Chapter no.81 Lower Undead Burg (Patreon)

Naruto moved through the forest with a spring in his step and a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. His inventory was loaded with snacks, drinks, and small trinkets he thought his friends would enjoy. He even snagged a few things just because they made him laugh, imagining Seigmeyer's boisterous approval or Andre's gruff chuckle. Maybe Rickert would raise an eyebrow and mutter something sarcastic, but Naruto knew he'd smile when no one was looking.

It was silly, maybe, but it mattered to him.

Those three had become more than just figures in another world. They were his world.

Andre was the grumbling, beer-swigging grandfather he'd never had. Stern but honest. Seigmeyer was lovable, bombastic, and proud. A father in every way but blood. And Rickert was the older brother he always wanted: cynical but loyal, always ready with a warning or a dry remark when things got dicey.

He couldn't wait to return to Lordran. To laugh with them. To sit by the fire and tell them all about the results of the spar with Kakashi.

Naruto checked everything, making sure he didn't miss anything, and just as he was about to close the screen, his eyes caught on something strange.

A kunai.

It shouldn't have stood out. He carried hundreds. But this one wasn't stored with the rest in the weapons tab. No... this was in Key Items.

Frowning, he selected it.

[Item: Marked Kunai]
[Note: Used for summoning.]

Naruto summoned it into his hand.

At first glance, it looked like a standard-issue shinobi blade. But when he turned it, let the light catch its surface just right, he saw them: faint lines of sealing ink, so subtle they were practically invisible. Yet to his Hawkeyes, they shone like script carved from light.

[Item: Marked Kunai]
[Description: A standard shinobi blade, etched with the twin seals of Reverse Summoning and Detection. In a quiet, calculated scheme to unravel hidden truths, Kakashi Hatake prepared this tool to pierce the veil around Naruto Uzumaki, a boy cloaked in mystery.]

His breath caught in his throat.

He didn't move, didn't blink, as something deep inside him… folded. Crumpled in on itself like a dying flame. What settled over Naruto wasn't rage or despair.

It was something worse.

Raw, terrible confusion.

Why would Kakashi do this? Not just to him but about him?

Naruto stared ahead, eyes unfocused. He hadn't even thought to run. When that pulse of chakra signaled Kakashi and Pakkun's arrival behind him, he didn't flinch. Didn't turn. Didn't ask a single question.

He couldn't.

He didn't have an answer he wanted to hear.

Kakashi stepped closer, voice tight with guilt. "Naruto… I didn't want you to find out like this. Just let me explain—"

But Naruto didn't speak. Not because he refused. Because he didn't know what to say.

He didn't even know what he was feeling.

Not really.

He wanted to scream. To ask what this was, why his own sensei would ever need to put a leash on him. To mark him like a threat. But even those emotions twisted up inside his chest, tangled and strangled by something colder.

What could Kakashi possibly gain from this? What did he see when he looked at me? Was I ever really his student? Or just something dangerous he had to manage?

Without a word, he activated the Homeward Miracle. The warmth of its light came not as comfort but as a wall. A soft, final curtain drawn across a stage.

The end of a play he hadn't realized he was performing in.

Kakashi lunged, reaching for him, but he was already gone. With no argument, no accusation, and no goodbye.

Just... silence.

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The bonfire's glow should've felt like home. It usually did.

But tonight, it felt fake.

Naruto sat by the flame, armor still on, but his helmet discarded beside him like a lie he didn't want to wear anymore. He drew his knees to his chest, staring into the fire like it might hold answers.

It didn't.

He was supposed to understand things by now. The way people worked. The way adults thought. But none of this made sense.

Kakashi was supposed to be the one person who didn't see him the way the villagers did. Who fought alongside him. Taught him. Treated him like a student. A person. Maybe even a friend.

So why had he done that? Why the seal? Why the mark?

Did Kakashi always see him the same way the villagers did?

Like something that needed watching. Like something that might snap. Like a demon.

Naruto's throat tightened. The fire in front of him seemed distant now, flickering in some other world.

It was betrayal, yes, but worse than that.

It was doubt.

The kind that sunk its claws into the back of his mind and whispered: Maybe they never saw you at all. Maybe all the smiles were fake. The trust? Conditional. His place on the team? A risk assessment. A leash wrapped in kindness.

His lips trembled.

Then something cracked. Not a scream. Not a roar. Just a small, internal snap. Like a single support beam inside him had given out under pressure. And the trembling began.

His fingers dug into his knee. His breathing grew shallow, irregular, like he couldn't find enough air in the world to stay afloat. He clenched his jaw so tightly it hurt. He bit his lip hard enough to taste blood.

But nothing helped and then he broke.

The first sob was jagged. Raw. It tore through him like a kunai slicing straight through muscle and memory then came another. And another.

A dam bursting open not with fury, but grief. Ugly, shaking grief.

He wept like someone who had been tricked into believing he mattered. Who had hoped that maybe this time, someone really cared.

But Kakashi had seen him as a what, not a who.

Not Naruto. Just the Nine-Tails. Just the risk. And that thought made it all worse.

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Chirp.

The sound was soft but clear.

Naruto sniffed, broken from the spiral for a moment. His blurred vision cleared just enough to see Oscar blinking up at him, head tilted in that confused way of his.

Chirp. Louder this time.

Naruto reached out without thinking, dragging the small crystal lizard into his arms. Oscar blinked once more, then nuzzled his face into Naruto's neck.

Naruto hugged him back like a lifeline. Held him like the world might collapse if he let go. Because maybe it already had. He buried his face into Oscar's scales and let the last of it out.

When the tears were gone, when the sobs had passed and the fire inside his chest had burned itself dry, what remained wasn't peace.

It was anger.

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Footsteps echoed from the stairwell.

"...Naruto? You alright, lad?" Andre's voice, laced with concern.

Naruto didn't look up. "I'm fine," he said flatly. "Just going out to hunt."

Andre frowned, the air shifting around them. "Something happen in that spar?"

Naruto stood without a word. Picked up his helmet. And slammed the visor shut with a metallic snap, hiding the red-rimmed eyes and hollow expression underneath.

He stepped past Andre.

"Don't get yourself killed," the blacksmith called after him. "Neither of us wants to see you go Hollow."

"I won't."

But the tone… it wasn't comforting. It wasn't hopeful.

It was empty.

Andre didn't follow. He just watched as Naruto disappeared into the dark, his presence a shadow cloaked in armor.

Somewhere deep inside, Naruto knew this feeling wasn't going away. Not tonight.

He needed to burn it out, and Lordran had monsters.

So tonight?

He'd hunt. And maybe, just maybe, when the blood dried and the blades dulled, he'd finally be able to feel something other than confusion.

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The three hollows that guarded the church didn't stand a chance.

The first never saw it coming. One moment it stood tall, sword raised in a half-hearted stance, and then, in a blur of motion, Naruto slammed into it like a battering ram. His shoulder hit the hollow's chest, lifting it off the ground and driving it backward into the stone stairs with a sickening crunch. Naruto didn't hesitate. He grabbed the hollow by the skull, reared his head back, and brought his helmet crashing down.

The impact split bone. The stairs cracked beneath them.

An arrow clinked off his helm.

He didn't flinch.

He turned, saw the next bolt incoming, and caught it mid-flight. With a twist of his body, he hurled it back like a javelin. It shrieked through the air and buried itself in the hollow archer's throat, pinning it to the wall like a grotesque banner.

The third hollow dropped its sword.

It turned to run.

A chirp echoed through the courtyard, followed by a pulse of light. Oscar's gun discharged with a crack of magic, and the fleeing hollow collapsed mid-stride, its back torn open by the blast.

Oscar trotted up behind him expectantly, tail twitching, waiting for praise, but Naruto didn't stop.

He was already walking through the great doors of the church.

Inside, the three Balder Knights stood like statues. Waiting. Guarding.

Naruto unsheathed the black rapier. A hiss filled the air as he channeled wind chakra through the blade. The air around it shimmered with razor-thin currents, wrapping around the steel like a second edge.

The first knight stepped forward.

Naruto didn't block.

He vanished and reappeared behind the knight in the span of a breath. The rapier pierced through the knight's backplate with a burst of wind. The force of the chakra-enhanced thrust erupted from the other side in a geyser of blood and pressure. The knight collapsed in pieces.

The second knight attacked in a whirlwind of precise thrusts.

Naruto flowed between them, untouched. He twisted, stepped inside the knight's reach, and drove the rapier into the gap between breastplate and arm. Wind chakra detonated inside the hollow's chest, rupturing it from within like a storm had bloomed inside its body.

The final knight paused, sensing death.

Naruto's gaze met his. Cold. Clear.

It lunged anyway.

He deflected the thrust, stepped in close, and drove the rapier upward through the hollow's jaw. Wind exploded out the top of the helm like a spear of air, splattering blood across the altar wall.

The silence that followed was heavy. Not peaceful.

Just empty.

Naruto walked forward, out the sunlit doors. The warmth meant nothing. His breath came slow. Steady. But it didn't settle him. His heart was still racing, not from effort but from the chaos in his mind.

Down the great stairs, a single hollow charged toward him.

Naruto's eyes flicked to the left.

A halberd embedded in a corpse. He pulled it free in one smooth motion and swung.

The hollow was cleaved in half mid-sprint. Blood sprayed. Entrails tumbled down the steps.

He didn't look back.

He reached the portcullis, the large gate that separated the church grounds from the path to the Lower Undead Burg. A lever sat nearby, a corpse slumped beside it with a key clutched in its hand.

[Item: Basement Key]
[Description: Opens the narrow passage leading below at the far face of the great bridge in the Undead Burg. The lower Undead Burg is a treacherous place. Do not turn your back on the wily thieves, or the wild dogs who serve the Capra Demon.]

Naruto snorted faintly. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that place."

He could've pulled the lever. Could've walked through. But he didn't.

He stepped up to the gate and gripped the iron bars. Chakra surged through his arms, flooding muscle and tendon with strength. With a growl, he lifted. The metal groaned, screamed, and rose.

Oscar darted through. Naruto slipped in behind him, just as the gate came crashing back down.

Dozens of hollows turned to face them.

Perfect.

Naruto pulled an Alluring Skull from his pouch and lobbed it into the center of the square. The hollows swarmed it at once, drawn like moths to a flame.

Oscar tilted his head, confused.

Naruto didn't explain.

He pulled a broken sword hilt from his inventory, the most worthless thing he owned, and leapt into the horde.

He didn't use jutsu.

He didn't need tricks.

He just moved.

