PinkiePieParty122894: I'm really glad that you are still liking it and hope that you like this chapter as well. Love the enthusiasm too.
Animaman: I'm still deciding on whether Fugaku is a mole or not so I'm not sure just yet about Fugaku's exact role with Danzo. Glad that you liked the maturity of Sasuke. Minato and Kushina will definitely start to get to know Yakumo's parents better and her parents will also start to get closer with Naruto as well. As for Minato and Kushina's thoughts on the "prophecy", that will kind of reach a head probably next chapter. Your previous review you mentioned the idea of the twins telling their story which I will more than likely incorporate later on along with a quick checkup on Jiraiya.
1995hzq: Thanks, glad to be back.
Lord Kyuubi: Okay, sensing a little bit of hostility here but if it helps I took your "advice" under consideration and hopefully made it easier for everyone to read.
Jasmine: Still deciding on whether or not Minato becomes aware of the rebellion. I may not have him there at the time simply because "The Yellow Flash" vs. anyone below Sannin level is probably gonna be overkill. Meanwhile, I think I'll just have Fugaku go through the motions and avoid suspicion while he works with the rebels so Fugaku will probably remain as the clan head.
(Realm of the Serpents)
Naruto dodged an intense stream of water sent by his own personal summon Levios. Upon dodging, Naruto dashed at the serpent who was coiled next to a large lake. Levios had done Naruto the service of constraining himself to a size only about three times the size of Naruto. As Naruto neared Levios, the serpent stopped the stream of water from his mouth, turned in Naruto's new direction, and opened his mouth wide. In his mouth was a large crackling ball of electricity that Levios sent flying towards the blond ninja. Thinking quickly, Naruto summoned his sword in his hand and gave a large swing that cleared the incoming lightning. Before Naruto could perform any further action, he was wrapped tightly within the body of Levios. The serpent had moved faster than Naruto had been able to follow with his eyes.
"You lose" the serpent spoke as he held the blonde. "You must learn not to rely completely on that sword of yours. There will come a time when having that sword will not be enough and you must be ready for that moment" the serpent said before releasing Naruto who stood in place and looked down at the ground in disappointment.
Naruto sighed at Levios' words. "I know. It's just that my sword has become a part of me. Of course it doesn't hurt that it's probably the most powerful sword in existence" Naruto said with a grin causing his serpent companion to shake it's head. "Besides, you and I both know that I'm way ahead in the power of my water and lightning techniques than I should be. Couple that with the fact that I'm getting better at the hiraishin and I should be able to take anyone on. And if I can't, then I'll just call on you to fight them like a good friend would" Naruto said now with a full blown smile.
Levios took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm more like the parent that has to restrain the child that keeps picking a fight with everyone" Levios said causing Naruto to sweatdrop. "Also, you must remember not to let your pride in yourself evolve into arrogance. You are very powerful and your potential is undeniable, but arrogance and overconfidence can be the end of anyone, no matter how strong they are" the serpent said in a slightly scolding tone.
The serpent and his summoner's conversation was interrupted when the body of of the head of the serpents, Leviathan, rose from the lake and slithered in front of Naruto and Levios. Looking down at the two, Leviathan nodded. "Wise words son. You would do well to remember those words young Naruto for even the strongest warrior can be killed by the weakest villager" Leviathan said getting a rapid nod from Naruto. It made Leviathan give a slight chuckle to see that Naruto was still intimidated by him despite the multiple interactions that they had shared. Rising up completely, Leviathan examined his son and his son's summoner. "When you first arrived here Naruto, you were tasked with strengthening your bond with Levios" Leviathan said causing both Naruto and Levios to straighten themselves and pay extra attention. "Naruto, in one of your previous battles you called upon the energy required to enter a sage transformation. You were very lucky that you had a medic of Tsunade's caliber to heal you immediately after your pseudo transformation ended. When you transformed, your muscles strained themselves greatly. I cannot stress to you enough that transforming is a last resort in a battle, at least for now. Now I must ask, how well are the two of you working together?" asked the serpent boss.
