AFFLICTIONS AND ROYALS – CLASS 9
North-East Cheqitori
Boruto analyses the situation. He begins to see paths open to him that weren't available before. He looks down at his hand and wonders if he was always capable of what he just did. He has never used his grandfather's Flying Thunder God technique before, but now he can. He searches his mind for what else he can do now and works out what has changed. He can now perform some of the techniques of his predecessors. The limitation seems to be related to the plausibility; his father's and grandfather's 'life' techniques are obscure to him, but he now knows how to use Enri's 'fate' techniques. He cannot use tailed-beast chakra, but his sage mode techniques have improved dramatically. He now understands the techniques of his family, the techniques that have brought him to this point.
What's more important is the voices he is now hearing. The voices of his ancestors.
"Brother…"
"Don't worry Himawari," Boruto says. "The fight is over."
"I won't tell you where the empress is just because you claim you are stronger than me," Enri says. "You will have to prove it."
Enri feels a bead of sweat role down her head. When she told them to wait until they were strong enough to defeat her she expected it would take at least a year. Even for geniuses like them breaking through this quick should not have been possible, yet here they are. She worries that even with Boruto's new powers he will not be a match for the empress. Now if she wants to stop him from marching into that danger she must find a way to defeat him. That will be difficult though, even for the former empress consort, as she has no idea how far Boruto's new abilities extend.
"I am stronger than you are now, grandmother. Do you really want to fight?"
"If that is the only way to stop the empress' return, then I must."
Boruto nods. If his grandmother wants to fight then that is what he will do. His sister's peace of mind depends upon it.
Boruto begins to walk forward. Kushina's voice says, 'Stop her movements.' He channels his paternal grandmother's power, using adamantine sealing chains to tie his maternal grandmother in place. He then walks forward calmly, forming a divine energy enhanced Rasengan in his hand. Compared to before, this all feels so much easier.
Enri desperately pulls at the chains but feels no give in them as her grandson approaches. She needs to think of another way out of the situation and fast. She creates a golden 'fate' boomerang in her mouth and uses the strength of her neck to throw it. A ridiculous strategy for anyone else but for someone who can influence luck; it is at least possible that it might work. Enri does get lucky, the boomerang strikes the adamantine sealing chains in a weak spot, starting a reaction that shatters them. She then quickly jumps backwards, putting distance between herself and Boruto.
Not being a battle specialist is proving disastrous for Enri now. She does however know the battle principles. She hopes that by using Regulation she will be able to keep up with Boruto at least long enough to find an opening in his technique. If called upon she will use the other principles as and when required. She starts by using another of those principles, the Scatter Shot which attacks her opponent constantly.
She forms a golden 'fate' discus from her right shoulder and uses her internal divine energy to fire it at Boruto. She does this continuously, giving him a stream of attacks to avoid. She hopes that this will prove limiting to his potential, but the Crown Prince has a technique that renders the Scatter Shot useless.
Boruto lifts his hand to his face and activates his Death Mask. With Enri unable to detect him she cannot attack him continuously. She can only wait until he appears. She then has the idea of influencing her luck yet again, she manipulates it with golden 'fate' energy, picks a random direction and launches the discus, accurately aiming at Boruto.
Boruto hears an unfamiliar voice in his ear. It belongs to Neji. 'Defend from all directions.' Boruto uses a Hyuuga Clan technique, the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. He knocks the golden 'fate' discus away for a few seconds creating a brief opening. He hears Naruto's voice, 'A good trick can create an opening.' He takes a kunai and throws it at Enri before converting it into a divine energy enhanced Rasengan. Minato's voice says, 'And you know what to do with that opening.' Boruto switches the Rasengan back into a kunai as Enri ducks beneath it.
Enri turns to face the kunai. She knows of this technique and anticipates that he will teleport to it in a second, his Death Mask still active. When that moments arrive the kunai will disappear and she will have her moment to attack. However, she doesn't realise until too late that the kunai is not going to disappear, throwing it was a ploy to make her look the other way. She activates her Concentrated Defence just in time to prevent the second Rasengan Boruto presses into her back from defeating her.
Boruto starts, he is surprised that Enri reacted in time block that attack. She spins and grabs his right arm with her own. She then lands two punches to his head with her free hand, maintaining a grip on his wrist as she does so. Boruto does not panic, and neither do the voices in his head. Enri's voice speaks, 'A quick strike with my own technique.' Boruto creates the intricate golden 'fate' coin and fires it towards Enri, hitting the underside of her chin and forcing her to relinquish her grip.
