Standing in front of the Elder Tree Naruto lifted his head and gazed upon its silvery leaves of which light was prismed in to countless coruscating hues. Suddenly, what looked like ripples formed in midair as if the very atmosphere was but a surface of a liquid that has been disturbed.
The ripples then flickered in a sporadic undulation before it expanded and with incomprehensible rapidity engulfed him. From his point of view, the landscape in front has seemingly distorted wildly like a fleeting mirage before it completely dissolved in to a dreamlike phantasm. Subsequently, the air became filled with webs of intricate colors, with swiftly changing kaleidoscopic glints whose numberless, unwonted hues and patterns were such as no mundane eye had ever beheld.
Inevitably, the shinobi has to shield his vision for the temporary abstraction of what is real and what is not was simply unbearable as the very space seemed to have collapsed upon itself. Strangely, as he opened his eyes once again he found himself standing in a different locus, staring at another great tree which was the mirror image of the one he gazed before save that this tree has a stock that was dark as ebony and crowned with obsidian like leaves.
"What in blue blazes?" Naruto mumbled to himself as he took a sweeping glance of the outlandish vicinage with assure orbs that widened with awe as he saw the vast meadow of pale spectral grass surrounding the great tree that glowed with a strange silvery radiance, which along with the peculiar globes of energy floating in the air, faintly bathed the entire landscape in a soft luminescence. "Where the crap am I now?"
"Why the Nightlands of course." A familiar mellow flowing voice replied behind the shinobi that comically shocked him out of his musings, like a startled ferret jumping away from danger. "Long time no see Naruto." The owner of the voice then greeted amicably, revealing himself to be Alex.
"What the f…the hell you think you're doing fairy boy! I nearly knocked you right in the kisser." Naruto exclaimed crossly with a comedic countenance on his face from being jump-scared by the young man who was floating invertedly in a parallel position to his own. "You're still a freakin psychopath ya' know!"
"Yeah, nice to see you too..." Alex replied sarcastically with a blank expression on his face as he reoriented his position to that of the shinobi's. "So….what brings you to these part of the dream realm? Oh wait let me guess, you need help again. Face it Naruto, you have a penchant for pissing off the wrong people." He then continued in a somewhat cute but very sardonic tone while the expression on his face became similar to that of a chibi cat that got the cream.
"Smug little bastard." Naruto thought while cruciform popping veins comically appear on his forehead out of irritation, recalling the reason why he found his interlocutor annoying. "Yeah, yeah I need your help. Might as well get that out of your system." He then continued in a calm tone that scarcely concealed his annoyance. "So does this mean you're my third guide or something?"
"Nope" Alex replied simply with a somewhat childish smile.
"What do you mean no?" The shinobi barked furiously in a comedic outburst, thinking that the young man is playing him for a fool. "You better give me a straight answer before I kick your ass!"
"Well aren't you especially belligerent today?" Alex pouted with a jaded sarcastic voice. "You misapprehend me friend but allow me to explain. I'm not you're guide, I'm your host….can't you see, you have already reached the destination of your journey." He then continued changing the tenor of his voice to that of an exuberantly jovial one. "Time flows differently in the dream realm. You have died thirty years ago Naruto….there is nothing more to be gained going back to the mundane plane for Leah and your child were gone as well. Stay here with me, forever...as my big brother, as one of the lords of death, supernal and immortal. Together we shall go to worlds beyond the cusps of creation, we shall uncover the mysteries of existence….you shall not regret choosing to stay with me, I promise."
"Wait, what?...you're lying" Naruto muttered inadvertently out of shock as he found out the fate of Leah and their child from the young man who delivered the news so casually as if he's just talking about inconsequential things like bricks or manure. "This can't be it. I can't be stuck here for all eternity!"
"Why what's wrong? Is the mood too…..nocturnal?" Alex inquired with a rather silly and childlike wonder on his face, baffled by the shinobi's reaction. "Ah I know!" He said with a bright smile as if a person who just came up with the perfect solution for a certain dilemma; then with a flick of his wrist the floating globes of energy darted towards the heavens and coalesced in to a single large fiery sphere of which rays illuminated the entire landscape in a gentle vernal sunlight, bringing out the tender green and chrysolite and chrysoprase of early spring on the once pale vegetation.
"Well it's certainly an improvement…but it's not that." Naruto said in a deep and solemn voice as he stared blankly on his own reflection at the running waters of a nearby rivulet.
"I don't think I could follow Naruto." Alex replied in a somewhat puerile manner, his head was slightly tilted in befuddlement.
"Acting dumb aren't we pretty boy?" Naruto thought in secret; as a shinobi his inner opinions never betrayed the outward expression on his face. "It's rather apparent that mentally you're still a child for you to actually think I'm gon'na be fooled by that feigning innocence act."
"No, seriously I don't know." The young man responded as if he read the blondes mind.
"If you could read my mind I'm sure you already know what Im talking about!" Naruto roared in annoyance, miffed about the young man's invasion of his private thoughts. "Tsk…of all the damn people I got the misfortune of being stuck with! It has to be you. Just stuff me back to the catacombs I think I would prefer the company of those foul things there!"
"Not all of them, just the snarky comments." Alex responded with a gentle smile. "I know you despise me…..and I get it. I was born to cultist parents with the sole purpose of being an earthly vessel for a dark god after all. So I understand if you don't trust me nor you could ever consider me as a friend. But that's life I suppose." He then continued, there was a moment of sadness interlaying his voice as he initially spoke but was effaced by his usually jovial demeanor as he beamed an amicable smile at the shinobi.
"I owe you an apology. What I said was uncalled for." Naruto said, a little bit embarrassed for his earlier outburst. "Huh, sounds weirdly like the story of my life." He then thought surreptitiously to himself, reminiscing his early childhood as the Jinchūriki of the Nine-tailed Fox, which caused him to be despised by the people of Konoha.
"Meh forget about it." The young man shrugged. "Besides, I heard worst things from you before…what was that again me being casted in gay porn?" He then continued a somewhat playful and lighthearted tone that made Naruto burst in laughter out of amusement.
"Oh yeah, I did said that." Naruto replied, slapping his thigh as he chortled while the young man can't help but crease his eyebrow seeing the shinobi laughing hysterically as the former remembered what must have been his best jibe against him yet.
