Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or World of Warcraft, haven't been paid to write this, and don't own the characters under the copyright of both those above watchamcallits. In any case, this is as good a time as any to plug Reviewing: I know you hate it when I bitch about it, but it only takes like two seconds, which I know is an exaggeration (more like ten, depending on your connection speed) but that's irrelevant! Please guys? Pwetty please? Sugar on top? Chocolate? Num nums?
Here's the next installment of The Legend of Uzumaki Naruto!
The cave was in perpetual darkness, bereft of the fiery life it once held. The life that it had sheltered for decades since he had made the foolish mistake of challenging a god, of trying to destroy a demon that could not be destroyed by determination and righteousness alone, was now gone.
Now mostly ruins, the cave seemed at peace. The thrashing, pained soul it had once housed had flown from it, thrust far off to another land or another time. It left only stains in the walls and the cracked floor and the ruined ceiling. Lingering stains that only those who had the ability to feel could see.
Then a light, dim and distant, appeared towards the back; next to the most ruined section of the circular wall, the source of the tributary of cracks and crevasses that lined the ground and ceiling, in the center of a small funnel-like patch which was perfectly smooth and quite unlike the chaos of the rest of the wall.
The light grew brighter, steadily, like a woodpile catching fire. Then, when there was enough to light a small section of the room, it exploded, growing huge and roaring like a wildfire. It was bright and white-hot, and was not like normal fire; it did not seem chaotic and wild, but controlled and purposeful. It snaked along the floor, picking up speed as it neared the opposite wall, which it struck.
Then it pulled back, and struck again.
And again.
And again, until the wall cracked and began to break, and the flames were able to sneak through, into the dark maze of the mountain. It knew where to go, up, that's all it needed to do. That's all it knew.
Go up.
Up.
Dragons were everywhere. They filled the sky, blocking it out with their huge, glittering bodies—all black with a shimmering rainbow sheen. Teeth gnashed, fire plumed, the stench was awful—like sweat and flames and other unsavory things, none of which the younger shinobi would have experience with. They circled the plateau, moving in a spiraling upwards storm, all around Naruto, Lee and Chouji.
The latter two stared around them in horror, but Naruto kept his eyes on the man before them, who was rapidly becoming less of one—his body began to swell, his face changing from gaunt to a terrible black, his grin growing wider and more toothy and his eyes growing larger, the fiery essence becoming blacker, swirling pits of flame and black stone and smoke. His body cracked and shattered until the human proportions were all but gone, replaced with a huge, four-legged body, steel-sharp claws and flaming orange plumage across its sides and framing its head. Its black wings spread out, and the shadow already cast by its brethren (children?) darkened around the three shinobi, blotting out the sound of rushing air and snarling dragons above them.
"So Shall We Begin? Perhaps, Warriors, You Should Come At Me All At Once?" Nefarian's voice had not changed—still the emphasis, the power contained within each word. But as the words echoed, Naruto felt himself come to a decision.
They had to hit him hard, fast, and now!
Chouji and Lee seemed to have reached the same conclusion. Chouji charged back, raising a hand; Lee charged forwards, his speed less frightening than before, but still more impressive than something like Nefarian could match—the green-clad shinobi struck out at the dragon's side, towards its right wing.
Nefarian swiftly turned—like a leaf whirled violently by the wind, he was suddenly facing Lee, who stopped his charge, and made to move back. Nefarian's claw flashed out.
But Naruto was there again—his blade came out, shimmering blue, and blocked Nefarian's cleaving attack cold; the dragon was surprised—there was little on this earth that could defeat a black dragon's strength, for they were of the earth and the strongest of the Dragonflights. Yet a small, skinny human, had somehow managed it?
But then he felt it—the power within the blade. Hard, determined, strong. Not human at all.
He grinned.
"Your Dwarven Blade Is Strong—But No More."
Another claw came, just as quick—Naruto clutched his sword in both hands, and swung to meet it, a sliver of blue chakra illuminating the surface of the blade.
The claw struck, and the blade shattered.
Naruto was too surprised to react—the sight of the cloud of glittering metal about him, and the weightless feeling in the hilt that felt so familiar in his hand stunned him to a point where he offered no defense to Nefarian's attack; the claws tore through flesh and bone, and would have finished moving through Naruto had Lee not wrenched him back in tandem with the claw's swipe and Chouji not come from behind, punching Nefarian in the side with a fist as tall as the dragon was long.
Nefarian howled, and stumbled back; he began to roar, and bits of black, smelling of fire and sulphur began to dribble from beneath him, hissing as they touched the ground. Chouji did not linger, moving quickly to Lee and a bleeding and barely-conscious Naruto.
"Naruto-kun…!" Lee gasped. "Are you…?"
"'ll be fine," Naruto mumbled, through gritted teeth. His face was between pure agony and fatigued haze, and he began to shake as blood pooled at his feet. "Fucking thing broke my sword…"
Nefarian's roars grew softer and his blood stopped flowing onto the stone. Then the dragon suddenly howled:
"Go My Children! Destroy Them! Make These Fools See Our Might, See What the Black Flight Has Become, What It Will Always Be! Come! Fall Upon Them With All Of Your Might So That They Return To DUST!"
The cloud above them went still, but only for a moment. Then it fell, like the ceiling of a crumbling cavern, towards the plateau and the three shinobi.
"MOVE!"
The command came from somewhere else, where the sound wasn't quite so wild, and the world wasn't quite so black. Despite his pain, Naruto latched onto Lee and Chouji, and used Kazaashi, and even with the increased weight he swerved around Nefarian and made for the entrance to the platform, where the remaining shinobi poured out of, ready to aid their friends.
Kakashi and Undrig moved at the head, and Naruto stopped beside them, yet neither broke stride. The swarm of dragons spread out as they reached the ground, flowing upwards, with several breaking off like droplets of water, heading for the shinobi. Great blasts of fire, streams of ice, and bolts of lightning scarred the ground of the plateau as the shinobi moved to avoid the dragon's breaths. Kakashi and Undrig had stopped, and were looking up at the dragons.
"How're we gonna get them outta 'ere?" Undrig growled to the man.
Kakashi kept one eye on Nefarian, the other on the heavens. The dragon lord had not moved, and its eyes watched them keenly. Though not used to deciphering the facial expressions of dragons, Kakashi could see cunning in its narrowed eyes. It was thinking of something, wondering what they might do, perhaps wondering how to counter it.
"There's only one way," said Kakashi, looking up now, with both eyes. He clasped his hands together. He was shaking, excitement and fear rushed him on.
"Get ready to run, for the edge. You know how to grip ledges with chakra, right?'
"Aye, the boy taught me." His eyes were focused on Kakashi warily. "Whaddya mean ta'—"
"Good. Here goes."
Kakashi's Sharingan began to widen and spin, until it was mostly black.
Behind him, the others had regrouped at the entrance of the cave. The dragons had not stopped their volley of breaths; poisonous green chemicals and gouts of magma had joined the flames, lightning and ice.
'Kaiten'
Neji's ultimate defense deflected the series of blast, but each time a little got through into the cave, and the small group had to avoid a flash of heat or a spray of frozen air. Sakura and Ino were farther back, healing Naruto's injury with everything they had.
"Already, Naruto…?" Sakura hissed, half in jest, half in true anger.
"Stupid mistake," Naruto muttered, grunting in pain. "Won't happen again."
"Wanna bet on that?" Ino growled. "You're almost done."
"Hurry," Shikamaru snapped. "Neji won't be able to keep this up."
"Where're Kakashi-sensei and Undrig-san?" Tenten shouted; she was trying to see what was happening outside, but couldn't see through Neji's constant walls of opaque, blue chakra.
"Dunno," Chouji said. "They were out there, but what were they…?"
