Sorry guys that this chapter took so long, internet failed me multiple times and any author who had to retype a mass of his/her chapter because the internet failed then you'll know the toll that it takes on your motivation. Anyways this chapter is a bit longer than some of the other ones! Almost 5500 words! I hope you enjoy the battle (I rewrote that 3 times) and the funny bit that the end. I would love to know what you think of it! I don't own Naruto because then I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if I did. Have a good day! Oh and my birthday's the 27th by the way, yay me! I'm getting older and I'm getting more responsibilities! (Okay the responsibility thing is really terrifying actually.) You should also note that I have no interest in going back to fix anything in this chapter as it has taken me way to long to finish this so you are going to have to enjoy what's here and all of the mistakes that I have most likely made.
Chapter Thirteen
Father Nature Strikes Back
Naruto, Sayuri, and Sasuke rested against each other, back to back as they tried to regain their breath. Fighting off all the Crypt Guardian's was exhausting, even for somebody with chakra and health absorb. Sure he wasn't trying to recuperate his health like the other two but he was still tired from the exertion of killing all the monsters who were quite tough. Naruto rested his head against the back of Sasuke's head who did the same and Sayuri rested against their side, they were watching every which direction the monsters could come from.
Taking a swig of water from a canteen in a storage scroll he had on him, Naruto passed the water around until Sayuri finished it. All of them were still breathing heavily but it wasn't as bad as before now that they had some time to rest. Even though there was a translucent wall of green crystals between them and the outer world, the giant walking trees had shown that they were scarily strong, being able to knock down Naruto's barriers in a matter of minutes instead of the usual hours it would take lesser monsters. That fact alone forced Naruto to use his entire arsenal, from fuinjutsu to shadow clones, to Ice Release.
Sayuri and Sauke got a taste of just how far ahead Naruto was and it gave them the resolve that they needed to get stronger. From the battle Sayuri and Sasuke had leveled up quite a few times, Naruto only once but he'd already spent his points trying to further his Crystal Release seeing as once he got it to level 50 it would gain a mutation that would make using it quite a bit easier. He was super close though, only 3 levels away from gaining the mutation that he really wanted.
For anther half an hour the three players rested, occasionally drinking and snacking, trying to get up to tip-top shape before they continued their trek through the powerful dungeon. When they all felt better and had rejuvenated faster than they had before, something that was probably an effect of being in the dungeon.
"So this is what you do all the time? I don't understand how you can do all this alone, even if you had help from Sora and Aurora." Sasuke said as he stood up.
"It's not normally this bad, it's probably upped the difficulty because we're all in here together. If one of us had gone alone then this dungeon would most likely be easier than all three of us doing it together." Naruto replied before he helped Sayuri up and let the wall surrounding them fall apart. Sending out ten shadow clones, Naruto was determined to find the second level quickly seeing as they had wasted so much time on the first floor.
They needed to get through the dungeon before Mikoto started to worry about them. Because when she started to worry Mikoto wasn't a very nice person and she would most likely send the village into a panic and when the three got back, they'd be in a boat load of trouble. Naruto liked sleeping in the house and having a nice happy family to wake up to when he ate breakfast after all.
Mikoto was very nice when she wanted to be, but also very strict and she treated Naruto like her own son so she was very strict with him. Last time Naruto had pissed her off he'd been smacked in the face with a super sonic pancake that she'd been making and it had not only burned him but it knocked him out of his chair. He was then not allowed to have the syrup when he at said pancake. That and he was forced to clean part of the entire manner, luckily he'd been lucky enough that Mikoto couldn't find the pink maid outfit that she'd wanted him to clean it in.
He was also lucky enough that if he'd been forced to wear the outfit, he had enough skill in henge so that nobody would know that it was him when he was cleaning. God if anybody found he had almost been forced to wear that, on multiple occasions no less, he would've never been able to live it down and his reputation, what little he had, would've been flushed down the toilet.
Naruto felt the memories of one of the clones disperse, and Naruto smiled. The clone had found the way to the next level in the dungeon.
