~ In the shadow of ink strokes, the parchment whispers secrets. In the flutter of fading chakra, worlds unseen begin to bleed. ~
The sun crawled its way down the horizon, painting the sky with streaks of auburn and purple, and crimson rivers streamed through the gaps between the clouds. The wind slithered through the branches and leaves, a snake looking for a mouse to devour. Cicadas screeched. Squirrels chattered. Each breath Naruto took came out as the sigh of a warrior bleeding on the field.
'Mizuki's offer is such bullshit.'
'A second test?'
'Please.'
'I'm not an idiot… No matter what everyone else thinks.'
He picked up a stone and threw it at a tree.
'What's the big deal with the basic clone anyway?'
'I can do everything else.'
'I'd be an amazing fucking ninja.'
'The problems are the stick up Iruka's ass, the fact that the other instructors hate me, and that I refuse to pass by asking the Old Man for a favor.'
He shook his head and made his way towards the town center.
Trees lined up beside him. Sentinels bearing scars and grooves of age and weather. They bore shadows as cloaks under the gaze of the setting sun, whispering tales of ancient earth in hues that echoed the deep, rich soil from which they had sprung. Each crevice in the bark held whispers of the wind, stories of rain and sun, and the touch of countless seasons. As the light dimmed, he ran his hands over the moss, which yielded to his touch with the gentleness of morning mist.
'Thank the gods Mizuki's as much an asshole as everyone else.'
'I have the perfect fucking scapegoat to steal… borrow the Forbidden Scroll for a while.'
'There better be an advanced version of the damn Clone Technique in there, though…'
'Or I'm going to be really fucking pissed off.'
He crossed the edge of the forest, and the whispers of the leaves gave way to cobblestone slick with evening dew. Each droplet caught the moonlight, and the road shimmered as a constellation strewn upon the earth. Windows flickered with light, and doors groaned behind him as if ghosts were creeping up on him. The Hokage Tower loomed in the distance, a mountain of stone and wood reaching for the heavens.
Each step he took towards it echoed in his ears with the boom of an explosive tag going off.
'Is this really a good idea?'
'It's not like there isn't any danger…'
'I really don't want to be branded a traitor…'
He bit the inside of his lip.
'Then again, I can't stay a civilian.'
'No fucking way.'
'I cannot stand those assholes anymore.'
'At least the ninja are nice to me.'
'Well… mostly.'
He entered the Hokage Tower.
Fluorescent lights bathed the lobby in a glow of a haunted mansion. Guards stood at the doorways, staring into space with the blank expressions of statues guarding a king's tomb. A receptionist typed behind a desk, her fingers clicking against the keyboard with the same beat Sakura used whenever Sasuke wouldn't look at her in class. Which was always.
He walked up to her and grinned. "Kimiko! My buddy, my friend, the love of my life!"
She raised a thin eyebrow.
"Admit our love, Kimiko." He crossed his arms as he leaned on her desk. "We're meant to be."
She leaned forward. "Scuttle off, brat. The Hokage is too overworked for your shenanigans tonight."
"What if I have an appointment?"
"You do not."
"What if I want to make one?"
"Do you?"
He fiddled with the hem of his jacket. "Do we have to do this every single time?"
"That depends." The wrinkles littering her face and forehead deepened as she frowned. "Will you ever go through the proper channels?"
"C'mon, Kimiko, you know you love me."
"In your dreams, brat."
He gasped and put a hand to his chest. "You wound me."
Her short, black hair swayed as she shook her head. "Just get up there."
"You'll confess your true feelings one of these days, Kimiko." He ran up the stairs. "Just you wait."
She chuckled behind him.
Two ANBU agents bearing a bear and a tiger mask stood by the office entrance, cloaked in black like wraiths haunting a graveyard. The stench of cigarette smoke drifted beneath the door, a miasma poisoning the air with its foul odor. Red tapestries hung on the walls, their gold threads shining like rays of sunlight through his bedroom window in the morning, and candles glowed like will-o'-wisps on a battlefield.
He waved at them. "He busy?"
The Bear nodded.
"Real busy?"
