Chapter 8

Training and Mastering

Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331

Naruto sighed after a night of resting and got back into the swing of training. Literally given that the giant sword was still too much for him even with two hands.

Naruto just continued to do downward slashes to help hone his speed and timing with the blade. More so, to help with his control and become more accustomed to the heavy weight of the blade itself.

When not swinging he was doing a lot of upperbody work outs such as push ups, hand stands, and more. This was to build up his upper body to help address the insane strength needed to wield and control the blade.

Sadly, he was having more difficulty with this than he thought and realized how much he was reliant on chakra to get through some of his situations as while he was familiar enough with swords, he was not familiar with giant blades. It reminded him of Zabuza, his sword, and Kisame and his and he wondered if there was a trick to using big blades like this.

Naruto sighed,

'Well nothing to do but keep training, as soon as I'm confident that I can carry this sword without trouble, I'll switch over to practicing against moving targets.'

"Probably for best, at this rate we are going to need a while to train just to carry it effectively let alone use it. Maybe down the line we can find another that isn't as heavy in requirement when managing it's physical strength."

'Maybe.' Naruto sighed, continued his downward swings, and soon switched to side to side swings. 'Hey Gwynevere.'

"Yes?"

'I was wondering if you could tell me more about the land before the collapse. I mean this must have been a pretty serious situation if you guys were this desperate to keep your age and period of time going.'

"Your not wrong. I too was afraid of the next age and fearful of what it would bring as it is called the Age of Dark."

'Age of Dark?'

"Yes as I told you before there was the age that was ruled by the Eternal Dragons and then there is the age here that is ruled by us. But the next era, the one predicted called the Age of Dark, is supposedly going to be ruled by the Pygmy. As the Dark Soul allows them to survive without the requirement of a Lord Soul, it was sharable with all the people unlike ours."

'Interesting does this mean that the Dark Soul technically is in everyone?'

"I'm not sure. It is a very vague concept that even we Gods don't know anything about it but to be honest, if the Age of Dark was to follow it would have been better than prolonging the age."

Naruto frowned.

'You mentioned the Flame was dying right? I remember you said that it was the source of the age and that came and then after it passed, you guys tried to reignite it.'

"Not so much dying but more turning off in a sense. It is speculated by some of the other gods that the First Flame would reignite sometime down the line and begin a new age but everyone was so fearful of the What Ifs that they didn't bother to consider maybe things will be okay. I was among them, wanting to avoid the end of the Age of Fire but over time when I saw how far people were going to try and preserve it and what was coming of it, I just started to grow more and more hopeful that our age would end. More, I feared the backlash of going against nature and time itself."

'True, while I don't hold any feelings on fate I do believe that Nature always finds its way. As a sage you learn quite quickly, you can't control nature itself you have to work with it and guide it. Not control and manipulate it.'

"Yes and that is what the Lords tried to do. They tried to circumvent the natural order and how that one age had to end for a new one to begin. That is the worst part; it is what tore my family apart, it is what started a rebellion, and started nothing but endless bloodshed in this land."

"Now that you mentioned this; is it possible that all the undead are a byproduct of Nature lashing out against your world? More, they are punishing you for trying to extend your period beyond what is natural?"

"Yes I have come to the same conclusion and many scholars did as well. My former friends did as well but my father would hear nothing of it and struck them down for daring to even think against relighting the First Flame or recreating the event."

'Someone tried to recreate a natural event?'

"The witch did. She had attempted to create something akin to the First Flame but sadly, that didn't work. In fact last I heard before I passed; the Witch had succeeded in creating something, we don't know what but she made something. But it didn't work as the First Flame did. It didn't become a guiding light that was to save our era, but something far more twisted."

Naruto frowned,

'Twisted like those creatures we have been seeing.' Naruto thought back to the Taurus Demon, the Asylum monster, and the Capra Demon.

"Yes all of them are byproducts of this flame and while the flame is supposedly suppressed in their kingdom; we don't know the true extent of the damage done to their realm. But thanks to it, we have demons roaming the land and while my father managed to defeat most of them and even tame some of them, sadly it has all been for naught."

"If it is so bad with the demons why don't those other figures help? I mean aren't they worried about their own realms?"