Naruto and Levios looked at each other before looking back at the boss serpent with grins on their faces. "I think that we're good in terms of teamwork. I've still got a ways to go until I can perform a technique as powerful as Levios'. Other than that, we work really well together. We know how each other attacks, we know how to complement each other, and I feel like I can beat anyone as long as I have Levios at my side" Naruto said patting Levios' scaly side. Levios simply nodded his head when his father looked at him.
"Good. Then I suppose it would be best for me to test you two personally" Leviathan said with a smirk causing both Naruto and Levios' eyes to go wide. It took a small amount of effort on Leviathan's part to keep from laughing at Naruto and Levios' faces.
Naruto gulped at the suggestion. "N-no that's okay. I'm sure you're busy today but we should definitely schedule it for sometime in the future" Naruto said nervously. "Distant future" added Levios to which Naruto nodded quickly. "Plus I'm sure that you are busy with serpent stuff and whatnot so don't let us distract you from your regular schedule" Naruto said as he tried to come up with more excuses that may get him out of a spar with one of the most powerful creatures in existence.
Leviathan shook his head. "No, I'm cleared for today. Now I believe that a serpent summoner is not supposed to show fear or apprehension in the face of battle. I also expected more from you son, I know that I didn't raise you to be a coward" Leviathan said which had an immediate effect on the blonde chunin. The boy's eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists while Levios bared his teeth.
Naruto turned his head and looked at Levios. "You know enough to lead the serpents right?" the boy asked to which Levios smiled with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Turning back to the boss serpent, Naruto gave his confident smirk that he used whenever he went into a serious battle. "Alright, prepare to get your stupid tailed ripped off" Naruto said as electricity started to rise and surround him. Beside him, Levios' fangs started to extend and a line of water with electricity running through it surrounded his body. Naruto and his personal summon looked at each other before Levios dashed at his father. Naruto vanished completely.
The elder serpent let out a powerful stream of water at his son and was slightly surprised when Levios was able to push of the back of his tail and launch into the air. In mid-air, the water and electricity that had run along Levios' body formed into a large ball of water that contained multiple bolts of lightning that were violently trying to escape the ball of water. Leviathan raised his tail to protect himself from the powerful ball that would undoubtedly be launched directly at him but was this time very surprised when Levios launched the ball over his father to an area behind him. As the ball of water and electricity flew, Naruto finally made his appearance as he jumped up into the air and in the bath of the attack. "Uzumaki Seal: Forceful Counter" Naruto shouted as the ball made impact with the blonde but immediately was repelled and sent flying faster and more powerful at Leviathan's back. The ball of water mixed with electricity made a powerful impact that actually moved Leviathan from his stationary spot and created a small cloud of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, the sound of a powerful chuckle could be heard from Leviathan as the serpent boss rose to it's full constrained height. "The Uzumaki Clan always was unparalleled in seals. You two have grown stronger than I anticipated but it's time for this spar to end" Leviathan said and tried to move but found that he couldn't. Leviathan looked at his son who was giving off a toothy grin. "Special note about that little attack is that it provides temporary paralysis to the victim if it doesn't kill them. NOW NARUTO!" shouted Levios after explaining his attack.
Naruto nodded at Levios' order and formed a very special hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu" Naruto said, already feeling the exhausting effects of using shadow clones. After creating the shadow clones, Naruto pushed all of his chakra into his hands where he started to form the Rasenshuriken. Normally, the use of shadow clones would be needed to form the chakra shuriken itself, but Naruto did it by himself while his five clones simply stood in place. When the chakra shuriken was finished, sparks of electricity popped out of the ball erratically. Raising his arm, Naruto shouted "TEMPEST RASENSHURIKEN" and threw it. As it left the blonde's hand, the shadow clones did their part by jumping up and pulling apart the attack until each clone held a mini Rasenshuriken in their hands. Once stabilized in their hands, the clones at the same time threw their rasenshuriken shouting "TEMPEST RASENSHURIKEN BARRAGE".
