Rise of the Whirling Tides
Key
"Hi there" Normal Speech
"Hi There" Thought
"Hi There" Biju and techniques
"Hi There" Biju thoughts and techniques in head
Flashbacks
"Hi There" Normal speech
"Hi There" Thought
"Hi There" Biju and Techniques
"Hi There," Bijuu thought and techniques in head
Author Note: I've got drafts for the other bonus chapter, but I won't be able to get it out tonight. I've got terrible pains in my shoulders with a strange burning sensation, plus I'm tired from Dialysis. I will finish it off first thing tomorrow and upload. I thank you for your understanding.
I deleted the bonus announcement, but it may take a little time for Chapter 29 to show.
Summary Chapter 30: Naruto began the creation of his own Sage Tools, making the Seika-kan Mira (World Viewing Mirror), a tool that allows its user to scry anywhere in the world, tracking anyone the user wishes and teleport to any location viewed in its glass. Testing the mirror, Naruto tracked down Nico Robin keeping an eye on her, while enjoying the company of his partner Suzuka, both discussing the fact Charlotte Linlin has placed a 1,000,000,000 Belly Bounty on his alias Otsutsuki Hagoromo to be dragged back alive to Whole Cake Island to marry one of her daughters.
Naruto travelled to Loguetown when Nico Robin was boxed in by five Vice Admirals Orrin, Strawberry, Momonga, Onigumo and Doberman. Orrin attacked Naruto only to have an arm torn off, then revealed his Zoan Devil Fruit transformation, turning into a giant Minotaur only to be beaten down. Suzuka arrived escorted by Dean and five Anbu recruits (Kuroka, Mickaël, Yasamin, Taro and Xing). The six children fought against the remaining marines. Kuroka (Yurei - Ghost) VS Strawberry, Dean and Mickaël (Saru - Monkey) vs Momonga, Yasamin (Iruka - Dolphin) and Taro (Shi -Death) vs Onigumo and Xing (Raiga - Liger) vs Doberman with orders to capture them alive. The Vice Admirals were defeated, and with Vice Admiral Orrin taken to Uzushiogakure to have all knowledge of Haki extracted from their memories then they would be executed.
Naruto offered to become friends with Nico Robin sharing introductions and handed her a Hiraishin Kunai offering her a place in Uzushiogakure, even surprising her by the fact Uzushiogakure's history dated six thousand years ago.
Author Note: Link to discord channel ( h , t , t , p , s, : / / discord . gg / mX728eD ) just remove all the commas and spacing.
Please read and Review.
Chapter 31: Calm Before the Storm
Uzushiogakure Closely Approaching 5 Years Since Foundation
Naruto sat in his chair within the Uzukage Office of the Uzukage Tower, flipping through a mountain of paperwork, some documents reported nearby islands who were looking to ally or migrate its occupants to Uzushiogakure no Sato. Others were requests from the R & D department for increased funds and some from Old Tom seeking permission to purchase materials that could only be sourced outside of Uzu no Kuni; Naruto stamped both with a seal of approval. Pushing the approved papers aside into a tray, Naruto retrieved one from the marines.
"Seeking approval to station Marines on Uzu no Kuni and set up a marine base to be placed under Admiral Aokiji's command." The original letter was longer containing a lot of text and nonsense, so Janice had simplified it. Apparently, the wording made it read like the World Government was demanding Uzushio comply. Snorting in amusement, Naruto grabbed a different stamp and stamped it, "Denied." The word denied was stamped in the middle in big bold red text.
The intercom on the desk crackled before a voice came through, "Uzukage-sama, Team 5 has arrived as ordered." The sound of Naruto's secretary Janice called over the speaker.
"Send them up," Naruto said after pressing the speaker button on the intercom. The Immortal had sent an order out to Team 5 to gather at his office. He had a mission for them, one that would take them back to Dressrosa. The sage had an inkling feeling that he had forgotten something, spending the time to comb through his archives of memories to find some damaged. Restoring the memories and searching the Uzukage archives, Naruto found what he was missing. The memory of Kyros, Scarlett's husband and Rebecca's father, asking the family about the man he was surprised that they too had no memory of the man as if it had been wiped. Disturbed, Naruto reached out to his spy network, drawing in as much information as possible.
The result of this search brought up some Devil Fruits that could wipe memories, but only one that had a link to Dressrosa and Doflamingo. The Hobi-Hobi no Mi (Hobby-Hobby Fruit) allowed the user to turn any living creature into a toy and erase memories of their existence from others, with the side effect of granting eternal youth, freezing the consumer at the age of consumption. The fruit had been consumed by a girl named Sugar, and a member of the Donquixote Pirates. Sugar was a ten-year-old girl, at least in appearance as they were actually thirteen having consumed the Hobi-Hobi no Mi three years ago when she had been ten years old.
