DECLARATION OF WAR – NARUTO'S REMATCH
West Aturia
Himawari wonders what's going on. She could have sworn that Hannah just threw her father into the pit, were her eyes playing tricks on her? No, that is impossible, the pit itself is gone, replaced by a sand dune matching the remainder of this desolate landscape. Not only that, but thousands of crazed people seem to have emerged, they could only have been the people who were trapped in the pit. Did her father manage to get all of them free? How is that possible? Only ten seconds has passed yet he has emerged with an air of incredible confidence, not only that but his muscle tone has changed and he looks a little bit taller. Just what happened to him in that pit?
The prisoners of the pit attacked Naruto each of the 4000 times he tried to escape, each time he prolonged their agony. However, now that he has destroyed the pit they don't know how to behave. Planning and language were both lost to them countless years ago. They each look left and right, holding their arms up and basking in the sunlight, like children in adults bodies, wondering into the world for the first time. It's a feeling Hannah understands better than anyone.
Ziyi laughs at it all. She never truly believed she would see the sun again, she thought that her life would end in some grizzly way, that one of the Rose Kingdom's warriors would have killed her. Now she has emerged into this world and while it may be plagued by a civil war and dictatorship, it is far better than what she endured in the pit. The old lady has only one man to thank for saving her life, a debt that she fully intends to repay when the chance arises.
Naruto turns from Hannah and looks at them all.
"Ziyi, you are free. Here there isn't much you can do to help me, not with such strong opposition," Naruto says. "Your first allegiance is to the Rose Kingdom, and to your follow soldiers. I hope that you can find someone who can help them, a doctor of the mind."
"I will try."
"I hope that when the time comes you will join the rebellion. I hope that you will march against Furst Jonas with me, my family, the War Council, and any others who will come to our side."
"I will, without a doubt, I will lay down my life for your cause."
Kushina looks at her son. Clearly something changed. He is naturally about to engage Hannah once more, but his demeanour is so different than it has been previously. Naruto has always had a naïve childish confidence about him when he goes into battle, certain in the back of his mind that he will find a way to overcome the odds. That is not what he is displaying at the moment. His expressed confidence is so much greater than that, bordering on the arrogance of an adult born and bred for the purpose of winning this fight.
"Why are you so confident?" Kushina asks. "You only fell into the pit a few seconds ago. Nothing could have changed, surely there is still no way you can defeat Hannah."
"Ten seconds ago," Naruto corrects his mother. "However, for me it seems like I've spent a lifetime down in that horrible pit. Don't worry mother, it may be hard to believe but things really have changed. I can protect Mito now."
Ziyi smiles and runs over to the Uzumaki family. She bows politely to each of them in turn with a huge grin on her face. She has heard so many stories of these people, at this point they might as well be her only family.
"You must be Uzumaki Kushina, I recognise you from Naruto's description," Ziyi says politely, "It's an honour to meet you. Your life's story was truly captivating."
"Uh, thanks."
"And this must be your daughter, Mito. She is lovely, and I'm sure that she will grow up to become a fine warrior like her brother one day."
Kushina looks at Naruto for a second, hoping for some confirmation that this woman can be trusted. Naruto nods in reply, grinning as Ziyi runs around like a child. This is the most company she has had in years, right now the old lady probably feels like the most popular person on the world.
"And you must be 4th Hokage Namikaze Minato," Ziyi says, bowing to Minato. "What you have done your family is amazing. I'm sure that when this is all over you will have more stories to tell than anyone else."
"I see, so Naruto told you about all that," Minato smiles. "Time must have been very slowly down there if he had time to tell you about all of us."
"Oh yes, but never mind that. And you must be Himawari!"
Hannah frowns at Ziyi as she continues to childishly greet the Uzumaki family members. She is no intellectual powerhouse, but she thinks she has a grip on what happened. Time moves slowly in the pit; Naruto used that time to train and then emerged a more practiced warrior than he went in. Still, he was supposedly the strongest class 7 beside herself when he went into the pit, his technique practiced beyond anyone else. Just how much stronger could have become in that pit?
Ziyi then gets to Hannah. She walks to Naruto's side and looks at her, shaking her head.
"I wouldn't want to be in your shoes," Ziyi tells Clyde's daughter.
"Oh, why is that?"
"I don't want to spoil the surprise for you, but let's just say that he is not the same man who came into the pit so long ago."
Ziyi begins to round up all of the prisoners who have been freed, gesturing to them to follow her. Due to the prisoners lack of critical thinking, they see no reason not to obey. They begin to move away, using the full speed available to a series of class 3 warriors, slow by Naruto's standards but better than nothing. They clear the battlefield, trusting everything here to the man who saved them.
"Dad, you better get the others away from here too," Naruto says.
"She beat you before, you might need our support," Minato says.
"I doubt her instinct would acknowledge that as a true defeat. No, I need to defeat her if this is going to work."
"But–"
"It's fine, I have no intention of losing a second time."
