Mui's steps were heavy with a hope he hadn't felt in years. He walked toward his 'son', Muku, stopping just out of arm's reach.
"Father."
'Muku's voice was a soft, empty sound. His skin was unnaturally pale, his eyes fixed on Mui.
"Muku... I'm sorry," Mui breathed, his voice thick with emotion as the boy moved toward him. "I was wrong." He opened his arms for an embrace, a gesture of reunion, but-
*Thunk!*
'Muku's hand drove through Mui's chest. There was no hesitation, no flicker of light in his hollow eyes, only the sickening sound of pierced flesh and bone. A foul, malevolent chakra bled from him.
The creature smiled, a grotesque twist of 'Muku's features. It drew its blood-soaked hand back and licked it clean. "That's right," it hissed. "You were wrong, 'Father'." Its voice dripped with mockery. "You were wrong to ever let out. After a thousand years... I can't thank you enough. Hahahaha!"
A dry, crackling laugh echoed in the chamber.
This was not Mui's son, 'Muku,' at all, but a monstrous entity wielding Muku's mories.
Mui crumpled to the ground, clutching the hole in his chest. With the last of his strength, perhaps a dying trace of Nine-Tails' chakra, perhaps, still lingered within him,, he flared a signal into the air. Imdiately, alarms shrieked across Hozuki Castle.
Countless Jailers in guard uniforms sward from every corridor, their guard hounds lunging at the creature that wore Muku's face. They were throwing themselves at a monster a millennium old.
Creature moved with terrifying speed, too fast even for Mui's trained eye. It appeared in the midst of the guards. A flicker of its hands, a flash of movent, and n fell dead before they could even scream. As they fell, the ornate Box of Ultimate Bliss, the prison that had just released this thing, opened a panel marked "Joy." Like a hungry mouth, it began to draw the bodies of the dead guards into its dark interior.
"So it feeds on life to gain power."
Naruto had seen enough. He had a good read on the monster's strength now. He crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
*Poof!* With a puff of smoke, a perfect copy of him appeared. "Keep Mui safe," Naruto told the clone, nodding toward the fallen warden. Then, he shot toward the creature.
"How about a real fight?" Naruto grinned, crooking a finger at the creature.
The monster charged, its speed and power enough to overwhelm any taijutsu master. But Naruto was faster.
He sidestepped the confident blow, his body twisting with impossible grace. Pinning the creature's arm with his left hand, he drove his right fist into its gut.
*Thunk!*
The monster shot backward like a teor.
"That actually hurt!" the creature snarled, getting to its feet as a gaping hole in its stomach sealed itself shut. It threw its head back and roared. Its body warped and swelled, skin tearing as it expanded. Hands and feet twisted into hairy limbs tipped with vicious claws. A pair of huge, leathery wings burst from its back, and its torso beca a round, grotesque mass dominated by a massive mouth filled with fangs.
This was its true form: Satori.
"Quite sturdy." Naruto's grin widened when he saw Satori was not only alive but ready for more. 'Hahaha! A real treasure. Let's see just how much you can take.'
"ROAR!" Satori shrieked, and with a powerful flap of its wings, it unleashed a storm of feathers. They flew like a thousand sharpened kunai, blanketing the area from every angle.
Naruto clapped his hands once. A concussive blast of wind erupted from him, scattering the feathers harmlessly. Pushing off his right foot, he launched himself forward like a blade.
*Swoosh!*
Satori shot into the air on its wings, barely dodging the attack.
'So fast... so strong,' Satori thought, hovering in the air. 'Let's see what's going on in that head of his...'
Satori, as a monster of his kind, possessed extraordinary speed and strength, along with formidable self-healing abilities. And to top it off, he wielded a power most only dread of having: Mind Reading.
"Go on, take a look," Naruto called up, his smile knowing what Satori was upto. "Guess what I'm thinking."
'Hm?' Satori was montarily taken aback. It focused, peering into Naruto's mind. What it found was... nothing. Just a silent, empty space. And then, a single, clear thought, directed right at it. 'Looking for sothing?'
Satori recoiled. 'What the fuc-?'
'That's not a very nice thought, you should mind your language' Naruto's mind projected, in a calm and amused tone.
The monster froze. Was this boy a mind-reader, too?
It was said that Mind Reading was an absolute advantage against any foe. But what if your opponent also possessed it?
"Nope, not ," Naruto said aloud, answering the monster's unspoken question. "But this gets tricky now, doesn't it? I know what you're going to do. And you know that I know what you're going to do. And I know that you know that I know..." He trailed off, letting the point hang in the air. "Whoever moves first loses."
Satori snarled, "Then co and fight !"
"No. You co down here," Naruto shot back.
"You first!"
"Fine," Naruto said with a shrug. "I'm coming up."
Naruto had known about Satori's Mind Reading from the start, and he hadn't given it a second thought. Aside from the 'mind reading vs. mind reading' paradox, it actually had another, less obvious, weakness...
'He's going for a straight punch.' The thought had barely ford in Satori's mind when Naruto's fist was already buried in its face.
*Thud!*
The monster was sent flying again, skipping across the plaza like a stone on water. It crashed into the ground, the impact creating a deep crater, and its rubbery body bounced high into the air.
'Impossible! How is he so fas-' Satori only had ti to think this far when Naruto's fist arrived again.
*BANG!*
Naruto was there again.
'Another straight punch!'
The thought arrived at the exact sa mont as the fist. Satori was launched skyward once more. What good was reading an opponent's mind if you couldn't react in ti? Satori was learning the hard way that thought is not instant. By the ti it processed "he's going to punch ," the punch had already landed. There was no ti to think, only ti to get hit.
Before Satori could even begin to fall, Naruto was in front of it again.
'Consecutive Normal Punches!'
A blur of fists, faster than rainfall, hamred into Satori's body. The monster's form was pumled and reshaped like soft clay, its entire surface dimpled with the impacts of Naruto's knuckles.
A final, decisive punch sent the misshapen heap of flesh crashing back to earth. It slamd into the plaza, which was now a ruin of craters, looking as if it had been bombarded by teors.
"Whew. That was a great warm-up." Naruto wiped a bead of non-existent sweat from his brow. He glanced down at Satori, whose mangled form was already beginning to bubble and pull itself back together. "Hasn't been a fight like that in a while."
"A truly valuable treasure." Naruto's gaze shifted from the regenerating monster to the enormous Box of Ultimate Bliss nearby, his eyes gleaming. This was more than a prison, it was a treasure chest.
At that mont, as if sensing his thoughts, the ancient box seed to shudder with the distinct urge to flee.
--**--**
Narrator:
Mui is wondering what's the return policy on heartfelt embraces that end in heart removal?
What part of "Box of Ultimate Bliss" included "casual soul feasting" in the fine print?
Will Satori ever recover from the psychological damage of reading Naruto's mind and finding vibes only?
It's not called the Box of Ultimate Bliss because you're happy, it's because 'it' is.
Mind Reader vs. Mindless Brawler: guess who wins?
Find out next ti on:
"Shadow Clone Jutsu: Because I Like Hitting You Twice As Much"
(E/N: For those wondering why is Satori cursing, it's because there is no other entertainnt for it inside the box other than going through mories of the people sacrificed to it, it picked up their vocabulary.)
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