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A SAGE ADRIFT
Prologue...
A SAGE ADRIFT
Prologue...
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A Sage Adrift (NarutoXMCU)
- Thread starter IdleMuse0307
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#0
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
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- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
Prologue
The Shinobi World had gone through many calamities.
The likes of which could not be imagined by the average shinobi. The average shinobi even lived to tell the tale because there has always been someone who rose up to the calamity and helped save everyone.
The Three Great Sage regions had, therefore, seen a lot of the strife that the Shinobi World went through. They had seen the rise and fall of clans. They had seen the horrors that the Uzumaki unleashed upon the world through their Fuinjutsu. They had seen the overwhelming power of the Juubi, the power of the Otsutsuki, and even the sealing of an Otsutsuki by her very children.
Therefore, for centuries since the sealing, they were very intimately aware of the fact that Kaguya was not the only Otsutsuki in existence and they were, in fact, very close to another visit from the genocidal Otsutsuki clan, something that all three sage regions had dreaded for one reason or other.
The Toad Sage, in particular as he was the only witness of that fight, was very much aware that if not for Kaguya's love for her sons, the Sage of the Six Paths and his brother would never have won, even with them being on almost the same level as their mother at least, where combat power was concerned simply because of a single fact.
The Rinnesharingan.
The single most powerful Doujutsu that any being in the Shinobi World had ever laid eyes upon.
The sheer versatility of being able to transport yourself and your enemies to a series of alternate dimensions with varying laws of physics cannot be understated.
That was why he had been sending all of his summoners on the path to raise or nurture various powerful shinobis under the guise of telling them about a prophecy regarding the chosen one arriving to save them.
When he had done that, he had never once believed that it would turn his random gibberish into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A self-fulfilling prophecy that resulted in the creation of someone that could, with help of course, turn the tides against someone that even the Sage would lose to.
The creation of Naruto Uzumaki. The Second Strongest Shinobi to ever grace the Shinobi World.
He had seen the young Uzumaki turn the tide against overwhelming odds time and time again but seeing him, along with young Sasuke, had finally given him hope that the Shinobi World could be saved or at least defended from the otherworldly Otsutsuki that would undoubtedly visit them in the near future, especially once they figure out the reason for Kaguya's disappearance and her subsequent sealing inside the moon.
Of course, that hope was swiftly wiped away when Isshiki Otsutsuki revealed himself to be even more powerful than they hoped him to be. He had thought with Isshiki being weaker than Kaguya, young Naruto would be able to triumph rather easily but as it turned out, defeating an Otsutsuki without being an Otsutsuki, was a task that only the likes of Hashirama Senju could do.
So, he had been watching young Naruto's fight despairingly when, out of nowhere, young Naruto rose up in a form that had never been seen before.
With the limited clairvoyance that was granted to him through his very own sage mode, he watched on disbelievingly as young Naruto absolutely manhandled Isshiki as if he were a Kage and Isshiki a mere Jonin.
With every punch that young Naruto diverted and with every blow that Isshiki sustained, his hopes rose more and more until at the last moment, with a furious punch, Naruto slammed Isshiki down on the ground, seemingly for good.
Young Sasuke along with Boruto celebrated Naruto's victory over Isshiki, something that seemed impossible just a few short minutes ago.
He too sighed in relief as he saw that Isshiki was about to run out of time soon enough and even without any more effort from Naruto's side, they were sure to win. He very much intended to ask Naruto about the new power-up he had received out of nowhere that allowed him to defeat Isshiki when the cloak of power that even set his senses tingling, from this far away, fizzled away and Naruto's eyes rolled back in their sockets as he collapsed on the ground, unconscious and unbreathing.
His brows furrowed in worry as he could see that Naruto's chakra was fine, if a little exhausted but that was given after a fight of this magnitude. He tried to check his Jinchuriki seal when his eyes widened immensely at the discovery.
The seal had opened wide and the Kyuubi's chakra was leaking out of it.
Only instead of allowing it to manifest out of his jailor, it was dissipating in the wind, never to be seen again.
He seemed to age even further as he slumped in resignation at the realisation of what the Kyuubi and young Naruto had done.
Somehow, the Kyuubi had done something that was thought to be impossible.
True Death of a Bijuu.
A phenomenon that was thought of happening only when the Juubi was used. One of the Bijuu, essentially constructs of chakra, sacrificing themselves only to power someone else?
Unthinkable.
Yet, that was the only thing that explained what he was able to see.
The Kyuu- no.-- Kurama had sacrificed himself to make sure that Isshiki was defeated.
Somehow, Naruto himself was spared since his chakra levels were recovering back to normal levels but he was no longer a Jinchuriki.
So, this method too was a bust then?
He was no closer to finding a method of beating back those pesky Otsutsukis than he was before this fight.
As he was about to get out of his sage mode as it took a heavy toll on his already ageing body, he saw Isshiki struggling to stand on his two legs. Legs that were already crumbling away due to his dissipating Karma.
Somehow, despite Isshiki being on death's door, he had a bad premonition regarding the situation. However, with no conceivable way of warning them, he could only watch in dismay as Isshiki seemingly squeezed out every iota of energy he had and concentrated it in his right eye.
He was left slack-jawed as, for a split second, Isshiki's right eye took on the same hue as the Rinnesharingan and with Sasuke and Boruto being caught by surprise, Isshiki transported Naruto to an unknown dimension, possibly to his death,
His deed done, Isshiki slumped forward, his body turning to dust before his head could hit the ground.
The cries of Sasuke and Boruto could be heard for hours afterward.
And so ended the story of one Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Or did it?
_x_
Continue reading to find out more.
A/N - The story will have an update posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays along with a sprinkle of an extra chapter here and there on the weekends (depends on my backlog). Enjoy!
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
A SAGE ADRIFT
Prologue
The Shinobi World had gone through many calamities.
The likes of which could not be imagined by the average shinobi. The average shinobi even lived to tell the tale because there has always been someone who rose up to the calamity and helped save everyone.
The Three Great Sage regions had, therefore, seen a lot of the strife that the Shinobi World went through. They had seen the rise and fall of clans. They had seen the horrors that the Uzumaki unleashed upon the world through their Fuinjutsu. They had seen the overwhelming power of the Juubi, the power of the Otsutsuki, and even the sealing of an Otsutsuki by her very children.
Therefore, for centuries since the sealing, they were very intimately aware of the fact that Kaguya was not the only Otsutsuki in existence and they were, in fact, very close to another visit from the genocidal Otsutsuki clan, something that all three sage regions had dreaded for one reason or other.
The Toad Sage, in particular as he was the only witness of that fight, was very much aware that if not for Kaguya's love for her sons, the Sage of the Six Paths and his brother would never have won, even with them being on almost the same level as their mother at least, where combat power was concerned simply because of a single fact.
The Rinnesharingan.
The single most powerful Doujutsu that any being in the Shinobi World had ever laid eyes upon.
The sheer versatility of being able to transport yourself and your enemies to a series of alternate dimensions with varying laws of physics cannot be understated.
That was why he had been sending all of his summoners on the path to raise or nurture various powerful shinobis under the guise of telling them about a prophecy regarding the chosen one arriving to save them.
When he had done that, he had never once believed that it would turn his random gibberish into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A self-fulfilling prophecy that resulted in the creation of someone that could, with help of course, turn the tides against someone that even the Sage would lose to.
The creation of Naruto Uzumaki. The Second Strongest Shinobi to ever grace the Shinobi World.
He had seen the young Uzumaki turn the tide against overwhelming odds time and time again but seeing him, along with young Sasuke, had finally given him hope that the Shinobi World could be saved or at least defended from the otherworldly Otsutsuki that would undoubtedly visit them in the near future, especially once they figure out the reason for Kaguya's disappearance and her subsequent sealing inside the moon.
Of course, that hope was swiftly wiped away when Isshiki Otsutsuki revealed himself to be even more powerful than they hoped him to be. He had thought with Isshiki being weaker than Kaguya, young Naruto would be able to triumph rather easily but as it turned out, defeating an Otsutsuki without being an Otsutsuki, was a task that only the likes of Hashirama Senju could do.
So, he had been watching young Naruto's fight despairingly when, out of nowhere, young Naruto rose up in a form that had never been seen before.
With the limited clairvoyance that was granted to him through his very own sage mode, he watched on disbelievingly as young Naruto absolutely manhandled Isshiki as if he were a Kage and Isshiki a mere Jonin.
With every punch that young Naruto diverted and with every blow that Isshiki sustained, his hopes rose more and more until at the last moment, with a furious punch, Naruto slammed Isshiki down on the ground, seemingly for good.
Young Sasuke along with Boruto celebrated Naruto's victory over Isshiki, something that seemed impossible just a few short minutes ago.
He too sighed in relief as he saw that Isshiki was about to run out of time soon enough and even without any more effort from Naruto's side, they were sure to win. He very much intended to ask Naruto about the new power-up he had received out of nowhere that allowed him to defeat Isshiki when the cloak of power that even set his senses tingling, from this far away, fizzled away and Naruto's eyes rolled back in their sockets as he collapsed on the ground, unconscious and unbreathing.
His brows furrowed in worry as he could see that Naruto's chakra was fine, if a little exhausted but that was given after a fight of this magnitude. He tried to check his Jinchuriki seal when his eyes widened immensely at the discovery.
The seal had opened wide and the Kyuubi's chakra was leaking out of it.
Only instead of allowing it to manifest out of his jailor, it was dissipating in the wind, never to be seen again.
He seemed to age even further as he slumped in resignation at the realisation of what the Kyuubi and young Naruto had done.
Somehow, the Kyuubi had done something that was thought to be impossible.
True Death of a Bijuu.
A phenomenon that was thought of happening only when the Juubi was used. One of the Bijuu, essentially constructs of chakra, sacrificing themselves only to power someone else?
Unthinkable.
Yet, that was the only thing that explained what he was able to see.
The Kyuu- no.-- Kurama had sacrificed himself to make sure that Isshiki was defeated.
Somehow, Naruto himself was spared since his chakra levels were recovering back to normal levels but he was no longer a Jinchuriki.
So, this method too was a bust then?
He was no closer to finding a method of beating back those pesky Otsutsukis than he was before this fight.
As he was about to get out of his sage mode as it took a heavy toll on his already ageing body, he saw Isshiki struggling to stand on his two legs. Legs that were already crumbling away due to his dissipating Karma.
Somehow, despite Isshiki being on death's door, he had a bad premonition regarding the situation. However, with no conceivable way of warning them, he could only watch in dismay as Isshiki seemingly squeezed out every iota of energy he had and concentrated it in his right eye.
He was left slack-jawed as, for a split second, Isshiki's right eye took on the same hue as the Rinnesharingan and with Sasuke and Boruto being caught by surprise, Isshiki transported Naruto to an unknown dimension, possibly to his death,
His deed done, Isshiki slumped forward, his body turning to dust before his head could hit the ground.
The cries of Sasuke and Boruto could be heard for hours afterward.
And so ended the story of one Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Or did it?
_x_
Continue reading to find out more.
A/N - The story will have an update posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays along with a sprinkle of an extra chapter here and there on the weekends (depends on my backlog). Enjoy!
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
#1
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#1
In the immediate aftermath of the fight with Isshiki, Naruto and Kurama could be found talking in the mind space that both of them shared in the Jinchuuriki seal.
Kurama, knowing that he was about to die a true death, was reminiscing all the moments he had spent with Naruto. Something that would have been unthinkable to his past self.
In fact, his past self would have recoiled violently at the mere thought of bonding with one of the accursed ninjas who perverted his father's teachings.
Alas, the prophecy given by that Toad Sage turned out to be true. He had always thought him to have gone senile from old age as he always blabbered on and on about the chosen one that would one day arrive to unite and save the shinobi world from an otherworldly threat but as it turned out, Naruto did arrive in the world and they did face not one but two otherworldly threats in the form of the pesky Otsutsukis.
He knew that the Otsutsuki would return, if not sooner then later, but then he would not be there to assist Naruto in taking them down. Even now, taking down Isshiki alone took the combined prowess of himself and Naruto.
But..that was for later. Right now..
"This is farewell, Naruto," He said after they were both done reminiscing about the old days, not that he would ever admit it to Naruto.
At Naruto's quizzical look, "When a Tailed Beast is taken out of a Jinchurriki, the Jinchuriki dies but that is not the case right now."
Naruto's eyes slowly widened in horror as he realised what Kurama was talking about, "No.."
"All that will happen now is my chakra will disappear, me along with it,"
"No,"
"The Price was my life and not yours, Naruto,"
"Wait a minute.."
Slowly, Kurama's form began smoking as his chakra finally began running out of the seal.
At Naruto's horror-stricken look, "Don't look at me with that annoying gaze. Sigh, just be careful. You won't have the same superhuman strength and chakra now, so be careful or you'll just join me sooner than expected."
"It's almost time. I won't be here for lo–Hmm?" Kurama paused mid-sentence as he sensed something happening in the outside world but with Naruto's entire body almost shut down due to the stress of Baryon Mode, he was unable to figure out what was happening outside by borrowing Naruto's senses.
Still, he had a bad premonition but before he could warn Naruto about it, the entire mental space they were in jolted as if they had been thrown away.
"Kurama!"
"Shut up, I'm trying to do something here," Kurama winced as the strain of merely sending chakra to shock Naruto's senses into becoming active could be felt. It would seem he had even less time than he had thought.
The chakra he had sent out was immediately devoured by a type of energy that he had only sensed once in his entire life.
Void Energy.
The energy that permeated the space between different universes. Something that was dangerous enough that even the Otsutsuki hesitated when they wanted to travel between universes.
As far as he could remember, the only way they could fight off Void Energy was by getting used to it. Unfortunately, no mortal had ever gotten used to Void Energy.
Wincing internally, he decided to do all that he could and transfer all of his meager remaining chakra back to Naruto, jumpstarting his recovery process.
In the mental space, Naruto perked up as he could feel his chakra spiking, "Um, Kurama? What is happening?"
Kurama's giant head peeked back into the mindscape, "Listen here, Naruto. Something has gone terribly wrong. Somehow, Isshiki must have done something to transport you out of our Universe. Now, you are in the Void between universes and the only way to survive this is to use Chakra. More and More chakra so that the disintegrating effects of Void energy can be resisted."
Naruto's face took on a serious look as he realised what Kurama was talking about.
"I'll be leaving now, Naruto but be careful," Saying so, Kurama, The Nine Tails, the eldest sibling to all the Bijuu, dissipated.
"Kurama!!!" Naruto shouted in despair as he fell down to his knees.
Wiping off his tears, Naruto was about to stand up when his entire body seized up, the void energy corrosion finally taking its toll on his chakra system.
Outside Naruto's body, a visible crimson cloak could be seen that was surrounding his body. The cloak was slowly being whittled down by the torrent of void energy that permeated the space they were in.
The good news was that the cloak was selectively letting in void energy into Naruto's chakra system. The resulting damage due to the exposure to Void energy was soon healed by the rapid healing prowess of Naruto. Until that damage was healed, the cloak stopped letting in Void Energy and then the cycle repeated.
This happened until the crimson cloak slowly whittled down to almost nothing. As if it had a mind of its own, it receded to protect the critical areas of Naruto's body like the torso and head.
Without the protection of Kurama's chakra, the surrounding void energy ravaged Naruto's chakra system. Fortunately, due to the previous controlled exposure, the damage was not unrepairable before Naruto was pushed out of the Void stream and right into a trash can, without anyone being the wiser about it.
Due to the strain of universal travel, Naruto's mind and body had shut down before he could hit the garbage but his chakra system, having partially adapted to void energy, was working on overdrive as it tried to absorb chakra from the surroundings to restore Naruto's depleted chakra levels as well as to heal the void burns that had occurred on Naruto's body.
Alas, the world he had crash-landed in had no chakra to speak of. Thus, Naruto's chakra system soon realised its blunder and began searching for the most compatible energy system around and that was when it stumbled upon the ambient dimensional energy that flowed through every reality in that cluster of the multiverse.
Like a ravenous beast, Naruto's chakra system feasted on the ambient dimensional energy only to find out that dimensional energy, unlike chakra, cannot be stored in one's body. It can only flow through someone, powering something.
So, the dimensional energy that should have been stored before being used was now being used directly.
Firstly, it was used to purge whatever void energy was remaining in the system and then was used to accelerate Naruto's natural healing prowess.
Slowly, the burns caused due to exposure to void energy began to heal and scab over.
Just then, the whooshing sound of air being displaced could be heard as two sets of footsteps echoed in the narrow alley that Naruto had crashed in.
"My my, you truly are a long way from home, Mr.Uzumaki," One of the voices could be heard saying before somebody snapped their fingers and a platform made up of golden lines of dimensional energy formed right under Naruto and lifted him up from the heaps of trash he was under.
"Are you sure this is the right decision?" A second voice could be heard saying as both of them retreated from the alley using a golden portal that had formed in front of them.
Right as the portal closed up, somebody else arrived on the scene and seeing that the alley was empty, cast a spell that reeked of purple darkness.
Upon seeing the results, she froze and cursed out loud, "Damn it! I was too late!"
"Ah, Ms.Harkness, so nice of you to join us here,"
Agatha Harkness froze as the form of the Ancient One became visible to her. Her first action was to form a spell to attack the Ancient One but as if she had been bound, her body refused to listen to her.
The Ancient One took calm, measured steps towards her, and said, "I wouldn't be doing that if I were you. I sure hope you remember the pact and the consequences of breaking it."
She gritted her teeth at the reminder of that accursed pact and the blatant disregard for the threat she posed to the Ancient One.
The Ancient One soon reached her and stopped, "And if you came here in search of someone, that person is under my protection and will soon become a member of Kamar Taj. While I understand that someone with his capabilities would allow you in particular to reach heights that you could only dream of, I can't allow that. So, goodbye Ms.Harkness."
The Ancient One then stepped past her and into the portal that she had opened but not before saying one last sentence, "I hope, for your sake, that our paths don't cross for a long time after today."
Only when the portal closed did she regain control over her body.
Damn, that woman and her dominion over time.
Agatha Harkness, a centuries-old witch, had used her limited precognitive abilities to divine the location of a person who would arrive completely vulnerable and would be perfectly compatible with her abilities of absorbing the magic and vitality of people and turning that into her own strength. The source of her frustration stemmed from the fact that even by standing near the Ancient One, she was able to feel the sheer vitality coming off of her which was not hers since she was aware of the means that the Ancient One had employed in order to prolong her lifespan, a method she was loathe to use. She shuddered as the intoxicating smell of the delicious vitality in the area just taunted her of her failure to collect someone that would have allowed her to live for millennia.
Breathing heavily, her eyes flashed purple as she screamed in rage, destroying everything around her in a blazing fire.
Breathing heavily, she turned on her heels and disappeared from the alley, the area left blazing in a fire that would not extinguish all night. The local residents were left unaware of the series of events that had happened there.
Kamar Taj, Kathmandu [2003]
In a ritually strengthened room in Kamar Taj, the prone form of one Naruto Uzumaki could be seen resting on a glowing bed. The bed was a handy new invention, made possible due to the invention of the Nitramene that emitted Vita-Rays, or as it is called in the supernatural community, CHI.
CHI, literal life force, was something that was doubling the speed of natural healing of Naruto.
The Ancient One was sitting nearby with a normal recreational book in her hand, the rhythmic breathing of Naruto a constant sound in the background.
Despite Naruto not having any more visible wounds, he was still unconscious mainly due to the shock he had received when he was transported between universes.
Meanwhile, Naruto was slowly regaining his consciousness as his body was being healed back to its peak.
"Wh-*cough* *cough*" Naruto sat upright, coughing as his throat had run dry during his multiversal trip.
The Ancient One snapped her fingers and a glass of water floated towards Naruto's hand.
"Thank you," Naruto managed to say between coughs.
After emptying the glass of water, he sat down and looked towards the Ancient One with dead eyes, "Where am I?"
The Ancient One raised her eyebrows at the lackadaisical reaction from Naruto even after waking up in a completely unknown environment with a stranger.
"You are remarkably calm for someone who essentially just lost his entire life,"
Her words were blunt and they might seem cruel to someone but it was the truth. Something that was in short supply in her line of work.
Naruto let out a bitter chuckle at that, "Huh, Yeah, I guess you could say that,"
"So, where do we go from here, Mr.Uzumaki?"
"I..don't know…"
Word Count - 2012
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#1
In the immediate aftermath of the fight with Isshiki, Naruto and Kurama could be found talking in the mind space that both of them shared in the Jinchuuriki seal.
Kurama, knowing that he was about to die a true death, was reminiscing all the moments he had spent with Naruto. Something that would have been unthinkable to his past self.
In fact, his past self would have recoiled violently at the mere thought of bonding with one of the accursed ninjas who perverted his father's teachings.
Alas, the prophecy given by that Toad Sage turned out to be true. He had always thought him to have gone senile from old age as he always blabbered on and on about the chosen one that would one day arrive to unite and save the shinobi world from an otherworldly threat but as it turned out, Naruto did arrive in the world and they did face not one but two otherworldly threats in the form of the pesky Otsutsukis.
He knew that the Otsutsuki would return, if not sooner then later, but then he would not be there to assist Naruto in taking them down. Even now, taking down Isshiki alone took the combined prowess of himself and Naruto.
But..that was for later. Right now..
"This is farewell, Naruto," He said after they were both done reminiscing about the old days, not that he would ever admit it to Naruto.
At Naruto's quizzical look, "When a Tailed Beast is taken out of a Jinchurriki, the Jinchuriki dies but that is not the case right now."
Naruto's eyes slowly widened in horror as he realised what Kurama was talking about, "No.."
"All that will happen now is my chakra will disappear, me along with it,"
"No,"
"The Price was my life and not yours, Naruto,"
"Wait a minute.."
Slowly, Kurama's form began smoking as his chakra finally began running out of the seal.
At Naruto's horror-stricken look, "Don't look at me with that annoying gaze. Sigh, just be careful. You won't have the same superhuman strength and chakra now, so be careful or you'll just join me sooner than expected."
"It's almost time. I won't be here for lo–Hmm?" Kurama paused mid-sentence as he sensed something happening in the outside world but with Naruto's entire body almost shut down due to the stress of Baryon Mode, he was unable to figure out what was happening outside by borrowing Naruto's senses.
Still, he had a bad premonition but before he could warn Naruto about it, the entire mental space they were in jolted as if they had been thrown away.
"Kurama!"
"Shut up, I'm trying to do something here," Kurama winced as the strain of merely sending chakra to shock Naruto's senses into becoming active could be felt. It would seem he had even less time than he had thought.
The chakra he had sent out was immediately devoured by a type of energy that he had only sensed once in his entire life.
Void Energy.
The energy that permeated the space between different universes. Something that was dangerous enough that even the Otsutsuki hesitated when they wanted to travel between universes.
As far as he could remember, the only way they could fight off Void Energy was by getting used to it. Unfortunately, no mortal had ever gotten used to Void Energy.
Wincing internally, he decided to do all that he could and transfer all of his meager remaining chakra back to Naruto, jumpstarting his recovery process.
In the mental space, Naruto perked up as he could feel his chakra spiking, "Um, Kurama? What is happening?"
Kurama's giant head peeked back into the mindscape, "Listen here, Naruto. Something has gone terribly wrong. Somehow, Isshiki must have done something to transport you out of our Universe. Now, you are in the Void between universes and the only way to survive this is to use Chakra. More and More chakra so that the disintegrating effects of Void energy can be resisted."
Naruto's face took on a serious look as he realised what Kurama was talking about.
"I'll be leaving now, Naruto but be careful," Saying so, Kurama, The Nine Tails, the eldest sibling to all the Bijuu, dissipated.
"Kurama!!!" Naruto shouted in despair as he fell down to his knees.
Wiping off his tears, Naruto was about to stand up when his entire body seized up, the void energy corrosion finally taking its toll on his chakra system.
Outside Naruto's body, a visible crimson cloak could be seen that was surrounding his body. The cloak was slowly being whittled down by the torrent of void energy that permeated the space they were in.
The good news was that the cloak was selectively letting in void energy into Naruto's chakra system. The resulting damage due to the exposure to Void energy was soon healed by the rapid healing prowess of Naruto. Until that damage was healed, the cloak stopped letting in Void Energy and then the cycle repeated.
This happened until the crimson cloak slowly whittled down to almost nothing. As if it had a mind of its own, it receded to protect the critical areas of Naruto's body like the torso and head.
Without the protection of Kurama's chakra, the surrounding void energy ravaged Naruto's chakra system. Fortunately, due to the previous controlled exposure, the damage was not unrepairable before Naruto was pushed out of the Void stream and right into a trash can, without anyone being the wiser about it.
Due to the strain of universal travel, Naruto's mind and body had shut down before he could hit the garbage but his chakra system, having partially adapted to void energy, was working on overdrive as it tried to absorb chakra from the surroundings to restore Naruto's depleted chakra levels as well as to heal the void burns that had occurred on Naruto's body.
Alas, the world he had crash-landed in had no chakra to speak of. Thus, Naruto's chakra system soon realised its blunder and began searching for the most compatible energy system around and that was when it stumbled upon the ambient dimensional energy that flowed through every reality in that cluster of the multiverse.
Like a ravenous beast, Naruto's chakra system feasted on the ambient dimensional energy only to find out that dimensional energy, unlike chakra, cannot be stored in one's body. It can only flow through someone, powering something.
So, the dimensional energy that should have been stored before being used was now being used directly.
Firstly, it was used to purge whatever void energy was remaining in the system and then was used to accelerate Naruto's natural healing prowess.
Slowly, the burns caused due to exposure to void energy began to heal and scab over.
Just then, the whooshing sound of air being displaced could be heard as two sets of footsteps echoed in the narrow alley that Naruto had crashed in.
"My my, you truly are a long way from home, Mr.Uzumaki," One of the voices could be heard saying before somebody snapped their fingers and a platform made up of golden lines of dimensional energy formed right under Naruto and lifted him up from the heaps of trash he was under.
"Are you sure this is the right decision?" A second voice could be heard saying as both of them retreated from the alley using a golden portal that had formed in front of them.
Right as the portal closed up, somebody else arrived on the scene and seeing that the alley was empty, cast a spell that reeked of purple darkness.
Upon seeing the results, she froze and cursed out loud, "Damn it! I was too late!"
"Ah, Ms.Harkness, so nice of you to join us here,"
Agatha Harkness froze as the form of the Ancient One became visible to her. Her first action was to form a spell to attack the Ancient One but as if she had been bound, her body refused to listen to her.
The Ancient One took calm, measured steps towards her, and said, "I wouldn't be doing that if I were you. I sure hope you remember the pact and the consequences of breaking it."
She gritted her teeth at the reminder of that accursed pact and the blatant disregard for the threat she posed to the Ancient One.
The Ancient One soon reached her and stopped, "And if you came here in search of someone, that person is under my protection and will soon become a member of Kamar Taj. While I understand that someone with his capabilities would allow you in particular to reach heights that you could only dream of, I can't allow that. So, goodbye Ms.Harkness."
The Ancient One then stepped past her and into the portal that she had opened but not before saying one last sentence, "I hope, for your sake, that our paths don't cross for a long time after today."
Only when the portal closed did she regain control over her body.
Damn, that woman and her dominion over time.
Agatha Harkness, a centuries-old witch, had used her limited precognitive abilities to divine the location of a person who would arrive completely vulnerable and would be perfectly compatible with her abilities of absorbing the magic and vitality of people and turning that into her own strength. The source of her frustration stemmed from the fact that even by standing near the Ancient One, she was able to feel the sheer vitality coming off of her which was not hers since she was aware of the means that the Ancient One had employed in order to prolong her lifespan, a method she was loathe to use. She shuddered as the intoxicating smell of the delicious vitality in the area just taunted her of her failure to collect someone that would have allowed her to live for millennia.
Breathing heavily, her eyes flashed purple as she screamed in rage, destroying everything around her in a blazing fire.
Breathing heavily, she turned on her heels and disappeared from the alley, the area left blazing in a fire that would not extinguish all night. The local residents were left unaware of the series of events that had happened there.
Kamar Taj, Kathmandu [2003]
In a ritually strengthened room in Kamar Taj, the prone form of one Naruto Uzumaki could be seen resting on a glowing bed. The bed was a handy new invention, made possible due to the invention of the Nitramene that emitted Vita-Rays, or as it is called in the supernatural community, CHI.
CHI, literal life force, was something that was doubling the speed of natural healing of Naruto.
The Ancient One was sitting nearby with a normal recreational book in her hand, the rhythmic breathing of Naruto a constant sound in the background.
Despite Naruto not having any more visible wounds, he was still unconscious mainly due to the shock he had received when he was transported between universes.
Meanwhile, Naruto was slowly regaining his consciousness as his body was being healed back to its peak.
"Wh-*cough* *cough*" Naruto sat upright, coughing as his throat had run dry during his multiversal trip.
The Ancient One snapped her fingers and a glass of water floated towards Naruto's hand.
"Thank you," Naruto managed to say between coughs.
After emptying the glass of water, he sat down and looked towards the Ancient One with dead eyes, "Where am I?"
The Ancient One raised her eyebrows at the lackadaisical reaction from Naruto even after waking up in a completely unknown environment with a stranger.
"You are remarkably calm for someone who essentially just lost his entire life,"
Her words were blunt and they might seem cruel to someone but it was the truth. Something that was in short supply in her line of work.
Naruto let out a bitter chuckle at that, "Huh, Yeah, I guess you could say that,"
"So, where do we go from here, Mr.Uzumaki?"
"I..don't know…"
Word Count - 2012
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
#2
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#2
Previously
"You are remarkably calm for someone who essentially just lost his entire life,"
Naruto let out a bitter chuckle at that, "Huh, Yeah, I guess you could say that,"
"So, where do we go from here, Mr.Uzumaki?"
"I..don't know…"
"Your body, as it is now, won't be able to sustain the full powers you will eventually gain once your systems are back up and running on dimensional energy. You, Mr.Uzumaki, are a one-in-a-trillion anomaly. It was as if your entire life was planned by someone to culminate in a body that could handle anything the multiverse could throw at it."
Once the introductions had been underway and he had finally asked her about his peculiar situation, the resulting explanation given by the Ancient One went right over the head of Naruto but he understood one thing. His body was injured but it would heal right up soon enough, just like it always has.
Hearing the part of his healing prowess, he chuckled, "What use is that to me now?"
He looked at her, unshed tears in his eyes, "What use is being powerful if I can't even protect the people I love."
The Ancient One paused in her explanation and sighed. He heard her snap her fingers and instantly, they were someplace else.
Well, he couldn't tell if he was in a Genjutsu or if they had actually teleported to a farm without him realising it. It was not as if he could check or dispel the illusion without his chakra system being all messed up. He had checked. Even trying to do anything internal energy-related sent shocks of pain so intense, up his spine that he didn't bother after the first failed attempt.
He looked around the place where they had landed. The grass felt real to his toes and the feel of air hitting his skin was unmistakable. His vision allowed him to pinpoint the old couple eating dinner outside their house and the way they talked and laughed would have been nearly impossible for anyone to replicate back home, save for Madara and maybe Itachi.
"Wh-Where are we, Ancient One?" He asked her once he realised that she would not be providing him with an explanation on her own.
"This, Mr.Uzumaki, is a retirement home of an upstanding couple. They worked hard all their lives and deserve all the peaceful retirement period they are in,"
"Unfortunately, their happy retirement years will be cut short when they find themselves becoming a victim of a break-in that would go wrong a few short weeks from now."
The next words that came out of her mouth sent chills down his spine simply because there was no stuttering, no inflection when she casually dropped the bomb on him.
He whipped his neck towards her, eyes bulging incredulously as she casually told him the future.
"Wh-Ho-What are you saying? Can you see the future?"
The Ancient One nodded and started walking towards the house in the distance and he jogged a little to catch up to her,
"In a manner of speaking. I can see possible futures, Mr.Uzumaki. Unfortunately, in most of the futures I can see, the lovely couple unfortunately does die a rather violent death."
His stride stopped midway and his body froze as the implications of the Ancient One's powers began to set in his mind.
Seeing the Ancient One keep walking towards the house, he tried to grab onto her shoulder to stop her and finally bring her attention towards him but his hand passed through her form as if she was a water clone rather than an actual person.
Right then, the entire scenery in front of him changed and he found himself in the same position he was in before the entire debacle began.
Blinking the spots out of his vision, he jumped and checked over his entire body and his surroundings to see that he had not moved an inch from his previous position. Chills ran down his spine as he looked at the woman casually sitting in front of him and realised the true depth of her powers and the ease with which she could kill him.
But then, he realised that he had nothing left to lose anyway and if she had wanted him dead, he would be dead. There was no way he would be able to put up any sort of fight, not with his current condition anyway.
So, he sat back down on his bed, "so, why show me that illusion?"
The Ancient One stood from her seat and walked over to the window. For some reason, he was housed in the tallest tower of Kamar Taj, and from his bedside window, he could see all the people practicing the ninjutsu of this place that the Ancient One called magic.
"Because it is true. I have seen their fate and it is not pretty. Without someone," Here the Ancient One looked at him as he stood by her side, watching the apprentices practicing their conjuration, "to stop the would-be thieves, that couple is fated to die."
He shook his head and asked her, "What do you mean by fated to die? There is no such thing and if you do know what is about to happen to them, why don't you save them all by yourself, and the biggest question of them all, why me?"
"What have I done to deserve all this? I was happy back home. I am literally stuck here with no way out and no purpose. So, for the love of Kami himself, tell me why show me that?"
The Ancient One then looked at him with dead eyes and said, "Exactly, Mr.Uzumaki. Purpose. Purpose is something that can make or break a man. In your case, you are already broken so maybe a purpose can help you in this reality."
She then turned towards the bed and snapped her fingers. The sound of the snap coincided with him being transported to a different room with his clothes being changed at the same time.
"Stop doing that!"
He was once again in a completely different room, surrounded by weird stuff kept in glass containers.
"Hmm?", his brows furrowed as he felt something call out to him, almost like he could sense it. It was like he was sensing chakra just that this time the feeling was very vague.
"Hello?" He looked around, trying to see if anyone was present that could guide him out but everywhere he looked, he could not see a single door or even a window.
With nothing else to do, he looked around the glass containers, trying to see what was making his senses tingle, crippled as they were.
Turns out, the place he was in, was, in fact, a vast corridor with swathes of items lining the centre of the room in display behind protective glass shields. He continued to roam the corridor in the weird-looking but strangely comfortable clothing in search of that elusive feeling. Soon, his search paid off and he was now standing in front of a glass box that held an hourglass with glowing purple sand in it. The hourglass continued to rotate slowly in the air as the sand would tumble from one end to the other, without truly filling any side.
Transfixed by the glow, his hand slowly reached out towards the glass container and without his noticing, his hand passed through the hole that had appeared in the glass as soon as his hand came near it. It should have raised alarm bells in his mind but at that moment, all he could think of was how beautiful the purple glow was and how it could solve all his problems.
As he got closer to the hourglass, he could feel its energy wafting on his skin, energizing him. Just as his hand was about to touch the hourglass, the glass hole closed up and his hand was nearly sheared in half with how much force was employed.
"Argh!" He grunted due to the pain and as if he had been awoken from a mental haze, he looked around, confused as to what had happened.
"I would not do that if I were you, Mr.Uzumaki," The sound of the infernal Ancient One sounded behind him as a dainty hand rested on his shoulder and seamlessly pulled him back from the hourglass, his hand freed from the glass hole which then closed up as if it had never been there in the first place.
"Okay, this has gone on long enough. Either you give me some answers or let me leave because I am just about done with your games, woman." He said as he tried to let out the full force of his chakra but just ended up injuring himself, evident by the thin stream of blood that flowed out of his mouth.
Wiping it off, he heard her sigh and then talk, "Look, Mr.Uzumaki. As I said, you are an anomaly. What I said back then, about my abilities, was not untrue. I can see possible futures and through those, I can mostly predict how the future would go based on a certain action. You, on the other hand, do not appear in my visions. It was as if the rules of the world did not apply to you at all. That was the case when you first arrived here. Now, as if the reality was adjusting to your presence, I can see your silhouette in my visions but I still can't find anything concrete regarding you."
His confused look must have tipped her because she started dumbing it down for him.
As it turned out, he was not supposed to be here at all, at least according to the future reading skills of the Ancient One. Her skills, when he first arrived here, did not work on him but now after a few days of him being in their universe, her powers had begun to work on him as well.
At Least that's what he understood from the long-winded explanation that the Ancient One gave him.
"Wait, if that's the reason, then why did you show me that couple and tell me about their deaths?"
"*sigh* You would not understand right now but know that couple is very integral to your stay here. Even if you don't believe me, I believe you would still help them out of your own goodness of the heart."
"Why me? Why can't you help them if you are that powerful?"
"Certain limitations bind me, Mr.Uzumaki and interfering in mortal lives with no connection to the supernatural at all, is one such covenant that I have to live by."
"Okay…I will go and save that couple. How will I do that though? I have no identity or resources to complete my mission."
"I was of the opinion that people in your line of work were trained for exactly this sort of thing."
"...Not exactly this but yeah, I have some training in that regard. Very well, I will do as you say but one last question, what was that hourglass in the glass container and why did it call out to me? Why couldn't I resist its temptation?"
"That..the answer to that is complicated, Mr.Uzumaki. Those are the Sands of Power Cosmic, an unimaginably powerful source of energy that can, under the right circumstances, mimic almost all types of energy save for cosmic energy."
His eyes grew wide in comprehension.
"Yes, that must include chakra as well, the special energy mixture that your body is used to. I reckon that is the reason why your body was attracted to it since it must crave chakra and since this reality has none, it gravitated towards one of the few things that can provide that to you."
"I see." He said while looking at the hourglass with interest.
"Unfortunately, Mr.Uzumaki, your body and especially your internal energy system are all very wrecked right now. I did all I could but it would seem that the last part would take time to heal naturally. So, I would advise you to avoid trying to use any of your energy skills for at least a few months. The Sands of the Power Cosmic will be handed over to you once you are healed. Until then, they will be under my safekeeping."
He had no problem with that, as long as it helped him get some of his old skills back, his life would become very much easier, even in this new reality.
