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Naruto hated hospitals. Sure, they were important to help heal the sick and weak and such, but right now, he's annoyed by orders from Tsunade. After that stunt in the Genjutsu World and reinstalling his Unlimited Blade Works powers, the swordification and crystallization of his body had grown. Tsunade had taken interest in his right hand, as the inside, the blood, muscles, and even bones were crystalized underneath the flesh and he was still able to flex it like it was normal. He had a feeling that she wanted to dissect that hand there and now to see how she can fix Chōji up from that bullet he took from the Tamasaburo Incident. Though thanks to Kushina's concern, he was safe from any nearby scalpels in the vicinity for the time being. One of the other reasons he hates hospitals is that he ends up being bored out of his mind. Eying Chizakura, he caressed the katana like that of a child in his hands as he smiled.
The first time he had actually wielded the katana, it felt like his arm had extended, became one with the blade as it danced in the air as it was swung. He eyed the details, and a painful memory of Sakura's sacrifice echoed in his mind. Even if it wasn't the Cypher Sakura, this Sakura cared for him as well. Then he also recalled a memory that wasn't painful, but a pain of annoyance. He needed to talk to Kushina and Lightning about this, no doubt they will be pissed at what he had to say. And boy, he's willing to bet the remains of his savings that they'll try to kill him. Well, he's betting its worth to try explaining to them.
*Some time later*
"YOU DID WHAT?!" the two women exclaimed in anger as Naruto winced at the volume. "Like I said already, I used most of my savings already. Though if you would patiently calm down and let me explain, then I'll let you clobber me afterwards okay?" he asked as he saw them giving him the look that demanded an explanation. "You know how most blacksmiths always take pride in their prized creations yes?" he asked as Lightning and Kushina looked at each other confusingly as Naruto had to resist smacking them up in the head. They know nothing of the art of blacksmithing and craftsmanship! Apparently, Lightning felt the irritation through the link and looked at him, "What did we do to get your ire?" she asked as Naruto grumbled in annoyance. "Forging a blade like Chizakura is the pride of blacksmiths! It requires the rarest of items to craft it into a beauty like it is now. What, did you think it formed the handle, guard and sheath by itself?" he demanded as Kushina was the one to reply. "I pretty much did, due to all the magic and gods and such." She replied as Naruto and Lightning looked at her.
"I can understand mom, but you Lightning, as a swordswoman, should know better. Your Blazefire Saber isn't just for killing efficiently. Every maker of a weapon has pride in their creations, and makes it look good and functional in battle, so everyone knows that it was that person who made such a weapon of such skill and quality. Unique weapons just don't pop out of nowhere, ya know?" he asked as Lightning realized he was one of those weapon experts and crafters. A smith warrior like the dwarfs, who create weapons of such quality, while looking dazzling to the eye; but at the same time, extremely pricy if you want it. "I can agree, so…You bought high quality goods for Chizakura's construction?" she asked as Naruto nodded his head as he held out the sheathed weapon from his bed sheets.
"Exactly, which is why I'm telling you now; if I want the revolution I'm planning, we need income and resources. I'm sure I can get connections with the Land of Waves for supplies in the revolution, but we need money, which I'm forced to be stingy with." He admitted as Kushina eyed the blade and looked at the details and bit her lip. "Ivory for the handle, high quality silk for covering it, coral of a rare pink color similar to cherry blossoms for the guard…and a sheath made of common polished wood?" She said looking at Naruto who looked away shamefully. "My only regret was not getting a sheath made of ebony. That would have made a nice design as well…" he replied as Lightning rolled her eyes at that.
Blacksmiths and their pride of craftsmanship, they always have that habit it seems. "So what are you getting at if you're telling us this?" Lightning asked as Naruto looked at them both. "I need you both to help out by doing missions as well. Mom can easily take care of herself with her skills, and you Light can beat most missions like its child's play; which would make higher rank missions a good source of money income." He told them as they nodded. Kushina was happy that her son was able to believe in her skill and abilities. "Is there any other ways to get the money?" she asked as Naruto thought for a while as Tenryū spoke to him.
