Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters written here. They are own by their respective owners. Nuff' said.
Warning: This is rated M for a reason (blood, gore, extreme violence, language, and possible adult themes/lemons, etc.) Some of the characters will be a little OC.
Now on with the chapter. This chapter and the few after were the winning votes from a poll
The Black Leaves
Chapter 37
Naruto stood at the door of a large room filled with technology too advanced for the era of his people. Computer monitors lined the walls, with images of varying people and places that Naruto had never seen before. A giant monitor was mounted on the wall directly across from the entrance to the large room. Several hosts and symbiotes were either sitting or standing at the many control panels that lined the walls and were either typing or talking to unknown individuals via headsets.
"Over here, Lord Venom" Revenge said from her standing position near the giant monitor. Next to her stood the matriarchal leader of the symbiotes, Empress. The two symbiotes were looking up at the large monitor, which was displaying the image of a large Japanese-style castle. Naruto walked across the room and stood next to his leader and gazed up at the monitor.
"This is where your next mission will take place," Empress said before Naruto could open his mouth. The image on the screen zoomed out, showing a large city surrounding the castle. "The mission area is located on a land mass that is just barely connected to your home continent by a small strip of land hardly a hundred feet across. The humans and wildlife there have grown and changed differently from what you are used to. The symbiote leader handed Naruto a folder containing information on the land, its people, their customs, and whatever dangers he might face.
"Originally, your mission was going to be finding a gem that is rumored to contain vast amounts of power. We were going to send you out to conferm and retrieve the gem so that we may use its power to generate more food; but a much more serious problem has arisen." Empress turned and faced Naruto, with a scary-serious expression written all over here alien face.
"We have reason to believe that there is a xenophage hidden somewhere within the walls of this city. We have already sent several symbiotes to combat the possible problem, but none have returned and any attempts of communication with them has resulted in nothing but silence."
Naruto just continued to look up at Empress not saying a word. Empress stared back at him for a moment before giving an exaggerated sigh.
"Life would be so much easier if Lord Venom would actually tell his host this information," She cleared her throat and continued. "A xenophage is a predator of us symbiotes. It is a shape-shifter just as we are, but can shape-shift into inanimate objects as well as other creatures. What it can turn into is only limited by the xenophage's size. It does not require a host, like we do, to survive; but must hunt down food all the same. Unfortunately, we are a primary food source, so we are always at the top of the list of prey. Xenophage are able to increase their strength and mass via the amount of food they consume and thus, are able to increase their level of threat towards our own kind. The most dangerous ability of the xenophage however, is their ability to produce a paralyzing poison in the form of a liquid or a gas. We are unable to resist it and even with our superior healing abilities, we will remain motionless for hours if not quickly treated."
"If this xenophage is so far away, why are we bothering with it?" Naruto asked with an unconcerned glance. "Why don't we just wait for it to come to us? We have a family to destroy anyway."
Empress sighed. "Please think Lord Venom. If we were to wait for the xenophage to arrive here, that would mean it has eaten all life on that landmass and not even a combination of all of this village's symbiotes and even your final form would be able to stop the creature before it would consume the rest of the known Earth."
"OK, well, if it is such a danger to us, then why are you sending only us alone to kill this thing? Shouldn't we need at least some back-up?" Naruto responded hastily.
"Have you already forgotten, Lord Venom? You have encountered and killed several xenophage all on your own in the past. We have already sent several teams with none returning any of our attempts at communication and we can not risk loosing anymore of our brood." She clapped her hands and looked at Revenge. "Revenge will guide you to the location where the landmass connects to the continent, after, you will be on your own. All of the supplies you will need will be given to you before you leave the hive."
Naruto took his leave and received a small bag filled with what few supplies he might need for his mission. Emergency feed broth and several vials of a liquid designed to nullify the effects of xenophage induced paralysis. Naruto quickly swallowed the bag for safe storage before finding Revenge at the entrance of the hive and following her out.
The two traveled at a relatively fast pace to the desired location. Not a word was said between the two; Naruto had no idea how to approach such an emotionally distant individual. The only person he knew that was almost as emotionally dead was Uchiha Itachi. That reminded him, he needed to kill him before those annoying demon hunters could get their hands on him.
