I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only.Have we not long since established that?!

The one called the Overlord

Chapter Ten: Not forgotten

Chiselle, weeks ago

Wheezing, snorting and growling the corpulent form of a demon lumbered from one corpse after another and rent the few canisters that hadn't already been punctured from their decaying carriers. Alas he not only did it to continue to feed his gluttonous appetite but it was a desperate attempt to distract himself as well as delay the inevitable... work. Work that he should have minions for in the first place! But No! NO! He had ONE minion! ONE! ONE pretentious whelp who, while he wasn't looking, managed to worm her way into being his minder. HIM! HER SUPERIOR IN BOTH POSITION AND POWER! The only benefit to possibly outweigh her whispering whatever perceived failings back to their commander was the fact that for the time being she was the... 'acting liaison' between both himself and those screeching blue skinned monkeys that Lord Ven'no had deemed useful enough to supervise, idiots though they were.

At least they were quite literally sitting upon a scrumptious deposit of mana. It was almost a shame at how convenient it was too to allow himself a 'valid' excuse to concern himself with more... important matters considering whomever the architect was at the time to make so many tunnels to drain the source. Still, even if there were indeed fissures within the entirety of the network leading to that dome like he was 'searching for' there was a still roughly a hundred years worth of sustenance he could busy himself with... if he was lucky enough to off the less appreciative cretins depending on it without being spied upon... and if Lord Ven'no was forced to busy himself with another move if a Potential was directed at him once more at the same time.

Alas neither was likely to happen. Especially since it seemed that there was a good chance that wretched faux sheep of an underling of his had become wise to his plan to simply be away from the screeching fools who were dragging their feet at this point with their pitiful scheming, their redundant plotting and desperate clinging to their supposed heritage. If not then it was those blue skinned freaks for elves who were desperately attempting to prolong the inevitable by shutting off the connection to this hamlet's mana vent. A distinction without a difference given how both only served to vex him all the same. Furthermore with the deactivation of this vent he was forced to trudge all the way to the nearest vent to see if it was active and kill whatever guards that were trying to shut it off all over again! A monumental labor if there ever was one! The utter bane of his existence!

At the very least there were still plenty of canisters left before he had to shuffle off at least.

With a greedy grunt the demon shorn the top off the tank filled with vapor-like mana, raised it and tilted it as if to chug it much like a beverage. It seemed to have worked as such too despite its misty state too, at first. The demon was quick to notice that only a shocking and extremely unusually low supply that should've been drawn to his tongue. What alarmed him enough to induce his rage however was the feeling of a mystical pull that drew away his coveted mist. To make things even more irksome the pull was deliberately powerful enough to be felt!

In the span of a second a vicious snarl was formed and cast directly at the fool who dared stoke his ire. In the same second that snarl died, replaced with a horrified and cowed whimper the second his beady black eyes came upon the physical shadow copy of his own better whose clawed hand was lazily outstretched and slowly being wreathed with a coalescing swirl of the mystical vapor that was being corrupted from its enchanting and ethereal blue to an almost seductive yet sickened green; though it was still edible, it was far from his preference.

"I see you've been 'busying' yourself as usual, Deminti," Ven'no's shadow double rumbled rather plainly, as if he barely expected anything, in a word, productive to have occurred in the first place... Even though the shadow of the caster lacked the finer features such as eyes, a mouth or any other definitive marker to help identify the caster's mood the demon still shuddered under the undoubtedly cold scrutiny of his own superior.

"M-my lord! W-what is it that brings you out here?" Probably some outright libel report doubtlessly sent by that worm sitting in that dome if he were to guess, not that he would dare breath it in front of the commander of this embarrassingly long invasion. "Everything is going according to plan as we speak! It would only be a matter of time before those blue vermin would be desperate to consume fel energies to survive the eventual onslaught! The famine at worst once they use up the last of the mana!" Despite himself he couldn't keep himself from trembling underneath the unyielding gaze of the shadow which easily towered over him by an entire torso at least if one didn't include the height of Ven'no's folded wings, or his high reaching yet curved horns protruding from the crown of his head. Thankfully, for him at least, any perceived displeasure, real or imagined, was partially mitigated by the curiosity borne from his lord's answer.

"Coincidence. An almost strange twist of fate you could say."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Fernus unfortunately failed in a recent excursion of his when a Potential escaped him. While normally he would finish what he started, he unfortunately is on the trail of another as we speak on the very continent where the first one fled. Surprisingly enough it would seem the one that escaped him had arrived here of all places, under your "watch" no less." If the shadow had eyes they would undoubtedly be narrowed at that very moment with an imperious glare. "Need I go on?"

