Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Primis
Primis
Chapter 9
'Time, is a cruel mistress. It can be both a burden and a great ally. There are realms in the universe that have been corrupted by the Dark Aether. I myself have been to one of these realms. Within it time held no meaning. The same day would...remain. Over and over. Luckily, the Keepers had brought me out of there. ' - Takeo Masaki.
"No way it can be that easy..." Naruto murmured to himself. With his FG-42 being held at the hip with one hand and the other holding a map with three circles on it. The map itself was a crude drawing of his home – in map form, and had three circles on it.
The word "Converter" was written above the circles.
And "Safe House" was written on one of the buildings at the bottom of the page. So he had a location for the converters and his safe house.
Naruto was in the remains of a house with rubble blocking off a lot of the places he can go. Including the upstairs since the staircase collapsed. Thankfully said rubble made a convenient makeshift staircase that let him to go to the first floor anyway. He was taking cover behind a broken down wall inside of a bedroom, map in hand.
He knew where he was – the map was surprisingly detailed if crude.
While getting to those converters looked easy on paper, in real life it was a whole different story. There were hordes of zombies blocking his route to the three of them. And the only way to get to them is to either go through them, or distract them enough for him to sneak past.
Sighing he folded the paper and placed it in his pocket and peered over the wall. A horde of zombies could be seen shambling around in the distance. Thankfully they weren't smart, not like that zombie yoma that could speak and teleport.
Holding the battle rifle with both hands Naruto made his way down the rubble and out the house. Hearing inaudible whispering again that's more feminine Naruto stopped and swiftly turned around with the FG-42 raised.
There was no one there. Confused and wary he looked around momentarily before he slowly lowered the rifle until the tip of the gun was pointing at the ground. He exhaled and shook his head. He can't get distracted now.
X.X.X.X
As he made his way to the converter Naruto was steadily getting more and more irritated at the persistent whispering. He ignored it as much as he could though. He took a few short cuts through the buildings to get past the horde blocking his way and continued on to his destination.
Eventually the incomprehensible whispering got to him. He suddenly stopped moving and dropped the FG-42, thankfully the strap was over his shoulder. Naruto tightly pressed his hands against the sides of his head and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"STOP IT! STOP WHISPERING! STOOOP IIIIIIIIT!" the whispering abruptly stopped, but at the cost of him attracting the attention of the nearest zombie horde.
Naruto quickly looked over his shoulder in alarm. The zombies all turned to him one by one and when they saw a living person, they shambled their way over to him.
"Oh shit..." Naruto took a few steps back before turning around and running to the converter. There was no way in hell he was going to fight against them by himself. Ragnarok DG-4 or not, him taking on an army that can't feel fear, pain and exhaustion is both suicidal and idiotic.
As he ran Naruto fished the hand drawn map out from his coat pocket to see where he had to go. He put it back in his pocket again after getting a good eye on it.
After several minutes of running Naruto finally reached his destination. The converter was a large machine with a tube attached to it. It looked similar to the ones he found attached to the MTD. Only this one was a lot bigger and much wider. The main machine had several buttons on it with the most obvious one being bigger than the others and red.
Not hesitating in the least he walked over and smashed his fist against the button. The machine whirred to life and Naruto turned around upon hearing the noises of the dead howling in the distance.
"I do hope you're ready for this. The conversion generator takes a while to power up completely." freezing at hearing the very, very familiar voice Naruto slowly turned in the direction it came from.
What he saw surprised him. It was himself. But it wasn't him. Too many differences. The posture. The clothing.
This Naruto had spiky blonde hair, like he did. And just like him the other Naruto had a lack of whiskers on his cheeks. However he had shorter hair and more casual clothing.
For simplicities sake, Naruto Namikaze will be referred as Naruto 1. The other Naruto, until his last name has been revealed will simply be referred to as Naruto 2.
Naruto 2 was leaning against the converter, staring at Naruto 1 with a look of bemusement.
"No. You're not real. You're just a figment of my imagination." Naruto 1 said with denial; this person in front of him had to be a result of him being exposed to Element 115. But never before did any of his illusions take physical form.
Naruto 2 raised a brow. "Whatever you say, Namikaze."
Naruto 1 narrowed his eyes in suspicion he never told him his last name. "How do you know my last name? No. Wait. It would make sense for you to know who I am if you're a figment of my imagination. So why are you here?"
Naruto 2 shrugged and straightened himself. "Your psyche is under a lot of pressure. From the amount of times of you dying over and over and having to relive it from the beginning. It's starting to take its toll on your mind."
"So what? I made you up to keep myself stable or something?" Naruto 1 questioned the figment of his imagination.
Naruto 2 shrugged in a so and so manner. Neither confirming or denying Naruto 1's suspicions. Hearing a noise he looked over Naruto 1's shoulder and frowned. "It looks like you have company."
True to his word when Naruto 1 looked over his shoulder, he saw the zombies pursuing him had arrived. Turning around on the balls of his feet, he quickly raised his weapon, took aim and fired in single bursts at the horde.
The zombies fell one by one forcing the others step over the bodies. It didn't do much to impede them though. As they got closer and closer he realised shooting them one at a time like this wouldn't keep them at bay for long.
"Y'know, these converters look to be very durable machines." Naruto 2 casually said as he leaned against said machine once again. "You can get a few of them get close and take them out that way." he added on as a suggestion.
Naruto 1 immediately put that thought down. "And risk it getting destroyed? Fuck no!"
"It was just a suggestion. No need to bite my head off." Naruto 2 said with his hands raised in surrender.
"What do these machines convert anyway?" Naruto 1 held the battle rifle by the hip and went fully automatic. The bullets ripping through the decayed and bloated flesh of the dead. He was quick to change magazines when the one currently in the chamber had run out of bullets.
"Element One-Fifteen." Naruto 2 said over the gunfire.
As he was forced to reload his battle rifle again, Naruto 1 recalled Monty saying One-Fifteen is able to raise the dead. That explained and confirmed his suspicions why there are walking corpses.
Despite the pile of bodies they had to step over, the zombies inevitably managed to get their rotten feet on to the foundation. Scowling Naruto redirected his aim and went fully automatic. The bullets met minimal resistance as it tore through their skin, muscle and skull. The zombies behind them met the same fate and fell on top of one another in a pile.
