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Chapter 168 Power comes with Cost
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[ Name: Naruto Uzumaki ]
[ Covenant: Way of White ]
[ Level: 48 ]
[ HP: 616 / 616 → 600 / 600 ]
[ Stamina: 93 ]
[ Equip Load: 42.8 / 51.0 ]
[ Stats ]
[ Vitality: 12 → 10 ]
[ Attunement: 12 → 10 ]
[ Endurance: 11 → 10 ]
[ Strength: 24 → 12 ]
[ Dexterity: 20 → 10 ]
[ Resistance: 12 → 10 ]
[ Intelligence: 20 → 15 ]
[ Faith: 20 → 15 ]
[ Humanity: 0 ]
Naruto took a deep breath, trying to keep his heartbeat steady. Something felt off. His stats had dropped. Not just slightly noticeably. Like something had been carved out of him.
"Interesting," Griggs said, watching as the physical clone tightened the straps on the Hunter armor.
Naruto turned his head. "What is?"
Griggs nodded toward the clone. "That copy… it's not just chakra. It's made from a fragment of your soul."
Something clicked.
Of course. That's why his stats were lower. His soul had literally been split in two to give the clone life. The chakra alone couldn't explain it, but a soul pulled thin and stretched across two bodies? That could.
Naruto slowly approached the clone, eyeing it like it might crumble. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
The clone stared at him, then blinked. "It's weird."
"Helpful," Naruto muttered.
"No, like… wrong-weird." The clone frowned, his voice quieter now. "I think like you. I feel like you… but also not. There's something... hollow. Like I'm echoing inside my own skull."
He touched his chest. "It's not like being a shadow clone. They know they're fake. They pop and they're done. Me? I know I'm real. I can breathe. Bleed. Eat. But it's like my existence is balanced on a string, and someone's holding the scissors."
Naruto was silent for a beat.
The clone continued, "When I blink, it feels like someone else might open my eyes. When I think, I don't know if the thoughts are mine, or leftovers from yours."
"...Dude." Naruto winced. "That's messed up."
"Tell me about it."
"Let's figure out more about you," Naruto said, pulling away from Griggs, with Oscar scampering after him.
As they passed Anastacia, Naruto gave her a wave. The mute girl only stared, eyes wide with alarm.
The trio stepped onto the elevator platform, the old metal groaning as it descended.
"So, as a physical clone," the clone said, tapping his chin, "I make my own chakra. I can use jutsu. I think clearer. I am me… right?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"But I can't copy your clothes or gear, so I have to equip stuff from the inventory manually." He looked down at his gloves. "Which means I could technically build my own loadout."
"You got the Kyuubi in you?" Naruto asked suddenly.
The clone shrugged, then lifted his shirt and channeled chakra into his gut.
Nothing.
"No seal. No fox."
"Guess not," Naruto muttered.
The elevator rattled downwards. For a while, they stood in silence, just the hum of descent and the faint clicking of Oscar's claws echoing around them.
"...So, other than being a parasite that halves my stats and steals my armor slots, what are you good for?" Naruto asked.
The clone grinned. "Eating ramen?"
Naruto sighed, then lightly bonked him on the head.
Fwshhh!
The clone vanished instantly, merging back into him in a swirl of soul-light.
Naruto staggered.
This wasn't like shadow clone memory feedback. That was clean, like watching someone else's dream. Detached. Safe.
This… was different.
His head swam as memories flooded in. He didn't remember watching the clone talk about ramen. He remembered being the one who said it. He felt the coolness of the armor on borrowed skin. He remembered the elevator descent, but from a different pair of eyes. The body felt heavier. The breath came out different. Emotions lingered like smoke in a different room of his mind.
It was like remembering a second life. A life that had only lasted ten minutes.
Naruto gripped the wall as nausea coiled in his stomach.
"Shit," he whispered. "This is so messed up…"
Oscar chirped beside him.
"Just… gimme a minute."
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A few minutes later, Naruto and Oscar made their way to the familiar stairway, the soft hiss of distant water echoing through the stone walls.
They stopped at the edge of Rickert's cage.
Naruto cupped his hands. "RICK!"
Inside the cage, the Vinheim blacksmith jerked awake with a clatter of metal. He scrambled upright, eyes wide and limbs flailing, briefly mistaking the shadows for Hollowed attackers.
