Read advance chapters of all my works or want to support me.
https/www.p.a.t.r.e.on/Adamo_Amet
Join us on discord:
https://di..scord.gg/h3kDw7ma
••••••••••••••••••
Chapter 176 The Stranger in My Skin
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The forest was quiet. Only the rustling of leaves and the distant call of birds filled the silence as Naruto and Kakashi walked side by side, yet oceans apart.
It was an awkward, heavy walk, like two ghosts haunting the same path for different reasons. Neither had spoken for several minutes, but both knew what was coming.
Eventually, Naruto reached up, casually plucked a buzzing insect from the air, and popped it into his mouth.
Kakashi blinked.
"You can act disgusted if you want," Naruto said, his tone too casual to be comfortable.
But Kakashi didn't flinch. He just watched him for a long moment and said quietly, "You didn't accept what happened to you."
Naruto's smile faded. He didn't argue.
"Did you act like everything was fine earlier? To keep the others from worrying about these changes?"
"Not pretend," Naruto corrected. "That's not the word. I wasn't faking anything. I was... expressing. I pushed my personality so far, exaggerated it, exaggerated me, because if I could still laugh like an idiot, maybe I'd feel like an idiot again. Maybe I'd feel... normal."
He stopped walking. The wind tugged at his longer hair.
"I don't know what's happening to me. I don't know what I am anymore."
Kakashi stood beside him silently, listening.
Naruto looked down at his hands that weren't calloused the way he remembered, hands that were longer, fingers more claw than human.
"Every time I move, I feel like I'm wearing someone else's body. Like I'm inside a puppet that looks like me but... isn't."
He raised his right hand slowly, letting the slit in his palm blink open.
"This thing watches people when I'm not trying to. It feels people. I sense them breathing, I hear their bones shift under muscle. I look at someone, and I know where to break them."
His voice had gone hoarse.
"And that's not even the worst part."
He pressed a hand to his chest.
"I can hear my heart. Not the real one. The stone one. It ticks like a war drum. Slow. Rhythmic. Cold. And when I listen too hard, I swear it's speaking to me in a voice I don't understand but still obey."
Kakashi turned to him then, not just to respond, but to be there. He reached up and pulled down his mask, revealing a tired, scarred face that rarely showed itself.
"When I was fifteen, I buried friends every week. Sometimes parts of them. Sometimes just names. I used to stare at my hands and wonder if they were made of blood. I used to wake up expecting my reflection to be someone else. War doesn't just kill people. It warps them. You come out of it with the same name, but everything inside's been gutted and replaced."
Naruto's breathing slowed as he listened.
"But the thing that kept me grounded wasn't pretending to be normal," Kakashi continued. "It was remembering who I wanted to be. Not what I looked like. Not what people expected. Who I chose to be."
Naruto closed his eyes, feeling the weight of the stone heart thrum through his ribs.
"I want to be me," he whispered. "But I feel like I'm just... dressing the corpse of who I was. Putting on my own skin like a costume. I laugh, I eat, I make jokes but under all of it is this voice that says, You are not that boy anymore."
Kakashi stepped closer.
"Then kill that voice. And if you can't, drown it out. With memories. With dreams. With the people who still call you Naruto and mean it. You don't owe the world a perfect identity. You just owe yourself the right to fight for one."
Naruto opened his eyes, and they shimmered faintly in the filtered sunlight. They were heavy with a kind of awareness that didn't belong to a boy his age. He exhaled, steady and quiet, then looked at Kakashi.
"Thanks, sensei," he said, voice low and worn, as if every syllable had been soaked in too many sleepless nights. There was no warmth in it. No edge. Just something raw and honest.
Kakashi gave a faint grunt, surprised by the sudden hug that followed. Naruto stepped forward, arms awkward but firm, like someone relearning how to reach for others.
The jonin stilled, then returned the gesture, gently but completely.
"I don't think I'll be able to live comfortably again."
Kakashi didn't let go. "That's not a failure. That's reality. You change. You survive. And then you try to live inside what's left. One step at a time. You don't have to do it alone. Team 7's here. I'm here."
Naruto nodded faintly. "When you got your Sharingan… did you feel like a stranger to yourself?"
Kakashi hesitated. Then: "Every day. But it taught me something. You have to remember why you chose to change in the first place."
Naruto's answer came without delay. "To protect the people I care about."
