Blame the Demons that Raised Me
Cassiopaya:
-First off if my memory is correct Naruto didn't get that ability until shippuden, and secondly and more importantly, I made it an Upgrade choice.
-As for the Gato raid, Gnarl probably is, but Naruto wasn't no did he care at the time to go off on a raid, he wanted to fight.
-Thank you for your comment, I encourage you to comment on this chapter as well.
Chapter Six: The Requirements of Alignment
~Third Person~
"Well for one, you need power, you need income, which is money, and lots of it my lord. On top of that, a place of operation which is typically a tower of sorts. In olden days, such a tower was a symbol of evil called the dark tower, it was dark and imposing. It struck fear the hearts of many, only the bravest or foolish dared to approach such a monument. However, the most important thing you should of think about it is which path you will mostly likely align yourself with." Gnarl exclaimed to his young master, who was standing in front of the Cavernheart.
"Aren't I aligned with evil?" Naruto asked with his arms crossed and his back to the Cavernheart.
"Well yes but the alignment reflects what type of ruler you will be. Will you follow the domination route or the path of destruction? It is your choice my lord."
"Domination?"
"Yes, this path focuses more like your Hokage, your word and will are absolute the people will obey and serve you blindly. Not as violent as the Destruction route and does take more time but it is better for long term plans."
"Ok sounds kinda cool, I can still kill people, though right?"
"Of course, but be mindful not to kill civilians as you can eventually turn them in to slaves that will serve you. "
"Cool."
"That is the domination route, the destruction route is becoming a killing machine, leaving nothing in your wake but death and devastation. This route is much more lethal and fear provoking than the other. And like other overlords in the past that have followed this route you tend to gain much more money when looting and pillaging."
"So, under domination for example the town I was just at, I would turn them into my slaves?"
"Correct my lord, they would work for you and upon claiming the town, would start providing you with a constant stream loot, money and weapons for your minions."
"But following the destruction route, I would slaughter them all. This is a tough choice now that I'm thinking about it. Wish I could do both."
"Well you could stay somewhere in the middle but the more you lean to one side the more powerful that side's effectiveness becomes. But for now, just keep that in mind, the Netherworld won't re-evilize itself my lord. Let's see if you can get a vision on how to take care of our once evil domain and see if you can't uncover how to unseal that demon fox inside you."
"Right." Naruto nodded and rose his hand to the large glowing orb. He closed his eyes, waiting for a vision to show him what he has to do.
~The Vision~
I was laying down within a circle of lit black candles laying on the cavern floor, in my underwear. All the symbols on my stomach, except of the large swirl in the center, were outlined in my blood. There were also strange words written across my forehead in a language I've never seen before.
"Are you ready master?" Gnarl said.
"Shadow Clone Justu...now I'm ready." I said before I closed my eyes.
"The Nine-tailed fox's chakra is probably bigger than I can even imagine but this protection spell will protect your consciousness from him while allowing you to access his chakra, once you unseal him that it is. It will be like a gate canal, only letting small pieces through. Hopefully the magical proprieties will out-weigh his immense chakra cuz if this doesn't work, it'll probably kill you and in a very gruesome way." Mortis added, making me a little uneasy.
"Wow thanks." I said as I opened on eye to glare at the old blue minion, who was holding a bowl of water from the Cavernheart's pool.
"Fear not my lord, this is a very strong protection spell. It's well fortified so don't you worry. And at any point you begin to worry, we can do this spell again to heal and renew it."
There were six clones around me and each one started the spell, chanting an incantation. Mortis dipped his fingers in the magical water and began to wet my forehead then the rest the rest of my face.
Now, I stood in front of a large cage, with thin bars and a seal posing as a lock. I could see that inside was a massive orange fox. The weird part was that there was a light layer of water on the ground but, it didn't seem to get anything wet.
"You're the fox spirit?" I said as I looked up at fox, laying on the floor in its cage.
"Yes, and you're the runt I'm trapped in.."
"Well you're about to gain some freedom. I was gonna do the unsealing justu but it turns out you can't do a jutsu halfway, but it was worth a shot. Lucky for me all I have to do is take off that seal."
"Hmph so you're setting me free just like that?" The fox said with skepticism and menace.
"Oh, no no, if I fully let you out, you would do who knows what and where would that leave me? Not to mention you'll probably just get captured again. Oh, no and then who would destroy the Hidden Leaf Village? No one."
"You cannot handle my power brat, a mere weakling like you is only still alive because of such power. If not for it you would have been dead for some time and if not for this cage I would grind your bones with my teeth."
"...you sure like to talk a lot..." I said just before the ground I stood on shook then there was a pause and then it shook again, even more violently. I smiled as I walked over to the cage trying to keep my balance, when I made it to the bars, I climbed my way up them. It was a short time before I reached the seal. I waited until the ground stopped shaking before I ripped off the seal. At this point my body was glowing, I ripped off the seal and let it fall to the ground, I quickly felt a massive wave of chakra, strong enough to paralyze me where I was.
I slid down the bars, it was true evil and raw power. I never felt anything like it before in my life, it was angry and vengeful. The gates violently shook, forcing me off of them. I hit the ground, hard but was relatively undamaged. I looked up to see that there was red chakra everywhere, all around he me, twisting and turning, trying to bind me, but it wasn't working.
I sat up, the air was heavy with malice but, I was able to move freely. As much as I wanted to stand my ground and show no fear, I had a feeling that things would work better if I took the more passive route. I sat on the floor with my legs crossed and ended the blue ability, I felt the chakra weigh down on me, but I was still in complete control, still glowing too.
I expected for the doors to burst open but they didn't. I looked up to see a metal swirl that was imbedded in the door. I took a moment to think and decided that for now to let that be. There was no need to actually let the fox out and the chakra around me is more than enough to crush any one I wish. All I need is to get use to controlling it.