Then something surprising happened. A huge pulse of electricity shot out of the conversion machine in every direction. Any zombie it touched dropped to the ground. As if a string on a puppet had been cut.
Naruto 1 was very surprised and taken aback by this. "What the hell?" he breathed out in confusion.
"One-Fifteen enhanced electric pulse." began Naruto 2. "Any zombie it touches dies. That was why I suggested letting them get close."
Naruto 1 briefly glanced at him from over his shoulder. "How do you know this?" he asked, his tone curious and suspicious at the same time. He didn't know the conversion machine could even do electric pulses. So how did this illusion know about it?
"You're a smart person, Namikaze. You figure it out."
Naruto 1 shook his head in a dismissive manner and changed his weapon for his bow. He let loose arrow after arrow, staring as each one reduced entire groups into messy chucks and dismembering those that were close.
Eventually the horde of zombies were killed in combination of Naruto's fire-power from Wrath of the Ancients and his FG-42, and the electric pulses from the machine. Taking a moment to catch his breath Naruto, who was leaning forward with his hands on his knees looked at Naruto 2.
"Okay, let's say for the moment, that you're not a figment of my imagination. What would that make you? A ghost?"
"It is the only logical conclusion isn't it?"
"Or it could be that my mind is playing tricks on me. Making me see things that aren't there." he countered.
"Or maybe your mind is not playing tricks on you and I am, in all actuality, a ghost." Naruto 2 said it with such conviction he thought it was true.
Naruto 1 growled in annoyance. This wasn't going anywhere. He dropped the conversation all together before it can escalate into an argument. Naruto 2 arched a brow at that but didn't say anything.
"Conversion generator one: active. Proceed to conversion generators: two and three." a masculine, yet mechanical sounding voice said from the machine.
"Looks like the first one is on." Naruto 2 stated the obvious as he stopped leaning on the machine. "You'd best go and turn on the others."
"...Right." fishing the map out of his pocket Naruto 1 checked for the nearest one. Nodding to himself he put the map away again and ran to the right of the conversion machine. As he walked, Naruto 1 looked over his shoulder; he wasn't surprised to see the other Naruto casually walking after him, hands in his trouser pockets.
He turned to look ahead of himself and frowned thoughtfully. Now that there was some time to think clearly without the threat of death, he noticed something. It wasn't all that bad to be honest. Ever since the other Naruto showed up the whispering stopped. He had no idea what this meant but it solidified the belief that Naruto 2 was just a figment of his imagination.
"I'm curious about something." Naruto 1 started up a conversation.
"And that would be?"
"How long have you been here for?"
"You think I'm a part of your imagination still?"
"Yes. But humour me."
"Alright." Naruto 2 shrugged. "I haven't got the faintest idea. It could have been for centuries and I wouldn't know."
"Because it goes back to when you first arrived, right?"
Naruto 2 nodded in affirmation, "That and it doesn't turn to night." he pointedly looked at Naruto 1. "You noticed it, right? How it always seems to be in the middle of the day?"
"It's not that strange." Naruto 1 countered, "There are places in the world where the sun never sets." he stopped walking and looked up at the sky with squinted eyes and a deep frown. Strange. He didn't notice that before... "But now that you mention it – it is strange. Back home the sun used to set. And it didn't look like that either."
Naruto 2 looked up and nodded with approval. The sun wasn't a ball of orange magma and plasma anymore. It was blue. And it was a lot closer to the planet now – how nothing was affected by the heat or gravitational pressure escaped them.
"And what does that tell you?" he asked and Naruto Namikaze looked at the ruined buildings of his home- no, the imitation of his home.
"That this isn't where I was raised. This isn't my home...?" he trailed off when he heard the whispering again, then to his surprise Naruto saw that the environment around him began to warp and twist around him.
X.X.X.X
Then he found he wasn't outside anymore. He was inside of a room that is occupied. Two people sat on opposite sides of a table that has a recording radio on it. Wanting to get a better look at their features Naruto walked to the end of the table and observed.
The oldest was an bald headed man, with a white scruffy beard. His clothes consists of a white lab coat, a grey under shirt with a matching tie and black trousers.
The other was a thirteen year old boy. And to his shock the young teenage boy had a familiar set of eyes, and had the same spiky blonde hair as he did. It was him! Or at least another version of him. The only difference was, the boy had three whisker marks on his cheeks.
"What is your name child?" the grown asked politely and professionally asked.
The boy sighed and leaned on the table with a bored look on his face, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I don't remember where I live. Where I came from. I don't even remember the day I was born...only the month." he even sounded bored as he spoke into the microphone provided to him.
"What is the furthest you can remember?" the man asked asked as he too leaned on the table.
Naruto saw the young one scrunch his face as he tried to think. The boy eventually shrugged, "The furthest I can remember is literally three days ago when I woke up here."
The bald man sighed and stopped the tape recorder from playing. "It appears, young one, that you have a severe case of amnesia. Now I see two possibilities. Either it will resolve itself in time, or you may never regain your memories."
The young Naruto, to the surprise of the Namikaze, shrugged his shoulders in a purely dismissive manner. "Oh well. It's just memories. I can easy replace those with new ones."
Ludvig narrowed his eyes confusingly at the blonde. "Do you not wish to know of your own past?"
The young Naruto shook his head from side to side. "No, I don't. Why should I bother if I can't remember anything about that is worth bothering?"
The scene began to twist and warp around him again. The youngest of the Namikaze's didn't do or say anything as he was trying to figure out what the hell he just saw.
X.X.X.X
When he came to – the Namikaze found he was back outside and he was being shook. He looked at the person shaking him and was taken aback.
"Ah. You're back.." Naruto 2 said with a smile; he pat Naruto 1 on the shoulder and made a 'follow me' gesture. "C'mon, the next conversion machine isn't far."
As Naruto 2 walked ahead, Naruto 1 was looking at his shoulder with stunned realisation. He looked at Naruto 2 with wide eyes as the gears turned in his head.
Was he...?
Yes. He is.
But if here's here, then does that mean...?
It has to be.
He quickly pushed the thoughts aside and ran to catch up to the ghost. When he finally reached him Naruto 1 slowed his pace until he was walking side by side with him. Naruto 1 gave his other self a look, sighed and looked ahead.
"I met him you know." he began. "His spirit I mean.
Naruto 2 curiously glanced at the Namikaze from the corner of his eye. "Oh? Met who?"
