FicWad

It was only because of her reflexes that Riful managed to get out of the way in time. Naruto’s image had flickered and he vanished, only to reappear and blow a huge chunk of the throne...and the wall behind it away with a punch.

Her eyes went wide in surprise, noting that he had traveled twice as quickly. Then, she… unraveled her dress falling off of a mass of ribbons and flying into Naruto’s face to distract him. It was a simple trick and against any other man, it would have been far more effective…

“Over here!”

...but with those words, he flickered away to the center of the room. As he did, the mass of ribbons merged back together in front of him and Riful’s nude form stood ready to fight.

“Interesting transformation,” Naruto observed. “From the way your yoki felt, that was your true from when you turned into those ribbons.”

Riful giggled and was on him like white on rice, bolting forth with several ribbons shooting forth from her hair to try and apprehend his limbs. She was wasting no time at all, wanting to end this quickly.

He flickered away again...

“Too slow…”

...and reappeared beside her, and gave Riful a devastating right hook to the face. This was followed up by a kick to the chest, and a knee to the gut. She rolled with the blows quite well, however, and upon the third impact, he was forced to flicker away as she unraveled herself once more.

He reappeared a fair bit away and gave the Awakened Being a look over. From the way he was looking at her, the Abyssal One noted he didn't see her as a threat. “I wonder how strong you are in your real form.”

“Strong enough to single-handedly fell a country,” Riful replied, her voice taking on a metallic tinge as she sent no less than a dozen more ribbons after him.

Naruto chuckled as he flickered between them, and with each dodge, he was getting closer and closer to her. They were but a distraction, though, as several more shot up from the ground to try and nab him. The blond narrowly dodged them, and to give himself a bit of an edge he took out his trench knives. Then he channeled his chakra to them, amplifying his blades with wind chakra and increasing its cutting power drastically. As it slashed through the remaining few ribbons still coming at him, he heard a gasp.

It was more out of surprise than actual pain. This young man could cut her?! The amorphous mass of ribbons then morphed into the torso of a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties, her eyes in the form of glowing pits of pink while several ribbons formed her hair. The torso appeared to be about twice the size as that of a normal human and the remaining ribbons grew in length. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough room for them as they sliced through the castle and sent it tumbling down around them.

----

Deeper inside the castle with Flora and the girls she’d been sent to fetch, she was starting to look worried. It had been only a few minutes since she’d found the castle’s sallyport and they were about to emerge from it when they felt the yoki spike.

Drillsword Jean, Number 9, was butt-ass naked, and only had a cloak covering her modesty, thanks to the girl who’d found her first. The other girl, was Clare, Number 47. She was the disguised claymore Flora and Naruto heard about from the locals in Hanel. She’s also one of the two of runaways that Miria told him to be on a lookout for after that botched mission. Flora was...sleeping at the time he asked Miria that, so she didn’t know much about it - only to be on the lookout for that crest.

Then, soon after they emerged from Riful’s hideout, Flora cried out as the upper levels collapsed entirely. “N-Naruto!”

----

Though Naruto was forced to dodge to keep from getting crushed, Galatea was just fine despite lacking the skills to achieve such a thing, as several-dozen of Riful’s extra limbs had scooped her up and lightly placed her down on her feet - one drew an uncomfortable groan from her as it patted her on the head.

“There you go,” the Abyssal One cooed. “Terribly sorry for the scare, but it would appear as though I’ll have to take this seriously.”

“It took me cutting through those ribbons for that to happen?”

“That’s the first time it’s ever happened, actually,” Riful pointed out. “Quite impressive; you now have my full attention~!”

“Oh, really? If you reacted to something basic as sharpening the cutting power of a blade, then I wonder how you’ll react to something more advanced?”

Riful immediately shot several more ribbons at him from all angles, not keen on giving him the chance.

Naruto chuckled as he flickered away several times, calling out to her tauntingly, “You’re too slow!”

He was several dozen yards away from her by the time he came to a stop. If nothing else, he respected her instincts and skill. Before he fought Pain, she’d probably be capable of beating him in a drawn-out fight. But not now. He has plenty of experience fighting opponents on Pain’s level. He wasn’t even using Sage Mode against her and he’s already keeping himself a step ahead of her. It probably didn't help that he could sense her yoki in her ribbons, so that gave him an advantage and a way to stay one step ahead of her.