The five chakra shurikens flew towards the paralyzed Leviathan as Levios slithered quickly away from the area. Once the five attacks made impact, a massive dome of chakra formed tearing everything in the immediate area apart. Levios made his way to Naruto who had fallen to his knees and was panting heavily. When he reached his summoner, Naruto just looked up and gave a strained smile before looking in Leviathan's direction to see the result of his attack. It took ten minutes for the dust to finally clear which had Naruto ready to pass out from exhaustion. Looking at the result of Naruto's powerful attack, they saw Leviathan in the same place that he had been but this time, there were a few small gashes on his giant body that were leaking blood.
Naruto fell to the ground unconscious after seeing that one of his most powerful attacks were not even able to do any serious damage to his opponent. Leviathan turned around and slowly approached his son and the serpent summoner. Levios took a defensive stance in front of his summoner which made Leviathan proud of the camaraderie that the two shared. "Relax son, the spar is over. You two have proven to be powerful on your own and able to utilize teamwork to an acceptable degree" Leviathan said as he looked down at the unconscious blonde while Levios gave a sigh of relief. "Sera sure had an eye for talent, huh father?" Levios said happy that he was able to be the partner of someone with such potential. When he looked at his father however, he saw an immense amount of sadness evident in the serpent boss' eyes. Leviathan simply nodded and slithered away to the lake with his head down. Levios was confused but was broken from his musings at the sound of Naruto snoring. Chuckling, the serpent picked up the ninja with his tail and took him to the area that he was staying which was right by the lake.
(Nighttime)
Naruto sat beside the lake staring at the moon. He could feel the light from the moon ease the tension throughout his body. As Naruto continued to stare in silence at the source of his power, a strike of pain went through his head causing the blonde to grab his head tightly. Secretly, the flashes of pain had been going on for a couple of weeks now but Naruto couldn't figure out what it was. Naruto did know one place that he could get some answers. With a sigh, the swordsman stepped into the lake, swam to the center, and dived down to reach the Stone of Sanctity. He kept going until the summoning tattoo on his arm began to glow. Continuing to dive, the lack of oxygen began to get to Naruto as his lungs screamed for air. Despite the begging from his lungs, Naruto kept going until he reached his objective. The beautiful purple stone known as the Stone of Sanctity.
The moment Naruto grabbed the stone, his need for air vanished and he was no longer surrounded by water. All around him were different shades of many colors.
(Stone of Sanctity)
"Welcome back Naruto" spoke a familiar voice that caused Naruto to smile and turn his head towards the source. Sera stood smiling at her protege. Reaching her hand out, the blue haired swordsman pulled up her fellow swordsman to stand across from her. Her smile fell as she saw that Naruto's eyes were clouded with confusion. "What's up with you?" Sera asked.
Naruto shook his head. "I don't know. I've been having these flashes of head pain, like excruciatingly painful, and I can't figure out why. I was hoping I could maybe get some answers here" he said crossing his arms in concentration. "Also, something is off lately. Whenever I hold my sword, it just feels different than any other time I've used it" Naruto said frowning. When Naruto looked up, he saw that Sera was looking away from him. "Sera, do you know something about what's going on with me?" the blonde asked.
Sera turned to her former apprentice and nodded. "Your sword has mostly accepted you, but it's starting to reject you slightly. You've been ignoring certain events of your past and have just moved on with your life. While that is a good thing to do, you have been lying to yourself which is causing conflict within. That conflict is disrupting your ability to use your sword. You see Naruto, the swords that we use are very special because they are one of the few things in existence that have pure chakra flowing through them. To wield such a weapon, you have to accept who you are including everything that has happened in your past which is why I'm here" Sera said looking at Naruto.
Naruto tilted his head. "What do you mean Sera?" the blonde asked to which Sera stretched out her arm.
