gowther had a heart and not that glass one he tossed away, it would have stopped beating for a moment, "What do you know of my pain?" he asked.
You think I wouldn't have a countermeasure when you were meant to take his place as a member of the Ten Commandments? I've been watching you through that empty head of yours. However, all I've seen was the disappointing story of a sad doll going insane at the sign of depression. Remember Nadja?
The Demon King laughed seeing Gowther grip his head in pain at the painful memory.
Who is too say something similar is to happen to my grandson? Or what if you two have a falling out? What then? Will you run away and erase your own memory?
Ban saw the pain Gowther was going through and sort of felt bad for him wondering what got him worked up considering Gowther was always the calm one.
"How about you stop talking and start fighting!?" Ban yelled pulling out his three section staff and ran up to the Demon King and attempted to strike him directly in the face only to go through him.
Unlike you Fox Sin, I may be a fragment of a soul, but had I been able to manifest enough to attack, I would have killed my grandson just by existing inside his mind.
"So what? You're still sealed away somewhere else?" Ban asked getting a nod.
Sadly yes, my fragment inside the Goat Sin has evaporated leaving myself trapped in this subconsciousness. At least until... my grandson here frees me.
Ban growled at the suggestion, but before he said anything, "To hell I would let you manipulate my little brother!" Gowther yelled out with signs of hate within his voice.
"Yeah to hell with you, if we can't touch you then you can't touch any us!" Ban yelled getting a laugh.
Do you honestly believe that?
Both nodded furiously getting silence from the Demon King.
...actually you are correct about that. I can't physically interact with anyone in this space.
Both sweatdropped at the confession seeing this prideful demon admit to the flaw.
However...
Oh boy, there's always a loophole.
I can still manipulate my grandchild through his emotions.
Both turned to see more tendrils appear all over Naruto as he started to scream louder. Ban ran up Naruto trying to rip off the tendrils only for them to phase through him and continuing manipulating the boy's mind.
Watch as I reawaken the new Demon King, watch as my successor is born!
Naruto was then lifted up by the tendrils, still screaming another tendril appeared behind the back of his head and started connecting onto a white wall that appeared behind him.
"What the hell are you doing to him?" Ban asked feeling furious about being so useless when his son needs him the most.
Molding him, in order to do so he must become strong... otherwise he will break. You do remember how I said one must become strong right?
Gowther's eyes widened and began to fire his arrows towards the tendrils only to phase through him.
Too late
The wall soon turned into several screens. The screens were of people glaring and shouting things at him with scenes of him being attacked.
"Die demon!"
"For the Yondaime!"
"You ruined everything!"
"How dare you upstage Uchiha-Sama!?"
"Just die, no one cares for you!"
"Deadlast, baka, filth, peasant, demon!"
(Naruto OST - Loneliness)
Naruto continued to yell as tears fell down his cheeks as images of his pain continued to spread. Ban and Gowther tried to run up and help Naruto up, but were unable to reach him let alone be able to use their powers to reach him. The Demon King laughed at the futility knowing that the darkness was spreading among Naruto making his wrath grow and forcing the piece of him sealed away was forcefully being recalled. The pair could only watch Naruto's pain, hearing and watching all of his sorrows come to life.
"Don't be the monster they see you as." both turned to see an image of Merlin begging him to stop while he was in assault mode.
What is this? No, ignore that at once!
The image disappeared, "I think you're one of my most precious student and... you're like a brother to me!" another image appeared of Iruka.
Why are these appearing!?
The image disappeared giving Ban an idea, "Naruto remember those who cared about you! Remember Haku!"
The Demon King scowled knowing he was slowly losing grasp of his progeny as another image revealed someone in a pink dress.
"Do you have any you consider precious? It's only through the eyes of others that our lives have any meaning." Haku said.
Two can play that game
Naruto screamed louder as he saw Haku being murdered and neglected by Zabuza until...
"Don't you feel anything!? Weren't you two always together!?" they saw Naruto yell at Zabuza.
