Chapter 11: Control and Instinct (Part II)
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Face to face, Naruto and Thor stared at each other in silence.
The young blond kept his gaze fixed on the god, now infected, who raised his head and let out a savage roar that tore through the air.
Thor was the first to move: he took a step and in the next instant disappeared at an overwhelming speed.
The impact came seconds later.
Naruto crossed both weapons purely on instinct, but Thor's punch, charged with pure lightning, shook him to his very bones. The electrical discharge passed through the weapons, traveled up his arms, and exploded against his chest, sending him several meters backward.
As Thor pressed the attack, there was no pause. His attacks were like those of a beast, even without weapons, without any fixed technique, just pure and bestial power.
Every blow was like being struck by a solid bolt of lightning. Naruto blocked, deflected, and counterattacked with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, unleashing discharges that tore through the ground, but Thor pushed through everything.
Fists against divinity. And yet, it was working.
A direct blow to Naruto's body, and the nanotech armor creaked.
Another.
The plates began to fracture.
A third.
Nanobots disintegrated under the pressure.
Naruto understood instantly. This suit wasn't going to hold. So he forced an opening to take it off.
He spun around, launching an electrical arc with Stormbreaker that forced Thor to cover himself for a second.
It was enough.
With a double tap on the reactor, the armor began retracting rapidly, breaking down into particles that returned to the Arc Reactor in his chest.
Naruto removed the reactor, which he quickly sent into his inventory to prevent it from being damaged by a blow.
With that out of the way, only the Asgardian armor he had obtained along with Mjolnir remained.
As for the God of Thunder, he dodged his former weapon while smiling grimly, blood dripping from his mouth, before attacking again.
The clash was brutal.
Mjolnir descended like lightning, Stormbreaker tore through the air with fury, while Thor answered with blows that made the earth tremble.
Every exchange created explosions of energy, every impact leaving craters and cracks that spread across the battlefield.
Naruto adapted quickly.
He learned.
His movements became more precise, more efficient, synchronizing both weapons in a constant flow of attack and defense. But Thor was unstoppable.
Just one moment of carelessness, a tiny mistake, but Thor took advantage of it.
Thor's hand closed around Naruto's cape. And everything went to hell for the little Uzumaki at that moment.
He lifted him for a second before violently smashing him against the ground.
Once.
The ground broke.
Twice.
The impact sent a shockwave through the area.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Each blow was more brutal than the last, replicating that savage scene from the past over and over again, as if Naruto weighed nothing, as if he were nothing more than an object for Thor to unleash his fury upon.
The world trembled with every impact.
Finally, Thor threw him.
Naruto was sent flying, bouncing against the ground once, twice, three times, until he ended up buried beneath rubble and shattered earth.
Silence.
Dust.
A smoking crater.
A moment later, a hand emerged from the crater, where Naruto slowly rose.
His body hurt far more than it had even during his battle against Tony. He could even feel as though the inside of his body had suffered more damage than the outside.
Proof of that was the blood he spat out, but at that precise moment, that wasn't what mattered most.
It was Naruto's youthful face.
A smile began to form. Small at first. But slowly growing.
There was something in his eyes, something that hadn't been there before.
Even during his battle against Tony Stark, he hadn't felt anything like this.
Excitement.
Pure.
Intense.
He didn't care about the disadvantage he was in at that moment, the result of his inexperience with his weapons and his own power.
Nor did he care about the pain running through his body, pain so intense that it would have made any ordinary human prefer death rather than continue enduring it.
The more he watched Thor approach, wrapped in lightning like the very incarnation of the storm, the wider that smile became.
As if, at last, he had found something truly worth his while. But then, a purple flash illuminated the area for an instant.
A beam of energy crossed the battlefield between them.
It hit.
The explosion was immediate.
Massive.
Violent.
Both were sent flying in opposite directions, carried away by the shockwave as the earth rose into a column of destruction.
Then, a roar was heard coming from where the attack had been launched.
The power emanating from that sound was not normal. It wasn't human, but neither was it divine in the conventional sense.
It was something else.
Something worse.