"N-no," Deminti croaked.

"Good. You know what to do then."

Suddenly the hand which the fel energy coiled around thrust forth with its clawed fingers spread wide open. On his silent order the ethereal energy surged forth like a hail of arrows even as the shadow construct began to dissipate. Not even a moment later a tortured chorus of pierced and ruined metal rung through the air... He didn't need to look to know what happened but he did so anyway. He had hoped that some, even if only one, canisters survived to at least console with. Alas none survived. Already their precious cargo rushed out of colossal gaps rent into their shells and subsequently disappeared.

Without anyone to spy on him he allowed himself a couple of tears at their loss as well as a whimper. Sadly even he couldn't tell if said whimper was from the loss of his delicacy or from fear knowing what would happen if he failed any further in Ven'no's eyes.

XVX

Naruto's throne room, Giant's Forge, present

Upon being seated as the apparent lord of the augres within Ogre's Mount Naruto was soon introduced to an entirely new problem he had never remotely thought of: governance. If it wasn't the language barrier, mitigated by Gnarl somewhat between boats of yelling at the other minions for one reason or another during the move to Ogre's Mount, it was the undeniable growing tension between the defeated tribe of augres and those loyal to the overlord himself. Sadly his rule only seemed to compound the ill will that was already in place.

Resistance was one thing to be expected really with the tribe they had recently deposed, novice or not: in having ordered them to right their wrongs as well as start the repair work from the previous siege the defeated tribe did everything within their power to procrastinate, dragged their feet, 'accidently' ruining tools... the tribe of augres that eagerly followed him particularly took offense to this when these 'accidents' extended to the more proper armaments for their crippled kin... When the first of the brawls started Naruto learned the hard way that fireballs could only do so much against beings who not only thrived in the heat of a working forge but decided to live in a volcano in the first place. In comparison his lightning whip was a more effective choice, if only to grab their attention before the newly formed brute squads cracked skulls in the name of order.

Speaking of which...

Augre fortifications, according to Gnarl, were built to last much like their dwarvern counterparts, again according to Gnarl. In other words aside from not having to worry about having the ceiling fall on anyone's head or a wall collapsing barring extenuating circumstances of a near literal earth shattering sort, even an artifact like the Tower Heart seem to have trouble breaching the augre's stonework to supply him with either way gates or minion gates for that matter, from a distance at least. Once it was installed within the stronghold however the sheer proximity should weakened certain sections of the superstructure without endangering it, or so Gnarl had postulated. At any rate however until Gnarl arrived with the artifact and apparently the minion hives he had to deal with the growing animosity himself with the newfound formed brute squads composed either of the tribe loyal to him or what he could only believed to be the defectors of the defeated tribe seeing as they weren't as scorned as much by the former slaves. Even so the forceful peace they bought both him and the stronghold was mercurial at best, and Naruto was practically beating his head against the wall trying to think of a better solution. Sadly other than somehow bypassing that strange limitation with the Tower Heart toward making shadow clones the most he could think of on short notice was making scarecrow copies of himself to make it look like he was watching them from all over the fortress city. Unfortunately he sincerely doubted how effective that would be...

With nothing but dead ends to contemplate about so far in regards of finding a solution to his current dilemma he almost welcomed the giant double door leading to his apparent throne room slamming open. The key word being almost given that so far it always meant that one of the dutiful augres loyal to him came with news that another fight broke out somewhere in his newfound domain. Surely enough an augre came thundering in, his arms frantically waving as he shouted at the top of his lungs. It must have been a particularly nasty one compared to the other reactions he observed thus far given the augre was practically hopping in and out whilst gesturing for him to follow. In the end he did, his minions dutifully and eagerly following him as they often did.