They all felt it, suddenly—a familiar tug of the air, as if everything was being dragged away, bit by bit, and then a howling sound, and then no sound at all. The dragon's attacks abruptly ceased, and so did Neji.
Kakashi had removed approximately one half of the swarm of dragons, who had been so tightly condensed in their mass that once he had struck it, those in the middle had not been able to escape the vacuum of his Mangekyou Sharingan. The chaos had been immeasurable; the swarm of dragons had split up into a wild frenzy—terrified, furious, and confused, they were now scattered across the heavens flying in every possible direction, searching for their suddenly missing comrades, or perhaps just attempting to avoid another such attack.
Nefarian had seen it, and had seen the man abandon his position, moving towards the edge.
"My Children," he said, "There Is The One. Follow Him, Seek Him Out, Destroy Him! He Who Has Slain Your Brethren! He Cannot Be Allowed To Survive! GO! WITH ALL HASTE!"
His words dissolved their confusion. The dragons regrouped, forming another, smaller, flight, and made for Kakashi and Undrig faster than before. But the man and dwarf had already leapt from the edge, descending into oblivion. They landed on the craggy mountainside, about forty feet below, using chakra to grip the sheer surface. Above, they saw the mass of dragons spill over the side of the plateau, making straight for them.
"Get going! We have to outrun them!" Kakashi shouted. Undrig scrabbled away, into the cracks of the mountain, and Kakashi quickly followed.
And so did the dragons.
The platform seemed silent, the rush of wings and draconic bellows distant and fading. Only the wind remained, and the tired breathes of the remaining shinobi, alone.
"Where'd he go?" Chouji groaned aloud.
"I can't see him," Neji said, his Byakugan wide and searching.
"When did he leave?" Ino whispered, still recovering her breath from the exertion of healing Naruto's extensive wounds. The blonde was fighting fit, mostly thanks to his healing abilities. They had only needed to keep his blood cell count up and stop him from going into shock, while his chakra sewed up most of the wounds, leaving only a few faint and fading scars.
"When the dragons went for Kakashi-sensei and Undrig-san," said Lee. He was breathing heavily and sweating despite the rushing wind.
"You alright Lee?" Neji grunted.
"I'm fine, Neji-kun," Lee said.
"Don't call me that," Neji snapped. "He's not here. Not anywhere."
"That's impossible. Did he join the other dragons?" Shikamaru grunted.
"No! They're circling the mountain, searching for Kakashi-sensei and Undrig-san! They'll be alright, for now—they're hiding in the crevasses, but these creatures aren't letting them stay in one place for long. I don't know how they're going to get rid of them…"
"Should we send someone after them?" Tenten asked.
"No," said Sakura. "We'll need to be here. This is the reason we came, isn't it?"
"Sakura-chan's right."
Naruto, his jacket buttoned to reduce the impact of another claw swipe, stood at the forefront of the group with Lee and Chouji, and was glaring into the sky. His body was rigid and still, but he was still ready. He turned to Shikamaru.
"You're right about his words. They do something—it's like what he says comes true. That's how he broke my sword, and how he got me and Chouji and Lee to attack so stupidly at the beginning." He clenched a fist. "We sticking with the original plan?"
"Unless you've got a better idea?" Shikamaru said.
"Not yet," said Naruto.
"Plan on having one soon?"
Naruto grinned. "Maybe."
"Well think fast," said Shikamaru. "We don't have much time."
"I Should Think Not."
The voice came on the rushing wind, and suddenly Nefarian was there as if forged of wind. He slashed down, his claws glinting like polished halberds, ruining the ground where they struck. The shinobi scattered, avoiding the claws, but they had to spread out around it. Nefarian moved with them, turning towards Naruto, Chouji and Lee. Orange eyes grew wide and a hideous cackle emerged from the dragon's throat.
"My Sister's Skin Shall Not Protect Thee, Human. She Is A Black Dragon, And Even In Death, They Bite."
Before Naruto could hurtle back a witty retort, hideous pain like a dozen blades pierced his upper torso and arms, biting so deep into his skin that blood began to ooze from his collar and cuffs. Naruto screamed, wrenching the jacket open and trying to pull it off, but it clung like a leech; Naruto screamed louder.
"Chouji, help!" Lee roared, grabbing Naruto's jacket and pealing it away with as much pain as if it were Naruto's skin. Chouji gripped the other side, all the while constantly pulling them both back, away from Nefarian. The dragon had opened his mouth, discharging a steady stream of rising heat and stinking sulfur, while a burnt orange light rose within his throat.
"Hurry!" Naruto snarled. With a final wrench, he tore himself free from the jacket, which Lee and Chouji tossed away. Then they ran, as a stream of black and orange fire exploded from Nefarian's mouth.
Flames clung to the black stone, and seemed to follow them as they ran, for Nefarian was moving with it, continuing the blazing trail. The fire spread into a field, pursuing them as voraciously as a predator, all around Nefarian, who laughed as only dragons could.
'Kagemane no jutsu'
Nefarian went still; it took all of Shikamaru's effort to keep the dragon from even moving its legs; he could not stop its head from turning, its baleful orange eyes focusing their killing intent fully on him.
"You Seek The Shadows, Boy? Odd, They Usually Seek You!"
Suddenly, Shikamaru was blind.
The shadows—which had always moved to his command, always been his greatest ally in battle—suddenly leapt up before him, opaque and black and smothering like a death shroud. He was lost, unable to move, feel, see, smell, hear—everything was suddenly gone. All was blackness before his eyes—smoky, inky blackness, like the inside of a coffin; not pure, but like shadows at the beginning of twilight. He tried to scream, but he couldn't even hear that.
Fear seized him. Fear unlike any other. He knew the dragon was right in front of him, right there, if he didn't move, he'd be torn apart, killed before the battle had barely begun! But he couldn't move so how was he supposed to? How the fuck was he supposed to move? His thoughts raced, becoming less coherent, less organized, chaotic, distressed, impossible. He tried moving back, but couldn't, tried moving even an arm, but couldn't. The sense of incoming doom was so powerful that he suddenly felt like just giving up. He'd be dead in a few seconds anyways, so why bother?
Then came a jarring force—powerful, but hardly painful. He'd been hit harder by Ino. In fact, it felt rather similar…
"WAKE THE FUCK UP, SHIKAMARU!"
Ino's voice broke his silence, and the world returned. The blackness was gone, and bright, orange light filled his eyes. He was standing, rigid as stone, and Ino was shouting in his ear. He could feel her chakra snaking into him, and feel the sting of her palm on his cheek. Then the situation returned to him, and his surroundings hit him like a hammer.
Nefarian had moved away. Chouji and Lee had engaged him; Chouji was huge—he had grown at least twice the dragon's size, and was attempting to step on him, while Lee rushed around its feet, attempting to trip him with powerful blows to its joints. But Nefarian was like liquid, moving so effortlessly and gracefully that each attack did not even come close to striking or having any effect at all. Chouji was simply ruining their battlefield, and Lee exhausting himself further.
"What was that?" Ino was howling.
"What happened?"
"You spaced out! You were about to get your ass kicked until Chouji knocked him back."
"His words," said Shikamaru. "CHOUJI, WATCH OUT FOR WHAT HE SAYS! STOP HIM FROM SPEAKING!"
Chouji heard, and pulled back, rapidly shrinking, save for a single fist. He brought the fist up and then swung it down like a sledgehammer, as Nefarian moved back.
"Foolish, Fat, Human! You'll Be—" It cut its sentence with a roar, and Nefarian recoiled towards Chouji as a series of ivory blurs struck its back and left wing. Twice the size of normal kunai and the color of Nefarian's claws, twelve of Tenten's gifted kunai went deep into the dragon's scales, all the way up to their hilts. Nefarian roared ever louder, spread his wings and hurtled himself into the air. Black rain fell as he rose, melting the ground where he flew before he was gone, disappearing over the side of the platform.
