Naruto: The Chosen Undead

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 181 A Monster in Human Skin

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"So this was your hideout?" Naruto asked, stepping through the overgrown brush and onto what remained of the raised wooden platform.

It had once been a sturdy treehouse. Now it stood shattered and torn apart. Thick wooden beams were split like matchsticks, and scorched fragments of kunai-studded walls littered the forest floor. Blood had dried in dark smears across shattered floorboards, and one half of the structure hung limply off a snapped support cable, creaking with every gust of wind.

"This was one of Gato's safehouses," Zabuza said grimly, stepping over a broken plank. "He gave it to me to operate out of during the mission."

The Mist-nin crouched beside a collapsed portion of the wall, running his fingers over a pink crystal shard embedded in the wood.

"The fight ended fast," Zabuza muttered, eyes scanning the ruined hideout. "Too fast. I was still tied up dealing with Guren's lackeys… but from the damage here, I don't think Haku even stood a chance."

Naruto hummed in thought, but his attention drifted toward Oscar, who was standing rigidly near a broken door. The little lizard's body glowed faintly under the moonlight, his glassy eyes locked onto a jagged pink crystal that had sprouted from the wood like a diseased tumor.

Naruto raised a brow. "Oscar…?"

Oscar chirped, crouching low as if preparing to pounce.

Naruto smirked. He could tell the crystal lizard was more than eager to square up with Guren. Looks like someone wants to fight a fellow crystal user, Naruto joked under his breath.

I wonder if Guren drops a special soul like Shisui and the Moonlight Butterfly.

The idea intrigued him more than it should've. Would her soul give him something unique? Armor? A technique? Maybe even an upgrade for Oscar?

He was mulling it over when a rustling in the nearby bushes drew their attention. Both Naruto and Zabuza shifted instinctively, hands moving to their weapons until a familiar voice called out.

"Sorry for the delay," Hinata said as she stepped into the clearing.

Naruto blinked.

Gone was the cream-colored hooded jacket. Her upper body was covered in a sleeveless, dark brown tunic reinforced with overlapping square metal plates across the chest, each bordered in a faint golden trim. Lighter straps crisscrossed the torso for added support. Her shoulders were bare, but her arms were wrapped in shining golden bandages from biceps to fingertips that were flexible but durable.

Around her waist, a thick leather belt held multiple pouches that were all wrapped in the same golden threadwork. Below, a split skirt hung down in patterned panels of deep black with diamond-shaped designs in muted gold and silver. The skirt split open slightly at the sides, revealing loose-fitting black pants tucked into dark, tightly-bound boots laced to her knees.

Naruto whistled. "Wow."

Hinata gave a shy smile and spun slowly on the spot. "How do I look?"

Naruto gave a thumbs-up, a proud grin on his face. "Like a badass. Andre really outdid himself."

Zabuza groaned loudly. "Can you two not flirt in a battlefield?"

Naruto chuckled but nodded. "Right, back to business."

Hinata straightened. "Actually… I've already been working. While you two were checking the wreckage, I've been using my Byakugan to track Haku's chakra."

Zabuza turned sharply, eyes widening. "You what?"

Hinata didn't hesitate. She unrolled a scroll across a flat stone nearby. With swift, precise brushstrokes, she sketched a topographic outline of the surrounding forest. Her finger traced several elevation marks and finally stopped on a cliff edge.

"Two hundred meters southeast. There's an underground facility hidden in the cliffside near the shoreline," she explained. "I only caught it because Haku's chakra flickered briefly. There are other chakra signatures too—five, maybe six, moving inside."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, why does Gato have so many secret hideouts?"

"Because his entire empire runs off illegal smuggling, human trafficking, drug rings, you name it," Zabuza said bitterly. "These places? They're where the real money flows."

Naruto sighed. "Figures. Alright. We move in, but not blind. We'll approach quietly, and Hinata scouts again before we decide how to enter. Sound good?"

Zabuza paused, watching them with a critical eye.

He had expected to be the leader. But here these genin were taking initiative, executing recon, coordinating tactics like seasoned professionals.

"Hold up," Zabuza muttered. "Exactly how many missions have you two been on?"

"This is our first one," they said in perfect unison.

Zabuza stared at them like they'd just announced they were summoning the Sage of Six Paths. "What the hell are they feeding genin in Konoha?"

Naruto said with a grin, "Mostly depression and instant noodles."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was 2:00 a.m. when the fog began to roll in.