"Shit!... Wha!?" He blinked furiously, staff glowing with latent sorcery until he spotted Naruto standing there with a grin.
"Oh. It's you," Rickert muttered, rubbing the sleep from his face. "Dammit, don't scare me like that."
"Miss me?"
"Not in the slightest."
Naruto just smiled and held up his hand, flashing the Bellowing Dragon Crest Ring between two fingers.
Rickert blinked. "Well, well. Look who's getting fancy."
Naruto explained everything: Griggs, the clone, the soul mechanics, and how the ring had amplified his jutsu.
As he spoke, Rickert held out a hand to examine the ring, the blacksmith's fingers brushing against it.
"Yeah," Rickert muttered, rotating it. "This isn't his. I'd wager he pulled it off a corpse."
"Any idea why he would give me something this strong?"
Rickert shrugged. "Souls, maybe. A ring like that could fetch twenty, thirty thousand. That's no pocket change, especially for someone stuck in Lordran."
"Or maybe trust?" Naruto offered.
"Maybe." Rickert didn't sound fully convinced. "Or maybe you're just the biggest firework in a dark sky. Power draws people in, like moths."
Naruto looked down at the ring, thoughtful. "So… should I trust him?"
Rickert paused, gaze steady. "You have a habit, Naruto. You meet someone, you smile, and in your heart, you expect the best from them. I'm not saying that's good or bad, it's just you."
He walked over to the bars and leaned against them.
"But here's the thing. Everyone thinks they're doing the right thing. Even monsters. Even bastards. What matters is not what they say… it's what they do. You judge a person by how they carry the weight of their choices."
Naruto looked up, eyes a little more serious now. "So I just… wait?"
"No. You watch. You decide. If they earn your trust, give it. If they don't, don't bother."
Naruto was quiet for a beat. "And if they break it?"
Rickert's expression hardened slightly, just for a moment. "Then it's up to you to choose what that betrayal means. Vengeance. Distance. Forgiveness. Whatever you pick… it's yours to carry."
Naruto let the silence stretch before giving a small nod. That hit deeper than he thought it would — especially with Kakashi still in the back of his mind like a scar that hadn't quite closed.
"Thanks, man. I'm heading back to the Valley of Drakes. Gonna test how this ring affects my other jutsu."
Rickert raised an eyebrow as Naruto turned to go. "Wait. One thing before you go."
Naruto glanced over his shoulder.
"Who won? You or Kakashi?"
Naruto gave Oscar a smug look, arms crossed.
"Take a wild guess."
"Kakashi."
Thud.
Naruto and Oscar faceplanted.
"I won that spar, you ungrateful anvil-humper!"
"Doubt it," Rickert said with a straight face, returning to his forge.
Naruto flipped the bird, and Oscar... after glancing at his partner lifted his tiny claw and awkwardly mimicked the gesture.
Rickert laughed. A genuine, short burst of amusement. "Get outta here, you little troublemakers."
Naruto grinned, brushing himself off as he and Oscar headed for the Valley of Drakes.
"Next time, I'm not bringing ramen just to spite you."
"Bring beer too!" Rickert called after them.
A few minutes after Naruto and Oscar vanished, Rickert leaned back against the bars of his cell.
"You can come out now," he said without turning.
Almost as if peeling away from the shadows themselves, Griggs of Vinheim emerged from the gloom. His posture was calm, his steps quiet, his presence deliberate.
"Good day to you."
Rickert didn't move. "What do you want?"
"Just some answers."
"And if I don't answer?"
Griggs gave a light shrug. "Then I walk away."
Rickert snorted softly. "That's an odd stance for someone from the Black Society of Vinheim."
Griggs chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "Let's just say… I don't want to end up being hunted by a certain blonde swordsman with a pet lizard and a temper."
Rickert tilted his head, brow raised. "Smart. That kid's half wildfire, half miracle. The other half is just chaos."
The blacksmith's words hung in the air, dry and edged.
The name Black Society of Vinheim carried weight. They were the shadow knives of the Dragon School — the ones who eliminated threats, hunted defectors, and silenced questions. Griggs being one of them, and yet afraid of Naruto… that was worth a second look.
But then came the drop.
"Death's just the first toll on the road to hell for us Undead," Griggs said quietly. "And I know you've walked that road, Rickert… of the Band of the Hawk."
The name landed like a guillotine.
Rickert didn't flinch.