Sugar was currently residing on Dressrosa in the castle alongside Pica and Trebol as the two Elite Officer's attempted to fix the mess that Naruto's Shinobi had caused. The two Elites of the Donquixote Pirates had taken the reigns of sorting the Kingdom out while they had been waiting for the return of their King, but things had not quite gone as they planned.
The reason Naruto knew all of this was thanks to the young woman Monet. The information hadn't been given willingly, as Naruto had dived into the woman's head, to extract and copy some memories, making them his own. Speaking of the green haired woman, she had made a speedy recovery and was currently languishing in one of Uzushiogakure's prison cells, but it wasn't like other cells. The cell was actually one of the wards of one of Uzushiogakure's Hospitals. The ward had been altered into a temporary prison cell for the woman to receive medical attention for her injuries. A seal had been used to cut off the woman's Devil Fruit powers while binding her to the room. If Monet attempted to exit the room, a large sealing array would activate forcing her into stasis. The seal had been set up with certain parameters in mind; Naruto had left nothing to chance. Surprising though, Monet had been quite the model prisoner, only having tried to escape one. Every other time she just remained in the room, trying to keep herself amused. The only time Monet wasn't receptive when questioned about Doflamingo or the other members of the Donquixote Pirates. Surprising enough. However, Houjin had been paying the woman a visit at least once a day for the past six weeks that she had been a prisoner.
A knock on the door caused Naruto to look up, and in walked the three members of Team 5 Sayo, Sazuki and Tsuna who had been part of the operation to rescue the royal family. The three Chunin wearing the standard Chunin attire bowed in greeting to their leader.
"We greet the Uzukage." All three of them knelt before the seated Naruto, bowing their heads in respect and greeting. To them Naruto was like a benevolent God who had taken them in and created this haven, they would be willing to risk it all for him and his cause.
"At ease." Naruto made a motion with his right hand, showing them they could rise from their positions. The three Shinobi stood up and waited patiently for their orders. The Sage opened his top right drawer and pulled out a file, tossing it onto the desk, opening it up to reveal the photo of a large muscular man, with long, flowing hair and a pointy beard that points upward. He sported a classic gladiator's helmet, a cape and metallic wristbands, and was also holding a sword while possessing a scar on his forehead.
"This is Kyros. Father of Rebecca, Husband of Scarlett and Son in Law of King Riku Dold the Third!" At the announcement of the man, the three Chunin shared confused like, as they didn't recognise the name.
"Excuse me sir, but whom? If he was a member of the Royal Family why don't I remember him? Surely he would have been retrieved with the others?" Sayo, the leader of the trio, spoke up, confusing etched on her forehead, the name was truly unfamiliar.
The Sage flipped through the file removing two pictures and a profile before tossing them over. Wind chakra flowed through the articles making them float over to the young woman. On one of them was a young girl who was ten years old "The reason you don't remember is thanks to this girl and her Devil Fruit powers. They were able to affect my own memory! But not enough to forget completely, I managed to retrieve fragments of broken memories in my mindscape piecing them back together. This girl possesses a Devil Fruit that can turn living creatures into toys and erase memories of their existence from others." Naruto rested his head in the palm of his right hand, strumming the fingers of his left hand on the office table.
"It's quite bothersome this Hobi-Hobi no Mi. To be able to affect even my memory, if only slightly, is not something I want to see in the wrong hands. If I had known prior to the operation, I could have orchestrated a retrieval team during the rescue mission to kidnap the girl. However, the chance has slipped through our fingers" With a flick of his left-hand paper lifted up into the air where it floated around through the use of chakra. In the air were nine profiles with a wanted poster hanging beneath each one.
"Kaido Captain of the Beast Pirates has teamed up with Egburt Thornton Junior Captain of the Blacktooth pirates to take control of the Donquixote Pirates, during Doflamingo's absence. With Kaido's help, Junior has been able to grab hold of Doflamingo's old crew forcing them under his command. Now the son of Blacktooth has taken over as the King of Dressrosa to continue the production of SAD and SMILE to produce Artificial Zoan Class Devil Fruits for Kaido. In return, Kaido will repay him with Paramecia, and Logia-class Devil Fruits" Naruto shut his eyes and released a heavy sigh at what had happened, and it only got worse.
"The Donquixote Pirates have had no choice but to submit showing little to no resistance because as of seventy-two hours ago, the World Government declared Doflamingo Donquixote dead and have handed his Shichibukai status to Egburt Thornton Junior, making the new Captain of the Blacktooths his replacement." Naruto released the world-shattering news to the three occupants of the room, their eyes widened in shock.
"And before you go asking, this has not been made up news. The world has yet to be made aware of Doflamingo's death; this was all handled in secret. Originally I thought it was a hoax and did a little digging of my own."
Snapping his fingers, the Seika-kan Mirā materialised into the room. "I was unable to lock onto Doflamingo's signature, and there's nothing that can hide from my Sekai-Kan Mirā (World Viewing Mirror). I could have resorted to infiltrating Marineford, but there was a faster method."