"Yeah very amusing." Alex commented sarcastically with a deadpan expression on the countenance of his face.
As Naruto's mirth reached its crescendo he suddenly had a strange epiphany as he remembered his earlier conversation with Ishizu; he then bethought of Hinata being reincarnated in to the form of Leah; and finally he realized that for some reason souls from the elemental nations are being reborn in to the modern world.
To this the expression on his face became austere and foreboding as he redirected his gaze to the young man who was understandably edgy from the sudden change of disposition from his interlocutor.
"What's wrong?" Alex muttered uncomfortably in an airy voice. "You're starting to scare me, Naruto." He then continued as he stepped back a little, recollecting the very same expression on the blonde's face when the latter was determined or has an open intention to kill.
The shinobi didn't utter any reply but instead closed his distance to the young man. Comically, he then pressed his face closely to Alex's as if looking for something. Though, evidently he couldn't find what he was looking for judging by the unsatisfied look in his eyes.
Out of sudden, the blonde started to prod the young man's face, pinching and pulling it apart then curiously pressing it together between his hands, looking at every angle for even the remotest resemblance of Jiraiya in itbut found none.
"What! This little bastard is pervy sage's son! But…but…but he doesn't look anything like him!" He thought with an even further skepticism as he mentally compared the physical features of the young man to that of his late teacher but couldn't find any familial similitude between the two except that they both share a tall frame which is barely a credible evidence of the claimed lineal descent.
"Something the matter?" Alex exasperatedly inquired in a muffled voice while his face was sandwiched between Naruto's palms.
"No." Naruto said with a discontented look. "Ahh! I got it" He then continued in an exuberant tone, as if he just figured everything out.
"Great you got it. Now get your damn hands off me!" Alex roared vexedly then proceeded to give the shinobi a flying kick to the face which caused the latter to comically spiral up the air in his chibi form.
"Hah I knew it! You're still a psychopathic mass murderer!" Naruto comically pointed out as he landed in to a nearby thicket.
"Hey, I spent a lot of time repenting what I did, so why bring this up?" Alex sheepishly replied with a puerile pout though his feeling of guilt immediately converted itself in to irritation as he realized that the shinobi was no longer really interested in what he's about to say, for the latter was somewhat busy trying to find an escape from what he thought was an eternal sentence in to a mad house with a lunatic cellmate. "You're…you're no longer paying attention are you?" He then continued in a blasé sarcastic tone as the shinobi turned his back.
"There must be a way out of this hell hole." Naruto absentmindedly muttered as he walked away from the young man who was able to hear every word coming out of his mouth.
"Then find one! You jerk!" Alex indignantly retorted, his countenance was comically red as a tomato from all the brewed up aggravation before the expression changed in to that of utter aloofness; at that point there was no longer any need for words, like smoke carried by the harsh winds of winter he disappeared completely, abandoning the shinobi.
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Naruto walked in to the thick woodlands, passing great-limbed oaks and venerable beeches fresh with their new-born foliage. The forest wore an aspect of blitheness and vertumnal gaiety, conveying a deceptive illusion of a calm he Elysian paradise rather than a trans-dimensional prison as he earlier reckoned.
After uncountable hours making his way in to the trees he found a glade of which dark red forest strawberries grew in abundance. Weary and starved from his journey he decided to take some much needed rest and mollify his hunger a little. However an uncanny feeling shook the shinobi from his respite as he encountered a shadowy figure fast approaching his direction. Upon further scrutiny with unbelieving eyes he saw that it was a rider dressed in a shadowy veil of stars, mounting a galloping ash colored horse, and in its left bony hand wielded an antediluvian scythe of heavy iron.
Apprehension has started to mount on Naruto's heart for he knows exactly who the rider was, it was Death himself. "Did you come to take me?" He then muttered in a calm and dignified voice as the horseman approached, its scythe gleaming with an ominous glint; to his surprise however when the latter stopped and bowed in greeting.
"No child. It is not yet your time. We shall yet meet again on another crossroad and faith will decide if your time has come." Death responded in a sere voice like wind passing through fretted ivory. "But for now you must turn back for the crossroad draws nearer the more you stray. If you but curve your pride and admit you needed help the demigod will forgive you; but if you overexert yourself, there are no guarantees you'll survive."
"What! To that pretty boy? No way!" Naruto remonstrated in rightful indignation. "There must be another way"
"It may not be the answer you like or the answer you expect but it is the only way." Death responded in the same tranquil and sagacious air. "However, knowing this, if you are still resolved to stride in to the unknown, the choice is yours." He then said before spurring his ashen palfrey and disappearing in to the shadows.
For a moment Naruto was silent, contemplating on the words of the horseman and weighing whether he should indeed go back or press on. "Ah screw that." He shrugged "Im getting out of here one way or another but Im not gon'na debase myself to that brat." He then said, plucking a handful of the carmine berries and eating some on the way as he picked up his pace venturing on to the tangled thickets where light seemed to have subsided completely.
As he walked ever deeper no star arose to lantern his way through the forest; but, between the gnarled boughs of antiquated oaks, he saw the illumination of streaming wisps, which seemed to pursue him as he went. Suddenly the shinobi felt an eerie fear of the pit-deep shadows, and he made haste with his strides.
Passing among the ancient trees that towered thickly, Naruto thought that he discerned a light from a window of a house, and was much cheered thereby. But, going on, he saw that the light was near at hand, beneath a lowering bough. It moved as with the flitting of a globular bolt of lightning, and was of changeable color, being pale as a corposant, or ruddy as new-spilled blood, or green as the poisonous distillation that surrounds the moon.
Then, with terror ineffable, Naruto beheld the thing to which the light clung like a hellish vapor, moving as it moved, and revealing dimly the black abomination of head and limbs that were not those of any creature he has ever seen in his ten millennia of existence.
Subsequently, it would seem that the creature was made aware of his presence as its nimbus flared from venomous green to a wrathful red. Running and slithering rapidly, it then charged upon the shinobi with all the chaotic fury of a wild beast. With an impressive display of agility he managed to evade the initial attack of the vile creature. However, the longer he perused the latter he realized just how strange, as well as repugnant it was.