"Shut up kid, Haku's already dead… As I was used by Gatō, I used Haku. That was all. I've said it already… in the world of shinobi, there are only those who use and those whom are used. We shinobi are simply tools.. what I wanted was his blood, not him.. I have no regrets." Zabuza said without turning around
"He.. he really loved you! He loved you that much! Do you really feel nothing? Do you really.. really not feel anything? If I could become as strong as you.. will I really become like you? He threw away his life for you! Without his own dream.. to die as a tool.. That's just too sad.." Naruto continued to yell.
"..You don't need to say any more.. It must had pained him to have to fight you.. Haku fought not only for me.. he fought for you guys too. He was too kind. I'm glad I got to face you guys in the end. You may be right.. a shinobi is still a human.. we may not be able to become emotionless tools.." Zabuza admitted looking back at Naruto in tears before he was laid beside Haku's dead body, "You were always at my side, the least I can do is to be beside you at the end. I know it cannot be, but I wish I could go to where you have gone. How I wish I could join you there, Haku." Zabuza died at that moment.
"Naruto don't stop remember Mikoto!" Ban yelled as the images revealed Sasuke and Itachi's mother.
An image soon revealed Naruto digging out of the dumpster only to be found by Mikoto. He tried to run only for her to grab him, expecting to get hit, Naruto closed his eyes only to open them to find a small meal in front of him. Events were played revealing Naruto being visited at his apartment by Mikito who constantly encouraged him to befriend Sasuke since Naruto was held back. Then came his special day.
"Naru-chan, how would you like to be part of my family?" Mikoto asked one day.
"Do you mean it oba-san?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, I'd be your kaa-san and Itachi and Sasuke would be your nii-sans." she said happily receiving a hug.
The next image revealed Naruto running to Mikoto's side as she laid dead on the floor.
"Don't cry Naru-chan, it would hurt more to see my sochi be sad." she said with a weak smile.
The next image revealed Naruto leaving flowers at Mikoto's grave every year.
Enough with this nonsense! Remember the hate! The pain! The needless attacks! Awaken your hate! I command you!
The images were changed revealing everyone he's meet up until now. He could be seen talking with Escanor and having a good time. With Gowther, he can be seen learning about the village and modern customs. With Diane and King, he can be seen enjoying the whatever the village had in store with them and so on. Everyone was there, the Holy Knights, his new parents, Merlin, everyone that made an impact in his life. Then suddenly...
(End of Song)
The tendrils fell apart and dropped him. Ban and Gowther ran to his side to help him up. Naruto opened his eyes to reveal them both transforming into triskyles. He quickly pushed away his brother and father away and flew into the Demon King who ended up taking the hit.
Impossible! How did you hit me!?
"I do not have to answer to you!" Naruto yelled jumping up and kicking the Demon King in the face.
Suddenly the whole mindscape began to shake making Ban and Gowther slowly lose connection to the mind seeing Naruto fight his ancestor.
Back in reality
Naruto reverted to his normal form before a large amount of darkness expelled itself revealing it to be in the shape of man.
"Damn you! You're even more annoying than my first born!" the man said, he stood almost as tall as Escanor. His hair long and wore black armor with the same curved sword.
"I couldn't care less what you say, family or not. Let's end this!" everyone behind Naruto nodded knowing this fight wasn't over.
(Fate/Stay Night OST - Overcome the Myth)
The Demon King charged at his grandson only for Escanor to get in the way and sent him flying with a direct punch to the face. He recovered only to feel someone bash him in the head revealing Ban with his staff sending him back into the dirt. The Demon King felt annoyed and started punching the ground creating a small earthquake only for Gowther to zap him several times leading to his head being knocked off. Naruto quickly recovered Gowther's head and tossed it back to his body who caught it.
"Unexpected, but I can still try to seal away the soul fragment." Vivian said creating a different seal, 'Hopefully this doesn't tamper with time.' she thought biting her lip.