It hugged the coastline like a second skin and slithered through the rocks without a sound. The two guards outside the compound barely paid attention. Mist was common this close to the sea.

Then they heard it.

Thud… drag… thud… drag…

Footsteps. Heavy. Deliberate. A rhythm of something ancient and unrelenting.

Out of the gray emerged a figure, tall and hulking, dragging a monstrous cleaver behind him.

One guard reached for his blade. The other snapped through hand signs, voice cracking: "Ninja Art: Banshee Wail!"

A spiraling screech of chakra-infused sound blasted upward, shattering the stillness. It was a warning flare.

Zabuza didn't slow down; not because it was his usual style, but because Naruto's plan called for noise. Chaos. He was the distraction, and his job was to make damn sure everyone in that compound knew the Demon of the Mist had returned.

The first guard charged, and Zabuza's sword swung from the mist like a whispering guillotine. One clean arc. One body down. The second turned to flee. He didn't make it two steps before Zabuza's boot caught his spine and folded him over like paper.

The bodies hit the ground together.

And then, the real welcome began.

From the walls of the compound, a dozen razor-edged crystal vines burst outward.

Zabuza ducked, dodged, and vanished into the mist. The crystals sliced through air and struck nothing.

"...So you really came back." Guren stepped out. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes burned with quiet malice. "I expected you'd die in the forest like a wounded dog," she continued. "Alone and out of chakra. Too proud to crawl."

"I didn't come to fight you."

"Of course not," she murmured. "You came for the boy."

She stepped forward once, letting the crystal beneath her grow taller. "Haku was efficient. Loyal. Beautiful in form, even in defeat. It was such a shame you turned him into a failure."

Zabuza's grip on the Kubikiribōchō tightened, but his expression remained still.

"I'm not here to talk," Zabuza replied. "I'm here to take back what's mine."

"Nothing here belongs to you. Not anymore. Not Haku. Not your pride. Not even your name."

Zabuza's voice dropped an octave, low and heavy with intent. "Then I'll take it back by force."

She raised her hand and made a lazy snapping motion.

"Gozu," she said, almost gently. "Break him."

Gozu flickered forward, his body already bulging with twisted muscle. His jutsu was grotesque—it was an unstable mimicry of Akimichi techniques warped through experimentation and forbidden medicine.

Zabuza didn't move.

Crack.

A single arrow tore through the fog like a sniper's shot.

The large arrow struck Gozu with the force of a lightning bolt.

He didn't dodge. He didn't even try.

Arrogant in the power Orochimaru had gifted him, Gozu believed his body could take anything. He'd crushed boulders barehanded. Torn through armor. A single arrow? He scoffed. But the moment it pierced his chest, a shrill whine cut through the air. A vibration, so fast it blurred to the eye, began to ripple through the shaft. The wind chakra embedded in the projectile cut on the molecular level. It destabilized the bonds holding his cells together.

Gozu had time to widen his eyes.

Then his upper half simply… vanished.

Gone in an instant. The arrow tore straight through his torso, atomizing everything from the sternum up in a spiraling burst of force. Chunks of liquefied flesh sprayed into the mist like red vapor.

Smoke still trailed from the gory mist.

Guren stood motionless atop her crystal spire, expression unreadable. For a moment, she didn't speak. Then: "That wasn't you."

Zabuza exhaled slowly, mist coiling tighter around his shoulders like a shroud. "No. That's the part you didn't account for."

Guren's lips parted slightly but only to exhale as she twisted midair, narrowly dodging an arrow whistling straight for her head. She landed in a crouch, one hand slamming against the earth.

Earth Style: Seismic Sense.

The chakra pulsed outward through the ground like sonar. Guren's senses lit up. Every footstep, every breath, every subtle shift in weight around her transmitted through stone and soil. She smiled coldly.

"This is your plan?" she called, voice echoing through the mist. "You and two genin? I was expecting the full Konoha circus. Not this. What did you do, Zabuza? Kidnap them? Threaten them?"

Zabuza didn't respond.

He moved.

Not like the bloodied, stumbling wreck she remembered. This was the Demon of the Mist.

Guren flew back through the air, twisting midair as she landed in a crouch, boots dragging a furrow into the ground. Behind her, in the cover of the impact and fog, two shadows slipped past the defenses.

Naruto and Hinata were inside.

The trap was working.

Zabuza had drawn out Guren while selling the lie with just enough fatigue to be convincing. And now the real mission was already in motion.

