I don't own solo leveling or Naruto
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Minato watched from atop a piece of rubble as Jinwoo and his shadow soldiers fighting an arduous battle with the army of undead that the Lich, necromancy demon, was able to command. Initially, when Minato joined Jinwoo on his journey he wanted to help out with clearing the hordes of demons spawn, but he was quickly discouraged by the man himself. When he asked why Jinwoo just told him that he didn't want him messing up his demon counter. Minato soon finds out that Jinwoo was a very cryptic and weird individual.
He saw Jinwoo decapitate the Lich demon sitting upon the throne made of bones and skulls, putting an end to the battle in a matter of moments. He moved to join Jinwoo sitting upon the broken throne of the Lich, his face the picture of deep thought and contemplation.
"What's on your mind, Sung?" he sat down right beside him, gazing at the distant beam of light shooting into the sky. "Are we moving to the next floor?"
Jinwoo shook his head. "Nah, I've exhausted myself and it's getting too hot. I don't think I can continue in any further battles." He turned to the Lich corpse with disappointment. "This guy's magic was powerful and he was able to control more summons than I could. I wanted to-" he stopped himself from saying any further, scratching his head sheepishly. "Well, it doesn't matter what I want now. The point is that I'm done here for the time being."
"You're not feeling the heat?"
Minato shook his head. "I didn't realise that it was really this hot until you mentioned it."
"Interesting."
He went silent after that, staring at the necklace made from skull and bones. Minato noted that he wielded impressive space-time ninjutsu with the way he was able to pull almost anything out of thin air. He couldn't spot a summoning mark or sealing pattern anywhere on his person so it must've been operating in a fundamentally different way than his own space-time ninjutsu or any summoning technique he'd encountered.
Minato was surprised when a black box materialized in Jinwoo's palm before it opened itself up to reveal a jet-black skeleton key. Jinwoo murmured that he wasn't sure what to make of it and so he stored it in whatever dimension he kept his endless collection of items and weapons. Not a moment later, a white box with golden ribbing appeared and unraveled itself to reveal a piece of paper. Jinwoo read its description, and he watched his face change from intrigue to genuine shock and surprise before settling into a neutral gaze of reignited hope and determination as he stored the paper away.
"Are you okay?" Minato asked, concern being painted on his face. Jinwoo didn't answer immediately, taking a breath before smiling. "Everything's fine. I'll be fine, I think."
He turned to the blonde and sighed. "I still don't trust you, Minato Namikaze, and letting you into the human world where my friends and family live will be quite irresponsible of me." Jinwoo started. Minato narrowed his icy blue eyes, the cogs in his head spinning as to what he was coming to.
"Are you saying that I can't leave this place? Or is it that you need me on a leash?" he interrogated.
Jinwoo didn't answer, instead, opting for a knowing smirk. "And you called me sharp?"
"Iron." Jinwoo called out and the intimidating black knight rose from the darkest depths of Jinwoo's shadow. Iron dropped to one knee, bowing to his master━ awaiting his command. Jinwoo turned to Minato, his gaze sharp and piercing. "You're probably around high A-rank, maybe even S-rank… Iron, here, is one of my strongest shadow soldiers and he'll be keeping watch over you. If you do anything out of order, I'll know and I'll end you. You understand, Minato Namikaze?"
The pressure coming from Jinwoo spoke not of a warning but a promise. Minato wasn't unfamiliar with such intent; after all, his enemies in the third war were on the receiving end of his promises more often than not. The Fourth Hokage smiled, "If this is the only way to get out of this hellhole, then I'll be happy to oblige."
"Good." He nodded to his dark shadow and Minato tensed as Iron approached him. The hulking, dark knight towered over him, his gaze boring into his own azure blue. This was only for a fleeting moment before Iron cascaded down into the depths of his shadow. Minato was surprised as he spotted two glowing blue eyes staring up at him, faintly, from his shadow. But he couldn't do much more to interact with him.
