To anyone that has read the comics for this arc, I'm sorry but I'm cutting out the part with Count Bosco. Mostly because of how well Naruto handles the situation in this chapter it makes the inclusion of that issue unnecessary.
Also, in response to a review and several messages I need to clarify a few things. Brittany is a big no in the Harem for several reasons. First and for most she is so similar to Naruto they are more like siblings and best buds than romantically compatible. Second she's completely devoted to Stripe to an almost scary degree. And third... her family with Stripe is important to future arcs and things that occur in the story. So sorry guys, no Brit. That being said yes, there will be additions, still no idea how many but I agree with kd8gun's message, massive harems are funny but not only overdone they can get downright confusing or annoying at times. So there won't be many more, max will probably be 4 in total for the harem size.
Next, the review from 64, I appreciate the review and also the criticism, I need both to know how I am doing. One thing I need to point out... This isn't exactly canon Naruto. After all it's been several years since the current war in the manga has ended so he's not exactly the same as he was back then. Also, if you tell a scientist that your holding a massive being of malevolent energy in your body then their gonna want to know what it's like, experiences etc. after all one of the most important things for a scientist to have is curiosity. Also, it was a way to forge a bond between Naruto and these new friends that have become his precious people, a way of showing trust by telling him his story, both the good and the bad. He could have glossed over it but if they found out later then they would have wondered why he didn't tell them before. And finally... he had been spying on them for several months, it was a way to even the playing field in a way. At least that's how I see it, you can see it a different way if you want as you are entitled to your opinion. Also... thanks for calling it a cool story, :P
As always, please leave a review. It's the only way to let me know how well I'm doing or how much my work sucks. Just like a chef wants comments from his diners, I need comments from my readers to know how well received these chapters are. And to all those that have reviewed the previous chapters, thanks a heap!
Chapter 9
Dr. Peachbody sighed in contentment as he loyal attack boy was giving him a massage, after all the work he had just put in throwing his enemies across the time stream he felt the moment of relaxation was worth it. "Ah Benji, finally we can be assured of our victory over the human regime! Canines will rule the Earth and no one is left to oppose us!"
"Dr. Peachbody, where did you end up sending everyone?" Peachbody grinned evilly as he rose form his comfortable couch and walked back into the Sphinx to show Benji just what was occurring.
"Observe, my faithful attack boy! Gina, Mita and Akaru have been thrown back to Feudal Japan, a time where outsiders were shunned and regularly killed! Professor Azland, May, Ichi and Genn are trapped in the Era of the Dragon Pharaoh. And as for Asrial, Ryan, Arnold and Naruto, I have transported them back into the end of the Era of Magic, a very dangerous place in the time stream as the world was about to begin the age of man! Each time line has boundless dangers and opportunities to kill them all, they will never return to their homes! But... I can't help but think I have forgotten about something... "
Meanwhile, in the Chronoverse
Brittany sighed as the unchanging view of the Chronoverse was beginning to bore her. Leaning back, Brit began to rub her chin with her fingers as she saw a potential problem. "Hey, Brianna? Remember that time warp anomaly that Mita was trying to get rid of?"
"Sure do Brittany, why do you ask?" Brianna was laying back with her eyes closed as she answered her sister, trying to stay calm the longer they stayed in this messed up dimension.
"Well I was wondering how dangerous it was... since we seem to be falling towards into what looks like another time warp." Brianna slowly nodded her head then froze as Brittany's words registered with her. Opening her eyes and turning around, Brianna screamed as both girls were pulled into the new time warp before them.
Moments later both women landed on the hard ground, finally having been returned to Earth. Brittany stood and looked around, hoping to see something that she recognized when a loud explosion caught the attention of both women. As two massive ships were battling above their heads, Brittany squinted her eyes and looked at both of them closely. "Hey Brianna? Doesn't that ship closest to use look familiar? It's almost like there are buildings on top of it!"
Brianna looked up and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh wow, it's a pair of city ships! Brittany, I think that's El Dorado and Atlantis before they landed on Earth!"
As both ships continued their battle Brianna only had one thought. 'I hope where ever you are Naruto you're safe... otherwise that mutt won't live to see another day after I find him!'