They quickly regrouped, near the entrance again. They kept their eyes on all sides of the platform, while Sakura busily attempted to heal Naruto's fresh wounds.
"Don't waste your chakra, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, waving her off. "They'll fix themselves."
"Before you bleed to death, moron?" Sakura growled.
"Maybe."
"Now's not the time to joke," Shikamaru barked. He had regained his composure, but only just. "Neji?"
"He's gone again. I don't know what he does."
"His words again," said Shikamaru. "That's what I'd bet. We need to stop him from speaking. It's only a matter of time before he just orders us to die."
"If he could do that," Sakura said, "he already would have. I don't think he can, not without something that he doesn't have."
"What do you mean?"
"Words are his strength, right? Then surely names fall under that jurisdiction as well."
"Then he needs our names to kill us?"
"Maybe. Fits with the legends, at any rate—stop it, Naruto! I'm almost finished."
Naruto bristled, but nodded. He watched the black and orange flames die, and inhaled the lingering stench of sulfur that it had produced. He couldn't smell anything other than that, or hear anything other than the wind. What was he supposed to do? There was definitely a way out of this, even with Nefarian's speed and power; there was always a way out. He just had to find it, see it like he always did.
"But we've been shouting our names all over the place—if that was true, he could've—"
"Maybe he needs all of our names," Sakura went on. "I don't know, it's pure guesswork, but that's what it seems like."
"So just don't say our last names?"
"We gotta stop him from flying," Naruto muttered, stopping the conversation from going anywhere more pointless. "Keep him here."
"I agree," said Sakura. "He's an earth dragon, isn't he? That makes this stone platform a bit of a problem, especially when he can fly away."
"What about a summon…?" Tenten asked. "Naruto, do you think you could—"
"No time, no point," said Shikamaru. "And this isn't an open forum—we need to clip his wings. Tenten, do you still have some kunai that Naruto gave you?" She nodded. "Good, then we'll need your help, big time. Naruto—" Shikamaru took one of the trench knives from his pocket and tossed it to the blonde. "You've got a much better attack than I do with these. You're wind-chakra based, right? Asuma used these to incredible effect with that. You do it too—go for his wings."
"Yeah," said Naruto. He gripped the blade tightly, and filled it with some chakra—it was less receptive than his old blade, but certainly worked. "Right," he said. "Let's go."
"Agreed."
They scattered—Nefarian emerged from beneath them, bursting like a black geyser from the stone, his claws flashing. As soon as he was up, he vomited another stream of flame, scorching the ground before him, driving the shinobi even farther back. The flames howled their rage, and spread like a flooded river.
"REGROUP!" Shikamaru shouted. Tenten, Neji and grouped at the center, Chouji, Lee and Naruto in front of them and Ino and Sakura at the back. Nefarian moved out of hole he had created, stomping through the flames without care or qualm. Naruto rushed through some seals.
'Hyuuton: Hyoushi no jutsu'
A plume of ice erupted from Naruto's mouth, cracking his dry lips as it spread out before him in a rolling smoke. It struck Nefarian in the face, covering it with a layering of frost; but the dragon easily shook it off and continued to move forwards.
But Chouji and Lee had already struck.
'Bubun Baika no justu'
'Hachimon: Shimon'
"Eat that, dragon-bastard!" Naruto roared.
Chouji's fist slammed into Nefarian's side, and with a grunt of effort Chouji thrust him to the left, where Lee launched a single flying kick laden with furious chakra into Nefarian's right side. Crushed between the forces, Nefarian recoiled back and reared up on his hind legs, roaring at the sharp, delightful pain.
The sight before them was awesome: all along Nefarian's stomach, the scales had been ruined to the skin, where dried clumps of black blood and flaps of ruined skin barely concealed what was beneath—a furnace of fire, blood and pain.
What happened? Shikamaru wondered. Could that have been—?
Lee was grinning as he backed off, his gate closing and his stamina diving; Gai-sensei, you're amazing!
"NARUTO, TENTEN!" Shikamaru roared.
Naruto launched himself towards the right wing, Tenten to the left. Naruto made it to the wing before Nefarian could pull away, the trench knife glowing brilliantly blue. Tenten had all of her remaining kunai drawn, clutched in the gaps between her fingers.
They attacked simultaneously, Tenten hurtling the daggers, Naruto chopping at the base of the wing with all of his strength. For just that one moment, hope swelled in him, palpable on the wind; they had—
Fire burst forth all around Nefarian—Naruto was blown back in a shock of pain and Tenten fled from her rebounded kunai with a cry, now no more than charred lumps. The flames were different—brighter, stronger, deeper than Nefarian's. Older, as ancient as the stones and trees of the world; it was like white was to black, a corona of blinding light that made Neji shut off his Byakugan and move away, his eyes shut and everyone else fling their hands over their eyes as something exploded into being.
"Fools…You Didn't Think, Did You?"
There was suddenly only Nefarian's voice. The flames had taken shape—a grinning skull, crowned and wreathed with white, green, red, orange and black, all at once, all as bright as sunlight.
"I Took From Ragnaros Everything That He Had—Even His Very Power, That Earthly Fire Which He So Petulantly Flaunted At ME. It Is Now Mine!"
The skull dissolved and the flames reformed solidly orange, yellow and white. It became a hammer as large as Nefarian's body with a head overgrown with ethereal stalactites glowing white-yellow and stinking like rotten eggs enough to make the smell a hindrance. It rose into the air, hanging above Nefarian like a miniature sun. The heat was visible in the distorted haze of the air, radiating outwards from the fiery hammer, which rose high into the air, inverted itself, and them plummeted to the ground.
"Taste The Flames Of Sulfuras."
It exploded on unoccupied earth, releasing a sweltering blast of air and wild light across the platform, throwing everyone on their feet to the shaking ground.
Naruto scrambled up, summoning some Kage Bunshin to protect him from the debris showering the rest of the platform. In the confusion, Naruto kept his eyes on Nefarian, but the dragon was not moving, making no attempt to capitalize on their distress. He stood at the edge of the corona of light, all black save for his eyes, which somehow kept their fiery color even in the presence of a much brighter light.
They seemed to drink it, swallowing the bright light like a thirsty traveler.
A giant hole was left in the center when the light died and the smoke had been wafted away by the blustery winds, the molten hammer floating within it. It then returned to Nefarian's side, immaterial as liquid fire. The other shinobi were scattered about the crater, separate once more.
"LEE!"
Naruto jerked at Tenten's shrill cry. On the far side of the crater he saw them, Tenten crouched over Lee, who lay unmoving on the black earth, partially covered with rocks. Naruto couldn't see much, but his breath hitched at the sight, even as Lee continued to move, writhing in pain, screaming out incoherently.
Tenten clutched Lee by the shoulder, tighter than was comfortable for Lee, but neither of them noticed. She was shaking and crying to him but she couldn't even understand what she was saying, staring at Lee's legs. They were a mess of burns and gushing blood, and were shaking like the spasms of two dying men. Lee had bit his lip, and tried to stop his screaming with everything he had. Gai-sensei wouldn't scream, Gai-sensei would—
"Stay down, Lee!" Tenten cried, she pushing him back and dragging him away from the bed of rocks he lay upon. "You can't move anymore, you can't—"
"To slow…" Lee gasped, "Used it too many times, couldn't get out of the way fast enou—"
"You used the Fourth Gate three times, Lee!" she cried, desperately, "Of course you would—"
"Thought the dragon's chakra would help, I felt better, I really—" He bit back another cry of pain, and then went silent as he passed out.
