AN: Hello and welcome back to Naruto: Azeroth Chronicles!

I guess updating at 11:20 at night still technically counts as March 30th, so I'm actually on time for once.

No Omake at the end of this chapter. Sorry but I need to ration them throughout the story.

Other than that, thanks for reading and enjoy the next chapter of Naruto: Azeroth Chronicles!

Chapter 22

Judgment Day

Naruto was lying down on the bed after a day of evading the city and its people. There wasn't much to do other than wait for the Dragon Realm to call him back. He was grateful to have Silvermoon City's thanks for attempting to rid them of their addiction but the notoriety that came with besting Nora was quite tedious.

He sighed as he closed his eyes.

No use thinking about it now, he thought, it's not going to change.

He let out one last sigh before allowing sleep to take him.

Deep Within his Mindscape

He opened his eyes to be surrounded by pitch blackness. He narrowed his eyes; this was not where he was expecting to go.

He flexed his hands as he waited for something, anything to happen.

And he was not disappointed.

All around him, lava appeared and washed the floor around him. He was standing on one small slab of rock as a titan of a being appeared.

Easily topping one hundred yards, the creature had a large head in the shape of a ram with two massive horns coming out. Lava made up his neck and shoulders which led down to two huge arms made out of solid rock. His gargantuan hands had claws on them as they flexed in anticipation. He saw large spikes and horns coming out of his back with lava licking the tips. Lava made up the portion between his chest and his legs with two massive rock legs ending off

the colossus being.

Being called an ant in comparison was laughable. He was nothing but a speck of dirt compared to him.

"So, you are the famed Naruto Uzumaki. What an underwhelming cretin."

He gathered himself, "And you must be my target, Sargeras."

The titanic being laughed, a deep rumbling noise laced with malice, "You think someone like you has a chance against me? Let me tell you something, mongrel. I know who you are and where you came from. And I have experience dealing with your kind."

Seeing skepticism in his eyes, Sargeras laughed, "Let me put it in a way you will understand. I fought the all the Bijuu at once and defeated them. How does that make you feel?"

That shook his confidence as he was silent.

"Stunned into silence. Let me tell you something, boy. This world and all of its morsels will be mine. Nothing can stop me, no matter what it is. You can call upon the Flights, the Gods, the Races, but nothing will stop me. Keep this in mind as you travel around in your petty quest."

Naruto took a breath of air, "You may be a God, but you are not unbeatable. I will defeat you, no matter the cost."

"You speak words you do not believe. I give you two choices."

Naruto was silent.

"You can either continue on this ignorant quest, a mission that is doomed to fail. Even if you unite the races, there is nothing that can stop my wrath from drowning this Realm.

"Or…you can join me."

"...Excuse me?"

"You heard me right. I said you can join me. Few others can stand up to the power you wield, Naruto. With the two of us combined, we could be unstoppable."

He grit his teeth together, "I will never join you, fiend."

"Or so you say. Take some time to think on my offer. You could be a God. A ruler of Realms. If we join forces, nothing can stop us from dominating the Universe.

"The Universe, Naruto. We could be almighty. The only thing holding you back from Godhood is this ignorant quest that a weak goddess could not do."

Once again, Naruto was silent, staring into the amused eyes of Sargeras.

"You could have anything. Stop this foolish endeavor and make the right choice. There is no time limit on this, I'm sure you will make the right decision."

With that, the mighty form of Sargeras disappeared out of his mindscape.

Naruto calmed down his raging nerves as he took a breath.

"To be a God…"

He closed his eyes as he disappeared out of his mindscape.

Morning

Silvermoon City Inn

He opened his eyes to the light above him. He did not care about the slight pain that came with looking into the light. All he cared at this point was what Sargeras said.

Could he really become a God?

Does Sargeras really have the power to grant him Godhood?

He could have anything he wanted, without worrying of the consequences. He didn't have anyone to give him orders with no one to tell him where to go and what to do.

He could be free.

He could become the leader of any Realm he wished. He could become the almighty ruler of the Universe.

The opportunities were endless. He would be under no one's command. He could use his power however he wished.

Could he and Sargeras really control the Universe? Was Sargeras really that powerful?

Sargeras could grant him the one thing he has always strived for.

True Power…

Yet…why would he ask for his help?

If Sargeras was so powerful, why did he need someone else's help?

He said he defeated the all the Bijuu, yet could that really be true? Could he have really defeated all of the strongest beings to walk the mortal realm?

