The Nephalem Chronicles
Chapter 3: Resisting the Poisonous Touch
"Think that they've noticed that we're gone by now?" asked Naruto as he and Kurama walked through one of the pathways of the Spirit Interment without a set destination in mind.
Kurama shrugged his shoulders in response "Who knows? Though I was expecting them to have noticed us leaving, kinda makes me question whether their titles are just for show or not,"
"Maybe, considering I might have subconsciously hidden my presence thanks to my ninja training," Naruto pointed out.
"Of course, which kid could proclaim that he was able to evade and hide from ANBU and Jounin save for one person,"
"I could never figure how he was able to find me every time though,"
"As mysterious as when you tried to see what was underneath your sensei's mask?
"Let's not go there, I'm still sore about that after all this time," Naruto groaned at the thought of that "By the way, where are we going? I don't think we have an actual destination in mind right now,"
"Given that we've been dragged along on certain things and your knack for getting involved into out of hand situations, I don't think we'll have to wait long for another to pop up," said Kurama factually.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "What do you mean by th-,"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"
Naruto was suddenly interrupted by a scream which echoed through the plains of the Spirit Interment and sensed the source of the scream. Kurama looked at Naruto rather smugly.
"My point exactly,"
"Whatever, let's go and see what's going on,"
They dashed off, tracing the source of the scream and soon located it. But the duo came across something rather…odd. The scene before them was of a dwarfish looking demon with pale skin and long beard, he was carrying a giant knapsack which is nearly bursting at the seams, and he was currently running as fast as he can whilst screaming shrilly with a couple of Lost Soldiers in pursuit but having trouble catching him.
"Hand them over, right now!" said a soldier angrily.
"Leave me be, I refuse to hand over any of my wares to you without payment! It goes against my very core as a merchant!" the demon yelled as he ran.
"Uh…," Naruto didn't know what to say about this scenario.
Kurama looked at the chase in amusement "Look at them go, kinda reminds me about that cartoon involving two animals that you used to watched back when you were a kid. The antics always amused me,"
"If you're done being amused, let's help this guy!" said Naruto urgently.
"Sure sure,"
The duo disappeared in a blur and reappeared between the merchant and the Lost soldiers, disrupting the latter's pursuit. A closer look reveals the soldiers to be a small group of Orcs equipped with maces and axes.
"Hey guys, I've heard of business while on the move but I don't think you're doing it right," Naruto commented.
"You must be stupid to get yourself involved brat, and now it's gonna cost you your life!" said one of the orcs, brandishing his axe.
Kurama snorted a response "Come on then little piggy, I'm in the mood for some pork chops,"
"Why you little…get them!"
Naruto stood at the ready with Kurama hopping off his shoulders to attack his own portion of enemies as some of the orcs charged towards and began swinging their weapons wildly to get a hit him whilst he constantly weaved in and out of their attacks with sidesteps and parrying some aside with the Force Edge until seizing the right moment to go into the offensive.
Upon lashing out with a sharp high kick to an orc's face and making him stumble back in a daze, Naruto turned to attack another with a triple slash combo. Sensing an incoming attack from behind, Naruto quickly rolled sideways to avoiding a beheading swing from orc behind and turned round to retaliate "High Time!" he swung Force Edge into an uppercut to launch himself and the Undead into the air "Aerial Wave!" he slashed rapidly up to four times in midair "Helm Splitter!" then he brought the blade down on its head, bringing them both back down to the ground.
Meanwhile, Kurama had grown to a wolf size and was attacking the orcs by utilizing his agility in combination with his fangs and claws whilst making it highly difficult for the enemy to land a hit on him at the same time. Kurama extended some of his tails to wrap around the legs of one of the orcs and lifted it into air then proceeded to swing around and smacking into the others as a makeshift flail before tossing it away.
"Can't you piggies make this more challenging? I'm growing bored already," Kurama commented lazily.
"I'm going to mount your head over my fireplace!" said an orc angrily.
"That is even if you have one, which I seriously doubt,"
"Argh!" the orc angrily dragged a foot along the ground several times before charging forward with his head, intending to ram into the kitsune head-on.
"Head-on charge, similar to the brat but he does it much better than you," Kurama calmly sat down on the ground and waited with the orc rapidly drawing closer and was almost upon him when the demon was suddenly blindsided by a red slash wave of demonic energy and was taken down "Cutting it close, ain't ya?"
Kurama glanced to the side, seeing Naruto holding Force Edge in a reverse grip and standing in a posture of having swung the sword before putting it away.
"Still getting the hang of using Force Edge, been a while since I used an actual sword with the only time being when I had to use the Dragon Blade against the dragons," Naruto explained.
"I remember that time, too bad you ended up breaking the thing,"
"*Sigh* I know, and I wanted to keep it too,"
"Did you just say Force Edge, the sword once belonging to the legendary Dark Knight Sparda?" a voice spoke up, making them turn to see that it was the merchant who was looking at the said sword in shock.
"So, what's it to ya squeaky?" asked Kurama, his eyes narrowed at the demon merchant who took a step back from the stare.
"Oh my apologies, I was merely surprised to see the Force Edge right before my eyes. But I am rather confused as to why you helped me? An action that a regular wouldn't even think of doing," the merchant explained.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders "Maybe so, but the better question would be what reason would I have to not help you. You were in trouble and we chose to help you, no reason needed,"
"Ah I see, well it's rather queer but doesn't make me a less grateful to you two,"
Kurama huffed "You still haven't introduced yourself and told us why those piggies were chasing you,"
"Oh my apologies yet again, I am Sindri; a humble merchant. The reason why those hooligans were pursuing me would be because I possess many exotic and rare items which I carry around and sell throughout various Netherworlds. they rudely demanded that I simply hand over my wares without paying which I strongly refused, but it appears that they didn't like my refusal and decided to kill me then take my wares unconditionally. Then, you know what happened next," said Sindri.
"Well, my name's Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and my buddy here is Kurama the Nine Tailed Fox," Naruto introduced the both of them before curiously asking a question "So, what happens now?"
"Well, my next stop to do business is in Poisondise but then…," Sindri hummed in thought about certain things that came into mind before glancing Naruto and Kurama then snapped his fingers due to an idea popping into his mind "…of course, may I interest you two gentlemen with a business proposal?"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow "What is it?"
"I'd like to enlist your skills in protection detail, there's no doubt that I'll encounter more of those Lost Soldiers over at Poisondise. In exchange, I'll give you a discount of whatever you purchase from me,"
Naruto and Kurama frowned in thought, exchanging glances with each other while weighing the pros and cons of accepting this deal with Sindri. And so far, they aren't seeing any kind of problem. Not only would they have a means of travelling across the NetherRealms, they would also be able to obtain items at reduced costs.
"You got yourself a deal Sindri-san. To be honest, we didn't have anything doing here," said Naruto.