He came to a stop and put his knives away again. He stared at Riful in the distance with narrow eyes; so she had the power to fell an entire country, huh? Let’s see what that power can do against a Massive Rasengan. Naruto formed a normal sized Rasengan in his hand, then he dashed toward her. Naruto then leaped several feet into the air towards the very surprised Awakened Being who was too astonished to react, and with a battle cry he drew his arm back and threw it out in front of him.

“Raaaaaagh!!”

The spiraling sphere in his hand expanded, becoming gigantic in size and pushed the surprised Riful into the ground with force. It ground against her and the ground, crumbling the earth into nothingness and leaving behind a huge crater with the Abyssal One in the middle of it. No one could hear her scream, as it was as if an earthquake was hitting. In both pain and panic, Riful sank into the ground, scattering into dozens of ribbons and got out of the gap in time before it was covered by this strange, but painful technique before reforming a safe distance away from the impact. When she saw that damage done as Naruto canceled the technique before it exploded, she let out a terrified but dejected sigh.

It left a several mile hole in the ground that was several hundred feet deep. That was terrifying. She… she could not win against that. Looking to the blond who’d caused that massive hole, she noted that he wasn’t even winded and frowned deeply. If he wasn’t a little tired from performing such a devastating technique, it wasn’t too far of a fetch to consider he wasn’t even trying.

Riful unraveled one last time and reformed before Naruto, on her knees in her human form. Still naked, she then kowtowed before the young man. “You win,” Riful said. “I am yours and the girls go free. The other two are just outside, along with your girlfriend. I can direct you to them if you wish.”

A deal's a deal, after all. He won fair and square.

“I can sense them just fine,” Naruto said with a shrug. Then he looked around for Galatea and saw she wasn’t around anymore. She must’ve left the second Riful was distracted, the poor thing. He could tell even she was terrified of the Abyssal One, despite how well she hid it. She was back with Flora and the other two women, hiding her yoki as best she could. Naruto could also sense Dauf, buried under all that rubble and from how he wasn’t moving he was unconscious. “I have to admit, that was kinda fun. It’s a good thing I didn't let that technique I used on you explode, though. I would have flattened this entire mountain had I done that.”

“Duly noted,” Riful replied, thoroughly humbled by the experience. Being literally ground up in such a way… it sent shivers up her spine. And he could do worse! This man was nothing short of terrifying! “So…” she started awkwardly, “that dress was all I had to wear. You... wouldn’t happen to have some spare clothes on you?”

“Do I look like I’m carrying clothes?”

“Figured I’d ask,” Riful pointed out with a helpless shrug. “I’ll manage, then.”

Naruto looked to his right and frowned. He can’t take her with him because of what she is; the girl is bound to cause him problems down the road. And he had no intention of taking this girl on as a slave or anything either. Not really. He was just buying Flora some time to get the other women out of the castle.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask, if only to properly weigh his options. He looked down at her. “How often do you need to eat?”

“Once a week,” Riful replied. “About three humans’ worth of guts, if you need to know. If I revert to a younger age, however, I can reduce it to one human per month.”

“I see…” That would be too much of a risk. Not to mention he would have many claymores coming after him if the Organization was to find out he defeated Riful and had her following him.

Seeing the look on his face, she frowned. “I can limit it to bandits if you wish,” she said. “I’ve heard all about the rumours revolving around your girlfriend.”

Naruto shook his head. “It’s still too much of a risk. I’m trying to stay under the radar. If the Organization finds out I beat you, and you follow me, they’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on me.”

“They likely already know you beat me,” Riful pointed out, looking over to a neighboring mountain. Naruto blinked and followed their gaze. “They have someone over there… quite the terrifying creation, too, I must say.”

“I see… then, in that case, I’ll have to keep myself incognito for the time being. Whatever it is they have over there can’t be too difficult to deal with. You say you have the power to fell a country? I fought people who could reshape entire landscapes and create miniature moons. Unless you have someone of that caliber here, they’ll be a cakewalk.”

“They call us the Abyssal Ones for a reason,” Riful pointed out. “We are not only stronger than any warrior they currently have, but we also specialize in hiding from them. I would be glad to assist you in that. I do owe you my loyalty, after all.”

Naruto waved her off. “I don’t want your loyalty.” He wasn’t the type of person to have a slave, after all. “And I can hide pretty well. Been doing it for several years before the Organization found me.”

“A deal’s a deal,” Riful insisted, giving him a harsh look. “I said that if you won, you’d win me; you won, so you’re stuck with me.”

Naruto gave her a harsh look of his own. “Do you wanna have a Bad Time?”

