Faster Than Lightning
Katabami-yama: As the Kurosuki Clan dies
Raiga and Ranmaru were waiting for the scion of the Uzumaki-Namikaze clans to arrive, though they did not yet know his name. As soon as Raiga saw how formidable their opponent was, when he found the two hidden members of the now dead Kurosukis, and killed them without breaking a sweat, or batting an eyelash. They both knew or could guess, that this kid was on a whole other level of strength when compared to the other enemies they had faced in the past. Even Raiga was forced to concede, that the damned red-head, could easily be a match for him, and he is only a few years older than Ranmaru. Therefore, he decided to find a better place for he and Ranmaru to make their stand, if his men somehow got lucky, or the kid got cocky, it would not be necessary, but if the unforeseen happened he and his partner would need higher ground.
Ranmaru would not admit it to Raiga, but the boy in the cemetery scared him, which was a feeling he had not known since becoming the Mist ninja's companion. He continued watching the scene in the graveyard unfold, using his Vision, he watched the older boy, kill every single one of their comrades. That was not what frightened him, he had seen these kinds of images for over two years, ever since Raiga found him. It was how easily the boy did these things, but more than that, he actually gave their men a chance to defend themselves. Ranmaru had been around ninja quite a bit since his village, and he could tell the difference between real skill, and pretenders, and the red-head down in the graveyard was no pretender. He allowed the men down there to try defending themselves, but it did them no good, he moved around their defenses like they were not even there.
As Kurou's smoking, headless body landed in a heap, Ranmaru informed Raiga of what he saw, "it's over, Raiga-kun."
"How bad did we do," Raiga asked, though from the tone of his voice, he at least suspected the answer?
"They're all dead," Ranmaru told his hand and feet, "he toyed with them, Raiga-kun. He could've ended the fight at any time with one or two well placed ninjutsu. He seems to be able to use Earth, Wind, and Fire techniques, and may even have one or two Bloodlines…"
Ranmaru trailed off, and as Raiga reached the place where they would make their stand and looked back, only to see fear and horror crossing the little boy's face. "What is it, Ranmaru-chan," he asked urgently, "what do you see?"
"I'm not sure, Raiga-kun," the boy answered, "he has the Sharingan, a fully-matured Sharingan, I recognize it from the lessons you've taught me, but that's not what scared me. It's our men," he told Raiga in a whisper.
"What about them," Raiga asked, "is he giving them a proper funer…"
"They're alive again," Ranmaru broke into Raiga's query.
"What," Raiga demanded roughly, before visibly calming, with a deep-breath, "I'm sorry Ranmaru, I did not mean to yell," and the boy waved it away, "what do you mean our men have returned to life?"
"I mean every one of them, except Masami-san, has come back to life," Ranmaru told Raiga, "and he's killing them again. He's killing them the same way he killed them before," Ranmaru yelled in terror, "every strike is exactly the same as the previous fight!" Ranmaru watched the fight again, in stunned silence, "it's over, this time it was Hayate-san that stayed down."
Raiga remained quiet as the boy spoke, before asking one question, "Ranmaru-chan, did any of his eyes close, and remain closed, as this repeat concluded?"
Ranmaru was silent as he watched, and looked for the information Raiga requested, "No, Raiga-kun, both eyes stayed open. Its repeating again, Raiga-kun, he's starting the whole thing over again," then he turned to Raiga when the man swore, "what is it Raiga-kun?"
"Damn," Raiga swore softly, then answered his ward's question, "the Mist village has information on all of the ninja villages, intelligence that would be valuable if a war should break out. You mentioned that he had the Sharingan, how that's possible when the Uchiha were all wiped out is anybody's guess, but one of the abilities of the Sharingan is the power to use ocular-based genjutsu. One of their most powerful genjutsu is the ability to rewind time, but the user loses the use of an eye – for how long we never found out – but it doesn't matter since this lid seems to not suffer from that drawba…" Ranmaru suddenly screamed, "Ranmaru, Ranmaru, what's wrong," Raiga finally opened his cloak to bring his companion around, and unzipped the bag he carried the boy in, to look at him. The boy was trembling in fear, and he seemed to be staring at something that only he could see, "please tell me, kid what are you seeing."
"Raiga, he saw me," Ranmaru told him, "he turned his head to look right at me. He was looking me in the eyes," then the little boy sobbed, "he cast a genjutsu on me through the wormholes that allow me to use my dojutsu."
"What kind of genjutsu," Raiga growled, if he hurt Ranmaru, I will obliterate him.
"It was the illusion of an enormous fox, with nine-tails," Ranmaru told a stunned, "it was so tall it towered above everything, even the mountains surrounding it, but its power was awesome. It sent flames hotter than the hottest smelting flames through forests, obliterating huge tracts of land. It used its wind to destroy the mountains, it made enormous spheres of pure chakra that could decimate armies," Ranmaru shuddered and hugged Raiga a little bit longer, before he seemed to calm down. He looked up at the frowning face of Raiga, "I'm sorry, Raiga-kun," Ranmaru turned away in shame, "I shouldn't have made you worry; I'll be alright now, it was just an illusion."
