I don't own solo leveling or Naruto
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"Uzumaki… Kushina?" Kanae uttered slowly, her mind at the races.
"Yeah!" Kushina approached. "You look like you could use some help. Am I wrong?"
"By the way I'm sorry." Kushina said much to Kanae's confusion.
"What? What for?"
"For saying 'dattebane', dattebane." She said, an embarrassed flush coming to her cheeks. "I say it when I'm really pumped up and I know it's not very lady-like to say but it just popped up, y'know!" She said very quickly and cursed herself for saying the word again.
Kanae just looked at her dumbfounded and honestly a little concerned that she might have a screw loose.
"Err, right…" She laughed awkwardly, looking to move past the subject of her verbal tick to more pressing matters,"Are you the reinforcements? I've never seen you before."
Her golden chains able to hold down the golem with effort on her part led her to believe that she was an A-rank hunter of high combat power, 'No maybe even S-rank.' The question was where did she come from and who was she.
"Reinforcements?" She arched her brow, confused until her face lit up like she just remembered something. "Um, I mean yeah I am! That Mika girl was really worried about you." Kushina scratched her right cheek, sheepishly.
"Seriously?"
"Uh-huh," She nodded. "But now she doesn't have to worry cuz I'm here. I couldn't ignore someone who's in danger so I sprung into action." She gave her a kind, reassuring smile.
Kanae widened her eyes in surprise, "Really? Thanks I guess." She murmured to herself quietly. Kushina's desire to help out caused a memory of when she used to admire Goto Ryuji for being different from all other S-ranks.
"Well, all help is appreciated. At this point I can't do much." She said, in reference to her useless arm and leg.
"Yeah, I can tell." Kushina giggled, which very much got a reaction from Kanae. "By the way, what's your name? I wanna know who I'm kicking ass for."
Kanae's left eye twitched in anger, "Tawata Kanae and I wouldn't take this monster lightly if I were you."
Just as she said that blasts of green energy hit Kushina, fragmenting the ground and kicking up plumes of smoke and dust due to the force of the blast. Kanae gaped in horror as she thought that Kushina had just been eviscerated in front of her eyes.
"Kushi-"
"That was rude, dattebane!" Kushina's voice broke through and cut her off, sending waves of relief through her. "I know it's been more than a couple of centuries for you, but that's not how you talk to a woman! And fuck you for making me say 'dattebane', dattebane." She said angrily, adding the last part as almost an afterthought.
The smoke cleared to reveal that a barrier had deflected the attack leaving Kushina unscathed, but clearly ticked off. An ominous, deadly aura surrounded the redhead as her long hair rose and levitated like wavy red tentacles creating the image that she was a hellish she-beast from the underworld.
The Red-Hot Habanero.
She cracked her knuckles, "Maybe someone should teach you a lesson!"
"How strange?"
"Eh?" Kushina faltered slightly once she heard the Arch Lich speaking.
"You look human, however I'm not getting the same urge to kill you like the pink warrior. What exactly are you?"
"I would tell you but you're not going to live long enough to remember." Kushina smirked, devilishly.
Kanae stared at Kushina in complete shock, 'Is she speaking the language of monsters? Who is this woman?'
"Oh? Is that so?" The Arch Lich questioned.
"Yeah, you bet!"
She launched forward, fist cocked back to land a vicious right hook on the monster's jaw. The Lich activated its staff once more as a fog of black smoke came forth like a shield. Years of experience as a shinobi told her it'd be a bad idea to get caught up in that smoke. She reacted quickly and used her adamantine gold chains to propel herself backwards and out of danger.
'She's fast!' Kanae noted.
Kushina landed and retracted her chains to see that they had rusted. "That's never happened before," She murmured, quizzically eyeing her rusted chains.
'Due to the fact that my chains are made out of my own mana, I'm able to understand what happened while they were caught up in that smoke.' She said to herself. Her lips turned down into a frown as she mused further as to what could have caused this phenomenon to her chains, 'It's not an aging effect because my chains can never rust. Is it due to some form of forcible decay?'