"'Tank' Dempsey."
Naruto 2 stopped walking in surprise at the reveal; he quickly caught up with the Namikaze and looked at him with a look of need. He needed to know what happened. He had to know. "Y-You met Tank? How is he?"
"Well despite being dead the man's fine." Naruto 1 revealed. He looked at the ghost and almost pitied the pleading look the Naruto of the Old World was giving him. "After you went missing he didn't stop searching for you. Neither of them did."
As he looked down at the ground Naruto 2 smiled softly at this revelation. "...They never gave up." then he looked at the Namikaze as what he said sunk in. "Wait. You don't think I'm an illusion anymore?"
Naruto 1 chuckled and patted him on the shoulder before moving on. "You're a smart person Naruto. You figure it out." he threw the words spoken to him 20 minutes prior back at the ghost.
X.X.X.X
It took them around an hour or two to get to the second conversion generator. Which was near the tower his father would work at if it were still standing. Instead the tower was in ruins and barely standing at all.
The youngest of the Namikaze's was standing beside the conversion machine, looking over the buttons with the ghost of Naruto 1 keeping an eye out. "Alright." he held his hand over the large red button, "Time to get this over with." then just as he was about to bring his hand down on it, he was interrupted.
"Wait!" he paused abruptly and looked at Naruto 2. "If you turn that on you're going to get swarmed from all directions."
"...then what do you suppose I should do?" he asked, sighing as he turned, bringing his hand to his side. "I don't have a lot of options."
Naruto 2 rubbed his chin. "There may be a way to get help." he began, "There are alters around that are meant to bring something to help you. But they're really hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for."
"Really?" he turned to face the ghost completely. "I never saw any notes, or heard any previous recording referencing to these alters."
"That is because I found out after permanently dying here. And by then it was too late." he replied, confirming that he is in fact the Naruto of the Old World, thrown forward in time and went missing four centuries ago. "As for you – well you didn't know where to look is all. In fact..." he looked off to his right, "...one of them is close by."
Naruto 1 looked in the direction he was looking but saw nothing. Frowning he looked back at the ghost and back again. He didn't see anything.
However his curiosity got the better of him; humming the Namikaze walked over with the ghost following after him. He kept in the general direction the ghost was looking – until he got near a wall of an ruined house.
That was when it happened. A stone tab with an symbol engraved onto the surface floated in the air in front of him. Then other pieces began to assemble in front of it. A disembodied head or skull, that had no eyes was mounted in the middle of a circle like symbol on it.
While Naruto 1 was surprised by this Naruto 2 was excited. "This is great!" he exclaimed, "It's intact! How fortuitous!"
"It wasn't meant to be intact?"
Naruto 2 completely ignored him in his excitement, "Go on." he gestured to the alter, "Touch it."
Naruto 1 frowned and looked at the assembled alter. It was strange how it just... assembled the way it did. Then again he had seen weirder shit. What's one more?
Sighing he reached out and pressed his hand against the alter. Gasping as it suddenly lit up, the Namikaze withdrew his palm and took several steps back.
X.X.X.X
It had been searching for nearly a decade. Everywhere it looked, several dimensions, in the past, present and future, the search turned up a failure.
And so the seeking continues.
Then it saw it – from its eyeless gaze it saw a hole.
What was this now...? Could he...? Yes. Perhaps he may.
With confidence welling through its being, the creature flew into the rift.
X.X.X.X
Naruto covered his eyes when the light got too bright – then it vanished as quick as it appeared. When he lowered his arm his blue eyes grew wide in recognition. The creature before him was wearing dark red robes with gold embroidery, a hood and a symbol proudly displayed on its chest; a circle with four ends jutting out.
It scanned its new found surroundings in bewilderment for a moment. It's body language showing confusion, then distress at what it saw with its eyeless gaze, and finally anger when it detected Element One-Fifteen in slowly moving around in the ruined remains of Konoha.
Then it found Naruto staring and just like that it calmed down. It didn't see the other Naruto there, because he had faded out of sight. Allowing the Namikaze and his other worldly companion the privacy to reconnect with each other.
"...Naruto?" Naruto's breath hitched upon hearing the familiar voice of his other worldly companion. It sounded hopeful. "Is...that you?"
He let out a relieved laugh as he nodded with verification. And like that the Keeper slumped over in relief.
"You have no idea how long I have been searching for you."
"How long have I been gone?" he asked.
"Seven years." said the Keeper.
To be honest, he was expecting the years he was gone for to be a lot more. It certainly felt like it.
"...You...look different." the Keeper said after it leaned towards Naruto for a closer look. It noticed the bags under his eyes, the physical and mental exhaustion. And the blood splatter on his uniform. "What happened to you?"
"Eh." he shrugged with a tired smirk, "It's... a long story"
The Keeper crossed its arms, "I have time."
He sighed and scratched his head. "Alright. Then, to make a long story short: Every time I die, I go back to when I first came here. Depending on how long I lasted, I either remember everything I did, or forget what I did."
The Keeper didn't say anything after that revelation. Naruto nervously shifted on his feet, until "...How many times did you die?" prompt the Keeper questioningly.
"I lost count after 30." he shrugged. "Pretty sure I'm somewhere in the late thirties though. The recordings I left myself certainly helped keep track."
The Keeper wasn't happy if the clenching and unclenching of its three fingered hands were any indication. It briefly looked around again.
"And where exactly are we?" calmly asked the Keeper – though Naruto noticed there was a slight hiss in its voice this time. While the Keeper had seen a part of his home before – and it was only a small part, it was in a much better condition.
This version of his home town looked like a war zone; and neither of them were near his house. It wasn't surprising for Naruto to learn the Keeper didn't recognise it.
"Welcome to the village hidden by leaves! Konoha!" Naruto said with wide open arms and a dramatic flare. "My home – or what's left of it." he added in a more somber manner. Sighing Naruto turned around and stared at the ruins.
"You feel... saddened?"
Naruto nodded. "Despite what you think – I don't hate my home." he admitted sighingl "I...dislike my parents for what they did, and I abhor the people who practically signed away my freedom. But I don't hate it. So yeah, I feel sad to see it in this state."
When he looked back at the Keeper Naruto saw approval. It didn't say anything but its body language told him everything he needed to. Not to mention he could swear it was grinning – then again that mouth of his...? hers...? it's... looked like it was always grinning.