Naruto slowly opened his eyes as he heard wind howling around him. "Ugh... I am so gonna kill that MUTT! No more chances, he's pissed me off enough. I'm so pissed of right about now..." Slowly rising to his feet Naruto squinted as he looked at the desolate field he had landed on. No sign of any vegetation as far as the eye could see, only dust, dirt and stone stood in front of him. Hearing several people groaning beside him Naruto looked over and sighed. 'So, we got the power armored girl with cat ears, a man that could fit in perfectly in the Vietnam war and... Tabbot. Dammit, what did I do to deserve him? Actually with all the shit I've given him over the last month, this is probably Karma kicking me in the ass.'
A large number of chakra signatures were approaching from the rear so Naruto went and helped his current comrades to their feet, wanting to make sure they were ready to run, just in case. Turning around Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and adopted a no nonsense look. Shortly a large group of men arrived, two riders breaking off from the main group and approaching the currently stranded quartet.
'Lets see.. big tough guy, massive sword, better armor than the others... probably a general, maybe a king? And his companion... hello, that's a woman... some kind of magic caster maybe? Something about the energy flowing around her is strange... either way, there's not enough of them to cause me any problems.' Naruto plastered a confident smirk on his face as the two outriders finally reached his group.
"By Crom's beard, what sorcery is this! The very heavens opened up and deposited these mages nearly at our very feet! Sorceress, your words had me believe that most with magic had vanished from the Earth! Yet here we see that be far from the case!" Naruto nearly laughed as he listened to the 'important' man carry on until his companion finally responded to his words.
"My Lord, I do not believe these people to be Wizards. In truth I am sure they are the prophesied ones...the very ones that can help us with the Deadians!" Naruto cocked an eyebrow as the sorceress finished her piece.
"Deadians? What the heck is a Deadian?" The woman pointed behind Naruto and he looked back, seeing an army that had appeared while he had been distracted by the new arrivals. What was very strange was the complete lack of chakra from the approaching army, everything had at least a spark of chakra to allow the body to live, but these creatures... they were without chakra, meaning... Naruto immediately whipped his head back towards the sorceress with a wide eyes look. "The undead? We have to fight the undead?!"
"Yes, the undead have invaded our neighbors and now encroach on our lands! Their leader, Natasha the Vampire Queen will see the entire world fall under her control! But we... sir? Is everything alright?"
Arnie, Asrial and Ryan all looked at Naruto, looks of confusion on their faces at how he was acting. He looked like he was trembling, as if his very body had been thrown into a vat of ice water. Asrial put her hand on Naruto's shoulder, wondering if the idea of fighting undead was too much for the man and was about to offer some words of comfort when Naruto began to softly chuckle. Moments later it became a giggle until finally it ended up being a full blown belly laugh.
"HAH! OH YEAH! SOMEONE I CAN GO FULL BLAST AGAINST! YOSHA! I'm going ahead, to soften'em up for ya!" Naruto immediately pivoted and ran full tilt towards the advancing army of undead, a maniacal grin plastered on his face. A sigh was head and the three time travelers looked towards the sorceress who was shaking her head sadly.
"Alas, your friend is a fool, he will be captured and become nothing more than cattle for the vampire, another soul cursed to fight against the living..." Just as the sorceress was saying this a massive explosion of smoke obscured the field in front of them and a faint voice could be heard.
"TAJU KAGE BUSIN NO JUTSU!" A massive cloud of smoke appeared, obscuring Naruto and stopping the undead army in it's tracks. Moments later a small regiment of Naruto clones burst out of the smoke cover and crashed into the advancing undead, leaving the sorceress completely speechless.
One minute before Naruto reached the undead.
General Femur grinned broadly, his army was close to completing the subjugation of this realm, just like all before it that tried to stand against the might of the Deadians. Looking out at the paltry number of remaining humans that opposed them, the General began to laugh... until he saw a lone man running towards the army of undead. 'Heh, they've given up hope I see, even the peasants are running to become part of the horde when they know they can no longer run.' Femur watched as the man neared the front lines and cocked his head to the side when he slid to a stop.
Naruto's maniacal grin was still present as he brought his hands up. "TAJU KAGE BUSIN NO JUTSU!" All of the skeletons stopped as a massive cloud of smoke rolled along their path. Moments later multiple identical copies of the man shot out of the cloud, crashing into the front lines and began to decimate the soldiers there with nothing more than hand ti hand techniques. "AHAHAHAHAHA! TAKE THIS UNDEAD HORDE!"