"So," Jinwoo called for his attention, materializing another key into existence, "Shall we get going, Minato?" He turned the key in open space, as if unlocking a door.
Suddenly, there was a flicker, and Minato saw a rift in space and time show itself on a scale he'd never seen before. Not even his space-time barriers cracked space to this visible degree. Jinwoo prompted him forward into the portal, and after a moment's hesitation he followed.
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High-rising trees with sunlight peeking through the roofs of the leaves illuminated the red truck that greeted Minato's eyes when he left the portal. Jinwoo walked over to the red vehicle and rummaged through the backseat and pulled out a bag full of clothes. Minato reflexively caught the bag when it was thrown his way.
"Go get changed out of that for now, while I sort something out." Jinwoo ordered, pulling out a black device from his pocket.
"Wha? I see. You want me to keep a low profile." Minato surmised, quickly.
"Exactly, so run along and get changed." he shooed him away. Minato rolled his eyes, but obliged regardless.
He opened the bag to find a black jacket, dark brown cargo pants, a plain white shirt and some black closed-toed combat boots.
He sighed and pulled out a scroll from the many pockets on his jonin flak jacket. Taking off his Hokage cape and jonin flak jacket and folding them up in a neat pile. He undid the gear packs strapped to his leg filled with his specialized kunai, took off his shinobi sandals, and the rest of his clothes until he was left in his boxers.
He weaved a few hand seals after getting dressed again in his newly provided clothing and sealed his old clothing in the sealing scroll, vanishing in a puff of smoke.
He rejoined Jinwoo, when he was done, who was sitting in the peculiar red mechanical vehicle already, the vehicle letting out a low rumble. He honked the horn and shouted, "Hey, come on in! We're losing daylight."
Minato, although initially sceptical of the unfamiliar carriage, he concluded that it probably wouldn't bite or anything and joined Sung in the passenger seat. Then they drove off towards the city.
It took 2 hours to get to their destination with Minato being enraptured and fascinated by the many metal carriages on the road to the city.
He'd never seen anything like these things before, carriages that operated without a horse but seemed to run on some kind of mechanical power source.
He asked Jinwoo what these things were called and although he gave him an amused look he still answered 'cars'. He didn't find it an adequate description, he would have gone for 'Metallic Carriage Run By Super Roaring Spiral Power' or something like that. He might have to workshop the name but he supposed that 'car' wasn't too bad.
'Just a shortened version of the word carriage.' He shook his head disappointingly. 'How uninspired!'
Jinwoo pulled his car up the driveway of his surrogate little brother, Yoo Jinho. A young man with dirty ash blonde hair came barreling out the front door. He had a big smile on his face as soon as Jinwoo and Minato stepped out of the car.
"Hey Hyung-nim, I got everything ready for you!" He said, enthusiastically, with a proud puff of his chest. Jinwoo chuckled sheepishly, "Yeah, thanks. I didn't think you'd have something like this ready so quickly, but I guess it's to be expected coming from a powerful family." He admitted, looking up at the small building in front of him.
"Anything you need I got, Hyung-nim. Always count on me." Jinho said and Jinwoo nodded along, truly appreciating his work.
"What is this, exactly?" Minato coughed to gain their attention.
"Oh, uh, you must be Minato Namikaze then? I'm Yoo Jinho. Me and Hyung-nim talked about you on the phone earlier," Jinho bowed in Minato's direction. "What you are looking at is your living quarters. Provided by yours truly." Stretching his arms wide open to show off the house behind him. "It's my family's holiday home and where you'll be staying in it for the foreseeable future.".
Minato turned to Jinwoo, "And you? What are you going to be up to?"
"I'm gonna go home and take care of some stuff. Jinho should help you get settled in and I'll meet back up with you in two days." Jinwoo explained. He went to his car and started it up before backing out the driveway, "Don't cause any trouble for Jinho, alright? See you in two days."
Then he drove off.
Minato sighed and turned to Jinho, "So, I guess it's just you and me then."
"Yep. Let me show you around." he grabbed his arm and pulled him to the house.
