Worlds of Shadows - Chapter 2 - Sonic

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'Not everything works out like we want it to work out…'Cid pondered on Dao as he looked at the blonde kid in front of him that stared back in disbelief.

"What, you don't believe me?"Cid crossed his arms.

"If you're my dad, where have you been?!" blonde kid, Naruto, cried out.

Well, yeah, how would you react if you suddenly found out about a parent who was absent from your life for so long? 'Thanks for the milk'?

"You see, Naruto,"he started passionately,"There are…"think, think…"Otherworldly enemiesthatwant to invade this worldand consumeitsenergy without regards to anything."

"What?" of course he didn't believe him.

"And as such, I have taken it upon myself to eradicate them. Unfortunately, that also meant that you… have been neglected,"and sorry-sorry face.

"B-But…"

"Listen. I understand that if was… unfair from my side to just leave you out… However, I have placed faith in this world's denizens… Seems like my faith was misplaced, in the end."

The kid said nothing, only staring at him with teary eyes. Yeah, kinda sucks, if Cid is being honest. Even he felt genuine pity for Naruto, and that says something!

"So… you will not leave?…"

"Well, I do have a crusade to do, but otherwise I will stay here and watch you grow up,"Cid shrugged. He was very interested in how the things will play out; the whole world's energy system was interesting, and the kid in question was even more interesting with his own anomalous energy system.

In response kid jumped onto him and held onto his clothes. Yeah, weird stuff… Really weird… Kid reminds him of Alpha, though. If she was a bit more easygoing and a prankster, that is.

He was never a father, though… But who cares, right? He managed to grow seven little girls into powerhouses, after all! Muh-ha-ha! Tremble, new world! His newfound son will force you on the knees! Muh-ha-ha!… Augh, fly flew into the mouth…

Naruto slowly woke up.

He didn't want to wake up. In his dream, he finally found his father who turned out to be very strong someone that travelled the worlds (what does that even mean?) in order to protect them.

And now, he was back to reality.

He sniffed a bit.

It's fine, he will just make some ramen with milk… Though for some reason he didn't feel that hungry.

With sloppy steps, he walked towards the kitchen.

"Took you long enough to wake up, huh?"Naruto froze upon hearing familiar voice. He slowly turned around and saw the enigmatic dark figure sitting on the chair,"But honestly, I would change a lot of stuff here. How do you even live like thi-"

"Dad!"

"Are you sure everything you wrote in the report is correct?" old man in white clothes and hat with red symbol on it exhaled the smoke.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Down to the last detail," the masked man bowed, "However, I have to mention that the suspicious person frequently looked out of the window and stared exactly at the place where I have been at the moment."

"So an elite shinobi with infiltration specialization…" old man rubbed his beard.

"Hiruzen," old woman on the couch spoke with hoarse voice, "We cannot let the obvious spy of another village to go wherever he pleases, especially near village's weapon."

"I agree with Utatane," another old man with glasses grumbled, "Such audacity cannot be forgiven. If it continues like this, everyone will think Kohona is a pushover that allows potentially hostile elements to waltz in and out."

The last member stood in silence.

"I understand your points, councillors," Hokage slowly closed his eyes, "And yet, we cannot allow ourselves to be rash. Danzo, do you have anything to add?"

He stood in silence a bit longer, pondering on the next course of actions.

"This is what I propose," the one named Danzo started speaking, "We will send out someone Jinchuuriki is familiar with to ensure no hostility from him. If the infiltrator takes dangerous actions, it will be a quick disapproval of lies he built around village's weapon. If he doesn't, we would still have a trusted man near Jinchuuriki, inhibiting whatever actions the infiltrator could take."

"That is the problem, my old friend… He doesn't have anyone to trust, because everyone shunned him away,"'and you know whose fault it is'.

"Indeed, that would be a problem… Would be, if there wasn't one old man who was kind enough to a certain kid who just happened to be a Jinchuuriki," the hint was obvious.

"Then I will take this task upon myself. Decision is made. Disperse," Hokage commanded. Everyone except for councillors bowed and immediately exited the room.

Not long after the councillors followed. With a sigh Sarutobi Hiruzen placed his hands on the table and looked outside the window, where the prosperous village lived. The world that was unavailable to a certain boy that just so happened to be unlucky enough to become a Tailed Beast's container.

"His name is Naruto, not 'weapon'…" he whispered weakly.