Raiga could tell that he was trying to be brave, so to save the boy some dignity, decided to accept Ranmaru's dismissal, "if that's how you feel, Ranmaru." Raiga zipped the boy back in the bag he was kept in and was in the middle of returning the bag to his back, when there was a sudden whistling sound coming from above them. Raiga reflexively stopped what he was doing and looked up, and what seemed like a giant hawk with a long, serpentine-like tail, was stooping on their position. Just before it seemed about to hit them, its talons shot out and grabbed the bag Ranmaru was kept in, and with a massive beat of its wings, soared back up into the sky. "Ranmaru, Ranmaru," Raiga shouted, as he pulled the Kiba-ken from his belt and was about to unleash the elements on the pseudo-bird, when a voice spoke up behind him.
"I wouldn't do that, Raiga-Jaakuna yarō," Raiga turned quickly, ready to strike down the one that was responsible for abducting Ranmaru, "if my clone is struck down, he'll drop the bag containing your accomplice. It would be a fitting end for a murderer," the red-head that raced into view directly in front of the former Mist ninja, said to Raiga, "he was a party to at least 30 murders here in this place. I counted all of the grave markings when I arrived here," the kid told the former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, "I wonder if the magistrate will even take into account his minor status, before sentencing him to the chopping block?"
Raiga turned an enraged stare on Naruto, "then he would be a heartless bastard, because Ranmaru only participated in those events as an observer, and as a little boy, he would've been powerless to stop me, if he had protested."
Naruto narrowed his eyes for a moment, before his lips turned up at the corners in a slight smile, "so you at least have some sense of honor, when it comes to your little ward, but when it comes to the lives of others? You seem to view life as a cheap commodity, all to carry-out your twisted hobby."
Raiga's eyes seemed to oscillate with emotion, his eyebrows had narrowed, and his mouth had become a grim smile, "what's the matter, don't you like funerals?"
"Not especially," Naruto answered.
"Why not, they're a perfect way to remember someone, and people are usually on their best behavior at funerals," Raiga reasoned?
"Maybe," Naruto accepted his point-of-view on that argument, "but the guests of honor at funerals are supposed to be dead, when you bury them!" There was a crack of thunder and lightning began rolling across the sky, there was a splat, as the sky began to let go of its bounty. "Don't you see, nature abhors what you have done, and sends its blessings and condemnations in the same package," Naruto shouted as the rain picked up power, "in other words they've sent me."
"Where have you sent, the boy," Raiga asked, "tell me, or after I've killed you, I will find out every person you have met while in this place, and I will give them all a funeral!"
Naruto just smiled, "it won't matter, Raiga. Whether you defeat me or not, you will never see him again, because as soon as my clone lands, he is going to place the boy into a storage scroll and mail him to Ryū no Shinden, in Tetsu no kuni. There he will be raised and cared for by the temple monks, which will enable him to grow up to become a good, strong man. He will no longer be bound to you or anybody, he will be his own person," Naruto told him, "and his destiny will be his own to determine."
Raiga clenched his fists and shut his eyes, "I was able to become one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and a ryoshi-nin without him," he concluded! He looked up at the crimson-haired ronin, unleashing his KI at Naruto, and smiling a grateful smile, "Tell me, ninja-san, what is your name?!"
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, a vagabond ronin," he answered, "why do you want to know?!" By now the rain was coming down in sheets, and the lightning was crossing the sky in curtains, the thunder was so loud, they literally had to shout in order to be heard. Naruto barely felt the older ninja's KI, but his hand began to move up behind his back, over his shoulder, and grasped the hilt of his weapon.
"Why, well to remember you of course," Raiga furled his Kurosuki cloak, and brought out his weapons, which seemed to be covered in wrapping, and shouted, "when I give you a funeral! Ninja Art: Lightning Fang," he shouted, and as he struck his blades together, the energy discharge destroyed the wrappings that covered them. The swords that came into view were the same length as a Chisa-katana, a little over 91 centimeters, they were straight along the spine of the blades, and the sharp edge tapered to a point. A third of the way from the tip edge-side, and a third of the way down the spine-side from the hilt, two fang-like protrusions per blade, jutted out tip-ward.
The fangs as Naruto called them, reminded him of sickle-blades, {bet you, those fangs are just as sharp as the rest of those swords," he said to his tenant.} [And they would be good for hooking an opponent's weapon out of his grasp," Kyūbi agreed.] {Or trapping his weapon long enough for the other blade to finish you off," Naruto added.} Naruto watched as a giant arc of lightning chakra was sent into the already chaotic sky, "Lightning Fang, strike him down," Raiga bellowed.