Both the young man and the adult turned their gazes toward the source of the attack, where Thor, feeling his very existence being affected, remained restrained.
They watched as the imposing purple-skinned being slowly advanced toward them, his gaze fixed on Naruto, as if he had already chosen him as his next prey, all while the stones in his gauntlet glowed.
Naruto held that gaze with a smile, without taking his attention away from Thor.
He saw Thanos raise his gauntleted arm as the Stones began to glow, making him even more alert.
Thanks to the recording Aetheria had shown him of the battle on Titan, he had a vague idea of the Stones' power. Although he didn't fully understand what he was seeing, he knew it was something extremely dangerous.
The proof was the attack from moments ago: a small burst of energy that had left behind an enormous crater, capable, according to F.R.I.D.A.Y., of wiping out even a planet at full power.
Thanos didn't wait and launched a combined attack using all the Stones.
Naruto's eyes widened before he spun Mjolnir; he propelled himself with it and left the area, narrowly dodging the attack.
A colossal explosion shook the place where he had been moments before, destroying much of the terrain and even reaching the castle.
Naruto landed in the distance, observing the enormous crater left by the impact before heading toward where he could sense movement, while briefly looking at his own Infinity Stones.
Thanos appeared again calmly, as if he hadn't just caused such immense destruction.
Both wielders of the Infinity Stones stared at each other in silence, while the Stones of both began to glow faintly.
Naruto even stored away the weapons he had obtained, ready to put the power of the Stones to the test.
The air was still vibrating from the explosion when the silence was broken.
Thanos moved first.
There were no words, no threat of any kind. Just a sudden advance, his jaw hanging open and his dull eyes fixed on Naruto.
Naruto felt him before he saw him.
He propelled himself backward at the last instant, just as the Mad Titan appeared in front of him with a distorted flash of space.
Thanos' jaws snapped shut where Naruto's neck had been moments before, releasing a wet and grotesque sound.
Naruto landed awkwardly, sliding several meters. His breathing was irregular, but his smile was still there, tighter, more alive.
"So... he wants to eat me."
The Stones in the wristband vibrated slightly, but erratically. As if they didn't fully recognize him. As if they were waiting for something he didn't know how to give them.
Thanos, however, did not hesitate.
He raised his arm and space twisted. The ground split along impossible lines, folding over itself as an invisible pressure attempted to crush Naruto from every direction.
Naruto reacted purely on instinct.
With the help of his webs, he propelled himself backward, narrowly avoiding Thanos' attack.
A roar interrupted him.
Thanos appeared again, this time faster, more aggressive. His body, although infected, moved rapidly, sustained by the power of the Stones.
A purple flash.
Naruto barely managed to escape the impact, but he couldn't avoid being sent flying like a projectile into the nearby ruins.
The impact raised a cloud of dust.
For a moment, everything fell silent.
Then, from within the rubble, a low laugh began to emerge.
Naruto slowly rose, blood at the corner of his lips, his eyes glowing with a mixture of pain and excitement.
"Now this... is worth it..."
Thanos was already upon him.
Naruto barely had time to react when the Titan grabbed him by the neck, pulling him closer with brutal force. His jaws opened again, far too close.
Naruto twisted his body on reflex, preparing a fist covered in a purple layer.
The fist struck the Titan directly in the face, and he merely stared for a moment before being sent flying with tremendous force, much of his face destroyed.
Naruto dropped to his knees, breathing heavily from the pain in his neck, but he didn't care.
He raised his gaze.
Thanos was already getting back up, his face beginning to regenerate thanks to the power of the Time Stone.
Naruto simply smiled at this.
The Stones of both began to glow more intensely, as if responding to the challenge.
And the space between them became tense once again.
The air grew heavy.
Naruto felt it before understanding it.
Thanos stopped advancing. Then, slowly, he raised the hand bearing the gauntlet in front of him. There was no elegance in the gesture, nor the confidence he had shown before, but something worse.
A memory.
Something deeply rooted in his existence.
His fingers tensed.
Naruto frowned.
"What...?"
The Stones began glowing with a different intensity.
"I-I... am... inevitable..."
With those single words that reached Thanos mind, the purple being brought his thumb and middle finger together.