"No, Lee, don't pass out, no, stay awake, please!" Tenten wailed.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto roared.
Sakura was already moving, shooting across the platform in a rosy blur, towards where Lee lay.
And Naruto turned his attention back to Nefarian.
The dragon was staring at him.
"Come, Come!" it said. "Show Me What You Can Do!"
He's doing that on purpose, Naruto thought. He kept still; the dragon was unmoving, its lips pulled back in a grinning snarl. The hammer Sulfuras rose skywards again, and Naruto knew that if the platform took another hit like before it would collapse along with their chance of victory. They couldn't fight Nefarian in the air, and it was a long way down to another suitable battleground. They couldn't fight for much longer, either—Nefarian was almost constantly keeping them off balance, separate, making their teamwork ineffective and always bringing in new tricks. He was doing exactly what he should, and Naruto had done nothing to the contrary.
He wasn't living up to his name as Konoha's Number One Most Surprising, And Annoying, Shinobi.
Well fine, he thought. If he wants to play like that, then I can to.
He grinned.
A plan started to form.
"Are they still out there?"
"Can' ye hear 'em?"
Kakashi nodded. "Just checking."
"Ye alrigh'? Ye look a bit peaky."
"I don't know what that means."
"Weak, ill, or somethin'."
Kakashi reached up, and touched his covered Sharingan eye. In the darkness of the crevasse they were hidden in, he could barely see his own hand as he retracted it. "Using that technique does more than just drain chakra, it appears. I thought it might, but it seemed like the only way."
"How're you planning to keep 'em occupied, then? They won' wait out there fer long."
"I wouldn't bet on that," said Kakashi. "You heard what their master said, didn't you?"
"Told 'em to get us."
"And until they do, I'm willing to bet they won't stop."
"Don' seem like dragons to me."
"What do you mean?"
Undrig leaned back, shifting to get himself a better position. It was hard, however, with dozens of jagged stones digging into his back and buttocks. Each way he shifted seemed to locate a dozen more places on his ass to be injured.
"Dragons," he muttered, "are smart. Like us, you know, sentient. They gotta a lot longer to live as well, so they're way more experienced than us, and I don' think they'd follow somethin' that blindly, not without questionin' it."
"You said they were strange dragons, right?"
"Aye," he grunted. "Black, but not, at least some o' them. They got way too many breaths ta—"
"Breaths? You mean those fireballs and things they were attacking with?"
"Aye. They got one for every color—green's got acid, blue ice, red is fire, you know, all that. They got all o' that, an' that ain't right. I dunno how they got that."
"Then they must not be dragons."
"They're dragons, 'ave you seen 'em? Not normal dragons, though. Not at all."
Kakashi nodded, frowning. "Could they be an entirely different flight? You said a lot of dragons died down in the Core—and you said that these ones look different. Could they not be black at all?"
"Maybe…" Undrig wrinkled his nose. "'Old on."
"What?"
"Just remembering something the red one said, down there—just remembered it. He called Nefarian the lord o' the Blacks and somethin' like the Cromarik or Crimatic or Chrom—somethin' flight."
"Ever heard of it?"
"Nah."
"Then that's what we're looking for." Kakashi straightened himself, and tried to stand. But his body began to tremble, making him sit once more.
"Calm down," Undrig said. "We can ne fight that many dragons."
"We might," said Kakashi.
"'Ow?"
"How do you think they were created?"
"Dinna ken," the dwarf said. "No way ta. But they're not made the normal way—dragon breedin' don' work like that. 'E wouldn' been able ta' get 'is 'ands on the eggs o' the other dragon fligh's so easily. Nah, must be some other way—why?"
"If they were made differently, then surely they aren't the same as normal dragons, right?"
"Aye, we already ken that!"
"I'm saying maybe they're structured differently—maybe they're bodies are different."
"'Ow da ye figger?"
"It's a hunch, a big one, but a hunch nonetheless. Their bodies may be different, less durable maybe, than the other dragons. Maybe they can be killed easier. I remember Naruto said he fought a group of dragons once, not the last time, but before that—I wish I'd paid more attention, he tends to exaggerate on many of his stories, so I tuned out most of them…"
"Aye…I know the feelin'," Undrig said.
"Either way, though, he might've had something there—maybe they are easier to kill, at least compared to normal dragons."
"Tha's a real longshot. 'Ow do you propose ta do tha'?"
"An experiment."
"Ah, never been much inta those—always left 'em ta tha alchemists…"
"Nor I, but I know enough about one to conduct one. I just hope I have the chakra to do it."
"Need some o' mine?"
"Can you do that?"
"Aye, it'll be a bit 'arder for ye to manage, but I think ye can 'andle it."
"Good then. Let's begin."
A dark shape, so black that from afar it would be just another jagged outcropping of the Spire, as still as death, listened to the frustrated growls of the Chromatic Flight far below as they desperately sought their human prey.
They were like infants. Utterly loyal, but so easy to throw a tantrum when they did not have their way. And so brittle, too. They had not the power of the creatures they were born from, not the strength that made the dragons what they were. In some ways it was counterintuitive to what Nefarian wanted, but a few lies did nothing to hurt him. After all, they had done their job, were easy to create and were just as deadly as a true dragon when compacted into their flightless humanoid forms, the drakonids.
Or so Flamegor wanted him to believe.
While Nefarian had done the most work on the creation, Flamegor had watched them grow and develop. He had tested their faults and knew everything about them. They were not dragons, but insects given a dragon's shape. Disgusting, useless things that did not deserve to be associated with the Black Flight, the strongest of them all.
But then again, neither had his brothers. Ebonroc and Firemaw had lost their lives in the confusion of the underworld battle just days ago. But to have lost against the lifeless golems of Ragnaros was a fitting end for the greedy and the brash. They had not been clever, not like him. Raw strength only took one so far, but there was no limit to guile. His master had taught him that.
He had to admit, though, his master was not as clever as him…
The living darkness shuddered as a rush of pain ran through him, punishing him for his thoughts. He accepted it, and his shadowy mouth opened to reveal a toothy grin as the pain died away. That was all he could do, was it? Pain? Pain was his whole life. By adding more, it did not change a thing.
The growls grew louder below him. He'd wait. They would doubtlessly find the humans eventually and rend them to bits. He'd just wait and see what happened. How good would the humans do? Would they destroy the cannon fodder, put up a fight? They had already dealt with the Red, but then again, he had given them his help. They could not have done it without that. Foolish, weakling Red.
He could smell them. Smell the desperation on their skin and in their breaths. He'd wait, just a little longer, maybe. Give them a chance. Like ants attempting to scurry away back to their hole, while he watched, knowing that at any time…
His void-black body shivered with restraint. That ancestral hate and its brother pain coursed through him anew. Soon.
Just a little longer…
"Humans, Is This All That You Can Muster? This Feared Power That Destroyed My Sister Is Nothing After All! What Can You Do? Come Then, Warriors—Strike Me! I Dare Thee!"
Naruto resisted the urge to rush at the beast—it took everything he had. It was like trying to stop himself from going to the bathroom right in front of a toilet. He bit his lip until it bled and tried to focus all of his attention on his friends. They were similarly engaged.
Chouji was gripping the ground with both hands, actively restraining his large body from moving from where it was. Neji was shaking, his face knotted in effort and covered in sweat. Lee was trying to get up and failing, as Sakura pushed him down and continued to heal him, shouting something that was lost in the rushing wind and the crackling of Nefarian's Ragnaros-fire.