Every swing was a scream he hadn't let out. Every strike a question with no answer. Why had Kakashi marked him? Why hide it? Why smile to his face and prepare a trap behind his back?

He thought of Team 7.

Of Sakura and Sasuke. Of Kiba. Of Shino. Of Hinata. Of... Ino. Of all the people who were beginning to trust him.

Was that a lie too?

He didn't know anymore. He was scared to ask.

Blood sprayed. Bones cracked. Hollows collapsed. The broken blade in his hand swung like a guillotine, and though it should've done nothing, chakra and rage made it a weapon worthy of gods. In seconds, the courtyard was painted red with a mosaic of limbs, guts, and ripped flesh.

Naruto stood alone, breathing softly.

Not a single scratch on him.

Not a drop of blood on his armor. But inside? He didn't feel cleansed. He felt... adrift.

The rage that had driven him was gone. But the questions remained. And with them, an ache.

He hadn't fought just because of Kakashi. He'd fought for his team. For the Wave mission. For the people counting on him.

For vengeance against Gato.

For... something.

But now, standing in the silence, he realized he didn't know what any of it meant anymore. If Kakashi didn't trust him, did the others? Was his help even welcome? What was he supposed to do? He was a protector. A teammate. A killer. A knight. A boy. Which one mattered most?

He didn't know.

A single hollow came stumbling forward, being late to the fight. Before it could reach him, a flash of blue light surged past. The hollow froze mid-step, then cracked into crystal before shattering into dust.

Oscar stood behind it, gun smoking. His face was... soft. Worried.

Naruto turned slowly. A faint, sad smile touched his lips. "Hey, partner."

Oscar chirped, gently.

"I'm back to my senses… I think," Naruto said. "That fight... helped. A little."

He reached down, patting the lizard's head with a slow, tired motion. Oscar nuzzled into his hand.

"Thanks for the save," he added.

The silence stretched between them, not heavy, but thoughtful.

Together, they walked toward the bonfire. Toward the next fight. Not because the pain was over, but because in this broken world, fighting was how he kept moving forward.

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The duo continued to kill and kill until the entire population of the Undead Burg was dead.

By the time the last enemy fell, Naruto exhaled deeply and sheathed his weapon. The silence that followed wasn't peace. It was hollow. He could still hear the echoes of his blade cutting through flesh, the wet gasps, the collapsing bodies. He looked down at his hands, wondering if he was becoming just another monster in this broken world.

"...Let's go see the merchant," he said at last, voice quieter now, almost ashamed. "It's been a while."

He reversed his hollowing just to feel the weight of life. Anything. He turned to Oscar with a tired smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"He's gonna be surprised," Naruto muttered. "Wait 'til he sees everything we've done. And you... get ready to show off a bit."

Oscar chirped and struck a series of dramatic poses. Naruto gave a soft snort. A laugh that caught in his throat, halfway to a sob.

But the closer they got, the worse the air felt. It smelled like iron.

"Hey, I've got so many souls now I don't even know what to do with them…" Naruto called out, hoping his voice would fill the silence, hoping it would call out that raspy, familiar laugh from the shadows.

Instead, something growled.

A shape lunged from the dark. Naruto moved before thought. He caught the undead dog's jaws mid-lunge with his left hand and slammed its skull against the wall. The crunch of bone was sickening, and the body slid to the ground like wet meat.

"What the hell is a dog doing in the Upper Burg?" he muttered, moving forward, heart slowly sinking. The silence wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

He stepped into the merchant's space and froze.

Blood.

It painted the floor in thick swathes, ran in lines down the wood like dark vines, seeping into every crack.

The place was wrecked. Barrels overturned, gear shattered. And in the corner, slumped like a broken puppet, lay the merchant's body.

No. It couldn't be. Not him.

Chunks of flesh were missing. His chest was torn open, ribs splayed like cracked antlers. One arm was just gone. The other twisted behind his back, fingers stretched like he had tried to crawl. To survive. To cry out.

Naruto didn't breathe.

He couldn't.

The man wasn't just a vendor. He was a constant. An odd, chuckling, grimy part of Lordran. The kind of weird that felt like home in a world where nothing made sense.

Naruto had wanted to show him his progress. Brag about the weapons he'd reforged, the armor he'd scavenged, the things he'd survived. Maybe ask if he remembered the boy who accidentally threw his reinforced club away.

But now... he was gone.

The merchant's body began to glow, soft and white, dissolving into soul vapor like every other lost life in this world.

A sword remained where his corpse slumped.

[Item Acquired: Uchigatana]

[Description: Katana forged in an Eastern land. Known for its brisk slashing motions. The Uchigatana cuts beautifully and causes bleeding, but its blade is easily nicked.]

Naruto gripped the handle of the Uchigatana. He felt warmth maybe from the merchant's blood. Then, quietly, the boy laughed, but there was no joy or healing in it. A sound born of disbelief and guilt and quiet, gnawing self-loathing.

In that moment, Naruto felt like a piece of shit because he had been wandering in circles. Swinging his sword into monsters, pretending it was something. Lashing out at the world, pretending it would make things clearer. Trying to drown his confusion in violence and rage because he didn't know where to go or what to feel. He had no direction until now because the merchant was dead, and that meant something.

That the darkness fogging his mind cleared a path for him to walk on.

Oscar nudged his leg gently, sensing the shift in him.

Naruto reached down and gave the little lizard a dull, almost numb pat on the head. The kind that said thank you without words.

He walked to the edge of the balcony.

Below him, the Lower Undead Burg stretched into darkness. Narrow, choking alleys. Wet cobblestones glistening in the faint glow of fire.

Somewhere down there, the Capra Demon waited.

Naruto used Wind Style: Vacuum Blade on the Uchigatana until it sang through the stillness like a whispering promise of death.

"Guess I owe someone a proper hunt," he muttered.

Naruto took three steps back. Then he sprinted forward.

Chakra surged into his legs, igniting every muscle in his body. Oscar raised his twin magic pistols and fired, twin beams of blue-white magic lancing toward the shimmering barrier that sealed the passage to the lower quarter. Crystals erupted across the surface of the magical barrier just as Naruto brought his blade down.

Wind met magic. Chakra met soul. And the world exploded.

The barrier shattered like glass under divine judgment, shards cascading in all directions as the wind burst from Naruto's swing in a shockwave. The detonation echoed like thunder through the Undead Burg, and Naruto dropped onto the flagstones below.

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The Lower Undead Burg was a coffin of stone.

Narrow alleys stretched between leaning buildings, their doors boarded shut with warped planks and rusted nails. Cracked cobblestones lined the paths, slick with damp and grime. Overhead, mold-streaked banners sagged like old wounds, barely catching the breeze. Vines crept up every surface, not lush but brittle gray-green tendrils worming their way through brick, as if trying to strangle the last life from the place. Barrels lay shattered. Wooden carts rotted where they collapsed. The stench of burnt flesh hung heavy in the air, carried on the smoke curling from a nearby pyre of blackened corpses that hissed quietly in the distance.

Naruto stepped through the alley slowly, cautious. He recognized this stretch. His clones had run this route once before, wall-walking along the upper edges to bypass a locked door. He remembered the risk. The narrow ledges. The smell.

Wait...

He didn't get to finish the thought.

Something lunged from the shadows.

Naruto ducked to the side, just fast enough to avoid the snap of rotted teeth. An undead dog landed where he'd stood—a gaunt, twitching thing with muscle exposed beneath patches of decaying fur. Its eyes were milky, blind but tracking him with uncanny precision. It snarled, crouched near a collapsed well.

Then came the sound of claws on stone.

He spun as Way of Focality warned him of the multiple dogs coming to maul him to death. These weren't the feral, mindless types from earlier. They moved like they'd hunted together. One snapped at his leg while the other darted for his blind side.

Naruto slid back, sword held horizontally.

The Uchigatana felt unfamiliar in his grip. He hadn't trained much with this kind of weapon, but he remembered how Tenten moved with hers. He tried to mimic the stance, planting his back foot and raising the sword.

The first dog charged.

Naruto sidestepped and slashed.

Wind chakra screamed down the blade as the strike cleaved through muscle and bone like wet paper, the dog's body split diagonally mid-pounce.

The second came in from the right.

He pivoted low, blade tucked tight, then swung upward in a rising cut. The chakra hissed again as the dog's front legs and torso were severed clean off. It shrieked once, then thudded to the ground in a heap.

A third jumped onto a ledge and leapt for his throat.

Naruto raised the blade horizontally and caught it mid-air—wind chakra turning the simple block into a dismembering clash. The dog's body spun away as Oscar's beam lanced past Naruto and blasted another off its feet, crystals bursting along the corpse.

The final two flanked him.

Smart.

One feinted while the other came from behind.

Naruto moved in the same beat. He turned his shoulders, bent low, and drove the tip of the Uchigatana into the gut of the one behind him—thrust, twist, withdraw. Wind chakra exploded from the blade's exit point, disemboweling the thing.

The last lunged, too close for another swing.

He kicked it.

Hard.

The dog hit a wall and dropped with a cracked yelp before Oscar vaporized it with another shot.

"That was cathartic," Naruto muttered, exhaling through his nose. He looked around at the blood-drenched alley, then at Oscar, who floated down from the rooftop with a satisfied chirp.

Yet something still felt... wrong.

The dogs were always a problem, always fast, but this was different. They hadn't just hunted. They'd coordinated.

Was Capra watching from the shadows?

He thought about scouting with clones, when something caught his attention.

BANG.

A dull thud echoed from deeper down the lane. He moved cautiously, slipping between half-collapsed houses and burned-out stalls, past twisted barrels and old bones. Then again:

BANG. BANG.

And a voice that was faint, muffled but human.

"Somebody! Please, let me out of here! Somebody, anybody! Help me! Unlock the door! ...Damn... I'm finished... How did this ever happen..."

Naruto blinked. "Is someone in there?"

"Yes! Yes... please, you have to let me out!"

The door was heavy oak, reinforced with thick iron bands. He rapped his knuckle against the surface.

"I'm going to break it."

"Don't bother," the voice came back quickly. "There's magic woven into the wood. You'll destroy half the building before it gives. Better to open it properly."

Naruto sighed and reached into his inventory. "Alright, let's see if this would do..."

He flipped through the key ring, testing them one at a time.

Click.

He froze.

It was the residence key.

The one the undead merchant had sold him back when Naruto still didn't know how anything worked in this world.

His throat tightened a little, but he forced the memory down.

The door creaked open, and the first thing that hit Naruto was the smell.

