Chapter 5: Wounds of the Past
"Ahem..." the announcer cleared his throat to regain the audience's attention once the arena was clean once more. "Honestly, I'm not sure where the hell they threw the orange-haired guy's body, but it's not like I care much. And now, let's move on to our next fight. We are about to introduce the next combatant... from Iwa, the honorable granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi!"
The emperor wasn't really impressed by the young woman. The short hair didn't suit her at all, although her pupil-less magenta eyes had a certain charm. She wore the standard Jounin uniform for a kunoichi from her village... Now that he thought about it, who had he sent against her? He was pretty sure it was someone important, but he couldn't remember who.
"And from the east, one of the students of the famed Silver Fang, Garou!"
Oh shit, it was Garou... well, it wasn't like he cared much. Young Garou was actually a young man of average height, with sharp features and white hair spiked into two elongated points. Despite his apparent thinness, a good amount of muscle was clearly visible under his tight black shirt. The same couldn't be said for his loose white pants, which were held up by a yellow belt wrapped around his waist.
"I will be the one to bring glory to Iwa by defeating you!" the kunoichi declared, clearly temperamental, as she prepared herself.
"Hmph... if you say so." The self-proclaimed human monster simply shrugged.
Gong!
The Tsuchikage's granddaughter wasted no time and launched herself forward, delivering a kick to the human monster's chest that he simply blocked with one of his hands, before counterattacking with an elbow to the young woman's leg. Kurotsuchi could only cry out as she felt the powerful blow of her rival that almost completely shattered her knee. Instead, her leg simply went completely numb.
Emperor's Box
"Ah, I knew I forgot to block one of the monsters," Zeref complained. Honestly, why had he forgotten about the damn human monster? Oh, right, he was too focused on Pickle.
"You wouldn't have been able to stop him completely, Zeref... he always gets his way," Artoria consoled him. After all, the concubines and the 30 wives were good proof that Naruto would always get his way.
"Um... what's wrong with this guy that he didn't want to bring him?" Tsunade asked, completely confused.
"He's a monster." However, Zeref's answer didn't answer her at all. In fact, it left her with many, many more questions.
XXXXXX
Kurotsuchi had been forced to jump to position herself over the human monster, using one of her legs to wrap around his neck and, with her body, tried to bring him down by pulling back... It's worth mentioning that she failed miserably, as Garou had faced men like Yujiro Hanma, who was the deadliest creature in the entire empire and, compared to him, this woman was nothing. In the end, he simply let himself fall on his back, recklessly, so that the kunoichi would try to put him in a chokehold to deprive him of air and thus win the match. It was a shame that this was precisely what Garou wanted at this moment.
With a foothold on the ground, and with pure brute force, Garou simply pulled a Hanma and, in a way that only Yujiro Hanma understood, completely pierced the fighting arena to free himself and, at the same time, hit the kunoichi, delivering a good blow directly to her head, forcing her to release her opponent, who simply let out a lazy yawn.
"Who am I up against once I beat you?" the man asked no one in particular. To tell the truth, he had already lost count of the matches. It would probably be Dick... meh, it didn't matter. He came here to fight Kara, as long as he could do that, he would be satisfied. "Um... why are you upset?"
"You'll see!" The woman launched herself once more to attack, delivering a swift sequence of kicks that the man simply blocked each and every one of, completely lazily.
This raised the alarms of the kunoichi's grandfather. That guy, somehow, seemed to have monstrous strength and speed. To be capable of such a level of defense... the man simply had to be, at the very least, on the same level as Kara.
In the end, the young woman finished her combo and jumped back, breathing somewhat agitatedly, confident that she had already worn him down enough to defeat him with a little more effort. That wasn't going to happen, clearly. In fact, Garou, once again, just let out a lazy yawn.
"I'm bored." After that, he moved in a rather strange way before launching himself forward to attack the still tired kunoichi, who wasn't even able to block his blows. Blows that were actually quite loaded with brute power that, honestly, she didn't know where the thin young man got it from, which, coupled with her fatigue, began to create huge gaps in her defense, which the man didn't hesitate to take advantage of.
In the end, the human monster simply hit her with a double jab to the kunoichi's stomach, who doubled over in pain, with tears in her eyes and her lungs on the verge of collapse. In fact, it was by pure instinct that she was able to raise her hands to the area that was going to be hit by a kick. One that, unfortunately for her, knocked her unconscious and she simply collapsed slowly without falling to the floor, since, above all, Garou was, in a way, a gentleman, who left her lying on the ground, amidst cheers from the empire and the people of the Land of Spring, who were actually amazed to see what was undoubtedly the fastest and most brutal fight of all.
"Kurotsuchi cannot continue," the announcer officially announced. "Garou wins the fight!"
VIP Box
"Akatsuchi, I want you to write down Garou's name so that if our shinobi see him, they finish him off," the Tsuchikage ordered his son. Moments later, he left the place to see his granddaughter in the infirmary. For Iwa, the tournament was over, so he went to see how the light of his old age was doing.
"Hardly," Maria murmured. Garou wasn't leaving the capital, and with Naruto being the paranoid bastard that he was, there was simply no chance that anyone would invade Parnam.