"My, my you're a spry one." The Lich waved its staff in the air. "Let's change things up a bit."
Suddenly the golem, previously, held in place by her chains, started to melt down into a form of toxic waste that ate through her chains like acid. Then it clicked in her head, withdrawing those chains as well. 'It's some kind of poisonous acid, the smoke had a similar effect. Although that's crazy, I've never encountered a poison as ridiculous as this before.'
To think it'd be able to eat through her adamantine chains.
[Barrier Seal]
Slamming her hands to the ground, she erected a barrier similar to the one she used to block the Lich's earlier attack around Kanae. This was to ensure that she stayed safe and wouldn't interfere with the fight.
'What the heck?' Kanae thought as a colourless barrier formed around her. She looked at Kushina, wondering if this was her doing.
With a simple flick of her wrist Kushina was able to summon a couple of golden knives with fiery black rune symbols running along the blade's edge. She rushed forward as the Lich used the toxic sludge of the golem to send torrents of poison waves her way. She countered this by throwing the golden knives and watched as they detonated upon contact with the sludge. Explosions rang out through the room as Kushina dashed to the side in an attempt to flank the Lich— summoning more golden knives in process. It saw this approach however, and set out a jet of black smoke that struck Kushina in the chest.
'Shit!' Kushina cursed as half her torso was erased, in an instant. She laid on the ground with lifeless, blank eyes staring up at him.
"It's over. How unfortunate that things had to end this way 'human'."
Almost inexplicably, she began to vanish into particles of golden which greatly surprised the Lich, judging from the widening of its eyes.
Without warning, it was sent flying off the throne and careening into a wall like a meteor, forming a carter. It recovered from the shock of being punched, moving to rearrange its jaw— hanging loosely like a door off its hinges.
"Now you've got me really fired up!" Kushina bellowed, slamming a closed fist into her open palm.
Lich took irritation at the fact that this human was standing on its through with that arrogant, cocky smirk. It gripped its staff tightly and roared, summoning forth the rest of its magical energy in a massive maelstrom of chaos and fury— all the while Kushina stood on the throne unbothered.
With a massive thud, it slammed its staff on the ground looking to summon forth its army of undead from the toxic puddle it had been reduced to.
"What?! How can this be?" The Lich exclaimed, shocked to find that its prized staff was no longer able to channel any of its magical powers.
Kushina easily picked on its befuddlement and smirked, "What? Don't tell you can't use your own staff anymore? Man, I must have cleaned your clock real bad for you to forget how to use your own techniques, huh?" She goaded, taking steps to shake its confidence.
'How did she do that? Was she able to create a doppelganger in the chaos of the explosions?' The Lich scrambled its head to try and figure out how it got clocked in the head.
The Lich, in its panic, picked up on a painful searing heat sensation on its stomach region. A fiery rune symbol that burned itself on its chest like an iron brand.
"So you noticed it finally," Kushina said. "It's called a contract seal and it allows me to sever the connections a target has over specified entities or objects. I had to get in close to land it though, but it was worth it to punch you in the face."
Each step she took approaching the Lich, the instinctual fear rooted in the monster only grew. The Lich could only hear the crunch of her footsteps like the song of its death at the hands of this woman. Her tentacle-like hair and glowing violet eyes only added to this growing fear of death.
"Who are you!?" It screeched furiously.
Kushina didn't answer.
Coldly dashing forward she cocked her fist back and rocked the Lich in the face. The Lich was sent flying and hit the ground on its back. Looking up the last thing it saw were the blank furious eyes of Kushina and her foot lifted up to completely crush its head in an instant.
'Scary.' Kanae thought to herself. With Kushina's crimson locks raised up like that, it really gave the image that she was some demon god from the depths of hell.
Kushina took a breath and let her hair relax to its natural length. Turning around she let down the barrier surrounding Kanae with a simple flick of the wrist.
"I'm pretty awesome, aren't I?" She grinned, flexing and clutching her right bicep.