The one who was called the God of Shinobi now could only look how the kid who was trusted into his care was being treated like feral beast by the very place that owed its life to him.

"What would you say, Minato?… Would you be disgusted that I allowed things to develop to this point?…"

"…What goals do you have that it needs to involve a child?"

"If you have spied on us, as you probably did,"he created a small wind with magic to make his coat wave around in a cool manner,"Then you already should know this."

"…And you expect me to believe in that?"

"I don't,"Cid leaned in, red light blinking from the darkness,"But, do tell me… When my information turns out to be correct, what will you do?"

"Not 'if', but 'when'…" old man bit his lip, "And what do you intend to do with Naruto?"

"And why do you care?"no, really, from the looks of it the kid held a lot of respect towards that man. Why?

"Because…" old man closed his eyes, "I made a promise to his parents to care about him."

"…Well, things certainly don't go your way, considering…"

"That is one of my biggest mistakes that I regret to this day," old man took out the pipe, "They have sacrificed their lives in order to protect our village, yet this is how their child is treated… All because of my indecision."

That still did not explain why he was so trusting, though…

"You may not know this," old man continued as he exhaled a cloud of smoke, "But I was able to see Naruto doing a summoning technique. Of course, unless you already have a contract, you would be pulled into summon's world, and Shinigami forbid it is hostile, and so I wanted to stop it… I don't know how he managed to learn about it, but lady Luck was certainly on our side today, as instead of being summoned into nowhere he summoned you instead."

He inhaled yet again.

"Say, you have already made a contract, correct?"

"Indeed,"are contracts common there? He better to prepare some important-looking paper, then.

"Then I am relieved."

Silence.

"I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage, leader of military power of Konoha, hidden village of Fire Country. And if everything you said is true, then… I am willing to leave Naruto in your care for the time being."

Cid quirked his brow. That didn't go as expected. Also, now that he thinks about it, did that man really just use Japanese terms out of nowhere?

"If you look at it from my side, I have already lost. Tailed Beast can be re-sealed into someone else, granted we find a suitable container, but Naruto… You have Naruto on your hands. I would want to fight with you for him, but that would only result in death, either mine or yours. In both cases the child would be left traumatized, especially if he realizes you have fooled him."

"I did not fool him. I am his father."

"Sure. So long as it allows him to be happy… Not to mention…" old man placed the pipe in his mouth and inhaled, "You are quite strong by yourself, if Nara's technique is anything to go by."

"So you won't interfere into mybusiness?"that was the most important part.

"So long as you won't harm Naruto or village."

"Then we have a deal."

Ahh, yiss! He actually managed to fool even the seemingly powerful guy of this place with his roleplay! His speeches in front of the window and on the open space didn't fail him!

"You did not tell… Who is that that goes after the energy of the world?" Sarutobi sternly looked at him.

"Correct. Listen to it one time, for repeating it more would bring disaster…"mysteriousness!

He slowly flared up his mana. This is the moment he was waiting for! This is what it was all about!

"The enemies of this world are…"

His eyes shone. It's not like he would say random name and get right about the hidden enemies that were sitting in shadows two times in a row, right?

"Ootsutsuki."

Cid lazily watched as Naruto huffed, trying to concentrate on his energy, or chakra.

Yes, after their talks with Hiruzen, aka Hokage (that's a title, by the way), Cid got access to some juicy stuff, namely, the repository of information, library. Of course, they did not give him anything secret, but even what was available to the public was enough for his brains to start working.

Chakra. The inner energy of people in this world. A combination of their physical and spiritual energies, mixed into one that allowed them to surpass limits of human body and even wield the elements at their will… granted, that they have affinity with them.

It was both similar and different from magic. Magic, as he knew it, was still the mysterious energy that was contained in body and soul, and the more you advanced in magic wielding, the more it transferred to the soul. It could be used to create artifacts, harden materials, and even enhance your body. However, it's primary use was in bending the laws of the world to your will.

In comparison, the major chakra advantage was in enhancing your body. Yes, just like magic, it was quite versatile, and there were many various techniques that used chakra in non-conventional ways, but otherwise, chakra was still the energy of the body. Moreover, if magic runs out, then a person is simply left without magic; they can still fight physically. However, if you run out of chakra, you are dead. Really. Chakra replaced your lifeforce, or rather, it was lifeforce, just combined with spiritual energy.

