A Dulled Edge
"Speech"/ "Thoughts"
"Soul Edge/Nightmare Speech"/ "Thoughts"
"Tailed-Beast Speech"/ "Thoughts"
Chapter 3: Heading Home
Eyes fluttering open, Naruto began to wake up from a restful slumber. Poking his arms out of his sleeping bag to stretch while he yawned, he turned to where Soul Edge laid – the weapons eye closed. As he extricated the rest of his person from the bag, Naruto wondered if his new companion was asleep – but, as if to answer him, the eye cracked open partially and shifted its gaze to him.
"I trust you rested well?" Soul Edge lazily asked, watching as Naruto began to stretch before dressing.
"Well enough," Naruto answered while he slid his sandals on. "What about you?"
"Soundly. Especially after meeting my neighbors," Soul Edge responded cheekily, a sparkle of amusement in his eye.
This amusement grew when Naruto's breath hitched before whipping his head down to his sword. "You met the fox!?" He aggressively whispered, demanding to know how this was possible.
"I told you our souls are linked, did I not?" Soul Edge reminded him, "I can enter your inner world at will." Edge then proceeded to inform Naruto when they bonded, the weapon sensed three other signatures inside, and decided to investigate.
Naruto had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing as Soul Edge described his insults to the caged beast and its follow-up response. This struggle ceased when he learned of the remaining two spirits the spirit blade did not meet due to their apparently limited time and the blood relation he possessed to them. The teen sat still for a few moments, digesting this information, yet only coming up with a single question.
"Who are they?"
"They're definitely your parents," Soul Edge answered without hesitation. "I've devoured enough families to recognize the connections between relatives."
Ignoring how Soul Edge correctly came to his conclusion, Naruto focused on the fact he could actually meet his parents, if only for a short period.
"Is… there anyway I could extend their time?" Naruto asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Souls. With two souls, I can make them stay with you for a lifetime."
Naruto remained silent at the answer. He didn't like where this conversation was heading – in fact, he wanted to change the subject. "Who was the fourth person?" Naruto retracted back to the original topic.
Thankfully, Soul Edge went along with the change, explaining his encounter with a separate persona. "He tried to claim he was the 'real' you, and convince me to help him take over." Soul Edge rolled his eye at the absurdity. He just got a new host, and as he said the prior night, he did not like swapping wielders.
"So… what did you do?" Naruto inquired with an uneasy stare. Soul Edge informed Naruto he killed and tore apart the pretender , adding its structural make-up to him and granting the ability to restore lost emotions.
"He was formed of your repressed anger, negativity and rationality," explained Soul Edge, before informing Naruto any changes in personality would happen overtime and were the product of his repaired mind. Naruto wasn't sure how to react to this information. A part of him was both alarmed and somewhat indignant at the sword messing around in his mind – however, Soul Edge protected him while attempting to improve Naruto mentally and emotionally. Another tick in the sword's favor was he could've simply gotten rid of both him and the fake, leaving Naruto's body free for the weapon to use as his own.
Combine this bombshell with Soul Edge's offer to meet his parents, and here's one conflicted teenager. Deciding to deal with these concerns at a later time, Naruto simply asked Soul Edge refrain from further influencing his mind without expressed permission.
"Fair enough."
Their conversation finished, Naruto reattached the weapon to his back and exited his tent. The others were just getting up, judging from the shuffling in their tents. Taking the initiative to deconstruct his tent first, Naruto wondered how he should use the money retrieved from his clan's vaults.
'Definitely moving to a nicer place,' Naruto decided, having yearned for a private residence away from the people of Konoha. While not physically violent, they had… shown him he was unwanted. Now that he had a rather large sum of cash, Naruto figured he could – should – put some space between them and him.
Not to mention some quiet would be nice.
Pausing from his activity, Naruto wondered how the population would react to Soul Edge.
"I'm not entering my astral-state, nor will I be left behind like a piece of home decor," the weapon warned. "I refuse to be hidden away."