A bolt of lightning, that looked more like a curtain of light, shot out of the inky, black clouds heading directly for Naruto. Who immediately employed his fox-enhanced, magnetic-vision, Sharingan, he drew deeply upon the Power of the Thunder God and brought out his great-grandfather's blade. The sword of Raijin sprang into being, and there was a moment of clarity between, both enemy combatants, they suddenly knew, who was going to win this battle. The lightning struck the ground where Naruto stood, the bolt demolished the stone around him. Surely, he had been obliterated as well, and Raiga looked on with a gleeful smile on his mouth, which dropped from his face like a stone into a pond.
Raiga's attack sent clouds of dust billowing through the air, but with the torrential rain the clouds were quickly dispersed. There was nothing left of the ground upon which the Uzumaki stood, it looked like a crater made from a meteor, or powerful, Earth techniques. Raiga was chuckling to himself, "looks like there isn't even enough left of you to hold a funeral for," and he began to laugh at his behavior, "maybe the kid, did me a favor by taking Ranmaru away from me, I've been using the boy as a crutch since I met him. Maybe, I've outgrown the little bastard," Raiga growled, "I'm better off without him."
"That's too bad for you, Raiga-baka," came a voice from behind him, Raiga immediately whirled around, "that was the only reason I was taking it easy on you, because of your connection to him." Naruto rose from the earth as if he were a part of it, his eyes were blazing with fire, "he wasn't even out of your life, for more than a few minutes and you have already moved on," he grated with ground teeth, "and you can have your lightning back!" Naruto thrust his blade forward, and it unleashed his own lightning bolt at the nuke-nin, "this is the Raijin no ken, Raiga, I've wanted to test it against your blade, since I acquired it from a former nuke-nin from Konoha," the world did not know of the Namikazes in Two Rivers being related to the Senju of Konoha, if they did people would target them.
Raiga brought the Kiba-ken into a cross block, which absorbed the lightning bolt strengthening and sharpening the blade. Raiga chuckled, and commented in a raspy voice, "it seems our prowess with lightning won't be the deciding factor in this fight, you little shit!" Raiga rushed Naruto, who with the Sharingan blazing, dodge back from the lunge, then jumped to the side to avoid a swipe by the other blade.
Naruto batted the other blade to the side, while pulling a kunai from his belt pouch. This and all of his other ninja tools were made using the metal alloy, Naruto invented, mangalloy-titantung, but he forged them in the shape of his dad's special kunai. This was done to give him a target for using the Hiraishin in close quarters, but he did not need it for that at the moment, because there is a second reason why he forged these kunai in this shape. Naruto began to mold his magnetic chakra in the direction of his kunai, and suddenly an incandescent blade extended itself from the sword-like hilt of the kunai. It was roughly equal to the length of the Thunder God's Sword and had the same weight and balance.
If Raiga was surprised by the turn of events, his actions never showed it, when Naruto struck with Raijin, Raiga dodged, then he parried Naruto's Jishaku-no-ha, and stepped away from Naruto's front kick. Then he went on the offensive, by thrusting his blade at Naruto's sternum, and Naruto did the expected by parrying the Fang sword with his magneto-blade, but it was a feint, because Raiga used the fangs of the blade to hook onto one of the prongs of the tri-bladed kunai. The leverage was greater than Naruto could handle, and he was forced to let go of the weapon or end up on the ground.
Raiga used the momentum to toss the kunai behind him, but Naruto just smiled and mentally locked onto the triple-bladed dagger. Raiga, was looking directly at Naruto when he Hiraishined, behind him, it was accompanied by a red flash, but there was no mistaking that technique. Wait, what was the rest of that brat's name, he tried to remember, and when he finally did, he was astonished, Namikaze? Raiga suddenly brought his blades up over his head, clashing them together causing a blindingly, bright flash of light, causing Naruto to flinch back and close his eyes. When he finally opened them again, Raiga was not in sight, he had vanished from view, but not from Naruto's other senses, he knew that the man was still here, he had merely retreated to regroup. So, I'll let him take a breather, for now, Naruto decided, I need one myself.
Naruto lowered Raijin and returned the kunai to his tool bag, when he received the chakra and memories from his shin-bunshin down in the graveyard. Naruto smirked, telling myself good luck seems rather selfish, I'd say, but I'll accept all the blessings I can get. Then he received the chakra and memories from the clone that flew away with Ranmaru, the clone had made it a point not to look at the face of the mail-ninja's face, and especially took pains to not look at the letter-carrier's designation number, so I would not have that memory. Not that it mattered, once the scroll reached its destination, because the Dragon Temple is not a ninja temple. It is a samurai temple, where experienced and veteran samurai tend to congregate, it is where those who are orphaned may be trained as samurai, and once they achieve that status, they are called the Dragons of Iron, and act as a law enforcement body, answering only to General Mifune. They take in orphans from all over the Continent, not just from Iron, because the tenets of their faith say that the strong protect the weak. Tsunade introduced Naruto to the Dragon Monks during their yearlong mission, it was where he was certified as a medic.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist jutsu," came the disembodied voice of Raiga, and a white mist billowed into existence around Naruto. Naruto understood what Raiga was trying to do, mitigate the advantage given to me by the Sharingan, because despite being eye techniques activated with chakra, they still required light to function. The Mist, being rivals of the Leaf, would want to gather as much intel as they could, when war inevitably breaks out, discovering a possible weakness to the Sharingan makes sense. Too bad for Raiga, I have more than a dojutsu, Naruto mused as he deactivated the lightning blade, and channeled his Kinzokuton chakra into the hilt, and into the rest of his body. He also focused his senses into his Eye of the Heart and continued deploying his Kitsune-Sharingan-Jiki.