"How about trying to be a thief? Ninjas just don't do assassinations, but thievery and spying as well, remember?" he asked as Naruto mentally nodded his head at that. "Thievery?" he asked as Kushina bopped him in the head. "Baka, just who would you steal from exactly?" she demanded as Naruto rubbed his head where she hit him. "Why the corrupted nobility of course; they should learn to share the wealth after all." He replied as Lightning shook her head in disagreement. "Naruto, for what I know of, nobility of this era should have guards patrolling every hallway of the place you want to steal from, and traps that could kill you. And last time I recall, you were never one for stealth." She told him as Naruto frowned. "Hey, you're talking to the guy who defiled the Hokage Monument and wasn't noticed till after I was done and I eluded others just fine. Iruka-sensei was able to capture me because I let my guard down." He shot back as Kushina was picturing that event.
She heard of Naruto's levels of practical jokes before he became a ninja, and was impressed. Although, they weren't up to her level yet, but she had a feeling he'll outdo her with one someday. "Alright then, I'll have to talk with Tsunade about returning to shinobi business since I'm labeled 'deceased' right now." She told her son as she got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. "What I wouldn't give to have my Gates of Naraku right now." He muttered as Lightning overheard it as she looked at him. "What is this 'gate' you mentioned?" she asked as Naruto looked at her. "It's a special vault containing various treasures, which are weapons, armors, trinkets, and of course, other things that show you live the life of the Golden Rule. In one of my previous lives, I collected a lot of treasures that I could be considered a NEET if I lived like that." He replied as Lightning narrowed her eyes at that. "Then you could easily fuel your revolution with the money and get that sheath of ebony like you wanted." She told him as he shrugged.
"True, but living the rich life doesn't suite me and I prefer working hard for my cash. Although it would help me out big time with what you said right now; especially since I'm going to have to take in more missions just to save up for the money." He agreed nonchalantly as Lightning pondered something. She wanted to know more about this mysterious being that exists in place of the one originally supposed to live in that body. She wanted to know more about Cypher Naruto Uzumaki and what kind of person he really is. "Naruto, I'm not sure what a Cypher truly is with the limited knowledge I have and from your 'amnesia', can you give me any more specific details?" she asked, trying to bring up a conversation, and know more about Naruto.
"…Alright, since I'm in a good mood and I'm bored, and the fact I have regained a bit more of my memories, I'll explain a bit." He complied as he sat up straight. "A Cypher is nothing, a void human that is filled with infinite possibilities. They are not born normally as they are…'created' by both man and divine." He told her, allowing her to gain insight on what he was. "Cyphers are 'created' by human imagination, fictional characters in a sense if you will, that were given names and a concept of whom and what they are. The rest is up to human imagination to design the personalities, physical appearances, and roles they play in. Gods play the role of 'breathing life' into the void human, birthing the possibilities. Cyphers are born with incomplete souls as a god or goddess choses their Cypher to bring order and peace to the multiple dimensions, also known as the Multiverse. The Cypher and deity they've bonded with are always various, but the Cypher is usually bestowed a power that most humans cannot wield to the utmost degree." He explained, pausing for breath as he let Lightning take it all in.
When she nodded her head, he continued, "Like for example, in one world, people can bend certain elements to a degree, but with a Cypher that is connected to that world in some way, can manipulate an element to a degree that even the masters of that art is baffled by how superior the Cypher's skills are with that element they wield. Cyphers also can learn and train with other abilities from other worlds they've visited and gained; though the degree of mastering those abilities varies." Naruto told her as she raised a brow. "Does that mean the 'Unlimited Blade Works' is an ability you learned over time from another world?" she asked as Naruto nodded his head. "Exactly. Although it took me around ten full years to truly master its powers when I first started out training with my abilities when I came to that world many years ago." He admitted as Lightning was impressed by that.