The Rinne-Sharingan began to rapidly spin up as the tower office shook violently; purple flames surrounded Naruto as the King of Hell manifested around him. "I summoned the King of Hell!" The King of Hell wasn't something he summoned often. The Sage reached in with his left hand, searching around with the arm before grabbing hold of something. Naruto pulled plucking out a deep purple coloured soul that was wiggling around under his grasp. The soul was just a ball before it began to take on a humanoid shape, there clutched in Naruto's hand was Doflamingo Donquixote.
"I found his soul lurking in the cycle of reincarnation." The soul wiggled trying to break free so that it could fly off to god knows where, but Naruto held firm not letting it go at all, "I've kept his soul trapped in the mouth of King of Hell for the last twenty-four hours now. Slowly plucking away at some of his memories" Naruto had been using the soul as a source of information, seeing as how Doflamingo had just died his soul had yet to become a blank slate to join the cycle of reincarnation, instead lurking on the edges. Once all of his memories had been cleansed would Doflamingo's soul enter into the cycle to be reborn. The pirate had just recently died meaning the memories had yet to be wiped, allowing Naruto to retrieve them. Naruto had been quite surprised to learn just how long the man had managed to survive before succumbing to the poison in his veins. While Naruto had a strong hate for the pirate, he had to admire his determination and will to live.
Naruto couldn't help but be admired by Dr Vegapunk's advancements in the fields of all sciences. It was one of the reasons why the Sage had infiltrated the man's lab blowing it up to destroy the mind viewing device that had been created, along with all plans connected to it. As if that wasn't enough, Naruto had trapped Vegapunk in an illusion and wiped the man's memory of its creation, before planting a piece of his will and chakra using it to manifest a piece of himself in the man's mindscape. This piece of will would be able to function without hindrance, wiping Vegapunk's memories of the device if he attempted to recreate it, even taking control of the man's body temporarily to destroy any written plans. This piece of Naruto could draw in natural energy, using the energy to grow then split its consciousness to then move onto another body, while leaving the other piece behind. With this ability, Naruto's will could move from body to body, thanks to this a part of Naruto had placed in Sengoku the Fleet Admiral of the World Government. As long as that piece of will lived on inside Sengoku, there was nothing the government could hide.
Looking back at the soul in his grasp, Naruto sneered. The soul released an agonising scream as it began to melt into the palm of Naruto's hand. The Rinne-Sharingan glowed a shade of lilac as the Sage began to absorb the stray soul, crippling it of Doflamingo's consciousness, tearing what made Doflamingo apart leaving only a blank soul containing a wealth of memories. Naruto had already digested a few of Doflamingo's memories but not all of them. The Sage had been curious about the Ito Ito no Mi after reading the report of the battle between Suzuka and Doflamingo. In the report, Doflamingo had been able to affect his surroundings turning the walls and floor to string. This was due to something called 'awakening' that increased the abilities of the user beyond what they normally could do. Doflamingo had only recently unlocked the ability and was only able to affect a small area, but estimated at full mastery would even be able to turn tall buildings, maybe even a mountain into string.
Naruto would have to invest time into researching this awakening ability. Estella had briefly mentioned about being an awakened Devil Fruit user when fighting against Odin and Shiina, but it hadn't meant much at the time. With the memories collected from Doflamingo, it had touched more on the subject. The Sage would add the rest of Doflamingo's memories to his own later, for now, Naruto focused back onto the subject at hand, "These are the nine profiles and bounties for the members of the Blacktooth pirates." Each image showed an appearance, name, abilities and bounty price. The first was Egburt Thornton Junior.
"Egburt Thornton Junior, new Captain of the Blacktooth Pirates. Original bounty Two Hundred Million Belly was since raised to Four Hundred Million Bely upon allying with Kaido. He is a second generation Devil Fruit user, possessing his father's Tsuchi Tsuchi no Mi (Earth-Earth Fruit)." The profile floated over to the corner as the next floated into view, Aldrich was a man over twelve feet tall with a massive muscular frame.
"Aldrich the Barbarian, the new First-mate of the Blacktooth pirates, who originally had a bounty of Three Hundred and Thirty Million Belly, but with Blacktooth's death, it has been raised to Eight Hundred and Seventy-Five Million Belly. User of the Nuuku Nuuku no Mi (Nuke-Nuke Fruit), a rather heinous Devil Fruit as it allows the consumer to generate and manipulate nuclear energy turning them into a Nuclear Human." The Nuuku Nuuku no Mi was an especially rare Paramecia class Devil Fruit whose powers allowed it to injure other Devil Fruit users, without the use of Haki, including Logia users.
The page floated as the next pirate came into existence, a man wearing a black robe and mask, "The Unholy Bishop Garroway Braxton. Originally he had a Bounty of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Belly now it has increased to Seven Hundred Million Belly. User of the Shigai Shigai no Mi (Corpse-Corpse Fruit) which turned him into a Corpse Human giving him the power to reanimate the dead as undead skeletons, zombies and other monstrosities." The poster floated over before the other five shot towards the group, the previous three joining.