"Come on, let's go. One of my clones found the entrance to the next level so now we can progress." Naruto said before he led the rag tag group through the woods over to where his clones had found the way to the next level. When they got there, nobody really wanted to go into the tunnel that led to the next level. The tunnel was composed of twisting branches and red vines, the non thorny kind blocked the way making it hard to see ahead.
Naruto frowned at the small tunnel that the three of them would have to crouch slightly to not hit their heads on the branches above. Naruto had a surge of brilliance and formed what looked to be two parts to a larger shield before handing them to Sasuke.
"Since you like that shield so much, you get to go in front." Naruto smirked before Sasuke sheathed the sword and put down the kite shield before taking the large pieces of the shield. They were made to fit together when he put his arms together in such a way that he had to do was get his feet in the right position and he could protect what was behind him against large attacks or forces.
The entire thing was rounded slightly to make dispersing attacks easier and the edges were razor sharp so Sasuke was able to split the shields and use them as weapons. But there was one thing that ran true in all their minds, sure having new weapons was nice but they needed to level up skills for the weapons or they wouldn't be as effective as the weapons they were used to.
Sasuke had been using a shield before so he already had some levels with the shield skill but not as much as Naruto had investing in his crystal wall. Sure it would be more effective to have Naruto up front but then the other two would never get any experience and would remain as they were unless they wanted to go into a dungeon on their own time, which was seeming less and less likely without Naruto there, making sure that something didn't accidently kill them.
Sasuke put the shield together and went in first, Sayuri following and Naruto taking up the rear just incase something wanted to get their backsides. Naruto had made the crystal shield where it was mostly translucent so Sasuke could see where he was going intstead of trying to feel out where to go through the shield.
"The second level in a dungeon I've found lack in monsters, but make up for that in their traps, mazes, and generally the mini-boss at the end. So what I think's going to happen here is we are probably going to get led on a wild chase through this level as it leads us around and around and around as we search for the entrance to the mini-boss room." Naruto's voice some how still had a bit of cheer in it as he explained what was going to be the next source of their misery.
So for the next hour or so, the three tried to find their way through the extremely confusing maze, pissing Naruto off more than the Uchiha siblings. It was understandable seeing as he had less patience for that sort of thing that the siblings. Sasuke had ditched the shield parts long ago for speed seeing as they hadn't found anything yet and it was unlikely that they were going to find any monsters in the cramped space.
"So Naruto how long have been exploring dungeons?" Sasuke broke the silence in an attempt to calm Naruto down who seemed on the point of getting ready to commit murder and arson.
Naruto quickly took the chance to get his mind off the frustrating maze and started the story, "I first started when I was level ten, I had only just unlocked my Crystal Release and I was eager to take it on. Unluckily the dungeon was filled with spiders and so I didn't have the greatest of times. But I defeated the boss and I climbed out of the hole that it led me out of, this was before the teleporting into and out of dungeons update. Would you realized that I walked into the kidnapping of Hinata that happened all those years ago."
"So that's why she turns red and faints every time somebody mentions you!" Sasuke exclaimed before he turned another corner and Sayuri and Naruto followed.
"Okay..." Naruto didn't know what to say, he didn't noticed it mostly because he was in another class and focused on other things.
"Yeah, I feel kind of bad about teasing her about it." Sasuke admitted before Naruto started talking more and more about dungeons.
"So this one time, I was invited by the old man and when I was there I found a dungeon. I was so under leveled for that dungeon, but most of the enemies there were pushovers until you got to the mini-boss and the boss itself. The mini-boss was a lizard-man who refused to die, and in the end I was forced to resort to a move that admittedly I don't use as often any more due to the lacking strength of some of the mini-bosses and bosses themselves. But anyways the boss was a dragon, and everybody in Kumo was watching, thankfully nobody noticed me as I grabbed the goods from the boss chest and got out of there."
Sasuke and Sayuri were speechless for a few minutes, just processing the fact that their pseudo brother had killed a dragon and taken on dungeons far stronger than he was. "So that's how you got Sora?"