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Sitting in the passenger seat of Jinho's car, Minato browsed through a book about the Korean Hunters Association, its history, system and leaders. Loud rock 'n roll music blasting in the car kept reading. It's been 2 days and for those 2 days he's been sending a shadow clone to read up on this world's history, geography and technology. Each time, the clone had a new transformation and disguise whilst sticking by Jinho's side so as not to draw suspicion.
"Uh? What's this?" Minato wondered as the song playing on the stereo was interrupted.
[Apologies, but we interrupt this broadcast to say that reporters have only just been able to confirm this information. It's been an hour since Chairman Go has appeared, accompanying him to his reassessment and now Hunter Sung Jinwoo has been officially named as an S-rank. The Association's database has been updated, and while there has been no announcement his S-rank status is confirmed. He is now the 10th S-rank hunter of the country- the first to emerge in the 2 years since Hunter Cha.]
"S-rank, huh? So is that what you've been up to this whole time, Sung?" Minato mused aloud, his shadow wiggling at the news on the radio. Clearly Iron was happy about the recognition his master was getting.
The click of the door opening broke him from his thoughts as Jinho climbed in the driver's seat with a dejected look. This was enough to clue Minato in as to how the negotiations with his father went down.
"So I take it the meeting didn't go well." He said, stating the obvious.
"Uh, yeah, I guess I won't be taking up a leading role in my father's guild like I wanted to." He answered dejectedly.
'No kidding.'
His spirits started to lighten, however. "But I don't think I made the wrong choice. I believe in Hyung-nim and I don't want to leave his side just yet."
Minato smiled at his admission, "So what is it that you're going to do now?"
"For now I think I'll move out of my parents house and talk with Hyung-nim before I decide what's next."
"You're moving out on your own? What's that mean for me?" Minato asked, thinking about his accommodations at the house he's been staying at due to the grace of Jinho's family.
"Um, I've got an idea but let's talk with Hyung-nim first." He replied.
Minato hummed. 'That seems reasonable, however…'
"Broadcasts have just announced that Sung has been confirmed to be an S-rank. It might be a little difficult to get a hold off him."
"Uh really?" Jinho exclaimed in surprise and then deflated in his seat. "It's amazing but now it just means that he'll be difficult to get a hold of. Not that he wasn't already."
"Yeah, you're definitely right about that. Let's just give him a try tomorrow, I'm sure he'll be busy today with all the reporters and new fans he's got." Minato suggested, although Jinwoo didn't strike him as the type to indulge in attention.
"Yeah!" Jinho agreed, starting the car.
"Where are we off to now?"
"We're gonna pack our bags and then head to Hyung-nim's tomorrow to have a chat."
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It was the next day and Minato climbed the steps alongside Jinho to Jinwoo's apartment. They had woken up early in the morning to get there around 7 am only to find a horde of reporters outside. They waited 5 hours until they had dispersed in disinterest as Jin-woo never left the house, and Minato was able to tell such a thing because he had been able to sense his mana. This meant he acted as constant reassurance to Jinho that they would see Sung soon enough.
Another thing that Minato had picked these past few days was that people here didn't have chakra but a supernatural energy that had been introduced to them 10 years ago. It was known as mana and only select individuals were able to wield this energy to perform feats of superhuman levels as well as to clear space-time rifts known as gates. These people were known as hunters and their powers were assessed and classified on the hunter ranking system which went from E-S rank, E-rank being the weakest and S-rank being the strongest. However, what was interesting was that once a hunter received their rank it was set in stone and couldn't be changed unless under specific circumstances such as a second awakening.
Reaching the front door of Jinwoo's apartment Minato motioned to go knock on the door, but was stopped by Jinho who had a nervous look on his face.
"What?" He asked, incredulously.
"Just give me a minute to prepare myself, okay!" He whisper-shouted back. "And I wanna be the one to knock."
"Okay sure…" Minato said in amusement.