"No; father had given up his Lord Soul so he can relight the First Flame in a desperate attempt to extend the Age of Fire. He broke his soul into five pieces."

'Hold on how is that possible? I mean you mentioned only the Dark Soul was in pieces in a sense so how would he be able to do with this with something like a Lord Soul?'

"I don't know honestly. Father never explained it much and I think even he didn't understand the full extent of his soul's strength. But he retained his power and soon things started to deteriorate faster than before. He had banished one of my siblings for betraying him, another sent to control the Pygmy, and what he did the last of us, it was horrible."

Naruto was doing a hand stand and frowned,

'I'm sorry I asked.'

"It's fine Naruto you were curious. But going back to your original question; the Lord of Death Nito, he is residing in his land of the catacombs. Last rumor I heard is that he just rests there and lets the world play out as more people die, the stronger his position grows. As for the witch she still resides in her capital surrounded by demons and her children. Finally; my father's soul was turned into fragments inside of Seath in his grand archives high above all and the Four Kings."

'Who were they?'

"They were four lesser rulers that followed my father into battle along with the other lords but sadly, they had become consumed by their own desires and power. Father mentioned he never trusted them and ensured they could never oppose him and even set their kingdom up to be flooded if necessary. Which did happen, slaughtering so many innocent people in the process."

'City in water and more people of the undead residing there.'

"Along with the other evils they delved into due to them having a pact with the Abyss."

'So, basically everyone was betraying everyone?'

"Yes." The daughter of the sun sighed, "I too was betrayed by father when my servants were experimented on without restraint and he offered no apology for it or safety. Then, when I tried to leave, father he, he, he-,"

Naruto sat on the ground and smiled sadly,

'He killed you didn't he telling you it was for the greater good?'

"…How did you know?"

'A hunch, but your father strikes me as someone that will justify his reasons in such a manner. But either way; I'm glad that he did betray you.'

"Why?"

'Because then we wouldn't have met and I think that would have been something I wouldn't want to miss for the world.'

"You have a way with words." The woman blushed darkly but soon shook her head when she heard Kurama snickering.

Naruto sat down on the ground and looked up at the ceiling while resting in between his work outs.

'So; Four Souls. One is around but in hiding, another tried to do something with theirs and got turned, and the last one is shattered into pieces for his confidant and four people he didn't trust completely. On top of that, the Dark Soul seems to have grown over time but the main piece is missing even after all this time.'

Naruto sighed,

'Hopefully we can learn more of about the fate of some of the people in this land and maybe find a solution that we can all be happy with.'

"Maybe but be warned the challenges only get harder from here and I fear what we will find in Blight Town."

'No point in stressing about it as we haven't reached it yet. More so, we have that big ass dragon to deal with first.'

"Naruto's right for now we should continue training and hopefully we can deal with it soon."

Naruto leaned back and kicked-up to his feet.

'Well back to work.'

Time skip: 2 weeks

Naruto had returned to the sewers near the entrance to the dragon's lair. He had managed to finally get the training down to the point that he can finally use the sword. Thanks to his prosthetic arm he didn't feel the same weight in that arm as he did in his original one. But he still had to be careful with his usage of the blade as he only had about four ways he could swing or thrust the weapon in certain situations. Plus using it without restraint or control and his body will exhaust faster over time.

But he was ready after cutting his way with the returning undead and dealing with someo f the people by the shrine.

He talked to some priestess that was going on a long journey into the Catacombs to find some kind of temple she needed to pray to. Apparently it was a right of passage she had to embark on for herself and others. At the same time, she had escorts with her that he talked to quite a few times. But sadly, they weren't that interesting in his mind but he was wary of the blond man he saw before. Apparently the rumor from the golden knight that was staring at the Fire shrine lady was that he was not all he cracked up to be. Naruto was hesitant but he left the matter alone as it was none of his business and he wasn't invited along. But he would watch for them in the future.

On top of that the fire user thanked him for saving him from the barrel and explained that the gold-armored man had been watching the maiden for quite some time and that he moved right in front of her recently. Naruto asked him to keep a close eye on the situation and if the fire goes out, do what he can because he feared what this could mean for the rest of them.