Merlin created another perfect cube around the group as the Demon King was preoccupied fighting Naruto who kept up with his speed and strength due to the low amount of power the fragment of his soul contained making him slightly weaker than Hendrickson in his demon form. However, with the initial fight earlier, everyone else was already pretty exhausted and having trouble continuing the fight.
"Merlin open the barrier and clear it of everyone, but the Demon King and myself!" Arthur yelled.
"What? Why!?" Merlin asked frantically.
"Oh no you are not going to use that in a small confined space!" Vivian yelled.
"Use what!? What is Arthur planning!?" Merlin asked.
"Something more dangerous and unstable than Excalibur! It was made in the Goddess Realm years ago, but made with Demon magic. There was only one other user and he was deemed a madman because he sought out armagedon in order to determines worth if they survived! Our sensei left it with Arthur assuming he wouldn't accidentally cause a genocide!" Vivian yelled frantic seeing the power at first hand many years ago.
"Just do it, it will weaken him completely. I'll have enough time to get out myself." Arthur reasoned.
Merlin looked worried, but had to give it a chance anyways making Vivian look wide eyed at her own teacher's recklessness. Everyone, but Arthur were pushed away as the Demon King set his sights on Arthur. Just as the Demon King prepared his attack, Arthur revealed strange black Javelin with red lines making the weapon rotate like a cylinder.
"What is he planning?" Merlin asked Vivian.
"His suicide apparently!" Vivian yelled trying to avoid being distracted.
Arthur raises the weapon high as it rotates creating red lightning around it, "Enuma Elish!" he yelled creating several unstable waves piercing through the Demon King slowly disassembling part of his body.
Merlin saw the enormous power and quickly pulled the young King away leaving the weapon inside as the Demon King was being obliterated by such enormous power to the point her perfect cube was shattered along with most of the land creating a hundred foot deep crater. Looking down the Demon King can be seen struggling to get to his feet when he eyed the weapon.
"That power, it was stolen from me! I know who crafted that weapon!" he yelled trying to reach for it until Merlin levitated it from the ground and took it just in time.
"Seal's ready!" Vivian yelled out.
Naruto quickly grabbed it in a flash surprising Vivian as he jumped down the pit. Scanning the seal, Naruto registered what it was capable of. Eyeing his 'grandfather', Naruto dashed at him avoiding all of his swipes and attacks before slamming the seal onto him. Naruto went through the hand seals and slammed the ground creating a sealed barrier around the Demon King creating a large gaping bright light around the crater. Without realizing it, Herodias appeared behind Naruto and sprouted her wings carrying the boy out of the crater as the Demon King's yells were muffled by the sealing forcing part of his own existence to be trapped again.
With Sarutobi
The old man managed to survive A's brute strength and speed knocking the arrogant ape down a few pegs. Darui and C were also getting their butts kicked by the grandmasters only for everyone to be distracted by the bright light. A took this chance to take grab his guards and run away in an embarrassing retreat. He almost started the fourth shinobi war and lost a good portion of his army thanks to Orochimaru's forces being too weak and letting his own get slaughtered.
Sarutobi didn't noticed and felt some concern knowing where that light was coming from. He signalled for Dreyfus and Hendrickson to follow him towards the bright light.
(End of Song)
Back at the mansion
Herodias puts Naruto down who ran beside the crater to see a giant matrix absorbing some dark energy likely from the Demon King to prevent him from escaping into someone else's body. He turned at the sound of tremor's to see Diane running towards the mansion with King on her shoulder.
"Guys what the heck was going on with that light show?" Diane asked.
It was Ban who spoke up first, "Long story short... shit there's not even a way to shorten this story." he said getting a confused look.
"Guys I don't feel good." Naruto said turning pale and falling down only for Herodias to catch him.
"What's wrong with Naruto?" Diane asked feeling worried.
"Here let me hold him." Elaine said getting a nod from Herodias.
"So I got a million questions that all need answers." Ban said, "First, how is that brat Arthur here along with that crazy chick who kidnapped Gilthunder?" he asked.