Clearing his throat Naruto quickly changed the subject, "I've been trying to find away to get out of here. Right now I'm trying to turn those-" he paused to point at the conversion machine nearby – still not powered and cleared of zombies. "-on, to power a machine I found. It's the same as the one that brought me here."
The Keeper nodded. If the human child found an MTD then getting out of here would be a lot easier than it thought. "Not a bad start. What about weapons? Do you have anything to use against the dead?"
"I still have my Ancients Wrath and Bow of the Ancients." he replied.
"Anything you don't have?"
"The weapon you gave me is gone and I don't have that... err... Quick Revive anymore." Naruto paused, then snapped his fingers, "I have a new weapon though!"
The Keeper nodded. It had noticed the Namikaze carrying an FG-42 instead of the CAR-15.
"Very well. We had best get started on getting you out of here." said the Keeper; it started floating over to the conversion generator with Naruto following. "I shall protect you as best I can. Turn it on."
Nodding Naruto went and pressed the big red button. The conversion machine whirred to life and in the distance the agitated howls of the walking dead was heard.
"Here we go..." Naruto murmured.
He calmly brought his battle rifle up and looked through the iron sights. The Keeper meanwhile made an sphere of electricity appear in the middle of its palms. It began to float in-between them.
The ghost Naruto hadn't come out of hiding yet. He was still invisible and watching the Keeper and Namikaze from one of the still standing rooftops. Like he suspected the shambling, stumbling zombies swarmed the two from all directions.
Namikaze opened fire on them without hesitation. Putting down half a dozen and dismembering many others in less than ten seconds.
The Keeper didn't attack until many of the walking dead got close. When they did hell broke loose. The Keeper Protector, as it is known to him threw its arms out, electricity shooting from the sphere and into the zombies. The zombies were shocked and thrown off their feet. The shockwave killing and knocking back all zombies in its near vicinity.
It would throw its arms out in front of it twice, and then, raise them above its head in quick succession. While simple it did its job in killing zombies by the dozens. The Keeper stayed close to the Namikaze, and did its job in making sure the zombies were not getting close to him.
An electro pulse would shoot out of the converter too with every few minutes – causing even more zombies to die.
He could see it as plain as day – the Keeper and Kamikaze are an effective team. One he hadn't seen since the second Human-Apothicon war. And yes - there had been two Human-Apothicon wars. The first during the crusades some six thousand years ago – the second four thousand years ago.
As the zombies began to thin out the Keeper stopped its onslaught. It turned and saw Naruto behead a few zombies with the flame enveloped Ancients Wrath. He then Spartan kicked one into an rapidly encroaching group, switched his sword for the bow and removed them from this plain of existence curtsy of a flame tipped arrow that deduced them to bloody decaying chunks of meat and bone.
Another pulse wiped out the remaining zombies allowing them to have a momentary breather. Naruto flicked his sword before it vanished from his grip. Sighing the blood splattered blonde walked over to the conversion generator and reloaded his FG-42 in preparation for the next wave. The Keeper floated next to him protectively.
Neither of them were disappointed when the next horde of zombies came.
They exchanged looks and nodded.
Naruto immediately brought his battle rifle up and opened fire in short controlled bursts. The Keeper teleported itself in the middle of the horde and started throwing its arms above its head.
The sheer power belonging to a single Keeper is great. This one is no different. When it was unleashed, the zombies were reduced to mush and were literally thrown clear through the sky in a mass of electricity, mixed with blue smoke from the impact of electricity and wind. The shockwave that was unleashed managed to shake the ground, brief as it was.
It was a sight to behold.
Pulling out his bayonet with one hand Naruto stabbed a zombie through the eye with it; he grimaced in disgust as he got blood on his face. Thinning his lips the blonde aimed the barrel of the FG-42 at the zombies' torso and opened fire. The bullets tearing and ripping through muscle and bone with easy.
He yanked the bayonet out and threw it, impaling a zombie in the torso.
It did nothing to impede it.
Naruto didn't let that deter him however. He brought the rifle up and pulled the trigger – the recoil shaking his arms as he tried to keep it in place. It did the job in mowing down the zombie impaled with his bayonet and several others around it though.
He yanked the bayonet out of the fallen zombie, and back peddled before any could get their hands on him. He put long eight inch blade back into its holder.
The Keeper suddenly appeared in front of him and threw its arm out. Electricity shot out of the sphere. Killing zombies instantaneously by the dozens through a combination of electrocution and shock-waves.
"Ho-ly shit!" Naruto laughed, "You just... blew them all over the place!"
The Keeper turned and gave him a mocking bow. Naruto just laughed, until he caught something appearing behind the Keeper. He quickly shot the creature in the head before it could do anything.
The Keeper turned just in time to see a partially headless zombie collapse drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
Naruto walked over to get a closer look at the corpse. "Huh." he said, "I haven't seen one of those in a long time."
Slightly pale purple skin that was filthy and rotten. Two elongated limbs with thick veins on the surface. Razor sharp teeth and claws that were two inches long. It had some other wounds on it – a severely deep cut on the torso that had maggots trying to dig inside of.
Not taking any chances of it rising again Naruto summoned Ancients Wrath and beheaded it completely.
The Keeper looked at him, "You know what this is?" it asked gesturing to the corpse.
Naruto nodded acknowledgedly as he dismissed the sword. "I fought one of these when I first ran into...? Helen and Deneve...? Anyway – it was a bastard to fight. Kept on making itself and me disappear to different places as we fought."
As the Keeper listened to the explanation Naruto surveyed his surroundings with suspicion and wariness. It was quiet. Too quiet. He didn't trust it. He quickly replaced the magazine in his FG-42 for a fresher one and realised he was getting low on ammo. Not good.
The Keeper started looking around as well and soon the two were back to back.
"...What is the likelihood of there being more?"
"Knowing my luck? It'll be high,"
As if he had been heard several more... had appeared. In two dozens. They were on the rooftops; from what Naruto could see by the distance between them, they were in various states of decay.
Some where in the early stages. Some were in the middle. Some were late. They also had more limbs; four arms, six arms, four legs and arms, even tentacles spouting from their backs.
"Pretty... pretty high." the blonde shakingly concluded.
The Keeper growled as electricity raced up and down its arms and hands.
If these creatures think they're going to win – it'll gladly prove otherwise!