He despaired internally once he realised that he would not be able to use Shadow clones, even for non combat purposes like accelerated information gathering.
"Now, is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"
"Actually, yes…" He wanted to ask her if she could provide a background for him but he heard that accursed snapping sound again and found himself at the edge of the road that led straight to the house he had seen in the vision with nothing but the clothes on his back and a small suitcase near his legs.
He groaned as he palmed his eyes and looked again at the orange suitcase.
At Least the Ancient One had style. He could appreciate that much, at the very least.
"I guess this is it then. No point dilly dallying now," he said while taking the suitcase and walking slowly towards the house he could see in the distance.
Time to see where this new reality takes him now.
Word Count - 2280
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#2
Previously
"You are remarkably calm for someone who essentially just lost his entire life,"
Naruto let out a bitter chuckle at that, "Huh, Yeah, I guess you could say that,"
"So, where do we go from here, Mr.Uzumaki?"
"I..don't know…"
"Your body, as it is now, won't be able to sustain the full powers you will eventually gain once your systems are back up and running on dimensional energy. You, Mr.Uzumaki, are a one-in-a-trillion anomaly. It was as if your entire life was planned by someone to culminate in a body that could handle anything the multiverse could throw at it."
Once the introductions had been underway and he had finally asked her about his peculiar situation, the resulting explanation given by the Ancient One went right over the head of Naruto but he understood one thing. His body was injured but it would heal right up soon enough, just like it always has.
Hearing the part of his healing prowess, he chuckled, "What use is that to me now?"
He looked at her, unshed tears in his eyes, "What use is being powerful if I can't even protect the people I love."
The Ancient One paused in her explanation and sighed. He heard her snap her fingers and instantly, they were someplace else.
Well, he couldn't tell if he was in a Genjutsu or if they had actually teleported to a farm without him realising it. It was not as if he could check or dispel the illusion without his chakra system being all messed up. He had checked. Even trying to do anything internal energy-related sent shocks of pain so intense, up his spine that he didn't bother after the first failed attempt.
He looked around the place where they had landed. The grass felt real to his toes and the feel of air hitting his skin was unmistakable. His vision allowed him to pinpoint the old couple eating dinner outside their house and the way they talked and laughed would have been nearly impossible for anyone to replicate back home, save for Madara and maybe Itachi.
"Wh-Where are we, Ancient One?" He asked her once he realised that she would not be providing him with an explanation on her own.
"This, Mr.Uzumaki, is a retirement home of an upstanding couple. They worked hard all their lives and deserve all the peaceful retirement period they are in,"
"Unfortunately, their happy retirement years will be cut short when they find themselves becoming a victim of a break-in that would go wrong a few short weeks from now."
The next words that came out of her mouth sent chills down his spine simply because there was no stuttering, no inflection when she casually dropped the bomb on him.
He whipped his neck towards her, eyes bulging incredulously as she casually told him the future.
"Wh-Ho-What are you saying? Can you see the future?"
The Ancient One nodded and started walking towards the house in the distance and he jogged a little to catch up to her,
"In a manner of speaking. I can see possible futures, Mr.Uzumaki. Unfortunately, in most of the futures I can see, the lovely couple unfortunately does die a rather violent death."
His stride stopped midway and his body froze as the implications of the Ancient One's powers began to set in his mind.
Seeing the Ancient One keep walking towards the house, he tried to grab onto her shoulder to stop her and finally bring her attention towards him but his hand passed through her form as if she was a water clone rather than an actual person.
Right then, the entire scenery in front of him changed and he found himself in the same position he was in before the entire debacle began.
Blinking the spots out of his vision, he jumped and checked over his entire body and his surroundings to see that he had not moved an inch from his previous position. Chills ran down his spine as he looked at the woman casually sitting in front of him and realised the true depth of her powers and the ease with which she could kill him.
But then, he realised that he had nothing left to lose anyway and if she had wanted him dead, he would be dead. There was no way he would be able to put up any sort of fight, not with his current condition anyway.
So, he sat back down on his bed, "so, why show me that illusion?"
The Ancient One stood from her seat and walked over to the window. For some reason, he was housed in the tallest tower of Kamar Taj, and from his bedside window, he could see all the people practicing the ninjutsu of this place that the Ancient One called magic.
"Because it is true. I have seen their fate and it is not pretty. Without someone," Here the Ancient One looked at him as he stood by her side, watching the apprentices practicing their conjuration, "to stop the would-be thieves, that couple is fated to die."
He shook his head and asked her, "What do you mean by fated to die? There is no such thing and if you do know what is about to happen to them, why don't you save them all by yourself, and the biggest question of them all, why me?"
"What have I done to deserve all this? I was happy back home. I am literally stuck here with no way out and no purpose. So, for the love of Kami himself, tell me why show me that?"
The Ancient One then looked at him with dead eyes and said, "Exactly, Mr.Uzumaki. Purpose. Purpose is something that can make or break a man. In your case, you are already broken so maybe a purpose can help you in this reality."
She then turned towards the bed and snapped her fingers. The sound of the snap coincided with him being transported to a different room with his clothes being changed at the same time.
"Stop doing that!"
He was once again in a completely different room, surrounded by weird stuff kept in glass containers.
"Hmm?", his brows furrowed as he felt something call out to him, almost like he could sense it. It was like he was sensing chakra just that this time the feeling was very vague.
"Hello?" He looked around, trying to see if anyone was present that could guide him out but everywhere he looked, he could not see a single door or even a window.
With nothing else to do, he looked around the glass containers, trying to see what was making his senses tingle, crippled as they were.
Turns out, the place he was in, was, in fact, a vast corridor with swathes of items lining the centre of the room in display behind protective glass shields. He continued to roam the corridor in the weird-looking but strangely comfortable clothing in search of that elusive feeling. Soon, his search paid off and he was now standing in front of a glass box that held an hourglass with glowing purple sand in it. The hourglass continued to rotate slowly in the air as the sand would tumble from one end to the other, without truly filling any side.
Transfixed by the glow, his hand slowly reached out towards the glass container and without his noticing, his hand passed through the hole that had appeared in the glass as soon as his hand came near it. It should have raised alarm bells in his mind but at that moment, all he could think of was how beautiful the purple glow was and how it could solve all his problems.
As he got closer to the hourglass, he could feel its energy wafting on his skin, energizing him. Just as his hand was about to touch the hourglass, the glass hole closed up and his hand was nearly sheared in half with how much force was employed.
"Argh!" He grunted due to the pain and as if he had been awoken from a mental haze, he looked around, confused as to what had happened.
"I would not do that if I were you, Mr.Uzumaki," The sound of the infernal Ancient One sounded behind him as a dainty hand rested on his shoulder and seamlessly pulled him back from the hourglass, his hand freed from the glass hole which then closed up as if it had never been there in the first place.
"Okay, this has gone on long enough. Either you give me some answers or let me leave because I am just about done with your games, woman." He said as he tried to let out the full force of his chakra but just ended up injuring himself, evident by the thin stream of blood that flowed out of his mouth.
Wiping it off, he heard her sigh and then talk, "Look, Mr.Uzumaki. As I said, you are an anomaly. What I said back then, about my abilities, was not untrue. I can see possible futures and through those, I can mostly predict how the future would go based on a certain action. You, on the other hand, do not appear in my visions. It was as if the rules of the world did not apply to you at all. That was the case when you first arrived here. Now, as if the reality was adjusting to your presence, I can see your silhouette in my visions but I still can't find anything concrete regarding you."
His confused look must have tipped her because she started dumbing it down for him.
As it turned out, he was not supposed to be here at all, at least according to the future reading skills of the Ancient One. Her skills, when he first arrived here, did not work on him but now after a few days of him being in their universe, her powers had begun to work on him as well.
At Least that's what he understood from the long-winded explanation that the Ancient One gave him.
"Wait, if that's the reason, then why did you show me that couple and tell me about their deaths?"
"*sigh* You would not understand right now but know that couple is very integral to your stay here. Even if you don't believe me, I believe you would still help them out of your own goodness of the heart."
"Why me? Why can't you help them if you are that powerful?"
"Certain limitations bind me, Mr.Uzumaki and interfering in mortal lives with no connection to the supernatural at all, is one such covenant that I have to live by."
"Okay…I will go and save that couple. How will I do that though? I have no identity or resources to complete my mission."
"I was of the opinion that people in your line of work were trained for exactly this sort of thing."
"...Not exactly this but yeah, I have some training in that regard. Very well, I will do as you say but one last question, what was that hourglass in the glass container and why did it call out to me? Why couldn't I resist its temptation?"
"That..the answer to that is complicated, Mr.Uzumaki. Those are the Sands of Power Cosmic, an unimaginably powerful source of energy that can, under the right circumstances, mimic almost all types of energy save for cosmic energy."
His eyes grew wide in comprehension.
"Yes, that must include chakra as well, the special energy mixture that your body is used to. I reckon that is the reason why your body was attracted to it since it must crave chakra and since this reality has none, it gravitated towards one of the few things that can provide that to you."
"I see." He said while looking at the hourglass with interest.
"Unfortunately, Mr.Uzumaki, your body and especially your internal energy system are all very wrecked right now. I did all I could but it would seem that the last part would take time to heal naturally. So, I would advise you to avoid trying to use any of your energy skills for at least a few months. The Sands of the Power Cosmic will be handed over to you once you are healed. Until then, they will be under my safekeeping."
He had no problem with that, as long as it helped him get some of his old skills back, his life would become very much easier, even in this new reality.
He despaired internally once he realised that he would not be able to use Shadow clones, even for non combat purposes like accelerated information gathering.
"Now, is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"
"Actually, yes…" He wanted to ask her if she could provide a background for him but he heard that accursed snapping sound again and found himself at the edge of the road that led straight to the house he had seen in the vision with nothing but the clothes on his back and a small suitcase near his legs.
He groaned as he palmed his eyes and looked again at the orange suitcase.
At Least the Ancient One had style. He could appreciate that much, at the very least.
"I guess this is it then. No point dilly dallying now," he said while taking the suitcase and walking slowly towards the house he could see in the distance.
Time to see where this new reality takes him now.
Word Count - 2280
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
#3
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#3
Nestled among the rolling hills of Westchester County, the Davis farmhouse stood as a beacon of sustainable and cozy living. The farmhouse was a place where the now-retired Richard and Dorothy Davis spent their days, working on their very own farm with their own ideas with nobody to tell them what to do and when to do it.
That was the thing they enjoyed about their farm the most, the autonomy that came with owning your own farmhouse. Richard had always wanted a farm with a barn where he would keep all his farming supplies and use them as a real farmer, not in pursuit of profit but in pursuit of fulfilling labour.
In his opinion, that was something that was going missing from the societal fabric at large. The ability to be fulfilled, mentally and physically, by the products of your own labour.
Dorothy, of course, was more concerned about the animals on the farm than her own husband sometimes but it was all in jest. The loving couple gave each other the space both of them needed to work on their tasks but at the end of the day, both of them came to the same house to talk about their days as entertainment.
Having never had kids, the average person might assume that Richard and Dorothy led dull lives but that could not have been farthest from the truth.
Richar, a former high-ranking investment banker, made enough bank in his life to sustain multiple generations of high-profile living and yet he continued doing it because he liked crunching the numbers. Even now, the excess produce they had, it was all accounted for and sold above the market rate by Richard. After getting an opportunity to retire with a fat bonus check, he pounced on the opportunity to buy up a large piece of land in Westchester County, the place where his father used to work, on the Apple Orchards.
It was his dream to one day own an apple orchard for himself and he did it, with his own two hands. It was difficult, sure, but with seven years of nonstop toiling, he was now the proud owner of an apple orchard, something he was sure that his dad must have been very proud of.
Dorothy, on the other hand, had an equally stellar if much less financially rewarding career of her own. Since their marriage was an arranged marriage since at the time, Richard was not interested in anything but his career, the balance of their marriage, at least in the beginning, was very lopsided.
Richard would spend long hours at work and she would spend the day maintaining the household along with spending time with the neighborhood wives. That was until her mother-in-law suggested she take up helping others as a career. Sure, it paid almost nothing and was a very thankless job in general. According to her, it was still much better than sitting at home or fake laughing at the same jokes that the neighborhood wives' group made.
And so began her career as a social worker. Over the years, she had made quite the group of contacts with people high up in their professions. People whom she had, over the course of her long career, helped out in one way or another. This ensured that if a case came to her, she would be more or less very easily able to solve it.
Over the course of years though, as was customary with her line of career, she had come across multiple specimens of people she would hesitate to call as human beings. Scum of the worst order, they were above no crime. Human Trafficking, Drug Trafficking, Organ Trade, Organised crime, she had seen them all and had a hand in jailing them all.
The highlight of her career would be being at the forefront of a case that ended up in multiple government officers being convicted along with a sitting Senator being indicted as well.
That, along with a string of other reasons, was why she was gently pushed away from the career of social worker and "advised" to work only on animal welfare. It was a different era back then and the "advise" had come from pretty high up so she had not hesitated much and jumped in the line of animal care.
Of course, she prided herself in her ability to become a pain in the ass for the higher-ups of any field to deal with. So, eventually, when age began catching up to her and after Richard's insistence, she eventually decided to retire from the active scene and honestly, life has been much better since.
Of course, nobody could separate her from her animals and so, Richard had cordoned off a significant portion of their farm for her animals and she couldn't be more thrilled about that. The ability to just wake up and have all her favourite rescues and cattle just chilling on her farm was a dream come true for her.
Nowadays, all she did was help around the farm and make sure that the caretakers are taking good care of her animals.
Such was the life of the retired Davis couple in Westchester county. They were pretty good friends with their neighbours and had a couple of friends back from their industry days but due to the very nature of their work, they could at best be called as work acquaintances and nothing more.
That was more or less the daily routine of both Richard and Dorothy, one that had been uninterrupted for years by now. The same schedule that was about to be slightly disturbed by the existence of one Naruto Uzumaki, a lost otherworlder.
…
..
Naruto, the complete anomaly of a ninja that he was, had decided to just confront the problem head-on and just ring the front door of the retired couple.
Although the Davis couple lived modestly and had generally zero security guards apart from the employees that lived on the farm, they had invested significantly into making sure that their house was as safe as it could be from intruders and had various alarms that would be triggered at the slightest indication of an intrusion into their sanctuary.
Such were the perks that could be afforded with the power of money and a little bit of industry connections.
But the matter of fact was that the protections that were installed by the Davis couple all had a certain image of an intruder in their mind.
A sneaky, suspicious individual trying to gain entry by either brute-forcing the most obvious entry point, the doors or the windows or trying to gain access to the farms by bypassing the boundaries. The security engineers had never expected somebody to just walk up to the front door and ask the people living in the premises because that is exactly what happened when Naruto rang the doorbell. All security systems registered him as a normal passerby instead of the freeloader he was about to become.
As Naruto stood there in his orange getup with his orange suitcase smiling straight at the door, the Davis couple inside was looking at their intercom screen, confused about the identity of the person.
Then, the intercom crackled to life, "Um, Hello?" The sound of one confused Richard could be heard.
Naruto was, at first, taken aback by the source of the sound but then saw the intercom speaker and realised his mistake. He took a step back and bowed slightly towards the intercom and said, "Hello! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I would like to work here, please,"
"So, let me get this straight, you have somehow lost all your identification papers and are stuck in the United States for the foreseeable future? Somehow and I will need some proper explanation as to how, you heard about our farm and wanted to work for us here? Does this not seem a little odd to you, Mr.Uzumaki or is that even your real name?" Davis said as all of them sat in their living room after Dorothy had made the decision, based on her gut feeling, to ask Naruto to come in and at least offer him a cup of tea before sending him on his way.
Naruto gave a strained smile at that series of questions, "Uh, to be honest, that is all I know. I don't have any identification on me that will work in this country and whatever I own is in the suitcase. Please, I have heard of the horror stories that happen to the homeless in this country and I don't wish for that to happen to me or anyone. I can assure you that I can and will work hard and you don't even need to pay for my work, just food and stay will more than suffice."
He bowed his head and put his hands together in prayer for them to accept his request.
Richar was about to refuse, but was stopped by Dorothy who put a hand on his leg and said, "Naruto, was it? Why don't you give us both a moment of privacy and we'll let you know our answer then?"
Naruto nodded, a bit relieved at seeing the kind smile that Dorothy gave him. He then went outside the living room and closed the door behind him. Standing in front of the front door, he could hear them talking about his appearance as well as him being "too good looking" to be homeless, something of the sort.
Sometimes his enhanced senses gave him more trouble than it was worth. In this case, he could not understand half of what was being said inside the room and they were talking about him!
"Come in, Naruto" He smiled upon hearing Dorothy call for him.
He opened the door and peeked his head through it, "Yes?"
Dorothy looked startled by his appearance but smiled through it, "Yes, you can start working for us but we do have some terms and conditions."
"I will follow everything you say, believe it!" He winced internally as in his excitement, his verbal tick returned to his normal manner of speaking.
As he sat down on the sofa, his luggage sitting innocently to the side, even though he had no idea what was inside that suitcase, just that it was unusually light.
"So, first things first, No drinking No drugs, you get me? Young people like you should focus on their work first."
"Agreed." Those things didn't work on him anyway. His enhanced metabolism burning through any drug or alcohol within seconds, leaving him completely sober at the end of the experience. Unfortunately, he had been the victim of many drugging attempts in his time as Hokage, even from within the village but each and every time, they failed as his body completely adapted to them after each attempt and after all the things he had been through and all the poisons he had developed an immunity to, in the Land of Fire itself.
He doubted this world had anything to offer that could help put him to sleep. If it did, it would be very much helpful to reduce the nightmares he received on the daily.
"Secondly, you will live in the worker's quarters. The building is not far behind, you can see it from the backyard. Remember, the work will be heavy but we do not condone unpaid labour here and hence, after the first two weeks, we will evaluate your performance and you will receive your salary."
He nodded, very much grateful. His surprise must have shown on his face because Richard said, "What? You thought we were a bunch of old white people who would exploit unfortunate immigrants? Well, I, for one, believe in the quality of work you do, not a piece of paper or the colour of your skin."
He smiled at Richard, "Understood."
Richard looked thoroughly uncomfortable due to his smile and Dorothy's eyes twinkled as she looked at them.
"And last of all, no stealing. If you need something, be frank and tell us but don't try to pull wool over our eyes, we have not become old simply by sitting around."
"Wouldn't dream of it," he said while nodding his head repeatedly, like a chicken.
"Alright, I am sure you must be tired because of your journey. Let me fix you up a meal while Richard shows you the way to your new home. I hope you like it because we have put a lot of thought into that building." Dorothy said as she went towards the kitchen.
He followed behind Richard as they went through their backyard towards the building he could see in the far distance.With the help of his enhanced vision, he could see children playing in the jungle gym that was installed in front of the building.
Hefting his suitcase over his back, he followed behind the silent and brooding Richard, excited about the new chapter in his life and determined to make sure that nothing happened to them.
They seem like good people and the least he could do was protect them.
In addition to that, he could feel the potent nature energy in the surroundings and that would help him immensely once his chakra pathways were healed up, he could use his Sage Mode to help them even more.
As an added benefit, with his Sage Mode, he would not have to worry about somebody hurting the old couple even if the enemy was on the same level as a Kage.
After all, he was not called the Super Kage back home for nothing, even if he didnt like bragging about it, that was the truth. Even without Kurama, he was more than capable of defeating all the other Kages all by himself.
That was what set him and Sasuke apart from all the other Kages. They had the Sage's chakra and were literally built differently.
Word Count - 2344
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#3
Nestled among the rolling hills of Westchester County, the Davis farmhouse stood as a beacon of sustainable and cozy living. The farmhouse was a place where the now-retired Richard and Dorothy Davis spent their days, working on their very own farm with their own ideas with nobody to tell them what to do and when to do it.
That was the thing they enjoyed about their farm the most, the autonomy that came with owning your own farmhouse. Richard had always wanted a farm with a barn where he would keep all his farming supplies and use them as a real farmer, not in pursuit of profit but in pursuit of fulfilling labour.
In his opinion, that was something that was going missing from the societal fabric at large. The ability to be fulfilled, mentally and physically, by the products of your own labour.
Dorothy, of course, was more concerned about the animals on the farm than her own husband sometimes but it was all in jest. The loving couple gave each other the space both of them needed to work on their tasks but at the end of the day, both of them came to the same house to talk about their days as entertainment.
Having never had kids, the average person might assume that Richard and Dorothy led dull lives but that could not have been farthest from the truth.
Richar, a former high-ranking investment banker, made enough bank in his life to sustain multiple generations of high-profile living and yet he continued doing it because he liked crunching the numbers. Even now, the excess produce they had, it was all accounted for and sold above the market rate by Richard. After getting an opportunity to retire with a fat bonus check, he pounced on the opportunity to buy up a large piece of land in Westchester County, the place where his father used to work, on the Apple Orchards.
It was his dream to one day own an apple orchard for himself and he did it, with his own two hands. It was difficult, sure, but with seven years of nonstop toiling, he was now the proud owner of an apple orchard, something he was sure that his dad must have been very proud of.
Dorothy, on the other hand, had an equally stellar if much less financially rewarding career of her own. Since their marriage was an arranged marriage since at the time, Richard was not interested in anything but his career, the balance of their marriage, at least in the beginning, was very lopsided.
Richard would spend long hours at work and she would spend the day maintaining the household along with spending time with the neighborhood wives. That was until her mother-in-law suggested she take up helping others as a career. Sure, it paid almost nothing and was a very thankless job in general. According to her, it was still much better than sitting at home or fake laughing at the same jokes that the neighborhood wives' group made.
And so began her career as a social worker. Over the years, she had made quite the group of contacts with people high up in their professions. People whom she had, over the course of her long career, helped out in one way or another. This ensured that if a case came to her, she would be more or less very easily able to solve it.
Over the course of years though, as was customary with her line of career, she had come across multiple specimens of people she would hesitate to call as human beings. Scum of the worst order, they were above no crime. Human Trafficking, Drug Trafficking, Organ Trade, Organised crime, she had seen them all and had a hand in jailing them all.
The highlight of her career would be being at the forefront of a case that ended up in multiple government officers being convicted along with a sitting Senator being indicted as well.
That, along with a string of other reasons, was why she was gently pushed away from the career of social worker and "advised" to work only on animal welfare. It was a different era back then and the "advise" had come from pretty high up so she had not hesitated much and jumped in the line of animal care.
Of course, she prided herself in her ability to become a pain in the ass for the higher-ups of any field to deal with. So, eventually, when age began catching up to her and after Richard's insistence, she eventually decided to retire from the active scene and honestly, life has been much better since.
Of course, nobody could separate her from her animals and so, Richard had cordoned off a significant portion of their farm for her animals and she couldn't be more thrilled about that. The ability to just wake up and have all her favourite rescues and cattle just chilling on her farm was a dream come true for her.
Nowadays, all she did was help around the farm and make sure that the caretakers are taking good care of her animals.
Such was the life of the retired Davis couple in Westchester county. They were pretty good friends with their neighbours and had a couple of friends back from their industry days but due to the very nature of their work, they could at best be called as work acquaintances and nothing more.
That was more or less the daily routine of both Richard and Dorothy, one that had been uninterrupted for years by now. The same schedule that was about to be slightly disturbed by the existence of one Naruto Uzumaki, a lost otherworlder.
…
..
Naruto, the complete anomaly of a ninja that he was, had decided to just confront the problem head-on and just ring the front door of the retired couple.
Although the Davis couple lived modestly and had generally zero security guards apart from the employees that lived on the farm, they had invested significantly into making sure that their house was as safe as it could be from intruders and had various alarms that would be triggered at the slightest indication of an intrusion into their sanctuary.
Such were the perks that could be afforded with the power of money and a little bit of industry connections.
But the matter of fact was that the protections that were installed by the Davis couple all had a certain image of an intruder in their mind.
A sneaky, suspicious individual trying to gain entry by either brute-forcing the most obvious entry point, the doors or the windows or trying to gain access to the farms by bypassing the boundaries. The security engineers had never expected somebody to just walk up to the front door and ask the people living in the premises because that is exactly what happened when Naruto rang the doorbell. All security systems registered him as a normal passerby instead of the freeloader he was about to become.
As Naruto stood there in his orange getup with his orange suitcase smiling straight at the door, the Davis couple inside was looking at their intercom screen, confused about the identity of the person.
Then, the intercom crackled to life, "Um, Hello?" The sound of one confused Richard could be heard.
Naruto was, at first, taken aback by the source of the sound but then saw the intercom speaker and realised his mistake. He took a step back and bowed slightly towards the intercom and said, "Hello! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I would like to work here, please,"
"So, let me get this straight, you have somehow lost all your identification papers and are stuck in the United States for the foreseeable future? Somehow and I will need some proper explanation as to how, you heard about our farm and wanted to work for us here? Does this not seem a little odd to you, Mr.Uzumaki or is that even your real name?" Davis said as all of them sat in their living room after Dorothy had made the decision, based on her gut feeling, to ask Naruto to come in and at least offer him a cup of tea before sending him on his way.
Naruto gave a strained smile at that series of questions, "Uh, to be honest, that is all I know. I don't have any identification on me that will work in this country and whatever I own is in the suitcase. Please, I have heard of the horror stories that happen to the homeless in this country and I don't wish for that to happen to me or anyone. I can assure you that I can and will work hard and you don't even need to pay for my work, just food and stay will more than suffice."
He bowed his head and put his hands together in prayer for them to accept his request.
Richar was about to refuse, but was stopped by Dorothy who put a hand on his leg and said, "Naruto, was it? Why don't you give us both a moment of privacy and we'll let you know our answer then?"
Naruto nodded, a bit relieved at seeing the kind smile that Dorothy gave him. He then went outside the living room and closed the door behind him. Standing in front of the front door, he could hear them talking about his appearance as well as him being "too good looking" to be homeless, something of the sort.
Sometimes his enhanced senses gave him more trouble than it was worth. In this case, he could not understand half of what was being said inside the room and they were talking about him!
"Come in, Naruto" He smiled upon hearing Dorothy call for him.
He opened the door and peeked his head through it, "Yes?"
Dorothy looked startled by his appearance but smiled through it, "Yes, you can start working for us but we do have some terms and conditions."
"I will follow everything you say, believe it!" He winced internally as in his excitement, his verbal tick returned to his normal manner of speaking.
As he sat down on the sofa, his luggage sitting innocently to the side, even though he had no idea what was inside that suitcase, just that it was unusually light.
"So, first things first, No drinking No drugs, you get me? Young people like you should focus on their work first."
"Agreed." Those things didn't work on him anyway. His enhanced metabolism burning through any drug or alcohol within seconds, leaving him completely sober at the end of the experience. Unfortunately, he had been the victim of many drugging attempts in his time as Hokage, even from within the village but each and every time, they failed as his body completely adapted to them after each attempt and after all the things he had been through and all the poisons he had developed an immunity to, in the Land of Fire itself.
He doubted this world had anything to offer that could help put him to sleep. If it did, it would be very much helpful to reduce the nightmares he received on the daily.
"Secondly, you will live in the worker's quarters. The building is not far behind, you can see it from the backyard. Remember, the work will be heavy but we do not condone unpaid labour here and hence, after the first two weeks, we will evaluate your performance and you will receive your salary."
He nodded, very much grateful. His surprise must have shown on his face because Richard said, "What? You thought we were a bunch of old white people who would exploit unfortunate immigrants? Well, I, for one, believe in the quality of work you do, not a piece of paper or the colour of your skin."
He smiled at Richard, "Understood."
Richard looked thoroughly uncomfortable due to his smile and Dorothy's eyes twinkled as she looked at them.
"And last of all, no stealing. If you need something, be frank and tell us but don't try to pull wool over our eyes, we have not become old simply by sitting around."
"Wouldn't dream of it," he said while nodding his head repeatedly, like a chicken.
"Alright, I am sure you must be tired because of your journey. Let me fix you up a meal while Richard shows you the way to your new home. I hope you like it because we have put a lot of thought into that building." Dorothy said as she went towards the kitchen.
He followed behind Richard as they went through their backyard towards the building he could see in the far distance.With the help of his enhanced vision, he could see children playing in the jungle gym that was installed in front of the building.
Hefting his suitcase over his back, he followed behind the silent and brooding Richard, excited about the new chapter in his life and determined to make sure that nothing happened to them.
They seem like good people and the least he could do was protect them.
In addition to that, he could feel the potent nature energy in the surroundings and that would help him immensely once his chakra pathways were healed up, he could use his Sage Mode to help them even more.
As an added benefit, with his Sage Mode, he would not have to worry about somebody hurting the old couple even if the enemy was on the same level as a Kage.
After all, he was not called the Super Kage back home for nothing, even if he didnt like bragging about it, that was the truth. Even without Kurama, he was more than capable of defeating all the other Kages all by himself.
That was what set him and Sasuke apart from all the other Kages. They had the Sage's chakra and were literally built differently.
Word Count - 2344
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
#4
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
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Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#4
When Naruto was first told about the worker's quarters that he was supposed to live in, he had not expected this.
In front of him stood a three-story building with a nice cement road that led to the main road with a parking space on the right side of the building. Right in front of the building was a small garden alongside a jungle gym where 4 kids could be seen playing around. Most of them were too young to be able to work but were at the age where they could be trusted to play around in a secure area without much supervision.
"They are the worker's kids," He was brought out of his thoughts by Richard's words.
"Most of the people who work here have families and while we do pay more than the market average, it is nothing to write home about. So, we take care of the kids as a bonus."
He looked at Richard, surprised. Naruto had tried to do the same with the orphanages back home but the village never had the necessary surplus funding to fund that project, especially once he became Hokage and brokered peace in the Elemental Nations.
He would never wish the horror of war on anyone but it was undeniable that if there was any time period where shinobis earned the most, it was war. It was also true that shinobis were the ones who lost the most during wartime situations.
"That's a nice thing to do, sir," he said while taking a look at the gym that was available on the ground floor of the complex.
"I consider it my duty," Richard said and after taking a look around and seeing that none of the adults were around, decided to show him to his quarters by himself as well.
Climbing up three stairs of flights, he was a little surprised when they arrived at the terrace rather than waiting on the top floor.
"Um?" He voiced out towards Richard in confusion as he held the door open for Naruto to go through.
"Since we had no plans of expanding the farm, we had a pretty clear-cut labour force in mind so I'm sorry but until we figure out what to do with you, in the long term, you are gonna have to stay up here," Richard said as he showed Naruto his living quarters.
Ironically enough, even after a decade of escaping that place, the area in front of him reminded him of the run-down apartment he used to live in as a child.
Although, the one-room apartment in front of him wasn't nearly as isolated or desolate as the one he used to live in, so that was a plus.
Richard clapped his shoulder, "Well, you have got a lot of work ahead of you, young man. Cleaning supplies are in the basement. Good Luck"
Why did he sense a bit of smugness in Richard's voice when he said "Good Luck"?
As the sound of Richard's footsteps receded, he took a deep breath and sighed, absolutely bamboozled by the turn of events his life had taken recently.
Going from a Kage to having to clean your own tiny apartment was not jarring at all.
Notice his sarcasm?
Rolling his sleeves, he stashed his suitcase beside the door and dashed downstairs in search of the cleaning supplies, even passing Richard who looked startled at the whirlwind speed he had assumed to get his living quarters in order.
Finding the basement was not hard, finding what cleaning supplies to pick for the job upstairs was infinitely harder since there were multiple products he had never seen before but in the end, the tried and tested method won out. He chose the mop, the broom, and the rag for cleaning off some hard surfaces.
With renewed determination, he got hard at work to make the place his own.
It was late at night and he was laying down on the makeshift bed he was given by Richard who had arrived with Dorothy in the evening to check in on him. They were pretty surprised to find the condition of his living quarters as it was a literal day and night difference. Dorothy in particular could not stop telling him about the jobs she was going to have for him. To be honest, he was not particularly looking forward to cleaning the horse stables but a job was a job and as he had given his word, he would do the job without any complaints.
For what it was worth, he could see Richard giving him pitying looks when the stables were mentioned but he was pretty sure that the job was not that bad.
They had also brought him dinner, for which he was very grateful since he had not eaten anything since the morning but was too awkward to ask them for food since he had not done a single job since he had barged into their lives.
He was pretty sure that Dorothy was going to call for him very early in the morning and he should be asleep by now for that but he just could not sleep. It was not as if he was tired. Even injured, his body was more than capable of working for weeks at a time without even feeling the slightest bit tired and that was without the enhancement of chakra aiding him. There was a reason his body was his greatest weapon instead of his chakra or his Sage Mode. Those things can be taken away in specific circumstances, his body and its natural strength cannot be taken away by anything.
Not seals, not curses, and not "magic" as the Ancient One called it.
So, with sleep eluding him and with nothing else to do, he sighed and sat up.
Taking a cross-legged meditation position, he exhaled and focused on his breathing. Ever since he came here, he had been having nightmares.
Nightmares of his home being overrun by White Zetus spawned by the next wave of Otsutsuki that came to investigate the silence from Kaguya and Isshiki. He could see Sasuke's dead body along with all of his comrades.
Before he could see anybody else he loved, dead, he slapped himself and brought himself out of the nightmare he was in.
He fell back down on the bed, his heart beating wildly and his entire body covered in sweat. He took a look at the clock hung on the wall and saw that it had been nearly 2 hours since he had been in meditation or more accurately, that nightmare trance.
Frustrated, he stood up and began removing his clothes. Putting on his running shoes and tracksuit, he exited the worker's quarters and began jogging down the road that was connected to the living area.
It helped that it was a circular track but he kept on running until he saw the sun rise. Running for one last lap made him feel much better and clear-headed. After which, he went to his modest apartment and freshened up, ready to tackle the day with renewed energy and enthusiasm even if some of it was forced since it was not easy shaking off whatever he experienced last night.
In the mirror dimension, the Ancient One was keeping a close watch on the newest and perhaps most importantly, the strongest intruder their universe had seen in the millennia she had been alive.
Naruto Uzumaki was perhaps the most polarizing person who had entered their Universe and survived to tell the tale. His very personality was built around helping people and collecting them as part of his family.
A family for whom he would do nothing. He would leave no stone unturned, no boundary uncrossed.
Nothing. There was nothing that could stop him from trying to go back to his family should he come to know about them being in danger. Perhaps, he would even, even if accidentally, destroy their universe in a bid to get to his home.
"Or, he could build another family here? Become the guardian of this reality. Then you'll finally get the retirement you deserve," The voice of an old annoyance and ally could be heard right behind her.
Centuries of experience in dealing with her was the only thing that allowed her to control her instincts and stop herself from casting a point-blank disintegration spell that not even she could have come out of unscathed.
The Ancient One sighed and turned around with a raised eyebrow as the figure of Frigga, clad in her royal attire, could be seen exiting a portal into the mirror dimension.
Noticing the lack of a sling ring on Frigga's fingers, the Ancient One commented, "Figured that out, did you?"
"Oh, this," Frigga said as she cast a spell using just one of her fingers which opened up a portal to who knows where, "Did I just solve a problem that had been plaguing your order ever since it was built? I did. You know I love challenges, Yao, and this was a fun one. So, what are we looking at here? Your newest boy toy?"
The irritating intentionally provoking words did nothing but mildly annoy her, "No, Queen Frigga, that is Naruto Uzumaki. Someone who has undoubtedly been on Heimdall's vision ever since he arrived in this universe."
"Hmm, I did hear my husband talking about it but I have no idea about the specifics. Walk me through them, will you?"
"*sigh* He is an anomaly that has become used to the void energy that circulates around our multiverse. He is one of the few people recorded to have survived the void energy storm outside of our multiverse and come here."
"I bet he is the only one that came out unscathed then? Physically as well as Mentally? Though that mental part seems slightly debatable now,"
"He…is a work in progress. I have put him here because this is the best path for him to progress on and if, by any chance, it doesn't work out, I am in the ideal conditions to eliminate him without him even reacting to it."
"Hmm, cold but in our profession, we have to be. Anyway, it's been nice chatting with you, please come to Asgard soon. I would at least like the honor of being the only sitting Queen of Asgard to host the strongest Sorcerer Supreme since the time of Agomotto himself. Especially since your death draws near and you refuse to do anything about it."
"Alright, that's enough out of you," Saying so, the Ancient One snapped her fingers and the next moment, Frigga was out of the mirror dimension.
That woman, while a magical genius and a strategic mastermind, could be so exhausting at times. He was pretty sure she had been sent here on the orders of Odin himself but when has any of her dealings with the Asgardian Royal Family ever been straightforward. Now she had to visit Asgard for some unknown reason without even having anybody to take over.
It would seem that Mr.Uzumaki's healing process must be hastened else if something happened to Earth while she was away, she would not be forgiven by the Vishanti.
Word Count - 1885
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#4
When Naruto was first told about the worker's quarters that he was supposed to live in, he had not expected this.
In front of him stood a three-story building with a nice cement road that led to the main road with a parking space on the right side of the building. Right in front of the building was a small garden alongside a jungle gym where 4 kids could be seen playing around. Most of them were too young to be able to work but were at the age where they could be trusted to play around in a secure area without much supervision.
"They are the worker's kids," He was brought out of his thoughts by Richard's words.
"Most of the people who work here have families and while we do pay more than the market average, it is nothing to write home about. So, we take care of the kids as a bonus."
He looked at Richard, surprised. Naruto had tried to do the same with the orphanages back home but the village never had the necessary surplus funding to fund that project, especially once he became Hokage and brokered peace in the Elemental Nations.
He would never wish the horror of war on anyone but it was undeniable that if there was any time period where shinobis earned the most, it was war. It was also true that shinobis were the ones who lost the most during wartime situations.
"That's a nice thing to do, sir," he said while taking a look at the gym that was available on the ground floor of the complex.
"I consider it my duty," Richard said and after taking a look around and seeing that none of the adults were around, decided to show him to his quarters by himself as well.
Climbing up three stairs of flights, he was a little surprised when they arrived at the terrace rather than waiting on the top floor.
"Um?" He voiced out towards Richard in confusion as he held the door open for Naruto to go through.
