Author's Note: Okay, I lied, I'm too lazy to actually do some studying, so I actually wrote this while I'm supposed to study. Note the supposed, especially with my worst subject, English Literature coming up this Wednesday, but who cares, I'm prepared for my grades in literature.
I noticed that some people have complained that I've made Naruto overly powerful, but the thing is, he was facing grunts the whole time, and the only time he has ever had to fight seriously, he almost got his butt kicked – by who? The Death Knight in the first chapter. He was kicking both Naruto and Jaina's asses until Naruto pulled a victory out somehow.
As to the other people questions, I'm thinking about it, such as Dragon Slave for Naruto or something, but I can't find a spell correct for Naruto to use given that his primary affinity is still wind but I'm getting off topic. BUT, I don't think he'll get the paths, because in my opinion, he really doesn't need it, and he probably won't take the corpse of his enemies now will he? And anyhow if he needs it, he could always use Kage Bunshin, though I don't take credit for the innovation – I read it in another fanfic. The class system might be implemented on him later, but for now I'm content to leave him like this, because… well, how do you classify his abilities?
I just noticed, no one ever asked who Lina was XD – does anyone know where I got her from?
Disclaimer: I'll just let Jaina talk this out, Jaina?
Jaina: Pyorc0ntrol does not own Warcraft or Naruto – Naruto is mine!
Lina: No! Mine! *fires a lightning bolt at Jaina while Sylvanas appeared out of nowhere, confused*
Sylvanas: Why am I being dragged into this?
Me:…? I haven't even decided on the pairing(s) yet Jaina, Lina, and why are you here Sylvanas? *sweat drops*
*Jaina and Lina pouts*
Right, the Author's notes are getting longer and longer, so on with the story!
Chapter 3 - Entering the Unknown
When morning came, Sylvanas was up for almost an hour, contemplating the mystery that was Naruto. Having spent the night talking to him for a little before going to sleep, she could say honestly that he was a very big question mark, something to solve. She also talked to Naruto about Quel'Thalas, about her home, the Ranger Corps, and the Ranger General in charge there. She wondered if Quel'Thalas was ok…
Naruto, on the other hand, got up close to two hours ago to train, as well as send a shadow clone to inform Jaina of what happened. He was just about to see if he can summon the toads when the memory got back, and he frowned. Jaina had said to his clone that a small cavalry of heavy weapons was sent to aid them in battle, yet when he asked the ranger guards, they all replied that they saw nothing. Something fishy was going on, and he was going to find out. But first, he was going to get some fish from the river. He got onto the river, making sure that he was actually on rather than in, before reaching down, and feeling the water currents, caught a fish, but it was too time consuming, so he thought of a better, if not impractical idea. He activated his Rinnegan, targeted a fish, then used Bansho Ten'in to call it over to his hands, and soon he had a moderate supply of fish. He went back to base, happy. He looked into the base, as the archers and rangers began to pack up, as some took out ration bars and various other types of ration and began to eat. Naruto just walked in, with a long line of fish suspended from some wire, as some heads turned, and promptly froze. Naruto went to his tent as he sealed it again, and began to cook the fish over the fire, the aroma going over to the archers, making their mouths water. Naruto saw, and had to suppress a laugh at their predicament, even if they don't really show it. He waved some over as he threw some fish over, saying, "I know its not much, but take some of these, I knew you people would want them." The archers began to bicker amongst themselves over the fish, but unnoticed by either Naruto nor the archers, Sylvanas already took one and began to cook it. Naruto noticed, and fought back a smile at her action.
Soon they were done eating, and Naruto walked a little to Sylvanas, "Sylvanas, a moment." Sylvanas stood up and walked over to Naruto as they walked together towards the edge of the camp, on top of a hill.
"Yes?"
"I sent a clone this morning to tell Jaina of how we managed to wrestle control of this base back. She was quite surprised, but was expecting a little of our performance."