"Then let that be your anchor."
They stood in silence for a moment longer before Naruto pulled away slightly.
"I need to know something, Kakashi."
Kakashi met his gaze.
"I know you betrayed my trust. I know you did what you thought was right. But after everything I've been through, after taking out my anger on the capra demon, I've decided I want to hear your reasons. Honestly. No half-truths."
Kakashi nodded. "You deserve that."
They found a nearby clearing. Naruto sat on a sun-warmed rock, the rays soaking into his skin like fire into metal. Kakashi stood nearby in the shade.
"I care about you, Naruto," Kakashi began. "I always have. That's not a line. It's the truth."
Naruto looked down, his fingers twitching against his knees. "I know. I saw it in everything you did. You protected me while I was unconscious after the Zabuza fight, to the point you damaged your body further when you should've rested. You covered for me after I massacred Gato's men. You taught me things I never thought I'd learn. You were… someone I respected. Still do."
He looked up again, gaze sharp. "But you still planted that kunai in my gear."
Kakashi didn't look away. "I did."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't understand what you'd become."
Naruto's expression twisted, confused and cold.
Kakashi went on. "When you showed off something new, you weren't the same. Your power, your skill, your very items felt alien. I started questioning everything. And I realized… I couldn't explain you to anyone. Not the Hokage. Not even myself."
He folded his arms. "As shinobi, we're trained to assess risk. You became a question mark. And in the ninja world, question marks get erased."
"So you thought spying on me would fix that?"
"I thought… if I could see where this all began... if I could understand the changes. I might find a way to shield you from what's coming."
Naruto's voice was low now, dangerous. "You didn't trust me."
"I didn't trust myself not to fail you."
Silence stretched long between them. The forest didn't move. The breeze didn't come.
"I've seen people fall to power," Kakashi said. "Seen them twist into things they couldn't recognize. I saw you changing, and I panicked. But today… watching you laugh, protect, care… I realize you're still Naruto. Just more."
Naruto studied him for a long time.
"Next time," he said finally, "come to me. Ask."
Kakashi gave a small, solemn nod. "I will."
Naruto exhaled slowly.
It wasn't a sigh of relief, or even frustration. Just… release. Like his lungs were tired of keeping everything inside.
"But not all the fault lies with you. Honestly, I didn't really think about how much my stuff was affecting people," he said. "But I had a reason for not saying anything. Not because I didn't trust you, Kakashi-sensei… but because I thought you already knew."
Kakashi tilted his head slightly, like a curious dog.
"Knew what, exactly?"
"About Lordran."
That got him.
He didn't react immediately. Just blinked. "Why would I know about that?"
Naruto gave a short laugh. Not because it was funny but because it was insane he didn't. "Because the thing that pulled me into that world? It came from the Forbidden Scroll of Seals."
He watched Kakashi's entire posture shift like someone had kicked him in the stomach while he was exhaling.
"You're telling me… the same scroll that's locked away by the Hokage? That Forbidden Scroll?"
"Yup," Naruto said, voice flat. "The one Mizuki had me steal during my genin test."
"Oh?!"
"And no one said a word after I came back. No questions. No lectures. Not even a scolding. So I thought it was just something you and the Hokage kept quiet. You know, hush-hush forbidden knowledge or whatever."
Kakashi didn't answer. He just stared at the ground, hand slowly dragging down his face like he was trying to wipe the thought out of his head. Naruto almost felt bad for him. Almost.
Kakashi muttered, "How the hell didn't Lord Third know about it? Does that mean one of the previous Hokage sealed away Lordran's contract in the Forbidden Scroll without telling him...?"
And for a moment, Naruto wondered the same thing.
Kakashi rubbed his temple like he was fighting off a migraine. "Okay. Fine. Let's go through this step-by-step. You said you'd explain."
Naruto nodded. "Rapid fire me."
"That armor," Kakashi pointed. "It's clearly custom-fit. How did that happen in the span of a few days?"
"It's Oscar's," Naruto said quietly. "The guy who saved me. Lordran gear just… adjusts. Fits itself to the person, I guess."
Naruto didn't reveal the system, as there were things even Kakashi didn't need to know.
"That giant sword of yours."
"Found it on a corpse in a graveyard."
Kakashi flinched. Naruto remembered the way he'd said that the first time, like it was a joke. It wasn't.