"Since we had no plans of expanding the farm, we had a pretty clear-cut labour force in mind so I'm sorry but until we figure out what to do with you, in the long term, you are gonna have to stay up here," Richard said as he showed Naruto his living quarters.
Ironically enough, even after a decade of escaping that place, the area in front of him reminded him of the run-down apartment he used to live in as a child.
Although, the one-room apartment in front of him wasn't nearly as isolated or desolate as the one he used to live in, so that was a plus.
Richard clapped his shoulder, "Well, you have got a lot of work ahead of you, young man. Cleaning supplies are in the basement. Good Luck"
Why did he sense a bit of smugness in Richard's voice when he said "Good Luck"?
As the sound of Richard's footsteps receded, he took a deep breath and sighed, absolutely bamboozled by the turn of events his life had taken recently.
Going from a Kage to having to clean your own tiny apartment was not jarring at all.
Notice his sarcasm?
Rolling his sleeves, he stashed his suitcase beside the door and dashed downstairs in search of the cleaning supplies, even passing Richard who looked startled at the whirlwind speed he had assumed to get his living quarters in order.
Finding the basement was not hard, finding what cleaning supplies to pick for the job upstairs was infinitely harder since there were multiple products he had never seen before but in the end, the tried and tested method won out. He chose the mop, the broom, and the rag for cleaning off some hard surfaces.
With renewed determination, he got hard at work to make the place his own.
It was late at night and he was laying down on the makeshift bed he was given by Richard who had arrived with Dorothy in the evening to check in on him. They were pretty surprised to find the condition of his living quarters as it was a literal day and night difference. Dorothy in particular could not stop telling him about the jobs she was going to have for him. To be honest, he was not particularly looking forward to cleaning the horse stables but a job was a job and as he had given his word, he would do the job without any complaints.
For what it was worth, he could see Richard giving him pitying looks when the stables were mentioned but he was pretty sure that the job was not that bad.
They had also brought him dinner, for which he was very grateful since he had not eaten anything since the morning but was too awkward to ask them for food since he had not done a single job since he had barged into their lives.
He was pretty sure that Dorothy was going to call for him very early in the morning and he should be asleep by now for that but he just could not sleep. It was not as if he was tired. Even injured, his body was more than capable of working for weeks at a time without even feeling the slightest bit tired and that was without the enhancement of chakra aiding him. There was a reason his body was his greatest weapon instead of his chakra or his Sage Mode. Those things can be taken away in specific circumstances, his body and its natural strength cannot be taken away by anything.
Not seals, not curses, and not "magic" as the Ancient One called it.
So, with sleep eluding him and with nothing else to do, he sighed and sat up.
Taking a cross-legged meditation position, he exhaled and focused on his breathing. Ever since he came here, he had been having nightmares.
Nightmares of his home being overrun by White Zetus spawned by the next wave of Otsutsuki that came to investigate the silence from Kaguya and Isshiki. He could see Sasuke's dead body along with all of his comrades.
Before he could see anybody else he loved, dead, he slapped himself and brought himself out of the nightmare he was in.
He fell back down on the bed, his heart beating wildly and his entire body covered in sweat. He took a look at the clock hung on the wall and saw that it had been nearly 2 hours since he had been in meditation or more accurately, that nightmare trance.
Frustrated, he stood up and began removing his clothes. Putting on his running shoes and tracksuit, he exited the worker's quarters and began jogging down the road that was connected to the living area.
It helped that it was a circular track but he kept on running until he saw the sun rise. Running for one last lap made him feel much better and clear-headed. After which, he went to his modest apartment and freshened up, ready to tackle the day with renewed energy and enthusiasm even if some of it was forced since it was not easy shaking off whatever he experienced last night.
In the mirror dimension, the Ancient One was keeping a close watch on the newest and perhaps most importantly, the strongest intruder their universe had seen in the millennia she had been alive.
Naruto Uzumaki was perhaps the most polarizing person who had entered their Universe and survived to tell the tale. His very personality was built around helping people and collecting them as part of his family.
A family for whom he would do nothing. He would leave no stone unturned, no boundary uncrossed.
Nothing. There was nothing that could stop him from trying to go back to his family should he come to know about them being in danger. Perhaps, he would even, even if accidentally, destroy their universe in a bid to get to his home.
"Or, he could build another family here? Become the guardian of this reality. Then you'll finally get the retirement you deserve," The voice of an old annoyance and ally could be heard right behind her.
Centuries of experience in dealing with her was the only thing that allowed her to control her instincts and stop herself from casting a point-blank disintegration spell that not even she could have come out of unscathed.
The Ancient One sighed and turned around with a raised eyebrow as the figure of Frigga, clad in her royal attire, could be seen exiting a portal into the mirror dimension.
Noticing the lack of a sling ring on Frigga's fingers, the Ancient One commented, "Figured that out, did you?"
"Oh, this," Frigga said as she cast a spell using just one of her fingers which opened up a portal to who knows where, "Did I just solve a problem that had been plaguing your order ever since it was built? I did. You know I love challenges, Yao, and this was a fun one. So, what are we looking at here? Your newest boy toy?"
The irritating intentionally provoking words did nothing but mildly annoy her, "No, Queen Frigga, that is Naruto Uzumaki. Someone who has undoubtedly been on Heimdall's vision ever since he arrived in this universe."
"Hmm, I did hear my husband talking about it but I have no idea about the specifics. Walk me through them, will you?"
"*sigh* He is an anomaly that has become used to the void energy that circulates around our multiverse. He is one of the few people recorded to have survived the void energy storm outside of our multiverse and come here."
"I bet he is the only one that came out unscathed then? Physically as well as Mentally? Though that mental part seems slightly debatable now,"
"He…is a work in progress. I have put him here because this is the best path for him to progress on and if, by any chance, it doesn't work out, I am in the ideal conditions to eliminate him without him even reacting to it."
"Hmm, cold but in our profession, we have to be. Anyway, it's been nice chatting with you, please come to Asgard soon. I would at least like the honor of being the only sitting Queen of Asgard to host the strongest Sorcerer Supreme since the time of Agomotto himself. Especially since your death draws near and you refuse to do anything about it."
"Alright, that's enough out of you," Saying so, the Ancient One snapped her fingers and the next moment, Frigga was out of the mirror dimension.
That woman, while a magical genius and a strategic mastermind, could be so exhausting at times. He was pretty sure she had been sent here on the orders of Odin himself but when has any of her dealings with the Asgardian Royal Family ever been straightforward. Now she had to visit Asgard for some unknown reason without even having anybody to take over.
It would seem that Mr.Uzumaki's healing process must be hastened else if something happened to Earth while she was away, she would not be forgiven by the Vishanti.
Word Count - 1885
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
#5
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
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A SAGE ADRIFT
#5
Back in the Elemental Nations, just as Boruto and Sasuke noticed the attack on Naruto too late, a portal had opened up behind Naruto and he had been sucked right into it but not before doing something that none of the other people present had expected.
It had seemed that Naruto had fallen unconscious because of the attack but right as he was about to get sucked in the portal, his entire body flickered as he was once again bathed in the Six Paths Golden chakra.
Hope bloomed inside the minds of both Boruto and Sasuke as they thought that Naruto had regained Senjutsu chakra and was now in Sage Mode. They were right in assuming so but only partially so.
Naruto was still stuck inside the seal mindscape with Kurama. Kurama was the one who had sensed the attack on them and as a last-ditch effort to save Naruto, he had forcefully ignited Naruto's latent Six Paths potential using his phenomenal control over Naruto's body that he had gained over the years, with Naruto's permission of course. Borrowing the enhanced senses that came with the Six Paths Sage Mode, Kurama realised, in a split second, that there was no way Naruto was going to get away from the suction force of the portal attack, and with him being on the verge of withering away, he did the only thing he could think of, at that moment, that would help the idiot's village.
So, at the last moment, from Sasuke's perspective, he saw Narutoo's arm aim directly toward his face and the moment he blinked, he was stuck with a fist-sized orb of golden energy.
He didn't have time to dodge before he could feel as if millions of tiny ants were biting his eye socket. He fell down to his knees, screaming as his hands were coated red due to all the blood that was coming from his socket.
"Uncle Sasuke!" The concerned voice of Boruto could be heard as he tried to help Sasuke sit down on the ground.
As Sasuke continued to scream with Boruto looking around helplessly, Isshiki saw that and began laughing in his last moments.
His laughter was abruptly cut short though as he sensed something from Sasuke's eye. The resonance of a Dojutsu.
A Doujutsu as strong if not even stronger than his own. He narrowed his eyes at Sasuke but that was the last thing he was able to do since his body soon crumbled away due to the strain of the battle wearing down his weak mortal body.
Neither Sasuke nor Boruto noticed the irregularity in Isshiki's last expressions but soon, the golden energy that remained on Sasuke's eye socket faded away, leaving behind a completely new Doujutsu that Boruto had never seen before.
Almost immediately after that, Sasuke sighed in relief and fainted, his chakra reserves being completely exhausted as it was used to facilitate the healing of his eyes.
After going home, under the medical supervision of one Tsunade Senju, they were able to figure out the exact condition of their village's now strongest ninja and once Tsunade confirmed that Sasuke would make a full recovery, the entire village heaved a sigh of relief.
That was the level of trust they had in their Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki and since Sasuke Uchiha was the only one who could consistently match Naruto in battle, his being in a combat-ready state was a huge relief, not only for Konoha but for the other villages as well.
They had seen the aftermath of Naruto and Sasuke's battle with the Outsutsukis and they were pretty sure that the next time it happened, the only ones who could help the Shinobi World would be Sasuke and if they grow up to their full potential, Boruto and Kawaki.
Upon Sasuke's awakening, the entirety of the higher-ups, Tsunade and Kakashi included, blinked in surprise as Sasuke woke up smiling of all things. Seeing something so bizarre, it was understandable that Boruto and Kawaki, in particular, were openly gawking at Sasuke as he sat up and started laughing like a possessed madman.
"Has he gone crazy?" Kawaki whispered towards Sarada even though everyone in the room, being seasoned war veterans, heard them fine.
"No, I think he was already a little crazy before," Tsunade answered Kawaki's question. Everybody in the room, the higher-ups of Konoha, nodded simultaneously in agreement.
"Um, Uncle Sasuke, what's wrong?" Boruto was the only one courageous enough to approach the clearly mad uber-powerful Uchiha.
"Huh?" Sasuke's body abruptly froze as he stopped laughing and looked at Boruto. From the beginning, Sasuke's bangs and hand had covered his left eye and even from Tsunade's report, they had come to the same conclusion that even though Sasuke's left eye had been healed, it was nothing more than a normal eye.
Not the all-powerful Rinnegan eye that Sasuke was previously blessed with.
But now?
As Sasuke looked at Boruto with his new red-coloured eye, everybody in the room began feeling an unconscious pressure that was emanating from Sasuke. Even Tsunade and Orochimaru, arguably the people with the most war experience could not help but have their bodies freeze for a split second and then assume a combat-ready stance.
Everybody else was much worse. Aside from Boruto and Kawaki, nobody else had managed to stay on their feet, such was the pressure of that single eye.
"Tsunade-hime, what is this?" Orochimaru asked Tsunade with a faux casual tone that was fooling no one since even a complete rookie could point out the shaking hands and sweat that had appeared on Orochimaru's face.
Tsunade smirked, "Hoh, what's this? Orochimaru, are you perhaps.. scared?" She asked him, fully aware of the extended horrible history that existed between the Strongest Uchiha in front of them and the Snake Sannin.
Their by-play was stopped as Sasuke shut off the chakra flow to his left eye and closed his left eye, reducing the pressure in the room to near zero.
All the higher-ups in the room, including the Clan heads and the council members started catching their breaths now that they were finally free from the overwhelming pressure. All of them looked at the now-standing Sasuke Uchiha with overwhelming fear.
'He can do all that without even moving, what has Naruto done?' Tsunade thought as she looked at the corners of the room where the hidden ANBU had fallen down, unconscious. Battle-honed, fierce warriors who wouldn't even flinch at taking a life or even giving their own, had fallen unconscious with a mere flex of Sasuke's chakra.
The councilmen slowly stood up from the ground and looked at the now combat-dressed Sasuke with fear. Now that Naruto was no longer around, they had literally nobody who could stop the Uchiha from doing whatever he wanted to.
"Where do you think you are going?" Tsunade asked Sasuke as he was about to leave.
Sasuke looked back at her, confused. Even the other people in the room were looking at Tsunade in confusion. The might Sasuke had displayed previously was something that had left a deep impression in all their hearts. Naruto also had the same level of might but he was easily controllable due to being inexperienced in the matters of politics. Sasuke, on the other hand, would probably slaughter them before even opening a dialogue on something that he did not believe in.
So, they were rightfully confused when Tsunade stopped Sasuke who was going to leave the village of his volition.
As Sasuke remained silent, Tsunade stepped forward, passing Boruto and Kawaki,
"Where do you think you are going? He trusted you with the village," Tsunade then glanced at Boruto and Kawaki, "-including his family and I don't think he would have wanted you to be alone, especially at such a time."
Sasuke's eyes softened but soon became sharp as he looked at Tsunade with an intense look in his eyes, "I..will be leaving for some time. Do not worry for I will return. I have some teammates to look for and-" he looked at Boruto and Kawaki as he continued, "-I have to train the next generation of Shinobis as well."
Saying so, he stretched his remaining right arm towards his side and flexed. All of them watched with bated breaths as the overwhelming chakra returned as a literal portal opened up in front of Sasuke's arm, through which he left the room.
"We are gonna need to talk about your shiny new eye at some point," Tsunade found her voice and yelled at Sasuke at the last moment as Sasuke left the room they were in, the portal closing right behind him.
There were multiple sighs of relief in the room as the literal Strongest Shinobi of the Elemental Nations left.
"Well little Boruto-kun, you better have some answers because this has literally been the closest I have been to death in a long time and I am not happy," Orochimaru hissed at Boruto who backed up from the clearly irate Sannin.
"Stop scaring him but he is right, Boruto. We need answers and we need them yesterday. Exactly what happened to your father out there? And what was up with Sasuke?" Tsunade asked Boruto as she signalled for everybody else other than herself, Orochimaru, and Shikamaru to leave the room.
Everybody left with clear reluctance showing on their faces. On the other hand, Shikamaru was staying with reluctance written all over his face.
"..Troublesome…"
"Uh, Father was in his weird mode where he easily overpowered Isshiki and even managed to severely injure him. Then, all of us went after Isshiki together and managed to wear his body down to such a level that his body simply stopped functioning. In the end, with Isshiki's demise certain, we were going towards Father as he suddenly collapsed without any warning. Fearing the worst, all of our attention was on Father when Isshiki, he…*sniff*"
"Get on with it, brat," Orochimaru demanded rather impatiently.
"Orochimaru!"
"Isshiki attacked Father with something. It opened a portal behind him such that his body and everything around us was getting sucked in. At the last moment, Father's body flashed golden as he regained his Sage Mode but something went wrong or maybe it was what Father wanted but at the last moment, Father sent something towards Uncle Sasuke's face."
Tsunade and Orochimaru looked at each other, clearly realising the reason for the anomalous presence of Sasuke Uchiha was due to whatever Naruto had done at that moment.
"I thought it was an attack because Uncle Sasuke started screaming as soon as it hit him but when the glow covering his face had gone out, Uncle Sasuke's eye that had been destroyed was now healed. After that, you know what happened."
"I see. You and Kawaki should go check on Hinata and Himawari. They have both been worried sick about you."
"Okay"
"Hmm"
After Boruto and Kawaki left, the only ones left in the room were Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Shikamaru who was clearly in deep thought.
"What do you think happened, Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked.
"Hmm, clearly it was due to whatever Naruto did that healed Sasuke's eyes and even managed to upgrade it. That last part is what's bugging me. I have seen Naruto use the Yang Release to perform near miracles that even Tsunade-sama would not have been able to perform. Even assuming that Naruto could do the same for an eye as powerful as the Rinnegan, we all saw that Sasuke's eye was no longer the Rinnegan. It was something more and that was certainly not in Naruto's list of abilities the last time we had talked."
"Hmm but then again, Naruto also did not possess this "Baryon Mode" that he pulled out of nowhere for his last fight, dramatically increasing all his abilities, allowing him to overpower Isshiki easily. Something that the Naruto we know would not have been able to do anyway." Orochimaru commented.
"Maybe the arm I made for him using my grandfather's cells allowed him to do it?" Tsunade commented, similarly deep in thought.
"No, if that was true, I too would have received an entirely new powerset," Orochimaru commented, unaware or rather ignoring the now fuming Senju in the room.
Elsewhere, Naruto, in a humorous twist of fate, was working on a farm, using just the natural strength granted to him by virtue of being a Uzumaki and a Kage-level shinobi.
Word Count - 2087
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
Author Note - Hello everyone! I am excited to hear of your opinions regarding the fanfic.
In this chapter, we see the effects Naruto's or rather Kurama's last actions have on the Elemental Nations.
Sasuke, in particular, seems to have gained a power up that could be more than enough for him to "hold the fort", if you will. Atleast until Naruto returns.
For more, stay tuned for the next installation in the series.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#5
Back in the Elemental Nations, just as Boruto and Sasuke noticed the attack on Naruto too late, a portal had opened up behind Naruto and he had been sucked right into it but not before doing something that none of the other people present had expected.
It had seemed that Naruto had fallen unconscious because of the attack but right as he was about to get sucked in the portal, his entire body flickered as he was once again bathed in the Six Paths Golden chakra.
Hope bloomed inside the minds of both Boruto and Sasuke as they thought that Naruto had regained Senjutsu chakra and was now in Sage Mode. They were right in assuming so but only partially so.
Naruto was still stuck inside the seal mindscape with Kurama. Kurama was the one who had sensed the attack on them and as a last-ditch effort to save Naruto, he had forcefully ignited Naruto's latent Six Paths potential using his phenomenal control over Naruto's body that he had gained over the years, with Naruto's permission of course. Borrowing the enhanced senses that came with the Six Paths Sage Mode, Kurama realised, in a split second, that there was no way Naruto was going to get away from the suction force of the portal attack, and with him being on the verge of withering away, he did the only thing he could think of, at that moment, that would help the idiot's village.
So, at the last moment, from Sasuke's perspective, he saw Narutoo's arm aim directly toward his face and the moment he blinked, he was stuck with a fist-sized orb of golden energy.
He didn't have time to dodge before he could feel as if millions of tiny ants were biting his eye socket. He fell down to his knees, screaming as his hands were coated red due to all the blood that was coming from his socket.
"Uncle Sasuke!" The concerned voice of Boruto could be heard as he tried to help Sasuke sit down on the ground.
As Sasuke continued to scream with Boruto looking around helplessly, Isshiki saw that and began laughing in his last moments.
His laughter was abruptly cut short though as he sensed something from Sasuke's eye. The resonance of a Dojutsu.
A Doujutsu as strong if not even stronger than his own. He narrowed his eyes at Sasuke but that was the last thing he was able to do since his body soon crumbled away due to the strain of the battle wearing down his weak mortal body.
Neither Sasuke nor Boruto noticed the irregularity in Isshiki's last expressions but soon, the golden energy that remained on Sasuke's eye socket faded away, leaving behind a completely new Doujutsu that Boruto had never seen before.
Almost immediately after that, Sasuke sighed in relief and fainted, his chakra reserves being completely exhausted as it was used to facilitate the healing of his eyes.
After going home, under the medical supervision of one Tsunade Senju, they were able to figure out the exact condition of their village's now strongest ninja and once Tsunade confirmed that Sasuke would make a full recovery, the entire village heaved a sigh of relief.
That was the level of trust they had in their Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki and since Sasuke Uchiha was the only one who could consistently match Naruto in battle, his being in a combat-ready state was a huge relief, not only for Konoha but for the other villages as well.
They had seen the aftermath of Naruto and Sasuke's battle with the Outsutsukis and they were pretty sure that the next time it happened, the only ones who could help the Shinobi World would be Sasuke and if they grow up to their full potential, Boruto and Kawaki.
Upon Sasuke's awakening, the entirety of the higher-ups, Tsunade and Kakashi included, blinked in surprise as Sasuke woke up smiling of all things. Seeing something so bizarre, it was understandable that Boruto and Kawaki, in particular, were openly gawking at Sasuke as he sat up and started laughing like a possessed madman.
"Has he gone crazy?" Kawaki whispered towards Sarada even though everyone in the room, being seasoned war veterans, heard them fine.
"No, I think he was already a little crazy before," Tsunade answered Kawaki's question. Everybody in the room, the higher-ups of Konoha, nodded simultaneously in agreement.
"Um, Uncle Sasuke, what's wrong?" Boruto was the only one courageous enough to approach the clearly mad uber-powerful Uchiha.
"Huh?" Sasuke's body abruptly froze as he stopped laughing and looked at Boruto. From the beginning, Sasuke's bangs and hand had covered his left eye and even from Tsunade's report, they had come to the same conclusion that even though Sasuke's left eye had been healed, it was nothing more than a normal eye.
Not the all-powerful Rinnegan eye that Sasuke was previously blessed with.
But now?
As Sasuke looked at Boruto with his new red-coloured eye, everybody in the room began feeling an unconscious pressure that was emanating from Sasuke. Even Tsunade and Orochimaru, arguably the people with the most war experience could not help but have their bodies freeze for a split second and then assume a combat-ready stance.
Everybody else was much worse. Aside from Boruto and Kawaki, nobody else had managed to stay on their feet, such was the pressure of that single eye.
"Tsunade-hime, what is this?" Orochimaru asked Tsunade with a faux casual tone that was fooling no one since even a complete rookie could point out the shaking hands and sweat that had appeared on Orochimaru's face.
Tsunade smirked, "Hoh, what's this? Orochimaru, are you perhaps.. scared?" She asked him, fully aware of the extended horrible history that existed between the Strongest Uchiha in front of them and the Snake Sannin.
Their by-play was stopped as Sasuke shut off the chakra flow to his left eye and closed his left eye, reducing the pressure in the room to near zero.
All the higher-ups in the room, including the Clan heads and the council members started catching their breaths now that they were finally free from the overwhelming pressure. All of them looked at the now-standing Sasuke Uchiha with overwhelming fear.
'He can do all that without even moving, what has Naruto done?' Tsunade thought as she looked at the corners of the room where the hidden ANBU had fallen down, unconscious. Battle-honed, fierce warriors who wouldn't even flinch at taking a life or even giving their own, had fallen unconscious with a mere flex of Sasuke's chakra.
The councilmen slowly stood up from the ground and looked at the now combat-dressed Sasuke with fear. Now that Naruto was no longer around, they had literally nobody who could stop the Uchiha from doing whatever he wanted to.
"Where do you think you are going?" Tsunade asked Sasuke as he was about to leave.
Sasuke looked back at her, confused. Even the other people in the room were looking at Tsunade in confusion. The might Sasuke had displayed previously was something that had left a deep impression in all their hearts. Naruto also had the same level of might but he was easily controllable due to being inexperienced in the matters of politics. Sasuke, on the other hand, would probably slaughter them before even opening a dialogue on something that he did not believe in.
So, they were rightfully confused when Tsunade stopped Sasuke who was going to leave the village of his volition.
As Sasuke remained silent, Tsunade stepped forward, passing Boruto and Kawaki,
"Where do you think you are going? He trusted you with the village," Tsunade then glanced at Boruto and Kawaki, "-including his family and I don't think he would have wanted you to be alone, especially at such a time."
Sasuke's eyes softened but soon became sharp as he looked at Tsunade with an intense look in his eyes, "I..will be leaving for some time. Do not worry for I will return. I have some teammates to look for and-" he looked at Boruto and Kawaki as he continued, "-I have to train the next generation of Shinobis as well."
Saying so, he stretched his remaining right arm towards his side and flexed. All of them watched with bated breaths as the overwhelming chakra returned as a literal portal opened up in front of Sasuke's arm, through which he left the room.
"We are gonna need to talk about your shiny new eye at some point," Tsunade found her voice and yelled at Sasuke at the last moment as Sasuke left the room they were in, the portal closing right behind him.
There were multiple sighs of relief in the room as the literal Strongest Shinobi of the Elemental Nations left.
"Well little Boruto-kun, you better have some answers because this has literally been the closest I have been to death in a long time and I am not happy," Orochimaru hissed at Boruto who backed up from the clearly irate Sannin.
"Stop scaring him but he is right, Boruto. We need answers and we need them yesterday. Exactly what happened to your father out there? And what was up with Sasuke?" Tsunade asked Boruto as she signalled for everybody else other than herself, Orochimaru, and Shikamaru to leave the room.
Everybody left with clear reluctance showing on their faces. On the other hand, Shikamaru was staying with reluctance written all over his face.
"..Troublesome…"
"Uh, Father was in his weird mode where he easily overpowered Isshiki and even managed to severely injure him. Then, all of us went after Isshiki together and managed to wear his body down to such a level that his body simply stopped functioning. In the end, with Isshiki's demise certain, we were going towards Father as he suddenly collapsed without any warning. Fearing the worst, all of our attention was on Father when Isshiki, he…*sniff*"
"Get on with it, brat," Orochimaru demanded rather impatiently.
"Orochimaru!"
"Isshiki attacked Father with something. It opened a portal behind him such that his body and everything around us was getting sucked in. At the last moment, Father's body flashed golden as he regained his Sage Mode but something went wrong or maybe it was what Father wanted but at the last moment, Father sent something towards Uncle Sasuke's face."
Tsunade and Orochimaru looked at each other, clearly realising the reason for the anomalous presence of Sasuke Uchiha was due to whatever Naruto had done at that moment.
"I thought it was an attack because Uncle Sasuke started screaming as soon as it hit him but when the glow covering his face had gone out, Uncle Sasuke's eye that had been destroyed was now healed. After that, you know what happened."
"I see. You and Kawaki should go check on Hinata and Himawari. They have both been worried sick about you."
"Okay"
"Hmm"
After Boruto and Kawaki left, the only ones left in the room were Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Shikamaru who was clearly in deep thought.
"What do you think happened, Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked.
"Hmm, clearly it was due to whatever Naruto did that healed Sasuke's eyes and even managed to upgrade it. That last part is what's bugging me. I have seen Naruto use the Yang Release to perform near miracles that even Tsunade-sama would not have been able to perform. Even assuming that Naruto could do the same for an eye as powerful as the Rinnegan, we all saw that Sasuke's eye was no longer the Rinnegan. It was something more and that was certainly not in Naruto's list of abilities the last time we had talked."
"Hmm but then again, Naruto also did not possess this "Baryon Mode" that he pulled out of nowhere for his last fight, dramatically increasing all his abilities, allowing him to overpower Isshiki easily. Something that the Naruto we know would not have been able to do anyway." Orochimaru commented.
"Maybe the arm I made for him using my grandfather's cells allowed him to do it?" Tsunade commented, similarly deep in thought.
"No, if that was true, I too would have received an entirely new powerset," Orochimaru commented, unaware or rather ignoring the now fuming Senju in the room.
Elsewhere, Naruto, in a humorous twist of fate, was working on a farm, using just the natural strength granted to him by virtue of being a Uzumaki and a Kage-level shinobi.
Word Count - 2087
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
Author Note - Hello everyone! I am excited to hear of your opinions regarding the fanfic.
In this chapter, we see the effects Naruto's or rather Kurama's last actions have on the Elemental Nations.
Sasuke, in particular, seems to have gained a power up that could be more than enough for him to "hold the fort", if you will. Atleast until Naruto returns.
For more, stay tuned for the next installation in the series.
#6
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#6
It had been over a month since Naruto Uzumaki had found himself dumped on the doorstep of the farm of a loving kind retired couple.
He had been hesitant at first when he was first confronted with the idea of living with someone he barely knew, especially since he himself was completely new to this reality, unaware of all the little quirks that this new reality could present to him. That little problem was solved when he opened the luggage given to him by the Ancient One, for the first time, and found a book in the midst of the clothes, orange clothing that was given to him, as a gift, apparently.
The book was titled: "A Dummies Guide to this reality"
He had chuckled at first because that seemed like exactly the sort of hilarious prank that he would think of but his laughter ceased once he opened the book and it kept opening and opening until it eventually reached the same size as his entire torso.
Naruto was pretty sure he did not have the same horror-filled look even when he and Sasuke were up against Kaguya Otsutsuki and their odds were not looking good.
He was going to slowly fold that book back down and stash it away, never to be looked at again only for it to resist all attempts at folding it down. He tried, with all his might, to close the book only for it to not budge an inch.
Resigning himself to the situation, Naruto rested the book awkwardly on his lap and opened it, expecting a mountain of information that he would have to read and memorise before going to the next page.
There really was no other option other than finishing the book and hoping that it would allow itself to be folded into its smaller form factor because considering the space he had in his modest accommodations, there was no way he would be able to live in an apartment where the living room's ten percent had been covered with an odd looking book.
That was the fastest way he could think of that would lead the Davis couple to kick him out of their precious farm. All the other inhabitants of this farm had that look in their eyes when they interacted with him that he did not want to exacerbate with even more eccentric activities, in their eyes.
So best to either finish reading the book or try to stash it somewhere nobody would find it. It seemed sturdy enough if even his full strength, injured as he was, wasn't enough to even bend its spine. It should easily survive being buried a couple of feet under, at least until he becomes ready, mentally, to read the entire thing because the matter of fact was that he would have to read it anyway.
With no foreseeable option to go home, he was stuck in this reality and it would be extremely beneficial to learn more. Besides, back in Konoha, he had been dying to have a vacation of some sort and if he wanted to think positively of this place, considering it a long vacation with an uncertain ending date would go a long way in making him less depressed about leaving his people behind.
But that did not happen because the moment he opened the second page since the first page was just titled "Introduction to Earth 6969", his hand got stuck on the rapidly heating up notebook, and before he could take his hand off, the book began glowing and the only thought in his mind before his vision was filled with white was, 'Not again!'
The peculiar thing about the book was that only Naruto's vision was filled with white instead of the entire room because as soon as Naruto slumped forward, the book stopped glowing and instead cast a near-invisible barrier around Naruto and his modest room, effectively isolating it from the outside world and discouraging anyone from checking in on Naruto.
The glow was green, reminiscent of the energy signature of the Time Stone that was in the custody of the Ancient One.
The Ancient One had foreseen the day Naruto would need a very comprehensive guide for this reality because as much as a goofball Naruto was, he was every bit of a ninja warrior here that he was back in his home world. She didn't want Naruto to be picking fights with somebody because he didn't understand the situation correctly. So, she devised a spell. A knowledge transference spell coupled with a time dilation spell. Due to the constraints of dilating time in an area, she instead chose to accelerate the speed at which Naruto's mind operated at.
If it were a normal human being, the strain of just the knowledge transference spell would have spelled permanent brain damage for them but due to the healing prowess of Naruto's Sage Body, he would at worst feel a little dizzy before his healing factor kicked in and repaired all the damage sustained. The dilation was necessary because the amount of knowledge the Ancient One was just handing over to Naruto was insane. Entire libraries' worth of knowledge was being instantaneously downloaded in Naruto's brain.
At the end of the session, Naruto will have all the general-purpose knowledge he would require to effectively blend in and also the necessary know-how of basic sorcery along with knowledge of the various supernatural hotspots and the people that live within. Normally, the Ancient One would never resort to such accelerated methods of learning since learning done through this method doesn't usually end up well since the apprentices don't value the knowledge they were given but the Ancient One is quite aware that if there was ever a soul that can be trusted with using his power in a manner that feels correct, it would be Naruto Uzumaki.
…
..
After a few hours of Naruto drooling on the tome of knowledge, the tome started losing its colour and began shrinking. In the process, Naruto woke up.
As Naruto sat upright and opened his eyes, an immediate change could be felt in the air. If previously, Naruto had an air of melancholy but still optimistic air around him, now all that was left was hard determination.
To do what? Only he knew.
…
..
[1 Month after Naruto arrived on the farm]
Henry Foster was the very first employee that was hired by the Davis couple as permanent labour for the farm. He had been recommended by their driver who was going to retire at the same time as them, courtesy of a couple of good investments that panned out well.
He was working as a carpenter and his wife was working as a nurse. They had a kid on the way and their life was generally going great until Sarah miscarried. The ensuing trauma, both mental and financial, was something that led them both to burn through their savings pretty quickly and if it had not been for a last-minute handout from his friends, he and Sarah would have been homeless when the Davis couple gave them the job.
It had been over six years since then and they had led a pretty good life since then. Mr and Mrs.Davis, sensing their predicament, had footed the entire bill for moving and even lightly furnished their new dwelling which was also rent-free. Of course, he had paid it all off over the years from his paychecks but the sentiment remained.
Even now, when he could probably find a better-paying job in the city, he refused to even entertain that thought. Sarah was the same. After staying on the farm, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, she was as allergic to the city life as she was to peanuts.
Even when little Jenna arrived in their lives, they refused to leave the safe haven that was the Davis farm because, for them, it represented more than just a paycheck. It represented a safe environment for them to live in and for little Jenna to grow in. It helped that they lived rent-free on the farm, the only thing the Davis couple asking in exchange was help keep an eye on the farm even after hours, something that he and the other workers would have done without even asking since it was a place where they also lived and making sure that their families were safe was a top priority for most of them.
Life was good. They hired a couple more families that continued to live on the farm, as the farm grew the produce increased.
It had been almost a dozen families that lived on the farm when they approached the couple with the intention of starting an enterprise with shared ownership as another source of income for the labour as well as the owners. While Richard was against it since he had pretty much spent his entire life around corporations, Dorothy was all for it as it allowed them to earn more for their future and their children's futures.
Not that Dorothy spared any expense in that regard. As was fitting with her background as a social worker, Dorothy made sure that all of the kids received proper schooling along with all the medical, dental, and regular expenses filled with the money the farm generated.
Even if reluctantly, Richard later got involved in the financial aspects of it and worked on creating funds for the kids and their collective expenses. Nowadays, the farm actually had a minivan that transported all the kids to their schools by a rotating shift of dads who had driving licenses.
Life had been going good, great even when he heard that Richard and Dorothy had hired someone new. He had been curious, somewhat excited even to meet the new family that was going to live on the farm, especially since he knew that there was no proportional plan to increase the workload and nobody was leaving as far as he knew.
Imagine his disappointment when he found that it was just a single person, a kid, from the looks of it who was going to live on the farm with them. He had been fine with that as well but there were other glaring oddities that tickled him the wrong way.
There were these whisker marks on his face but that could have been explained away as birthmarks but it was the other things as well, like being able to work for over twelve hours at a time without even needing breaks, except for food and water. Even those he only took when everybody else around him started taking them.
It all felt like a way for him to blend in with the "normal" folks. He had been observing him for over two weeks and the things he had discovered had alarmed him, to say the least. First of all, the way Naruto handled chores was very very suspicious. Lifting loads, and crates weighing hundreds of pounds as if they weighed anything and doing so for hours after hours without any visible strain.
Many times, he had heard the other people on the farm discuss how Naruto seemed to have a way with the trees as he was usually found jumping through the trees with supernatural dexterity. He had been hesitant to believe that but even he himself had witnessed him landing on his feet after a 15-foot drop.
That was not something a normal person would be able to do. The last straw was when he had hesitantly went to the terrace of their living quarters, where Naruto lived, to offer him a Brisket that his wife insisted on giving him since it was a nice thing to do. He was about to knock on the door when his gaze fell to the bottom where he could see light shining through.
Already suspicious, he chose to look through the window if he could spot anything but the scene that greeted him was very baffling. It had been 10 PM when he had gone up and the scene through the window was completely dark. The bed had been made up and everything but there was no source of the light he was seeing.
Going back to the main door, he saw the same orange light. Rubbing his eyes, he double and triple-checked everything but no matter how many times he saw it, the window and the door indicated two different things. He had been at his wit's end when Naruto himself opened the door for him, likely sensing some disturbance outside his door.
He didn't think Naruto himself knew about it but the moment the door opened, his eyes widened as instead of Naruto's normal blue eyes, two pools of orange light stared back at him. He had gingerly handed over the brisket and practically fled from the terrace, his heart beating loud enough that he could hear it.
He had talked to his wife about it but she refused to listen to him because according to her, Naruto was the sweetest little boy that helped everyone on the farm without even hesitating. He had been silenced by his wife then but he kept observing Naruto for anomalies and he did end up finding many. Somehow, Naruto had wormed his way into everybody's good graces that worked on the farm. Even the Davis couple had been completely enraptured with his sunshine personality. Even the usually stoic Richard could be seen smiling with Naruto sometimes.
Fearing that nobody would listen to him or call him crazy to even think so, he turned to his friend who had warned him about such people.
*Ring* *Ring*
"Hey, Henry, Long time no see. What's up?" A hoarse voice could be heard speaking over the phone.
Henry looked around as he paced around in his living room, "Hey Keith. You know you once told me about calling you if I found some "odd" people?"
Even Henry could feel the immediate shift in Keith's tone as soon as he stopped speaking, "You mean you found a "mutie"?"
"Maybe, I don't know. Look, he just has these abilities that don't appear normal and somehow, he has become everyone's favorite here. Even if I tried to warn everyone now, they would think that I was crazy."
"You did the right thing, Henry. Don't worry, they have an insidious way of charming people. Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Just send me the address and make sure that the missus and the children are not there tommorow."
"O-Okay. Thank you."
There was no reply as the line went dead.
Unease gripped his heart as he thought about what he had done but in the end, his fear for his family won out and he sent the address for the farm. He just hoped that Keith didn't do anything to the Davis couple. He had always been rowdy.
"Hey, Sarah, how about a trip to the park tomorrow?" He yelled out as he tried to remove the uneasy thoughts out of his mind.
Word Count - 2531
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#6
It had been over a month since Naruto Uzumaki had found himself dumped on the doorstep of the farm of a loving kind retired couple.
He had been hesitant at first when he was first confronted with the idea of living with someone he barely knew, especially since he himself was completely new to this reality, unaware of all the little quirks that this new reality could present to him. That little problem was solved when he opened the luggage given to him by the Ancient One, for the first time, and found a book in the midst of the clothes, orange clothing that was given to him, as a gift, apparently.
The book was titled: "A Dummies Guide to this reality"
He had chuckled at first because that seemed like exactly the sort of hilarious prank that he would think of but his laughter ceased once he opened the book and it kept opening and opening until it eventually reached the same size as his entire torso.