"I mean that it's time to move past me. You and I will fight right here, right now" Sera said as her sword appeared in her hand. A long silver and blue katana was raised by Sera as she waited on her blonde apprentice to summon his sword.
Naruto took a deep breath and summoned his sword to his hand. Sera stood with her sword in both hands while Naruto stood with his sword resting on his shoulder. The two swordsmen examined one another looking for any weak point before both smirked at the same time and dashed at one another. Naruto swung his sword downwards causing Sera to bring her's up to block the strike. Naruto pushed his sword eventually adding his second hand to help exert more force while Sera held him at bay. The blue haired woman smiled at his inability to gain any leverage and slid her blade away from his before launching a strike at Naruto's midsection. The blonde was barely able to dodge and suffered a small cut to his side as a result.
Jumping backwards, Naruto raised his sword and shouted "Hammer Slash" as he swung his blade down launching a series of chakra waves with the intent to slice his opponent to pieces. Sera shook her head at the action and started to run towards Naruto and the waves of chakra. Once Naruto's attack made contact, something happened that Naruto had never seen his master do before. Sera burst into water which gathered into ten separate locations. From the ten spots that the water was gathered, ten forms of Sera rose, each with their sword poised to attack. One of the forms in the middle stood with a smirk on her face.
"Well Naruto, it seems that you've still got a long way to go. Chakra Release: Ocean's Call" said the middle Sera summoning a massive tidal wave of water and sending it at Naruto. Meanwhile, the other nine forms of Sera swiped with their swords sending chakra waves that contained hundreds of sword strikes within the wave. As the wave sped forward, the chakra waves rode the tidal wave to strike the blonde swordsman who was gritting his teeth. Naruto rose his sword, faced the incoming attack, and shouted, "Chakra Release: Moonlight Residue". An immense amount of chakra flowed through the blonde as he gave a heavy swing of his sword separating the wave straight down the middle and disrupting his master's attack. While the wave kept going, Naruto dashed through the middle gap and jumped into the air. "Death Splicer" shouted Naruto as he swung his sword sending multiple chakra waves that flew towards each form of Sera.
Each form of Sera except for the middle one was turned into a puddle of water as a result of Naruto's attack. Sera examined the puddles of her allies and smiled. "Well done Naruto. But you still face a problem. How will you defeat me?" Sera asked looking directly at the blonde as she raised her arm with her sword in hand. "Divine Current" said the blue haired swordsman as water started to form into a vortex at her feet. It quickly rose in size until it reached five times Sera's height, completely enveloping her within. Once the vortex had finished growing, the top covered over in water and formed a sharp point. The pointed vortex dashed towards Naruto after forming with the intent of impaling and ending his life.
Gripping his sword tightly, Naruto faced the powerful water attack approaching him quickly. The blonde had not noticed but a pool of darkness had formed at his feet. The darkness rose along his body as the blonde rose his sword. As Sera's attack neared, Naruto said the name of the attack that would end their duel. "Final Calamity" Naruto said before a massive stream of darkness rose from the ground beneath him and flew towards his opponent.
The two attacks made contact. Naruto's attack caused Sera and her vortex to hit the collection of darkness and come to an almost complete stop. For a long moment, both Naruto and Sera refused to give any ground. The Lunar Soldier and the Aqua Knight's attacks pushed each other's fiercely, but the struggle came to an end as Naruto grit his teeth and began to walk forward. Each step that the blonde took forced his opponent back a little more. Sera tried to resist Naruto's attack as best as she could but eventually, the stronger attack won out. A flood of darkness flew over Sera, going through her body destroying every part of her chakra network while putting an immense amount of pressure on all of her limbs and organs.
As Sera lay on the ground, her existence fading, she couldn't help but smile. Her apprentice had finally become strong enough to be the eleventh legendary swordsman. She started to close her eyes and let her existence end until she felt a presence beside her. Forcing her eyes to stay open, she turned her head to look at her apprentice with a smile. The boy was a mess. He looked exhausted, he had bruises all along his body, he was panting heavily, and his eyes were unfocused. Just as Sera was ready to say something to break the ice, she was suddenly lifted into Naruto's arms as he hugged her. She hugged back as she heard the sounds of quiet sobbing coming from the boy that she had chosen to be her successor.