Of its actual shape, and the number of its limbs, he could form no just notion. The horror stood erect, rising to more than the height of a tall man; and it swayed like a great serpent, and its members undulated, bending like heated wax. The flat black head was thrust forward on a snake-like neck. The eyes, small and lidless, glowing like coals from a hellish brazier, were set low and near together in a noseless face above the serrate gleaming of such teeth as might belong to a giant bat
And always the thing was silent, uttering no sound: and was swifter in its motion than a weaving viper as it unremittingly assaulted the shinobi with razor-sharp ungues that dripped with venom; tearing asunder the rocks and the mold encrusted bark of ancient trees that got in the way of its quarry.
Evading the beast's attacks, Naruto saw an opportunity to defeat it. Cupping his hand behind his back as he summersaulted away from its terrible flailing blows, the shinobi engendered his chakra to spin in multiple directions on his open palm to form a Rasengan; planning to finish his opponent once and for all with a single surgical strike to the creature's now exposed sternum.
"Crap!" Naruto then muttered in frustration as he landed on his feet; recalling that he was indeed powerless on his current state.
It was too late when he realized what happened next; with movement that the eye could barely follow in its snaky darting, the beast's serpentine tail whipped on to the shinobi's chest with exceeding force like that of a giant's hammer; hurling him across a great distance which finally culminated in a crescendo of a loud painful crack as his body crashed in to the trunk of an ancient oak, tearing the three from the root.
Slowly Naruto willed his eyes to open. He saw the abominable thing heading towards him, leaving a blasphemous oozing foulness in its wake as it silently slithered amidst the dappled shadows of the dark forest.
However what unsettled the shinobi most were the creature's eyes, which were now perfectly visible from his current angle. They were red as blood and at first, three evenly distanced tomoe seals surrounded a vile snake-like pupil but out of sudden the pattern changed. The tomoe seals merged and completely circumambulated the black slit, making the orbs far more terrifying to behold. Anon, Naruto seemed to have lost control of his body as he was fatally petrified; paralyzed beyond his control from the gaze of the approaching monster.
Then the beast's maw parted in what seems to be a sinister mocking grin, revealing rows of sharp serrate teeth, as it prepare to devour the shinobi. However, before it could close in any further a blazing entity manifested itself and stood between them.
Naruto could only but scarcely see the true form of the new arrival for the peculiar stranger seemed to be clad in a fiery golden cloak of energy that crackled with fulminous rancor as it made contact with the nectar laden air. Anon, it then stretched its palm to the beast unleashing a tidal wave of lurid energy that instantly washed the entire forest with blinding light, followed by a thermal pulse so energetic and hot that it burned everything in its way.
The shinobi could feel the intense heat from the blast, and saw how the beast evaporated like a drop of water on the surface of a burning star; before his consciousness slipped in to oblivion as he himself was knocked out by the intensity of the ensuing pressure wave, that made the ground tremble as the earth on its path splashed like the still surface of a pond that has been violently disturbed.
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Azure eyes slowly opened. At first there was just black stillness and deafening silence; Naruto was certain he has already died and he could richly recall his terrible labors to the realms of the netherworld. "Or was it all just a dream? A figment of imagination that was peculiarly more vivid than others?" He ruminated, still dazed from the surreal phantasmagoria. "Oh, Leah. I just want to be with you right now." He whispered as he yearned to be with his love more than anyone else, even just for a brief moment, away from all the chaos.
"Naruto…..you ok?" A mellow flowing voice said that the shinobi bethought as was that of Leah's. Along with the voice Naruto also felt a hand gently patting him on the shoulder, as if to palpate what's ailing him.
"Leah!" The shinobi exclaimed with gladness as he suddenly took the hand and amorously showered it with kisses all the way to the fore arm. "Your hand is even suppler than I remembered, and your skin so much smoother than I recalled….." He then continued with even more ardent protestations of love as he continued to fervently caress and kiss the hand but was interrupted by another familiar voice.
"Uhhm Naruto, please let go of my hand." The voice said in a somewhat uncomfortable and elongated tone, it has still retained its mellow flowing quality but was definitely not Leah's.
"I hope it's not who I think it is….." Naruto thought apprehensively as he dropped the arm. Chills ran through his spine as he slowly lifted his head and saw that the hand he's clasping belonged to Alex, who, undoubtedly out of both befuddlement and shock, he surmised, was also staring back at him with an awkwardly blank expression on his face. "The hell fairy boy! What do you think you're doing, huh?" He then remonstrated indignantly while comically wiping his lips and tongue with his bare hands.
At that moment the shinobi mentally braised himself and expected a wry and sharped tongued retort from the demigod but the latter just avoided eye contact and stood silently, and he noticed that the latter's cheeks was a bit flushed.
"Hey!" Naruto said with a raised brow as if silently inquiring the uncharacteristic disposition of the young man.
It took Alex sometime to respond and when he did, his voice started in a sheepish tone. "Na…nothing. Forget about it." He said, stuttering badly as he spoke. "Try to…to rest..for…a bit. You've been badly roughed up." He then exhaled sharply before he continued. "Also, I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier."
"Oh yeah, what happened back there anyway?" Naruto hummed, placing his hand on his left clavicle and tried to move his shoulder as he contemplated his encounter with the beast from earlier.
"I said forget about it!" Alex exclaimed in a high pitched voice, more shamefaced than annoyed, misapprehending the blonde's query.
"I meant at the forest." Naruto clarified with a blank expression on his face. "Jeez, what the hell is up? Why is this little bastard so edgy all of a sudden? I bet he's about to turn all psycho again." He then thought, observing the young man's sudden awkward foibles.
"Oh, sorry. I thought you were talking about…uhmm…ah…never mind." Alex stammered as he awkwardly apologized. More embarrassed than ever, his face became red like a tomato as he scratched the back of his head clumsily from the earlier confusion.
"You really are a weird kid, aren't you pretty boy?" Naruto commented with a blank expression on his face. "This guy really needs to get laid." He then chuckled at the back of his head.
"Stop calling me that! It's demeaning." Alex protested. "And maybe I would have gotten 'laid' if you stopped meddling." He then pouted at the shinobi in a somewhat childish manner.
"Keep your nose out of my head numbnuts!" Naruto vexedly remonstrated in a stentorian voice. "Demeaning my ass! Not my fault you were born looking like as if some gay guy designed you in a genetics lab but sounds like a dumbass when talking to women." He then thought in justification for his choice of words.