Cid almost had a headache thinking about that… kidding, of course, but it was still quite interesting to think about. Apparently, people here decided to separate all ways of using chakra into categories (which Cid fully approved!): ninjutsu, which utilized chakra into wielding elements and doing various techniques (somewhat close to how he does it, but using some kind of seal system); genjutsu, which focused on making opponents see illusions by messing with their chakra (scary stuff); fuinjutsu, basically runecrafting of this world (he can't wait to dive into it); and taijutsu, style that is the least reliant on chakra as it focuses on physical combat.

There were, of course, other ways to use chakra, like medical jutsu which, as expected, used chakra to heal injuries, but otherwise everything would fall down into these four categories. Now Cid was all ready to immerse himself into the new world, and there was only one thing stopping him from that. Namely, lack of chakra system.

You see, chakra had yet another important distinction from magic — chakra system. Remember when he said about all these interesting channels that reminded him about his own attempts to smelt a pathway for Shadow Mana (and Core)? Magic users of his world had channels, too, but his became redundant once he created Soul Space (advanced subspace that is an extension of your soul; can act both as inventory and your domain), as all his magic completely went into his Magic Layer (part of the soul which grants you ability to wield magic) over time. However, magic system and chakra system, despite looking similar at a first glance, were completely different upon further inspection.

Magic channels encompassed the whole body in a somewhat random pattern. They allowed to add and release your magic energy from any part of your body, granted you had enough control. Moreover, they could move and even remake themselves depending on how their user used magic.

In comparison, chakra system was fixed in place, in a pattern not different from circulatory system, and had some kind of gates called 'tenketsu' through which the chakra could be released. If they are unable to let chakra through, you can't release it, therefore you are unable to use about 90% of stuff that should be possible with it. Chakra also had some kind of a… core? If he can say that? Yeah, core which was located near solar plexus, similar to his own Shadow Core before it went into, heh, shadows. Magic system did not have one and stored the energy in the body as a whole.

This also made a difference in output of energy: you had to 'expel' the chakra out of your channels in order for it to take effect in whatever way you used, which forced you to learn to control it; magic started working the moment you make the energy output.

In short, while chakra was way harder to control, people here have grown accustomed to that restriction and started making roundabout ways in order to use it; magic was way more versatile if you can actually control it properly, but could be controlled to some extent even by complete beginners, resulting in most people not even bothering to learn it properly, which forced an age of stagnation in the world he reincarnated into.

Another interesting topic was Magic Overload: there was nothing similar to that, or, at least, not that public knew about it… But judging by first glance, it was simply not possible. Chakra merged with people's lifeforce too tightly, and if chakra's amount started growing all of sudden, it was only for the betterment of the user… Well, if you don't count the fact that they need to re-learn how to control their newfound powers.

"Uhh, I can't make it!"

Oh, someone snapped.

"Can't make what?"he removed his sunglasses and slowly raised over his lounge chair… because every self-respecting enigmatic sensei makes it look like they enjoy the scenery while their students suffer, trying to finish the training.

"I just can't make this cha-ku-ra move the way I want! It's too hard!" kid whined.

"Do you remember how I controlled your chakra?"Cid asked calmly.

"Yeah, but each time I try to do it, it fails! Like something interrupts it!"

"Interrupts, you say…?"now that he thinks of it, there was also some peculiarity about that thing in kid's stomach…"Try to do it again, I will watch closely."

Kid mumbled something, but complied. Cid watched in interest as the chakra inside Naruto's body started moving, but before it even could go out of tenketsu, the anomaly on the stomach interrupted it with sudden release of… another chakra? But somehow… darker?

"Again!"

"Yes, I have seen that…"how interesting…

Clearly, there was something inside that anomaly…

"And do it yet again, I shall try something."

"Uh, sure?…"

Another attempt, and this time Cid manages to interfere right before the foreign chakra could enter kid's system. He caught the sample of it and barred the rest from entering.

"It worked!"

"Indeed, it did,"Cid muttered, looking at the sample with a grin,"It did."

Naruto livened up and started doing training with twice the vigor. And whether it was placebo or were Cid's actions enough to somewhat scare the foreign chakra away, but this time kid could actually succeed in his attempts. Not every time, barely one out of three, but even that was enough for him to feel happy. And Cid felt happy, too.

Come to think of it, at the last moment he managed to take a glance and notice something like rune when anomaly emerged… Is this the mythical fuinjutsu? If so, Cid has large plans for it…

Naruto woke up yet again. He ate the delicious steak (two, actually!) mixed with veggies (bleh!) and drank the nice cold tea!