Sargeras could have just been saying that to sway him.

There was no way he could have defeated all of them…right?

He sighed before getting ready for the day, putting his armor as he walked down the stairs to the dining area. A female blood elf came up to him, a beautiful smile on her face. She wore a red silk dress, starting at her ample bust and stretching down to her feet. He skin was tan as her smile seemed to light up the room.

"Good morning Lord Naruto! What can I get you?"

He didn't like her. Something felt… off about her.

"Just some toast and water, please."

The smile never dropped off her face as she bowed and said, "Coming right up!"

She walked into a door behind the counter, presumably to place his order.

Something about her felt…different around her. Having met and seen many different Blood Elves he noticed something akin to an 'aura' around them. They probably had these auras from prolonged usage of the Well's demonic energies.

She didn't have one.

This meant one of two things. Either she had never used the Well before, or was an imposter.

The first option wasn't viable. At some point an adult Blood Elf would have used the well, no matter when or where it happened. The urge to use the fel energy was ingrained into their genes and blood, an urge which is unable to be ignored for so long. If they never used the well at that age, they would either be in a hospital or dead due to withdrawal effects.

He knew that a powerful imposter can get into a city; evidence of this was his attacker in Darnassus. It was near impossible for the city guard, no matter how well trained, to catch every imposter that attempted to get in. Evidence of this was how Jiraiya was able to get a spy in every country, no matter the military strength.

He walked over to the bartender, "How long has that Blood Elf been working here?"

"You mean Laliana?" at his nod he continued, "She's been here about a week. Very charming girl, all the customers like her. Did she do something wrong?"

He shook his head, "No, no. Just wondering."

"Stay away from my girls now," he gave a grin to the blonde, "She still has a job to do. You can play afterward."

He sighed before turning away, quietly muttering, "I didn't mean it that way."

He didn't know how to tell him that his new worker was a spy so he just went back to his seat, giving a short glare to the chuckling customers who listened to them.

A short while later Laliana came back, giving him his food. She gave him a flirtatious smile before saying, "Despite what the bartender said, I wouldn't mind playing with you, hot stuff."

She winked at him before walking avidly to the next customer.

He looked at her back before glancing at the food. There was a small slip of paper on top of it, saying 'Behind the Inn, ten minutes.' To top it all off, there was a kiss mark on it.

It was all an act to get him to lower his guard. It was very well played too; very few men would be able to resist her charms.

He looked at the food suspiciously before sniffing it for poison.

It smelled like toast. There was nothing off about it. The butter was right, the burnt smell of the bread was right, and the rye bread smelled just like that – rye bread.

Despite all that, he didn't trust it so he just pushed it in front of him, as if pushing away some unwanted item.

Well, it was an unwanted item.

He saw Laliana talk to the Bartender before walking past him and out the door. She turned right after getting out and walked away. He channeled chakra to his ears, hearing the crunching of her footsteps outside the building. He traced the steps to the back of the building as they stopped.

He got up a few minutes later, leaving the toast at the table. He put a few copper coins on the table before walking towards the exit. Just as he neared to door, he heard the bartender call out to him, "You not gonna eat your food?" he seemed annoyed that such a premium meal like toast was not eaten.

"...I'm not hungry."

Behind the Inn

He rounded the corner of the building, seeing Laliana leaning on it. She gave a grin towards his direction as he stopped ten paces away. He had a hand on the pommel of Veditoa, ready to unsheathe it at a moment's notice.

"I'm so glad you came. Care to come closer?"

He did not move, "I'm fine right here."

Her smile didn't fade as she strutted towards him. Her hips waved sensually as she walked slowly stalked closer to him.

Just as she got within five paces he unsheathed Veditoa slightly, "That's far enough."

She stopped in her tracks as she seemed to grin even more, "Oh, a feisty one. They're always the best."

"I know what you are."

"And what am I?"

"A spy."

She seemed to stiffen slightly but relaxed quickly afterward, "What makes you say that?"

"You came here two days before I did. This means that you caught wind of my travels and made your way over here as soon as your superior told you to."

Her eyes narrowed, "I came here to visit my family. My mother is sick and my father is in the royal guard."

"Ah, your father is in the royal guard. And pray tell, how does the daughter of a royal guard member work at an Inn? You would think that a royal guard member would be swimming in riches."

"We are in a bit of a slump right now. How would you know my family's financial situation?"