It was after sundown a day later when they arrived to the tiny stretch of land that connected the continent Naruto was from to the landmass of a land trapped in the past. Revenge said her quick farewell before dashing off, leaving Naruto all alone to traverse completely foreign territory.
The young man looked straight ahead and shrugged before pulling out the information folder Empress gave him before starting the walk across the land-bridge. He started to read up on the information gathered about the unfamiliar world he was approaching and discovered several interesting facts.
One such interesting fact was about the gem that Empress was originally send Venom out to recover. The gem held some kind of amazing power, but had been split into countless number of pieces scattered all over the continent it had originated from. Apparently just one of the shared carried enough power to enhance the abilities of whatever made contact with it.
Every small village and larger city on the landmass lived in a manner similarly to how the ancestor's from his own country once lived. But the biggest thing of note that Naruto learned was of the live the flourished in these lands. Along with the normal animals the inhabited the area, monsters and demons flourished and were a constant threat to the lives of all humans that lived in the lands.
Naruto's eyes widened and his mouth began to water after reading that tidbit of information. A prominent food source that he could feed upon and not worry about any human counter-action; this land was a symbiotic dream come true!
It took Naruto several hours to cross the small land bridge that connected the two landmasses together. He turned to look behind him once he reached the mainland and noted that he was unable to see his home continent. He turned back and began walking into the woods of the new lands; his stomach growling. Unfortunately for Naruto, he was unable to find any prey before jumping up into a tree and preparing a small temporary nest to sleep in for the remainder of the night.
The young host woke up the next day to the bright sunshine and the sounds of nature. He yawned before leaping to the ground and waiting for his nest to dissolve into dust. After, he was able to hunt down several deer to consume and continued on his mission.
After a while of walking, the young ninja found himself on a small dirt road and began to follow it. He continued down it before hie senses warned him of an incoming attack. Naruto quickly swiveled around and raised his hands up to catch a large spiked metal club that was trying to come down on his blond head.
The club belonged to the typical large one-eyed ogre, tusks and horn just completed the image of the monster. The leopard print loin-cloth did nothing to detour the established ogre image.
"What the?!" The beast shouted as he felt his weapon being violently pulled out of his grasp. The ogre stumbled forward only to smash his face against a black skull and fall back onto his rear. He had no time to react as a large claw was shoved into his neck and another stabbed into is fat belly. The ogre grabbed onto the large claw in his neck and struggled to remove it while the other claw was violently wretched in and out of his gut over and over.
Venom continued to stab into the ogre repeatedly before pulling his large-clawed hand to the side, spilling the demon's entrails upon the ground. Venom slammed his foot onto the ogre's leg and pulled up with enough force to rip his head away from the rest of his body. Venom did not wait any longer and quickly began to devour the still twitching body of the ogre.
He ate all he could while saving the brain for last. He left what remained in the middle of road and pulled out his map after licking himself clean of the blood and gore. Venom began to walk down the road while trying to find a good way to get to the city containing the xenophage. After a short while of contemplating the multiple routes he could take, Venom found the stealthiest method available.
A nearby river flowed all the way through the city and, from the information given in the map, was deep enough for Venom to enter the city unnoticed. So, the symbiote traveled across the dirt road until he was close enough to the river and quickly leapt right into it's cool waters.
Venom instantly sank down to the bottom of the deeper-than-expected river. His massive bulk built for movement on land, not water. So, Venom decided it would be best if he stayed close to the river's edge and slowly crawl his way to the city on all fours while hiding in the water.
Venom crawled along the river bottom while allowing the current to gently push him along. The large symbiote traveled in that manner for a majority of the day, bringing only the very top of his head above the water to breath when needed. It was only when the dulled sounds of something hitting the water did Venom stop his steady movement.
Poking his head up, he saw a small group of women washing clothes while what can be assumed are their children running around and playing in the water. Deciding against bringing up any unwanted attention, Venom quickly made his way to the opposite side of the river and continued on his way.
Or that was the plan. The sudden net landing on his back interrupted that plan. With a mighty roar, Venom erupted out of the, ripping the fishing net apart with both claw and fang. His sudden appearance surprised and terrified the children that had thrown the net. The children ran away screaming along with the women that had been busy washing clothes.