It was the second week since dad (?) came back from his mission and started training him seriously. At the second day Shadow, as he introduced himself, met with old man Hokage, and it seems like they were friends! Because almost every day old man has come to visit them and talk about something… Though it was hard for Naruto to understand, but sometimes it was related to his training!

Speaking about training, he can now use chakra! As old man said, using chakra was something important in becoming shinobi and especially Hokage, as chakra allows you to do cool techniques like disappearing in cloud or running really fast or breathing fire! He couldn't use it con-sis-tent-ly, though… Sometimes something just interrupts him, but dad (?) just says that it was some kind of anomaly that needed a proper check-up and buried himself in mountains of scrolls. Naruto couldn't understand a single word out of it, but dad (?) wanted to help him, so Naruto tried to do what he can!

Sometimes Shadow muttered about something like 'stage' and 'roleplay'. Naruto couldn't quite understand it, but from the likes of it it was very important! He even came up to ask about that and got an answer! It was a bit complicated, but what struck him the most was: "Remember; how you do first impression is important. If you manage to struck the public with your mere appearance, then they would accept you with open arms".

Naruto then came up to old man to ask about it, and after a minute of blinking (Naruto really thought it was something bad) Hokage confirmed that being able to hold a stage was, indeed, one of the crucial parts of becoming recognized and respected. He then pressed that if Naruto really wants to learn about it more, then it would be good if he paid attention to Hokage's speech when it was the time of Shinobi Academy enrollment… to which Naruto was accepted beforehand, by the way.

Old man clarified that considering Naruto already surpassed the initial requirements for the academy (at this moment kid puffed out his chest in pride, to Hiruzen's hidden smile), it would be wiser to just accept him on the basis that he can control chakra, albeit not quite at the level of being able to come out as genin… Genin was the first rank shinobi gets after finishing their study, by the way! After that come chuunin, jonin, and then… Uh, he forgot. Old man said it's important for Hokage to know their people, though, so he will definitely remember it!

Dad (?), on the other hand, was seemingly busy with his research on how to fix Naruto's control problems… from his simplified explanation, it seemed like something was actually interfering with his chakra and it was not an imagination, but for that he will need to study fuinjutsu for a bit… by the way, that was one of the ways shinobi can use their chakra! Others were ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu!… Though old man said that there were other ways, but overall the most used were ones that dad (?) mentioned.

Oh, they also now slept in a good house! Shadow made it using his own abilities to control the energy in things, and even said that if Naruto trains enough, he can at some point do the same! But that's a lot of training…

Oh, and people in the village don't try to beat him anymore! They still look at him with hate, though, but Naruto kinda didn't mind. He had old man and dad, after all!

It was the third week, and Cid has finally cracked the code on how to replicate the chakra system in his body. Turned out, the chakra was kinda unnatural in some way, as in it was merged with usual lifeforce… he already said that, right? But there were traces of something interesting in the chakra, couldn't quite figure out what it was as of yet, but it was… interesting. He also came to a conclusion that chakra somewhat differs depending on person's genetics. How did he know that? Well, he saw some strange guys with eyes that did not have pupils, and their chakra was… way different compared to usual. As it turned out, there was a whole clan of these people that had pupil-less eyes, and they had some kind of… rentgen vision? Or something? Something close to his magic vision, but kinda crippled. Overall interesting, though.

As Cid ran through the village, he found even more interesting cases: like, how about another clan with darker chakra that, too, had some kind of special eyes? Or a clan that could pack bond with dogs and raise them as warriors? Or clan that… used insects and hosted them in their bodies?…

In short, it heavily depended on genetics. That's why Cid decided to do the most wild stuff he could think of: use the left-over magical channels that were now unneeded since his soul used magic way better and in more natural way. He would try to grow them into a proper chakra system, so his body would not be left out. Of course, he will also try to integrate chakra into his soul, but considering that chakra is combination of physical and spiritual energy, it would probably not work out without body, anyway.

He also took some samples from other people, but overall he concluded that his body was way superior to whatever these people had, and the only interesting part were the super eyes.

Alright, he has prepared the stage and the rune circles, thanks to Hams and Todd (yet another Inner Beast, now… toad, yeah…), time to do yet another power up operation! It worked last time with Soul, right? And back then his methods were still in infancy stages, basically a coinflip! Now he is prepared! Chakra system, it's time!

Worlds of Shadows - Chapter 2 - Sonic_Shine (2024)

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