"So? What's the main point you're trying to tell me?" Naruto smiled a bit, as if amused by how quick Sylvanas caught up to what he was implying.
"She sent a convoy of supplies for rebuilding and a cavalry unit over last night. It never arrived," Sylvanas perked up at this. Never arrived? That's not good, we're already low on fighters, and if we lose anymore… she thought as they looked over the hill. Just then, Naruto noticed a strange thing – a very faint smell of smoke emanated from the forest. Naruto panicked.
"Smoke? Why's there smoke in the forest?" Naruto said as he sprinted forward, already in the process of making a seal for a Hahonryu as he rushed into a small clearing and stopped, staring at the carnage, Sylvanas followed closely behind with a squad of archers. There were smoke rushing about, as the wood smoldered, and the supplies – the supplies were gone. Sylvanas growled, as Naruto turned questioningly.
"Orcs, I bet its those Orcs again, lets get back to base and tell Jaina," Sylvanas said as Naruto nodded, but stopped as he felt another prescence.
"Wait! Whoever's in the tree, get out now!" Naruto shouted at a random tree. Moments later, another Night Elf archer came out.
"Who're you?" Naruto asked.
"I am a simple archer, but I have seen what happened here, it is not the job of the Orcs," the archer replied as Naruto turned and looked, before seeing something familiar. The burnt marks were arranged in what appeared to a rough circle, and the burnt edges of the forest would suggest a fire attack, which he was pretty sure the Orcs don't have. In fact, the burnt "circle" seemed almost like the radius of…
"Katon, Goukakyou no Jutsu," Naruto growled out the name. Sasuke was behind this, but for what? He doubt Sasuke was in league with the Orcs or the Scourge, as they both hate the humans and would never accept them. Both the human and night elf forces looked at Naruto in question. He turned.
"I'm sure some of you remembered what I explained about chakra, correct?" Some archers nodded, and so did Sylvanas, but the rest were confused.
"This is a fire release technique, a Katon no jutsu, which I believe is the work of the person I was fighting a few days ago, Uchiha Sasuke, as their family excelled in fire techniques, and quite frankly none of you would know a fire technique this big, not even the array Lina set up that day was this big," Naruto explained as Sylvanas widened her eyes, while all the others lost track of what he was talking about. The night elf, on closer inspection however, saw another mark, a greenish mark.
"Yes, it is the work of a single human, but he was also firing green bolts of light at your troops, and killed them as soon as they hit," the archer added in. Naruto narrows his eyes as the implication came up. He turned back, "I thank you for your help. Sylvanas, gather your archers and prepare to go, now. I need to tell Jaina-chan about this."
"About what?"
"I think Sasuke's allied himself with the Scourge – what else could explain the dead wood?" Naruto said as he walked off, only to hear an ominous laugh. Naruto narrows his eyes as his Rinnegan pulsed, and looked around. He quickly located the sound, and launched a kunai, which was followed by a dozen arrows, but the figure leapt out of the tree and landed safely. Uchiha Sasuke.
"Sasuke!"
"Hello dobe. I see you've allied yourself with the weak, just like you, again," Sasuke sneered as his Sharingan flared. They stood still for a moment, before they clashed, lightning-powered chokuto against Naruto's twin wind-powered trench blades. They leapt apart as they launched small fireballs at each other, which cancelled out, and Naruto fired a lightning hound at Sasuke who retaliated with Chidori Nagashi, dissipating the hound.
"So, you did this? Why? To test your powers?" Naruto asked.
"Shut up, dobe, my business is none of your concern, but know that next time, I'll become much stronger than you'll ever be," Sasuke stated as he rolled away from a boulder which Naruto launched at him, and walked backwards into the forest. Naruto growled as he sensed the chakra signature of Sasuke, which was steadily getting darker. He looked at the entourage, then simply said a word, "Now." They ran to get the rest of the elven archers as the night elf returned to report to Tyrande of the situation. He stood there, then disappeared in a swirl of wind as he prepared his own stuff so that they could return.