Boruto runs forward before arching his run back towards Enri. Enri uses golden 'fate' to influence her luck and guesses which direction Boruto will be coming from. She sees footsteps in that direction out the corner of her eye, footsteps her mind tries to reject, but she forces herself to acknowledge their existence.
Boruto sees a yellow path lit before him and hears a final voice. It is his grandfather, Endou Akashi's. 'Timing and speed are key to fighting. Make sure you control both.'
Following the yellow path his new powers have set out for him, Boruto runs towards his grandmother. However, he does not run as he usually would. He steps with his left foot, he lifts it an inch from the ground before lowering it once again, pushing again with the same foot. The same foot is tapping the ground several times per step. This is the previous emperor's technique, granting both an increase in speed and staggered movement that confuses most opponents.
Boruto removes his Death Mask and allows Enri and Himawari to see him move with this technique, a technique from many years ago.
It's name is the Step Burst.
Enri gasps. 'That's Akashi's…'
Boruto arrives before his grandmother, sweeping her legs from under her and slamming a Rasengan down into her chest. Himawari staggers forward, Enri starts, but the former empress consort is not harmed. They both see that Boruto's final attack did not use his class 9 powers, instead it was a class 3 attack, powered by his chakra only. He was making a point.
Enri has no choice but to admit the obvious.
Boruto has won. He is stronger than she is.
North-East Seblix
A collection of guards run towards Naruto and Hinata from behind. Naruto doesn't need to turn to face them, detecting their approach with the One True Sense. He uses his Energy Projection to attack them with projected golden 'life' and golden 'fate' energy. The energy appears between the guards and Hinata, knocking them backwards with tremendous force, lifting them from their feet and rendering them unconscious.
Hinata gasps. 'He didn't even need to move.'
"Notice any weaknesses?" Swen asks.
"His Energy Projection is not perfect," Nadia points out. "If my senses are any good then he can only project class 8 energy using his new power. That is irritating but it shouldn't be too much of an obstacle to us in a battle."
"If we assume that other than that his class 8 to class 9 improvement is the same as a usual warrior's then how strong is he?"
"Roughly the same as Sabine," Nadia says. "If we're lucky he might be a little bit weaker. I don't think he is stronger than she is."
"He's not at the imperial level yet then?"
"Not yet, but that doesn't help us much. He is stronger than you and me."
"Any ideas?" Swen asks.
"Keep reading his mind. Use your divine ability sparingly to draw out the battle. There are two other class 9s who could make a difference in this battle, but Sabine will definitely heal quicker. We have to gamble on her re-joining the fight and joining us in the battle against him. If I can think of a weakness in his techniques I will tell you. If he thinks of a weakness in his techniques you tell me. Remember Swen, we are at our strongest when we fight together."
"Got it."
Naruto walks confidently towards the two of them. He lifts his hand above his head, focusing his energy into a Rasen-Shuriken. His technique is enhanced by both golden 'life' and golden 'fate' energy, making it significantly stronger than anything he could use before. He then condenses the attack, making it small enough to fit between his fingers before throwing it on a curving path towards both Swen and Nadia.
Swen positions himself between the attack on Nadia. He uses his divine ability to turn his arm into pure golden 'psychic' energy. He then raises that arm to block Naruto's attack. Even as a class 9 battle-specialist he is surprised by how strong Naruto's attack is. Nadia was right with her estimation of the pocket-worlders abilities, roughly the same as Sabine's.
Swen is still blocking the attack as Naruto runs up to Nadia and begins exchanging strikes with her. This is nothing at all like his exchange with Sabine. His footwork is many times better than Nadia's allowing him to push her back steadily. He evades her every attack and lands solid strikes of his own with each attempt. His hand-to-hand combat is refined and practiced, hers is sloppy by comparison. Swen waits until Nadia cleverly moves position before releasing Naruto's Rasen-Shuriken, letting it move towards the 7th Hokage's back.