"That's what I would like to know." Merlin said crossing her arms making the pair sweat.
"Um, we can't say anything until Fillmore shows up." Vivian answered.
"How convenient." Merlin said sarcastically.
"What about you?" Ban pointed to Herodias, "Riddle me this, what is a member of the Goddess Clan doing outside the realm? I know for a fact that you've been saving Naruto since he was a kid along side Weasel and Cat." everyone gasped at the proclamation.
"I've actually been living in the village for nearly a century." this got a raised brow, "I came here on my own accord with a personal mission. To find lady Cora's missing descendant. To find out the current one was a deserter we call a hokage, then there was Naruto here, I sensed Lady Elizabeth's energy and watched from a distance." she explained.
"That doesn't explain the scrolls containing my students." Merlin added.
"Another task was a prophecy that the Demon King would attempt to return. Hence I took it upon myself to hang onto it since it was originally task by the descendants of Lady Elizabeth and Lord Meliodas. However, Lady Cora went missing and we found her body laying next the summoning scroll missing her child." she said the last part sadly.
"She meant a lot to you didn't she?" Diane asked.
Herodias nodded, "She was my teacher and mother figure to me. So I placed it upon myself to find her child or whoever her descendant was as time passed." she answered before placing her mask back on resetting her her back into dreadlocks. "I need to report this to the hokage. I think Kumo and Oto are in full retreat." she said before leaving in a shunshin.
"Well that answers my questions." Ban said.
"I thought you said you had a million questions." Merlin said.
"Maybe I overreacted with that." Ban admitted.
"You seemed rather curious."
"Do you really want to play that game?"
"Go right ahead."
"Have you had sex with my son?"
Merlin turned completely red, "Ban that's inappropriate!" Diane yelled.
"You want me to ask you some questions?" Ban asked making Diane back down, "Well Merlin?" he asked looking serious.
"No! No we haven't!" she yelled trying push her tomato colored skin away.
"Gowther how many questions does that make, including this one?" Ban asked.
Gowther starts using his fingers, "I counted at least 8. You have 999,992 until Merlin is satisfied with your claim." he answered.
Ban smirked making Merlin feel chills, "I think it's best we put this all behind us for now. I think we all had enough for one day, from us being attacked by the bandaged man to Naruto being possessed." Elaine spoke up.
"Bandaged man? What bandaged man?" Ban asked scratching his head.
"That makes 10! I think she's speaking about the dead old man over there." Gowther said pointing Danzo's mangled corpse.
"Serves the bastard right, first he tries to turn my son into a mindless slave then he goes after everyone else just to get to him. The village is much safer without him running around." Ban said kicking his body.
"Ban shouldn't everyone who dies be entitled to some respect?" King asked.
"Pfft, this guy was using the first hokage's DNA to modify himself and look he has several Sharingan eyes on his arm. Do you know where 99% of the Uchiha clan are?" King shook his head, "That's because they're dead. This bastard must have looted their corpses for the sake of power." Ban said with a scowl.
"We should leave it to the Hokage to sort out the mess with his former advisor" Gowther suggested.
Everyone looked up to see all the shattered parts of the mansion attempting to stick itself back together.
"How long do you think it will take for Calcifer to repair everything?" Escanor asked.
"Perhaps my little brother should look into once he recovers. He did say it was sentient so there is a chance it felt pain when it took damage." Gowther explained.
Ban went wide eyed and gulped remembering that servant he killed a while back assuming Calcifer didn't feel pain from the attack. Everyone else would just hope for the better assuming the village didn't take too much damage or too many casualties from the invasion.
A week later
The village managed to recover, many deaths were prevent as the Goddess Clan's superior fighting technique and powers were enough to prevent the enemy from breaking through. Though a couple dozen members died, only about a dozen more shinobi died fighting while many more were wounded making this victory more than successful as Kumo lost over a third of its army along with the death of one of their jinchuuriki. It was unknown what happened after the Kyuubi no Kitsune had disappeared, but the Hachibi Jinchuuriki was found dead next to three members of the supposed terrorist group, Akatsuki. These members were identified as Kisame Hoshigaki, Demon of the Mist and former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Kakazu of Taki, and Hidan of Yugakure. Yugito of the Nibi was found in a coma missing her arm and taken by Konoha officials and left in a hospital under heavy watch by the ANBU.