SNAP!
The snap echoed.
It was a simple sound, but it changed everything.
An immense white glow engulfed him, followed by a pulse of energy that began expanding in every direction.
Naruto watched it with curiosity for a moment before responding with absolute normality.
"Then I guess I'm inevitable too," Naruto said calmly before imitating Thanos and snapping his fingers.
The same process repeated itself, but differently.
Thanos' effect was overwhelming, visible, almost theatrical. Naruto's, on the other hand, was silent, discreet. But infinitely denser. Heavier. More... absolute.
Although he couldn't see it clearly, Naruto felt it.
Something was happening.
Between them, the released energies began meeting, overlapping, colliding.
The friction between those forces was unnatural.
Unstable.
Both beings managed to perceive the clash, although Naruto was the one who felt it most intensely. Even so, neither of them paid much attention to it.
Naruto, more attentive than the other, sensed something rapidly approaching in his direction. When he raised his gaze, he saw a barrage of violent lightning bolts advancing toward him.
Without hesitation, he summoned Stormbreaker at that moment, feeling the enormous pressure contained within the attack as it slammed into the axe.
When the impact ended, Naruto could see Thor emerging from the remnants of energy, roaring with force.
He first turned his gaze toward Thor, evaluating him for a moment before turning to look at Thanos, who stood on the other side of the battlefield.
For several seconds, no one moved.
The battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
On one side, Thor slowly advanced through the remnants of energy, lightning coursing across his body.
On the other, Thanos remained motionless, the gauntlet still glowing faintly as he watched Naruto.
Two powerful monsters. And both had their eyes fixed on him.
Naruto lowered Stormbreaker slightly, letting the blade rest at his side as his eyes moved between both enemies.
The situation was absurd to anyone. But instead of fear, he felt something else. That same emotion that had appeared before. That sensation of standing before something that surpassed his own limits.
A smile appeared on his face once again.
"Two against one..." Naruto murmured unconsciously. "I guess that makes it more interesting."
Thor reacted first.
The zombie god let out a roar that made the ground vibrate before charging forward. But this time Naruto was ready.
The young blond spun around, using Stormbreaker to deflect the first blow. The force of the impact caused his feet to sink into the earth, but he did not retreat.
Taking advantage of the close distance, he summoned Mjolnir into his other hand and struck Thor directly in the face.
The impact released an electrical explosion.
For the first time since the battle began, Thor was forced backward.
Naruto did not waste the opportunity. He disappeared in a blue flash and reappeared above him, bringing both weapons down at the same time.
The combined strike drove the God of Thunder into the ground, creating a crater around them.
But before Naruto could continue, the space behind him warped.
His instincts reacted before his mind.
He jumped to the side.
A massive hand tore through the place where his head had been a second earlier.
Thanos.
The infected Titan showed no emotion. He simply opened his jaw and released a low growl before attempting to catch him again.
Naruto blocked the arm with Stormbreaker, but the difference in strength was still monstrous.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
"You aren't planning on letting me breathe either, are you?" Naruto said with a forced smile.
Thanos responded by increasing the pressure.
The Power Stone glowed.
Purple energy began wrapping around his arm, slowly pushing Naruto backward. But then, lightning struck from above.
Thanos had to move aside.
Thor had returned.
The God of Thunder charged again, striking the Titan with enough force to bring down mountains. Both monsters collided, creating a shockwave that sent rocks and debris flying in every direction.
Naruto silently watched the scene.
They were not allies. They didn't even seem aware of what was happening. They were simply beasts following their instincts.
And that made them more dangerous.
Naruto tightened his grip on his weapons. He had learned something during the battle. Fighting them separately was useless.
Thor had absurd durability. As for Thanos, he had the Infinity Stones. But together... together, they were an entirely different threat.
Then Naruto closed his eyes for a moment.
He began to feel his own Infinity Stones.
He opened his eyes.
Thor and Thanos stopped.
For the first time since the battle began, both seemed to recognize something.
A threat.
Naruto slowly raised Mjolnir.
"Alright..." he said as a challenging smile appeared on his face. "Let's see what you can really do."
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