Hearing the positive response, Sindri grabbed Naruto's hand and shook it happily "Oh thank you very much, you won't regret it! Now without further ado, allow me to open a portal to our next destination,"
Sindri reached into his pocket and took out a gray stone with a strange symbol etched into it, he traced a finger along the etchings which made it glow with blue energy before tossing it away. The stone hovered in the air for a moment before shattering with the pieces rearranging themselves to form a door archway with a vortex swirling within it.
"Now, if you two would follow me this way, please…," Sindri stepped through the newly formed portal, Naruto and Kurama exchanged looks before following after the merchant. The portal soon dissipated with the stone pieces clattered to the ground afterwards.
"We have arrived!" Sindri announced as he emerged from the portal into the destination with Naruto and Kurama exiting after him "Allow me to welcome you to Poisondise,"
Judging from the sight of the landscape, the duo finds this NetherRealm bearing similarities to that of a beach resort except that it's demon style; the beaches are comprised of grinded bones, palm trees bearing orange skull-shaped coconuts, and oceans of pink water which made them feel rather wary of it.
"Huh, kinda reminds me of the beaches of the Crescent Kingdom where I came from. But what's with the pink water? I'm kinda feeling weirded out by it,"
"I can understand your worry and for good reason too, the waters around here are actually and strong ones at that. I've read about experts proficient in the matters of poison reside here in spite of this place not being one of the large NetherRealms known so far," Sindri explained.
"Now I see what they did with the name…this place is literally a poisonous paradise," Kurama deadpanned.
Sindri nodded in agreement "Indeed, they were quite on the noise with the name. Now then, I'll be off to find anyone who would be interested in purchasing my wares,"
"In that case, we'll catch ya later while we check out the place," said Naruto.
Sindri missed a step and stumbled a bit before sharply turning to Naruto with surprise "W-Wait, you're not coming along with me?"
"Not really, just stay out of trouble and I'm sure you'll be fine," Kurama snorted.
"But what if I were to be attacked by the Lost while you're not around to protect me?"
Naruto smiled assuredly "You don't have to worry about that, I've memorized your aura and can sense if you're ever in danger then we'll be there immediately to help you,"
Sindri was still hesitant about their temporary separation "Are you sure?"
"Yup, I'll definitely keep to the deal that we made,"
"…very well then, I hope to see you all soon,"
"Just go about your business squeaky, while we go about ours," said Kurama.
"You needn't be so rude,"
"Ignore him, your reaction rather encourages him to continue," Naruto explained as he walked away with the kitsune grumbling on his shoulder.
Naruto and Kurama explored the place while making sure to avoid any form of liquid that doesn't qualify as edible. Silver-haired Nephalem is still coming to terms with the fact that he's in hell to actually help fight against a powerful being which is weird since he's a nice guy overall and yet here he is. He was snapped out of his thought upon hearing a conversation, causing him to look around and realize that he had walked into a resort and there was a zombie and slime chatting with each other.
"Didja hear the rumor?" asked the zombie.
The slime gurgled in response "I sure did, if you don't wash your hands for a whole year, you'll win the golden glove award, right?"
"No you don't, and I don't mean that rumor! I'm talking about the war with the Lost!"
"Oh yeah, I heard that too. The Lost are finally invading Poisondise,"
The zombie nodded in affirmation "Exactly! Our neighbor, the Spirit Interment has been destroyed and now it's our turn,"
Naruto frowned at this "Sounds like the Lost are about to show up here,"
"Let them come, I could always use some chew toys and punching bags," Kurama commented.
No sooner the words left his mouth that multiple portals opened up and many demons emerged from them and began attacking the place.
Naruto glanced at the kitsune perched on his shoulder with a deadpanned expression and muttered "Looks like you got your wish, furball,"
Kurama simply smirked in response "Just the way I like it,"
The zombie freaked out at the sight of the demons "T-They're here! It's the Lost, run!"
"*Sigh* let's just beat these guys up and check up on Sindri-san afterwards,"
"Whatever,"
Naruto quickly dashed forward and immediately positioned himself between the two demons and the Lost army albeit the former was freaking out still.
"Oh no, there's another one!" the slime quivered in fear.
Naruto glanced over his shoulder "Chillax you two, we're not with those but rather are against them. Just stay back while we take care of them," he reached for Force Edge on his back when one of the Lost Soldiers being a Blue Imp recognized him.
"Hold on, I know these two! They're on the Most Wanted list; Dead or Alive and their bounties have been increased for having defeated the Demon General Majorita!" the imp exclaimed, making the rest tense at the information.
"Sounds like we've become even more popular," said Naruto, taking a stance with Force Edge in hand.
Kurama scoffed "Hmph, I'd be offended if that wasn't the case,"
They were getting ready to engage when the two demons behind them began freaking out again.
"Ahhh! More of the Lost are coming from this side too, we're done for!" said the slime.
Quickly looking past the demons, Naruto and Kurama were mildly surprised to see who it was that showed up.
"Hey now, we're not the Lost," said Red Magnus, feeling a bit offended at being grouped with them.
Christo stepped forward "Have no worry, we're the Rebel Army and are here to fight. There's no need to be worried,"
The zombie and slime calmed down a bit but were still unsure if they were telling the truth and so turned to Naruto for confirmation.
"Yeah, those guys are telling the truth. They're…acquaintances of mine," Naruto assured them, even though he couldn't exactly grade them as his friends for the meantime "You two should leave, things are about to get nasty here,"
"Okay, thanks for saving us and don't let the Lost take this place," said the zombie before leaving the area with the slime.
"It's quite a surprise to we have met once more," said Christo.
"I know, but what say we take care of this guys before continuing our chat?" Naruto suggested.
"Of course, Red Magnus is super ready to lay the super smackdown on the Lost" said Red Magnus energetically.
Seraphina laughed haughtily "Oh-hohohohoho! We'll make you suffer. Is that right, Sir Killia?" everyone turned to see Killia sitting cross-legged on the ground and eating a bowl of curry without a care in the world.
"Is this guy seriously eating right before a fight?" asked Kurama in disbelief.
"…H-He's eating again. My, Sir Killia, you're always hungry," said Seraphina with a sweatdrop.
"Come to think of it, I haven't eaten in a while. Hope they have ramen in this place," Naruto muttered thoughtfully.
Suddenly a voice called out from nowhere, grabbing everyone attention "Stop right there, you dastardly Lost!"
"What is it now?!" the imp was feeling aggravated by all this. they traced to voice to see someone familiar to Naruto and the others perched atop the mast of a docked ship nearby.
"A silver white shadow that creates a storm…The Raging Gale Overlord, Zeroken, is here!" Zeroken leapt of the mast with a somersault and landed amongst them before striking a pose.
"Ugh, this kid again?" Kurama groaned in annoyance.
"What is he doing here?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow in confusion.
"What do ya want this time?" asked Killia after finally finishing his meal.
Zeroken was taken aback by the question "What's that supposed to mean? I wasn't able to save you guys from the Lost last time, so…I came to save you all this time!"