"Shh Naruto, it's okay. This is how things are supposed to be. It's time for both of us to move on" the blue haired woman said finding the strength to gently rub the boy's back. Naruto nodded at her words and slowly laid her on the ground. Sera once again smiled at her successor who was trying to wipe his eyes. With the last of her strength, Sera reached out and grabbed Naruto's hand and said, "I'm so proud of you" before her form faded into nothing. The Aqua Knight was no more.
Naruto stayed on his knees for a long ten minutes as he stared where he had just held his teacher. Killing her this time was far more painful than the first, mostly because he knew that he would never see her again. Her spirit would no longer be his companion. He would no longer be able to confess his problems to her because now, she was truly gone. Wiping his eyes one last time, Naruto finally found the strength to stand up. The blonde looked up to the nonexistent sky. "Sera, I make this promise to you and all the legendary swordsmen before me, I will make you proud and I will show that I am worthy to wield this power" said Naruto quietly.
"Don't make promises that you can't keep" said a voice from behind the blonde swordsman.
Naruto turned quickly with his sword in hand only to be shocked at what he saw. An exact replica of him stood nearby, the only difference was that his eyes were completely black. "Hello Naruto" the replica said walking forward. "I think it's about time that I introduce myself considering what is about to happen" said the replica.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the copy of him. "Who are you and why do you look like me?" Naruto asked gripping his sword tighter as the other Naruto smiled at the question.
"It's simple Naruto. I'm you. Or rather you will be me soon. For so long, you've allowed the jealousy, the bitterness, the neglect to fester within which gave birth to me. You've tried to contain me but I refuse to be kept inside. It's time for me to take over, it's my time to experience life. For you see I have my own goals Naruto, one of which includes paying back those who did us wrong for so long. Something that you are to cowardly to do" the dark Naruto said causing the real Naruto to growl.
"There's nothing cowardly about forgiveness. Sometimes it's best to just move on from the past. I live my life balancing my feelings and I've become stronger for it" Naruto said causing Dark Naruto to laugh.
"Balance eh? I'll let you in on a very little-known secret. Balance is the greatest form of perfection there is. People try to find balance between right and wrong, good and evil, and think that an even scale equals perfection. It's actually quite the opposite. For you see, balance is neither right or wrong, neither good or evil. Balance equals neutrality, and neutrality leads to hesitation. Hesitation makes you weak and we both know what happens to the weak in our world Naruto. No, the truth is that the ignorance of regular mortals makes them crave balance. It makes them crave imperfection. But there is hope Naruto. There are strong beings like your "enemy" Tsuranabi. He recognizes that balance is just another form of perfection so he has taken the route of evil in order to perfect himself and achieve his dream of a perfect world. Though his goal may be contradictory to his methods, he is at least among those who wish to perfect themselves" Dark Naruto said with a menacing grin.
Naruto shook his head at his counterpart's reasoning. "You're off your nut. Life is not black and white, perfection isn't possible whether you think so or not" Naruto said causing Dark Naruto's grin to fade.
Dark Naruto looked at the swordsman for a long moment before smiling again. "Perfection is very possible for those who are strong enough and willing enough to make the necessary sacrifices. And whether you like it or not Naruto, we will reach perfection. From now you will no longer be in control of our fates, it's my turn now" Dark Naruto said as he raised his hand forming a few black orbs around him. "Goodbye" Dark Naruto said as the orbs flew at Naruto.
The blonde raised his sword to defend himself but the orbs exploded a fair distance away from him. The last thing Naruto remembered was the voice of his dark self whispering, "Embrace your memories".