Femur took a step back as his troops tried to engage the identical men that suddenly appeared, but they were being overwhelmed by his power and fury. Just as the General was thinking of calling for a retreat a powerful presence appeared behind him. Turning slowly the General immediately fell to a knee in respect to his ruler, Queen Natasha. "Your majesty! It seems we have encountered a problem! He fights with the strength of a dozen men and there or thousands of him! I beg for your help in subduing this... this madman!"
Natasha turned her bored gaze at the man that was making short work of her forward troops. As she watched his movements her bored look slowly changed to intrigue. "Hmmmm, yes, I can see how he would cause you concern General.. Worry not, I shall give you all the power needed to subdue him." Natasha slowly rose in the air, ethereal energy writhing around her as she focused on casting a enhancement spell to give her horde the power they needed to stand against this madman. As her incantation ended her remaining troops surged forward, intent on capturing the powerful human that dared to attack them. Just as they reached the line of clones Natasha was confused by the smirk she saw on all of their faces.
"HAH! Nice to see that wasn't all you could do! Now it's time for me to really get started! FUTON: ATSUGI!" Several clones immediately performed the same wind storm that had nearly destroyed the subbasement in the Diggers home, with similar results or carnage ripping into the forward ranks of undead troops.
Natasha tapped her fingers delicately on her chin then turned to her General one more time. "General... I want him alive. He could be useful to us after I have turned him."
Asrial watched in awe as the man they had thought was a lost cause ripped into the advancing undead, destroying them with nothing more than hand to hand techniques. After they appeared to have received a power-up from their leader everyone thought that Naruto would fall back but he stayed in the thick of the fight, not giving an inch to the horde of undead. When massive explosions and blasts of wind started to throw skeletons left and right Asrial had a single thought in her head.
'The man is a juggernaut! Even I, a Salusian princess of imperial birth would have been overrun by now!' A sudden pressure against Asrial's leg caused the alien girl to look down and she nearly squealed at the sigh before her. A small fox kit was rubbing against her leg, seemingly begging for attention. As Asrial stepped back in surprise the kit looked up at her pitifully and Asrial, though an alien girl, was not immune to the level of cuteness that it exuded. Bending down she picked up the fox kit and held it in her arms as she watched Naruto begin to falter. "Oh no, we have to help him!" But just as the words left her mouth it was already too late, Nartuo's clones were quickly destroyed and the horde fell upon the real one, quickly pinning him down and binding him
No one noticed the fox kit grin in a very human manner as he watched the fight reach it's conclusion. 'It's all going according to plan...'
Natasha smirked as she watched the powerful warrior that had assaulted her horde finally brought down and deposited at her feet. Leaning forward with a grin, Natasha put her finger under his chin and tilted his head up so she could stare into his eyes. Natasha laughed loudly as the man tried to lunge at her but the undead holding him in place managed to bring him back under control quickly, pushing his bruised face forcefully to the ground. 'Hmm, very nice, I think he will do nicely as part of the undead... not to mention he's very easy on the eyes...'
Turning from the sight before her Natasha signaled that her troops fall back. "We have a great prize that has fallen into our hands! Quickly, fall back so that we may turn him and finally conquer this pathetic land with his enormous power!"
Ryan watched in fear as Naruto was dragged away into a portal that closed as soon as the final Deadian crossed over. "Aw dammit, now I have to explain to Gina how her boyfriend went and got himself kidnapped and killed by undead! She's gonna kill me!"
Arnie on the other hand was rubbing his chin in contemplation, having noticed that Naruto had seemingly given up once the undead had gotten a power up, making it all seem too easy for the large man to believe that it had happened. 'I wonder...'
In another time period
Gina, Akaru and Mita had both managed to escape Edo by the skin of their teeth and were currently trying to stay afloat, having fallen into an ocean in the new time line they had stumbled into. They didn't know when or where they were but Mita was positive her equipment would have picked up her distress beacon while they were in transit to this new period in time, giving them a chance to return home and find their friends. Just as Gina was about to relax a a little a sudden feeling of anger, annoyance and jealousy washed over her, making her look to the south. 'My girlfriend senses are tingling... either that's someone flirting with Naruto or he's done something insane again... Jinkies, knowing him, it's probably both! I gotta find him, fast!'
With Brittany and Brianna
Brianna was awestruck at the battle occurring before her as both city ships tore into each other, neither being able to do more than keep attacking as they were an even match for each other. A sudden feeling of mischievousness pulled Brianna's attention away from the battle as she turned towards the north, giggling softly. 'Oh, I have a feeling Naruto is going to royally screw with some people's minds, go get'em Stud!'