"Yep! And I see a light at the end of the tunnel! Head in that way Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, pointed the way out of the damnable maze before they all rushed out ready to stretch after being crouched for so long. The found themselves in a large clearing with a big tree, easily five times the size of the other trees the had seen. Walking up to it Naruto looked at it before kicking the tree. 10, he just did ten damage to the tree when all the other trees were unbreakable objects. He knew because one time in a dungeon he spent and hour wailing on a rock just to see if it would break.
"Back away from the tree!" Naruto shouted and the other two jumped towards the walls in the clearing which were made from large trunks fused together to create a large wall of wood. The tree began taking shape, pulling itself out of the ground, it was just like a Crypt Guardian but much larger and had more defined fingers and had more of a face. It also had a full head of leaves and branches instead of being bare and rotten.
The eyes were sunken into the bark and all that stared back was a eerie red glow that was really unsettling. The nose was about what would be normal if you were a 300 foot giant tree monster. The mouth much like the Crypt Guardians was spikey around the edges with sharp shards of chipped bark. Bits of bark fell away from the mouth area and the monster screeched loudly enough to cause the three players to cover their ears.
Vernio, Father Nature Lv. 75
Health-49990/50000
Naruto looked up towards the giant tree man, and he looked at the clearing which was large in size to compensate the size of the mini-boss.
"Naruto, if this is the mini-boss, what does that mean about the acutual boss? Does this mean that we're basically screwed in a sense?" Sasuke asked looking at Naruto, who didn't take his eyes off of the boss.
"Yes Sasuke, we are indeed screwed. So I have one thing for us to do. SCATTER!" Naruto shouted before all three of them jumped away, before the bosses giant foot came crashing down where the three of them used to stand. Due to Naruto having dealt the most amount of damage to the boss, Naruto had the agro. Naruto dashed between the legs of the boss as it slowly turned towards Naruto who jumped away from the other foot and formed a few spears of crystals which then sunk into the foot of the boss. 100. Naruto scowled at the measly amount of damage that would normally severely hurt any lesser monster. He was going to be in this battle for the long haul and he didn't know if Sasuke and Sayuri would be able to last as long as he thought this mini boss was going to last.
"Crystal Release: Tearing Crystal Falling Dragon!" Naruto called out forming the hand seals as he jumped away from the fist of the giant tree. Five different crystal dragons formed out of the lime green crystal and Naruto leaped on top of one, two of the dragons heading to retrieve Sasuke and Sayuri while the last two were sent to harass the giant and gain Naruto some extra health and chakra.
When the three players met up, flying in the sky about chest level with the giant who was focused on the two dragons who were doing a sizeable amount of damage to him. The dragons were also moving fast enough to dodge the giant but one hit and it was all over.
"I have a plan, but I need the giant distracted while I get the seals ready for it. Can you keep the giant distracted for me?" Naruto was dead serious and the two siblings saw this and became serious themselves. Sayuri smirked and twirled her spear in the air before catching it again and holding it with the tip pointing in the air Sasuke drew his malachite sword and Naruto formed a shield for him. The shield was round and had razor edges allowing Sasuke to easily attack with it as well.
"No problem Naruto, you trust us to do this." Sasuke's smirk mirrored his sisters and both of the gave Naruto a thumbs up before their dragons turned around and flew back towards Vernio who had just crushed one of the crystal dragons in it's large grip. Naruto sighed, "Just try to stay safe." he muttered before he pulled out the things he needed for the seals and he got to working on his seal.
Sasuke and Sayuri stood on the dragons, their lime green armor glowed in the dying sunlight of the dungeon with the acid green sky. The giant was still preoccupied with the remaining crystal dragon who was busy dodging around the legs of the giant in an attempt to get it to trip. Having no such luck the dragon flew up, dodging another hand before it came up to ram the giant in the chest.
Sasuke and Sayuri came behind the giant before both of them started forming hand their weapons sticking to the crystal dragon underneath both of them.
"Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique!" both of the Uchiha siblings shouted, performing the technique that their family was famous for. Sayuri's fire ball struck the back of the giants head and Sasuke's struck it back. The dry wood was quickly set ablaze from the technique yet the fire damage didn't do all that much other than switch the agro from the dragon to Sayuri, who had done the most damage with her technique seeing as she'd had a bit more practice with the fire ball than her younger brother.
