Chapter 15: 4 Powers of the Nine Titans
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Naruto continued staring at the city of Shiganshina for a few minutes, but after a few seconds, he lost interest.
Yeah... it could be very different from the eye-catching city of New York, with its tall buildings and cars, but it was still just a city.
So he simply turned around. To him, fighting the Titans was more interesting than watching a city.
He made a small jump before landing hard on the ground, raising a small curtain of smoke.
Naruto walked out of the small crater he had formed as if nothing had happened, while walking forward, where in the distance he spotted several Titans.
Naruto simply smiled, as he was two Titans away from obtaining a second power.
"Well," Naruto began, bringing his hand closer to his mouth. "Let's go for more."
Without another word, he bit down hard on the back of his hand.
A golden sphere, accompanied by orange lightning, surrounded Naruto, who simply stared ahead with a calm expression.
Within seconds, the Attack Titan was completely formed, letting out nothing more than a roar.
The roar caught the attention of the Pure Titans, who turned to look in that direction. And, as if driven by instinct, many of the nearest Titans charged toward Naruto.
At this, the blond-haired boy simply smiled as he charged toward the Titans as well.
The first Titan lunged at him with its arms wide open.
Naruto didn't even seem to think about it, before his body reacted on its own.
He turned just a few centimeters, allowing the charge to pass by his side. In the same movement, his elbow slammed into the enemy's jaw with a sharp crack. Its head was sent flying as the rest of its body collapsed.
Another appeared from behind. And Naruto, without looking, swung his arm with tremendous force and speed, piercing through the Titan's neck with absolute precision.
[Progress: 9/10 Titans eliminated.]
Naruto simply smiled at the notification before seeing a third Titan approaching.
And so, Naruto's one-sided battle in his Titan form against that massive number of Titans continued.
A third.
The blond Titan ducked just as a massive set of jaws attempted to close around him. The wind produced by the movement made his hair flutter, but he didn't even stop to look at his enemy.
A spinning kick.
His heel struck the Titan directly in the jaw, violently knocking its head to the side. The body lost its balance and fell onto its back, raising a cloud of dust.
A fourth.
Another Titan lunged at him from the front.
The blond Titan advanced instead of retreating, throwing an uppercut.
The impact lifted the Pure Titan several inches off the ground. Before it could regain its balance, the Attack Titan was already behind it.
A fifth.
One hand closed around the back of its neck, before his entire body twisted.
The movement took advantage of all the accumulated momentum and, with a single hand, its neck was destroyed as if it weighed nothing.
The corpse fell.
Another approached.
Then another.
And another.
There was no time to breathe.
An elbow.
A knee.
A sharp blow to the neck.
A grab.
A pull.
Every attack found a different weak point. When one tried to grab him, the Attack Titan used its own body as leverage to propel itself forward and reach the next one. When another tried to crush him with both hands, he slipped between them and responded with a direct blow to the face.
Inside the nape, Naruto simply smiled widely, excited by it all. He didn't really care how his Titan was doing it.
"Hahaha...! This is incredible!"
Far from feeling pressured, the Uzumaki seemed to enjoy every second of it. All while the Titans continued throwing themselves at the Attack Titan.
Five.
Eight.
Ten.
Twelve.
The Attack Titan charged directly toward them.
An elbow shattered a skull.
A knee pulverized a chest.
He spun on one foot and used the body of a defeated Titan as a shield to block another before throwing it into three more, knocking them down like dominoes.
Steam began filling the battlefield, while Naruto seemed to have no intention of stopping.
Naruto pushed through the thick steam surrounding the area, attacking left and right. And at all times, the Titans could barely react.
Their attacks were slow in Naruto's eyes. Predictable, so much so that the Uzumaki could anticipate them before they could even attack him.
An enemy's arm came crashing down with force. The Attack Titan took a small step to the side, the Pure Titan's hand passing just a few centimeters from his face.
His response was immediate: he grabbed the arm, twisted his waist and threw the Titan over his shoulder, slamming it into four others.
The impact made the earth tremble.
Naruto looked almost unhinged at that moment, even though he couldn't understand why they were reacting that way.