"As spiteful as ever." Ay and Minato, for their part, simply shook their heads as the old man left. Honestly, they wondered if the man knew that was the reason why Iwa had very few allies.
XXXXXX
The announcer simply looked at the spot where Garou had completely pulverized the platform before turning to the emperor's box, who simply nodded to indicate that, unfortunately, they would have to take another break. "Ladies and gentlemen, while we repair the platform, we will take a 20-minute break. We will compensate for this mishap by giving you free snacks at each and every one of the stadium stalls."
"Who's going to pay for that?" Naruto asked, to which Zeref simply shrugged. Honestly, the announcer didn't earn enough to cover that and none of them had any intention of covering the costs.
"Do they even charge us?" Artoria asked. She was a glutton and no one had charged them for snacks so far.
"Not you," Koyuki said, not caring that she had just declared she had favorites. It wasn't like they abused that privilege... well, except for Artoria. Honestly, where did all the food that woman ate go?
"Anyway, I'm going to the bathroom," Naruto said before getting up, being followed shortly after by Artoria. Yesterday's incident made it clear that he needed a guide for anything. Besides, a quickie in the bathroom had always been one of his fantasies.
"Looks like you'll have a little brother, Mo-chan," Neal commented, causing Koyuki and Shizune to blush slightly at the more than obvious joke about what those two were going to do in the bathroom.
"Another one?" The girl clearly didn't understand her stepmother's comment. She had an older sister in Tomoe (two years older) and two younger brothers, En Rose and Kurenai, not to mention that Mom Liscia was pregnant and, from what she had heard from Uncle Apollo, it was going to be two beautiful twins.
XXXXXX
"I hope you have made good use of the break," the announcer commented, ignoring the fact that the new prince was probably being conceived right now in one of the stadium's private bathrooms. "Now, continuing with the tournament... the grandson of a senile and stupid old man, coming from a nest of traitorous rats... the second youngest fighter in the finals is about to try to be the first from the nest of vermin not to be so terribly humiliated...! With you, Maru Sarutobi!"
Konohamaru simply let out a tired sigh as he climbed onto the stage. Now that Zeref was looking at him closely, the young man was wearing the standard Jounin uniform, along with a blue scarf that had clearly been hand-knitted and some old blue goggles that the Sarutobi considered his greatest treasure. Zeref recognized them, of course, and knew without a doubt that his brother in all but blood would smile when he saw this... if he arrived to see even a little of the fight. After all, knowing that the young man still valued his friendship... the friendship of the one who, in the past, was one of his first and most genuine friends, the man who saw him as a role model... Honestly, he wondered if he would admire him more when he learned what he had achieved in these years.
"And coming from the kingdom of Fredonia... as beautiful as she is deadly in battle, one of the most faithful servants and personal student of the great war hero and king of Fredonia...! Carla Vargas!"
At first, no one saw the aforementioned student of the hero of the unification wars. However, soon, from the sky itself, the person who was the so-called Carla crashed into the middle of the platform. In reality, she was a very beautiful young woman. She was young, with fiery red hair, even brighter than Kushina's, which under other circumstances would be mistaken for that of an Uzumaki, but due to her draconic features, this made it more than clear that she actually had nothing to do with them... well, that and the matter of interdimensional travel.
Her clothes were actually quite a flattering outfit consisting of a red and gold spandex suit. She had wanted to wear armor, but being a tournament, she was not allowed to use it. The clothes had a golden sun emblazoned on the back.
For a moment, the woman's eyes focused on Maru before she stood up and nodded to herself. "Let's have an honorable fight," she asked Maru, who simply nodded, a little lost by the request of the woman who was turning out to be quite kind.
The sound of the gong started the fight, and Carla, having been instructed by her lord to always finish a fight quickly, attacked first, landing a blow to Sarutobi's chest that felt like he had been rammed by a locomotive. However, he was able to withstand the blow and quickly responded with a blow to the jaw that actually made her dizzy for a moment. Honestly, she hadn't expected him to be able to withstand that blow, much less be able to respond so quickly, so she hadn't been prepared to take the hit... As Naruto said on more than one occasion: "No matter how strong you are, if you neglect your defense, any idiot can knock you down...". That thought actually made her smile with delight. Perhaps this boy was more than she had thought at the time.
Emperor's Box
"Hmph... it seems your protégé is going to take things a little more seriously," Zeref commented, ignoring the fact that Artoria hadn't even had the decency to fix her hair.
As for his friend, he simply nodded as he looked at his favorite in the royal guard... Not that he would ever say it, Aisha would simply never forgive him if she heard him.
"For a moment, I thought you were going to make him face Regulus," Neal commented. After all, Regulus was, in a way, Naruto's number one fan. On the other hand, Regulus was quite foolish. Not that they could blame him, he was a young man of only 15 years old, being himself the youngest participant and, paradoxically, the most powerful of the whole tournament... well, after Naruto himself.
"I would never do that to my little brother." Naruto actually sounded offended, as if the idea that he would send Regulus, of all people, to his little brother was an insult. In a way, it was. Sending Regulus to anyone was Naruto's way of saying, "Go to hell at the hands of my cute, idiotic, super powerful lion."