"Demon! Demon!" One of the women shouted. "There is a monster in the lake!"
Venom let out another mighty roar before a whimper caught his attention. Looking straight down, the symbiote saw a little boy cowering right at his feet. Before he could do anything, a fishing spear flew past his alien head. Venom snapped his head up and saw the villager that had thrown the weapon. A middle aged man dressed in the typical attire for a villager in the current period.
The demon charged straight for the main, stepping over the child, while flailing his tongues and tentacles about. Before the man had a chance to run, Venom barreled into him and grabbed onto his shoulders tightly. He hoisted the man until he was at face level before opening his mighty jaws as wide as possible. The terrified expression on the man's face as well as on the several people around them was rather amusing to Venom.
The demon let loose a powerful roar directly into the man's horrified face. The very force of the roar was enough to knock the poor fool clean out. Feeling the man's body rag-doll, Venom dropped him heavily on the ground before flailing about more tentacles and letting loose more roars and growls.
He glanced around and noticed that everyone had fled, so Venom took the chance to raid the villagers' homes of their fish and meat. Survival of the most terrifying and all that. With an even fuller belly, Venom sank back down into the water and continued on his way.
It took Venom a full 48 hours to finally reach the waterway that entered the city. Sinking down as low as he could, Venom was able to bypass any citizen of the city that might have been looking in the river. Now, the problem was getting out without being seen.
He slowly rose to the water's surface and poked his head out to get a better idea of his surroundings. There were quiet a lot of people around along with several long-boats and shopping stalls. So, Venom sat there for a moment thinking before a clever idea popped into his head.
He sank down underneath the water's surface before quickly using several tentacles to quickly push himself back up. Venom quickly landed back into the water with a loud splash while shifting back into Naruto; changing his usual outfit for one similar to the clothing the village men were seen wearing.
Naruto's head burst from the water, coughing and spitting water as he splashed his way over to the water's edge. Several people were kind enough to help pull the young man out of the river and onto dry land. After coughing up a little more water and getting to his feet, Naruto thanked those that had helped him and tried to deny any questions of a problem.
An old woman with surprisingly strong hands grabbed Naruto by the arm and forced him to sit down behind her stall. The woman demanded Naruto's "clothes" after handing him a large blanket. When Naruto tried to refuse the help, the old woman gave a terrifying stare that resulted in Naruto yielding quickly.
Naruto sat behind the stall waited patiently for the old woman to hand him back his sun-dried clothes before saying a semi-rushed thanks and heading down the street with a wave.
"Now comes the hard part." Venom said. "Any idea where to start the search?" Naruto asked his parasite. "Find where children gather. The smell of youth should attract our prey. Try scoping out the area from atop the castle."
Naruto spotted the large structure easily, since it towered over the entire city, he would have to had been a complete moron not to notice it. Using his ninja training, the young lad easily snuck past the soldiers guarding the outside perimeter and castle courtyard. He easily climbed his way up to the very top of the castle and stood at it's very edge so as to see the entire city below. He did find it odd that nobody bothered to look up at the castle roof and see him standing there.
From his elevated position, Naruto could not see any children or see anywhere that children might gather. He continued to scan over the entire village just in case he missed any viable locations before giving a sigh of defeat. He shifted into his camouflage before slowly making his way down to the ground and sneaking out of the courtyard.
Naruto quickly traveled back to the market street next to the river and took a seat right on the river bank. He started to pretend to relax by the river-side all the while keeping his ears open for any gossip that might pertain to his current mission.
He did this for five straight days with no success. He was only able to gather random useless information from the many villagers shopping around the market. Naruto did notice that there was not a single child out since his time in the city. Not even any mothers' with their newborns. The only gossip he was able to gather was just basic going-ons as well as people talking about the strange young lad that sat by the river side every day.
It was on another dull day that Naruto finally overheard something of value.
"Miss," An elderly voice spoke out. "Your child may be a demon, but you should hide him as soon as you can if you plan on staying within the city."
"I'm not her kid!" A male child's voice shouted loudly.
"Calm down," A young girl's voice said. "Why would I hide him? Is there something happening to the children in the city?"