Naruto turned and thrust his now metallic blade directly at a startled Raiga, because Naruto was looking directly at Raiga. He was able to dodge back, out of range of the attack, but not before Naruto's sudden attack pierced Raiga's shoulder, causing him to grunt and growl in pain. Raiga swung his other sword directly into Naruto's left flank, causing the boy to hiss in pain, but he had received worse than this from growing up on the streets of Konoha, he could feel Kyūbi, his Uzumaki resiliency, and the Hiraishin no chikara, beginning to heal the injury, it would be gone in seconds. Naruto thrust his blade, which Raiga parried, and Naruto followed-up with a lunging thrust that Raiga deflected and side-stepped, bringing one of his blades down toward Naruto's head, which Naruto deflected and swept his sword to cut off Raiga's legs.
Raiga leapt over Naruto's head, slashing down at the crimson-haired teenager with a blade, without turning, Naruto swept Raijin around his head knocking the first blade aimed at his head to the side, while the second blade came whistling toward Naruto's neck. The same behind the head sweeping maneuver, turned Naruto around and brought his blade with it to deflect Raiga's second sword with a high parry, and faster than a viper's flickering tongue, Naruto lashed out with a vicious side-kick into Raiga's stomach, which put distance between the two evenly, skilled swordsmen.
"This mist is quite annoying, Raiga," he declared as he ran through a short series of hand signs, took a deep breath and yelled, "Futon: Dai Kohai (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)," and unleashed a torrent of Wind so powerful that it blew away all the mist that had obscured their vision. Naruto went on the offensive, while pulling another kunai from his pouch and igniting it, he charged directly at Raiga, the Thunder Sword was leading the way. Raiga swept the lead weapon out of its path, but Naruto used the momentum of the turn to bring the magneto-blade around in a downward slash. Rather than block the energy sword, Raiga chose to pivot around the outside of Naruto's attack, and make his own slash at the kid's flank. Naruto stepped inside the Swordsman's attack, momentarily extinguishing his weapons placing both of them on his limbs, growing small tentacles of metal from his skin to keep them where they belonged. This move surprised Raiga, he had never seen a swordsman of any caliber disarm himself, but not for long, as Naruto grabbed the attacking arm and used the surprise, to throw Raiga at the side of the mountain.
Raiga was too experienced to allow himself to lose that easily and took control of his flight, landing feet-first on the side of the mountain. Naruto knew that maneuver would not finish his opponent, he never intended it to, it was just to create some more distance between him and Raiga, and give him time to flash through several signs, ending with a sign he invented called the phoenix, and him yelling, "Shakuton: Massho (Scorch Release: Obliteration)," several, tiny spheres of condensed fire, came shooting out of his outstretched palm. It remained tightly clustered, but spread out uniformly, if Raiga had not jumped further up the cliff face, this fight would have ended there, and the rock face would not have a hole gouged out of it.
Raiga brought the Fang Sword crashing together once more, and at the junction of the blades, a sphere of lightning formed, "Lightning Bomb," he bellowed. He flung the ball lightning, directly at Naruto, who engaged the Hiraishin to dodge the attack! Raiga formed another ball, "Lightning Bomb," he shouted again, Naruto dodged again and charged toward the Swordsman.
"You're gonna have to do better than that, pal," Naruto shouted with a smirk.
"I'm not even going to remember your smile," Raiga growled with a small smile on his face as well, before another ball formed and was flung at the ronin.
Naruto dodged again and began climbing up the side of the butte achieving Raiga's elevation in a millisecond, "but I will remember you, Raiga-san," he said, as he stopped right above Raiga, only to perform a spiraling roundhouse, which combined his muscle-power with the force of gravity. Raiga hit the ground with so much force, he formed a crater along the cliff-top, and Naruto attempted to finish him off by dropping from his former height, his sword-tip leading the way. He had almost connected when Raiga, in a puff of smoke, substituted with a large rock.
Raiga ran close to the rock face, just completing his own hand signs, "Dotonjutsu: Nadare (Earth Release technique: Avalanche,) and slapped the side of the mountain. The rock face began to rumble as hundreds of head-sized and larger rocks came tumbling down toward Naruto, burying him. Raiga looked down from the top of the mountain, at his handiwork, his arms crossed in satisfaction, then he began to laugh evilly, and quipped, "I guess I will be giving you a funeral after all, you little bastard!"
