AFFLICTIONS AND ROYALS – THE HARDEST LESSON
The Royal Palace, Ewoa
Another collision of divine energy, golden 'psychic' against golden 'chaos'. The debris that the fight has created launches in all directions at high speed, including towards Ming Dai and Shao Chin. Nadia may not have joined this fight herself, but she is ready to protect Swen's son. She dashes into the path of the debris, using golden 'mind' energy to form a shield and protect them. She sees Dai's reaction to her defence and smiles, clearly he finds her just as terrifying as the other two. He is wise, she can be much more intimidating than them given motive.
Swen uses his golden 'psychic' energy to lift Sabine from her feet. He then throws her backwards, driving her through her throne and into the thick stone wall behind. He then uses the same telekinetic power to pull her towards him and he aims a strike at her.
Sabine is quick to respond, grabbing Swen's incoming fist. She stamps on the floor with her unique powers, sending one piece of debris flying at Swen and the other at herself, sending them both staggering backwards. Swen, fuelled by his anger is the first to recover and he aims yet another strike at Nadia. This time he catches her solidly in the arm and he doesn't stop driving the attack until he feels something break. Finally he uses his telekinetic powers to push her back a short way again.
The Crazy Queen raises her arm, by the time it is completely raised she holds it straight out as if is nothing. Her wounds have completely healed, a recovery on par with even Naruto's. She lunges at Swen. Swen turns his back, aiming a spinning kick towards her chest. Sabine catches the attack and wraps her hand tightly around Swen's foot. She squeezes as hard as she can, using golden 'chaos' energy to increase her strength.
To Ming Dai's surprise Swen's leg starts to glow the pink of his 'psychic' energy. It looks just like when Naruto uses his divine oddity, but clearly that is impossible, Swen has no divine oddity. This is likely part of his divine ability, an armor-like power. Nevertheless, Sabine's grip continues to tighten, and soon cracks begin to appear in his glowing pink outer shell.
Swen raises his hand and redirects as much energy as he can to his telekinetic powers. He concentrates on pulling Sabine's hands apart, but he cannot, her strength is superior to his own, he realises that now. This is the enemy who only Endou Akashi could defeat, he sees why now. He had thought that he had the upper hand against Sabine, but she recovers from all of his attacks almost instantly, and in a contest of raw strength she is winning.
Eventually Swen loosens Sabine's grip just enough. He steps forward before using his other foot to strike the underside of Nadia's chin. He flips backwards and lands on his feet a few feet away from her.
Swen looks at Nadia.
"I'm sorry Nadia. I wouldn't ask under any other circumstances."
Nadia smiles. "It's fine. I don't have many friends left in this world. I don't intend on losing any of them."
Nadia walks to Swen's side her own golden 'mind' cloak activated. She is going to join the fight. Two against one the power advantage should be theirs, but Sabine is no ordinary opponent, unique even among the royals. Still the power difference is not her concern, her concern is a strategy. Already she begins to calculate Sabine's weaknesses. Clearly when Akashi fought her he didn't cause any permanent damage, so either her recovery powers make that impossible, or he didn't need to. Overcoming her recovery powers must be possible, otherwise Akashi would never have defeated her. She works with the assumption that the most straightforward way to defeat Sabine is to completely exhaust her energy reserves, depriving her of the power to recover. That is not an easy task. Still, having already determined what Sabine's intentions are, Nadia has determined a far easier way to defeat the Crazy Queen.
Suddenly a hand touches Nadia's back.
Nadia flinches having not seen this coming, but there are no other allies here. She turns to attack whoever is behind her, swinging her elbow as hard as she can towards the newcomer.
The newcomer catches Nadia's attack effortlessly.
"What?" Swen exclaims.
The King of Gavaria turns to look at his friend, so distracted by what he has just seen that he takes his eyes off Sabine. Few people can block one of Nadia's attacks like that, not even Sabine herself can do it. The current and previous emperors were probably capable, maybe the Empress of the Dark Dimension as well, but nobody else. This newcomer is certainly no emperor.
Swen reads the newcomers thoughts and begins to understand everything. This newcomer is no great warrior, merely a class 2 fighter. His element is 'ice' and in normal circumstances he wouldn't even qualify to become part of the Imperial Guard, but he has a unique power. He was fortunate to find a divine ability, and that divine ability allows him to seal divine energy.
Right now Nadia has no energy.
Sabine leaps forward and grabs Swen by his neck. Now she has total control of the situation.