The fire died out after doing a certain amount of damage, leaving the back of the giant black and charred. The Uchiha siblings were close enough that they could high five and that they did, before Sayuri and Sasuke took off in opposite directions around the head so that they could stay out of it's line of sight. Sasuke started throwing kunai with explosive seals tied on, and they landed near the back of the neck before they exploded. Sasuke smirked, he was doing a bit of damage and although he couldn't see it like Naruto, he figured that the explosions had to do quite a bit on the boss.
Sayuri had swung around to the ear and got in close before landing on the giant itself, grabbing her spear she stabbed into the mini-boss below her. Taking the spear, she dragged it along the boss, the end of the spear still stuck in the boss. Although she pissed off the boss more than she did damage, she still smirked before she jumped off the shoulder that she was standing on before the giants had came up to smack where she used to be.
Her dragon met her in free-fall, and they both hurtled down towards the earth, spinning in a helix and getting closer together before Sayuri latched onto the dragon and it did a U-turn vertically, so they were now going up instead of down. Sasuke sighed and face-palmed, even in the heat of battle with an opponent that could kill them and was actively trying to kill them, Sayuri still felt the need to show off.
Both of the dragons flew to meet up behind the neck and began circling around the giant to keep out of it's sight, seeing as the giant itself was turning to trying and get at Sasuke who currently held the agro on the boss, his tags doing the most damage and leaving a few craters in the ragged bark of the giant. Sayuri then proceeded to exhaust her own supply of explosive tags and kunai on the boss, before both of them used the rest of their shuriken at the craters left by the explosions in an attempt to do more damage.
"Sayuri! Sasuke! Get back! I'm done with the seal!" Naruto shouted and both of the Uchiha's backed off before Naruto flew in on his own dragon which now had to be almost five times as large as their own dragons.
"Sealing Technique: Object Expansion Seal!" Naruto shouted and held his palm up, before black lines just seemed to draw themselves in the sky, even though the main seal, which was small enough to be almost a black circle, was on his palm. The lines weaved themselves in the air, tighter and tighter before they eventually formed a giant black circle in the sky which Naruto moved to be facing the boss with his palm.
"Throw the spear Sayuri, as well as that shield Sasuke!" Naruto shouted at the two siblings before Sayuri launched her spear and Sasuke threw his shield like a Frisbee. The two objects passed through the wall of black, before they came out of the other side almost 5 times as large was when they came in. So Sayuri's spear was more like a pencil stabbing into the wood of the giant than a toothpick. Sasuke's shield wasn't much better but it hit one of the giant's hands.
"Keep throwing them!" Naruto said, quite strained to keep up the seal as well, formed more spears and objects for them to throw. They were throwing randomly and as fast as they could, seeing as they couldn't see through the wall of black to aim quite properly. Every time an object passed through the wall of black, Naruto seemed to get more exhausted. The seal was obviously taking quite a bit of chakra, and even with Naruto's large reserves this was a seal that was not to be used lightly.
Managing to hold the seal for one more spear, Naruto collapsed on his knees before he looked up at the giant who was riddled with giant spears and shields, but for every spear that impaled the mini-boss, there were three more that littered the ground next to him. Naruto's hope fell when they saw Vernio's health though and he knew that they were going to have to retreat.
Vernio Father Nature, Lv. 75
Health- 33024/50000
Naruto had never fought an opponent who had some much health and defense, and he was exhausted the attacks that passed through the barrier technically Sayuri's and Sasuke's attacks so he received no bonus. The Uchiha siblings were looking a bit worse for wear as well, Naruto would have to get them out of the dungeon because none of them were prepared for this mini-boss.
The mini-boss began to swing it's giant hand and the three players began to maneuver out of the range of the giant, before Naruto started opening his menu. He began selecting a multitude of options, before Sasuke disappeared in a flash of light his health bar erased from both Sayuri's vision and Naruto's own but he knew that Sasuke was fine and most likely back at the Uchiha District, in his own room which had most likely be set as 'spawn' for him.