"…guess people will have to get used to a sword who stares back," Naruto thought with a slight roll of his eyes. Then again, if he was trapped for as long as Soul Edge, he'd want to be out and about as much as possible too. Kakashi walked out as Naruto finished packing his tent, waving in greeting which Naruto returned with a nod and smile. Soon enough, the other half of Team 7 exited their tents, and after a quick breakfast followed by a quick packing up, they left the island. Naruto kept his eyes on the shrinking island as they sailed away, a small pang of sadness in his chest. Leaving the boat's stern only once he physically couldn't see his ancestral home anymore, Naruto went to the vacant bow.
"So how do you wish to occupy these next few days?"
Naruto hummed at Soul Edge's question. Kakashi was currently manning the wheel, leaving his students to do as they pleased until their turn to take over. Experimenting with his new weapon would have to wait until they reached the mainland, leaving Naruto with few options to pass the time.
A calm smile graced his face, before the blonde pulled out a blue scroll. "Let's see if I can catch dinner," Naruto wondered, as a fishing rod and tackle box with some bait appeared.
Within a few hours, he managed to catch a few trigger fish, a yellow fin tuna, and a kingfish, before deciding he'd caught enough food for the voyage. Taking his catch to the stern, Naruto gutted and filleted the fish, careful to avoid damaging as much meat as he could. Sakura had come on deck for some fresh air while Naruto was preparing their food, offering to take the bagged cuts down while he cleaned the area. Thanking him for procuring fresh meals, Sakura quickly went back inside the cabin.
The next few days were uneventful, Naruto either fishing or keeping the boat on its proper course during his shifts.
Soul Edge remained highly intimidating to Sakura, while Sasuke kept glancing curiously at the weapon, sometimes keeping Naruto company while the blonde fished – one time even helping Naruto reel in an impressively sized marlin. Kakashi meanwhile was happy to see the two boys positively interacting with each other, especially when Naruto gave Sasuke a quick lesson on how to properly bait and cast a line – a breath of fresh air.
"How the hell do people find this enjoyable…" Sasuke growled as he reeled in another empty hook. "I can't even tell if I got a bite!" He turned to Naruto in exasperation, unable to understand how his peer had the patience for this.
The blonde merely grinned. "There's a reason why it's called 'fishing', not 'catching'."
Though Sasuke never caught anything, Naruto was happy to have him, and later Sakura – who politely declined Naruto's offer for the same lesson – around while he fished. All the while, Kakashi felt pride swell at the three as they unknowingly drew a tad closer.
Finally coming ashore, Team 7 began a week and a half long trek to Konoha, tree-hopping to increase the distance covered. Of course, this method of travel wasn't always available, so the team often walked through wide-open fields. During one such occasion, Kakashi found himself having a staring contest with Soul Edge. Taking up the rear, the jōnin gazed into the unblinking eye of the sword, wondering what it's abilities could be. The Uzumaki Clan were masters of the sealing arts, and any weapon created by them would undoubtedly be formidable… and here was one who claimed – vocally, no less! – to be the most powerful weapon in their arsenal.
Kakashi's eyes shifted over to the chains Soul Edge claimed to protect the user from its power. His curiosity ever increasing, Kakashi decided it was time to test the weapon. Commanding his students to stop, he told Sasuke and Sakura to move away and asked Naruto to draw his blade. His blonde student drew it from said chains with an unorthodox stance, one foot forward and shoulder angled ahead, its blade held near the ground behind him with both hands. The odd stance was unknown to the jōnin, despite his rich experience.
"Begin!"
Kakashi stood still as Naruto dashed towards him, leaning back a few inches to avoid an initial horizontal slash; however, he did not expect Naruto to use his forward momentum to slam into him shoulder-first. Seeking to take advantage of their proximity, Naruto quickly brought his double-edged sword upwards. Kakashi shifted his body sideways to avoid a blow which would've lopped his arm off. Instantly taking advantage of the opening his headstrong student presented, Kakashi struck out with a punch aimed for Naruto's unprotected face. The boy instinctively withdrew a single hand from Soul Edge to intercept his sensei's blow, hoping to shield his head from harm.