~ Nod ~
"I guess he wouldn't appreciate me barging in to bother him, huh?"
The Bear shook his head.
"Are you going to stop me from doing it anyway?"
~ Headshake ~
"I fucking love you guys."
Both of them patted him on the head.
He cracked his neck and kicked the door open. "Yo, Old Man!"
The Old Man slammed his papers on his desk, and the sound thundered through the room with the boom of an explosive tag. A scowl stretched across his face, and his wrinkles stretched like the ground in a drought. Smoke rose from the pipe clenched between his teeth, a storm of rings and clouds unfurling in a brooding sky. It billowed in twisting tendrils, writing as if it had come from the heart of a volcano.
"Naruto!" He pointed his finger at him. "How many times do I have to tell you—"
"Yeah, yeah, don't come in without knocking, blah blah blah." Naruto jumped onto his chair, flipped over, and landed on the desk. "So, what's up?"
The Old Man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why are you here?"
"I'm bored." He spread his arms. "Entertain me."
"You're bored."
"Yep!"
"That is why you decided to enter my office unannounced and disrupt my work..." He took a deep breath. "...on graduation day?"
"And to show you a technique."
The Old Man squinted at him.
Wind whistled through the windows, whispering into Naruto's ears as spirits hissed to their victims. The ceiling fan sliced through the air above them, and a candle flickered on Old Man Hokage's desk. The final ray of sunlight shimmered through the curtains, lava flowing down a mountainside, and darkness overtook the sky.
"You're up to something." The Old Man crossed his arms.
"Would I do that to you?" He scanned the room.
'Where's the fucking Scroll?'
The Old Man snorted. "Just tell me what kind of prank—"
"Pranks are so last year." He slid off the desk. "I've moved on to bigger and better things."
'Shit…'
'Where is it?'
'Why does he have so many fucking scrolls?'
"Have you finally decided to take your ninja education seriously?"
"Ouch!" He clutched his chest. "My heart, it hurts. What a wound you've dealt me, Old Man."
The Old Man rolled his eyes. "Enough with the dramatics."
"Fine, fine." He tiptoed to check the highest shelves. "But I do have a technique to show you."
"Naruto, just tell me what you're looking for."
Bookshelves climbed the walls like ivy, heavy with tomes, maps, and scrolls. The desk, a monolith of dark wood, stood as the command center, scattered with papers, stamps, and writing brushes. Shadows loomed in the corners, flickering with the pulse of ideas that have ebbed and flowed within these walls. The musk of leather bound lore and aged paper lingered in the air.
'C'mon…'
'Where is it?'
'Where—'
"Naruto." The Old Man emptied his pipe. "I really don't have the time for this."
'Fuck!'
'What the fuck am I supposed to do—'
'There!'
'Yes!'
'Fucking finally!'
He grinned at the Old Man. "So, can I show you the technique?"
"Is it a prank technique?"
"Nope. Certified ninja art. Can take out an S-rank ninja under the right conditions."
The Old Man massaged his temples. "You know I don't like it when you—"
"Will you just let me do it?"
Old Man Hokage sighed. "Go ahead."
He clapped his hands together and shaped his fingers into the ram sign.
A cloud of smoke erupted around him.
When it cleared, a naked girl held a seductive pose where Naruto used to be. Fog covered her privates, but left her curves bare for all to see. Blonde hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall in the sun, and she winked at Old Man Hokage with cerulean eyes that shimmered under the candlelight.
The Old Man's eyes bulged out of his sockets, and a torrent of blood spurted out from his nose.
He toppled backward, unconscious.
"Mission accomplished."
Naruto dropped the Transformation Technique and went for the Forbidden Scroll.
A wave of cicadas screeched around him. Their voices echoed through the forest, piercing the night as a drill tearing through bone. Wind weaved through the leaves, rustling against branches and twigs as a snake through grass. Darkness swallowed the world, draping the trees and bushes in shadows that writhed around him like a nest of serpents. The full moon pulsed silver, shining above the forest like stage lighting.
Naruto sat down and placed the Forbidden Scroll on his legs.