"Should we ask?" Shizune asked, not sure why, but something in her being told her that he was actually a monster, one that only the emperor himself could control.
"You'll see," Neal commented absently. After all, Regulus was called "the little golden lion" for a very good reason. And that was that he was fucking and stupidly broken, so much so that he was actually the most powerful mortal without divine ancestry in the world today.
XXXXXX
The Dragonewt actually blocked a good combination of punches and kicks from Maru, who had perfectly combined the fighting style of Drunken Fist and a kind of monkey fighting style, making them quite unpredictable, coupled with the fact that Sarutobi was actually quite a skilled fighter. Of course, she herself had been fighting with Naruto and, well, he was a really powerful monster.
So focused was she in her thoughts that Maru managed to kick her in the head, before jumping back to take a breather, while praying to Kami that his devastating attack had taken effect. But apparently God clearly didn't understand or, at worst, ignored his plea... Actually, the man heard him, but was too busy telling his youngest granddaughter, a certain Charlie Morningstar, one of the stories of his adventures, while the young demon clown-apple humanoid goat looked at him with bright eyes. In other words, he was doing something, in his opinion, more important than answering the prayers of a young man, even if he was one of those in his good books.
"Actually, you hit well," the woman said as she rubbed the spot where she was hit. It hadn't hurt, despite causing a bit of an itch. "But he hits harder." With that said, the woman took a stance that made it more than clear that she was Naruto's student. It was the stance of the dragon branch of Naruto's fighting style.
After that, the warrior woman lunged forward with speed and, before Maru knew what had happened, he felt a blow with claws hitting him directly in the stomach. One that made him take a couple of heavy steps back before falling to his knees, bent over in pain. And yet, even so, he refused to be knocked down.
"Boy, can you continue?" The announcer hadn't actually gotten an answer. Not that Carla could blame the young man, that blow had been able to knock down the god Hades. Of course, performed by Naruto, who was simply a monster among monsters. "Since the participant Maru is not out of the fight, I will count to ten. If he does not get up, he will have lost the match..."
In the Konoha audience
"That blow... what kind of technique is that?" Gai wasn't quite sure what the hell he had just seen. What kind of fighting style required that pose? How could it knock down a shinobi of Konohamaru's caliber with a single blow?
"Come on, Maru, get up!" Moegi simply wished her boyfriend would get up.
"Did the emperor teach him that?" The usual crazy blonde asked her green-skinned friend, who simply shrugged. Being his favorite, it wouldn't be strange if he had taught him the Chi-Yu fighting style: dragon style. As for the Konoha shinobi, they were now a little more interested. That was the emperor's way of fighting... if so, then they were definitely going to pay as much attention as they could... although to a certain Nara, it actually seemed familiar.
Back in the arena
"I have no choice but to use Senjutsu if I don't want to lose," Sarutobi said to himself, who didn't expect to have to use his secret weapon at the beginning of the match.
He simply closed his eyes as he slowly rose. Fortunately, at the count of nine, he was able to stand up, and when he opened his eyes, they now looked a bit like Carla's own eyes. He gained scales on parts of his body and a pair of wings similar to the woman's came out of his back. The only difference between them was that Carla had a pair of horns and a tail on her back.
"Honestly, I never thought I would use Dragon Sage Mode against my first opponent." Sarutobi smiled, revealing for the first time the summoning clan he had gotten from that strange blond who claimed it was something his nii-san would approve of and would no doubt want him to have.
He hadn't had much trouble accepting it. After all, it was free. Besides, he had learned that Enma knew about his grandfather's intentions, so he refused to sign with the monkeys and also told the toads that the Yondaime offered to what was one of his son's best friends to go to hell.
"So that's where the contract ended up," Carla commented with a raised eyebrow. Honestly, she hadn't expected that, of all the places the great man she admired and loved more than anyone in this world could have sent his contract, it would be to Konoha. On the other hand, Naruto was a very strange person and did things that nobody understood, and the few who did understand him simply chose to ignore it. When she asked Mr. Acnologia, the answer was simply: "Girl, I'm crazy, and even I'm not crazy enough to try to understand Naruto's brilliantly crazy thoughts."
Maru actually ignored Carla's words, something Shikamaru didn't do and noted down for later. For now, the woman simply tasted a spoonful of her own medicine when Sarutobi returned the favor, and like him, the woman wasn't knocked out. However, she did fall to her knees, which actually caused the people of the hidden continent, well, except for those from the Land of Spring, to cheer. After all, seeing that the Sandaime's grandson could actually be the first to break the empire's winning streak.
"Dragon Fist!" Maru punched the floor, creating a crack, making Dan whimper. What was it with the fighters and breaking the damn platform? He was going to run out of excuses to repair it. However, seconds after the blow, several pieces of debris shot out towards the Dragonewt, who simply put her large wings in front of her to use them as a kind of shield. Something that turned out to be the right thing to do, because soon the young man from Konoha appeared in a blur of speed and gave her a big kick right in the joint of her wings, which actually made her let out a small whimper of pain and writhe a couple of meters. Actually, her little wings hurt quite a bit, almost as much as when Naruto had given her that pat on the back that sent her to the ground.