Naruto was pretty sure he did not have the same horror-filled look even when he and Sasuke were up against Kaguya Otsutsuki and their odds were not looking good.
He was going to slowly fold that book back down and stash it away, never to be looked at again only for it to resist all attempts at folding it down. He tried, with all his might, to close the book only for it to not budge an inch.
Resigning himself to the situation, Naruto rested the book awkwardly on his lap and opened it, expecting a mountain of information that he would have to read and memorise before going to the next page.
There really was no other option other than finishing the book and hoping that it would allow itself to be folded into its smaller form factor because considering the space he had in his modest accommodations, there was no way he would be able to live in an apartment where the living room's ten percent had been covered with an odd looking book.
That was the fastest way he could think of that would lead the Davis couple to kick him out of their precious farm. All the other inhabitants of this farm had that look in their eyes when they interacted with him that he did not want to exacerbate with even more eccentric activities, in their eyes.
So best to either finish reading the book or try to stash it somewhere nobody would find it. It seemed sturdy enough if even his full strength, injured as he was, wasn't enough to even bend its spine. It should easily survive being buried a couple of feet under, at least until he becomes ready, mentally, to read the entire thing because the matter of fact was that he would have to read it anyway.
With no foreseeable option to go home, he was stuck in this reality and it would be extremely beneficial to learn more. Besides, back in Konoha, he had been dying to have a vacation of some sort and if he wanted to think positively of this place, considering it a long vacation with an uncertain ending date would go a long way in making him less depressed about leaving his people behind.
But that did not happen because the moment he opened the second page since the first page was just titled "Introduction to Earth 6969", his hand got stuck on the rapidly heating up notebook, and before he could take his hand off, the book began glowing and the only thought in his mind before his vision was filled with white was, 'Not again!'
The peculiar thing about the book was that only Naruto's vision was filled with white instead of the entire room because as soon as Naruto slumped forward, the book stopped glowing and instead cast a near-invisible barrier around Naruto and his modest room, effectively isolating it from the outside world and discouraging anyone from checking in on Naruto.
The glow was green, reminiscent of the energy signature of the Time Stone that was in the custody of the Ancient One.
The Ancient One had foreseen the day Naruto would need a very comprehensive guide for this reality because as much as a goofball Naruto was, he was every bit of a ninja warrior here that he was back in his home world. She didn't want Naruto to be picking fights with somebody because he didn't understand the situation correctly. So, she devised a spell. A knowledge transference spell coupled with a time dilation spell. Due to the constraints of dilating time in an area, she instead chose to accelerate the speed at which Naruto's mind operated at.
If it were a normal human being, the strain of just the knowledge transference spell would have spelled permanent brain damage for them but due to the healing prowess of Naruto's Sage Body, he would at worst feel a little dizzy before his healing factor kicked in and repaired all the damage sustained. The dilation was necessary because the amount of knowledge the Ancient One was just handing over to Naruto was insane. Entire libraries' worth of knowledge was being instantaneously downloaded in Naruto's brain.
At the end of the session, Naruto will have all the general-purpose knowledge he would require to effectively blend in and also the necessary know-how of basic sorcery along with knowledge of the various supernatural hotspots and the people that live within. Normally, the Ancient One would never resort to such accelerated methods of learning since learning done through this method doesn't usually end up well since the apprentices don't value the knowledge they were given but the Ancient One is quite aware that if there was ever a soul that can be trusted with using his power in a manner that feels correct, it would be Naruto Uzumaki.
…
..
After a few hours of Naruto drooling on the tome of knowledge, the tome started losing its colour and began shrinking. In the process, Naruto woke up.
As Naruto sat upright and opened his eyes, an immediate change could be felt in the air. If previously, Naruto had an air of melancholy but still optimistic air around him, now all that was left was hard determination.
To do what? Only he knew.
…
..
[1 Month after Naruto arrived on the farm]
Henry Foster was the very first employee that was hired by the Davis couple as permanent labour for the farm. He had been recommended by their driver who was going to retire at the same time as them, courtesy of a couple of good investments that panned out well.
He was working as a carpenter and his wife was working as a nurse. They had a kid on the way and their life was generally going great until Sarah miscarried. The ensuing trauma, both mental and financial, was something that led them both to burn through their savings pretty quickly and if it had not been for a last-minute handout from his friends, he and Sarah would have been homeless when the Davis couple gave them the job.
It had been over six years since then and they had led a pretty good life since then. Mr and Mrs.Davis, sensing their predicament, had footed the entire bill for moving and even lightly furnished their new dwelling which was also rent-free. Of course, he had paid it all off over the years from his paychecks but the sentiment remained.
Even now, when he could probably find a better-paying job in the city, he refused to even entertain that thought. Sarah was the same. After staying on the farm, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, she was as allergic to the city life as she was to peanuts.
Even when little Jenna arrived in their lives, they refused to leave the safe haven that was the Davis farm because, for them, it represented more than just a paycheck. It represented a safe environment for them to live in and for little Jenna to grow in. It helped that they lived rent-free on the farm, the only thing the Davis couple asking in exchange was help keep an eye on the farm even after hours, something that he and the other workers would have done without even asking since it was a place where they also lived and making sure that their families were safe was a top priority for most of them.
Life was good. They hired a couple more families that continued to live on the farm, as the farm grew the produce increased.
It had been almost a dozen families that lived on the farm when they approached the couple with the intention of starting an enterprise with shared ownership as another source of income for the labour as well as the owners. While Richard was against it since he had pretty much spent his entire life around corporations, Dorothy was all for it as it allowed them to earn more for their future and their children's futures.
Not that Dorothy spared any expense in that regard. As was fitting with her background as a social worker, Dorothy made sure that all of the kids received proper schooling along with all the medical, dental, and regular expenses filled with the money the farm generated.
Even if reluctantly, Richard later got involved in the financial aspects of it and worked on creating funds for the kids and their collective expenses. Nowadays, the farm actually had a minivan that transported all the kids to their schools by a rotating shift of dads who had driving licenses.
Life had been going good, great even when he heard that Richard and Dorothy had hired someone new. He had been curious, somewhat excited even to meet the new family that was going to live on the farm, especially since he knew that there was no proportional plan to increase the workload and nobody was leaving as far as he knew.
Imagine his disappointment when he found that it was just a single person, a kid, from the looks of it who was going to live on the farm with them. He had been fine with that as well but there were other glaring oddities that tickled him the wrong way.
There were these whisker marks on his face but that could have been explained away as birthmarks but it was the other things as well, like being able to work for over twelve hours at a time without even needing breaks, except for food and water. Even those he only took when everybody else around him started taking them.
It all felt like a way for him to blend in with the "normal" folks. He had been observing him for over two weeks and the things he had discovered had alarmed him, to say the least. First of all, the way Naruto handled chores was very very suspicious. Lifting loads, and crates weighing hundreds of pounds as if they weighed anything and doing so for hours after hours without any visible strain.
Many times, he had heard the other people on the farm discuss how Naruto seemed to have a way with the trees as he was usually found jumping through the trees with supernatural dexterity. He had been hesitant to believe that but even he himself had witnessed him landing on his feet after a 15-foot drop.
That was not something a normal person would be able to do. The last straw was when he had hesitantly went to the terrace of their living quarters, where Naruto lived, to offer him a Brisket that his wife insisted on giving him since it was a nice thing to do. He was about to knock on the door when his gaze fell to the bottom where he could see light shining through.
Already suspicious, he chose to look through the window if he could spot anything but the scene that greeted him was very baffling. It had been 10 PM when he had gone up and the scene through the window was completely dark. The bed had been made up and everything but there was no source of the light he was seeing.
Going back to the main door, he saw the same orange light. Rubbing his eyes, he double and triple-checked everything but no matter how many times he saw it, the window and the door indicated two different things. He had been at his wit's end when Naruto himself opened the door for him, likely sensing some disturbance outside his door.
He didn't think Naruto himself knew about it but the moment the door opened, his eyes widened as instead of Naruto's normal blue eyes, two pools of orange light stared back at him. He had gingerly handed over the brisket and practically fled from the terrace, his heart beating loud enough that he could hear it.
He had talked to his wife about it but she refused to listen to him because according to her, Naruto was the sweetest little boy that helped everyone on the farm without even hesitating. He had been silenced by his wife then but he kept observing Naruto for anomalies and he did end up finding many. Somehow, Naruto had wormed his way into everybody's good graces that worked on the farm. Even the Davis couple had been completely enraptured with his sunshine personality. Even the usually stoic Richard could be seen smiling with Naruto sometimes.
Fearing that nobody would listen to him or call him crazy to even think so, he turned to his friend who had warned him about such people.
*Ring* *Ring*
"Hey, Henry, Long time no see. What's up?" A hoarse voice could be heard speaking over the phone.
Henry looked around as he paced around in his living room, "Hey Keith. You know you once told me about calling you if I found some "odd" people?"
Even Henry could feel the immediate shift in Keith's tone as soon as he stopped speaking, "You mean you found a "mutie"?"
"Maybe, I don't know. Look, he just has these abilities that don't appear normal and somehow, he has become everyone's favorite here. Even if I tried to warn everyone now, they would think that I was crazy."
"You did the right thing, Henry. Don't worry, they have an insidious way of charming people. Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Just send me the address and make sure that the missus and the children are not there tommorow."
"O-Okay. Thank you."
There was no reply as the line went dead.
Unease gripped his heart as he thought about what he had done but in the end, his fear for his family won out and he sent the address for the farm. He just hoped that Keith didn't do anything to the Davis couple. He had always been rowdy.
"Hey, Sarah, how about a trip to the park tomorrow?" He yelled out as he tried to remove the uneasy thoughts out of his mind.
Word Count - 2531
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
#7
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#7
In the month that Naruto had been on the Davis Farm, he had made astonishing progress in both the field of dimensional sorcery and the healing of his chakra pathways. He always knew that due to his lineage, he was blessed with a body that was literally impossible to replicate. So, it was unsurprising that the art of dimensional energy manipulation came easily to him. It was the other thing that was bothering him that prevented him from going further up on the skill ladder.
To replicate the right set of circumstances that led to his birth would be impossible, especially now that Kurama was dead. Even knowing that the sentence uttered by the Ancient One when they had first met repeatedly came to him.
"It was as if your body was engineered for this outcome." It was both haunting and relieving in equal measures because if it hadn't been for his body, he would not have been able to survive the trip to this reality but the very thought of his birth, his entire upbringing, being planned and predicted by someone sickened him to his core.
The worst thing was that he was not who he was because of his birth circumstances, although those helped a lot. No, he was the byproduct of the will and determination of a lot of people.
Friends, allies, Superiors, and even enemies.
For someone to accurately model the end result of his body, they would have to manipulate the bodies of not just his parents but also all the people he had ever encountered in his life. The thought of all the people he met throughout his life dancing to the tunes of some master puppeteer was sobering. And the worst part was that he knew it could be true because he was aware of the Outer Gods that resided in the adjacent dimensions connected to this universe.
As it turned out, the Dummies Guide to this Reality was more comprehensive than he had first assumed. He had expected maybe a thousand pages of overview, not entire libraries' worth of data downloaded into his brain in the span of a couple hours.
He now had enough data in his mind about the intricacies of the manipulation of dimensional energy that he could manipulate raw dimensional energy to various effects.
Consequently, his understanding of chakra theory also increased substantially. Something he thought would never happen, what with his and his clones' propensity to divert to literally any other topic when the absolutely mind-numbing topic of Chakra Theory was started.
He had taken to practicing dimensional energy in his off times, which was only during the night since throughout the day he was busy doing something or the other. As it turned out, having the physical body of a Kage-level Uzumaki shinobi did have its benefits.
Unmatched vitality, stamina, endurance, and recoverability were some of the many benefits afforded to the vaunted Uzumaki bloodline. Looking at the clenched right fist, he was once again reminded of the chaos of energy that was present inside his body.
Sage chakra, Six Paths Chakra, Yang chakra from his bloodline and Kurama's Yang Chakra, Yang Chakra from the Hashirama Cells, and now Neutral Dimensional Energy whenever he tried to channel it to do sorcery. It was no wonder his chakra pathways were taking so long to heal.
Come to think of it, maybe the reason he was blessed physically instead of mentally was due to the overabundance of yang chakra in his body. He may not be dumb per se but it was clear for everyone in his life that he was not the most academically inclined shinobi. It was the same reason he had never learned Fuinjutsu in his life, even after being given the opportunity to do so many times was maybe his chakra imbalance prevented his Uzumaki Fuinjutsu affinity from shining through.
That was then though but now that Tomes' worth of information regarding Runes, basically this world's Fuinjutsu, was in his head, he could finally understand some of the underlying principles of Fuinjutsu, not that he could test them anytime soon since his chakra pathways were yet to be healed completely.
He did have the fleeting idea of using the natural regenerative properties that were boosted immensely when he was in Sage Mode. That thought was fleeting exactly because it would be a very dumb idea to try and take in Nature Energy when his chakra pathways could barely handle dimensional energy as is.
He would have to wait for the Ancient One to hand over the Sands of Power Cosmic since that was the only viable source for chakra in this universe, at least according to her. For that, he would have to wait for his chakra pathways to heal naturally. Even back in the Elemental Nations, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, two of the foremost experts on Chakra networks and how to heal them, had no idea of how to accelerate the healing of chakra pathways.
He was pretty sure that had it not been for his body, he would have been toast, not due to the void energy but due to the mixture of energies within his body.
"So that's what you have been doing out here in the woods. No wonder the dogs were terrified of coming here."
His concentration was broken as the sound of Dorothy could be heard echoing slightly in the clearing he was in. His concentration breaking slightly, his form staggered mid-air but soon stabilised as he slowly floated down, cross-legged.
He sighed, "So you knew?"
"Well, I had a hunch, I guess? But after observing your room's lights turning off only after the orange flashes in the forest had died down clued me in on your nightly activities. So, are you a mutant?" Dorothy questioned him as she got comfortable sitting down on the grass in front of him.
He looked around, trying to spot Richard or maybe the dogs or anybody that could indicate that Dorothy had not just come unarmed to a place with a clearly powered individual. That was clearly the height of stupidity and he might just start thinking less of her for that.
"What? It's just me. I don't need Richard to deal with punks." She said as she shined her flashlight on her waist, allowing him to see the pistol.
At his wide-eyed gaze, Dorothy continued, "Son, I grew up in the 60s. It wasn't always the best of times and I had to learn pretty quickly to defend myself. Anyway, this is unnecessary anyway because I know you and you would much sooner kill yourself than try and hurt me. Besides, you had hundreds of chances to do so in the past month."
She said while throwing the gun towards him as a show of faith. It was true. He had no reason to hurt her and he would not have taken the risky step to start practicing with higher levels of dimensional energy to see if his body could adapt to it if not for an uneasy feeling that pooled in his gut that seemed to increase as the days went by.
He was aware of the facet of destiny and its unusual obsession with his life so he didn't want to leave anything to chance thus he started the more risky level of training. Risky in terms of being discovered as well as risky in terms of him slowing down the healing of his own chakra pathways.
He blinked as he realised that he had once again been lost in his thoughts. Sighing, he slowly stood up while cutting off the flow of dimensional energy from his body, allowing his eyes to stop glowing orange. He had discovered that recently as his body became more and more attuned to dimensional energy, it started exhibiting it in different ways. For example, his eyes glowed when he used dimensional energy but if he purposely flowed it to his eyes, it allowed him to perceive the Astral Dimension. Something that was incredible since mortals are not supposed to do that without themselves being in Astral Form.
"Look, I promise I am not here to hurt anybody. I'll leave as soon as-"
"Oh, I believe you."
He blinked owlishly, "Huh?"
Dorothy smiled at him with fondness evident on her face as she stood up and came to stand in front of him. She barely reached his shoulders but the overwhelming positivity on her face was-
"Can you turn on your eye flashlights again? I can't see anything worth a damn here with these old eyes."
He chuckled. It was just like her, turning an emotional event into a funny one. With a flex of his will, dimensional energy once again began flowing through his body and his eyes started feeling warm but that was not the effect he intended.
Closing his eyes, he instead concentrated on wrestling with the control of dimensional energy, something that was near impossible to do for higher-level spells since dimensional energy is supposed to be like an unstoppable torrent that can only be surrendered to.
But he was Naruto Uzumaki and he would make it happen so he watched as slowly, the dimensional energy began flowing through the entirety of his body, slowly lighting it up, hopefully.
"Oh my," He could feel Dorothy exclaim as she took a few steps back from him.
Slowly, he opened up his eyes only for his eyes to widen as the entire clearing he was in was now slowly being crowded by not only all sorts of animals, critters, and insects but also slowly growing grass and even the nearby trees were lighting up in the orange glow as well. He looked around in confusion trying to find the source of the anomaly because dimensional energy was not supposed to have that effect on life. CHI maybe could have the same effect but he was sure he was not using-
His mind came to a screeching halt as he felt itching in his right arm. The one made by Hashirama Cells. The cells responsible for Wood Release.
Looking around the scene, he placed his hand on the sleeve covering his right arm and pulled, hoping to see the pale white arm reminiscent of the White Zetsu but was shocked to find normal skin under it. For all his time in this reality, he had refused to remove the sleeve that was given to him by the Ancient One that could mimic his skin to an astonishing degree. So, it was very surprising for him to find the arm to be the same as his left one.
The only difference was that it was glowing green for some reason. He waved his arm in front of him and the grass changed direction with it.
"Who are you supposed to be, Tree Man?" T Dorothy quipped as she stepped around the growing grass and took his hand in her hand.
"Hmm, this feels normal but this effect is not normal at all. Come on, let's get you inside before anybody notices."
He was amused at her ramblings as she dragged him away from the forest clearing towards the dirt road that led towards their home. His smile dimmed when he thought of the prediction about their death that the Ancient One had made to him.
Looking at her small back and her warm words that were scolding him about the dangers of being out at night by himself, his determination to save them renewed in his heart.
Dorothy, in particular, had opened up her home, heart, and her farm for him in an admitted rough patch in his life.
"So, does Richard know?" He offhandedly asked her once the house came back into view and it seemed as if Dorothy had run out of steam berating him for his foolishness.
"Oh, does he know? Honey, he was the one who was the first to find out. What? You thought your feats of extraordinary strength went unnoticed by everyone? Why do you think you found yourself on barn duty, all by yourself?"
"Oh, so that was you.."
"Hmm."
"And stop that arm of yours from glowing green. I may be old but I am not blind yet. I can see the house's lights from here now."
"..Okay"
Word Count - 2068
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#7
In the month that Naruto had been on the Davis Farm, he had made astonishing progress in both the field of dimensional sorcery and the healing of his chakra pathways. He always knew that due to his lineage, he was blessed with a body that was literally impossible to replicate. So, it was unsurprising that the art of dimensional energy manipulation came easily to him. It was the other thing that was bothering him that prevented him from going further up on the skill ladder.
To replicate the right set of circumstances that led to his birth would be impossible, especially now that Kurama was dead. Even knowing that the sentence uttered by the Ancient One when they had first met repeatedly came to him.
"It was as if your body was engineered for this outcome." It was both haunting and relieving in equal measures because if it hadn't been for his body, he would not have been able to survive the trip to this reality but the very thought of his birth, his entire upbringing, being planned and predicted by someone sickened him to his core.
The worst thing was that he was not who he was because of his birth circumstances, although those helped a lot. No, he was the byproduct of the will and determination of a lot of people.
Friends, allies, Superiors, and even enemies.
For someone to accurately model the end result of his body, they would have to manipulate the bodies of not just his parents but also all the people he had ever encountered in his life. The thought of all the people he met throughout his life dancing to the tunes of some master puppeteer was sobering. And the worst part was that he knew it could be true because he was aware of the Outer Gods that resided in the adjacent dimensions connected to this universe.
As it turned out, the Dummies Guide to this Reality was more comprehensive than he had first assumed. He had expected maybe a thousand pages of overview, not entire libraries' worth of data downloaded into his brain in the span of a couple hours.
He now had enough data in his mind about the intricacies of the manipulation of dimensional energy that he could manipulate raw dimensional energy to various effects.
Consequently, his understanding of chakra theory also increased substantially. Something he thought would never happen, what with his and his clones' propensity to divert to literally any other topic when the absolutely mind-numbing topic of Chakra Theory was started.
He had taken to practicing dimensional energy in his off times, which was only during the night since throughout the day he was busy doing something or the other. As it turned out, having the physical body of a Kage-level Uzumaki shinobi did have its benefits.
Unmatched vitality, stamina, endurance, and recoverability were some of the many benefits afforded to the vaunted Uzumaki bloodline. Looking at the clenched right fist, he was once again reminded of the chaos of energy that was present inside his body.
Sage chakra, Six Paths Chakra, Yang chakra from his bloodline and Kurama's Yang Chakra, Yang Chakra from the Hashirama Cells, and now Neutral Dimensional Energy whenever he tried to channel it to do sorcery. It was no wonder his chakra pathways were taking so long to heal.
Come to think of it, maybe the reason he was blessed physically instead of mentally was due to the overabundance of yang chakra in his body. He may not be dumb per se but it was clear for everyone in his life that he was not the most academically inclined shinobi. It was the same reason he had never learned Fuinjutsu in his life, even after being given the opportunity to do so many times was maybe his chakra imbalance prevented his Uzumaki Fuinjutsu affinity from shining through.
That was then though but now that Tomes' worth of information regarding Runes, basically this world's Fuinjutsu, was in his head, he could finally understand some of the underlying principles of Fuinjutsu, not that he could test them anytime soon since his chakra pathways were yet to be healed completely.
He did have the fleeting idea of using the natural regenerative properties that were boosted immensely when he was in Sage Mode. That thought was fleeting exactly because it would be a very dumb idea to try and take in Nature Energy when his chakra pathways could barely handle dimensional energy as is.
He would have to wait for the Ancient One to hand over the Sands of Power Cosmic since that was the only viable source for chakra in this universe, at least according to her. For that, he would have to wait for his chakra pathways to heal naturally. Even back in the Elemental Nations, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, two of the foremost experts on Chakra networks and how to heal them, had no idea of how to accelerate the healing of chakra pathways.
He was pretty sure that had it not been for his body, he would have been toast, not due to the void energy but due to the mixture of energies within his body.
"So that's what you have been doing out here in the woods. No wonder the dogs were terrified of coming here."
His concentration was broken as the sound of Dorothy could be heard echoing slightly in the clearing he was in. His concentration breaking slightly, his form staggered mid-air but soon stabilised as he slowly floated down, cross-legged.
He sighed, "So you knew?"
"Well, I had a hunch, I guess? But after observing your room's lights turning off only after the orange flashes in the forest had died down clued me in on your nightly activities. So, are you a mutant?" Dorothy questioned him as she got comfortable sitting down on the grass in front of him.
He looked around, trying to spot Richard or maybe the dogs or anybody that could indicate that Dorothy had not just come unarmed to a place with a clearly powered individual. That was clearly the height of stupidity and he might just start thinking less of her for that.
"What? It's just me. I don't need Richard to deal with punks." She said as she shined her flashlight on her waist, allowing him to see the pistol.
At his wide-eyed gaze, Dorothy continued, "Son, I grew up in the 60s. It wasn't always the best of times and I had to learn pretty quickly to defend myself. Anyway, this is unnecessary anyway because I know you and you would much sooner kill yourself than try and hurt me. Besides, you had hundreds of chances to do so in the past month."
She said while throwing the gun towards him as a show of faith. It was true. He had no reason to hurt her and he would not have taken the risky step to start practicing with higher levels of dimensional energy to see if his body could adapt to it if not for an uneasy feeling that pooled in his gut that seemed to increase as the days went by.
He was aware of the facet of destiny and its unusual obsession with his life so he didn't want to leave anything to chance thus he started the more risky level of training. Risky in terms of being discovered as well as risky in terms of him slowing down the healing of his own chakra pathways.
He blinked as he realised that he had once again been lost in his thoughts. Sighing, he slowly stood up while cutting off the flow of dimensional energy from his body, allowing his eyes to stop glowing orange. He had discovered that recently as his body became more and more attuned to dimensional energy, it started exhibiting it in different ways. For example, his eyes glowed when he used dimensional energy but if he purposely flowed it to his eyes, it allowed him to perceive the Astral Dimension. Something that was incredible since mortals are not supposed to do that without themselves being in Astral Form.
"Look, I promise I am not here to hurt anybody. I'll leave as soon as-"
"Oh, I believe you."
He blinked owlishly, "Huh?"
Dorothy smiled at him with fondness evident on her face as she stood up and came to stand in front of him. She barely reached his shoulders but the overwhelming positivity on her face was-
"Can you turn on your eye flashlights again? I can't see anything worth a damn here with these old eyes."
He chuckled. It was just like her, turning an emotional event into a funny one. With a flex of his will, dimensional energy once again began flowing through his body and his eyes started feeling warm but that was not the effect he intended.
Closing his eyes, he instead concentrated on wrestling with the control of dimensional energy, something that was near impossible to do for higher-level spells since dimensional energy is supposed to be like an unstoppable torrent that can only be surrendered to.
But he was Naruto Uzumaki and he would make it happen so he watched as slowly, the dimensional energy began flowing through the entirety of his body, slowly lighting it up, hopefully.
"Oh my," He could feel Dorothy exclaim as she took a few steps back from him.
Slowly, he opened up his eyes only for his eyes to widen as the entire clearing he was in was now slowly being crowded by not only all sorts of animals, critters, and insects but also slowly growing grass and even the nearby trees were lighting up in the orange glow as well. He looked around in confusion trying to find the source of the anomaly because dimensional energy was not supposed to have that effect on life. CHI maybe could have the same effect but he was sure he was not using-
His mind came to a screeching halt as he felt itching in his right arm. The one made by Hashirama Cells. The cells responsible for Wood Release.
Looking around the scene, he placed his hand on the sleeve covering his right arm and pulled, hoping to see the pale white arm reminiscent of the White Zetsu but was shocked to find normal skin under it. For all his time in this reality, he had refused to remove the sleeve that was given to him by the Ancient One that could mimic his skin to an astonishing degree. So, it was very surprising for him to find the arm to be the same as his left one.
The only difference was that it was glowing green for some reason. He waved his arm in front of him and the grass changed direction with it.
"Who are you supposed to be, Tree Man?" T Dorothy quipped as she stepped around the growing grass and took his hand in her hand.
"Hmm, this feels normal but this effect is not normal at all. Come on, let's get you inside before anybody notices."
He was amused at her ramblings as she dragged him away from the forest clearing towards the dirt road that led towards their home. His smile dimmed when he thought of the prediction about their death that the Ancient One had made to him.
Looking at her small back and her warm words that were scolding him about the dangers of being out at night by himself, his determination to save them renewed in his heart.
Dorothy, in particular, had opened up her home, heart, and her farm for him in an admitted rough patch in his life.
"So, does Richard know?" He offhandedly asked her once the house came back into view and it seemed as if Dorothy had run out of steam berating him for his foolishness.
"Oh, does he know? Honey, he was the one who was the first to find out. What? You thought your feats of extraordinary strength went unnoticed by everyone? Why do you think you found yourself on barn duty, all by yourself?"
"Oh, so that was you.."
"Hmm."
"And stop that arm of yours from glowing green. I may be old but I am not blind yet. I can see the house's lights from here now."
"..Okay"
Word Count - 2068
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
Toodles!
#8
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
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A SAGE ADRIFT
#8
In the Davis couple's dining room, 3:00 AM
As soon as Dorothy entered the dining room through the backdoor and turned the lights on, they found themselves at the other end of a shotgun wielded by a very irate-looking Richard. The intimidation tactic was somewhat ruined by the fact that he was still in his pajamas.
"Oh, put that thing away before you hurt yourself," Dorothy said to Richard without batting an eye even as Naruto kept his hands up in the air, knowing the appropriate reaction to a gun being pointed at your face.
"Where were you? I was worried sick." Richard said to Dorothy even as he signalled Naruto to step away from the door with his sawed-off double-barrel shotgun.
Dorothy put the water to boil on the stove before coming back to the dining area only to find Richard and Naruto in the same position as before. She then rolled her eyes and without even batting an eye, took the gun off of Richard and said, "Remember what happened the last time you tried to perform this stunt? Huh?"
Richard, now devoid of his main weapon, awkwardly lowered his arms and just stared at Dorothy. Comically, Naruto did the same.
"You dislocated your shoulder. Now, sit down, I'll make yours decaf."
"Naruto dear, take a seat as well. We have a lot to talk about here."
Richard's neck snapped towards Naruto as if he just remembered something.
"Yeah, so it's true then? He is one of those mutants?" Richard said even as he fidgeted with his glasses, clearly a nervous tick for him.
"No, he says that he isn't one of them but he does have powers like them. Don't worry about him because he will not be hurting anyone, I can tell you that much." Dorothy said as she brought three cups of coffee for all of them.
"Oh, I knew that. I was just asking if his presence will bring in any unwanted attention to our farm. The bad kind of attention, Dorothy." Richard said even as he held his cup in his hands, its satisfying warmth was a good counter to the cold dining room.
"Hey, Kid," Naruto looked up from the cup of coffee he was served.
"Hmm?"
"How long did you plan on keeping this to yourself? Is this the reason you don't have any identity? Are you on the run from someone?" The rapid barrage of questions just went over Naruto's head as he looked to Dorothy for guidance.
Dorothy sighed and said, "Look, he means well. We have had some…encounters with the mutant kind and in my line of work, it had always meant shielding them from someone or something. Sadly, more often than not, I had to shield them from the laws. Many times, I found myself helpless in the face of the law but don't you worry, times have changed now."
Dorothy's face brightened up as she continued, "I have heard that there are dedicated schools for the mutant kind now and while there has been no official law regarding them, their existence is an open secret now, so no government wants to push them in fear of someone powerful enough retaliating against the government."
"So, kid, what can you do?" Richard asked him, trying to stare him down. Dorothy rolled her eyes in the background.
Trying to fight the smile that was threatening to plaster itself on his face, his lips twitched while he said, "Uh, mainly strength enhancement and all the necessary enhancements to support that."
As if a switch had been flipped, Richard's eyes glinted as he said, "So, stronger muscles and increased bone density? Along with increased stamina and endurance? You must heal faster as well due to the obviously increased metabolism. "
Caught off guard with the detailed analysis, Naruto could only nod his head.
"And what about the thing you just showed me, dear?" Dorothy added in, clearly amused by the byplay between them.
"Uh, that…"
"Yeah, the dogs have been terrified of the orange flashes of light that you have been throwing around in the forest. Stop doing that. Also, what was it?"
"Yeah, the thing is, I..don't exactly know."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, the thing is I can manipulate hard light to form constructs that can have varying amounts of strength but the thing I did today, with the grass and the trees, it was the first time I was noticing it too. I don't really know how I did that. I would have to research more to check."
"So, you do research? Do you have any notes I can see if you want to show us, that is?" Richard leaned forward, clearly interested in any notes he could see about Naruto's powers.
Naruto could only smile awkwardly at the question. He would whine and cry about writing a mission report and after coming to this reality, even if it did make him feel a bit guilty, he was very much glad to have left behind the paperwork that came with becoming Hokage.
Honestly, if he knew what being the Hokage entailed, he…probably would have still gone through with it because being Hokage was awesome but he would have been more prepared mentally.
"Back off, Richard." Dorothy gently admonished Richard.
"Don't worry, Naruto. You don't have to worry about us with your powers. Just make sure that nobody can find out about you since we are not sure about the people on the farm and I haven't even begun with the government. Honestly, if you want, I can set up a meeting with the people from the school that take in Mutants but if you say you are not one, I don't know if they will help you not."
"Thank you, Ms.Davis. I just have a little more work to do and then I'll be out of your hair, believe it." Naruto winced internally at his verbal tick returning.
"What work?" Richard asked him.
He ruminated internally whether or not to tell them about the Ancient One's predictions but doing so would require another long-winded explanation so he opted not to.
"Working on myself and my powers, mostly. Once I feel I am confident enough in protecting myself, I'll move out of the farm myself."
"Oh, nonsense. If we can't even protect you then my entire career has been a failure. Don't you worry, if anybody from the government comes, just tell me and I'll make sure that they don't just take and put you away to rot." Dorothy said while bringing out some of his favourite cookies.
'Thanks, Mrs. Davis," Naruto said even as his mind went back to the information he had in his brain about the Time Stone.
Apparently, it was an ingot of creation, capable of granting its wielder, dominion over Time itself. That made him think about other ingots of creation that could potentially exist as well. Maybe, a Space Stone?
Something that could grant him dominion over Space. He could maybe use that to create a path back home. Or maybe it grants control over Space only in a specific place, depending on the power of the user.
It was also written in one of the books he had in his mind library that should the user try to use the Time Stone without enough mastery or control over themselves, their powers, their souls, and over the Stone itself, they could risk being consumed by the stone.
Such thoughts plagued his mind all the way until he fell asleep on his futon back in his flat.
…
..
The next morning, his body woke up at the same time and he got to doing his motions mechanically, still mentally tired from the ordeal from last night. But it was time to work and physical labour was the least he could do for the Davis couple since they had been such accommodating people for him.
He had feared that, with the hate that mutants experience, they might kick him out or at least distance themselves from him but he experienced no such thing. Apparently, Dorothy had encountered multiple such cases during her stint as a social worker.
Kids running away from home, their foster house, and even their countries, hoping to get away from the people who would hunt them down for having powers they didn't ask for. Unfortunately, according to her, most of the runaway kids had obvious markers that marked them as mutants and even after her best tries, usually disappeared after a week or two of being with her.
Whether that was due to them being too afraid of staying in one place or somebody systematically hunting them down, Dorothy had no idea.
But he did. In his mind, he had records of multiple such organisations that have dedicated themselves to hunting down mutants and if found useful enough, molding them into their weapons for their so-called "Cause".
He found these people sickening and if it had been back home, with him as the Hokage, he would not have batted an eye after ordering the ANBU to uproot and destroy the organisation completely.
After making sure that the Davis couple was fine and his chakra pathways were healed properly, he planned on asking the Ancient One for the Sands of Power Cosmic so that he could at least have his repertoire of Ninjutsu back. That would help him immensely in his quest to get back home.
But first things first, since he was here anyway, might as well clean out the trash that plagued the planet. Besides, if he was lucky, he might even stumble upon some mutant who could send him home or at least help him find a way. That too would be more than enough. The so-called "Friends of Humanity" would be first on his list for extermination…. maybe not extermination but he would make sure that they would not be able to hunt mutants for their entire lives and in some ways, he believed that being disabled was a worse fate than being killed outright.
Getting ready and wearing his farm clothes, as Dorothy liked to call them, he was about to head out when he paused. His eyes narrowed as he looked at a specific corner of the room and said with a commanding tone, "Get out!"
"Impressive," A sound came from seemingly nowhere and everywhere but all his instincts were telling him that someone was in that corner.
His gut feeling was right because soon, the corner he was looking at glitched, and then, a man sitting in a wheelchair accompanied by another shorter man appeared in front of him.
Genjutsu then.
He mentally willed dimensional energy to start pooling into his body and prepared himself for a fight with his senses crippled because, without his chakra, he had little ways of preventing himself from being caught in a Genjutsu or illusion as the people here liked to call it.
The people in front of him were the ones from the Mutant School run by Charles Xavier. He could recognise Wolverine and Xavier from anywhere because his memories had vivid information about them, their cause, their history, their school, and..their rivals.
"You don't need to be wary around us, Young Naruto." The voice of Xavier came directly into his mind, annoying him further.
"I am not worried about you and get out of my mind before I do it for you. What I am worried about are your friends. Magneto."
"Perceptive, aren't you?" The entire room he was standing in began shaking before the roof itself was torn apart as Magneto revealed himself, floating right above his roof. He clenched his fist and looked around for anyone who might have been caught in that, aghast at the callous attitude of Magneto.
"Don't worry, everyone here has been evacuated earlier."
His gaze snapped towards Xavier who assured him that nobody other than him was on the farm. After using his own senses to confirm that, only then did he let go of his coiled combat pose and stood up, relaxed physically but still not letting go of the dimensional energy that circulated in his body.
"Where did everybody go?" He asked Xavier without taking his eyes off the main threat in the room, Magneto. Meanwhile, Magneto slowly flew down to stand in his now roofless room.
Man, he was gonna have to pay a lot of money for that to get repaired. He was not sure if working free for a year would cover it or not. He would figure that out later on.
"Don't worry, Naruto, I have sent them away from here and one of my associates is with them. Once we leave, they will be returned to the farm without any recollection of anything odd happening. You have my word." Charles Xavier replied.
He sighed. No point fighting now.
"What do you people want?"
"What we want is mutant safety but I can tell that you are not a mutant yet are immensely powerful. What are your goals here? Because as far as I can tell, there is no mention of you in any database whatsoever." Xavier said even as Magneto nodded, curious about the same.
Welp, there goes his privacy because there was no way these people would back off even if he told them to. Plus, he didn't want to endanger the Davis couple more than he already has.
So, he began, "Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am not a mutant…"
Word Count - 2271
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#8
In the Davis couple's dining room, 3:00 AM
As soon as Dorothy entered the dining room through the backdoor and turned the lights on, they found themselves at the other end of a shotgun wielded by a very irate-looking Richard. The intimidation tactic was somewhat ruined by the fact that he was still in his pajamas.
"Oh, put that thing away before you hurt yourself," Dorothy said to Richard without batting an eye even as Naruto kept his hands up in the air, knowing the appropriate reaction to a gun being pointed at your face.
"Where were you? I was worried sick." Richard said to Dorothy even as he signalled Naruto to step away from the door with his sawed-off double-barrel shotgun.
Dorothy put the water to boil on the stove before coming back to the dining area only to find Richard and Naruto in the same position as before. She then rolled her eyes and without even batting an eye, took the gun off of Richard and said, "Remember what happened the last time you tried to perform this stunt? Huh?"
Richard, now devoid of his main weapon, awkwardly lowered his arms and just stared at Dorothy. Comically, Naruto did the same.
"You dislocated your shoulder. Now, sit down, I'll make yours decaf."
"Naruto dear, take a seat as well. We have a lot to talk about here."
