AFFLICTIONS AND ROYALS – THE TRAITOR
Local Imperial Guard Headquarters, Ewoa
Elliot walks through the long marble corridors calmly. His uniform is more comfortable than the previous one, even if the rank is lower. His new duties are simple, but at the same time vitally important to the course of the war. His job is no longer with the rebellion, instead he now reports directly to a general of the Imperial Guard.
General Alaa was not in a good mood when he returned to Ewoa. He, along with his comrades, lost to Uzumaki Naruto, a fight that should have ended the war. Queen Mauer Sabine may also be the least forgiving of all the royals, he was certain that his days were numbered. However, he quickly found that not only was he not held responsible for his defeat at the hands of the rebellion, but he was also given a great gift. Former General Elliot, the right-hand man of Head General Lara was awaiting him in his headquarters. Elliot informed Alaa that the military's Head General Clyde was present here in Ewoa and offered his services in eliminating him. To this day former General Elliot is the greatest defector from the rebellion to the empire.
The first general to invade Naruto's pocket-world was General Clyde. As one of the most powerful generals in the history of the military, someone with a rare transcendent element, it was expected that Clyde would easily harvest that pocket-world's energy. He had done so many times before without any problems. When Clyde was defeated he allied himself with Uzumaki Naruto. Eventually Elliot travelled to that world at Lara's request and was her deputy during the second invasion.
As part of the second invasion of the pocket-world Elliot defeated Kato Dan before himself being defeated by Sarutobi Mirai. After that he continued to serve Head General Lara loyally, he remained her closest ally as she helped Naruto to defeat the aristocrat Carmen. He watched as she finally learnt to trust people, as she grew close to both Clyde and Mirai. When Lara died he was there, as she met her demise at the hands of her own daughter he was there.
Now Clyde is the Head General of the Homeworld Military. It is a position with new meaning and a new occupant neither of which Elliot agreed to. The powerful 'cold' using warrior now puts his knowledge and skill to use for another leader that he has agreed to follow. General Alaa, the leader of the Ewoa Imperial Guard.
Elliot knocks on the door to Alaa's office. When he is called he enters, shutting the door behind him.
"Ah Elliot," Alaa says.
"You sent for me general, I assume this is because of the latest test you gave me."
"The test? You have passed all the standard tests with the best scores we have ever seen. It is unusual for someone so powerful to join the Imperial Guard, usually our recruits join earlier in their careers. No, I called you here because I have had my spies verify the intelligence you provided me with. We checked with our sources in the villages you mentioned and you were right, either Clyde or the pocket-worlder has been seen in every one of them."
"I hope my loyalty to the empire was not in doubt," Elliot says.
"You followed Lara even after she declared the empire her enemy, it would be foolish not to doubt it. But you have proven that I have nothing to be concerned about. All of your intelligence has proven accurate and reliable. We are one step closer to establishing a mutual trust."
"Thank you sir."
"Your element is transcendent; your discipline is excellent and you have already proven to be one of the most useful subordinates I have ever had. I hereby promote you to Colonel of the Imperial Guard, congratulations Colonel Elliot."
"Thank you general, I will not disappoint you."
Elliot begins to leave when Alaa tells him to stop. The General invites his subordinate to sit down and share food with him. Now that some of his suspicions have been allayed Alaa wants information of a different variety. Colonel Elliot is not only one of the most useful people he has ever encountered, but one of the most compelling. Elliot has always been the perfect soldier, achieving excellence every time he has been tested, one of the finest graduates in the history of the military academy.
"Colonel, why did you betray Clyde?" Alaa asks. "I understand that you were allied with him for a time. I have always believed you to be a very loyal man, more loyal than anyone in either the Imperial Guard or the Military. What motivates someone like you?"
"I have always been loyal to Homeworld."
"This is off the record Elliot, tell me as a friend."
Elliot sighs. "Did you know that General Lara would drink blood to intimidate her enemies. It made them believe that she was cruel and ruthless. It took me a while to realise that this tactic inspired fear in not only her enemies, but her allies as well. It was effective, but I wondered why she did it, there should have been nothing motivating her. The pocket-worlds never posed a challenge to any general before, much less Lara herself. I eventually realised that her endless efforts to be the best could only be motivated by one thing. It was her duty to Homeworld and the way that her training made her feel.
"Loyalty to Homeworld motivated her, and in turn loyalty to her motivated me. When we failed to take the pocket-world my loyalties remained the same, I was loyal to Lara. Her priorities changed. Initially she was redirecting her rage towards the empire instead of the pocket-worlds, but soon even the rage disappeared. She was corrupted by love, that pocket-worlder Sarutobi Mirai, Clyde, her daughter, each of them changed her.
"I believed in loyalty to Lara, but after a while I realised what her encounter with her daughter meant. It was the end of a journey for her, a journey that undid years of Homeworld's conditioning and changed her completely. Now I realise that in the final days of her command I was not following Head General Lara anymore, I was following a shadow of her. Mirai and Clyde whispered to her, they changed her until she fought for their cause in the way they wanted. They never valued the true Lara at all. I was loyal to that Lara, the true Lara, but they ruined her.