Chapter 9
'Time, is a cruel mistress. It can be both a burden and a great ally. There are realms in the universe that have been corrupted by the Dark Aether. I myself have been to one of these realms. Within it time held no meaning. The same day would...remain. Over and over. Luckily, the Keepers had brought me out of there. ' - Takeo Masaki.
"No way it can be that easy..." Naruto murmured to himself. With his FG-42 being held at the hip with one hand and the other holding a map with three circles on it. The map itself was a crude drawing of his home – in map form, and had three circles on it.
The word "Converter" was written above the circles.
And "Safe House" was written on one of the buildings at the bottom of the page. So he had a location for the converters and his safe house.
Naruto was in the remains of a house with rubble blocking off a lot of the places he can go. Including the upstairs since the staircase collapsed. Thankfully said rubble made a convenient makeshift staircase that let him to go to the first floor anyway. He was taking cover behind a broken down wall inside of a bedroom, map in hand.
He knew where he was – the map was surprisingly detailed if crude.
While getting to those converters looked easy on paper, in real life it was a whole different story. There were hordes of zombies blocking his route to the three of them. And the only way to get to them is to either go through them, or distract them enough for him to sneak past.
Sighing he folded the paper and placed it in his pocket and peered over the wall. A horde of zombies could be seen shambling around in the distance. Thankfully they weren't smart, not like that zombie yoma that could speak and teleport.
Holding the battle rifle with both hands Naruto made his way down the rubble and out the house. Hearing inaudible whispering again that's more feminine Naruto stopped and swiftly turned around with the FG-42 raised.
There was no one there. Confused and wary he looked around momentarily before he slowly lowered the rifle until the tip of the gun was pointing at the ground. He exhaled and shook his head. He can't get distracted now.
X.X.X.X
As he made his way to the converter Naruto was steadily getting more and more irritated at the persistent whispering. He ignored it as much as he could though. He took a few short cuts through the buildings to get past the horde blocking his way and continued on to his destination.
Eventually the incomprehensible whispering got to him. He suddenly stopped moving and dropped the FG-42, thankfully the strap was over his shoulder. Naruto tightly pressed his hands against the sides of his head and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"STOP IT! STOP WHISPERING! STOOOP IIIIIIIIT!" the whispering abruptly stopped, but at the cost of him attracting the attention of the nearest zombie horde.
Naruto quickly looked over his shoulder in alarm. The zombies all turned to him one by one and when they saw a living person, they shambled their way over to him.
"Oh shit..." Naruto took a few steps back before turning around and running to the converter. There was no way in hell he was going to fight against them by himself. Ragnarok DG-4 or not, him taking on an army that can't feel fear, pain and exhaustion is both suicidal and idiotic.
As he ran Naruto fished the hand drawn map out from his coat pocket to see where he had to go. He put it back in his pocket again after getting a good eye on it.
After several minutes of running Naruto finally reached his destination. The converter was a large machine with a tube attached to it. It looked similar to the ones he found attached to the MTD. Only this one was a lot bigger and much wider. The main machine had several buttons on it with the most obvious one being bigger than the others and red.
Not hesitating in the least he walked over and smashed his fist against the button. The machine whirred to life and Naruto turned around upon hearing the noises of the dead howling in the distance.
"I do hope you're ready for this. The conversion generator takes a while to power up completely." freezing at hearing the very, very familiar voice Naruto slowly turned in the direction it came from.
What he saw surprised him. It was himself. But it wasn't him. Too many differences. The posture. The clothing.
This Naruto had spiky blonde hair, like he did. And just like him the other Naruto had a lack of whiskers on his cheeks. However he had shorter hair and more casual clothing.
For simplicities sake, Naruto Namikaze will be referred as Naruto 1. The other Naruto, until his last name has been revealed will simply be referred to as Naruto 2.
Naruto 2 was leaning against the converter, staring at Naruto 1 with a look of bemusement.
"No. You're not real. You're just a figment of my imagination." Naruto 1 said with denial; this person in front of him had to be a result of him being exposed to Element 115. But never before did any of his illusions take physical form.
Naruto 2 raised a brow. "Whatever you say, Namikaze."
Naruto 1 narrowed his eyes in suspicion he never told him his last name. "How do you know my last name? No. Wait. It would make sense for you to know who I am if you're a figment of my imagination. So why are you here?"
Naruto 2 shrugged and straightened himself. "Your psyche is under a lot of pressure. From the amount of times of you dying over and over and having to relive it from the beginning. It's starting to take its toll on your mind."
"So what? I made you up to keep myself stable or something?" Naruto 1 questioned the figment of his imagination.
Naruto 2 shrugged in a so and so manner. Neither confirming or denying Naruto 1's suspicions. Hearing a noise he looked over Naruto 1's shoulder and frowned. "It looks like you have company."
True to his word when Naruto 1 looked over his shoulder, he saw the zombies pursuing him had arrived. Turning around on the balls of his feet, he quickly raised his weapon, took aim and fired in single bursts at the horde.
The zombies fell one by one forcing the others step over the bodies. It didn't do much to impede them though. As they got closer and closer he realised shooting them one at a time like this wouldn't keep them at bay for long.
"Y'know, these converters look to be very durable machines." Naruto 2 casually said as he leaned against said machine once again. "You can get a few of them get close and take them out that way." he added on as a suggestion.
Naruto 1 immediately put that thought down. "And risk it getting destroyed? Fuck no!"
"It was just a suggestion. No need to bite my head off." Naruto 2 said with his hands raised in surrender.
"What do these machines convert anyway?" Naruto 1 held the battle rifle by the hip and went fully automatic. The bullets ripping through the decayed and bloated flesh of the dead. He was quick to change magazines when the one currently in the chamber had run out of bullets.
"Element One-Fifteen." Naruto 2 said over the gunfire.
As he was forced to reload his battle rifle again, Naruto 1 recalled Monty saying One-Fifteen is able to raise the dead. That explained and confirmed his suspicions why there are walking corpses.
Despite the pile of bodies they had to step over, the zombies inevitably managed to get their rotten feet on to the foundation. Scowling Naruto redirected his aim and went fully automatic. The bullets met minimal resistance as it tore through their skin, muscle and skull. The zombies behind them met the same fate and fell on top of one another in a pile.
