The legend of the true sage
Arjun was waiting for the invitation as he unleashed the power of Gandiva. Arrows flew faster than eye can blink. He didn't want to resort to the astras just yet but to his surprise the blonde dodged his arrows with ease. Even as he duelled Cao Cao, the strange being could just sense his attacks. Now he understood why someone like the king of gods would be wary of this unknown threat.
Naruto was having fun, he had not sensed the pure adrenaline rush for a long time now. He ducked under the overhead slash from the man he now knew to be Cao Cao. He was good, agile and quite hardy but what interested Naruto was the weapons. One shone with a blood red aura and the other was as if darkness made flesh. He jumped to the side as arrows flew in from behind with alarming speed. The archer was perhaps the greatest of his threats, there was more than what met the eye about that one.
"Then end this game, I am getting bored." Kurama grumbled, he enjoyed toying with weaklings but this battle had started losing his interest.
"Very well, just because you asked so nicely" Naruto grinned and just upped the tempo. Wind chakra covered his right arm while earth chakra covered his left, when Cao Cao attacked next he blocked the strike with his left arm. A terrible pain shot up his arm, somehow the daggers had managed to cut his flesh. The protection provided by the earth style was broken, he thrusted his right fist forward lending a strong blow to Cao Cao's stomach before releasing the wind chakra.
Cao cao rejoiced for a moment as warm blood splattered on the roof from the wound his weapon dealt, he was sure that this warrior was a human and undoubtedly worthy of recruitment. However his joy turned to pain as the punch hit him in the stomach, a terrible force hit him breaking his bones and throwing him back.. Cao Cao cursed his foolishness as he coughed blood, he had underestimated the opponent not bringing forth the true longinus. The raw power behind the last punch could easily have killed him if the man wanted but the damage may still prove as his eyes started darkening arms grabbed him tightly and pulled him beyond.
Naruto watched as Cao Cao was pulled in to a ripple in space time, his experience with these type of jutsu told him that the other guy was probably someone like Obito and that made him more cautious. Soon enough the space time technique user appeared beside the archer.
Naruto gritted his teeth as the onslaught on him increased in intensity. The space time technique user appeared to be a master of long range elemental attacks and the archer was shooting even faster now. He unleashed a gust of wind from his mouth throwing the arrows off target, dealing with these two opponents all the while trying not to harm them much was proving harder than he expected. It was time for him to take it up a notch.
Arjun was kind of disappointed as he and Georg successfully pushed the blonde on the back foot. This was rather anticlimactic from his point of view. Indra the ruler of perhaps the strongest pantheon of gods was afraid of this puny human, this was no way inheritor of Asura's power. He didn't even had to resort to his arsenal of astras. However he had to rethink his stance at once as a dozen of dopplegangers appeared covering the blonde. It was impressive use of maya only stronger rakshas like Ghatotkach could use it in such a large scale but it didn't matter he had slain thousands of those damned creatures of chaos.
He summoned the astra known as mohini astra, no form of illusion could survive its power but to his surprise the number of the blondes didn't decrease.
That actually complicated the situation, as blades made of compressed air shot at them with quick a grunt of effort Georg raised a shimmering barrier of magical energy blocking the attack but intense power behind the attack shattered the shield leaving deep furrows on the ground. Arjun had seen enough the time had come for him to use the mystical weapons of gods.
He shot an arrow that multiplied a hundredfold in the last moment but Naruto didn't even bat an eye. He quickly moved through the hand seals before slamming his palms on the ground. A wall erupted of the roof blocking the arrows in mid flight.
Georg unleashed another barrage of magical energy breaking the wall to rubble. Only to see a whole army worth of blondes rushing at them. As a part of the hero squad he had faced warriors of both hell and heaven and yet it was something he had never seen. He quickly attempted to summon a shield of fire but he knew deep in his heart it was futile. It was impossible to completely draw and activate spells so quickly.
"Don't waste energy on defense, I can handle it" Georg relaxed as Paartha spoke.
The weilder of the legendary bow Gandiva was one of the newest recruits in the squad but ease he handled the holy weapon proved that how skilful he was.
Arjun concentrated as he evoked the spirit of the undying flames to his weapon before releasing the arrow with a sound akin to thunderbolt. What started as an arrow changed in to a raging inferno surging towards the army rushing at them.
Naruto was surprised he could sense that there was something different about the archer but he had not expected to see use of powers such as this. The front line of the clones spewed jets of water but the tidal wave of fire just vaporized the waters. He had only seen fire of this magnitude from master katon users like Madara or Sasuke but too bad that for them it was merely the tip of the ice berg. He had prepared extensively for the fights against them and as such fire was merely a small hurdle to him. With sharpened wind chakra he etched the seal array for absorbing fire on the roof.
Arjun was shocked as he saw his agni astra fail, before in war he had his weapons countered but that required water with divine powers such as varunastra, however never before had he seen the flames absorb in nothingness.