…
…
…
"Uhhhh…huh?" Naruto didn't know how to react to the statement which doesn't make a lick of sense.
"You weren't able to save us, so you've come to save us? What's this kid talking about?" asked Red Magnus confusedly.
Seraphina sighed "He clearly appears to suffer from brain defects. How Unfortunate… May the Lord…,"
"You went through all this trouble of following us? How thoughtful of you," said Killia sarcastically.
Naruto added "It's nice and all that you want to help us, but we're not weak and can hold our own,"
"Yeah, we can handle these cannon fodder just fine. So buzz off," said Kurama rudely.
Zeroken got mad at their words and made it known vocally "Shut up! All of you! It's my duty to fight the Lost! Stand down, amateurs!" he turned to Naruto "And the same goes for you two as well, stand back and let me show you how a real warrior fights" Zeroken faced the Lost and took a fighting stance.
A large tick mark appeared on Naruto's head for having been dissed by a nosy kid who came from out of nowhere. Not wanting to take this lying down, Naruto responded "The only amateur who needs to stand back is you kid. Wouldn't want you to get hurt if you can't handle yourself too soon if you're thinking of proclaiming yourself as a 'warrior',"
Even Kurama had something to say "Ignore the brat and just focus on what's in front of you as that he's just a cowardly fool who seeks attention,"
"Grrrrr," Zeroken growled at this but chose to focus his anger towards the Lost, even Naruto felt that Kurama was being a bit too harsh but wasn't too far off either.
Christo was feeling unsure about certain things and spoke to Killia "What should we do, Killia? He may be a universal-endangering ignoramus, but he isn't an enemy. Letting him join the rebel army may be a viable option, but…," he glanced at Naruto and Kurama as they prepared to fight "On that side note, I still believe Naruto is a valuable member we need to convince him to join the rebel army. Not only would we gain a powerful ally member to the rebel army, this would increase our chances against Void Dark and his Demon Generals. But in order to have Naruto's full cooperation of joining us, we need to earn his trust,"
Standing silently with arms crossed and eyes closed, Killia spoke up "You can make all the decisions regarding the rebel army. My only objective is Void Dark,"
Christo nodded as he pushed up his glasses "Very well. Then let us ignore Zeroken, while assisting Naruto as we concentrate on our battle with the Lost,"
Music Start: Street Fighter Alpha 3 OST; Dramatic Battle
Keep in mind that we need to avoid contact with the poisonous ocean, not even with your water walking technique just to be safe," Kurama pointed out seriously.
"Got it," Naruto carefully surveyed the area, taking note of the opponents targeting him; Blue Imps, Slumber Cats and Alraunes "Let's get to it then,"
"Get him!" a Blue Imp dug his fists into the ground and pulled out a large boulder that he lobbed at Naruto with him leaping into the air to avoid but another Blue Imp had thrown another boulder to attack him in midair, confident that he wouldn't be able to evade at that position.
"Trick!" a red demonic aura quickly flashed around his body for a second "Sky Star!" Naruto formed a temporary platform out of demonic energy which he kicked off to propel himself out of the way of the incoming boulder "Kurama, fastball!" the kitsune wasted no time to jump onto Naruto's hand to be thrown towards one of the Blue Imps at highspeed, tackling him to the ground and forming a crater upon impact "Dark Clutch!" he thrust an arm forward to launch a dark ethereal arm to grab one of the Blue Imps then pulled it towards him in the air "Aerial Rave!" he juggled the imp with multiple slashes before driving it to the ground with a Helm Splitter for the finisher.
"Raaahhh!" Kurama roared out as he repeatedly slammed the Blue Imp to the ground when his ears perked up upon hearing a sound and jumped away to avoid a brown blur which slowed down to reveal that it was a Slumber Cat wielding a… "A fish, are you seriously trying to kill me with a freaking tuna? This NetherRealm really is weird,"
"Meow," the Slumber Cat licked its paw for a few moments in a lazy manner before suddenly lunging at him with great speed, Kurama was mildly surprised but remained focused as he was able to keep up even when another Slumber Cat joined the first one as a tag team.
"Tch, I won't be able to hit either of them with the Roaring Cannon of the Paw of the Beast King since they're moving too fast and won't stay still long enough for me to get a hit in. well if they want to play a game of tag, then they're about to find out that the kid's not the only speedster around here. Predatory Strikes!" Kurama buffed up his Atk, Spd and Hit Stats before pursuing the Slumber Cats who were surprised to see him suddenly catch up, consecutively attacking them with his claws and tails. The Slumber Cats suddenly jumped away from Kurama into opposite directions for rapidly dashing towards him to attack in a pincer formation with claws bared to strike which threw up a cloud of dust upon impact. The dust settled to revealed the Slumber Cats being held at bay via their claws having been constrained by Kurama's tails with the kitsune smirking mischievously as he flung them into the poisonous ocean and casually walked away "Let's see that punk kid do any better,"
As for said person, Zeroken was actually proving to be more than just a loudmouth as he was taking on the Lost soldiers with punches and kicks which proved evident that he was well trained in terms of martial arts. He sharply leapt out of the way of a large rock which was thrown by a Blue Imp and was swooping in to attack with the supposed Overlord striking a pose with a wolfish grin on his face.
"Nice try buddy, now's your turn to suffer the consequences of facing the great Zeroken! Triple Strike!" he performed a rolling somersault into the air and drove the Imp's head into the ground with an axe kick and pulled it out with a backflip kick before finishing with a powerful straight punch to the gut. Something caught his eye and he quickly sidestepped right as a thorny vine shot out from the ground where he was standing and turned to see a Floral Beast having been the attacker "You Lost are gonna learn that you can't beat me, Exploding Tiger!" he lashed out with a kick to launch a shockwave to blast the demon away and triggering a burst of wind.
Kurama rolled his eyes as he sat upon a bruised Floral Beast "Such arrogance…,"
Meanwhile, Killia and co were dealing with their own portion of enemies as the former faced down a group of Imps and took a stance "…Purgatory Palm," he unleashed a barrage of punches with fists glowing with red energy before finishing with a final punch that made it appear like he had shattered reality only for a moment before things reverted to normal with the imps lying on the ground battered and burnt before moving on to the next target without so much as giving a second glance.
Laughing loudly whilst in battle, Red Magnus was enjoying himself as he fought the Lost soldier with gusto, grabbing and throwing any demons he could get his hands on regardless of the numbers and attacks aimed his way "Gahahahaha! Feel the super power of the Red Magnus!" several thorny vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around Red Magnus's arms, making him look around to see two Floral Beasts having been the ones responsible before letting out a guffaw "A good attempt but makes no difference, witness the might of Red Magnus!"
He grabbed the vines without even a flinch from the thorns and forcefully yanked to pull the Floral Beasts towards him. Then he grabbed them by the throats and proceeded to perform a double chokeslam on them to the ground and creating craters as a result, Red Magnus flexed his muscles with glee. The forces of the Lost were eventually thinned down to Seraphina facing the last two imps whilst twirling her dual handguns.