Initially the Yondaime Raikage A demanded justice and wanted reprimantions followed by a letter from the Lightning Daimyo telling them to ignore that last letter seeing as the ape he hired for a kage did this without letting him know in advance. Seeing as A was responsible for most of the damage and getting many of his own killed, the daimyo offered them compensation seeing as there was no possibility of Kumo coming back from another war. Konoha managed to avoid civilian casualties, but questions were raised seeing that there were witnesses saw Kumo's jinchuuriki were able to transform while Naruto was only able to summon the beast.
Thus more civilians and shinobi questioned whether or not their demon was a demon at all seeing such display. Then there was the fact he was the one to call in the army of angels and other warriors who put their lives on the line for a village they knew nothing about. More people started questioning their actions towards the boy seeing these changes in events.
Naruto eventually recovered from his wounds caused by the Demon King and after releasing his seals, he let Gowther search his mind and check for any mental issues. Results were fine and Naruto was fine and started working on healing Calcifer who was according to Naruto, was in lots of pain due to the siege with the walls and doors getting destroyed and those servants getting themselves killed didn't help either. Once again, his aunts and mother hounded him about getting up from bed too early.
The next day, basement, Calcifer's core
Naruto walked down to the basement going through the intricate access point revealing a large boiler room. Going through another set of defenses, Naruto entered the large oven like a doorway revealing a small pedestal in a white room with an LED light over the pedestal revealing a large yellow round object. Upon closer inspection, the object opened its two eyes and two pudgy arms.
"Hello Calcifer how are you?" the creature looked down in sadness before several ripples appeared under its eyes.
Naruto kneeled down to eye level with the creature, "Does it still hurt?" it nodded then rubbed itself as if it had a stomach.
Naruto smiled, "Are you hungry?" it nodded again.
Naruto pulled out two freshly cooked steaks making it reveal a mouth with a single tooth. Naruto chuckled as he tossed each one into its mouth making it smile and rub its makeshift stomach again.
"Now Calcifer, while I was studying you're damages. I came up with a little present for you." the creature smiled before being fed another steak.
"You want to know what it is?" it nodded furiously, "I came up with a way to make you talk." it made a wide smile before making a "gimme gimme" motion.
"Now hold your horses, first I saw your damages and they're pretty messed up so I have to make a quick repair meaning I have to quickly reset you." it blinked in confusion, "I have to give you another one of my hearts, thankfully I was able to reset them since I gave you my original. So open wide." the creature did as commanded.
Naruto forced himself to cough rapidly in an unhealthy motion making him actually choke slowly turning him purple as he started beating his own chest as his main organ started slipping out of his mouth. Naruto quickly caught his heart as it fell before he fell on his knees gasping for hair making the creature look in worry. Naruto regained his breath and gave the creature a weak smile.
"Don't worry a little lack of oxygen won't kill me. Neither will losing one of my hearts. Thanks to dad I have nine instead of seven unlike grandpa. Now, open your mouth for me please." Naruto said trying to reassure the creature.
Calcifer went ahead and swallowed the heart and quickly spit out another one that looked sickly and melted away on the floor. Calcifer soon glew for a few seconds before stopping with a toothy smile.
"How do you feel now Calcifer?" Naruto asked.
"I... I... I... F-f-feel... I feel great!" he said in a high pitched voice similar to that of an adolescent child, "I feel like I can make the house bigger and bigger! I can fix the house and make it super cool for everyone to live in! I can't wait for my other body to speak to master!" Calcifer said with lots of energy.
"You don't have to do so right away Calcifer. You can just rest easy for now." Naruto said only for the blob to scoff at his words.