He shrugged, "I don't. On top of all this, do you think I haven't noticed you watching me?"

She seemed surprised, "What do you mean?"

He gave a stern look, "Every time I am in the common area, you watch my every move. You have studied my weapons, armor, and posture. The second I turn to look at you, all you are doing is serving another customer."

She was confused, "How would you ever notice me doing that?"

His lips turned in a small smirk, "I have eyes everywhere. Nobody can hide their intentions from me."

He pointed upwards to the roof of the buildings behind her. A clone was standing there and gave a small salute to the original before disappearing with a Shunshin.

He always had one clone following him. While a Blood Clone would be better to use with its longevity, they were very hard to actually make. So, he stuck with Shadow Clones because of the ease in which he could make them.

Every day at the Inn he had created a Shadow Clone and had it use a Transformation to some type of animal, be it a squirrel or a mouse. When they dispelled at the end of the day they transferred their memories to him, thus alerting him to the impostor's studies of him.

Some of her confidence seemed to come back, "All of this is simple theories. You have no hard evidence. What if I was just looking at someone I was attracted to?"

"You want to know the kicker about all this?"

She looked at him curiously, "A kicker?"

"You have never used the Well before. You do not radiate any fel energy. At your age you would have used the Well's energy at some point. If you never used the energy then you would have either been unfathomably sick or dead from withdrawal effects."

She was quiet as he continued, "Your little act in the Inn would have made lesser men kiss your feet in an attempt to bed you."

All mirth was gone from his tone, replaced with seriousness, "Tell your master this…"

She waited for his answer.

"I am no lesser man."

He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving a stunned Blood Elf behind him.

Stillwhisper Pond

Naruto was sitting down on the pond, sitting in the lotus position. A bird came over and landed on his shoulder. It pecked at his cheek and he opened his eyes, looking at the small bird. It was just staring at him as he shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes again. He tried to relax himself, but Sargeras's words stuck in his mind. He tried to slow the flow of chakra, but it wouldn't stop rushing.

'Are you okay?'

'…Just a nightmare.'

'Oh. Alright then.'

He couldn't tell them about his meeting. He knew what their answers, along with almost every other type of being would say.

They would try ferociously to stop him from joining Sargeras. He had no doubt of that.

He sighed, putting his hands in the Tiger seal, "Water Clone Jutsu."

Twenty clones appeared out of the water. No words were said as all of them pulled out their swords.

"Ready boys?"

They all nodded.

Naruto cracked his neck once before crouching low. All of the other clones readied their swords.

A second passed before Naruto bolted off, straight towards the closest clone. As he got close, the clone stabbed forward. Naruto ducked low, almost flush to the water as he slid under the clone, taking its feet out. He stabbed his sword behind him as it pierced the stomach of the clone, making it disperse into water.

Three clones converged on him. One tried to stab, the other tried to slash at his legs while the last swung high. As they neared, Naruto jumped in the air, turning sideways and spinning. The stab just barely missed his chest, only missing by centimeters. He watched as the upper slash went over his head, almost hitting his nose. The lower slash missed, just scratching the back of his thigh.

He brought a fist up in the air as he landed, bringing it down on the surface of the water. It created a large tremor, throwing the clones near him away while unbalancing the others. The three clones disappeared, the strong tremor enough to dispel them.

He took a slight breath before bringing both swords down to his sides. He leaned forward slightly, showing a very aggressive pose. Sweat went down the back of the clone's necks as they brought their swords into a defensive stance.

Naruto brought his swords into the air in an 'X' position before bringing them down with force. The water where he slashed rushed forward with his swing as the wave of water sped towards the clones. They put their swords up in defense as the water was blocked with a small burst of chakra from them.

Before they knew it, two more clones were impaled on the original's blades. He charged towards the closest clone before starting a deadly duel between them. The other clones backed off, not wanting to be near the whirling blades.

Naruto blocked a slash to his midsection before grabbing the second wrist swinging towards him. He stopped the blade in its tracks, only inches away from his face before breaking the clone's wrist and running it through with his blade.

Three clones remained as they wizened up and decided against engaging him directly. While they didn't have much chakra, they had enough for a few Ninjutsu.

All three did a series of hand seals before ending at the same time, "Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!"

Three large drills of water soared at the original as Naruto looked on stunned. He never expected his Clones to have enough chakra to pull that off. Either way, he dodged the first drill, jumped over the second and had a clone pull him away from the third.