"And the fireball jutsu?" Kakashi pressed. "Your nature affinity is wind, and I don't think you should be able to pick up that kind of jutsu in just a few days, especially without knowing about chakra natures."
"That wasn't a jutsu. It was a tool. A pyromancy flame." Naruto held up his hand and stared at it, wondering why the flame wasn't lighting up. He missed that thing.
"Though it's gone now. Something must've happened to it. I think it got absorbed into my dragon scale when the vines wrapped around it."
Kakashi looked like he wanted to ask about that too but wisely let it go.
"And your body." Kakashi's tone shifted. It wasn't accusatory, but it was sharp. "Your physical development doesn't make sense. It should take years to reach this level... not just two months."
"Nope," Naruto agreed. "It comes from souls."
Kakashi looked stunned.
Naruto clarified. "Lordran lets me absorb the souls of what I kill. That energy? I can convert it into strength, dexterity, even resistance. My body… it's a reflection of the soul I've built. And every time I come back, I leave behind thousands of shadow clones in Lordran to train, meditate, spar, study. I absorb all their memories when I return."
He watched Kakashi's mouth open, then close again. Like he wanted to argue. Like part of him refused to believe any of this, but he had to. Because deep down, he'd already seen the truth with his own eye.
Kakashi was speechless.
In the span of a few minutes, Naruto had shattered every single assumption he'd made. Every quiet theory. Every layered observation. The whole look underneath the underneath philosophy he swore by had failed him so hard, he wanted to punch himself in the face.
"I'm an idiot."
"That you are, sensei," Naruto said. "And for that, you owe me three jutsu."
Kakashi blinked. "Three?"
"One," Naruto raised a finger, "for copying my swordsmanship."
"Fair."
"Two, for somehow being at the very bottom of my teacher ranking. You're below Petrus who is a cultist scammer and he is ugly."
Kakashi winced.
"And three," Naruto said, leaning forward, "for sneaking around behind my back."
"...Fair enough," Kakashi admitted with a sheepish shrug. Deep down, he knew things wouldn't ever go back to how they were—but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe this was better. This… understanding between them.
"My question now," Naruto said, voice cooling. "Did the old man put you up to this?"
Kakashi didn't answer.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. "You promised me the truth."
A pause. Then Kakashi gave a quiet nod. "Yes. The Third assigned me to find out about Lordran. But I swear to you, Naruto... his intentions weren't malicious. He just… wanted to understand."
Naruto's lips thinned. "Yeah, well. I'll be the judge of that once I see him. That old man and I are long overdue for a conversation." He cracked his knuckles, the sound sharp and deliberate. "A long one."
Kakashi didn't argue.
"Anything else?"
"There's still a lot," Kakashi admitted. "But I'm guessing 'item from Lordran' is the answer to most of it."
"Pretty much," Naruto said with a grin. "And I've had some pretty amazing teachers over there. People who've actually taught me without treating me like I was some burden."
"I'd like to meet them, if it's ever possible."
Naruto gave a short laugh. "Yeah… not sure about that. Last time I tried summoning you to Lordran with your kunai, I got nothing. Since Oscar was in danger, I had to resort to the dragon scale and… other things."
Kakashi raised a brow. "Shouldn't you be rushing back to check on him then?"
"He's fine." Naruto's voice was calm, certain. "I can feel it. Deep in my soul. Besides… I needed to clear the air with you. And I'm glad I did. This talk, it helped."
Kakashi nodded slowly. "And if it hadn't?"
Naruto smiled.
But it was the kind of smile that didn't quite reach the eyes. "Oh, I would've killed you."
Kakashi gave his best eye-smile in return, but something about Naruto's tone made him shift slightly. The kid still had his warmth, his humor—but there were edges now. Sharp ones. And Kakashi wasn't sure how many of them were left behind by the dragon inside him… or by the world he'd lived through to get here.
What unnerved him more was the quiet realization: the Naruto he fought yesterday was weaker than the one standing before him now.
"Be back before lunch," Kakashi finally said, turning away. "We've still got a mission to finish."
"Got it," Naruto said.
And with a brief flash of golden light, he vanished with the homeward miracle.
Still… Kakashi wondered.
If Lordran was anything like Mount Myōboku, then who or what ruled it?
Naruto had mentioned something called the Capra Demon.
