THE FOUNDRY – NERO VS NINA

Fayoth

"There she is."

Nina's heart fills with rage, rage that she has not felt in years as she catches sight of Nero. Nero is not at all intimidating to look at, a pale elderly lady in a uniform that doesn't suit her, the uniform of a general. She is slightly below average height with neck length grey hair. Beneath her brown eyes is an ever-present smile, one of a woman who enjoys her work.

Nero enjoys what she does, she always has. Hunting down Nina years ago was pleasant for her. There was no need to be so brutal with her attack against the famous bandit, but brutality was her choice, nonetheless. She knew that Nina's nearest and dearest were with her that day, but she did not hold back to save the children. She saw her target and concluded that she should die in the lands hottest flames, in her flames.

The former bandit raises her hand to her face, running two fingers gently down the burns that cover half of it. Nero was the one who did this to her. Now every time she looks in the mirror she is reminded of the day when she lost everything precious to her. Even now she can't get the violent images out of her mind, they are brought back to her every time she looks in the mirror. It is a wound from the past, both physical and mental, a wound which she cannot escape, no matter what she tries.

Naruto observes everything with the One True Sense, everything including Nina. He can detect the rage building within her. He knew that she would be angry and that it was possible the anger would overcome her sense of reason, but seeing it is another thing entirely. To see someone who is usually so laid back and friendly become pains him.

Despite how the 7th Hokage may feel about Nero's deeds of the past, or Nina's anger in the present, cooler heads must prevail. He knows that right now the cooler head is him. He needs to take charge of this situation; he needs to be the one to decide how best to use Nina's superior power.

"Nina, I know how you're feeling right now."

"You have no idea."

"I do, believe me, I've lost those important to me too, I know that you feel an uncontrollable anger taking over. You can't let that control you right now, otherwise we'll lose."

"Yes, you're right, this anger is uncontrollable. I hate her, more than I've ever hated anyone in my life."

"Nina, you know why this happened in the past, why she was sent after you. That is a General of the Imperial Guard. She is one of the most powerful people in Homeworld. If we just rush into this fight without a plan we will lose. You will never get your revenge. The rebellion will have lost both of us."

"That's true, so, have you got a plan?"

"Look how many people there are with her."

Nina observes what Naruto observed from the very beginning. Nero has many around her to protect her, this is an encampment after all. These people are gathered together so they may be mobilised for war. Taking all of them on will be incredibly difficult, even for the two of them. There must be hundreds of people down there. Logic obviously dictates that they must wait for a more opportune moment to strike.

"They number in the hundreds, what is your point?" Nina asks impatiently.

"We have to wait. Eventually Nero will depart, she will probably head off to do another inspection. It would be best if we ambushed her when she was doing that. That would be our greatest opportunity to defeat her."

Nina agrees with Naruto from a tactical standpoint, but she can't keep her eyes off Nero. Her appearance, one of a kind old lady, is an affront considering her sins. The images of the past keep coming back to her, especially the demise of her children. After a life of crime, they were the one good thing that happened to her and they were taken away. The logical part of her mind is slipping away by the second.

Nina smiles weakly and looks at Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I've waited for years to get my hands on her. I can't wait a second longer."

Before Naruto can say another word, Nina has rushed forward. She rushes towards Nero, caring little about the noise she makes or the divine energy that flares as she activates her golden cloaks. She is a beacon, drawing the attention of the many soldiers in the encampment, particularly General Nero.

Naruto rushes after Nina. He examines the distance between her and Nero. He guesses that if he makes it in time, he will be able to stop Nina and calm her down. If he can make her turn back, they can still get away from this small army they would be facing. He takes the pragmatic approach and tries his best to stop this collision.

"We're going after her!" Naruto tells Kurama.

"I know."

They activate his divine oddity. Naruto kicks off the ground as hard as he can after powering-up his leg. He bursts forward, quickly catching up with Nina. He rests his hand on her shoulder and holds on desperately. He lets her drag him along but shouts to her at the top of his voice.

"Nina! We need to stop, if we take this fight now, we'll lose!"