Richard's neck snapped towards Naruto as if he just remembered something.
"Yeah, so it's true then? He is one of those mutants?" Richard said even as he fidgeted with his glasses, clearly a nervous tick for him.
"No, he says that he isn't one of them but he does have powers like them. Don't worry about him because he will not be hurting anyone, I can tell you that much." Dorothy said as she brought three cups of coffee for all of them.
"Oh, I knew that. I was just asking if his presence will bring in any unwanted attention to our farm. The bad kind of attention, Dorothy." Richard said even as he held his cup in his hands, its satisfying warmth was a good counter to the cold dining room.
"Hey, Kid," Naruto looked up from the cup of coffee he was served.
"Hmm?"
"How long did you plan on keeping this to yourself? Is this the reason you don't have any identity? Are you on the run from someone?" The rapid barrage of questions just went over Naruto's head as he looked to Dorothy for guidance.
Dorothy sighed and said, "Look, he means well. We have had some…encounters with the mutant kind and in my line of work, it had always meant shielding them from someone or something. Sadly, more often than not, I had to shield them from the laws. Many times, I found myself helpless in the face of the law but don't you worry, times have changed now."
Dorothy's face brightened up as she continued, "I have heard that there are dedicated schools for the mutant kind now and while there has been no official law regarding them, their existence is an open secret now, so no government wants to push them in fear of someone powerful enough retaliating against the government."
"So, kid, what can you do?" Richard asked him, trying to stare him down. Dorothy rolled her eyes in the background.
Trying to fight the smile that was threatening to plaster itself on his face, his lips twitched while he said, "Uh, mainly strength enhancement and all the necessary enhancements to support that."
As if a switch had been flipped, Richard's eyes glinted as he said, "So, stronger muscles and increased bone density? Along with increased stamina and endurance? You must heal faster as well due to the obviously increased metabolism. "
Caught off guard with the detailed analysis, Naruto could only nod his head.
"And what about the thing you just showed me, dear?" Dorothy added in, clearly amused by the byplay between them.
"Uh, that…"
"Yeah, the dogs have been terrified of the orange flashes of light that you have been throwing around in the forest. Stop doing that. Also, what was it?"
"Yeah, the thing is, I..don't exactly know."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, the thing is I can manipulate hard light to form constructs that can have varying amounts of strength but the thing I did today, with the grass and the trees, it was the first time I was noticing it too. I don't really know how I did that. I would have to research more to check."
"So, you do research? Do you have any notes I can see if you want to show us, that is?" Richard leaned forward, clearly interested in any notes he could see about Naruto's powers.
Naruto could only smile awkwardly at the question. He would whine and cry about writing a mission report and after coming to this reality, even if it did make him feel a bit guilty, he was very much glad to have left behind the paperwork that came with becoming Hokage.
Honestly, if he knew what being the Hokage entailed, he…probably would have still gone through with it because being Hokage was awesome but he would have been more prepared mentally.
"Back off, Richard." Dorothy gently admonished Richard.
"Don't worry, Naruto. You don't have to worry about us with your powers. Just make sure that nobody can find out about you since we are not sure about the people on the farm and I haven't even begun with the government. Honestly, if you want, I can set up a meeting with the people from the school that take in Mutants but if you say you are not one, I don't know if they will help you not."
"Thank you, Ms.Davis. I just have a little more work to do and then I'll be out of your hair, believe it." Naruto winced internally at his verbal tick returning.
"What work?" Richard asked him.
He ruminated internally whether or not to tell them about the Ancient One's predictions but doing so would require another long-winded explanation so he opted not to.
"Working on myself and my powers, mostly. Once I feel I am confident enough in protecting myself, I'll move out of the farm myself."
"Oh, nonsense. If we can't even protect you then my entire career has been a failure. Don't you worry, if anybody from the government comes, just tell me and I'll make sure that they don't just take and put you away to rot." Dorothy said while bringing out some of his favourite cookies.
'Thanks, Mrs. Davis," Naruto said even as his mind went back to the information he had in his brain about the Time Stone.
Apparently, it was an ingot of creation, capable of granting its wielder, dominion over Time itself. That made him think about other ingots of creation that could potentially exist as well. Maybe, a Space Stone?
Something that could grant him dominion over Space. He could maybe use that to create a path back home. Or maybe it grants control over Space only in a specific place, depending on the power of the user.
It was also written in one of the books he had in his mind library that should the user try to use the Time Stone without enough mastery or control over themselves, their powers, their souls, and over the Stone itself, they could risk being consumed by the stone.
Such thoughts plagued his mind all the way until he fell asleep on his futon back in his flat.
…
..
The next morning, his body woke up at the same time and he got to doing his motions mechanically, still mentally tired from the ordeal from last night. But it was time to work and physical labour was the least he could do for the Davis couple since they had been such accommodating people for him.
He had feared that, with the hate that mutants experience, they might kick him out or at least distance themselves from him but he experienced no such thing. Apparently, Dorothy had encountered multiple such cases during her stint as a social worker.
Kids running away from home, their foster house, and even their countries, hoping to get away from the people who would hunt them down for having powers they didn't ask for. Unfortunately, according to her, most of the runaway kids had obvious markers that marked them as mutants and even after her best tries, usually disappeared after a week or two of being with her.
Whether that was due to them being too afraid of staying in one place or somebody systematically hunting them down, Dorothy had no idea.
But he did. In his mind, he had records of multiple such organisations that have dedicated themselves to hunting down mutants and if found useful enough, molding them into their weapons for their so-called "Cause".
He found these people sickening and if it had been back home, with him as the Hokage, he would not have batted an eye after ordering the ANBU to uproot and destroy the organisation completely.
After making sure that the Davis couple was fine and his chakra pathways were healed properly, he planned on asking the Ancient One for the Sands of Power Cosmic so that he could at least have his repertoire of Ninjutsu back. That would help him immensely in his quest to get back home.
But first things first, since he was here anyway, might as well clean out the trash that plagued the planet. Besides, if he was lucky, he might even stumble upon some mutant who could send him home or at least help him find a way. That too would be more than enough. The so-called "Friends of Humanity" would be first on his list for extermination…. maybe not extermination but he would make sure that they would not be able to hunt mutants for their entire lives and in some ways, he believed that being disabled was a worse fate than being killed outright.
Getting ready and wearing his farm clothes, as Dorothy liked to call them, he was about to head out when he paused. His eyes narrowed as he looked at a specific corner of the room and said with a commanding tone, "Get out!"
"Impressive," A sound came from seemingly nowhere and everywhere but all his instincts were telling him that someone was in that corner.
His gut feeling was right because soon, the corner he was looking at glitched, and then, a man sitting in a wheelchair accompanied by another shorter man appeared in front of him.
Genjutsu then.
He mentally willed dimensional energy to start pooling into his body and prepared himself for a fight with his senses crippled because, without his chakra, he had little ways of preventing himself from being caught in a Genjutsu or illusion as the people here liked to call it.
The people in front of him were the ones from the Mutant School run by Charles Xavier. He could recognise Wolverine and Xavier from anywhere because his memories had vivid information about them, their cause, their history, their school, and..their rivals.
"You don't need to be wary around us, Young Naruto." The voice of Xavier came directly into his mind, annoying him further.
"I am not worried about you and get out of my mind before I do it for you. What I am worried about are your friends. Magneto."
"Perceptive, aren't you?" The entire room he was standing in began shaking before the roof itself was torn apart as Magneto revealed himself, floating right above his roof. He clenched his fist and looked around for anyone who might have been caught in that, aghast at the callous attitude of Magneto.
"Don't worry, everyone here has been evacuated earlier."
His gaze snapped towards Xavier who assured him that nobody other than him was on the farm. After using his own senses to confirm that, only then did he let go of his coiled combat pose and stood up, relaxed physically but still not letting go of the dimensional energy that circulated in his body.
"Where did everybody go?" He asked Xavier without taking his eyes off the main threat in the room, Magneto. Meanwhile, Magneto slowly flew down to stand in his now roofless room.
Man, he was gonna have to pay a lot of money for that to get repaired. He was not sure if working free for a year would cover it or not. He would figure that out later on.
"Don't worry, Naruto, I have sent them away from here and one of my associates is with them. Once we leave, they will be returned to the farm without any recollection of anything odd happening. You have my word." Charles Xavier replied.
He sighed. No point fighting now.
"What do you people want?"
"What we want is mutant safety but I can tell that you are not a mutant yet are immensely powerful. What are your goals here? Because as far as I can tell, there is no mention of you in any database whatsoever." Xavier said even as Magneto nodded, curious about the same.
Welp, there goes his privacy because there was no way these people would back off even if he told them to. Plus, he didn't want to endanger the Davis couple more than he already has.
So, he began, "Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am not a mutant…"
Word Count - 2271
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
#9
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
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A SAGE ADRIFT
#9
The Previous Day, The X-mansion
Standing atop a long platform that extended from one corner of the circular room made up of entirely unidentifiable materials, two people could be seen looking at the screen projecting a minitiarised view of a state in front of them. More specifically, the state of New York.
One of the two people was bound to a wheelchair and was wearing a helmet made up of the same materials as the room with multiple wires sticking out of the helmet. Every moment or so, there were minute twitches in the neck of the person wearing the advanced helmet that was meant to significantly amplify the psionic powers of a mutant. This particular mutant was one Charles Xavier more commonly known as Professor X in the supernatural community, arguably the most powerful and skilled psionic manipulator on the planet. There were others who either exceeded him in control, like Emma Frost or in Raw Power but none that could match both his finesse and strength when it came to the matters of the mind.
The one occupying or rather guarding him was none other than the infamous Wolverine, James Howlett. The mutant with a rather tragic past that has long been suppressed by his mind as a coping mechanism. Armed with an exoskeleton made up of a nearly unbreakable material, Adamantium, and a rapid healing factor, Wolverine's combat ability is above almost every mutant bar a few of them in the school and even beyond.
Currently, both of them were in the Cerebro Chamber because Charles had received some concerning news about the Friends of Humanity finding a new mutant and them making plans to capture or exterminate the mutant. It had been a few minutes since Charles had connected himself to the extremely complicated apparatus but apparently, he was unable to specifically search for the mental signature of the particular mutant in the address he was able to get from his source.
He was unable to find a mutant signature but he was pretty sure that he had sensed a very powerful mind in the same vicinity before the mind noticed his scanning attempts and shielded itself from his powers completely. He had to admit that the act caught him off guard as his powers were very rarely detected, let alone countered this perfectly.
Sighing, he gave the mental command for the helmet to detach from his head and then removed it using his hands.
"Any luck?" Wolverine asked him as Xavier deposited the helmet back on its platform where it then receded back to the floor, safe from any unauthorised person trying to gain access.
His wheelchair turning around on its own, he shook his head and replied, "Nothing concrete but I have a hunch that going to that farm directly should grant us better results."
Wolverine nodded as he followed behind Xavier "Should we take anybody else or just us will be enough because the last time it was just the two of us, Scott's eye beams nearly tossed me three blocks away."
Xavier chuckled, acknowledging Logan's attempt at lightening the situation because the situation was not as simple as it seemed. The address was of a couple that, while retired, still maintained a bulk of the influence they wielded when they were active in their respective fields.
Dorothy Davis, in particular, was someone who had made a great first impression on him when he had first met her to take one of the mutants she had been sheltering, into the school that had just begun then. Dorothy had been meticulous in her work and inspected every nook and cranny of his school before she had consented to allow the child in her protection to leave and had even insisted on regular monthly meetings. He would not have given her that much freedom had it not been for the presence of genuine concern and care for the mutant child that Dorothy personally had rescued from the underground of New York. In fact, Dorothy, in her love for the child, had gone on a ruthless dismantling campaign that eventually culminated in the sacking of a sitting Senator. He was pretty sure that had it not been for his interference, Dorothy would not have been able to operate freely, even in the animal sector, where she continued to raise hell for the corporations of that sector until her eventual retirement a few years ago.
Her husband, Richard, on the other hand, was someone who shared tables with the richest people on the planet and while their personal net worth was more than adequate for a childless couple such as theirs, their main strength lay in the strong connections they had fostered over the course of their respective duties.
It was on the same couple's retirement farm that the Friends of Humanity had set their targets on. He would have tried to use his powers to stop the raid altogether but in all his altercations with that group, it had been made abundantly clear to him that his powers would not work across the breadth of their organisation. So, the best he could do was try and warn the Davis couple or try to convince them to relocate temporarily, for their own safety.
After all, Dorothy Davis was one of the few people he knew who could still be called good and would not flinch at fighting the most powerful of people for any injustice she felt.
It would also soothe his worries if he found the source of the rather powerful mind he had felt before it had closed itself off. In the best case scenario, they found the person and inducted him into their cause.
He had to be quick about it though because he was sure that Eric would be on the move as well and the thought of such a powerful person joining Eric and aiding him in his more violent quests scared him much more than he cared to admit.
Suspecting that a clash with Eric might be imminent, he instructed Logan, "Why don't you call Storm and Beast? We might meet Eric there so better be prepared."
"Roger that," Logan nodded and left towards the staff quarters, leaving him to go to the Hangar.
He just hoped that the Friends of Humanity wouldn't end up provoking that powerful person lest they slaughter every one of the attackers, putting mutants in an even worse position in terms of PR.
An hour later, Davis Farm, Westchester County
A near-invisible outline of a jet could be seen landing in the backyard of the house that the Davis Couple lived in. At the same time, Magneto could be seen floating on top of a piece of metal all by himself.
As if they had coordinated everything, Xavier exited the ramp of the X-Jet and looked straight at Eric. Both of them shared a moment before both of them began going to the source of the energy both of their respective sensors had sensed.
In the meanwhile, Xavier used his powers to communicate his words, "Storm and Beast, I have taken control of all the humans on the farm and instructed them to gather out of the farm. One of them can drive a bus that this farm has for some reason. Make sure that all of them are off the farm before we reach young Naruto, it would seem. Logan and I will stall until every civilian is safe and then Storm, you can come back to act as backup."
All of the people on his team nodded subtly and two of them broke formation to go towards the barn where the bus was parked.
"So, Charles, we meet again. How long has it been this time?" The smooth charming voice of Eric could be heard as he slowly floated to stand right in front of Xavier with a smile on his face that belied the coldness in his eyes.
Logan made to move but his body refused to budge due to Magneto (Eric) controlling the metal on his exoskeleton. Even so, Logan refused to surrender as he struggled violently, inevitably tearing apart his muscles only for them to heal back again.
Xavier sighed, "Stop, Eric." At the same time, he used his powers to put Logan to sleep.
"Must we do this every time?"
"It is not my fault that neither you nor Logan learned from our past encounters. Anyway, old friend, I assume that you are here for Mr.Uzumaki here?"
Xavier nodded, "Yes and I would have to insist that you allow us to go first."
Surprisingly, Eric nodded and waved his hand towards the building in front of them, signalling Xavier to go ahead. Xavier looked suspicious at the sudden bout of generosity but he would take all the advantage he could so he woke up Logan and together, they entered Mr.Uzumaki's room. The occupant of the room was completely unaware that they were inside his living/bedroom because of a subtle illusion woven into the surroundings instead of an individual mind since as it turned out, Mr.Uzumaki's mind was much better protected for him to just enter his mind and cast an illusion there.
Magneto, on the other hand, had floated right above the building, waiting for a signal of some sort to enter the foray.
…
..
.
When Naruto sensed the intruders and called them out, everybody present, including Magneto, was surprised because it was very hard to do so when one had little to no experience with their powers and their own minds. The fact that Naruto was able to do so without any external help was impressive on its own.
Then there was the fact that when Magneto tore apart the blonde's roof, there had been some sort of change in the body language of Naruto and everybody in the vicinity had felt it.
The threat of Death.
The unassuming-looking young man standing in front of them, even for a split second, had made them feel the threat of death, something that was said to be impossible since Logan could literally not be killed. He would know since he had already tried and Magneto had more enemies than he knew so all of them were very resilient in their own ways.
The same feeling went away once Charles Xavier informed him that the farm was now devoid of civilians. The young blonde in front of them relaxed and appeared nonchalant as he spoke but everybody present had experienced war in some form or other and all of their instincts were warning them about the guy in front of them.
Once the introductions had been done with, Charles and Eric both asked the clearly powerful man in front of them about his intentions.
Frustratingly, Naruto seemed to be quite aware of both of them and their modus operandi and thus, rejected both of them even though he seemed neutral to both the parties present. Eventually, Naruto grew impatient over the delay about all the people of the farm returning so he dismissed the leaders of the mutant race that were in front of him.
Magneto's face twitched at the blatant dismissal but he was not there to fight so without saying a word, he took his leave.
Charles and the others began to leave as well once Charles got Storm's message about the people arriving but before he left, he decided to warn Naruto about the Friends of Humanity.
"Mr.Uzumaki, I have come across some disturbing information. An organisation known as the Friends of Humanity has set its sights on this farm and might attack at any moment. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to call us." Saying so, Logan handed over a card to Naruto before all of them left through the X-Jet.
…
..
In an unknown location, in front of a surveillance room.
Keith could be seen pacing in front of a series of screens showing the same angle from multiple angles.
It was the scene of Naruto conversing with the leaders of the Mutant race, Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr, Professor X, and Magneto.
He was completely red-faced as his entire body shook from the thought of facing those mutant freaks. He had thought that the mutant Henry had found was some small fry that they could capture and give up to the HQ for experimentation or extermination, he did not care.
But now?
Now was not the time to keep this to himself.
So, gathering his courage, he dialed a number even though all his instincts warned him against contacting this person.
*Ring* *Ring*
"This better be important," A hoarse male voice could be heard speaking from the other side.
"I assure you, it is very important. We found a mutie but we just found that Charles Xavier and Magneto visited him but both of them left empty-handed."
"...."
After saying his piece, his nervousness kept growing as the other line remained silent, save for the almost silent sound of breathing.
Just as he was about to repeat himself, he heard a reply, "Prepare for my arrival. I will be there in 24 hours."
Saying so, the line went dead.
His hands trembled as he dialed Henry to tell him to fuck off from that farm because if what he suspected was about to come true, he was sure that none of the people on the farm, mutie or not, were about to come out of tomorrow's encounter alive.
Word Count - 2264
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#9
The Previous Day, The X-mansion
Standing atop a long platform that extended from one corner of the circular room made up of entirely unidentifiable materials, two people could be seen looking at the screen projecting a minitiarised view of a state in front of them. More specifically, the state of New York.
One of the two people was bound to a wheelchair and was wearing a helmet made up of the same materials as the room with multiple wires sticking out of the helmet. Every moment or so, there were minute twitches in the neck of the person wearing the advanced helmet that was meant to significantly amplify the psionic powers of a mutant. This particular mutant was one Charles Xavier more commonly known as Professor X in the supernatural community, arguably the most powerful and skilled psionic manipulator on the planet. There were others who either exceeded him in control, like Emma Frost or in Raw Power but none that could match both his finesse and strength when it came to the matters of the mind.
The one occupying or rather guarding him was none other than the infamous Wolverine, James Howlett. The mutant with a rather tragic past that has long been suppressed by his mind as a coping mechanism. Armed with an exoskeleton made up of a nearly unbreakable material, Adamantium, and a rapid healing factor, Wolverine's combat ability is above almost every mutant bar a few of them in the school and even beyond.
Currently, both of them were in the Cerebro Chamber because Charles had received some concerning news about the Friends of Humanity finding a new mutant and them making plans to capture or exterminate the mutant. It had been a few minutes since Charles had connected himself to the extremely complicated apparatus but apparently, he was unable to specifically search for the mental signature of the particular mutant in the address he was able to get from his source.
He was unable to find a mutant signature but he was pretty sure that he had sensed a very powerful mind in the same vicinity before the mind noticed his scanning attempts and shielded itself from his powers completely. He had to admit that the act caught him off guard as his powers were very rarely detected, let alone countered this perfectly.
Sighing, he gave the mental command for the helmet to detach from his head and then removed it using his hands.
"Any luck?" Wolverine asked him as Xavier deposited the helmet back on its platform where it then receded back to the floor, safe from any unauthorised person trying to gain access.
His wheelchair turning around on its own, he shook his head and replied, "Nothing concrete but I have a hunch that going to that farm directly should grant us better results."
Wolverine nodded as he followed behind Xavier "Should we take anybody else or just us will be enough because the last time it was just the two of us, Scott's eye beams nearly tossed me three blocks away."
Xavier chuckled, acknowledging Logan's attempt at lightening the situation because the situation was not as simple as it seemed. The address was of a couple that, while retired, still maintained a bulk of the influence they wielded when they were active in their respective fields.
Dorothy Davis, in particular, was someone who had made a great first impression on him when he had first met her to take one of the mutants she had been sheltering, into the school that had just begun then. Dorothy had been meticulous in her work and inspected every nook and cranny of his school before she had consented to allow the child in her protection to leave and had even insisted on regular monthly meetings. He would not have given her that much freedom had it not been for the presence of genuine concern and care for the mutant child that Dorothy personally had rescued from the underground of New York. In fact, Dorothy, in her love for the child, had gone on a ruthless dismantling campaign that eventually culminated in the sacking of a sitting Senator. He was pretty sure that had it not been for his interference, Dorothy would not have been able to operate freely, even in the animal sector, where she continued to raise hell for the corporations of that sector until her eventual retirement a few years ago.
Her husband, Richard, on the other hand, was someone who shared tables with the richest people on the planet and while their personal net worth was more than adequate for a childless couple such as theirs, their main strength lay in the strong connections they had fostered over the course of their respective duties.
It was on the same couple's retirement farm that the Friends of Humanity had set their targets on. He would have tried to use his powers to stop the raid altogether but in all his altercations with that group, it had been made abundantly clear to him that his powers would not work across the breadth of their organisation. So, the best he could do was try and warn the Davis couple or try to convince them to relocate temporarily, for their own safety.
After all, Dorothy Davis was one of the few people he knew who could still be called good and would not flinch at fighting the most powerful of people for any injustice she felt.
It would also soothe his worries if he found the source of the rather powerful mind he had felt before it had closed itself off. In the best case scenario, they found the person and inducted him into their cause.
He had to be quick about it though because he was sure that Eric would be on the move as well and the thought of such a powerful person joining Eric and aiding him in his more violent quests scared him much more than he cared to admit.
Suspecting that a clash with Eric might be imminent, he instructed Logan, "Why don't you call Storm and Beast? We might meet Eric there so better be prepared."
"Roger that," Logan nodded and left towards the staff quarters, leaving him to go to the Hangar.
He just hoped that the Friends of Humanity wouldn't end up provoking that powerful person lest they slaughter every one of the attackers, putting mutants in an even worse position in terms of PR.
An hour later, Davis Farm, Westchester County
A near-invisible outline of a jet could be seen landing in the backyard of the house that the Davis Couple lived in. At the same time, Magneto could be seen floating on top of a piece of metal all by himself.
As if they had coordinated everything, Xavier exited the ramp of the X-Jet and looked straight at Eric. Both of them shared a moment before both of them began going to the source of the energy both of their respective sensors had sensed.
In the meanwhile, Xavier used his powers to communicate his words, "Storm and Beast, I have taken control of all the humans on the farm and instructed them to gather out of the farm. One of them can drive a bus that this farm has for some reason. Make sure that all of them are off the farm before we reach young Naruto, it would seem. Logan and I will stall until every civilian is safe and then Storm, you can come back to act as backup."
All of the people on his team nodded subtly and two of them broke formation to go towards the barn where the bus was parked.
"So, Charles, we meet again. How long has it been this time?" The smooth charming voice of Eric could be heard as he slowly floated to stand right in front of Xavier with a smile on his face that belied the coldness in his eyes.
Logan made to move but his body refused to budge due to Magneto (Eric) controlling the metal on his exoskeleton. Even so, Logan refused to surrender as he struggled violently, inevitably tearing apart his muscles only for them to heal back again.
Xavier sighed, "Stop, Eric." At the same time, he used his powers to put Logan to sleep.
"Must we do this every time?"
"It is not my fault that neither you nor Logan learned from our past encounters. Anyway, old friend, I assume that you are here for Mr.Uzumaki here?"
Xavier nodded, "Yes and I would have to insist that you allow us to go first."
Surprisingly, Eric nodded and waved his hand towards the building in front of them, signalling Xavier to go ahead. Xavier looked suspicious at the sudden bout of generosity but he would take all the advantage he could so he woke up Logan and together, they entered Mr.Uzumaki's room. The occupant of the room was completely unaware that they were inside his living/bedroom because of a subtle illusion woven into the surroundings instead of an individual mind since as it turned out, Mr.Uzumaki's mind was much better protected for him to just enter his mind and cast an illusion there.
Magneto, on the other hand, had floated right above the building, waiting for a signal of some sort to enter the foray.
…
..
.
When Naruto sensed the intruders and called them out, everybody present, including Magneto, was surprised because it was very hard to do so when one had little to no experience with their powers and their own minds. The fact that Naruto was able to do so without any external help was impressive on its own.
Then there was the fact that when Magneto tore apart the blonde's roof, there had been some sort of change in the body language of Naruto and everybody in the vicinity had felt it.
The threat of Death.
The unassuming-looking young man standing in front of them, even for a split second, had made them feel the threat of death, something that was said to be impossible since Logan could literally not be killed. He would know since he had already tried and Magneto had more enemies than he knew so all of them were very resilient in their own ways.
The same feeling went away once Charles Xavier informed him that the farm was now devoid of civilians. The young blonde in front of them relaxed and appeared nonchalant as he spoke but everybody present had experienced war in some form or other and all of their instincts were warning them about the guy in front of them.
Once the introductions had been done with, Charles and Eric both asked the clearly powerful man in front of them about his intentions.
Frustratingly, Naruto seemed to be quite aware of both of them and their modus operandi and thus, rejected both of them even though he seemed neutral to both the parties present. Eventually, Naruto grew impatient over the delay about all the people of the farm returning so he dismissed the leaders of the mutant race that were in front of him.
Magneto's face twitched at the blatant dismissal but he was not there to fight so without saying a word, he took his leave.
Charles and the others began to leave as well once Charles got Storm's message about the people arriving but before he left, he decided to warn Naruto about the Friends of Humanity.
"Mr.Uzumaki, I have come across some disturbing information. An organisation known as the Friends of Humanity has set its sights on this farm and might attack at any moment. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to call us." Saying so, Logan handed over a card to Naruto before all of them left through the X-Jet.
…
..
In an unknown location, in front of a surveillance room.
Keith could be seen pacing in front of a series of screens showing the same angle from multiple angles.
It was the scene of Naruto conversing with the leaders of the Mutant race, Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr, Professor X, and Magneto.
He was completely red-faced as his entire body shook from the thought of facing those mutant freaks. He had thought that the mutant Henry had found was some small fry that they could capture and give up to the HQ for experimentation or extermination, he did not care.
But now?
Now was not the time to keep this to himself.
So, gathering his courage, he dialed a number even though all his instincts warned him against contacting this person.
*Ring* *Ring*
"This better be important," A hoarse male voice could be heard speaking from the other side.
"I assure you, it is very important. We found a mutie but we just found that Charles Xavier and Magneto visited him but both of them left empty-handed."
"...."
After saying his piece, his nervousness kept growing as the other line remained silent, save for the almost silent sound of breathing.
Just as he was about to repeat himself, he heard a reply, "Prepare for my arrival. I will be there in 24 hours."
Saying so, the line went dead.
His hands trembled as he dialed Henry to tell him to fuck off from that farm because if what he suspected was about to come true, he was sure that none of the people on the farm, mutie or not, were about to come out of tomorrow's encounter alive.
Word Count - 2264
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
#10
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#10
The next day, Davis Farm
It was the day after Naruto had been visited by the two people representing two-thirds of the mutant community, both with different intentions but the end result was the same for both of the factions. They both left empty-handed. Charles and Eric both desired to have Naruto on their side because their instincts told them that it would be very advantageous to have someone of Naruto's caliber on their respective teams but the same instincts also warned them about the sheer danger that Naruto posed to both of them, even with them being some of the strongest mutants the world had ever seen.
"Don't you worry dear? I have already sent dear Charles the bill for the roof repairs." Dorothy said as the entire farm staff had decided to do a Barbeque event for everyone. Dorothy had been all for it since, according to her, a community coming together after an adverse event always strengthens the community.
"Oh, yeah, Charles got the bill alright. A bill ten times more than what was necessary-" Richard said as he continued to grill the meat and then winked at him, "-for mental damages, you know."
"That is well deserved. Controlling someone against their will has to be some sort of violation of the natural order, even if their people are maligned wrongly most of the time." Dorothy continued while looking over some of the plans that they had drawn up for the building construction.
According to Richard and Dorothy, the existing staff building was feeling crowded to the current tenants and they didn't want them to move out into a bigger place off the farm so they had taken it upon themselves to build another building altogether. One with twice the space of the current building. Armed with the fat check they were going to get from Charles Xavier, who was pretty well off if the records in his mind were true, the Davis couple was going to significantly enhance the living standard of their workers, him included.
"Hey, where is Henry?" He could hear someone shout in the background as all the workers mingled near the firewood they had burned.
Somebody else shouted, informing everyone that Henry had taken the Missus and the kids to their grandparents for some reason and would not be back for another few days.
That was odd to him because the timing seemed very suspicious to him but there was no tangible way he could confirm if Henry was the one behind anything. Especially since he had met Henry and other than being slightly cold towards him, which was understandable since he was young and had no paperwork and was going to live in the same building as them, he had nothing that could indicate such.
He wished he had the Mind's Eye of Kagura or rather the version Karin had that allowed her to sense emotions. He did have something like that since Kurama was able to sense negative emotions targeting him or somebody else but that power left him the same time Kurama did.
He tried not to think too much about that though. He had enough problems on his plate as it was.
His top priority was engineering a ritual or magical process robust enough to create a portal to go back home. He was sure that even if the Time Stone and the Space Stone didn't allow him to create a portal to go out of the universe, just studying them would allow him to develop some variation of his own that could be helpful.
He held onto hope that it might be possible. He had to. Otherwise, he would have no motivation left to do anything.
In the meanwhile, as he gathered the resources necessary, he would go on helping people in his way. The Davis couple would only be the first batch of people that he would save in this universe. The village could be brought away from his but the title of Hokage would always remain with him and he was confident that with the thousands of years of history and expertise that Kamar Taj had with the Time Stone, he could find a way to go back to his home in a time period where it hadn't been long since he had left.
That would be ideal but it remained to be seen if there existed any way to do that or if he would have to invent his own method for that.
"Naruto NARUTO!" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Dorothy as she held up a plate full of barbecued meat for him.
Smiling slightly, he took it from her, "Thank you."
…
..
It was a peaceful scene. Children could be seen frolicking around the site where the firewood had been set up and a small speaker was playing. Adults were sitting at the fireplace discussing or just plain lounging near the warm fireplace. Some of them were binging on the unlimited barbeque meat the Davis couple had sponsored for the evening. Some held beer bottles. Some made do with just coffee.
Naruto was staring at his coffee cup, deep in thought when he heard something. His enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the rough screech of tires that stopped right outside the gate of the property, right next to the Davis' home. He continued to listen to any more sounds that came from that direction to ascertain whether his ears were deceiving him or not.
He stood up in alarm once he heard the distinct sound of heavy boots hitting the ground followed by the unmistakable sound of guns clicking.
"Mrs.Davis?" He said as he looked at the people and calculated in his mind if there was any way he could get everybody present to safety before the hostiles outside broke down the gate and came inside.
His hackles rose once he also heard the sound of helicopter blades running in their direction.
"Yes, dear?" He heard Dorothy answer but it was Richard who realised something was wrong.
Making a split-second decision, he decided to forego anonymity in favour of saving the people here.
WIncing internally in pain as he allowed a torrent of dimensional energy to flood his chakra pathways, he looked towards the now silent crowd as they stared at the walking flashlight he must have looked like, "Run towards the Barn. We have intruders on the farm and they have heavy weaponry with them."
Whirling around to face Richard, he took a step back when he saw Richard flinch at his new appearance. In Richard's defense, Naruto was completely lit up like a Christmas tree and his face was now set in stone as he looked around the entirety of the farm, trying to find someplace where the people can hide.
Richard's eyes showed realisation as he said, "Where are they coming from?"
"They are at the front door, waiting for something. I don't know what they are doing but they also have a helicopter with them that has landed in the forest behind the meadows in front of the farm boundary."
Naruto kept his eyes in the direction of the house as he prepared himself for the incoming pain of trying to use his unhealed chakra pathways to try out a technique he knew but with dimensional energy as a substitute for chakra.
By the time Richard had finished taking out his gun that he apparently kept on his person at all times, all the people who worked on the farm had huddled on the other side of them. All the parents clutched their kids closer to them while the others pointed and whispered at his form. He could hear their words but chose to ignore the hurtful words since he knew that they didn't know better than the views that had been pushed into the general narrative by the people in power who don't want mutants to become commonplace or accepted by the general societal fabric.
"We can go to the old barn?" Dorothy suddenly suggested.
"How far is it?" He snapped his neck towards her even as he continued to saturate his entire body with dimensional energy in preparation for the technique he was about to cast. Richard and Dorothy both gave him concerned looks as the brightness with which he was glowing continued to increase.
"Maybe a mile this way," Richard said as he pointed to the forests behind him. The same forest where Dorothy had found him practicing his powers.
He nodded internally. That was a good place to hide, especially since the forest was dense which made it all the more harder for them to be spotted easily. He would know since he was pretty sure that, without his enhanced vision and senses, he would have easily lost himself in the forest.
"Very well, take everybody and go hide in the barn. I'll join you guys shortly." he nodded as he felt his body reach the limit of the dimensional energy it could keep inside it without it leaking out.
"Just come back safely," Was all Dorothy said before she herded everybody out of the clearing. Richard just nodded at him and left with Dorothy.
Just as they left, a ball of golden energy started forming from all the dimensional energy that was leaking out of Naruto's body. The process repeated for a dozen times before Naruto's chakra pathways urged him to stop.
'Even this is enough. At least, I hope it is,' Naruto thought to himself as he willed for all the balls to start spinning as fast as they could, creating a slight whine because of the air being displaced.
He had to make these ones count since he was sure that making more of those would just end up hurting him to the point that it could impede his normal physical movements.
His ears perked up as the helicopter that had landed finally started showing movement again but instead of taking the expected path, i.e. coming towards him, it left the property and went away.
He was initially confused but that went away instantly as he tried expanding his senses and felt the sheer amount of energy that was coming off the person who had just exited the helicopter.
'This is bad. At this rate, I would not be able to save anybody else. Hell, even surviving myself might just become difficult. I have to do something otherwise everybody's lives would be in danger, even the kids,' Naruto thought to himself before jumping from the ground he was standing on, cratering it as he leaped miles away from his current position.
He could tell that they had noticed him because of the sudden activity he could see that was happening right out the door. The person left behind by the helicopter also picked up pace as if he could sense him coming for him.
His eyes narrowed in anger and distaste as he spied the logo that was proudly printed on all the armoured vans that had arrived. It said: Friends of Humanity.
Mid leap, his ears also picked up on the noise of trees falling down as the person, whoever he was, simply began running towards his direction.
After a couple of jumps, he must have finally entered their visions because he could sense multiple fast high high-powered bullets hitting the shield he had fashioned out of one of the orbs of rotating condensed dimensional energy.
He called them the Sorcery Truth Balls. A bastardised version of the Truth-Seeking Balls made with the Six Paths Chakra.
While these did not have the ability to instantly corrode anything that came into contact with them, they had similar properties in terms of their overall resilience and their ability to change shape according to his will.
He must have looked like an orange orb to them because there were almost a dozen orbs rotating around him at high speeds. The shield he had made soon compressed itself back into a ball once the hail of bullets stopped.
He landed roughly right on top of the gate of the Davis farm, completely crushing it under his feet and also cratering the road.
Wincing internally, he tried not to think about the amount of unpaid labour he would have to do to recoup those costs alone.
"I will only say this once. Leave." He said as he willed the orbs around him to shine and rotate, making way for a menacing figure.
Word Count - 2098
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#10
The next day, Davis Farm
It was the day after Naruto had been visited by the two people representing two-thirds of the mutant community, both with different intentions but the end result was the same for both of the factions. They both left empty-handed. Charles and Eric both desired to have Naruto on their side because their instincts told them that it would be very advantageous to have someone of Naruto's caliber on their respective teams but the same instincts also warned them about the sheer danger that Naruto posed to both of them, even with them being some of the strongest mutants the world had ever seen.
"Don't you worry dear? I have already sent dear Charles the bill for the roof repairs." Dorothy said as the entire farm staff had decided to do a Barbeque event for everyone. Dorothy had been all for it since, according to her, a community coming together after an adverse event always strengthens the community.
"Oh, yeah, Charles got the bill alright. A bill ten times more than what was necessary-" Richard said as he continued to grill the meat and then winked at him, "-for mental damages, you know."
"That is well deserved. Controlling someone against their will has to be some sort of violation of the natural order, even if their people are maligned wrongly most of the time." Dorothy continued while looking over some of the plans that they had drawn up for the building construction.
According to Richard and Dorothy, the existing staff building was feeling crowded to the current tenants and they didn't want them to move out into a bigger place off the farm so they had taken it upon themselves to build another building altogether. One with twice the space of the current building. Armed with the fat check they were going to get from Charles Xavier, who was pretty well off if the records in his mind were true, the Davis couple was going to significantly enhance the living standard of their workers, him included.
"Hey, where is Henry?" He could hear someone shout in the background as all the workers mingled near the firewood they had burned.
Somebody else shouted, informing everyone that Henry had taken the Missus and the kids to their grandparents for some reason and would not be back for another few days.
That was odd to him because the timing seemed very suspicious to him but there was no tangible way he could confirm if Henry was the one behind anything. Especially since he had met Henry and other than being slightly cold towards him, which was understandable since he was young and had no paperwork and was going to live in the same building as them, he had nothing that could indicate such.
He wished he had the Mind's Eye of Kagura or rather the version Karin had that allowed her to sense emotions. He did have something like that since Kurama was able to sense negative emotions targeting him or somebody else but that power left him the same time Kurama did.
He tried not to think too much about that though. He had enough problems on his plate as it was.