"You think I'm that easy to control? I'm the incarnation of hate itself and you're some weak, pathetic fool!" The fox growled out as he stood up to leave the cage.
"I will bring the village to its knees. I'm not letting anyone get in my way, especially not an oversized bitch." The fox roared and attacked the cage but it stood tall. I then noticed a barrier forming around me, it was clear and see through. The barrier kept the fox's chakra a distance and withstood the strikes the hateful energy delivered.
Now, I stood before the Netherheart, it was a round pink ball shinning with bright yellows and a verity of other warm colors. I stood in a field of various flowers fully armored. I pulled out a kunai and took off my regular gauntlet. I stabbed my bare hand then with the bloody kunai, jabbed the ball of rainbow sparkles.
I waited a moment before pulling the kunai out of the heart and where I stabbed it there was a black mark, small but noticeable.
I got on all fours and growled, feeling the nine-tailed fox's chakra fill my body. I was surrounded by chakra it swirled around me. My armor started to crack and in a few moments, it was rocketed off of me. The mask managed to stay put but had a few cracks in it. My leather under clothes had massive tears in various places. I stared up at the joy filled Netherheart, the mark I made was gone.
My body was completely surrounded by chakra, which resembled that of a fox, with pointed ears, clawed paws, a snout and a tail. The ground under me started to blacken and turn to stone, it spread underneath my whole body but entered a stalemate with the Golden. I walked a bit closer to the nether heart, the ground changing as I moved, purifying as I left my spot but corrupting as I neared.
I let out a dark chuckle, before a ball of red chakra formed as I opened my mouth. I blasted the Neatherheart, it was enveloped in the wave of chakra. When the mass beam of chakra died down, the Netherheart was mostly black with spikes jutting out but the other side still had spots of the Golden left. The ground was mostly hard black stone, there was barely a flower in sight. I went around the Netherheart and destroyed the last remains of the Golden within it.
~Third Person~
The young overlord turned away from the Cavernheart and took a single step back before collapsing to the ground. It was clear that he received a vision but, it took too much out of him. Gnarl had Naruto carefully carried to the private quarters to recuperate.
With the arrival of morning, the overlord rose and expressed how eager he was to re-corrupt the Netherheart. However, he said that we all had to wait until he came back from whatever mission his team was given.
For breakfast, he had a few helpings of Quaver's ramen which he thought very acceptable. After the meal, it wasn't long before he took his leave. While he was away, Gnarl managed the minions and checked the various supplies they had. The health totem was almost operational all it needed was the finishing touches, which was a job given to the blues.
Lately, the minions have been searching for ways to make ninja tools, they often find spare kunai and wiring just laying around on the surface but smoke bombs, flash bombs, and large shuriken are not as easy to come by. They have looked at the ninja scrolls for instructions but they didn't have the resources to make the more advanced tools. However, one type of bomb they have been able to create is the paper bomb as it was the most simple and easiest to create. Gnarl had those mass-produced. Paper was very easy to come by and ink was very easy to steal.
~Naruto~
Today is so annoying, though I am not pestered for answers; I am stuck doing these baby missions. Today we, Sakura, Sasuke, and I, did actual farmer's work, it was bullshit! I couldn't help but think of all the better things I can have been doing than helping some lazy fuck with his god damn field!
We were out all day in the hot sun toiling away, the armor was not helping. Every passing minute I could feel my blood boiling as I knew we could or at least I could do so much better. I could actually do something and handle much more challenging missions than these other losers, haven't I proved that already? They can stay here doing baby missions for all I care.
I did not let my grievances go unvoiced but Kakashi spouted some bullshit that I basically explained to me that he didn't care and my life fucking sucks right now.
It was around sundown when we were dismissed, my body was sore but I didn't care, I needed some actual progress to be made. I went to the Minion Cavern and told the minions all the things they had to get and had to do for the protection spell. To my surprise the Cavernheart showed me a powerful yet simple spell that would protect my brain from getting taken over, so when I ripped off the tag to the fox's cage, it won't be able to influence or hurt me.
That night, we preformed the protection spell just as I saw in my vision and it went down perfectly. The talk with the fox went a bit better than I foresaw but, not by much. I opened my eyes to see I was still with in the black candle lit circle, I could definitely feel the change in my body as I sat up.
It was a greater sense of evil within me, raw and even angrier than I usually am. I knew I probably should have taken a much-needed rest but I wasn't done yet. I haven't had a way to unleash my rage that has been building through the day. I got to my feet and took in a deep breath. I was barely in anything, only my pants and the minion gauntlet which was never taken off.
I immediately ordered Grubby to take me to the Netherworld, he got me there in good time. I jumped off a ledge he made for me and landed in a patch of soft flowers. If I wasn't so angry, I would've taken a moment to enjoy the thought of destroying such a beautiful sight. However, I was absolutely livid and something was getting a pummeling by the end of the night.
Just then these pink fluffy furry things came at me, as well as other oddly colored creatures.
"The fuck are those?" I growled out in annoyed confusion.
"Cutified minions my lord, bleh so fluffy!" Grubby shouted from his safety hole.
"Oh well they're going to die. I've had a really bad day." I charged through the flowers and punched and kicked all those cutified creatures. It was a bit hard to tell if I was going the right way as everything looked the same, I wished I grabbed my helmet, least then Gnarl would be able to tell me.
Grubby was too far away now to even be heard but I was still being swarmed, positive side it only took one punch or kick to make them explode in a purple goo.
I had no idea where I was going but somehow, I made it to the Netherheart, it was shining and glistening and I hated it.
I paused for a second then walked up to it, checking to see if anything we coming for me but nothing did. I held out my hand and desired a kunai which appeared in my hand. I stabbed my palm then jabbed it into the Netherheart.
The rest followed as the vision foresaw, with the nine tails power and the corruption of the Netherheart, the land became dark and carried a defiant sense of cruelty. A wave of evilness ran over the Golden, destroying it. It was fun to watch and even funner to see all the things return to what they once were.