"Allow me to test something."
The young shinobi felt weight disappear from the large sword in his raised arm, reappearing suddenly in his lowered hand. This shift was followed by a clunk and hiss of pain. Naruto wisely took the opportunity to leap backwards from his sensei, who examined a now bruised and bleeding fist. Well out of Kakashi's reach, the blond examined the weights on his limbs. One hand now held a round silver shield with an eye symbol in gold trim, while his other now held a short sword with a familiar eye blinking.
"Good. I can still change form," Soul Edge stated approvingly, before his eye turned to his wielder. "And it seems you're now starting to receive my millennia's worth of combat knowledge."
Naruto only now began to notice the stance he took: shield acutely held about a foot away from his body, while his sword arm was stretched behind him, weapon somewhat pointed upwards in preparation for a downward slash.
"This is… Cassandra's style, right?"
"More like her sister's, but it's mostly the same."
"OK, that hurt."
Kakashi's voice drew Naruto back to him, the jōnin cracking the knuckles of his injured hand. He stared at Naruto critically, analyzing his student's unfamiliar stance – this one geared more towards defense, given the shield, never mind the fact the equipment he held was a transformed Soul Edge. Quite an interesting weapon indeed.
"OK, I've seen enough for now," Kakashi spoke loud enough for all his students to hear him. "Let's continue home."
"Tch. Just when I thought I was going to get a bit of action…!" Soul Edge griped as he returned to his default zweihander state. Naruto returned his sword to its position on his back and went to join his comrades. When he was close enough, his teammates told him they were impressed with his performance, Sasuke asking him where he learned those stances.
"I just listened to what Soul Edge told me – we can talk to each other with our thoughts. Pretty cool, right?" Naruto revealed to them, but kept the actual process at work secret. Kakashi joined them a few moments after, having slowed down to wrap his injured arm. Naruto apologized for the damage, but Kakashi told him it was unnecessary. As they began to walk again, Soul Edge wanted to know why the masked man had ended their duel so quickly.
"Well, after nearly breaking my hand on your shield form, I decided it might be wiser if further testing be done in a training ground," answered Kakashi while he read an orange book. "Besides, if you really are the Uzumaki Clan's deadliest weapon, then I'd rather not be the practice dummy."
The sword accepted the answer, now scanning for any potential threat/meal around. Team 7 traveled in a comfortable silence, broken at times by idle chat during short breaks or meals. Their trek lasted under a week; Sakura happy she could shower soon while Naruto was slightly worried. How would people react to Soul Edge?
"If they have a problem with me, then perhaps I can take over your body temporarily and have a 'talk' with them," Soul Edge suggested, with no attempt made at hiding his intentions. He could care less what the peasants thought so long as they did not challenge him. Naruto sighed at the Spirit Sword's stubbornness, and decided to accept whatever would happen, yet hoped nobody would make a scene. Over the past few days, he and Soul Edge had various discussions pertaining to the rules and boundaries of their partnership. So far, they'd agreed on… rather flexible three rules.
Firstly, unless given verbal permission or under extreme circumstances, Soul Edge was NOT allowed to possess Naruto's body. The shinobi did agree to allow Soul Edge to immediately intervene if the sword thought Naruto's mind was being breached when the weapon brought up genjutsu and its mind-altering affects.
Secondly, while in combat, Soul Edge was allowed to drain their opponents' chakra so long as they were left with enough to live, unless they had already fallen to Soul Edge's blade. Naruto also stated that unless convinced otherwise, he would never drain the souls available after a large-scale battle involving friendly forces. This was out of respect for his fallen allies.