He stepped back and watched Jinho take a couple of breaths before psyching himself up, puffing up his chest confidently and knocking on the door. It only took a few moments before the door was opened.
"I thought I told you guys to fuc-" Jinwoo stopped himself mid sentence once he realized that it was just them.
Jinho gave him a big smile and put a hand to his chest, "Yoo Jinho, your trusty sidekick, has arrived!"
Jinwoo just gave him a blank look before his sister came to see the commotion.
"Huh. Is this a friend of yours?" She asked her brother.
"Oh, you must be his sister, Sung Jinah. I'm your brother's trusted assistant, Yoo Jinho!" Jinho answered back, giving her a small wave.
"And I'm just a friend of your brother. My name is Namikaze Minato." Minato bowed, introducing himself to the young teenager.
"Um, hi." She greeted, curtly.
"Uh, Minato? You're here too?" He uttered, still seemingly trying to process what was happening.
"Yeah, I think you forgot about me these past few days. I'm kinda hurt." He replied, touching his chest simulating a heartbreak.
"Riiiiiiight…" He replied, unconcerned.
"Oppa, I didn't know you were friends with a model. A japanese model at that. Are you holding out on me?" she asked teasingly. Minato's exceedingly handsome features were enough for her to conclude that he was some kind of hot shot model.
Jinwoo shot a briefly annoyed look, "What are you talking abou-"
Suddenly his eyes lit up as an idea popped into his head. He pulled Jinho in and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, turning to his sister and announcing, "Actually… starting tomorrow, we're going on a trip next week."
Jinho seemed confused by this, "Tomorrow? What are w-"
He was cut off by Jinwoo gripping his shoulder tightly, "We're going on a trip. Aren't we?"
The tiny but sweet smile that he gave Jinho greatly amused Minato. However, Jinho didn't share the same sentiment as he was forced to give Jinah a pained but beaming smile.
"Y-Yep! Tomorrow is gonna be a big deal. Painfully so…" he laughed after, subtly trying to shrug off Jinwoo's grip on his shoulder.
Jinah blinked at them in confusion, but ultimately decided that she didn't care enough. She nodded and strolled off to her room without another word. "Nice meeting you two then!" She said in parting.
Jinwoo just sighed and turned back to the two, "So what is it that you two want anyway?"
"Owwww! Hyung-nim, did you have to grip so strongly?" Jinho cried, rubbing his right shoulder tenderly.
"Oh, uh, I'm sorry Jinho."
"Don't worry about it. I'm actually here to talk to you about something."
"Really? What is it?" Jinwoo asked, welcoming the two of them into his living room after taking off their shoes.
"Well, I'm no longer going to be the master of the Yoojin Architectures Guild."
"Huh. What?" Jinwoo said, floored by the news. "Why?"
"Well…" Jinho chuckled whilst averting his friend's attentive gaze. "Father sort of gave me an ultimatum when you said you didn't want to join a guild. It was either the position I wanted in my father's company or staying by your side."
"And you choose me…" Jinwoo said it simply, with no judgment or harshness in his tone— it was just a fact.
Although, Jinho still blushed. "Um, yeah. I didn't want our journey to end just yet and besides I couldn't have made it this far without you, Hyung-nim."
Jinwoo remained silent for the better part of a minute before relaxing in his chair. "You sure got that right. Thank you for sticking by my side, Jinho." he said, sincerely from the bottom of his heart.
Jinho's eyes started to gain a watery sheen as he began to sniffle. "Oh thank you, Hyung-nim!"
"Woah! Jinho don't be weird." Jinwoo cried out, cringing as tears streaked down Jinho's face. He knew that the kid meant well, but did he have to be so over the top?
"Anyway…" Minato cut in, coolly. "We were hoping that you'd let us crash for the night until Jinho could figure out some form of accommodation for us. He's decided to completely move out from all his father's properties and that included me stepping out of their other house."
"Really?" Jinwoo turned to Jinho, now blatantly judgemental. "Was that really necessary?"