Then something surprising happened. A huge pulse of electricity shot out of the conversion machine in every direction. Any zombie it touched dropped to the ground. As if a string on a puppet had been cut.
Naruto 1 was very surprised and taken aback by this. "What the hell?" he breathed out in confusion.
"One-Fifteen enhanced electric pulse." began Naruto 2. "Any zombie it touches dies. That was why I suggested letting them get close."
Naruto 1 briefly glanced at him from over his shoulder. "How do you know this?" he asked, his tone curious and suspicious at the same time. He didn't know the conversion machine could even do electric pulses. So how did this illusion know about it?
"You're a smart person, Namikaze. You figure it out."
Naruto 1 shook his head in a dismissive manner and changed his weapon for his bow. He let loose arrow after arrow, staring as each one reduced entire groups into messy chucks and dismembering those that were close.
Eventually the horde of zombies were killed in combination of Naruto's fire-power from Wrath of the Ancients and his FG-42, and the electric pulses from the machine. Taking a moment to catch his breath Naruto, who was leaning forward with his hands on his knees looked at Naruto 2.
"Okay, let's say for the moment, that you're not a figment of my imagination. What would that make you? A ghost?"
"It is the only logical conclusion isn't it?"
"Or it could be that my mind is playing tricks on me. Making me see things that aren't there." he countered.
"Or maybe your mind is not playing tricks on you and I am, in all actuality, a ghost." Naruto 2 said it with such conviction he thought it was true.
Naruto 1 growled in annoyance. This wasn't going anywhere. He dropped the conversation all together before it can escalate into an argument. Naruto 2 arched a brow at that but didn't say anything.
"Conversion generator one: active. Proceed to conversion generators: two and three." a masculine, yet mechanical sounding voice said from the machine.
"Looks like the first one is on." Naruto 2 stated the obvious as he stopped leaning on the machine. "You'd best go and turn on the others."
"...Right." fishing the map out of his pocket Naruto 1 checked for the nearest one. Nodding to himself he put the map away again and ran to the right of the conversion machine. As he walked, Naruto 1 looked over his shoulder; he wasn't surprised to see the other Naruto casually walking after him, hands in his trouser pockets.
He turned to look ahead of himself and frowned thoughtfully. Now that there was some time to think clearly without the threat of death, he noticed something. It wasn't all that bad to be honest. Ever since the other Naruto showed up the whispering stopped. He had no idea what this meant but it solidified the belief that Naruto 2 was just a figment of his imagination.
"I'm curious about something." Naruto 1 started up a conversation.
"And that would be?"
"How long have you been here for?"
"You think I'm a part of your imagination still?"
"Yes. But humour me."
"Alright." Naruto 2 shrugged. "I haven't got the faintest idea. It could have been for centuries and I wouldn't know."
"Because it goes back to when you first arrived, right?"
Naruto 2 nodded in affirmation, "That and it doesn't turn to night." he pointedly looked at Naruto 1. "You noticed it, right? How it always seems to be in the middle of the day?"
"It's not that strange." Naruto 1 countered, "There are places in the world where the sun never sets." he stopped walking and looked up at the sky with squinted eyes and a deep frown. Strange. He didn't notice that before... "But now that you mention it – it is strange. Back home the sun used to set. And it didn't look like that either."
Naruto 2 looked up and nodded with approval. The sun wasn't a ball of orange magma and plasma anymore. It was blue. And it was a lot closer to the planet now – how nothing was affected by the heat or gravitational pressure escaped them.
"And what does that tell you?" he asked and Naruto Namikaze looked at the ruined buildings of his home- no, the imitation of his home.
"That this isn't where I was raised. This isn't my home...?" he trailed off when he heard the whispering again, then to his surprise Naruto saw that the environment around him began to warp and twist around him.
X.X.X.X
Then he found he wasn't outside anymore. He was inside of a room that is occupied. Two people sat on opposite sides of a table that has a recording radio on it. Wanting to get a better look at their features Naruto walked to the end of the table and observed.
The oldest was an bald headed man, with a white scruffy beard. His clothes consists of a white lab coat, a grey under shirt with a matching tie and black trousers.
The other was a thirteen year old boy. And to his shock the young teenage boy had a familiar set of eyes, and had the same spiky blonde hair as he did. It was him! Or at least another version of him. The only difference was, the boy had three whisker marks on his cheeks.
"What is your name child?" the grown asked politely and professionally asked.
The boy sighed and leaned on the table with a bored look on his face, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I don't remember where I live. Where I came from. I don't even remember the day I was born...only the month." he even sounded bored as he spoke into the microphone provided to him.
"What is the furthest you can remember?" the man asked asked as he too leaned on the table.
Naruto saw the young one scrunch his face as he tried to think. The boy eventually shrugged, "The furthest I can remember is literally three days ago when I woke up here."
The bald man sighed and stopped the tape recorder from playing. "It appears, young one, that you have a severe case of amnesia. Now I see two possibilities. Either it will resolve itself in time, or you may never regain your memories."
The young Naruto, to the surprise of the Namikaze, shrugged his shoulders in a purely dismissive manner. "Oh well. It's just memories. I can easy replace those with new ones."
Ludvig narrowed his eyes confusingly at the blonde. "Do you not wish to know of your own past?"
The young Naruto shook his head from side to side. "No, I don't. Why should I bother if I can't remember anything about that is worth bothering?"
The scene began to twist and warp around him again. The youngest of the Namikaze's didn't do or say anything as he was trying to figure out what the hell he just saw.
X.X.X.X
When he came to – the Namikaze found he was back outside and he was being shook. He looked at the person shaking him and was taken aback.
"Ah. You're back.." Naruto 2 said with a smile; he pat Naruto 1 on the shoulder and made a 'follow me' gesture. "C'mon, the next conversion machine isn't far."
As Naruto 2 walked ahead, Naruto 1 was looking at his shoulder with stunned realisation. He looked at Naruto 2 with wide eyes as the gears turned in his head.
Was he...?
Yes. He is.
But if here's here, then does that mean...?
It has to be.
He quickly pushed the thoughts aside and ran to catch up to the ghost. When he finally reached him Naruto 1 slowed his pace until he was walking side by side with him. Naruto 1 gave his other self a look, sighed and looked ahead.
"I met him you know." he began. "His spirit I mean.
Naruto 2 curiously glanced at the Namikaze from the corner of his eye. "Oh? Met who?"