Why the hell were only some of them affected by it? He noticed that neither Sakura nor Ino, nor even Tenten, were trying to restrain themselves. Shikamaru wasn't either; the boy was watching Nefarian from afar, obviously trying to do the same as Naruto. It had something to do with what it said—warriors, maybe? Maybe it only worked for those that considered themselves warriors? But that didn't make sense, did it—surely Shikamaru or Tenten would think the same?
He shook his head, suppressing the wandering thoughts; he had a plan now, so he'd use it. It might give them a chance.
Scratch that—it definitely would.
He made the necessary seals.
'Kuchiyose no jutsu'
Nefarian's attention was otherwise occupied—as a plume of smoke burst into being around Naruto, the dragon was shouting again.
"Healers, You Have Yet To Come And Play—Perhaps If You Were Oppositely Inclined, You Might Make This Fight A Little More Interesting!"
Lee began to scream. Sakura jerked back from the shock, eyes wide, but Ino continued healing, thinking Lee's pain was from his wounds.
"Ino!" Sakura bellowed, grabbing her arm.
"What are you—"
"You're hurting him!" Sakura said, suddenly up, glaring at Nefarian.
But the dragon was not looking at them any longer, it's attention moved back across the platform to where wafts of chilling air now mixed with the uncomfortable heat. The air became claustrophobic, humid, and no less unpleasant; but then again, the beast that had arrived was no less dangerous or ferocious than the one that already dwelled there.
"WE MEET AGAIN, BRAT? AND YOU'VE BROUGHT ANOTHER BLACK DRAGON FOR ME TO PLAY WITH—YOU'RE EVER SO KIND!"
Submerged in his icy cloud and breathing his deep, chilling voice like a sundered glacier, Boreagos emerged from the blue-tinged smoke with Naruto riding on his back. The boy was half-grinning, half-uneasy, as if he expected the frost wyrm to make some request for his services.
Nefarian did not seem surprised, over even impressed. The Ragnaros-fire grew brighter, bigger around him, and he began to laugh like distant thunder.
"A Fallen Blue? Disgusting Wretch, Do You Think You Have A Place Here?"
Boreagos spread his wings, and launched himself forwards, blue smoke trailing behind him like a cloak. Its answer was contained within a jet of super-frozen air, streaming like blue fire from its mouth.
"MORE THAN YOU DO, BASTARD SON OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN! I'LL SHOW YOU THE BENEFITS OF DEATH, AND HOW DELIGHTFUL THEY CAN BE!"
The stream of ice dispersed in a burst of steam when it met a wall of bright white flames, and Nefarian's eternal smile.
"Those Who Have Been Forgotten? Never Forgotten, Not Within Me, Never! Pull Back, Fallen One, Return To The Whore That Bound You, And Let Me Annihilate These Humans ALONE!"
Boreagos exploded, vanishing in a cloud of his frozen fog. Naruto was thrown forwards from the sudden stop, landing face-first on the ground mere yards from where the black dragon stood, glaring down at him.
"My Sister's Death Is Strong On You," Nefarian said, his mouth opening in a great yawn. "Just Die, Human."
Naruto could hardly blink before the flames were upon him, deep and endless and agonizing for one brief moment, before it was gone.
An explosion ripped into the chaotic, beating flight of dragons. One saw a glint of metal, issued from somewhere within the crevasses of the mountain, another saw it strike one of their own, ricocheting off the scales of its chest but not a second later exploding and tearing the chromatic dragon apart in a hollow discharge and a spray of dark blood and shattered bones and meaty limbs, which fell in a smoking heap thousands of feet below. Then they went wild, and all of them saw where it came from, all of them knew it, and attacked.
The mountain was rocked with a salvo of different breaths—acid, lightning, flames both white hot and dark as coal, and ice impacted the mountain in loud, jarring blasts. They destroyed the spot where the weapon had emerged first and then moved along the mountain in a line, carving a jagged path in the stone that the dwarves would have cried at, and sending an avalanche of debris hurtling to the earth below.
When they had finished a few of them flew and perched onto the ruined rock, sniffing and snarling and glaring until they found any trace of their opponents. Their father would want them dead, and they could not return until they were dead. More followed, crashing into the ruined cliff face and shoving their angular heads into every crack they could fit them in, sniffing and huffing and searching.
Somewhere far below that, Kakashi made a small triumphant noise without opening his mouth or moving his lips.
"Wha' was tha'?" Undrig said, trying to pull himself up to see the spectacle above them with a little more clarity from within the new crack they had hidden themselves in.
"The only way I can express joy," said Kakashi.
"Random sounds?"
"Aye."
"Did ye just say—never mind. Ye were righ'."
"And we discovered something new, as well."
"Wha's that?"
"They move as one unit, not as individuals—like a swarm of bees or an army of ants. I don't know if that's in their nature or because of what Nefarian said, but—"
"Wha' da we do now, then? More o' those clones or yours?"
"No, neither of us have enough chakra to do that. We'd have to be Naruto. No, I have a better plan, though it requires us splitting up, and a hell of a lot of danger for both of us."
"More than now?"
"Aye."
"Stop tha'."
"Sorry. But yes, a considerable amount more, considering that we will not be together."
Undrig pushed away, deeper into the crevasse. "Well, le's 'ere it."
"Since when did 'ear' become a verb? And who's Les?"
"Yer pickin' a fine time to start jokin', laddie."
"Aye. Before death, there's no better time."
Undrig fell silent.
"Aye. Nothin' more true."
The swarm came together again, the results of their search fruitless. Anger buzzed throughout them, their cavernous roars in a set rhythm like a perfectly coordinated orchestra launching into the finale of their piece. The stench of molten rock and acrid smoke wafted from the ruined mountainside, feeding their frenzy. Where were they? Where had that human and that dwarf gone?
The growling reached a crescendo. A few dragons broke off, making towards the top of the mountain. They did not quite make it.
Silver blurred from far below them—not a single sliver, but a rain of iron like a summer's downpour. Before the swarm could react explosions were already rocking them, blowing apart huge masses of their formation and sending their brethren in pieces careening to the distant ground. The swarm scattered in every direction, but the silver did not stop—two constant streams of blades flowed from separate points on the mountain from deep within the cracks in the volcanic material, one haphazardly directed wherever a dragon was moving, more often than not managing to catch the dragon in an explosion; the other a perfectly aimed, highly efficient volley that never missed one of the black-and-rainbow monsters.
Faster, Kakashi thought. They were getting wise to it. Several of them were making towards them—he threw two kunai, one pierced the assaulting dragon in the eye and blew its upper half apart, the other ricocheted off its forehead and exploded as it passed its wings, making it crumple and fall. But others were coming, there were so many, and he didn't have that many kunai left!
Should've guessed he wasn't meant to be a thrower, Kakashi thought. Undrig had barely hit any, and had already stopped throwing.
He couldn't see where Undrig was, or even above the rocks he hid within. He checked his stock. Ten left. There were far more dragons than that. Probably twenty left, at most. He cursed.
They swooped low, and he ducked within the crevasse, making himself as small as possible, wrapping up the partially used shinobi scroll from which he had taken his kunai and hugging it to his chest. He crawled as deep as he could go, glancing up only as a dark shape moved over the crevasse, blocking the light.
A wide, multi-colored eye stared down at him, blinking furiously. No shred of intelligence gleamed within. A monster to the very core.
It shifted its head, opening its mouth. He fired a kunai up, striking it in the back of the throat. It jerked back, gurgling, and then exploded.
The explosion tore apart the crevasse, and Kakashi was immediately up and out. He stood on a jutting of ruined rock perpendicular to the mountainside, and looked up. Then he began to move, realizing what a moron he was.
Fire, ice and green, bubbling acid assailed him from above. The remaining dragons were snarling and bellowing and two hadn't even bothered with their breath, moving straight for him. He whipped around and destroyed them with two more kunai. Only seven left.