“Do you want one for insulting me in such a manner? You accepted my terms and throw me away like trash? Am I naught but garbage to you?!”

“Let me ask you this: how many people have you killed because they were weak? Because they weren’t up to your standards? And if you lie, I will know. I am trained to fish out lies after all. I am, as you pointed out earlier: an assassin.”

Riful sighed, reigning in her emotions. “I… lost count.”

“Alright, then let me rephrase that: how many people have you killed recently for all those reasons?”

The young-looking woman looked him square in the eye and replied, “one.” It was true; only that one who'd awakened fit that description; the others all resisted until they died, much to her disappointment, with the exception of that girl who’d escaped.

“Not the full truth… there’s more.”

“There’s only one who fits that exact description,” Riful pointed out. “I’ve been trying to amass an army to combat the King of the North, but only two of those 30 warriors I’ve captured had actually awakened to be tested, and even then, only one of them was tested.”

“And when she failed your test, you threw her away. Had her killed. Like trash. Because she was weak. So tell me this: you’re weaker than I am. Why should I not kill you for the same reason?”

“Better that than the shame of being tossed aside,” she replied. “It was a mercy killing. Had I not ordered Dauf to do it, she would have been killed by someone else. If you didn’t want to have me coming with you after winning, you shouldn’t have accepted my terms.”

With a sigh, Naruto closed his eyes and gathered nature chakra. Riful never noticed the impending danger that was approaching.

“I’m sorry, but I’d rather not take the risk. Having you with me will just bring more trouble than it’s worth. And besides, if you were to come with me I’m pretty sure your territory would be taken out from under you.” he exhaled deeply and clenched his fist, “This’ll be over quick.”

Naruto opened his eyes and Riful finally saw the orange pigmentation around his eyes, and his irises were yellow and toad-like. The Abyssal One only had time to widen her eyes in surprise when Naruto smashed his Nature chakra enhanced fist into her forehead. The naked Awakened Being was rocketed off the ground, spinning uncontrollably in midair, before she crashed against a wall then fell down to the ground in a heap. The sheer amount of force in the impact had made the wall collapse on top of Riful.

She didn't move.

Naruto didn't like hitting girls, and with exceptions, he avoided killing if he could help it. The Abyssal One of the West wasn’t going to budge on the matter, so Naruto took matters into his own hands and knocked her out with a sage chakra enhanced punch. The Abyssal One was more durable than he gave her credit for. She’ll wake up with a splitting headache several hours from now but other than that, she’s totally fine. Not to mention by the time she wakes back up, he will be long gone.

Naruto spread his senses to find where his girlfriend and the other three were, and after locating them the blond bent his knees and leaped far high into the air like a frog in their direction. It was high time he gets back to his girlfriend and the others. Flora must be worried sick about him!

----

Flora was now at her wit’s end as she frantically paced back and forth, knowing that her boyfriend was not here yet. She was worried sick for him! To make matters worse, Jean, Clare, and Galatea kept preventing her from heading back to look for him, but even they could only do so much to restrain a hysterical lover as they would have found out had Naruto not finally appeared - dropping out of the sky as if delivered by the gods themselves to avert that potential catastrophe.

Naruto rolled along the ground to fully absorb the impact before getting back to his feet. He looked around before turning to face the hybrids, and they saw the yellow, toad-like irses and the orange pigmentation around his eyes. He let out a yelp and a chuckle as Flora glomped him without hesitation. He could tell the poor thing had been worried sick.

Then Flora pulled away and looked him over for any injuries. “What happened?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!”

“I’m fine. I’m not hurt. And as for what happened: I kicked Riful’s ass and knocked her out. It was easier than I thought it would be. We’d better put as much distance from this place as possible though, we’re being watched right now.”

“Alicia,” Galatea said ominously. “The current Number One. She’s a good distance away, but can sense us quite readily from there.”

Naruto looked at Galatea as he said, “I can sense her just fine myself. There’s someone else with her as well. Her handler, I suspect.”

Galatea nodded while looking at him with intrigue. Her questions on how he can sense the handler can wait, there are more pressing matters at hand. “Are you sure it’s wise to leave Riful like that? I could tell that you made her mad before knocking her out.”

Flora looked quite worried to hear that. The last thing she wanted to have was a vindictive Abyssal One on their tail.

“The alternative would have been to either kill her or let her come with me,” Naruto said with a sigh. “If what Riful said is true, then the Organization probably already knows I beat her. If I killed her, they would stop at nothing to capture me - if I let her come with me, she would be more trouble than it’s worth once people realize what she is.”