When Jinho was done with the tour and allowed for Minato to get settled into his room, he sat Jinho down to ask him to explain what he knew about him from Jinwoo.
Apparently, Jinwoo, said that he was an old friend visiting from Japan — wherever that was — and he needed a place to stay. Jinho said he found it weird that he wasn't staying with Jinwoo instead, but he just figured that his Hyungmin had a valid reason for such a thing.
'Probably doesn't trust me sleeping under his roof. Which is fair.' Minato figured.
"Are you going to be staying here?" he asked the shorter blonde.
"Me? No, but I'll meet up with you in the morning and you can help me around town. Just get yourself some rest and we'll enjoy the day tomorrow."
Minato smiled sincerely at how welcoming Jinho was to a stranger like him. To be honest, he reminded him of his long-lost student Obito in some ways. From his endless enthusiasm to his endearing positive and welcoming smile, he brought an energy to his life that a part of him had missed for the past few days. He bid Jinho a farewell and settled back into the living room area, plopping on the white couch in exhaustion.
'I think I'll sleep for a few hours before getting something to eat.' he decided after hearing his tummy rumble for subsistence after only a few minutes. He dozed off with that in mind.
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Minato reawakened to a dark void expanse, shallow waters at his feet, and an enormous red cage made from interlocking torii gates. Minato narrowed his eyes to peer further into the cage, knowing that he would find a mass of swirling red hot rage and hatred glaring at him.
"Hello, Kyuubi. It's been awhile."
Minato wasn't the least bit surprised at the angry roar that sent torrents of wind his way or the giant orange claw that snatched the gate between its grasp but never would reach him.
"Fourth Hokage, you insolent brat! Trapping me in another cage! Know that I hate you with my entire being."
"I'm sorry Kyuubi, but I could not allow the bijuu balance between nations to be disrupted. The Leaf would have become vulnerable to attack even more thanks to the damage you and that masked man wrought."
"And your son? You've doomed your son, Naruto to a lifetime of suffering and anguish as a jinchuruki of the beast that destroyed the village. It must surely eat you up inside to know that you failed as a father just as you were getting started." Kyuubi laughed from behind its cage.
Minato's eyes were downcast for a moment before he glared up at the cackling fox spirit.
"I believe in my son. He will master the other half of your power and protect the village from that masked man. Because he is the son of a shinobi and I am a father who loves him very much."
Although his words did nothing to dissuade the fox's laughter, Minato decided that he was done speaking with him and forced himself out of this mental sewer that he'd trapped the tailed beast in.
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In the real world Minato gasped for breath sitting up on the couch he'd fallen asleep in. He wiped the sweat that'd built up and made his way over to the kitchen to grab some food and water. He was grateful for the tour that Jinho gave him of the holiday home and that there was some food that still hadn't gone bad from his family's last stay here.
'Welp. I'm not going back to sleep again.' he decided. He was in no mood to potentially encounter the fox again. 'Maybe I should go out and explore the town? I hope there's a library open around this time.'
However, looking at the clock that read 01:34 am he doubted it.
He looked out of a still open window, still set on his decision to leave. He left a sealing formula on the counter and grabbed his black jacket to make his out.
As soon as he set foot outside the house, his shadow bulged and in a single second the darkness of Iron presented itself. With his full body length shield in his right and giant hammer-halberd hybrid in his left.
"Iron? I'm just going for a walk. Nothing devious or dangerous," he reasoned with the tall blue-faced knight.
Of course there was no verbal response, only a cute slight tilt of the head giving indication to his thoughts that Minato had no clue on how to decipher.
"Nothing dangerous…" Minato repeated, moving to sidestep Iron. However, Iron blocked off his path of movement much to Minato's irritation. "Iron. I'm just going for a walk. Sung told you to keep an eye on me, not micromanage my every step."
Iron looked away to the side, scratching his face, seemingly considering or embarrassed. He let out a puff of air and retreated back into his shadow without further issue. The Yellow Flash smiled at this and went on his merry way for a walk in the town.
