VanDread: The Fox
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Naruto or VanDread…
Chapter 2
Meetings and Battles…
( ): Thoughts
…
In an unknown location in the vastness of space…
The silence and serenity of space was suddenly broken as a massive blast of energy occurred and out came two massive ships into the once empty void of space. One ship was the old section of the converted colony ship, the Ikazuchi, while the other was the pirate cruiser of the Megele pirate forces.
Inside the bridge of the female ship, the Captain, one Magno Vivian shook her head a bit while holding on it as well, trying to no doubt shake the effects of the sudden blast of light that had blinded her. As soon as she recovered her senses, she looked about and saw that her ship was not turned into a ruin and her bridge crew were very much alive and safe.
"This is certainly is not the afterlife, where are we and what the heck just happened?"
Before the bridge crew could respond to the situation before them, they were suddenly stopped by a collision on the top of their ship, as soon as they looked up, they were all surprised when they saw a massive growth of crystal hitting their ship and dragging them towards the Ikazuchi.
Magno commented on that in a very accurate manner.
"What the heck is going on? Is the crystal trying to swallow the ship?"
…
In the now crystal covered room…
Meia was the first to recover and she reached out to try and feel if she was still alive, all she remembered seeing was a sea of blue green light that moved almost in the same way like an ocean of sorts. She saw Jura and Dita there, along with that blonde male and wondered just what had happened.
She quickly managed to get herself to s sitting position and even though she was feeling a bit light headed and spoke out to find the others, who she hoped were still alive and safe despite what had just happened.
"Jura! Dita!"
She turned saw that Jura was now moving, she was relieved that the blonde Dread pilot was alive and in good hands and spoke to her.
"Jura, are you all right?"
The blonde sat up and rubbed her head a bit and was happy to find her senses coming back rather quickly and she was quick to reply to the question directed to her by her commanding officer and fellow female.
"I'm fine, just a bit surprised, what the heck just happened?"
"I don't know…where's Dita?"
"Over here!"
Meia turned and gave out a sigh of relief to see the young redhead alive and seemingly unharmed, which in itself was a miracle considering what had just happened to them. The redhead was in awe as she spoke out to try and explain what she had just experienced only moments before.
"Something beep then VROOOM! And I don't know what happened…Alien powers are SO amazing!"
Meia looked about still, trying to find anything that would help her identify where they were, and soon enough she realized that they were still in the very same room they had been in before when they had boarded the Ikazuchi, though now most of the ship was covered in crystals, she looked a bit more and spotted the man from before.
…
Magno looked about and saw through images that the crystal was gathering all the debris around it and fusing it into itself and doing the very same thing with their own ship as well and she quickly contacted the three officers of the pirates who were critical to the operation of the pirate cruiser. Two of them were naturally her commander Buzam and her chief engineer Parfet and the news they gave was not good, the ship's engines were dead and the crystal was spreading throughout the ship.
She contacted her group's chief supply officer who went by the name of Gascogne Rheingau next to see if there was a way to stop the crystal and separate the ship.
"Gascogne is there any way you can cut the ship loose from the crystal?"
"I'm afraid not, lasers, and fusion cutters can't seem to dent the thing, and if we don't move out of here, this place is going to be swallowed up as well."
Magno thought that over and realized that the only way they were going to find a viable solution to freeing their ship was to go to the source itself.
"All right then, I guess the only way to get to the bottom of what is happening here is to go to the source, BC, Parfet, I need you to come with me to the colony ship."
"Roger!"
…
One of the shuttles of the pirates took off from the cruiser and made a beeline to where the Paeksis was located and soon as it entered, Magno along with the two officers and a group of the ship's security personnel were in the ship. The elderly pirate captain looked about and couldn't help but be amazed at the sight.
"This is amazing, never thought I'd actually be alive to see this of all things."
As she walked down, she was greeted by Meia and Dita as well as Jura, with the aqua haired girl speaking to the captain.
"I'm really sorry for this Captain; you had to come all the way here."
Magno shook her head and replied.
"You don't need to apologize; I wanted to see this with my own eyes after all."
As she looked about she then spotted Naruto there on the ground as if asleep and the small robot next to him.
Meia spoke then.
"That's the man Dita was chasing when we found her."
Magno looked at Naruto carefully and spoke out.
"It's been some time since I looked at a man's face, but I have to admit that this man's certainly…different. I've never seen this style of dress before and certainly never heard of birthmarks resembling whiskers no less. Still, he's not bad looking either, anyway, we should take him to a place to lock him up until we decide what to do with him."
Unknown to the women in question…a pair of eyes were watching them and a ghost of a smirk was there as well.
…
In the brig…
Naruto woke up and looked to see himself in the same room as where he had found the floating robot from before and sighed a bit.
"Great, I got captured, just my…show yourself man, no time to be hiding of all things."
The blonde turned to look at none other Duero McFile who looked at the blonde male who had displayed a great deal of skill and unheard of abilities earlier in the ceremony before the attack of the female pirates. The long haired male looked at the blonde Shinobi and spoke out to him.
"You noticed me well enough though being hidden was not my intention, my name is Duero, Duero McFile."
Naruto looked at Duero and smiled back in reply.
"Naruto, Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki."
Duero filed that name away in his mind for future reference and then directed his attention to the man before him, trying to see if he was armed still. After being assured temporarily that the blonde male was not armed, he spoke to him.
"You were the one who caused quite the mess in the ceremony earlier before the women attacked, how did you manage to get past the security and also fight the guards the way you did?"
The blonde knew that telling his secret now was not the best of ideas, but he could at least embellish the truth somewhat.
"I figured out how the security works and how to beat it, as to how I was able to do those things, that I'm afraid is going to remain my secret."
"I see…most of my fellow cadets thought you were a Third Class citizen, I do not, and I have a feeling that there is more to you Naruto, so how or rather why were you onboard the Ikazuchi in the first place?"
Before Naruto could reply he noted that the robot he had found earlier moved and soon popped out legs and arms and began to show eyes on the monitor that served as the…face and spoke out.
"Where am I? Who am I?"
Naruto smirked a good deal and spoke out.
"Nice to see you alive and well, so to speak, you certainly changed the last time I saw you."
"Huh?"
…
The pirates were busy trying to figure out just what they were going to do with the fact that the crystal was transforming both the Ikazuchi and their own cruiser and seemingly fusing them together. Parfet tried every strategy she knew to figure out what was happening, but even the plucky head engineer was reaching the end of her rope as she tried to figure out the Paeksis even more.