"I told you I've done enough waiting."

Naruto didn't want to use Nina's emotions to manipulate her, but he finds himself with no other choice. Right now he is being the voice of reason, fighting for the dreams of so many that have placed their trust in him.

"You said that since the day you saw those kids your students have been your children. That includes me, doesn't it? If you keep rushing forward now, another one of those children will die! Is that what you want?"

The thoughts rush through Nina's head again. The sadness slowly beginning to overpower the rage. She knows Naruto is right. She tries to ground to a halt, but it is too late. She has let him down and now General Nero is bearing down on them. It is too late to retreat, now she has only one choice. She must make up for her rash mistake and she must do it by defeating General Nero to save Naruto.

"Nina, it's been a long time. I thought I had killed you back then, but it seems luck is on my side. I get to kill you a second time," Nero says confidently.

Nina takes a deep breath, "You can try."

"And the man beside you is unmistakable. He matches the description that we were given exactly. The orange clothing, the blonde hair, the clear determination permanently etched into his face. That is Uzumaki Naruto. Curious the company you keep, a criminal and one of the rebellion's leaders."

"I didn't come here to talk with you Nero."

"Well you're clearly outnumbered, attacking me head on would be stupid, so why don't you clarify things for me Nina. Why did you come here?"

"I came here to kill you."

Nero smiles, clearly confident in her abilities. She activates her own golden divine cloak. The surroundings instantly heat up, her energy is 'hot' energy. Now there are two mighty class 8 presences here ready to fight. They shine brightly, beacons to all those around telling them that a mighty fight is about to take place. Every time class 8 warriors fight it is news that reaches the emperor's ears. They shine brightly, telling all around that this fight is about to be added to the history books.

Naruto observes both warriors, as he is certain they are observing each other. Each of them possesses their own observational talents, allowing them insights into each other's fighting styles that other people would miss. While their observation skills aren't on the same level as Naruto's they are about the same as one another. The 7th Hokage watches their muscles, feels the heat radiating from their body, listens to the regularity of their breaths. Despite General Nero appearing as an old woman, she, like Nina, is in peak physical condition.

Nero throws the first punch, aiming across Nina's body. Her arms cuts through the air projected by a difference in air temperature. She moves with greater speed and power than the average class 8 warrior, a single strike that would fox most people on that level.

Nina leans back slightly dodging the punch. She grabs Nero's right arm with her own. Nina steps around, putting her torso parallel with Nero's and strikes her twice with a closed fist. Next, Nina attacks Nero's legs, a single kick to the knee knocking the general down to one knee. Next, she moves to kick Nero's head.

Nero uses her other hand to block the incoming kick. She creates a ball of golden 'hot' energy and throws it at Nina, forcing the former bandit to release her right arm. The general quickly gets back to her feet and then jumps, throwing a kick into Nina's chest, pushing her backwards. She throws three consecutive strikes towards Nina's head.

Nina pushes each of the strikes past her head before electrocuting her hand with 'lightning' energy. She motions to slap Nero in the head, but when the general reacts to block this Nina punches her in the abdomen. Nina gets four consecutive strikes in this fashion before Nero is able to reply.

Herself pushing elemental energy to her hand, Nero's palm becomes incredibly 'hot'. She pushes her palm towards Nina's face, and smiles as the former bandit ducks. She has felt this heat before and she clearly has no wish to feel it again, so Nero uses that to her advantage. Nero lifts her knee into Nina's lowered skull before sweeping her legs out from under her. She positions herself above Nina and presses her 'hot' hand down towards her.

Nina uses both her hands to try and stop Nero, but gradually the general begins to overpower her. The heated hand gets closer by the moment, until Nero is knocked away from Nina and sent rolling along the ground.

It was Naruto who saved Nina.

Nero looks back curiously, that was not something she foresaw. The ability that Naruto just used is peculiar, and not one she has ever seen any record of. His power multiplied in an instant, his strength was not something any class 7 warrior should have access to. She knows that she has access to greater strength herself, but when she was unaware that gave Naruto the chance to overpower her.

