Chapter 46: "Of Swords and Shadows"
In which Naruto finishes a sword drama and dives headfirst into a memory spiral featuring the emotionally unavailable duck-butt himself—Sasuke Uchiha.
You'd think that after possessing people, drowning Tenten, and screaming about world domination while being turned into a sand dumpling, the cursed sword might finally learn some humility.
You'd be wrong.
Even now—sealed up like a moody burrito inside Gaara's sand—the Seven Star Sword was ranting at full volume, mostly about betrayal, artistic freedom, and how "true darkness deserves dramatic lighting."
"Sign the contract," Tenten said, standing over him like a fed-up manager dealing with a particularly dramatic intern. "Or I let Gaara go full blender on you."
Inside the sand sphere, the sword let out what could only be described as a high-pitched metal whine.
"You're bluffing," it said. "You need me. I'm legendary. Irreplaceable. Look at this edge! You can't just—"
Gaara raised a single hand, fingers twitching. The sand cracked ominously around the sealed ball, like it was about to grind the sword into iron shavings.
"Okay okay okay!" the sword yelped. "Let's not be hasty! I'm extremely allergic to becoming glitter."
Tenten tapped her foot. "Then stop being a drama queen and sign."
"Fine," the sword sighed. "But I want conditions."
"No."
"What if—"
"No."
"At least let me have a—"
"Do you want to be sand?"
"…give me the pen."
With the grumpiest hiss of resignation in magical blade history, the sword's handle extended outward like an arm. Tenten rolled out a scroll that looked way too sparkly for a cursed object binding—courtesy of Ino's idea of "bedazzled intimidation." With a single flourish of chakra, the blade's name—written in ancient blood-red runes—seared itself into the contract.
A low pulse of energy swept through the air. The sword's bindings dimmed. The cursed aura relaxed into a brooding, muttering presence—still powerful, still ancient, but now officially Tenten's very, very reluctant partner.
"There," the sword grumbled. "You win. I'm yours. Happy now?"
Tenten slung the blade over her shoulder like a pro.
"Ecstatic," she said. "Welcome to Team Ninja Drama."
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The cursed sword had had enough.
One look at Naruto—glowing with golden chakra, casually floating three feet off the ground, his muscles defined like an ancient Greek statue sculpted by a chakra-obsessed demi-god—and the sword let out a screech loud enough to kill small birds mid-flight.
"Why. Why. WHY must I be bound to a side character?!"
Tenten blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Don't get me wrong, you're fine!" the sword hissed dramatically. "You've got flair, explosions, occasional moments of competence—"
Tenten narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to get melted down?"
"BUT!" the sword wailed. "That one—that shining beacon of nuclear power, untamed chaos, and plot armor thicker than Gaara's sand walls—that's who I was born for!"
He pointed (somehow) at Naruto.
Naruto, still glowing faintly from Sage Mode, raised an eyebrow. "Uh. Thanks? I guess?"
"You and I, Naruto Uzumaki, we were destined for greatness! You are the sun! The storm! The protagonist of protagonists! Imagine us together—slicing through mountains, vaporizing continents, making a musical number while punching gods!"
Tenten looked personally offended. "Musical number?"
"I had choreography in mind!" the sword cried. "But noooo, I get stuck with Little Miss Backup Character! You don't even have a sad backstory! You have parents!"
Tenten cracked her knuckles. "Oh, I will give you trauma."
Naruto coughed, trying not to laugh. "Look, blade-guy—"
"Seven Star Sovereign!" it barked.
"Right. Sovereign," Naruto said, amused. "I'm flattered, but I don't think it'd work out. I like using my fists and explosions more than I like emo sword whisperers."
"Emo?! I'm not emo—I'm cursed! It's different!"
By now, the others were gathered around, watching the spectacle with varying degrees of horror and amusement. Ino had started recording. Sakura was sipping tea. Gaara looked ready to sand-blast the sword just to shut it up.