As for the others, they were also trying their best to make some headway in keeping the crystal from taking over the rest of the ship. Gascogne herself was busy trying to help keep the Register from being swallowed by the Paeksis and devoted her attention to it while telling anyone to call her by her real name and not Gasco which she detested for reasons that were her own.
…
Later…
It was not long before both Naruto and Duero were retrieved by Buzam and a pair of security personnel from the pirates. Naruto raised his eyebrows at the two girls and smirked a bit, finding them to be rather interesting to look at though he managed to keep a grip on his body's reactions. He did however note that something was off about the dark skinned woman who was before him and Duero.
He decided to remain silent for now as they moved to be interrogated though he had to admit that he was staring at the way the woman's posterior was moving. He slapped himself mentally to knock that stuff off reminded himself to keep his mind on what was going on before him. But that was hardly easy as after being stuck on the male planet for half a year, he was dying to know how the women lived on their side of the proverbial lake.
As soon as they arrived in a room, Naruto noted that the aqua haired girl he had met before arrived and brought another male with them.
The new arrival was none other than Bart Garsus and the second the blonde Sannin and former Hokage looked at the cadet, he could tell that this guy was not a warrior. Naruto had developed the skill of studying most people at first glance and what he could see from Bart told him that this guy was by no means a fighter, so he must have been brought here to the Ikazuchi for a different set of reasons.
Buzam looked Meia and the new male and asked the leader of the Dread Squadrons who this one was.
"Who's the new arrival?"
"I caught him hiding in the statue's base, he tried to wander about and escape as well."
Magno then appeared and looked at the three men and sighed a bit as she decided to sit down near the chair facing the two men and spoke.
"I heard that you all found some prisoners but instead of men you find a bunch of kids who are a bit wet behind the ears."
It was then that the robot moved towards the old woman and spoke.
"Hey! Its interrogation time! I'll tell you everything!"
The little robot began hopping to the place where Magno was sitting and began hopping around the old woman. It was very apparent who's side little machine was on.
The pirate captain looked down and gave a smirk. "Well now, how nostalgic! A Navi-robot, and this one's still in good working order."
"I'm afraid that I don't follow." Duero asked in his inborn curiosity.
"This ship's been on our home planet for centuries."
Bart remarked as he was afraid, but wanted to try and not show it.
Naruto on the other hand remained silent and wanted to find out what the women had to say about that. He knew that everything had two sides to it and this was one thing that he was very curious about. What was so bad that the men and women decided to live on different planets and go for each other's throats so long ago?
Magno snorted as she addressed them.
"I'll have you know that this ship actually was once part of a colonial fleet of ships from the planet Earth to colonize other worlds. This happened long before your fathers were even born. However, your cowardly grandfathers stole this segment of the ship and fled into the dead of the night."
The robot nodded as it continued with the explanations. "They overhauled the section and added residential areas to the ship."
Magno nodded.
"That's correct. We're just taking repossession of it again. So technically speaking, this ship now is ours. Now the big question in my mind is, what are we going to do with the three of you?"
Meia was the first to offer a suggestion and it was fairly obvious that she only had one solution in mind.
"We should just dump them in one of the still remaining escape pods Captain, we've got enough to worry about with the crystal trying to take over our ship."
Magno however replied while smirking at the men and licking her lips a bit.
"Let's try not to be too hasty there Meia, let's try and take our time on figuring out just who can cook these fellows up. Personally I like my men's innards medium rare."
Bart naturally panicked and looked like he was about to soil his pants as well as his undergarments, Duero on the other hand remained calm and relaxed. Naruto on the other hand growled in disgust as he saw Bart's reaction to Magno's obvious, at least to him, attempt to scare them and spoke out to Bart first.
"Will you stop that? I can't believe that you actually believe that mountain of crap those fruitcakes in your government shove in your face!"
He then turned to the surprised elderly woman and spoke out with a look of utter annoyance on his face. He had finally decided that hiding time was over for now and he should reveal just a bit of the real him.
"And cut out that downright stupid act Granny, you're no cannibal since if you were one to begin with, you wouldn't bother telling us those things and just killed us on site and ate us right here and right now. And I doubt your crew here are cannibals as well since why bother standing there and not go ahead with the eating?"
The people in the room were silent as they had not expected that until Buzam spoke, trying to figure out something about this man.
"You're a very brave man to say such things."
Naruto snorted and raised an eyebrow at Buzam and replied.
"Bravery's got nothing to do with it, I happen to not be a native of Talark to begin with so I happen to be a lot different from them, namely when it comes to the truth between men and women."
Magno was intrigued as she looked at the blonde male who she had to admit wore clothing that certainly didn't seem like the kind that men on Talark wore. However she decided to find out more of this man.
"You're not from Talark?"
The blonde replied to that question in his usual fashion.
"No I'm not, if I was one and I actually believed all the crap and lies those idiots in their government fill their ears and eyes with every day about women like you and your lovely crew members in this very room, I'd be like Mr. Piss-Pants over here when you said that line."
Naruto said as he pointed his thumbs at Bart, who naturally was shocked and a little offended by Naruto's blunt comment.
"Hey!"
Naruto replied to that.
"It's the truth man, you acted like you were going to wet your pants in the first place anyway and that is disgusting. I've been stuck on your world for six months! SIX MONTHS! You have any idea how difficult that is to deal with? There's no cooked meals that taste good enough to me, no hot springs to relax in, no parks, not a shred of greenery anywhere, no decent movies, no colorful celebrations, no decent books or magazines to read, and worst of all NO WOMEN AND NO RAMEN!"
"I had to listen to various guys for six months trying to ask me to give them my seed to have a child for Kami's sake, as well as ask me out on a date! I'd rather face the whole gang of Akatsuki all over again than have a relationship with a man, let alone have a child with one! And I have to listen to all that bull crap that they fill your ears and brain with about women for SIX freaking months!"
"That's the reason I snuck into the Ikazuchi in the first place, another month there in Talark would have driven me to insanity! I wanted to see other worlds, I want to taste honest to Kami food again, I want to be able to swim in clear water, enjoy a good drink with ice, and most of all, I wanted to see and if I could, actually talk to and touch an honest to Kami flesh and blood woman again!"
As soon as Naruto calmed himself down a bit after letting out what he had been hiding for six long months, he looked about to the crew and saw that his little display had stunned them to silence until the elderly woman spoke once more.
"All right then…let's suppose for one moment that you are indeed not a native of Talark, how the heck did you land in that world anyway?"
Naruto knew that telling them the truth was not the best of ideas, and he doubted that they would believe him anyway, namely with the idea that he had a demon still caged in him, was nigh immortal and older than he actually looked, and also happened to come here via portal courtesy of a long dead ancestral aunt of his, so he came up with the only answer he knew.