Naruto's eyes shot open as light shined on his face. He looked around and immediately noticed that he was standing in the living room of his house. As he continued to look around, he stopped when he saw his younger self sitting on the couch silently while Menma and Narumi were telling their mother how strong they would be nearby. All three kids looked to be around five years old. The kids and Kushina's attention changed when the front door opened and in walked Minato. Naruto watched as a smile exploded onto his younger self's face as the kid ran to greet his father only to be pushed out of the way by his siblings who ran to hug their father. While the young Naruto picked himself up off of the floor, the rest of his family were engaged in a group hug, neither of his parents noticing the fact that their son had been pushed to the ground.
"How was Kumo?" Kushina asked Minato as she, Menma, and Narumi gave Minato space so that he could speak. Menma and Narumi listened intently, wanting to hear all about their father's cool ninja adventures.
Minato chuckled at his family's enthusiasm. "Kumo was fine. The Raikage should be coming to Konoha within the next two months to finalize the treaty. Anyway, enough about work. I just so happened to bring presents!" Minato said and immediately clutched at his ears when his children screamed "PRESENTS!". Taking out a sealing scroll, Minato ran his blood across the seal and out appeared two sets of flawless looking kunai. "Menma, Narumi, these were given to me for you directly from the Raikage himself. Now you'll have to wait until your training begins to use them but they are very valuable" the blond Hokage said as his son and daughter quickly grabbed the sets to admire them happily.
Minato smiled at his children's excitement and turned to his wife. "For you my dear, I got you this" Minato said as he fished inside his cloak. He pulled out a necklace with a beautiful purple gemstone for his red headed wife who immediately gave him a giant hug.
While the four smiled, Naruto approached his father and spoke up. "Do I get a gift as well father?" the small blonde asked causing his father's face to pale and gain a nervous look. Naruto looked away as he remembered the response that his father and mother gave him and waited for his younger self to receive the same hurt that he did so many years ago.
Minato scratched his head nervously. "I'm sorry Naruto, I forgot about your present. Don't worry though, I'll remember to get you something next time" the father said as he started to feel bad upon seeing the sad and disappointed look on his son's face.
Kushina stepped in to shift the attention away from her husband and hopefully remove the tension. "Naruto, let's stop badgering your father. He's probably very tired from his trip and he needs rest" she said gaining an appreciative look from her husband. "Besides Naruto, your training is still a long way off so you shouldn't even be thinking about your ninja career right now. Now, I've almost finished dinner so everyone get washed up and take your seats.
Naruto looked at his younger self and could feel the heartbreak and hurt that the little five year old felt. It hurt his heart to see any kid go through this, even if it was just him in an occurrence that happened years ago. Before any other thoughts could enter Naruto's mind, the memory changed.
The blonde swordsman looked around as he was now in the kitchen. It was dark outside and Minato and Kushina sat at the kitchen table. Naruto watched as his younger self walked into the kitchen with a book on chakra control in his hand. Naruto remembered this memory, it was the last time he ever asked for training from his parents before his return to Konoha. He was seven at the time he made his request. The blonde watched and waited for what he knew was yet another disappointment to occur.
"Um Mom, Dad?" the younger Naruto asked meekly.
Minato and Kushina looked at their son and sighed in annoyance and exhaustion. "What do you want Naruto?" Minato asked trying to dismiss his son as quickly as possible.
Young Naruto approached slowly and looked at the ground. "Um, I was hoping that you could help me with a few of these words in this book" young Naruto said quietly as his parents' eyes narrowed at him. Both his mother and his father looked at the book before Kushina quickly snatched the book away from her son.
"Where did you get this Naruto and why are you reading it?" Kushina asked with an angry tone causing her son to take a step back and rub his shoulder nervously.
"I just wanna be a strong ninja like you and I thought that if I could learn some ninja techniques, maybe I could be strong enough to join in training with Menma and Narumi" the little blonde said hopefully. The little kid thought that his parents would be proud of him for taking the initiative to learn more but they instead felt the opposite.