Thirdly, both agreed to a weekly feeding schedule – they would accept a bandit extermination quest to serve as Soul Edge's official "meal". The Spirit Sword at first felt this wasn't enough, but relented when Naruto explained this was to prevent gluttony from reoccurring, and if this was truly not enough, then they would alter the schedule. Of course, Naruto hoped when his team started taking real missions, their potential adversaries would fill Soul Edge's craving, perhaps to the point of even eliminating the need for a feeding schedule.
The two had discussed others, but those were still a work in progress. In addition to the rules, Soul Edge spoke with Naruto of his past power, explaining that as he consumed more souls, he would grow in strength and unlock more abilities. Naruto had asked if chakra could serve as a substitute, to which Soul Edge answered he did not know – one more thing they would have to wait to test during the first bandit elimination mission they took.
At the moment, Team 7 slept in tents for the last time, for tomorrow they would return home. While the others slept, Naruto stood atop a tower of Ostrinberg, expertly thrusting and slashing Soul Edge in a rapier form. Pausing , Naruto rolled his shoulder with a wince. He rolled the rapier's handle so the eye faced him as he asked a question with an annoyed tone. "How the hell is this hurting me? Aren't I just a mental projection right now?" He had been practicing with various forms of weapons for over an hour now.
The eye closed in response, and Soul Edge once more assumed the form of Nightmare, appearing a few feet away from Naruto. In his normal hand, he grasped a copy of his default form. "Normally, yes, but I wished to test which weapons would suit your current level of flexibility, strength and dexterity," Soul Edge answered before taking a stance of his own, monstrous arm in front and blade to the rear.
Naruto gulped as he backed off to the other side of the watchtower, shifting his own weapon into a longsword. "Hey, now! I thought you wanted to see whi-"
"I got bored. Now, raise thy sword!"
Before Naruto could blink, Soul Edge had already closed the gap between them, sword thrust forward like a spinning drill. Stone shattered where the blade struck, forcing Naruto to dodge to the side – the wrong side, he soon learned, when Soul Edge's manifested arm shot out and nailed him in the solar plexus. Impacting an undamaged section of parapet, Naruto had no time to concern himself with the pain he felt, having to instead duck beneath another swing of a mutated fist. Thinking fast, Naruto swung upwards from his position, only to be reminded by a hard "CLANG!" that his opponent was covered in metal.
"This armor isn't just for show, my wielder!" Soul Edge cackled, before sending Naruto skidding hard across the floor with a fast backhand. Stopping a bit farther then the center of the tower, Naruto shook his head free from the stars clouding his vision and shakily stood up. Soul Edge had remained in place, waiting for the teen to get to his feet.
Visibly bruised and bleeding from small cuts, Naruto held up his sword with a glare. "Alright, now I'm pissed…"
"Good!" Soul Edge chuckled as he resumed his stance. "Beating you into the ground is fun and all, but at least TRY to put up a fight."
Naruto grit his teeth at the insult, before creating five clones and dashing towards Soul Edge. Scoffing, the Azure Knight simply tightened his grip, and performed a wide horizontal swing which decapitated every clone, while the real Naruto leapt in the air, preparing an overhead strike.
"Got'cha!" He hissed as he slashed forward. Soul Edge smirked as he side-stepped the attack, before he too jumped and slammed both his steel boots into Naruto's unprotected flank. Once more, Naruto slammed into the parapet, groaning as he slid to the hard floor.
"I didn't expect you to try an aerial attack, but really, try not to use your clones. It's dishonorable." Soul Edge admonished Naruto, wagging an oversized digit at him.
"Says the "Fuck you!" sword with an eternity of combat experience fighting a greenhorn!" Naruto snarled as he stood up to a snickering Soul Edge. Throwing caution to the wind, he once more ran at his opponent, unleashing a flurry of slashes Soul Edge flawlessly blocked, before parrying a slash to his helm by slamming his pauldron into Naruto's face. Dazed, Naruto was unable to react in time when Soul Edge grabbed both his legs. He also didn't realize how close they were to the edge.