It was bad. A heavy mix of old sweat, rot, mold, and something worse—like meat that had gone foul. It clung to the air, thick and sour, like it had soaked into the walls and never left.

The room beyond was small. Cramped. Shadowed corners and no windows. It looked like a storage space. Barrels lined the walls, some sealed with lids nailed shut. Others broken open, wood splintered and dark with stains. One near the back had its top half pried off and inside was a body.

Naruto saw the limbs first. Bent in wrong directions. The arms were folded in on themselves, bones clearly broken to make the corpse fit into the barrel's tight space. Skin pale, bloated. The face turned just enough to show wide, unblinking eyes.

His stomach turned, but he didn't flinch. Not anymore.

In front of the barrel, slumped against it, sat a man. He looked to be in his early twenties. Not old, but worn down. His skin was pale, almost gray in the low light, and his eyes were sunken, dark underneath like he hadn't slept in days. He didn't move much, just shifted his head a little to glance at Naruto, like even that was an effort.

His hair was long and dark brown, hanging around his face in tangled strands. He wore a flat, round hat with a silver pattern carved along the brim. The shadow of it hung over his face, but not enough to hide how tired he looked. His cloak was thick and black, made from some kind of waxed fabric that looked stiff and water-resistant. Metal buckles ran along the front, and a few silver clasps held it closed at the chest.

Naruto recognized the outfit instantly. "You're a sorcerer?"

The man gave a faint nod, hand pressing against his ribs like they hurt. His voice was weak but steady. "Yes. I thought I might never escape… I am Griggs of Vinheim." He paused, catching his breath. "If I may… do you have anything to eat, great knight of Astora?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh... uh, I'm not… I mean... yeah, I've got food."

He pulled out a cup of noodles from his inventory, making it look like it came from the pouch at his waist. He placed it down beside Griggs with a small grin.

"Name's Naruto Uzumaki. Squire of Oscar of Astora. And, uh… Knight of…"

He trailed off. Konoha was on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn't sure it still fit.

"Ah. More travelers. I'd begun to wonder if your voice was a hallucination."

"It's just me and my partner Oscar," Naruto said, gesturing toward the door. "We're making our way through Lordran."

"I see." Griggs gave a slow nod. "Then I thank you for this kindness."

He picked up the noodles and, without hesitation, bit into them dry, crunching them like jerky.

Naruto flinched. "Whoa... hey, no, stop! You don't eat those like that!"

He reached over and took the cup back before Griggs could finish chewing.

Griggs stared at him. "Is this… really important? I haven't eaten in days."

"Trust me," Naruto muttered as he crouched near a busted barrel. "This is basic stuff, and if you're not careful, you'll puke it right back out."

He grabbed a few dry wood splinters from the floor, added some cloth strips, and placed them inside the broken barrel. Then he held out one hand and focused his breath.

A spark of chakra jumped from his fingertip.

The cloth caught fire in an instant. The small flame grew steadily, casting flickering light across the dark room.

It was a basic exercise in elemental chakra control—converting chakra into fire, just like he'd learned to do with wind. Sasuke had walked him through it during their swordsmanship training, explaining that mastering this step was essential before moving on to something bigger, like the Fireball Jutsu.

"...How did you do that?" Griggs asked, watching the fire.

Naruto lied back, remembering Rickert's warning not to tell others—especially sorcerers—about chakra. "I'm a pyromancer. Or, uh, kind of. I got picked up as a squire, trained, then knighted."

Griggs gave him a tired look. "If you say so." There was a dry edge to his tone now. "Am I expected to explain the corpse in the barrel?"

"Preferably."

Griggs took a deep breath, steadying his nerves, but Naruto noticed something in the motion. The man's face and voice had the right weariness and tremble—but the timing and cadence… it felt rehearsed.

"He was a fellow student of the school," Griggs said. "We tried to hide here, sealed the door to protect ourselves. But someone locked it behind us. Our Estus flasks emptied... He bled out, and when he came back, he wasn't him anymore."

He went quiet, but not mournfully. Just quiet like someone who knew exactly where to stop.

Naruto remained still, his mind working as he analyzed the words Griggs had just spoken.

Fellow student... The phrase sat in his mind, heavy with unspoken implications. Despite having watched this student die, Griggs spoke with a detachment that bordered on indifference. There was no remorse, no lingering grief just a simple recounting of events. Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that Griggs was leaving something out.

What was he really after?

When the water boiled, Naruto poured it carefully into the noodle cup and stirred it slowly. When he slid it over, Griggs blinked at the steam, took a sip too quickly, and winced. His body jerked in protest, a shudder rolling through him as the hot broth scalded his mouth. He hissed between clenched teeth, eyes watering slightly as his throat struggled to adjust to actual sustenance.

"Glad I came before you decided to make your friend into jerky," Naruto muttered.

Griggs gave a short huff. It wasn't quite a laugh. It didn't reach his eyes—more a reaction than anything else. Something polite.

The silence that followed stretched too long.

Naruto stood and moved to the barrel.

"The corpse just has standard robes of a Vinheim sorcerer. Nothing too special, but they do provide magic resistance."

Is that so? Naruto thought as he moved the barrels aside.

"I wasn't checking for loot," he said quietly, watching Griggs for a reaction. "I'm taking the body out. I'll bury it later."

A pause.

"...Oh," Griggs said, surprised, caught off guard for the first time. "Seems like a waste, as he'll just go Hollow in a few hours. I'd say just strip him of his equipment. You don't want to deal with a Hollow that can cast spells."

All of that was logical but...

"He was your classmate. Do you want it?"

Griggs looked at the body, then at the floor. His face didn't change.

"...No. I don't think I deserve it."

His expression remained still, but Naruto understood his intentions.

"You can have it," Griggs added. "Incidentally, would you care to learn any sorceries? You're clearly talented. And besides, I owe you. Of course, we'll need some materials, but I'd be happy to teach you some elementary spells. Are you interested?"

Called it. Naruto had already figured him out. The indifference to the corpse, the offer of the gear, even the casual approach to magic—it was all Griggs trying to make himself useful. Someone Naruto would feel compelled to protect if he wanted more power.

Naruto genuinely preferred honesty. This reminded him too much of Kakashi's manipulations. Still, it wasn't in his nature to walk away from something that could be useful.

"I'll take you up on that offer," Naruto said casually, watching for the man's reaction.

"Great," Griggs replied, already slurping another mouthful of noodles, his voice noticeably lighter. "If you're capable of channeling, then the catalyst is yours to wield."

[Items Acquired:]

[Sorcerer Hat]

[Sorcerer Cloak]

[Sorcerer Gauntlets]

[Sorcerer Boots]

[Sorcerer's Catalyst]

Naruto examined the robes with narrowed eyes. "These aren't the same as yours. They've got more of a yellow tint. Different design, too. Like they're not even from the same group."

Griggs paused mid-chew. "Ah. You might not know this, but the Vinheim Dragon School is divided into several houses. Each one has its own colors, symbols, and traditions. There's the House of the Lion, the Badger, the Snake, and the Eagle." A subtle smile crept onto his face. "I wonder which house you'd be sorted into, Knight Naruto."

"I've heard it's frowned upon for knights to study magic."

Griggs waved a hand lazily. "Outdated thinking. Old hierarchies. But if that's how you feel…" He trailed off, the implication hanging in the air.

"I'm not like most knights."

He raised the Sorcerer's Catalyst, letting chakra flow naturally into the tool. It responded immediately. Light shimmered at its tip, bright blue energy forming without conscious effort. Then, without warning, a Soul Arrow launched across the room. It struck a hollow that had stumbled into the doorway, blasting it back in a flash of azure and smoke.

Griggs didn't flinch. "Where did you learn to use magic?"

This guy already figured out I wasn't aiming at him in a split second. Naruto knew Griggs was sharp; not just from his manipulative behavior, but because a sorcerer had to be smart. Calculated. Intentional.

Before he could say anything more, the moment shattered as the voices echoed up from the stairwell below. Hollow shrieks. The crackle of torches.

A mob was coming.

Naruto flickered to the entrance, stepping into the narrow stone corridor just as the hollows charged.

With a calm breath, he pressed his hand to his talisman and released an orb of force. Emit Force. The shockwave exploded outward, catching the front wave of enemies and hurling them back in a scattered heap.

Before they even hit the ground, Naruto was already moving. The Uchigatana flashed in a clean upward arc, slicing through three hollows mid-fall. One tried to crawl away, gasping, only to crumple as a dagger pierced its throat.

Naruto turned sharply.

Griggs stood at the top of the stairs, arm outstretched, the dagger still glowing faintly with magical energy.

"Thanks for the assist," Naruto said, wiping the blade on a cloth.

"Of course. I can't have you doing all the work, now can I?" Griggs said lightly. "Besides, you're an interesting one. A pyromancer-turned-knight who can cast spells and miracles."

"Lordran giveth, and I taketh," Naruto replied.

"So… who taught you magic?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Was it Master Logan?" Griggs asked, a hopeful gleam entering his voice.

"Never heard of him," Naruto said evenly. He didn't miss the way Griggs' fist clenched at that. The man nodded, trying to mask his disappointment behind a composed expression.

Naruto pointed toward the upper staircase. "Head that way. You'll find a door at the top. It leads to a bridge and a bonfire just past that."

"Thank you," Griggs said, bowing slightly. "I'll see you again at Firelink Shrine, if you ever wish to continue your studies. I'd be honored to expand your knowledge of the arcane."

Naruto gave a quiet nod, noting something strange: there was sound to Griggs' footsteps now.

Earlier, when he'd killed the hollow, Naruto had been acutely aware of every detail. Griggs' steps had been silent. Like Zabuza's Silent Killing... a breathless, deliberate presence.

Now? Footfalls echoed faintly off the stone.

Was it some kind of spell? Why do I feel like there's more to Griggs than just being a simple sorcerer?

A flicker of movement snapped Naruto out of his thoughts as a knife flew toward Griggs' back.

Naruto's kunai whipped through the air, deflecting the blade just before it hit. It clanged off the stone wall and spun away harmlessly.

Griggs froze mid-step.

Oscar fired a crackling beam of energy down into the shadows below, the flash briefly illuminating the alley. The attacker flinched, forced out of hiding.

He stepped into the firelight, if he could still be called that. The figure moved like a puppet too long left in the rain. Wrapped in remnants of old, patchwork armor, his limbs were too thin, too long, and his hood cast deep shadows across his skeletal face. Only two glowing red eyes burned through the darkness like coals. In one hand, a curved dagger. In the other, a dented round shield, warped from years of use.