"Oh how the tables have turned Nadia," Sabine cackles. "This is Wuying. His divine ability is Energy Sealing. Of course it has its limitations, he can—"
"He can only seal one person's energy at a time," Nadia concludes. "Otherwise he would have sealed Swen's energy earlier. This was never a trap to lure Swen, this was a trap to lure me. You have taken away my energy to make sure that I comply with your demands."
Sabine laughs. "And I thought your mental strength came from your element."
"My element comes from my mental strength," Nadia says. "I already knew you intended to restrain Swen but not me. When we entered the room I saw that Ming Dai's and Shao Chin's are not the only restraints in this room. In the cage beside them there are even stronger bindings, they are tailor-made for Swen."
"You worked out that much already?"
"I was planning to turn your plan against you and use those restraints to defeat you," Nadia admits. "Oh well, even I couldn't have predicted that you had someone with this divine ability. It seems that I am powerless to stop your plan."
"You could try begging for your life. I've always wanted to see that Nadia, the terror in your eyes when you realise your life is no longer in your hands."
Swen glances at Nadia. He has agreed never to read her mind and he refuses to invade his son's thoughts, but he is reading the others. There doesn't seem to be a way out of this for Nadia, Wuying is convinced that Nadia is doomed, Sabine is eagerly awaiting her embarrassing display. Even Shao Chin thinks that Nadia is done for.
Nadia laughs. "I refuse."
"I will kill Swen if you don't."
"No you won't, how slow do you think I am?" Nadia shakes her head. "Taking away my powers prevents me from fighting you, but what is the point of that? You either want to kill me, in which case there is no point begging, or you want to control me. After all, you are taking Swen prisoner aren't you? You called Swen the Lazy King, you're right, he isn't very proactive, he is no good at making friends, other than me nobody really likes him."
"Yep, you're a great friend too Nadia," Swen replies sarcastically.
"The only person who would react to Swen as a hostage is me. There aren't many reasons you could need me, there must be something I can do which you cannot. If you kill me I can't help you with your plan, and you can't kill Swen otherwise I would begin work on a counterstrategy. You don't frighten me Sabine."
Sabine frowns. She hates it when Nadia acts superior. She thought that having outwitted Nadia for a moment she would have a chance to gloat, but the Queen of Seblix will not allow that.
"The Lazy King is not the only hostage, the prince is too," Sabine says directly. "If you do not do what I ask I will kill them both, do not doubt that Nadia."
"I will doubt what I want Sabine, but go ahead, tell me what you want."
"You are going to deliver Uzumaki Naruto to me."
"You want the credit for defeating him?" Nadia snickers. "I thought that sort of thing was below you in your chaotic philosophy. Either way it doesn't make a difference. If I were capable of drawing out Uzumaki Naruto, don't you think I would have brought him before the emperor already?"
"I am no fool Nadia; I know that you are more than capable of finding him."
Nadia's facial expression confirms the fact. Swen starts. Reading people is a lost skill to him, he has become accustomed to reading people's thoughts when he is curious. Perhaps that is why he has never realised this before now. 'Nadia has always been able to find Naruto? Why has she never done it before, she could have ended the war couldn't she?' He knows for a fact that Nadia opposes Naruto and the rebellion, she is not a traitor. She invaded the academy to pursue Naruto previously. So why could she want to extend the war?
Nadia catches Swen's eye.
Swen nods to his friend.
"Fine, it's a deal," Nadia says. "I bring the rebel to you and in return you release Swen and his son. You will also return my powers to me."
"And the hunter?"
Nadia shrugs. "I don't care what you do with him."
Nadia leaves.
Sabine strikes Swen once more in the gut for good measure. She then drags him towards the special restraints by the wrist. This is an insult for any royal to be treated like this, even by a fellow royal. Swen knows that it is futile to resist though. Fighting back would probably cost not only his own life but his son's.
"You've made a dangerous enemy," Swen tells Sabine. "Any other royal and you might have been able to control them, but not her. There is no trap that she cannot escape, no plan that she can't take apart. She has probably already worked out how to defeat you. Sabine, if you play this game with her, you will lose."
Sabine smirks. "We shall see."
CheoCho
Max still can't find Boruto no matter how hard he tries, but if he cannot rely on his senses he can rely on logic. He sends out his golden 'particle' energy in an omni-directional net, pushing it away from him slowly. He keeps pushing until he feels a tiny bit of resistance behind him. That is not Naruto, so it must be Boruto. He turns, creates a golden 'particle' truncheon and launches it in Boruto's direction.