"I don't know, all I know is that I was there for reasons I can't understand and I had to stay underground and learn all that I could before I learned enough to find a way to escape by boarding the ship…and of course we all know how that turned out don't we?"
Duero was thoughtful and then spoke out.
"That would explain how you were able to defeat those guards back there in the ceremony, not to mention your sword skills and that ability you have to actually walk on the roof of the room without falling. That still does not explain to us how you are able to do those things though."
Naruto grinned a bit at that and replied.
"I was hoping to keep most of my skills under wraps but now that we're here, I guess hiding's a bit out of the question. I suppose you want to know how I learned those things huh? I guess you can say I was trained in them when I was young, after all, I happen to a Shinobi, and like I said before in the cell Duero, I am not going to reveal everything just about myself just yet."
The women were confused; the two guards looked at one another and shrugged while Buzam raised an eyebrow and so did Meia, Magno on the other hand took a hard look and spoke sternly.
"You're a Shinobi eh? Never thought I'd actually hear that term in my life time, let alone meet someone who claims to be one in this day and age."
Buzam turned to the elderly captain and asked her what that word meant.
"What do you mean by Shinobi Captain?"
"It's an old Earth term Buzam from ancient Japan's time, Shinobi is the term used to identify male ninja, Ninja were a secretive order of warriors who were male and female with the female ninja being labeled as Kunoichi, they served as spies, arsonists, observers, scouts, body guards, terrorists, infiltrators, and the last occupation they had and made them legendary in their time were as assassins."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, he had never heard of Japan before and was surprised that even in a world like this one, ninjas were not that unknown to anyone. The others however didn't take what they learned very well, at least on the women's side of the whole thing. The two female guards raised their laser rings at him, Buzam tensed a bit as she watched him while Meia aimed her laser ring once more at him and she spoke.
"What should we do with him Captain?"
"I don't know myself really, this situation is very much something that I had never expected to be faced with in this trip. Something tells me that you are not entirely what you seem, still Meia's question happens to be a very valid one. However, I think I want to hear what you have to say, what should we do with you?"
"I do have a name Granny, and it is Naruto, Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, and in answer to your question, why not let me stay here on the ship? You already know that I'm not from Talark so I don't exactly have a reason to be your crew's enemy. And besides, I happen to have a number of skills and abilities that might prove…useful though I will keep most of them under wraps, all of which are part of my being a Shinobi."
Magno raised an eyebrow at this while Meia looked at the now recognized ninja and it made her worry as despite her still lingering distrust of the man, the fact that he was recognized to be an assassin of all things. She decided to keep a serious eye on the blonde and make sure that the very second he tried something on the crew, she was going to stop him, permanently if it came to that point.
However, the scrutiny she was placing on the blonde was not going unnoticed by the ninja in question as Naruto turned and spoke to her with a grin on his face.
"You've been staring at me for a very long time you know, see anything you like?"
Meia was surprised though she managed to hide it, however that was not enough as she glared at the blonde who merely grinned even more at her, not at all worried about the way she was looking at him. And that grated on her nerves more than she cared to admit and she replied.
"Keep your thoughts to yourself!"
"I would but if you keep aiming that ring at me as well as looking at me the way you are, I'm bound to think that you're either planning to shoot me with that thing, or you're looking at me for a far different reason. I'm hoping for the latter, but that's probably just wishful thinking on my part. Still, being stared at by an attractive woman like you even if she plans to do something painful to me is not too bad, right?"
Meia had no idea how to respond to that though Magno had an idea what was going on, it seemed that Naruto was actually flirting with Meia. This made her actually smirk, she wasn't going to trust this young man just yet, but so far, considering what she had seen, having him as a temporary ally could possibly be helpful in the long run. However, she wanted to see just what he was capable of.
"All right Naruto, I'll give you permission to stay here on the ship for now until I decide what to do with you on a more permanent basis. However, I have some rules that I want you to follow, considering the fact that you are not from Talark and that rather verbal display you gave earlier, I assume that you are familiar with women?"
Naruto grinned at that and nodded.
"Oh yes, I am VERY familiar with women in a number of levels, but don't worry, I'll follow the rules that you are going to give me. I have no intention of getting on a woman's bad side since I've learned a long time ago from personal experience how dangerous you women can be when you get riled for one reason or another. I may be skilled and possess some unknown abilities, but I'm no idiot."
(And that's not a lie either, I HAVE seen women angry before and while I doubt anyone among the women here is as strong as Tsunade-obachan and Sakura-chan, I am not in the mood to fight women who are not enemies to begin with.)
Magno couldn't help but feel a bit amused by that, she could tell that Naruto was not lying to her in both counts and decided to get the rules down and afterwards' she would have to figure out what to do with the two other men who were with the blonde ninja.
"First rule, keep your actions towards my crew civil, especially to the younger ones since I have a very good idea on what you might try to pull. Second rule, you pull your own weight around here, just because I let you into my group does not mean you get to lounge around and do nothing. And the Third rule is simple, and that is that you make sure to not do anything that can be considered as hostile. I don't like the idea of taking a life so I hope that you don't give me a reason to start trying that out."
Naruto thought it over and saw that those rules were very reasonable, she was thinking of her crew after all and the way she said it made him think back on a certain man who was like a grandfather to him. In some ways it was like looking at a female version of the old man. He smiled and nodded.
"Sounds about right to me, and they are very reasonable in every respect, I accept those rules of yours Granny, I swear it on my pride and life as a Shinobi."
Magno looked the blonde youth over and when she could tell that he meant that promise, decided to order the others to stand down, Buzam noted that and gave the same order as well to the others. The two female guards lowered their rings while Meia did so with her own though it was obviously with some level of reluctance.
As soon as that was done, Buzam then decided to ask a number of questions to the blonde Shinobi to figure out just what he could contribute to the crew if he was going to be with them, but first she needed to know something.
"What do you plan to do while you're here with us anyway? I still would like to know just what you intend to do on this ship and under our watch."
Naruto gave it some thought and replied.
"See the universe, travel the stars, have adventures, interact with people, eat and drink new things, do new things, seek new challenges, just the usual sort of things any young man would want in his age. Anything is better than setting foot on Talark again. I don't completely hate it since the place kind of reminds me of another world I've been to, but after being there for six months, I don't want to see that world for a while and I certainly don't want to be the target-board for men who have…less than noble intentions on my person if you get my meaning."
"Considering that little outburst you made before I can see why, at any rate, what exactly can you contribute to the crew and to the ship itself?"
Naruto grinned and replied.