"It's my way of taking accountability." Jinho defended.
"Whatever." Jinwoo rolled his eyes. "You guys can crash here. Do you want some refreshments or anything?" He asked, trying to play the role of a good host.
Jinho politely declined, but Minato requested some black tea.
"Oh. By the way Jinho," He said, peeking out from the kitchen. "Minato and I are going to be gone for a week. I hope you won't mind dropping us off at the DS tower downtown alright."
"Oh, uh sure." Jinho agreed easily.
'He was serious about that?' Minato thought.
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"When are you heading to bed Minato?" Jinwoo asked, stepping into the living room after assigning Tusk's generals, now turned shadows, to his sister only to find him on the couch still reading books.
"It's been hard to sleep as of late." He answered, head still buried in the book.
"Oh? Any particular reason why?"
"I'd rather not say."
Jinwoo hummed at that. If he didn't want to speak about it then he wouldn't force it out of him.
"Well, do you mind if we step outside for a bit then?"
This caused him to look up from his book, intrigued. "What for?"
"Fine, then just stay here and continue reading." Jinwoo said instead of actually answering his question.
He went to the entryway to slip into his shoes before reaching for the door to step out. Just as he was opening the door he looked behind to see that Minato was also putting on his shoes.
Without looking up he said, "You know you are very childish sometimes."
Jinwoo turned back to hide his smirk, happy that he'd taken his little bait. Curiosity was too alluring for a human to ignore no matter how hard they tried.
Together they reached the roof so that they could overlook the majority of Jinwoo's neighbourhood. The air was chilly but neither commented on it as Jinwoo moved to sit down the ledge of a higher perch where a satellite dish stood behind him.
[Come out]
His eyes glowed a vibrant blue as five shadow knights came from his shadow. Coincidentally, they all surrounded Minato as they bowed to Jinwoo.
"What's this about?" Minato raised a brow.
"Nothing serious. Just a way to make sure my neighbourhood is just a little bit safer." He turned to address his soldiers. "Stick to the shadows as you make your rounds. You guys are now the neighbourhood watch. Go start your patrols." He ordered.
The shadows needed no further prompts as they dashed into the night like the wind and vanished into the blackness of night.
"I like to think of it as my own way of contributing to society. Even if a murderer comes along they won't be able to escape so long as they aren't a high ranking hunter."
"Well, I certainly hope that you also gave them orders not to kill or did you not think of the possibility that they could incite more fear in your neighbourhood."
Jinwoo seemed to consider his words for a moment, his expression becoming very dark.
"That's a good point. I'll alter their orders after patrol."
"So, what did you want me up here for? I hope that it's not to kill me," he joked.
"No, nothing like that." Jinwoo chuckled. "I just wanted to say thanks for not causing any trouble. I'll be taking Iron off your shadow."
Jinwoo wouldn't admit it but during the Hunters guild raid, the presence of Iron on the battlefield was noticeable. It only meant that he had to put in a little more effort against Tusk and the High orcs, but for future battles he had to have Iron at his side.
"Okay." Minato said as Iron rose from his shadow and bowed before his king, Sung Jinwoo. He once again retreaded into his master's shadow moments later.
"By the way, about tomorrow… We're heading back into the Demon Castle?"
"Precisely." Jinwoo said without hesitation.
"You found something that can handle the heat?"
"Yep. I got a little something for you too…" He said, pulling out a full length cloak from his inventory. Due to the fact that this wasn't a store bought item it meant that he could share it with other people. "I tried to look for something that fit the white and red flame aesthetic you had going on, but no such luck."
Minato gripped the fine material between his fingers. It was a mostly black fabric with red trimming along the edges and the insignia of fire on the back of the cloak. His lips upturned to a small smile, the symbol reminding him of Konoha— of the will of fire.
He knew that Jinwoo probably didn't realize it but seeing this acted as some form of reassurance that he'd made the right decision that night. For now he'd wear this cloak in the comfort that his son would grow to cherish and love the village that he worked so hard to protect.