XVX

Third Level Defense Emplacements

In a twisted way he soon preferred having to deal with another riot once it dawned on him that he was on the receiving end of a siege. On the bright side however he didn't have to bother with orders of any kind. With an evident enemy at their doorstep what animosity the two tribes had for one another was tossed aside as they manned their apparent battle stations at the ballistae. Even then there was a company assembled in a formation with shields at the front, a select few augres with both hands armed with augre sized crossbows behind the shield bearers and a squad of armless augres behind them all, all of whom garbed with a breastplate and open faced helmet. And finally some manned what looked to be levers attached to chains hidden an attacker's view by massive pillars that helped framed the walkways to the ballista stations. Only one augre manned each lever however as the rest bore what looked to be axes and hammers, most likely to cut the chains themselves if push came to shove. Even so, if he had to guess then they were most likely release levers for the block of stone which loomed overhead the bridge. All of this didn't necessarily make him feel better though: after all, what could make the augres screaming, both literally and figuratively, out the doorway leading to the bridge, cross the bridge in a matter of seconds and barely keep themselves from smashing into the defensive line? Limited though his experience was with them, he doubted the Renouvelé elves ever elicited such a reaction from these giants.

KERKRACK-FWOOOM!

He would have his answer soon enough however it would seem.

As chunks of stone and debris flew and clattered along the bridge a jet of green fire belched forth from the portal for but a brief moment before vanishing as flame ought to do. In its place however smoke and dust flowed out of the doorway, masking who or what had done such damage from view from the other side of the bridge. Thankfully however this intruder seemed to have had no mind for stealth. Though it was faint at first, especially at a distance, gasping and wheezing of an unhealthy sort was not only heard but was growing louder by the minute. Not once did it calm or seem affected in the slightest by the destruction the originator of which was wading through. As such, other than the obvious, it wasn't hard to connect the wheezing voice to the sole creature that waddled through the slowly diminishing haze...

His first thought was the demon from before in the forest if only for minute details he recalls of cloven hooves for feet and horns upon its head, both of which smaller than what he remembered. And from what details he gathered from Gnarl and his minions about "Big Red" as they called him, he was, as the name suggested, red as opposed to pasty white. Another contrast that, according to Gnarl and Quaver, Big Red didn't seem to wear anything more than a loin cloth, not that Naruto noticed in the darkness as the demon was hunting him. This one however wore body covering armor, sans for its claw like hands and its revealed bald head for what it's worth... how anyone was able to make that much armor for an enormous blob of a disproportionate ball that was his body on almost comically diminutive legs, in comparison at least, without breaking against the very fat that was bulging against it was just mind boggling for the young teen. Another detail he was fairly certain that further differentiate this demon from the other was the fact that on the pale one's back jutted out a pair of large, folded bat-like wings... to be fair though he wasn't sure nor had he even asked if Big Red had any wings himself, not that it mattered at the moment.

Regardless, almost as soon as the wheezing thing seemingly laboriously sauntered onto the bridge one of the augres bellowed out what sounded like an order. At once the ballistae opened fire on the demon and were promptly reloaded. A good thing too. Though the demons stiffened in surprise at fist it threw up a claw. Just before the first of the bolts hit him a translucent barrier of sickly green power enveloped the demon which the aforementioned bolt smashed against to no success. The others fared no better as they bounced off the shield as well, yet it didn't deter the defenses in the least. Despite the shield bolt after bolt was launched against the demon, especially as it began to hobble forth, gasping the entirety of the way. To make matters worse as the ballista bolts fruitlessly pounded against the shield, the demon's other hand almost flopped about in a wave as waved about. The gesture's purpose was immediately made apparent when a pale green beam lashed forth from the confines of the shield toward a ballista's balcony and struck it, annihilating it with an explosion of energy, debris, the broken remains of the defensive and limbs. Yet the defenders were still not deterred. In fact they ramped up their offense.

A thunderous, stony 'clunk'ing erupted overhead as previously unseen partitions slide open above the balconies to reveal even more crossbowmen at the ready as well as a few more ballistae. Without even being ordered to they opened fire on the demon. Sadly it was to no avail. The demon, gasping and wheezing with each step as if he was to collapse at any moment, continued to advance without being harmed in the slightest. The body count and destruction only rose as one balcony or parapet was obliterated at a time. Even a second partition that was revealed directly above the bridge itself did nothing more than stall the demon when the augres there poor boiling oil atop the creature; while it didn't harm him in the slightest, his hoofed feet found trouble in their attempt to find purchase with the stone walkway they toddled over for a time till the oil was dedicatedly burned away by jets of green flame. In fact it seemed as if the demon was utterly unstoppable beyond the simple hope that he'd drop dead thanks to his condition... that is until he passed underneath the gigantic stone which loomed over the bridge. All it took was a decisive bark from the apparent captain for the teams to yank on their respective levers.

SMASH!