The thought actually brought an honest smile to her face for the first time in a long time. "Wow, honestly, I didn't think you'd be that good," she said sincerely. The boy had made a good impression on her right now. "But I guess I shouldn't expect any less from his first student... Why do you still see him as a mentor, don't you?"
"What do you mean by that?" Maru really didn't understand this woman... It wasn't that men could understand women most of the time, but this woman, in particular, was simply much more confusing and ambiguous than his girlfriend, and that was saying a lot.
"My king, Naruto, told me a lot about you when I met him." The woman gave a small nostalgic smile. "Years ago, when I asked him to train me, when I saw him train against someone I once considered my friend, he simply laughed at the situation. I was offended, of course. At least until he told me about how I reminded him of a young man who did exactly the same thing as me many years ago... I guess that's why he managed to get your contract to you."
Maru was actually surprised to hear that... his contract had been delivered to him by his older brother. His brother was a king... No, actually, it didn't surprise him, but it simply made him feel strangely at peace and even made him smile nostalgically as he touched the goggles with which he had covered those eyes that he was the first, outside his family, to see. Now, he simply prepared to fight.
"Then I'll show you that I'm still worthy of being called his friend!" The young man smiled enthusiastically once more. "Attack!"
The young Dragonewt simply assumed, once again, the dragon fighting style and performed, again, the Ascending Dragon's Claw, only this time she was no longer holding back her strength. If she had made Maru go back a couple of meters, this time he wasn't so lucky. He was actually sent flying about 7 meters due to the power behind the blow, even though he had blocked it, which took its toll, barely managing to regain control of his body in the air, and that with great difficulty, as he was already dangerously close to the edge of the platform.
"Then I guess I'll get serious too," announced the Konoha Jounin as he jumped forward and punched the Dragonewt in the face again with his... when did he grow a tail?
The Dragonewt was actually so baffled by the fact that the boy now had a tail that she simply took the powerful tail strike directly to her nose, which forced her to sneeze uncontrollably, which would actually be adorable, since she sneezed like a kitten. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be adorable because while she sneezed, she let out small embers. Even so, the young Jounin took advantage of the situation and used his new tail to grab the woman by the neck and began to strangle her, while giving her incessant punishment to the body, making the girl, in reality, be treated like a rag doll.
"Surrender," suggested the young man from Konoha, now with a deep, hoarse voice. "If you don't, you'll regret it."
"Hardly," commented the Dragonewt, who simply chose to use what Mr. Acnologia had taught her. "I trained with Naruto, I trained with Lord Acnologia, and I have endured battles against Yujiro Hanma... compared to those monsters, even if you are strong, you are not much."
Finally, the woman somehow released her grip on her and punched Maru hard, making him take several steps back. Upon recovering, his jaw almost dropped when he saw what had happened to the woman. While she had already looked like a dragon before, now she was much more dragon than human. Her arms were no longer human, but draconic, and her face was actually covered in scarlet scales.
"Curiosity about the Dragonewt... we can use Dragon Force with enough training... not surprising when you realize that Dragon Slayer magic is mainly based on the hybridization of dragons."
This made Maru actually blink a couple of times and look at the announcer, who simply shrugged.
"It's basically an advanced sage mode. They use dragon blood in their veins to enhance their traits. Since, technically speaking, it can be learned if you train with a dragon and it doesn't depend on blood, and it only enhances all their natural abilities, she is allowed to continue fighting." The man clarified things. Of course, Dragon Force was much more complex than that, but broadly speaking, it was an enhancer for Dragonewts and Dragon Slayers... there were rumors about Dragonoids, but they were not confirmed.
His clarification actually made those from Konoha simply know one thing: if that was the girl's Sage Mode, then this fight already had a winner, and it wasn't going to be Maru.
Imperial Box
"Hmph... I really have to talk to Acnologia about teaching my favorite things without consulting me," Naruto commented as he looked at Carla. Now he understood why Liscia only visited her when she had a protection contingent behind her. Carla still hadn't forgiven her for the whole trying to enslave her with her father thing... okay, they were traitors, but before that, they were friends.
"To be able to force Carla to use Dragon Force... he simply must be the strongest in Konoha currently," commented Zeref, sounding genuinely impressed.
"I'm beginning to understand why, so far, all your fighters have said that we are simply weak," commented Koyuki. Even from where she stood, she was able to feel the more than immense power emanating from that girl.
"Hmph... they're not even the strongest... Regulus hasn't come out to fight yet," Naruto commented absently. Honestly, Zeref should have expected that if they didn't let him bring his cannibal caveman, he was going to bring his favorite golden lion... well, his favorite male golden lion. Artoria was his favorite golden lion overall.
Back in the arena
"I sincerely congratulate you, I didn't think I would really be forced to use Dragon Force against someone other than my master... actually, I hate you a little, I wanted him to be the first to face it," admitted Carla, who actually sounded a bit angry right now.