Back in the Age of Magic
Naruto kept his grin off his face as he was placed in a stock and forced to march towards the looming fortress before him. Multiple skeletons were prodding the column forward to their ultimate demise... or so they thought. 'Heh, none of them know the first thing about how to treat dangerous prisoners... well, that makes my life a lot easier.' Naruto tested the strength of his bonds and had to stop himself from laughing, a quick flex of his chakra enhanced strength and he would be free. Of course that wasn't what was going to happen, Naruto had other ideas on how to handle the situation. All of the Deadians were so focused on the making sure the prisoners continued to move they never saw a kunai appear in Naruto's hand. Just as quickly he flipped the weapon over the edge of the bridge as the column of prisoners were just about to enter the castle. As the kunai fell towards the bottom of the moat a cloud of smoke appeared and the real Naruto appeared, grabbing onto the wall nearest to him and slowing his fall with his chakra. "Infiltration, successful. Now, on to the next phase of OPERATION: MINDSCREW..."
After Naruto had been 'captured' our three remaining time swept travelers were escorted back to Castle Raimilot where they were going to be told exactly what kind of mess they had fallen into. As the Lord of the castle led his guests deeper into the fortress, Arnie and Ryan finally noticed that Asrial had a stowaway. Arnie stepped forward and gently scratched the kit's head as he looked at Asrial. "And where did you get this little guy?"
"I found him on that terrible battlefield, I couldn't just leave him there! He looked so hungry and lonely..." The kit nipped playfully at Asrial's fingers then with surprising ease climbed up on her shoulder and yipped. Asrial and Ryan both laughed at the spectacle, but Arnie...Arnie had a feeling that something else was going on, he just was missing the final clue to tie it all together.
The small group finally reached the inner chambers of the 'witch' of the castle. As they stepped inside they were greeted by... "Mimi? Is that you? What the heck are you doing here!" Asrial pointed an accusing finger at the woman in the chamber who quickly shook her head.
"No, my name is Lili Masters, Witch of the Coven, and I desperately ask for your aid in stopping the Deadians from overrunning us all! I believe you are all part of a prophesy that was revealed to me through my cauldron! I need your help to find a spell book located in Natasha's fortress, it holds the key to ending this war!" Asrial looked at the woman with a deadpan expression as she sniffed the air.
"Well if it was your cauldron that revealed it to you, I'm not surprised, you probably got high off of those fumes pouring out of the thing!" Lili glared at the Imperial Princess but before she could say a word a group of Deadians jumped from the cauldron in question and raced towards their targets.
"WOO HOO, fresh meat boys!"
"See what happens when you don't clean your cauldron Lili! HAHAHAHAHAH!"
"Boogah Boogah!" Everyone stopped and looked at the Deadian that had spoken last, even his fellow undead. After a moment he shrugged his bony shoulders and sighed. "It sounded scarier in my head..." All of the Deadians looked at each other, then looked at the humans in front of them and pounced again.
Moments later the fight was over as the Deadians dragged their unwilling captives back into the cauldron. The last two to enter saw the fox kit and looked at each other. "Should we grab that thing too?" The other Deadian shrugged and picked up the kit.
"May as well, we can use something that moves for target practice at some point I bet." Both Deadians cackled as they climbed back into the cauldron, never knowing they were walking into their own doom.
Naruto whistled jauntily as he walked among the lower levels of the undead fortress, placing a demolition tag on every support structure he found. Several skeletons had run across him but were quickly dealt with as he made his final rounds of the fortress. Naruto finally found the last unmarked pillar and applied the final set of tags, satisfied that the castle would be a pile of ruble in a matter of moments after he set these babies off. 'Now if my clone can just keep the group in the throne room busy than we're all set.'
With the Naruto clone in the throne room
Naruto-2 entered the throne room and took stock of everything before him. Multiple skeletons crowded into the room as Natasha stepped down from her throne and made her way to the line of prisoners. "Well, I see you all made it here, excellent. Now, lets see what we can do to entertain you... I know, it's time for the PIT! And as always we'll be entertained by our resident champion, Helga!"
A loud grinding noise was heard as a circular section of the floor split open to reveal the pit. Natasha grinned evilly as she threw multiple prisoners into the pit, each screaming in agony as something in the black depths started to feed on the poor souls that had gone first, if the loud chomping sounds as well as the snapping of bones were any indication. Finally Natasha walked up towards Naruto-2 and slowly ran her finger down his cheek. "And as for you... oh I have something very special planned for you. If you survive that is." With that Natasha hip checked Naruto into the dark pit, smirking as he fell towards his apparent doom.
