THE IMPERIAL PALACE – THE BELLS
South of the Imperial Palace
Sora tries to gauge the reactions of many people at once. The easiest emotion to discern is relief, particularly from the shinobi. The weaker ones have all been given longer to live, at least if they end up doing as he says. Next he looks through the stronger ones, through the many colonels who serve under Clyde and Lara, he sees their conflict. The generals and the Hokage are all clearly frustrated, not with him but with themselves. He understands how they feel right now, they all feel useless, just as he has done for years, but then he looks to Naruto.
One doesn't have to be a genius to understand what is going through his mind right now. Unique amongst this group, he has his fist tightly clenched and an unblinking wide-eyed gaze. Sora is stunned by the quick turn around in the young man's attitude. He should be more afraid given the power that Sora demonstrated just seconds ago. Compared his drive to free his people it seems that fear is barely impacting the 7th Hokage at all.
"You won't let me fight Furst?" Naruto asks.
"That's right." Sora replies.
"I think you need to look around, this has already gone too far to stop," Naruto declares, the look in his eye becoming more crazed by the moment. "Do you know what Furst Jonas is responsible for? Do you know what that man did to my world, to what you call a pocket-world? He sent unstoppable warriors, he sent people that couldn't be killed, that could turn our own dead against us. They slaughtered our friends, over half our population."
"I know, I'm sorry."
Sora feels embarrassed as he watches the rage pour from Naruto's body. He feels like he is standing opposite his brother-in-law once more, that the man in front of him is the person who everyone is looking to. That's what Naruto is, he is the person taking responsibility for this whole situation, just like Endou Akashi had before him. Now Sora stands before a group of helpless beaten individuals, far stronger than the lot of them, but he is not the one who takes responsibility. The only one brave enough for that is the young man stood in front of him.
"The villages of my world struggled for peace for hundreds of years," Naruto explains, "Then, when we finally found it, do you know who people looked to for protection. They looked to me! They looked to me and I couldn't do anything. It took everything out of me just to stop Clyde, but then I had to protect everyone from Lara and the betrayals that followed. If I don't defeat Furst, this is going to haunt me forever. So, I can't let you stop me."
Kushina feels the pain wash off her son's body and knows that she can't hide the truth. "He's right," she admits, knowing that it may well send her son to his death.
"Are you his sister?" Sora politely enquires.
"I'm his mother," Kushina explains, "I haven't always been around, but in the short while that I have known Naruto I think I've come to understand him. This isn't just some duty or expectation that has been placed on him, this is his calling, it's the thing he strives towards the most. If you are going to stand in his way, I think you're crazy."
Minato nods. "Naruto's more determined than any of us to see this through. None of the obstacles placed before him have been able to stop him yet. Mr Muto, I don't know about your life or your beliefs, but the people of this village believe in Naruto. He will be the one to defeat Furst Jonas."
"He can't hide from it now," Sarada adds, "This is what my master was born to do."
Sora watches as determination returns to the group before him. Naruto's family prove to be the catalyst for a mass of rebukes against Sora stopping him. Sora, despite the people speaking against him, smiles and relaxes. This is just the sort of thing that he would want to happen. The young man with 'life' as his element is so much weaker than he is, he's weaker still than Furst, yet he's brought these people this far. They all believe in him, even in the face of odds that they can see are impossible to beat. This is perfect.
"Let's not be confrontational," Sora says, "I agree with you all completely. I too believe that Naruto is someone who can defeat Furst. I believe that you are the only one who could ever defeat Furst. But this man is a monster unlike anything you have ever faced."
"You know what I have faced?" Naruto asks.
"I saw the look on your faces when I showed you my power," Sora answers, "I know that my power is greater than any you have ever seen before. I know that Furst scares me in the same way I scare you. And I know that there is no chance of you defeating him now."
Naruto shakes his head. "I've pulled off miracles before."
"You don't need a miracle Naruto, that's why I have sought you out. You just need hard work. You need to keep going and keep holding on until you're strong enough to defeat him. I get the sense that you aren't the sort of man to back down from adversity."