He was making hand seals before he touched the water, and finished just as he landed, "Water Style: Water Shark Bullet!"

He focused on the chakra intensive technique as the three clones waited expectantly, swords in a defensive pose. None of them were ready as three large glowing sharks made of chakra suddenly jumped out of the water. The clones, tired and out of chakra could not summon up the strength to jump away as they were promptly dispelled as the sharks slammed their jaws down on their chests.

He gave a short wince at the brutal fate. While he didn't create the jutsu, he was hit by it once. Kisame was able to get the jutsu off on him during his fight and he experienced firsthand what having your chest used as a chew toy was like. Not fun.

A short exhale of relief came from him. The fight soothed his nerves about Sargeras' offer and served as a simple warm up for training later.

He found it fitting that he would find inner peace in battle. In battle, it was all about survival and beating your opponent. Nothing could go through your head other than the battle occurring. If you lost focus, you would die.

Due to focusing on the battle, the problem with Sargeras left his mind. As soon as he was done, the problem came roaring back, though not at the degree that it was before. He tried to push it to the back of his mind as he sat down on the water again.

Just as he was about to rest, he sensed a very strong presence coming towards him. The mana levels were very large despite its small form. It turned out to be a gnome who waddled up to him.

"The Flights are gathered. We are ready to begin the ruling."

Without another word, the gnome walked off as soon as he came. He looked at the old gnome's retreating form as it disappeared behind the foliage. He brought out the scroll holding Deathwing hostage, feeling as it drummed lowly with energy. He was sure that it would hold. It was a scroll that he made personally for holding high level demons. He never tried it on anything else, but he was sure he could at least hold the Sanbi at bay in it for a long period of time.

He pocketed the scroll as he made his way back to the city.

Silvermoon City Inn

He called the Knights together at one of the many tables scattered throughout the main floor of the Inn. While they liked to fool around, they knew that meetings like these were not times to joke about. Naruto very rarely called them all together, preferring to leave them to their own devices.

They all gathered around the table with their respective drinks, though all attention was on Naruto.

He decided to be blunt, "The Flights are ready for Deathwing's ruling."

There was silence at the table. None of them knew exactly what to say about it. It's not that they didn't trust the Flights but it goes back to something simple; soldiers hate politics.

As frontline soldiers, they all knew that someone as deadly as Deathwing needs to be executed. They were all uncomfortable with him being alive, despite being in a scroll that could hold him for a very long time. Without knowing the intricate knowledge of seals they didn't truly think a scroll could hold someone as powerful as Deathwing and keep him sedated.

He didn't take any offense to this. It's common sense; how in the world could a simple scroll hold him at bay?

Krogar spoke up, "What do you want us to do?"

He tossed the Blacklist on the table, "I want you to get us some cash. I don't know when I'll be back, but everyone can go solo for a while and get some bounties. As long as you get at least one bounty I'll be fine. Meet up with me in one week at the entrance to the Undercity."

He studied their reactions. Both Krogar and Nora looked perfectly fine with it, having been to the Undercity numerous times. However, Selena and Otiros looked hesitant.

Selena spoke up, "Two questions," Naruto nodded, "First, why do we need more money?"

"Why don't we need more money?" she seemed stunned at his answer, "You can never have too much. For all we know, we could be financing an army, should the cities cut or lessen their funds. Money talks, Selena. Sadly, those with more money are much more successful compared to people from poorer backgrounds. It's just the system that this world runs on."

She seemed content with that and asked her second question, "What if the Undead were to take unwarranted action against us? We wouldn't be able to use our tabard in defense as anyone could don our tabard and fake their way through things."

He already planned for this, "I was hoping that either Nora or Krogar can find their way to the Undercity one day before you or Otiros. That way you could have their backing. I doubt that Sylvanas would suspect them of anything should they have someone as powerful as either of you backing them. Of course, that won't stop the local populace from showing their…dislike towards our everyday Alliance friends, but we'll deal with that when it comes."

He looked towards Nora and Krogar, "Any takers?"

While it was a laid back statement, both knew that it was an order. Krogar grunted, "I'll be there. They may take me a bit more seriously than miss half-clothes over there." He gestured towards Nora who glared at him.

"Although I'm somewhat offended that you have the gall to insult me brute, if you want to spend a day doing absolutely nothing, why would I stop you? That just means more free time for me."