The exterior of the undead infested castle was quiet, so quiet that the two sentries on duty weren't really paying attention. While they continued their conversation a hatch just under the main bridge opened up and three people and a small animal landed on a ledge. Ryan looked at the moat they were above and then looked over at their guide. "Lili, just how long have you known about that passageway that we were pulled into?"
"About a month Ryan, I just had no idea where it ended in the castle, it's a classic tactic of the Deadians. I'm so glad you were able to defeat them once they pulled us into that tunnel! Now we need to get inside that castle, Natasha has a book that is allowing her to control her minions. If we can get our hands on it I can stop her, for good!"
Arnie and Asrial leaned out from their hiding spot and saw the pair of guards at the gate. Asrial looked back at Lili with haughty expression. "Well, they weren't that tough for a imperial princess to dispatch... but how will we get inside? If we rush them they'll sound the alarm, if we try and use our weapons then everyone will hear them!"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of them." Everyone let out a sigh of relief at the confident voice then immediately froze, turning to the small animal riding on Asrial's shoulder... that had just spoken to them. The fox kit was wearing a massive grin as he looked at everyone's shocked faces. "What? You really didn't think I'd leave you all alone this entire time did you?"
Ryan slowly raised his arms and extended a finger to the small kit and poked it several times. "Naruto? Is that you?"
Jumping down from his perch, the kit grinned a moment later was enveloped with a cloud of smoke. When it cleared Naruto-3's grinning face greeted everyone and he nodded. "Yep, did you really think I would have gone down so easily? It's all part of my plan, I'll take care of the guards and we can sneak in." Naruto-3 disappeared from sight and everyone left looked at each other in shock.
"You know, I'm not even surprised any more. I dunno if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Ryan sighed and shook his head. Moments later both Deadians were taken care of, their dismembered bodies thrown into the moat below. As the group climbed on top of the bridge Naruto-3 was wiping his hand on his jacket. The shinobi grinned as he raised his hands and with a single hand sign he turned into an exact copy of a Deadian.
"Alright prisoners, march!" Naruto-3's companions grinned as they made their way inside, knowing they now had a perfect way to get that book.
In the pit
Naruto-2 landed in a crouch, wondering what was waiting for him. Deciding that it would be a good idea to let the others know what was going on he sent his current memories to the the real Naruto and the other clone being used for this operation. Moments later a flood of new memories came to Naruto-3, causing the clone to grin. 'Time to give'em a show.'
Moments later a pair of hands grabbed Naruto-2 and lifted him off his feet, throwing him against the wall. Naruto wiped the water from his face and looked up at his opponent with a shit eating grin. "A ghoul! Wow, you really do want to make this easy for me, don't you?"
Helga roared in anger as she tried to slam Naruto-2 into the wall... the operative word was that she tried and failed miserably to even move the clone an inch. 'It's like trying to move a boulder!' Helga hissed loudly as Naruto's hands grasped her wrists and pulled her hands away from him as he chuckled.
"Well, time to give them what they want!" Naruto slammed his forehead into Helga's, stunning her and making her stumble back. Naruto brought up his arms and made a come here motion with his hand. "Here ghoulie, ghoulie, ghoulie!"
Helga roared in anger and launched herself at Naruto, her clawed fingers slashing through the air as Naruto dodged back and forth. As he stepped away from one strike another one came at him almost too fast for him to see and appeared to graze his ribs, making Naruto grunt in surprise. "Heh, not so confident now are ya! Just wait and soon I'll be slicing the rest of ya to rib..." Helga's tirade trailed off as Naruto removed his hand from his newest 'wound'. The ripped shirt should have been covered in blood but all that was shown was unblemished skin.
"I'm sorry, you were going to do what to me? I didn't quite CATCH THAT!" Naruto launched himself forward while Helga was trying to understand how she could have missed and snapped her head to the side with a crescent kick, grabbed the ghoul by her shoulder and shoved her under the water. After leaving her there for a minute Naruto then threw her into the far wall and grinned as Helga tried to clear her head by shaking it slowly. Naruto grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at the downed ghoul. "Oh come on, I didn't hit you that hard, you still can stop me, show me some energy here!"
In the library
Lili was quickly rummaging through the books, looking for the one that she needed. 'If I can just find the Necronomicon than this'll all be a bad memory!'