"It's been fun, boy. Let's do this again sometime."
All Naruto managed was a confused "Huh?", before he was sent rolling into the air and over the edge of the tower. A loud voice from seemingly nowhere announced "RING OUT!", while Naruto shouted, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" on his way down.
"Heh, heh… I've missed doing that."
It was morning; the other three members of team 7 sat together, waiting for their fourth to wake up, while Sakura prepared breakfast for them. They heard a panicked gasp, followed by growling and a shout of "You asshole!"… then Kakashi had to lean his upper body to the side, avoiding a maniacally laughing Soul Edge sailing past him and into a tree. A rather angry blonde walked out from his tent, thankfully fully clothed but yelling all sorts of obscenities at his sword. The weapon only laughed harder while the bystanders shared the same thought.
'What the hell caused this?'
A few minutes of teaching the rest of his team new insults later, Naruto had finally calmed down enough to retrieve the still-giggling Soul Edge. Sasuke and Sakura both sported cherry-red faces at their teammate's language, while Kakashi made a note to take Naruto to a bar and watch the resulting chaos in the future. Wisely, everyone decided to not discuss Naruto's awakening and eat before beginning the last leg of their trip home. Team 7 found themselves at the gates of Konoha by half-past-noon, Kakashi speaking to the gate guards before he and his team were quickly ushered to the Hokage.
Now inside the Hokage's office, their leader welcomed them home before asking Naruto what he had recovered. As Naruto answered, the older man's eyes went to the blinking sword on his young subordinate's back.
"-in addition to finding an untouched vault of valuables, I also found Soul Edge." Naruto finished, gesturing to the weapon chained to him. The Hokage nodded, requesting Naruto present the blade to him. Immediately obeying, the genin presented his weapon horizontally, while the old man inspected and appraised it. He slowly looked over the weapon, unfazed by the eye staring back at him.
"I don't believe I've ever seen a sword like this before," The Third stated, still gazing at the weapon.
"And you never will," Soul Edge suddenly spoke, though he had hoped to get more of a reaction out his wielder's leader.
The old man just raised an interested brow. "Well, now, I'm aware of sentient swords, but I've never heard of one speaking," The Hokage admitted, leaning closer in his chair.
Soul Edge resumed speaking, using the same story he and Naruto agreed on. "I am the Uzumaki Clan's greatest achievement, though I was kept from use due to negative effects on those who tested me. These chains-" Soul Edge used his eye to indicate the loops of metal around Naruto, "were made to dampen the effects."
The Hokage's brow furrowed slightly as he asked Soul Edge to explain further. His brow furrowed further when he learned due to a long period of inactivity, not only did Soul Edge not remember, he had also forgotten what his abilities were.
Kakashi then spoke up and told his leader of the short spar he and Naruto had. "As I went to strike Naruto's head, the sword responded to his need for defense and shifted into a shield – one I nearly broke my fist on."
The Third nodded at this information as he leaned back. Done inspecting Soul Edge, he told Naruto to return it to its place, before dismissing the group except for Kakashi. Once alone, Hiruzen told the jōnin what he thought of the situation.
The silver-haired man shrugged, before answering, "I'm not sure… so far the sword isn't effecting Naruto negatively, but I think it knows more about itself then it says." Kakashi proceeded to inform the Hokage about the odd stances Naruto assumed in their spar. The Third nodded slowly, asking if the weapon should be confiscated.
"No," Kakashi answered, "I don't think we need to… I want to see how it affects Naruto before we do anything."
Nodding in agreement, the Hokage dismissed Kakashi with orders to report any new information about Soul Edge to him. As Kakashi left, an ANBU operative came in with a report. "My lord, there's been more incidents."
"More?" The Third sighed as he began to read an update on a bad string of bloody murders from random locations in the Elemental Nations. Worry etched across his face as he looked out a window, to beyond the walls of Konoha. 'What's going on out there? People suddenly going berserk and slaughtering each other isn't normal!'