"Ohohohohoh! Behold this magnificent gunplay," Seraphina's eyes began to glow as a pink heart-shaped attack started to appear then she twirled her twin pistols as she opened fire into the heart projectile which stunned the two imps. With that, Seraphina pirouetted then let loose a barrage of bullets at the imps, taking them down. Seraphina turned towards the others with a haughty laugh "Not only am I rich, intelligent, and beautiful, but I also possess excellent battle skills…My, I'm terrified of how good I am…!"
Naruto and Kurama deadpanned at her showboating with the former commenting "I'm not sure that I had met anyone who was as arrogant as her back in the Elemental Nations, did I?"
"Nope, and what does she even mean by battle skills? Let me see her face down a goddess then I'll be somewhat impressed," Kurama grumbled.
A sight of moment caught their eyes, making the Hoodhood duo look to see the one of the imps that Seraphina was supposed to have taken down wasn't dead and about to attack her from behind. Apparently, they weren't the only ones to have noticed as Killia called out to her in urgency
"Don't let your guard down! Behind you!" Killia yelled.
"What?" Seraphina turned around to see the injured imp almost upon her.
Zeroken moved in to help "Watch out!"
"Dammit!"
Killia and Zeroken suddenly mirrored stances with flaming auras radiating from their bodies much to the surprise of everyone watching as the latter called out.
"Secret Technique! Annihellation Fireball!" they simultaneously thrust their fists forward to launch their own fireballs towards the imp, instantly killing it upon impact.
"What?" Killia was shocked to see Zeroken having used the same move that he did and it appears that he wasn't the only one.
"This guy has the same move…!" said Zeroken in disbelief.
Music End
"Again, my life has been saved by Sir Killia," Seraphina swooned "…You may make claims to the contrary, but in the end, you are thinking about me. Hehehe❤️," said person sweatdropped at all this.
Zeroken approached Killia with a frown on his face "You…that move! Where did you learn it?!"
"…," Killia looked away, not answering the question.
Seraphina stepped forward to confront Zeroken "So what if he used the same move? Sir Killia fought and risked his life to save me," she brandished her handguns "Sir Killia is mine. If you dare try to accuse him of anything, I won't forgive you,"
Zeroken gritted his teeth in anger "...tch, you thief. It won't take me long to discover the truth," he walked away whilst grumbling.
"I'll take that as a declaration of war," Seraphina started shooting at Zeroken, making him run off.
Christo and Red Magnus approached the two, having witnessed the argument between them and Zeroken.
"What was that all about with that kid calling you a thief?" asked Red Magnus curiously.
"Is it really that rare of a skill?" Christo inquired.
Killia looked down with a thoughtful frown "…I don't know. if even that kid could use it, then it's not that big of a deal,"
Naruto walked over to them whilst placing Force Edge onto his back with Kurama climbing up to his shoulders "Thanks for the help, even though we could have been able to handle them ourselves but still the help is appreciated,"
Killia nodded in response and Red Magnus simply laughed "Of course, it was no problem at all!"
Seraphina placed both hands on her waist and puffed out her chest with pride "Oh-ohohohohoh, what did you expect from me and my servants? My battle skills are second to none!"
Naruto rolled his eyes and shot back with a sarcastic comment "Yeah you sure do, which I must say it's an improvement since it means you must've taken my advice to gain those battle skills huh?" Kurama snickered in complete agreement.
Seraphina glared at Naruto with a tick mark on her head as she took out a handgun and started shooting at Naruto with said person easily evading her shots with his honed reflexes until she ran out of ammo and he stood there grinning at her.
"If this were a battle and I was your enemy, I'd have been dodging your shots till you ran out of bullets or moved in while dodging to disarm then outright kill you. You need to work on that," Naruto explained.
"Who are you to lecture me like that?" Seraphina retorted.
"The kid's giving you useful advice, I suggest that you take it into consideration," Kurama pointed out.
"Anyways, we'll be going so see ya," Naruto turned around and began walking away.
Christo called out to him hastily "Please wait a moment, may I ask where you are going to?"
"To meet up with an acquaintance of mine, need to make sure that he's doing okay with these Lost guys roaming around right now,"
"Surely, you must have given thought to what we had spoken of last time, about joining the Rebel Army? I'm most assured to you will be a great member and our chances of defeating Void Dark will increase dramatically with your help,"
Naruto stood there for a few moments with his head slightly lowered in thought but responding "I'll think about it and will let you know once I'm ready with my answer to your invitation," he began walking but stopped again "And another thing Seraphina, make sure that you work more on gaining your battle skills as you're at least getting better but don't let that go to your head which almost cost your life was it not for Killia & Zeroken getting rid of the imp whom you had failed to finish off due to boasting a lot. Be more aware of your surroundings while you're at it, it'll save your life," with that said, he left the area.
Seraphina stood there with her arms crossed and was fuming at how this male was lecturing her about things that are none of his business, but the three male demons were in silent agreement with what Naruto had said before they all left for Seraphina's pocket netherworld.
Naruto and Kurama were currently moving through the pathway and having a conversation about how the battle went as they were tracking down Sindri through his aura, Naruto was holding Force Edge in front of him and observing the blade thoughtfully.
"I'm getting used to wielding Force Edge with every battle I take part in," said Naruto.
"I can tell by observing you, but don't forget about your ninja training as well as your Nephalem powers. Another thing is that you need more weapons, especially ones with long range," Kurama pointed out to his partner.
"Well, we collected a lot of HL along the way and from those guys so I ask Sindri-san for weapons that we could u-," Naruto suddenly snapped his head towards where he's sensing Sindri's aura and was currently detecting his fear "Looks like Sindri-san's in trouble…again,"
"Let's get there but they decide his expiration date being sooner than later," said Kurama.
Naruto broke into a run at his true speed towards Sindri's location and soon found the dwarfish merchant in a rather grim situation being that he was currently held at gunpoint by a gunner who appears to be the squad leader of a mixed group of imps and orcs.
"Last chance shorty, hand over your stuff or I fill you up with health," the gunner threatened.
"And my answer remains the same, I won't part with my wares unless you paid for them," said Sindri adamantly, despite the fact that he's sweating profusely.
"In that case…," the was click as the gun was pressed onto the dwarf's forehead "You're not useful to us alive," Sindri closed his eyes and waited for h-
*WHAM*
There was a cry of pain and a body slamming against the ground hard, Sindri slowly opened his eyes to see a familiar back and a certain fox perched on his shoulder then immediately recognizing who it is.
"Sorry about the lateness, was dealing with the Lost at my side before coming here," said Naruto sheepishly.
Sindri let out a sigh of relief "Well, better late than never although you had cut it a bit too close right now,"
Kurama scoffed "We can make up for that by beating the snot out of these guys,"
The Gunner struggled back to his feet, groaning in pain before giving an order "Get that punk and his furball!"