"Hm? What? Sorry sire, I was a bit... distracted at the moment. What did I miss?" Gnarl obviously paused for a moment as he observed the scene that was of Naruto witnessing small chunks of stone that used to be part of the bridge fall into the spiked hell below. "Figures. The one time I make sure the reds don't wander off again and you successfully fended off your first overpowered intruder in your new dungeon. Ah well, I guess we could dig out its corpse from the pit there. What was it anyway?"

"I think," Naruto slowly began, "it was one of Big Red's friends..."

"... shit."

"GRRAAAAAAAAH!"

With the bellow came a malevolent beam composed of the unmixed union of sickly green and brackish purple which tore into the ceiling above where the weight used to be. The resulting explosion easily obscured the view of the otherwise hidden level above if not destroying it completely, not to mention rained down debris and stone shrapnel that both pelted and bounced off of the armor and toughened hides of the augre guards. Regardless however the cause of the destruction once more made himself known by rising of the pit, his wings outstretched and beating against the air like a raven with slightly tattered leather wings. Before the first of the ballista teams could open fire though the ball of flesh curled in itself for but a moment before, with a grunted shout, threw all of his limbs wise as a nova of green energy rushed out from the demon which blinded all who was in view of it. Those that could turn did or else made use of whatever was on hand to keep themselves from being blinded at the very least. Unfortunately that was when the screaming started. Augres', minions', and Naruto's included.

Failing to realize the danger he was in Naruto turned his back in a bid to keep himself from being robbed of his vision. While he succeeded in that regard the wave hit him all the same... it was like being set on fire, however briefly, while being bludgeoned all at once as it bowled him and his minions over.

"Master! Master! Are you alright?!" An agonized groan was his only reply as Naruto tried to push himself back onto his knees if nothing else as he ignored the ensuing sound of a battle behind him. "If you still have that emergency potion on you then I suggest taking it!"

For a brief moment Naruto drew a blank as to what Gnarl was talking about. Thankfully with the receding pain his mind was afforded some clarity to better remember the small potion Quaver had tucked away into his belt for just an occasion; he practically forgotten all about it considering it was meant for his very first raid. Regardless, as soon as he remembered it he grabbed for it and yanked it free of its protective covering. He wasted no time in ripping out the stopper and downing the contents in one go. Immediately he felt better though not as he was before that blast hit him. Even so he soon found the strength to stand, arm himself with his short sword and whip around to demon once more only to pause in terror to see it standing amongst fresh corpses which lay at its hooves.

The entire squad that was before him had been slaughtered: a few must have died on the spot in the initial blast considering that they were the furthest away from the ground freshly stained in blood, all of whom lacked shields. As for everyone else, it was obvious that they had charged at the demon the moment it had landed as the few remaining ballistae fired upon him, distracting him. It wasn't enough apparently. Even from a distance it looked like the demon's claws were drenched in fresh blood as ruined or else shattered shields were laying uselessly amongst the defeated augres amongst their portion of the ruined walkway, never mind the destroyed ballista. Other than the blood of others coating and flecking him in spots, the winged demon looked no worse for wear beyond gasping perhaps a little more horridly than before as he sat amongst his kills. In fact he almost looked to be on the verge of collapsing on the spot as he fanned itself, not minding in the least of the amount of blood he was splashing onto his face.

"I was afraid something like this might happen," Gnarl muttered. "I was just hoping there would be more time before they sent another one after you."

"Please tell me that this thing isn't invincible!" Naruto groaned through gritted teeth as his eyes flicked between the demon and the bodies before him, his grip on his weapon of choice tightening in the meantime. He spared a glance toward his minions and found to his grim distaste that the reds hadn't survived the attack seeing as they hadn't reassembled behind him like the browns had.

"Thankfully yes, though it will require a bit cunning more often than not. Those augres wouldn't have by chance been collecting a few of those mana canisters, have they?"

"Yeah," Naruto carefully drawled without looking away from the demon as it continued to fan itself.

"Good. Very good. Thankfully that thing you see before you is an complete and utter glutton. Something we can use to our advantage!" Gnarl darkly giggled. "Just show him just enough of his favorite meal and he'll delightfully forget you in a heartbeat, provided of course you don't do anything to nab his attention. Those blues learned that the hard way when they went to check on the guards originally stationed in that village we initially arrived in!" Gnarl chortled once more.

"At any rate however sire... While I may not exactly be a genius amongst arcane and terrestrial sciences, that misty mana does seem to act sort of like pressurized gas, and gas has a tendency to explode when someone is stupid enough to bring a torch into the room. If you can lure that fat bastard into a room full of those canisters and open one up just enough it would not only distract him but if you say, toss a torch at a nearby barrel of gunpowder, then KABLOWEY! If nothing else then it would at least distract him for a good old fashioned knife in the back."