"I didn't spend all of my time on Talark dodging amorous guys, trying not to listen to their propaganda crap, keep myself from losing my marbles, and eating pills that make the idea of eating cardboard appealing you know. I picked up how to pilot Vanguards and maintain them, so if your forces need an extra set of muscle in a fight I should be able to pitch in just nicely, I also happen to have a considerable idea on how to operate some of the other Talark built systems on this ship. And there are my…other skills."
This made Buzam and the other women curious, namely Magno who looked at the blonde and decided to ask him.
"Other skills? Care to elaborate on that young man?"
"First, you tell me what you know of the ninja in your case."
"They were supposed to climb walls, disappear, command the elements, make copies of themselves, that sort of stuff. Most of it is just hogwash though. They were skilled fighters, but there is no way they can do those things at all young man."
Naruto couldn't help but grin at that and replied.
"Well then, I guess I am going to have fun showing one of my said skills to you and the young ladies then, it should come into play right about…now."
The women were surprised when one of the doors opened and walked a new person, only in this case, they were all shocked and for good reason as the person before them was an exact replica of the same blonde male who was there in the room with them with restraints on. The new arrival was Naruto himself without the restraints on and he had a very warm grin on his face and spoke.
"Hi, sorry I'm late, took me a while to find this room."
"Wha?"
"How?"
"That's…impossible!"
"Oh boy…"
The men and the women in the room now found themselves facing TWO of Naruto, both of whom were grinning at them. Before they could respond though, they heard movement on the roof of the room and to their surprise; another Naruto appeared and landed nimbly on his feet, dusted himself off and leaned on the wall with a smirk on his face. That was soon followed by several more noises from both the roof and the floor as two more of exact copies of Naruto appeared, dusted themselves off and were now leaning on the walls.
The women pirates looked all over the room and so did Duero and Bart along with the Navi-robot, as they now found themselves surrounded by five exact copies of Naruto. Magno looked at each of them, trying see if she could find which one of them was the real one, but she realized that there was no way she could tell them apart, she then directed her gaze at the one who was still in front of her with the restraints on and hoped that she was talking to the real Naruto.
"What the heck is this young man?"
The blonde grinned and so did his four exact duplicates and then all of them spoke at the same time.
"Remember when you said that you've heard of ninjas who can copy themselves and you thought it was hogwash? As you can see, I am a ninja who IS capable of making copies of myself, these are not fakes, they are actual living, breathing copies of myself, they are Kage Bunshin, or in a more direct way of description…Shadow Clones."
The pirates were stunned while Duero was intrigued, Bart was wide eyed as the robot was as well…and Naruto was enjoying every second of this, it had been some time since he got to have some fun with Kage Bunshin and now was a good a time as any as he spoke out to fan the flames even more for some laughs.
"So now that the gang's all here, here's an interesting question for you ladies, which one of me, is the real me? For all you know, the one you're talking to right now might also be a Kage Bunshin."
…
In another section of the ship…
Ezra was currently looking through some sort of mapping device, no doubt trying to find any star system that would tell her and possibly the others on where they currently were. At the moment, she was with her younger friend Dita, who was someone she happened to be treating as something of a surrogate daughter or younger sister as she was carrying a special secret.
"Oh dear, none of this makes sense…this is impossible."
"What do you mean by that Ezra, it's really cool to actually meet a real live alien you know."
"I suppose that would be true, but still, all this is incredible!"
"I know Ezra! Alien powers are so amazing!"
"We used to think that the Paeksis was merely a power source of some type, but it was able to restore the ship and transform it as well."
"The alien's powers made it all brand new, so that means if I get abducted by good aliens…"
Dita's thoughts were cut short when she spotted a worried look on Ezra's face and her happy expression turned into a slightly worried and curious expression.
"Ezra, are you all right?"
The brown haired woman smiled at the redhead and replied.
"I'm fine Dita, I was just thinking about the others in the base we left behind."
Dita nodded and turned to look at the stars once more.
"I know, I wish the others back home were with us, they have no idea what they are missing."
"I really wish that I can go back there soon."
Dita however was looking on wide eyed and seemed to be showing a good deal of excitement on her face. This was enough to make the older woman curious as to what had made her young friend become more energetic.
"Dita, what is it?"
"Look over there Ezra!"
The young woman looked to where her friend was pointing and looked through her device to see that there were several objects that were heading straight towards them at what appeared to be at high speed.
"Oh my! What are those things?"
The answer came from the overly excitable redhead who now had cute images in her eyes, a smile on her face as well as cat ears and a tail.
"Don't you know Ezra? Those are MORE Aliens!"
…
Meanwhile, back in the room…
The pirates, the Navi-robot, and the men were still trying to figure out just who was the real Naruto in the room from the five. The four that came into the room were so much like the one who was sitting there and having the Megele made manacles on his hands, it was nigh impossible for them to figure out who was who. They would have preferred to guess that the one they had before them was the real one, but the question he threw at them was enough to make the pause. Naruto grinned even more and then decided to throw one last monkey wrench into the works before ending this.
"Or better yet, could all of me here in this room be actually Kage Bunshin and the real me is still uncaught and wandering the ship?"
Buzam was getting very much annoyed by those though she remained calm and cool, she could tell that he was living up to what the captain of being unique, the fact that he could make copies of himself that looked very real told her that this male before them possessed abilities that no normal man should have.
(Is he even a man? Or something else entirely?)
Magno then spoke seriously.
"Are you playing a game with my crew and me young man? Because if you are, then this game of yours is hardly amusing to me, this is a serious matter and now is not the time for games."
All five of the blonde Shinobi pouted and replied in a hurt tone as one being.
"Geez, you're no fun at all Granny, all right then, I guess the game is over, bye!"
With that, the Kage Bunshin exploded into clouds of smoke and to the eyes of the people in the room showing that the one who was in manacles was also a Kage Bunshin, however, the people were quick to notice that one of blonde Shinobi, was still in the room and was right behind both Meia and Buzam, they all turned to look at him and Meia spoke while aiming her laser ring at him while speaking seriously.
"Are you the real one this time?"
Naruto grinned and took a hidden kunai and cut his own hand, allowing blood to show before the group and he did it without being bothered by the pain. After all he had been through, a simple wound like that was not a major issue for the blonde Sannin. He showed his wound and the blood to the people in the room and replied.
"This wound I have that bleeds, does that answer your question?"
Magno looked at the man and spoke.
"I suppose it does, let me guess, when we found you, the one we thought to be you was actually a…"
"Kage Bunshin? Right on target, I actually woke up earlier and checked on the three ladies there to see if they were all right, afterwards, I made the Kage Bunshin that you ladies took with you, managed to hide from you all when you came onboard and followed you for some time until you all came to this room and then made the others to sneak into the right moment and pop up for the surprise. And before you ask about the wound, I'll be fine, I've had worse in my career as a ninja and I am a quick healer to boot, this wound of mine will be gone soon."