His top priority was engineering a ritual or magical process robust enough to create a portal to go back home. He was sure that even if the Time Stone and the Space Stone didn't allow him to create a portal to go out of the universe, just studying them would allow him to develop some variation of his own that could be helpful.
He held onto hope that it might be possible. He had to. Otherwise, he would have no motivation left to do anything.
In the meanwhile, as he gathered the resources necessary, he would go on helping people in his way. The Davis couple would only be the first batch of people that he would save in this universe. The village could be brought away from his but the title of Hokage would always remain with him and he was confident that with the thousands of years of history and expertise that Kamar Taj had with the Time Stone, he could find a way to go back to his home in a time period where it hadn't been long since he had left.
That would be ideal but it remained to be seen if there existed any way to do that or if he would have to invent his own method for that.
"Naruto NARUTO!" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Dorothy as she held up a plate full of barbecued meat for him.
Smiling slightly, he took it from her, "Thank you."
…
..
It was a peaceful scene. Children could be seen frolicking around the site where the firewood had been set up and a small speaker was playing. Adults were sitting at the fireplace discussing or just plain lounging near the warm fireplace. Some of them were binging on the unlimited barbeque meat the Davis couple had sponsored for the evening. Some held beer bottles. Some made do with just coffee.
Naruto was staring at his coffee cup, deep in thought when he heard something. His enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the rough screech of tires that stopped right outside the gate of the property, right next to the Davis' home. He continued to listen to any more sounds that came from that direction to ascertain whether his ears were deceiving him or not.
He stood up in alarm once he heard the distinct sound of heavy boots hitting the ground followed by the unmistakable sound of guns clicking.
"Mrs.Davis?" He said as he looked at the people and calculated in his mind if there was any way he could get everybody present to safety before the hostiles outside broke down the gate and came inside.
His hackles rose once he also heard the sound of helicopter blades running in their direction.
"Yes, dear?" He heard Dorothy answer but it was Richard who realised something was wrong.
Making a split-second decision, he decided to forego anonymity in favour of saving the people here.
WIncing internally in pain as he allowed a torrent of dimensional energy to flood his chakra pathways, he looked towards the now silent crowd as they stared at the walking flashlight he must have looked like, "Run towards the Barn. We have intruders on the farm and they have heavy weaponry with them."
Whirling around to face Richard, he took a step back when he saw Richard flinch at his new appearance. In Richard's defense, Naruto was completely lit up like a Christmas tree and his face was now set in stone as he looked around the entirety of the farm, trying to find someplace where the people can hide.
Richard's eyes showed realisation as he said, "Where are they coming from?"
"They are at the front door, waiting for something. I don't know what they are doing but they also have a helicopter with them that has landed in the forest behind the meadows in front of the farm boundary."
Naruto kept his eyes in the direction of the house as he prepared himself for the incoming pain of trying to use his unhealed chakra pathways to try out a technique he knew but with dimensional energy as a substitute for chakra.
By the time Richard had finished taking out his gun that he apparently kept on his person at all times, all the people who worked on the farm had huddled on the other side of them. All the parents clutched their kids closer to them while the others pointed and whispered at his form. He could hear their words but chose to ignore the hurtful words since he knew that they didn't know better than the views that had been pushed into the general narrative by the people in power who don't want mutants to become commonplace or accepted by the general societal fabric.
"We can go to the old barn?" Dorothy suddenly suggested.
"How far is it?" He snapped his neck towards her even as he continued to saturate his entire body with dimensional energy in preparation for the technique he was about to cast. Richard and Dorothy both gave him concerned looks as the brightness with which he was glowing continued to increase.
"Maybe a mile this way," Richard said as he pointed to the forests behind him. The same forest where Dorothy had found him practicing his powers.
He nodded internally. That was a good place to hide, especially since the forest was dense which made it all the more harder for them to be spotted easily. He would know since he was pretty sure that, without his enhanced vision and senses, he would have easily lost himself in the forest.
"Very well, take everybody and go hide in the barn. I'll join you guys shortly." he nodded as he felt his body reach the limit of the dimensional energy it could keep inside it without it leaking out.
"Just come back safely," Was all Dorothy said before she herded everybody out of the clearing. Richard just nodded at him and left with Dorothy.
Just as they left, a ball of golden energy started forming from all the dimensional energy that was leaking out of Naruto's body. The process repeated for a dozen times before Naruto's chakra pathways urged him to stop.
'Even this is enough. At least, I hope it is,' Naruto thought to himself as he willed for all the balls to start spinning as fast as they could, creating a slight whine because of the air being displaced.
He had to make these ones count since he was sure that making more of those would just end up hurting him to the point that it could impede his normal physical movements.
His ears perked up as the helicopter that had landed finally started showing movement again but instead of taking the expected path, i.e. coming towards him, it left the property and went away.
He was initially confused but that went away instantly as he tried expanding his senses and felt the sheer amount of energy that was coming off the person who had just exited the helicopter.
'This is bad. At this rate, I would not be able to save anybody else. Hell, even surviving myself might just become difficult. I have to do something otherwise everybody's lives would be in danger, even the kids,' Naruto thought to himself before jumping from the ground he was standing on, cratering it as he leaped miles away from his current position.
He could tell that they had noticed him because of the sudden activity he could see that was happening right out the door. The person left behind by the helicopter also picked up pace as if he could sense him coming for him.
His eyes narrowed in anger and distaste as he spied the logo that was proudly printed on all the armoured vans that had arrived. It said: Friends of Humanity.
Mid leap, his ears also picked up on the noise of trees falling down as the person, whoever he was, simply began running towards his direction.
After a couple of jumps, he must have finally entered their visions because he could sense multiple fast high high-powered bullets hitting the shield he had fashioned out of one of the orbs of rotating condensed dimensional energy.
He called them the Sorcery Truth Balls. A bastardised version of the Truth-Seeking Balls made with the Six Paths Chakra.
While these did not have the ability to instantly corrode anything that came into contact with them, they had similar properties in terms of their overall resilience and their ability to change shape according to his will.
He must have looked like an orange orb to them because there were almost a dozen orbs rotating around him at high speeds. The shield he had made soon compressed itself back into a ball once the hail of bullets stopped.
He landed roughly right on top of the gate of the Davis farm, completely crushing it under his feet and also cratering the road.
Wincing internally, he tried not to think about the amount of unpaid labour he would have to do to recoup those costs alone.
"I will only say this once. Leave." He said as he willed the orbs around him to shine and rotate, making way for a menacing figure.
Word Count - 2098
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
#11
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#11
The Friends of Humanity was an NGO, at least on paper. In secret though, it was a country-spanning group that preyed on the weak and afraid people, luring them into their webs and turning their fear and confusion into burning hatred.
Joining such a group meant performing crimes. Crimes that could be used against you as leverage should you wish to leave the group. A tactic that the higher-ups of the group have used countless times.
You see, hatred can be a powerful thing but not everyone is built for an unending stream of hatred towards someone who had something to them personally. For most people, Rage was a temporary emotion. Anger was something that could elevate to the level of rage but it eventually, with time and inactivity, simmered back down.
The people behind Friends of Humanity didn't want that. So, they made sure that the rage stayed at the same level, at the very least. Targeted attacks, misinformation campaigns, devil crying, and so on and so forth. All sorts of reasons were used to make sure that once somebody joined them, they were hooked in for life.
The other thing was that the group specifically targeted the poor and downtrodden people of the country. The people with no hope. No purpose. Just surviving another day with the least possible dignity. They targeted them and fed them false ideas that the cause of their suffering was the continued existence of mutants. They then fed them and made their life generally better but once the people were in their debt, they swiftly pointed them towards their targets.
Some people, on the other hand, joined the group of their own volition. Over the years, the group had picked up some serious steam and was now known to have a presence in almost every major city. As such, now some people, to express their rage over the situation, approach them, and volunteer for the cause. Some people just wanted to hurt someone and the group was happy to oblige. Some people just wanted some easy targets they could hunt down and disappear without anyone looking for them.
Graydon Creed was one such person.
Graydon Creed had seen and experienced many things in his life. Normally, such hardships should have been attributed to the ongoing struggle that was life. Instead, Graydon chose to blame the subspecies of mutants for his problems, going so far as to join a group that was widely known for its hate for mutants and everything related to them.
He was just a regular down on his luck homeless teenager when he was found by some gang members and had been bullied into joining them. He had always been smart so he chose the best option of the moment and joined the gang in their activities. The gang was special in the sense that they were funded and operated by the Friends of Humanity by a proxy of sorts. It was an initiation funnel through which the group hired the most devout, or rather the most frenzied person into their group so that they could mold that person in accordance with their will.
When he had been initiated into the group, he had been elated beyond belief. All his needs were taken care of and he was given handpicked targets to kill. He had always enjoyed hurting others, especially mutants but it became much worse when he found out the truth of his parentage.
Apparently, he was the son of two mutants who just so happened to turn out normal. While he was thankful that he was not a mutie like them, he was furious about the fact that he was basically abandoned and afraid of the rest of the group finding out about it. He went to great lengths to ensure that no one aside from him, in the organisation, knew about his true parentage.
And so, his work went on. Eventually, he rose in rank to finally have a seat at the table. Sure, he didn't have much say over the overall functioning of the group but he didn't want that anyway. He just wanted to find more people like him, down in their lives, and uplift them. Giving them purpose and increasing the influence of the group and he had been doing that admirably.
Imagine his surprise, when one day, one of his newest recruits, Keith, called him up to tell him about a suspected mutant sighting that was actually visited by Charles Xavier and Magneto of all people.
Two of the biggest enemies of Friends of Humanity coming to visit a single person could not have been a coincidence. Upon receiving that piece of information, he immediately ordered for all assets in the area to converge to that location soon and also cashed in a favour from a fellow higher-up in the organisation.
…..
..
Currently, he was doing all he could do to stop his body from trembling as he stared at the orange freak. Particularly, the orange balls spinning around him stopped everybody right in their tracks.
Fortunately, right as Graydon was about to contemplate speaking, the favour that he called in came barreling right through the forest, tearing apart everything in his way.
The Unstoppable Basstard, Juggernaut.
He particularly enjoyed the way the orange bastard snapped his neck towards the monstrosity running towards them.
Juggernaut had always been a little slow in the brains department but his prowess could not be denied, especially once he had gained enough momentum to barrel through any of their enemies.
Apparently, Juggernaut was supposed to be in government custody but he was coincidentally "loaned" to one of the higher-ups of the organisation for some of the missions where finesse was not required. Just pure and utter destruction.
That was where the Juggernaut shined best
….
..
'This was bad,' Naruto thought as he tried to figure out if he had any way of stopping the mutant empowered by Cyttorak's energy. At the same time, he had to make sure that the attention of all the hostile parties in the vicinity was on him and him alone because he could handle the enemies.
The people on the farm would not be able to. Something told him that if he left the fate of the people on the farm in the hands of the person leading the Friends of Humanity, he would come to regret it immensely.
First things first, he willed for one of the orbs to become a lance and then sent it careening straight through the armoured vehicles that the Friends of Humanity had brought with them. Most of them went up in smoke since they had a bunch of explosive weapons inside.
'That should at least reduce the weaponry they had access to,' Naruto thought to himself as the explosion sent the majority of their personnel flying away, including their apparent ring leader. Seeing that one of his problems was temporarily solved, he turned his attention towards the towering giant that was stomping towards him. Each of his stomps shook the earth as if a mini earthquake had been hit as Juggernaut, Cain Marko, rampaged in the direction of the farm clad in the crimson energy of Cyttorak.
Remembering that particular outer deity from the crash course that was given to him, he resigned himself to a lengthy battle of endurance as the avatars of Cyttorak were known to possess exceptional durability, strength, and speed along with virtually unlimited stamina once they have gained enough momentum.
Seeing that he was the only thing standing between Cain and the people on the farm, he decided to take prompt action. Aware that it would not make much of a difference, he willed one of the balls to spin and sent it directly towards Cain's chest, hoping that it would at least slow him down a bit.
Those hopes were dashed immediately as the spinning orange ball, one that could tank rounds from advanced weaponry indefinitely, simply fizzled out of existence once it hit the thin cloak of red energy that surrounded Cain's body.
Soon, Cain's face could be seen expressing a hideous triumphant smirk as he came within arm's reach of Naruto. Cain then swiped his arm towards Naruto in an effort to literally bisect him because, with the strength and speed that Cain was packing in his arm, there was no way that any regular human, mutant or otherwise could ever hope to withstand.
Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger as he jumped back from his position.
Naruto did that at the last moment because the next second, Cain's hand could be seen swiping empty air at the same spot, creating fierce gales of wind due to the sheer force. Despite his apparent failure, the grin on Cain's face never faded as he continued his charge towards the farm.
Naruto, who was standing atop the estate's gate, was crouching on the tip of one of the spikes on the gate, the rest of the orange balls spinning wildly around him.
Meeting Naruto's stoic gaze, Cain's grin widened the slightest bit but it soon faded into a confused look as he looked at Naruto going down.
No, instead of Naruto going down, it was Cain who was floating in the air. More specifically, the land that Cain was standing on was being lifted by Naruto's orange energy as it had now taken the shape of a rectangular bed that was lifting the entirety of the landmass in front of the Davis Farm's estate.
"So, at least that works," Naruto muttered as he slowly stood up from his position and looked at the orange wall that was holding up a very significant portion of the land that Cain was running on.
Alas, the orange balls could not directly affect Cain, owing to his aura, so Cain continued to run, unfettered. Not afraid of any damage that could happen to him by jumping from such a height, Cain kept running towards the edge of the landmass he was floating on.
Alas, his smile turned into a snarl of rage as the rest of Naruto's orange balls finally came back into action.
As it turned out, the rest of the balls were swiping up other pieces of surrounding landmass and then floating them to connect to the existing landmass that was already floating up in the air. There was now a floating ring of landmass on which Cain kept running on.
The moment Cain tried to jump off the landmass, the landmass shifted at the same time to make sure that Cain landed on the same spot.
Naruto could see that this tactic would not last much longer since, while the orange energy itself was sturdy it could not directly interact with Cain and while the landmass could interact, it was far too fragile to withstand multiple jumps from Cain and his heavy mass.
Soon, there was now a hole directly in the landmass, exposing the orange energy below directly. Cain smirked while looking at the hole, fully aware of the fact that it would dissipate immediately upon coming into contact with his body but before he could jump on it, Naruto pulled back all of the platform and turned them back into balls that surrounded his body.
With nothing to support the landmass, it slammed down on the earth, Cain along with it.
Sighing, Naruto willed for the balls of orange light to cover his entire body in one barrier, forming a suit of armour that was reminiscent of the ones that ancient Samurai back in his homeworld used to wear.
His enhanced hearing could hear the sound of children crying and their mothers fruitlessly trying to console them far away in the barn behind the stables.
'Time to end this then,' Naruto thought before looking at the cloud of dust through which Cain came barreling through.
Word Count - 1992
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#11
The Friends of Humanity was an NGO, at least on paper. In secret though, it was a country-spanning group that preyed on the weak and afraid people, luring them into their webs and turning their fear and confusion into burning hatred.
Joining such a group meant performing crimes. Crimes that could be used against you as leverage should you wish to leave the group. A tactic that the higher-ups of the group have used countless times.
You see, hatred can be a powerful thing but not everyone is built for an unending stream of hatred towards someone who had something to them personally. For most people, Rage was a temporary emotion. Anger was something that could elevate to the level of rage but it eventually, with time and inactivity, simmered back down.
The people behind Friends of Humanity didn't want that. So, they made sure that the rage stayed at the same level, at the very least. Targeted attacks, misinformation campaigns, devil crying, and so on and so forth. All sorts of reasons were used to make sure that once somebody joined them, they were hooked in for life.
The other thing was that the group specifically targeted the poor and downtrodden people of the country. The people with no hope. No purpose. Just surviving another day with the least possible dignity. They targeted them and fed them false ideas that the cause of their suffering was the continued existence of mutants. They then fed them and made their life generally better but once the people were in their debt, they swiftly pointed them towards their targets.
Some people, on the other hand, joined the group of their own volition. Over the years, the group had picked up some serious steam and was now known to have a presence in almost every major city. As such, now some people, to express their rage over the situation, approach them, and volunteer for the cause. Some people just wanted to hurt someone and the group was happy to oblige. Some people just wanted some easy targets they could hunt down and disappear without anyone looking for them.
Graydon Creed was one such person.
Graydon Creed had seen and experienced many things in his life. Normally, such hardships should have been attributed to the ongoing struggle that was life. Instead, Graydon chose to blame the subspecies of mutants for his problems, going so far as to join a group that was widely known for its hate for mutants and everything related to them.
He was just a regular down on his luck homeless teenager when he was found by some gang members and had been bullied into joining them. He had always been smart so he chose the best option of the moment and joined the gang in their activities. The gang was special in the sense that they were funded and operated by the Friends of Humanity by a proxy of sorts. It was an initiation funnel through which the group hired the most devout, or rather the most frenzied person into their group so that they could mold that person in accordance with their will.
When he had been initiated into the group, he had been elated beyond belief. All his needs were taken care of and he was given handpicked targets to kill. He had always enjoyed hurting others, especially mutants but it became much worse when he found out the truth of his parentage.
Apparently, he was the son of two mutants who just so happened to turn out normal. While he was thankful that he was not a mutie like them, he was furious about the fact that he was basically abandoned and afraid of the rest of the group finding out about it. He went to great lengths to ensure that no one aside from him, in the organisation, knew about his true parentage.
And so, his work went on. Eventually, he rose in rank to finally have a seat at the table. Sure, he didn't have much say over the overall functioning of the group but he didn't want that anyway. He just wanted to find more people like him, down in their lives, and uplift them. Giving them purpose and increasing the influence of the group and he had been doing that admirably.
Imagine his surprise, when one day, one of his newest recruits, Keith, called him up to tell him about a suspected mutant sighting that was actually visited by Charles Xavier and Magneto of all people.
Two of the biggest enemies of Friends of Humanity coming to visit a single person could not have been a coincidence. Upon receiving that piece of information, he immediately ordered for all assets in the area to converge to that location soon and also cashed in a favour from a fellow higher-up in the organisation.
…..
..
Currently, he was doing all he could do to stop his body from trembling as he stared at the orange freak. Particularly, the orange balls spinning around him stopped everybody right in their tracks.
Fortunately, right as Graydon was about to contemplate speaking, the favour that he called in came barreling right through the forest, tearing apart everything in his way.
The Unstoppable Basstard, Juggernaut.
He particularly enjoyed the way the orange bastard snapped his neck towards the monstrosity running towards them.
Juggernaut had always been a little slow in the brains department but his prowess could not be denied, especially once he had gained enough momentum to barrel through any of their enemies.
Apparently, Juggernaut was supposed to be in government custody but he was coincidentally "loaned" to one of the higher-ups of the organisation for some of the missions where finesse was not required. Just pure and utter destruction.
That was where the Juggernaut shined best
….
..
'This was bad,' Naruto thought as he tried to figure out if he had any way of stopping the mutant empowered by Cyttorak's energy. At the same time, he had to make sure that the attention of all the hostile parties in the vicinity was on him and him alone because he could handle the enemies.
The people on the farm would not be able to. Something told him that if he left the fate of the people on the farm in the hands of the person leading the Friends of Humanity, he would come to regret it immensely.
First things first, he willed for one of the orbs to become a lance and then sent it careening straight through the armoured vehicles that the Friends of Humanity had brought with them. Most of them went up in smoke since they had a bunch of explosive weapons inside.
'That should at least reduce the weaponry they had access to,' Naruto thought to himself as the explosion sent the majority of their personnel flying away, including their apparent ring leader. Seeing that one of his problems was temporarily solved, he turned his attention towards the towering giant that was stomping towards him. Each of his stomps shook the earth as if a mini earthquake had been hit as Juggernaut, Cain Marko, rampaged in the direction of the farm clad in the crimson energy of Cyttorak.
Remembering that particular outer deity from the crash course that was given to him, he resigned himself to a lengthy battle of endurance as the avatars of Cyttorak were known to possess exceptional durability, strength, and speed along with virtually unlimited stamina once they have gained enough momentum.
Seeing that he was the only thing standing between Cain and the people on the farm, he decided to take prompt action. Aware that it would not make much of a difference, he willed one of the balls to spin and sent it directly towards Cain's chest, hoping that it would at least slow him down a bit.
Those hopes were dashed immediately as the spinning orange ball, one that could tank rounds from advanced weaponry indefinitely, simply fizzled out of existence once it hit the thin cloak of red energy that surrounded Cain's body.
Soon, Cain's face could be seen expressing a hideous triumphant smirk as he came within arm's reach of Naruto. Cain then swiped his arm towards Naruto in an effort to literally bisect him because, with the strength and speed that Cain was packing in his arm, there was no way that any regular human, mutant or otherwise could ever hope to withstand.
Naruto's eyes narrowed in anger as he jumped back from his position.
Naruto did that at the last moment because the next second, Cain's hand could be seen swiping empty air at the same spot, creating fierce gales of wind due to the sheer force. Despite his apparent failure, the grin on Cain's face never faded as he continued his charge towards the farm.
Naruto, who was standing atop the estate's gate, was crouching on the tip of one of the spikes on the gate, the rest of the orange balls spinning wildly around him.
Meeting Naruto's stoic gaze, Cain's grin widened the slightest bit but it soon faded into a confused look as he looked at Naruto going down.
No, instead of Naruto going down, it was Cain who was floating in the air. More specifically, the land that Cain was standing on was being lifted by Naruto's orange energy as it had now taken the shape of a rectangular bed that was lifting the entirety of the landmass in front of the Davis Farm's estate.
"So, at least that works," Naruto muttered as he slowly stood up from his position and looked at the orange wall that was holding up a very significant portion of the land that Cain was running on.
Alas, the orange balls could not directly affect Cain, owing to his aura, so Cain continued to run, unfettered. Not afraid of any damage that could happen to him by jumping from such a height, Cain kept running towards the edge of the landmass he was floating on.
Alas, his smile turned into a snarl of rage as the rest of Naruto's orange balls finally came back into action.
As it turned out, the rest of the balls were swiping up other pieces of surrounding landmass and then floating them to connect to the existing landmass that was already floating up in the air. There was now a floating ring of landmass on which Cain kept running on.
The moment Cain tried to jump off the landmass, the landmass shifted at the same time to make sure that Cain landed on the same spot.
Naruto could see that this tactic would not last much longer since, while the orange energy itself was sturdy it could not directly interact with Cain and while the landmass could interact, it was far too fragile to withstand multiple jumps from Cain and his heavy mass.
Soon, there was now a hole directly in the landmass, exposing the orange energy below directly. Cain smirked while looking at the hole, fully aware of the fact that it would dissipate immediately upon coming into contact with his body but before he could jump on it, Naruto pulled back all of the platform and turned them back into balls that surrounded his body.
With nothing to support the landmass, it slammed down on the earth, Cain along with it.
Sighing, Naruto willed for the balls of orange light to cover his entire body in one barrier, forming a suit of armour that was reminiscent of the ones that ancient Samurai back in his homeworld used to wear.
His enhanced hearing could hear the sound of children crying and their mothers fruitlessly trying to console them far away in the barn behind the stables.
'Time to end this then,' Naruto thought before looking at the cloud of dust through which Cain came barreling through.
Word Count - 1992
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
#12
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
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A SAGE ADRIFT
#12
'I have practiced with it a bunch of times but never at this level,' Naruto thought as he invoked the one spell that could withstand the momentum generating characteristics that came part and parcel with being the avatar of Cytorrak.
The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
The thing was that while he could create enough bands to cover his entire body, the inherent properties of the bands made it almost impossible for him to move his body.
It felt slow to his eyes but in reality, in the split second that Cain had jumped out of the crashed landmass, Naruto was covered head to toe in a golden mass of energy that was then covered by the crimson bands of Cyttorak, giving him a complete suit of armour.
"That's not gonna stop me!" Cain, i.e. Juggernaut said as he punched directly at Naruto with all the momentum he had behind him.
At the same time, Naruto slowly breathed out and punched out at the same time.
The moment their fists met, there was a shockwave that shook the entirety of the farm and raised a cloud of dust that made looking at what was happening inside, impossible.
It had seemed as if Naruto was successful in stopping the Juggernaut head on, without any trickery which nobody had done so far but that thought was shattered as the next moment, Naruto flew out of the dust cloud towards the farm.
Grimacing, Nartuto sent extra dimensional energy towards his right arm, the one made with the Hashirama cells, urging them to heal his body quickly. His entire right arm was mangled down to the bone in that clash, convincing him that he was not the right match for this fight. He was just not physically strong enough to contend with the Juggernaut, not without the Six paths Sage mode at least.
Shoving his feet in the ground, he still slid back a few dozen feet before he came to a complete stop. Rotating his right hand a few times to check on its movement, he nodded in acceptance once he realised that his arm was healed back to its optimal condition.
"Argh!" The Juggernaut roared as the cloud of dust settled down, revealing Juggernaut to have actually stopped and even slid back a few feet during the clash.
It was undeniable that Naruto was the loser in that moment yet the grin on his face never faded as he once again jumped back into the foray, his only purpose being to slow down and stop Juggernaut from reaching anyone on the property.
No matter how many times he would have to heal his body back up.
….
..
High up in the air, Right above the Davis Farm
"Unbelievable!" Mystique whispered as she saw the fight that was happening below them.
"Impressive," Emma Frost nodded to herself as she saw the person clad in orange, jump back right up to clash with Cain Marko's fists even though she could see that in each and every punch that this Naruto sustained, his entire arm was being damaged to the point that not even the most advanced of surgeries could ever hope to fix.
And yet, there he was, his arm glowing a bright green now as Naruto continued to stop or lead Cain away from the farm.
"Hmm," she mused to herself as she skimmed over the minds of the people present in the farm. It was not difficult, after all, she was known to be one of the strongest telepaths on the planet.
As infuriating it was to admit that the old fossil Xaviers was stronger than her, she took pride in the fact that her powers were much more meticulous and malleable in their application.. While Xaviers needed the machine Cerebro to use his vast psionic reserves as a radar, she could do it on the fly.
Reading through the memories of a couple humans, especially since they were all unpowered with no mental training whatsoever, was child's play for her.
Reading through the minds of the Davis couple, she realised two things. Naruto was not a mutant but he had not told the Davis couple of this and secondly, his powers were a lot more varied than she had first expected.
Super Strength, Healing, Nature manipulation along with energy manipulation of some sort.
There was no way that he was a naturally born mutant because there was only a single mutant that she was aware of who had multiple powers from completely different categories. It was almost always the case that once a mutant power has been awakened, there would be a plethora of other abilities that would come alive as well. For example, enhanced bone density along with musculature when one gains Super Strength. Also, the enhanced blood flow and strengthened circulatory system to go with that Super Strength.
A mutant does not normally gain the power of healing themselves with the power of natural manipulation or energy manipulation.
The forcefield they were standing on expanded to become a windshield of sorts to protect them from the shockwaves that the battling duo was sending out.
Looking at the fight, she could feel Naruto's joy as he let himself loose and fought Cain with all his might.
At the same time, she couldn't sense an iota of emotion from Cain not because he wasn't feeling anything, it was because of that helmet that he wore that shielded him from any telepathic interference.
"Are you sure he is the one, Mystique?" She asked Mystique who had suddenly come to her and asked her to take in someone who had the potential to become the saviour of mutantkind. Emma had tried asking her about the source but whenever that topic came upp, Mystique bricked up and refused to elaborate about anything.
Mystique nodded, even as her eyes were stuck at the fight, "Yes, My source has never been wrong uptil now and you know it, Emma."
Emma sighed, "Very well."
She had been contacted by Mystique to help Naruto settle in their world, the superpowered world because if mutants as a whole managed to gain his favour, their situation in a couple years would be vastly better than it is now. Atleast, according to the clairvoyant that Mystique had access to.
She herself had met many such people who either claimed to be clairvoyants or actually were ones but with very limited reach or with just enough reach for them to be useful to her but having heavy downsides like the visions being random or them dying due to backlash of their powers. She had also heard that seeing the future of truly powerful beings came with a huge risk because sometimes, people could actually interact back with the clairvoyant.
"Alex, get us down, will you?"
"Yes, Principal," Alex, a teenager she had found on the streets once his powers had been activated. He had been gifted with the power of force field generation and manipulation. He served as her defense when she activated her telepathic powers and her escort when she was in her Diamond form since moving in that form was very cumbersome for her.
The forcefield molded itself to form a sphere around three of them and slowly started lowering down towards the fight. She assumed her Diamond form as safety since she was going to have to go close to Naruto to tell him about Cain's weakness.
Once that helmet comes off, she would be able to put him to sleep very easily. That was what she was about to tell Naruto when something completely unexpected happened.
After another one of their slugfests, Naruto was thrown away from the fight, his entire torso caved in but soon enough, his entire body was covered in a green glow which healed him right back up and he dove back into the fight.
Why won't you go down?" Cain roared in frustration before he punched his own chest, right where Cyttorak's gem was. Something seemed to have been triggered by that punch because the red glow that surrounded Cain, which had dimmed down by a lot, suddenly grew so much in intensity that soon, Cain was nothing more than a red shining ball of light.
Then, with a roar that seemed to disorient anybody that heard it, Cain punched Naruto with so much force that he himself was thrown away from the collision, the area they were in cratering with such force that the boundary of that crater began smoking up.
Naruto, whose form was barely covered with an orange glow, shot out of the crater and crashed right through the barn that the people on the farm were hiding in.
Emma was busy helping Alex and Mystique as both of them had been affected by the sound attack that Cain emitted earlier but she could feel pain, confusion and alarming despair from the people in the barn.
She snapped her neck towards Mystique, hoping that she had recovered due to her sturdy constitution but found her out of commission as well. It would be really disastrous if she was the one who turned the supposed Mutant Messiah away instead of those two old arrogant fools. Her pride would not allow it.
Right as she was about to jump towards the direction of the barn herself, she heard a voice and cursed herself for it.
"Well well well, look who it is," The annoyingly silky smooth voice of one Sebastian Shaw could be heard as he arrived out of a cloaked jet that had landed on the outskirts of the farm.
Emma cursed herself for not sensing him earlier.
"Stay out of it, Sebastian. I arrived here first," She said, hoping to dissuade him using one of the loose rules that governed the Hellfire Club.
"Emma, you forgot one thing. I am the Black Ki-" That was all Sebastian could say before a burning orange portal formed above him and swallowed him up. The same happened to his jet as well.
Instantly, her guard was raised up as she looked around for the source of the portal.
'Tch, annoying sorcerers,' she muttered to herself before running towards the direction of the crater, completely aware that this was the best time to disarm Cain so that he does not recover and become a threat again. Maybe she could
Naruto, on the other hand, was having the worst day since he had come to this reality. First, he had gone ahead and lost himself in the heat of the battle, a rookie mistake that was not expected from a Hokage.
Secondly, whatever it was that Juggernaut did in the end broke almost every single bone in his body.
"Oww"
Thirdly, the green glow that was suffusing his entire body, healing him in its entirety, was beginning to dim down. While it did help in healing his body, it would seem that he would not be able to repeat the stunt he did previously anytime soon.
The arm that was glowing completely green now returned to its original pale form.
The good news was that whatever that Cain did to enhance his power so much beyond the norm, it seemed to have taken a lot out of him as well since his power signature had dimmed way below his peak.
His relief, however, was short lived as his enhanced hearing soon picked up on the distressed cries of children and adults both.
Straining to look in the direction of the voices, his eyes widened in horror when he saw the state of the barn.
It had collapsed partially with the roof having caved in because of the supporting pillars being blasted through. Judging from his position, he realised that he must have blasted through the barn when he was punched away by Cain.
Heaving with all his might, he tried to stand up even though it felt like his muscles and bones had all turned to jelly at that moment.
"Argh!" Naruto screamed as the moment he tried sending even a small amount of energy to the Hashirama cells in his right arm, an unbearable amount of pain shot through his entire body.
His effort to stand up seemed to go up in vain as he flailed about uselessly on the ground. He had never expected that the fight would leave him this drained. Drained enough that even lifting his body off the ground was an impossibility. Even so, he didn't stop trying but the best he could do was crawl pathetically towards the barn even though he knew that, in this condition, there was nothing he could do to help the people there.
"Ugh, this is pathetic to watch," he heard a snide remark before he felt some sort of field cover his entire body and lift him.
He strained his neck to see who was doing it only to see someone he had never expected to help him, even if she had the option.
Emma Frost just didn't seem like the kind of person to him who would help him without getting anything in return and he was sure that he was not going to follow her or dance on her tunes so why?
"Don't move a lot, I am new to moving things with my mind," He heard Emma speak to him before both of them began slowly walking towards the barn. The thought of telling her to hurry did cross his mind but keeping her reputation in mind, he instead chose to focus all his efforts on doing something to heal his body.
Word Count - 2278
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#12
'I have practiced with it a bunch of times but never at this level,' Naruto thought as he invoked the one spell that could withstand the momentum generating characteristics that came part and parcel with being the avatar of Cytorrak.
The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
The thing was that while he could create enough bands to cover his entire body, the inherent properties of the bands made it almost impossible for him to move his body.
It felt slow to his eyes but in reality, in the split second that Cain had jumped out of the crashed landmass, Naruto was covered head to toe in a golden mass of energy that was then covered by the crimson bands of Cyttorak, giving him a complete suit of armour.
"That's not gonna stop me!" Cain, i.e. Juggernaut said as he punched directly at Naruto with all the momentum he had behind him.
At the same time, Naruto slowly breathed out and punched out at the same time.
The moment their fists met, there was a shockwave that shook the entirety of the farm and raised a cloud of dust that made looking at what was happening inside, impossible.
It had seemed as if Naruto was successful in stopping the Juggernaut head on, without any trickery which nobody had done so far but that thought was shattered as the next moment, Naruto flew out of the dust cloud towards the farm.
Grimacing, Nartuto sent extra dimensional energy towards his right arm, the one made with the Hashirama cells, urging them to heal his body quickly. His entire right arm was mangled down to the bone in that clash, convincing him that he was not the right match for this fight. He was just not physically strong enough to contend with the Juggernaut, not without the Six paths Sage mode at least.
Shoving his feet in the ground, he still slid back a few dozen feet before he came to a complete stop. Rotating his right hand a few times to check on its movement, he nodded in acceptance once he realised that his arm was healed back to its optimal condition.
"Argh!" The Juggernaut roared as the cloud of dust settled down, revealing Juggernaut to have actually stopped and even slid back a few feet during the clash.
It was undeniable that Naruto was the loser in that moment yet the grin on his face never faded as he once again jumped back into the foray, his only purpose being to slow down and stop Juggernaut from reaching anyone on the property.
No matter how many times he would have to heal his body back up.
….
..
High up in the air, Right above the Davis Farm
"Unbelievable!" Mystique whispered as she saw the fight that was happening below them.
"Impressive," Emma Frost nodded to herself as she saw the person clad in orange, jump back right up to clash with Cain Marko's fists even though she could see that in each and every punch that this Naruto sustained, his entire arm was being damaged to the point that not even the most advanced of surgeries could ever hope to fix.
And yet, there he was, his arm glowing a bright green now as Naruto continued to stop or lead Cain away from the farm.
"Hmm," she mused to herself as she skimmed over the minds of the people present in the farm. It was not difficult, after all, she was known to be one of the strongest telepaths on the planet.
As infuriating it was to admit that the old fossil Xaviers was stronger than her, she took pride in the fact that her powers were much more meticulous and malleable in their application.. While Xaviers needed the machine Cerebro to use his vast psionic reserves as a radar, she could do it on the fly.
Reading through the memories of a couple humans, especially since they were all unpowered with no mental training whatsoever, was child's play for her.
Reading through the minds of the Davis couple, she realised two things. Naruto was not a mutant but he had not told the Davis couple of this and secondly, his powers were a lot more varied than she had first expected.
Super Strength, Healing, Nature manipulation along with energy manipulation of some sort.
There was no way that he was a naturally born mutant because there was only a single mutant that she was aware of who had multiple powers from completely different categories. It was almost always the case that once a mutant power has been awakened, there would be a plethora of other abilities that would come alive as well. For example, enhanced bone density along with musculature when one gains Super Strength. Also, the enhanced blood flow and strengthened circulatory system to go with that Super Strength.
A mutant does not normally gain the power of healing themselves with the power of natural manipulation or energy manipulation.
The forcefield they were standing on expanded to become a windshield of sorts to protect them from the shockwaves that the battling duo was sending out.
Looking at the fight, she could feel Naruto's joy as he let himself loose and fought Cain with all his might.
At the same time, she couldn't sense an iota of emotion from Cain not because he wasn't feeling anything, it was because of that helmet that he wore that shielded him from any telepathic interference.
"Are you sure he is the one, Mystique?" She asked Mystique who had suddenly come to her and asked her to take in someone who had the potential to become the saviour of mutantkind. Emma had tried asking her about the source but whenever that topic came upp, Mystique bricked up and refused to elaborate about anything.
Mystique nodded, even as her eyes were stuck at the fight, "Yes, My source has never been wrong uptil now and you know it, Emma."
Emma sighed, "Very well."
She had been contacted by Mystique to help Naruto settle in their world, the superpowered world because if mutants as a whole managed to gain his favour, their situation in a couple years would be vastly better than it is now. Atleast, according to the clairvoyant that Mystique had access to.
She herself had met many such people who either claimed to be clairvoyants or actually were ones but with very limited reach or with just enough reach for them to be useful to her but having heavy downsides like the visions being random or them dying due to backlash of their powers. She had also heard that seeing the future of truly powerful beings came with a huge risk because sometimes, people could actually interact back with the clairvoyant.
"Alex, get us down, will you?"
"Yes, Principal," Alex, a teenager she had found on the streets once his powers had been activated. He had been gifted with the power of force field generation and manipulation. He served as her defense when she activated her telepathic powers and her escort when she was in her Diamond form since moving in that form was very cumbersome for her.
The forcefield molded itself to form a sphere around three of them and slowly started lowering down towards the fight. She assumed her Diamond form as safety since she was going to have to go close to Naruto to tell him about Cain's weakness.