Raiga ended his gloating, when he saw the rocks beginning to steam, and the Earth began to tremble and rumble so much that Raiga felt the vibration even on the precipice he stood upon. He was worried for a minute as the tremors grew in intensity, before suddenly subsiding into silence, the steam sublimated into the atmosphere, leaving a blanket of quiet in the area that was every bit as deafening as the cacophony before. Then, the rumbling was back, more intense than before, and more immediate, the epicenter of this earthquake was right beneath his feet, and Raiga jumped away just as a fountain of magma punched through the ground, right where he stood.
"Yotonjutsu: Yogan bakudan (Lava Release technique: Lava Bomb,)," shouted Naruto, as he and several, comet-like blobs of molten lava, came gushing out of the ground, high into the air, and arcing in Raiga's direction. While it had stopped raining, it was still overcast, and there were still flashes of lightning up in the clouds, and there was something different about Naruto. Raiga could see him up in the sky, but just barely, there seemed to be something different about his body, lightning would flash, and the light seemed to reflect off Naruto's body. At the apex of Naruto's leap, Raiga began hearing a whistling sound that seemed to get louder by the second, Naruto was falling to the earth and the air was rushing to get out of his way, causing it to whistle around his body.
When the boy landed, the indentation in the earth left dust rising into the air, Naruto himself, was obscured for a second, but he slowly stood up. The curtain of dust opened and what emerged only vaguely resembled a human body. It had dark-purplish skin, razor-sharp fingernails, and a pronounced spinal column, while the ears and hair had disappeared beneath his violet skin. The overall facial features are a reflection of a devil's head with skull-like features. The magnetic, fox Sharingan was still reflected in the eyes, while his irises turn white, sharp teeth become more pronounced, with two lower fangs rising just above his upper lip. There was no sign of either of his blades, as he had put them away before he entered this form. This is the culmination of his Bloodlines, he calls this his homunculus form, right now, his blood pumps with the unrelenting fury of magma, his breath, super-heats the gases in his lungs so that he literally breathes fire, magnetic chakra supercharges his nerves so they now fire at the speed of light. His flesh has been transformed into metal, the molecules have been configured into proteins, making his now metallic flesh as elastic and resilient, as that with which he was born.
When Naruto first discovered this form, its only drawback was that it tended to destroy his clothes, he made Miu and Kaname blush when they saw his manly bits. Though when he saw them walking away fanning themselves, Naruto felt flattered, and thankful that this form could not show him blushing, but when he visited Uzushiogakure a week after leaving Bird Nation, he discovered sealing techniques, that allowed him to keep his clothes from being destroyed when he transformed, though it only applied to clothing that touched his skin. Good thing he left his Scroll and clothes at the Curry of Life shop, and he had sown his ninja tool-bags into his pants pockets, and this form incorporated the seals drawn on the surface of his skin as raised formations, and they worked as normal.
Raiga looked at Naruto with a huge grin on his face, "I see you're finally, going to take this fight seriously," he stated with a chuckle. "Show me what you've really got, Namikaze," he said as his grin got even bigger, "if you show me everything you can do, then I will hold your funeral personally, and I'll even shed a tear for you!"
The rain began to come down again, only slightly less torrential, the thunder continued to roll through the sky, while lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the metallic finish on Naruto's metal dermis. Naruto was calm, in stark contrast to the weather in these mountains, he felt at peace, and stood in a loose, taijutsu stance, he did not clench his fists but kept his hands spread to accommodate his claws. His feet were spread open in a staggered horse stance, as he listened to Raiga egg him on, and smirked, "as you wish, Raiga-san."
As Raiga spoke, he raised his blades into a cross block toward the sky, and a wave of lightning lanced down directly at Raiga. When it struck him, he became enveloped in crackling lightning, within the barrage of lightning, he began spinning, "Ninja Art: Thunder Dragon Tornado," he shouted!
The spinning caused the wind to whip around so violently, that the force of the wind would have pushed away any substandard ninja, but Naruto was anything but inferior. The jutsu rushed toward Naruto at the speed of lightning, ripping up rock and mountain with ease, it neared the ronin when he suddenly disappeared, and the lightning struck the ground behind him, leaving a giant crater where he once stood. "ERK," Raiga suddenly looked down at himself, to the middle of his chest, and found an arm sticking out of it from the back.