“If they realize what she is,” Flora pointed out, the worry in her eyes only becoming more prominent. “The Abyssal Ones are hard to locate, precisely because they’ve been hiding for decades - centuries, in her case. I’d frankly rather have her traveling with us than chasing us.”

“If she chases us… then I’ll take care of her. I was holding back against her on purpose. If I wanted to, I could have made that castle and mountain a crater.”

“And I can’t,” Flora pointed out. “The last thing I want is to be used as leverage against you, my love. But she can and will if we encounter her again. Also, she’s notorious for being frighteningly intelligent. I’m sure she’d find a way to kill you if she really wanted to.”

“As powerful as you may be,” Jean added, “it would be wise not to rest on your laurels. Many a Number One with the power to kill the Abyssal Ones has existed. But despite that power, two of them were killed by the King of the North, while another was killed by Luciela, and she’s the weakest of the three.”

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. “Hmmm… you have a point. I’ll be careful.” Then he sighed and rolled his eyes, “This is going to be troublesome, I can tell.” Then the orange pigmentation around his eyes vanished and the toad-like irises turned back to normal blue as Naruto expelled the nature chakra.

Deciding a change of subject was needed he looked at the last two women he didn't know and said, “I’m Naruto, by the way, but you’d most likely know me as ‘The Youma Hunter’. May I know who you are?”

“I’m Jean,” the one with the cloak replied. “The current Number Nine. My peers know me as Drillsword Jean, thanks to my technique. I can’t thank you enough for sending Flora to extract us from that castle.”

“I can see under that cloak, by the way,” Naruto pointed out.

Jean blushed at that. “Well, I do owe you my life for what you did,” she replied awkwardly, shyly averting her gaze. “I’d be willing… to compensate you in whatever way I can.”

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, only for whatever he was going to say to stay on the tip of his tongue when he heard Flora giggle. He gave his girlfriend a flat look, “You’d better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“Well, I mean, if she’s willing…” the Number 8 cooed mischievously. “After all, I did say many of my peers are starving for attention… and you already gave two of my peers a nice pounding… or five.”

Galatea, Jean, and especially Clare blushed heavily at that.

“Not to mention,” she added while looking at the other three from the corner of her eye, “you already know about our stigma and what we turn into once we go over our limit, and you still treat us like we’re normal human beings.”

“Because you are human beings.” Naruto sighed before giving Flora a knowing look. He knew what she was trying to do, still, if she wanted him to say it in front of them then he will. “Just because you were cut open and had the flesh and blood of youmas operated in you, doesn’t make you any less human. If you’re being treated like monsters, then you’d become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I might as well be one of the few people that don’t treat you, ladies, any differently.”

“Careful, now,” Galatea teased, “A certain someone might just end up taking advantage of the situation if you keep that up~!”

Jean blushed even more heavily, knowing full well whom she was referring to.

“He wouldn’t mind.”

Naruto gave Flora a light swat over the head. “Oi! Don’t put words into my mouth!”

“I can feel you poking me, y’know,” she pointed out with an amused roll of her eyes.

“We should probably get as far away from here as possible.” Clare pointed out nervously. “In case Riful wakes up?” She heavily stressed those last two words in particular.

“Judging by the crest on her sword, that’s Clare,” Flora added. “She’s Number 47.”

“She isn’t showing signs of doing so just yet, but moving would be wise,” Galatea chimed in, bringing everyone’s attention back to the main point. “I must report to my handler, anyway.”

Naruto looked in the direction he came from for a moment, before bringing his gaze back to Galatea. “We can walk together for a few hours before you do that. There is safety in numbers, after all.”

“You just want to bask in the presence of beautiful women don’t you?” Flora teased.

“That and safety in numbers.” Naruto repeated flatly, “If we’re being watched, then it would give Jean and Galatea the benefit of the doubt. Not sure about Clare though, since she’s meant to be on the run. Not to mention it would be logical from their Handlers standpoint: staying with the one that defeated an Abyssal One would increase your survival… plus, Galatea can just say she’s fishing for information about me or something in case she gets into trouble. The same can go for Jean. As for Clare... well… she can claim the same, I suppose?”

“She’s on the run,” Galatea pointed out. “I could easily claim that she convinced you to protect her, though.”

“That would make the most sense,” the girl in question concurred. “I’m also looking for someone… a friend I got separated from during my last mission.”