"Does that mean you're a slow learner?" she asked with a sense of teasing in it as Naruto frowned. "Har, har, very funny." He snarked as he crossed his arms. "The degree in learning and mastering abilities depends on the world a Cypher is in specifically. In the world where I learned and mastered Unlimited Blade Works is a serious one where even the smallest of experiments gone wrong can lead to your death. I was risking my whole life of being skewered from the inside by countless tiny blades from my special use of magic and being hunted down by people who were interested in my abilities. In a world like yours Light, that kind is the faster kind, where your power grows with the amount of battles you've been in, and what kind of foes you've defeated. The world I was in was the 'slow-learner' kind in a sense, while your world is more attuned to 'fast-learners'." He told her as she blinked. She realized he had a point there, her L'Cie powers always grew with every foe she slayed, every battle she participated in, the results had always allowed her to learn her abilities faster as she grew much harder to kill in battle.
It was the rules of that specific world that cull the strong from the weak. That was what Naruto was saying, for he had to put effort and training into mastering his abilities, while Lightning just had to fight to master her abilities, but she also had her natural effort in her soldier training. Such a huge difference, it's like Lee's hard work against Neji and his natural born genius talent. With Naruto in a world of fast learning, no wonder why his body was going through with what it is now, because the world of hard work and effort was clashing with the effortless use of L'Cie Magic. The result was a body horror of crystallization and being turned into a sword little by little. It made her wonder how he's always handling this kind of stuff.
But to him with and his recognition with the swordification part of his body, she'd say he's done it before some time in his previous life. So he's aware of his own death clock and how long it will take. But a sudden curiosity filled her, one that desired to know more of the 'truth' of the world Naruto grew up in. "What is it like travelling the Multiverse?" she asked. Naruto froze, slowly looking at her and smiled in a friendly way, a bad sign. "It was Hell…rather, it hurts like Hell." He replied calmly with that carefree smile on his face. Oh, it was that bad of a question for Lightning to ask. "You see, you lose your physical form as you are painfully turned into pure energy as you feel like you've been thrown into a blender going at supersonic speeds while crashing through other objects in the Void of Nil, which is like crashing into lumps of extremely dense metal by the way, and the crash landing to your destination while you try and return to your physical self without losing concentration or risk looking like a deformed human." He finished as Lightning felt her stomach doing hurls inside of her as she thought of that.
"Does it always happens…?" she asked uncertainly. "No, usually happens to younger Cyphers." Was his reply, and a fast one; which gained another question in her mind; "Younger Cyphers? How old are Cyphers to be at least a teenager in your term of years?" she asked as Naruto laughed at her question. "Now that is a good question, curious of the lifespan eh? Well, to be a teenager in human terms, you have to be at least 4,227,890,345 years old."
The answer left Lightning looking at Naruto with a disturbed look, and now wondered how old this kid was. "To answer that mental question you're broadcasting right now, I'm only 30,649 years old. I'm still a child in Cypher standards. But I'm still older than you." Naruto said as Lightning shook her head. These Cyphers were probably much more dangerous than any L'Cie known to both Gran Pulse, and Cocoon history combined. But that also triggered an even bigger question, one that is instantly putting her on edge. "Naruto…How powerful can Cyphers become?" she asked as Naruto laid on his back as he relaxed onto his pillow. "Compared to what I can do when I'm at full power as a Cypher, the older Cyphers that came before me can kill numerous gods and create and destroy worlds on a whim. That is, if they keep collecting knowledge and power from their journeys in the Multiverse." He replied. That answer shook Lightning, to know there are other Cyphers out there that could do those kinds of things so easily.
"Basically, the older the Cypher is, the more powerful they are. My sister and I are special exceptions to this because we were created with the DNA of the Heavenly Dragons and Hell Dragons of Genesis and inheriting the dangerous knowledge and powers they wielded. But only to a degree, to say it bluntly, I could at least injure an older Cypher to a degree that he or she will be impressed before I get creamed by them." He admitted without shame as he closed his eyes. "Anything else? Because I have nothing else to say about Cyphers." He told her as Lightning sighed. This knowledge she was getting was dangerous right now, so the best solution is to not ask any more about Cyphers, something more…trivial and humanlike. "What was your love life like?" she asked, knowing there is bound to be some reaction to it.