"I suppose I can't argue with that. But it still hurts." Alex comically moped in a gloomy corner of woe, his arms wrapped around his knees in a depressing yet funny manner.
"Would you stop reading my mind, damn it!" Naruto exclaimed in a miffed but comical manner, though suddenly his temper mellowed out as he remembered the beast from earlier. "By the way what was that thing that attacked me?"
"Seriously? You couldn't tell?" Alex inquired, grinning somewhat sinisterly at the shinobi in a sudden change of mood.
"What do you mean?" Naruto replied with a hard expression on his face, having a gut feeling about it. "Tell me." He then continued.
"I will show you." Alex said, still with the ominous beam cracking on his face while his eyes glowed incandescent like a pair of malign, disastrous stars at the hour of their culmination.
Suddenly, a vision flashed before the shinobi. He saw the red glowing of the beast's eyes like hellish embers; upon perusing closer he saw the distinctive pattern of the Sharingan, its tomoe seals subsequently merging and changing in to a new shape, forming the pinwheel pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Madara" Naruto muttered under his breath, confirming his earlier suspicion.
"Yes, he was once a man called Uchiha Madara. I learned from Errealth that he was one of Sasuke's clansmen." Alex concurred, overhearing the blonde. "By that look on your face I guess you want to know how he came to be in his current state."
To this Naruto didn't verbally respond but looked at him silently then nodded in ascent.
"Spite" The young man pointed out in an austere tone. "When he….well…expired from the mortal realm. Mostly due to your contribution, I believe. Tell me did you also stab him in the back, like what you did that time on Isle Esme when I kicked your butt you cheating bully." He then started explaining in the same exigent manner but deviated in to insignificant details like a child with very limited attention span, eventually bridging the topic to throw a sardonic jibe that caused much aggravation to his interlocutor.
"Yeah, bite me bitch!" Naruto grit his teeth in annoyance, incensed by the young man's ill-timed and twisted sense of humor as well as the smug grin on the latter's face as he spoke. "…and for the record, you went all crazy and I handed you your ass, believe it!" He then retorted defensively.
"Sure, let's go with your version." Alex replied calmly, without raising a single decibel in his voice, though the statement was delivered in a very condescending manner as he shrugged.
"Alex can you just cut the crap and tell me how Madara turned in to that…thing!" Naruto spoke, able to gather back much of his composure. Though, his temper flared once again as, peculiarly, the young man just beamed enigmatically at him in reply. "What the hell is so damn funny?" He then inquired; at that point he wanted nothing more than to pound his fist on to the trollish young man's toothy maw.
"You wont understand. But in time you will…in time…I promise." Alex sighed, never parting with that grin on his face as he turned his back to the shinobi, gradually fading like burning paper as he walked away from the latter. "And you will have all the time in the world here, with me."
Fed up, Naruto grabbed the demigod by the shoulder before he could completely evaporate, subsequently following through with a left hook delivered to the latter's face. To his surprise however when he was thrown back by an unseen force, causing him to violently crash in to the twisted bark of a nearby tree.
He felt the pain of broken bones and of raptured organs like any other person who have suffered severe impact trauma but nonetheless wasn't debilitated as a mundane man would be lamed by the injuries he sustained. Slowly he stood up and saw the young man extending his hand to him.
"Naruto you know better than to do that." Alex said as he helped the shinobi stand upright. "You're powerless in your current condition, remember?" He then reminded the blonde in a tone that while not mocking or uttered out of contempt was definitely insensitive to the latter's plight.
With blinding speed Naruto grabbed the young man by the collar and pinned him to a nearby rock megalith. "Are you behind all of this, huh? Just what are you up too? What the hell is this place? And more than anything else how can I go back home?" He then inquired sternly as he pinned the latter against a large rock monolith.
With a slight exertion of mental strength from the young man, Naruto noticed that he was quickly enfolded in an energy barrier which harmlessly parted his strangle hold and moved him a few feet from the former.
"Now you're asking the right questions" Alex said in a grim voice. "You want to know what happened to Madara? His soul was corrupted by spite and twisted by hatred in to that aberrant form. It is the end result of those who seek power above all else and those who devote their thoughts to the black web of vengeance. I know you wanted to take your revenge on Carnamagos at all cost; but be warned, if you continue to walk this path you will suffer the same fate of Madara Uchiha whether you succeed or fail on your vendetta." Seeing the shinobi buckle and think twice he then continued in a calmer tone. "Stay here with me. The Nightlands will make you forget about them, of your troubles and sadness, and fill your soul with bliss in return."
"You're stalling me as much as possible until the enchantment you placed on this hell-hole start to drug my brain, aren't you?" The shinobi remonstrated in a voice that was much colored by pain and forlorn after a moment of deep and serious contemplation as he realized the demigods plan all along. "Alex I know you have the power to bring me back. Don't make me beg you to do it."
"Well, you got me." Alex shrugged awkwardly, there was no immediate reply after that and he was reticent for a lengthy interim before giving his piece; and when he finally did, he answered quite cautiously, choosing his words carefully as he spoke. "I can cast the spell to resurrect you, but there are consequences. Understand that the risk of your vendetta against Carnamagos is too great and the price to pay for your revenge is too dear." He then said, trying to dissuade him.
"I no longer give a damn about the risk or the price." Naruto persisted. "Im gon'na get him at any cost. That evil bastard will die." He then continued, making sure the young man understand the length he'll go to avenge his family.
"Don't hold on to your anger like it's some prize. Trust me, I know exactly what Im talking about. We used to say the same thing about each other, Naruto. We used to be enemies and I used to believe you're evil." Alex replied in a calm but stoic voice that was somewhat interlaced with grief and guilt. "Our enemies aren't as evil as we imagine….and maybe we are never quite as good."
"That's a different thing. Both of us were manipulated." Naruto said as he looked at his interlocutor with eyes that reflected the intensity of his resolve. "He killed my family! Revenge is all that is left."
"I see your point." Alex conceded. "…..but there may be another way. I may be able to improvise something. Maybe you could still save Leah and your child…." He then said, his face lit up as if having thought of a brilliant plan.
"You told me they died years ago?" Naruto responded with a confounded countenance on his face that has steadily converted in to a hard expression reflecting the rage from a much unappreciated deception. "Or did you just lie to me about that?"