Naruto moved over to the place where the other men were, sat where his Kage Bunshin had been before and picked up the manacles with a hand and tossed back to Buzam who looked seriously at the blonde, Naruto then grinned at Magno who replied at his smirk.
"You're very interesting Naruto, I take that Kage Bunshin technique of yours has other uses apart from that little game of yours?"
The blonde raised his eyebrows at that with a smirk.
"Yep, perfect for scouting, ambush, surprise attacks, training…and, well…OTHER uses outside of combat if you get my meaning there."
Magno smirked a bit at that as she could easily imagine what the blonde referred to the term 'OTHER USES' and Naruto smiled warmly as well. The elderly woman decided to get on with finding out all that she could about the other two men who were natives of Talark, she was interested to learn about the fact that Duero was actually a doctor and she then wondered what they should do with the blonde Talark native.
However, it was not long before they were informed that they had company coming their way, and when Buzam asked if it was male reinforcements from the world of Talark, all she got was an odd answer, courtesy of Dita who was very much happy to say that the arrivals were aliens.
…
In a way, the young redhead was fairly right in that description as four limbed octopus like flying machines with one eye in the upper body began to move towards the fused ships and quickly began to open fire. Several explosions were quick to be seen on the fused ship. The ship's automated defense network was barely online and as such, the shields that normally activated to defend the ship were not active all over the ship itself and even those shield systems which were active were barely powerful enough to block the damage that was being inflicted on them.
Meia wasted no time and quickly ran off to get to her Dreads while Buzam was quick to contact Parfet to come up with a way to get the ship moving out the reach of the enemy before things got real bad for them all. However, Parfet replied that the engines would not respond at all.
Meia quickly tried to contact Barnette, however, she was not happy to find out that Paiway had locked Barnette in along with a number of the women that Duero had been treating earlier back on the Ikazuchi before the men decided to torpedo the ship. As for the green haired woman in question she tried to tell Paiway to let her and the others out, but the young nurse was not budging on the matter.
Meia quickly contacted the only Dread pilots she knew were not under quarantine by their young nurse.
"Jura! Where are you?"
"I'm heading to the platform right now, Dita is with me as well."
…
As soon as the blonde arrived into the room, she stopped as she spotted the sudden changes to their Dreads, she recognized her own, but now it looked radically different than the last time she had seen it.
"What the heck is going on here? Are those really our Dreads?"
Dita arrived and gave only one comment on her seeing the enhanced and transformed Dreads.
"Wow!"
Meia arrived and while she too was surprised by the changes but she placed that out of her mind and ordered her companions to get into their Dreads, once they were in they quickly ran through the systems of their machines. She was happy to note that the systems had not changed too much and made that clear as she ran a quick diagnostic check.
"It looks like the systems had not been changed too much, what about you two?"
Jura and Dita were there as the blonde spoke.
"I think I can fly it."
Dita, being the excitable girl that she was also spoke her own take on the situation onvolving their transformed Dreads.
"I bet the aliens' powers made our Dreads even stronger, this is so exciting!"
Meia replied to that as their Dreads were now ready to fly.
"If they are, that's no reason for us to get overconfident, let's do this right and defend the ship as best we can without taking risks all right?"
"Roger!"
…
All three Dreads were soon out of the fused ship and were deep in the fight, as soon as she was out of the ship Dita found herself being pursued by the unknown forces that were trying to get a lock on her and her Dread and she spoke out to the flying fighters that resembled four limbed octopi.
"Please listen up new aliens! We're really a peaceful race! Maybe we can talk about what is bothering you!"
The apprentice Dread pilot moved quickly and began to stir her fighter while Dita commented at her actions.
"Dita! Those are the enemy! Wait a second; Dita was never that good a pilot."
It was true, apparently the Dreads had gotten a great overhaul apart from their change in appearance in every fashion as Meia found out after taking down two more of the unknown forces .
"The system's changed somehow, but what are these things, no way are they Vanguards."
Jura and Dita appeared on Meia's communication systems with the blonde commenting first.
"I'm not sure what to make of these guys, but it's obvious these are not men from Talark."
"It's obvious what they are, they are BAD aliens?"
Jura looked at Dita who was not in the best of moods and replied.
"Not the alien stuff again."
…
Meia looked at the way the mother ship released those cubes and saw them turn into more of the fighters they had destroyed earlier. She quickly began to realize that Jura was right, these were not the same as the men, but she wondered about what Dita had said before about these being aliens.
Like most people, Meia doubted that such beings existed, but maybe Dita was right about their new foes being aliens.
"Are they really aliens as Dita said?"
She knew that she had no time to think about such things, all she had to focus on was taking out the fighters that seed shaped mother ship kept spewing out in order to keep them from harming the ship and her fellow pirates. But without any backup and no way to recharge their weapons, she was beginning to doubt that she, Jura, and Dita could last against the unknown enemy's numerical superiority.
…
Inside the ship…
Naruto rushed to where his Vanguard was and hoped that he was not going to be late, he had recently helped Duero carry the injured girl to the medical bay of the ship and was soon on his way to the Vanguard. When the attack happened, one of the girls was injured by falling debris and Duero quickly rushed in to help. This was the sign Bart needed to make a deal with the Captain, Naruto knew that the blonde cadet did it to save his skin, but it was a valid one at least.
He told the Captain that as soon as he was done helping Duero, he was heading off to help the three Dread pilots with their situation. As he arrived to the place where his Vanguard was, he stopped and looked at the machine and for a very good reason as well as the Vanguard had been…
"Wow…now this is different…"
Naruto looked at the Vanguard that he had marked before, it seemed to have changed somehow and in a good way. Gone was to dorky look that Bart had thought of before when the Vanguards had been shown in the videos before. The one eye was replaced by two and the face had been remodeled to resemble a human face with armor, on top of the head above the eyes was the symbol of Konoha. The face now resembled a ninja's face with full mask on with a sort of four prongs on the sides positioned like a crown that were moving backward as well as four glowing crystals near the Konoha symbol.
The body of the Vanguard looked more human like, that meant that originally mechanical looking form was sleeker and was modeled to that of the human body, the armor plating looked smoother and there were glowing lines on certain sections of the body, near the neck were symbols that were like one half of the Yin or Yang symbols that glowed a bit in blue light around the neck area. There was also the symbol of Konoha on the chest of the Vanguard as well as two spiral designs on the shoulders and stomach, also on the chest next to the Konoha symbol was the word for Hokage there as well as thrusters on the shoulders and back as well as two nacelles that had glowing crystals on them in the shoulders.