Minato uses Kurama's substantial orange chakra to bind himself to the others. He grabs hold of Kushina, Mito, Himawari and Ming Dai before casting a kunai a long way into the distance behind him. He wishes his son good luck and teleports away, hot on the heels of Chang Ziyi and the other class 3 warriors.
Shao Chin hops back and Claude follows after the hunter. They give the stage to the two mightiest class 7 warriors they have ever seen. Hannah, daughter of Head General Lara and General Clyde. Uzumaki Naruto, the pocket-worlder chosen by Headmaster Muto Sora.
Naruto begins to run towards Hannah.
Hannah watches his movements, observing as if she has an eye for this sort of thing. She is no trained warrior; she can't see any great difference in Naruto's movements. Perhaps the shinobi is weaving side to side a bit more, likely to obscure his intentions, but there is only a very minor increase in speed. However, her instincts are screaming all kinds of warnings at her.
Naruto plants his foot in the ground, about ten steps away from Hannah, then uses his divine oddity. He powers-up his leg and kicks the ground, launching himself at Hannah with incredible speed. He barely has time to react to his own speed, but his reactions have gotten much better during his 4000 attempts. He raises his fist as if to strike Hannah's head.
Hannah's eyes snap wide open, even with her instincts she is just barely able to dodge the attack. She can feel the air that parts to give way to Naruto's fist.
Naruto stops, he and Hannah have their backs to one another.
Both warriors turn, aiming to hit the other first. As they spin on their heels, there is a fraction of a second where they are able to look into the eyes of one another. With this brief contact, Hannah realises that Naruto is still confident. Moved by her own instincts rather than her free will, she leaps backwards, putting separation between herself and the Hokage.
Naruto is not one to let the advantage slip away when he has taken it. He pulls two kunai from his belt, enhances them with 'life' energy and throws them in opposite directions, each arching its way back towards Hannah.
Hannah's instinct instantly gauges the path of each kunai. Naruto's skill is as his comrades would have her believe. She steps forward, against her backward momentum, dragging her forward just enough so that she can avoid the path of the two flying weapons. However, this forward step comes at the cost of control, and that seems to be something that her opponent is all too aware of.
Naruto powers-up his leg once more, firing himself at Hannah. As he converges on her, a Mini Tailed Beast Bomb forms in his hand and is surrounded by 'life' energy.
Hannah sees Naruto's attack coming and knows there is barely any time to avoid it. She moves to protect her most vital organs, swaying right from her hips to put herself out of harm's way.
This is exactly how Naruto predicted she would move.
Naruto contorts his body in the air, pushing himself backwards so that he travels parallel to the ground. When he arrives level with Hannah, he has a perfect view up at her torso, the perfect angle to attack from. This is the ideal moment, for even if Hannah knew this was the way in which he was going to attack, she couldn't have put herself in a better position to defend against it. Those kunai from before forced her hand.
Naruto slams the Mini Tailed Beast Bomb into Hannah's gut as he glides past her.
Hannah is lifted by the energy detonation. She rises a short distance off her feet and drops down onto her back.
Claude and Shao Chin watch on in amazement, particularly the owl. He has never seen anyone on Hannah's level fight against her like this before. In all his time watching her fight against her rivals, he doesn't recall any of them being able to knock her from her feet. Uzumaki Naruto really is as remarkable as all the others have said. Is this talent he possesses the fabled divine oddity?
Hannah gets to her feet, frowning. She dusts off her lime green hoody and looks at Naruto. She has never had anything like that happen to her before.
Naruto is honestly surprised at how well Hannah took that attack given her lack of experience in doing so. She moved perfectly to minimise the damage. Her gut reaction was almost as effective at minimising damage as General Rana's concentrated defence. However, he has plenty left in the tank yet.
Naruto walks towards Hannah once again, smirking as he does so, hoping that perhaps if her instinct is sentient that he can unnerve it.
To use his divine oddity to the utmost of its potential, it must be used twice in succession. The first step is to use it to enhance his speed, launching himself at his opponent. The second step is to use it to improve the power behind the attack itself. Of course, that isn't easy, not now that he has worked out how to detonate a larger proportion of his core. He has only succeeded once in four thousand times, however, that was his most recent attempt. If he is going to take Hannah down, he will have to do that again.
Hannah takes the initiative this time, running towards Naruto. She intends to cut the distance between them, and therefore Naruto's reaction time if he is to use his divine oddity to close the gap between them. Instinct cannot account for everything though, even the mightiest predator in the world doesn't have an instinct that can see through the unseen.
Naruto powers-up his leg, launching himself at Hanna. Then he powers-up his arm, punching Hannah in the chest as hard as he can. In one swift motion he arrives before her and knocks her violently down into the ground.
Hannah coughs like she never has before as her back crashes into the sandy dune below. That is the single most powerful blow she has ever been hit with, and unlike before she wasn't able to react and minimise the damage. That hurt, it really hurt.