She wasn't disappointed when the bed broke and caved in, sandwiching Naruto inside of it. It was amusing as his arm was flailing about for help as Lightning pried the bed open for Naruto who looked disheveled. "I thought we went over this and not talk about love life the last time we chatted like this." He told her with a scowl as Lightning shrugged. "Well I don't have much of a love life due to my time as a L'Cie, Knight of Etro, and of course Nione ruining history so I never got that much of a chance to find a guy. Not like there is anyone I like in my era." She confessed as Naruto sighed. "Fine, if I tell you, will you stop bothering me about it? I don't want to go through with this a third time." Naruto told her as she nodded her head as he grumbled a bit.
"…I have had a nasty habit of somehow getting a harem against my will. For some reason, a lot of girls have taken a liking to me and things get out of hand." He admitted as Lightning had to stifle a giggle. She could just picture some girls giving him a headache with arguments of who gets him next and all of that. "But I do find myself falling in love with each one of them because of who they are, and well…" he trailed off, a bit of red adorning his cheeks as Lightning knew what he was referring to. "You sly dog." She said with her two cents as Naruto grumbled at that. "You make it sound like I'm Ero-Sennin, and I'm not." Naruto said as he looked at her.
"While I usually settle for one of the girls afterwards, we end up being separated due to my duties as a Cypher. So it's a bit of a heartache for me when I recall them." He said as he had that lonely aura around him. "He must have really missed these girls, maybe because they have a special place in his heart somewhere." Lightning thought as Naruto continued on. "Even though we are separate, we're still connected and usually have a special token that symbolizes our love that will remind us of each other no matter what. In the end, when they die, they reunite with me in a special utopia that I had access to…Avalon."
Avalon, the Utopia King Arthur, or Arturia had sought in her life. She heard that Naruto had entered there to reunite with her, but now these girls entered it as well? Lightning won't let Naruto hear the end of it. "You sure you're not a sexual deviant?" she asked as Naruto developed a tick mark at that question. "No, only the man-whore Narus I've encountered and butchered in my first life were like that. They ruin the meaning of love by covering it with shameless lust for women and meaningless sex. Those kind of people sicken me." He told her with a scowl on his face.
"I see, so you only have sex with the girls you truly love?" she asked as Naruto nodded his head. "Yes, to me, it's to share my very existence with that girl, that unbreakable bond that we cherish even if we were to face the end of the world itself, for in the end, we still have each other." Naruto told Lightning with a nostalgic face on him. Lightning was a trained warrior, but the feminine side of her still appreciated the devotion of love Naruto would commit to. Serah would have found it sweet and romantic if she was here and heard this from Naruto's mouth.
"Well, that's it for that. Now since I'm going to be released in a few days, you'll have to take over for the missions with mom for a while. Is that okay?" he asked as Lightning nodded her head. "Sure, I could use the workout instead of lingering in Konoha. Place was starting to get interesting as of late." She replied as Naruto had a confused expression. "Didn't you hear? It seems that Orochimaru's scheme is slowly revealing itself. While I decided to go with Hinata to gather herbs, we've found a ghost town with all of the residents missing. Then someone had tampered with a keystone in that area as a strange monstrous creature attacked us. From the reports Tsunade gave me after studying the corpse, it looked like an improved Edo Tensei." Lightning said as Naruto frowned at the mention of that jutsu.
"Thanks for the info Light, now you can go. I'll be fine now." He said smiling as he lied back down and closed his eyes. Lightning then stood and walked out the door, turning to look at the resting boy before having a small smile herself before closing the door behind her.
"Was it wise to tell her about the Cyphers?" Naraku asked, "Yes, it's because I can trust her. For some reason, I just know I can." Naruto mentally replied as Tenryū spoke up. "That is without the doubt because she was connected to the Holy Grail Wars of Cocoon aeons ago, but with history corrected after the supposed destruction of it and the contents, the memories was rewritten. You must have been allies with her during the time to trust her completely." The Heavenly Dragon theorized. "True, and if that's the case, she is the only one I can truly trust in this world alone." He replied. For now, he'll play the waiting game and recover his strength. But when the time comes, Orochimaru will fall and the battles filled with blood lie ahead. Naruto clenched his teeth, the inevitable day where Naruto will enter the hell known as war again, and see the evils of humanity surge through once more. This time, the bloodshed will be in the thousands once he enters.