[Name: Undead Assassin]
[HP: 300/300]

Naruto responded with a quick flick of his wrist, sending a kunai toward the thing's chest just to test the water.

The assassin flipped backward with eerie grace, limbs contorting mid-air. But that was his mistake.

The movement should have exposed him.

Naruto watched the kunai fly clean into the man's spine and pass through it like smoke.

"What the...?!"

Naruto took a step back. Not genjutsu. Something else. Something wrong.

Then came the sound of slamming wood.

Doors burst open along the narrow street, and two more assassins spilled into the alley. Both were twisted reflections of the first. One vaulted from a rooftop, landing in a crouch that sent up sparks. The other skittered low, fast and insect-like.

"Go from the front. I'll support," Griggs called out, his voice level, already forming a spell.

Naruto didn't waste time arguing. He surged forward.

The three assassins moved as one.

The first rushed in with a Quick Slash, the curved dagger barely visible. Naruto ducked low, sidestepped, and felt a weird sensation on his shoulder as the blade barely grazed his armor.

The second came with a Running Stab, thrusting straight for his gut. Naruto twisted, deflecting it with the flat of his Uchigatana, but the impact still jostled his stance. He retaliated with a wide arc slash. The assassin rolled through it and again, the blade passed harmlessly through him.

They weren't illusions. They were real. But something about them bent around attacks.

Then came the third. From behind.

Naruto spun just in time to avoid a Backstab—the assassin mid-air, dagger ready to rip his throat open. Naruto ducked, slashed upward but again, nothing. Just smoke.

They were real enough to cut him, but insubstantial when it counted.

He growled under his breath, forced to defend, not dominate. Throwing knives clattered off his gauntlets. The Uchigatana sang in his hands, its edge laced with wind chakra, but the blade felt useless. They rolled through it. Slid through every gap in his technique.

One changed stance suddenly low and sharp.

Parry.

Naruto's arm jarred as his next strike was caught mid-motion. A second later, the assassin riposted, slicing across his armor. It didn't even leave a scratch. And yet that's when Naruto noticed it. That reddish shimmer pulsing beneath his skin.

What… is that?

It wasn't chakra or magic. It moved differently. Like it was being drawn out. He stepped back, and pain flared across his whole body.

A glowing sigil suddenly seared itself onto his skin its lines like burning wire. He gasped. Then, all at once, blood burst from a dozen tiny wounds. Not cuts. Not from the blades. From inside him. He staggered, vision tilting. The assassins closed in like wolves sensing weakness.

Oscar's cry rang out above.

A single shot lanced through the air and struck the nearest assassin. It froze mid-lunge, body crystallizing instantly as its legs locked, limbs snapping. The shard statue collapsed into glittering dust. The second was already charging when Griggs launched his spell, a deep blue Soul Arrow, faster and more focused than any Naruto had seen. It struck the assassin square in the face. The undead's head imploded. Its body dropped limp like a sack of rotting meat.

The final assassin, seeing its companions fall, broke into a desperate sprint toward Naruto.

Naruto gritted his teeth, blood running from his nose and fingertips. He shoved the Uchigatana into the scabbard and drew the Zweihander in one smooth motion. The massive blade hissed through the air.

The assassin made a sharp roll to dodge and Naruto waited, patient. The moment it landed, ready to counter... he swung.

The Zweihander tore through the assassin's torso in a brutal, horizontal sweep. No chance to vanish. No space to phase.

The creature fell in two pieces, twitching on the ground before finally going still.

Naruto exhaled sharply. Blood dripped from his armor. He was dizzy. That sigil had hit deeper than expected.

Oscar chirped from above. Griggs slowly made his way down the steps, boots quiet but present.

"Are you alright?" Griggs asked as Naruto uncorked the Estus Flask. He took a slow sip, feeling the warmth flow through him, knitting torn muscle and sealing the smaller wounds.

Naruto stooped beside the fallen assassin and retrieved the curved dagger it had dropped.

[Item Acquired: Bandit's Knife]
[Description: This wide single-edged shortsword is the favorite of lowly thieves and bandits. Primarily a slicing weapon, but highly effective when used for critical hits, such as after parrying or from behind.]

He turned the blade over in his hand.

The knife was short and mean. The blade itself was warped with age, darkened steel mottled with brown and black corrosion, as though soaked in blood and left in the rain for years. The edge was jagged and chipped, no longer clean or sharp, but dangerous in its own ugly way. Near the base, just above the guard, a small round hole was cut through the blade's center. Etched within the ring was a symbol so faded it almost blended into the rust. The handle curved backward like a hooked claw, wrapped in a grimy strip of leather that barely clung to the grip. The pommel was blunt, dented from use, but balanced enough to feel functional in Naruto's palm.

"Griggs," Naruto called, tossing the blade in a gentle arc.

The sorcerer caught it mid-air with a slight grunt and looked it over. "Hm… interesting. Seems like a simple knife… but…" He squinted. "Ah. Nahr Alma's blessing."

Naruto raised a brow. "What is that?"

"Nahr Alma is the god of blood." Griggs nodded and stepped closer, lifting the knife toward the light. "People once went to war under his name. With a special rite, they'd carve his sigil into their weapons. The miracle was simple, but potent."

He pointed to the hole at the blade's base.

"Here. Look closely."

Naruto leaned in. The design was ancient, almost tribal. At its center was a thick vertical line that split downward into a wide V-shape, then curved sharply outward and back in like hooked scythe blades. The outer curves looped around until they nearly formed a circle, enclosing the sigil in a symbol that suggested completion… or entrapment. It looked almost like a bloodstained eye with thorns for lashes.

"That's the mark of Nahr Alma," Griggs said. "Blessing or curse, depending on who you ask. The enchantment lingers. A few grazes from a blade like this and it seeps into your veins. You feel nothing at first then the blood explodes outward."

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly. He knelt beside the other corpses, pulling their gear with calm efficiency.

As he looted, his eyes drifted to his Uchigatana, still faintly red from the last swing. Something tugged at him, a memory of its item description. He untied the cloth wrapping around the hilt. Sure enough, near the handle, buried beneath the grip's leather bindings, was the same sigil.

"...Interesting," he muttered.

That explained the bleed effect. And if he could learn to bless his weapons this way...

His mind raced. Kunai. Shuriken. Arrows. Traps. He grinned. Just a scratch, and the blood would burst from them like a crimson geyser. Dead before they even knew they'd been cut.

He was still entertaining the idea when Griggs dusted off his robe and turned to leave. "Well," the sorcerer said, "I'll leave you to whatever scheming you're doing."

"Before you go," Naruto said, "any idea what those things were?"

"Assassins of the East."

"What?"

"They were once human. Undead, sold into slavery," Griggs explained, voice calm. "Bought by a figure known only as the Man of the Mountain. He trained them as weapons."

"That's not what I asked," Naruto said, standing fully.

"...Pardon?"

Naruto's gaze sharpened. "Their powers. That thing they did. Phasing through attacks."

"Oh. Right." Griggs cleared his throat. "They possessed what we call I-Frames."

"...You're losing me."

"Imagine the world as a single painting," Griggs said, gesturing with his staff. "Now picture another version of that same world, layered right beside it but invisible. The assassins can momentarily slip between those two frames of reality. While in between, they can't be touched."

"Invincible while dodging," Naruto murmured, frowning. "How do they do it?"

"No one knows," Griggs said. "Only that it started after the convolution of time and space. As reality frayed, some learned to step between it. Assassins. Sorcerers. Even monsters."

"Of course it's this world's convolution of time and space," Naruto muttered. "Thanks for the knowledge, Griggs."

Oscar dropped down from the rooftop with a chirp, landing neatly in Naruto's arm. The knight caught him with practiced ease and turned to introduce him. "This is my partner, Oscar."

Griggs blinked at the crystal lizard, then chuckled softly. "The pleasure is mine." His eyes lingered on Oscar with amused curiosity. "A crystal lizard for a companion. Most would expect them to flee at the first sign of danger, not carry weapons and fire spells. But then again..." He gave Naruto a half-smile. "Nothing about you seems standard."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck with a grin. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Well then," Griggs said, stepping away. "Do stay safe, both of you. May we meet again under less... bloody circumstances."

He offered a nod and turned, climbing the staircase until he disappeared from view.

Once the area was clear, Naruto raised two fingers in a familiar gesture. Shadow Clone Jutsu.

A dozen identical clones flickered into existence with bursts of smoke. Without a word, they scattered in pairs and trios, moving like practiced scouts through the alleys and rooftops, ready to clear out any lingering hollows or hidden assassins.

Naruto watched them go, then turned to Oscar, who perched confidently on his shoulder.

"Alright, partner," he said, voice firm now. "Let's go kill ourselves a goat."

Oscar chirped once, loaded his gun with a sharp click, and together they descended deeper into the Lower Undead Burg.

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

Naruto ignored the corpses of the undead assassins and dogs his clones had dispatched while he adjusted the straps on his prosthetic arm.

He stepped into the narrow corridor ahead. An overgrown hallway of ancient stone, hemmed in by towering arches on one side. Moss clung to every crevice, the air thick with damp and decay. Ferns had forced their way through the cracked floor, their small green leaves spreading across the broken cobblestone. The path led toward a worn archway. Beyond it, deeper in the ruins, the corridor opened into a wider clearing of stone walls swallowed by wild growth. It was there, standing in unnatural stillness beneath a shattered ceiling, that Naruto saw it.

[Name: Capra Demon]
[HP: 3000 / 3000]

The thing loomed like a nightmare. Nearly four times Naruto's height, its entire body was sculpted in grotesque power: shoulders like boulders, arms unnaturally long, fingers curled around two massive machetes that looked more like slabs of rusted iron than proper weapons. Its face... or rather, its skull was that of a horned beast. Pale bone, with pitch-black eye sockets that seemed to drink in light. Twin horns curled outward, thick as tree branches, jagged at the edges like serrated blades.

Two undead dogs flanked it. They snarled softly, barely restrained. And yet... the Capra Demon didn't charge. It stood, statuesque... waiting.

Waiting for the ambush.

"Yeah, no," Naruto muttered. He reached behind him and pulled out the Drake Slaying Greatbow from his inventory, planting the heavy weapon down like a siege engine.

He notched the arrow and pulled the string back, strength and chakra coiling in his muscles.

Thrum.

The arrow launched like thunder. It screamed through the air, the speed warping it... moving faster than sound, a silvery blur that cracked the wind itself. The Capra Demon moved. With one clawed hand, it caught the arrow an inch before it could hit its gut. The impact cracked the stone under its feet. Dust spiraled outward.