Arnie, Asrial and Naruto were all helping the young witch look through the stacks of books while Ryan kept a lookout for any guards. But in reality it wasn't necessary since all the undead seemed to be clustered together in the far corner of the throne room around some form of entertainment, if their shouts were any indication.
"AH HAH! I have a good feeling about this one!" Naruto held up a book with a heavily warped cover, it almost looked like a face that was suffering unimaginable horrors. Lili grabbed the book and began to read, an optimistic look on her face rapidly changing to a dazzling smile. Looking up Lili jumped at Naruto, giving him a quick kiss on the lips and went back to reading the book.
"Yes, that's it! Now I can teach Natasha a thing or two!" With that Lili tried to walk out of the room despite a protesting Naruto trying to stop her.
"Oi, oi! Your gonna ruin the boss' plan!" Lili didn't hear a word as she exited the library, intent on finally beating Natasha at her own game. Naruto-3 sighed as he raced after the girl, making sure that she hadn't been seen by the undead and then pulled her back into the room. As she struggled Naruto leaned forward and whispered in her ear, causing the girl to relax at the sound of his smooth voice. "Just let the boss get them nice and jumpy, then we'll surprise them with the spell, ok?"
In the present
Gina sighed as she finally was able to get into some dry clothes that Mita had loaned her. Just like the time traveler had said, her equipment did pick up the distress signal and all three of them were able to get out of what they later found out what the Cretaceous period. Each of the recently returned travelers went ahead with what they all considered important business once they had returned. Mita scanned the time stream for their missing friends, Akaru was grabbing a snack and Gina... Gina made a bee line for Mita's room, having lost her shorts during their impromptu swim.
Just as Gina exited Mita's bedroom another flash of jealously reminded her of the problem that she needed to deal with. "Mita, you said something about having a lab here, right? Think I could use it to put together something real quick?" At Mita's distracted nod Gina quickly made her way to the lab, her thoughts going a mile a minute. 'I know Naruto hates cheaters so it's probably some girl throwing themselves at him, the poor man isn't able to fight off their wily charms! Don't worry babe, I'll make them regret ever laying a hand on you!'
Back in the Age of Magic
Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, inspecting his work. Every support beam, retaining wall and structural weak point was covered by at least 2 demolition tags, meaning there was no way they wouldn't blow. "It's... it's gonna make a beautiful boom! I can't wait to blow this place up!" A quick series of hand seals and Naruto used one of Jiraiya's creations, Tōton no Jutsu, his body fading from sight as he quickly made his way to the throne room with a simple Shunshin. Naruto was hiding in the rafters, once again in the shadows that he was so used to working in as he took stock of the situation. Looking towards the library he saw an arm put itself between the slightly opened doors and give him a thumbs up. Naruto grinned at the way the clone he left with the others let him know everything was cool and so it was now time for him to mess with Natasha.
Natasha was licking her lips as she could faintly see the man in the pit holding his own against Helga, he even managed to rip off one of her arms and was in the process of beating her with it. 'Hmm, strong, handsome and extremely violent... he's perfect.' Just as Natasha was about to use her magic to pluck the man out of the Pit and then begin the process to turn him into an undead servant, a smooth sinister laugh echoed across the throne room.
"Hahahaha, so gullible. Did you really think you could ever win Natasha?" Natasha immediately spun around, scanning the throne room for the source of the voice. "I mean, do you seriously think that you beat the man that is fighting in that pit at this very moment?"
Natasha smirked as she continued to scan the room with her eyes. When nothing was revealed she began making use of her magic to locate the source of the mocking words. "Considering that he is in the pit and dueling with Helga, I'd say I did beat him. After all, what other fate is there for a man insane enough to challenge the undead, but to be defeated by a superior foe?"
"Ah, yes, I see why you would think that... Allow me to correct your assumption. His insanity? AN act, meant to fool you and it worked. And the man in the Pit? Well, I'll let his actions speak louder than my words." A moment later an enraged howl rose from the pit and Natasha along with all of her soldiers looked down to see a large cloud of smoke slowly dissipating, but the man that had been beating Helga was now missing.
"Dammit, where did he go!" Helga continued to roar in fury as her opponent had apparently disappeared, causing Natasha to stretch her magical senses to every corner of the throne room, but still she could find nothing.