Was demon a title? A species? Or something more? It didn't match the hydra he described. It didn't sound like a summoning creature bound by any known contract. It was different. Everything he'd heard was different.
Was Lordran not ruled by a single summoning clan… but by many?
The idea chilled him.
It would explain the chaos. The monstrous variety. The way Naruto spoke about that place—not with reverence, but with wary respect, the kind you reserved for something wild and dangerous. A land where nothing followed the rules, where everything hungered to kill you.
A battlefield of beasts.
Taurus Demons. Hydras. Crystal lizards.
Lordran wasn't a contract.
It was a convergence. A fractured summoning network, each domain held by its own monstrous ruler. A place too complex, too dangerous, and too unpredictable to categorize. No wonder one of the previous Hokage had sealed it away. Lordran wasn't meant to be used.
It was meant to be forgotten.
Still, despite all the lingering questions, for the first time in a long while, Kakashi felt a strange sense of peace.
Because now, finally, he could look at Naruto Uzumaki and begin to understand. Not fully. Not yet. But it was no longer blind guessing. There were patterns. Roots. Logic, in the chaos.
All that remained was his report to the Third Hokage.
And with some luck, maybe even some good news would be waiting.
Maybe Danzo would be dead.
Buried.
But unfortunately for Kakashi… the world wasn't that kind. Or that simple.
And what he thought he understood?
Wasn't even the beginning. Just the first scratch against a surface far deeper than he could ever imagine.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Naruto opened his eyes to the familiar orange glow of the bonfire.
"...So this is what it's like," he murmured.
He'd always wondered why Oscar spent so much time beside the flame. It didn't give off real heat. Not like normal fire. But the lizard had always looked… calm near it. At peace. Now Naruto understood.
It wasn't just fire.
It was life. In a world where life was the rarest, most precious thing. He exhaled softly and stood, joints still tingling with the aftershock of the miracle that brought him home.
"Oscar," he whispered, and then sprinted out of the cave without hesitation.
The moon hung low and sickly over Darkroot Basin, its pale light struggling through the canopy.
Naruto's Hawkeyes flickered, sharpening.
Something was wrong.
Several things.
The tower where Havel had once been imprisoned was wide open—its gate splintered, but it wasn't just that.
The lake was gone.
Where once moonlight had danced across dark, endless waters, now only a crater remained. The basin had drained completely, the ground scorched and cracked like it had been torn open from below. Blackened earth. Shattered stone. The fractured time of Lordran hadn't yet healed the damage.
But even stranger were the new shapes in the basin.
Six of them.
Naruto stilled, muscles tense.
A towering monster of jagged crystal, eight feet tall and packed with unnatural density. They moved with the weight of mountains, every footstep shaking the basin like a death knell. Their arms ended in fused clubs, massive crystal maces heavier than tombstones. Their backs were crowned with pale-blue spines, flickering faintly like ice under starlight.
And at the center of it all…
"Oscar," Naruto breathed.
What had once been a small, eager crystal lizard was now a ten-foot behemoth. Towering. Gleaming. Its entire body refracted light in jagged, overlapping shards, the color of starlight frozen in glass.
It looked exactly like the drawing Rickert had once made in idle fascination. A sketch of what a crystal lizard might become… if it ever reached maturity.
Naruto's eyes flicked.
[Name: The Crystal Lizard, Oscar]
[HP: 250 / 500]
No Ravenous. No aggressive status. Just Oscar. Wounded, but alive.
And Naruto didn't care why it didn't say more. Did Oscar… absorb my soul drop? Is that what made him grow?
There was no time to ask.
A golem turned. Its head twitched toward Oscar. The others followed, stomping forward like executioners.
Naruto moved in a golden blur, ripped across the basin as the wind howled in protest, the Zweihander flashing like a second moon. And with all the fury of a friend protecting what mattered, he brought it down. The nearest golem split in half with a sound like shattering glass and grinding ice, the creature's core crumbling into fragments as the impact quaked the ground.
"Oscar!" Naruto shouted, landing between the remaining golems and his lizard.
Oscar met his gaze for only a heartbeat.
"Jump."
Oscar launched.
The lizard's body arched high into the air, trailing shimmering particles of light as the crystal on his back pulsed. He moved with beastly grace twenty feet into the air.
Naruto's hands blurred.