Zabuza stepped forward again, blade resting on his shoulder, mist curling around his boots like smoke from an old battlefield.

"You should've fought me on the water," Guren snapped, rising to her feet. "Maybe then you'd give me a real challenge."

The mist thickened.

"You love the sound of your own voice..."

His blade swung wide, slicing through fog and memory, and for the briefest moment, Guren's senses screamed.

"...Let me show you how beautiful your screams can sound."

WHAM!

The Kubikiribōchō came for her throat but crystal flared across her body just in time. A layer of gleaming pink armor, jagged and smooth like diamond glass, caught the blade mid-swing. The force still launched her backward, boots tearing twin grooves through the dirt as she skidded to a stop.

Hands flying through seals, she snapped her fingers.

Crystal Style: Crystal Spiked Armor!

Guren's body glowed briefly before jagged pink thorns exploded from her crystalline shell, launching in every direction like a storm of razors.

Zabuza didn't dodge.

He burst into a splash of water hitting the stones.

A water clone.

She didn't waste a breath. Spinning on her heel, she looked toward the entrance of the compound.

The Zabuza standing there was real. She knew it instantly.

The Kubikiribōchō swept upward with killing intent, aiming to cleave her in half. She twisted, just barely avoiding the blow, backstepping as the blade carved a trench in the ground where she'd been.

"You know," Guren said as she regained distance, breath steady, eyes sharp, "those two genin you snuck inside? They're going to die in there if this is your grand strategy."

Her voice was casual, but her tone was probing, deliberate. She didn't understand the plan, and it bothered her. No backup, no reinforcements, just two kids and him.

Zabuza didn't answer right away. He simply lifted his blade and rested it on his shoulder, mist curling once more around his boots like a patient predator coiling to strike.

Guren narrowed her eyes. "They're just genin. You're throwing them into a fortress full of my people and you're out here playing bait? What exactly are you trying to pull?"

Zabuza gave a shrug.

Guren's lips pressed into a thin line.

Suddenly, from the mist, a piercing beam of concentrated blue energy cut through the fog, hitting Guren dead center. Her crystal armor shimmered briefly before exploding outward in a spray of fractured light and vapor. Zabuza blinked, squinting against the sudden burst.

"What the hell was that?"

Smoke billowed out across the water.

From the haze, Guren emerged. Her dress was in tatters, her second crystal skin gleaming like refined diamond under the moonlight. Her chest heaved, but her footing was sure. That attack had power behind it. Chakra, yes, but something else too. Something foreign. Her eyes immediately locked onto the source.

The lizard.

One magic gun was still steaming from the last shot, the other humming with renewed charge. He fired again. Two rapid pulses of blue energy lanced through the fog, forcing Guren to twist and flip to avoid them.

Guren landed on a shattered crystal platform, panting softly. Her thoughts churned despite herself.

That thing... it's using some kind of crystal release. But it's not mine. The structure's different. The refractive pattern doesn't match any I've seen. Is it a bloodline? A mutation? A foreign variation?

She clenched her jaw, forcing her mind back to the fight.

Focus. You're a soldier of Orochimaru. Curiosity is for the lab. This is the battlefield.

"Crystal Style: Crystal Clone."

Two copies of herself burst out from her shoulders, sprinting to flank Zabuza as she launched into the air.

Midair, she formed a new blade that was sleek, curved, and glowing with deep blue chakra. Below, Oscar locked onto her movement.

The lizard's tail twisted and whipped upward, crystals rapidly forming into a spiked club, and launched it.

CRACK!

Blade and club collided. But the instant they touched—

BOOOOM.

The opposing energies of magic and chakra reacted violently, a pulse of pure force erupting from the clash. Guren was flung backward, skidding across the surface of the water, landing hard in a three-point stance. Water sprayed high around her.

That wasn't normal.

She rose slowly.

His crystal energy destabilized mine. It's incompatible... and volatile. If they touch again, the blast might take us both out.

The mist thickened as Zabuza moved through it like a silent ghost.

Her heartbeat quickened. She turned slowly, forming a lance of crystal in her left hand, holding it low like a spear.

CLANG!

His blade came from the right. She blocked just in time, the impact shaking her bones. Zabuza disappeared again into the fog. She spun, eyes darting as she couldn't see anything in the Hidden Mist Jutsu.

CLANG! From behind. Then the left. Then above.