Kushina stood up with a scowl on her face. "We already told you that your training will begin when we say so. You do not have permission to go through our things just because you are to impatient. This is one of the reasons why we aren't training you Naruto. You're impatient and not mature enough to begin training yet. Maybe you should take notes on how Menma and Narumi act, you may learn something. Now go to your room and don't bring this up with us again" Kushina said harshly as the little boy turned around and walked with his shoulder sagging and tears starting to fall.
Naruto watched as his younger self walked away and once again felt the deep stabbing pain of neglect and despair that he felt so long ago. It hurt his heart once again as old memories were brought up that he thought he had gotten past. Just like before, his memory caused a deep pain within him before the memory changed.
Naruto examined his surroundings and noticed that he was in his room. It was pretty bare inside, no decorations, nothing that individualized the room as his. He looked at his younger self who was sitting on his bed quietly when Menma and Narumi burst into his room without even a single knock. Once again, Naruto immediately recognized the memory. It was the day after his tenth birthday, and it was in this very memory that lived the reason for him leaving Konoha.
Menma and Narumi stood in front of the young Naruto with sneers on their faces. "We told you that Mom and Dad hate you. You aren't even a part of this family anymore, you're just a pathetic nobody" Menma said with Narumi nodding. "Yeah loser, and pretty soon you'll be out on the streets because no one cares about you. Not Mom, not Dad, not Grandma Tsunade or Grandpa Jiraiya. Not even Kakashi cares about you because you are a loser. I bet that we could end you right now and no one would even ask why. You could die and no one would even care" said Narumi.
Naruto watched, clenching his fists as he saw evidence of his siblings' hatred towards him. He never did find out what specifically caused his siblings' hatred of him but honestly, he didn't care. Now, Menma and Narumi were enemies of Konoha and enemies of him.
Thinking about the memories he had been shown up to now made Naruto angry, but he calmed himself as he thought of the good memories that had turned him into a fearsome ninja. Yakumo showed him real affection, Sasuke showed him real friendship, Itachi showed him real instruction, and Sera showed him the care of a family. With his resolve in tact, Naruto broke out of his memories.
Naruto's eyes sprang open just in time to see his dark self standing over him and in the process of bringing Naruto's sword down upon him. On pure reflex alone, Naruto raised his arm in defense. In his hand appeared his trident that he used when he entered sage mode. The golden trident blocked the sword in Dark Naruto's hand. Dark Naruto frowned at the resistance and pushed harder only to begin to be pushed back.
Naruto slowly but steadily rose as he pushed against the sword that belonged to him and before was standing at eye level with his dark self. "My past may not have been favorable to me, but I prefer to focus on the present. I focus on the ones who give me strength, something that I don't think you really understand. Allow me to demonstrate" Naruto said before giving a strong push with his trident knocking Dark Naruto back a few feet. Before Dark Naruto could shake off being thrown, Naruto had summoned a fair amount of water from the air around him until it formed a wave behind him. Reaching his arm behind him, Naruto forced lightning chakra into the wave and shouted "Voltage Wave" before sending it rushing towards Dark Naruto. As the attack went, a vision of his mentor Sera popped into his mind.
The attack soaked the other Naruto and gave him quite a few shocks as well. Before Dark Naruto could get situated, Naruto shouted "Electromagnetic Field" as electricity surged along the ground electrocuting his dark self. The image of his best friend Sasuke appeared into his mind with the attack. Just as Naruto prepared for another attack, he had to quickly dodge as Dark Naruto appeared behind him and swung his sword. The dark form was drenched and twitching. Yelling in anger, Dark Naruto continued after Naruto, swinging sword slash after sword slash. Naruto blocked each one with a little bit of difficulty but blocked them all the same. Once again, the blade and trident came to a standstill as Naruto and Dark Naruto pushed against one another, each one trying to gain any leverage they could.