Tenten stepped forward, blade slung across her back. "Listen here, Your Sharpness. You're with me now. And if you ever call me a side character again, I will shove you in a furnace and forge you into soup spoons."
"…Spicy," the sword whispered. "Okay, fine. I'll give it a shot. But if I start glowing with protagonist energy, you'll know why."
Naruto waved as he walked off. "Good luck with your new edgy boyfriend, Tenten!"
"Don't leave me with her!" the sword screamed.
Tenten grinned as she dragged him away. "We're going to have so much fun."
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Tenten was not the type to sit still for long—especially not after narrowly avoiding being turned into sushi by her own sword.
So after half a day of actual rest (which involved hammocks, mango juice, and threatening the Seven Star Sword to not make sarcastic remarks while she napped), she was back at it.
Her "lab" was a section of the beach surrounded by glowing seals, magical equipment, chakra-inscribed scrolls, and three fire-proof tents filled with every cursed object the crew had salvaged from creepy ruins. Gaara had set up a sand dome to keep things isolated, and Naruto was floating lazily above the area, chewing on a rice ball while glowing faintly from residual Sage Mode. He was her test dummy, apparently.
The Seven Star Sword, resting on a pedestal of floating chakra chains, crackled like a drama-loving toaster. "You finally admit you need me."
"No," Tenten said without looking up from her notes. "I'm just the only person here willing to put up with your whining."
"Bold words for someone whose life I saved by not eating her soul," the sword sniffed.
Gaara, calmly sitting in lotus position beside her, opened one eye. "You tried."
Tenten rolled her eyes. "Can we focus? I'm trying to reverse engineer a weapon made from centuries of trauma and violence without becoming a war criminal."
Naruto landed beside her, wiping his hands. "So… your plan is to recreate the powers of the Seven Star Sword but without the whole 'screaming souls of the damned' vibe?"
"Exactly." She held up a chalkboard that somehow materialized behind her, complete with a diagram of a sword and big red arrows pointing at the words "BAD VIBES = POWER?"
The Seven Star Sword laughed. "You mortals are adorable."
"Explain," Gaara said, always straight to the point.
"You think this power came from simple death and blood? No. The people who died—hated. They hated the world, the wielder, themselves. They died in agony, regret, rage, grief. That's what gave me life. The runes simply contained it. Their curses… were gifts."
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "So unless we want to recreate a horror movie, this can't be done."
"Not true," Tenten said, tapping her chin. "If emotions are the fuel, then maybe we can use non-lethal sources. What if we infused weapons with chakra stored from extreme emotional memories? Simulations. Like… a weapon forged with the chakra from someone grieving or someone in rage, but voluntarily offered?"
"Voluntarily?" The sword scoffed. "You think anyone would choose to give you their worst moment?"
"I would," Gaara said quietly.
Tenten blinked.
"I know pain. I carry it. But I learned to control it, to shape it. Maybe… this is a way to use it for something good."
"Okay," Naruto said slowly. "But if I start hearing creepy whispers coming from Gaara's gourd, I'm leaving."
The Seven Star Sword grumbled, "So we're making ethical cursed weapons now? What's next, a haunted umbrella that cries when you get wet?"
Tenten pointed a glowing rune-inscribed kunai at him. "Mock one more time and I'm giving you to Sakura. She will turn you into a garden shovel."
"…Noted."
They worked late into the evening, drawing rune copies onto scrolls, comparing chakra signatures, and debating ethics like slightly insane college students. Gaara calmly annotated the emotional spectrum of chakra. Naruto accidentally blew up a training dummy by trying to replicate the negative chakra infusion with a clone that had too much sugar. Tenten wrote a whole thesis titled "Weaponized Emotion: Curse Crafting Without the Mass Murder."
By the end of the day, one thing was clear.
They could copy the sword's abilities with runes.
But the soul—that potent, haunted rage born of tragedy and slaughter—could only be substituted, not duplicated. If they wanted true power, they'd have to face what it cost.