The imps began to attack with some of them flinging stones at Naruto and Kurama whilst others casted Wind spells, Kurama leapt off of Naruto's shoulders and used the Roaring Cannon to destroy the incoming rocks and reducing them to harmless pebbles. Naruto himself took action by utilizing one of the Styles he learnt from the memories within the Force Edge
"Royalguard!" demonic energy flashed around Naruto's body for a moment while he took on a defensive stance and began blocking the incoming with minor movements of his forearms. Apparently, the concept of the style is to defend against attacks and absorbing small portions of overall damage into storage before unleashing it in a powerful counterattack by applying a layer of demonic energy on the skin's surface. Naruto continued to block the incoming attacks and storing up energy whilst Kurama intercepted the larger attacks by using either the Roaring Cannon or the Paw of the Beast King.
"What's with these guys? They're countering our attacks without even flinching!" said one of the imps, feeling frustrated.
Naruto smirked as he noted movements from behind the imps and orcs "Yeah, cause you guys will be doing to the flinching for us," the next thing they knew was that multiple hands burst out from underground to grab their legs and proceeded to pull them inside before they can react, leaving the gunner alone to face.
"W-What just happened?" asked the gunner in shock.
"Oh, your team of demon have just lost and also…," Naruto disappeared in a blur and reappeared before the gunner with a palm in his stomach "…so have you, Release!" he unleashed all of the energy he had stored up from blocking the previous attacks, it was needless to say that the gunner was taken down instantly.
Naruto began to walk away when he noticed something glowing at where the gunner used to be, he took a closer look and came upon two firearms. The first on appears to be a revolver type equipped with a scope and has a camo color scheme on it. The second one however is a pistol with a double barrel and yet appears to have been designed more for speedy attacks and lesser emphasis on power. Naruto picked up the guns before approaching Sindri who gasped in shock upon seeing them.
"Oh my, it appears that you have come across truly rare and valuable weapons," said Sindri.
"You know them?" asked Kurama curiously, whilst looking at the two firearms.
Indeed, the revolver is called the Anaconda and it is quite known for its high accuracy and capability to inflict incredible damage. It is an ideal weapon to use in midrange combat. As for the other one; its name is Over-Drive which is a pistol with twin rotating barrels. It's level of damage is quite low for any regular pistol but its high rate of rate more than makes up for it," Sindri explained.
Naruto held up the guns to look at them thoughtfully "So, the Anaconda is kinda like the kunai whilst the Over-Drive is similar to the shuriken I normally used," he began having vision when he saw the man with the red coat wielding a pair of handguns and killing demons in ways that can be considered works of art "These could be of use to me down the road,"
"Absolutely, though I wouldn't mind taking them off your hands at a good price,"
"No thanks, they're staying with me,"
Sindri nodded in understanding "In that case, may I offer a specialized holster for you to hold your weapons amongst other things?"
Naruto crossed his arms in thought before shrugging his shoulders "Might as well, plus the stuff which I've been getting from beating the Lost is just taking up space and I don't really need them anyways,"
Sindri clapped his hands happily "Splendid, nothing makes a merchant happier than doing business with his customers!"
Sure enough, Naruto sold the drops he had to Sindri and also bought a pair of thigh holsters for his newly acquired guns, practicing on how to draw and holster them whilst imitating the postures he saw on the recent vision. He also made sure to sell the items he had picked up from his fights to gain some HL along the way for a rainy weather. They were just about done when Kurama spoke up about something.
"So, heard anything interesting while we were gone?" asked Kurama curiously.
"Actually yes, I overheard something rather interesting from a group of Lost during my search for customers. It seems to be a rumor of sorts spoken amongst them," said Sindri.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "A rumor?"
"They spoke of a long-lost sword with the power to cut open dimensional rifts with a single slash, but some found it to be nothing more than a myth. But then again, there is the possibility of its existence especially you're in possession of a sword that was supposed to be a myth,"
"Did they mention the name of the sword?"
"I heard them call it Yamato,"
At the mention of the name, Naruto felt Force Edge tremble on his back and suspected that it might have a link to the sword plus the ability to cut open dimensional portals would be of use to him "I'll keep it in mind and see if I can't find it along the way,"
"But the chances of finding such a weapon are one in a million," Sindri pointed out to him.
Kurama scoffed "One thing you should learn about this kid is that what you don't expect to happen will definitely happen when you're with him,"
"I see…,"
"I'll scope out the place for a bit longer, I'm sensing the Lost around here. It's best that you find a place to hide while we deal with them, we could get some info about Yamato while we're at it," said Naruto thoughtfully.
"An astute suggestion, the Lost are really being bad for my business wherever I go,"
"Alright then, we'll meet up again later to head for our next destination," said Naruto before walking away from Sindri with the merchant going to look for a place to lay low while the Lost are still around.
Meanwhile Naruto and Kurama were scouting out the area they were currently at in search for the Lost or anything of interest. They were also having a conversation about the Yamato and were theorizing that Sparda must have in possession of other weapons besides Force Edge. They were brought out of their conversation when Kurama saw someone familiar and brought it to his partner's attention.
"Hey look over there, isn't that not the brat?" asked Kurama.
Naruto glanced over to see that it really Zeroken "You're right, let's go see what he's up to,"
"Nothing worthwhile, I'll bet,"
"…maybe,"
Approaching the supposed Overlord, Naruto called out to him "Hey, what's up with ya?"
Zeroken turned around and was mildly surprised to see them "What are you guys doing here?"
Kurama quirked an eyebrow "That's what we want to know, seeing you here,"
"You two will have to wait and find out, I'm sure they'll be here soon," said Zeroken.
"Who, the Lost?" asked Naruto curiously.
As he spoke, a pink swirling portal materialized and a group of demons familiar to him stepped out of it; it was Killia and the other Overlords. Naruto couldn't help but wonder just why Zeroken is being so fixated on them.
Red Magnus looked around and frowned upon seeing Zeroken "Ah! It's the kid again! And Naru's here as well?"
Naruto waved a hand "Sup,"
Zeroken growled a response "Shut up! Don't call me a kid, old man!"
Kurama spoke to Zeroken "Alright kid, what exactly did you do to warrant their attention?"
"Stop calling me a kid! I just gave them a little surprise of sabotaging their Dimension Gate,"
Naruto was surprised to hear this while Killia spoke up with his arms crossed "I figured it was you,"
Zeroken turned to face Killia "If you got this far, that means you're no ordinary thief," he stepped forward to confront him "In that case, I'll tear off your disguise,"
Seraphina brought out her guns and started shooting at Zeroken who had to dodge to avoid getting shot, unfortunately for Naruto who was starting within range, he too had to dodge the incoming bullets much to his annoyance.
"Whoa! Th-That was close… Whaddaya think you're doing?" asked Zeroken.
He wasn't the only one as Naruto chipped in with Kurama growling "Watch who you're shooting at, Princess trigger fingers!"