Naruto intercepts the attack, positioning himself between Boruto and the truncheon. The weapon strikes his shoulder, dislocating it. Boruto looks at his father with concern, but it is not warranted, for Naruto's golden 'life' energy is very efficient at healing wounds. Naruto's shoulder has almost recovered already.
Boruto's hesitation has given Max an opening though, so he charges towards the father son team while building up golden 'particle' energy between his hands.
Suddenly, a blue and gold blade flies over Max's shoulder. It stops mid-air, turns and flies back towards him again. As Max dodges for a second time the blade continues to return towards him, going non-stop until Max knocks it from the air. He then turns and unleashes a wave of golden 'particles' towards Boruto and Naruto.
Hinata arrives, using the Sacred Sword and her full strength to knock the golden 'particles' wave off course. Not two seconds later Himawari jumps from the top of a building to join the members of her family. This is truly a great moment for the rebellion, for the pocket-world, and for their family.
How long has it taken to reach this point? How long has their family been fractured by Tao Ma and his Hive Mind? So much has happened. Himawari tried to retire from her career as a shinobi. Boruto betrayed them. Hinata revealed their true heritage. Naruto inspired the War Council to start a rebellion. They have gained sacred weapons, trained with legendary instructors and made enemies of the greatest forces in all of Homeworld. However, to reach this moment for them it now all seems worthwhile.
Boruto. Himawari. Hinata. Naruto. The family stands together again.
"The defining moment of my story," Max proclaims. "The four of you stood there like that, the members of the exiled Imperial Family. Yes, it is a perfect tale, everything has been set up perfectly for me. I will defeat you and claim the reward that only I deserve."
"It looks like my mother isn't going to summon us away," Hinata says.
"Seems not," Naruto agrees.
Himawari rhythmically throws the Sacred Dagger forward and draws it back to her, it is like bouncing a ball. She feels elated, her family is all together again. She knows that she should be worried about facing a royal, and she remembers how much has been sacrificed so they could reach this point. However, right now Himawari feels that there is no need to be scared. When she is surrounded by these three she feels like she can do anything.
"Is this a problem?" Himawari asks.
"It's no problem at all," Boruto answers.
"Yeah," Naruto nods. "The four of us fighting together, there is no way we are going to lose to this guy."
Hinata points the Sacred Sword at Max.
"Then the time has come Weiss Max, prepare yourself. You will be the first to fall. The day has finally arrived when the rebellion defeats one of the royals."
Outside CheoCho
Sasuke wishes that the others were available to help with this fight, but they are already struggling themselves. The job of coordinating the others has fallen to Michel the Horse. Together with the others he needs to fight off one of the largest groups the Imperial Guard has ever sent against the rebellion. The enemy force grows continuously as more of the perimeter guards make their way over. Soon they will not be able to hold them back anymore. That is why Sasuke must hurry if he is to execute his plan.
Sasuke uses his Instant Escape twice against Rana, landing two powerful blows to the general. Foreknowing the Instant Escape is impossible for Rana, but she does a good job in adjusting to Sasuke's timing and habits. The third time he strikes with the Instant Escape she blocks his attack, grinning to him tauntingly, letting him know that she sees through him.
Sasuke manifests the hand of a Susano and uses his 'spacetime' energy to boost its strength. He then uses that hand to swat Rana away like an insect. She will surely be down for just a few seconds; this may be the last chance Sasuke gets. The Shadow 7th Hokage approaches Naruto's student and begins to teach her the hardest lesson.
"Hannah, why are you fighting? Tell me why you want to defeat the empire."
"I'm on your side Sa—"
"Why do you want to stop them!?"
"Because it's their fault," Hannah shouts, pointing at Rana. "They were the ones who made me kill my mother. I couldn't do a thing, but I knew exactly what was happening. They made me watch her die! Nobody will ever feel that way, never again!"
"I am sorry about this. Look into my eye. It is time for you to learn. Learn resolve."
Hannah looks into Sasuke's eye but doesn't understand what he means. Suddenly she finds herself transported not to a different place but to a different time in her own life. She feels her fists striking down repeatedly and she cannot control them. She catches a glimpse of the person beneath these fists, it is Lara, her mother!
She hears those words again. Her mother's final words to her.
"Don't worry. I'm here. You'll be fine."
Silence.