"The people of my village have waited long enough."
Sora tuts, approaching Naruto and placing a calming hand on his shoulder. "You should never underestimate people's patience young man. But it seems that words alone won't convince you, perhaps actions will."
"Are you going to fight me?" Naruto questions.
Sora laughs. "I will let you pick what we do, but you need to use this opportunity. Use this chance to challenge yourself, to understand how powerful Furst will be."
"I say we fight him," Lara shouts, moving her way to Naruto's side.
"Don't be ridiculous," Clyde rebukes her, "If the headmaster were to fight us seriously we would be dead in seconds."
"You speak for yourself Clyde."
"I speak for us all."
A debate breaks out between the two of them. Quickly Naruto and Sarada are both drawn into the argument as well. Sora is more perceptive than most, but any outside observer could tell that these four are the apparent leaders of the group. Clyde represents the first group to rebel, the calming and enduring presence who keeps the group sensible. Lara represents the second group to rebel, she symbolises their anger, frustration and rage. Sarada represents the shinobi, the victims of homeworld's endless problems. Naruto represents hope for all three groups, he's the voice that moves all three of them, the power that drives them forward.
"What about the bell test?" Kakashi shouts, his voice making it to Sarada.
"Good idea Lord 6th."
"What's a bell test?" Clyde asks.
"If you would care to explain I would be happy to participate in this bell test, whatever it is," Sora declares with a grin.
"It's a test for a small team, they try and take the bells away from you," Kakashi explains, "It's a test of the power of teamwork in the face of a more powerful adversary, just like yourself, or like Furst."
"It sounds most appropriate."
"Indeed. And we already have a team of four."
Towards the Hidden Entrance
Carmen continues to move north towards the entrance. She doesn't travel at full speed but not too slowly either, just enough for the wind to pleasantly cool her skin as she passes the monotonous yet familiar grassy landscape. Out here is a different kind of paradise, but it could never be the imperial palace.
As Carmen continues to move she thinks back to the last emperor and how he would have handled things if he were still here now. If he were here he would have acted before now, he wouldn't have waited patiently as Headmaster Sora had done. Perhaps it is for the better that Sora remained patient. Now, the situation is looking better for them than it has done in a long time, all thanks to a pocket-worlder.
'Emperor Endou, I took the young man to your brother-in-law, is that what you would have wanted?' she asks, 'Yes, I'm sure it is. He's just like you in so many ways. I believe that he is your successor. But he has a long way to go, he doesn't understand the terror Furst can unleash yet. I hope Headmaster Sora can help him because if he can't then nobody can.'
"Uh, would you mind stopping please!" a voice calls out to Carmen.
Carmen stops in her tracks, initially not daring to look around. Whoever this person is, they've managed to escape her heightened senses. Being caught now is the last thing she needs. If this is one of aristocrats loyal to Sora then everything will be fine, but if this person is loyal to Furst then it will be a disaster. Unfortunately, it is much more likely that this is an ally of the current emperor than the headmaster. She begins to turn around slowly and prays that her senses will be greeted by the sight of a friendly aristocrat.
But this is not an aristocrat at all.
'These two are royals,' she realises, 'Hirsch Nadia and Hoffman Swen!'
This isn't just bad luck, it's catastrophic. These are two of the six individuals who rule alongside Furst Jonas. They are his most trusted subordinates.
On the left is Queen Hirsch Nadia. Her head adorned by jewels sparkling bright, standing out against her dark skin and her brilliant white robe. Nadia's breakthrough age was around thirty years old; her appearance has changed very little since that point as she stopped ageing after half a year. To Carmen, Queen Nadia seems to wear an eternal grin on her face, as if she is watching a rat run around in a maze. Nadia's eyes stand out thanks to her dark black iris, those with a greater sight than Carmen have marvelled over them in the past. There is a depth to Nadia's eyes, like they are a gateway to her mind, a mind so deep and complex that one cannot see the deepest parts of it.