There were also nacelles on the back as well on the Vanguard and what appeared to be handles for something, no doubt weapons of some sort.
The legs were also made to be more human like in design and appearance, with armored sections on the thighs and calves. The arms were also mimicking the human body as well though there were two large armored sections there which had several kunai shaped blades on them aiming outward, as well as two diamond shaped crystals of glowing energy in them and he noted two more in the palms of the hands of the Vanguard.
All in all, it resembled an armored ninja in black with blue streaks as well as glowing areas of power and was very much unlike the boxy mecha that it was originally. Naruto reached forward and to his surprise, the Vanguard powered up and the chest opened to reveal a cockpit.
"Okay, this is definitely something that I had no idea had happened while I was out, I sure as heck hope that whatever turned you into… whatever you are now didn't alter your systems too much, cause it will royally piss me off if everything I learned so far on how to pilot you turns out to have been for nothing."
Naruto gets into the Vanguard and as soon as he was in, the control systems moved from the top to the front of him with the door closing to seal him into the cockpit, he quickly placed aside the desire to find out what happened to his Vanguard and tried to find anything that was familiar to him and thankfully it seemed that the controls that he had been able to understand in a Vanguard had not changed too much, though the cockpit was certainly a lot roomier than before when he got onboard the first time. The screens also seemed a bit larger as well as there being a few more controls than before.
He quickly began to move the controls and was pleased to see that the systems were relatively the same, he quickly accessed the OS and hoped to Kami that the data was still the same. Once he was sure that the systems were the same, he powered up the Vanguard and ran through the basic controls. It was after a minute or so of patient testing that he was content that the Vanguard, despite the transformation done to it, was ready for battle.
He powered up the thrusters and got himself ready for what was about happen. He then wondered about what would happen if he fed his chakra into the Vanguard, he did so and was surprised when the crystal orbs that were in his Vanguard seemed to glow, he wondered what that was for but placed that aside as he tried to communicate to the bridge.
As soon as he appeared to the communication screen of the bridge, he smiled at Magno and Buzam and spoke.
"I'm here, took me a while since my Vanguard seems to be upgraded too, I'm on my way out."
Magno nodded and spoke out.
"All right then, let's see just how good you are with that Vanguard of yours young man."
"Fair enough, but here's the thing, I might look young, but I am a lot older than you think. That will be for another time, right now, I've got some people to save."
With that, Naruto cut the communications and got ready to fight as he placed his Vanguard into the launching platform.
"Here we go!"
…
Meia and the other Dread pilots were having their hands full at the moment with their new enemies. And it was not long before they knew that until they got some backup, they were not going to prevent these new enemies from seriously damaging the now fused ships. Meia was quick to contact the ship and speak to the Captain.
"Captain, as much as I hate to say this, but if we don't get some backup soon, it's going to be too much for us. The unknown fighters are just increasing in number, for every one we shoot down; there are now three more coming in!"
Meia was not alone as Dita and Jura also gave their very own input on the situation that they were hip deep in as they did their best to fight the unknown forces.
"Meia's right! We need backup soon!"
"The bad aliens are too many!"
Magno nodded and replied.
"Don't worry, we've sent some backup already."
"Who is it?"
"A very interesting being and might very well be a living miracle in our current situation."
…
In space…
In her Dread, Meia was utterly confused by that statement by the Captain and wondered just who was being dispatched to serve as their back up. But Jura was the one who replied the most.
"I don't care who she is, she had better hurry up and help us here."
It was then that the three Dread pilots who were out their fighting the unknown heard a very familiar voice that was undeniably male.
"Keep your cool there, here's you backup, and it is coming in style!"
They looked and there was a form coming out from the still fused ship and there was an object coming in their direction, they were quick to get close and to their surprise, it was a Vanguard, but totally unlike anything that was in the hands of the men. They were surprised then the Vanguard suddenly moved it's arms and then unleashed a wave of four pointed glowing stars into a band of those alien cube fighters.
The stars hit them dead center and then exploded in a shower of pure energy, reducing the alien fighters that were hit into floating wreckage.
As soon as Naruto appeared in their communication systems, he smiled and then winked a bit in a very mischievous fashion at the three Dread pilots in his usually cocky way.
"Sorry I'm late, the Vanguard I was supposed to use took some changes too, but they always say the good guy usually arrives a bit late."
Dita was thrilled by the fact that Naruto was there and she was more than willing to show her happiness that he was there to help them.
"Mr. Alien!"
Jura was surprised herself as she looked at the smirking blonde male who had complimented her previously and she spoke out.
"You're the backup?"
"You were expecting an ANBU unit or something?"
"AN-what?"
The blonde laughed at that and replied.
"Long story, and now is not the right time, but I'll tell you what gorgeous, if this ends well, I'll buy you a drink if you like, hopefully I have some funds for that though."
Meia was even more confused by that and so did Jura and Dita but they hardly had time to comment as the black Vanguard suddenly took off and headed right to the enemy fighters at high speed, faster than any of the Vanguards who had been their foes from before and they wondered just what was going to happen now that this man was in their battle field.
…
As for Naruto, he couldn't help but feel a bit stressed out by the speed of his Vanguard, but he grinned as he managed to adjust a bit to the speed and spoke out.
"Wow, speed's a lot different than before, I might have to make some changes, but now, let's see what else we can do here, what else have you been given?"
Naruto quickly ran through the selection and he had to admit that this was a real test as he was trying to pilot his Vanguard and check his weapon systems while trying to avoid being tagged by these unknown fighters. This was different as he usually dodged such attacks easily, though in that situation, he was not piloting a machine and was only using his body. But the training he had gained by sneaking into the Vanguard simulation rooms back on Talark was paying off even if this was his first time.
He checked the rest of his arsenal and quickly moved to select the next weapons. It was not long before his Vanguard moved it's hands to the handles and pulled out a pair of metallic swords that were the same as his basic swords but there was a line of glowing crystals in liquid form in the middle of the blades.
Naruto smiled and began to move his Vanguard while cutting and slashing at the enemy fighters, cutting a number of them down and also stabbing his weapon into them while pushing his Vanguard to chasing them. One managed to move out of the way and tried to fire at the Vanguard, but Naruto avoided the shot and then turned and tried to attack the escaping enemy fighter.
Naruto glared a bit at his target and spoke out.
"Damn, you're a fast one, come here you little!"