Naruto gasps for air as Kurama congratulates him.
"Good job Naruto!"
Naruto continues to watch Hannah though and a dreaded realisation kicks in. She can still keep going. Her instinct isn't the only impeccable thing about her, her body and soul were built for combat. He rolls his eyes; this is what he should have suspected. She was created as a hybrid of the Lara and Clyde's energy, of course she was going to be one of the toughest people to have ever lived.
Hannah reaches up and grabs Naruto by his jumpsuit, dragging him down towards her and slamming their heads together.
Naruto feels himself teetering on the edge of unconsciousness. He had expected that his head protector might have deterred Hannah from doing something so rash. It seems that she has a hard head on top of everything else.
Hannah drags Naruto to the ground and scrambles to get above him. Once in this advantageous position she punches him in the head. She punches him again and again, her strikes switching between left hand and right. Each blow seems heavier than the last, each impact greater than the one before.
"Hey Naruto, you don't have permission to stop yet, find a way out of this!"
Naruto heeds Kurama's words. He waits for Hannah to pull one arm back, then uses his divine oddity to power-up his own right arm. However, Hannah sees through this, using her left arm to press to the ground and as she continues to attack with her right.
Naruto grabs Hannah's other arm and uses Kurama's chakra to mould two more arm-like constructs. He uses these constructs to mould a 'life' enhanced Tailed Beast Bomb between them. He detonates it, dealing damage to both of them but at long last creating some separation.
Naruto gets to his feet and smiles at Hannah once again. He powers-up his leg but in doing so realises just how groggy he has become after that last onslaught. He uses his divine oddity to move back away from Hannah instead of towards her.
"Frankly your raw ability is the greatest I have ever seen, it's clear that you possess the greatest instincts in the world," Naruto tells Hannah. "I've never met anyone like you."
"Your kind words don't help me," Hannah replies.
"You're a child Hannah, you're supposed to enjoy praise when it is offered."
"How can I enjoy anything right now?"
"Huh?"
"Don't you know what I have done with this power, what it has made me do?" she rants. "I've killed my mother. I killed that aristocrat and those three pocket-worlders. I hurt the other three pocket-worlders, I killed all those captains and colonels, I even hurt the hunter you sent after me. Who cares about this raw ability when all it brings me is misery?"
"… are you OK?" Naruto asks.
"No," Hannah answers honestly. "I can't keep going like this. Please, just win."
"Don't worry, your father came to me on the day that he found out about you. I promised him that I would like after you. I intend to keep that promise. However, right now that isn't possible. After thousands of attempts to escape that place and fighting you, anyone would be running low on stamina."
"You're just going to leave?"
"I promise I will be back."
"Do you understand what I've been going through?"
Naruto sighs. "I am often reminded that the weight of the world is resting on my shoulders, but even I can't imagine how you must be feeling. I'm sorry for what the empire is putting you through, Hannah."
"I don't want sympathy, I want freedom."
"I promise that I'm not giving up on you Hannah. You and I will fight again, and when that time comes, I will do whatever is necessary, and I will free you from your instinct."
The two of them stand there, unmoving as they look at each other. This is one of the few times that Hannah's instinct has spared her from attacking those in front of her. Perhaps it is not so certain that Hannah will be able to defeat Naruto at the moment. Right now, she can leave, but she knows that when she is rested, she will be compelled to attack Naruto once more. When she has defeated Naruto, she will likely go after the other pocket-worlders she met before, an uncontrollable ball of rage that can no longer be stopped. The 7th Hokage is truly her final hope.
"I hope you can defeat me," she says.
"You see, that's kind of the problem," Naruto replies. "You're just a child Hannah, a child in an adult's body. When you fight with me you should be overwhelmed with competitive spirit. When you fight with me, I want to see a smile on your face. When I see that smile, then I can tell Clyde that his daughter will be OK."
"You want me to smile?"
"I want you to have fun. I want you to want to win."
Claude floats in the sky above. Hearing Uzumaki Naruto's words he knows that they have come to the right man, that if anybody can save Hannah it is him. They want the same thing for the young woman created in the laboratories. They want her to be happy.
Minato teleports to Naruto's side when he sees his son make a familiar gesture with his hand. The 4th Hokage places his hand on the 7th's shoulder, signalling to Hannah that the two of them are about to make their escape.
Hannah is overcome with curiosity. She has truly never met a man like Naruto. Maybe he is the one person in the world who can save her.
In Response to ultimusred's Question
About Naruto's divine oddity
I don't really know how I could quantify it as a percentage based on future developments I know about.
It doesn't equal one level though, he's still a class 7 warrior.
As far as the number of divine weapons there are, I couldn't put a number on that without giving spoilers.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to PyroPoet's Question
About how long Naruto spent in the pet
I wouldn't like to put a number on it because it could probably be proved wrong numerically.
If there were no mathematical pressure put on me, I would probably say somewhere between 1 and 10 years.
Thanks for reading.