"Heh, so now you realize just how badly you messed up. You see, you gave me the perfect way to infiltrate this fortress. I could have attacked it myself from the outside, but that would have taken too long, I have a Mutt to neuter. You're just a little side quest for me, something not even worth the effort to finish unless you're in the area." Natasha growled at the mocking tone and lashed out with a blast of magic, targeting the shadows above her, thinking that would be the best spot to hide if the man was able to evade her magic. "Temper temper Natasha, I wouldn't try that again... not that you were even close to hitting me, but you never know what you'll set off."
Natasha had a slightly worried look on her face as the words that were uttered registered with her. "What do you mean... set off? What did you do?!" But all she received as a mocking laugh for an answer, enraging the vampire even further.
Ryan stopped himself from laughing out loud as Naruto played with the vampire queen, watching the entire scene from the partially open doors of the library. Turning back to the clone they were with he motioned his head to the throne room. "Now?"
Naruto-3 grinned and shook his head. "Nope, wait a little longer. It gets better."
Natasha was starting to get worried, what had this madman done to her fortress, her army of undead? "Tell me what you have done mortal or I will make your suffering legendary!"
Another mocking laugh was the queen's answer and she growled again, furious at the current turn of events. "Tsk, tsk, tsk... well, I guess I can let you know, after all you can't do anything about it, it's already too late. But before I tell you I will say this, you have a marvelous fortress here, I've inspected it from top to bottom and you see, that's the problem. I can't let such a fine establishment be inhabited by the dead, it's just not right, so I've decided to take it away from you. I just couldn't help myself and I left a bunch of 'presents' on every floor I visited and they all should be going off in about... ten minutes. I'm pretty sure I used enough to engulf the entire fortress in the blast, but we'll see soon enough." Natasha paled at the implication, after all she may survive the destruction but it would takes weeks for her to regenerate from a blast that large but her army on the other hand was a different story, they would be completely decimated.
"Quickly, search the castle! Remove the explosives before they go off, move!" As Natasha's loyal soldiers ran from the throne room a loud laugh was heard once again.
"Oh, I must have made a mistake, giving you so much time to get rid of the explosives. Small problem though, you see they are a special type of bomb, a simple looking piece of paper with an array on it. Funny thing is these demolition tags, once active they blend into any item then are placed on, just like a chameleon! They also burn the array directly into the item they are placed on, so even if you're able to find and remove the tag, the bomb is still active. And, if you damage the array, it immediately goes boom. So, I'm sorry to say but it's completely useless for you to try and stop the explosion."
Natasha growled angry and pointed a finger in the air at the last statement, having finally lost all of her patience. "But that will destroy you too! You must be bluffing!"
Natasha stiffened as she felt a presence suddenly appear right behind her and same voice began to whisper. "What makes you think the real me was ever here? Eight minutes left, time is ticking!"
Natasha screamed in rage as she spun around but the man had already vanished. The vampire roared is anger and began destroying everything in her sight, her magic reducing everything in it's path to junk. When she had finished, Natasha was sucking great gasps of air and the mystery man continued to taunt her as he called out a countdown to the imminent destruction.
Everyone in the library looked at the clone and motioned to the door. Naruto-3 laughed and nodded as he walked towards the door. "Yep, we can go in now. Just stay behind me, after all I wouldn't want you to get caught in the cross fire, she's kinda... pissed."
As Naruto-3 walked out of the library Natasha immediately spun around, a fireball springing to life in her had. But before she could launch it Naruto thrust his hand out, holding a final Demo tag that was glowing a bright red color, causing the enraged vampire to pause. "Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you, you might just set this off and that would be very bad for you... besides, I came out here to give you a wonderful present for being such a good sport! Lili, show her what she's won!"
Lili smirked as she stepped from behind Naruto, opened the Necronomicon and quickly recited the spell that she had found. "Redite ad quietem exercitus mortuorum!(Return to your rest, army of the dead!)"
Natasha's jaw dropped in shock as Lili gave her a mocking grin and waved goodbye at the now defeated undead Queen. "Congratulations Natasha, you've won an express trip to the pits of hell where you will be sealed for a millennium... give or take a few centuries!"
Natasha screeched in fury as she and all of her undead began to turn to smoke and were sucked out of the fortress to a far corner of the realm of the undead. Naruto grinned at his companions celebrated their triumph. "Ok, so who wants to watch this place blow up?"