Naruto actually just laughed at that comment. Carla was so cute when she was angry, and it was funny that she thought he would even have to take the fight against her seriously.
However, before Maru could even know what had happened, he already had Carla's claws in his stomach. Of course, she didn't pierce him with them, but even so, they hurt like hell. The blow, of course, forced him to almost fall off the edge of the platform. Fortunately, by hitting her with his tail again, he was able to push the woman away and get the girl to back off and out of danger, which gave him time to increase the level of his Sage Mode a bit more.
But clearly they weren't going to let him. The Dragonewt returned with a blow of her own tail that broke the boy's concentration and made him see that he was going to have to use this level of Senjutsu to the fullest if he wanted to win, as she wasn't going to let him use the third stage.
"This is going to be all or nothing!" exclaimed Sarutobi, making his decision. "Great Impact!"
Unfortunately for Maru, the woman simply tilted her head slightly to avoid the blow. Honestly, with the level he had right now, the speed of this young man really wasn't much to speak of. He was strong, she wasn't going to deny it, but compared to her master, he was quite slow. His blows didn't hurt that much, however, he could continue to grow. Being a dragon sage had that effect: like the dragon, his power would grow over time.
Even so, she had to end this and, taking advantage of the fact that the young man was shocked by the ease with which she dodged his strongest blow, she simply, once again, drove the Ascending Dragon's Claw directly into his stomach, which sent him flying off the platform.
"Due to Maru Sarutobi falling off the platform, Carla Vargas wins the fight!" announced the announcer, causing the spectators to applaud and cheer both Maru and the woman, now once again in the form she had entered the arena. After all, this had been the most spectacular match so far.
The woman simply jumped off the platform to help her, technically speaking, Sempai to his feet, so that the young man would receive some of the ovation they were both getting.
"You know, he already has four children, they're going to need an uncle to corrupt them and tell them embarrassing stories about your father... God knows Zeref-sama isn't a person who will do that," Carla whispered to the young man, giving him the cryptic message of "whenever you want to leave that rat's nest, your friend will welcome you into his home with open arms."
"I'll keep that in mind," Maru smiled roguishly. "Does he really have four?"
"Well, more like six, but two of them aren't born yet." With that, the two of them began to walk away, still talking about the man they both admired... And Naruto didn't know why, but something told him that he should lock Mordred in an impenetrable tower to prevent his beloved baby (remember, 9 years old) from learning embarrassing things about himself.
It wasn't like he had to think much about it, or rather, they didn't give him much more time to think about it, because the announcer started with the next match... Apparently, he had wasted enough time for the platform to be repaired. "Now, the next match is about to begin," announced the man. "The other daughter of the..." the man was running out of creative insults. "Shio Namikaze!"
And, like her brother before her, Shio came out onto the platform completely angry... However, before she could yell anything at the man, two glass bottles hit her on the head, causing a small cut on her forehead and then a couple of glasses with liquid drenched her all over... which caused, to her mortification, the emperor and his princess to start laughing openly.
XXXXXX
"We'll call it a draw," a blond man with a goatee said to a man only a couple of years older than him, with brown hair and brown eyes who wore sunglasses.
"The queen seems to think it's a draw," commented the man with glasses after a good amount of gold coins fell into both their laps.
"So it seems, Barton, so it seems," said the man with the goatee with a small smile.
"'Where did the gold come from?'" thought all those from Konoha, seeing a pile of gold appear out of nowhere in the laps of the two men.
XXXXXX
"Now, the emperor's favorite uncle! The most promising member of the youngest generation of his clan! Son of the Red Terror of the Seas, the mighty Akagami no Shanks! Known as the Red King...! Mikoto Uzumaki!"
Mikoto is a rather tall and muscular man with crimson red hair and amber eyes. Unlike his father and his two older sisters (although he only saw Uta as an older sister and the other as just another bitch his father sired), he wore his hair short, with two longer locks on either side of his head that fell over his face.
He wore a black leather jacket with a fur collar and a white T-shirt underneath, dark blue cotton drill jeans held up by a simple brown belt with a silver chain attached from the belt to his pocket, and black shoes.
XXXXXX
"Mikoto... what the hell? How did I miss the monsters you brought?" Zeref was really starting to wonder how Naruto had managed to bring the biggest monsters of the younger generation with him without him noticing.
"Zeref, Zeref, Zeref... I always get my way... Did you really think I wanted Pickle here?" Naruto actually no longer had any reason not to reveal it. After all, things were already done and there was nothing Zeref could do, well, beyond complaining.
"Is something wrong?" Mordred asked as she looked at Tsunade, who looked really lost.
"Nothing, honey... I just didn't expect Shanks to have another son." Mordred didn't really care much. At the end of the day, Great-Uncle Mikoto was great, he gave her candy... and she liked candy. And cookies, but mostly candy. She didn't care that those candies came from the fact that Great-Uncle Mikoto didn't want to be called Great-Uncle since he was actually the same age as her father, actually two years younger... Mordred found it funny that her father's uncle was actually younger than him.