Seraphina nonchalantly put away her handguns without any sign of remorse "Your great at dodging just like Naruto, I see. I was just paying you back for playing that cheap trick in my pocket Netherworld," she turned to the Nephalem "As for you Naruto, well, it was unintentionally as you were in the way but I wanted to get back at you from you talking down on me earlier anyways. Oh-ohohohohoh!"
Naruto shook his head with a frown while Kurama scoffed at her petty/stupid reason for shooting at them 'accidently'. Suddenly, everyone heard footsteps and turned to see a large group of Lost soldiers approaching them.
Christo pushed up his glasses "The Lost soldiers are here. They must've heard the gunshots and came to investigate,"
Kurama glared at Seraphina "Nice job there, pinky! This is your fault you attracted unwanted attention!"
Said person was sweating at what she did and tried to laugh it off "O-Oh-ohohohohoh! I was able to lure them here, just as I planned,"
"…Liar," Kurama retorted with a deadpanned expression, ignoring the girl's glare towards him.
However, the Lost weren't the only ones to make an appearance. Another group of demons which Naruto identified to be Mothman descended towards them with the leader being of a different color unlike the others.
"Huh!? What's going on here? Are they from Poisondise?" Red Magnus was rather confused about all this.
Christo pushed up his glasses thoughtfully "It appears that the situation has become quite chaotic,"
The leading Mothman demon announced himself "Hehehehe…I am Hedler, the Overlord of Poisondise. Hehehehe…if my beloved Poisondise is going to fall under the Lost's control, then I'd rather turn it into a poisonous wasteland!"
Christo was taken aback in shock "What!? Hold on a second! We are not the Lost!"
Unfortunately, Christo's words went unheard due to Hedler flapping his wings rapidly to release green spores towards everyone in the vicinity., killing some of the Lost Soldiers almost instantly and missing Zeroken and Naruto since they got out of the way in time much to everyone's shock at the actions of the Poisondise's Overlord.
"Th-This is…! The land is tainted with poison!" said Seraphina in shock.
Zeroken saw that things were not going well "This isn't good! I'll just fall back for now!"
Naruto watched Zeroken leave the battlefield in disbelief and Kurama scoffed "Kid claims to be an Overlord and yet acts the complete opposite of the title,"
Christo's eyes narrowed in focus "…The Overlord of Poisondise is very weak in terms of power, but he can use all sorts of poison! With the appearance of the Overlord, the situation here has gotten very complicated!"
But Red Magnus laughed boisterously "Bwah-hahahaha! It's fine! This is a party, so let's party! Red Magnus is gonna super turn it up!" he brandished a spear in anticipation.
"This situation…What shall we do, Sir Killia?" asked Seraphina unsurely.
Ever calm, Killia closed his eyes and crossed his arms in silence before speaking up "…This is more trouble than I expected, but it doesn't change what I've gotta do, which is destroy the Lost,"
"Hey! If you guys are done talking or worried then get ready! Here they come!" Naruto called out whilst grabbing Force Edge from his back and taking on a combat stance with Kurama standing next to him and growling in anticipation like Red Magnus.
"Hn…,"
That guy did not just grunt like an Uchiha, did he?" Kurama inquired in disbelief.
"Now's not the time,"
Music Start: Yakuza Kiwami OST; Flirt with Bomb
"So, what's the game plan besides the default being to take down the Lost?" Kurama inquired whilst observing the enemies and identifying them with Naruto doing the same thing. There the usual Imps, Orcs and Slumber Cats but there were also new additional enemies being Nether Nobles wielding single-edged axes and appear to be much stronger compared to the others.
Naruto hummed thoughtfully "…alright then, we'll do the usual except fighting the Overlord and his Winged Warriors since they're not our enemies,"
"And if they attack us?"
"Defend yourself and avoid engaging them any further, plus…," Naruto sharply flung a handful of shuriken without looking to strike the ground in between a Slumber Cat and a Winged Warrior, making the former stumble backwards in shock "We need to protect them from the Lost as well,"
"That's a pretty tall order for someone like me," Kurama retorted.
"True, but not unreasonable as they aren't our enemies," he brought out his Shakujo and twirled it with one hand before taking a stance "Nothing we can't handle,"
"If you insist, could use the challenge anyways,"
Naruto smirked "I figured you would, been wanting to try out some new moves myself. Trickster!" he dashed forward, whilst evading the rocks thrown at him and the Star Spells being launched his way "Mustang!" he disappeared in a blur and reappeared before an imp in midair with his Shakujo raised before bringing it down on the demon's head and sent it plummeting into the sea of poison. Naruto performed a Sky Star to propel himself away from the poisonous sea and landing safely on the ground.
Hearing fluttering from above, Naruto looked up to see a Winged Warrior flapping its wings and expelling yellow and greenish spores down at him "Whoa!" he quickly dashed out of range before glaring at the demon "Cut that out, I'm not your enemy here!"
"Enemy is enemy!" the Winged Warrior chirruped and was about to attack again, Naruto groaned in annoyance and was about to speak up when he saw movement behind the demon before realizing what it was.
"Look out, behind you!" Naruto called out in alert. The Winged Warrior turned round to see an Imp having snuck up to it and was about to attack "Dark Clutch!" an arm of demonic energy suddenly grabbed the imp and pulled it towards Naruto whose fist was reared back before delivering a powerful punch to the face which sent the imp flying far from them.
The Winged Warrior looked at Naruto in confusion "Enemy beat other enemy?"
"Like I said earlier, I'm not your enemy. Now if you will excuse me, I'm off to beat up some more bad guys," said Naruto before blurring away towards his next targets, leaving the demon to hover there in mild confusion.
Meanwhile, Killia and co were dealing with their own portion of problems involving both the Lost and having to deal with Hedler's recklessness in attempting to poison the entire NetherRealm in an attempt to protect it. Killia went on ahead to engage the Poisondise Overlord with Christo coming along to assist him whilst Seraphina and Red Magnus stayed back to deal with the Lost.
"Hehehehehe…it doesn't matter if they're a grunt or a Demon General, they're all helpless against my poisons," Hedler chittered as he saw two of his 'enemies' approach him "This one rots your intestines…this one is so painful, that you will beg for death. Which one would you prefer? Hehehehehe!"
"…looks like the poisons have gone to his head too," said Killia in reaction to Hedler's behavior.
Christo pushed up his glasses "Well, he is an Overlord level specialist when it comes to poisons. I could work some great strategies around him,"
"You planning on recruiting this thing? It seems like it will end up poisoning its allies too...," said Seraphina doubtfully, shooting down a couple of imps from the sky before planting a bullet in between an orc's eyes without looking.
Red Magnus grabbed hold of a weakened Nether Noble and finished it off with a deadly powerbomb before putting up a response "Huh? Who cares about poison, it just upsets your stomach for a while after you eat it,"
"Unlike you, I'm built rather delicately. Could you not classify us in the same category?"