Now, now, I felt like I deserved a nice rest. I walked around and found a whole new throne room. The throne here was in the back, able to look over the dark domain, which looked like a better version of hell. There was lava and floating rocks, very evil but also somewhat homey.
I walked to a large circle it was much wider than the one in the cavern. I raised my minion gauntlet and soon enough Grubby came down and stood before me.
"Master! Master fixed Netherworld!" Grubby cheered happily.
"Yes, and now master wants to take a well-deserved rest, so take me back to the cavern." I said with my arms crossed.
"Yes, master come with me." Grubby said as he walked to the center of the circle, I followed.
There were three short levels that I walked down to be able to get to the center. Soon the ground beneath our feet retreated and I could see that it was a very long way down. However, I remained in the air, as did Grubby, then we floated higher in the air. In a single moment, we appeared in front of the Cavernheart.
"Ah master, you're back, I can already tell that you were successful. I can feel it in these old decrepit bones of mine."-Gnarl
"Yes, I was and I can feel it too. This day may have started out as…as a fucking pain in my ass but at least I fixed the Netherheart. I'll see you in the morning, hopefully Kakashi won't have such a dumb ass excuse for a mission this time." I said as in headed up the small slope to my private quarters.
~Third Person~
Sasuke stood at the meeting place Kakashi told his team to, a bridge with a heavy river running under it. Sakura was already there when he got there. He mostly ignored her, she greeted him and lightly flirted but, Sasuke barely greeted her. When she mentioned that Naruto wasn't what he seemed, he paid a bit more attention.
"What do you mean? He's exactly what he seems, a loser." Sasuke asked as he leaned his back against the railing.
"Yeah duh totally but the way he killed those thugs. I mean I've never seen such a terrible sight before in my life. You have to admit that he's super weird, I mean he has demons hanging around him! It's only a matter of time before he does something like sacrifice us or something like that."
"He's weird I'll give you that but I doubt he could actually doing anything dangerous you're getting yourself worried over nothing."
"Yeah, you're probably right, I mean how dangerous can he actually be?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and stared at nothing in particular, his truest feelings on the subject were understandable but he wasn't about to let them be voiced.
Sasuke looked off to the side, she had a point, Naruto is definitely an odd one but it doesn't matter. Sasuke didn't care all that much as he knew he could beat him, though it might take longer than he predicted.
When Naruto arrived an hour later, fully clad in his armor, he looked around and after ten minutes, cursed Kakashi for not being there.
"I-it's ok Naruto, I'm sure he'll be here soon..."-Sakura said, feeling the same as Naruto on the inside.
"Yeah right that bastard always does this, he makes us wait hours before he shows up, I mean seriously I showed up an hour late and he's still not here."-Naruto said a bit angrily.
"Yeah it's not that fair but what can you do?" Sakura said with a shrug.
"Ugh. It also doesn't help that after he gets here he makes us or at least me waste my talent doing these lame missions that anybody with half a brain could do."
"They are a bit easy but it's important to do, we're just genin we can't handle really strong missions."
"Maybe you can't but, I can. You can be alone with Sasuke though he'll probably just die again if he tries to keep up with me." Naruto said as he eyed Sasuke, who shot him a glare.
"He tried his best, and you only got to win because you gave your body up to the devil or something."
"I did no such thing! My body is my own and mine alone!"
"Yeah until you say one of your little mantras."
Naruto growled in anger as he glared at Sakura, who had her arms folded. "...hmm too bad you're only quick on your feet in banter, otherwise it would have been nice to have an actual kunoichi in battle."
"I am a kunoichi!"
"Not a very useful one, you're smart and have great chakra control but it all goes to waste in the field of battle cuz you don't do a damn thing."
"Hey I protected the bridge builder."
"You stood in front of him...and that's about it, you made no attempt to join any of the fights. Name one thing where you actually did something."
"..I threw a kunai at the masked kid when he had his mirrors up."
"Oh...then what happened?" Naruto with a little less anger and a bit more curiosity.
"He caught it."
"And?"
"...he attacked Sasuke...and I didn't do anything..."
"Ugh you can at least see why I find you the weak link of this team right?"
"I'm not the weak link!"
"Well I'm not and I've definitely proven it a few times over. Kakashi certainly isn't, he's stronger than all of us and Sasuke would be but he can actually hold his own."
"Fighting isn't everything Naruto."
"I guess so. So, I guess this is good for you then, you can do menial tasks and have some feeling of self-pride and a hard day's work. Though when it comes to actually doing something that truly matters you can do what you do best, absolutely nothing."
"Why are you so mean to me? I've done nothing to you yet you're always so mean to me!" Sakura says with tears in her eyes.
"Because I don't like weakness. And you're the weakest most pathetic person I know. You make passes on Sasuke who obviously isn't in to you and you don't do anything, one would think that you'd try to do something like train and hone your feeble skills to hopefully on one lucky day that you will somehow in some way finally be able to call yourself...adequate." Naruto said as he walked passed Sakura. "Oh, and good morning."
"I hate you Naruto."
"I hate you too, Sakura."
Eventually, Kakashi came and the squad was off, the missions they were given were mostly D rank, which Naruto was not happy about. When they were dismissed for the day, Naruto went to the woods.
He first trained with the Executioner's Blade and used it to make a clearing, after that it was just before sunset. Naruto then tested the limits of his protection spell, gathering the Nine Tails' chakra like he did to convert the Netherheart but this time he took his time. Naruto found that there were stages that he could access, the first one just had mild body modifications but, the second(version 1) coated his body in red bubbling chakra which took the form of a fox, and the final form he reached before taking a break, was the third form(version 2) where the chakra manifested takes on specific attributes belonging to the fox itself.
After a breather, Naruto trained for an hour, testing the power of the first level, it was the safest bet since the other two levels were too powerful to go undetected.