He pulled on the seal, breaking it with a soft click. The Scroll unfurled around him, rolling across the ground like a carpet on the floor of a palace. Lines of kanji gleamed with the shimmer of moonlight on water. The parchment fluttered in the wind, shaking like a dancer performing in the rain. The scent of ink and dust wafted through the air, clinging to his nose like morning dew upon flowers.
He leaned forward and looked at the names of the techniques.
'The Reanimation Technique requires human sacrifices…'
'The Flying Thunder God needs a mastery of sealing techniques…'
'The Death God seal sounds cool, but it kills the user.'
He frowned.
'Where's the—'
'Ah, there…'
~ The Shadow Clone Technique.
Allows the user to create copies of themselves. These are not illusionary clones as with the lesser versions but solid ones that can interact with the world at will. The clones share the user's intelligence and are capable of sentient thinking. Furthermore, anything the clones experience is transmitted to the user as a memory once the clones dispel.
Warning!
The technique equally splits the chakra between the clones, which means that using this at a larger scale could mean that the user's life could be at risk due to the rapid depletion of chakra. ~
'Solid clones and memory transfer?'
'Fuck yes!'
He looked further down the scroll.
~ Exploding Shadow Clone ~
~ Shuriken Shadow Clone ~
~ Exploding Shuriken Shadow Clone ~
'Shit…'
'That's… '
'Wow…'
'I really need to learn all of them.'
'But, who knows when Mizuki will show up?'
He took a deep breath.
'Right…'
'Shadow Clone Technique first.'
'As long as I figure that out fast enough, the clones can copy everything else on a new scroll.'
'It probably won't take long…'
'An hour.'
'It took me a full fucking hour to master the fucking Shadow Clone Technique.'
'The instructions were so simple too!'
'Make the sign, mold some chakra, and profit. A clone pops up to do your bidding.'
'But no…'
'Nothing can ever be easy for me, no sir.'
'Doesn't matter that the chakra requirements are stupidly huge. I still need a fucking hour.'
'Fuck my chakra control!'
He took a deep breath.
'It's fine.'
'Happy thoughts.'
'Calm thoughts.'
He channeled his chakra and made the sign again.
Smoke exploded around him, and a dozen clones appeared.
"Alright boys..." He grinned. "Time for Operation: Chipmunk. Run back to the village and get us some ink and paper. The money I have on me should've popped up with you, so buy it or steal it. I don't care. Just get it here before Mizuki shows up!"
"Yes, boss!"
The moon crawled its way up the sky, leering at him from above like the eye of the cosmos. The trees cast their shadows upon him, surrounding him as troops protected their commander. Branches swayed in the cool breeze, and the grass gleamed with specks of silver light. The musk of the undergrowth and the dampness of the earth spoke of the untamed, and bark and leaves clung to his nose. The distant pounding of his own heartbeat boomed in his ears.
He looked up at the sky.
'So, if my calculations are correct… hopefully… it shouldn't have taken us more than an hour to copy everything…'
'Whatever, we made it in time before Mizuki—'
~ Click ~
More paper unfurled from the Scroll.
'A secret compartment?'
'Did one of the clones touch something?'
He shrugged.
'However it happened, it was worth checking out at least.'
~ Servant Summoning Ritual
Using the incantation listed below and a catalyst of the user's choice, summoning a Heroic Spirit to fight for you is possible. The ritual requires a summoning circle — a ring of purification carved around a ring of four purging circles, surrounding a ward of summoning — and the blood of any animal to draw it. A picture of the summoning circle is illustrated below for those not competent in the magical arts. However, we warn you not to try if this is the case. The chakra cost is astronomical and impossible for an average human to weather alone. ~
Beneath the text was a picture of a circle filled with weird symbols and a short poem, which must've been the incantation.
'Summon a servant, huh?'
'That could be fucking useful…'
'Then again, I don't have any money.'
'Though, the Scroll does say 'summon', so maybe the Servant won't need money?'
'Whatever.'
'It's too cool.'
'I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.'
"Copy this one as well." He sat down as the clones obeyed.
'Everything's done, thank the gods.'