"A long time ago," he said, voice calm. "Another life. Another war. Now I'm just a man with a hammer and a cell. Maybe a friend… maybe a brother… to a brat who's too curious for his own good."
His words were deliberate, slow, almost a warning. I am in Naruto's inner circle.
Griggs tilted his head slightly. "You've met many people down here, haven't you?"
Rickert gave a thin smile. "I've met the damned, the broken, and a few who might just change the world."
"Anyone… particularly interesting?"
Rickert nodded once. "You ever hear of Big Hat Logan?"
Griggs froze.
His breath caught. His posture tensed like a drawn string.
"You've… spoken to him?"
"What do you think?"
Silence stretched between them. The tension had shifted. Now it was Griggs who stood on uneven ground.
"What do I need to do," Griggs said, measured and slow, "for you to tell me where he is?"
Rickert turned slightly, staring out across the shimmering water of the flooded abyss, eyes distant.
"That depends," he said. "Are you asking… as a scholar of Vinheim?"
A pause.
"Or as one of its shadows?"
Griggs didn't answer at first. Then, with careful precision, he said, "What if I told you… neither?"
Now Rickert paused.
"Well now," he murmured, "that's interesting."
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In the mist-swept silence of the Valley of Drakes, Naruto took a long breath and grinned.
"Alright," he said, stretching his arms. "You ready to witness the glorious union of magic and chakra?"
Oscar gave a dismissive chirp.
Naruto squinted. "Come on, man, show some excitement."
Oscar flared his frills and began chirping again; this time with an unmistakably mocking rhythm, like he was baiting Naruto into proving himself.
"Rude," Naruto muttered. "Fine. Let's start simple."
He brought his hands together, fingers flowing through the familiar signs.
Transformation Jutsu.
There was no puff of smoke this time.
Instead, the chakra peeled off him like fluid silk, shimmering with faint threads of blue as it wrapped and rewrote his body. Unlike the typical transformation jutsu, which was a trick of light and perception, this was real. Naruto could feel bones subtly slide, muscle stretch and compress, and skin ripple like clay being shaped by unseen hands.
It didn't hurt. But it was weird.
A blink later, and standing where Naruto once was… stood Ino.
Naruto blinked, then looked down at himself.
"What the... Hahaha! Look, Oscar! I'm a girl!"
His voice was a pitch higher, and when he touched his face and traced his jaw, it was smoother, more angular. His hands ran briefly over his waist and hips... definitely more curved. But then he frowned.
"It's only the outer shell that's shapeshifted rather than me fully transforming into Ino." He glanced at his arms. "Guess I'm still me, just… dressed like her. Really convincingly."
Oscar stood on his hind legs and patted his own chest proudly.
"Oh, you want me to become you now?"
Oscar nodded enthusiastically.
Naruto hesitated, staring at the lizard's long limbs, sinuous body, and sharp tail. He tried to picture how to reshape his torso, his limbs, his spine but something inside him locked up. A wall. Like trying to write a word you've never heard spoken.
"I… I can't. My body just doesn't know how."
He created a shadow clone, motioning to help analyze the results.
The clone studied the Ino-form with narrowed eyes.
"Height, weight, proportions are all the same as base form," the clone reported. "You're basically a copy-paste with Ino's skin on top."
Naruto dispelled the clone and turned back to Oscar. "Guess I can't turn into something I've never been. Not in shape. Maybe if I studied a soul's form, I could force the change temporarily. Like… mimicry, but for a minute or two max."
Oscar chirped thoughtfully.
Naruto shrugged and reverted to his normal form with a flicker.
"So that's what magic's doing to transformation, it's making it real. But with limits. No mass shift, no actual internal restructuring. It's shape-shifting, not body-swapping."
He dusted his hands and stepped back. "Okay, let's try something flashier."
This time, he formed a new seal, and chakra surged.
Substitution Jutsu.
Instead of a sharp pop and log swap, this time a ripple pulsed outward from his body like a wave tearing space around him. The chakra felt denser, heavier, like it wanted to pull him somewhere. Naruto leaned into it.
He vanished.
And reappeared with a sharp skip of time... midair about ten feet farther than he intended, legs flailing as momentum carried him toward the cliff's edge.
"CRAP!"
With a quick breath, he gathered chakra into his palm and slapped the air. The compressed blast launched him back, flipping through the air before landing on his back with a loud thud.