Otiros nudged Selena, "I think we get along with each other a bit more than they do."

"Shut up Otiros." Both Krogar and Nora said before going back to their glaring contest.

An annoyed voice broke the argument, "Yes, it's not like I'm giving my team of elites orders or anything, right?"

Naruto had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at his team expectantly. They looked at him oddly before sharing weird glances at each other.

"Did he just make a joke?"

"I think so…"

"Maybe it was our imagination. That's not supposed to happen."

"The heat must be getting to us. There's no other viable option."

They all shared a sage-like nod between each other before Naruto gave an angry sigh. He stood up from his seat before saying, "Don't forget; one week from now."

He stalked off as the rest of the Knights watched his back. As he disappeared out of the Inn, they all broke into a fit of laughter. Otiros and Krogar shared a high-five as they 'clinked' their glasses of ale together.

Smashing his mug on the table, Otiros gave a victorious grin, "We got under his skin!"

Outskirts of Silvermoon City

As he reached the outskirts of the city Naruto felt…weak.

Something about his body was either not responding or steadily weakening. It took him a while to notice as it seemed whatever was affecting him is slow-acting, but he was steadily losing feeling in his arms and legs.

He tried to remember if there was any time he could have been poisoned. There were no other chances besides his breakfast, but he checked the toast for poison.

Wait…

Flashback

It was all an act to get him to lower his guard. It was very well played too; very few men would be able to resist her charms.

He looked at the food suspiciously before sniffing it for poison.

Flashback end

Oh, that bitch.

She knew that he would check for poison. What he never took into consideration was that it could have been a different type of poison. He thought it was of the consumed kind, which first attacks the stomach once the poison starts to be digested, but it was a poison of the inhaled kind.

He cursed himself for being so lax. He was above making such petty mistakes and yet here he is falling for something only a civilian would fall for.

He sat down in a clearing, closing his eyes to assess the damages.

He felt his chakra pathways running normally. There were no clogs of any kind anywhere, so it wasn't a poison that attacked his chakra.

He expanded his conscious to check his muscular frame and frowned heavily.

All of his muscles were slowly atrophying. The poison was made to slowly degrade his muscle mass until the muscles around his organs would cease working. He would slowly lose his ability to use all of his major organs, including his heart.

In a quick estimation he found out that his overall muscle mass was reduced about six percent. While it might not seem like much, it can make a whole world of difference when he wanted the extra kick into his attacks.

He needed to work out a training schedule for himself to get back into shape. He had become lax in his training methods in the past few months and it has shown through lack of simple Shinobi instinct.

First he needed to eliminate the poison. He sent his demonic chakra to the degraded muscles as they furiously worked on eliminating the poison.

The reason his regeneration didn't work on the poison is because for it to work he first needed mental confirmation that the wound was there. Once his mind knew it was there the chakra would then know where to go, thus healing his wound. He wished it would just move as it pleases, but his chakra needed the extra mental confirmation before it could get to work.

If there was no confirmation, then the regenerative chakra would not know where to go. He was almost able to do it unconsciously, but he still needed to direct the chakra to the wound. It was why external wounds healed quickly, he was easily able to register the wound because he could see it.

Internal injuries were a different story. He had to do a complete check of his body to see what was wrong. It was why he had to focus on healing his internal wounds after the battle against Deathwing; his mind wasn't able to register what the wounds are.

If the chakra were to simply flow through his system, it would aimlessly wander through him. Without being directed, the corrosive chakra would slowly start to burn his chakra pathways.

The chakra surged through his muscles, steadily eliminating the poison and stabilizing the muscles from degrading any further.

It took around an hour but at long last the poison was finally gone. Before he could work on a training schedule, he had a meeting to go to.

The judgment of Deathwing.

And cut!

Alright, before you get out your pitchforks and firebombs about Naruto getting poisoned, hear me out.

He has not trained whatsoever besides light stretches throughout most of the story. That coupled with the lack of creatures that can kill him have dulled his edge. In the Shinobi world, every enemy Ninja had the capability to kill you. This constant threat of death kept their minds sharp and had them train constantly.

Naruto has had no real threat of death recently. Deathwing may be an exception, but Sventar did most of the heavy lifting in that battle.

Its due to this that I thought it would be prudent for him to find some reason to get his ass back in gear. And getting poisoned by an imposter seemed like a good enough wake up call.

Other than that, thanks for reading and I'll see you later.

Sseasshark signing out.