'Now, I just needed to wait for Mizuki to arrive.'
'Might as well get some training in.'
He inhaled.
Exhaled.
Inhaled.
Exhaled.
His chakra pool stretched into an ocean within him, raging and roaring within the confines of his soul with the screech of wind and the howl of a maelstrom. Currents rampaged through it, and waves upon waves collided like armies on a battlefield. His mind expanded into a labyrinth, walls and pipes of a sewer stretching into a void of darkness.
He focused on the waves and tried moving one.
The ocean moved.
He grabbed a current and tried to change its direction.
The ocean swirled.
He tried to make a whirlpool.
The ocean started spinning.
He kept trying for half an hour, and nothing changed.
'I still can't control my stupid reserves.'
~ Snap ~
He looked to the left.
'Has Mizuki finally—'
"Naruto!" Iruka-sensei crossed his arms. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
'Shit…'
"Yo, Iruka-sensei..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um... Training?"
"Training?!" Iruka-sensei stomped towards him. "You stole the Forbidden Scroll!"
"Technically—"
"Don't you dare try to argue semantics with me."
"Fine, fine." He put his hands up. "I stole the Forbidden Scroll."
Iruka-sensei stopped a few feet away from him. "Give it back."
"Can't do that." He shrugged. "I need to prove to Mizuki-sensei that I passed the secret test."
"What?"
"C'mon, don't tell me you're going to get all pissy about that too. I mean, I'm not the first—"
"Naruto, listen to me." Iruka-sensei knelt in front of him and squeezed his shoulders. "Mizuki lied to you. He wants to use you to—"
The wheeze of metal flying through the air sliced through Iruka's words, and he pushed Naruto away. Blood trickled down his back in a rain of crimson as windmill shuriken pierced his chuunin vest. He trembled, spasmed, and collapsed onto the ground with a thud. He grimaced, and his breaths rasped through his lips.
"Well done, Iruka." Mizuki grinned from the trees. "You managed to find us."
"Naruto..." Iruka-sensei coughed. "Get out of here. Get that Scroll to the Hokage."
"Naruto." Mizuki jumped down. "Iruka's just afraid of you using that scroll."
"Shut up, Mizuki!"
"He thinks you're gonna use it to hurt people." He walked towards them. "He thinks you're going to use it to get your former power back."
'What?'
'Former power?'
'What the fuck is he talking about?'
"Stop it, Mizuki!"
"You see, there's a secret about you that everyone but you knows. A secret no one can utter." He chuckled. But I will tell you the truth."
Iruka-sensei winced and struggled to stand up. "You shut your mouth!"
"Twelve years ago, a monster ravaged this village. It destroyed homes. It killed thousands. Its roar shattered the very fabric of reality. The massacre ended only when the Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to defeat it."
Naruto frowned.
'The story of the Nine-Tails attack?'
'Why would he tell me about that?'
"Mizuki, if you value your life, you'll shut up now." Iruka-sensei stumbled to his feet. "You can still evade the death penalty."
'Death penalty?'
'For telling me about the Nine-Tails?'
'What the fuck?'
"The Fourth defeated the monster by turning it into a human baby." Mizuki pointed at him. "You, Naruto! You're the one who attacked the Leaf. You're the one that killed Iruka's parents. You are the Nine-Tailed Fox!"
His eyes widened.
'That…'
'That can't be right…'
"Lies!" Iruka-sensei stumbled up and started limping towards Mizuki. "He's lying!"
"That's why everyone shuns you." Mizuki kicked Iruka-sensei into a tree. "That's why everyone hates you."
"Naruto, run!" Iruka-sensei struggled to his feet. "Get out of here!"
'I…'
'I am the Nine-Tails?'
"Fortunately for you, you don't have to deal with it anymore." Mizuki pulled another windmill shuriken off his back and started twirling it. "Die, Naruto!"
He threw it at Naruto.
It screamed through the air, and its edges gleamed with liquid silver under the moon. Shadows danced on it, and the stench of iron and sweat strangled Naruto. Coldness crept up his back, seeping into Naruto's veins like venom corroding a wound. His heart thudded against his chest.