"I'm not a lazy butt master, I can do it! Just watch me! I bet I can make the servants talk too!" Calcifer said suddenly making a an angry face before putting pressure on himself.
Soon the whole mansion started to shake rapidly.
Upstairs everyone was either cleaning or in Ban's case, sleeping. When all of a sudden the whole building started to shake. Soon the servants fell onto the ground as if they were having seizures.
"What the hell is going on!?" Ban yelled being tossed around on the ground.
"I think something's wrong with the house!" Diane yelled.
One of the servants soon stood up making a twitching motion before turning its own head 360 degrees creeping everyone out. It didn't end there as all the servants did something similar in terms of twitching.
"Margaret stay back!" Gil ordered drawing out his sword towards a servant who was banging their head onto a counter.
"What the hell is wrong with them!?" Veronica asked taking a defensive position.
Most of the servants were inactive until making them useless, now here they were losing their minds. When all of a sudden...
"Are you okay?" Zeal asked approaching one of them only to turn to the child gripping it's mask.
"Zeal stay away!" Guila yelled picking up her brother and away from the servant.
The shaking immediately stopped as the floors, ceilings, doors and walls reappeared putting themselves back together in perfect condition. The servants all stopped except for one who was still gripping it's mask or "face" as considered by some of the tenants.
"She's in pain, we have to help her!" Zeal said jumping off from his sister's arms.
"Zeal no!" she called out only for Zeal to grab the servant by the mask and rip it off making it fall on its knees covering it's face as if it were in pain.
Zeal carefully stepped back as the servant reached out for Zeal before engulfing him in a hug, Guila panicked before hearing a sniffle.
"Thank you! Thank you Master Zeal! I'm a real person now!" the brother and sister looked in awe as the servant's head reshaped revealing hair and a face.
The female servant turned and ran out, "My brethren, they need to be free as well." she said running out.
(Spirited Away OST - The Name of Life)
The female ran to another servant and removed their mask revealing a male with short white hair and red eyes like her, "I'm... I'm... I'm real, not just an ordinary servant!" he said tearfully.
"Yes, now let's free everyone else!" said the female servant.
All around the house Guila and Zeal explained that the servants became self aware and were removing their masks. Soon everyone ran to aid the servants and give them the freedom that they were trying to gain for themselves. As soon as they were sure all the active servants were freed, they all gathered at the elevator revealing Naruto and Calcifer's body (not the blob).
"Naruto what did you do? The servants all have face now." Elaine said.
"That must be the new upgrade Calcifer told me he was doing. He did say he was eager to expand and repair the whole mansion in a moments notice." Naruto explained revealing the Calcifer they knew.
Calcifer removed his mask revealing a dark haired man with with blue eyes and pale skin, "Greeting everyone, if you had not already known, my name is Calcifer and I am your home. I am happy that you helped my subconsciousness gain their freedom." he said.
"They can talk now?" King asked.
"They sure can and there's probably more surprises I don't know about. Right Calcifer?" Naruto asked.
"Yes Master, I will be gladly reveal everything in due time." Calcifer said, "Please, everyone relax and let us all clean this messy place. War has it's way of making a mess." he said stoically.
The rest of the day was calm and quiet as the servants took care of everything without asking for anything in return.
(End of Song)
The evening with our favorite couple
Naruto laid back in bed, already meeting both Vivian and Arthur left him wondering about the note again considering "Lars" mentioned them and according to Vivian, he's dead, but Fillmore isn't. Something has been wondering about a lot of things ever since he learned that his parents abandoned him. Sure he was willing to give his siblings a chance, but he hasn't really bother thinking about how to approach them. Little Menma might hate his parents, but that's not right. Menma is still young and innocent, he shouldn't start hating so early for his age. Kasumi seems to understand him and Narumi is a completely different story since she's still in denial about what her dad told her.