Main Camp
"So, your… friend destroyed the convoy I sent, and took their supplies?" Jaina asked, in confirmation. Naruto cringed at the word 'friend', but nodded nonetheless.
"I'm not sure if he actually took the supplies though, but everyone is likely dead… if not worse," Naruto stated. Jaina looked up. "Explain."
"The night elf that saw the battle said something about a green light and dead wood, and from what you told me and what I've experienced, as little, then Sasuke is getting trained in the ways of a Death Knight, and he would be able to resurrect those people," Naruto said as he began to walk out. Jaina called out after him, "Naruto! Where are you going?" Naruto stopped for a moment, then began walking again.
"Out to train. If he's going to get training for this, then I'm going to need to become stronger to face him down in battle. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, if there's anything, I'll leave a clone here," Naruto said as a clone popped up and he left. Jaina looked at him, feeling a twinge of sadness. So much like Arthas… he's… be careful, Naruto, Jaina thought as she sat back down, the clone looking at her in concern.
Outside, Naruto began looking for a training ground, if not in the base then in the woods, and as he reached he created as much clones as he could, including nearly two tails of Kyubi's chakra as well as his own, which is over a whole tail of chakra, and formed close to 5000 clones. He instructed them to start training, as he faced off close to 200 clones in a full on all-on-one match.
That was the scene Lina found Naruto in, as thousands of him trained in different areas, some in lightning manipulation, others in different nature manipulations, and a few hundred were sparring against a single person, and Lina quickly deducted that it was the original Naruto. Suddenly, she heard a small bell-like sound, as she looked over she saw a small sphere with a small ring (Futon: Rasengan) attempting to hit Naruto. The clone succeeded as Naruto flew back end over end, with a large black marking in the center of his chest plate, where he managed to reinforce with chakra, but he was still hit with nearly the full power inside his body. Lina ran over to him as the clones stopped, looking in concern.
"Naruto! Are you okay?" Lina asked as Naruto coughed up blood. He looked over and saw Lina, as he tried to stand, but fell down again, but Lina gently caught him and placed his head on her lap. "Just rest for a moment, Naruto. What were you doing making all these clones?"
"Kage Bunshins have a memory link of sorts so that when they dispel, I can learn from their memories. However, because I have an unusually large chakra capacity – well, mana in your case – that means I can do this sort of training on an extreme scale. Having just a single clone of two won't really help, it would just slightly shorten the time, but with a hundred clones, you essentially get a hundred times the training, and at the amount of clones I actually summoned to train apart from fighting them – around 4000 or so – that means I get close to 4000 hours of training if they were to all train for an hour," Naruto said, leaving Lina astounded. That sort of training would lower the time so much and make the person strong, very, very fast. She asked, "Is there anyway to see if I have the ability to learn it?"
Naruto thought for a moment. "How do you conjure up mana?"
Lina described how to do it as specifically as possible, but she had never really thought about it, just about to create it naturally and replenishing on its own. Naruto thought for a moment, before reaching into his pouch.
"I was saving some of these paper for when I become a sensei in my home village, but I have some spares, and I guess this would be a good indication of seeing how similar mana and chakra are," Naruto said as he sat upright, leaving Lina's lap. He took a piece of paper out of a small pouch. Seeing Lina's confusion at his explanation, he clarified, "This is chakra paper, it should tell what your affinities are, though by what I've seen it would most likely be fire and lightning, but that's if mana and chakra are the same."
"How do I… check for my affinities?"
"Just force some mana into the paper, if it burns, its fire, if it splits down the middle, its wind, if it crumbles, its lightning, if it gets wet, its water, and if it turns to dust, its earth, like this," Naruto demonstrated as he forced some chakra in, and it split in half, before crumbling up and igniting on the other side.