Each blow came without warning. His footfalls were silent, his strikes precise, aiming not for brute force but for weak spots in her guard.

Zabuza was a hunter, and she was prey.

He closed in again, but this time not swinging for her head. He faked high before pivoting low. She jumped back, barely avoiding a sweep meant to take her legs out from under her.

Guren gritted her teeth. "You're relentless."

Zabuza said nothing. His breathing was slow, even, as if the mist itself was sustaining him.

Another beam fired from Oscar, this time from a different angle. Guren ducked low, the shot cutting clean through her previous position and disintegrating a distant stone.

Damn it, she thought. That summon's using the mist like a cover. One hit and I'm dead.

She slammed her palm into the water.

Crystal Release: The Gods' Crossings.

A series of sharp, vine-like crystals erupted from the lake's surface, forming a long path of piercing, needle-like growths.

Zabuza leapt upward, then spun, using the flat of his blade to slice through the incoming barrage like a scythe through tall grass. But the attack was just to pin his attention.

Oscar was the real target. He reacted instantly, firing a precise beam that intercepted the incoming crystal growth mid-flight, detonating it in a burst of shattering shards and chakra smoke. Suddenly a massive hexagonal shuriken made of crystal flew through the mist, spinning with deadly force toward the lizard. Oscar saw it coming, eyes narrowing, then fired.

BOOM.

The crystal projectile exploded midair, shattered by a perfectly timed beam.

But Guren wasn't done.

She curved around from the side like a viper.

"Crystal Release: Crystal Wheel!"

A disk-shaped formation grew beneath her, lifting her above the water. With chakra-enhanced speed, she zipped across the lake like a buzzsaw, closing in on Oscar.

"Crystal Release: Crimson Fruit."

A red crystal orb formed midair, snapping shut around Oscar with near-instant speed in a perfect sphere. Inside, the lizard spun, slamming its tail against the walls. No cracks. The orb shimmered with reinforced layers.

You blast it, Guren thought coldly, you kill yourself.

"Let's see what Lord Orochimaru can learn from dissecting you," she whispered. She pressed both palms to the orb and began layering more crystal around it.

WHAM!

The Kubikiribōchō came down like a guillotine.

Guren barely blocked with her crystal-armored arm, the impact sending a shockwave through her body. "You're starting to annoy me," she muttered.

Before either could land another blow, the orb began to glow.

"...You little shit," Guren muttered. "You're going to kill yourself."

The orb detonated.

White-blue light ripped outward, blasting both jonin backward in twin shockwaves. Guren tumbled across the water, armor cracked. Zabuza slid back, sword anchoring him. Smoke choked the air as both Zabuza and Guren prepared for their next clash. But then they felt it.

A sudden ripple of pressure within their own chakra networks.

ROOOAAARRR.

The roar cracked the night wide open, shattering the silence and ripping the mist apart like paper.

From the haze stepped something monstrous.

Oscar was no longer a small lizard. His crystal mecha form stood tall on two digitigrade legs, a living sculpture of serrated crystal and thrumming blue energy. The Ravenous Crystal Lizard had fully awakened.

Zabuza exhaled a low whistle. "Of course... Naruto would summon something like this. Like having a summon with a kekkei genkai wasn't ridiculous enough, now it's a walking fortress with a transformation sequence."

Oscar didn't wait.

BOOM!

He charged, each step pounding across the surface of the lake so fast it was as if he were sprinting on solid ground.

Guren's eyes snapped wide. She slammed a hand to the surface.

Crystal Release: Tearing Crystal Falling Dragon!

The lake itself shimmered and rose, crystallizing mid-motion into the shape of a massive serpent. The dragon's jaws gaped open, razor-sharp scales glittering. But Zabuza was already there.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

His dragon surged forward, crashing into the crystal serpent with a deafening explosion of steam, mist, and jagged shards. Amidst the chaos, Guren suddenly found herself directly in the beast's path.

Her hands flew up.

"Crystal Release: Needles!"

Dozens of long, gleaming shards formed around her, shooting at Oscar like a storm of pink and white razors. But Oscar roared again and vaulted skyward, twisting midair like a predator with impossible agility.

Above the battlefield, the mist began to reform.

Zabuza had used the chaos to recast the Hidden Mist Jutsu, cloaking the area in a dense, suffocating veil.

Guren narrowed her eyes, knowing neither she nor Oscar could see anything now. But Oscar didn't have a problem. He had Soul Sight.