Naruto realises that this fight is against practically hopeless odds. Nero appears to have the greater strength of the two class 8 fighters, if only by a small margin. Additionally, now that he has involved himself, he has given the Imperial Guard an excuse to get involved too. It has just gone from one on one, to two against hundreds. The 7th Hokage knows he must fight the hundreds by himself and leave Nina to concentrate.

Nina is at a huge disadvantage though. Nero's energy is 'hot' energy, effectively a superior version of Nina's own 'fire' energy. The general has immunity to Nina's flames and therefore is only vulnerable to her 'lightning' energy. What is worse than this is that Nina is afraid of Nero's element. Naruto knows that he must find a way to help her overcome this, he must find the right words as he always has done in the past.

"You're scared of her energy aren't you," Naruto says.

"Yeah. You know what we're up against, aren't you afraid moral support?"

"No, I'm not afraid. If I can teach you something Nina, it's this. There is no need to be afraid in this fight because you're not alone."

Nina shakes her head and chuckles to herself. Only Uzumaki Naruto could say something like that and not make it sound completely ridiculous. He is right though; she suddenly feels a confidence brimming within her. It is amazing the difference his words make. A few moments ago she was blinded by rage, paralysed by fear. Now she is going to be calm and use her anger as her fuel in the battle against Nero.

Nina launches herself at Nero once more. Naruto watches the two exchange blows, their hands moving in a blur even to someone with his perception skills. Then he turns to look at the many colonels and captains who are now looking at him, each wanting to be the one to slay the famous Uzumaki Naruto. Now he must find a way to do the impossible, he must defeat them all and help Nina if she is going to beat the general.

Naruto attacks first. He grabs hold of the first colonel he can see and with a powered-up fist, punches him back into the crowd of captains behind him. He has taken down a bunch of them, at least for a few moments. He focuses on the next person coming his way. Trying to do the same to them.

Two colonels try to attack Naruto together, thankfully they are both class 7, just like him. Naruto has been overwhelmed when outnumbered by colonels before, but this is different. Those colonels were a well-coordinated team, these guys have just been thrown together.

Naruto takes avoids the incoming hits from both colonels and pulls them close to him, locking their limbs in awkward positions to restrict their movements. He turns with them blocking ranged attacks from the front and back. He shows everyone that he is safe for the moment.

Releasing both colonels, Naruto flips forward. He begins to form chakra in his hand, manifesting it into a rasen-shuriken. Halfway through his flip, he kick both colonels, knocking them towards the captains that surround them; not hard enough to knock the captains from their feet, but enough to worry them. As Naruto lands, he coats the rasen-shuriken in 'life' energy and throws it into the crowd. The colonel he was aiming towards dodges it, but the captains do not.

He just took down a good number of captains in one go.

From one of the attackers, an arrow of 'fire' passes over Naruto's head. Naruto turns and sees the bowman, a captain. Seemingly this is a captain of significant talent, that makes the Uzumaki clansmen realise that he has to thin out the numbers quickly, or even someone like this may take him down.

Naruto crosses his fingers, creating six clones. Each of the clones forms a rasen-shuriken in his hand. Of course, the clones cannot use divine energy like the original body can, but they are capable of making a transmission vector. They hold the rasen-shuriken next to the original body, the original Naruto enhances each of the rasen-shuriken in turn and then the clones throw them towards the masses.

The tides turn in an instant. While some managed to avoid the attack, the vast majority of captains are taken down in an instant. A few might be able to stand in several minutes time, but this makes things a lot easier for Naruto in the meantime, now he can focus on the colonels.

Naruto powers-up his leg and rushes towards one colonel. He strikes her once, twice, three times. Another colonel attacks from behind, he sees it coming with the One True Sense and blocks the attack. He leans back and thrusts his palm upwards into this colonels chin, knocking him backwards. Two more colonels attack from the sides, Naruto grabs their attacking legs and pushes them onto their backs. Then he punches the first colonel once more, knocking her onto her back.

The 7th Hokage returns to the second colonel, not quite ready to use his divine oddity again, but that is OK, he will get by on superior skill alone. Naruto creates a 'life' enhanced rasengan and thrusts it towards this colonel.

