Chapter 300: The Shinigami’s Price
Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 300: The Shinigami's Price
"Ahh, nooo! Keep that monster awaay!" The sacrifice struggled to get free from his clone's grasp.
The Shinigami moved from behind Naruto and approached the terrified man.
Its hands touched the man's chest, and signs of seals began to appear over his skin while he screamed.
Just a few seconds later, the screams stopped…the prisoner's eyes were glaring at the Shinigami with clear terror reflected in them, but no sound came from his mouth.
His body was now covered in seals, and the criminal became unable to move a single muscle.
The two clones of Naruto vanished into thin air, but the man still didn't move.
"See? I told you I wasn't going to kill you. I just sealed your entire body...you will never move again, but you'll live. At least until your execution. " Naruto told the man before turning his attention to the supposed God of Death.
This was, of course, a title given by mortals. Naruto knew for a fact that this was no God, as these were incapable of stepping onto the lower realms.
This was no God's avatar either, as these are extremely rare and besides, he could not feel any divine energy coming from this creature.
He could only guess it was something closer to a demon, although it was certainly a variant he was not familiar with.
The Shinigami proceeded to ignore the other man, now that its job was completed, and turned to Naruto with the intent of receiving its end of the deal.
"I suppose you want to take my soul now," Naruto told the Shinigami.
The sounds of thunder were getting louder. This told him that the tribulation was about to strike.
The aura around Naruto began to shift and turn more intense.
The Four-Tailed beast that was sealed inside him suddenly woke up and began to scream.
'Goku…' He now knew its name, and the names of all the others. The fragmented memories of Asura told him everything he needed to know about the Nine-Tailed Beasts and their origin.
But this familiarity was not going to stop him from achieving his purpose, now that he was so close. The creatures were not demons, but they would still serve as stepping stones for his ascension.
Naruto pulled all the chakra from the Four-Tailed beast in a single instant, reducing the creature to its primal building blocks.
He removed all the emotion and other impurities before moving it onto his core for further refinement before it could be put to use.
In the real world, his cultivation was flaring up as he got ready for the next step.
The nine orbs of golden light shone brightly behind him while his body started to levitate.
The Shinigami didn't seem deterred by this demonstration of power and continued to approach.
The God of Death extended its right hand to touch Naruto's chest, intending to pull his very own soul and consume it, fulfilling the payment for its summoning.
The semi-translucent body of the Shinigami towered over Naruto. This entity existed in between the realm of the living and the dead, and as such, it could only interact with mortals in a limited manner.
But it also worked the other way around, as mortals could not directly harm the Shinigami in any way, since they could not touch the demonic entity.
Naruto understood the basics of its existence, and this was not going to stop him from doing what he wanted to do.
His right hand became covered in a divine light.
Before the demonic hand of the Shinigami could touch his soul, Naruto grabbed hold of its wrist, using his bare hands.
"Sorry… I'm not paying."
The God of Death showed no change in its demeanor, despite the fact that it was being physically held by a human…a feat that was supposed to have been impossible to accomplish.
"You are not even fully conscious, aren't you?" Naruto noted that the lack of emotion shown by the creature in front of him was likely due to a lack of mental capacity instead of a lack of emotions.
"That's too bad…" He sounded disappointed. "I wanted to see the so-called God of Death showing an expression of terror as I destroy it."
A blinding light appeared in the sky, pushing away all the dark clouds in the process.
"It's here… let us go face the Heavens." Naruto shot towards the air, pulling the Shinigami along with him.
This tribulation was several magnitudes higher than the previous one, and with just a quick glance, Naruto could tell that his estimation had not been too far off the mark.
If this lightning were to impact the earth, it would at least decimate the entire country, if not more.
Naruto pushed the Shinigami in front of him to serve as the first line of defense.
The entity may be intangible and likely immune to most forms of attacks.
But nothing can escape the wrath from the Heavens… or at least that's what wise people like to say.
He watched as the Shinigami was hit by the intense energy from the lightning bolt, reducing the creature into particles of black light that quickly dispersed.
Multicolor luminescent orbs shot out from the remnants of the Shinigami and scattered everywhere.
Naruto's senses warned him that these were souls… there were countless souls that had been trapped inside the belly of the Shinigami since the beginning of time.
But he only cared about one particular soul, the one belonging to his father, Minato.
Naruto could only try to keep track of that one and hope that he could interact with it before leaving.
Because right now, he still had a tribulation to face.
The Shinigami did serve its purpose and took the blunt force of the initial impact, but there was still enough energy left in this bolt of light to kill Naruto and everyone present if he didn't do something.
A rotating sphere of golden light appeared on Naruto's palm.
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