'Father was right, this is a tricky opponent'
Naruto had enough, the fight was spiralling out of control and he had to end it soon. He dropped his camouflage as the two humans tried in vain to stop his clones. Stealthily he moved up to the bowman and one accurate hit later the warrior collapsed unconscious.
Georg was scared the army of blondes moved even closer,he pushed for his sacred gear, the longinus dimension lost responded to his feelings and fog covered the clones and at once Naruto felt the horror of his hundreds of clones. They could not breath, Naruto staggered he had underestimated the third opponent, he expected it to be some one with Kamui only much less skillful but even he couldn't wrap an army to some strange dimension.
He rushed in silently even as he prepared the flying raijin seal on his seal. As expected his speed was enough for him to place the seal on the magician but the mist engulfed him soon.
The place could only be described as wasteland, there was no air and soon enough he could feel his lungs stretch but he was strong enough to sustain himself before he could jump to the location of the seal.
A solid punch on his jaw threw Georg back, he couldn't believe his eyes the blonde had escaped the dimension gap and that too intact. But before he had to suffer any more a magical transportation array appeared in the air.
Naruto had to admit he was impressed to see Cao Cao return so quickly. The boy had taken the full burnt of his wind enhanced fist and still returned just as strong as ever. Still that didn't cause for his alarm, the spear in his hand did. He couldn't put his finger on why but the weapon was deadly in more ways than one.
"Keep your guard up, the blade is beyond any other weapon I have ever faced except the blade of six paths and you know what that blade did" Kurama snarled as he sensed the power in the blade, the blade could easily make or break the world even the combined might of nine of his kin would fall short against this power.
"Just because a weapon is powerful it doesn't make the user unstoppable, Kurama you know that. Itachi taught us that" Naruto spoke narrowing his eyes.
"What are you? You survived not only a strike from one of the strongest weapons of hell, you look unscathed" Cao Cao didn't want to get in to another fight now that he had the true longinus in his hands. If there was a chance that this blonde was a human he could be a trump card in their coming war.
"Me, I am just a human" Naruto had to smile, he loved this question and the nervousness it brought in his opponents.
"Then how is it you are this strong, you use skills the like of which I have never seen and I have seen a lot" Cao Cao could tell that the blonde hid a lot.
"There are more to the universe than You can ever imagine" Naruto smirked, he missed these kinds of mind games the words always could determine the fate of a battle. Scenes flashed before his eyes, facing a dying Nagato, Itachi's last request all of it. Those words shaped his life.
"Why the hell did you attack us then?" Georg spoke from his position on the roof, the punch had knocked quite a few of his teeth out.
"Because I can't let you attack the Gremory clan."
Cao Cao was surprised to see that a human trying to defend the devils, it went against his experience. For a moment he could smell the sulphur in the air as he hid in the closet hearing only wet thunks as his family were slaughtered by one of the beasts from hell.
He never knew why the monkey king had saved him from the death but he learnt how both hell and heaven had used humanity for ages. He learnt the prophecies of the doomsday, the day when four riders will ride forth once more to wage war. Three kingdoms will fight for supremacy and he swore that when the time comes humanity will be ready.
"So you are one of their servants, spineless cur" Cao Cao could feel his rage flare but he kept his head clear. He had duelled this foe before and even with the true longinus he didn't want to take any risk.
Before Naruto could respond Cao Cao moved in to action. The spear tip elongated with tremendous speed and for any one less skillful than jounin level ninja the fight would have been over. But Naruto had surpassed the limitations of ordinary jounin long ago, in his full power he could now easily crush the five kages combined.
Cao Cao saw the shadow of the shinobi fall upon him as Naruto descended on him, in an instant he allowed himself be dragged forward as the spear shrunk to its original size. Within a moment he was on the blonde again his caln controlled fury driving his skills sharper.
Naruto gritted his teeth as he blocked or dodged the multitude of attacks heading his way. Even without training in shinobi arts Cao Cao undoubtedly was one of the best hand to hand fighters he had faced. The sheer strength and agility of the warrior was greater than his own base condition.
"Its not him, the weapon is feeding him with raw power" Kurama spoke, he could sense the flow of power from the weapon. The amount of power being transferred was remarkable as well, it was more than what several of the strongest shinobi like Kakashi could produce.
"He is good as well, someone has trained him and trained him well" Naruto replied as he once more clashed with the spear weilder. He didn't gain any traction once more, feint after feint hidden under another feint didn't make any difference at all. For every punch he landed he had to pull back to avoid the deadly dance of the spear.
Cao Cao flipped to gain some distance, it had been a long time since he had been pushed this far. If not for his training with the monkey king he would have been dead regardless of the healing energy provided by the spear. However it was time to end this farce, he didn't like using the power of spear on mere mortals but this devil lover was getting on his nerve and his ordinary efforts had been in vain. He couldn't anticipate any of his attacks. It was only his superior speed that kept him on the even footing.