While the leader of Konoha fretted over possible actions to take, a genin and his sword headed to former's soon-to-be ex-residence. The people gave them a large berth – much larger than Naruto was used to.
A few beads of sweat dripped down his head as he mentally communicated with Soul Edge, "Can you stop glaring at everyone?"
"No." Soul Edge answered firmly, his eye rapidly switching focus to each individual civilian's face, blinking every so often. His baleful crimson eye was also above Naruto's shoulder and appeared on both sides, so no direction was safe from his hellish gaze. Initially, the people paid the weapon no mind, until one glanced dirtily at Naruto… only for Soul Edge to look at him as if he had just stepped in shit. The citizens quickly got the hint, and now nobody dared to stare at him for longer than a second.
"Sheeps, the lot of them," Soul Edge purred, happy at how fast they recognized their superiority. "They see us for the wolves we are."
"You mean you, right? I'm not doing anything," Naruto corrected.
"Be honest, don't you like not having anyone glare at you?"
Naruto wouldn't lie, he did prefer walking around without hateful stares directed his way. It was a nice change of pace.
"It's not like I did anything to deserve their hate anyway." Naruto thought back, agreeing with Soul Edge. That was the truth. He didn't do a damn thing; it was the bastard fox. Naruto recalled when Soul Edge changed his inner world – how he left the area housing the cage untouched except with more piss on the floor. A small smirk crossed his face. The damn fox deserved to suffer, not him.
Now, if only he could get these people off his case…
'Hmm! It seems the merger is starting to take effect,' Soul Edge noticed, keeping this thought to himself. Whether or not Naruto realized the changes was unnecessary as long as they weren't too drastic; then Soul Edge might have to consider to take a look inside and see if there's any imbalance in his new owner's mind. For now, he had to merely observe the changes and see where they led.
"Hey, you!"
"Huh?"" Who?"
Both wielder and sword turned to see a brown-haired girl jogging towards them. She wore a pink, sleeveless Chinese-styled blouse with red trim and yellow buttons, finished by dark green pants. Her hair was done in two small buns near the top of her head and she possessed light brown eyes. Naruto thought she was cute, which elicited an amused chuckled from Soul Edge. The weapon supposed after they had taken care of their housing situation, he would actually show the appearances of the women who fought for and against him.
The girl reached them quickly, thanking Naruto for stopping before introducing herself. "I'm Tenten! Sorry for stopping you, but can I look at your sword?" She asked, smiling as she stared at the weapon who looked back at her. Seeing as they weren't in a rush, Naruto shrugged before removing Soul Edge from his back and held him before the eager girl. Her smile grew wider as she examined the double-edged weapon, admiring the craftsmanship and completely unfazed by the eye blinking at her.
After a few minutes of examination, she pulled back with a satisfied expression. "Thanks for that not every day you get to see a sentient weapon. Do you know its name?"
"I am Soul Edge ," the weapon suddenly spoke, his deep voice causing the nearby civilians to move faster, while Tenten became starry-eyed and a massive smile appeared on her face instead.
"He talks?!" She exclaimed, leaning closer to Naruto and unknowingly pressing her chest against the upper half of the actual blade of Soul Edge.
'It's been a while since I've felt a woman on me like this…' Soul Edge thought to himself, while Naruto had a slight blush at the proximity of the girl speaking faster than he could respond to.
"I've never heard of a talking weapon! I wonder what kind of forging techniques were used to make him?! What special powers does he have?! Where did you find him?!"
"I found him in some ruins my team and I were investigating," Naruto quickly answered before Tenten could drown him in a flood of questions. "He doesn't remember what he can do, but we learned he can at least shift into different weapons."
Once more, Tenten's excitement grew at this new information. Dreading another explosion of questions, Naruto quickly told her he was actually on his way to a pawnshop to sell the gold and jewels he found as well, which generated a response he wasn't expecting.