"More! Don't stop, you damned creatures!" Naruto shouted excitedly from inside the nape, unable to stop smiling.
And with every Titan he defeated, his smile seemed to grow wider.
Then it happened.
An especially large Titan, almost as large as his own Titan, managed to grab his left shoulder, its teeth clamping down hard on it.
A crack traveled through the Attack Titan's arm as chunks of flesh were torn away.
The limb was partially destroyed. But this didn't stop Naruto from continuing to smile.
There was no grimace of pain, nor any trace of discomfort. Only pure excitement.
"That was pretty close..." Naruto said as he watched the wound heal in an instant.
Before retaliating against the Titan's attack.
With a quick movement, he grabbed the aggressor's face, his fingers slowly sinking into the flesh. And with a simple squeeze, he crushed its head with relative ease.
Steam began pouring from the Pure Titan's wound. But Naruto didn't even wait for it to finish, as with a simple squeeze around the Titan's neck, he finished it off.
Thus, the Attack Titan continued advancing over the remaining Titans.
Another Titan managed to scratch his chest. Three more struck his back. One even managed to bite into part of his side.
Wounds slowly appeared across his body, only to disappear just as quickly, surrounded by columns of steam.
Naruto's expression never changed. He kept laughing. He kept enjoying himself.
The Attack Titan was an unstoppable storm among the Pure Titans, every movement seemingly born from the purest instinct.
He didn't calculate, nor did he hesitate. He simply reacted to the battle.
Without the Uzumaki even noticing —and, if he did, he didn't care— every movement the Titan made came unconsciously from Naruto's own body.
Just as it had happened in Marvel, where his body reacted before his mind, now, in this new form, exactly the same thing was happening.
Every turn, every step and every movement of his enormous limbs seemed to come naturally, almost as if his body knew what to do before Naruto even thought about doing it.
His own body reacted throughout the fight, rapidly adapting to every situation and to his opponent's movements. He dodged on instinct, corrected his posture in the middle of attacks and adjusted the strength of every blow without Naruto having to stop and think about it.
Even in that titanic form, his body continued learning on the fly.
It was as if, behind that monstrous and enormous appearance, the same instinct that had accompanied Naruto since he awakened still existed: survive, adapt and respond before his own mind could even understand what was happening.
Little by little, the crowd began to thin out.
The Titans' corpses evaporated across the battlefield, covering the landscape with a thick white mist.
The few survivors hesitated.
It was the first time those creatures seemed incapable of approaching, even when their instincts told them to advance.
And in the middle of the devastated battlefield, the blond Titan stood motionless.
His breathing was calm. Even with a body covered in cuts, bites and battle wounds that rapidly regenerated amid clouds of steam.
Inside the nape, Naruto let out a soft laugh. There was no fear in his eyes. Only an almost childish excitement.
He raised his hand and pointed at the remaining Titans.
"Are you tired already?" Naruto spoke, his smile widening. "Because I'm just getting started."
That was accompanied by a mighty roar from the Attack Titan.
Naruto was about to continue his one-sided massacre of the Titans, many of which were still regenerating from the wounds he had inflicted upon them.
However, at that precise moment, a loud growl echoed from his stomach, back in his human form.
Naruto lowered his gaze toward his abdomen, covered by his shirt, which protested once again with another loud rumble.
"Damn it..." the whiskered blond cursed, letting out a sigh. "I'm hungry, really hungry."
He had no choice but to sigh in resignation.
Apparently, he would have to temporarily suspend his Titan hunt. First, he needed to find something to put in his stomach.
He looked at the paralyzed Titans for a moment before turning around and heading toward Shiganshina.
Although he was disappointed that he couldn't continue exterminating them, he had made significant progress during that battle.
[Progress: 38/10 Titans eliminated]
Naruto smiled when the notification appeared before him. Now all that remained was to wait for the next one to appear.
[Event Detected!]
[For your great feat of having slain 29 Titans, your name is beginning to resonate as that of a true giant hunter in this new world.]
[Reward: Titan Roulette Tickets ×3]
Naruto simply smiled even wider as he continued walking away, his gaze fixed and his eyes shining at the three tickets he had received as a reward.