Naruto reflexively fed his chakra into the machine, he was surprised as he noted the crystals in his cockpit were glowing again and he noted the liquid crystal in his swords glowed. He had a thought and focused his chakra a bit more and then the swords were bathed in blue energy and then a blade of pure energy appeared around the blade, giving it more length than before. The former Hokage recognized it and lashed out at the annoying Cube Fighter and was rewarded with the sight of the blade of energy cutting through the alien fighter, which fell in a neatly dissected set and blew up.
Naruto grinned as his glowing swords, this was the same technique Konohamaru's uncle Asuma used to make with his trench knives and how he learned to channel his Wind Chakra so long ago. It seemed that the same method could be done here and he liked that a lot, he briefly remembered the now deceased Jonin, and quickly placed that thought aside, but not before remembering his and Kurenai's son Hiruzen who was named after Asuma's father, and he briefly whispered to the deceased Jonin.
"This is for you Asuma-sensei."
…
Dita was awed as the Vanguard piloted by Naruto began to lash out with the swords in hand, cutting down several of the bad aliens and then somehow cutting down the enemy even if they were far away from him. She watched the Vanguard as it then placed aside one of the swords and fired more of the glowing blue stars that destroyed the enemy while moving at high speed.
"Wow! Mr. Alien is amazing!"
Jura also looked on at the Vanguard while the blonde Sannin was busy cutting down more and more of the enemy forces of the aliens. She had to admit that the Vanguard was a vast improvement compared to the ugly Vanguards that she had seen.
"Got to admit, he's pretty good compared to those rookies we fought with before…and at least his Vanguard's a far better sight on the eyes than those dorky looking ones we saw before."
…
But that was not all as Naruto spotted a number of the cube like fighters coming in and he then spotted an option in the Vanguard's weapon system menu and spotted something that looked kind of promising to him. He used it and soon a targeting reticule appeared and he locked it on a nearby alien fighter and pressed the trigger. Instead of a shuriken coming out from the armored section of the forearm however, it was a glowing kunai blade that was connected by a very long glowing chain of energy.
The weapon smashed hard into the enemy and Naruto decided to yank the target to him, the chain was soon brought back to the Vanguard fast enough to allow the blonde pilot to use the Vanguard's sword to cut down the target.
Inside, Naruto quickly had an idea and targeted another one of the alien fighters and fired the same chain and quickly did a high swing while yanking the chain back, as soon as he was done, he thrust forward and dragged the impaled enemy fighter with him, he stopped and flung the still trapped fighter and turned it into a primitive weight while extending the energy chain even more.
The trapped fighter was sent flying around a dozen of it's fellows and looped around them like a weight, wrapping the energy chain several times around them and as soon as that was done, Naruto wasted no time and dragged the whole mess of fighters towards him and then allowed his Vanguard's still present sword to be covered in energy to extend into a large blade of light and in a reverse grip, slashed outward, cutting the gathered fighters in half.
The energy chain moved away and back into where it had been launched before and faded away at the same time as the extended energy blade that was on the sword of the Vanguard, resulting in more of the enemy fighters being destroyed easily as the Vanguard turned with the explosions behind it, adding more of a serious effect as the blonde Vanguard pilot faced the rest of the alien forced before it.
…
On the bridge…
Magno was very much silent as she looked on at how the tide had turned into their favor, it seemed that having that blonde Shinobi was a good idea. However, she was still not very trusting of him and seeing how he decimated the enemy force before him and his Vanguard was something that the elderly pirate Captain was not going to ignore.
Buzam was stunned and spoke out.
"How is he able to do all that?"
…
Dita was in awe as she looked at the Vanguard piloted by the blonde and wished that she could do those things that Naruto was able to do, and she wondered if he had other powers that she had yet to see.
Jura was wide eyed and wondered what would happen next.
Meia looked on and she was very much unnerved by how much power this blonde male was showing before her and her fellow pirates.
…
Naruto spotted the massive alien ship which now directed it's full attention on him, no doubt seeing that he and his Vanguard were a far more potent threat and began to unleash more of the Cubes that would transform into fighters, the surviving ones that Naruto did not take out moved into an assault formation and were now firing their weapons at the blonde and his Vanguard. The blonde however had an idea and began to look into what else he could do and then had an interesting idea in mind.
He now knew that he could channel his charka into this Vanguard and decided to try up the ante and use one of his most recognized Jutsu. He began to focus his chakra into the Vanguard and placed aside his sword. The Vanguard moved it's right arm and had the hand palm open and soon the blonde began to focus his chakra, he was about to move the other hand over the first but discovered that he didn't have to as the sphere began to form.
He then decided to use the purified chakra of the Kyuubi and to his surprise the Vanguard seemed to react considerably to the increasing strength of the chakra that was now being put into it. The lines of energy glowed deeply and soon the familiar sphere of the Rasengan was seen on the palm of the Vanguard, Naruto then moved the other hand of his Vanguard into the very same position and did the same thing and soon there were two Rasengan in the hands of the Vanguard. Apparently the Vanguard's transformed power reactor was somehow acting in the same way as his Kage Bunshin would normally serve when making the Rasengan, and that gave him a very interesting idea on how to deal with the enemy once and for all before taking out that massive ship of theirs.
With that, Naruto summoned his Wind chakra and soon the tell tale signs of the fully completed Rasenshuriken in both hands of the Vanguard, inside the cockpit, Naruto was able to use his purified Kyuubi's chakra in his controlled Jinchuuriki form and it served effectively as a replacement for his Sage mode since he could not do it yet in space as he had no idea if it would work in the same fashion as before. As soon as he locked on the cubes, he charged and fired both at the same time as they were about to break apart.
Both spinning energy spheres with the shuriken like auras spinning around them, headed right for their targets and soon smashed hard and fast into the two Cubes, before they could break apart into their usual cloud formations of fighters, the impact was explosive as everyone saw the spheres exploded and soon surrounded the enemy forces.
The spheres detonated with explosive results as the alien fighters were instantly reduced into nothing as the blades sliced through them and destroyed them at the cellular level. In that instant, Naruto had turned the alien reinforcements into scrap, he then directed his attention on the alien ship and saw that it was in the process of unleashing more.
(Damn persistent one aren't you, let's see you handle this then!)
Naruto then decided to finish this up close and personal with another Rasengan attack, unaware of the fact that he was not alone this time around as a certain blue armored Dread was right behind him and his Vanguard.
…
Meia however was able to spot the Dread and spoke out to the pilot with a good deal of concern in her voice.
"Dita! What are you doing?"
"Don't worry, I'm sure Mr. Alien can win this!"
Jura was also surprised by this as she called out to the younger Dread pilot.
"Dita! Get back here!"