"I'm not making weapons out of misery," Naruto said as they packed up.
"Good," Gaara agreed.
"Fine," Tenten said. "But I am making magical rocket blades. Just… happier ones."
"Can we name them something less edgy than 'Soul Reaver' this time?" Naruto asked.
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With the Seven Star Sword finally tamed (or at least mildly housebroken), and Tenten satisfied with her research, Naruto found himself staring at the sea. Again.
It was starting to become a habit—whenever something big wrapped up, Naruto would inevitably end up somewhere with crashing waves and dramatic wind so he could brood like a slightly more cheerful Sasuke.
And of course, thinking of brooding brought him to mind.
Sasuke.
It had been four months since their last... what could generously be called a reunion. Less generously? A very destructive therapy session featuring explosions, trauma, and a healthy dose of emotional manipulation.
It happened by pure accident. Naruto had been traveling with Jiraiya, wrapping up their training journey before heading back to Konoha. Just another stop in some remote mountain pass filled with hot springs, ramen stands, and definitely-not-suspicious caves. Naruto had been stretching, soaking up the sun, when boom, in walks Sasuke—looking like a high-fashion goth cryptid with a side of murder.
Naruto had frozen mid-ramen slurp.
Sasuke had blinked.
Then both had said in unison:
"…You."
It went downhill from there.
Sasuke was apparently in the middle of some "task" for Orochimaru. Naruto didn't ask for details—mostly because he was too busy yelling about how Sasuke needed to come back right now. Sasuke, being the emotionally constipated drama king that he was, responded by igniting a small mountain and drawing his sword.
"You think you can just drag me back like it's that simple?" Sasuke snarled.
"Well, yeah!" Naruto had yelled. "I've got chakra chains now, super speed, and a forehead full of reasons!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes so hard he almost tripped.
The fight that followed was messy, explosive, and—if Naruto was being honest—awesome in a horrible, friendship-ruining kind of way. They were equals at first, matching each other blow for blow, the clash of old techniques and new evolution. Rasengan versus Chidori. Wind versus lightning. Trust versus betrayal.
Then Naruto popped Sage Mode.
Sasuke never liked surprises. Especially not the kind that flattened you into a crater.
"You done yet?" Naruto had asked, standing above him, wind swirling, eyes golden and serious. "I can take you back now."
Sasuke had looked up at him, bruised and bleeding—and smiled.
Smiled.
"You're strong now," he'd said, voice calm despite the fact his ribcage was probably in three pieces. "Stronger than me."
Naruto blinked. "Yeah? So let's go."
"…That's why you have to let me finish this on my own," Sasuke said. "You always wanted to save everyone. So let me save myself."
And just like that, Naruto hesitated.
Because dammit, it sounded reasonable.
Sasuke took full advantage of that one second of Naruto's brain buffering to yeet a flash bomb, throw a smoke kunai, and vanish into the wind like the world's most melodramatic ninja magician.
Back on the beach, Naruto sighed.
"He gaslit me," he muttered.
The waves didn't argue.
"Like. Full-on 'I'm doing this for your sake' level gaslight. He pulled the emotional manipulation card like a boss."
Still nothing from the sea. Typical.
Naruto flopped down onto the sand, arms crossed behind his head. "I should've tied him up. Or knocked him out harder. Or brought shadow clones for backup. But noooo. I had to catch feelings."
Kurama stirred inside him with a dry grunt.
"Next time, just punch him twice."
"Twice?"
"Once to win. Once for the emotional trauma."
"…Fair."
Naruto closed his eyes and let the wind carry away the frustration. Sasuke was still out there—lost in the darkness, chasing ghosts, clinging to pain. And Naruto? Naruto wasn't done yet. He'd keep getting stronger. Keep waiting.
Because Sasuke wasn't just a rival.
He was a brother.
And Naruto Uzumaki never gave up on his family.
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A.N. I really hope you guys can leave a review. It really makes my stories look bad when they don't even have a review by this stage.