"Mom… mom… Get up! Mom!"
She is reliving her mother's death. This is undoubtedly the worst moment of her life. Just like before she has no power to stop it, for whatever reason she feels that her free will is gone. She feels the same tears drop from her eyes that she felt that day. She thought that she wouldn't have to feel this way again. She doesn't want to do this, she hates this, if this is the cost for more power she doesn't want to become strong.
"Learn resolve."
She hears those words from Sasuke echo in her mind.
Then everything resets.
She strikes her mother repeatedly.
"Don't worry. I'm here. You'll be fine."
Silence.
"Mom… mom… Get up! Mom!"
She can't cope with this.
"Learn resolve."
It all resets.
She strikes her mother repeatedly.
"Don't worry. I'm here. You'll be fine."
Silence.
"Mom… mom… Get up! Mom!"
She can't cope with this.
"Learn resolve."
The sequence continues. Hannah experiences the worst moment of her life again and again. No matter what she tries she cannot escape it. She is trapped in Sasuke's illusion and she is too weak to break free. As the memory continues to replay, she tries to think of something better. She thinks of when Naruto defeated her and granted her free will. She asks herself what he would do in this situation. Surely he would never give up.
Hannah's instincts suddenly point her to a question. 'What situation?'. Is her goal here to escape this loop and stop seeing this memory? No, her goal here is to break through once again, to become a class 8 warrior. Sasuke wanted her to learn resolve, but what exactly did he mean by that? Why would he make her see this again and again? Is this supposed to boost her determination? No, this is supposed to test her determination.
Hannah said that nobody would feel this way ever again. How determined is she to fulfil that promise? It is a selfless promise, it is her pain but she is acting on behalf of others. Is she doing that because Naruto inspires her? Was her promise to help others just an empty attempt to impress him?
'Just because he inspires me doesn't make the promise empty!' she tells herself. 'I do want to help everyone else! I want to do what he does; I want to inspire someone the way he inspired me! He was stuck in that time trap and he didn't complain. If the price for helping others is enduring this pain, then I will endure it as many times as I need to!'
But that is Sasuke's lesson. Hannah has never needed to endure this pain. However, the will to do so is what counts. This is a lesson that Naruto and Sasuke know all too well, but it is a pain that Naruto would be unwilling to put her through.
The memory suddenly disappears and Hannah finds herself looking into Sasuke's eyes again. She doesn't need her senses to verify what her instincts are telling her, no time passed while she was reliving that memory. Somehow she experienced that nightmare repeatedly in an instant. However, it wasn't without good cause, that lesson in resolve has helped Hannah to understand something important.
Rana frowns as she gets back to her feet and senses an ominous change in Hannah's energy. Hannah has understood the second level of her training manual.
Hannah has become a class 8 warrior!
In Response to S
Who asks about which land pertains to which royal.
Okarin - [No Capital] - Emperor Furst Jonas (destruction energy) - Head General [formerly Al-Aziz] Safura - Okarin is located in the centre of Homeworld.
Aturia - Capital: Taigai - King Weiss Max (particles energy) - General Rana - Aturia is located in the south-west of Homeworld.
Ewoa - Capital: Dunstone - Queen Mauer Sabine (chaos energy) - General Alaa - Ewoa is located in the south of Homeworld.
Gavaria - Capital: Otoriki - King Hoffman Swen (psychic energy) - General Odion - Gavaria is located in the south-east of Homeworld.
Seblix - Capital: Boni - Queen Hirsch Nadia (mind energy) - General Dodi - Seblix is the largest nation, it is located in the north-east of Homeworld.
Cheqitori - Captial: Rara - King Hertz Erik (cosmic energy) - General Yasmine - Cheqitori is the smallest nation, it is located in the north of Homeworld.
Fayoth - Capital: Farmwell - Queen Huen Petra (control energy) - General Nero - Fayoth is located in the north-west of Homeworld.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Sarada chan san
Who asks various questions.
As for actual raw power and strength Safura is probably superior.
However, Hannah's supreme instincts would probably mean she would win if they fought.
Some class 8 warriors are stronger than others because of the uses of their elements.
Some are more skilled because they have learned more battle skills like the One True Sense and the Battle Principles.
Naruto cannot revive the dead.
Boruto cannot prevent death, outside of the usual means at any rate.
Tier 3 'creation' energy means Sarada can create any solid, liquid or gas and manipulate them.
She cannot create life though.
Thanks for reading.