Christo had to point out the reason to recruit "Currently, our rebel army are short of members. We can't afford to be picky about this, so let's recruit him,"
"Hmph, do as you like…," Killia replied before snapping back into focus.
"What are they mumbling about?" Kurama muttered lowly before shaking his head "Not like it's my business to begin with, better get back to having fun,"
A Nether Noble stepped forward and brandished his axe with a scoff as his group of orcs stood behind him "The only form of entertainment for you will be serving as a furry belt for my waist, you little mongrel,"
"And I wanna know what milk from a demonic cow tastes like, but I don't think that's possible from you,"
"Why you…kill that animal and I shall reward you!" the Nether Noble commanded, the orcs rushed towards Kurama with their spiked maces raised to attack.
"Yeah, skip the talk and actually try to get me!" Kurama grinned widely before rushing back at them while in the size of a wolf. He ducked under the swing from an orc and retaliated by smacking it to the side with some of his tails, few of the tails extended to grab the arm of an orc that was sneaking up from behind him "You piggies really like sneak attacks, so obvious. Wild Whirlwind!" Kurama extended his nine tails as well as enlarged them whilst spinning like a top, striking all surrounding enemies and knocking them away from him "Here's a bonus, Paw of the Beast King!" he swung one of his paws as it enlarged to a giant size in an arc to attack but the Nether Noble stepped forward to intercept by actually grabbing the enlarged paw then swung Kurama around to slam him to the ground "Alright…I'll let you have that one,"
"Like I needed your permission, attack now!" the Nether Noble commanded, the orcs casted multiple Star spells, forcing Kurama to wrap his tails around himself for defense.
Whilst the onslaught continued, Kurama felt something strange happening to him; every time he was getting hit; some sort of heat gradually builds up within him and his fur was turning red "What's going on with me?" he was snapped out of his thoughts by the sounds of heavy footsteps rushing towards him. He jumped to the side in time to avoid a cleaving strike from the Nether Noble but had to block a follow-up attack with his tails, even then the burning heat within him grew stronger and his fur turned even redder to the point that white vapor leaked out from his lips "It's like a burning sensation that's demanding for release, in that case…," Kurama let himself be flung backwards and land a fair distance with a skid "…I'll just have to release it!"
"This is your end!" the Nether Noble rushed to end the fight with a decisive blow.
"RAAAHHHH!" Kurama opened his mouth to release a powerful swirling stream of white flames that has a red-orange flame spiraling around it. The attack engulfed both the Nether Noble and the orcs before they could react to it with the aftermath being nothing more than ashes in its wake "Whoa…just what was that attack that I just did?" then a screen popped up before him.
New Skill:
Crimson Blazer: reduce all enemies to ashes with a fiery power which increases with every damage taken but resets once used.
"A new move huh? I'm loving it already!" Kurama turned to his next targets with a grin "Now I'm in the mood for some barbecue!"
Back with Naruto, he was dealing steady damage against the imps and orcs but the former has now resorted to attacking from a distance to force himself into a defensive role and the latter to lay the pressure on him much to his growing annoyance.
"Alright, that's it! Time to bust out the new hardware!" Naruto leapt up from the enemies to put away his Shakujo then unholstered his newly acquired firearms "Anaconda…Over-Drive, mind introducing yourselves?"
One of the orcs scoffed "If you're going to use guns then all we have to do is close the distance an-,"
*WHAM*
Anything that the orc was going to say was disrupted due to a foot to the face courtesy of Naruto who kicked off into the air with a backflip, shooting down two additional orcs before landing on the ground with both guns held out "Normally, you'd be right about that but I've learnt to deal with both long range and close-range fighters, as I'm about to show you!"
He dashed forward, darting from side to side in avoiding the large rocks flung by the flying imps and the Star spells casted by the orcs until he reached an orc who swung its mace at him but he jumped to dodge it before stepping on the demon's head to launch himself further into the air with a chakra boost to reach the imps quickly enough "Gunslinger!" he triggered his newest style "Rain Storm!" he proceeded to spin around whilst shooting rapidly before flipping himself upside-down and continue to spin and shoot during his descent towards the ground below before landing with a roll with the guns out of ammo.
"He's out of bullets, get him before he reloads!" said one of the imps before the others began rushing towards Naruto.
The Nephalem ejected the empty clip from Over-Drive to clatter to the ground before tossing it into the air and holstering Anaconda, then he reached into his ninja pouch and flung a handful of kunai before forming a handsign "Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu!" he watched as they multiplied into a thousand copies of the originals before turning the majority in pincushions. However, a Nether Noble powered through the attack and rushed at Naruto, swinging his axe to bisect the ninja before he could react. The demon's look of glee suddenly changed to confusion when the bisected corpse was consumed in white smoke which dissipated to reveal two pieces of a wooden log. The next thing he knew was that he heard a gun click and looked up only for a bullet go right in between his eyes then collapsing to the ground afterwards.
"None have saved a shinobi's life many times like the great log!" Naruto declared proudly, having used the Substitution jutsu to dodge then grab the thrown Over-Drive to reload it for a counterattack, he spun round to face his next opponents with Over-Drive in one hand and a kunai in another "Shot up, sliced to bits or bashed black and blue…take your pick,"
Christo observed Naruto's battle with keen insight "Oh my, it appears that he is just as skilled in gunplay or even better than Seraphina. It might explain why he was lecturing her so much,"
"I gotta say that he's super amazing with those guns! He just keeps on being cooler every time," said Red Magnus with an excited grin.
"…," Killia said nothing but gave a small nod of agreement in regards to what they were talking about.
"Who does he think he is? Such arrogance!" Seraphina grumbled with no small amount of envy in her voice "There is no one who can be better than me other than well…me!"
"Here I come, Trick! Mustang!" after switching styles, Naruto disappeared in a blur to reappear in midair above an orc before driving its head into the ground with an axe kick. He dashed in and out of range of the attacks from the demons that tried to swarm him with numbers all the while slashing at them with his kunai held in a reverse grip "Demonic Howl!" Naruto opened his mouth to unleash a powerful roar which sent the demons tumbling away from him before he accessed his holy energy "Angel's Judgement!" he thrust a hand to the air to call forth a pillar of holy light but then the holy energy surged suddenly much to his surprise before two pillars of light appeared to orbit around him in a circle before spiraling outwards to repeatedly attack the demons and damaging them greatly with their weakness.
Naruto landed on the ground and looked at his glowing hand in confusion "What just happened? I was expected to summon one not two," in response to the question, a screen popped up from him to read.
Skill Upgrade
Demonic Howl: unleashes a powerful roar which inflicts damages as well as reduces speed and defense
LV 2 Ability: Reduces Def and SPD of affected targets.
Angel's Judgement: calls forth a pillar of holy power from the heavens down upon the target.
LV 2 Ability: Summons 2 pillars for radial damage.