"Why do you get to live huh? Why can't I give it a shot in the real world? What's so wrong with wanting to live?" Dark Naruto screamed out causing Naruto to frown. "It's not your desire to live that's wrong, it's your desires of vengeance and hatred that are wrong" Naruto responded causing Dark Naruto to growl and separate before yelling out, "Ending Void". A large pulsing mass of dark energy formed in front of a smiling Dark Naruto. "This is the end of you and the beginning of me" Dark Naruto said before launching the attack at Naruto.
Naruto stared down the attack with a frown and stabbed his trident into the ground. Reaching out his arm, he focused hard. After a second of heavy focus, his sword removed itself from Dark Naruto's grip and appeared in Naruto's empty hand. Once the blonde took hold of his sword, he swung a strong strike forward to meet Dark Naruto's attack. A wave of chakra met the dark mass of energy and the two struggled for dominance for a long moment before ultimately destroying each other. The explosion of the two attacks knocked both Naruto and Dark Naruto backwards more than a few feet.
After a few seconds on the ground, Naruto shakily stood up with a throbbing head and a ringing in his ears. He noticed that Dark Naruto was getting up as well and knew that it was time to finish this. Going through a few quick handsigns, Naruto shakily said "Lightning Prison". When Naruto finished speaking, a multitude of tiny lightning bolts surrounded Dark Naruto much like his girlfriend's "Porcupine's Prison". An image of Yakumo flowed through his mind as he silently thanked his girlfriend for the power that she gave him. Making one final handsign, Naruto watched as each lightning bolt simultaneously plunged into the dark figure. One by one, each one inflicting more pain than the last, went through Dark Naruto's body. It took a total of two minutes before the attack graciously ended for Dark Naruto.
Dark Naruto looked up, still standing but panting heavily. "If you think that pathetic attempt of an attack was enough to beat me, you're in for a surprise" Dark Naruto said and tried to take a step forward but found himself unable to move. He looked forward to see his opponent giving a small grin.
"It wasn't meant to end you, but this will" Naruto said before forming one final attack in his hand. Slowly but surely, he formed his own special rasengan as he started to run at Dark Naruto. As he approached Dark Naruto, an image of his father flashed through his mind before he slammed his rasengan into Dark Naruto shouting, "TEMPEST RASENGAN".
When the attack died down, everything was quiet. For a long time, neither Naruto nor Dark Naruto moved. Eventually, Dark Naruto weakly walked just past Naruto before stopping and looking up with a sad smile on his face. "All I really wanted was a chance to experience what real life is like. What it's like to feel the wind in my hair, what it's like to swim in real water, to experience what nature is like." Dark Naruto sighed in disappointment. "Guess it was a foolish dream" he said before looking at Naruto. "Word of advice, sometimes it's okay to take things personally. Whether you like it or not, you've got some repressed feelings up there that you're gonna have to come to terms with sooner or later. You've got a long and tough journey ahead of you, but I'm sure you'll do fine. You are the Lunar Soldier after all" Dark Naruto said with a smile before dissipating into nothing but dust.
Naruto watched as his darker self ceased to exist with conflicted feelings. On the one hand, he was glad that he was gone because he was still angry over what he tried to pull. On the other hand, he couldn't help but feel bad for the being. Such a menial dream that was never to be realized caused him a bit of sadness.
Naruto slowly sat down, breathing heavily and feeling exhausted. Looking up at the sky, he quietly said "I'm coming home".
(Shinigami's Blade Base)
Tsuranabi sat in his chair as Sashira entered his office.
"Have you found the body?" asked the leader of the Shinigami's Blade.
Sashira quickly nodded. "I found the body with the seal still in tact."
Tsuranabi smiled at the information and started to chuckle. "Good, good. Soon we shall see what is stronger. A serpent or a dragon" Tsuranabi said before chuckling again.
Author's Note: Hey everyone, once again sorry it took so long. I tried out a new style and tried to space things out in order to limit confusion within the text so let me know if I should go back to the old way or keep it like this. Anyway, as always thanks for all of the support and I hope to get the next chapter out to you all as soon as possible. Until next time.