"Any child within this city either disappear or become very very ill. The city guard have been trying to find the cause of the problem, but have only come up with the cause being a demon that can hide very well." The old man explained.
"We got nothin' to worry about," An arrogant tone rang out. "We'll be out of the city long before any little demon can get close to us."
"That would be best." The old man replied.
"Now hold on." Another young man's voice reached Naruto's ears. "The demon might be in possession of a jewel shard. Plus, what kind of man would deny assisting the mother's of this city in their hour of need?"
"If you do want to help, I suggest you go speak with the city guards. They should direct you to the guard caption and he should tell you how you can help."
Through-out the entire conversation, Naruto's body slowly started to blend into his surrounding environment. It was a pitiful attempt at slinking away unnoticed; unfortunately the attempt failed.
A pointing and shouting man drew very unwanted attention towards the fading teenager. The sound of a sword unsheathing forced Naruto to take instant action; by jumping up onto the roof of a nearby building and becoming completely camouflaged.
He couldn't even take a breath before a white-haired youth was slamming down a large blade onto the very roof Naruto was standing on; forcing the young ninja to leap off and land on the dirt road below. His body could not shift camouflage fast enough to allow him to escape.
The same white-haired young adult leapt off the roof and in front of the oddly colored demon. "You can't hide from me, I can smell you a mile away. So, stop trying and face me!"
"Why should we?" The still partially camouflaged Naruto's disguised voice spoke out. "We have no desire to feed as of now and you are not our prey. So fighting you would be a waste of time and energy."
The white-haired teenager flicked one of the doh-like ears positioned atop his head while gritting and tightening his grip on the very large sword in his hands. Naruto's eyes looked past the teen and noticed the very small fox-like child sitting on the back of a very large and burning saber-toothed cat. His eyes widened as Venom concocted a plan to draw out their mission target.
"We know the beast that is killing the children of this city" Naruto said calmly. "We know how to draw it out as well. If you help us bring it out, we will kill it before leave this place."
"How do we know your not the demon and are simply trying to trick us into a trap?" A girl wielding a giant boomerang asked from her position beside a young male priest.
Because we have no need to kill any of you; right now. All we need is the death of the monster by any means necessary. And if that means we have to take that fox-child by force, then so be it!"
At being mentioned, the child gave a small whimper before hiding behind the large head of the fire-cat.
"I dare ya' to try and take him!" The red-clad warrior threatened as he swung his sword at the partially visible enemy. Naruto took a step back to avoid the attack and produced several small tentacles from the palms of his hands. He was about to attack the arrogant sword wielder when a teenage girl dressed in a high-school outfit suddenly stepped in between the two with her arms extended.
"Hold it!" She shouted. "I'm sure there is someway for us to work this out without you two hotheads trying to kill each other."
The sound of something large impacting the ground coupled with loud screaming interrupted the group. Naruto sniffed the air and could smell the faintest sent of xenophage-produced gas.
"Looks like we didn't need your child." He quipped before leaping off towards the sound's origin.
"He is not my kid!" the white-haired youth shouted before leaping after Naruto. From the rooftop of the small shack Naruto landed on, he could see nearly all of the xenophage.
The alien was at least fifty feet tall. The creatures body was a sickly pink-ish-gray color and covered in lizard-like scales. The head of the xenophage looked similar to a golden mask resembling some sort of insect-bird hybrid while it's arms were incredibly thin and appeared to lack any skin at all. Each arm ended in a four talon-ed hand, each talon was covered in much smaller serrated claws. The xenophage's back was covered in sickly green colored fur that appeared dusty and covered in dirt. The entire lower portion of the beast was composed of countless numbers of tentacles of various sizes that were all the same horrid pink tone as the rest of the xenophage.
"Someone has been eating healthy." Naruto quipped before he brought down his camouflage. He focused his eyes a little and saw that the xenophage had two small children within it's tentacle'd grasp. "And it looks like he's going to be eating again soon."
"I'll handle this!" the white-haired guy shouted, completely ignoring the younger teenager, before leaping off in the direction of the larger threat. The rest of the people that had been with him were quick to follow. Naruto calmly walked behind the young adults knowing full well what was about to happen as he turned towards the city's main entrance.
