Inheritance

CHAPTER 17

Arms next. Tried to push himself up, support himself.

He could only gasp in pain as they gave way underneath him. He hadn't realised just how out of breath he was. What had he been doing? Fighting? He had to have been. It was the only explanation his clouded mind could provide. Where was he then? He couldn't seem to find the answer.

A scream. One soaked in pain, rather than fear.

Deathly terror gripped him. His eyes forced themselves open, even as his head swam, and vision blurred. He tried to make sense of what he saw in front of him. It was blurred. He could only make out silhouettes, but he felt a furious, feral anger build. He recognised the scream, instinctively processed it's meaning before he could do it rationally.

Even as he began to take in the information, he felt a familiar sensation flow through him, nearly overwhelming him.

Heat. Power. Potent, familiar chakra. Rage.

He could feel sensations returning to his limbs, pain leave as warmth flowed through him, he began to form cognitive thoughts once more.

A mission. Near to Suna. The stone statues. Protecting his friends. Destroying his enemy. He was on his feet without even realising it; still trying to put the dizzied, blurred pieces together in his head.

A scream.

His eyes flew to where he had been looking before, seeing with clarity he could not remember seeing with before, and before he could process the information, he had set off with speed he could not remember possessing.

"Take it for now boy. Give them a glimpse of my power, remind them all why they fear me so."

Naruto had not heard the deep animalistic growl that originated from his within his own consciousness.

Even as Shikamaru watched the sword belonging to the stone statue that towered over him rise up, poised to strike, he desperately urged himself to move. Every one of his aching muscles strained to get loose from the vice like grip the other statue had on his leg, or even to simply avoid the coming attack. But he didn't have the strength left, and he knew it.

But then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of red. He barely had time to turn to see it before it was up close and personal, barrelling into the statue about to finish him of, splintering it's body into hundreds of pieces upon impact. It turned in mid-air, landing on the ground for the briefest of moments before turning it's attentions towards the statue that pinned Shikamaru's against the floor.

"Get your hands off of my friend!" Naruto's voice came out closer to a guttural shout than his normal voice; and the blonde didn't give the statue an opportunity to comply with his demand, launching himself at the faceless monstrosity, right fist pounding straight through the statue's sandstone head, shattering it before withdrawing his sansetsukon, which was practically aglow with the strange red chakra Naruto appeared to be emitting.

Shikamaru couldn't help but stare at the strange energy that seemed to billow around the blonde, twisting around him, creating a maelstrom of what appeared to be vortexes of red chakra. He couldn't wrap his mind around it, nor the feeling that seemed to accompany it's presence. A terrifying feeling that seemed to penetrate to the Nara's core, one of unquenchable blood lust and hate; that was only amplified by the manner in which Naruto struck out at the beheaded statue's torso with a horizontal smash, cleaving the body of it in two.

The blonde turned to face him, eliciting a quiet gasp of shock. Whatever that chakra was, it had changed his appearance, with the whisker marks that Shikamaru had always assumed were whisker marks deepening and becoming thicker, and his canines had elongated slightly, making him resemble some kind of animal. The most shocking change was in his eyes. They had changed from their usual bright and energetic blue, to a shade of red not dissimilar to that of blood, and Shikamaru couldn't make out any emotion other than anger in them.