"There's are the first three to keep an eye out for as they stick close together, Aldrich and Garroway acting as Junior's personal guard. The others have been reported stationed around Dressrosa, each of them with bounties of Two Hundred Million and higher. ." Naruto would allow them to memorise the contents and take the file with them. The paperwork flew back into the folder before it appeared in Sayo's hands, this particular file was just a copy, the original was in the archives.
"Your primary directive is to watch and record, documenting everything that happens, while keeping a close eye on the Blacktooth pirates. Your secondary objective is to track down Kyros, find out what happened to him. Most likely he has been turned into a toy, find what toy and once you have determined his location, make contact and report in. An extraction team will be sent in to retrieve the man. Your final object is to track the whereabouts of Sugar, document her daily routine and find a loophole that can be exploited to extract the girl for transport to Uzushiogakure." Naruto had stood up to issue the orders, the Uzukage cloak fluttered out with a swing of his right arm, giving a dramatic effect.
"Go. You leave in twenty-four hours. Prepare yourself for an unknown length of stay. Each of you is to take at least three year's worth Henge Fuuin (Transformation Seal). All costs will be taken care of by the Uzukage Office, have all vendors forward the bills to Janice. Take whatever Jutsu scrolls you need to continue your training. I do not wish to see your blade's become dull!" Naruto's voice echoed out with the fierce roar of a Kage. The three Shinobi all cried out in unison as they saluted their leader and each vanished in a swirl of leaves. Naruto sighed and collapsed into his chair exhausted.
"Being a Kage is hard." The whole Kage act was very exhausting, but Naruto had to put up the proper airs in front of his Shinobi. As Naruto relaxed the sky outside began to change, thick black clouds beginning to roll across the sky as it rained heavily. Lightning flashed by his windows, making the age groan and sit up, only to pause. The Kage had sensed Dragon's arrival, but unlike man's usual routine hadn't directly appeared in the office. Frowning, Naruto expanded his senses, scanning all of Uzushiogakure no Sato.
"He's at the main gate?"
The intercom buzzed again as Janice spoke in a rushed voice, "U. U. Uzukage-s-sama! Monkey D. Dragon has arrived at the main gate requesting entry to Uzushiogakure to see you!" The woman sounded visibly shaken, not that Naruto blamed her after all Dragon did have a reputation.
Naruto pressed back on the intercom, "Let him in and have a team escort him to the tower."
"Dragon must be here about the Mission to distract Whitebeard. I'm curious about just why though. What exactly is on this poneglyph. I'll have to keep an eye out." Naruto thought over the matter, this poneglyph to be sought after by both Whitebeard and Dragon must surely hold a considerable amount of value to both parties. The Sage would have to insist that when Dragon went hunting for it, that he come along if the poneglyph led to a weapon too dangerous to be left in Dragon's hands, Naruto would ensure it's retrieval, specifically to place a few safety parameters on it. Naruto couldn't just outright keep the item, that wouldn't be good for Uzushiogakure's reputation. The Sage would think up some way to examine the item after Dragon had retrieved it.
Another knock arrived at the door, and in walked the infamous Dragon, behind him a fresh Team of Genin were helping to drag in a number of items. There were large crates, bags and cases brought into the room and placed down on the floor, from one or two of the items Naruto swore he could feel the tiniest presence of chakra, whereas coming from a heavy looking chest, the Sage would feel a large amount of natural energy pouring out from within. Naruto dismissed the Genin, offering Dragon one of the chairs to which the revolutionary accepted.
"I wondered when you would show again Dragon," Naruto spoke calmly, eying the man not as a friend, but not as an enemy either. Uzushiogakure and the Revolutionary Army had become allies, if only through contract but that was expected to change. While Dragon had his quirks, overall Naruto felt no malintent from the man.
"It took longer than I hoped, but I have gathered the necessary funds to start the S class Mission request two years ago." Dragon had hoped to be back within a year, but it had taken close to two years to collect all the necessary materials.
"I'm surprised you used the gates, you tend to pop up out of nowhere. Luckily you hadn't shown a hint of malice you'd have been eliminated on the spot." Naruto spoke nonchalantly towards the revolutionary; they had a strange relationship. Naruto had erected a barrier around Uzushiogakure, hooking it up to various arrays. Every residence of Uzushiogakure no Sato when they migrated and had passed the screening process would have a single drop of blood pricked from a finger and dropped onto the sealing array, recognising them as a formal citizen of Uzushiogakure. The sealing array was closely guarded by Kurama and when he was away a part of his will. Everyone else the barrier regarded as an outsider and would activate at the first sense of malice, as a negative emotion sensing array and mind scanning array had been placed inside. The array worked in two ways, one for citizens and one for non-citizens, visitors. Anyone who entered the barrier would be immediately scanned for malice thoughts towards Uzushiogakure. If any thoughts were detected the barrier would activate locking them down. The barrier could not be fooled as it probed even the deepest, darkest and hidden parts of your mind.