It didn't take long for him to be within the hustle and bustle of this unfamiliar city's nightlife. All the flashing lights, cars zooming by and people roaring or flooding every building that he either suspected to be a nightclub or casino. It was similar to the red light district he'd visited with Jiraiya sensei back in the day, but 10x more flashy, whether it was livelier or not was up for debate.
He had no money so he would just be passing by or maybe pop into a shop or two to ask some questions. For some reason he could speak the language fluently, which is something he didn't mind or stop to question. He simply just went with the flow.
As he walked along a flash of red crossed his eyes. He knew it couldn't be possible. No, that it was impossible for her to be here. It was just a coincidence that he saw that flash of beautiful flowing red hair in between people, but he didn't know if it was a mixture of curiosity or deluded hope that led him forward to investigating that red he saw. He went on anyway. However, once the flash of red was no longer a flash but was something that looked visible, tangible and real to him, a spark of hope filled his chest. Until that spark died instantly when he saw that the hair wasn't the same and even more so when looked like an idiot reaching his hand out to the woman who looked nothing like her. Nothing like his beloved. Nothing like Kushina.
"Can I help you?"
The woman's question snapped him out of his daze and he quickly shook his head with a sad smile responding, "No, I thought you were someone else."
He made himself scarce before she got the chance to get more out of the broken man that he was. Finding a dark alleyway and climbing several stories in a matter of moments to gaze down at the steaming and festering lights of the city below. His heart in tatters, gazing at the alien world he now resided in.
'This is really hell.'
And for some strange reason his mind conjured up the laughter of a gigantic demon fox in the background. Maybe he deserved the mocking for what he did to his son, and even though he would stand that he made the best decision, it wouldn't shake away the immense guilt he felt.
He sighed for the umpteenth time that night.
'I just hope everything works out for you, Naruto. I'm sure you do too, Kushina.'
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No more than a few hours later, after hopping out of the shower and getting dressed, Jinho was at his door smiling and ready for the day's activities. He saw him dressed in a fancy dark green suit.
"Morning, Minato. How was your night?" he greeted, stepping in once Minato let him in. "It was fine, thank you very much."
"That's great to hear. Um…so, there's a change of plans today. I'm not sure if Hyung-nim told you, but I'm going to be meeting with my father to discuss very important terms. The morning is going to be packed with a lot of boring meeting stuff so I thought I would just warn you." He explained, a little twiddling of his thumbs here and there.
"That should be fine. I think I need things to slow down a little bit. I'll be happy to tag along if you'll have me."
"Yeah that would be fantastic. Hyung-nim did say to show you around so I'll definitely get to that once we're finished with my father!" He promised.
Minato chuckled. "You really look up to Sung, huh?" Jinho blinked up at him in confusion before a little blush came to his cheeks. "Uh, yeah, I didn't have the best family life so Jinwoo is the closest thing I see to an older brother. Also helps that he's saved my life before." he laughed.
"Yeah, I'm sure that adds points in his favor. I'm sorry to hear that you went through such hardships." Sympathy swimmed on the pools of his blue eyes.
"It's all fine now, so get dressed and let's get going," he insisted and Minato mock saluted before heading off to his bedroom. He quickly changed into a light green shirt with a silver Adidas jacket over it, grey sweatpants and dark blue open-toe sandals.
"All ready."
They went to Jinho's van and drove off to the meeting with his father. It took all of 2 hours for the meeting to complete and Minato had been the van bored out of his mind with the only thing to pass the time being the music playing out the radio. It took him some minutes to properly work it as it wasn't too dissimilar to the short range radios that were used during his reign as Hokage.
It was during this time that he realized that Iron enjoyed a bit of music himself as whenever the radio switched to a particular brand of loud, thunderous music he saw his shadow wiggle or deform. Or maybe it was the opposite and he didn't enjoy the music, it was hard to tell when he couldn't see an expression or hear a sound from the shadow knight.