It was late in the night when Naruto returned to the Minion Cavern for few bowls of ramen and a good night's sleep. The next day, after a string of disappointing missions, Naruto went back to the clearing he made the previous day to train. This time he focused solely on his magical powers.
Realizing that it has been a while since he used his telekinesis, he brought that ability back into the lime light. He first concentrated on moving small objects like leaves and pebbles before moving up to branches, tearing them off of trees. To make it more challenging, he would do several branches at a time. After he found that too easy, he moved up to moving targets, he made a group of shadow clones and would hunt them down, using telekinesis to stop them from moving.
That was the routine for the week, after the mission(s) Kakashi had them do, Naruto would train by himself. Over the week he made good progress, Naruto could topple a tree within seconds with his telekinesis and with his blue ability he could uproot trees with little difficulty. It only took five swings with the Executioner's Blade to cut down a tree with his normal strength and with his brown ability he could cut through several logs at the same time.
~Naruto~
I was sleeping peacefully when I was awoken by Gnarl.
"Huh? What is it?" I asked as I sat up before letting out a yawn.
"An old enemy of mine is back and trying to undo all the hard work you put in with the Netherheart."
"What?" I asked angrily, giving Gnarl my full attention.
"His name is Sparkle and he is also responsible for the Golden."
"What a stupid name. So, I'll just kill him and go back to sleep." I said as I got to my feet, shaking off the drowsiness.
"I'm afraid that didn't work last time to I have a better solution."
"And what is that?"
"Well seeing how he's a magical being and we need magic to power the Cavernheart. Why not kill two birds with one very powerful stone my lord?"
"Ok so I'll bring him here..." And?"
"Steal his magic sire. Steal it and transfer it to the Cavernheart."
"I don't know how to do that."
"Maybe the heart will give you that ability when you need it, it has in the past. Now I suggest you get moving."
"Right." I said as I walked out of the room and went down to the throne room. "Come here Grubby, where ever you are." I raised my minion gauntlet and soon enough to Grubby was standing before me.
"Yes master?" Grubby said as he stood in front of me, looking up at me, waiting for his orders.
"Take me to the Netherworld."
"Yes, I take master to the new portal." Grubby said before he started walked down the slope to the long hallway. However, we quickly went down to a nearby tunnel and there was a stone pit with an ominous blue liquid and a constant trail of fog rolling down the two stone steps.
I walked up to it and then hesitantly stepped inside the pool. The next thing I knew, I found myself in the Netherworld, floating down. I grew a bit nervous as nothing was under me but as I neared the empty hole, it started to fill itself. Soon I was standing within the circle on hard stone.
After a moment of relief, I went to go find the Netherworld's heart, which I had a feeling was in the basement levels. If I had any second thoughts that it was this way, I saw flowers here and there. The number of which increased as I headed down, so I knew I was going in the right direction.
I found the heart and a horse with a golden mane and what appeared to be some sort of horn on its head.
"What the hell are you?" I asked as I came down the flower filled stairs.
"What a rude question. I am Sparkle the unicorn and you must be the naughty man that corrupted my master piece. Shame on you." Sparkle said, having an annoying voice.
"Your voice is annoying. Now shut up and fight me."
"With your death, the world will be a so much nicer place. Do you-"
I threw a fireball at him, if just to shut him up. He jumped to the side and at first I thought I'd just beat him till he couldn't move but then I thought about using this chance to practice my magic.
He created a yellow barrier and fired a series of small orbs at me. I dodged them easily and created a large fireball. I tossed it at him, but the barrier didn't budge. I growled as I tried to think of something that might break his magical shield.
As I thought, he continued to attack me long range and I evaded his attacks but, then suddenly the barrier fell. He then sat on the floor which lost its colorful decor.
"Wh-the hell are you doing? Get up and fight me!"
"Evil is exhausting." He complained and my eye twitched.
I'm am so not losing to this annoying little shit.
I focused and lifted him off the ground, I hand my hand held out to help my powers focus on him. With a flick of the wrist, I tossed him up the stairs. I gave a small pant as I took a moment to breathe before running after him.
He had his barrier restored and was surrounded with flowers and grass. I backed up and left the stair way, he fired those small orbs but, I made it out in time. I waited for him to come down but he never did, he fired a few attacks but they didn't hit me.
After another wave of attacks, I charged up the stairs I started my own series of attacks, none of which had any effect.
Though a stray fireball landed in the flowers and soon the all of the flowers caught fire. The moment the flowers disappeared he sat back down and states that he was tired. I blinked in disbelief but I took the opportunity, I lifted him an inch off the stairs and tossed him the rest of the way up. The pattern was tiring and took a while but soon enough I got him to the portal.
After clearing another flower field, we were sent to the Minion Cavern. I felt my hand shake as I watched the weakened beast, I glanced down to see the plain gauntlet trembling. I had a weird feeling, not good or bad just foreign but I took this as a sign. It was within a second that I knew what I had to do. I looked back at the horse, only mere seconds having passed, he was beginning to stand again.
There before he fully got up I fired a stream of beams at him, he paused for a few second before shaking it off. My instinct was to fire the same beams at the Cavernheart, with the desire to give.
I turned back to Sparkle who had his barrier up and had driven the minions away with the Golden, once more. This time, though it didn't spread nearly as far as it did before. After dodging rainbows and clearing the small bundle of flowers, Sparkle went down. I used my new ability again, it seemed to weaken the weird horse as he stayed down longer and had trouble getting to his feet. So, this is the magic stealing ability, it's works fast, too bad it won't come in handy that often.
He brought up his barrier but this one didn't last as long as the others and this time I activated the blue minion ability, which increased my magical powers at the cost of reducing the power of my jutsus.
Using my newest spell, I kept the magical horse down a lot longer. He lost his glow but upon giving all the magic I gained from him, the heart emitted a purple aura. It was a wonder skill but it probably won't come in handy unless I could somehow find a way to make it affect chakra but that's a question for later.