The silver-haired youth that almost every reader of this fanfiction should know by now but I refuse to wright his name due to it pissing off my girlfriend, brought his over-sized weapon over his head and let loose three streams of energy in the direction of the xenophage. The alien saw the attack coming and put up a wall of it's tentacles to block the incoming attack.
The energy attack hit straight on, but left not a scratch on the massive creature. The xenophage let loose a loud screeching roar before swiping his arm at the sword-wielding young man, knocking him clean out of the air and outside of the city. He landed right next to the patiently waiting Naruto.
"So," He started as the warrior slowly sat up with a groan. "How'd that plan work out for ya'?" The level of sass was high in his voice.
"You think you can do better?!" The young man said while jumping to his feet and violently grabbing the front of Naruto's collar.
"We know we can." Naruto responded with a giant smile. "We've killed his kind before. None that large, but it can't be much different than the others." The red wearing young man balled his other fist and was about to sock Naruto in the face when his friends arrived.
Naruto quickly slipped free of his grasp and walked forward a bit, watching the giant xenophage smash through several homes and snatch up the young children hiding inside. "Though what made him come out of hiding and go on such a destructive spree is beyond us. Xenophage are an ambush predator, they hardly ever actively hunt. And when they do, never in such a wild and out of control way. What could have caused this?"
It was only then did Venom notice a small feeling of energy coming from the young girl dressed in a modern-day school outfit. He quickly told his host what he assumed it to be and how it could possibly be the cause for the xenophage's bizarre behavior.
"Either way. WE will handle this." He said as he slowly began to strut over to the rampaging alien. As he walked, Naruto's human body began to shift. His massive hands sprouted out of his back while his muscle mass increased.
"You know," Naruto started. "We don't normally have a chance to 'let loose'. We always feel that if we don't hold back, we'll hurt someone or something we care for. Hell, we can't even go all out on our own food for fear of completely destroying it. But now...now we have something. Something big, bad, and inedible in an area we don't care about." The boy's body size increased as his eyes grew completely white and much larger than normal.
Venom finished his transformation before cracking his knuckles and speaking again. "We are going to have some real fun now."
The xenophage was not paying any attention to Venom and continued to smash through any structure it thought a human child would be hiding in. Venom crouched down before leaping with enough power to shatter the ground under his feet. He was about to reach the larger alien when said beast slammed one of it's tentacles directly into Venom.
The symbiote grabbed the offending appendage and, upon landing, used the built up momentum to lift the xenophage up and over his shoulder. The xenophage was surprised when it felt itself being lifted off the ground and sent arcing through the air and slammed into the hard ground. The creature was still able to hold onto it's captured prey.
The xenophage quickly got up off the ground and tried to find the perpetrator of the violent action; it only received a screaming Venom slamming hard into it's golden face. The force of the impact was enough to send the xenophage reeling back and fall back onto the ground. Venom started beating his fists on the golden face of the xenophage. Even using all of his strength, Venom could not bash through the other alien's tough exterior.
The xenophage reached up and pried Venom of it's face before raising the symbiote high into the air and slamming him hard into the ground. The alien brought his head down to get a better look at his pinned attacker; a horrifying grin appeared on the beast's face. "Well, if this isn't a vary tasty surprise." It spoke in a hissing voice.
"Here I thought all that was worth eating here were the young of the humans," He brought a crying child over to show as an example. "But here I find a delicious energy source as well as a tasty symbiote? The others were right, this planet is a paradise, hahaha." The xenophage then raised Venom high into the air again before applying a quick squeeze that took the breath right out of the struggling symbiote. The larger monster opened it's beak-like mouth and dropped the dazed symbiote right in without so much a second thought.
The monster should have; since the second he closed his mouth on the black symbiote a sharp pain erupted on his tongue. He opened his mouth and let out a loud roar of pain while flinging around his long, thin tongue. Venom had dug his fangs and claws into the soft fleshy appendage and refused to let go despite being tossed around so violently.
Venom's claws and fangs dug deeper and deeper into the soft flesh of the xenophage's tongue; until, with a violent rip, a large portion of the slimy appendage was torn away from the rest of it with Venom still holding onto it. Both hit the ground with a loud thud while the larger alien continued to scream in pain as bright purple blood filled his jaws and spilled over his fangs.