He lay there, staring up at the gray sky, laughing like a madman.
Oscar scampered over and peered down at him, chirping and nudging Naruto's face with his snout.
"That was faster than a standard Body Flicker."
Naruto just laughed harder. "I finally have a magic-enhanced jutsu… that works!"
Oscar raised a claw, gesturing a tiny, exaggerated clap.
"Thank you, thank you," Naruto said dramatically, still lying flat.
The knight stilled for a moment, mind sharp and calculating.
The new version of the Substitution Jutsu had been fast—too fast, even. It reminded him of the Body Flicker Jutsu, except even more unstable in execution. And that sparked a thought. High-speed movement always came with trade-offs. Tunnel vision and reaction time lag. But that was for a normal shinobi.
Naruto tapped the bridge of his nose. His Hawkeyes shimmered faintly in the light. With them, those problems nearly vanished.
They tracked the motion, predicted the arc, widened his field of view. What would blind another ninja at that speed just became a blur he could read.
"Oh, I can't wait to see what a magic-enhanced Body Flicker looks like," Naruto said aloud, giddy with excitement.
Oscar, perched nearby on a rock, gave an anxious chirp.
Naruto glanced over, grinning. "Don't worry, I won't fall this time."
He hesitated. "Hopefully."
He turned to face the steep valley wall and began walking up. Chakra flowed through his feet, but it resisted—denser, stickier than normal, like trying to walk through a glue trap. "So even chakra control is getting harder," he muttered, pressing harder with each step. "Makes sense. If the ring's making my jutsu stronger, it's probably condensing my chakra too. Heavier. Stronger. Trickier."
He reached a high ledge, exhaled, and cracked his neck.
This ring was proving worth every single soul. Not just for its raw boost, but for the way it transformed fundamentals into something else.
He made a quick string of handsigns.
Body Flicker Jutsu.
Immediately, chakra flooded his legs—not in a single burst, but in stages. The first wave launched him forward like a slingshot, and his soles skimmed the ground as if gliding on ice.
Then the second burst hit.
And Naruto surged forward faster and faster still. The valley became a smear of grey and green. His cloak snapped behind him like a banner caught in a hurricane. Another chakra pulse surged, propelling him again. His body felt weightless, yet the air screamed in his ears.
He wasn't just running anymore.
He was riding a current of chakra like skating along a stream of energy shaped by his own intent. Each burst refined his path, corrected trajectory, and sharpened speed without losing control.
Ahead, the valley abruptly narrowed, and he saw the ledge ending.
With a final exhale, Naruto let the last burst taper off and bent his knees. His feet struck stone, sliding slightly, kicking up dust but he landed clean, chakra-enhanced knees absorbing the momentum.
He stood, chest rising and falling, not from exhaustion but from adrenaline.
He turned back to see the wide trail he'd left behind. Oscar stood at the far end of the valley, barely a blue dot in the distance.
"...Okay," Naruto breathed, a grin splitting his face.
"Now that was fast."
Unfortunately, Naruto was already on the bridge.
Normally, this far into the Valley of Drakes meant one thing, Stormrend.
The sky-shrieking monster usually intercepted him by now, sending him running back to Firelink with half his HP and full regrets. But this time, the skies were silent. And that let Naruto look. Past the cracked stone path. Beyond the jagged bones of old battles.
Across the yawning chasm, where it waited.
A colossal gate stood framed between two towers like a sentinel. Arched high, carved with ancient symbols now worn smooth by time, the doors were locked tight in thick vertical plates. Massive hinges, rusted and unmoving, clung to the rock like a dam clung to a cliff.
And that's when it hit him.
"This... This is what's holding back the flood."
The waters of New Londo, sealed behind that barrier for centuries. That gate was more than a wall—it was a promise. A last defense against whatever was festering beneath. Holding back the evil that Beatrice had sacrificed herself to contain.
But Naruto didn't have time to dwell on ancient tragedies because the sky crackled behind him.
A lightning drake unfurled its wings and shrieked, eyes glowing electric blue. Its chest swelled, lightning coiling in its throat like liquid rage.
Fist of the Peregrine.
Wind chakra ignited along his armor, but this time, with the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring enhancing the effect, it didn't spiral. It didn't swirl.
It pulsed.