Sparkle got to his feet again but couldn't make his barrier this time, he looked helpless. Aside from helpless he actually looked different, looked very different, his skin was now pitch black, his hooves were grey, his eyes were green, his hair(mane and tail) was dark red, and his horn was bright red. He fell back on the ground and appeared to be stuck there, not having the energy to go on.
"Good work master, you've provided the Cavernheart with a significant about of magic, thanks to the Evil Presence spell. Though there is some left for the taking. You can kill him and use the last of his magic to further power the heart." Gnarl said as he walked up beside the weakened horse.
"Right." I said as I raised my hand to finish off.
"Or you could use him as a war horse."
"...I could kill him or do what?"
"Own him, my lord though if you choose to do that you might want to get a muzzle."
"...hmm..." I actually have an option here, which one do I take? Gnarl doesn't seem to care either way. Killing him would be easy but, I've never had a pet before. It actually looks kinda cool now with the change in color. "Hey what's a war horse? Just a horse?"
"A horse used for war, but he is technically a unicorn, see the horn on its head? He's magical and now he will now do whatever you say my lord. He'll take you to wherever you desire, though he is in foreign land. He will also regain his magical abilities and will be a force to be reckoned with under your command."
"Really? Neat."
"I could power the Cavernheart even more, probably get a new spell out of it or something too. However, if I keep it I will still be able to do that whenever I want. So, for now I think it could be fun to have a pet especially a rare one and one that can give me rides."
"Very well my lord, a stable will be built at once and we'll keep him there, you can visit him anytime you wish." Gnarl said as a small group of minions went to the unicorn and carried it away.
"You guys work fast."
"No rest for the wicked my lord."
~Third Person~
The next morning, Naruto woke up and after a few bowls of ramen he went to check on Sparkle, who was in a pen in the lower levels.
He walked passed a minion who was dressed in blue rags, a straw hat, and a pitchfork. The minion bowed and greeted the young lord. Naruto walked to a crude wooden stable, Sparkle was sitting on a pile of hay.
"Greetings master." Sparkle said as Naruto walked in front of hm.
"You're calling me master now? You are a good pet, aren't you?" Naruto gave a light smile, not that Sparkle could see it due to the mask. Naruto petted the beast that welcomed him.
"You spared my life, so I now belong to you, my dark master. I await the day when we can ride through fields of dead bodies then through a burning village."
"You've certainly changed your tune. I'm glad I didn't kill you and all that will happen soon enough. Preferably after I learn how to actually ride a horse. I got to go, maybe we'll have riding lessons later." Naruto said as he left the corrupted beast that laid on a pile of hay.
"I make a request that from this day on I would like to be known as Dimmer as Sparkle is dead."
"Dimmer? Well alright if you want. You know what? Kakashi is never on time anyway, let's have those lessons now." Naruto went to the minion standing by the pen and then took Dimmer up to the forest above. A saddle was already made for him and Dimmer was fitted with basic riding gear.
Naruto got taught in the basics of riding a horse and even managed to ride Dimmer for a while all on his own, speeding through the trees and jumping over logs.
When they came back, Naruto dismounted and had the stable minion take Dimmer back while he went to go see what his mission for the day was.
Naruto met up with his team two hours late, but an hour before Kakashi got there. Their missions were to pull weeds, walk a dog of their choosing from the pound and to clean up the river.
After that, Kakashi walked the group through the village, Naruto wasn't happy but, he kept it to himself knowing that Kakashi wouldn't care.
Naruto walked a few steps before he saw a weird rock but he paid no mind to it and kept walking.
"Well let's call it a day, I have to file my report on this mission. You're dismissed." Kakashi said before leaving the trio alone and letting the trio do what they want.
"Hey Sasuke are you doing anything later?" Sakura asked as she ran after Sasuke, who took a head start.
"Hm?" Naruto glanced behind him to see that the weird rock with eye holes was a less than a foot behind him. "That is the worst disguise I've ever seen. One, rocks aren't perfect squares. Two, rocks don't have fucking eye holes and three, rocks don't move!"
"Man, you're so good at this, exactly as I expected." A young voice said before the box exploded with large puffs of smoke. When the colored smoke faded three very young kids were on the ground coughing.
"Konohamaru...thought I recognized your voice...listen I'm not the same from when we first met. I'm a very different person. And it's in your best interest to... actually I guess in the end it doesn't really matter. What do you want pip-squeak?"
"Wanna play ninja?" Konohamaro pleaded excitedly.
"No. And honestly, I'll tell you right now. That instead of playing ninja you should prepare yourselves to actually be ninjas."
"Right boss how do we do that? Maybe you could show us how?" Konohamaro said with hope in his eyes.
"No, I have more important things to do than instruct children on how to be a good ninja."
"Aww like what?"
"Like training. Which is what you should be doing. Working on your aim and fighting skills."
"How do you train boss?"
"I'm not telling you that, now beat it."
"Naruto, are we training or what?" Sasuke called out.
"Yeah yeah don't get your panties in a bunch." Naruto said as he walked away from the trio, who groaned. "Why don't you go and teach those kids what it means to be a ninja?"
"I have better things to do than that." Sakura said as she rolled her eyes.
"I doubt that." Naruto said as he kept walking.
"You're such a jerk Naruto."
"And you're useless."
"I am not!"
"Hey boss, you're pretty awesome, right?" Konohamaru said interrupting the impending argument.
"Of course, I'm the strongest on my team too, well aside from Kakashi." Naruto noses with high pride.
"Wow really? Are you sure? People say that Sasuke passed with flying colors while you well you didn't."
Naruto growled with narrowed, his fist clenched, his other hand raising its index and middle fingers in from himself. "You little-how dare you.."
"Ah ah I didn't mean anything by it boss I swear!" Konohamaru exclaimed before dodging a fire ball. "Sorry sorry!"
"You're not getting off that easy!" Naruto said as he ran after Konohamaru, aiming at the boy's feet.