Then Naruto snapped his fingers.

"Kai."

A seal flared on the shaft of the arrow. The air was swallowed by a blinding flash-bang. The demon roared as the light overloaded its senses. The dogs whimpered and reeled.

Oscar launched into motion. The crystal lizard surged forward, chakra flowing through his limbs. He darted between the Capra Demon's towering legs, ignoring the panicked dogs, and used chakra to run up the wall, launching himself to a high perch. He opened fire, twin beams of condensed magic raining down on the canines.

Naruto dropped the bow, flickering forward in a burst of chakra. The Uchigatana flashed to his hand, already glowing with wind chakra, the blade vibrating with a razor-hum.

He struck first.

The edge of his sword tore into the Capra's thigh, carving a clean gash from hip to knee. Black ichor sprayed, but the demon barely reacted as its machetes were already coming down.

Double Swing.

Naruto ducked the first, pivoted around the second, and responded with two rapid slashes to its side. One dug through armor, the other opened flesh.

The Capra Demon roared and leapt, its twin blades raised in a leaping smash.

Naruto moved aside just as the swords hit stone. The impact blew apart the cobbled floor, throwing chunks of debris in every direction. He was already on the move, jumping up the demon's back like it was a training pole. He stabbed downward, once, twice, three times. Each cut deep, each reinforced by wind chakra that shrieked through the wounds. The demon bucked, trying to grab him.

The arm came from behind. Naruto leapt off, somersaulting as the blade slammed into the wall he'd been standing on. Dust exploded from the point of impact.

One dog charged him, mouth wide. Oscar vaporized it with a precision shot. The second dog tried to flank. Naruto flicked a kunai into its skull without looking.

The Capra Demon let out a snarling, guttural howl. It raised both swords. He could feel it... this wasn't a normal strike. The demon's arms trembled from the effort, its rage manifesting in that single overhead blow.

Naruto exhaled.

He vanished as the swords came down. The stone cratered, shattered into dust and cracks. He reappeared behind it. With a savage yell, he drove the Uchigatana deep into the demon's back. The blade sank nearly to the hilt, wind chakra exploding from the tip like a rupturing geyser.

Capra howled.

Naruto yanked the sword free and slashed upward, carving a long gash from its hip to shoulder. The demon turned, swung wild, but Naruto ducked under it, slid forward, and stabbed through its gut.

Again. Again. Again.

He wasn't fighting anymore, he was punishing. Every ounce of rage, of betrayal, of confusion over Kakashi, over Konoha, over his place in this broken world, over the death of the undead merchant. He poured it into every strike.

Capra staggered, blood flowing like tar from dozens of wounds. His massive frame trembled, arms slack, breath ragged. It should have been over.

But then something shifted.

The demon's machetes dropped to the ground with a dull clatter. Capra fell to his knees, clawed hands outstretched. He lowered his head. Begging. Or pretending to. Naruto's feet halted mid-step. A pause. One heartbeat. Two. Then: Oscar chirped sharply. A warning that came a second too late.

Capra's hands clenched. Twin shards of glistening black humanity gleamed in his palms and he crushed them between his fingers.

The air snapped like a bone.

All the moisture in the Lower Undead Burg vanished. The moss withered. Naruto's lips cracked. His throat dried like he'd swallowed ash.

Capra rose, not as a wounded beast, but something reborn. His injuries sealed shut in an instant. His hide cracked, magma veins pulsing beneath his skin. He gripped his machetes once more, now glowing dull orange at the edges, and swung. The twin blades carved through the air, unleashing a crescent of fire like a tsunami, molten and roaring. Stone hissed as it melted. Walls crumbled into steaming slag.

Naruto didn't flinch.

He grabbed Oscar, flickering sideways in a body-flicker dash, then pushed off Capra's thigh, springing over the demon's head. Twenty flickering afterimages danced in the chaos, a phantom rush of speed and red cloak.

Capra swiped, slashed, spun wildly as blades carving through clones. But the real Naruto was already gone, sprinting full-tilt as the wave of fire chased him like death. The tsunami of flames crashed forward, a wall of superheated gas and rolling combustion. Windows exploded from the pressure. Roofs buckled and turned to cinder. The air shimmered from the sheer heat as fire licked at Naruto's heels.

He vaulted over a barricade and slid into the open plaza, boots skidding across uneven stone. Behind him, the narrow streets of the Lower Burg were melting. Cobblestone collapsed in chunks, reduced to red, bubbling rock. Wooden doors burst into ash. Chaos was rewriting the landscape, carving Lordran into ruin. And from that inferno, Capra emerged with his machetes dragged behind him, hissing against the molten stone, carving ruts into the earth. Fire pooled around his feet with every step.

Oscar chirped, ready to follow the plan and kill the demon.

Naruto smiled faintly and reached into his pouch. "Use the bone."

He placed the Homeward Bone into Oscar's mouth. The lizard hesitated, then vanished in a burst of light, carried to safety.

"Good. One less thing to worry about."

Now it was just him and the demon.

Naruto drew the Zweihander from his back, blackened steel gleaming in the warped sunlight. He rotated his prosthetic wrist and locked the secondary grip: a reinforced rapier, already drawn and held at a slight rear angle, fencing-style.

Capra raised his blades.

Naruto opened with a Zwerchhau, a crossing horizontal cut with the Zweihander, aimed high and left to control Capra's leading machete. The massive demon parried, sparks flying, but Naruto pivoted immediately, sliding under the counterstroke and driving the rapier in with a thrust to the ribs. The blade nicked off bone. He disengaged fast, spinning left into a Krumphau, chopping downward diagonally to disrupt Capra's posture. The demon roared and countered with a Double Swing, both machetes flashing like scythes.

Naruto moved under the first, ducked the second, and riposted with a thrust under Capra's arm, right into the joint. The demon's swing staggered, off balance.

Capra leapt, performing Leaping Smash with both blades raised for a deathblow.

Naruto watched the arc. Calculated. He moved half a beat before impact, shifting into a passing step, placing his back to Capra's flank. He raised the Zweihander into a High Hanging Guard, caught the second blade mid-descent, and stepped inside the arc.

He choked up on the Zweihander's blade, gripping it just below the crossguard, and brought the pommel down like a war hammer on Capra's snout. Bone cracked. The demon reeled. He followed with a rapier lunge, the point slipping just above the sternum. Black blood erupted as the sword tip drove in deep.

Capra screamed and countered with a wild Power Smash, bringing both swords down in a crushing vertical arc. There was no dodging.

Naruto dropped the rapier, gripped the Zweihander in both hands, and caught the swing edge-on in a Half-Swording block, steel shrieking against steel. The impact forced him to a knee, joints groaning, feet sliding but he held.

Held.

Capra snarled, drawing back for another swing.

Naruto snapped forward into a thrust, capitalizing on the enormous reach of the Zweihander. The point of the massive blade blurred as it lunged for Capra's throat. But the demon slammed both machetes into the earth before the steel could bite.

The ground cracked.

A pulse of lava burst from beneath the demon's feet, rising in a vertical geyser, engulfing everything in a curtain of red. Heat hit Naruto like a wave in the sea.

Capra turned, convinced the knight had burned alive. Then a ripple of steam and blue light burst from the lava.

Naruto flickered out, his cloak half burnt, his armor hissing with steam. He had forced chakra through every plate and gap in his gear, converting it to water chakra—and the moment the lava touched it, it boiled instantly, creating a thin barrier of superheated steam that let him skim across the surface instead of sinking in.

Speed had carried him. Timing had saved him. He moved like a blur, the heat distortion wrapping around him as he went for Capra's head in a final arc. But the demon twisted just in time, narrowly evading the killing blow.

Naruto saw the monster's torso swell, muscles bracing. And then a loud, unnatural screech tore through the air. Like a scream filtered through broken flutes.

Capra turned, startled. His head snapped to the side and that saved Naruto's life.

A white beam of energy slammed into the demon's chest. The source: Oscar, crouched on the overhead bridge, glowing eyes narrowed, tail flicking.

Next to him, Griggs, his hands flickering through a second spell.

Naruto smirked. "Time for Plan B."

Twelve shadow clones surged into the chaos, weapons drawn, engaging Capra with feints and pressure. Oscar and Griggs launched beams and sorcery from above.

Naruto had something else in mind. High above, on a ruined rooftop, three shadow clones braced the massive frame of the Drake Slaying Greatbow, its limbs drawn taut with chakra, humming under pressure. Nearby, Naruto crouched low, a shield strapped beneath his feet, his body coiled like a spring.

"On my mark," he muttered.

In a single, explosive motion, they launched him skyward. The force of the slingshot shattered the rooftop beneath them, tiles and stone exploding outward in a thunderous blast. Naruto rocketed into the air, a blur against the ruined sky. For a single heartbeat, time froze. Up here, above the smoke and fire and ruin of the Burg, gravity seemed to hesitate. The wind hissed past his ears. His Hawkeyes locked instantly on Capra below.

The demon looked small now. Like prey waiting to be hunted.

Naruto channeled every ounce of chakra he had into the drake blade. The pressure around him grew violent, wind spiraling in all directions. Onlookers below—Oscar, Griggs, even Capra—all turned their gaze skyward. And in that moment... they didn't see Naruto.

They saw a dragon.

The illusion was a genjutsu, a sheer bleed of killing intent and chakra density, a mirage forced onto reality by raw force of yin.

Naruto brought the sword down.

The sky cracked.

The shockwave ripped through the Lower Undead Burg. It wasn't fire or lightning. It was weight. Pressure. The sound of reality groaning. Stone streets folded in on themselves. Walls buckled, then disintegrated. Balconies sheared off like paper. Smoke and debris rose in plumes as a single slash cratered the plaza where Capra had stood, the wave of force tearing through buildings like a god's judgment. Molten cracks veined out like spiderwebs. Steam burst from sewer grates.

The Burg... was gone.

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

Naruto fell, body limp.

Before the ground could break him, a soft blue shimmer caught him mid-air, Griggs' Fall Control. The spell cushioned his descent, and Naruto landed gently amid the smoking rubble of the Lower Undead Burg. His boots pressed into cracked stone and scorched ash. He staggered a few steps, coughing from the fumes, then pulled out his Estus Flask. The golden light poured down his throat, heat spreading through his chest like sunlight in winter. Bone reknit. Burns closed. Skin tightened. His prosthetic clanged against the ground, falling away as his cursed arm regenerated, born anew by the Estus' energy.

Naruto exhaled sharply, body steady again but something was wrong.