Once that helmet comes off, she would be able to put him to sleep very easily. That was what she was about to tell Naruto when something completely unexpected happened.
After another one of their slugfests, Naruto was thrown away from the fight, his entire torso caved in but soon enough, his entire body was covered in a green glow which healed him right back up and he dove back into the fight.
Why won't you go down?" Cain roared in frustration before he punched his own chest, right where Cyttorak's gem was. Something seemed to have been triggered by that punch because the red glow that surrounded Cain, which had dimmed down by a lot, suddenly grew so much in intensity that soon, Cain was nothing more than a red shining ball of light.
Then, with a roar that seemed to disorient anybody that heard it, Cain punched Naruto with so much force that he himself was thrown away from the collision, the area they were in cratering with such force that the boundary of that crater began smoking up.
Naruto, whose form was barely covered with an orange glow, shot out of the crater and crashed right through the barn that the people on the farm were hiding in.
Emma was busy helping Alex and Mystique as both of them had been affected by the sound attack that Cain emitted earlier but she could feel pain, confusion and alarming despair from the people in the barn.
She snapped her neck towards Mystique, hoping that she had recovered due to her sturdy constitution but found her out of commission as well. It would be really disastrous if she was the one who turned the supposed Mutant Messiah away instead of those two old arrogant fools. Her pride would not allow it.
Right as she was about to jump towards the direction of the barn herself, she heard a voice and cursed herself for it.
"Well well well, look who it is," The annoyingly silky smooth voice of one Sebastian Shaw could be heard as he arrived out of a cloaked jet that had landed on the outskirts of the farm.
Emma cursed herself for not sensing him earlier.
"Stay out of it, Sebastian. I arrived here first," She said, hoping to dissuade him using one of the loose rules that governed the Hellfire Club.
"Emma, you forgot one thing. I am the Black Ki-" That was all Sebastian could say before a burning orange portal formed above him and swallowed him up. The same happened to his jet as well.
Instantly, her guard was raised up as she looked around for the source of the portal.
'Tch, annoying sorcerers,' she muttered to herself before running towards the direction of the crater, completely aware that this was the best time to disarm Cain so that he does not recover and become a threat again. Maybe she could
Naruto, on the other hand, was having the worst day since he had come to this reality. First, he had gone ahead and lost himself in the heat of the battle, a rookie mistake that was not expected from a Hokage.
Secondly, whatever it was that Juggernaut did in the end broke almost every single bone in his body.
"Oww"
Thirdly, the green glow that was suffusing his entire body, healing him in its entirety, was beginning to dim down. While it did help in healing his body, it would seem that he would not be able to repeat the stunt he did previously anytime soon.
The arm that was glowing completely green now returned to its original pale form.
The good news was that whatever that Cain did to enhance his power so much beyond the norm, it seemed to have taken a lot out of him as well since his power signature had dimmed way below his peak.
His relief, however, was short lived as his enhanced hearing soon picked up on the distressed cries of children and adults both.
Straining to look in the direction of the voices, his eyes widened in horror when he saw the state of the barn.
It had collapsed partially with the roof having caved in because of the supporting pillars being blasted through. Judging from his position, he realised that he must have blasted through the barn when he was punched away by Cain.
Heaving with all his might, he tried to stand up even though it felt like his muscles and bones had all turned to jelly at that moment.
"Argh!" Naruto screamed as the moment he tried sending even a small amount of energy to the Hashirama cells in his right arm, an unbearable amount of pain shot through his entire body.
His effort to stand up seemed to go up in vain as he flailed about uselessly on the ground. He had never expected that the fight would leave him this drained. Drained enough that even lifting his body off the ground was an impossibility. Even so, he didn't stop trying but the best he could do was crawl pathetically towards the barn even though he knew that, in this condition, there was nothing he could do to help the people there.
"Ugh, this is pathetic to watch," he heard a snide remark before he felt some sort of field cover his entire body and lift him.
He strained his neck to see who was doing it only to see someone he had never expected to help him, even if she had the option.
Emma Frost just didn't seem like the kind of person to him who would help him without getting anything in return and he was sure that he was not going to follow her or dance on her tunes so why?
"Don't move a lot, I am new to moving things with my mind," He heard Emma speak to him before both of them began slowly walking towards the barn. The thought of telling her to hurry did cross his mind but keeping her reputation in mind, he instead chose to focus all his efforts on doing something to heal his body.
Word Count - 2278
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
As usual, thank you for reading!
#13
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#13
Being carried like this was not pleasant but comfort was the last thing on Naruto's mind as he and Emma Frost made their way towards the barn. The barn's state was not good, with multiple walls having collapsed along with the roof partially tilted over. Safe to say that most of the inhabitants of the farm that were hiding there had come out and were looking around for help.
He was confused as to why they couldn't see him but then he realised who he was with. Emma Frost is a renowned businesswoman blessed with the powers of telepathy. A telepath on the same level as Charles Xavier. It would be a petty trick for her to just make the people in front of them so that they would ignore their presence.
Soon, he was standing right in front of the barn and he could see that almost everyone on the farm was accounted for. There were some bruises and cuts here and there on the adults but the kids were all fine. The thing he dreaded the most was the absence of both Richard and Dorothy.
He could also hear faint crying from the inside as upon his nudging, Emma Frost took him inside the barn.
"Remove the perception filter," he told her once they entered the run-down barn. She didn't reply but he could hear the gasps of the people outside as they must have appeared out of nowhere for them.
Inside, he could see torn-down walls and spilled-over old equipment that was blocking their way. They carefully made their way through the blockages only to see Richard hunched over the form of Dorothy.
"No No No NOO!" Naruto shouted the last part as he flailed about in the telekinetic grip of Emma Frost.
"Stay Still!" He heard Emma say to him but there was only one thing on his mind at the moment. HE had failed someone once again. He had failed to save Dorothy and for what?
For the heat of the battle. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he stumbled towards the downed form of Richard and Dorothy, once Emma Frost had given up and released him from her telekinetic grip.
Richard looked at him with a stoic face but he could see the tears staining his face and the anger and helplessness in his eyes.
With a determined look in his eyes, he kneeled near Dorothy and willed his right arm, the one made with the Hashirama cells, to do something. He had once healed an injured rabbit back in the forest using his arm but it was all done on instinct. He didn't know how to replicate it on demand.
Especially now since he did not have a lick of energy in his body. He could hear Emma sighing in the background before her footsteps receded out of the barn.
Willing for the meager dimensional energy to work, he was crestfallen to realise that his body, specifically his right arm was in no shape to work. In the first place, his right arm dangled about uselessly anyway, damaged beyond his current healing capabilities in the fight with Cain.
Before he could turn around and beg Frost for help, there was a familiar golden portal that opened up in front of him and through that a familiar container tumbled through, landing straight in front of him.
'The Ancient One!' Naruto thought to himself.
Richard had backed over from the mystic scene while hope once again bloomed in his eyes as he looked at the Sands of the Power Cosmic. Maybe those can help his energy levels to recover?
Scrambling towards the container, just like last time, he put his hand through the container but this time his finger managed to touch the sand before his entire world went white.
It lasted only for a moment but a huge amount of information was downloaded into his brain before his vision cleared up and he was now standing in the same position as before but just clad in a purple swirling storm of energy.
He could tell that the purple energy was not his because he was just as exhausted as before but in a way, that was good. His body would not be able to handle the stress of energy of that level just coursing through his body.
No, to heal Dorothy he would have to take an alternate route.
Gingerly extending his right arm, he touched the swirling storm. His face lit up as there were little wisps of purple energy that were absorbed by his right arm. He could feel his cells being revitalised as the right arm which was only loosely joined to his body started healing.
Soon, the arm was covered in a familiar green glow but instead of the cells healing his body, he willed for them to stop the process. It was difficult because he had no experience with them but he had to do it.
For Dorothy.
He then slowly walked out of the purple storm of energy and kneeled beside Dorothy, holding on to his right arm. He willed for it to move the same way it did when he healed the rabbit and was delighted to find it did so without any complaints.
His right arm, glowing green, began flowing like a liquid before it covered the entire body of Dorothy. She was not visible to him but the intense green glow of his arm clued in on the fact that it was working.
At Least her body was being healed. He had no idea about her mind though.
"What are you doing?! Get away from her!" He heard the heavy footsteps of Richard before he saw him running towards him with a shovel in his hand.
"Ugh, stop!" The familiar voice of Frost could be heard as Richard's eyes glazed over and he stopped right in his tracks.
He looked behind Richard to see Frost back in the barn, crossing her arms while glaring at him.
He nodded subtly in thanks to which Emma Frost just rolled her eyes. She then walked over and looked at the green slurry that covered Dorothy with a fascinated look in her eyes.
Hesitating, he thought of any repercussions that could come with bringing her back from the dead, however short it might have been. Especially on her mind as he was sure that healing her body would not be an issue. The only people he knew that could deal with the minds were the Yamanaka from back home and even they didn't exactly have the most experience in healing broken minds.
Breaking minds? Sure.
Even then, the closest beings to the Yamanaka here were telepaths and coincidentally, there was a very powerful telepath standing right next to him. He just was not sure about trusting her with DOrothy's mind though because as much good that Emma had done for mutantkind, her hands were just as stained as some of the villains of this world.
Sighing, he made up his mind to ask for her help. It was not as if he had anybody else to turn to. Xavier was an option but after today's fiasco, he was loathe to trust that man or anybody that works for him.
Xavier clearly knew about the attack since he warned him about it but did not be arsed to protect or at least warn these people about it. He even had the strength to just convince them to go away from the place lest they be harmed but he just told him and went on his merry way, showing a shocking disregard for the life of normal human beings.
Clearing his throat, he asked Emma once her attention was back on him, "Can you sense her mind?"
Emma looked at him for a moment longer before closing her eyes and then nodding back at him a moment later.
Before he could ask his next question though, she replied.
"Don't expect her to come out of this unharmed. The Human mind is a complex thing that has so far not been completely understood by anyone, not even us telepaths, but the one thing everybody knows is that it needs the Brain to be physically healthy for a mind to function properly. Dorothy here has been dead for a couple of minutes now and while that would have been fine for a healthy human, she is old."
He looked at Emma with a frown. "But the way my powers work, she will be healed completely"
"Yes and as I said, her brain was not healthy a couple of minutes ago so things can go either way. I have no wish to experience death so I have not delved into her mind as of now but I should be able to tell her exact state once she wakes up. Until then, there is nothing you can do."
"Um,"
"What?"
"About the people outside.."
"Don't worry about them. The cell reception came back once my people found the cell jammer of those idiots and turned it off. Your people are now waiting for medical help on the street in front of the entrance. The Police will be right behind them so you should wrap this up soon."
Naruto nodded to her, grateful for her help in this situation. He will make sure that Dorothy is properly healed before leaving their lives. She had shown him such kindness and taken him in and what did she get in return?
She almost lost her life because of him and the only reason he was able to help her was because of outside help. If the Ancient One or Emma Frost had not arrived on time, there was no telling what could have happened today.
At the same time, Naruto growled as he thought of the organisation known as Friends of Humanity. He will not let them go. Naruto then suddenly remembered something.
"About the Juggernaut?"
"Don't worry about him, he has already been moved and this time, I will personally make sure that he does not land up in the hands of a terrorist organisation that can just aim him anywhere they like."
He nodded in satisfaction. The Juggernaut was a scary foe who could kill and rampage without much opposition as, according to the information he had access to, there were few beings on the planet who could even withstand a single blow from Cain Marko.
"Even then, I am impressed." He looked towards Emma as she made that sudden statement.
'What? You don't think defeating the Juggernaut in a straight-up fistfight is impressive? Fewer people have tried and even fewer survived Juggernaut once he started his rampage. Consider yourself lucky though because there was some unexpected interference but that was dealt with by the sorcerers."
Sorcerers?
"The Ancient One?" Naruto asked Emma about it.
Emma cocked her to one side as she looked at him in interest.
"You've met the Ancient One? The Old Bald Lady herself?"
Naruto nodded slowly, unsure about the question.
"That explains stuff," Emma whispered to herself but before he could ask her about the interference and how the Ancient One helped, the Hashirama cells receded back into his right arm, revealing a completely healed Dorothy.
Gasping for breath, he suddenly realised how exhausted he was due to the fight and then the healing. He was still not used to healing someone and it took a lot of unnecessary energy for him to do so.
Extending his right hand behind him, he grinned once he saw the purple storm following his mind and heading right towards him, followed by the container golding the Purple Sand. As soon as his hand touched the purple swirls of energy, he breathed in deeply because his entire body was being haled due to that.
But before he could celebrate properly, he doubled down in pain as his body nearly shut down due to the stuff it had gone through today,
"Okay," Naruto muttered through clenched teeth, "No more energy use for today,"
"Are you okay?" Emma asked him.
"Yeah, I will be fine. Just check on Dorothy once more please."
"Fine. But you owe me for this and are coming with me to repay all of this."
"Yes, I am aware of that."
"As long as you know," Emma said before she placed both of her arms on the two sides of Dorothy's head.
It felt like forever due to the pain but Emma was done in a couple of seconds at best.
"Okay, I have inspected her psyche for damage but it seems like she made it out safely. We will let her go to the hospital for now and check up on her once she has gained consciousness. In the meantime, we should leave." Emma said while gesturing towards an open clearing in the distance through which a person came flying through.
No, not flying through. He was floating on something, something nearly invisible.
"This is Alex, he can make and manipulate forcefields. He will be our ride home. Now, come on, we don't have much time."
Naruto tried to stand up but just fell down to his knees due to the pain.
"Ugh," He heard Emma groan before he felt his entire body being lifted like before.
Soon, they were on their way to Emma's base and the Davis farm shrunk until it was no longer visible from the distance.
He just hoped that Dorothy found it in herself to forgive him for everything.
Because he would not be forgiving himself until the culprits behind everything are not taken to justice.
Word Count - 2285
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
A/N - I have an update regarding the schedule. 4 chapters will be posted every week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday). Wednesday is for my other stories and the weekend is for rest.
Toodles!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#13
Being carried like this was not pleasant but comfort was the last thing on Naruto's mind as he and Emma Frost made their way towards the barn. The barn's state was not good, with multiple walls having collapsed along with the roof partially tilted over. Safe to say that most of the inhabitants of the farm that were hiding there had come out and were looking around for help.
He was confused as to why they couldn't see him but then he realised who he was with. Emma Frost is a renowned businesswoman blessed with the powers of telepathy. A telepath on the same level as Charles Xavier. It would be a petty trick for her to just make the people in front of them so that they would ignore their presence.
Soon, he was standing right in front of the barn and he could see that almost everyone on the farm was accounted for. There were some bruises and cuts here and there on the adults but the kids were all fine. The thing he dreaded the most was the absence of both Richard and Dorothy.
He could also hear faint crying from the inside as upon his nudging, Emma Frost took him inside the barn.
"Remove the perception filter," he told her once they entered the run-down barn. She didn't reply but he could hear the gasps of the people outside as they must have appeared out of nowhere for them.
Inside, he could see torn-down walls and spilled-over old equipment that was blocking their way. They carefully made their way through the blockages only to see Richard hunched over the form of Dorothy.
"No No No NOO!" Naruto shouted the last part as he flailed about in the telekinetic grip of Emma Frost.
"Stay Still!" He heard Emma say to him but there was only one thing on his mind at the moment. HE had failed someone once again. He had failed to save Dorothy and for what?
For the heat of the battle. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he stumbled towards the downed form of Richard and Dorothy, once Emma Frost had given up and released him from her telekinetic grip.
Richard looked at him with a stoic face but he could see the tears staining his face and the anger and helplessness in his eyes.
With a determined look in his eyes, he kneeled near Dorothy and willed his right arm, the one made with the Hashirama cells, to do something. He had once healed an injured rabbit back in the forest using his arm but it was all done on instinct. He didn't know how to replicate it on demand.
Especially now since he did not have a lick of energy in his body. He could hear Emma sighing in the background before her footsteps receded out of the barn.
Willing for the meager dimensional energy to work, he was crestfallen to realise that his body, specifically his right arm was in no shape to work. In the first place, his right arm dangled about uselessly anyway, damaged beyond his current healing capabilities in the fight with Cain.
Before he could turn around and beg Frost for help, there was a familiar golden portal that opened up in front of him and through that a familiar container tumbled through, landing straight in front of him.
'The Ancient One!' Naruto thought to himself.
Richard had backed over from the mystic scene while hope once again bloomed in his eyes as he looked at the Sands of the Power Cosmic. Maybe those can help his energy levels to recover?
Scrambling towards the container, just like last time, he put his hand through the container but this time his finger managed to touch the sand before his entire world went white.
It lasted only for a moment but a huge amount of information was downloaded into his brain before his vision cleared up and he was now standing in the same position as before but just clad in a purple swirling storm of energy.
He could tell that the purple energy was not his because he was just as exhausted as before but in a way, that was good. His body would not be able to handle the stress of energy of that level just coursing through his body.
No, to heal Dorothy he would have to take an alternate route.
Gingerly extending his right arm, he touched the swirling storm. His face lit up as there were little wisps of purple energy that were absorbed by his right arm. He could feel his cells being revitalised as the right arm which was only loosely joined to his body started healing.
Soon, the arm was covered in a familiar green glow but instead of the cells healing his body, he willed for them to stop the process. It was difficult because he had no experience with them but he had to do it.
For Dorothy.
He then slowly walked out of the purple storm of energy and kneeled beside Dorothy, holding on to his right arm. He willed for it to move the same way it did when he healed the rabbit and was delighted to find it did so without any complaints.
His right arm, glowing green, began flowing like a liquid before it covered the entire body of Dorothy. She was not visible to him but the intense green glow of his arm clued in on the fact that it was working.
At Least her body was being healed. He had no idea about her mind though.
"What are you doing?! Get away from her!" He heard the heavy footsteps of Richard before he saw him running towards him with a shovel in his hand.
"Ugh, stop!" The familiar voice of Frost could be heard as Richard's eyes glazed over and he stopped right in his tracks.
He looked behind Richard to see Frost back in the barn, crossing her arms while glaring at him.
He nodded subtly in thanks to which Emma Frost just rolled her eyes. She then walked over and looked at the green slurry that covered Dorothy with a fascinated look in her eyes.
Hesitating, he thought of any repercussions that could come with bringing her back from the dead, however short it might have been. Especially on her mind as he was sure that healing her body would not be an issue. The only people he knew that could deal with the minds were the Yamanaka from back home and even they didn't exactly have the most experience in healing broken minds.
Breaking minds? Sure.
Even then, the closest beings to the Yamanaka here were telepaths and coincidentally, there was a very powerful telepath standing right next to him. He just was not sure about trusting her with DOrothy's mind though because as much good that Emma had done for mutantkind, her hands were just as stained as some of the villains of this world.
Sighing, he made up his mind to ask for her help. It was not as if he had anybody else to turn to. Xavier was an option but after today's fiasco, he was loathe to trust that man or anybody that works for him.
Xavier clearly knew about the attack since he warned him about it but did not be arsed to protect or at least warn these people about it. He even had the strength to just convince them to go away from the place lest they be harmed but he just told him and went on his merry way, showing a shocking disregard for the life of normal human beings.
Clearing his throat, he asked Emma once her attention was back on him, "Can you sense her mind?"
Emma looked at him for a moment longer before closing her eyes and then nodding back at him a moment later.
Before he could ask his next question though, she replied.
"Don't expect her to come out of this unharmed. The Human mind is a complex thing that has so far not been completely understood by anyone, not even us telepaths, but the one thing everybody knows is that it needs the Brain to be physically healthy for a mind to function properly. Dorothy here has been dead for a couple of minutes now and while that would have been fine for a healthy human, she is old."
He looked at Emma with a frown. "But the way my powers work, she will be healed completely"
"Yes and as I said, her brain was not healthy a couple of minutes ago so things can go either way. I have no wish to experience death so I have not delved into her mind as of now but I should be able to tell her exact state once she wakes up. Until then, there is nothing you can do."
"Um,"
"What?"
"About the people outside.."
"Don't worry about them. The cell reception came back once my people found the cell jammer of those idiots and turned it off. Your people are now waiting for medical help on the street in front of the entrance. The Police will be right behind them so you should wrap this up soon."
Naruto nodded to her, grateful for her help in this situation. He will make sure that Dorothy is properly healed before leaving their lives. She had shown him such kindness and taken him in and what did she get in return?
She almost lost her life because of him and the only reason he was able to help her was because of outside help. If the Ancient One or Emma Frost had not arrived on time, there was no telling what could have happened today.
At the same time, Naruto growled as he thought of the organisation known as Friends of Humanity. He will not let them go. Naruto then suddenly remembered something.
"About the Juggernaut?"
"Don't worry about him, he has already been moved and this time, I will personally make sure that he does not land up in the hands of a terrorist organisation that can just aim him anywhere they like."
He nodded in satisfaction. The Juggernaut was a scary foe who could kill and rampage without much opposition as, according to the information he had access to, there were few beings on the planet who could even withstand a single blow from Cain Marko.
"Even then, I am impressed." He looked towards Emma as she made that sudden statement.
'What? You don't think defeating the Juggernaut in a straight-up fistfight is impressive? Fewer people have tried and even fewer survived Juggernaut once he started his rampage. Consider yourself lucky though because there was some unexpected interference but that was dealt with by the sorcerers."
Sorcerers?
"The Ancient One?" Naruto asked Emma about it.
Emma cocked her to one side as she looked at him in interest.
"You've met the Ancient One? The Old Bald Lady herself?"
Naruto nodded slowly, unsure about the question.
"That explains stuff," Emma whispered to herself but before he could ask her about the interference and how the Ancient One helped, the Hashirama cells receded back into his right arm, revealing a completely healed Dorothy.
Gasping for breath, he suddenly realised how exhausted he was due to the fight and then the healing. He was still not used to healing someone and it took a lot of unnecessary energy for him to do so.
Extending his right hand behind him, he grinned once he saw the purple storm following his mind and heading right towards him, followed by the container golding the Purple Sand. As soon as his hand touched the purple swirls of energy, he breathed in deeply because his entire body was being haled due to that.
But before he could celebrate properly, he doubled down in pain as his body nearly shut down due to the stuff it had gone through today,
"Okay," Naruto muttered through clenched teeth, "No more energy use for today,"
"Are you okay?" Emma asked him.
"Yeah, I will be fine. Just check on Dorothy once more please."
"Fine. But you owe me for this and are coming with me to repay all of this."
"Yes, I am aware of that."
"As long as you know," Emma said before she placed both of her arms on the two sides of Dorothy's head.
It felt like forever due to the pain but Emma was done in a couple of seconds at best.
"Okay, I have inspected her psyche for damage but it seems like she made it out safely. We will let her go to the hospital for now and check up on her once she has gained consciousness. In the meantime, we should leave." Emma said while gesturing towards an open clearing in the distance through which a person came flying through.
No, not flying through. He was floating on something, something nearly invisible.
"This is Alex, he can make and manipulate forcefields. He will be our ride home. Now, come on, we don't have much time."
Naruto tried to stand up but just fell down to his knees due to the pain.
"Ugh," He heard Emma groan before he felt his entire body being lifted like before.
Soon, they were on their way to Emma's base and the Davis farm shrunk until it was no longer visible from the distance.
He just hoped that Dorothy found it in herself to forgive him for everything.
Because he would not be forgiving himself until the culprits behind everything are not taken to justice.
Word Count - 2285
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
A/N - I have an update regarding the schedule. 4 chapters will be posted every week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday). Wednesday is for my other stories and the weekend is for rest.
Toodles!
#14
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2021
- Messages
- 379
- Likes received
- 10,666
Disclaimer - I don't own anything. Please support the official release.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#14
When Emma Frost had decided to follow Mystique's plea to rescue someone from a sticky situation, she had not hoped, even in her wildest dreams, that she would come across someone like Naruto.
While his mind itself was unreachable for her, which is something she was still trying to wrap her head around, his feelings, on the other hand, were quite easy to discern. Naruto Uzumaki was an extremely empathetic person. So much so that she suspected that something happened during his formative years that made him so. It is not natural to have that level of empathy without something extraordinary happening to one's psyche. Such events normally break most people but the ones that come out of it stronger than before?
Those people are one in a billion and she was looking at one right now. They were back at one of the "black sites" where her father kept using shell companies. Well, when he was still alive anyway. Now that he is dead and everything he ever owned was in her name, she used most of these sites as a place to either stash assets like her Jet or house new members of the team, like Naruto.
This facility in particular was in Alaska, hidden deep beneath the frozen tundra that allows for exceptional stealth along with privacy for any issues that might occur. Like the one that was happening right now.
She had brought Naruto along with her because this was the perfect moment to manipulate him into joining her cause. He was at a low point emotionally and it was always easier to aim such people at targets that happened to just be her enemies as well. She had planned for him to be trained for a while so she could estimate his overall skill sets but the second he had set foot on the base, he had asked, no demanded, to be given information on the organisation known as "Friends of Humanity" so he could begin hunting them down.
Oh, Naruto said to bring them to justice but if he was actually so naive as to believe that the Justice system of the United States or any other country, for that matter, would help him achieve the justice he intended, she pitied him.
Her brother, Christian had once been naive as well, hoping that his father, the sperm donor, would come to love him eventually. His eventual disappointment was what led him to substance abuse and then, his death. She would not want Naruto, or anybody else, to experience that crushing hopelessness and despair but she was not in the business of coddling anybody, certainly not members of her team and that's what she was hoping Naruto would become.
A member of her team that worked as a third alternative in the current scenario. According to Emma, it was a fool's endeavour to join either of the two sides that were available for the mutant community.
Xavier was a fool if he thought that the government would accept mutants only if we helped them by becoming heroes and not taking proactive action in getting laws passed that would help mutant-kind.
Magneto, on the other hand, is a much bigger fool who refuses to recognise the effects of the trauma he had sustained during his childhood and as such, continues to lash out at the world for giving him pain. He doesn't understand that going by pure numbers, mutants are outnumbered immensely. No matter how powerful he thinks he is, humans will always find a way. She was sure of it.
How Magneto's issues did not get treated despite him being best buddies with Charles Xavier was beyond her understanding. Xavier's refusal to treat the mental illnesses of his friend was what led to many of the disasters of the man that she had to clean up. Despite the government only tolerating both of their organisations, they continued to believe in the extremes. Both of them are the extremes of the mutant community and she hoped to become the moderate cornerstone of the mutant community.
A third option, so to speak so that when a mutant who just wants to live a normal life is being hunted down by the authorities, he doesn't have to choose between an idiotic pacifist who will endanger your life by making them fight in his battles but not allowing them or giving them the proper tools to defend themselves, or chose the second option where they would have to join a bunch of rag-tag people who are just one step below terrorists and would be forced to assault innocent people who actually had nothing against them but just for the sake of your leader's voice can be heard by the people in power.
It was a dilemma she faced as well when she came to power by taking over Frost Industries once her father died a tragic death. She had told both of them that they were idiots if they thought she would legitimately join them but she had been extremely lucky back then to have her powers developed by the time they realised about her because she was pretty sure that without the protection granted by either of those fools, she would not have been able to survive had it not been for the extensive experimentation and training she did with her powers ever since she was but a confused teenager who was curious about the voices she heard in her head.
Then came the Hellfire Club and all that entailed joining it. Honestly, she was still curious as to what happened to Sebastian since he had not been seen since he was swallowed by a burning orange portal during Naruto's fight with Juggernaut.
Naruto, on the other hand, who was apparently favoured by the Ancient One herself, was constantly fidgeting with the container that was given to him by the same method Sebastian was swallowed, by an orange burning portal.
She had tried asking him about it but he refused to elaborate more on it until she held up her side of the bargain, i.e., giving him details about the assailant and also telling him how she had been at the right place at the right time.
She was not about to just hand over information to him free of cost so she was about to go to the meeting room where Naruto was waiting for her so they could hash out a deal which would benefit both of them, her more than him of course.
"What do you think?" She asked Elijah, one of the oldest additions to her team. He was one of her "sensory" assets, as in, someone whose powerset mandates that they stay off-field and help in their own way. Elijah, in particular, was blessed with information gathering. He was a master of information gathering even before he got his mutant powers. His powers also supplemented his skill sets, allowing him to gather information on targets by just staying in their general vicinity for a certain period of time. His powers were crucial because they also helped her identify the sub-species of a person without ever taking blood off them.
"He is definitely not a mutant," Elijah replied. She hummed in response. She was quite aware of that, especially since she saw with her own eyes, the number of powers that Naruto possessed made it almost impossible for him to be a natural-born mutant.
Mutants don't normally come with wholesale dozen different powers that Naruto had. Super speed, Super Strength, and Super reflexes can come hand in hand with an elevated physique power but those orange energy balls? They were a completely different power as far as she was concerned.
Even if she did assume the second one to be his secondary powerset, the third healing arm cannot be explained by him being a mutant or even a human, for that matter. She had her suspicions on his origin and she was about to voice them for Elijah when he himself replied.
"Whoever he is, he is human. At Least a part of him is human but it is all wrong."
Wrong?
"What do you mean, Wrong?"
"Wrong, as in his biology is very different from a normal human but my power is reading him to be a vanilla human. This is impossible since he also has an energy rating that is the highest I have ever recorded. Even the other person you brought it doesn't have the same energies Naruto has. Then there's the issue of his arm. My powers read that arm as a completely different object than Naruto's, rather than it being just his arm. The arm is also a plant or a tree according to my powers. This is the first time this has happened and I believe the reason for that is because Naruto is some sort of alien."
Alien? That seemed plausible to Emma since she was quite aware of all the different Alien species that had crash-landed on the planet since the thousands of years of recorded history. Also, it was ridiculously easy to glean classified information from heads of state before Xavier came in and offered every country the technology behind blocking telepathy.
"He might just be from another universe then?" Alex voiced in between them. He was still a little disturbed by what he had seen from Naruto because he very much believed before this fight that his barriers were the strongest barriers anybody with powers could produce but after seeing Juggernaut in action, he was not sure of his barriers holding up to the strength of someone of that level. It also didn't help that he clearly saw Naruto's barriers holding up just fine during their battle.
He was of the opinion that if the barrier spells could be taught, he would like to learn more about it since it would enhance his powers by an order of magnitude and she was all for it, once she had ascertained Naruto's exact relationship with the sorcerers since they could be unpredictable at the best of times and downright hostile at the worst. She couldn't risk the life of her team on just a hunch, she needed to be sure.
"Maybe, he is a human but from another multiverse? That's why my powers are acting all wonky since they are used to humans from our universe."
"What's a multiverse?"
"A multiverse is just a cluster of universes that are…"
The voices of Elijah and Alex faded in the background as she moved towards the meeting room with purpose.
She was just about to enter the room when a chill rose in her spine but before she could do anything but barely transform into her diamond form, something pushed her and she fell right into the burning orange portal, landing straight on hardwood flooring.
Immediately snapping up, she assumed a combat-ready stance as she looked around.
"Behind you, Ms.Frost," She swore that there was nobody there when she looked but now the Ancient One was standing in the same spot with her hands behind her back.
Sighing, she relaxed a bit before deactivating her diamond form. Crossing her arms beneath her chest, she said, "So, why have you called for me in this very rude manner here, Ancient One?"
The Ancient One looked at Emma with the same placid smile and empty eyes that made her shiver internally. It never failed to creep her out once she realised that the person in front of her was thousands of years old and was strong enough that she could wipe out even the Juggernaut with a single snap of her fingers.
She had been warned by all of the mystics she had found that the Ancient One was not someone to be crossed. She could and probably had trapped multiple enhanced people in a dimension where time passes, but only for their minds. Their body remains biologically immortal while their mind rots away in the eternity of time.
That single piece of information alone had dictated how she dealt with any sorcerer throughout her stint as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
"I am here with a warning. A warning about Mr.Uzumaki."
As she had expected, she was here for Naruto. Honestly, what was so special about him other than him being stronger than most people but pure brute strength would never appeal to someone like the Ancient One who could erase most people on the planet with but a single spell.
"What about him?"
She nodded, trying to hide her nervousness but in front of someone with the experience of a thousand years of doing the same, it felt like all of her secrets were laid bare. This is why she hated dealing with immortals.
Word Count - 2147
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#14
When Emma Frost had decided to follow Mystique's plea to rescue someone from a sticky situation, she had not hoped, even in her wildest dreams, that she would come across someone like Naruto.
While his mind itself was unreachable for her, which is something she was still trying to wrap her head around, his feelings, on the other hand, were quite easy to discern. Naruto Uzumaki was an extremely empathetic person. So much so that she suspected that something happened during his formative years that made him so. It is not natural to have that level of empathy without something extraordinary happening to one's psyche. Such events normally break most people but the ones that come out of it stronger than before?
Those people are one in a billion and she was looking at one right now. They were back at one of the "black sites" where her father kept using shell companies. Well, when he was still alive anyway. Now that he is dead and everything he ever owned was in her name, she used most of these sites as a place to either stash assets like her Jet or house new members of the team, like Naruto.
This facility in particular was in Alaska, hidden deep beneath the frozen tundra that allows for exceptional stealth along with privacy for any issues that might occur. Like the one that was happening right now.
She had brought Naruto along with her because this was the perfect moment to manipulate him into joining her cause. He was at a low point emotionally and it was always easier to aim such people at targets that happened to just be her enemies as well. She had planned for him to be trained for a while so she could estimate his overall skill sets but the second he had set foot on the base, he had asked, no demanded, to be given information on the organisation known as "Friends of Humanity" so he could begin hunting them down.
Oh, Naruto said to bring them to justice but if he was actually so naive as to believe that the Justice system of the United States or any other country, for that matter, would help him achieve the justice he intended, she pitied him.
Her brother, Christian had once been naive as well, hoping that his father, the sperm donor, would come to love him eventually. His eventual disappointment was what led him to substance abuse and then, his death. She would not want Naruto, or anybody else, to experience that crushing hopelessness and despair but she was not in the business of coddling anybody, certainly not members of her team and that's what she was hoping Naruto would become.
A member of her team that worked as a third alternative in the current scenario. According to Emma, it was a fool's endeavour to join either of the two sides that were available for the mutant community.
Xavier was a fool if he thought that the government would accept mutants only if we helped them by becoming heroes and not taking proactive action in getting laws passed that would help mutant-kind.
Magneto, on the other hand, is a much bigger fool who refuses to recognise the effects of the trauma he had sustained during his childhood and as such, continues to lash out at the world for giving him pain. He doesn't understand that going by pure numbers, mutants are outnumbered immensely. No matter how powerful he thinks he is, humans will always find a way. She was sure of it.
How Magneto's issues did not get treated despite him being best buddies with Charles Xavier was beyond her understanding. Xavier's refusal to treat the mental illnesses of his friend was what led to many of the disasters of the man that she had to clean up. Despite the government only tolerating both of their organisations, they continued to believe in the extremes. Both of them are the extremes of the mutant community and she hoped to become the moderate cornerstone of the mutant community.
A third option, so to speak so that when a mutant who just wants to live a normal life is being hunted down by the authorities, he doesn't have to choose between an idiotic pacifist who will endanger your life by making them fight in his battles but not allowing them or giving them the proper tools to defend themselves, or chose the second option where they would have to join a bunch of rag-tag people who are just one step below terrorists and would be forced to assault innocent people who actually had nothing against them but just for the sake of your leader's voice can be heard by the people in power.
It was a dilemma she faced as well when she came to power by taking over Frost Industries once her father died a tragic death. She had told both of them that they were idiots if they thought she would legitimately join them but she had been extremely lucky back then to have her powers developed by the time they realised about her because she was pretty sure that without the protection granted by either of those fools, she would not have been able to survive had it not been for the extensive experimentation and training she did with her powers ever since she was but a confused teenager who was curious about the voices she heard in her head.
Then came the Hellfire Club and all that entailed joining it. Honestly, she was still curious as to what happened to Sebastian since he had not been seen since he was swallowed by a burning orange portal during Naruto's fight with Juggernaut.
Naruto, on the other hand, who was apparently favoured by the Ancient One herself, was constantly fidgeting with the container that was given to him by the same method Sebastian was swallowed, by an orange burning portal.
She had tried asking him about it but he refused to elaborate more on it until she held up her side of the bargain, i.e., giving him details about the assailant and also telling him how she had been at the right place at the right time.
She was not about to just hand over information to him free of cost so she was about to go to the meeting room where Naruto was waiting for her so they could hash out a deal which would benefit both of them, her more than him of course.
"What do you think?" She asked Elijah, one of the oldest additions to her team. He was one of her "sensory" assets, as in, someone whose powerset mandates that they stay off-field and help in their own way. Elijah, in particular, was blessed with information gathering. He was a master of information gathering even before he got his mutant powers. His powers also supplemented his skill sets, allowing him to gather information on targets by just staying in their general vicinity for a certain period of time. His powers were crucial because they also helped her identify the sub-species of a person without ever taking blood off them.
"He is definitely not a mutant," Elijah replied. She hummed in response. She was quite aware of that, especially since she saw with her own eyes, the number of powers that Naruto possessed made it almost impossible for him to be a natural-born mutant.
Mutants don't normally come with wholesale dozen different powers that Naruto had. Super speed, Super Strength, and Super reflexes can come hand in hand with an elevated physique power but those orange energy balls? They were a completely different power as far as she was concerned.
Even if she did assume the second one to be his secondary powerset, the third healing arm cannot be explained by him being a mutant or even a human, for that matter. She had her suspicions on his origin and she was about to voice them for Elijah when he himself replied.
"Whoever he is, he is human. At Least a part of him is human but it is all wrong."
Wrong?
"What do you mean, Wrong?"
"Wrong, as in his biology is very different from a normal human but my power is reading him to be a vanilla human. This is impossible since he also has an energy rating that is the highest I have ever recorded. Even the other person you brought it doesn't have the same energies Naruto has. Then there's the issue of his arm. My powers read that arm as a completely different object than Naruto's, rather than it being just his arm. The arm is also a plant or a tree according to my powers. This is the first time this has happened and I believe the reason for that is because Naruto is some sort of alien."
Alien? That seemed plausible to Emma since she was quite aware of all the different Alien species that had crash-landed on the planet since the thousands of years of recorded history. Also, it was ridiculously easy to glean classified information from heads of state before Xavier came in and offered every country the technology behind blocking telepathy.