Just how did it lock them down? Sealing chains would materialise from the air, comprised of pure natural energy The barrier ran off natural energy seals that had installed to draw in the energy and constantly provide power while syphoning off part of it to be stored for emergencies. The chains would lock onto the target, sealing them in place, immobilising them, for Devil Fruit users it would seal off their powers, and chakra users would drain them of chakra to strengthen the chains, this was just one of the features of the barrier surrounding Uzushiogakure; it had countless others. The lockdown feature would allow the barrier to manifest a physical appearance, a giant light green chakra dome, anyone trying to enter or exit would collide with the dome bouncing off as if they had hit solid material.
The barrier had been set up with enough strength to block a full powered Bijuudama from Naruto and the nine Bijuu combined, even if damaged the barrier possessed self-rejuvenating abilities, by using the stored nature chakra. The rejuventating and sensing ability was just part of its capabilities as the barrier could also serve as an offensive weapon, manifesting a countless number of chains that are set to an auto-pilot mode to wrap around any intruders tying them down. Naruto or anyone else keyed into the master array could take control of these chains. If needed, the stored chakra can be concentrated to a single point and fired as one giant blast or fired off in volleys. The number of times it can use this ability depended on the amount of stored natural energy; if the barrier runs out of chakra, then it can be supplied chakra from Naruto or one of the Bijuu. If Naruto or the Bijuu weren't around, a group of Shinobi could enter a sealing matrix, adding their own to the barrier, this usually required fifty or more Shinobi with High Chunin or Higher reserves.
"I thought it polite now that Uzushiogakure no Sato and the Revolutionary Army have taken steps to become allies." The two forces had signed the non-aggression pact with loose terms for an alliance. After this mission, the two forces would have their representatives meet to finalises the steps to create a proper alliance. If the World Government knew what they were doing, they would be scared beyond words.
"Let's get down to business, show me what you have." Naruto leaned back in his massive kage chair, beckoning Dragon to continue with a wave of his hand. The man would have to take the items out for Naruto to evaluate on their cost which would then be deducted from the missions price, the price twenty-five billion belly and that was just the first payment. The missions total cost was Fifty Billion Belly with half up front, not an easy amount to produce.
Dragon picked up a sword case and sat it down on the Uzukage's desk. The case was over a metre long covered in strange markings and bound in chains. Naruto raised his right eyebrow at the sight of the case, from within Naruto could feel a strange power radiating off whatever items were inside. Unclasping the chains, Dragon opened the case, revealing the item inside.
In the case was a katana, with a somewhat modified design. The blade was twenty-four inches in length with an eight inch long handle, making it thirty-two inches in total length, slightly longer than a normal katana. Halfway up the sword, the blade began to curve more than the typical katana; its width was also fifty percent wider than the standard katana. The handle curves at the bottom pointing out and was blue with golden lightning bolt markings. The guard took the shape of a bronze lightning bolt, containing with a sapphire blue scabbard.
Naruto eyed the strange katana and reached out his right hand, only to receive a surprise. A bolt of blue lightning shot out from the sword striking the palm of Naruto's hand with enough power it bore a hole through it, allowing the lightning to shoot out the other side, putting a hole through the window behind him. The immortal sage inspected the wound as it closed up.
"Interesting," The Kage's interest had been peaked.
"This is the Raishinri (Thundering Truth), and it is one of the twelve Saijo O Wazamono Grade Swords."
"Hooooo," Naruto exclaimed in surprise, he had heard about the different grade of swords and to learn that this Raishinri was one of the twelve Supreme Grade Swords, certainly caught his interest. Forcing his hand forward, the Sage released a pulse of chakra to block an incoming lightning bolt and forcibly grabbed the legendary blade removing it from the case. Naruto held the blade firmly; he could almost feel it struggle to escape like the sword possessed its own sentience.
"You're not going anywhere!" Chakra poured out from Naruto's body and into the sword, a strange whimper seemed to come from the katana surprising Dragon. Naruto ignored the reaction and drew the katana from its sheath to get a proper look. As the blade was drawn, Naruto could see every marking, with a single glance he could tell the sword had been made by a skilled blacksmith. The blade was sparkling silver with the blunt edge being a light metallic blue, with a what appeared to be an electrical storm running along the length of the sword. Purple, blue, red and yellow lightning seemed to crackle around the blade, moving together in perfect harmony. The Sage held the handle tightly and gave it a test swinging, aiming the blade at one of the offices' walls. A surge of red lightning erupted from the blade in the shape of a giant lightning bolt that struck the wall. The wall was demolished on impact, leaving a giant hole.
"Well now, isn't this a pleasant surprise, just a fraction of your power is this strong, what are you like at full strength?" The Sage seemed to speak to the sword which quivered under his gaze; Dragon could see with his own eyes the sword shaking in Naruto's grasp as if it was afraid of the man.