Naruto went back through the options and selected Sayuri, before removing her from the dungeon and the party at the same time. Naruto released a breath he forgot he'd been holding, now that Mikoto had no reason to get mad at him. Seeing as they were only ruffed up a bit, nothing an intense spar wouldn't do. So now it was time for him to get out of there, Naruto took one look at the boss before scowling and shaking his head. The boss was staring at him, and it wasn't moving as if it knew that it's prey were going away.
Naruto selected options and teleported himself out of the dungeon, they weren't ready for this one. He would come back with Sayuri and Sasuke when they were higher leveled and he had more chakra. He wanted to extend his reserves so he could perform most of the moves that he had, which a lot of the moves were chakra intensive which meant that they required insane amounts of chakra.
It was one of the flaws that the bloodlines that Naruto picked had, they all used lots of chakra. Naruto basically had to form all the crystals and ice with dirt, moisture, and the majority being his own chakra, it was no wonder why he ran out of chakra faster than he would've liked. Appearing in the room that he chose for himself in the Uchiha District, Naruto walked out of his room and into what amounted to the living room before he plopped himself down on the nearest piece of furniture, which was a fluffy chair and he collapsed as if somebody had cut the strings on a puppet.
Mikoto chose that time to walk into the room, from the kitchen and saw that Naruto was collapsed on the chair tired and exhausted. She gave a kind smile before she spoke up, "Naruto would you like to help me with dinner? I could use an extra hand here."
Naruto head rolled over so that he was facing Mikoto, and seemingly all the exhaustion vanished from his face and he got up, not super fast mind you. More like he lazily got up before he smiled and replied, "I would love to help!" he quickly bounded after Mikoto who led the way into the kitchen and they began preparing dinner together.
Naruto felt his head hit the desk for the third time that class period. His eyes shifted to the clock in the corner of the room and he noted with much despair that his suffering did not end until he had to deal with 5 more hours of the monotone teacher who did not seem to notice that half the class was starting to fall asleep from the lesson. Who cared about what a single genin ninja did in the second Shinobi War? He was already dead any ways and it wasn't like describing his part in the battle at the border of Fire and Wind was going to do any good for any of the ninja hopefuls.
Naruto felt his brain leak out of his ear in a viscous fluid, or that was his imagination. He wished it wasn't though, because he'd rather fight all of the Kages in existence at once than deal with this. Looking at the window, Naruto saw a leaf blow through the hallway and that was all he needed, he used a replacement technique on the leaf and left a shadow clone in his spot in class. All of it was done without smoke, something that Naruto had managed to accomplish over a few months of training with a ton of shadow clones.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked down the hallway before he came upon a room of second years. The class that Sasuke was in if he remembered correctly, his smile went ear to ear and Naruto hid from anybody looking through the window into the hallway before he formed several shadow clones and everybody transformed. He took the image of the Hokage, and the ten shadow clones around him took the form of masked Anbu.
With a nod, Naruto knocked on the door and waited a bit for it to open. As expected, Iruka the chunin tasked with teaching Sasuke's class answered and he was shocked that he found the Hokage standing outside of his door. His shock grew even more when a foot met his stomach and sent him sprawling across the floor. Four of the Anbu quickly restrained Iruka and held him against the floor.
"Chunin Umino Iruka." Naruto disguised as the Hokage said in an authorities tone that matched the Hokage's perfectly, "You are here by under arrest for one of the worst crimes that a shinobi can perform." He paused for dramatic effect, "You completely bored and entire group of Academy students to near death!" Naruto got really dramatic as tears flew from his eyes in near waterfall.
"All of his raw talent and you nearly have their brains flowing through their ears! I can't believe that you would do something like this! Anbu take him away!" Naruto got really dramatic and walked over to the student sitting up front. He picked up the boy, who happened to be Kiba and hugged him close before rocking him like a baby.
"Oh you poor thing! I can't believe that awful and vile person would do something like this to you!" He cried out dramatically.