“I was told about him. A kid a couple of years younger than I am.”

Clare nodded. “His name is Raki. He has brown hair and a scar on his left eyebrow. He’s also fairly short, about yea high.” She held a hand out to the level of her bust to indicated how tall the boy was. “Would you mind helping me with that?”

“I most certainly will,” Jean chimed in. “It’s the least I can do.”

“I’ll see what I can do as well,” Naruto replied. “Now, let’s get going, eh?”

With that, and Flora hugging his arm, they were off. As they walked away from Mount Zakol, though, Jean just had to know.

“What age are you, Naruto?”

“I’m fifteen.”

To say she, Clare, and Galatea were surprised he was that young would be saying the sky was red. It was a huge understatement. And Naruto and Flora both enjoyed the startled reactions his answer gave them. Jean was less so, interestingly enough, having seen weirder shit.

----

Sometime later in Alphonse…

A bloodcurdling scream sounded as Eva’s team found themselves in hot water.

“Shit!” Lucia hopped out of the way of several tentacles as they snatched at her feet. “Kate’s down!”

Eva snarled defiantly, rearing her sword back and bringing it down in a diagonal slash. The sheer force behind her swing sent a shockwave at the five-headed creature harassing her only remaining comrade, slicing the beast in twain from thirty feet away. “What…. What the hell’s going on?!”

Both Kate and Mila were down, she could barely even feel their yoki as it started to fade. If they weren’t dead already, they didn’t have long. Before the two remaining warriors were several titan-sized awakened beings, marching forth to trample them like the ants they were in comparison.

“We need to retreat!” Lucia cried out. “Captain, please! This town is a lost cause!” She didn't want to die! Not here in this barren frozen wasteland!

“I can’t just sit idly by and watch her people get slaughtered!” Eva sent another shockwave at the awakened beings, lopping a head off the closest one. While it hurt like a bitch the creature still had two more to spare as a crab-like claw came down to snap at one of Eva’s arms. “Gah! Get away from me!” She slashed at the creature’s claw, only for another awakened being to come charging in while she was distracted!

The creature was a metallic humanoid with scythe-like blades for arms and he brought one down. Eva’s pained scream echoed throughout the battlefield as her left arm was lopped off at the socket. Had she not reacted in time, that attack would have chopped her in half. Unfortunately, several other awakened being started to rush her, taking advantage of her weakness, only to be sent back several feet by a red and black blur.

Holding the stump where her limb used to be, Eva stared at the back of the figure’s flame patterned red coat with wide eyes. What the hell was he doing here?!

The clone looked over his shoulder at Eva, and the Number 7 saw the orange pigmentations around his eyes and the yellow toad-like irises. From her near-death experience Eva felt fear gripping her heart as she came to the worst conclusion, was he an Awakened Being too? Was he going to finish her himself?

Her grim thoughts were broken when Eva heard an ecstatic Lucia cry out, “Naruto! W-what are you doing here?!”

“Pulling your ass out of trouble, it looks like,” the clone answered half-jokingly and half-seriously. Then he turned his attention to the Awakened Beings and his lips thinned, “Scoop up your friend and get out of here. I’ll catch up.”

Lucia didn't like that one bit. “W-what?! You can’t be serious!” There was no way he could fight them by himself! He’s just a human!

Naruto chuckled ominously and three poofs later, there was four of him. “Dead serious. Run! I’ll catch up!”

His tone left no room for argument, causing the young warrior to flinch. Her eyes welled up as she picked Eva up in a bridal carry and got the hell out of there. “DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!”

Kate and Mila were left behind. Naruto could still feel their yoki, although it was fading rapidly. If they didn't get medical attention ASAP, then they would die. Luckily, he had three clones to get their bodies and bail - and that’s what two of them did. They leapt to the unconscious, near death Kate and Mila and got them in a bridal carry before taking off to safety as fast as possible.

They were in bad shape. Mila had a vicious gash from her left shoulder to her right hip and was very pale, with blue lips. The woman had a fist-sized hole in her stomach as well that was all the way through. She was barely breathing.

Kate was in a similar state; the poor thing had a spike through her gut - something he had to leave in less he accidentally kills her - and she had a massive gash on her collarbone and along her waist. It seemed she tried to run away, or took a hit for someone.

Time was absolutely vital, now; every second wasted brought them closer to death.

Then, the remaining two clones glared at the Awakened Beings, the sheer malice sending shivers up many of their spines. “If anyone’s dying here, it’s you fuckers.”