[Would you like to use all 3 roulette tickets?]
[Yes] - [No]
One eyebrow rose as he read the new notification, as he had never expected it to be possible to use all three tickets at the same time.
With even more curiosity than he had felt when obtaining his first ticket, he simply pressed [Yes], eager to discover what would happen.
Instantly, the enormous roulette appeared again and, without giving him time to react, began spinning.
A few seconds later, it began slowing down until it stopped on a white-colored slot. However, before he could process it, the roulette started spinning again, and this time it stopped on a golden slot. Finally, on its last spin, it landed on a slot of an intense crystalline blue.
[Congratulations!]
[You have obtained: Jaw Titan, Armored Titan, and War Hammer Titan.]
[The three Titan powers have been successfully integrated into your body.]
[You can now transform into any of these three Titan forms whenever you wish, as long as you meet the necessary conditions.]
[Enjoy your new abilities!]
Naruto stopped smiling before turning his gaze toward the screen appearing in front of him, as the roulette disappeared.
All the while, faint golden sparks passed through his eyes.
The blond wanted to test those new powers, but his stomach growled again.
"Right... hunger," Naruto reminded himself, quickening his pace toward Shiganshina.
It didn't take him long to reach the enormous wall. He emerged from the Titan, accompanied by a little pressurized steam.
He remained standing on the giant's back before using his web-shooters to reach upward.
He shot toward the top of the wall. Once on the other side, he simply let himself fall as before.
Fortunately, he landed in a secluded area where almost no one seemed to pass by.
Thus, he began walking through the city's cobblestone streets.
At the same time, without Naruto noticing, the nanobots began subtly spreading across the bracelet.
Within seconds, they completely covered the Infinity Gems, hiding their glow beneath a thin layer to keep them from attracting attention.
During his brief walk through Shiganshina, Naruto observed its inhabitants. They were very different from the people he had met, whether it was that strange group called the TVA or the people in New York, where everyone had been zombies.
To some extent, it was pleasant to see people who weren't trying to take his things or attack him to eat him.
As he walked, he also passed several food stalls that, simply from the aromas they gave off, made his appetite even stronger.
With the help of the Space Gem and his Inventory, he managed to take a large amount of food without anyone noticing.
He continued his walk like this, observing everything while biting into a piece of bread that, although it had been crushed between his fingers, was still perfectly edible.
And as the Uzumaki continued through the streets of Shiganshina, he soon began attracting a few glances.
His clothing was slightly different from that of the city's inhabitants. It was somewhat eye-catching by the standards of the place, though not enough to cause a commotion.
What truly caught people's attention was his appearance.
The three marks on each cheek, the thin scar that split his left eye in two and his blond, somewhat wild and messy hair made it impossible not to give him a second glance.
However, what stood out the most was Naruto himself.
It wasn't simply his physical attractiveness, but the exotic and wild aura he carried.
His own face, without any baby fat, combined with those peculiar markings, his piercing blue eyes and his silky, wild hair gave him a presence that was difficult to ignore.
The men watched him with curiosity, wondering where such a peculiar boy could have come from.
The women, on the other hand, reacted very differently.
Several of the younger ones couldn't help but blush when they crossed paths with him, while some adult women gave him discreet glances filled with interest.
As a result, most people barely paid attention to his clothes.
There were even some kind women who gave him a new jacket, this time a dark brown color, along with a red scarf, due to the coming winter cold.
They even helped him put them on when they noticed that Naruto himself didn't know how.
"Well, Aetheria, what do I do next?" Naruto asked as he continued walking through the streets, while eating another piece of bread.
[Why don't you go beyond the city? Maybe you'll find something interesting or simply test your new powers, Naruto.]
Upon hearing the suggestion, Naruto shrugged. Even though he wanted to keep hunting Titans, it would be more interesting if he could test those new Titan powers.
With the help of the HUD in his contact lenses, he managed to locate himself within Shiganshina, as well as determine where he needed to go.
Shortly afterward, he reached the enormous gate that connected Shiganshina with the interior of Wall Maria.
"Let's see what I can witness in this new world."
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