…
Naruto managed to summon enough of his own chakra out as well as that of the chakra of the Kyuubi and soon summoned another Rasengan though considering the Vanguard that he was piloting, the sphere of pure chakra was about the same size of his Cho Odama Rasengan and was soon closing the gap and planned to slam this attack right into the very core of the enemy ship. However, it was then that he noticed the blue Dread coming his way as well as several of the alien fighters aiming at the Dread.
"Damn it!"
This forced Naruto to redirect his Vanguard and take out the incoming forces with the Rasengan, the alien fighters were destroyed easily but it was then that the alien mother ship decided to attack as massive tendrils came at the Dread, Naruto quickly moved in to get the Dread out of the way, but they were both hit by the attack and soon enveloped in an explosion.
…
Meia was shocked while Jura looked away in sadness and spoke out.
"You idiot!"
In the bridge, Magno and Buzam were not happy and thought that this was the end and they had no choice but to leave the ship and get ready for the worst, considering the way they were all in right now. But then the floating Navi-robot cried out and for good reason as something was coming out of the inferno that should have been impossible by any standard.
…
In the expanding inferno came a massive hand that soon ripped away the tendrils that were there before and out came a massive mecha that was much larger than the Vanguard that the blonde ninja had been piloting before. It was armored to be like a knight and had two blades on the forearms as well as two massive crystals on the back of it.
The surviving alien fighters tried to overpower it with their numbers as well as their mass, but their efforts were equal to using jelly beans to stop a runaway train. The massive machine swatted them aside and somehow unleashed several cutting waves of energy from the forearm blades that destroyed the opposition and also cause massive gouges on the armor of the mother ship.
It tried to fire another barrage of tendril, but the forearm blades were covered in energy and actually extended forward to the length of sword blades and with a slash from the arms, the tendrils sliced apart. The alien ship tried to escape but the massive mecha seemingly teleported to the front, closing the distance and kept the machine from shielding itself as the massive crystals moved into a firing position on the shoulders and then unleashed a pair of massive spheres that were similar to the Rasengan and were launched out and into the ship itself.
The end was result was the alien ship expanding like a balloon and soon glowing as the energy spheres that were unleashed into it were causing all manner of damage in it and soon, the spheres blasted their way out of the alien ship and it exploded in a grand display of utter destruction and soon the alien fighters that were not destroyed were soon powering down and no longer a threat to the pirates and the ship itself.
…
Magno leaned back and couldn't help but smile.
"I guess that young blonde was not kidding, this is going to be a very interesting day."
Buzam nodded at that and so did the rest of the bridge crew with the dark skinned second in command of the pirates speaking out to herself.
"This is a real miracle now."
That was the same train of thought in every crew member's mind as they looked at the image of the mecha before them.
In their Dreads, both Jura and Meia were looking on at the massive mecha before them and they were utterly confused and awed as to what had just happened before the two of them.
…
In the cockpit of said mecha…
Naruto sighed a bit and was happy that it was over had he was back to his normal self and he looked about, and despite the fact that he was a bit winded from the battle in the use of his chakra, the blonde quickly noticed that this was not his Vanguard's cockpit, it was roomy, but not this roomy.
(Hold it…where the heck am I now? And why is it that I feel something is on my lap?)
The second he looked, he spotted a long mane of silky red hair in front of her and then the feel of an undeniably female body on his own was enough to tell him that the feeling of something on his lap was fairly accurate though in this case, it was not something, but rather someone on his lap.
Dita leaned back and moaned out in a very happy tone, unaware that her innocent actions were having a less than innocent effect on the blonde Sannin and former Hokage who's lap she was sitting on as she spoke.
"I just knew that Mr. Alien was going to help us."
Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the innocent redhead who was laying on him right now and he was soon trying to keep his more amorous self from trying something on the innocent redhead. He disliked the fact that after so long without the company of a woman, he was acting like his younger self again when he finally got REALLY interested in women apart from dating them, he should be able to keep himself under control since hurting an innocent like her was something went against everything he knew and believed in.
Not only that, he had to remind himself to be careful around the Captain, while he had strong confidence in himself and his abilities as a proud ninja and former Hokage, he was not in the mood to get in the bad side of the crew he was somewhat part of. Not only that, he also kept in mind that none of the women on this ship had any idea, with the exception of the Captain herself, what he knew about the real deal between men and women.
He WAS tempted to tell them, but he knew that just as revealing the truth about women would have made him a real target for the men on Talark, telling the women about the relationships that can happen between men and women to the women of Megele was asking for trouble. Maybe once they got used to being around men, he was going to try, and while it was dangerous, there was one thing that he knew to be true.
Where was the fun in life without some danger in it?
…
To be continued…
…
Author's Notes:
Well, that wraps up this one and we move on to the next chapter, I have to make it to Chapter Five and then I will put this story on ice and make the updates on the stories I mentioned before. On this chapter we have Naruto in action for the first time in battle and thankfully his time in learning how to pilot Vanguards on his usual hackings into the Vanguard simulators has paid off, though he is a bit uneasy in space combat.
I based Naruto's changed Vanguard to the form of both the armor of Karas with a blend of the character design of Hotsuma of the Shinobi game, as well as some elements of Naruto's own Sage of the Six Paths chakra cloak form. It is powered by the Paeksis that altered it, but is attuned to Naruto's chakra which is why Naruto eventually learns how to control it and also can channel his chakra into it and it in turn will allow him to use Jutsu.
Some you have already seen as the one technique Asuma taught Naruto during his training for Nature Manipulation, the next is his Rasengan and all the variants that Naruto can do in both the anime and manga. This will also include some special Jutsu that Naruto develops in his years as Hokage that takes advantage of his abilities and knowledge, along with his Sage Mode and also the Controlled Jinchuuriki form.
What they are will be revealed soon enough as the story progresses.
Another ability that is there with the Vanguard is the Chakra Chain ability, if you have read the manga, this is unique to Kushina, Naruto's mother and I plan to have Naruto use it as well as something of a surprise inheritance from her before she fades away, with him being her son after all and would no doubt have the same power as she did. And he can use this as well outside of the Vanguard as he did have forty years to learn many things and that includes his mother's special technique with her chakra. As to how many chains Naruto can use compared to his mother, that is a surprise.
The VanDreads will undergo some special changes as well soon enough, what they are will be under wraps but some special abilities from Naruto WILL be present in each of them so don't ask me what they are just yet, they will be revealed in due time.
As for pairings, I might lean to harem for the sake of it, but that's up to me, since I have to make the relationships blossom first.
Anyway, send me your reactions, comments, critiques and the like. If I get flames, I am using them to cook my dinner tonight okay?
Bye and see you on the next chapter!