There was no soul drop.

His eyes narrowed.

Capra wasn't dead.

He pressed his palm to the ground and channeled chakra to his ears. Through the crumbling wreckage, he heard a faint growl, broken breathing... a heartbeat, slow but real. Naruto's clones moved, pulling away chunks of broken stone until the body emerged. Capra Demon, battered beyond recognition, chest split open, horns cracked, was still breathing.

Then it spoke.

"Ymg' mgepah llll mgepah'bthnk chaos l' ahh boakther mgehye'bthnk agaisnnst ya...?"

Naruto blinked.

"...Did you just talk?"

[The Old Witch's Ring is reacting to the Language of Chaos.]

Without hesitation, he equipped the ring. He didn't remember when he picked it up, but the moment it touched his finger, the language shifted in his ears.

Capra's voice became clear. "Chaos lives in your soul… yet you fight your kin. Why?"

Naruto scoffed. "Kin? I don't know what you're talking about." He glanced at the Uchigatana. "You hurt my friend."

Naruto drew the Reinforced Club.

Its handle was wrapped in frayed leather, and the head was studded with thick, rusted nails. An ugly weapon. But the right one. "Made by the merchant you slaughtered," he muttered. "So it's only fair it ends you."

Capra tried to rise, but his arms buckled.

Naruto raised the club. "That's all the reason I need."

Crack.

The first blow crushed the demon's wrist.

Crack.

The second struck his collarbone, snapping it like twigs underfoot.

Capra shrieked, half-formed words bleeding into noise.

Naruto didn't stop. He brought the club down again, full force, on the demon's skull. The sound was wet and sharp, like a melon caving in. Blood sprayed across the rubble.

Capra tried to crawl.

Naruto stomped on its back and lifted the club high. "This is for the merchant."

Smash.

The barbs bit deep.

Again.

Flesh tore. Bone crumbled.

Again.

Capra's head was unrecognizable now, just red pulp.

[Victory Achieved]
[+20,000 Souls]
[Key to the Depths Acquired]
[Twin Humanity x1]
[Homeward Bone x1]

Naruto stood over the corpse, breath heavy, the club still clenched in his bloodied hand. He watched as Capra's form broke down into white vapor... the twisted soul rising and vanishing into the world's cycle.

For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, quietly, "Even if I turn into a monster like you one day…"

He looked at his hand... at the blood on the club, the blood on his fingers, the red ring glowing faintly.

"I would never be some demon."

His eyes closed.

"I would be a dragon."

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

The trio sat in silence around the bonfire in the upper Undead Burg. Its orange light flickered across stone and steel, casting long shadows that danced in the corners of the ruined room. Naruto sat cross-legged, arms resting on his knees, eyes half-lidded as he waited for the world to reset. He had unfinished business with the merchant.

Oscar slept curled in his lap, soft puffs of steam rising from his snout.

Griggs sat nearby, staff across his knees, eyes on the flames. His voice came low, respectful, as not to disturb the lizard. "If it's not too much to ask... where did you learn that magic?"

Naruto didn't answer right away. He figured it would come up sooner or later. Chakra and its strange fusion with this world's sorcery wasn't something a Vinheim scholar would overlook. It was natural Griggs would be curious. Maybe even hungry for it. But…

"I can't tell you," Naruto said, his voice quiet but firm.

Griggs raised an eyebrow. "Because you don't trust me?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. I trust you. You've backed me up in the fight, kept me from cracking my spine in a fall... but this isn't about that."

Griggs gave a small, knowing smile. "Because your spells are more than just spells. They're part of you. And you're not ready to share that part yet."

Naruto gave a faint nod. "Yeah. Exactly."

"It's alright," Griggs said. "Everyone's got something they keep close. I appreciate the honesty, Naruto. And I hope... one day, when you're ready, I'll get to learn more. From a scholar's perspective, of course."

Naruto didn't reply. Instead, he pulled something from his inventory. A small, jagged key etched with grime and age.

[Item: Key to the Depths]
[Description: Key opening the door from the lower Undead Burg to the Depths. Those banished from the Undead Burg eke out their existence in the Depths, a damp lair with no trace of sunlight. Nearly half of the Depths form a perilous flooded labyrinth.]

He stared at the text for a moment, then let the key vanish back into the void of his pouch. Whoever gave Capra this key, they really didn't want anyone getting down there, Naruto thought. Then, without looking up, he said, "Griggs... you should head back to Firelink Shrine."

But Griggs didn't move. "I want to speak with the merchant," he said quietly.

Naruto turned, one eyebrow raised but he didn't press. Just nodded.

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Later

The world reset, and the last remnants of the Capra fight were gone like fog lifted by the morning sun. The trio moved through the emptied streets, cutting down lingering hollows, until they reached the familiar balcony where the Undead Merchant made his home.

Naruto took a deep breath and stepped through the door.

"Hey, you ugly bastard," he called, forcing a grin. "I've got juicy souls and a whole lotta grief to spend."

But there was no response. No rasping voice. No laughter. No snide Nee hee hee! Only a grunt. A shuffle of feet. And then a snarl. From the dark, something lunged. Naruto caught it by the neck, heart leaping into his throat.

"What?! No! Hey! It's me!"

The figure twisted in his grip, face pale and cracked, mouth twisted into something more animal than human.

"Come on," Naruto gasped. "Talk to me!"

The hollow only growled louder, snapping at him. Foam leaked from its lips. Eyes were empty.

Naruto, voice trembling, reached into his inventory. "I brought your sword back," he whispered, pulling out the Uchigatana. "You said her name was Yulia… remember?"

He held it out like a peace offering.

"Yulia... Say something. Please."

But the hollow didn't even glance at the blade. It thrashed and snarled and didn't stop.

Behind him, Griggs stepped into the doorway, Oscar in his arms.

"...Naruto," Griggs said gently. "It's no use."

Naruto turned, frantic. "What do you mean? He's right here! He just needs a little more..."

Griggs walked slowly forward. "He's Hollow. Completely gone."

"What does that even mean?! He's Undead like us. He should come back!"

Griggs stopped, his expression grim. "We don't truly die here. Not at first. But every time we fall, every time the bonfire pulls us back together... we lose something. A piece of who we were."

Naruto stared at the hollow writhing beneath his grip.

"An Undead doesn't truly die here, Naruto. And due to the curse, each time we fall, each time the bonfire resurrects us… we lose something."

Naruto shook his head, backing away as the merchant-turned-hollow snarled again.

"First it's a detail. A name. A place. Then faces. Memories. Voices."

The hollow screeched and lunged again. Naruto knocked it back, panting.

"And when there's nothing left…" Griggs' voice cracked, just a bit. "There's no you anymore. Just… the curse. You're just Hollow."

"No," Naruto whispered.

"He lost himself. Lost Yulia. Lost you. All he knows now… is the instinct to kill."

Naruto's knees hit the floor. The sword slipped from his fingers and clattered to the stone.

"No," he said again, softer. He looked at the creature before him... his friend, now hunched and snarling, gnawing aimlessly at his forearm.

Naruto sat there, unmoving, eyes blurred with tears. Thick, hot grief swelled in his chest like a storm surge. This was worse than death. Worse than pain.

This was the loss of self.

Why me? he thought. Why can I still hold on, and you... why did you fall?

His voice cracked. He looked down again.

"If only I hadn't given you that humanity… if only I hadn't tried to help…"

Behind him, Griggs stood silent. Only Oscar's gentle, sorrowful chirp broke the stillness.

"There… might be a way," Griggs said quietly. "A chance for you to speak with him. Just once."

"How?"

"You'll have to... kill him. And take in his soul."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "You mean absorb it?"

"Not like you do with other souls. This is different," Griggs explained. "If done properly, a soul can be… echoed. The memory within it becomes accessible, briefly. But it's dangerous. Very few sorcerers even know how. Most never try."

Naruto said nothing.

"The soul has to be fresh. And we'll need multiple casters, your clones will do, if they can mimic my directions exactly. Otherwise the soul will just be swallowed into your Darksign… lost."

He turned to look at the hollow in front of him. It wasn't snarling anymore. It was just… hunched. Twitching. A broken shape, incapable of thought or rage.

Naruto took the Uchigatana from the ground, hand steady even as his chest grew tight. "I don't want to do this," he murmured.

Griggs said nothing.

"I hope this works," Naruto said softly, and then drove the blade into the merchant's chest.

There was no scream. No struggle. Only a long, slow breath. A sound like release. Then stillness. A faint glow rose from the merchant's corpse. A small, flickering soul, pale and fragile like a dying candle flame.

Naruto reached for it. His fingers closed gently around it.

Griggs began at once, directing the clones. Chalk, ash from the undead's corpse, and shavings from the sorcerer's catalysts were shaped into a ring of unfamiliar sigils that looked oddly like fuinjutsu.

"This will only work if the merchant's soul still remembers the core of who he was," Griggs warned. "If there's even a thread left to pull from. But if things turn unstable, I'll end it. I won't let your soul be eaten in the process."

Naruto gave a silent nod.

Griggs raised his staff, and the ritual ignited in a brilliant white light washing over the balcony as Naruto's mind was pulled inward. He blinked, recognizing the world of souls. The gray lattice stretched beneath his feet like a net cast over reality.

And there he was.

The merchant.

Still hunched, still thin, still wrapped in rags but unmistakably Hollow. The madness twisted his body, but the merchant remained seated, arms draped lazily over his knees, chin tilted. A flicker of his old posture. A hint of the man he used to be.

"Well, well... look who finally rolled in," he rasped, voice rough and ghostly. "I figured you'd live a longer life for certain. Bah, shows what I know... Nee hee hee... heh…"

Naruto stepped forward slowly, words catching in his throat. "I wanted to talk. One last time."

"One last time?" The merchant tilted his head, lips peeling back in a crooked smile. "Now that sounds dreadfully final, doesn't it? Should I be charging a soul or two for sentimental drivel?" He gave a low chuckle that died before it could echo. "Nee... heh."

Naruto swallowed. "I wanted to say… I'm sorry."

The grin faltered.

"Sorry?" The merchant's voice turned quieter, almost curious. "Now why would you go and do a foolish thing like that?"

"You went Hollow," Naruto said, eyes downcast. "Because of me. I gave you that humanity. That made you a target. That's why Capra found you. You died because I…"

"Stop right there," the merchant snapped, raising a hand. His voice was firm, for once not mocking. "Don't go pointing that bent little blade at yourself."

"But..."