"So? How'd it go?" Minato asked once Jinho made it back into the van. He was solemn for a few moments before shooting him a big smile saying that it went great. He just needed to talk to Jinwoo first before his father would officially hand over the rights for him to become Guildmaster first. Minato didn't really get most of what he said but his excitable behavior was so endearing that he couldn't help but be infected and happy for him.
"So, where to now?" Jinho asked excitedly, behind the wheel.
Minato raised a hand to his chin and thought for a moment.
"How does the library sound?"
"The library?"
"Yeah," Minato laughed. "Let's say there's something I have to look through."
"Alright then." Jinho said, considerably less than thrilled about the library. "To the library we ride!"
It didn't take long for them to reach the library. As soon as they arrived he told Jinho that he had to use the restroom as an excuse to leave his side. He had to be discreet with his information gathering so as he entered the stall he swiftly executed the shadow clone jutsu. The plan was to have it transform into a random passerby he'd seen last night and have it read up on this world's geography, technology, systems and history as a start.
"All right let's get this underway." He said to himself, literally.
The clone transformed into an average looking man with a biker jacket and left the stall. He waited 10 more minutes before he too left the stall so as not to be suspicious and then rejoined Jinho once more.
"Hey, you took a while in there." Jinho commented lightly, leaning on a desk.
"Ah, yes."Minato laughed, sheepishly scratching his head. "It seems something that wasn't sitting didn't agree with my stomach."
"You picked out a book then?" He asked, eyeing the thick book in his hand.
"Yes." Minato confirmed. "It should sedate my boredom when you can't show me around."
It was a random book on geography. He hoped that it wouldn't draw Jinho's suspicion but he doubted it would.
"Alright." Jinho shrugged. "Check it out and let's get outta here."
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Japan, Shinjuku City
Inside an A-rank gate, 17:30
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Takawa Kanae grimaced as she fended off slashes coming at her from 2 elite death knights. Their decaying bodies covered in silver shining armour and their attacks heavy due to the Arch Lich's magic. Her abilities as an S-rank hunter were really being pushed to limits as the Lich happily watched from its seat on the throne.
Kanae was an attractive, athletic woman with long black hair and red eyes and black lipstick. She was dressed in a pink crop top jacket and black tights that really highlighted her womanly curves and strong muscles.
She carried two blades at her hip, one a long, sleek, black matted katana and the other a short wakizashi blade.
'This wouldn't be a problem for me to deal with normally as these death knights are only A-rank in strength, but…'
She glanced behind him at the unfortunate group of hunters fighting off a horde of undead. They didn't seem to be doing too bad but that was due to the fact that she was keeping the elite fighters occupied, at least six of them if she was counting— they moved well too.
This predicament was entirely of her own making if she was being honest. As an attempt to at least profit from the charity that she had afforded the hunters of the Undefeated Kings guild— a stupid name she thought— to clear this gate. It had been a routine raid with them moving through smoothly and defeating the boss with ease until they found a second door in the boss room.
From there she knew that this was a double dungeon. She immediately capitalised and told them that the spoils from the double dungeon would go to the Draw Sword guild. They were skeptical and weary, the rumors of the double dungeon infamous as they came, but the promise of a cut for helping her out was enough to entice them. Such was the nature of opportunistic bastards like the Undefeated Kings, they couldn't dare pass up even a single profit even in the form of charity from a rival.
Her reasons while on the surface were to gather resources for Draw Sword, it was more selfish than that. She didn't want to tell President Goto Ryuji that she'd done free charity work for a rival so she'd at least have to come back with something and she had deemed this sufficient.
However, the trouble she was dealing with was slowly making her regret not just taking the reprimand and slap on the wrist she would've gotten from Goto.
"Get off, dammit!" She grunted, pushing back against the axe wielding death knight with her katana.
Death knights to her left and right came barreling forward, but she was ready and jumped into the air, executing a picture perfect split kick that sent them tumbling. She landed in a crouch, digging her heels in before slicing the death knight behind her in half.