'I can dodge it.'
He blinked.
'But… should I?'
'I am the Nine-Tails.'
'I attacked the Leaf…'
'I'm the monster parents tell their kids about at night…'
'Isn't it better if I just… die?'
The shuriken zoomed closer.
He gulped as he stared at the whirring weapon.
'I deserve to die.'
Iruka-sensei flew in front of him, his scream echoing through the forest as a bell ringing through the heavens. Crimson rain poured down on Naruto, warm and thick like lava flowing down a mountainside. Silence choked the air as fog smothering a forest. His eyes shot open. Iruka-sensei collapsed onto the ground, a tsunami crashing upon the shoreline, and the shuriken pierced through both his arms and grazed his chest.
"Well done, Naruto." Mizuki smirked. "You killed the only man who could somewhat tolerate a monster like you."
'What…?'
'Why?'
'Why would he…?'
"Why?" He choked up. "Why, sensei?"
"I hated you too at first, you know?" Iruka-sensei coughed. "How could I not? My parents were dead."
He looked down and pressed his fist into the damp earth.
"For a long time after the attack, I forgot about you. I cried for my parents. I trained. I acted like a clown so people would give me attention." He groaned. "Then I saw you again, the day you enrolled into the Academy."
"Why..." Naruto gulped. "Why are you telling me this?"
"So small, yet so full of anger. I saw right through your happy demeanor and your antics." His brown hair tumbled in the wind. "That's when I knew you weren't the Nine-Tails."
"I... I don't understand..."
"Your eyes bore no malice. No hatred of a higher being trapped by its lessers." He closed his eyes as moonlight gleamed off his forehead protector. "I only saw the righteous rage of a human being that yearned for his peers to acknowledge him."
"I just want you to know I'm being polite here." Mizuki started walking towards them. "I'm being really fucking polite."
Naruto frowned. "How could you possibly—"
"It was your grin." He trembled as blood slithered down his arms. "The same grin as mine. The one that screamed 'pay attention to me'. The one that shouted 'see me for who I am'."
"Iruka, Iruka, Iruka..." Mizuki kicked Iruka-sensei into the air and slammed him into the ground. "Why did you have to interfere?"
Iruka-sensei gasped for breath, and the windmill shuriken jingled as it trembled within his muscles.
"Why bother protecting the demon?" He picked Iruka-sensei up by his neck and glared at him. "It's a blight on this world and it needs to die."
'Iruka-sensei…'
'Iruka-sensei understands me…'
'He…'
'He saw through the mask…'
Iruka-sensei coughed blood at Mizuki. "Go... To… Hell..."
'And this asshole is going to kill him!'
"Oi!" Naruto stood up. "You get the fuck away from him!"
Mizuki laughed. "Or what?"
He frowned and crossed his fingers in the Shadow Clone Seal.
The ocean of chakra inside him split in half, raging currents snarling in opposite directions like hyenas prowling across the savanna for their prey. Spikes tore through the water, and whirlpools roared across its surface. Maelstroms screeched through his chakra coils, crashing upon their walls with the howl of a hurricane. The halves split and then split again. The ocean streamed into currents whirling into the world.
Smoke exploded throughout the forest.
A clone.
Two.
Ten.
Fifty.
A hundred.
A thousand.
Mizuki dropped Iruka-sensei. "Well, that's just not fair..."
"Boys..." Naruto grinned. "Get him."
Beams of moonlight descended from the heavens and crawled over Mizuki's battered form. A touch without weight. A presence without claim. Each ray, a slender finger of the cosmos, traced the jagged lines where flesh met earth, where pain met air. The light broke against the leaves and branches above, falling in patterns of silver and shadow, a mosaic lying upon the canvas of Mizuki's bleeding body. It pooled in the hollows of his injuries, filled the spaces between his labored breaths, and lingered on the edges of his trembling.
"Naruto..." Iruka-sensei threw the extra bandage over the bloody windmill shuriken. "I meant what I said."
Naruto frowned.