Naruto spins on the spot, catching his Rasen-Shuriken and throwing it back at Swen. While his back is turned Nadia attempts to strike, but she is slowed when he uses Energy Projection to hit her in the gut. Meanwhile the Rasen-Shuriken hits Swen in the gut before exploding, an explosion of energy that drives even a battle-hardened warrior like him to the ground. Naruto spins and sweeps Nadia's legs from beneath her, knocking her to the ground. He then draws a Truth-Seeking Orb to his hand, enhances it with golden 'fate' and golden 'life' before slamming it down towards the fallen queen.
The Queen of Seblix rolls out of the way of Naruto's attack at the last second. Her opponent looks at his hand and realises that it was slowed by Swen's telekinetic powers. Looking back at the King of Gavaria, Naruto compares the effects of his telekinesis to what they were before; they are much less effective against him now.
Nadia grabs Naruto's arms, binding them behind him both with her raw strength and with some golden 'mind' chains. She then implores Swen to get to his feet and attack. Perhaps this time his Heart Discontinuation technique will work. They don't get the chance to test it though. Naruto flips forward, kicking Nadia towards Swen mid-rotation. The two royals bundle to the ground before standing to face their opponent again.
Nadia frowns, "He's not even using his divine oddity yet."
"If he does I will increase the usage of my divine ability. Come on Nadia, we can do this. We just need to hang on for now."
"You don't understand Swen. There is no reason for him to hold back. Is it an attempt to intimidate us? That's not his style. So why? If he is not using his divided mind to…"
Nadia has put together Naruto's thoughts, just a second too slow.
King Didier leaps at her from behind, tackling her to the ground and hammering at her with his paw. Swen immediately reacts, intending to his powers to force Didier from Nadia. However, Duke Laurent and Princess Emilie drag him down to the ground. The 2nd and 3rd in command for the Beast Kingdom do not have the power to defeat the King of Gavaria, but they definitely have the power to slow him down.
It all makes sense to Nadia now, but as the Beast King pins her down it is too late. She realises that Naruto was not holding back, he was still using his divided mind for something other than his divine oddity. He used one half to concentrate on the battle, that half took up the bulk of his thoughts, that half was the one Swen listened to. He was using the other half for Energy Projection. The 7th Hokage was not projecting golden 'fate' energy though, he was projecting golden 'life' energy. He was helping his comrades recover even as they fought.
As Swen wrestles his way through Emilie's and Laurent's attempts to keep him down, Hinata joins them. She uses the Sacred Sword to obstruct Swen's effort to stand. A third class 8 warrior added to his opposition list, not enough to defeat him but definitely enough to keep him busy. Combined with King Didier's attacks, it is enough to keep both him and Nadia down. The rest of Naruto's plan needs no mind-reading to reveal, it is obvious through his movements alone.
Naruto moves towards the bunker.
Sabine still doesn't have the energy to fight, but she rolls over and watches the Uzumaki clansmen move. She laughs, he has done a good job bringing chaos to this situation. The royals have turned on each other, she with the Super Healing divine ability was the slowest of anyone to recover from her first fight, and now he is moving to destroy one of the world's mechanisms for order. He is moving into the bunker and now nobody can stop him from changing the world, from saving the Beast Kingdom.
As Naruto enters the bunker everyone pauses what they are doing and watches. Upon entering he sees the enormous organism before him, it is exactly as Nadia described to him. This is the brain of Fauna Blight. He raises his hand and applies his golden 'life' energy, using the healing property instead of the attacking one. Then he holds his breath and hopes that she was telling the truth, that this will destroy Fauna Blight.
Everyone is watching.
"Father, I hope this is what you wanted," Mana whispers.
'Boruto, Himawari, fighting here was my choice, not my father's,' Hinata says in her mind. 'I hope that you are proud of what we have accomplished here today.'
The bunker explodes! Detonating in an enormous blast of golden 'life' energy. It is an explosion of such tremendous power that the bunker itself is unable to survive. It leaves a large crater in the ground, with one thing left standing at the centre of the semi-transparent energy. As that energy dies down it becomes clear that Fauna Blight's brain is gone, and that Naruto remains.
Nobody reacts as Naruto walks back into the fray. He stands between Didier who is restraining Nadia, and the others who are restraining Swen.
"Didier."
"Yes?"
"I think it's time to signal our retreat," Naruto says. "We have won."
Didier laughs quietly for a few seconds before roaring his retreat order into the air. It is the happiest roar of his entire reign. The other beasts all join in the victory cry, a combination of sounds from all parts of the animal kingdom. Even Laurent sounds his jubilation at the situation. He cannot deny what has happened right in front of his eyes, the Beast Kingdom have just won their greatest victory by joining forces with humans.