"You gave me kindness," he said. "You gave me hope. And in Lordran, that's rarer than dragons these days." His hollowed face tilted toward the void. "I'd already started losing my marbles, kid. All you did was slow the bleeding."

Naruto looked away. His fists trembled at his sides.

"If anything," the merchant continued, "I should be the one thanking you. You gave me time. A few more days to laugh with Yulia. A few more chances to feel like myself." He chuckled, but it sounded like it hurt. "Can't ask for more than that. Not in a place like this."

"You were always there. Always talking like nothing mattered. But it did. You mattered."

"Hah. Never thought I'd hear that. Not from anyone. Not even Yulia. She just bites, you know." His head tilted, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Naruto… what happened to me wasn't your fault. I made my choices."

"What are you talking about?"

The merchant leaned forward, flickering faintly against the dull glow of the soul-world's strange light.

"Well, now... you really are keeping your marbles together, hmm?" he rasped with a grin. "But let's not pretend I was ever a knight in shining armor. I was never a fighter, not really. Never a hero. Just a skinny old twig who knew how to survive."

His grin twisted at the edges, sharp with memory.

"Half the junk I sold was pinched off corpses still warm. The rest? Scavenged from folks worse off than me. Desperate things, desperate souls. And I made a tidy little profit. Nee hee hee…"

Naruto's face stayed still, but his eyes burned.

"I thought I was clever. Thought I could keep my hands clean if I just stayed smart. But... hah… turns out even scavengers get greedy. One day I thought I'd take a soul or two off some poor sorcerer. Just a little invasion, nothing fancy. But wouldn't you know it... two of 'em showed up instead of one. Bit of bad luck, that."

His voice lowered.

"So I panicked. Locked 'em in a room. Figured I'd wait till they starved. Crack the door open when the stench cleared, pick the bones clean."

Naruto's fists clenched. "That was Griggs and his classmate."

The merchant gave a thin, tired shrug. "Didn't know their names. Didn't matter to me back then. And I suppose Griggs never forgot."

"What about Capra?"

"Ah... that big bastard. He wasn't part of the plan. But I was summoning too often, greed blinding me. Must've poked something deep. One night, he comes crawling out of the walls like a nightmare with blades. And then flames. Screaming. My own, mostly."

His head lowered. "Yulia didn't make a peep."

Naruto looked away, jaw tight. "I fought for you. Tore through everything. Thought I was avenging someone good."

"I was never good," the merchant said, calm now. "But I was still someone. And you gave me something no one had in a long time."

"What?"

He looked up with a faint smile, no grin, no mockery. "You gave a damn. That's more than most."

There was a pause.

"So… that's it?" Naruto said. "Is this how it ends?"

"Aye," the merchant nodded. "No big farewell. Don't drag me back up from the dirt. Don't mourn me. I was a rat, kid. But even rats dream. Even rats laugh."

Naruto's voice trembled. "You mattered to me."

The merchant blinked, genuinely caught off-guard. "I did?"

"You gave me a weapon. One you made. The reinforced club. That thing saved my life more times than I can count."

A pause.

"The club?" He let out a thin laugh. "Didn't think anyone'd ever buy that ugly thing. Barbed it myself after a botched enchantment. Never could sell it for a decent soul. Guess it had more bite than I thought."

"I used it to kill the Capra Demon."

The merchant gave a soft wheeze that might have been a laugh or a sob. "Well, I'll be. Guess I left a mark after all."

He leaned back, arms dangling like a puppet gone slack.

The Undead Merchant gave a long, tired sigh. "You know, lying doesn't suit you. You're not much of a salesman, hmm? Nee hee hee…"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, sheepish. "I did kill Capra with the club you made. But… I didn't use it that often. Just when it counted."

The merchant tilted his head, that crooked grin half-intact. "Ahh, well, there's the truth, hiding under your tongue like a good soul in a bad purse. You don't have to lie to me, boy. I'm already halfway to dust. I won't remember this conversation come the next hollowing... but I'd rather forget it knowing it was real."

Naruto lowered his eyes. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a hypocrite. I expect honesty from others… and lie when it's easier for me."

The merchant snorted.

"So a lie's what brought you to the edge, is it?" He gave Naruto a long, sidelong look. "You've got that look. Seen it before. Someone staring down a road that used to mean something, only to find it's swallowed up in fog."

Naruto exhaled hard through his nose. Something in him wavered and broke. He started to speak. About Kakashi. The secrets. The betrayal. How nothing made sense anymore, how he didn't even know why he kept fighting. He emptied it all.

The merchant listened. No snide remarks. No cackling jokes. When Naruto finally went quiet, the silence stretched between them like a heavy cloak.

"So," the merchant said at last, soft as dead leaves, "you're just going to walk away from your own story, eh?"

Naruto looked up sharply.

"You've trained. Bled. Met individuals worth remembering. And now, just because one man didn't say the words you wanted, when you wanted…" He shook his head slowly. "You're ready to drop your sword and vanish into the fog?"

"I don't know," Naruto admitted. "I'm not angry anymore. Not even confused. Just... lost. If Kakashi had just asked me, I would've brought him here. I would've helped. I just… I don't get why he went around me. Doesn't he already know everything?"

"You can rage. You can spit. You can curse every rotten plank in this world's foundation. But at some point…" He breathed out slowly. "You've got to let go."

Naruto frowned. "So what, I'm just supposed to forgive him?"

The merchant's lip curled.

"If you weren't looking for a reason to, you wouldn't have brought him up."

Naruto blinked.

The merchant went on, tone turning from bitter to resigned. "Look, you can stay here. You can stew in it for a century or three. But the people you want answers from? They'll be bones and echoes long before you figure it out. And you?" He tilted his head. "You'll still be here. Wondering. Wandering. Hollowing."

Naruto looked away, jaw clenched. "So what do I do?"

The merchant leaned back and let out a slow, dry chuckle. "You finish the story, nitwit. Go back. Walk the path you started. And if it takes you through fire, so be it. You've already bled for your story. Might as well see how it ends."

"You say that like you've been there."

"I don't know anymore, boy." His smile faltered. "Maybe I had a life like yours. Maybe I was betrayed. Maybe I laughed under sunlight with people whose faces I can't recall."

He sighed, low and ragged. "But now? Now there's nothing but scraps. Echoes. Half-shadows. And Yulia…" His voice caught in his throat. "I don't even know what she was. A person? A blade? A voice that kept me sane? I say her name, but I don't know if I'm mourning or pretending."

He let out a chuckle. "Maybe that's the cruelest curse of all. Not remembering whether it mattered."

Naruto didn't speak at first. There was nothing to say that wouldn't break something fragile in the air. Finally, softly: "Thank you. I think… I know what I need to do now."

The merchant blinked, as if waking from a long nap. Then his grin returned, not quite steady. "Good, good. Then let's talk about payment, hmm?"

Naruto frowned. "Wait... what?"

In his palm, something shimmered into being. A pendant. Old. Dented. Bent out of shape by time and grief. Its surface was worn nearly smooth, like it had been clenched through every storm and sobbed over in silence. The chain was frayed. The metal dull and heavy. A faint etching barely clung to its face so faded, even memory struggled to see it.

He held it out. "This. Figure out what it is." The grin dropped. His eyes were steady now. "That's my payment."

Naruto reached out, fingers closing around it.

The merchant watched him with something like peace. "Good luck, kid. Don't forget what you felt here."

Then he pressed a hand to his Darksign and this time, there was no laughter. Just a flicker of white sparks, and he was gone.

Just like that.

A soul, broken down to fuel another.

Naruto stood there for a long moment. Silent. Eyes on the empty space where a man had once clung to the idea of someone named Yulia. "Goodbye," Naruto whispered, voice shaking with something he didn't want to name. "You cheap, lonely bastard."

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Naruto gasped softly as the world shimmered back into color and focus.

He turned, lips parting to thank Griggs, only to freeze. The sorcerer lay slumped beside the ritual circle, pale and barely breathing, his hands limp in his lap. Oscar rested on his chest, still as stone save for the rhythmic flick of his tail, as if guarding a comrade fallen in battle.

Naruto knelt beside them. For a moment, he simply listened; to Griggs's breath, to Oscar's soft weight shifting, to his own heartbeat slowly calming. "Guess I took longer than I thought," he muttered.

Oscar chirped, tail twitching once more.

Naruto smiled. "Yeah… I'm back. And I know what I need to do."

Oscar tilted his head.

"I'm going back to the Wave Country. I'm going to look Kakashi in the eye... and ask him why." A beat passed. Naruto's fists clenched lightly. "No more silence. No more guessing. I need the truth." He looked at Oscar. "Whatever happens next... we face it together. Sound good?"

Oscar chirped again, more certain this time, and gently tapped Naruto's arm with his snout.

[Item: Pendant]
[Description: A simple pendant with no effect. Even so, pleasant memories are crucial to survival on arduous journeys.]

With his Hawkeyes active, Naruto squinted... watching as faint script surfaced on the back of the metal, like echoes rising from forgotten ink. The words were carved with hesitation, correction, and pressure. A chain of hands had passed this down, each adding something.

He read it aloud:
"I once thought I had all the time in the world. Turns out, I just had one chance and a lot of excuses."
"I kissed someone I loved during a funeral. Don't be me."
"Regret is a quiet poison. It doesn't kill you fast, but it never stops."
"Note to self: never trust a guy named Mordrick the Friendly. He wasn't."
"I kept trying to find the right path, but maybe there isn't one. Maybe you just walk, and make it right as you go."
"If anyone finds my left boot… tell it I miss it."
"I once killed a man over soup. Then I cried. Because it was cold."
"I used to think being strong meant never needing help. Turns out, the strongest thing I did was ask."
"Yulia's not real. Or maybe she was. Or maybe she's just the part of me I couldn't save."

Naruto gave a soft chuckle at a few of the entries, a low warmth in his chest as he smiled and gently looped the chain around Oscar's neck like a medal. "You want me to write something too?"

Oscar gave a decisive nod.

Naruto tapped the pendant thoughtfully, then carefully etched his own words in the free space with the edge of a kunai: "I hope you live a life you're proud of. And if you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over… Dattebayo."

He leaned back and looked at Oscar. "What do you think?"

Oscar tilted his head... then shook it. "What? Too sentimental?"

Oscar nodded without hesitation so fast it was almost rude. Then he scratched at the dirt with one tiny claw, tail swishing like punctuation.

Naruto frowned. "Okay, okay. How about… 'Ramen is the food of the Gods'?"

Oscar gave a slow shrug. Acceptable, maybe. Barely.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Right. So words aren't enough for you."