Like a heartbeat made of knives. Like pressure, compacted into rhythm. Each beat vibrated through his armor—not resisting air but erasing it, nullifying drag entirely.
The lightning bolt struck down.
Naruto shot across the bridge in a blur of silver and vapor, the crackling bolt searing the space he had just occupied. Another drake lunged from the side, jaws gaping, but Naruto didn't pause. He leaned forward, armor keening with power, wind chakra humming through his limbs like a thousand whispering razors.
His body tore through the drake's gut like a cannonball through silk.
Flesh shredded.
Bone splintered.
He burst clean through the beast as it crumpled behind him. And as Naruto surged forward, he felt it.
The ring's effect. The truth of his chakra.
Wind chakra had always cut, but this was different. The oscillating vibrations enhanced by the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring didn't just slice, they unraveled. Each strike disrupted the bonds of what it touched, weakening structure at the base, making even monsters feel like paper.
[ HP: 200 / 616 ]
[ HP: 180 / 616 ]
The vibrating chakra was a double-edged sword. Every burst of speed shaved away at his own health. It was killing him faster than it killed his enemies. He dropped two more drakes mid-sprint, tearing their wings as he blitzed through them. Then, at last, he let the wind chakra drop from his armor.
His speed slowed, but his momentum didn't.
"Damn it, inertia's a bitch," Naruto muttered, boots skidding slightly as he reached the gate. The towering seal of New Londo loomed before him, and the last lightning drake circled overhead, hesitant.
Good.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to give you all this velocity."
He ran up the outer gate wall, chakra gripping stone. At the apex of his momentum, he kicked off and was skybound.
His body flipped. Wind howled past. And then he came down with an axe kick. His heel crashed into the drake's spine, slamming the beast out of the air like a meteor.
CRACK.
The entire bridge collapsed, giving way beneath the broken drake's weight.
The beast flailed, trying to rise, one wing torn and useless. It flapped weakly, trying to claw back into the sky.
A streak of pale magic slammed into the injured lightning drake below. Crystals burst across its remaining wing like jagged frost, anchoring the beast to the valley floor as it writhed and shrieked.
Naruto barely registered the system notification that flickered across his vision. He stood near the top of one of the gate towers of New Londo, breathing hard, his body humming from battle and blood loss. Down below, the remaining drakes screeched in frustration but didn't take flight. They kept their distance, circling wide, wary of the sealed gate behind him.
They knew.
Even beasts born of storm and sky seemed to sense it—that ancient, smothering malice buried beneath New Londo's sunken ruins. Whatever slept down there wasn't meant to wake.
Naruto let out a breath, reaching for his Estus Flask to heal. When a glint of red caught his attention. A rotting hand, curled around the base of a rope ladder a few meters away. And in its fingers… a ring.
Naruto crouched down, brushing ash and dust from the skeletal remains. He pried the item free, turning it over in his hand.
It looked nearly identical to the Blue Tearstone Ring he'd been wearing except for the deep crimson gem pulsing at its center like a beating heart.
[ Item Acquired: Red Tearstone Ring ]
[ Description: The rare gem called tearstone has the uncanny ability to sense imminent death. This red tearstone from Carim boosts the attack of its wearer when in danger. ]
A grin cracked Naruto's battered face. "Looks like lady luck's smiling on me, dattebayo."
He slipped it on. The effect was immediate.
A scarlet aura bled from the stone into his chakra coils. His body thrummed with new energy like fire held in a bottle just about to burst.
He felt… dangerous.
"Wind Style: Wind Bullet Jutsu!"
But what came from his mouth wasn't a bullet. It was a dense spinning, blood-colored, howling with pressure and fury sphere. Buffed by the Tearstone Ring and the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, the wind bullet jutsu screamed through the air like a cannonball forged from wind and desperation.
It struck the cluster of drakes.
BOOM.
A crimson dome erupted around them, filled with razor-edged wind. Slicing, shrieking, it tore through everything in the blast radius. The dragon kin fell. Their souls spiraled into him. But Naruto didn't feel triumphant.
He staggered to his knees. His mouth was numb.
[ HP: 10 / 616 ]
His jaw was shredded, his teeth cracked. Tongue torn and bleeding. Lips ripped raw, skin flayed away from the lower half of his face in strips. Each breath brought a wet rattle—his trachea and lungs ravaged by the backlash of compressed wind detonated inside his own body.
The strength he'd summoned had been real.