"The difference between the empire and the rebellion is honesty. The empire admits that we are waging war, that we destroy our enemies in the process. The rebellion claims it is helping people, but they were never interested in helping Lara, they just wanted to change her."
Alaa nods. "So you still consider yourself loyal to the true Head General Lara?"
"I am still loyal to her. That is why I am going to destroy Clyde and Mirai, no matter what."
The Gavaria/Ewoa Border
Three colonels attacking. One uses 'fire', another 'earth', the third 'poison'. These attacks have been getting more frequent and more intense every time for the Hokage and the civilians of the Hidden Leaf. Fortunately since Sarada finished meditating on her element defence has been easier. The Hokage and Kazekage can now dedicate themselves to the defence of the villagers and coordinating the evacuation process. Meanwhile Sarada can focus on fighting any attackers, including these colonels.
Dealing with any of them individually is easy but dealing with them together is hard. To defeat the 'fire' user she concentrates on using her 'creation' powers to create something cold, like ice. However, whenever she creates any ice constructs the 'earth' user finds it easy to counterattack. 'Earth' users are known for their raw strength and shattering ice is easy for them. When the two colonels work together one can stop Sarada from mounting any attack or defence while the other delivers an almost continuous attack.
The 'poison' user focuses on defending the 'earth' user. Sarada remembers Boruto fighting a 'poison' user in the Captained-Six Contest. That fight didn't give her any useful information. Boruto did not defeat the poisoner in a conventional sense, but he did make a breakthrough in power which led to the enemy running away in fear. Later that 'poison' user and his sister returned to the pocket-world and fought against the 4th Hokage. Unfortunately Sarada was not present for that fight.
Eventually Sarada breaks through their combined defence. Her strategy is to take out the most irritating foe to start with, that being the one who is using 'fire' to attack her constantly. She uses the unique powers of her Rinnegan to approach the 'earth' user and strike him with her full arm strength. This strike alone will not be enough to keep him down, but it will keep him away for a moment.
Thanks to the remarkable speed Sarada's Rinnegan gives her she was able to approach without interception from the 'poison' user. The next step is to get her out of the way. Sarada creates a cloud of water vapour, providing a perfect environment to land a trio of golden 'creation' enhanced strikes to the colonel, driving her backward.
Finally Sarada turns to the most infuriating opponent and throws her hand out to the side. An enormous wall of ice careers in the direction of the 'fire' user overwhelming the heat which he produces and striking him continuously from all angles. This continues for a few seconds before Sarada creates a diamond kunai. She throws this diamond kunai through the ice she created watching until the moment it strikes the 'fire' user who cannot escape. The combined ice and diamond attack eliminates the first of her opponents.
Next Sarada turns back to the 'poison' user who is just emerging from the cloud of water vapour. Now that the colonel has her coordination back Sarada knows better than to avoid close contact because of the risks of the 'poison' energy. Sarada uses her Future Sight ability to gauge what the incoming attacks will be. Right-hand punch, left-hand punch and then a right-leg kick, a sloppy combination, a reminder that most Homeworld warriors are unskilled compared to shinobi. Sarada skilfully avoids each of these strikes before aiming a spinning kick to the rear of the 'poison' users head, a safe spot to attack. At the last second she creates a solid steel boot around her foot, increasing the damage delivered and rendering the colonel unconscious.
Only one left, and he is looking to take advantage of the opening Sarada gave him. He punches the 9th Hokage in the abdomen. From an opponent as strong is this it is no surprise that Sarada feels such pain. Whatever just happened has resulted in significant internal damage, it escapes the notice of most shinobi, but Biwako sees it.
Sarada creates several explosives and throws them at the 'earth' using colonel. She follows up by creating a series of diamond kunai and setting them on fire using chakra. She bows her head and declares that this is the end for the colonel. She casts the flaming kunai forward, throwing them perfectly such that they hit the explosives from before. They explosives each detonate with tremendous force taking out the final of the attacking colonels.
The Hokage are thinking of stopping the evacuation now that the threat has been subdued. For now they believe that Tobirama can teleport the colonels away with the Flying Thunder God technique, that way they could move the civilians with less urgency. However, when Biwako starts approaching Sarada, Kakashi suspects something is wrong. The 6th Hokage activates his Mangekyo Sharingan and notices that while Sarada appears to be standing confidently she is actually shaking. He instructs the shinobi to continue the evacuation as if the threat were still active.
"Sit down or you'll really hurt yourself," Biwako tells Sarada.
"Not yet, I can't let them see any weakness. They need to have confidence in me," Sarada says.
Biwako is well aware of how potentially serious Sarada's injuries could be. She uses her 'ice' powers to construct a dome around the two of them, blocking them from the view of the villagers. The moment they are hidden away Sarada collapses to the floor, breathing heavily. Biwako immediately begins tending to her injuries.