"The reason mine appeared like this was because my original affinity is wind, so it's the strongest, but I also practiced my fire and lightning abilities more , so they sometimes appear, now you try," Naruto said as he handed her a slip of paper, and she forced some mana in. It burnt, but it didn't crumble like it would if she was a natural lightning user. Naruto took the paper and looked at it thoughtfully. "Hmm… so it looks similar, so I guess mana could be used in roughly the same way…"
A little over the hills, Jaina watched Naruto's interaction with Lina, and although she was sure she didn't feel anything for the blond, she couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy for Lina with her interaction and how close they seemed to be. She turned around and walked back, having work to do and preparations for going up to the peak which held her interest. Neither of the two noticed Jaina but that was just because they were too engrossed with trying to figure out what mana and chakra were exactly.
"I guess I should try something first though. Try to push mana into your leg muscles and jump, releasing the mana at the same time. If mana and chakra is as similar as we thought, then you should get a boost," Naruto instructed as Lina jumped curiously, but she jumped higher than she expected, and she tumbled as she fell, but was caught by Naruto and set down. "Well, that confirms it, it's similar enough to be used in the same manner, but too different to be used in seals…" Naruto trailed off as he looked over the hill, sensing someone coming over. It was a footman and as he approached, Naruto dispelled the clones in small groups to avoid a headache, and walked over. "Yes?"
"Ms Proudmoore would like to see the both of you, she says that the she is going to try and head over to Stonetalon peak," the footman replied. Naruto and Lina looked at each other in curiosity, then Naruto nodded at the footman, "Thank you."
Naruto dispelled the last of his clones as Lina waited for him, beckoning him to come, as they left, heading back for base..
Base Camp
Jaina looked over the small convoy of escorts that she had asked to go with her, including a small contingent of elves, who could see better in the dark recesses of the cave, Naruto, and Lina. She decided to leave Sylvanas in charge of the base, knowing that she was a capable leader.
"I've sent an advance force to Stonetalon peak to secure that position, so that we won't be interrupted by the Orcs as we searched for whatever was inside the mountain, and soon I'll teleport us there. Once we get in, don't get separated at all, because none of us I believe will know anything about the cave that we'll be entering. Any questions?" Naruto raised his hand. Jaina looked at him and said, "I'll explain later, Naruto, when we reach the peak." Naruto nodded as she teleported them over, but then they had to rest so that she could recover her mana. Naruto walked out the keep they teleported into as he walked up the sloped and looked over the place, admiring its beauty, until he saw some red dots. He activated his Rinnegan, and looked a bit more carefully. He scowled as he shunshined back into base.
Back in the keep, Jaina was still recovering along with the rest of the team, some not used to teleportation, when Naruto appeared in a swirl of wind, scaring a small lot. When the wind dispersed, Naruto hurried over to Jaina.
"Jaina-chan, we have Orcs coming in. They seemed to be after the power as well," Naruto said quickly as Jaina frowned. She checked her own mana level, and it still wasn't enough, but if they don't go soon, then the Orcs may overwhelm the encampments. She suddenly felt a rush of energy heading into her as she turned and saw Naruto's hands glowing blue, holding her. She reddened a little at the contact, but was curious. Naruto decided to explain.
"When I was training this morning, Lina found me, and we had a little discussion about the differences in chakra and mana. We couldn't find a lot of differences, and if you need extra… mana, I could probably transfer chakra over, and let your body change it into mana. I'm not sure how long it will take, but… well your network seems full now, so we can go, right?" Naruto said/asked as Jaina nodded. She stood up, taking a look. Chakra was different from mana, that she was sure about. It was more potent, but at the same time it was calm, not unlike mana. Then she realized the difference.