He couldn't see where Undrig was. A group of dragons had landed on the jutting rock, where they were snapping and breathing their deadly breaths at something within. Kakashi's eye grew wide.
He threw three of his remaining kunai at the group of dragons. Each hit their mark, did their job, and the two remaining dragons scattered into the sky. Kakashi avoided a stream of flames and dove into the darkness of another crevasse, taking note of a small boulder to the left of it.
Shit, shit, shit! He thought. Get going now!
The dragon swarm reformed again. They moved as one down, swooping like a monstrous bird of prey, their mouths open, tongues flailing, eyes wide and ferocious, heat and frost and crackling energy mixing in the air ready to discharge as one and annihilate the little morsel before them, this tiny beast their master had commanded them to destroy.
Like hounds they were, loyal to the end.
Or perhaps more like lambs.
"'ERE I COME, LADS!"
Undrig exploded from the rocks, high above the approaching swarm. He had been climbing as fast as he could without being noticed, hoping his clone wouldn't fuck anything up and Kakashi wouldn't get killed while he was setting up the perfect end to the perfect trap.
Undrig made a few seals in mid-air, and then stretched out his hands wide, as he fell in a dive.
'Holy Arts: Final Judgment'
His hands began to glow, and then he reached back and tugged forth his hammer, gripping it with both hands for only a second before swinging it back and hurtling it at the swarm of dragons. They did not hear it, did not register it, did not break apart in time, too intent on Kakashi, crouched in that hole from which he would not escape—
They released their breaths as one, just as Undrig's attack struck. The hammer fell into the middle of their formation, glowing bright yellow, warmth and light welling up like the sun rising over the horizon, and then exploding in a flash. Light erupted outwards, engulfing the dragons in a blaze of holy fire and light that sent them in every direction, careening in smoking heaps into the side of the mountain or tumbling down and away forever.
The volley of their multi-colored breaths struck their target perfectly. The crevasse was demolished in a haze of smoke and fire and sound, surely killing anything within. A gigantic portion of the mountain then fell away in a crumbling crash, dropping out of sight towards the black ground below.
Undrig landed roughly, curled into a ball, on an intact outcropping just large enough for himself and another. It shook, but held, and he crawled to his feet, staring at the wreckage without any hint of emotion.
"Pretty good, I'd say."
The dwarf paladin growled. "Knew ye weren' gone."
Kakashi was perched right next to him, unharmed and looking a little chipper.
"Regretful?"
"Nah. 'Cept for the hammer. I liked that one. One o' me finest works, I'd say."
"A weapon is a weapon," said Kakashi.
"Aye, suppose so."
"Aye."
"Don' do tha'."
Kakashi grinned a little. "Sorry." He turned his head up. "We'd better get back."
"Yer in no condition."
"They'll need our help."
"You're about to fall o'er as it is."
Kakashi shook his head, and tried to stand. He did it slowly, as if balanced on a precarious ledge and about to fall. When he was up, he looked at Undrig, and sighed.
"You're right."
"Best if we stay 'ere—"
"YES, IT IS, DWARFLING."
It appeared without any sound at all. There was a gust of wind from behind, blowing Undrig nearer to the mountainside and nearly knocking Kakashi over. An immense black shape hovered before them in mid-air, its mouth wide in a reptilian grin and its eyes glowing steadily orange.
"THE CHROMES ARE WEAK, IT SEEMS. MY MASTER IS NOT AS GREAT AN ARTIST AS HE LIKES TO THINK, A PALE IMITATION OF THE TRUE ONES, AS I SUSPECTED. BUT LOOK, I SPY A HUMAN AND A DWARFLING TO PLAY WITH, THEIR DESTROYERS. PERHAPS A LITTLE ENTERTAINMENT WILL DO ME GOOD. I HAVE BEEN SO BORED LATELY!"
"Like's to talk, doesn't he?" Kakashi muttered.
"Talks like a bitch, 'e does." Undrig groused.
"Aye."
The black drake reared back, opening its mouth. "BITCH? YOU DON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD IF YOU SPEAK IT TO ME, LITTLE ONE! COME NOW, LET'S SEE IF THIS NEW BREED OF HUMAN CAN DO ME—"
The mountainside exploded, ending the drake's practiced speech and engulfing him in a stream of white-hot fire that leapt out from the newly-created cavern. The dragon bellowed, tried to fly up, to beat it off, but it held fast and dragged the beast down as it began to take shape; the flames were suddenly not flames at all, but scarlet scales and ivory-and-black claws and horns and white teeth, biting into flesh and tearing and ripping like scissors through canvas paper.
The red dragon said no words, no dying speech, as it dragged the roaring drake downwards, clinging fast to its wings. The drake could not break free, his guile no match for the physical power of the mighty red, even when only half the red was there.
Kakashi stared down, both of his eyes wide, as he witnessed the end of the tortured Red and the arrogant Black. Half of the red dragon's body was gone; a bloody, fiery mess that streamed and broke off in little, liquid sparks as they fell.
Soon, the both of them were lost, nothing but a small prick of light that eventually was snuffed as it struck the ground, so far below.
"Looks like," Kakashi said, when all they could hear was the roaring wind as it cooled the sizzling rock behind them. "We discovered something else today."
Undrig said nothing.
"That my Mangekyou Sharingan does, in fact, go somewhere, and you can, in fact, come back from wherever that is." He shrugged, and then slumped back against the rock. "Partially, at least."
Undrig said nothing again.
Nefarian swept his eyes across the platform. He did not need them, however, to know that it was empty of its occupants. Through the black smoke from his fire blown by the raging winds across the entire battleground he could see no moving forms with their desperate faces and squeaking, annoying cries of rage, pain and despair. They had all gone, and to where, he had no idea.
The flames before him died at his will. There was nothing beneath them, not a scrap of evidence of the human he had sought to destroy. A trick, then. Perhaps he should just destroy what lay beneath them, this rotten earth. No, he would not resort to that. He was no longer a creature of the earth, like his ancestors. They were not the Earth Dragons, but the Black Dragons. He hated the earth, and would let it crumble only when the heavens no longer obeyed him, which would never happen.
They were mystifying creatures, these humans. Unnatural creatures, not like anything else in the world, proud beyond measure even though they were disgustingly weak and ignorant of everything except themselves. They might have been tenacious and persistent where not even the barriers of worlds could stop their survival and spread—that was how they had become to known to him, after all—but they often went against better judgment and their desire to survive in hopes of gaining some small revenge for just a single one of their number lost, when there were countless more. They bred too quickly—to the point where they had become the dominant race in both worlds—and threw their lives away in spades, did not cherish what meager existence they had. They did not respect the natural order of things, did not obey their betters in anything they did. Why were humans like this? They could reason, yet they never exercised that right.
Why did humans exist, what was their purpose, other than to be a virus to his kind?
The dragon rippled with growing fury. He did not understand these creatures, these little things that fought and fought and fought without measure or reason. They had no pain to drive them, no voices whispering in their ears whenever there was silence, nothing to drive them towards destruction. Why did they do this?
He growled. Pain surged up and down within him. Maybe it was because of him. Maybe he was the reason these humans fought so hard against reason. They were imitating him, and his kind, those who could do naught but fight because that was what they had been directed to do since they had been born. Live for pain and fight to ease it, destroy and kill to rid yourself of it if even for a single second.
Broiling wrath grew hotter within him. How dare they? When pain was not their life, how dare they make it so? They did not realize it, did they? They could not feel that pain, they lived without it, they did not deserve to, they were weak, spineless, they deserved to be doused in pain until it consumed their entire souls, everything should be pain for them, everything! He would make it so, he would make every bit of their disgusting existences pain to show them that they were fools.
He would not stop until he had delivered that to them. Until his hell was theirs.