Naruto sheathed the Raishinri returning it to the scabbard and placed it back in the back, closing the lid. Picking the case up, Naruto set it beside him. "Five Hundred Million Belly deduction." Naruto blurted out the price of his evaluation, pricing the sword at half a billion dollars. Dragon was surprised at the cost of the sword; he had expected maybe three hundred million but not five. A Great Grade Sword, one step below Supreme could go anywhere from ten million to fifty million, maybe even a hundred million.
"What else." Naruto jumped straight into it once more, dying to see just what items Dragon had to show, but he didn't let the excitement show to much, the Sage didn't want to give Dragon an edge.
The Revolutionary stood up and walked over to one of the bags, opening it to riddle around where he pulled out a large brown and gold chest, this was the same chest that was radiating with an overflowing amount of natural energy. Dragon heaved the chest and set it down onto the desk and unclasped its lock. The chest was pulled open revealing the source of the energy because inside was a Devil Fruit. The fruit looked like a cross between a mango, and a pineapple, white with black swirls moving in almost a stripe-like pattern, the fruit had a black stem.
Naruto eyed the Devil Fruit, reaching out with a careful hand to pick it up, gently bouncing it up and down getting a feel for it. Grasping it firmly, Naruto planted a small slither of chakra into the fruit to get a better understanding. The fruit was overflowing with natural energy. Closing his eyes, the immortal focused on the item, inspecting it. Within the back of his mind, Naruto heard a tremendously powerful roar and the flash of a white and black beast, as a surge of natural energy rushed form to bombard him. Naruto released a portion of his reserves overpowering the incoming surge, forcing the presence into the fruit to submit. Eyes shot open, from that once scan Naruto could tell the Devil Fruit was extremely powerful.
"Do you know what this Devil Fruit is?" asked the immortal calmly.
"I don't know its name, only that the Devil Fruit guidebook claims that it and three others make up a set of four, each belonging to the Mythical Zoan category. All other records have been lost to the ages."
Naruto eyed the fruit continuing to scrutinise it, attempting to figure out its value. "A mythical zoan huh." It wasn't as if Naruto was overly surprised by the class; he had seen a handful of Mythical Class Zoan fruits already. Mythical Zoan class Devil Fruits were quite rare and could be sold for a pretty penny on the black market, comparing it to other fruits such as the Ope Ope no Mi which had once gone for Five Billion Belly, this fruit was nowhere near that price.
"Five Hundred Million Belly" offered Naruto once again making a rough estimate, he could feel a strong power radiating from the fruit, probably on the same level as Kuroka and Shirone's Neko Neko no Mi fruits. The Sage put the fruit back into the chest, closing it up and placed it beside him next to the sword, this continued as the two went back and forth, Dragon showing various items, handing them over to Naruto, exchanging for up to three billion and two hundred belly, handing over fifteen items in total.
Dragon grabbed an item wrapped up in silk and dropped it onto the desk with a heavy thud, appearing physically winded from its weight. The Immortal stood up, grabbing the item and lifted it up with ease, pulling away the cloth to reveal a skilled crafted Guan Dao. The polearm was over nine feet in length, the pole making up six of these feet while the blade was three feet long. The weapon was sturdy yet strangely flexible, surprising Naruto. At the end was a small mace head helping to counterbalance the weapons length. The staff was a beautiful emerald green, and the blade looked similar to a scimitar blade with an azure blue dragon running along both edges.
"Good pole." Just holding onto the weapon, Naruto felt a powerful pull as if the weapon carried a strong warriors wills within that had seen countless battles and spilt endless amount of blood.
"This is the Seiryū Engetsutō (Azure Dragon Weir Moon Blade) once wielded by the Legendary General Guan Yu of the Wano Kingdom. With a single swing of this weapon it was said Guan Yu could wipe out a thousand enemies!" Dragon appeared to boast about the blade, showing he was somewhat proud of its history, probably because it hadn't been an easy find. The weapon had been lost for over twenty years when it's wielder perished in battle.
Naruto tested the weapon, gently poking at the air, testing its weight and balance, the weapons-grade wasn't on the same level as a Supreme Grade Sword, but it was above that of a Great Grade Sword making it a top-notch level weapon. "Three Hundred and Fifty Million Belly."
Dragon could only accept it, slowly running out of items, there were only two left to offer up which he had been saving up for last. Walking over to one of two unopened crates, each of which Naruto could sense a minuscule amount of chakra flowing from its contents. Dragon began prying it open with his hands ripping the lid off. The revolutionary fished about pulling out an item that was encased in a blue crystal.
"That's pure solidified chakra, that's not something that should exist in this era!" The Rinne-Sharingan flared up to pierce into the chakra crystal, gazing into the small object sealed inside, eyes widened as the item came into sight. The item was a small green toad shaped wallet. "How did that survive!" Faster than Dragon could even react, Naruto had vanished from his seat in a flash of white appearing before the man, a hand snatching the item away.