"Okay! One question though!"

"Yes master?"

"What's gunpowder?"

"... would you happen to have those exploding pieces of paper on you?"

"They didn't exactly give them out as academy supplies..." Naruto groaned as he paled whilst the demon seemingly recovered enough of its energy to stand back up once more.

"... just start running! We'll figure something out later!"

"Right!"

Without further prompting he turned on his heel and ran down the hall he originally came from. Needless to say his minions followed him as well. So did the demon as well... eventually.

... and a shadow that only moved from the safety of the destroyed maze once there was nothing left to spy upon it.

XVX

Forge Works

Even if the task was simple enough for an imp to do it, which he should have been supplied with as a courtesy to begin with(!), he still hated it! By the Dark One's name this brat couldn't have been considerate enough to sit still in a hovel long enough for him to track him down and kill him! After breaking a siege he would've thought the mortal would've indulged himself in the luxuries of life those blackened wretches would've provided him, but no! The mortal had to set off into the woods! A fact the dread lord would've missed if he hadn't chanced upon that grumbling scout while looking for a quick snack to take the edge off! While yes it saved him an inordinate amount of effort of either sneaking in or simply forcing his way in, an exhausting effort either way, it also forced him to make the teeth gnashing effort of 'being nice' to those wasteful buffoons who breathed in that delicious meal as opposed to at least attempt to enjoy it as a delicacy just enough to loosely track the runt! Even then it wasn't enough!

But that doesn't matter now that he found him after eliminating the villages south and southeast of this mountain where the trail didn't exist. Now that brat had him romping through another maze within this gigantic crypt in order to chase him! CHASE! And worst yet he didn't have the courtesy to die from either his attempts to obliterate him when the dreadlord did see him or in his attempts to annihilate the Potential through the blinding amount of walls and dust. Ever since coming to this world NOTHING has been going his way! What did he do to—

Deminti paused as a delicious scent wafted through the air. A deliciously familiar scent! For but a brief moment he was stymied with indecision between finishing the job and taking a well deserved break from this seemingly endless and cycling excruciating humiliation and pointlessly taxing make-work... his hunger won in the end of this two second debate.

He easily brushed and shoved his way through the inconsiderately placed boxes, weapon racks and anvils toward a doorway left open by a finger's length. Despite the distance which practically sought to suffocate him he reached the door, tore it open and appreciatively marveled at the beautiful sight that was a cache of those lovingly crafted canisters holding pure mana within them! Oh how he almost shed a tear as he practically danced his way to the nearest one, reached for it and easily tore the top of which off! While a part of him wandered as to such stock was here of all places, he wasn't truly going to question it. In fact for all he 'knew' the Potential had somehow gotten it into his head that this richly palatable collection would boost his might! Surely Ven'no wouldn't begrudge him from taking 'precautions' now, would he?

Before even the first mote of vapor could flit its way into the open air the canisters was lifted and tilted back like a drink, one that was chugged with such eagerness that a brown minion was readily ignored even as it dashed to him whilst giggling rather dementedly. Within its claws was what looked to have been a bleeding rat. He ignored the both of them still when the minion abruptly snapped the vermin's neck and lobbed it at the dreadlord before fleeing the scene with a cackle.

XVX

A few minutes earlier

The fleeing, the scurrying, the hiding from a predator out for his blood... it was like that night all over again... At least there weren't any anbu attempting to murder him this time around.

Even so he kept enough of his wit about him to hide in the clouds of dust when the demon tried to vaporize him whenever he lost sight of Naruto through a turn in the corridor. While vague, he was sure he was following the path to the forge area which contained the supply of mana that the augres were trying to experiment with in their more exotic creations despite having to take a few detours. He didn't dare think otherwise for the sake of his sanity which desperately clung to this plan. He was not wasting his second chance at a better life to this thing barreling after him! With that in mind and when he was blessed with a growing grace period between increasingly wild and near random shots the further he pulled ahead of the demon his mind was scrambling for a solution to kick off Gnarl's plan. Sadly he couldn't think of anything: he had no explosive tags on him. He wasn't aware of any supply closets near or on the path to the forge that was his destination so he couldn't even improvise by throwing what would amount to acid at the winged ball of pale flesh, never mind some kind of explosive powder! And Gnarl wasn't exactly helping either with his muttering as he was apparently reading a spell book in the meantime to find something to outperform the damage caused by a fireball—

Wait, maybe he could use the canisters to bolster his spells? It might work! Then again he hadn't exactly had time to learn or experiment with sources that originated elsewhere than himself which, according to Helos, could be exponentially dangerous if not deadly if done too recklessly!