Guren moved silently, body low, taking careful steps—only to freeze. She felt something above her.

Oscar's tail was already aligned.

From midair, a blue beam of light screamed downward. It hit the water right beside her, detonating in a pulse of concussive force and instantly crystallizing the entire section into a domed shell around her.

FWASHHH... CRACK!

A massive crystal sheet erupted where Guren had stood, shimmering like a frozen lotus.

Oscar landed hard on the lake, mist swirling around his claws.

Zabuza grunted, blade resting on his shoulder. "So... what the hell are you?"

Oscar growled twice. Low. Sharp.

Before either could say more, the lake rippled as a new chakra wave surged through the battlefield.

It was vile.

And it was coming from the crystal shell Oscar had just created.

Guren exploded upward.

Chunks of scorched crystal and water flew in every direction as her body regenerated in real time, skin knitting itself back together, blood sizzling as it was reabsorbed. Dark markings slithered across her flesh like ink in water.

The Curse Mark had activated.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A few minutes earlier, Naruto and Hinata landed silently in the shadows of the stone corridor.

The air was cold, the walls damp. Flickering lanterns cast long shadows across the floor.

Hinata's eyes pulsed as her Byakugan flared to life, veins rising around her temples. "Ten chakra signatures," she whispered, scanning the area. "Haku's in the third room to the left… but he's covered in heavy suppression seals. He's not moving."

Naruto gave a tight nod. "Then we move fast."

Suddenly, a noxious gray smoke began to flood the hallway, seeping out from vents in the ceiling and floor.

"Two incoming," Hinata said sharply, her tone shifting.

Out of the haze came a stretching limb, whipping toward her like a slingshot. Hinata stepped aside, pivoting smoothly while deflecting the limb with a fluid strike. But the enemy flew toward her like a spring, feet-first.

Double flying kick.

Hinata blocked the blow with crossed forearms, her boots scraping against stone as she was pushed back.

"Wow," the attacker said in a voice too casual for a fight. "That felt like kicking a wall. You always this sturdy, little girl?"

He landed in a crouch. Despite his slender, androgynous build, his posture was confident. He wore a full-body slime suit, only his painted face visible, with eyes unnervingly wide and lips smeared with deep green pigment. A few tufts of pale pink hair poked out from his hood.

[ Name: Nurari ]

[ HP: 250/250 ]

Naruto was already moving when a barrage of kunai whistled through the air from down the hall.

[ Name: Kigiri ]

[ HP: 255/255 ]

Kigiri's gas mask gave his appearance an eerie silence. Dull purple hair framed his masked face, and his dark cloak rippled in the smoke.

Naruto calmly raised his talisman.

"Force."

A sudden omnidirectional shockwave blasted outward from his palm. The kunai stopped in midair, then spun away like leaves in a storm. Nurari stumbled, hit by the miracle, momentarily stunned just in time for Hinata to strike.

She surged forward, stance locked. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"

Her palms shot forward in precise, rapid strikes of 2… 4… 8… 16… 32… 64!

Each blow targeted specific chakra points, disrupting flow, shutting down mobility. But her hands hit a slick, sticky barrier.

"What?"

Her palms were coated in a mucus-like slime, thick and clinging, resisting her chakra penetration. It was like trying to strike through wet glue.

"Gross," she muttered, grimacing.

"Birdlime membrane," Nurari grinned. "A little gift from Lord Orochimaru."

Before he could twist away, Naruto's Eye of Calamity snapped open.

Nurari was yanked back mid-sentence. "Wha—?"

Naruto caught him by the back of his neck. "Too slow."

Shunk.

A single thrust from his rapier pierced clean through Nurari's back and out his chest. The man's eyes widened in shock, then dimmed.

[ HP: 0/250 ]

Kigiri didn't hesitate.

"Fire Style: Exploding Flame Shot!"

He snapped his fingers.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three flaming orbs shot through the hallway, arcing toward Naruto.

But Hinata was already moving. Her fingers glowed with chakra thread lines, like a puppet master. Her Byakugan tracked the trajectory of each flaming orb with mathematical precision.

Flick—Flick—Flick.

Each chakra thread struck a specific point mid-trajectory, changing the spin and velocity of the fireballs, redirecting them off course. They splashed harmlessly into the walls with bursts of flame.

Kigiri blinked as Naruto was gone.

A whisper of motion passed beside him, then silence.

THUNK.

Kigiri's body slumped.