"That looked like a tough fight," Biwako says.
"It was. Biwako, can I be honest with you?"
"Hiruzen always speaks to me when he has nobody else he can turn to. What is on your mind Hokage?"
"These attacks are becoming more and more frequent. This is the second time they've injured one of the Hokage. We need help soon, because even with golden 'creation' energy we can't survive much more of this."
The Town Hall, CheoCho, Aturia
"Are you the Mayor?"
This is indeed the Mayor of CheoCho, Lang Zhou. Zhou is unusually well travelled for someone with no divine energy. For years almost everyone has remained in a single nation for their entire life. Lang Zhou is originally from Seblix and travelled the world before settling down in CheoCho one of the smaller cities. Her proactive attitude helped to combat the dire living conditions that years of Furst's tyranny have brought to the city, a tyranny that she has lived with her entire life.
"Yes, I am Mayor Lang," she says, still looking over the plans her advisors have given her. "You sound like a warrior. Are you another Imperial Guard spy looking for a way out of the city?"
"No, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
Lang Zhou's head snaps up. She looks at Naruto in great detail as if being visited by a myth. These last few years she has dedicated her life to combatting the worst effects of Furst's reign, and now this man is stood before her. She is confronted by the person who typifies her dream, the man who may really go on to free Homeworld. He looks exactly like she was told to expect, the strange orange clothing, the spiky blonde hair, the black head protector. Most people would be sceptical even now, but she wants to believe that the rebellion's hero has come to save them. Uzumaki Naruto is really in front of her.
"I knew the rebellion would save us," she says. "Sir it is an honour to meet you. Whatever I can do to help you just let me know. I have a team of elite advisors who know this city like the backs of their hands."
"Please don't call me sir, it's just Naruto."
"But you are the hero of the rebellion."
"Please, just Naruto."
"Alright Naruto, then please call me Zhou."
"Zhou, do you know much about divine energy?"
"I know the basics; you all have different unique powers. Some have 'fire' and some have 'water'. I've heard that strong people like you have different abilities."
"My energy is 'life' energy. It lets me heal people when they are injured or sick. We hope that if I use enough 'life' energy I can cure Fauna Blight. That is why I am here. The empire thinks this affliction is very dangerous, the emperor himself asked for the fighting to stop. Only my energy can end Fauna Blight."
"How can I help?" Zhou asks.
"I need to use 'life' energy on everyone in CheoCho. We can't miss a single person otherwise Fauna Blight might persist. You're the mayor, you must know the people who can make this happen. Your advisors can help. We need to locate everyone in this city."
"That… will be difficult," Zhou admits. "Even as the mayor I only have so much power. But if you don't do this then my people will be hurt, so we will find a way. We will ask the Imperial Guard who are still in the city to help. I know that together we can do it."
"Good. Zhou, I know it is selfish, but could you spare someone to help me. My son came to CheoCho before me. He said he would be somewhere here to make sure I came to help you. Could you help me to find him?"
"I already know where he is," Zhou says. "I must admit I thought he was lying at first. He turned up and claimed to be the Crown Prince and your son. Even with his remarkable strength I thought he was lying, but he described you perfectly, and I can tell you are the real Uzumaki Naruto. He looks just like you."
"Where is he?"
"He's in the room back there."
Naruto begins to approach but Zhou stops him.
"What is it?" Naruto asks.
"Sir… Naruto, you're son was very brave to come here when he knew the risks Fauna Blight posed. For those of you with divine energy it is just as lethal to the strong as it is to the weak. Whenever someone first breaks through to become a warrior another must go to keep the balance. Shortly after your son arrived in CheoCho someone made a breakthrough for the first time, and the affliction chose your son to pay for that. He is strong, for now he is holding on, but he may not last much longer. I am sorry, he is a very brave man."
Naruto continues to the door and enters.
"Hello dad," says a very unwell Boruto.
"You could have just asked me to come here," Naruto tells him. "You didn't need to risk your life."
Boruto laughs softly, "I am… the Crown Prince… it is my job."
Naruto shakes his head. Shao Chin was right, his entire family is crazy. He gathers 'life' energy to his hand and kneels next to his resting son, positioning said hand on his chest. He begins to funnel 'life' energy into Boruto's body, driving the Fauna Blight away.
"No!" Boruto says.
The Shadow 9th Hokage begins to use his own 'death' energy to drive Naruto's 'life' energy back. Fauna Blight comes rushing back into the vacuum, accelerating the path to Boruto's demise. Naruto continues to use his 'life' energy until Boruto's perseverance makes him stop.
"What are you doing Boruto? Just let me save you."
"No… I have… a responsibility," Boruto wheezes. "I am… responsible for them… don't heal me… until they are all… safe."
"You're my son, I'm not going to let you—"
"Then end it… stop Fauna Blight… dad… save everyone… save everyone!"