Alright, he could forget about magic based solution for the time being. Perhaps something more mundane? If Gnarl was right and this guy was happily going to ignore the world around him then... maybe he could flood the room with lava? Being a volcano and through hook and crook the augres managed to dredge up and construct direct lines of the mountain's lifeblood to better heat their furnaces, smelters and anvils if need be when any of which was positioned just right. That would mean he would have to scrounge up some augres first though, not that he had seen any since this chase began. Either way however there was no guarantee that the demon would either blast them the moment he saw them before hand or stay 'ignorant' long enough for them to finish some makeshift pipe to splatter it with a magma bath, if he can find any at least.

GAH!

What else could he do?!

It wasn't like he could lock him up in the room with the mana canisters and hope it's enough to seal him away!

Wait... didn't the Forbidden Scroll have something about seals in it? Yeah, it did! Some weird circle with eight pointed ends! And this weird set with segmented blocks if he recalled correctly! Now where was that...

He left it in the throne room. WHY DID HE LEAVE THE SCROLL IN THE THRONE ROOM AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!

Before he could berate himself he arrived at his destination and with barely a thought dove to his left toward the forge's storeroom. He practically kicked the door down in his haste and scoured the room for the first of the canisters that ought to be there. Thankfully they were. Also thankfully they were rather easy to open, either from the top like a twist cap or from its nozzle which, if memory served right, was the Renouvelé's primary means to replenishing the tank's contents from their massive storage tanks. He almost went straight for the top itself but managed to have the wherewithal to stop himself: if he had pried it open then the mana stored within would basically rush out, depleting it long before the demon could catch a whiff of it short of somehow having catch up to Naruto and stayed inordinately quiet enough to stand right behind him; thankfully he wasn't but that was besides the point! Instead he unsealed the nozzle and let the mana hiss out a fine ethereal steam. Once that was done he was quick to escape the room and find himself a dark corner to plot his next step.

If he was right then there was no direct path to the throne room that he was aware of. Then again it wasn't like he knew the city like the back of his hand yet. Regardless, there was a good chance the demon lost track of him along the way and was now roaming the halls, following a scent or no. While his horrid gasping did help track him to a degree, the young overlord knew well enough that noises echoed off the walls... at the wrong place at the wrong time the demon would either spot him because he sounded to be coming from one place yet really from another. Or worse yet potentially track the overlord if he made too much noise in trying to keep out of sight. If not him then the minions at least whom had barely any sense of stealth even with his supervision, regardless of the circumstances. Even if he got past without incident, what guarantee did he have that he would come back in time, much less without encountering the demon? There were roughly... twenty? Thirty canisters at the most in that room. Would it be enough for him to thoroughly read the scroll and perform a seal correctly? It took him maybe an hour at most to get the hang of the shadow clone jutsu so maybe not.

This was frustrating!

Just as Naruto was about to yank on his hair in frustration and groan to himself the demon's wheezing rumbled into the forge. As a precaution Naruto ducked behind a stack of crates and carefully peeked out whilst his minions similarly copied him behind a pillar. Regardless, the winged demon sauntered into the room, wheezing and gasping like before as his hooves plodded rather noisily along the stone work and the steal grating for a small river of lava which provided a sense of heat for the sunless room. Thankfully it seemed the demon had no clue he was in here as he trekked toward the only other exit in the room. He came to an abrupt stop however halfway through after navigating his way around an anvil. At first the demon stiffened as he sniffed the air. After a few more sniffs and craning his head some his eyes locked onto the doorway Naruto busted through but minutes earlier. Once it seemed like he confirmed what was inside it all guttural pronouncing of his gasping had ceased as he utterly bulldozed everything in his path to the storage room in a near mindless display of casual power which shunted anvils, loaded racks and crates loaded with ore or ingots with casual ease at most. Needless to say the door faired no better in mildly impeding him at best.

After positioning himself to get a better look Naruto grimaced upon seeing the effortless opening of the canister and its subsequent chugging of its contents. This item which was comparing in length to a torso was already a third empty in just seconds if he was reading the clear glass gauge on its side correctly. Twenty-to-thirty mana tanks weren't likely to hold him in one place long enough if Naruto was estimating it correctly. He had to act now.