His head rolled away a second later. The last thing he saw was the reflection of his decapitated face in Naruto's gleaming Zweihander and the knight's back already walking away.

[ Kigiri – HP: 0/255 ]

"Thanks for covering my back," Naruto said as he absorbed the flickering soul fragments of the two enemies.

Hinata gave a quiet nod, knowing full well Naruto didn't need help with them. Still, she appreciated his politeness.

"Hinata, can you check on the others?" Naruto asked, slipping his rapier back into its sheath.

She closed her eyes for a second, letting her Byakugan pulse once more. "Most of them are talking... relaxed or thinking. No one's alarmed."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "That means they think we're just regular genin. They assumed those two would kill us, and someone must've sensed our presence the moment we stepped inside."

"They don't know what happened yet," Hinata added.

"There's a guy with a bat summon," she continued. "It's using echolocation."

Naruto nodded. "So the bat scouted us. Makes sense. Let me know right before it screeches again. I'm going to move before its next ping gives away that we're still alive."

Hinata wasn't sure what he meant by move, but nodded anyway.

Naruto quietly unequipped the Elite Knight armor, replacing it with the Steel Armor Set.

A full-body metal suit encased him, gleaming in the dim corridor light. The steel was blue-silver, polished, heavy. His helmet had a narrow eye slit and a feather-like spike protruding from the top. The chestplate was layered, dense, reinforced at the joints. His arms and hands vanished beneath smooth metal gauntlets. A tattered black cloth hung beneath the metal skirt, brushing against his greaves. The armor groaned slightly as he moved like a juggernaut built for defense, not speed.

Hinata tilted her head. "Isn't that too heavy?"

Naruto didn't answer. He slipped on the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, and suddenly his entire body began to vibrate. A low hum filled the air as wind chakra flooded into the armor, dancing across the metal like ripples over water.

With her Byakugan active, she could see it clearly. The chakra wasn't just flowing, it was vibrating, fast and unstable like a storm held together by sheer will.

Wind chakra isn't supposed to behave like that, she thought. It's supposed to cut, not tremble. This shouldn't even be possible.

The level of elemental control Naruto displayed wasn't just advanced, it felt unnatural. Like he was twisting the nature of chakra itself into something new. Something dangerous.

"Hinata," Naruto said, his voice low. "The moment I move... close your Byakugan."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Because what I'm about to do will scare you. I'd rather you not see it."

Hinata's face tightened. "No."

He turned his head.

"I don't want to look away anymore," she said, her voice clear. "I've spent too long avoiding the cruel side of the world. I need to face it. I won't live in ignorance."

Naruto held her gaze for a moment longer. Then nodded. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

A few seconds passed.

Hinata gave the signal. The bat had just used echolocation.

Naruto vanished and what happened next shattered Hinata's view of the world.

She had seen punishment.

She had endured punishment.

Hinata had stood in the Hyūga compound's cold wooden corridors, the silence pierced only by the sickening thud of flesh against flesh as branch family members collapsed under discipline. She had been struck herself, pain flaring behind her ribs as the Gentle Fist stripped her of chakra and breath. She had watched her father glance past her like she was nothing. She had watched her mother fall into a coma, and lived with the weight of her cousin's hatred ever since.

She thought she understood violence. She thought she understood fear.

But this... this wasn't violence. This wasn't fear.

This was annihilation.

In an instant, Naruto exploded from the shadows, steel armor humming with raw energy. He wasn't running... he was tearing through space. The chakra around his body vibrated so violently her Byakugan blurred just trying to keep up. Wind chakra wasn't supposed to behave like this. It wasn't supposed to buzz like lightning or slice like diamond-tipped saws. It wasn't supposed to erase people from existence.

But it did.

The first man didn't scream. His lungs were gone. Naruto passed through him like a cannonball, and his body simply collapsed into slurry. Before the chunks hit the floor, Naruto had already moved on, just a blur of silver and velocity.

The second guard raised a hand in warning. No time for defense, no time for jutsu. One second he was standing, the next his torso peeled open like wet paper, spine shattered, heart misted across the wall.

A woman shouted. Steel flashed. The hallway echoed with a wet pop as her head gone, a crimson geyser spattering the stone ceiling.

Hinata dropped to the floor behind him, eyes wide. Her breath hitched. Not from fear of him... but from awe. From disbelief. From witnessing something so far beyond what she thought possible that her mind struggled to process it. Her Byakugan picked up flickers of life ahead, then nothing. Gone. Naruto didn't fight people. He erased them. He shattered them at the molecular level.