"Ok first of all I did not lie to you. Second let me finish before you go all ninja assassin so that you won't misinterpret stuff." The young man exasperatedly replied with a comical deadpan expression on his face. "Third, you have a limited attention span and an extremely short temper, work on that…" He then continued but was cutoff once again…"
"OK, ok I got it, ya' know." Naruto interjected impatiently in the same rambunctious air he sports before the demigod could finish what certainly was a long list of his flaws. "Could we just get to the part we discuss about your plan?" He then continued in a much calmer manner.
"Yeah…..no" Alex replied with a creased brow and a generally unsatisfied look on his face, as if he wanted something from the shinobi by the way he comically crossed his arms like a child that has been slighted.
"Ok fine, I'm sorry" Naruto said somewhat quite insincerely and in a perfunctory tone. "We good now?" He then shrugged.
"Say it like you mean it." Alex pouted childishly then subsequently turned up his nose to the shinobi, causing considerable annoyance to the latter.
"What the….." Naruto burst out in aggravation. "Why are you acting so girly?"
"No, I'm not" Alex replied defensively.
"Yes you are" Naruto countered, nodding his head slowly for emphasis.
"Is not…." Alex frowned at the shinobi like a puerile younger brother that was being teased by his older sibling.
Around this time Naruto realized his new found pleasure in teasing the snot out of the emotionally immature demigod who at the moment has a constipated look on his face from becoming increasingly aggravated after being cornered on their little verbal joust.
But he also knew that he needs his assistance if he is to save Leah and their child, and so decided to play nice with Alex, though he can't help himself but chuckle as he formulated the perfect plan to trick the latter in to helping him.
"What are you sniggering at?" Alex inquired suspiciously like a child.
"Oh nothing." Naruto replied in an amicable tone. "Dude look, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry. Were buddies now right?" He then said much more sincerely, flashing a bright smile and familiarly wrapping his arm around the latter's shoulder.
He half expected him to wrench out of it or at the very worst angrily blast him with an energy bolt to the face from the unwelcomed gesture, but to his surprise when the latter became quite docile; as if his muscular arm has somewhat engendered a feeling of well-being combined with a tingling pleasant sensation to the latter, and secretly liked it.
"Hey man, you ok?" The shinobi inquired, bringing his face closer to get a look on the young man who has turned flushed and completely taciturn.
"Yeah, we're good." Alex replied in a sheepish tone, shyly twiddling his forefingers, avoiding direct eye contact. "So, uhm…as I was saying….time is not altogether a simple matter you believe it to be; and time in this realm doesn't always flow in parallel to that of the mortal plane. In this realm there are pools of which the streams of eventuality swirls, and from the deviations and overlappings of the vortex, ephemeral corridors to different points of time are formed. Normally, travelling these transitory pathways is extremely perilous. But in your current state as a shade, being wholly insubstantial, I reckon that you would suffer no harm from the temporal transition.
"Ok….that's an interesting phenomenon to be sure." Naruto said ponderingly, the expression on his face was that of deep and serious contemplation. "But is there a way to navigate to the specific point of time we want?"
"Yes, I can open an aperture in to the past by which to send you back at the very moment you expired; after which the spell of resurrection will take effect and remerge your soul to its earthly vessel." Alex said in a dignified voice, able to gather some of his composure back, though his cheeks were still quite blushing as he spoke."
"Alright! That's what Im talking about!" Naruto exclaimed jovially, hugging the demigod out of glee. "I would've kissed you too if you were a girl." He then teased him a little.
"That's…uhm….that's the easy part." Alex muttered in a low sheepish voice.
"What do you mean?" Naruto inquired, releasing the hug, baffled by the statement.
"Uhm, aside from what we have already discussed earlier about revenge….well, on your specific case the spell of resurrection has an unintended side effect; it will break the seal I've placed to keep that shard of Errealth in an inert state until such time you are able to make peace with it and exert a modicum of control. I believe you of all people know how malignant it can be." Alex spoke in a sere voice as he looked at the blonde with a hard expression on his face that conveyed how grave the situation is. "Furthermore, even if it didn't obliterate you on the spot and somewhat agreed to release you, you will still have to face Carnamagos in your weakened state while he is being empowered directly by the enslaved Ten-Tails and fortified by the energies of the Imaskari Forest temple; not to mention that his magic was specifically honed to combat and destroy chakra wielding opponents. Knowing this, do you still want to go back?"
For a while Naruto was silent, closing his eyes to assess the situation and formulate a plan. "I'll deal with them." He said in an austere tone. "But I would need all the help I could get. You shared half of your power to me when you're still alive but I could only access a small portion of it. Is there a way you could activate it to its full potential. Ya' know, like the time you transformed in to that golden thing when we battled at Isle Esme? That would be helpful."
"Yeah, I remember." Alex ponderingly muttered as he sifted through the mist filled memories of the altercation with the shinobi, scarcely able to discern if the events he remembered was reality or dream. "My memory is a bit hazy coz, you know, I went a little bit crazy back then but I was kicking your butt if I recalled correctly." He then said like a person who thinks aloud, purposely emphasizing his tone on the part where he trounced the blonde.
"You're insane." Naruto reposted defensively. "No way you're beating me. It was the opposite actually" He then supplemented. "As I remembered you started to beg for your life the moment I opened a can of whoop-ass."
"That couldn't be right. I think I distinctly remembered you were barely able to hold your own when…" Alex said with his hand on his chin, thinking harder of the events as he spoke; though, he wasn't able to finish the sentence as the shinobi interjected in a bombastic air.
"Ok fine, so you wouldn't feel bad let's just say it was a tie with the advantage tilting just a little, teeny-weeny bit on my side." Naruto negotiated in a somewhat defensive and nervy voice that the young man found a bit strange, making him suspect that the shinobi was lying through his teeth.
"Okaaaayyyy….." Alex replied in an elongated tone of disbelief, eying the blonde skeptically in a comical childlike manner.
"Ok, so…..yeah, back to topic on how you're going to help me?" Naruto chuckled awkwardly, stirring the conversation as far away from that incident on Isle Esme. "Could you teach me that neat trick? what do ya' say?" He then continued as he once again wrapped his arms around his interlocutor's shoulder subsequently pulling the latter close to him and tousling his hair like a pet.