[Accelerating Vector Slice]
Her crimson eyes flashed brilliantly as Kanae's katana glowed red before she dashed forward and sliced the axe wielding death knight to pieces before moving to the next two, and then finishing the fourth one with an elegant stroke of the blade, reminiscent of how a painter strokes their brush on an empty canvas.
"It's knight time." She quipped as the last two death knights attacked her.
She nimbly avoided every strike as they appeared to move in slow motion before quickly unsheathing her wakizashi and decapitating the two knights simultaneously.
"I hope you're for me to clean your clock, Lich." She said confidently facing down the undead skeleton draped in tattered rags that were once noble robes.
The Arch Lich tilted its head seemingly amused before raising its metallic staff covered in complex rune symbols. A wave of magical energy spread across the boss room as the staff glowed, and reacted violently with the undead attacking the other hunters.
"What's happening?"
"This mana? It looks like they're reacting to it!"
"This can't be good!"
The Undefeated Kings stood at the ready as the horde of undead were dragged and pulled together in a messy, bloody mass. The crunching of bone, squishing of insides and tearing of decayed flesh all made for a disturbing sight. It left some of them feeling weak in the knees, or ready to spill their guts.
Kanae remained steadfast and unfazed as the disgusting mass transformed into a 5m tall, walking golem of flesh and decay.
The Death Golem.
'It's magical energy is crazy!? It might even give me some trouble.' The S-rank hunter surmised from a single glance at the golem. She quickly refocused her attention back on the Arch Lich, 'I should focus on taking him out, but there's no guarantee that will stop the golem from rampaging. I have to get those other guys out of here first before I can really go all out.' She thought.
'I wasn't fighting as freely because I was worried that they couldn't handle it. They were able to hold their own against the horde but now that it's transformed into that… ,' Now she knew they didn't stand a chance, so she couldn't afford to leave it to them. She'd have to hold off on attacking the Lich to evacuate those guys. 'I'm really being backed into a corner here…' She deduced.
Springing to action she dashed toward the Death Golem. Its beady green eyes tracked her movement expertly, spoting her approach a mile away. However, it was for naught as she sliced through its arms and torso before landing behind it.
"Miss Takawa!" A female hunter exclaimed.
She was dressed in expensive armour, her hair tied into a bun and carried a sword that was covered in black blood.
"You guys should leave right now! You can't begin to hold your own against that thing and Lich has yet to fight on its own." She ordered.
"But-" She tried to argue.
"I'm not playing around here! Do you wanna die?" Kanae, irritated with his resistance, flared her aura in warning.
"Uh, no ma'am." She bowed.
"Good. Now leave." The command was calm and certain with no room for arguments.
The hunter turned to the others and beckoned them to retreat and let her deal with the two monsters.
"Ma'am, please hold out! We will return with reinforcements." She begged before running off with the rest of her comrades.
"Whatever."
She sighed once they disappeared down the tunnel before she turned back and faced down the giant golem. "Looks like you finally stopped sitting on your ass. Were you being polite I wonder?" She unsheathed both her blades.
A growl was her answer.
"I don't know why I expected something different."
She sped forward, ready to cut through the golem. It had other ideas however, sending splurges of toxic blood from its gaping maw. She moved to avoid them, but a tendril of green light caught her eye and she was forced to block the incoming attack. She was sent spiraling into a wall, but came out relatively unscathed.
"Well I'll be." She spat out some blood. "Finally decided to move your ass, huh, Lich?"
Suddenly tendrils of green magic spewed forth from the Lich's staff chasing after Kanae who had the grace of an acrobat, dodging every incoming attack. The golem came from behind to crush her but she stood still and blocked the fist, holding it in place.
[Accelerating Vector Slice]
The golem's arm was turned into mince meat as the S-rank hunter shot through the air like a bullet and floored the magical construct. She didn't have a second to rest, however when more tendrils raced after her. She knew instinctively that she couldn't afford to get touched even once by these magic strings otherwise it would be bad.