"'Tank' Dempsey."
Naruto 2 stopped walking in surprise at the reveal; he quickly caught up with the Namikaze and looked at him with a look of need. He needed to know what happened. He had to know. "Y-You met Tank? How is he?"
"Well despite being dead the man's fine." Naruto 1 revealed. He looked at the ghost and almost pitied the pleading look the Naruto of the Old World was giving him. "After you went missing he didn't stop searching for you. Neither of them did."
As he looked down at the ground Naruto 2 smiled softly at this revelation. "...They never gave up." then he looked at the Namikaze as what he said sunk in. "Wait. You don't think I'm an illusion anymore?"
Naruto 1 chuckled and patted him on the shoulder before moving on. "You're a smart person Naruto. You figure it out." he threw the words spoken to him 20 minutes prior back at the ghost.
X.X.X.X
It took them around an hour or two to get to the second conversion generator. Which was near the tower his father would work at if it were still standing. Instead the tower was in ruins and barely standing at all.
The youngest of the Namikaze's was standing beside the conversion machine, looking over the buttons with the ghost of Naruto 1 keeping an eye out. "Alright." he held his hand over the large red button, "Time to get this over with." then just as he was about to bring his hand down on it, he was interrupted.
"Wait!" he paused abruptly and looked at Naruto 2. "If you turn that on you're going to get swarmed from all directions."
"...then what do you suppose I should do?" he asked, sighing as he turned, bringing his hand to his side. "I don't have a lot of options."
Naruto 2 rubbed his chin. "There may be a way to get help." he began, "There are alters around that are meant to bring something to help you. But they're really hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for."
"Really?" he turned to face the ghost completely. "I never saw any notes, or heard any previous recording referencing to these alters."
"That is because I found out after permanently dying here. And by then it was too late." he replied, confirming that he is in fact the Naruto of the Old World, thrown forward in time and went missing four centuries ago. "As for you – well you didn't know where to look is all. In fact..." he looked off to his right, "...one of them is close by."
Naruto 1 looked in the direction he was looking but saw nothing. Frowning he looked back at the ghost and back again. He didn't see anything.
However his curiosity got the better of him; humming the Namikaze walked over with the ghost following after him. He kept in the general direction the ghost was looking – until he got near a wall of an ruined house.
That was when it happened. A stone tab with an symbol engraved onto the surface floated in the air in front of him. Then other pieces began to assemble in front of it. A disembodied head or skull, that had no eyes was mounted in the middle of a circle like symbol on it.
While Naruto 1 was surprised by this Naruto 2 was excited. "This is great!" he exclaimed, "It's intact! How fortuitous!"
"It wasn't meant to be intact?"
Naruto 2 completely ignored him in his excitement, "Go on." he gestured to the alter, "Touch it."
Naruto 1 frowned and looked at the assembled alter. It was strange how it just... assembled the way it did. Then again he had seen weirder shit. What's one more?
Sighing he reached out and pressed his hand against the alter. Gasping as it suddenly lit up, the Namikaze withdrew his palm and took several steps back.
X.X.X.X
It had been searching for nearly a decade. Everywhere it looked, several dimensions, in the past, present and future, the search turned up a failure.
And so the seeking continues.
Then it saw it – from its eyeless gaze it saw a hole.
What was this now...? Could he...? Yes. Perhaps he may.
With confidence welling through its being, the creature flew into the rift.
X.X.X.X
Naruto covered his eyes when the light got too bright – then it vanished as quick as it appeared. When he lowered his arm his blue eyes grew wide in recognition. The creature before him was wearing dark red robes with gold embroidery, a hood and a symbol proudly displayed on its chest; a circle with four ends jutting out.
It scanned its new found surroundings in bewilderment for a moment. It's body language showing confusion, then distress at what it saw with its eyeless gaze, and finally anger when it detected Element One-Fifteen in slowly moving around in the ruined remains of Konoha.
Then it found Naruto staring and just like that it calmed down. It didn't see the other Naruto there, because he had faded out of sight. Allowing the Namikaze and his other worldly companion the privacy to reconnect with each other.
"...Naruto?" Naruto's breath hitched upon hearing the familiar voice of his other worldly companion. It sounded hopeful. "Is...that you?"
He let out a relieved laugh as he nodded with verification. And like that the Keeper slumped over in relief.
"You have no idea how long I have been searching for you."
"How long have I been gone?" he asked.
"Seven years." said the Keeper.
To be honest, he was expecting the years he was gone for to be a lot more. It certainly felt like it.
"...You...look different." the Keeper said after it leaned towards Naruto for a closer look. It noticed the bags under his eyes, the physical and mental exhaustion. And the blood splatter on his uniform. "What happened to you?"
"Eh." he shrugged with a tired smirk, "It's... a long story"
The Keeper crossed its arms, "I have time."
He sighed and scratched his head. "Alright. Then, to make a long story short: Every time I die, I go back to when I first came here. Depending on how long I lasted, I either remember everything I did, or forget what I did."
The Keeper didn't say anything after that revelation. Naruto nervously shifted on his feet, until "...How many times did you die?" prompt the Keeper questioningly.
"I lost count after 30." he shrugged. "Pretty sure I'm somewhere in the late thirties though. The recordings I left myself certainly helped keep track."
The Keeper wasn't happy if the clenching and unclenching of its three fingered hands were any indication. It briefly looked around again.
"And where exactly are we?" calmly asked the Keeper – though Naruto noticed there was a slight hiss in its voice this time. While the Keeper had seen a part of his home before – and it was only a small part, it was in a much better condition.
This version of his home town looked like a war zone; and neither of them were near his house. It wasn't surprising for Naruto to learn the Keeper didn't recognise it.
"Welcome to the village hidden by leaves! Konoha!" Naruto said with wide open arms and a dramatic flare. "My home – or what's left of it." he added in a more somber manner. Sighing Naruto turned around and stared at the ruins.
"You feel... saddened?"
Naruto nodded. "Despite what you think – I don't hate my home." he admitted sighingl "I...dislike my parents for what they did, and I abhor the people who practically signed away my freedom. But I don't hate it. So yeah, I feel sad to see it in this state."
When he looked back at the Keeper Naruto saw approval. It didn't say anything but its body language told him everything he needed to. Not to mention he could swear it was grinning – then again that mouth of his...? hers...? it's... looked like it was always grinning.