"Since you don't possess an innate understanding of magic it would take long hours of intensive study for you to gain a basic understanding of its nature, and even longer time to guide it's flow and harness its energies." Alex began, explaining in a matter-of-fact voice, the countenance of his face assumed a cold and impassive expression, realizing that all the brotherly affection from the shinobi was just a clever con from the latter to secure his cooperation. "Furthermore, I'm afraid that the ability to be the conduit of the living universe is something engrained on my genetic code; it's something I was born with due to my heritage as a mortal descendant of the Outer Gods, coupled with being the avatar of Errealth for the longest time. That's not something I could teach Naruto."
"Come on man, there must be something you could do!" The shinobi said in a desperate tone as he grabbed both of Alex's shoulders and looked him in the eye earnestly. "The life of Leah and our child is at stake here." He then continued, conveying an absolute sense of urgency.
Alex sighed in concede to the request. "Fine. I can't believe I'm doing this." He muttered under his breath in a voice that was too faint for the shinobi to make out.
"What's that?" Naruto inquired, bewildered. He may not be able to hear what the latter said but he noticed that suddenly the curve of his lips became enigmatic, a little mournful, and gravely tender.
"Oh nothing." Alex replied with an awkward smile on his face as he was cut off from his musings by the shinobi. "I got an idea, but I need you to trust me on this one." He then told the blonde with a somewhat mixed if not uncomfortable expression on his face that further confused the latter.
"Ok, I'm all ears." Naruto replied, more concerned than curious.
"I may be able to improvise something." Alex sighed. Judging from the expression on his face it would seem he himself have some reservations on what he just suggested. "But it is only a temporary measure, and the essence transference process won't be easy for both of us as well." He then added in a portentous tone.
"I understand. Please do it now." Naruto nodded in concurrence, placing his hand on the demigod's shoulder, as if to convey silently that he trust him.
"Very well." Alex nodded in return, though the expression of awkwardness and discomfort are still clearly etched on the countenance of his face. "You better close your eyes for this one Naruto."
Ever wary, Naruto didn't immediately acquiesce to the young man's injunction but anon he perceived a slight blurring and fading of the objects around them, as though some force were recalling him far to the cosmos, where he least wished to go.
At this juncture his brain became aware of a steady external influence operating upon it. Finally he closed his eyes and concentrated on the communicated thoughts more profoundly, and was rewarded by the positive knowledge that he long sought power has come at last. Each transmitted idea formed rapidly in his mind, and though no actual language was employed, his habitual association of conception and expression was so great that he seemed to be receiving the message in ordinary English.
"Well this isn't so bad. This feels great actually. I wonder what's he's so worked out about?" Naruto thought, finding the experience rather quite pleasant.
Once again there was darkness but, by degrees, the shinobi commenced to feel a myriad of an overwhelming sense of worry for Leah and their child, followed by unrestrained wrath and flaming cosmic vengeance reserved for Carnamagos.
For a moment, as divine energies flowed through the shinobi's veins, it seemed to him that he was caught and carried to supercelestial heights, in an upward-rushing cascade of quintessential force and deific rapture, and an all-illuminating light; and he felt as if he had achieved a god-like union with the cosmos; that every atom of his body had undergone a transcendental expansion, and was winged with ethereal lightness.
It was as if he no longer existed, except as one divine, indivisible entity, soaring beyond the trammels of matter, beyond the limits of time and space, to attain undreamable shores. Unspeakable was the joy, and infinite the freedom of that ascent, in which he seemed to overpass the zenith of the highest star.
As the euphoria reached its crescendo Naruto was made aware of a pleasant and soft sensation on the edge of his mouth and knew that it was Leah's lips meeting his, though for some reason it was thinner and softer than he remembered; but he didn't care for such insignificant details for at that moment he could only think of the love they share, and he felt as if his soul opened up, tasting feeling and seeing every spectrum of the ecstasy in their own sensual way, almost like catching a smile in a bottle, its softness, its sweetness and it's abstruse if not beguiling delight.
Then without even realizing it his tongue rushed as if it has a mind of its own, and plunged like some writhing sea-shape from his now gaping maw, it all but overpowered his sense of self control as it sought some unreachable terminus on his mate's uvula; wiggling, pulsating, and making contortive sweeps on his partner's mouth's vault.
Naruto felt that for some reason 'Leah' was somewhat struggling vehemently to what he was doing and tried to resist his advances, severing the kiss. "Trying hard to get again, aren't we? You're so bad Leah, always teasing little ol' me. I just have to level up the foreplay, wouldn't I?" He thought with a sensual yet excited fox-like smile on his face as he responded to the protest by pulling 'her' back in and claiming those lips once more, pressing his parted lips even harder and more torrid, subsequently groping the latter's butt cheeks passionately.
As the sensation had reached its very apex and its culmination he once again remembered the strange sensation playing on the edge of his lips, and a mad thought was born in his mind. "Is this just a dream? Wait, it was Leah I just kissed, was it?" He thought. With a sudden start of terror, like one who has been tempted to fling himself from a high precipice, he drew back. "Crap! Don't tell me it was….oh hell no!"
As the veil of illusory rapture dissolved Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he realized the awkward situation he's at; his hands were wrapped around Alex's lower torso and at the back of the latter's neck as he bear down on him while his parted lips were firmly pressed on that of his teary eyed counterparts', who's expression seemed to be of absolute shock and befuddlement that the latter seemed to have just comically blanked out.
Quickly the shinobi drew back and pushed the demi-god, causing the latter to stumble and drop flat on his back on the viridian turf, still dazed and still with a far blank stare on the countenance of his face.
"The hell did you do that for dude!" Naruto bellowed defensively in an edgy voice.
"The ritual to transfer essence requires a kiss to seal the contract." Alex first responded in a hollow tone which became more emotionally charged as he realized what just happened. "But you're the one who frenched me! And you groped my butt! You perverted old man!" He then exclaimed, outraged.
"Ok, first of all. Da hell are you calling an old man!" Naruto reposted, ticked off, shaking his fist to the young man. "Not my fault you look like a girl! And by the way that's the worst kiss ever." He then continued while cruciform popping veins comically bulged on his forehead out of irritation. "Don't ever tell anyone about this or I'll kick your ass so hard…so hard! I'll make a vagina, believe it!"