"Naruto they're just kids! Leave them alone!" Sakura said desperately, chasing after the armor-clad ninja.
The force of the attack blasting The Honorable Grandson forward. The only real thing saving Konohamaru was the fact that he never stopped running. He quickly turned a corner and bumped into a young man clad in black with purple tattoos on his face and a mummy on his back.
Konohamaro was picked up by his long blue scarf by the man in black.
"What's your problem?" The young man said.
"Hey! I had him first you can have what's left or join his fate!" Naruto said as planted in his feet with his fist ready.
"Heh you're the kind of brat I hate. Always shooting off their mouths but have nothing to back it up." Kankuro growls out as he slides the mummy off his back, releasing Konohamaru from his grip.
"This won't end well for you." Naruto says as he speeds for Kankuro but is tripped by an invisible force, causing him to land on his face. "What the hell? Nice trick but it won't save you." Naruto sprang to his feet and charged with full force.
"Naruto back off." Sasuke says from a branch on a very nearby tree.
"Stuff it Sasuke!" Naruto said as he glanced over at his teammate.
"You're such a pain Naruto. Who are you two anyway? You're not natives." Sasuke said turning his attention to the young man in black and the girl with a giant fan on her back.
"I'm Temari and this is my brother Kankuro." Temari said as she looks up at Sasuke. "Who are you?"
"Sasuke-"
"Gotcha!" Naruto shouts getting a direct hit to Kankuro's stomach, forcing him off the ground. The next hit was to Kankuro's face which cracked upon impact. He was sent flying down the road but, he suddenly stopped in midair, catching squad 7's full attention. Naruto took a closer look at him and saw that part of his face was completely different. "The hell? How's he doing that?"
"That's The Crow, Kankuro's specialty. You should have given up when you had the chance." Temari remarked, feeling bored.
Naruto gave a quick scan of the area, looking for the real Kankuro, and the only thing that came to mind was that he was hiding in the mummy wrap. Naruto kept his eyes on the flying Kankuro as he put two fingers in front of his body, then forming a fireball in free hand. Naruto tossed the fireball at the wrapping, sending it ablaze. Kankuro busted out of the fire hazard, while Naruto B-lined it with a raised fist.
"Naruto that's enough, you've proved your point." Sasuke
"No I haven't, we're just getting started." Naruto stated as he watched Kankuro tossed the burning wrappings off of him.
"Kankuro that's enough. You're being pathetic." The new voice caught everybody's attention. There was a short red haired boy in the tree, on a branch opposite to Sasuke.
"Oh, hey Garaa..." Kankuro said with a hint of nervousness, seeming to forget about Naruto.
~Naruto~
That small red haired kid and this weird guy bantered back and forth, the bigger guy Kankuro I think, seems afraid of this Garaa guy, interesting. But not interesting enough to stop me.
I ran towards Kankuro, in the corner of my eye I saw Sasuke leave his spot.
"Naruto stand down it's over." Sasuke standing a half a foot in front of me, blocking a direct hit on Kankuro.
"You're not the boss of me!" I activated my brown ability and with a millisecond firmly planted my fist in his guts. I took a step back as Sasuke coughed up blood before doubling over. "Someone isn't keeping up on their training." I looked up at Kankuro, taking only a second to think. "Nah, nothing I could do to you would feel as good as putting Mr. high and mighty in his place. But I do want to know why you're here." I said as I placed a foot on Sasuke, letting my weight slowly bare down upon him.
"We're here for the Chunin Exams..." Temari stated slightly nervous, my power is pretty great.
I looked up at Garaa, he had a strange look in his eyes as he watched me lightly torture Sasuke. I couldn't help but wonder what is it about him that would strike fear in their very souls.
"The fuck's a Chunin Exam?"
"Man, you're strong but nothing else huh? It's the exam every genin takes in order to become a Chunin.
"Hmm now that's interesting. Think you'll be alright by then?" I mocked as I looked back at Kankuro.
"A squirt like you won't even live through it." Kankuro said as he walked away from me, I crossed my arms as I walked away with wide smile. Finally, something to really look forward too.
I went back to the Minion Cavern and trained until I couldn't train anymore. I practiced with magic, with the minion abilities, and my typical ninja skills, all with ten pound weights on the insides of my armor making me more exhausted than I normally would be.
The next day, I was so excited, I hoped Kakashi would tell me more about the Chunin Exams. I quickly ate breakfast and went out for a quick stroll with Dimmer before going to our meeting place, basically on time.
Though of course Kakashi was late, however, when he finally arrived I was joyed to hear that he signed me up for the Chunin Exams. Hearing that almost made it worth the wait. Kakashi told us where to go to turn in the paper in five days then he dismissed us and we began walking back to the village.
"The Chunin Exams, already they look so exciting. I'll be able to pummel so many new faces." I smiled brightly as we walked. "Especially that Garaa guy, the way he struck fear in his team was amazing. I wonder what jutsu he has that's so deadly to make them cower in fear."
"Who knows but it won't matter to you because I'm the one that'll beat him." Sasuke said with a smug look.
"I didn't know you had a sense of humor Sasuke. That joke was terrible though."
"Like your fighting style."
"I will put you in your place! Just like I did the other day!"
"You only caught me off guard, you could never actually beat me."
"I-"
"Come on guys save it for the exams. You can go at it then." Sakura said to us, trying to ease the fire.
"Fine, they're better opponents out there anyway." I looked down at the small piece of paper in my hands. "I'm curious about all their abilities, I'm sure some suck but I'm also sure that some will be as strong as that masked dude. Not exactly the same obviously but as strong, or stronger hopefully."
We reached a fork in the road and we all went in our own directions. As I walked I ran into Konohamaro and his stupid little friends.
"Naruto! Hey Naruto! Wanna play ninja? Please?" Konohamaro pleads as he and his friends run up to me.
"Can't. Besides shouldn't you be fawning over Sasuke like everyone else?"