Every strike was a violent equation that ended in zero.

And yet there was no joy in his face. No hatred. No bloodlust. Only focus. Calm. Like a butcher on the clock, cleaning the slaughter floor.

Naruto glanced back.

Hinata hadn't moved.

"Told her to close her eyes," he muttered under his breath.

The last of Guren's shinobi stood ahead of him, trembling. His partner had just been turned into paste between Naruto's armor and the wall. The only reason Naruto hadn't done the same to Rinji was because the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring combined with Fist of the Peregrine had dropped his HP too low. One more impact, and he might've died along with him.

[ Name: Rinji ]

[ HP: 300 / 300 ]

Rinji had dark brown hair, black eyes, and a loose-fitting purple vest that exposed his chest. Bandages wrapped around his midsection. A faded blue poncho draped over his shoulders, and tan pants tucked into dark brown sandals. Despite his usual laid-back, calculating attitude, the massacre had left him pale and shaking.

"I don't know what kind of freak you are," Rinji barked, trying to steady his voice, "but you're not human. You're a damn monster!"

Dozens of bats burst from the shadows behind him, screeching as they circled the room. Their bodies pulsed with chakra as they unleashed a wave of high-frequency sound.

Naruto's vision wobbled. His balance slipped. "Oh..." he muttered, narrowing his eyes. "You're using sound to mess with my equilibrium."

Rinji's fingers twitched, but a glimmer of something other than bloodlust sparked in his eyes.

"Wait... wait, listen," he said quickly, eyes darting between the twitching corpses on the ground and Naruto's face. "I'm not with Guren! Not really! I didn't sign up for this, I was forced into this whole thing."

He took a cautious step back.

"They used me in sound experiments. I didn't want this, alright? I never wanted to hurt anyone. We can team up! You want Guren dead? So do I! I can help you... please..."

Naruto didn't move.

Rinji's breathing picked up. "I'm not your enemy! I'll tell you where the others are. I'll give you intel. I... I know stuff! I was just surviving, same as you!"

Naruto blinked once. Then slowly, he started running.

Staggering. Off balance. Listing like a drunk.

Rinji's panic shifted into hope. "Yes! That's it—"

Perfect.

Rinji reached for a kunai.

Schlik!

A thin silver rapier burst through his eye socket and out the back of his skull. Rinji's body jerked once. Then dropped like a sack of meat. Dead before the neurons had time to fire.

Naruto stepped forward, wiping the blood from his blade with a soft snort.

"Equilibrium tricks might've worked on someone else," he said flatly, "but unfortunately for you… I was wearing the Rusted Iron Ring."

The dull, unassuming band shimmered faintly on his finger. It anchored him, ensuring solid footing even on unstable terrain. Rinji's technique was clever, but in the end, it only gave Naruto an excuse to act.

The stumble?

All bait.

Another fool, lured in by false weakness.

Naruto's shadow clone emerged beside him with a puff. "Room's cleared. What now?"

Naruto stared at Rinji's corpse for a second longer. "Bag the soul drops. Bring Hinata. We're almost done here."

The clone nodded and vanished.

[ Great Heal Excerpt has been attuned. ]

[ Force Miracle removed. ]

Moments later, the clone reappeared, cradling Hinata gently in a bridal hold. Her eyes were half-open, darting but unfocused. Her breathing was shallow. Her lips moved slightly, but no words came out. She looked like she was trying to speak or scream but couldn't remember how.

The clone looked shaken. "What happened to her?"

Naruto didn't answer right away. He stared at her face, the way her fingers twitched slightly, the way her pupils didn't quite track movement.

"She was there," he finally said. "She saw all of it. What I did to those people."

The clone looked back down at her. "Shock?"

Naruto nodded once. "Her body's reacting, but her mind hasn't caught up. I think she dissociated. Her brain just… shut down. Like it's trying to protect her from what she saw."

He exhaled, jaw tight.

"She got her first kill just a little while ago. That alone messes with you. But what she saw after… that wasn't just death."

The clone nodded. "So, what now?"

Naruto exhaled. "While I was training in Lordran, I asked Sir Siegmeyer what the difference was between a regular heal, an Estus Flask, and a Great Heal Excerpt. He told me the Estus heals the body. A normal Heal miracle does the same. But the Great Heal... it can soothe the mind. The Church of the Way of White used it for warriors, paladins, nobles who came back from war with demons."