"Well, sorry I don't have much experience in that category. Besides, Im not even trying." Alex thought surreptitiously. "Hey that's not the issue here! Yeah, and as if I'm ecstatic to tell everyone that I just got molested by a slotbadger!"
"A what?" Naruto irately inquired.
"A pedophile! A ten thousand year old pedophile to be exact!" Alex exclaimed in the same stentorian voice and irate tone of his interlocutor.
"Screw you pretty boy!" Naruto riposted, about to punch Alex at the top of his head but suddenly stopped as he realized that all of sudden he could sense the latter's emotions and read his mind like an open book as the transferred divine power granted him similar abilities as the demi-god's.
Suddenly, a fox-like smile cracked o his face as he thought of testing his new found abilities by annoying the heck of his interlocutor. "Hey Alex" He then said in a sleek tone.
"What now?" The young man scowled in annoyance."
"Slotbadger? Really? Your slang skills need work." Naruto chuckled, the mysterious grin never left his face that made his interlocutor suspicious that he's up to something.
"Whatever" Alex replied snobbishly, crossing his arms and turning up his nose to the shinobi.
"So….." Naruto started again. The widening foxlike grin on his face along with the palpable surreptitious satisfaction on his voice has made the young man very edgy. "Didn't know you had a crush on me all this time."
"We'll aren't we to full of ourselves." Alex replied defensively but his voice suddenly become jittery as he realized that the shinobi was reading him like an open book, quickly erecting mental defenses that prevented his psyche from being penetrated by outside forces. "Crap!" He then thought, mortified.
"Ha! Too late pretty boy, already got all I need!" The shinobi chuckled as he teased the latter. "But I couldn't really blame you for looking up to me. I mean, I'm pretty awesome, right?" He then continued, deciding to squeeze as much fun from the situation and from the shamefaced young man who can't even look straight at him as the latter's secret was unraveled.
"Ah come here you" Naruto said jovially as he yanked Alex and gave him a big noogie. "Say Im the best, say it!" He then said chuckling as he locked the young man's head with his arm and grind it playfully with his fist.
"What the heck are you doing" Alex protested "Stop it…it hurts."
"Nah, not gon'na stop unless you say it." The shinobi replied cheekily. "Come on, say it. Naruto is the best and I got a secret crush on him."
"Naruto, if you don't stop Im going to punch you in the balls." Alex vexedly warned, raising his fist.
"Yeah right, I know you just want to grab my dick." Naruto replied lightheartedly, chuckling. "Here let me help you." With a fox like smile on his face he then playfully shoved the demigod to his crotch. "You're loving it there don't ya'." He continued teasing as he subsequently relinquished his captive from the strangle hold.
"Ugh, nasty!" Alex grimaced. "What the hell is your problem!" He then lashed out at the blonde.
To this Naruto just chuckled and wrapped his arm around the young man. "Alexander, you really think I haven't noticed you've been eye-banging me ever since I arrived here." He then moved his face closer to his visibly edgy interlocutor. At the back of his head however, he was laughing his butt off from the prank he just pulled to the demigod.
"You're going to give me another noogie, aren't you?" Alex said, eying the shinobi with a childish suspicion. "And it's just Alex, not Alexander." He then pouted in the same immature manner.
"You didn't answer my question Alexander." Naruto countered in a somewhat coquettish tone that visibly etched a cringe on the young man's face. "Ha, this boy is beyond dumb to fall for a silly prank like this." He then thought as he chortled internally. "You little bastard, how'd you like a taste of your own medicine."
"Ok first, it was actually Errealth who prank you back then at the forest, not me. Second, you do know that I could still read your mind?" Alex began in a cold but calm voice. "Third, if you call me Alexander one more time Im going to slam your face in to that rock!" He then exclaimed, his disposition shifting to that of comical infuriation.
At first there was no reaction from the shinobi but to the surprise of Alex when the former burst out in to a belly laugh that both confused and annoyed him further. "Is there something amusing?" The young man said condescendingly, the statement was more rhetorical than an actual inquiry as he stretched out his palm to the shinobi's face and a nimbus of lurid force began to charge upon it.
Naruto once again didn't respond directly but instead tousled Alex's hair. " Ya' know what? You ain't so bad kid. From now on you're my lil' bro, what do ya' say?" He then said in a gentle voice, smiling kindly to his former enemy.
To this the demigod was reticent; his face showed a combined expression of both confusion and hope as the flurry of destructive magical energies building up on his palm dissipated. "Ok" He muttered in a hollow voice that strangely reflected the unspeakable happiness he felt. "You really meant that Naruto?" He then inquired in a somewhat puerile manner and in a nervous voice, hoping that it wasn't just another prank from the shinobi.
"Of course I meant that" Naruto beamed gently and hugged the young man. "You really are weird, but that doesn't matter you're my bro now." He then continued with a slight chuckle, tightening the embrace to comfort the latter but he soon found out something peculiar. "Alex, did you just got a hard-on while hugging me." He inquired in a dry if not expressionless but comical voice that mirrored his discomfort of the awkward situation.
"No" Alex denied unflappably all the while getting himself more comfortable, resting his head on to the latter's chest like a cat who found a warm spot to cuddle.
"It's poking me Alex!" The shinobi protested, subsequently pushing the young man away and seeing the bulge on the latter's groin area. "The hell! Did you tuck a beer can under there, you perv!"
"No its kinda…uhmm…all natural." Alex simperingly replied with an ill thought joke, trying to diffuse the uncomfortable situation. "But it doesn't matter were bros right?" He then laughed awkwardly out having a panic attack as the blonde eyed him suspiciously.
"No, it's sure as hell isn't right dude." Naruto protested indignantly. "We're having a moment here and you popped a boner on me?"
"It was an accident" Alex replied timidly, blushing red as a tomato. "Besides….." He then said after regaining some composure. "You frenched me earlier, remember? So now we're even…..."
"Ahh, ahh, ahh! Shut up! Fine, whatever, we're even. Stop reminding dude!" Naruto interjected in a silly and childlike manner. "If you tell anybody what happened today Im going to kill you." He then threatened in an ominous voice and with a penetrating glare.
