Read advance chapters of all my works or want to support me.
https/www.p.a.t.r.e.on/Adamo_Amet
Join us on discord:
https://di..scord.gg/h3kDw7ma
••••••••••••••••••
Chapter 230 Naruto vs Sasuke & Sakura Part 1
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The next morning Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7, planted his feet in the middle of the clearing, and announced: "Guys, let's fight."
"..."
"..."
A crow cawed somewhere in the distance.
Sasuke and Sakura stared at him.
"You disappear for two weeks," Sakura said slowly, "and the first thing you want to do is fight."
"Yes."
"No hesitation whatsoever."
"None."
"Let's do it then," Sasuke said while feeding Oscar a kunai.
Sakura looked at the Uchiha for a long moment and then sighed. "Okay. What's the format? Single bouts? Two on one rotation?"
"Three-way free-for-all," Naruto said. "No restrictions."
"What do you mean no restrictions?"
"We all go full power. And Winner gets to make the losers do whatever they want."
The training ground dissolved.
"How did you manage to capture Naruto in a genjutsu?" Sakura questioned.
"The Knight's Crest is one sense," Sasuke said, eyes still on Naruto's unmoving form. "Every other sense is still vulnerable. All I had to do was make the illusion potent enough that he couldn't distinguish the false reality from the real one fast enough to matter."
"Wow."
Sasuke moved forward, kunai in hand, crossing the distance to press the blade against Naruto's throat. The signal that ended the spar.
They had won.
The kunai never arrived.
Author Note: Evil Cliffhanger-kun strikes again.
This is my in-world explanation for the lock-on mechanic in Dark Souls.
Since Dark Souls is a game first, I wanted to translate some of its mechanics into something that actually makes sense in a narrative. Especially combat mechanics. A huge part of what makes Dark Souls fun is how it plays, and I didn't want to ignore that just because this is a story. You'll see me do this with other systems later on. Yes, things like i-frames are coming.
Souls games are played from a third-person perspective, so the Knight's Crest or Knight's Sight is basically that. Naruto now has a way of perceiving the battlefield that exists outside of his normal vision.
There was also a practical reason for this choice. Real knight armor, especially helmets, had a massive flaw. Visibility was terrible. Narrow eye slits, limited peripheral vision, and restricted awareness were just part of wearing a helm. Against shinobi who already move incredibly fast and against the fantasy monsters of Lordran, Naruto fighting in armor would be a problem without some kind of workaround. The crest solves that issue cleanly.
Lore-wise, I wanted the crest to fit naturally into Dark Souls. We already know that magic writing/runes exist in the setting. You can see this clearly with things like the demonic runes binding the Bed of Chaos. So I expanded on that idea and introduced miracle runes, with the Knight's Crest being one of them. I chose the crest motif intentionally. Oscar drops the Crest Shield. Solaire wears a sun crest on his armor. Crests already exist visually in Dark Souls, so I leaned into that.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Additional Lore of Darksouls: Faith, Miracles, and Why the Knight's Crest Works?
One of the most interesting stats in Dark Souls lore is Faith, and I don't think it works the way the gods want people to believe it does.
Take Sunlight Spear from Dark Souls III.
Description: Miracle of Gwyn, the First Lord. Hurls a sunlight spear. The tales of Gwyn's Archdragon hunts describe the inception of the Age of Fire.
Take Heal miracle In-Game Description
Elementary miracle cast by clerics. Restores HP. To cast a miracle, the caster learns a tale of the Gods, and says a prayer to be blessed by its revelations. Heal is the shortest of such miraculous tales.
On the surface, this suggests miracles are gifts directly granted by gods.
But that explanation falls apart pretty quickly.
We can still cast Nito's miracles long after killing him. If the god in question is dead, then he clearly isn't actively granting power. That means miracles are not divine favors in the traditional sense.
The Archdeacon's Staff hints at this even further. Its description: The Archdeacon McDonnell's trespass, the sin of channeling faith for sorcery, transformed what was once merely a symbol of ecclesiastic authority into a catalyst for sorceries.
That line is important, because it acknowledges something dangerous. Faith does not actually come from the gods. The gods simply want people to think it does.
What Faith really represents is belief. Not belief in a god, but belief in an outcome.
In other words, Faith in Dark Souls is closer to a form of belief-based reality manipulation. You believe something strongly enough, perform the proper ritual, and the world responds.
This also explains why miracles require chimes, talismans, and specific prayers. You cannot simply decide to throw lightning out of your hand. But if you know that others have done it through a ritual, with a chime and a prayer, then it becomes believable. The tool, the words, and the tradition make the miracle feel real enough for your belief to manifest it.
As the Age of Fire faded and the gods lost their hold on the world, this became even clearer.
One more thing before I move on. I have already rewritten Chapter 1 to include the Knight's Crest and in my free time I am slowly working through the earlier chapters to fix mistakes and swap out Way of Focality references. If and when I make meaningful additions or changes to previous chapters I will let you all know.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Q: Did Sasuke intentionally make hollow Oscar, Solaire, and the others appear in Naruto's genjutsu?
Q: Did Naruto pull a Sukuna against Sasuke?
Yes.
For anyone who missed it or don't know, Naruto grabbing the Chidori with his bare hand is a direct reference to Sukuna. Sukuna's application of Dismantle concentrates tiny constant slashes around his hand and fingers, creating a shredding barrier that lets him grab, parry, or deflect without the blade actually contacting his skin. This is exactly what he used during the Shinjuku Showdown arc against Yuta's katana.
Q: What do you want to see in the next chapter?
Flipping this one back to you all. We are heading into Part 2 of the spar and I genuinely want to know what you want to see. Do you want Naruto to bust out magic, miracles and sorcery? Do you want Sasuke and Sakura to close the gap through strategy and planning? Does Oscar intervene? Does Kakashi intervene? Does Kakashi show up and just watch?
I am genuinely curious. Drop it in the comments.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
That's It… For Now.
I want to thank you all for taking the time to read, comment, and follow along with this story. Your feedback means more than you know, and it helps push me to make each chapter bigger, sharper, and more true to the worlds of Naruto and Dark Souls.
Until next time,
Praise the Sun.
\-Adam-/
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 15k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 99, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.
To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!