A blur of red and green was all that could be seen as she zipped through the boss lair at breakneck speeds to avoid getting hit by the tendrils.
'That golem is getting back up again.' She observed the magic beast reforming its arm from the bite-sized pieces she'd rendered them to. 'I see, so that enormous amount of magical energy was to facilitate high-speed regeneration. It's not that fast or strong so it plans to make it a battle of attrition to wear me down.' She concluded.
She couldn't shake the tendrils off her trail but she did observe that they had a hard time following her whenever she made sharp turns. She would use that to her advantage.
She raced towards the golem which had once again noticed her approach but she was quick to avoid a stomp and dashed behind it. The result of which was that some tendrils struck the flesh and caused it to fall to its knees. She moved forward, still with the tendrils hot on her trail, towards the Lich on the throne.
Lich waited until the last second to raise a hand and cast a spell. The green magic circle visible to her eyes as a net of tendrils spewed forth from the circle.
'Shit!' She cursed, bringing her blades forward and summoning an enormous amount of her mana.
[Typhoon Barricade]
An aura of magic cover her blades as she launched rapid strikes at the net, severing it but not without cost as the tendrils chasing her finally caught up.
She screamed in pain as a toxin was released on the point of contact, shutting down all function in that area. This essentially left her one handed and hobbling on one leg.
"Shit! I'm in trouble." Her heart raced in panic as she looked behind her to see the golden approaching once more. Because it was undead, the toxin didn't affect its mobility. She looked up to see that the Lich had stopped sending out its tendrils, retracting them to its staff. Now, it merely looked down at her like a poor plaything.
"Don't you dare look down on me!" Anger booming in her eyes as she gripped her sword tightly. She wouldn't be looked down upon even in the face of a superior being, she had too much pride for that.
Jumping forward on her one good leg she reared her katana back and attempted to slice the Lich's neck off, but she was sent flying by a fist from the golem before she could reach. Smacking into the wall, blood trailed from the cut on her forehead and lips.
'Aw man, this is not my day is it?' She lamented with a few broken ribs and an arm and leg useless to her. Even still she stared down death defiantly and picked up her sword once more.
In her mind she flashed back to the image of that man that had inspired her to be a hero, the man who was different from all other S-ranks in the country or at least she thought he was. In the end Goto had changed and ended up as greedy and selfish as the rest, but not her. She would stay true to her ideals of the hero that had inspired her that day and fight for the safety of everyone else just like he used to on that fateful day she met him.
"Waaaaaagh!"
She charged forward, but was caught off guard when innumerable amounts of golden chains wrapped around the golem. Its movements restricted by the chains, it could do no more than growl.
"Hey there! You're not looking too good!"
Kanae still shook and confused, turned to the voice and saw a beautiful, fair-skinned woman with the most luscious of red locks, cascading down to her thighs with a black clip that parted her hair to the left.
Dressed in a high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a loose-fitting dress with a wristband on her left hand and grey sandals— her smile was infectious and reassuring.
Golden chains spewed from her body, holding the golem in place like nothing.
"W-Who are you?" She stammered.
The mysterious woman's grin only grew wider, "I'm Uzumaki Kushina, dattebane!"
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Yo! Finally an update off the one-shot. I was planning on getting back to it eventually and here it is, sry. It's just at that point I had thought of it as just a one shot and nothing really after and it took me a lot of brainstorming to figure out how I wanted to progress things.
Kushina is in the story, yay! I hope you enjoy her addition and I'm looking forward to writing about her relationship with Minato for the first time, cuz they are the best pair in Naruto fr.
Also just for the sake of my sanity because I didn't feel like rewriting the section with Jinho and all that, just assume that Minato can speak and understand most languages in this story, I'll come up with some BS later to justify why— hopefully lol.
Solo Leveling Arise game is pretty cool to check out the backstories of the many hunters in the story that we didn't get to see. And I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Goto inspired Kanae to be a hunter and that he was a hero before he became who he was.
Other than that I hope you enjoyed this chapter and review pls