On the right, with the goggles on his head, is King Hoffman Swen. A teenager by looks, his fair brown skin is blemished only by a single scar on the left side of his face. Swen's eyes are different to Nadia's, when one looks at them they can only seem him for what he is, an innocent young man. His innocence does little to put his enemies mind at rest though, they only need look at his attire, a black and white hooded jumper. The forces of this world are forced to wear a very specific uniform, but the royals are a unique exception to that rule. When people learn that this laid back young man in the jumper can use divine energy, it is usually when they say their final farewell.
Carmen remains perfectly still, trying her best to look calm and composed as the two terrifying individuals approach her.
"Swen, you're a king," Nadia reminds him, "How many times do you have to be reminded. Don't say 'please' to normal aristocrats."
"I'm sorry, yep, but she's not a normal aristocrat Nadia."
"Yes I noticed. A hero of the previous conflict, someone we all owe our lives to," Nadia says with a sarcastic chuckle, "Hello Carmen, it has been a long time since we last met."
Carmen gulps, "Queen Nadia, it's an honour to meet you again after such a long time."
"I bet it is," chuckles Nadia as she removes a notebook and pen from her pocket.
Carmen listens as the pen begins to scratch along the paper. Never has the noise seemed so menacing as when it comes from Nadia's direction. There is nobody who understands how the world works better than Nadia, so much is documented within that little notebook. But what makes her special is not her ability to record and recall information, nor her talent for seeing into people's souls and understanding how the behave. What makes Nadia terrifying is how right she is, the first things she writes when she opens that notebook are her predictions. Her predictions are almost always correct.
"King Swen," Carmen politely greets the second royal, "I'm as grateful for your kind manners. I fear that they are wasted on me though."
Swen yawns. "I'm just glad that you didn't make us chase you, yep. That can be so exhausting. I don't know why people bother to run from a royal."
"You're hopeless Swen," Nadia grumbles.
"Huh, I'm…"
"Just be quiet for now," Nadia says, patting the young man patronisingly on the head. "Let's turn our attention to the matter at hand shall we, things are just about to get interesting."
"Have you approached me for something specific my queen?" Carmen asks.
"You know about my history and my powers; did you really think that you would escape my notice completely?" Nadia asks. "An aristocrat walking casually around the walls of the imperial palace, you don't seem to be in any great rush either. Just where are you going?"
"I'm just taking a stroll my queen, often the stress from the last war still gets to me. I like to clear my head."
Carmen knows that she must be looking nervous now, she feels the sweat begin to form on her head. Given that she has started to notice it, she assumes that Nadia must have predicted it from the second they bumped into one another. She knows as well that her thoughts can only remain private for so long. Nadia's supreme powers of insight make it so that she can virtually hear Carmen's thoughts, but that's nothing on Swen's power.
"Swen, why don't you tell me just how clear Carmen's head is?" Nadia requests.
With a sigh, Swen raises both his hands to his head and lowers the oversized goggles over his eyes. It's like a child preparing for a play-fight, but contrary to his youthful appearance, King Swen is no child. King Swen has powers beyond what normal people could hope to achieve. As he concentrates, divine energy makes it from his inner world and begins to swirl around his body. The pink energy rotates and after a few seconds his eyes change from blue to that same shade of pink.
Carmen does her best to empty her mind, but it's useless against Swen.
"She seems to be going to some hidden entrance," Swen says as he raises the goggles, "She's trying to get into the imperial palace."
"A secret entrance, how interesting," Nadia says, scribbling down notes in her notebook. This is something not even she predicted.
"Those are just fantasies of mine King Swen, there's no truth to those thoughts," Carmen insists urgently, "I assure you that no such secret entrance exists."
"Oh, I'm sorry then," Swen says as he raises his goggles back onto his forehead.
"In that case we'll leave you alone." Nadia closes her notebook and gestures that Carmen can continue with her walk.
Carmen bows and turns around, beginning to walk away.
"Is that honestly what you thought?" Nadia chuckles.