"Wind Style: Wind Bullets!"
Compressed spheres of air screamed from his lips and detonated on impact. They pierced through the crystals of two golems, shattering their torsos from the inside out like bursting glass sculptures. The concussive blast knocked a third off its feet.
Behind him, a fourth golem raised its club to strike, but Oscar dropped from the sky like a meteor. He slammed into the golem's back, his jaw wide. With a snarl, he tore through the neck, spraying glittering shards across the field. His claws slashed and gouged with brutal precision.
Another golem surged forward, leaping at Oscar.
"Not today," Naruto growled as he equipped the greatbow. He drew an arrow and fired.
The arrow met the golem midair. The blast turned the creature into a crystal hailstorm, shards raining like razors across the crater.
Silence fell.
Naruto exhaled.
Oscar landed beside him, panting. He was bruised, bleeding blue light from cracked scales, but he rubbed his head against Naruto's thigh like a grateful hound.
Naruto knelt beside him. "Hey, buddy. Sorry I was late."
Oscar licked his cheek.
Naruto laughed, a quiet breath of relief slipping from his lungs as he knelt beside Oscar's motionless body.
"Guess I wasn't the only one who changed," he murmured, pulling out his Estus Flask, ready to pour its glow into the crystal-laced scales of his companion.
But before he could, Oscar's body began to shimmer, then crack.
"What the…?"
Cracks split across Oscar's adult crystalline form like ice under pressure. His towering body shattered not with violence, but with grace. Chunk by chunk breaking into soft, radiant fragments that dissolved in the wind. And from within the shattered crystal shell, a smaller, rounder form Naruto instantly recognized burst forth with a happy chirp and launched into his lap.
"Oscar?!"
The little guy tilted his head to the side, eyes wide and bright.
Naruto stared at him, stunned. "Wait. How did you do that?"
Oscar lifted a paw and pointed toward the remains of the fallen crystal golems.
"No way... Don't tell me, you gained enough control over crystal manipulation to build a giant suit of armor? One that looks like your adult form?"
Oscar chirped proudly.
Naruto squinted at him. "And how'd you learn to do that?"
Oscar chirped again.
"No. Being smart isn't a real explanation, bud."
With a playful huff, Oscar whipped his tail around and slapped his own belly. Naruto blinked. That's when he saw a faint burned mark beneath the scales. His expression darkened, and he immediately activated Soul Sight.
What he saw made his heart drop.
Right there, etched into Oscar's soul like a curse seared from the inside out, the Darksign pulsed faintly. And at its center… a shadowy depth, swirling and slow. Naruto leaned closer, just enough for his Soul Sight to catch it.
A small globule of darkness stared back at him.
Not metaphorically.
It looked back.
Something was in there.
As if, just for a moment, the veil had slipped, and Naruto caught a glimpse of something no one in Konoha or even in Lordran had words for. A hidden truth buried in the bloodline of crystal lizards. A whisper of connection…
Not to fire.
But to darkness.
He returned to the physical world and met Oscar's eyes again.
"...Do you know how you got this Darksign?"
Oscar didn't answer. His chirps fell silent.
Naruto let out a breath and ruffled the little guy's head. "Doesn't really matter, I guess."
He leaned back, mentally putting the pieces together. "So let me get this straight. You got the Darksign, absorbed my soul drop... which was massive, by the way... used it to get smart, then fought those golems. Which, if I'm right, were probably sent by Seath the Scaleless to look for Havel… and while fighting them, you learned from them."
Oscar gave a very satisfied nod, tail swishing behind him like a smug cat.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Okay, Mr. Genius. Since you're so smart… say my name."
Oscar looked at him with a flat expression that screamed I can't talk.
"Come on. At least try."
Oscar shook his head.
Naruto leaned forward, eyes deadly serious. "Say. My. Name."
Oscar chirped.
"You're goddamn right."
Oscar sweatdropped, his tail stiff in pure exasperation.
Naruto chuckled and gently pushed him off his lap. "Alright, enough messing around. Let's go check on Andre. I need my repaired Elite Knight armor and my old Uchigatana back from Andre."
But just as he stood up to leave, something caught his eye.
A glint. A soft twinkle, faint but persistent, flickering from the top of the watchtower.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"...Huh."