So was the price.
Shaking, he fumbled for his Estus Flask.
One swallow and the golden fire flooded him, repairing torn muscles. Second gulp and the bones clicked back into place. Third made his breath easier. Skin regrew. And just as the ring's red glow faded… he heard it.
THOOM.
The very valley wall shook as something slammed into it.
Stormrend.
The great wyvern landed, coiling its bulk against the stone like a coiled tempest. It opened its wings, the sheer force of displaced air nearly throwing Naruto off the tower. He stuck fast, chakra anchoring him to the platform.
But Stormrend… didn't attack.
It didn't even roar again. Its glowing eyes turned not to Naruto, but to the sealed gate behind him. Even a creature like the king of the skies feared what lay beneath New Londo.
Naruto seized the moment. He didn't waste time trying to swap out his cursed arm for the prosthetic. Instead, he summoned a perfect clone, who instantly took the greatbow while he fired a massive shot.
The arrow flew true.
Stormrend snorted, shifting the air enough to deflect the mach-speed missile with ease.
"Shit," Naruto hissed.
His clone was already multiplying, hundreds of shadow clones erupting across the battlefield like warriors, all charging the wyvern.
Stormrend bellowed and beat its wings, sweeping the clones into oblivion with a gust of raw force.
Naruto absorbed the pure clone, his mind reeling from the impact of shared memory, but there was no time to think. Then he grabbed Oscar, tucked the lizard tight under one arm, and ran. He sprinted through the storm, beneath a canopy of white smoke and illusions, hiding his retreat toward the other side of the bridge.
He landed across the bridge, panting, his gaze locking on something beyond the chaos.
A staircase.
It spiraled upward into the tower behind the colossal doorway carved into the valley wall. He took a step forward…
BOOM.
A bolt of lightning shattered the stone behind him. Dust and fragments flew. The frame of the doorway cracked, stone veins splitting like dry earth under strain.
"Guess we've got a long way to go before trying to take on Stormrend," Naruto muttered, half to himself. He ducked inside the cracked archway, suppressing his chakra signature. His eyes scanned quickly; an elevator, dormant but intact. Probably unused for centuries. He stepped onto it, not knowing whether Stormrend would attack this place. After all, this entrance didn't lead to the abyss… or at least, not directly.
The elevator shuddered to life, rising with metallic groans and mechanical clanks that echoed through the stone shaft. Below, the distant roar of Stormrend reverberated like thunder in a tomb.
[ Warning: Armor at risk of breaking ]
Naruto glanced at the notification, brow twitching. "Great," he sighed. "Guess magic-enhanced wind chakra not only shreds my HP, it melts my armor too."
He tapped the metal plating over his shoulder, already spotting cracks spider-webbing. Wind chakra had always been violent on the molecular level. Unforgiving. Flowing it through normal metal ruptured it. Flowing it through metal infused with magic? Even worse.
Oscar chirped curiously.
"Don't worry, bud. I get it," Naruto muttered. "Chakra and magic don't exactly mix like soy sauce and ramen. Still… these limitations are a bit much for my liking."
He paused, then grinned with curiosity creeping into his voice. "Well... we're on a slow elevator ride into hell. Might as well test what that last jutsu really looked like."
He unsheathed the Uchigatana.
Wind Style: Vacuum Blade.
Chakra surged into the sword. Wind didn't just coat the blade—it sank into it, vibrating the very structure. A shrill hum filled the elevator, the air warping subtly around the edge. Then the Sigil of Nahr Alma flared on the hilt.
The wind turned a deep, bleeding red. Naruto now held a crimson-edged Uchigatana, the blade pulsating with a glow that whispered of wounds that wouldn't close.
"Perfect," Naruto muttered. "Now it doesn't just slice through molecular bonds, it adds bleed damage. So if you somehow survive the first cut, you'll probably still die a second later."
Oscar chirped again, almost as if to say So why are you whining?
"Because I can see it," Naruto grumbled, activating Hawkeyes. His vision sharpened, and he stared at the blade.
Its durability gauge ticked down like a dying clock.
"It's gonna snap in under a minute."
The elevator lurched, halting with a clank. The heavy metal doors groaned open onto a narrow tunnel etched into the rock, dimly lit with natural phosphorescence.
The air was thick, humid with heat, like the embers of a long-dead bonfire still whispering warmth.