Kage Box
Mordred was the only one who actually found the situation funny. The Kages were not really in the same mood as the young tomboy princess. In fact, Onoki had been lucky to leave earlier. Ay and Mei were not so lucky. In fact, right now they were completely pale with terror. The terror of seeing that there was a mini-Shanks on the platform. Not only because he was a damn Uzumaki, but because he was a damn mini-Shanks who, as a teenager, single-handedly took down half of the allied front of Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo. Wiping out Anbu battalions completely alone, bringing the Senju brothers and Madara to their knees. And now the monster had a son... okay, he had Kushina before he had him, but unlike Kushina, that monster grew up in the great outdoors. Ergo, he must be a thousand times worse than his older sister.
Gaara didn't really care particularly. To begin with, Suna did not participate in that attack and they didn't even have a broken treaty with the Uzumaki or anything like that since, well, it was never necessary. Now, as for Minato... he simply had his mind moving a thousand miles a minute. If Shanks was alive, that meant the rumors he had heard about the man dying of grief after the death of his only daughter were a lie. It meant that Naruto had been living with the most powerful man the Elemental Nations had ever seen. Oh, things simply couldn't get any worse.
XXXXXX
"A-are there still Uzumaki?" the blonde Namikaze asked, completely shocked.
"No... except for my father, my older sister Uta, and myself, everyone is dead. After all, my nephew denies his ancestry, and therefore that of his children, because of your bitch mother and her abandonment." Mikoto certainly had no qualms about telling the truth in the crudest way possible. "When Father thought he had lost everything, he crossed the wall... the first shinobi in history with the balls to do so, no less. He earned the name as one of the Great Sea Lords, and when he discovered the truth... well, you see what happened. He became a Sky King in an attempt to forge a bond with the only grandson he acknowledges."
"Bu-but..." Shio really had nothing to say. Her uncle... younger uncle, no less, had just disowned her as his niece. Her father had done so as a granddaughter.
"There are no buts. You are nothing to me, nothing more than someone I must tear to pieces in this tournament." Almost as if the one who started the matches had waited for him to say that, the sound of the gong echoed as soon as he finished his sentence.
And as soon as that happened, the Red King started the fight, moving very quickly, hitting his disowned niece in the stomach, causing the young Namikaze to fall to her knees from the blow. However, as his nephew before him had taught him, compassion is only shown to those who deserve it, and this bitch did not deserve his compassion. Soon, he gave her a strong stomp on her leg, overflowing with his dark aura, before kicking her chest again to send her almost flying off the platform... almost. After all, he had years of resentment in his veins to vent, so he moved at high speed and forced her back with a second kick.
"Come on...! Get up!" the Red King shouted at his opponent, who was barely able to stand. "We're just getting started."
"Wha-what the hell?" the blonde said, getting to her feet with great difficulty. "What the hell was that?" she asked. However, the answer was not what she expected.
An answer she didn't like at all: a new blow, much faster and more powerful than the previous ones. "I've hated you since I learned of your existence," the young man spoke, his voice surprisingly calm, before continuing his combo with a kick to the face. "I've hated your bitch mother who broke Father's heart." That kick actually almost knocked her off the platform once again, but again the Red King saved her from falling, this time with a blow to the stomach, one that left her almost unconscious. "Your bastard father." He hit her again, this time so hard that it actually created a small shockwave that cracked the platform a bit, causing the announcer to complain about the emperor's monsters and their tendency to break the platform, and his cries because the next one to come out was Regulus... that actually made Mikoto shudder a little, worried about the poor devil who was going to face the little golden lion. He hoped it would be Lee. Regulus especially liked his nephew and had talked about how he wanted to break the legs of the man who caused his friend more pain than anyone else in that damn village of hell. Finally, he gave her a smash with his fist to finish the combo. "I guess you could say that was for my surprisingly vengeful nephew," he commented absently, honestly speaking.
"Oh my God," Kushina thought, completely rushed. "What have I done?"
XXXXXX
Shio got up with great difficulty, with the local public and the people of the empire demanding that the man spill her blood. Shouts like "death to the bitch," "beat her to a pulp." The least horrible, in reality, was "hit her in the face and disfigure her," which, coupled with their terrible bloodlust, simply made her unable to help but start crying.
"Oh, the little girl wants to cry." The man who repudiated her as his aunt made a mocking pout, with a tone that made it clear that he found the scene completely repulsive. "You haven't even been dealing with people's hatred for ten minutes and you're already crying. My nephew endured years, more than 10 damn years of this! And I wasn't there to comfort him because your... mother made Father believe he was dead." That was one of the biggest reasons why he hated his sister with a passion and denied her as such. As an Uzumaki, his father taught him that you should not let your family suffer alone, and he, even if it was not his fault, had simply let his nephew suffer alone all because a... of a traitorous daughter made his father believe that she and her children were dead.