The man agreed but stated that if he was interested in learning some pyromancy to come and see him as he would be willing to train him in this art. Apparently it is a popular form of magic that was practiced the witch and her followers so those of the swamp adopted this as well. Stating it was more useful in terms of magic than other forms of magic that require staffs to use.

Naruto smiled at this information and agreed with his assessment.

But he turned down the teaching as he wanted to focus on his sword due to the fact the blade itself is more than enough trouble for him. Plus, he wasn't ready to start training in something new again until he had mastered his close quarter fighting.

Now back in the sewer; he faced down the fog gate from before and took a deep breath.

"Alright time for round 2."

Naruto walked through the gate and saw the dragon standing on the other side of the arena and it let out a massive roar.

"Bring it on."

Naruto summoned the giant sword into his hand, held it with both hands, and waited for the dragon to come to him.

He didn't have to wait long as the dragon started dragging its entire body along the ground and charged straight at him.

Naruto rolled out of the way of the charge to its right side. The creature itself failed to connect on the charge but it quickly lashed out with massive stomps after running into the wall and roaring louder than he could recall.

'Alright got the timing down now then,' Naruto rushed to the side of the dragon but soon found it raising his leg up and quickly pushed off his heels and avoiding the slam. The dragon slammed against the ground multiple times and it repeated the process with its other legs.

'Okay so it has a way to keep me away from his side or keep me more honest with my aggression. Unlike the others; he has the size, strength, and versatility when it comes to his moves to deal with any kind of threat.'

Naruto saw that the creature slowly shuffling to the side to aim at him again, but Naruto seeing this slow movement quickly rallied to its side again and this time sliced at its side.

The beast roared again and this time resumed a stomping barrage which Naruto rolled away from again and waited until the final stomp was made. There he quickly slashed at the creature's side again.

Furious the creature rushed forward again and slammed into the wall and knocking down some of the nearby pillars. But it quickly rotated around to charge at him again.

Naruto dodged and rolled out of the way while aiming a slash at one of its feet.

The move missed due to the stomping of the creature knocking him backwards.

'Geez note to self; don't charge him while he is charging.'

The creature soon floated in the air, before turning to face him once more.

'Okay so he can float too good to know.'

Naruto narrowed his eyes as it raises his head up and slams it and his jaw stomach thing down onto the ground and Naruto saw his head available.

Rushing he swung his blade at the head but the creature roared and rushed him.

This time hitting him straight on with his charge knocking the wind out of him and leaving him crumpled underneath its girthy body. Luckily Naruto after taking the hit and having the wind knocked out of him quickly rolled under the body of the dragon. He avoided most of the damage that came his way but sadly, the creature continued with his charge and right as he got out behind him, it stopped.

He swung his tail sending Naruto flying backwards and grunting at the feeling of cracking in his chest.

'This is harder than I thought.'

Naruto's eyes widened when its jaw opened up and he saw some green liquid explode out of his mouth.

Not wanting to be hit by it, he quickly rushed around the attack and to the dragon's left side.

He slashed the creature's side and this time made it scream in rage and start stomping the ground repeatedly.

He rushed behind the dragon and saw its tail laying there on the ground while it was stomping its feet. Not wanting to get hit by it again Naruto leapt at the dragon and landed on his tail and claimed part way up its back. The dragon tried to shake him off but Naruto wouldn't have it and this led to him seeing the tail raise itself and with one might swing he cut through the scales and meat of the dragon. It's tail hit the ground and it roared out louder.

The underground started to shake, the building started to have rocks falling from the ceiling and he saw it slamming its feet more.

'Geez got to end this fight quickly or it could get more dangerous.' Naruto aimed his sword straight, 'Time to go straight through the monster's mouth.'

He pushed in a forward thrust with his sword.

But he found himself bounced into the air losing his balance.

'Huh what the he-'

Naruto saw the dragon jump up into the air sending him flying higher and with a mighty spin slammed its body into him. But he was caught on one of of the teeth and it cut through his arm.

Rolling across the ground Naruto quickly got into a kneeling position and looked down at his arm. The damage wasn't terrible, he could see that it cut deep into his flesh and that it was only skin deep but that was still not good.

'Fuck got careless, the thing is aware I'm trying certain strategies but he is reading my movements.' Naruto narrowed his eyes and saw the dragon release another roar, 'Hail mary it is then.'