The Beast Kingdom and the shinobi quickly begin to retreat. As those on the front line stop holding Nadia and Swen down, Naruto exchanges looks with the two royals. They reach a mutual understanding, there is no point of further bloodshed here. Today the Beast Kingdom has won, the rebellion has won, and there is nothing that any of the royals can do about it. They plotted to take away his powers, they left him hopeless in front of a royal, but with the help of others he took his powers back, he broke through to the next level, and he defeated them!
When he is confident that his allies have all retreated to a safe distance, Naruto gives a signal. His father uses the Flying Thunder God technique to teleport to his side, takes hold of his shoulder, and teleports away.
The battle is over!
North-East Cheqitori
Boruto helps Enri to her feet.
Enri hesitates. "She is still too strong for you. The Empress of the Dark Dimension is terrifying. I worry that if you meet her she will kill you."
"That is a risk I am prepared to take," Boruto says. "I am willing to risk my life as many times as I need to. I don't care what I need to go through, I just want to make sure Himawari is safe."
Enri pauses.
"Grandmother, please tell us," Himawari says.
"… the reason for the Dark Dimension's invasion; I don't know if anyone has told you. The Dark Dimension was shrinking, they wanted a new land to call their own. They tried to kill us all and take Homeworld for themselves. The Dark Dimension was still shrinking at the end of the war and in the years since it has become a lifeless empty world.
"That is where the empress is. She is alone in her home realm. She is in the Dark Dimension."
"How do we reach the Dark Dimension?" Boruto asks.
"We setup a portal to reach it and we hid the portal in a place that nobody could ever find it," Enri reveals. "It is at the bottom of the Crystal Caves, a place where even Jonas can't reach. To reach the bottom of the Crystal Caves requires a comprehensive understanding of 'fate' energy. Even Akashi could only get to the portal with my help. I would have refused to take you there, but now you understand tier 3 'fate' energy as well, Boruto. It looks like you no longer need my help to navigate the caves."
"I will find it," Boruto says.
"Please, at least accept a recommendation from your grandmother. The empress is more dangerous than any royal, than any opponent you have ever faced. She is too strong for you, even now. I won't ask you not to wake her, but please wait until you are sure. Be safe."
"We have to do something. We can't let Himawari go on like this."
Enri looks to Himawari and nods.
"I hope you find what you are looking for Himawari."
"Thank you, grandmother."
North-East Seblix
"Nadia, there is something about your plan I don't understand," Swen says.
"Is that so?"
"You brought Naruto to this place because you knew Wuying would seal his powers. You knew that would free up your own powers so you could finish Sabine and defeat Naruto. You needed the rebels, the Beast Kingdom, the bunker guards, Sabine and Wuying for your plan to work. But you could have told the bunker guards to wait elsewhere, or you could have substituted them with the Imperial Guard."
"What are you asking Swen?"
"You could have lied about how to cure Fauna Blight and achieved the same things with your plan. You let them cure Fauna Blight."
"Is that so?"
"Why did you let them?"
Nadia smiles. "You know me Swen, I'm always thinking ahead. I thought it was unlikely, but this was one possible outcome of the battle here today. And I always like to have a backup plan."
In Response to Guest Z
Who asks if there is anyone who can enhance or boost someone's powers
Headmaster Muto Sora's element was 'enhancement'.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Krosenko
Who asks if Naruto and Boruto have reached their peak
I couldn't possibly say without giving away spoilers.
Sorry about that.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Sarada chan san
Who asks if I have a source of inspiration for this story
There are the obvious ones. The source material for Naruto and similar stories of course.
Xanxia and cultivation novels have also been a source of inspiration, that is where the battle class system comes from.
As well as this, I have a friend who sometimes helps with this story. He is very helpful.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to jenuzumaki
Who asks what the pocket-worlders could have to surpass Jonas
I'm afraid I can't answer that without giving away spoilers.
Sorry about that.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Phielia
Who points out the translation of Nadia's name
I'd love to claim that was deliberate, but it wasn't.
I only speak one language and didn't think of creating such meaningful names.
Now that you have brought it up though I will do that for future works.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Thatguy2502
Who points out a typo in the battle classes for last chapter.
I've fixed that now.
It might take a while to update.
Thanks for highlighting that.
Thanks for reading.