"You are not the Nine-Tailed Fox. You are Uzumaki Naruto. You're a brat, a prankster, and a nuisance. You eat way too much ramen and act like an idiot just to annoy people. And you're a huge pain in my ass." He smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair. "You're also kind, determined, and honorable. You have a good heart, Naruto. Never forget that."
"Iruka-sensei..." His eyes watered.
'No one…'
'No one had ever…'
"Now..." Iruka-sensei ambled towards him. "Close your eyes."
He obeyed.
The rustle of fabric broke the air, and metal clinked with the chime of a ceremonial bell. Iruka exhaled and laid the fabric against Naruto's brow, and the steel cooled his forehead even through the cloth. As Iruka-sensei tied the knot, a promise encircled Naruto's head, the resolve of battles to come and dreams to unfurl. Iruka-sensei stepped back, and the ends of the fabric fluttered like the wings of a sparrow taking flight.
Naruto's breath hitched.
'This…'
'This is—'
He opened his eyes.
"You…" Tears ran down his cheeks. "You gave me your forehead protector…"
"Of course." Iruka-sensei hugged him. "After all, every Leaf ninja needs one."
"I... I graduated?"
He laughed. "You've more than passed the requirements."
"I really graduated?"
"Really."
"You're not fucking with me?"
"Naruto..." He sighed. "Just say 'thank you' already."
"Thank you!" Naruto tackled him into a hug. "Thank you so much, sensei!"
"Naruto..." He wheezed. "Not so hard..."
"Sorry, sorry." He stepped back and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I got carried away there."
Iruka-sensei shook his head and chuckled. "Not unusual for you."
He grinned.
'I've graduated!'
'I've finally fucking graduated!'
'I'm a real fucking ninja!'
The full moon pulsed silver above them, shining down upon them like a spotlight on a stage. Trees swayed in the wind, and cicadas screeched in the distance like soldiers celebrating on a battlefield. Grass glistened beneath them, and the faint scent of pine and earth filled the air. Stars twinkled against the darkness of the sky, flickering like candles burning on a shrine, and the clouds drifted through the heavens like ships exploring the ocean.
"Say, sensei..." Naruto plopped down on the grass. "If I'm not the Nine-Tails, how the fuck am I connected to it?"
Iruka-sensei grimaced as he sat down. "What do you know about sealing?"
"Only that it's really fucking complicated."
Iruka-sensei nodded. "It's true that most sealing is too advanced for normal ninja, but there are a few basics that count as required learning. Furthermore, there is one seal every chuunin or above must know."
"Really? Which one?"
"The Storage Seal." He traced a symbol on the ground. "As its name implies, you can store things inside it."
"Makes sense."
"But you can put more than just ordinary items into a Storage Seal. You can also store chakra constructs."
"So?"
"Naruto, the Nine-Tailed Fox is a Tailed Beast." Iruka-sensei stared at him. "A being made of chakra."
Naruto blinked.
'Wait.'
'What?'
'That's how the Fourth defeated the Nine-Tails?'
'He sealed it inside me?'
"Why the hell would he seal the Nine-Tails inside me? Couldn't he have dumped it in a pot and been done with it?"
"For the One Tail? Sure. But the Fox is just too powerful." Iruka-sensei sat down. "The specifics of why you were chosen are far above my pay grade, but I know that it had to be a human child. An adult wouldn't have been able to handle the chakra."
"So, I'm... what? Its storage seal?"
"That's a rather simplified way of looking at it, but yes."
Naruto took a deep breath.
'Okay.'
'So…'
'I have the Nine-Tails inside me…'
He leaned back and gazed up at the stars. They glimmered like diamonds scattered across the heavens, twinkling like will-o'-wisps guiding lost souls through a forest. Their light pirouetted through the void of space. Some burned with white fire. Others offered only a gentle shimmer. A celestial symphony played on the strings of the universe, and stories played out in the forms of the constellations.
Naruto's heart thudded in his chest, and his chakra stirred within him, crashing against his coils in a hurricane of energy.
He looked down at the Storage Seal Iruka-sensei drew.
'I don't feel like storage.'
'I don't feel like a prison for a monster.'
'I feel like me.'
'Like Naruto.'