He willed the light to gather on tip of his spear, before unleashing it in a destructive wave. It was not some weak light spear of an angel it was the light that broke the eternal darkness and even gods fell short of it. Naruto could sense the terrible gathering of power, he didn't know if he could take it head on and any other time he would have just dodged it but this was a residential place, it was his good luck that the house had been relatively undamaged.
Three clones appeared at once, nine tailed chakra covered him like a shroud. In an orange flash the clones disappeared, one of the clones gripped the spear forcing it upwards while the other two smashed in Cao Cao's body with full strength.
The leader of the hero squad was thrown back, losing his grip on the spear in the process. Bones shattered from the impact, pain terrible pain blinded him. Even as the spear returned to him he could feel himself getting dizzy. As his hands grasped the spear rod he could feel the thrum of healing energy coursing through his body. Healing his injuries, mending his broken bones leaving only a deep exhaustion in its place. However he was surprised to sense the feeling of peace coming deep from the spear. Usually the weapon longed for battle but now it was commanding him to stop.
"Recall whoever that you sent to fight them." Cao Cao shivered at the promise of pain in the command but held his ground, Georg had recovered sufficiently and as strong as this traitor was he doubted that his power could surpass the power of two top tier longinuses.
"No, I won't take orders from a devil's slave" he spat trying to stand upright using the spear as a support.
"For the last time, I am no ones slave" Naruto snarled with rage, he had enough of stupid accusations to last him more than a lifetime.
"Calm down great sage, the rage is unbecoming of your noble title" a new voice however stopped them all. Naruto could sense huge amount of chakra this intruder possessed easily on a scale comparable to his own. He could feel the essence of Son Goku in this new being but the power surpassed even that of the four tailed beast.
He turned to face a smiling man sitting on a cloud looking straight at him. The golden hair dropped low to his jaw and the rest of the body was covered by a golden samurai style armor. The man gave him a cheeky bow before jumping down to the roof with a casual ease, wiping off a bit of imaginative dust from his speckless armor.
"The first" Cao Cao's gasp of amazement didn't evade Naruto's ears. His curiosity piqued but he didn't dare relax. A shadow clone appeared beside him to keep an watch on the defeated Cao Cao.
"Let me introduce myself, I am a humble freedom seeker and hermit. Your arrival broke my meditation and I have been searching for you since o you great sage." The old man spoke bowing deeply.
"Let me talk to him, if he is my descendent then I should be the one to talk to him" the deep voice of the four tailed beast stopped Naruto from replying. The words of the monkey sage made sense and the shinobi complied.
"You are a Yokai of the highest degree are you not. You hold the power of the four tailed monkey sage in your body but there is more than that your mastery of the nature's chakra is remarkable. So I dont believe you are just a hermit. Who and what are you?" Son Goku's voice reverabrated with power but the old yokai only grinned and clapped.
"Astonishing but no less than what I expected from someone like you. The fabled emperor of all Yokai the ancestor and the keeper of the secrets of ninjutsu. However I didn't expect you to be so young looking for a millennium old being."
"Those titles that you gave me, how do you those things?" Naruto was curious, he had met yokais before all of them held the ability to tap in to sage mode none of them held a candle to the amount of natural chakra flowing through this one.
"It is hard to explain but the best way I can explain it as if it is memories deep with in our being. Not many can access them and with every passing generation it fades away." The old yokai paused for a bit before continuing.
"But not in you"
"No not in my case, I am the first monkey king Son Goku. After you disappeared with the tailed beasts, there was a power void. The traces of their chakra remained and with time they grew the power gave birth to a new kind of beings yokais. I was one of the first to achieve that power but i wanted more and slowly but steadily I learnt how to use the power of the mother earth herself. The brat you beat down earlier well he was my student but he still has a lot to learn"
'He even carries your name Son' Naruto thought as the mighty four tailed beast laughed with joy. Unlike Matatabi his legacy was secure and that was more than what could be said about rest of his brethren.
"Why are you treating this devil lover with respect sensei. With your help we can end this traitor" Georg spoke finally freed of his shock.
"No, we can not not with you two so inexperienced, your best attempts can not even faze me and you hope to beat someone even stronger." Naruto had to smile as the monkey king spoke casually.
"Plus why do you hate them so much?" He spoke for a long time this had been bugging him, the intensity of attacks were fuelled by rage and hate.
It was not Cao Cao who responded to the question, the monkey king spoke again. "You have been lied to great sage, both heaven and hell has lied to you. While these young ones are blinded by their hate is wrong so are you"
"What do you mean?" Naruto was confused but a fury was building up in his soul. So many shinobi died every year because of those in power lied and manipulated them like a chess board. He had promised to break the chain, change the rules of the game altogether. He would keep his promise if he has been lied to he will make them pay.
Author's note:
Now finally we enter the second half of the story, from here on the story will have no similarity what so ever with the light novels. Please read and review. I hope you all like it.