Naruto picked up his giant sword and with two hands he lifted it above his head.

Once he had pulled the shoulder's and hands over his head with his blade touching the ground behind him, he then lunged forward and without fail sent the blade flying.

The dragon's mouth was open but sadly for it, that was a bad decision.

The sword went through the creature's mouth and out the back with it impaling itself on the ground behind him.

The creature roared in pain, the dragon just couldn't bare it anymore and it started thrashing out some more.

Naruto seeing his chance, summoned his other sword before aiming for the toes of the creature's feet. But it saw him coming.

Its arms rushed to him and tried to grab him. But Naruto saw this coming and without hesitation rolled under the creature's grab and rotated around and slashe one of its hands off and the creature once again started spewing more blood.

This time covering Naruto from his head and covering his eyes.

Naruto glared at the dragon and soon slashed at its exposed bottom portion of its mouth and it roared and slammed its feet some more. Naruto didn't hesitate and slashed at its legs cutting a certain part of the leg that went stomping again, it snapped.

Naruto quickly rolled under the creature as it tipped over to the right side.

Seeing it on his side Naruto rushed to the Dragon Slayer and pulled it out of the ground before impaling the blade through the abdomen of the creature.

"Stay down now."

Naruto then pushed and dragged blade all across the stomach of the creature making it release one more mighty scream before collapsing motionlessly.

Sighing he pulled his sword out and backed away from the dragon.

Only for it push itself upright and float upwards thanks to the wings on its back. Naruto saw the dragon coming down straight on him but he quickly put his blade upward and when the creature came down, he impaled through his stomach.

The creature screamed in pain and soon blood was covering him head to toe while inside of the dragon's body.

It was lashing out as Naruto kept pushing his bade through his stomach and intestines but in the end, the dragon fell to its side once more screaming in pain.

Naruto pushed his blade more and more until finally it saw it rip through the top of its back and it could see the light from the open ceiling.

Naruto shoved his blade upward again and forced it out of the body while he pulled out a small dagger and started slashing at the insides of the creature making it scream more.

After about ten minutes of this repeated process of messing up the monster's insides he finally managed to break out of the creature's stomach.

It laid motionless on the ground and Naruto just crawled out of its body with him covered head to toe in blood and destroyed organ flesh.

'Fuck, it hurts and burns.' Naruto sighed, 'But finally it is over.'

Naruto crawled over to the sword and groan at the burning sensation on his flesh and the feeling of his shoulder being numb.

'Fuck it all hurts.'

"Naruto quickly drink the Estus's flask it will heal your injuries!"

'Okay.'

Naruto took a quick sip of the flask and found himself groaning as the wound on his arm healed and soon the burning sensation on his skin was disappearing. He felt his flesh returning to normal and his body slowly recovering.

Taking another sip he felt his stamina and body recovering faster and soon he was sitting upright looking at the remains of the dragon.

"This guy was a pain but at least the fight is over."

"True but that was close. Next time, be more careful with your swings and tells, something tells me that we are going to have more trouble with enemies like him in the future."

'Don't I know it. But this is a good learning curve for me that I can't power my way through.'

"No but at least we came out of this slightly unscathed."

Naruto sat up but soon saw the dragon's body explode in a white cloud of dust and soon felt its soul merging into his own body but soon his head started ringing wildly.

Gray oppressive sky, stone pillars standing tall almost reaching the sky, and dragons flying through the sky.

Other dragons gathering around and conversing with the smaller beings.

Lighting raining down from the ground below, dragons being attacked by the lighting and soon more people attacking the dragons.

A white dragon with unusual features crushing the bodies of the dragons around him and screaming something at the other dragons.

The smaller beings creating large balls of flames and a black being made of bones gliding through the area making their bodies disappear.

Seeing the white skin being again and this time finding it putting some kind of crystal into his body.

Forced to face down an old man who was shouting something at him.

Finding itself trapped in the ruins below, countless nights, smells that made it want to puke, no light in sight. Nothing other than the shuffling of the people above and the shuffling of the people below.

We were betrayed.

Naruto's eyes widened and he looked at the spot where the dragon was once and frowned.

"Betrayal."

"Pardon?"

'The dragon, I think I just saw its memories. I saw it and the other dragons. Are you sure they were a threat?'