Mana was not as potent, but that made it easier to control, so unlike what she has seen of Naruto, she did not have to make those seals to actually launch an attack, but as chakra was more potent, it would require seals to move it along smoothly, but properly executed it could cause destruction far more than what mana can produce. An example would have been the match between Naruto and Lina. Although they launched attacks which would have been equal strength, because chakra was more potent, Naruto's technique overcame Lina's. But, that was a discussion for another time, as Jaina steeled herself and stood up, moving out the keep and towards the entrance of the cave. As they rushed towards the entrance, there was an explosion as a weak electrical attack stroked the top of the cavern, and it collapsed. Harpies appeared at the top, as they began their random attack. Jaina launched hundreds of blizzard shards directly at them, but most dodged; only one was hit, but it was hit so many times that it was dead before it registered any sort of hit. Naruto instantly moved his hands to his favorite seal.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried as he summoned close to 30 clones, and they all began to do the same seals and inhaled. Lina, on the other hand, was launching lightning bolts herself to counteract the harpies own lightning bolt, and as the army of Naruto finished, they called out in unison, "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"
Each Naruto launched close to 20 fireballs, and the combined might of the clones launched close to 600 basketball-sized fireballs, which incinerated each Harpy as they tried to approach, but some still managed to dodge the deadly firestorm. At least, this was the case until Naruto launched a wind attack, enlarging the fireballs, causing more to be set on fire. One harpy managed to get a shot off, striking Naruto in the arm, but Naruto shrugged it off like it was nothing, and it really was because of the armor plating. He targeted the final harpy, but before he could do so the harpy managed to launch yet another lightning bolt at its full power, striking Naruto again and hurling him backwards, but not towards a camp: he was sent hurtling right over a cliff. The harpy, satisfied with its work, fell down, dead from exertion and wounds. Jaina an Lina ran over to the edge, worried.
"Naruto!" They shouted in unison looking over the cliff, and saw him, panting, as he held on to a branch dozens of feet below, not having time to stick himself to the wall and still too stunned to be able to move his limbs easily. There was a crack, and as the girls looked on in fear, the branch broke, sending Naruto plummeting to what they knew was instant death, but they saw Naruto managing to move his hands at the last moment and stuck to the wall using chakra. He shook his head and looked up, and waved.
"I'm okay! I'm going up now!" Naruto said as he walked up the side of the mountain, the two girls not noticing their concern was more than just a friendly concern, and not noticing that Naruto was actually walking on the wall rather than climbing. Naruto managed to reach the edge and climbed the last bit, and laid down, panting a little.
"There was a lot of power behind that attack," Naruto commented lightly, as they agreed. They decided to go back to base to heal first before heading up the entrance again, and they also needed to excavate the region as well. When they got back to base, they ordered a few workers to begin excavating the entrance so that they could enter later, and sat down in the keep to rest. Naruto, after a short rest, was completely healed, baffling both Lina and Jaina, who didn't know of his healing ability nor the Kyubi, and went out to see if he can help against the Orcs if needed. He was barely out for a few steps before a zeppelin dropped, and a bloody soldier with a few elves came out.
"Sir, our forward encampment has been overrun by the Orcs!" He exclaimed as blood gushed out of his wounds again, the Priests trying to heal him while the female elves tried to slow the blood by pressing on the wounds. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he leapt up towards the summit, and activated his Rinnegan again to look for the Orcs clearly. He was not disappointed, but the results were unfavorable. There were a lot more Orcs than he had expected – much more. He even saw a few zeppelins of their own getting ready to load up on troops, although it would take some time to reach here. He saw a few dozen of the spear throwing Orcs loaded onto a zeppelin, and a few riders loaded onto another zeppelin, as the latter launched the instant they were loaded. Naruto narrowed his eyes again as he disappeared in a shunshin, and appeared at a ledge. With the Rinnegan active, he summoned 5 clones, and had them watch over the plateau while one watch from the summit. Because of the Rinnegan, all the clones have shared vision, although the experience was still very strange, as he hadn't had the time to practice with it. He then saw the first zeppelin approach from the summit clone, and directed another clone to intercept it. The clone did so as he charged up a lightning technique.
"Chidori Shindo!" Naruto called out as Chidori formed in his hand, and as he directed it at the first zeppelin, the electrical energy discharged as a static pulse, reaching the zeppelin, and tore it apart. Naruto methodically charged his technique up as he destroyed the zeppelins one by one. There were, however, too many, and he found himself forcing to change tactics, as he launched another technique.