The force of Naruto's maiming had lifted the Swordsman off the ground, his blades clattered to the ground, the hand sticking out of him was in spear hand formation. It had cleaved Raiga's heart in twain, and blood came leaking out of the corners of his mouth. Finally, the owner of the arm spoke, "I really wish I could follow your example, Raiga-san," Naruto said, "I would like nothing better than to give you the same kind of funeral you have given to the workers of the Katabami Goldmine. There is an old body of laws called, Lex Talionis, the Law of Revenge, which states that revenge be equal in measure to the transgression that birthed the need for vengeance in the first place. But I am not going to follow that law today, because the only way to do that would be to resurrect you and kill you as many times as you held funerals." Naruto flung the man down off his metallic arm, now Raiga was lying face-down in the mud, he was still alive, though barely, and he could still hear Naruto's condemnation, "and more importantly, I think that if I did that, then I would be no better than you are. So, I'm going to settle for just killing you, and taking your head, you are a nuke-nin, your bounty is quite substantial," Naruto informed him, "fifty-million ryo last I checked. Do not worry, you will get a funeral," Naruto assured him, "you will have to settle for just me as a mourner, but unlike the funerals you've held before you won't be aware of the proceedings." Naruto's hand morphed into a sharp blade and struck down at Raiga's neck, 'swick' and Raiga's head rolled free of his body, Naruto could not be certain, but he saw a serene smile form a rictus on the Swordsman's face.
The rain, suddenly cut-off, like a faucet, but just as suddenly the thunder began to increase in volume, and the lightning increased in ferocity. The Seal in which Naruto stored the Raijin no ken, and the swords that Raiga wielded, began to glow an ethereal blue, and his arm began to throb with pain. [Naruto, release the Thunder Sword from your arm," Kyūbi ordered, "now!] Naruto was so startled by the fox's command, that he complied without thinking about it and released his great-grandfather's blade from the seal on his arm. {What's wrong, Kyūbi," Naruto had never heard this kind of alarm in the Biju's voice before, and if something is strong enough to alarm one of the most powerful beings in the world, then Naruto should be terrified, "what's got you so worried?}
The Great Fox did not need to reply, because the swords themselves provided the answers, when they literally lifted themselves into the air. They ascend a few feet into the ether, the hilts on Raiga's blades were destroyed by a sudden arc of electricity from Raijin no ken. At the same time, the Thunder Sword's own hilt began to change, like a lotus blossom in bloom, it opened, and the Fanged blades drew parallel to the Thunder Sword. The three blades began to spin, the two Kiba blades rotating as if gravitationally locked in orbit around the spinning Thunder blade, and as they spun, they rotated inward, and as they neared each other, they began to spin faster, and faster. Faster and faster, closer, and closer, and when they had reached perigee, almost coming into contact, a bolt of lightning more powerful than all of the other artificially produced lightning attacks before, combined, flashed down at the spinning weapons. Naruto had to turn his face away or risk being blinded, he heard the lightning strike, what had to be the three, airborne blades.
The sounds continued for a good, ten minutes, before all sounds behind him ceased, and he turned just in time to see the results twirl to the unblemished ground. The forging process must've absorbed all of the energy from that massive, lightning bolt, Naruto thought idly. He could hear the blade, cutting through the air in quick swishing sounds, before sticking point down into the stone ground. The sword was a totsuka-no-tsurugi, single-edged blade, with no curvature like that of a katana, and a small rounded tip for thrusting. The hilt was the color of the night sky, and long enough for two-handed wielding, the tsuba was not without embellishment, it was silver and had engravings of gods that represented wind and thunder deities, and the pommel was decorated with a long, grayish streamer that seemed to perpetually blow in the wind. Naruto approached the blade cautiously, and as he neared it; he began to notice details that even his enhanced eyes were not able to see from a distance. Like, the hilt was not just a representation of the night-sky, it was the starry, night-sky as astronomers view it in telescopes, and it seemed to move like the same sky. The blade seemed to reflect the skies overhead, the overcast, the flashes of lightning, it even reflected the drops of rain that still landed on Naruto from time to time.
[The Sword of Takamagahara," Kyūbi whispered in awe, "I've heard of it, but it has not been seen for thousands of years.] {The Sword of what-now," Naruto asked?} [I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it, though I bet you've heard of how these lands were formed, correct," the Fox asked, and Naruto nodded, as he reached out to touch the sword?] {Yeah, before the Sage of Six-Paths, or even the fabled God-tree, the Elemental Continent was once a part of a larger planet, it was meant to be a birth gift from the sky-god, Izanagi, to his wife, the Mother of the Earth, Izanami, to celebrate the birth of their latest child. They were meant to be his dominion to rule, just like Amaterasu was given the Sun, Tsuki-yomi was given the Moon, and Susanoo was given the Seas, but Kagu-Tsuchi killed his mother upon birth and Izanagi, murdered his own child out of revenge, and thus this continent was never unwrapped, so to speak."