"Let's go," Naruto said, stepping off.
Oscar bounded ahead with a happy chirp, his crystals catching the flickering glow coming from deeper inside.
Down the corridor, nestled between the walls like a memory, a lit bonfire flickered gently. Someone had been here. Or someone still was.
Naruto's eyes swept the cavern. Moonlight streamed in through cracks in the ceiling, scattering silver across the rough stone floor. As he walked, his thoughts churned. Where is this place? he wondered silently, mapping the strange layout in his mind.
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the far end of the passage, each deliberate step resonating off the damp stone walls. Naruto's pulse quickened. His hand instinctively moved to his weapon as the sound drew closer.
Emerging from the gloom, under a sliver of moonlight that framed the entrance like a spotlight, came a figure.
A Black Knight.
In one gauntleted hand, the knight cradled a magnificent halberd. The weapon was as beautiful as it was deadly: its blade, curved gracefully into a crescent edge, reflected the moonlight in shards of silver and deep black.
Naruto was kinda nervous. Each of the Black Knights he'd faced so far had been monsters—unrelenting, precise, strong enough to tear through most fighters like paper. Even with all his growth, a lingering part of him still remembered the raw fear that came with facing one. They didn't fight like hollowed undead or beasts. They fought like knights who remembered glory.
Part of him wanted to test himself again, to see how far he'd come. To earn a true victory. The other part?
"Oscar," Naruto muttered, "my gear's about to fall apart, and this sword's on its last breath. I'm pretty sure if I sneeze too hard, it's going to snap in half."
Oscar tilted his head, chirping in sympathetic agreement.
"So here's my genius plan." Naruto crouched beside the bonfire, eyes scanning his inventory. "Let's use that summoning kunai Kakashi gave me. We toss it down, he gets summoned here, fights the Black Knight for us, and then we talk. Simple, right?"
Oscar chirped again, tail flicking as if to say, Sure, what could go wrong?
"Exactly," Naruto said, producing the kunai. "Let the silver dog deal with some of this Dark Souls nonsense for once."
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Author Note: And… scene. Hope you guys liked this chapter. Now let's get into some boring Q&A (but not really, because this stuff's cool if you're into how power systems work).
Q: What's the deal with Magic-Enhanced Jutsu?
Okay! Let's go over Naruto's current jutsu, how they've changed due to magic fusion, what the limitations are, and why I wrote them that way. I'll also explain the internal logic behind the mechanics, so you can see how they're meant to evolve over time.
1 — Shadow Clone Jutsu (Magic-Enhanced Version)
Effect: When enhanced with magic, Naruto can create physical clones instead of chakra illusions.
Limitation:
Naruto splits his soul to make the clone. That piece of soul becomes a real, physical body.
The clone is naked, can use weapons, eat, think, and yes, even reproduce.
Naruto's physical stats are halved when the clone is active, since his strength comes from his soul's accumulated power.
If the clone dies, Naruto has to physically travel to its death location to retrieve his soul shard.
Inspiration / Logic: Originally, I planned to have Naruto "discover better clones" with magic, but that felt way too convenient. The whole point of this crossover is that chakra and magic shouldn't mix cleanly, they should be dangerous, unstable, and unpredictable. Naruto gaining mastery over this chaotic system will be a major long-term arc. The stat debuff makes sense because Naruto's strength comes from soul fragments he's absorbed. Take part of that soul away? Of course he gets weaker.
That said, this version of clones has massive potential especially if Naruto starts messing with dark magic or learns how to safely manipulate his soul.
2 — Transformation Jutsu (Magic-Enhanced Version)
Effect: Naruto can shapeshift like Mystique from X-Men, but only into organic beings.
Limitation:
He needs to study the organism—its body, movements, and structure—in detail.
If he wants to impersonate someone perfectly, he must study their soul, too.
He can only shapeshift within the limits of his current mass. No shrinking into a bird or growing into a bear out of nowhere. Conservation of mass/energy applies.
Inspiration / Logic: The original version was more like optical camouflage, Naruto bending light around his body like an octopus. That worked for stealth, but for actual combat and infiltration, real shapeshifting felt more fun. The Mystique vibe just fits. But it still requires hard work, Naruto needs to study animals, observe people's souls, and train to hold transformations longer. So no insta-transformation hax here. If Naruto wants to turn into a wolf or a hawk, he better hit the books (or the forest).