"Naruto?" Iruka-sensei put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"I..." He sighed. "I guess. It's just a lot to take in, ya know?"
"I imagine so. But, if it makes you feel any better, there's no one I would rather have keeping that beast at bay than you."
"Thanks, sensei." He smiled. "That... That does help."
Iruka-sensei rubbed his shoulder. "Now, what do you say we take Mizuki and the Scroll to Lord Hokage?"
"Sure thing." He grinned. "I'm starving for some—"
"Yo, boss!" A clone ran up to him. "Can you come over real quick?"
Naruto frowned. "What is it?"
"Just come over." He turned and ran back into the forest.
"Naruto?"
"One sec, sensei." He stood up. "Be right back."
"Alright."
He followed the clone. His footsteps crunched against grass and pebbles, and a shroud of mist embraced the trees. The air cut through fabric and flesh, whispering of ice and frost. Bushes shifted. Branches snapped. His skin tingled with goosebumps, and the scent of earth and pine lingered in his nose. He shivered, and his breaths rose into the night in ribbons of silver fog. His lungs clenched around his ribs, and his stomach twisted as if a nest of cobras waiting to strike.
"Boss."
"Yeah, I'm here."
He stepped forward and froze.
Blood coated the clearing, drenching into the earth in circles and lines from the illustration in the Scroll. A ring of purification carved around a ring of four purging circles surrounding a ward of summoning.
'The Servant Summoning Circle.'
'Shit…'
"So..." The Clone scratched the back of his neck. "Um... We did a thing..."
"No shit? What the fuck am I supposed to do with it?" He poked the Clone. "Do you want the Old Man to sniff out what we did?"
"Oh, come on, like you're going to get permission to do it later."
"Yes, I am."
"Dude... this shit was in a secret compartment of the fucking Forbidden Scroll." The Clone crossed his arms. "Forbidden. Tonight's the only chance you have to get this by the Old Man, and you know it."
"Fuck are you on about?"
"Think about it." The Clone tapped his head. "Everything's super fucking tense right now. Not only did Mizuki 'betray' us, we learned that we hold the fucking Nine-Tails. We're super fucking emotional right now."
"Um... Are we though? The talk with Iruka-sensei really—"
"No, no, no, think about it. We're emotional. And what do people do when they're emotional?"
"Shit..." Naruto blinked. "You're right..."
"Of course I am, I'm you."
He snorted. "Smartass."
"Anyway..." The Clone rolled his eyes. "We do it tonight, and the worst the Old Man does is yell at us a bit. I guarantee it."
"Right..." Naruto kneeled next to the circle. "How many of you are left anyway?"
"Shouldn't you know? You get all our memories when—"
"Fuck you. I absorbed almost a thousand fucking clones. Just tell me."
"Around fifty... ish."
"Good, that's enough. One of you goes with Iruka-sensei to take the Scroll back. The rest disperse around the village." He stood up and looked at the moon. "When I start the ritual, everyone flares their chakra as much as possible until they pop. You'll stay here and dispel to give the signal."
"Roger that."
All the other clones rushed away.
"Give me the paper with the incantation." Naruto sat and leaned against a tree. "Might as well use the time we have to wait."
The remaining clone obeyed.
Naruto cracked his neck.
'Time to get to learning.'
The scent of moss and rotting wood rose from the trees, fallen logs, and the forest floor, mixing in a blend of life and decay that murmured of nature's endless cycle. Dampness flew with the smells, a tapestry springing from threads of green and growth and their inevitable return to the ground. They clung to the air in a heaving weight reminiscent of the breath of the forest itself. Each breath he took spoke of the underbrush. The unseen but ever-present. Life teeming in the shadows. Leaves shifted. Critters scurried. The blood gleamed under the moon, a pool of crimson liquid shining like rubies.
'Am I really going through with this?'
'Am I really summoning a Servant?'
'I don't even have a catalyst.'
'Can I even do it without one?'
'Ah, whatever.'
'Only one way to find out.'
~ Crack ~
Memories flooded his mind from a clone dispelling.
He stood up and looked at the Clone next to him. "It's time."