Then he paused.

"Wait. Why are you even asking me this? You're a clone."

The clone smiled. "Maybe I just thought you needed to say it out loud."

Naruto went quiet.

"...Maybe. I've been wondering. If Hinata broke from seeing that, and I didn't feel anything, not even a flicker of guilt... what does that make me?" His voice lowered. "Has Lordran changed me so much? Or is this my draconic side leaking through?"

"Maybe both," the clone said. "But you do feel guilty about Hinata. That means you're still you. Don't forget that."

Naruto nodded slowly. "Thanks. Reminders help."

He placed a hand on Hinata's forehead and cast Great Heal Excerpt. A soft, blinding white light enveloped her. When it faded, she blinked rapidly and put a hand to her head.

"How do you feel?" Naruto asked.

"...Weird," she said slowly. "Like something… huge happened. But now it's just fragments. I feel like I have memories of memories."

"Probably just a side effect," Naruto said casually. "That smoke guy might've slipped something into the air. Toxin or genjutsu trigger. You just dozed off."

Hinata stared at him for a second, then gave a small nod.

"Anyway," Naruto said, standing up and turning. "Let's go free Haku."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

In the next room, Haku hung limp from thick chains embedded into stone. His body was a roadmap of violence. Bruises bloomed across his skin like dark flowers, and dried blood caked his mouth and chest. Dozens of talismans clung to his bare torso, pulsing faintly with sealing chakra.

Still, his one visible eye cracked open, bloodshot and glassy.

"...Na...ru...to...?"

Naruto stepped forward, slow and steady, eyes softening despite the gore still wet on his boots.

"You look like shit."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata interrupted quickly, her Byakugan already scanning the trapwork. "There's a hidden network of fūinjutsu. If we just pull them out, he'll detonate. I can disarm it, but I'll need a minute."

Naruto nodded. "It's all you."

As Hinata knelt, placing her fingertips carefully near the seals, Naruto crouched beside Haku. The boy's chest rose in shallow breaths.

"Why?" Haku rasped. "Why… are you… here?"

Naruto shrugged,"You'll have to ask your boss. No-Brows came limping into our camp like a kicked dog. Practically begged us to help you."

Haku blinked, confused.

One of the tags shimmered under Hinata's hand, then hissed as it disintegrated into ash. She worked methodically, disabling each seal one by one. The room stayed quiet except for the soft burn of chakra unraveling.

Once the last tag was gone, Naruto gripped the chains and snapped them like wet twine.

Haku dropped forward, but Naruto caught him with one arm, gently easing him to the floor.

"Still breathing. That's a good start."

He pulled out a talisman, slapped it to Haku's chest, and activated a Heal miracle. Warm golden light spread across Haku's body. Cuts sealed. Bones reset. Bruises vanished. By the time the glow faded, Haku looked untouched, but wide-eyed and trembling. He raised a hand to his chest in disbelief. "...This shouldn't be possible."

Naruto smiled.

Then bonked him lightly on the head.

"Naruto!" Hinata gasped.

"What?" he said, shaking his hand out. "I healed him before the punch. That makes it fair."

Haku blinked. "That was for...?"

"For tricking me into thinking you were a pretty girl."

Haku blinked again. "You thought I was pretty?"

"You thought he was pretty?" Hinata snapped at the same time.

"Irrelevant," Naruto said quickly, flustered. "So why'd you trick me?"

Haku chuckled, voice hoarse but playful. "I like seeing people's reactions."

Naruto gave a slow nod of respect. "As a fellow prankster... you have my respect."

"Thank you," Haku said with a bright, almost unfairly beautiful smile.

"Hey, fool me once, shame on you... wait, no..." Naruto paused, face screwing up as he realized he'd just admitted it again.

Hinata sweatdropped. "This conversation is ridiculous."

But the lightheartedness died the instant all three of them felt an enormous surge of chakra from outside, thick and oppressive.

"Zabuza," Naruto muttered, his expression sharpening. "He's fighting Guren. And she just went all out."

He reached into his inventory and pulled out a spare rapier. He tossed it to Haku.

"That'll serve you better than acupuncture needles."

Haku caught it smoothly, spinning it once in his palm. "I'll make it work."

The three turned toward the exit, moving with purpose now, their steps steady and silent.

Their mission had changed.

It was no longer just a rescue.

It was time to end this.

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 86, 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!