His words lightly sliced the air, lighting it aflame as delicately as a brush fire begins.
"Show Yourselves, Friends, Fiends And Playmates. I Grow Bored Of This, And I Know You Do As Well. Patience Was Never One Of Your Race's Strong Points."
Nothing happened. Not a soul stirred, not an unnatural sound made.
Anger and agony rose up in Nefarian like tornadoes dancing aside one another. He let rip a baleful, incoherent cry; roaring in his most primordial tongue for them to get the fuck out there and DIE!
And this time, they responded.
The attack hit him head-on, but was hardly worth the effort to shake it off. The blonde human female was before him, her hands held out and her face twisted in effort as he attempted to thrust the full weight of her mind upon him.
But it was just a diversion. He knew that. They were not stupid.
Nor was he.
He ignored it, and turned. A second human was there, the fat one. His face was red with rage and with a cry he held out an arm, which began to hum and vibrate. It did not grow, as before, to inappropriate proportions, but instead began to glow. The arm blurred, and the glow brightened and expanded, but Nefarian was already moving and made no effort to observe the rest.
"Disgusting Human, Your Strength Cannot Match Mine. Let Your Arm Drop, And DIE!"
The boy let his arm drop, and he stepped back as Nefarian's tail whipped back in preparation to slice the human in half, and his face—
Was smirking.
The attack hit him from below. Naruto did not know how much of his chakra he poured into the attack, but it was enough to tear the dragon off his feet with a fiery flash and throw him roaring onto his back.
'Katon: Kaenhira'
Both of Naruto's fists exploded in flaming gouts as they struck the seared, torn flesh and cracked, brittle scales of Nefarian's underside. Naruto ducked back into the great pool of black that he had hidden within—Nefarian's own shadow—and then rose up again as the dragon fell onto his back, blood and shattered scales flying all around him. He made a few more quick seals.
'Raiton: Raikou Hadou no jutsu'
Electricity exploded from Naruto's palms in a widening blanket of crackling white light, arcing across Nefarian's scales like miniature shooting stars, burrowing far beneath that into the innards that swam in his boiling black blood. Every muscle contracted so violently that the dragon seized up, paralyzed mid-roar. For that brief moment, not a single inch of the dragon moved, allowing Chouji exactly the time he needed to finish his attack.
'Bubun Chodan Hensei'
Light hovered around Chouji's right arm, extending in a delicate sheath around it in the exact replica of a butterfly's wing. From far from being the papery thin membrane, it hummed with invisible power, buffeting a gust of wind as Chouji threw himself forwards, driving the wing and his fist down atop Nefarian's body.
The platform shook in an explosive crash, rivulets of cracked stone springing to every inch of it. The hole in the center grew wider as stone burst and crumbled away into endless air, taking a stunned Nefarian with them. The impact of Chouji's attack had drive all sense from the dragon, and had shattered nearly all of the remaining surface scales on Nefarian's stomach, revealing crude, black, smoking skin beneath.
The dragon fell out of sight, carried by the falling earth.
Chouji stepped back, just daring to feel triumph. He grinned.
Before he was thrown into the air, and swatted across the platform, smashing into one of the fallen pillars in the throne enclave. He lay stunned by agony, his body trembling and his chest heaving as he fought for air to return to his fiery lungs.
Both Ino and Naruto retreated. The air shimmered, and Nefarian emerged from nothing, his wings spread.
"To Deceive Is As Easy As You Make It." The dragon heaved a stream of fire towards Naruto and Ino, who split up in two quick leaps.
"This Ends. This Earth I Hate Will Not Abide You Any Longer. You Shall Fall!"
Nefarian raised his claw.
Naruto grinned. He brought his hands together in a quick seal.
'Kageariki: Kai'
Nefarian's claw froze.
The dragon looked down, eyes wide.
"What?"
It was explained not a moment later. For the second time, Nefarian was launched skywards, with as much force as if he had taken flight. Sakura's battle cry could just be heard over Nefarian's pain-fuelled bellow. She stood, wading to her waist in the liquid shadow of Naruto's jutsu with her arm stretched upwards and her fist closed. Her arm shook with effort and her eyes were shut and her teeth gnashed together as she recovered from the hideous strain of delivering a punch strong enough to lift a dragon thirty feet into the air. Shikamaru was at the other end of the rapidly shrinking jutsu, his trench knife planted in the ground where the shadow of Nefarian's claw had been.
Pain ripped across Nefarian's torso as if a blade had sliced it in two. Blood exploded from the wound in his chest exiting through a hole torn where the girl had punched. He writhed as he fell, but even before he reached the ground the attack continued.
Tenten's roar was similar to Sakura's. She produced the largest of her blades—a six-bladed throwing star twice the size of her torso—and hurtled it at the dragon's left wing, which was clenched tightly to its side. It struck the scales and ricocheted, but then the six explosive notes marking each of its blades exploded and tore the wing membranes apart and sent the dragon spinning.
'Kage Bunshin no jutsu'
Naruto's clones leapt into the air, covering Nefarian's torso like burrs on a dog's fur. Nefarian crashed into the ground, roaring madly, as Naruto made a seal.
'Katon: Kaen Bunshin no jutsu'
The remaining clones glowed white-hot, and then exploded, engulfing the dragon in flames.
Nefarian was up then, roaring in fury.
"FLAMES, DIE!"
The flames went out like candles.
Nefarian's right wing remained intact, his left shredded and discharging hissing black blood.
The dragon roared. "Healers Come To Me. My Pain Is Your Pain, So Rid It For Us, Clear That Which You Can Away, Or Just Die."
Ino and Sakura crumpled, and both began to scream.
"INO!" Shikamaru bellowed, making for the girl.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto roared. It took a movement of the wind to bring him to her side, gripping her tightly by the shoulders as she convulsed in agony.
"What is it?" he cried. "What's wrong?"
She could only scream, clinging to him to hard he thought she might break his spine. He held her tightly, desperate to stop what she was feeling, but unable to.
"Do You See?" Nefarian snarled. "Words Cannot Convey My Pain, Only Experience. All Of You Should Experience It. Humans, All Feel My Pain!"
Naruto whipped around, his eyes fierce and wide.
"Screw you, bastard!"
He made swarm of clones, which flew at Nefarian with the fury of an attacking army. The dragon roared, and Ragnaros' flames roared into being around him.
That's when Neji struck.
From the shadows of the cave that had led from the mountain onto the plateau Neji emerged. He made a quick seal, and vanished in a puff of smoke.
One of Naruto's clones appeared in his place.
Neji, now before the rearing dragon, slammed just a single palm into Nefarian's exposed chest, directed at an upwards angle. The blow made the dragon's throat seize up, the flames choking him from within. He could not speak, or even roar. His own flames seared his throat and drove him back, stumbling, choking, trembling; and finally he stopped, sinking to his knees and then to his side, where he lay unmoving, and unspeaking.
"Don't," Naruto growled, "you fucking get up again."
Both Ino and Sakura stopped writhing, and fell still. Naruto returned immediately to his pink-haired teammate's side.
"Oi! Sakura-chan, are you—"
"Fine…" she mumbled, and began to gasp. Naruto felt his entire being relax.
"You sure?"
She peaked up at him with one eye, her lips slightly parted, her chest heaving with effort. "Not really."
"Can I do—"
"Not now."
He nodded, just staring at her. She stared back for a while, and then closed her eyes, seeming more relaxed than before.
Naruto turned, his heartbeat beginning to even out as relief began to mix with the rush of victory that was threatening to rear itself. But none of the others had moved from their positions. All of their eyes were on Nefarian. The dragon still did not move.
"Neji?" Shikamaru muttered.
Neji shook his head. "All dark."
"That's good, right?"