"Five Billion Belly!" Blurted out the Uzukage immediately, it might seem like an astronomical price for a simple wallet, but this was a wallet that had existed during Naruto's age, it was his wallet from over six thousand years ago. There was no way it should have even survived the destruction of the elemental nations!
Dragon stumbled back at the sudden action, appearing visibly startled not expecting the Kage to suddenly appear and grab the crystal item. Whatever was inside must be an item of great worth for the Uzukage to react like that. Perhaps it was an item that led towards a weapon of great destruction?
Oh, how little he knew.
Naruto returned to his seat, throwing the item into his personal pocket dimension and appeared calm once more, "Next!" Naruto didn't ask how the man found it, deciding to wait until the next item was revealed. Dragon had held them back clearly for a reason.
Dragon gulped as the Kage gave him a deadly glare, the glare saying not to ask about what just happened and keep going. Doing as asked, the revolutionary moved to the final crate and cracked open the lid removing what was inside. Inside was a large scroll as big as Dragon was that looked like it had seen better days, the item was worn down with tears through it and appeared to be missing part of its contents. Placing the item down, Dragon took a seat and waited for the Uzukage's response.
Naruto eyed the scroll carefully, sensing the bare minimal amount of chakra radiating from it. Grabbing the scroll, the Sage unrolled it over the desk, inside was what remained of at least half a dozen names written in blood with handprints beneath them, the text had faded over the years, so Naruto was unable to make out the names. At the top of the contract was one word Usagi (Rabbit).
"T...This is the Rabbit Summoning Contract, from all the memories I've collected its owner perished long before the war and the contract had gone missing, last thought to be spotted in Mori no Kuni (Land of Forests). How did it make its way here?" The contract had seen better days, and from a glance, Naruto sensed the contract was no longer active. "Either the Usagi Clan relocated, or they died." The Immortal frowned at how perplexing this was.
"Where did you find these items?" Naruto looked up the contract and locked eyes with Dragon, releasing the full force of his chakra reserves, only to quickly seal it back up before it could affect Naruto's surroundings. If the Uzukage was to release his chakra reserves here it could cause the entire Village to shake and tremble; it could even cause the entire island to break apart. Taking a deep breath, Naruto calmed down before shooting the Dragon a dangerous glare.
"Talk" The voice was cold full of killer intent; Dragon was now facing a true Kage level shinobi. The thick killer intent radiating off Naruto's body even frightened the revolutionary who thought he had seen everything, but the level of killer intent radiating from the immortal was something Dragon had never experienced in his life.
The Revolutionary quickly blurted out everything he knew; even though he had stood before foes like Kaido, Sengoku, Garp and Whitebeard, they were nothing when compared to the man known as Uzumaki Naruto. "The Crystal I found buried in ancient ruins around Alabasta said to be over a thousand years old. The Scroll was retrieved from a three-hundred-year-old merchant vessel beneath the oceans close to Amazon Lily."
"Are there other items like this?" Naruto pushed the issue, trying to milk as much information from the man.
"Rumour has it there were items taken from Mariejois. When fishy tiger escaped and freed his fellow slaves, a few of them raided the different treasuries of their masters. Many of the items were lost at sea while others said to be kept as family heirlooms." Dragon began to sweat under the pressure; if the World Government could see him now, they would realise just how dangerous the Uzukage was. There were not many who could scare Dragon.
"Ten Billion Ryo!" The Kage blurted out another outrageous price for the item, adding up the total of the other items that was a total of Eighteen Billion and Two Hundred Million belly.
Dragon blinked owlishly, stunned even more than before, he had hoped to at least pay of maybe eight to ten billion of the owed price but not this much. The revolutionary couldn't know the purpose of the scroll, thinking it only to be some lost relic of a time long passed. Dragon could never know it for those who knew how to use it and similar scrolls to summon beasts of frightening power varying in countless sizes.
While the prize shocked Dragon, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth. Quickly rummaging through a bag, he pulled out a sack full of belly and placed them on the table, a total of seven bags. "Seven Billion Belly. Two hundred million can go towards the final payment!" At least with this, the revolutionary army wouldn't be broke. In total the revolutionaries had managed to scrounge up Fifteen to Seventeen Billion Belly, almost putting them to the point of bankruptcy. When it came to the item in Whitebeard's possession, they were willing to risk it all, as it would of great assistance to their cause, said to lead towards a Poneglyph containing the location to an item of unparalleled power, one that could greatly help their cause.
"Is that what I think it is?" Kurama's voice suddenly entered into the shared mind plain, reaching Naruto's eyes. An almost unnoticeable glint of red appeared in Naruto's eyes.
"The Usagi Clan Contract Summoning Scroll...yes."
"I thought every remnant of the Shinobi Era had been lost when the continental was destroyed! How is this possible?"
"You know as much as I do! What are you even here? Weren't you training Dean?"