Venom too was spitting and hacking up the same blood. Just having it in his mouth was causing his jaws to slowly become numb. He quickly jumped out of the way of the xenophage's incoming hand and quickly leapt up onto a rooftop before jumping right at the larger alien once again. This time, he brought his larger claws up and dug them deep into the tough flesh of his target. Too deep into the weird creature. Venom could not pull his large claws out of the creature he was trying to kill.
The hacking chuckle of the xenophage caused Venom to look up at the face of the beast. The big monster brought up several of it's tentacles and suddenly ejected several clouds of a dark yellow powder. A blast of the stuff his Venom square in the face as well as every other part of his large body. Venom coughed and hacked as his body slowly started to go numb.
The xenophage proceeded to yank the incapacitated Venom out of his flesh and hold him up to eye-level. The creature brought up another one of it's scaly tentacles and dangled it directly in front of Venom before violently jabbing it down Venom's throat. The symbiote could feel the appendage rip through his esophagus and do a U-turn up his spine and travel directly into his brain. The appendage then began to spin around violently, shredding Venom's brain into a pulpy slurry. Darkness claimed Venom's conscious mind not soon after.
The xenophage ripped it's tentacle out of Venom's head along with a large portion of his skull. "I will devour you later; when I'm not busy devouring the young of this planet's cattle." It said before spitting a large amount of it's paralyzing blood all over Venom's corpse and tossing the body over it's shoulder half-haphazardly then repeatedly slamming several tentacles down on the body until it was nothing more than a purple puddle.
Several hours later; the village was reduced to nothing but destroyed buildings and broken bodies. In the xenophage's rage he decided to destroy the entire village. The young people that had tried to fight the beast had to flee after attempting to stop the creature with no results yielding at all. Those that did not escape the village during the alien's rampage where killed when it decided to release a massive cloud of it's powerful paralyzing agent.
The crumbled remains of the once large city was now a perfect place for bandits, thieves, and other scavengers to congregate. Such as a small ragtag of dishonorable samurai that normally found fun in cutting down hapless travelers on the dirt roads. The carnage left behind by the monster was the perfect place to gather up any valuables left behind and cut down any foolish villagers hoping to return home.
Looting the corpses and rubble yielded a high numbers of valuables as well as some still edible food that the villagers had stored away. The main prize of the destroyed city was the remains of the castle. There was a large amount of fighting happening around there as everyone wanted the treasures that still remained. The smart ones knew to stay away until everyone else had either killed the others or were too worn-out to put up a worthy fight.
While all of this was going on the before mentioned group of bandits were shifting through the remains of the once bustling marketplace. Any remaining items were quickly swiped and placed in several large bags that the group would take back to their camp once they filled them. One of the dirty road-warriors was moving aside several broken planks of wood when some movement near another destroyed stall caught his eye. A smile appeared on his dirty and scared face before he turned and shouted at his allies rummaging through some other rubble.
"Looks like we gotta' survivor over 'ere." He shouted loudly as he got closer to the moving rubble, a menacing grin visible on his wretched face. The other bandits dropped whatever they were doing and join up with the caller.
The bandit that had spotted the movement started shifting through the junk in an effort to find the source of the shifting wood. He was able to make a small hole and tried to peer through it. Something launched itself towards the man and slammed into his face with enough force to send him flying several feet onto his back. His group was quick to rush over and see if he was still alive; if for no other reason than to claim any and all of his possessions.
Their buddy was still for a few seconds before opening his eyes and slowly getting to his feet. His body acted very limply and his eyes were glazed over and dull. Without saying a word, the man started walking away from the group and towards the ruined city entrance. The others watched as he left and simply shrugged their shoulders before returning to their task of shifting through the debris.
The man continued to limply shamble past the city's entrance and down the road, not stopping for anything. Along the way, the shambling man encountered demons and other unfavorable types of people who willingly attacked him, only to receive no response from the man at all. Not even when his arm was severed by a small band of highwaymen did the man even hesitate.
The dead-eyed human finally stopped walking when he finally approached a beach where another land mass could be seen. The man stood there patiently until, under the cover of moonlight, the water gave way to a very thin strip of land that connected the two land masses. When it appeared, the man shambled across to the other side.