Oscar chirped, then sat up a little straighter. Regal. Expectant. "…You just want me to draw a cute picture of you, don't you."

Oscar gave the most shameless, unrepentant nod Naruto had ever seen.

Naruto laughed, "Fine, fine. But if anyone finds this a thousand years from now and thinks you were some kind of ancient lizard god… that's on you."

Oscar chirped with pride.

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Author's Note: Damn you, ninjas of the Hidden Village of the Onion… these tears weren't supposed to fall. But enough about that, time for a little Q&A.

1. Griggs of Vinheim

Personally, Griggs is one of my favorite characters in Dark Souls. In-game, he's the early-game NPC who sells you a solid lineup of sorceries and two of the strongest magic rings for any intelligence build. Seems like a simple, helpful guy, right?

But if you know his lore… things get complicated fast.

When you first find Griggs locked in a room in the Lower Undead Burg, he comes across as polite, humble, and maybe a bit obsessed with Master Logan. At face value, he seems like just another loyal student trying to reconnect with his mentor.

But take a closer look, both at his dialogue and the items around him and the mask starts to slip.

Right next to where he's imprisoned, you'll find a corpse stuffed into a barrel. That corpse is wearing the standard Vinheim Sorcerer set. Griggs, on the other hand, wears the Black Sorcerer Set, associated with covert agents and the secret assassination division within the school.

Even more telling: when Griggs dies (or when you find his body later in Sen's Fortress), he drops spells like Hush, Fall Control, and Aural Decoy. All of these are stealth-based sorceries, traditionally tied to the darker side of Vinheim's magical society.

So what's the real story?

Griggs isn't just a loyal student. The prevailing theory—and the one I personally subscribe to—is that he was sent to shadow (and possibly eliminate) the actual student of Logan, impersonate them, and gain access to Logan's forbidden knowledge. That body in the barrel? Likely the real student. Griggs? The assassin in disguise.

It fits with the tone of Vinheim's political games. If Logan's knowledge fell into the wrong hands, it could upend the balance of power. Griggs was probably sent to ensure that happened—just not for the right reasons.

He ultimately fails, meeting his end in Sen's Fortress. But his ambiguity adds an incredible layer to an otherwise overlooked NPC.

And for this story? Expect Griggs to become a very important figure in Naruto's magical development. There's more to him than meets the eye—and much more he's not saying.

Let me know what you thought of him in the story so far.

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2. I-Frames

Alright, let's talk about something very important in Dark Souls combat: I-frames.

If you've played the game, you already know. If not, here's the simple version:

I-frames (short for invincibility frames) are the few moments during a roll or dodge when your character cannot be hit—even if an attack connects visually. This makes rolling a core part of the combat system, even though it's not particularly realistic.

Obviously, in real-world combat or most martial arts, rolling like that is a bad idea—you're vulnerable, you lose sight, you break stance. But in Dark Souls, due to the convolution of time and space, the player is shifting between dimensions or "frames" of reality.

Which means… in this story, that lore logic works beautifully.

Naruto's already using things like:

Way of Focality (camera lock-on)

Hawkeyes (zoom vision for archery)

Poise Breakers (for shockwave strikes)

And many others

So how will I-frames work for him? That's something I'm very excited to explore.

I want to open that idea to you, the readers. If you have suggestions or theories about how Naruto should gain the ability to use I-frames, I'd love to hear them.

Comment your ideas. I'll read every one.

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3. The Bleed Status Effect

This is something I've been really excited to talk about: Bleed.

In Dark Souls, Bleed is a gameplay mechanic—a debuff status effect and a specific type of damage. When inflicted, it deals a percentage of the target's maximum health. We're talking 30%–50% HP for most enemies, and 10%–15% for bosses.

Here's an important in-game detail:

The number listed under a weapon's Bleed stat (e.g., 300) is not the buildup. It's the percentage-based damage it will do once the buildup threshold is hit. So 300 = 30%, 500 = 50%, and so on.

Just like how I've novelized other mechanics, I wanted to novelize Bleed as well.

You might ask—why bother? Isn't "bleeding" just… bleeding?

In real life, any bladed weapon causes bleeding. It's a basic physical consequence.

But in Dark Souls, only certain weapons inflict Bleed status. That alone makes it unique and worth exploring as something more mystical, more meaningful.

So instead of treating it like a generic biological effect, I'm writing Bleed as a kind of magical affliction or divine curse, and I'm grounding it in actual Dark Souls lore.

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The Lore Behind Bleed:

A) Nahr Alma – Who Is He?

Nahr Alma is the god of blood mentioned in Dark Souls II. He is associated with violence, murder, and sacrificial combat. His followers gather blood in his name, and in turn, their weapons are empowered by it.

B) How Does He Connect to Bleed Status?

In DS2, there's an item called the Crest of Blood, which:

Adds +50 Bleed attack to weapons

Is obtained from the Covenant of Blood, which worships Nahr Alma

So we already have a direct lore connection between Bleed status and Nahr Alma's divine influence.

C) How Bleed Works (In This Story's Canon)

In the same way miracles are powered by faith in a god, Bleed status is a spiritual affliction caused by belief in Nahr Alma and his sigil.

Here's how I'm writing it:

When a weapon is blessed (or cursed) with Nahr Alma's symbol, it gains the power to afflict Bleed

Every strike doesn't just wound physically—it builds up a curse of blood

Once the threshold is reached, the sigil activates, and the blood inside the victim bursts from within

This effect deals 30%–50% of their total HP, even if the cut was small

That's why only certain weapons can cause this. They need to carry Nahr Alma's mark—and the ritualistic curse that enables Bleed.

D) So, What About Naruto?

Naruto has just discovered this ability through the Bandit's Knife and the Uchigatana, both bearing Nahr Alma's symbol.

Now the question is: How should Naruto utilize the Bleed effect going forward?

I'd love to hear your ideas.

Should Naruto:

Learn it by studying under Griggs?

Find an old tome of Nahr Alma's cult?

Make a dark pact?

Or even begin questioning whether to use it at all?

Let me know in the comments.

This world's combat mechanics are becoming Naruto's own toolset, and I want you to be part of how that develops.

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4. Capra's Second Phase

Just like I gave second phases to the Asylum Demon, Taurus Demon, and Moonlight Butterfly, Capra Demon gets his moment too.

The logic was simple:

Capra wields Demon Great Machetes... weapons with Chaos roots. In the game, when you kill Capra, he drops Humanity, which implies a connection to Chaos. So, I just leaned into that lore.

Capra uses Twin Humanities mid-fight, triggering a +2 Chaos Buff. This powers up his weapons and adds a lava effect to his attacks, mirroring the way Chaos pyromancy leaves lava trails (see Chaos Fire Whip or Chaos Storm for reference).

So yeah—Chaos + Machetes + Humanity = Lava-wielding Phase 2 Capra. Easy math.

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5. How Did Naruto Survive the Lava Wave?

The Leidenfrost Effect.

It's a real-world phenomenon: when a liquid touches a surface much hotter than its boiling point, it forms an insulating vapor layer (about 0.06mm thick at 433K). That vapor prevents direct contact and significantly slows heat transfer.

Naruto used a similar effect by channeling Water Chakra through his armor. When the lava hit, it instantly vaporized that layer, allowing him to skim across the surface for a few seconds—not unscathed, but alive.

Speed, chakra control, and physics kept him in one piece.

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6. Can Demons Talk?

Yes. Absolutely.

In Dark Souls lore, demons have culture, language, and even a form of art. They're not mindless beasts.

If you've fought the Bed of Chaos, you might've noticed demonic script carved into its hands. And with the Old Witch's Ring, you can speak to the Fair Lady—who is a demon and communicates in coherent sentences. The entirety of Lost Izalith confirms demon civilization and its downfall. They're tragic, intelligent, and capable of complex thought.

So yes, demons can speak, especially if you have the ring to understand them.

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7. How Did Naruto Get the Old Witch's Ring?

It was his starting gift.

Just like in the game, when you create a character, you choose one item to begin with.

In this version of the story, I rewrote it so every class automatically starts with a gift tied to their lore.

Pyromancer gets the Old Witch's Ring

Thief gets the Master Key

And so on.

Naruto, fitting into a "wild card" class, started with the ring because I wanted him to unknowingly have ties to deeper Chaos lore from the beginning.

Let me know what you thought of the Naruto vs Capra Demon fight!

Especially that final move with the Drake Blade where Naruto literally destroyed a city block. That should give you all a hint about how powerful he really is when he isn't holding back. Remember, Kakashi wasn't the only one holding back in their spar.

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8. The Undead Merchant:

Let's be honest, this guy's a generic NPC in the game. Close to hollowing, talks to an imaginary sword (Yulia), and mostly rambles nonsense. In Dark Souls, he's there to be ignored, killed, or bought from. That's it.

But in a story? He has to mean something.

So, I made him serve the plot. He shows the emotional cost of hollowing, gives Naruto a meaningful item (the Uchigatana), sets the stage for the Capra Demon fight, and helps drive Naruto's character development. His role ended up being more powerful than I expected—especially his lines about remembering memories of memories. That line in particular was meant to capture the quiet tragedy of losing yourself to time, regret, and madness.

He's still a piece of shit, don't get me wrong. He looted the dead, invaded sorcerers, and hoarded junk. But he's also a product of Lordran's slow grind toward despair, and in the end, his greed is what did him in.

Honestly? He was a blast to write. I'd love to hear your thoughts: did he add something meaningful to the story? Did he change how you looked at this forgotten vendor?

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9. The Pendant:

Okay, so lore rant incoming.

The Pendant is my favorite starting item in Dark Souls.

It literally does nothing. Absolutely nothing. And yet for years, players were convinced it had some secret use. Classic Miyazaki trolling. I love the fan theory that the Chosen Undead chose it simply to remind themselves to never give up, to search for meaning where there is none, and never go hollow.

Of course, Naruto's different. He didn't start with the Pendant. He got the Old Witch's Ring. But I wanted the Pendant to come into the story anyway—so I made it a little artifact of human nonsense. The inscriptions on the back? They were meant to feel real. Some are funny, some tragic, some stupidly honest. Just like people.

And then there's Oscar. You know the next person who finds this pendant is going to think the lizard on it is some forgotten god of mischief and war.

I hope you had fun with that scene, and with Naruto's growth especially him finally choosing to hear Kakashi out.

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Thank you all for the amazing support. Writing this story has been one hell of a journey, and you make every chapter worth it. From tears to shitposts, I'm just glad we're all here together in this weird, beautiful world.

As always—thanks for reading.

— Adam