That was why he was unleashing all his fury in this fight, beating her brutally, so much so that his blows were actually doing more than just physical damage, but also emotional damage. "I'm sure on your birthday Mommy and Daddy threw you a big party, showered you with love and gifts... my nephew was hunted like an animal on his. And if they caught him, they bathed his body in kerosene, tied him to a post, and set him on fire." Mikoto had no way of knowing, but right now in the emperor's box, Naruto was furious. But surprisingly not with his sister, but with his own uncle. Fortunately for the man, Mordred, sensing that her mommy needed her right now, simply left her place of honor and ran to hug the man who had raised her like a mother since she was only 5 years old. As for the Red King, he simply grabbed his disowned niece by the neck and lifted her while strangling her with just one of his hands, with the blonde trying, completely in vain, to break his steel grip. "What did you do when you found out you had a brother...?" It wasn't a question, he knew what it had been, and that was why he was more furious with every second he spent in the presence of this scum. "Oh, that's right, nothing!" he roared, completely furious, so much so that he punched her hard in the chest, causing her to vomit blood, finally dropping her to the ground and starting to walk in the opposite direction.
"I was ten years old... I-I couldn't do anything," Shio could barely say, tears streaming from her eyes.
"Being a child is no excuse," her uncle said coldly. "I faced my father when he tried to leave Uta behind to protect her from his power," he spoke as he turned, now looking much angrier than before. So angry that the red aura he was known for began to show itself to each and every one of those present. The aura that earned him the name of the Red King.
No one saw him move an inch, but suddenly Shio was being tossed back and forth by a new and much more violent combination of blows. "A brother is your greatest bond, he's always there for you when everyone else turns their back on you... but you... you simply ignored the sacred bond for stupid reasons given by a... of a father and a... of a mother. If things had been different, if you had been the one left behind, he would have moved heaven and earth for you. And don't give me that excuse that having three would have been dangerous because your... of a mother had two more children. That excuse falls apart under its own weight... but no, your father is a coward, an idiot who thought to leave the only one of his children who had a strange power that he didn't understand behind to be the scapegoat for the sins of an unstoppable beast."
Shio didn't even have the courage to beg him to stop. She had seen it in his eyes: begging would only make him angrier, make him hurt her more. Everything he had said was true. If they had really left Naruto behind because moving with three children would have been dangerous, then why did her parents have Hashirama and, years later, Mito?
The reasons Jiraiya and Hiruzen gave them for leaving their brother behind... they were all vague, which made one thing clear: they didn't love him, they didn't love their brother. He was one of three, after all. The one who didn't have normal chakra. That's why they agreed to leave him behind, thinking that, having no chakra, a civilian life would be best for him. And now... these were the consequences. They could have gone back, seen their brother, their parents' friends, but they didn't. They chose to live in blissful ignorance that everything was fine, and now here were the consequences.
"You don't even deserve my hate. You're so worthless that I waste my hate on you," Mikoto growled before simply ending the match, letting his... failure of a niece collapse to the ground, completely defeated.
"The piece of... can no longer continue," said the announcer, who simply kicked the girl to make her roll off the platform. It wasn't even worth letting her get up and walk out on her own two feet, in his opinion. "The Red King sweeps once again in this fight."
Mikoto wasn't even interested in the man's comments about his niece. In fact, he now had his eyes fixed on his... of a sister. The first time in their lives that they had ever seen each other. And Kushina saw it... her younger brother hated her. He hated the mere fact that she even existed.
"You are not my sister," he simply said before turning around and walking away.
His comment actually made the redhead, as well as those close to her, even some Imperials, unable to help but shudder. The young man had certainly been rotting in pure hatred. However, Kushina did not see her little brother, oh no, she saw Naruto, a version of how she imagined her son would look now, telling her "you are not my mother," and she simply couldn't take it anymore and started to cry inconsolably.
"This will be... someone, get her out of here! Her crying is distracting me!" the announcer shouted to no one in particular. After all, the damn brat's crying was getting on his nerves.
In response, two members of the maintenance staff, or as he had more recently begun to call them, "the poor bastards I hoped were getting paid overtime to keep repairing the damn platform over and over again," grabbed the brat by one of her legs and started dragging her out of the place. This actually quite outraged her siblings and father, but they couldn't do anything about it. At least not if they didn't want to incur the wrath of the Imperials right now, who looked irritated for some reason.
"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, this will be the last match of the day. Our first contender, a guy with more eyebrows than brains and who has the most horrible fashion sense ever seen in history... Traitor Lee of the... club!" the man began, causing Lee to simply approach the stage muttering, or rather, things about stupid and unyouthful announcers. "Now, straight from Greece! The strongest of his generation and the favorite boy of the emperor himself! The man even the gods themselves fear to face! The little golden lion of Greece...! Regulus!"
The young man who took the stage was undoubtedly the youngest fighter of all. He couldn't have been more than 16 years old. He had pale skin, large turquoise eyes that denoted his youth, thin eyebrows, and light brown hair. His clothes were the strangest thing they had seen so far: strappy sandals, white pants, and a light blue shirt of a rather strange design. And leather wrist guards on his arms. However, for those who knew the little lion, there was something that seemed strange to them... he wasn't smiling.
"Yosh! Let's have a youthful match, my young friend!" said the now more animated Lee, thinking that having been sent to fight a teenager, this would be really easy for him to win.
(If we're talking about the guy who literally had his body disintegrated [technically by his own hand] and still didn't die...)