Several days later Naruto and co were still looking for a way to get home. The best they could find was a method of hibernation that would continually force their cells to regenerate and keep them in suspension until they reached their own point in time. Just as Lili was preparing the necessary components to cast the spell on them, a loud hum filled the witches chamber and a brilliant flash of light revealed a large floating orb.
Seconds later a section of said orb slid open and a blur rocketed out of it and slammed into Naruto, pinning him down on the ground. Naruto groaned as he shook his head tried to sit up but a pair of hands pushed him back on the ground. Naruto grinned as he saw his girlfriend Gina leaning in for a kiss that turned into a heated make out session. Everyone watched this at first in surprise, embarrassment then envy as the pair continued their session for a few minutes. Finally Gina pulled back and grinned as Naruto sat up.
"I see you missed me. So, where's everyone else?" Gina was about to launch into an explanation but she caught the inquisitive looks of Lili and Asrial out of the corner of her eye. Wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck, Gina looked at the two other women and glared.
"I had a strange feeling that you were in trouble the other day Naruto. Some kind of trouble involving women... care to explain?" As Gina's embrace began to tighten slowly Naruto only had a single thought running through his head.
'Ah hell, she's becoming clairvoyant! I'll never get away with anything ever again!'
One long explanation later
"So let me get this straight... you pretended to be some kind of insane super warrior and allowed a vampire queen controlling a legion of undead to capture you. Then you infiltrated her castle, distracted her with a clone that was in a death match with a ghoul, while the real you rigged the castle to blow... am I missing anything so far?" Naruto shook his head as he grinned.
"Nope, you can keep going, that's right so far." Gina sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, a headache already forming.
"Then you proceeded to screw with the undead queen's head as the others here found the way to seal the vampire up for approximately a thousand years with the help of another clone disguised as a fox kit, after which you surprised the vamp with the banishment, then you blew up the undead fortress, is that correct?" At Naruto's massive grin Gina groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Naruto, you could have been bitten! You could have been turned into a vampire! How the hell could I go out with a boyfriend that goes poof in the sun and that would turn me into his mid day snack? What were you thinking?"
Naruto grinned and held Gina in his arms, kissing her forehead gently. "I was thinking that if she even thought of biting me then she'd get a mouthful of bones. Remember that time I suddenly disappeared form the game room and you were straddling your stuffed bear? Substitution jutsu, no self respecting shinobi goes into battle without it. I had at least a dozen ways to escape at any moment and I couldn't let her just win."
Gina sighed as she held Naruto close and buried her face in his chest. "I know, I just worry about you... it's what a girlfriend does when her boyfriend is clearly insane. And I still haven't gotten back at you for that stunt in the game room."
Naruto grinned as he looked at his fellow time travelers. "Welp, looks like our ride is here. Lets go everyone. Lili, a pleasure, congrats on defeating Natasha." Lili grinned and waved as everyone jumped back into the floating orb. Moments after they left the doors to Lili's chamber opened and Ryan walked in, a tall mug of mead in his hand. "Hey everyone, dinner is... Lili, where did everyone go?"
A few minutes later
Naruto continued to laugh loudly at the sulking Ryan who had started to freak out when he had heard he was left behind. Of course a few minutes later everyone realized they had forgotten him and turned the time orb around to pick him up. Walking behind Gina Naruto wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top if her head. "So, where are the girls? Did you ever find out where they ended up?"
Gina leaned against Naruto and sighed loudly. "No, Mita was going to continue scanning while I went and picked you all up. We still haven't found the Professor, Genn, Ichi and May either. I hope there's some good news when we get back."
Naruto nodded and looked around the time bubble. His eyes landed on a device with a very familiar marking and Naruto felt a small trickle of worry. "Gina... why do you have a thermonuclear device in the time bubble?" Gina turned around with a smirk as she put her arms around Naruto's neck.
"Oh, it was just something I cooked up in case I had to rescue you through the use of... extreme negotiations."
'And she says I'm crazy, hah!' Naruto grinned and kissed Gina softly before she turned back to the controls of the time bubble.
Dr. Peachbody watched the events from the middle ages unfold before his eyes and a new feeling began to take root in his diabolical body. Fear, pure unadulterated fear of that blonde haired man, Uzumaki Naruto. He had managed to not only survive against an entire army of undead but had managed to completely lead them around by their collective noses, showing his immense intelligence in manipulation, battlefield know how and tactics. Looking up at his attack boy, Peachbody swallowed loudly as he said what they were both thinking.
"We may have made a small mistake Benji m'boy."