"Yes that is how father and the others always talked about it. There was nothing but darkness for us and the dragons would eat us if we dared to stand against them. So with the Lord Souls we were able to finally find our own freedom. At least, that is how he told us it went all those years ago."

'I'm not sure that is accurate. The dragon seemed to have a different account of the events. I saw it conversing with humans with other dragons, it seemed like they were friendly and then the fighting started.'

"That makes sense. Some of our kind managed to get on good terms with the dragons and even allowed to settle in places far away from the dragons to avoid potential conflict of resources. While nothing could die or would die that didn't mean they weren't careful."

Naruto shook his head,

'It looks like the so called heroes attacked the dragons wanting their land and resources but the weirdest thing is that I saw some kind of white being with them killing the dragons. It looked like a dragon but for some reason its body was different.'

"… That was Seath."

"Wait hold up!" Kurama turned to his house guest, "Are you telling me that this guy is the same Seath that is running that grand library! Why would your father trust him with not only a powerful position but also his soul?"

"Father promised him his own conservatory so he could perform magical research and all the resources he could ever want. On top of that he offered him a high ranking position to keep people from trying anything against him and to give him legit standings. Sadly, this only gave the dragon a swelled head."

'But he looks so different.'

"I know that is the reason he betrayed his kind. He didn't have the same immortality they did so he sought out means to keep his existence ongoing no matter what and to avoid possible death at the hands of his own kind. Without their powers he had to get creative with his pursuit."

'I see.' Naruto sighed, 'Well looks like this poor dragon was another victim of his experiments and he was locked down here by the looks like of a white hair man with a golden crown which I'm guessing is Gwyn.'

"Yes that is him."

'Meaning that he was the one that put him down here which is why no one knew and why he was a guardian of sorts in this ancient tomb.'

"Meaning father knowingly put all these people in danger."

"Hate to say it lady but it sounds like your father was trying to keep them in line with the threat of the dragon and also to unleash it if necessary on the people of either Blight Town or the ones above."

The goddess nodded her head,

"Did you see anything else?"

'Only his pain and suffering being in this cavern alone for so long and his last words were, 'We were betrayed.' I think there is more to this story with your father and the Souls than we know.'

"Indeed. Maybe that is why he-,"

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the silence.

'He who?'

The woman refused to answer and Naruto decided to leave it as is.

Seeing the key in the water he sighed before picking it up and a new weapon he got for cutting off the dragon's tail. There he picked up some other collectible items and left the opening heading back to the giant sealed door. Putting the key into the lock he quickly opened the door and was forced to gaze upon a horrid sight.

Decrepit wooden planks and boards, barely held together bridges, and what looked like sickly figures walking in the distance.

"You know what? Maybe I should replenish my resources."

"Good idea if this second bell is supposed to be harder to reach than the first then maybe it is best we prepare as best as we can."

"Agreed. Head back to the bond fire shrine and we can assess the situation."

'Okay.' Naruto turned on his heels , quickly retreated to the nearest bond fire, and fell asleep after his long battle. While the sewers were not the best place to rest it was better thanks to the bond fire and it was a good place to find some warmth instead of trekking all the way back to the main shrine on the surface.

A man standing on a massive creature stared down a man with a golden crown.

"You would betray me!"

"To protect her I would. There is a way to change this and conquer the Abyss and I will find it!"

"You traitor! Mark my words you will never hear a whisper of your name again!"

"So be it for the safety of my sister and the rest of my family I shall do so. I also know what you really did father, your lower than scum in my eyes."

"You arrogant little shit!" He channeled a bolt of lightning into his hand and threw it but the man quickly swiped it away with his spear like weapon.

"Farewell father, sister may we meet again under better terms."

He found himself in a throne room and the man with the crown frowned,

"She failed. That fucking witch failed to fix the problem! So called master of pyromancy!" Turning to the figure in question he growled, "Go and find that useless husband of yours! He is supposed to be a god of fire no? Have him address the situation with the Flame!"

The man now stood over the deceased corpse of a man wearing red armor.

"Worthless." Turning to the person he glared, "Don't think this can't happen to you dear, nothing matters, the Age of Fire must persist."

"Yes… father."

Chapter End