"So my skills have upgraded, must have been because of the battles I've taken part in so far. Maybe fighting in more battles will strengthen my skills and probably learn new ones," Naruto clenched his kunai tightly with a growing smile "I think Kurama's habit has rubbed off on me to be feeling this excited,"
Back with Killia and his group, they were able to take down the surrounding Los soldiers as well as suppress Hedler and his Winged Warriors, preventing him from trying to poison the entire NetherRealm.
"H-hehehehehe…you guys are reckless, charging in to challenge my beloved poisons without hesitation…," Hedler looked at the group, impressed by their actions.
"You didn't want Void Dark to take your Netherworld so badly, you wanted to cover it in poison…you must be reckless too," Killia responded.
"Even famous Overlords have trembled in fear at the names of Void Dark and the Lost," said Seraphina thoughtfully "Contrary to its looks, I can see that it's a stout Overlord,"
Hedler smiled at her compliment, even if she didn't really mean it "Hehe…that's the first time anyone has ever said that about me. The neighboring netherworlds have always despised us, considering us to be a weak Netherworld. That's why I trained in skills that use poison, I won't lose to anyone hehehehehehe…,"
"We are the rebel army; would you like to join us in defeating Void Dark?" Christo wasted no time in extending an invitation to the Poisondise Overlord.
"Rebel army? Defeating Void Dark? Hehehehehe, are you serious?"
Red Magnus nodded in affirmation "Seriously serious! Red Magnus is super serious!"
Hedler giggled in response to the offer "Hehehehe…interesting. Alright, I'll give Void Dark a dose of my beloved poisons,"
"Then welcome to the rebel army," Christo nodded affirmation.
"Hehehehe…by the way, is that guy and his fox a part of your army?"
Seraphina scoffed "Hardly, just a peasant acting the fool,"
Music End
Naruto and Kurama approach the group whilst seeing them send Hedler through a portal to who knows where along with his Winged Warriors before deciding to call out to them "Hey guys, what was that all about?"
"We were able to recruit yet another Overlord into our army in spite of the situation having escalated at first," Christo frowned in thought "Though I can't help but feel that we're forgetting about something,"
"I don't know, but if you forgot about it. Then it's probably not that important," right as Killia said this, a familiar voice let out a battle cry.
"HIYYYAAAH! TAKE THIS!"
Killia raised a hand to catch an incoming punch without looking turning to glance at the attacker who was none other than Zeroken "…if you're gonna attack someone from behind, you need to be quieter about it,"
"Kinda obvious really," Naruto shrugged in agreement.
Zeroken scoffed whilst stepping back to take a combative stance "Keh, let's see how long you can keep talking with that big mouth. I'll get you!" he lunged at Killia to attack Killia with the latter perfectly mirroring his moves much to his already grown aggravation and made it known to everyone watching "I'm going to ask you one last time, where did you steal those moves from!?"
Killia shook his head in response "I didn't steal them from anyone, and I have no intentions to tell you where I learned them,"
Naruto looked at the two with a small frown on his face "Strange, it appears that neither of them are lying from what I'm sensing,"
Zeroken gritted his teeth at the response "Kuh! Alright then, eat this! Final Technique-," he raised a clenched fist which started to glow with concentrated energy, actually surprising Killia who seemed to recognize the move.
"That move! Could it be…?"
Killia watched in anticipation as Zeroken unleashed his attack…which only produced smoke and turned out to be nothing more than a mere dud.
Zeroken started coughing from the smoke "I-I'm still perfecting this move! Got a problem with that?"
"Pretty reckless of you to use a technique which you have fully mastered yet in a real fight," Naruto spoke in disapproval.
Kurama looked at him with a quirked eyebrow "Are you seriously saying that? Last I remember; you tried to use an incomplete Rasengan against the Senju woman the first time you had met her,"
"I was a kid back then,"
"Same thing,"
Ignoring the comments and trying to save face, Zeroken turned to Killia with a glare "You, Killia. I'll let you go this time. But we will settle this someday, I am the only one who will carry on Goldion's will!" he ran off before anyone else could put a word in.
Red Magnus approached Killia, looking rather surprised "G-Goldion…? Did that kid just say Goldion?"
Seraphina was feeling the same way about the proclamation "Could he possibly be referring to Goldion the Great Demon Fist? Sir Killia…just who are you?"
"…," Killia didn't say anything, or rather couldn't say anything.
"Um, excuse me but who's Goldion?" asked Christo rather sheepishly with everyone looking at him in disbelief. Had they paid more attention, the group would have noticed that Naruto and Kurama had left them yet again without saying a word.
"I wonder who this Goldion guy they're talking about, he sounds like a big deal around here," said Naruto thoughtfully.
Kurama responded with a shrug "Don't know and don't really care, let's just focus on our next step and think about it later. So, where to now?"
"Might as well meet up with Sindri to go to the next Netherworld since we're pretty much done with Poisondise,"
"And what about the rumor of the Yamato?"
"Well, we don't have much to go on it right now. Here's hoping that my luck comes through and we can get some leads on finding it,"
"Yeah, though your luck is just as unpredictable as you are,"
"I can't deny that…,"
Naruto's Arsenal
Six Paths Shakujo
Basic Ninja Tools
Force Edge - Devil May Cry
Over-Drive - Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Anaconda - Borderlands
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and Kurama were clueless about where to they could go next when the former's luck came into play in them having to rescue a demon merchant who goes by the name Sindri (God of War) from a squad of Lost Soldiers, resulting in striking a deal as a bodyguard and a business partner with a discount. Once arriving at the Netherworld Poisondise, the duo separated from Sindri to check out the place only for it to be attacked by the Lost with Killia and co no sooner arriving to fight them over with Zeroken being a wildcard in the midst of all this. after the battle, Zeroken accused Killia of stealing certain techniques before leaving with a declaration of unveiling the lies.
Naruto and Kurama returned to Sindri only to arrive in time to save him from yet another group of Lost soldiers and acquiring a couple of rare firearms that the former could to train in the Gunslinger style. Another short exploration got the duo and rebel army in yet another fight with the Lost and this time, the Overlord Hedler of Poisondise came into the picture and tried to poison the entire netherworld in an attempt to prevent anyone from taking it over. In the end, Lost were defeated and Hedler was recruited into the Rebel Army. However, there was a short fight between Killia and Zeroken with the latter still demanding on where Killia had learnt those techniques before leaving with the proclamation of possessing Goldion's will.
Now that things are over and done with in the Poisondise Netherworld, the duo begin to make preparations to depart for the next netherworld with they meet up with Sindri. But they would also keep a lookout for the legendary sword Yamato along the way due to its shared history with the Force Edge and its potential being of great use to them.
So, Naruto is finally equipped with guns but that doesn't mean he'll 'forget' about his ninja training but rather combine them in a whole new way as you'll find out in future chapters. Also, Naruto and Kurama will definitely gain some companions along the way. I'll be including the Devil Arms in the story so ears are wide open for suggestions.
PS; the results are in and the readers have gotten their wish…the TMNT will be integrated into the Zenko of DC story, be sure to PM me about what you have in mind for them in the future chapters.
Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.