"Raiton: Gian!" Naruto called out as a lightning bolt arced between his index and middle finger straightened as if making a kage bunshin, but separate from the other hand, and he launched two in rapid succession as he spun as well, narrowly avoiding a spear. The arcs of lightning tore through 3 zeppelins each, destroying six. One of the zeppelins got its engines destroyed, but the troops' compartment was undamaged. The troops survived, only to receive certain death when he hit the bottom of the mountain. Naruto leapt back as another spear was thrown his way, and he also received information as one of his clones was dispelled when he couldn't block the third blade that was descending on him. Losing one vision, he focused on the other, as they engaged in a fight with the Orc troops, in particular the riders, as they seemed to be the shock troopers of some sort. He ignored the distraction as yet another clone was destroyed, leaving 4 of himself, but that proved to be a downfall, as the visions decreased, they ability to predict attacks also decreased. Two more clones were wiped out in succession, although both were by a lightning attack chained from a hammer from what appeared to be the leader. He and the summit clones were all that was left, as he fought through the raiders, but the trolls had other plans as the raiders baited the ninja close to the center of the ranged warriors' formation, and the Wyverns waited on top to unleash their spears. As the formation was reached, the raiders were just about all dead, but before the last one died, he laughed, leaving Naruto confused until he focused on his summit clone's vision as well, which left him speechless, as they had led him into a trap. All the troops launched their spears in unison, and time seemed to slow down for Naruto.
Jaina and Lina had just about recovered when they heard the commotion, and, rushing outside, they encountered Orc forces. They immediately began engaging in combat with those that managed to get past Naruto's defenses, and managed to bring a few down before they noticed Naruto fighting 3 raiders, who were leading him into a trap. They tried to scream out a warning, but a horde of grunts blocked their way. Lina and Jaina however, were not ordinary elf or human, and they casted their most powerful wide area spells. A large storm of icicles appeared by Jaina as they were hurled with mana at the enemy grunts, decimating the group, while a large storm of fire formed a cone in front of Lina, incinerating all those who got in the way. As the spells finished, they turned, only to see Naruto about to be hit by hundreds of spears.
"Naruto!" they shouted at the same time, as the first of the spears closed in. Naruto turned towards them, and they saw, clearly, the swirling pattern in his eye. There was what felt like a long pause for everyone, the horde in anticipation of defeating this powerful ninja, and the humans in disbelief as another of their own, and a powerful one at that, was about to die. And although Naruto just about whispered the technique, all of them heard it.
"Shinra… Tensei," he whispered, and with his speeding form as the epicenter, a wave of invisible energy blasted outwards, repelling all the spears and some even impaling back into the trolls and wyverns. He rushed back to the two girls as they stood, slack jawed at the destruction that was created from that single technique. He grabbed their arms and pulled them back, as the summit clone moved to engage, Naruto giving him enough chakra to sustain multiple hits before dispersing, and rushed towards the cave entrance.
"No time left, we need to get into the cave, this place is getting badly overrun by the Orcs," Naruto said as he sprinted into the cave, followed by a few other men. The same leader whom Naruto saw stood close by, watching the ninja enter, with a Tauren beside him.
"That boy is interesting… I sense a great deal of power inside of him," Thrall commented, ignoring the cries of the humans and the battle roars of the Orcs.
"Yes… but that also makes him a very dangerous opponent. You saw what he did to the zeppelins, no? The cave to the Oracle contains many different pathways, and that makes for a very viable place for ambushes. Be ready for them," Cairne told Thrall.
"I have been raised by the humans, Cairne. I know all their tricks and strategies, and I will not be fooled by them. Having mentions that though… I don't believe they would set up any ambushes in there, the survivors are too little to be of any use, although being careful is always good," Thrall replied, as he selected some troops and entered the cave himself.