"Come on Naruto, don't be mad at us, we heard what we heard, it's all gossip any way." Konohamaro exclaimed just before a strange man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the girl of the group.
I watched as He ran away, I assessed the situation and just rolled my eyes.
"Boss we have to go get her!"
"She's fine."
"What? But-"
"Konohamaru if anyone was going to get kidnapped it'd be you. She's fine. I'm not wasting my time on something so stupid, I have training to do."
"... oh, I see, you're scared."
"Excuse me?"
"Hey don't get mad at me just because you can't handle it. I guess I should get a really strong ninja to help me."
"You little- fine! Wait here I'll get your stupid friend back just like that." I angrily stated before chasing after the guy, I can't believe I'm saving some girl but, least it'll be easy and I'll go back to training.
I found he guy easily, he stood beside the girl, who was tired to the tree with ropes and a white gag.
"Heh go get me the Hokage's Orb of All Seeing." The man said as he put a kunai to the girl's neck.
"Oh, shut up I know this is fake." I said as I approached the man with a rain village head protector.
"I'll kill her I swear I will." The man threatened, pressing the kunai to the girl's throat.
"Oh, yeah I'm sure you will. I actually don't have time to play with you, I have training to do." I said as I activated my brown ability.
The next thing he knew I had my fist buried in his stomach. I pulled my fist out and took a small step back as the man held his stomach, trying his best not too double over in pain but he did throw up a healthy amount of blood. I also noticed that he also appeared to be cloaking himself, I only noticed as it started to waiver. I assumed it was Kakashi, no doubt he's impressed of my power.
"Now you learned something important today...now whoever you actually are, you should get going or I'll start to really show off how strong I am." I said to the man, who was trembling, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. I took the kunai he dropped and cut the ropes binding the girl to the tree. I grabbed her then brought her to her friends. "Well that was time wasting. I gotta go kids." I said as I set the little girl down.
"Aww boss really? Well thanks for saving Moegi." Konohamaro said and I quickly took my leave to start training. I quickly made my way to the Minion Cavern. I went down to Dimmer and brought him to the forest, this time I tried my best to keep up with his speed all on my own. I spent all day trying to get faster, the brown ability helps and the blue covers any damage my body goes through but my base speed probably sucked.
We raced and every time he beat me, I wasn't surprised but it did tick me off a bit. After a break, to eat and rest up, we started again, the same path, same distance to and from.
We raced through the night with occasional breaks and I was glad to know that I was beating my previous times. It first took me five minutes, where after counting to sixty I took a kunai and threw it in the ground while I ran. Now, I could do the course in about three minutes, though it only took Dimmer about one.
"You're improving rapidly master, soon you will be almost as fast as me." Dimmer said as I panted heavily next to him, he didn't even sound tired in slightest bit.
"I doubt that, you're one fast horse, are you even going your full speed."
"I suppose not, would you prefer if I were?"
"No not until I can match you somehow."
The next morning, I trained throughout most of the day, not only with Dimmer on my speed but also with Gnarl with my magic and with a group of clones to test my reflexes. I didn't stop training with whoever I was training with, until I was completely exhausted, then I would take a short break and decide on what training style I wanted to do next.
This time with Dimmer I didn't use any extra abilities, and though I didn't even come close to how I did the other day, I didn't do as bad as I first thought, still finished the course within ten minutes.
Gnarl helped me master the fire ball spell, now I can do it in the blink of an eye and have it start out the size of my full body. He also helped greatly improve the telekinesis ability, I can stop a horde of speeding kunai and send them right back with few waves of the hand. Though using magic is bit more tiring than using chakra, I am experimenting with mana use, using less mana when using spells, but still have the same effective results. It's not the easiest thing to do but, I'm not one to give up. When using the blue ability, it barely takes anything out of me and I can tell that the mana's cost is reduced, but I don't know by how much.
However, telekinesis wasn't the only thing we practiced on, Gnarl told me about enchantments, which is giving magical to something that normally wouldn't have it to do a such thing. He said it was like a paper bomb, as at first, it's just paper with a bit of chakra it's a mighty explosive. He said there were various types of enchantments and we were going to practice the weakest, short term.
We used the Executioner's Blade, and since I was allowed to use my blue ability until I fully got it; it took some time. Eventually I got it to do a simple task, cutting up Ingredients for Quaver's ramen. It was the only thing I made it do, as Gnarl said that enchanting was a gift not to be wasted. By the end of the training I made a stronger enchantment, for it to return to me after throwing it.
Training with clones was all about dodging and evading, Gnarl and I came up with it as we were talking about how an Overlord typically fights vs how ninjas do it. We both came to the conclusion that I should be more limber. I did just that with the assistance of four clones. The objective was to dodge and evade any attack thrown my way, which also meant no fighting back.
At first, it was just one on one and obviously, I had no problems. I wasn't using anything else other than my raw skills, but I was still untouchable.
Opposing two clones at once was a bit more difficult and I found myself trying to block more often, but then the clone would always remind me to not do that. Dealing with three clones was when I had to use the brown minion ability just to stand a chance, however, they could do the same and I was royally boned. It took a lot of training to eventually get up to four clones at once.
By the end of the day, I was out like a light, and slept until I woke up mid-day. I stretched out as I got out of bed and walked down a set of stairs. I looked back at the new design when I reached the bottom, entering the throne room.
"There are stairs now?" I asked myself in confusion at what used to be a slope.
"Yes, my lord, we have made some basic adjustments to the cavern. Instead of slopes there are stairs, it's more appropriate." Gnarl said as he walked towards me. "Now that you have had some time to reflect on the domination aspect, I believe it is time that you used it to the fullest extent."
"Okay and what would that be?"
"Mind control my lord, very powerful mind control."
"Like a genjutsu?"
"I suppose so but everlasting and magical, thus for your victims all the harder to break, as it is on a different level entirely."
"Hmm I can't wait to learn that skill."