A dark, weathered ring lay nestled in the rubble of the old watchtower. Its metal band was rough, battered by time, with a dull stone embedded in the center. Small black gems circled around it like watchful eyes. It didn't gleam. It didn't shine.
It endured.
Naruto stepped forward, his palm eye flickering open.
Oscar chirped in alarm.
Naruto glanced at him and smirked. "Relax."
The ring trembled, vibrating against the stone floor, then launched into Naruto's outstretched hand via telekinesis.
[Item Acquired: Havel's Ring]
[Description: A ring named after Havel the Rock, Lord Gwyn's old battlefield companion. Havel's knights wore this ring to show faith in their leader… and to carry the impossible.]
Oscar immediately gasped and began hopping excitedly beside him, circling Naruto like a spinning top.
Naruto turned the ring over in his fingers. "Oscar… I kinda get that Havel was hollow, and all that. But how did I win? I don't remember anything."
Oscar paused, then slammed his tail against the ground, cracking the stone and making loud explosion noises with every slap.
Naruto blinked. "Wait… I exploded?"
Oscar nodded.
"And that took Havel out?"
Another chirp. Confirmed.
Naruto grinned. "Guess I won that battle, then..."
Oscar slapped him across the shin with his tail, glaring.
"Alright, alright. Fine. Maybe not a clean win," Naruto muttered, rubbing his skull. "Did something happen? Something I should know?"
Oscar pointed directly at Naruto's chest.
Naruto glanced down at the spot his stone heart pulsed faintly beneath his ribs. "Wait... did Havel stab me? With the Drake Sword?"
Oscar gave a solemn nod.
Naruto's brows furrowed. "But… wasn't he hollow? How? Why would he unless…"
He went quiet.
"Did he regain himself… at the end?"
Oscar didn't chirp. He just nodded again, which confirmed that Havel had helped him with his dragon transformation in a way he didn't understand.
Naruto exhaled, the weight of it dragging his shoulders down. "If I hadn't rushed him… if I hadn't assumed he was an enemy that I needed the dragon power, could he have come back in time?"
Oscar didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Naruto looked down at the ring in his palm and closed his fingers around it. "Guess we have to live with the consequences of our choices."
Oscar gave a small nod, walking beside him as they turned toward Andre's forge.
The silence didn't last long.
"Alright," Naruto said, perking up. "Oscar. Turn into your crystal mecha form."
Oscar blinked. Tilted his head. Why?
"Because I want to ride you into Andre's like a badass," Naruto declared. "Come on! Picture it. I show up on a ten-foot crystal war lizard, he's got to give me a discount."
Oscar stared at him, deadpan. Then began digging into the ground like he was trying to escape to another plane of existence.
"Oi! Get back here!" Naruto shouted, bolting after him. "I swear I will turn you into a skateboard, you shiny little coward!"
Laughter echoed through the broken basin as boy and lizard ran off—past the ruin, past the wounds of the land.
Neither noticed the raven perched above, high in the crumbling tower. Its beady eyes watched them for a moment.
Then, silently, it took flight.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The warm clang of metal echoed off the forge walls as Naruto stepped into Andre's workshop. Smoke curled lazily through the air, and the sharp scent of iron and oil clung to everything like a second skin. Andre was hunched over the Uchigatana, hammering the edge with practiced precision.
"Hello there. My name is Andre of Astora. If you need smithing, speak up," the old blacksmith grunted without looking up.
Naruto stared. "...Andre, what the hell are you doing? And why is Siegmeyer asleep on your floor?"
Andre looked up slowly, eyes narrowing.
He blinked.
"...By the gods." He rubbed his eyes with a heavy sigh. "I knew I poured a bit too much whiskey into the forge this morning. First time I've hallucinated a long golden-haired Naruto with lizard eyes."
Oscar chirped indignantly.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Not a hallucination. It's me. I'm just... different."
Andre squinted, then leaned back against the anvil. "I'll be damned. It is you." His voice dropped. "What happened?"
Before Naruto could answer, a deep, drowsy Hmmm hmmm hmmm? rose from the corner of the room.
Siegmeyer sat up. "Is that... Naruto? By the gods, it is you!"
"Hi, Sir Siegmeyer," Naruto said awkwardly. "I don't even know how to begin explaining this."
"I suppose," Siegmeyer said, stretching and wobbling to his feet, "you could start with why we heard the roar of an Everlasting Dragon shake the Basin to its roots."