3 — Substitution Jutsu (Magic-Enhanced Version)
Effect: Naruto releases a burst of chakra from his legs and rides it in a quick, short-distance escape, kind of like a controlled chakra explosion under his feet.
Limitation:
Consumes a ton of chakra.
Only goes from Point A to Point B, Naruto must pre-calculate trajectories.
If miscalculated, the enemy can easily predict or intercept him mid-flight.
Inspiration: Remember why Iruka taught Naruto the Body Flicker? Because Substitution had too many holes. With magic, this jutsu got closer to Body Flicker in speed but still falls short in complexity and adaptability.
4 — Body Flicker (Magic-Enhanced Version)
Effect: Like Substitution, but better. Naruto bursts forward using chakra, but here, he can chain bursts within the same movement, riding one explosion after another for increasing speed.
Limitation:
Tunnel vision at high speed (fixed by Hawkeyes).
Friction and momentum can literally burn him alive (wind chakra cloaking helps).
But… wind chakra is now magically enhanced, so:
Armor durability plummets.
HP drops with extended use.
Weapon damage risk increases.
Inspiration: I based this on Hirenkyaku from Bleach. Naruto's top speed now rivals Shisui Uchiha, and may even surpass it later. But unlike Shisui, Naruto has to deal with the fact that he's basically weaponizing his own body. Magic didn't fix Body Flicker. It broke the brakes.
5 — Vacuum Blade
Effect: Wind chakra coating enhances a blade until it can slice on the atomic level.
When enhanced by Nahr Alma's Sigil:
Wind chakra turns blood red.
Adds a devastating bleed effect that stacks rapidly.
Limitation:
Completely destroys weapon durability.
Can break a weapon in minutes.
Inspiration: Think frequency blades from Metal Gear, mixed with Asuma's trench knives.
Also remember when Naruto was learning from Asuma, I added that wind chakra can't be added to regular metal because it vibrates through the blade and destroys it. Hence why Naruto learned Vacuum Blade, which is a coating of wind around a weapon but they have a vacuum between them so the wind doesn't break the weapon. I took that idea, added magic, and said: What if it cuts by weakening the bonds of whatever it hits?
The result is absurdly strong, like Rasenshuriken in blade form, but the cost is brutal.
6 — Wind Bullet
Effect: Naruto fires a compressed wind cannon shot.
Limitation: Shreds Naruto's throat, lungs, and mouth. Think of it like pressure damage jutsu that Kakuzu uses, but Naruto's version shreds the enemy.
Q: Why is Wind Chakra so violent now?
Ah, now this is the good stuff.
In canon, certain elements had weird variants like Black Lightning, oil jutsu, blue flames. They were never really explained, but they hinted at elemental mastery, which gave me the idea that each nature has an apex form.
So I asked: What would Wind's look like?
And the answer is this: wind chakra that vibrates at such a frequency it weakens the bonds, allowing for more powerful cuts.
Why it's OP: It is.
Why it's okay: It comes at a massive cost:
Naruto loses HP.
His armor melts.
His weapons fracture.
A normal shinobi using this with the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring would probably disintegrate themselves in seconds. Naruto has power, sure—but none of it is free. He's not a god yet. He's a test dummy at best. Magic and chakra don't mix cleanly, and every step forward could literally kill him. That's what makes this fun to write.
Let me know what you all thought of this chapter, especially the whole "jutsu getting powered up" plot beat. I've really tried to make each technique feel like a double-edged sword (sometimes literally). Magic-enhanced jutsu isn't about making Naruto overpowered, it's about forcing him to grow, adapt, and earn every inch of progress.
Clearly, there are ways to stabilize these volatile techniques. He pulled it off with the magic-enhanced Substitution + Hawkeyes combo. So yeah, it's dangerous. But remember, kids: where there's a will, there's a way. Or in Naruto's case, where there's soul damage, chakra bleeding, and armor degradation, there's probably a very angry lizard watching in concern.
Now for a fun hypothetical:
If Naruto had the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring during his spar against Kakashi… how well do you think he'd do?
Another question: what would the dragon ring do to something like the Rasengan, which is an incomplete jutsu?
That's it… for now.
Thank you all for your incredible support. Writing this story has been one hell of a journey, and you make it worth every word.
As always, thanks for reading.
— Adam
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[ 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 82, 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!