The colonel dodges the incoming rasengan grabbing Naruto by the arm and holding him as tightly as he can. As Naruto's divine oddity recovers this sort of hold should be easy to escape from, but then another colonel arrives and grabs his other arm. Soon the two that Naruto knocked down before arriving and grabbing his legs. The shinobi has a strength advantage, but even still they wrestle him to the ground and have control of all four limbs.

Nina would try to help Naruto, but she is completely tied up fighting General Nero. She knew it was possible Nero would have a slight power and skill advantage, but she didn't realise it would obstruct her this much. She has fought Odion and Dodi, but they did not put up such a fight. She is unable to help Naruto, no matter how much she wishes she could.

A fifth colonel walks menacingly towards Naruto, a 'cold' sword made of ice in hand. He stands over the struggling 7th Hokage and positions the sword over his chest. He lowers the sword, pressing down as hard as he can in anticipation of killing the greatest enemy of the empire.

But the sword does not reach.

The sword disintegrates, taken away by a strange divine energy these colonels have not seen before. A grey energy, wispier in structure than any normal energy, like it is not there, or at least you want to believe it isn't there.

A quartet of kunai dance towards the colonels restraining Naruto's. The kunai bounce off invisible surfaces, elastic-like surfaces constructed from wind energy. This is a technique Naruto has not seen used in such a long time.

As the kunai bounce a final time, they hurtle towards the four colonels. Mid-flight the kunai transform into rasengan. Unenhanced by divine energy the rasengan aren't able to do much damage, but they do force the colonels to release Naruto. Naruto stands on his hand, powers-up his leg and kicks one of the colonels. Then he jumps away, moving towards the one who has come to save him.

Naruto lands next to his saviour and smiles.

Nina also smiles at the new arrival, but Nero is less pleased, more curious.

"Who is that?" Nero asks.

"That is the one Naruto has waited for, the one he has always been waiting for."

Naruto looks at his saviour with gratitude.

"You sure took your time…

"Boruto."

Battle Classes in this Chapter

Uzumaki Naruto (7) = Life (2) + Transcendent (2) + Shinobi (3)

[Marti] Nina (8) = [Fire + Lightning] (3) + Combo (1) + Manual (3) + Divine Ability (1)

[Ganim] Nero (8) = Hot (3) + Transcendent (1) + Manual (3) + Divine Ability (1)

Uzumaki Boruto (7) = Death (2) + Transcendent (2) + Shinobi (3)

In Response to jenuzumaki's Question
About the strength of General Nero

I may end up contradicting this later, but only if plans significantly change.

General Nero is the strongest in the Imperial Guard with the single exception of Head General Safura.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to S's Question
About the battle class of Sasuke and Sakura when they met Mars

I'm not 100% certain but probably 3 and 2 respectively, with no understand of divine energy.
They didn't stand a chance against Mars in a fight back then, Sasuke just used genjutsu to trick Mars.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to Kinguuu's Question
About Akashi doing Naruto's divine oddity

It's hard to say. With his understanding of 'life' energy, there is no technical barrier for Akashi performing the technique.
It is a tremendously difficult skill though, one that risks your life and takes tremendous talent and courage.

I would say it's technically possible for Akashi to do it, but he wouldn't because his success rate would be much lower than Narutos.
Therefore, he would probably die after trying it a few times.

Thanks for reading.

In Response to m'j Dooms Questions
About various subjects

Apologies for not making it clear in previous chapters, hopefully after this chapter it's clear that Nero is a woman.
Nero is a member of the Imperial Guard, one of the six generals, she answers to Queen Huen Petra.

I appreciate that it is hard to follow all the names.

The Homeworld military and the Imperial Guard are two different groups, the difference being training.
The Imperial Guard training is done internally, the Military training was done by aristocrats supervised by Muto Sora.
The Imperial Guard have access to divine abilities and manuals which is why they have a huge power advantage over the military.

There is no group between the Imperial Guard and the Military, at least none that I have yet revealed.

Thanks for reading.