Regulus, however, paid no attention to what the traitor said, being more interested in seeing if his friend and mentor was okay after the previous fight. He was going to have some very serious words with Mikoto when this whole thing was over. The young man had to learn that his words not only hurt his opponents, but his friends as well.
The sound of the gong started the fight, and Lee chose not to waste time and quickly lunged at the young man to kick him in the face. However, in a swift movement, the young man simply tilted his head slightly, allowing him to pass over his head and giving the little lion free rein to deliver a treacherous blow to the crown jewels, which sent him flying through the air with a shriek. And that made most of the men present, even those who hated Lee more than anyone in the world, simply put their hands down there. They weren't going to give him a sympathetic grimace, he simply didn't deserve that.
As for Lee, he simply continued to rise to about nine meters in height and it was there that, again, at a frankly terrifying speed, Regulus reappeared in front of him, smashing a punch into his face that sent him at high speed against the stage, creating a crater in which lay the green spandex boy with only his legs sticking out of the rubble.
After muttering a thank you for being the last match of the day, the announcer began the countdown. As for those from Konoha, they simply couldn't believe that a young man who wasn't even older than Konohamaru could be so strong and fast.
Honestly, at this point, Neji wasn't surprised to see someone dominate his former teammate and friend (the "ex" goes here too) so quickly. Tenten wasn't really surprised either. What she didn't like about the whole thing was that apparently this wasn't even a problem for Regulus, and that actually terrified her. So far everyone had taken their matches, although as a game, they had at least tried to make things more or less even. Regulus didn't seem to be trying very hard. In fact, he didn't even seem to be trying, which only made her think about how monstrous the emperor must be for that little monster to follow his orders.
Lee finally dug himself out and jumped out of the place where he had been buried and quickly started what he called the second round of this match, taking off his ankle weights, causing those who hadn't seen that in the past to be a little shocked. Well, almost everyone. The people of the empire simply snorted with amusement, with some murmuring about how little weight he was carrying, which the older bum and his son didn't like at all.
"Let's see if you can catch me," Lee challenged, disappearing from everyone's sight except Regulus's, who simply turned slightly to avoid a blow coming from his back, only for Lee to disappear again and reappear, this time on his right side.
Only this time, the little golden lion didn't dodge the blow, but simply punched Lee in the face more than once. No one was actually able to see him move, they only saw how, without Regulus moving, young Lee was being tossed around like a rag doll, while small, barely perceptible ripples and blurs of movement in the young lion made it clear that Regulus was moving. Finally, Lee's beating ended with a kick directly to his jaw that, once again, sent him flying at least seven meters and left him dangerously close to the edge of the platform.
"Naruto is my friend," Regulus finally spoke, without his usual cheerful and carefree tone, but looking quite solemn. "He was there."
The young lion's words made Neji's and many others' eyes simply widen in shock. However, Lee didn't seem to understand his precarious situation and got up with difficulty. This fight somehow reminded him of Gaara. No... this was worse. In the end, he had been able to hit and decimate the Jinchuriki in combat, but this time, he hadn't even been able to hit the little lion with anything he had tried so far. In fact, he seemed to be far above his speed. It seemed he would have to play very rough if he wanted to win.
For that, he opened five of the gates, while the little lion simply stood there, watching him calmly, waiting for him to do it. At the end of the day, his speed would always be infinitely superior to that of the little traitor.
"Very well, now you will see it," announced the little traitor before disappearing at an even greater speed than before.
Soon a sound similar to an explosion was heard and a few seconds later Lee had reappeared with blood coming from his face and a posture that made it clear that he had tried to kick Regulus, who actually had his fist extended, a clear sign that Lee was still slower than him and had seen him move the whole time.
"You are slow." With that said, Regulus began to exude a golden aura before grabbing Lee's leg tightly and pulling it hard to slam him hard and then violently threw him upwards with all his might.
No one knew what the hell had happened, but suddenly everyone saw how, out of nowhere and without Regulus even moving, a crater opened in front of him. Apparently the bastard was so inhumanly fast that he didn't even seem to move from his spot, as right now the bushy browed one was lying on the ground in an unnatural posture and with the clear mark of a fist on his lower spine.
"I saw you as a true friend," Regulus spoke calmly. "And your words hurt him, so much so that even today, thinking about your betrayal hurts him. He thought that you, more than anyone, could understand him, since you were both treated badly for something you couldn't control. Tell me, what really hurt you? That he was actually much stronger than you. You simply never understood. All that power, everything he showed, was the result of him breaking his bones training, and thanks to that, you were able to continue your career. It was because of him that Tsunade Senju returned to the village and was able to heal your bones... this time, there will be no medic to do so. I hope you live unhappy and miserable for the rest of your sad and pathetic existence."
"My legs! What did you do to my legs!" Lee exclaimed from the bottom of the crater, with many in the audience actually celebrating it.
As far as the empire and the inhabitants of Spring were concerned, if it was because of Naruto that he was able to heal and continue his career and, as payment, he only received a stab in the back, then Regulus returning him to what he should have been without the help of his emperor and hero was not cruelty, only divine justice that was imparted by the hands of a man who truly valued friendship and camaraderie more than anyone.
End of chapter.