Carmen knows that there is no getting out of this now. There is no way to fight against either of these royals so she runs. She forgets about regulation or any of the battle principles and just pours all the divine 'air' energy in her body into running away. The grass is blown apart in a pair of straight lines, creating an arrow like pattern over a wide patch of ground as she runs forward. She can't let herself be captured, she can't give information to these two, no matter what.
Nadia appears in Carmen's path, easily outrunning her and striking with a single blow to Carmen's chest.
Carmen coughs as she lands on the hard ground beneath her. Naruto had to create the life-gathering rasengan to take her down, Queen Nadia managed it with a single strike.
"My queen, I promise there is nothing in this," she says hopefully, "It's not worth wasting your time chasing my fantasies."
"Calm down Carmen, calm down," Nadia says, walking over and patting Carmen's head like she would a dog, "You just take a deep breath and keep calm."
Carmen doesn't do that, she stares wordlessly and breathlessly at the woman who holds her fate in her hands.
Nadia rests her finger against her thumb and whispers into Carmen's ear. "Trying to keep a secret from the emperor, that was a terrible mistake."
Nadia flicks Carmen in the head, knocking her unconscious. "Swen, why don't you carry her, we've got a lot of ground to cover."
"I don't want to."
"Swen!"
"You can carry her can't you Nadia," Swen says as he places his hands behind his head and walks towards their destination.
Nadia grins and shakes her head. "Honestly, you're getting more and more lazy by the day."
Queen Nadia picks Carmen up on her shoulders and follows Swen towards their destination. A place where Carmen would never have wanted to go. Her destiny is in the hands of the royals now.
To the South
Sora waits patiently for a few minutes as his proposed opponents discuss their strategy. The four of them are the dream team that he admires so much, the dream team that he hopes will carry this world forward into the future. 'Darkness' user Clyde, 'Light' user Lara, 'Creation' user Sarada and the man who mastered 'life' Naruto. The four of them don't seem to be the best of friends, particular Lara whose frequent outbursts can't do much for team unity, but when they turn around Sora knows straight away that they are a cohesive unit. The four of them have a chemistry that cannot be taught.
"Alright, we all know how we're going to play this right," Naruto says, "Teamwork! Let's prove that we are ready for Furst."
"It's been a long time since I've taken a bell test," Sarada grins.
Clyde sighs, "I'm not exactly feeling confident about this."
"Shut up Clyde," Lara demands with her usual level of tact, "We're going to grab those bells, no matter how much of a coward you are."
"Then go."
Without any further warning, Lara begins. She teleports to Sora's rear and spins counter-clockwise with her hand facing backward. With tremendous speed boosted by her speed-centric element of 'light' she grabs towards the bells. The first grab at the bells is almost perfect but is also completely ineffective. Without even having turned to look at her Sora manages to step out of the way. He continues to do this as Lara grabs at the bells for a second time, a third time and a fourth. He weaves tauntingly between Lara's various lunges before flipping over the top of her.
"You're going to have to be a bit quicker than that," he grins as he waves at Lara.
A box of an ultra-dense material begins to form as Sora plummets towards the ground. The old man looks at it with curiosity as he lands within it's confines, only for two more of the six outer faces to form, leaving him for very little room to escape from his confines. He looks at the box, tapping it with the rear of his index finger and concluding that it is quite hard.
Having decided not to break the box, Sora turns around to walk away. He is greeted by the sight of Naruto stood in front of him, a life-gathering rasengan in hand. He looks at the attack, how light can be white and translucent yet so bright at the same time amazes him, reminding him of the old days.
"There's no time for holding back," Naruto declares as he slams the life-gathering rasengan towards the trapped Sora.
The onlookers shield their eyes from the bright explosion at the centre of the box. When they uncover them again they understand a bit more of the enemy they are facing. Sora's palm is touching Naruto's, he took the attack with his hand and isn't even sporting a bruise where he did so.
"You're going to have to be a bit smarter if you want to catch me," Sora smirks as the box collapses around him.
Clyde predicted the destruction of the box and was waiting on the other side. Using the newly available path of approach, he lunges for the bells from behind Sora, only for the headmaster to evade once again.