Iruka was in complete shock before the disguised Naruto set Kiba back in his seat before turned back to Iruka with a grim face, "For this unforgivable crime! I herby sentence you to banishment from Konoha! You are to never return to this place on the pain of death!" Naruto underneath the transformation was dying with laughter, "The Anbu will escort you out of the village." The fake Hokage clapped his hands and the Anbu dragged Iruka out of the classroom.
The rest of the Anbu, who'd been blocking all the exits vanished in small almost non-existent puff of smoke and Naruto undid his transformation before he started rolling on the floor laughing. Some of the students who were quick to catch on started laughing as well! Naruto was good at pranking people with what he had, that and the shadow clone was the perfect tool for pranking somebody.
"That was good Naruto! I never expected that to happen!" Kiba and Akamaru were rolling around with laughter, they just couldn't stop themselves from laughing seeing as that was the first time that Naruto had utterly shocked Iruka and managed to remove him from the classroom in one clean sweep. Naruto managed to make it back up to Kiba before they gave a high five.
Naruto, who had left Aurora in the care of Inuzuka's had visited the compound several times and had gotten to know Kiba. It was also Naruto who'd gotten Kiba to think with his mind, and not his hormones. Literally beating the sense in the young Inuzuka, but it had been for the better and Kiba took his training seriously and didn't have as big of an ego so he was less likely to underestimate opponents.
Sasuke had also stopped laughing and tackled Naruto into a hug, which Naruto returned, "Hey there lil'Sasu, so how's your day going?"
"Not bad now that the mind numbing boringness is gone." Sasuke replied smiling up at Naruto, who began to rub Sasuke's hair in an affectionate, brotherly way. The rest of the class was shocked that Sasuke had opened up this quickly to Naruto, sure they didn't know the situation at home and Sasuke usually kept to himself at school.
"What did you do to Sasuke? Who are you anyways?" a pink haired banshee screeched loud enough to everybody in the nearest vicinity to flinch and nurse their ears.
"Ah, the pink banshee. I did absolutely nothing to Sasuke, I just came into say hi after all. Why don't you tell me who you are? " His smile returned when he looked down back as Sasuke but was replaced with a cold iciness when he looked up at the pink banshee. He'd never really interacted with here, and Sasuke never really mentioned her. She'd ignored him when he pranked Iruka a few times and they'd never learned each other's names, even when his name was said a million times.
"I am Sakura! The one and true love for Sasuke!" Sakura looked at Sasuke dreamily, who scowled at her before he hid behind Naruto who glared up at Sasuke.
"Oh you're one of the types." Naruto said slowly, "You're a fan-girl, you're one of the ones who thinks that being a ninja is all fun and games. First thing's first, you want Sasuke you need to get mine, Sayuri's, and Mikoto's permission. And if you want my permission, you need to beat me without taking a scratch." Naruto glared at Sakura and she felt like her spine had been turned to ice at his glare.
"I guess that I'll just have to kick your but right now!" Sakura moved to get up, before she was pinned to the desk behind her with several kunai through her clothes.
"Not happening today." Naruto hissed at her, before he turned to the rest of the class and smirked, this was going to be fun.
"Now who wants to learn some of the big kid stuff?" His smile nearly split his face when he saw a bunch of raised hands from everybody.
Meanwhile...
The shadow clone that Naruto had left with his own class was having some fun on his own. Naruto-clone had his head on the desk with the face towards the wall, his eyes were glazed over.
"Mr. Uzumaki! Please sit up and pay attention." the teacher threw a piece of chalk with uncanny accuracy, something all teachers were able to do. The chalk hit Naruto, but he did not stir.
"Come on Naruto, wake up." Sayuri pushed Naruto over, and he fell on the floor. A trail of pinkish grey goop exited his ear as his prone form laid unmoving on the ground, there was a sizable amount of it on the desk as well.
"Oh my god Naruto died!" one of the students screamed and then there was mass panic, and the Naruto-clone had to remind himself not to laugh or do anything that might ruin the prank. But god it was funny watching a mass of students running out of the class room for their lives, not wanting to suffer as he had. Their brains were to precious to be turned into goop!