We're actually intangible to the rest of the world, which believes there are only seven continents, we are hidden outside of time, away from the outside world by an energy veil, no being born or created in either world has the power to pierce that veil, except at two points. Two triangular portals, one East of the Land of Water, and the other West of the Land of Earth, there are rumors, that every once in a while people from the outside world find themselves on our shores and are integrated into our society, because the journey is one-way, they've traded information with us, like days of the week and modes of transportation. Even our language and certain cultural characteristics are said to mimic their mode of speech," Naruto concluded but asked, "so what does this have to do with this blade, Kyūbi?}
Kyūbi nodded, as Naruto repeated the history lessons he learned in school while at Two Rivers Village, and reinforced by information supplied by Kyūbi from kyūbi's near four-thousand years in existence, and added, [all of that is correct, at least as much as we know, even I do not have the power to breech the veil, I think only the Jūbi may have had the power to breach those gates," Kyūbi stated idly.] {Who," Naruto asked?} [Uh, never mind," Kyūbi said, before moving on quickly, "the sword you're now holding, is called, Blade of the Heavens, or in ancient language, Takamagahara-no-ha, it was the blade, Lord Izanagi used to kill his son, after the child killed his mother during childbirth. After the murder, Lord Izanagi broke the blade into three pieces and cast the shards to the Earth, they were lost to time but were apparently being misappropriated by humans.]
Naruto drew the blade from the Earth, he sent his metal awareness into it, and he found himself flying through the sky. He shot passed clouds that seemed to be more like buildings, castles, and fortresses, than cloud formations, when the clouds were suddenly rent asunder by an inferno. The flames reached as high as the stars, they were like an impregnable wall, that no being could penetrate. Naruto found himself flying through that wall, through layers and layers of sheer flame, he reached the source of the furnace, where an infant lay screaming in pain, excruciating pain, and lying next to the infant yet still clutching him, was nothing but a husk of charcoal vaguely resembling a human form. Naruto approached them at an extremely hyper-velocity, where decisions were made in mere milliseconds, as he neared the couple, the husk of charcoal inexplicably opened its eyes. The eyes were still so filled with love for the infant and Takamagahara-no-tsurugi, though Naruto understood on a fundamental level that he was in the last memory attached to the blade – like how he was able to feel the last vestiges of the memories of Tokichi's maker, when he began carrying that sword as his everyday blade – the love in the infant's mother was directed in Naruto's direction.
"I know that you must do this, please understand, that it isn't his fault what happened to me," Izanami told her husband, "when he came into the world he just burst into flames. He couldn't control it, my husband."
"I know, my beloved," came the divine voice of the King of Heaven, "and I have no animosity for my son, but he is in pain and he will burn the world if he is left unchecked. My love for what we built here is what drives me to execute him, my love for you drives me to seek vengeance against him, and it is my love for him that drives me to free him from his pain, both now, and in the future, even I cannot conceive of the pain he will feel for being the cause of his mother's death."
"Nagi-kun, would you do one thing before your judgement falls upon him," Izanami beseeched her brother?
"If it is within my power, then no being shall gainsay me, be it the Three Pillars or The Dark God, himself," the voice of her beloved declared, "I swear by the River Styx."
Izanami had the strength to chuckle at the notion that anything, was beyond her husband-brother's power, then she looked him in the eyes, "I want you to wait until I have entered the Land of the Dead before you take his life."
Izanagi in all of his eons of life could have never believed that this was his beloved's final request of him, "Beloved, are you sure of what you ask of me," he asked urgently, "once he has been put to rest, your body should heal itself just fine, please do not make me watch you die?"
"This, my love," Izanami wondered while raising her hand, only for it to break off as her son continued to pour his power and pain into the world, "is nothing, the pain I feel now, will be nothing compared to that of watching you kill our son. For, I would hate you for eternity, regardless of your reasoning, and hating you after loving you for eons, would make even the pain of my previous example, feel like a candle flicker next to that of a torch. Please, my brother, let me at least leave this world with my love for you intact," the Earth Mother begged.
Izanagi closed his eyes in defeat, the first time in his very existence that he had felt that feeling, he opened his eyes and they were the eyes of a King, he turned this gaze upon his wife, and even in her convalescent state, Izanami recoiled in fear, though her love for him never diminished one tittle. "Very well, Izanami-Kamigami no joō, I will watch you, and wait until you have passed unto Shinigami's domain, you shall be there to await our son, but know this, when you do, then my heart shall surely follow you," the master of space decreed.
Naruto suddenly opened his eyes as the memory faded from his mind, but not his, or Kyūbi's own memory, something else was entering his mind though, he suddenly knew all of the capabilities of his new blade. Both the Raijin and Kiba swords, had been powerful weapons on their own, but combining them did not just add their power to each other, it multiplied them by three, to the power of three. Naruto could feel the power of the blade and it felt like the power of the Raijin, only now it was more powerful, yet more controlled. He could still use all of his Bloodlines and Nature Affinities through the sword, but as long as he had the sword near him, he could use Lightning as if it were one of his natural affinities, and he was even more adept at using Wind than he already was, which was mastery level already.
Naruto channeled chakra into the streamer, and the weapon began to change, the hilt lengthened into a pole, the blade shortened and the tsuba blossomed, into a naginata. He did it again, and the blade and tsuba disappeared forming a rokkubo, again and it became a hanbo, then a tanto, with the same style blade and tsuba design as the default, sword form. I'm going to start wearing black and white, tanto-sized sheathes, on my right side, black for my mother's blade and white for Izanagi-sama's blade, while traveling, and let Tokichi remain as my everyday weapon.