Clyde raises his arms into the air, sending a barrage of golden 'darkness' darts towards his opponent. These darts once kept Naruto down as he battled for the fate of the world, but Sora makes a deliberately comic attempt to dodge each of the darts, catching it after he does so. As Clyde gives his all to the battle, Sora's mind is split as he tries to prevent the darts from hitting anyone who is watching the fight.
This is exactly what Clyde had intended. Clyde lifts his arms slightly higher, pulling several strings out from the floor. As Clyde moves his fingers back and forth in very precise motions, the golden 'darkness' strings wrap themselves around Sora's various limbs, binding him in place reinforced by the physical strength of Clyde's muscles.
"Lara!" Clyde bellows, urging her after their opponent.
Lara teleports to Sora's side once again, reaching for the bells at a speed somehow even greater than she had before. For a moment Lara glimpses Sora's true nature and is amazed to realise that as she fights she is growing stronger faster than she has ever done before.
Sora somehow manages to pull his right arm free of Clyde's bindings and uses it to prevent Lara from grabbing the bells. Naturally, Lara grabs for the bells with the other arm, so Sora lets go of her first arm and grabs hold of the second. Lara questions the reality in front of her as she repeatedly grabs for the bells with alternating arms. Each time she gets closer with one of them Sora manages to catch it and throw it backwards, such is his speed.
Naruto dashes towards Sarada as the two move a short distance away from Sora, "Sarada, you know what to do."
Both of them begin to switch form, using their largest offensive techniques. In a matter of seconds, Naruto has executed his tailed beast transformation, turning into a full size nine-tailed fox. That fox is quickly surrounded by the yellow skeletal armor of Sarada's full body Susano. The two of them combine together and embody a joint warrior that once struck fear into the enemies of the Hidden Leaf.
"Move," Clyde yells to Lara.
"If I keep reaching for the bells," Lara declares while doing just that, "He's not going to have a chance to move. I'm not going to let him dodge whatever they are planning."
"Hmm, this could be tricky," Sora realises as he keeps blocking Lara's arms.
A gigantic yellow sword created from a combination of chakra and two types of divine energy is formed in the sky above them all. The sword drops down, landing in the hand of the Kuruma-Susano fusion, providing it with a weapon stronger than it is has ever wielded before. Together, Naruto and Sarada focus their chakra, causing this fusion beast to slam the sword down towards Sora with a vengeance.
Sora pulls his left arm free of Clyde's bindings, concluding that this is the only way to escape from his current predicament. He uses this arm to take his vest off. He puts the vest around Lara's neck and then does something strange to it with his dark blue divine energy. Nobody knows exactly what he did, but whatever it is, Lara cannot remove it. Sora pushes her backward, safely out of the path of Naruto and Sarada's attack.
As the attack lowers, Sora picks up a stone on the ground. Again, he does something to his weapon of choice, using his dark blue divine energy on it for a few seconds before stopping. Once he has done that, he launches the small stone straight through the heart of the Kurama Susano fusion, dissipating not only the sword but the entire chakra amassed to create it.
Naruto and Sarada fall to the ground as the shockwaves from the stone clash against their muscles. Both question how anyone could possibly make something the size of a pebble into such a devastating weapon.
That leaves just Clyde.
Sora takes one of the bells from his waist and uses the dark blue divine energy on it. Taking it between his middle and index finger, Sora throws the bell towards Clyde, initially giving the idea that he is going to forfeit the match. But as Clyde tries to catch the bell, he realises that it is moving too fast to catch. The bell bounces of Clyde's head, knocking the 'darkness' user to the ground and rebounding back into Sora's hand.
"Minato sensei," Kakashi begins, "Is this really happening?"
"Yeah, even when they work as a team, the four of them can't touch him," Minato realises, "Isn't this guy supposed to be weaker than Furst?"
"It looks like he was right," Kakashi declares, "Even with Shikamaru's master plan, the four of them never stood a chance against Furst."
The shinobi and captains are left to wonder, is it over already?