Clearing his throat Naruto quickly changed the subject, "I've been trying to find away to get out of here. Right now I'm trying to turn those-" he paused to point at the conversion machine nearby – still not powered and cleared of zombies. "-on, to power a machine I found. It's the same as the one that brought me here."
The Keeper nodded. If the human child found an MTD then getting out of here would be a lot easier than it thought. "Not a bad start. What about weapons? Do you have anything to use against the dead?"
"I still have my Ancients Wrath and Bow of the Ancients." he replied.
"Anything you don't have?"
"The weapon you gave me is gone and I don't have that... err... Quick Revive anymore." Naruto paused, then snapped his fingers, "I have a new weapon though!"
The Keeper nodded. It had noticed the Namikaze carrying an FG-42 instead of the CAR-15.
"Very well. We had best get started on getting you out of here." said the Keeper; it started floating over to the conversion generator with Naruto following. "I shall protect you as best I can. Turn it on."
Nodding Naruto went and pressed the big red button. The conversion machine whirred to life and in the distance the agitated howls of the walking dead was heard.
"Here we go..." Naruto murmured.
He calmly brought his battle rifle up and looked through the iron sights. The Keeper meanwhile made an sphere of electricity appear in the middle of its palms. It began to float in-between them.
The ghost Naruto hadn't come out of hiding yet. He was still invisible and watching the Keeper and Namikaze from one of the still standing rooftops. Like he suspected the shambling, stumbling zombies swarmed the two from all directions.
Namikaze opened fire on them without hesitation. Putting down half a dozen and dismembering many others in less than ten seconds.
The Keeper didn't attack until many of the walking dead got close. When they did hell broke loose. The Keeper Protector, as it is known to him threw its arms out, electricity shooting from the sphere and into the zombies. The zombies were shocked and thrown off their feet. The shockwave killing and knocking back all zombies in its near vicinity.
It would throw its arms out in front of it twice, and then, raise them above its head in quick succession. While simple it did its job in killing zombies by the dozens. The Keeper stayed close to the Namikaze, and did its job in making sure the zombies were not getting close to him.
An electro pulse would shoot out of the converter too with every few minutes – causing even more zombies to die.
He could see it as plain as day – the Keeper and Kamikaze are an effective team. One he hadn't seen since the second Human-Apothicon war. And yes - there had been two Human-Apothicon wars. The first during the crusades some six thousand years ago – the second four thousand years ago.
As the zombies began to thin out the Keeper stopped its onslaught. It turned and saw Naruto behead a few zombies with the flame enveloped Ancients Wrath. He then Spartan kicked one into an rapidly encroaching group, switched his sword for the bow and removed them from this plain of existence curtsy of a flame tipped arrow that deduced them to bloody decaying chunks of meat and bone.
Another pulse wiped out the remaining zombies allowing them to have a momentary breather. Naruto flicked his sword before it vanished from his grip. Sighing the blood splattered blonde walked over to the conversion generator and reloaded his FG-42 in preparation for the next wave. The Keeper floated next to him protectively.
Neither of them were disappointed when the next horde of zombies came.
They exchanged looks and nodded.
Naruto immediately brought his battle rifle up and opened fire in short controlled bursts. The Keeper teleported itself in the middle of the horde and started throwing its arms above its head.
The sheer power belonging to a single Keeper is great. This one is no different. When it was unleashed, the zombies were reduced to mush and were literally thrown clear through the sky in a mass of electricity, mixed with blue smoke from the impact of electricity and wind. The shockwave that was unleashed managed to shake the ground, brief as it was.
It was a sight to behold.
Pulling out his bayonet with one hand Naruto stabbed a zombie through the eye with it; he grimaced in disgust as he got blood on his face. Thinning his lips the blonde aimed the barrel of the FG-42 at the zombies' torso and opened fire. The bullets tearing and ripping through muscle and bone with easy.
He yanked the bayonet out and threw it, impaling a zombie in the torso.
It did nothing to impede it.
Naruto didn't let that deter him however. He brought the rifle up and pulled the trigger – the recoil shaking his arms as he tried to keep it in place. It did the job in mowing down the zombie impaled with his bayonet and several others around it though.
He yanked the bayonet out of the fallen zombie, and back peddled before any could get their hands on him. He put long eight inch blade back into its holder.
The Keeper suddenly appeared in front of him and threw its arm out. Electricity shot out of the sphere. Killing zombies instantaneously by the dozens through a combination of electrocution and shock-waves.
"Ho-ly shit!" Naruto laughed, "You just... blew them all over the place!"
The Keeper turned and gave him a mocking bow. Naruto just laughed, until he caught something appearing behind the Keeper. He quickly shot the creature in the head before it could do anything.
The Keeper turned just in time to see a partially headless zombie collapse drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
Naruto walked over to get a closer look at the corpse. "Huh." he said, "I haven't seen one of those in a long time."
Slightly pale purple skin that was filthy and rotten. Two elongated limbs with thick veins on the surface. Razor sharp teeth and claws that were two inches long. It had some other wounds on it – a severely deep cut on the torso that had maggots trying to dig inside of.
Not taking any chances of it rising again Naruto summoned Ancients Wrath and beheaded it completely.
The Keeper looked at him, "You know what this is?" it asked gesturing to the corpse.
Naruto nodded acknowledgedly as he dismissed the sword. "I fought one of these when I first ran into...? Helen and Deneve...? Anyway – it was a bastard to fight. Kept on making itself and me disappear to different places as we fought."
As the Keeper listened to the explanation Naruto surveyed his surroundings with suspicion and wariness. It was quiet. Too quiet. He didn't trust it. He quickly replaced the magazine in his FG-42 for a fresher one and realised he was getting low on ammo. Not good.
The Keeper started looking around as well and soon the two were back to back.
"...What is the likelihood of there being more?"
"Knowing my luck? It'll be high,"
As if he had been heard several more... had appeared. In two dozens. They were on the rooftops; from what Naruto could see by the distance between them, they were in various states of decay.
Some where in the early stages. Some were in the middle. Some were late. They also had more limbs; four arms, six arms, four legs and arms, even tentacles spouting from their backs.
"Pretty... pretty high." the blonde shakingly concluded.
The Keeper growled as electricity raced up and down its arms and hands.
If these creatures think they're going to win – it'll gladly prove otherwise!
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