"He might just be from another universe then?" Alex voiced in between them. He was still a little disturbed by what he had seen from Naruto because he very much believed before this fight that his barriers were the strongest barriers anybody with powers could produce but after seeing Juggernaut in action, he was not sure of his barriers holding up to the strength of someone of that level. It also didn't help that he clearly saw Naruto's barriers holding up just fine during their battle.
He was of the opinion that if the barrier spells could be taught, he would like to learn more about it since it would enhance his powers by an order of magnitude and she was all for it, once she had ascertained Naruto's exact relationship with the sorcerers since they could be unpredictable at the best of times and downright hostile at the worst. She couldn't risk the life of her team on just a hunch, she needed to be sure.
"Maybe, he is a human but from another multiverse? That's why my powers are acting all wonky since they are used to humans from our universe."
"What's a multiverse?"
"A multiverse is just a cluster of universes that are…"
The voices of Elijah and Alex faded in the background as she moved towards the meeting room with purpose.
She was just about to enter the room when a chill rose in her spine but before she could do anything but barely transform into her diamond form, something pushed her and she fell right into the burning orange portal, landing straight on hardwood flooring.
Immediately snapping up, she assumed a combat-ready stance as she looked around.
"Behind you, Ms.Frost," She swore that there was nobody there when she looked but now the Ancient One was standing in the same spot with her hands behind her back.
Sighing, she relaxed a bit before deactivating her diamond form. Crossing her arms beneath her chest, she said, "So, why have you called for me in this very rude manner here, Ancient One?"
The Ancient One looked at Emma with the same placid smile and empty eyes that made her shiver internally. It never failed to creep her out once she realised that the person in front of her was thousands of years old and was strong enough that she could wipe out even the Juggernaut with a single snap of her fingers.
She had been warned by all of the mystics she had found that the Ancient One was not someone to be crossed. She could and probably had trapped multiple enhanced people in a dimension where time passes, but only for their minds. Their body remains biologically immortal while their mind rots away in the eternity of time.
That single piece of information alone had dictated how she dealt with any sorcerer throughout her stint as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club.
"I am here with a warning. A warning about Mr.Uzumaki."
As she had expected, she was here for Naruto. Honestly, what was so special about him other than him being stronger than most people but pure brute strength would never appeal to someone like the Ancient One who could erase most people on the planet with but a single spell.
"What about him?"
She nodded, trying to hide her nervousness but in front of someone with the experience of a thousand years of doing the same, it felt like all of her secrets were laid bare. This is why she hated dealing with immortals.
Word Count - 2147
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
#15
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
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A SAGE ADRIFT
#15
Emma still looked around the room out of habit to spot any escape points but from what she had heard about the Ancient One, she would have a better chance of getting Sebastian Shaw to do actual charity without actually hoping to get anything in return than being able to escape from the Ancient One without her will.
So, she just tapped her foot and crossed her arms, waiting for an answer from the Ancient One.
The Ancient One then once again snapped her fingers and it took all of her control to not flinch at the sudden movement as they found themselves in a small room sitting on a comfortable chair but even the ridiculously comfortable chair failed to provide any sort of comfort to her. A chill ran down her spine as she realised that despite being a telepath and an advanced one at that which allowed her to have an advanced thought processing speed, she was still unable to figure out what had just happened there.
"Mr.Uzumaki," The Ancient One began, "is a special case as you might have been told by your old friend Mystique but what you don't know is just how special and crucial he is to the universe and the inhabitants within, i.e., us."
"What?" She questioned with a tone of incredulity, "What has the universe got to do with him? I get that he is extremely strong but so are you and I don't see you being the lynchpin that holds the universe together,"
"I won't go into the details with you, Ms.Frost but know this, Mr.Uzumaki is someone who is destined for great things, and if Fate has its way, great things will happen to Earth as well. Right now, the future is in a great flux, and depending on the mindset that Mr.Uzumaki adopts from the things he witnesses, the future of the entire planet and the universe along with it will change."
Emma's brows furrowed in confusion at her statement, "Wait, you can see the future? And if he is so important supposedly then why was he living in the middle of nowhere doing menial labour?"
The Ancient One paused for barely a moment but Emma could clearly see the frown that was swiftly replaced from her face to return it back to her placid expression.
"Ms.Frost, some things must happen the way they happened for the most ideal future to come into play. What I want you to do is make sure that Mr.Uzumaki is not dragged into the dirty politics of the Hellfire Club and while I am sure he himself will do most of the work, I want you to make sure that he doesn't fall too much when he exacts his revenge or justice on the terrorist group. In exchange, I can guarantee you the complete obedience of one Sebastian Shaw."
Emma's eyes widened as she leaned forward in interest.
"Really?"
Having Sebastian under her heel would not only satisfy one of her greatest of wishes but also allow her business as well as clandestine operations to soar like never before. Also, it would add another very powerful mutant to her side. All in all, a very profitable deal for her. All she had to do was keep watch over a very powerful but a very naive person.
She eyed the Ancient One with suspicion evident in her eyes. "This almost seems too good to be true/"
The Ancient One once again snapped her fingers and this time, they found themselves standing in some sort of dungeon.
"This," The Ancient One began as she started walking through the door that had just opened with a loud creaking sound, "Is a dungeon where we, occasionally, keep prisoners that can turn out to be useful later on. Like, Mr.Shaw, for example."
Soon, they walked ahead and reached a cell where Shaw was kept. "Kept" would be a very apt term since he was splayed on a metallic bed with all his limbs tied to the ends, making for a very satisfying sight.
"You have no idea just how happy this makes me," Emma said as she tried to use her powers to peak into the mind of Shaw or anybody else here but promptly started coughing because her mind was just given a very painful slap by something before she could actually find something.
"Oh, yes. I would advise against using your powers here since this is a restricted zone and we regulate all types of powers in here. Mr.Shaw, for example, is not able to call on his powers." The Ancient One said as she crisscrossed her arms a couple of times in the air in a seemingly random pattern before a yellow door flashed in front of her. The cell bars then began to recede back into the ground slowly as the bed that Shaw was resting on was brought to the front.
"Why is he unconscious?" She found herself asking as she cleaned the blood that was trickling out of her nose due to the backlash of having her astral form be lightly damaged. Oh, the damage would heal soon enough but she would have to deal with a little headache for a couple of days.
"Because of that," The Ancient One pointed to the top of the bed where a small rectangular box jeweled with a small black piece of rock could be seen. The rock seemed to change colour and flicker for a second before turning back to its original appearance.
"That is something that I absolutely detest using. It is something that goes against everything I have ever taught to any of my students but Mr.Shaw here is a particularly useful person for you and a very apt example of the case that some people truly deserve the worst. That, Ms.Frost, is a mind-control gem, pure and simple. I have since sealed the entryway but there is a dimension made up of pure psionic energy."
Emma's eyes sparkled at that. She had recently found out from a wandering mystic that all mind-based powers came from one energy source: Psionic energy and the more psionic energy you have, the more powers you can exert. She was curious about any place where she could get the energy but the mystic had no idea where he could get it aside from mutants who were naturally born with a connection to a place of infinite psionic energy. She opened her mouth to ask the question but the Ancient One beat her to the answer.
"Yes, Ms.Frost, all psionic energy can be traced back to a single source and mutants are naturally born with a connection to it. In fact, all sentient beings have a connection to it but it is inactive for most of their lives. Now, back to the gem. Some sorcerers in the past devised a ritual to trap a part of the psionic energy and corrupt it to the point that should the owner of the relic decide, he could absolutely mould the mind of any ordinary person. Now, Mr.Shaw here is not an ordinary person by any means so I was able to get just a small change done to his mind. He is now absolutely obedient to you and you alone, Ms.Frost."
Emma's eyes sparked with interest at the mention of the gem. If she could get her hands on more of-
Just as the thought crossed her mind, goosebumps rose in her arms as she heard the Ancient One speak, "No, Ms.Frost. That is the last gem in existence which I had kept in case of a rainy day but I realise now that aside from a few vile people, no one deserves to have their mind controller. You, as a telepath, might not realise it but I have very strict guidelines against mind spells. Anyway, off you go," The Ancient One said while waving her hands that opened the bonds on Shaw's hands.
He then slowly began sliding off the slightly tilted beg right into a portal that swallowed him up and closed soon after.
At her questioning look, the Ancient One clarified, "Oh, that leads directly to one of the medical rooms of the base you are currently staying at. Feel free to check in on him later."
"Wait, That's it? How am I supposed to control him because the gem is still right there on the bed." Emma said while pointing at the top of the bed where the gem was. The gem no longer looked completely dark but had gained a brownish colour.
"Oh, the gem is already spent, Ms.Frost. The commands are permanently carved onto Mr.Shaw's brain. All you have to do is command him and he will follow, there is nothing complicated about this. Now, I'm sure you have a busy day ahead of you so I will not take much of your time."
"No, wait. I have so many questions, regarding both Naruto and-"
*Snap*
And Emma found herself standing in the same spot that she was before, in front of the meeting room that Naruto was presumably waiting in, for her. Before she could debate herself whether to go check on Shaw or talk with Naruto, the answer was taken out of her hands when Alex ran into her.
"Ms.Frost, thank god you are still here. Come, Sebastian Shaw just landed in the medical room. We have tried to stop him but he has defeated every one of us. Even my barriers could barely slow him down."
Her eyes widened once she realised that Shaw was actually conscious and going by the statement of the Ancient One regarding his mind, there was only a single thing that was changed and that was obedience to her. The rest of his mind was intact and he was still a prideful arrogant genocidal bastard who would not flinch at killing everyone in his way and right now, her entire team was in his way.
"Let's go, NOW!" She commanded Alex who formed a barrier around them and just rammed through walls, going straight to the medical room where Shaw was apparently dumped by the Ancient One. She cursed her in her mind for not informing her that Shaw would regain consciousness soon enough. There was nothing she could do for now aside from ordering him to stand down.
"STOP!" She shouted as soon as Shaw was in her line of sight. She tensed and activated her diamond form in case he didn't follow her orders but sighed in relief when it seemed that Shaw had heard her because his body literally froze the moment she had shouted.
All around the room, she could see members of her medical team strewn around, probably rag-dolled by him the moment he had awoken. Thankfully, none of them were seriously injured or worse, dead so she ordered for all of them to get themselves healed.
Thankfully, none of them needed the attention of a healer because the only person she knew who could heal people and was on good terms with them was Naruto himself and she had not yet cleared out a deal for them.
She still had to rethink everything now that the Ancient One had warned her. Maybe, bringing in Naruto was a mistake all along? She should have just handed him over to the hippies at Xavier's mansion and dusted her hands off the matter.
But, looking at the frozen form of Shaw as he hatefully looked at her with his eyes, she realised that her decision was correct even if the only benefit she got from the deal was Shaw himself.
The things she would do to him, in revenge, Oh, she could barely wait and control herself but before she could act out on her wildest fantasies, she said, "Shaw, you can move once I am done speaking. You are not to act against any member of my team, here or outside. You will not intentionally withhold information or hold action that could end up harming me or any member of my team. You will not use your powers on anyone without my express permission. You are not allowed to contact anybody outside of the people in this base without my permission. You are not allowed to speak unless spoken to. You will answer all of my questions truthfully. You will not contact any spies that you might have on my team. That's all."
A wide smile plastered itself on her face as Shaw lowered his arm and looked at her grinning visage with a hateful snarl on his face, unable to do anything except look.
Oh, this was going to be so much fun for her.
Word Count - 2149
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
A SAGE ADRIFT
#15
Emma still looked around the room out of habit to spot any escape points but from what she had heard about the Ancient One, she would have a better chance of getting Sebastian Shaw to do actual charity without actually hoping to get anything in return than being able to escape from the Ancient One without her will.
So, she just tapped her foot and crossed her arms, waiting for an answer from the Ancient One.
The Ancient One then once again snapped her fingers and it took all of her control to not flinch at the sudden movement as they found themselves in a small room sitting on a comfortable chair but even the ridiculously comfortable chair failed to provide any sort of comfort to her. A chill ran down her spine as she realised that despite being a telepath and an advanced one at that which allowed her to have an advanced thought processing speed, she was still unable to figure out what had just happened there.
"Mr.Uzumaki," The Ancient One began, "is a special case as you might have been told by your old friend Mystique but what you don't know is just how special and crucial he is to the universe and the inhabitants within, i.e., us."
"What?" She questioned with a tone of incredulity, "What has the universe got to do with him? I get that he is extremely strong but so are you and I don't see you being the lynchpin that holds the universe together,"
"I won't go into the details with you, Ms.Frost but know this, Mr.Uzumaki is someone who is destined for great things, and if Fate has its way, great things will happen to Earth as well. Right now, the future is in a great flux, and depending on the mindset that Mr.Uzumaki adopts from the things he witnesses, the future of the entire planet and the universe along with it will change."
Emma's brows furrowed in confusion at her statement, "Wait, you can see the future? And if he is so important supposedly then why was he living in the middle of nowhere doing menial labour?"
The Ancient One paused for barely a moment but Emma could clearly see the frown that was swiftly replaced from her face to return it back to her placid expression.
"Ms.Frost, some things must happen the way they happened for the most ideal future to come into play. What I want you to do is make sure that Mr.Uzumaki is not dragged into the dirty politics of the Hellfire Club and while I am sure he himself will do most of the work, I want you to make sure that he doesn't fall too much when he exacts his revenge or justice on the terrorist group. In exchange, I can guarantee you the complete obedience of one Sebastian Shaw."
Emma's eyes widened as she leaned forward in interest.
"Really?"
Having Sebastian under her heel would not only satisfy one of her greatest of wishes but also allow her business as well as clandestine operations to soar like never before. Also, it would add another very powerful mutant to her side. All in all, a very profitable deal for her. All she had to do was keep watch over a very powerful but a very naive person.
She eyed the Ancient One with suspicion evident in her eyes. "This almost seems too good to be true/"
The Ancient One once again snapped her fingers and this time, they found themselves standing in some sort of dungeon.
"This," The Ancient One began as she started walking through the door that had just opened with a loud creaking sound, "Is a dungeon where we, occasionally, keep prisoners that can turn out to be useful later on. Like, Mr.Shaw, for example."
Soon, they walked ahead and reached a cell where Shaw was kept. "Kept" would be a very apt term since he was splayed on a metallic bed with all his limbs tied to the ends, making for a very satisfying sight.
"You have no idea just how happy this makes me," Emma said as she tried to use her powers to peak into the mind of Shaw or anybody else here but promptly started coughing because her mind was just given a very painful slap by something before she could actually find something.
"Oh, yes. I would advise against using your powers here since this is a restricted zone and we regulate all types of powers in here. Mr.Shaw, for example, is not able to call on his powers." The Ancient One said as she crisscrossed her arms a couple of times in the air in a seemingly random pattern before a yellow door flashed in front of her. The cell bars then began to recede back into the ground slowly as the bed that Shaw was resting on was brought to the front.
"Why is he unconscious?" She found herself asking as she cleaned the blood that was trickling out of her nose due to the backlash of having her astral form be lightly damaged. Oh, the damage would heal soon enough but she would have to deal with a little headache for a couple of days.
"Because of that," The Ancient One pointed to the top of the bed where a small rectangular box jeweled with a small black piece of rock could be seen. The rock seemed to change colour and flicker for a second before turning back to its original appearance.
"That is something that I absolutely detest using. It is something that goes against everything I have ever taught to any of my students but Mr.Shaw here is a particularly useful person for you and a very apt example of the case that some people truly deserve the worst. That, Ms.Frost, is a mind-control gem, pure and simple. I have since sealed the entryway but there is a dimension made up of pure psionic energy."
Emma's eyes sparkled at that. She had recently found out from a wandering mystic that all mind-based powers came from one energy source: Psionic energy and the more psionic energy you have, the more powers you can exert. She was curious about any place where she could get the energy but the mystic had no idea where he could get it aside from mutants who were naturally born with a connection to a place of infinite psionic energy. She opened her mouth to ask the question but the Ancient One beat her to the answer.
"Yes, Ms.Frost, all psionic energy can be traced back to a single source and mutants are naturally born with a connection to it. In fact, all sentient beings have a connection to it but it is inactive for most of their lives. Now, back to the gem. Some sorcerers in the past devised a ritual to trap a part of the psionic energy and corrupt it to the point that should the owner of the relic decide, he could absolutely mould the mind of any ordinary person. Now, Mr.Shaw here is not an ordinary person by any means so I was able to get just a small change done to his mind. He is now absolutely obedient to you and you alone, Ms.Frost."
Emma's eyes sparked with interest at the mention of the gem. If she could get her hands on more of-
Just as the thought crossed her mind, goosebumps rose in her arms as she heard the Ancient One speak, "No, Ms.Frost. That is the last gem in existence which I had kept in case of a rainy day but I realise now that aside from a few vile people, no one deserves to have their mind controller. You, as a telepath, might not realise it but I have very strict guidelines against mind spells. Anyway, off you go," The Ancient One said while waving her hands that opened the bonds on Shaw's hands.
He then slowly began sliding off the slightly tilted beg right into a portal that swallowed him up and closed soon after.
At her questioning look, the Ancient One clarified, "Oh, that leads directly to one of the medical rooms of the base you are currently staying at. Feel free to check in on him later."
"Wait, That's it? How am I supposed to control him because the gem is still right there on the bed." Emma said while pointing at the top of the bed where the gem was. The gem no longer looked completely dark but had gained a brownish colour.
"Oh, the gem is already spent, Ms.Frost. The commands are permanently carved onto Mr.Shaw's brain. All you have to do is command him and he will follow, there is nothing complicated about this. Now, I'm sure you have a busy day ahead of you so I will not take much of your time."
"No, wait. I have so many questions, regarding both Naruto and-"
*Snap*
And Emma found herself standing in the same spot that she was before, in front of the meeting room that Naruto was presumably waiting in, for her. Before she could debate herself whether to go check on Shaw or talk with Naruto, the answer was taken out of her hands when Alex ran into her.
"Ms.Frost, thank god you are still here. Come, Sebastian Shaw just landed in the medical room. We have tried to stop him but he has defeated every one of us. Even my barriers could barely slow him down."
Her eyes widened once she realised that Shaw was actually conscious and going by the statement of the Ancient One regarding his mind, there was only a single thing that was changed and that was obedience to her. The rest of his mind was intact and he was still a prideful arrogant genocidal bastard who would not flinch at killing everyone in his way and right now, her entire team was in his way.
"Let's go, NOW!" She commanded Alex who formed a barrier around them and just rammed through walls, going straight to the medical room where Shaw was apparently dumped by the Ancient One. She cursed her in her mind for not informing her that Shaw would regain consciousness soon enough. There was nothing she could do for now aside from ordering him to stand down.
"STOP!" She shouted as soon as Shaw was in her line of sight. She tensed and activated her diamond form in case he didn't follow her orders but sighed in relief when it seemed that Shaw had heard her because his body literally froze the moment she had shouted.
All around the room, she could see members of her medical team strewn around, probably rag-dolled by him the moment he had awoken. Thankfully, none of them were seriously injured or worse, dead so she ordered for all of them to get themselves healed.
Thankfully, none of them needed the attention of a healer because the only person she knew who could heal people and was on good terms with them was Naruto himself and she had not yet cleared out a deal for them.
She still had to rethink everything now that the Ancient One had warned her. Maybe, bringing in Naruto was a mistake all along? She should have just handed him over to the hippies at Xavier's mansion and dusted her hands off the matter.
But, looking at the frozen form of Shaw as he hatefully looked at her with his eyes, she realised that her decision was correct even if the only benefit she got from the deal was Shaw himself.
The things she would do to him, in revenge, Oh, she could barely wait and control herself but before she could act out on her wildest fantasies, she said, "Shaw, you can move once I am done speaking. You are not to act against any member of my team, here or outside. You will not intentionally withhold information or hold action that could end up harming me or any member of my team. You will not use your powers on anyone without my express permission. You are not allowed to contact anybody outside of the people in this base without my permission. You are not allowed to speak unless spoken to. You will answer all of my questions truthfully. You will not contact any spies that you might have on my team. That's all."
A wide smile plastered itself on her face as Shaw lowered his arm and looked at her grinning visage with a hateful snarl on his face, unable to do anything except look.
Oh, this was going to be so much fun for her.
Word Count - 2149
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
#16
IdleMuse0307
Not too sore, are you?
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A SAGE ADRIFT
#16
Naruto was currently waiting in the meeting room for Emma. He had been told that she had some information for him that would interest him. He knew what it was going to be.
She was aware that he was not going to leave Friends of Humanity alone, not after all that had happened. He was now going to make sure that it was dismantled thoroughly, down to its last member but he was also aware that this was not the Elemental Nations and he could not just go around asking for justice for everyone just by the virtue of his power.
Things didn't work that way here. Bureaucracy, something that was used for the benefit of the people was used here to chain the same people. He would have to go through so many heaps of bureaucracy that by the time he would have gotten the first person convicted, the entire organisation would have changed names and continued where they had left off and he would be left standing there with nothing but a single expendable person convicted as a scapegoat. He would have had to start over again if he wanted to catch anybody else and that was not realistic, no matter how long-lived he might be.
So, the next best course of action would be to use the resources of another organisation with similar strength to destroy that organisation. That was a slippery slope in and of itself because how would he ensure that the people he helped destroy Friends of Humanity would not turn out to be even worse than them?
Because of questions like these, he was frustrated and in his frustration, his mind went back to the Elemental Nations and everything that must be happening there, further worsening his mood. That led him to meditate in the waiting room, hoping that they would just awaken him should the need arise.
"Um, Naruto, Sir?"
He didn't know how much time had passed before he felt somebody speak something. Exhaling heavily, he opened his eyes to see that nobody was present in the room. He looked around in confusion only to hear the voice again, coming from the speakers this time.
"Um, Sir?"
"Yes?"
"Sir, Miss Frost is busy at the moment so she will not be able to accompany you. If you want, can I have someone accompany you back to your quarters?"
After thinking it over for a moment, Naruto nodded and then replied vocally because he was not sure if there were cameras in the room or not, "Sure."
"Okay," The voice hesitantly replied. One thing he had noticed in the short period he had been in the base was that almost everybody, from the support staff to the janitors to even the team members were deathly afraid of him.
He didn't know why because he was not someone who would just go on assaulting someone on a whim. He supposed that beating the Juggernaut did count as an achievement but it was not like he was in a good condition after the fight. If it was not for Emma, he would probably be apprehended by the authorities and then chucked into some deep dark government cell, waiting to be experimented on or recover from his injuries, whichever came first.
He was more than aware of the policies of the US government that led to all their encounters with all the enhanced people. It was usually them assaulting and detaining the person, usually denying them every single right that was usually afforded to their normal citizens. Then, they are taken to some remote site for "interrogation", where they are never seen or heard from ever again.
"I guess the Ancient One could have helped me but that is still a big leap of faith to take for someone you had met for a couple of hours only," Naruto muttered before he heard the door knocking so he went ahead and opened it.
Outside, waiting for him was one of the support staff who was supposed to escort him back to his quarters.
"Um, Hello? I am supposed to take you back to your quarters. My name is Jake if that helps."
"Yeah, thank you for that. This place is so huge I could easily get lost. By the way, how did Emma build this huge place in such a hostile environment?" He questioned her as they kept walking purely as a way to pass the time and break the silence.
"Oh, I guess I never asked anyone that. I was more concerned with my paycheck than how people with powers built a place that would have been impossible to build even with modern machinery. Also, I don't think I have the necessary clearance level for that." Jake replied, not even missing a beat as he fast-walked in front of Naruto.
Fair enough, Naruto mused to himself as he easily matched the pace of Jake as he hastily tried to get rid of Naruto.
"Thank you for escorting…me," Naruto said but before he could properly thank Jake, he bowed and left in a hurry, as if he was escaping from Naruto.
Really, people could be so weird sometimes.
Sighing, Naruto closed the door behind him and looked at his quarters. However, calling them just quarters would be doing them an injustice. It was more like a luxurious penthouse than just a staff quarter. He had a sneaking suspicion that this place was probably reserved for more important people, like Emma herself because it was even bigger than his house back home, which housed 4 people with…ease.
Ah, he missed home. He wondered how everything was going back home. It sucked not knowing the status of his village, his best friend, his teacher, and his family.
He sighed audibly and chose to take a nap in the undoubtedly luxuriously comfortable bed that was waiting for him in the Master Bedroom and as he opened the door, yup, it was luxurious alright. He just hoped that it allowed him to sleep for a while because ever since he came to this new reality, his sleep schedule had been fucked seven ways to Sunday.
…..
…
..
"So, what is the verdict here, Sona?" Emma asked as she paced in the medical room, waiting for reports about all the tests they had conducted on Shaw ever since she had ordered him to sleep. It was disturbingly easy for her to even control his body functions now. Functions that should have been autonomous could now easily be controlled by her. She could probably even order him to stop breathing and he would have no choice but to comply. As much fun as it would undoubtedly be, it worried her far more about the possibilities of such artifacts existing outside of the domain of the Ancient One and the far more scary possibility of such a thing being used on her as well. She would have to talk to her, scarce as they may be, contacts in the sorcerer community and figure out if such things exist and if they do, inform the Ancient One about the existence of such things because she was not sure she trusted anyone with that level of power.
Not even herself and it was funny because ever since she had gotten her powers, she had been manipulating people without any guilt but in this situation, it bothered her to actually control people without using her powers. She had checked her mental shields more than once to see if the Ancient One had somehow cast a spell on her mind without her noticing but failed to find any signs of any tampering with her mental state. Even if the Ancient One was immortal and over a thousand years old, she should still be working with the laws of psionic manipulation rather than bypassing them altogether. However, what would she know when compared to a person who had over a thousand years to perfect their craft?
Emma sighed audibly. All this thinking was getting her nowhere. She had to figure out exactly what had happened to Shaw but she was pretty sure that she was not going to get any answer out of the most advanced tech that she had on hand at the moment.
Just as she predicted, "I am sorry Ms.Frost but there is nothing wrong with Mr.Shaw here, at least from what I am able to glean from the data." The lab tech said before she dismissed him and left the medical room after giving orders for Shaw to be under a strict lockdown with no one going in or out of his quarters.
She was sure he could survive a couple of days without food and water.
She had a more important person to attend to, at the moment but the matter with Shaw had already diverted her attention too much. She had already been informed that Naruto had retired to his chambers and from the data they were getting from the motion sensors in his quarters, he was already sound asleep. So, she decided to get something over with before she went to sleep.
Coming to her office, she took a seat at the table and called someone she had no interest in talking to but had to tolerate because of their somewhat shared goals.
"Hello, Charles. Let's talk about Mr.Uzumaki and why you should steer clear of him."
….
…
…
"What did she say, Charles?" Charles Xavier sighed as Logan asked him.
What could he answer?
They did not adequately stress the importance to Naruto for the threat that they expressly warned him about. He had no idea that Cain of all people would be there.
If he did, he would have been the first person on the farm because he had lost track of his stepbrother a while ago and had been searching for him ever since.
Juggernaut, for all the wrong reasons, was a threat that needed to be actively contained. His being unleashed in the middle of a civilian area was something that could not be forgiven. It being done by the terrorist group Friends of Humanity was even more terrifying. It meant that their suspicions that they had had for a long time were true. There was someone or multiple someone in the government, high up the chain, that were supporting the terrorist group otherwise it would have been impossible for them to acquire Cain on their lonesome.
It would seem that he would have to contact Eric again for this. They might have their differences but he could not, in the right conscience, leave something like this up to fate.
While he might not like Eric's methods in dealing with their respective enemies, he could not deny the effectiveness of those. It's just that while that method did succeed in getting rid of their enemies, it also rid them of whatever little goodwill they had gained with the government instantly.
Nowadays, even getting someone from the government on the phone without a threat is a chore and a half. A chore that could not be left to anyone else as nobody other than him was equipped to deal with politicians.
His powers and the experience that came with his age made him a perfect candidate to deal with the political side of things. But there were some things that no one with a sane mind would admit to in the government, no matter the threats he could issue.
It was the fact that the government actively dealt with detainment and then used mutants as weapons.
For that, he would need pure muscle and even then, it might not be enough.
Hmm, maybe he would have to approach Mr.Uzumaki, after all. Despite Emma's warnings, she had not actually been forthcoming as to exactly why Naruto was of such importance and why they had to make sure he was firmly on the side of mutant-kind.
From what he had seen from the suppressed memories of the survivors of that incident (Emma did a good job but he had been doing it a lot longer than her), Mr.Uzumaki was someone with multiple powers. Something that should have been impossible naturally but he was not aware of any recent project that had the potential of creating someone like him.
The other thing was that Mr.Uzumaki never registered as a mutant to any of his senses or even to Cerebro.
That left the question, Who exactly was Mr.Uzumaki?
"Charles..Charles?"
"Um, Yes, Logan?"
"What is on your mind?"
"Nothing much, just thinking of our blue-eyed whiskered friend."
"Ah, I don't think he thinks of us as friends, Charles," Logan said while rolling his eyes and his wheelchair out of his office.
Word Count - 2144
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
P.S. - Sorry for the delay in posting chapters. I was busy with bank chores.
Toodaloo!
A SAGE ADRIFT
#16
Naruto was currently waiting in the meeting room for Emma. He had been told that she had some information for him that would interest him. He knew what it was going to be.
She was aware that he was not going to leave Friends of Humanity alone, not after all that had happened. He was now going to make sure that it was dismantled thoroughly, down to its last member but he was also aware that this was not the Elemental Nations and he could not just go around asking for justice for everyone just by the virtue of his power.
Things didn't work that way here. Bureaucracy, something that was used for the benefit of the people was used here to chain the same people. He would have to go through so many heaps of bureaucracy that by the time he would have gotten the first person convicted, the entire organisation would have changed names and continued where they had left off and he would be left standing there with nothing but a single expendable person convicted as a scapegoat. He would have had to start over again if he wanted to catch anybody else and that was not realistic, no matter how long-lived he might be.
So, the next best course of action would be to use the resources of another organisation with similar strength to destroy that organisation. That was a slippery slope in and of itself because how would he ensure that the people he helped destroy Friends of Humanity would not turn out to be even worse than them?
Because of questions like these, he was frustrated and in his frustration, his mind went back to the Elemental Nations and everything that must be happening there, further worsening his mood. That led him to meditate in the waiting room, hoping that they would just awaken him should the need arise.
"Um, Naruto, Sir?"
He didn't know how much time had passed before he felt somebody speak something. Exhaling heavily, he opened his eyes to see that nobody was present in the room. He looked around in confusion only to hear the voice again, coming from the speakers this time.
"Um, Sir?"
"Yes?"
"Sir, Miss Frost is busy at the moment so she will not be able to accompany you. If you want, can I have someone accompany you back to your quarters?"
After thinking it over for a moment, Naruto nodded and then replied vocally because he was not sure if there were cameras in the room or not, "Sure."
"Okay," The voice hesitantly replied. One thing he had noticed in the short period he had been in the base was that almost everybody, from the support staff to the janitors to even the team members were deathly afraid of him.
He didn't know why because he was not someone who would just go on assaulting someone on a whim. He supposed that beating the Juggernaut did count as an achievement but it was not like he was in a good condition after the fight. If it was not for Emma, he would probably be apprehended by the authorities and then chucked into some deep dark government cell, waiting to be experimented on or recover from his injuries, whichever came first.
He was more than aware of the policies of the US government that led to all their encounters with all the enhanced people. It was usually them assaulting and detaining the person, usually denying them every single right that was usually afforded to their normal citizens. Then, they are taken to some remote site for "interrogation", where they are never seen or heard from ever again.
"I guess the Ancient One could have helped me but that is still a big leap of faith to take for someone you had met for a couple of hours only," Naruto muttered before he heard the door knocking so he went ahead and opened it.
Outside, waiting for him was one of the support staff who was supposed to escort him back to his quarters.
"Um, Hello? I am supposed to take you back to your quarters. My name is Jake if that helps."
"Yeah, thank you for that. This place is so huge I could easily get lost. By the way, how did Emma build this huge place in such a hostile environment?" He questioned her as they kept walking purely as a way to pass the time and break the silence.
"Oh, I guess I never asked anyone that. I was more concerned with my paycheck than how people with powers built a place that would have been impossible to build even with modern machinery. Also, I don't think I have the necessary clearance level for that." Jake replied, not even missing a beat as he fast-walked in front of Naruto.
Fair enough, Naruto mused to himself as he easily matched the pace of Jake as he hastily tried to get rid of Naruto.
"Thank you for escorting…me," Naruto said but before he could properly thank Jake, he bowed and left in a hurry, as if he was escaping from Naruto.
Really, people could be so weird sometimes.
Sighing, Naruto closed the door behind him and looked at his quarters. However, calling them just quarters would be doing them an injustice. It was more like a luxurious penthouse than just a staff quarter. He had a sneaking suspicion that this place was probably reserved for more important people, like Emma herself because it was even bigger than his house back home, which housed 4 people with…ease.
Ah, he missed home. He wondered how everything was going back home. It sucked not knowing the status of his village, his best friend, his teacher, and his family.
He sighed audibly and chose to take a nap in the undoubtedly luxuriously comfortable bed that was waiting for him in the Master Bedroom and as he opened the door, yup, it was luxurious alright. He just hoped that it allowed him to sleep for a while because ever since he came to this new reality, his sleep schedule had been fucked seven ways to Sunday.
…..
…
..
"So, what is the verdict here, Sona?" Emma asked as she paced in the medical room, waiting for reports about all the tests they had conducted on Shaw ever since she had ordered him to sleep. It was disturbingly easy for her to even control his body functions now. Functions that should have been autonomous could now easily be controlled by her. She could probably even order him to stop breathing and he would have no choice but to comply. As much fun as it would undoubtedly be, it worried her far more about the possibilities of such artifacts existing outside of the domain of the Ancient One and the far more scary possibility of such a thing being used on her as well. She would have to talk to her, scarce as they may be, contacts in the sorcerer community and figure out if such things exist and if they do, inform the Ancient One about the existence of such things because she was not sure she trusted anyone with that level of power.
Not even herself and it was funny because ever since she had gotten her powers, she had been manipulating people without any guilt but in this situation, it bothered her to actually control people without using her powers. She had checked her mental shields more than once to see if the Ancient One had somehow cast a spell on her mind without her noticing but failed to find any signs of any tampering with her mental state. Even if the Ancient One was immortal and over a thousand years old, she should still be working with the laws of psionic manipulation rather than bypassing them altogether. However, what would she know when compared to a person who had over a thousand years to perfect their craft?
Emma sighed audibly. All this thinking was getting her nowhere. She had to figure out exactly what had happened to Shaw but she was pretty sure that she was not going to get any answer out of the most advanced tech that she had on hand at the moment.
Just as she predicted, "I am sorry Ms.Frost but there is nothing wrong with Mr.Shaw here, at least from what I am able to glean from the data." The lab tech said before she dismissed him and left the medical room after giving orders for Shaw to be under a strict lockdown with no one going in or out of his quarters.
She was sure he could survive a couple of days without food and water.
She had a more important person to attend to, at the moment but the matter with Shaw had already diverted her attention too much. She had already been informed that Naruto had retired to his chambers and from the data they were getting from the motion sensors in his quarters, he was already sound asleep. So, she decided to get something over with before she went to sleep.
Coming to her office, she took a seat at the table and called someone she had no interest in talking to but had to tolerate because of their somewhat shared goals.
"Hello, Charles. Let's talk about Mr.Uzumaki and why you should steer clear of him."
….
…
…
"What did she say, Charles?" Charles Xavier sighed as Logan asked him.
What could he answer?
They did not adequately stress the importance to Naruto for the threat that they expressly warned him about. He had no idea that Cain of all people would be there.
If he did, he would have been the first person on the farm because he had lost track of his stepbrother a while ago and had been searching for him ever since.
Juggernaut, for all the wrong reasons, was a threat that needed to be actively contained. His being unleashed in the middle of a civilian area was something that could not be forgiven. It being done by the terrorist group Friends of Humanity was even more terrifying. It meant that their suspicions that they had had for a long time were true. There was someone or multiple someone in the government, high up the chain, that were supporting the terrorist group otherwise it would have been impossible for them to acquire Cain on their lonesome.
It would seem that he would have to contact Eric again for this. They might have their differences but he could not, in the right conscience, leave something like this up to fate.
While he might not like Eric's methods in dealing with their respective enemies, he could not deny the effectiveness of those. It's just that while that method did succeed in getting rid of their enemies, it also rid them of whatever little goodwill they had gained with the government instantly.
Nowadays, even getting someone from the government on the phone without a threat is a chore and a half. A chore that could not be left to anyone else as nobody other than him was equipped to deal with politicians.
His powers and the experience that came with his age made him a perfect candidate to deal with the political side of things. But there were some things that no one with a sane mind would admit to in the government, no matter the threats he could issue.
It was the fact that the government actively dealt with detainment and then used mutants as weapons.
For that, he would need pure muscle and even then, it might not be enough.
Hmm, maybe he would have to approach Mr.Uzumaki, after all. Despite Emma's warnings, she had not actually been forthcoming as to exactly why Naruto was of such importance and why they had to make sure he was firmly on the side of mutant-kind.
From what he had seen from the suppressed memories of the survivors of that incident (Emma did a good job but he had been doing it a lot longer than her), Mr.Uzumaki was someone with multiple powers. Something that should have been impossible naturally but he was not aware of any recent project that had the potential of creating someone like him.
The other thing was that Mr.Uzumaki never registered as a mutant to any of his senses or even to Cerebro.
That left the question, Who exactly was Mr.Uzumaki?
"Charles..Charles?"
"Um, Yes, Logan?"
"What is on your mind?"
"Nothing much, just thinking of our blue-eyed whiskered friend."
"Ah, I don't think he thinks of us as friends, Charles," Logan said while rolling his eyes and his wheelchair out of his office.
Word Count - 2144
If you want to support my writing or just want to read ahead of the public release, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.
I already have up to 8 extra chapters ahead there and will continue to add more as time passes.
P.S. - Sorry for the delay in posting chapters. I was busy with bank chores.
Toodaloo!