"Well, you're a bit too late. I'm already dead, remember?" Alex sarcastically retorted with a deadpan expression on his face. "Not a very fraternal thing to say, big bro." He then continued in the same sardonic tone as his brows creased. "Oh would you look at that, it would seem I forgot the incantation to open the gates of time. How will you ever go back?"
"Dude! Seriously, not cool." Naruto protested. "I mean, we already talked about this. You promised."
"I know, I know." Alex cheekily responded, letting out a boyish if not immature chuckle. "Im just yanking your chains man."
"You sneaky little bastard" Naruto said as he placed the young man in a head lock then roughly tussled the latter's hair by grinding his knuckles hard on the demigod's crown, partly in brotherly affection but mostly in scathing annoyance.
"Stop it" Alex remonstrated childishly as he squeezed himself out of the shinobi's arm. "You and Lestat both think it's cute when you do that, but it's not. It's annoying." He then continued as he fixed his hair.
"But you're so adorable." Naruto said in a silly voice as if he was talking to an infant that earned him a scowl from the young man. "Just kidding dude." He then chuckled jauntily that made his interlocutor crack up as well. "Now go ahead and do your magic baby bro."
"You never run out of punch lines, do you?" Alex sighed, smiling back at the shinobi. "Fine. Whenever you're ready then..." He then beamingly shrugged in ascent to the blonde's request.
"Ready when you are" The shinobi replied cheekily with a bright smile on his face, subsequently giving the demigod a playful slap in the butt.
"Very well" Alex nodded, then with an indolent flick of his wrist he elicited a maelstrom of magical energies to twist eventuality then cut through the fabric of space-time, opening a corridor of which the shinobi could safely traverse the chaotic whirls and currents of the temporal realm.
At this point Naruto noticed an unbroken chain of iridescent magical energy suddenly swirled and take shape in to his right forearm like a rune bracer wrought of ethereal matter. "What's this for?" He then said as he inspected it closely.
"Long ago the god Aforgomon placed fierce sentinels to guard the gates of time and prevent mortals from travelling through it, this spell is so that you escape their attention when you pass through the threshold." Alex responded in a matter of fact tone. "If you must go Naruto, then you need to go now before the aperture closes….but you are more than welcome to stay here, with me….if you chose to stay, I promise to do everything I could to make you happy each and every passing day." He then continued in a voice laced with sadness, the expression on his face was like that of a puppy about to be abandoned; he already knew what the shinobi's choice would be but an inkling of hope drove him to the vain attempt.
"My family needs me Alex" Naruto explained in a gentle voice, placing his hand on the demigod's shoulder while he looked him in the eye. "I must go."
"Meh, worth a try." Alex shrugged trying to be as nonchalant as possible, subsequently giving the shinobi a brief embrace. "I wish you good luck then." He said in a sanguine tone all the while having a sad smile on his face.
"Thank you." Naruto nodded, speaking in a tranquil and placid tone as he gave the demigod a fist-bump before he paced calmly forward. "I'm sure, one day, we'll meet again Kagerou." He then smiled kindly as he looked back one more time before walking in to the egress of the portal and vanishing in to the empyrean light.
"Kage….who?" Alex said in a confounded tone; his head was a bit tilted out of confusion and there was even a more perplexed expression on the countenance of his face. "Who the devil is that?" He then muttered, not knowing if it was just a mistake on the shinobi's part or if the latter intentionally called him Kagerou; a name he just heard for the first time in his life, but for some reason, has stirred long dead embers deep inside him which ushered a sense of troublous familiarity, as if long ago, in a past life he has been known and called by that name.
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As Naruto passed through the threshold of the portal he was immediately engulfed by an impenetrable darkness that enveloped his senses in an inescapable stygian embrace; subsequently followed by a feeling of intense, hyperborean cold, and an indescribable sickness and vertigo. As if one moment he was stepping forward on level, open ground, and then found utter nothingness underfoot save an endless abyss.
Blackness and illimitable emptiness seemed to wrap round him in a dizzy swirl as of rushing wind or milling water, and he went down and down in a spiral descent whose duration he was never been able to estimate. Intolerably stifled, and without even the power to gasp for breath, in the chill, airless vacuum that froze the shinobi's very muscles and marrow, he felt that he was about to lose consciousness in another moment and descend into the greater gulf of a second death or perpetual oblivion.
But before clarity of mind escapes him something seemed to have arrested his fall, and Naruto became aware that he was now standing still, though he was troubled for some time by a strange doubt as to whether his position was vertical, horizontal or upside-down in relation to the solid substance that his feet had encountered.
Slowly, the blackness lifted like a dissolving cloud, and he saw the slope of golden grass, the rows of irregular monoliths running downward from where he stood, and the gray-green columns near at hand. Beyond was an immense tree that was dominant above the high and multi-coloured vegetation of the plain; and within the heart of the tree's decussating spire like inner branches lies what seemed to be a miniature blue sun wreathed with black coronal flares and crowned with scintillating rays of dazzling effulgence.
"Where am I now?" Naruto muttered, before realizing a moment later that he was deep within his subconscious mind, in a place where a malevolent entity was once put in to spiritual sleep by the demi-god's magical spell which physically manifested as a trifold protective seal on his right arm.
Quickly checking the seal's integrity the shinobi blenched as he saw that it has now faded in to near obscurity. Anon, he felt an eerie lurking presence; subsequently the very essence of distilled fear and terror has fastened itself upon his mind as he beheld the sudden change in the elfin star's luminescence, from a ghostly pale blue it has roared in to a wrathful red, burning like an evil mist of blood and fire.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" A sere hypnotic and commanding voice issued telepathically from the fiery orb with a drear echo as the spectral beams flared up for an instant with a more astounding iridescence.
"If it isn't my murderer, came to pay me a visit." The voice once again spoke malevolently while Naruto found himself unable to form speech of his own as the shard's thundering tone cast an echo in to an eldritch infinity while the words themselves seemingly burned an ineffable existential terror on the inmost fibers of his soul.
- End
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Hey there folks!
I hope you enjoyed reading. To some of you my dear readers who have been messaging me for some time now for more bromance I hope I was able to do justice to your requests. Also, I'll do my best to post the next chapter as soon as I could. The said chapter will conclude the Vampire Lord Arc (Chapter 31-34), which will be followed by a two-part finale which will conclude our story overall. Hope to see you next time folks.
Cheerio :)