"You got it boss!" The clone made a ram sign and exploded into smoke.
Naruto sighed and approached the Summoning Circle.
'Now or never.'
"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill…"
He formed a ram sign and channeled his chakra.
Five circles of light formed in his mind's eye, each representing an element. Fire. Water. Earth. Wind. Lightning.
"Repeat five times but destroy each one when filled."
The circles grew brighter with pulsing energy. They crackled and sparked. Swirled and churned. Roared and hissed. Reverberated with the tremors of an earthquake. Exploded with the thunder of a storm. Wailed with the howls of a hurricane.
"Let silver and steel be the essence."
His muscles tensed, and his chakra rampaged through his coil in a shrieking tornado. In his mind, his bones melted and merged with his flesh and skin to become liquid metal.
"Let stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the foundation."
'I will never give up on my dream.'
'I will be Hokage.'
'I will not fail the stone faces of my predecessors watching me from the Hokage Monument.'
"Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall."
The Summoning Circle started shining with crimson light, a swirling vortex of energy raging towards the sky like a maelstrom consuming the ocean. Heat scorched his skin. Chakra crackled in bolts of electricity. The forest trembled and shuddered. The earth rumbled beneath his feet.
"Let the Four Cardinal Gates close."
The chakra ocean within him swirled into a current rushing into the Summoning Circle. His fingers trembled. His knees buckled. Sweat slithered down his brow. His veins boiled, and his blood froze.
He closed his eyes.
"Let the Three-Forked Road from the Crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
Three paths branched out in the darkness behind his eyelids. Past. Present. Future. A vortex of time leading to outcomes and realities beyond measure.
"I declare!"
Wind screeched from the Circle, smashing into him like a tidal wave crashing upon the shore. His legs wobbled. Numbness crept through his mind like poison corroding a wound.
He gritted his teeth.
"My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny!"
'I need a bond of respect.'
'I need to fight for my dream.'
'I need to shape my own fate with my own actions.'
"If you heed my call and obey my will and reason, answer me."
'My companion will be a warrior.'
"I hereby swear."
'One who shares my past.'
"I shall be all the good in the world."
'One who understands my pain.'
"I shall defeat all evil in the world."
'We will prove ourselves to the world that has spat on us.'
"Thou Seventh Heaven, clad in the Three Words of Power, come forth from the Ring of Binding!"
The Summoning Circle raged with light and chakra, and lightning roared through the air with the screech of banshees screaming into the night. Blood trickled down Naruto's nose, and electricity danced upon his skin. A cyclone of wind battered his frame, smashing into him like a hammer bashing into a nail.
Power pulsed from the timeless void.
Reality bent.
"Guardian of the Heavenly Balance!"
The Summoning Circle exploded with holy light and blazing energy, and a pillar of chakra shooting towards the stars like a volcano erupting from the earth. A miracle forced its existence upon the World. A soul rushed through the timeless void and smashed upon the ground.
His chakra stopped rushing away from him, and the pool of it left inside him stabilized.
The abyss of time disappeared from behind his eyelids.
He opened his eyes.
Smoke billowed through the clearing, and the scent of iron filled his nose. Crimson lightning crackled around a silhouette in the fog, resembling some kind of weird samurai based on the armor and the closed helmet with demonic horns.
The smoke cleared.
A mountain of metal stood in front of him, gleaming like diamonds on a field of ink. Pauldrons stood over its shoulders as mountains upon a valley, and crimson engravings flowed down to its greaves. Its breaths echoed like a dragon wheezing in a cave. Darkness pulsed beneath its visor, a void devouring the world. It held a greatsword in its right hand.
Shit...
'I've…'
'I've actually done it!'
~ Crack ~
The helmet broke into pieces and merged with the armor beneath.
Blonde hair spilled from within as a waterfall falling down a cliff. Lips gleamed red like cherries blossoming in the sun. Emerald eyes blazed with chakra.
'A girl?'
She slammed her greatsword into the ground.
"My name is Mordred! The one and true heir to the king of knights, Arthur Pendragon." She grinned. "I ask you. Are you my master?"