Regardless, a lot of things happened since then starting with learning about the Kyuubi being trapped inside him and actually being a family friend of his grandparents. Then they show up out of nowhere leaving him their abilities and a trail to find their lost friends hoping he could build his family from there, not that he isn't grateful. Thinking about it, he has two aunts and uncles, new godparents, new parents, people he sees as siblings and someone who loves him for who he is.
"Something on your mind my little dragon?" he turned to see Merlin already dressed for bed.
"Just thinking about how much time passed." he answered as Merlin laid her head next to him.
"You're telling me, I'm asleep for a minute and wake up thousands of years later to find myself dating the grandson of my captain." 'And former crush' she thought the last part. 'Although, he is more mature than Meliodas... and cuter with those whisker marks.' she thought kissing his cheek.
"Merlin, how far would you go on this relationship with me?" Naruto asked.
Merlin froze at the question and never considered whether or not the relationship would work considering he convinced her to stay with him, "Um... that's a... complex question for me." she responded.
"I'll take that answer for now." Naruto responded wrapping his arm around her.
"I love you my little dragon." Merlin said kissing him.
"I love you too hime." he said kissing back and turning off the lights. Just as she fell asleep Naruto felt his hand twitch before the darkness engulfed it making it disappear and reappear a few times making him gasp. He studied it for a moment before the phenomenon stopped.
'I need to consult the texts.' he thought before falling asleep.
The next morning
Naruto woke up to a beautiful sight, before regretting it. He looked at where his hand was and found it grabbing onto her um... lady part again. Going pale he quickly attempted to remove his arm only for Merlin to roll over and hold onto his arm like a life preserver.
"No dragon please stay." he heard her whisper.
Naruto sweatdropped at the childish behavior he's been listening to from Merlin whenever he wakes up next her. He loved the woman almost as much as he loved his parents, but there were those times when he's wondering what was going on through this woman's mind.
"I love you my dragon, let's runaway and live in a house made of pancakes together." he sweatdropped again at her childish imagination.
"That's it I'm taking pancakes off of your diet hime." he said getting a whimper.
"No dragon, I love my pancakes! I'll be sad if you take them away!" she whined.
"Hime it's time to wake up." he said getting a smack in the face.
"No let's skip breakfast and sleep." she said.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...are you actually awake?"
"ZZZZZZZZ"
"Saying the letter Z over and over isn't sleeping."
"I'm Merlin, Boar Sin of Pancakes and future wife of the Dragon Sin of Wrath, Naruto Liones..."
Naruto was done at this point and decided to prepare for the day. Stepping out of the bathroom he find Merlin already dressed up and ready to go.
"Done with your pancake dreams?" he asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." she lied.
Naruto snickered and wrapped Merlin in a hug, when suddenly his arm started to glitch out again. Merlin noticed this and was about to turn around when Naruto pulled her for a deep kiss.
"Everything alright Naruto?" she asked with a worried face.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about how Calcifer's upgrade might affect the rest of the mansion." he lied without her noticing.
"Alright, let's just enjoy some breakfast for now and worry about anything else later." Merlin said.
Naruto smiled as he picked up Merlin and disappeared in a swirl of flames with neither noticing the kanji for "jiai" flicker on and off around his neck. Something was changing within Naruto and he was none the wiser about what to do about it. Something was coming and he had to prepare for it.
Meanwhile somewhere
"Boss you ok?" Fillmore asked.
"Fillmore something is going down in the Fire country." the silver haired man said.
"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked.
"Head down there now!"
"Why?"
"To look for someone or something!"
"What?
"You heard me!"
"I don't understand what you're trying to ask of me."
"Just head there now, I think I might end up having to join you at some point. Here take my money and don't stop until you get there." he said tossing him a large bag.
"Jeez boss, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to get rid of me, but alright I can get some drinks on the road." Fillmore said taking the bag and sealing it before jumping out the window and running towards the Land of Fire.
"Be careful Fillmore, something big is going down and I'm afraid we're both going to get ourselves involved." said the silver haired man not noticing his eye turning orange.
TO BE CONTINUED...
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS SINCE I JOINED THE SITE!