Removing herself from Soul Edge, the girl warned Naruto they would probably pay bottom dollar, but quickly gave him an alternative which piqued Soul Edge's interest. She explained her father ran a shinobi supply and weapons store, where they also did custom orders ranging from ornate pieces to fully-functional weapons.
"While we won't give you cash, how about an exchange would for whatever valuables you have? You'll get the same value back in whatever you want!" Tenten proposed, seeing Naruto's eyes widen at the offer.
He really could get his money's worth with this, AND still have more than enough for a new home. She already had him, but her next words made him swallow the entire hook.
"We can also direct towards proper buyers for whatever you have left." Tenten dropped with a sly smirk emerging the second she heard Naruto say "Deal!". Directing her younger peer to follow her, Tenten began to lead Naruto to family's business. Unknown to either, their interaction had been watched by a pair of lavender eyes observing with a tinge of jealousy. Hyūga Hinata had been trailing Naruto since he had arrived, noticing the effect the sword had the people around him. Seeing this had made her increase her own distance as she followed, but this gap had closed quite a bit when she saw her cousin's teammate approach Naruto.
She knew the interaction had only happened because of the sword her crush possessed, but as things progressed, envy spiked from her when she saw Tenten's proximity to Naruto, wishing she herself had the courage to do something so bold. Alas, she could hardly be within five feet of him before her nerves and shyness getting the better of her, whereas Tenten had him following her after their first meeting. Of course, Hinata had heard their talk so she knew it was nothing but business, but her envy couldn't help but show itself.
Then, it happened. Her eyes made contact with IT.
Naruto had just returned his new weapon to its place on his back, when the horrid eye shot up to hers. Time seemed to stop as she tried to force her gaze away, but the sword refused! It wouldn't let her!
"STAY AWAY."
The command froze her in place as the world became normal again, the eye rolling at Hinata, visibly annoyed with her presence before the crowd hid it from her gaze. Turning away, she shakily left the area. Soul Edge sensed her departure, pleased with his actions. He remembered her from Naruto's memories; the little girl he saved from bullies who hadn't even properly thanked him for it, and who currently wasn't able to talk to him without fainting. Pathetic. Soul Edge couldn't tolerate such weakness! Not even Pyrrha was this pathetic, and she was a crying mess every five seconds!
"She is not a fit companion for Naruto…" Soul Edge rumbled to himself, wishing Tira was here. Sadly, unless she had somehow become ageless like Ivy had, then-
…fuck.
Fuck.
FUCK!
His previous train of thought abandoned, Soul Edge realized both he and Naruto were potentially in incredible danger if Isabella Valentine was still alive, along with some worrisome others. The weapon sighed to himself. It seemed the cogs of fate had begun to turn once more, as his and Soul Calibur's battle entered a new chapter.
'Things just got a lot more complicated...'
CUT! CHAPTER OVER!
Before anything, thanks to my BETA reader ekaterina016, for their impeccable work.
Not much to say about this chapter, I know it doesn't have much action but I hope the humor makes up for it. Next chapter should be more interesting as Naruto will begin testing the limits of Soul Edge's current ability and perhaps I'll write the first "feeding" of the spirit sword. Since I'm on the topic, I hope those rules mentioned aren't nonsensical and I am taking suggestions for others.
Also, about Ivy's immortality, I read that the non-canon game Soul Calibur Legends explained that she become ageless through the use of an artificial soul which I found to be a very easy way to keep her alive long enough for her appearance in this story to be possible. Moving on, I think I'm going to have Naruto really make use of Soul Edge's shifting abilities to really throw off and confuse his opponents. I haven't seen anyone else use Soul Edge like that and while the zweihander will be a primary weapon, I think swapping it up every so often will be fun.
Anyway, that's all for now. Remember to review, your opinions and ideas are read and appreciated!
Later! Greyblueflames burning out!