Closing his eyes in a silent prayer, 'Please let that be the case. Oh, I beg!'
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The next day
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Jinwoo and Minato were next to each other in the back of Jinho's van. The early morning traffic was non-existent as Jinho rode down to the DS tower downtown— like Jinwoo had requested of him.
"Thanks for letting me stay the night." Jinho said, starting small talk between the three of them.
"I'm sure you slept well, Jinho. You were by your 'Hyung-nim's' side the entire time." Minato teased.
"Don't make it sound weird, Minato and he only slept on the floor. Sorry for that by the way, we didn't have extra mattresses." Jinwoo apologized.
"Don't worry about it, I mean we do show up outta nowhere."
"Yeah… you sure did," Jinwoo glanced at Minato from the corner of his eyes, the blonde having his nose buried in a book pretending that he was reading.
"Anyway, what's this job you two have at the DS tower? You mentioned yesterday that you and Minato would be gone for a week" Jinho asked.
"Well… Let's call it training." Jinwoo replied much to the disbelief of Jinho.
"You wanna get even stronger!? After earning your S-rank?"
"I guess I do."
The answer was simple but Jinho just smiled because it was such a Jinwoo answer that he couldn't fault it. It's just simply how he was, always aiming to reach greater and greater heights. It often left him wondering just what he was fighting for.
"Oh, Minato." Jinho said, perking Minato up from his book reading. Initially it was an excuse to ignore Jinwoo, but after reading a few paragraphs he had become enthralled.
"Yeah what's up?"
"You're joining Hyung-nim at the DS tower. I had no idea that you were a hunter and to think you would be able to keep up with Hyung-nim. I'm very impressed."
Minato just blinked, "Um, I think you're making a lot of assumptions, but yeah I'll be joining Jinwoo for 'training'."
"Well, okay then good luck!"
Just as Jinho said this, the car came to a stop. Jinwoo opened the door and then bid Jinho a very brief but sincere farewell— Minato doing the same.
Minato followed Jinwoo as they snuck around security guards and people passing by until no one could see them. Jinwoo even noticed that if he didn't know that Minato was following him he wouldn't have heard him coming. The man made no sound as he stepped.
Eventually they found a spot where no one would see them and Jinwoo materialized the key to the Demon Castle. It was a bright orange fiery gate, swirly with powerful waves of magical energy. The two could feel the hot wind from the real world and they hadn't entered the gate yet.
"Well, no time like the present." Jinwoo quipped before walking in. He was quickly followed by Minato not a moment later.
The fires from destroyed buildings swirled as they travelled to the light of the 76th floor.
In a singular puff of smoke Minato materialized his all black cloak from mid-air, intriding Jinwoo that he had a subspace to store items in like his own inventory. That was a rare skill.
"Your cape has been enchanted with wind, the same as mine." Jinwoo materialized and threw a golden ring, similar to his own, at Minato who caught it with ease. "Add this as well and it should help you beat the heat. It's a ring enchanted with water. I've got the same type."
"Thanks." Minato muttered, slipping the ring onto his index finger. He could instantly feel the mix of water and wind swirl around him in an invisible force that made the air around just that much cooler.
He took a calming breath and closed his electric blue eyes, before opening them once more.
"Let's get this going then!"
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That's this chapter done and I hope you enjoyed the fight with Kushina and the Lich. I really enjoyed writing Kushina and her mixture of her insecurity about her verbal tick, her boldness and a little bit of arrogance due to her personality. Since we've rarely seen her fight anyone other than Kurama and I say 'fight' in the loosest sense, I just hope that her attitude in this battle translated well with her actual personality. She's really kind and funny, but in a fight she can get a little crazy.
Right now I'm using a mix of different canon for solo leveling like the manhwa, anime and some of the game material to craft this story and I hope you guys are still following. I just wanted to clarify that as I know in manhwa Jinwoo shuts Jinho out when knocks on his door but in the anime he welcomes inside, I just thought that was really cute and neat.
Other than that pls review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.