"I felt a disturbance in your emotions and so connected to the plain to see what was happening." When Naruto had used the Hiraishin to appear over to Dragon to retrieve the chakra crystal, his emotions had been agitated allowing Kurama to sense it through their connections. Worried for his friend the nine tailed fox quickly connected to the shared mindscape.
"Let me think and get through this; I'll hook back up once Dragon is gone." Naruto drowned Kurama up silencing him, allowing the Kage the chance to deal with the situation at hand, he was just as shocked as the fox. It might have been rude to dismiss Kurama suddenly, but Naruto had to get his head around what was happening, the Sage would apologise later for being so rude.
"Are your people ready to move?" Naruto jumped straight back to business, temporarily putting the contract and wallet to the back of his mind.
"Ivankov, Inazuma and Hack are prepared to move; they only await your arrival." Informed the Revolutionary letting the Kage know three members of the revolutionary army were in a position to make their move. "Once Whitebeard and his crew focus are placed in your hands, using a small boat they will approach the Moby Dick, sneak on board and find the item."
"Are you in communication with them?"
"Yes. I have given them a Long Range Den Den Mushi." The Den Den Mushi was truly a strange piece of technology; Naruto was tempted to dissect one just to see how it worked.
"Tell them to be ready. I will arrive shortly." The Uzukage swiped the hand again through the air, and the area around Dragon began to distort as Naruto through the man out of his office, transporting him to god knows where with the Kamui. Naruto would give it time for the communication to be sent, this would give him time to temporarily examine the items from his era.
The blue crystal popped back into existence landing on Naruto's desk where he shot a burst of chakra into it. The crystal immediately shattered falling onto the desk where it then dissolved into blue wisps of chakra. The Sage absorbed the wisps, sucking them into his body, storing the bits of chakra away to examine at a later date. Sitting on the desk was a worn out green toad wallet named Gama-chan. The Sage touched the wallet reflecting on his past, memories floating to the surface.
"How did that survive?" Kurama was shocked by the sight of the toad wallet, surprised by the fact it had managed to survive somehow.
"I'm just as confused as you are. Get in contact with the others; see if they can make heads or tails of this. I'm going to keep the items stored in my pocket dimension until I'm ready to investigate them."
"I'll let the other's know. Do you wish for us to gather?"
"No, there's not enough to discuss. Once I've finished this Mission for Dragon, I'll close up and investigate more. Once I've made heads of this I'll report." The connection between the two cut of there, allowing Naruto to return focus to the items on his desk.
"It appears relics of my era survived." The gaze turned towards the Usagi Summoning Scroll, just maybe part of his era still existed. The Sage gave a gulp and injected another will of chakra into the scroll to investigate further, the Sage dug down through the sealing matrix analysing every part, and while it had seen better days, some parts were still active. Coming to one part of the array caused the Sage's eyes to widen.
"I...I….It's still active!" Blurted out the Uzukage from shock, after six thousand years the matrix had survived and was still connected to the plain of existence where the Usagi Clan was said to live. At first glance, Naruto deemed the contract inactive, but after looking deeper it wasn't true, somehow the contract was still alive. Naruto pushed back any ideas of testing the contract out. The sealing matrix was unstable and would need to be repaired first before he could sign it. With the Banbutsu Sōzō, no Jutsu (Creation of All Things Technique) Naruto would be able to repair the scrolls physical shape while using his knowledge of Fuuinjutsu to repair the seal matrix. If the Usagi Clan was still alive, Naruto wanted to be at least able to present an intact Summoning Scroll to them.
Naruto carefully picked the scroll up and placed it within a pocket dimension for safe storage, doing the same to Gama-chan, he would investigate later. Rubbing his temples, Naruto couldn't help but give an annoyed groan, "I will have to start searching the world for these artefacts. Who knows what could be left lying around." For now, Naruto needed to focus on the mission. The Seika-kan Mira (World Viewing Mirror) appeared in front of him moving out of his personal dimension. The mirror activated as the image of the Moby Dick, Whitebeard's pirate ship appeared. Entering the mirror, Naruto vanished from the Uzukage Office; it was time to see just how strong Edward Newgate was.
Author Note: A short time skip will start Chapter 33 it was originally 32 but got pushed back as Chapter 32 is the long-awaited meet / battle Whitebeard VS Naruto.
Preview (It's not how it will start, but it's a little teaser)
Two titans stood opposite one another, staring the other down as the world quivered under their gaze. The world was silent; as the two giants sized each other up, testing each other's will to see who would break first. These two were titans amongst their fellow kin, with a strength that could drive others insane.
"Uzumaki Naruto, I wish to experience your strength!"
"Whitebeard. Show me your strength!"
The two titans charged each other, one swinging a massive bisento the other a sword wrapped in bandages. The two weapons collided creating shockwaves on impact, shockwaves that broke the harmony of the sea creating gigantic tidal waves that swept away everything in their path.