Once the knowledge of his new blade finished uploading into his brain, Naruto performed a series of hand signs and let go of the hilt. The sword which had returned to default form, hung in the air, suspended in the atmosphere, before flashing a couple of times and fading out of sight. That was not his jutsu, it was just another aspect of the sky-god's blade he just learned. It had become one with the wind, but Naruto can recall it any time he needs to, he still intends to get twin sheathes for his special swords, simply because it was too time consuming to have to waggle your fingers to get your weapon out, when all you need to do is draw it from a sheathe.
Naruto created a Shadow Clone to collect Raiga's head and place it in a storage scroll, before summoning his Uzumaki Sealing Scroll and storing it further inside it, before dispelling. Naruto-Prime ransacked the rest of the body, finding more coins for his immediate use, then picked up the scroll, placing it over his now, flesh shoulders, having dismissed his Homunculus form during the aftermath of the battle, and incinerated Raiga the way he had his men. That's the only funeral you deserve, Raiga-san, may the Three have mercy upon your souls, upon all of our souls.
Naruto returned to the Curry of Life Shop with Grandma Sansho, Karashi, who had been forced to return to the beginning of his training and cook the Curry of Life for Kanpachi-san. That stuff is truly miraculous, I think I might make this a part of a route of sorts, Naruto thought, it feels nice to be able to sit down to a home cooked meal. Kanpachi-san was as strong as he had ever been, within a week of eating that stuff, he, and Rokusuke-san, left two weeks after the fight at the top of the mountain. They would settle in Konoha, where Kanpachi caught the eye of a certain Ichiraku heiress, and Rokusuke got a job surveying the tunnels where the former headquarters of ROOT once existed. Naruto remained behind for about a week after they left, and delivered an ultimatum to Karashi, "this is your second-chance, Karashi-baka," Naruto said in a growl, as he pushed the older boy up against the wall, "I only spared you, because you still showed some manner of repugnance for what was happening to Kanpachi. Know this, I will give your mother a way to reach me, no matter where I am," Naruto snarled, "if she ever has to use it, you better already be dead by the time I get here, or I'll finish what I started in the cemetery. Do you understand me, Karashi-baka," Naruto snapped, literally lifting the older boy off the ground? Karashi was profuse in his assurance to Naruto that he had seen the error of his ways, he groveled in the dirt, banging his head on the ground.
Naruto left the next morning and made it to Delta for his payment, the next day. There was one minor hiccup in that, it seems that the mine owners thought it would be cheaper not to pay him for his work. Instead, they tried to murder him, by hiring their own ninja from Tanigakure to finish him off. Naruto, of course, felt their presence long before he entered the office, so when they appeared around him from certain vantage points, he only faked the fear as they walked him out of the office at sword-point. The fight once they left was noisy, but quick, so when the ronin walked back in, carrying five hitai ate from the five Jonin-level ninja, the owners very nearly pissed themselves. He made them renegotiate the term of his contract to include 100-percent of royalties, and to make sure they did not double-cross him again, they ratified the contract in front of the magistrate.
Naruto turned in the heads of Raiga and the Kurosukis, he killed, in total he earned sixty-million ryo, and that is when he decided to open a bank account in the capital of Fire. This is where the profits from his casino, the royalties from the mine, and other moneys he earned, either as a ninja, or a metalsmith, would be deposited. He mailed the hitai ate back to Tanigakure in secret, that would save them a little face, he did not want a whole village after his ass.
Naruto was steadily making a name for himself as a ninja, he was beginning to be noticed by other ronin ninja, as a formidable opponent, and even some of the smaller, ninja villages had heard of the Metalmancer Ronin. The ninja, who was strong enough to take on several Jonin-level ninja, and with the take-down of one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, his reputation began to grow even further, which would bring in more clients. This could even, aid him in metal-work, he could advertise his metallic profession, once he impressed them with his battle prowess.
A few weeks after opening his bank account, however, he was working in a smithy, and he received some information and a mission from Tsunade, from his shin-bunshin in Konoha. It seemed some bastard named Gato, had moved into Wave Nation, and was monopolizing the ships and ports that are vital to ocean dependent nations like Wave. A bridge-builder named Tazuna, began to fight back by building a bridge that would connect Nami to Hi, he came to Konoha looking for help, but could not afford anything higher than a C-ranked mission. She had gone ahead and authorized the mission, at least to assuage her conscience, but to insure success she needed Naruto to intercept them sometime before getting to Wave, she said she would pay Naruto out of her own pocket. Naruto finished the task he was assigned for the day, cleaned up his workstation, and took a leave of absence, "all she had to do was ask, and I would've done it, the money is just a bonus. Wave Nation, get ready for Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!"