Andre handed him a mug from the nearby barrel. "You'll need this."
Siegmeyer accepted it gratefully. "Indeed."
Naruto ran a hand through his longer golden hair. "Okay, so… I may have fought Havel the Rock."
"..."
"...Hmmm."
"This is going to be a long day," Andre muttered, tipping back his flask for a deep gulp of alcohol. The old man bracing himself for the madness that was Naruto Uzumaki, a boy who could turn even the broken world of Lordran on its head.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Author's Note:
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always, here are some insights and explanations for those of you curious about what's going on in my head.
1. Why is Naruto 5 ft tall?
Despite Naruto having a second heart (dragons have two: one physical, one magical), an eye in his palm (The Eye of Calamity, which grants him telekinesis—a power associated with Calamity Dragons in the lore. Look it up: in Dark Souls 1, Kalameet has a telekinetic attack known as the Mark of Calamity), and increased resistance to things like chakra entering his body… I know what's really on your mind:
Why is he taller?
Simple answer: humanoid dragons are tall in Dark Souls lore, for example, Priscilla. His height will continue to grow as the story progresses. Eventually, he'll come to Priscilla's level, who is 16 ft tall.
I landed on 5 ft because it works visually and narratively. Naruto and his peers are still twelve, and I wanted him to feel changed without making him look like he belongs in the NBA. The crazy heights? Those come later when he's older and the story hits its second and third acts.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
2. Is Naruto x Priscilla the official ship?
Oh, you guys picked up on that, huh? Am I shipping Naruto and Priscilla?
Let's look at the facts:
Both are dragons.
Both are kind-hearted but absolute powerhouses.
Naruto's calamity and chaos-flame theme contrasts beautifully with Priscilla's graceful ice.
Now that Naruto's growing, they're becoming physically and visually closer in design.
So... Naruto x Priscilla? Is it happening?
Maybe. Or maybe not. Or maybe it's not even about romance at all. Let's see what happens as the story moves forward.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
3. The Tonal Shift (Team 7 & 8)
Yes, the tonal shift between Naruto's interactions with Team 7 and Team 8 was intentional. I hope that even if it came across as jarring, it was understandable, given the context: Naruto's playing up the absurdity because deep down, he's struggling with the tragedy.
I didn't want to just flip a switch and turn Naruto into an emotionless dragon god. That's not the story I'm telling. He's still Naruto; personality, values, stubbornness, and all. But I needed to show that the transformation is getting to him.
If Naruto had a true dragon's mindset this early, he'd become indifferent to everything—detached, inhuman. And I don't think any of you want to see that just yet.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
4. Three Jutsu Naruto Should Learn?
Let's talk jutsu.
First off, I hope you enjoyed the Kakashi and Naruto dialogue. But more importantly: Kakashi owes Naruto three jutsu. So I'm asking you guys, what should they be?
We already know Naruto has other elemental affinities (hinted at in the wood flower scene. I won't explain it just yet, but trust me, it matters. I'm curious what you guys think the wood flower is about). So I'm ready to expand his jutsu list, which is honestly tiny for how strong he feels right now.
Here's what he has:
Three Academy Jutsu
Body Flicker
Wind Style: Vacuum Blade
Wind Style: Wind Bullets
Shadow Clones
That's it. He's overdue for an upgrade.
Let me give you a hypothetical: Naruto gets the Chidori, and thanks to his Hawkeyes, he can use it in ways similar to the Sharingan. That's just an example, though.
So, which three jutsu do you want Naruto to learn before and during the Chunin Exams?
Give me your best picks in the comments.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
5. What Do You Think?
What do you think of the changes to Naruto?
How do you feel about Oscar's buff and his crystal mecha suit? It's hilarious to me that Naruto, who comes from the more modern world, is using swords and magic, while Oscar, a fantasy-born lizard, is running around with guns and the limitations of the crystal mech is that oscar can't use chakra or his magic guns.
(Also, let me know how excited you are for when Oscar eventually meets a crystal-user like Guren. That's going to be fun.)
Zabuza's ally: who do you think he's gone to recruit as backup for his betrayal?
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
A couple of more chapters as the Wave Arc wraps up.
The climax is coming next.
Let me know your theories, thoughts, and predictions in the comments.
Stay tuned.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 84, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.
To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!