"He was that beforehand."
"So what happens now?" Tenten gasped.
"How's Chouji?" Shikamaru asked Neji. The other boy cocked his head to the side.
"Unconscious, but alive. He's behind us, near the throne-room."
Shikamaru turned and ran back towards the throne enclave, where he could just make out Chouji's prone, still body amidst the stone. Neji's words were confirmed when he checked the young man's pulse, which was faint but definite, and probably only faint because Shikamaru had to press quite firmly to feel it beneath Chouji's "extra layers". He relaxed, and then turned towards the others.
His eyes went wide, as theirs had.
Nefarian was up. The terribly black dragon had dragged himself to his feet and was now standing, full and tall, his hellishly molten eyes snapping from each human to the next. He uttered an unearthly growl that sent fresh chills down Shikamaru's spine.
"Humans…Disgusting…I Will…Kill…Kill…ALL!"
The dragon took a step forwards, and then exploded.
Fire streamed from every orifice on Nefarian's body; white, bright and old, it burst like geysers from Nefarian's mouth and between his scales and gushed like a flood from the wound on his stomach, coiling up around his body and devouring the hardened black scales in jaws of white. Nefarian thrashed, and the walls of the mountain cracked and the floor began to loosen, as if becoming sand beneath them, with each of the dragon's steps.
He began to cough, and then spat out a word:
"Ragnaros!"
Something huge fell from the dragon's mouth, not a bit of flame or molten rock or even a piece of the dragon; a solid, circular object half the size of Nefarian's head. It was lit with the bright flames so that other than it's shape, nothing could be seen of it.
"Ragnarosssss, Disssgustting Fool…" Nefarian snarled.
The fire around the object changed, forming a face for a brief moment, a grinning, crowned skull, and then returned to shapeless flame.
Nefarian raised a claw and slammed it atop the object, which burst in a cloud of rock and smoke. A few of the pieces fell at Naruto's feet.
The flames fell, dying as quickly as if touched by heavy rainfall. Nefarian stopped writhing, stopped moving, but continued to roar, turning his body towards the shinobi, directing every bit of his intention to kill on them. He spoke, his words hissing as they fell off his burnt tongue and drifted like ashes through the air.
"SSSStupid…Wretchedsssss…HUmanssssss!"
Black flames began to pour from Nefarian's body. They seemed to devour his body but he did not shrink from them, seemed to stand taller against them. He spread his wings as the flames touched them, covered them like a second skin.
The shinobi did not move, did not make a sound. They just stared at him, at his majesty, in awe and fear like they should.
No, that was not quite right.
He saw nothing in their eyes. Their faces were soot-covered and sweaty, some burnt and bloody and others barely holding themselves up, barely able to move their weak little limbs, but none of them were fearful, none of them awed. Their eyes were nothing, deep and bottomless, like the earth.
He saw no pain in them.
The black flames roared higher. They deserved it, they deserved pain, and those eyes should be filled, not empty, not dark.
A whistling like the wind mixed with the crackling of the black flames, but Nefarian did not notice. His mind became blank, pain and anger reaching a point where reason had fled screaming from him, and instinct had taken reign. Nefarian howled like a wild animal.
The whistling grew louder. Finally, Nefarian's ears attended to it, and he turned.
The blonde human, slayer of his sister, stood there with one of his clones. He clutched something odd in his hand, a blue glowing sphere that seemed to distort the air around it as if hot, but there was no heat, just that infernal whistling sound, like the wind only louder, more unnatural. The clone was doing something to it, molding it, shaping it, compacting it. It seemed to draw the air within it, and each time it moved the air moved with it.
Nefarian stretched his mouth wide, and the black flames balled within it. Naruto stretched his arm back, dismissing his clone, and charged forwards. Nefarian released the blast of flames, twice the size of his head.
Naruto used Kazaashi.
He slammed the Rasengan, infused with as much wind-elemental chakra as he could muster in the short time he had been allowed to form it, even as it cut into his hand and arm and caused excruciating pain, into Nefarian's side.
'Fuuton: Rasengan Uzumaki'
The whistle turned into a howl, which became a chorus as the Rasengan exploded in a shock of white light that enveloped half of Nefarian's body and the ground beneath him was turned to powder. Nefarian's huge form was carried away by the cutting winds, over the edge of the platform and into the endless drop beneath.
"We're not just humans," Naruto said, in a gasp.
Nefarian made no sound, screamed no words of hate or anger, or if he did, nobody could hear it over the choir of Naruto's singing Rasengan. His body spun in mid-air, unmoving and dead.
His last thoughts, and Naruto's final words, pursued him as he fell.
"We're fucking shinobi."
Where Is It…? He wondered.
He could see it nowhere around him. No heaven of high above. Just earth, just dark, unforgiving earth; earth that he had been born from, rotten dust that he had rebelled against, dirty, violent, cold earth. Earth that he had despised enough to flee but loved enough to destroy any who attempted to call it his own, earth so far away from heaven, earth so…
So very close.
Maybe The pain…he thought, as the darkness of the former Molten Core rose up around him.
maybe the pain will stop?
With his last thoughts of weakness, Nefarian vanished into earthen darkness.
And the heavens fell silent.
WHEEEE!! That was great! I loved writing that chapter!
Nefarian was one of my favorite WoW characters, and I hope I did him justice (with a little artistic flair, of course) as I really wanted his death to be awesome and even slightly humiliating (he was a pompous ass-hole, let's be fair) and his battle to have long-standing consequences…everyone's going to change quite a bit from this experience, I'd wager. Read on to see how!
Yes, the end of Magni's Pride. What's Naruto going to do now? Don't worry about his jacket—it'll be back, I promise.
And yes, a long-promised break for our heroes, as we turn to look at some other parts of the world. What's been going on with Thrall? Sasuke? Maybe even Akatsuki? What about Sai and Yamato?
All this revealed in the next…no…I won't shame myself…
See you next week, hopefully.
General Grievous
Scroll of Seals:
Raiton: Raikou Hadou no jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Wave Technique)
Kageariki: Kai (Shadow Walk: Release): Opens a stored shadow portal from the technique Kageariki, taught by Vol'jin to Naruto.
Fuuton: Rasengan Uzumaki (Wind Release: Spiraling Sphere Vortex): Hovers somewhere after the Rasenshuriken, but not by much. The technique is viciously powerful but does extreme damage (even more than Naruto's Rasenshuriken) and is far from complete, but shows the possibility of becoming one of the most powerful techniques in existence. It is slowly gaining versatility, with each step Naruto makes in its completion.
Bubun Chodan Hensei (Partial Butterfly Metamorphosis):Same idea as the full technique, only it only requires a single limb and has none of the drastic effects that the Akamichi pills grant it, other than a severe depletion of stored food energy reserves. Yet it still requires immense amounts of highly focused chakra and takes time to prepare, but is devastating once it connects. Few could survive a strike from this.
Bingo Book:
Nefarian (Dragonkin)(Boss): Self-proclaimed Lord of the Black Dragonflight after his father, Nefarian is cunning, ruthless and extremely powerful. Blessed not only with his black dragon abilities of fiery breath and durable scales, he possesses a strange ability to produce jutsu with just words. Each one of his words has some effect in reality, the most potent of them weakening his opponents or destroying them utterly. He can reproduce the effect of any jutsu with only words, and can throw off other jutsu by changing their effects. He is ruthless, cunning, and like all black dragons, driven insane by the mysterious anger that inhabits their blood, right back to the beginning, with his father, Deathwing.
Ragnaros (Elemental)(Boss): Dead, but his power is imprisoned within Nefarian's body, and apparently he still has some consciousness within. Perhaps the world has not seen the last of the dreaded immortal Firelord, but who knows?