"You already have my lord, the Evil Presence spell. It not only can drain a magical creature of its magic but, it is or was primarily used to enslave towns folk, and should you will it, enemies."
"No way?! Really?"
"Yes, my lord though if done on one opponent for too long it would kill them. I suggest you get some practice with it and with minions as you have already used a few here and there but, I believe a formal introduction is necessary."
"Ok I have a feeling you have something in mind."
"Yes, as practice controlling minions I think you should take over the land of waves' bridge, I think that land will be a nice start for an evil domain. The people there are weak yet hard workers, the best kind of free labor."
"Ok so I'll be going there with blues I guess? Those are the ones that are water proof..right?"
"Yes, they are. Though you will be taking some browns as well they good at keeping people down while you work your magic."
"Alright guess I should take a handful of blues don't want to attract to much attention..so like five?"
"Blues die very quickly and your max horde size right now is fifteen."
"Alright. Well then time to get started." I said as I took a step to gather the minions.
"Don't you worry about forming a group, I'll do that while you head to the village, the sooner the better my lord."
"Yeah ok."
The trip to the bridge was mostly Gnarl telling me about how to make the minions do certain things, which were mostly having them attack things in different styles. Gnarl told me what a guard marker was but he didn't tell me that a large weird flag would appear out of thin air.
Early in journey I was joined by ten browns and five blues. I made the browns attack things in the forest, alive or inanimate, and every now and then they would put something on their heads or pick up a branch to use as a weapon.
When we reached the boat dock I pulled him out of the boat and had the browns restrain him. However, Gnarl told me that the I don't need to go to such lengths if it's just one person, unless they're too far and out of range of the spell because the spell itself will keep them in place. I had him released and the tower started begging for his life. I didn't say anything, I just used Evil Presence, wanting him to submit. It didn't take all that long but just standing there and waiting was kinda boring. To my surprise a green bar appeared above his head and it slowly depleted.
"Gnarl do you see that?"
"Yes, that is the peasant's health bar, don't let it go all the way down, any type of damage is fine." Gnarl informed me.
"Oh, okay then that should do it." I said lowering my hand and waiting for a response which came almost instantly.
"All hail the overlord." The rower said with the upmost seriousness.
"Oh awesome, take me to the village." I commanded.
"I live to serve you." The tower said as he man's his spot on the boat and silently waited.
I boarded the boat and the minions soon followed, once we were all in it the rower took us across the ocean. We passed the bridge and I can see a few people on it so I decided to hit that place first then work my way into the town. When we reached the dock, I told the boat owner to wait a ways away until I came back. I got out of the boat with all my minions around me, I heard the boat owner row his boat away from the dock as I walked away. I made my way to the bridge and for a little experiment, made a few shadow clones.
We sieged the bridge, the group of four shadow clones went up ahead, going to the other end of the long bridge to work their way to me. I used Evil Presence on the first person I saw, but I could clearly see other people running away so I order my minions after them. When I completed the mental take over I saw that there were five terrified people with two minions around them.
I made my way to one of the captured five, noting that the previous sap was following me. That was the pattern, whenever I took over one's mind they would follow me onto the next the victim. There was a total of twenty people on the bridge, not all I think were natives but it worked for me. I walked back towards the town, telling the mass of zombies to guard the bridge, making sure no one gets pass them.
I made my way to the town with ten minions and four clones, when I made it to the town I could tell that I needed more clones as the town was very busy. The people were blissfully unaware of what happened on the bridge. With Multi Shadow Clone jutsu I had a horrendous amount of clones, and we quickly attacked the people. The clones fanned out to get as many as they could while I used my minions to trap the fearful townsfolk, five at a time. Gnarl informed me that some may be hiding in doors so that I had minions drag people outside for a good mind controlling.
The total takeover of the town was over before sunset, I was actually pretty excited now that the business aspect was done, I was curious to see what I would gain from this.
I had all the mindless people, including the rower and the ones on the bridge, gather in the town then asked Gnarl what to do next as I had absolutely no idea.
"Fear not my lord all you need to do is dispense a number of minions to stay and gaurd the town, as well as watch over the townsfolk. It is a small town so it that many are needed, I'd say about twenty will be sufficient for such a small town. I've sent ten minions, you should return and let the then do all the work. A portal gate has opened just outside of town, go to it and it will teleport you back to the Minion Cavern."
"Oh cool, alright." I said as I headed out of the town leaving the minions to do whatever, I found the portal gate easy it was just outside the gate, I stood on top of it and next thing I knew I had the Cavernheart behind me.
Per Gnarl's request, I trained for the rest of the day, mostly focusing on the most important aspects but, every now and then going into the forest for minion practice. I was exhausted once I got back but, I didn't let myself rest not yet, not until I passed out, which didn't happen until the morning came.
Over the next two days, I trained and was able to keep up with Dimmer so we changed the tracks, though to my surprise, I always had him in my sights. I also improved my telekinesis to the point I can stop four well-spaced groups of six rowdy minions in their tracks and if I so wish, can keep them there for two perfect minutes. Though after that, I've spent a good deal of mana and the minions regain their mobility bit by bit.
After hours and hours of evasion training, I had to up the number of clones there were. The four-man squad was formidable and definitely impossible the first few times I tried it, but now I know their attack style very well and it's no longer a proper challenge.
I quickly worked myself up to seven, I even told them to come up with plans to outwit me, hoping for something more exciting. They executed their plans so well that it was overwhelming at times but, I never let that faze me just had to keep moving. The next day was the start of the Chunin Exams, I had to train my mind and body so I can sweep the floor with anyone who opposed me. I repeated a phrase in my mind that got me through whatever pain or doubt it I might felt during the entirety of all my training: I am going to show everyone what I'm made of, by destroying as many of them as I can.
ToBeCoNtInUeD...
Ps. I know the switching from 3rd to 1st is the most popular, so I'll try to cut it down for the future chapters.