Alright, how did either of them go? He needed an object for sure. No wait... not quite. He needed a... living subject? Immediately he thought of the minions but quickly dismissed the thought. What if he messed up? They didn't deserve that—whatever it was if a seal failed, especially a faulty one. Was there something else? A rat maybe? He was fairly certain he saw some here and there. It was worth a shot though. With a sweep of his hand he essentially ordered his remaining troop of six minions to search the forge for a rat. A mouse even if it came to that. Thankfully the search didn't take longer than a quick dash as a minion not only found what Naruto needed with an elated cry but brought the squirming and biting thing to him whilst the others reconvened with the overlord. Thanks to that cry however Naruto tensed as he desperately tried to hide himself while keeping an eye on the demon to see if he had taken notice. To his relief however it seemed Gnarl's claim was spot on in that the fel thing didn't so much as glance away from the now halfway finished canister. With a sigh of relief Naruto grabbed the rat, grimaced and clenched his teeth as the pest readily turned its fury onto him as he readied a knife to morbidly carve the symbols onto its hide. Two thoughts however stayed him in spite of the growing amount of blood now coming to soak his glove as the rat's fangs frantically tore at him in a desperate hope of escape.

First and foremost was the fact that of the two seals he could vaguely remember one was... weird looking if he recalled. Like it was painted to not only look like a spike but some kind of... vine covered one? In other words harder to make out from a hazy memory alone. The other however was much more simplistic and easier to remember with its blocky design... there was no guarantee of some kind of desirable result however, which led to the second point which was, for all intents and purposes, a little more complicated... It couldn't be as simple as drawing lines, could it? There had to be more to it! Like magic for example: his original skeptical belief in it set aside, it literally wasn't as simple as saying "alakazam!" to blow up a tapestry BY ACCIDENT! While Helos did try to cram the finer points into his skull, it was far closer to a gut feeling than wiggling the fingers of the casting hand... which kind of helped with some spells actually. But that wasn't the point. To break it down it was feeling, molding, shaping and the will to exert the mana within oneself. Kind of like chakra!

... could seals be made of chakra? It would kind of explain how the paper bombs work if that was the case...

If that was the case, does that mean he would have to somehow... carve a seal onto the rat with his chakra? Sickening as it was, never mind the fact he already decided to sacrifice a rat to do it in the first place, was that possible? Or did he need some kind of medium? What would work as a medium—HIS BLOOD! If magic was real then so was blood magic if the various manga he got his hands on were to be even partially right! Never has a rat carving into his hand with its teeth ever been so convenient!

... which was a sentence not often contemplated on most days.

The rat squeaked as his grip tightened enough to paralyze it long enough for him to dap an unmolested finger into his own blood and paint the rat's hide with the geometric blocks infused with a rough flow of his chakra, or at least he hoped so as he ignored the pained squealing from the creature. Once that was done he handed it over to a minion and directing said minion to the storage room. As usual with nary a sign of care for its own well being the minion charged into the storage room without the demon deigning so much as a glance toward it... and from there Naruto was stumped by a question he should've seen coming: how did he activate the seal without entering the same room as the bat-winged creature that was on the verge of finishing off the first of the canisters. The only thing he could think of that could set it off was...

... he honestly couldn't help but feel sorry for the little guy, all things considered.

With a thought and a thrust of the hand the minion who carried the rat heeded his unspoken command and snapped the vermin's neck before lobbing the fresh corpse at the demon and fleeing before he could register the annoyance. While he did once the tiny cadaver struck him, even bothered to look down at the general vicinity of where he was struck with a curious hum, he only snorted as he casually drank the last of the canister's contents. Even Naruto was disappointed in seeing that nothing had happened.

"Alright! I'm back sire! Sadly the most I can find that might work on short notice is a recipe for demon repellent and an explosion spell! Unfortunately I'm fairly certain the first one is aimed at local demons, so we'll have to make do with blasting his brains out...! Um, sire? What's that?"

Having been momentarily startled by Gnarl into hiding anew, Naruto cautiously peeked out just in time to witness a transparent black domed field erupt from the carcass if the rat that was as high as he was tall. It certainly drew the demon's lazily curious attention just as he was about to finish off his 'drink.' The dome crackled and roiled for a brief second before condensing into a tight opaque ball around the dead rat. It held for just as long before it expanded far faster than his eye to track—

SHWOOM!

"GAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Oooh! Please tell me that was your plan master! If that was an accident then we'll tell anyone who asks it was your idea anyway! Such things scare away the more stupid would be usurpers at the very least."

"Uh... sort of?"

"GOOD!" Gnarl cackled. It died soon after as an unfortunately figure limped out into view from the resulting dust and smoke that belched out of the storeroom, wheezing and gasping as he did before... though heavily pained.

The demon staggered into clear view though he wasn't unscathed in the least. His beady black eyes were glazed over with pain as he stumbled into a set of crates he hadn't knocked over yet. As this was happening bright green yet toxic smelling blood drenched the floor wherever he went like a river. Soon enough his lurching revealed the direct cause of his state as a sickening chunk of his backside was shown to be missing. Worse yet, much to Naruto's growing horror, underneath the blubber and muscle that remained more than a few bones were peaking out. For better or worse though this devastating wound which his unholy blood poured from like a waterfall was his undoing as made evident with him desperately yet weakly grasping at the crates for some kind of support, his claws simply scoring and raking the wood and iron rivets with ease instead as he finally toppled onto the ground and uttered a whimpering sigh of death.

For moments on end Naruto simply stood and stared at the unmoving corpse, partially out of awe at bringing him down when an entire battle emplacement couldn't scratch him. Another part was out of disgust as he drank in the fact that he managed to kill it in a far more horrifying fashion compared to the augre chieftain. As for another reason, fear. Was he truly dead as he appeared? Was there still some life left in him despite his wound and blood loss? There was only one way to find out.

He never once took his eyes off the foul smelling demon as he knelt down and grabbed the first thing convenient to his blind grasp, an abandoned piece of ore or at least it felt as much to him. With said piece he threw it at the corpse and struck it only for it to bounce off the unmoving body. Sadly Naruto wasn't convinced. As such he risked a minion next whom happily charged in and began to wail on the cadaver with a looted mace. It was only minutes off watching this dementedly gleeful one sided beating that Naruto felt safe enough to breathe a sigh of relief.

It was also at this moment that Gnarl began to cackle anew with reinvigorated energy. "YOU DID IT SIRE! YOU DID IT! QUAVER! QUAVER! Where is... Oh never mind—GIBLET!" Gnarl's overexcited jubilation was only minutely interrupted with the surprise grunting of a minion yanked to the Minion Master's side. "LOOK! LOOK! HE NAILED ONE OF THOSE BASTARDS!"

"Huh? ... GWAAAAH! HE DID! MASTER KILLED ONE! YEEEAAAAH!"

"Huh? What?" Quaver asked as he seemingly just arrived on the scene. "Did something... Is that what I think it is!"

"IT IS!"

"BY THE MOON AND STARS!" Quaver exclaimed. "THOSE BASTARDS ARE DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL! WHERE'S MY QUILL AND INK?! I NEED TO WRITE A POEM ABOUT THIS! ... Wait, Gnarl? Where are you—... Giblet?"

"Yeah?"

"Did Gnarl just kiss an elf?"

"He did!"

"And he claims I get carried away when I get excited," Quaver huffs.

"You faint a lot though!"

"Be that as it—NO! GNARL! PUT DOWN THAT—" Whatever was to be said soon faded away as Quaver quickly departed from the Tower Heart's presence. While Naruto was indeed curious, he had a new problem to consider however: how was he going to drag this body to the lava steam below to get rid of it without splashing the creature's apparently acidic blood all over the place?

As he was considering this while eying the newly forming gouges that ate away at the stone flooring he didn't notice the vaguely shaped dark spot haunting the corner of the room. It disappeared with as much regard as well long before Naruto finally moved to find any of the augres residing in the fortress city.

A/N: Kind of a post scrip note really. When I got done with this chapter it was pretty much midnight and I was just tired... hopefully that didn't affect the quality of the story for you guys. If it did, then I'm sorry. Still though...

I actually wasn't keen on writing a note for this chapter. Namely because I didn't feel like there was anything worth to note per se. In retrospect I suppose I need to make something a tad clear: yes, Naruto attempted to perform the reverse four seals... seal (Cough). However, as noted above, he couldn't quite remember it correctly. That and coupled with his inexperience with seals not only did he botch it, it essentially acted more like a grenade as opposed to the black hole the proper version is more reminiscent to.

So yeah... he's nowhere near being a seal master for the time being (Cough the second!).

Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds. Especially after ten chapters in! That's on you!