60. A Memorable Pair of Suits and Comic Books.
Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but this story is based in an alternate earth with some changes in its timeline.
This story does not intend to represent the celebrities/real people or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fictional, and it should be viewed entirely as such.
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Recap of the Previous Chapter -
Mark recalls about all the preparations that had been done for the comic con. He was going out spending millions just so he could build up Marvel's image and foster a better image of Eidolon in the hearts of comic book enthusiasts.
He even invited Hinata, his illustrator turned Mangaka to the event. Her shyness and social anxiety had been something he had been trying to curb for a while now. He had to bribe her with a personal office apartment just to get her to come along.
After the small of the competitors' booth they return to Eidolon's booth where they see that the Ichiraku Ramen stand is being lined by the fans. They head in for some lunch, where Hinata realizes the significance of the place and how far has Mark planned.
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~ Third Person's POV ~
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Date: 6th August, 1990.
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Location: Backstage at Eidolon×Marvel Booth.
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Time: 02:28 pm.
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Mark had finally reached the backstage with Hinata tagging along looking around at the stuff curiously. Kevin approached him with a big smile, he had five other people following him as well.
"Mark, it's good to finally have you here. Where were you?" he asked as he was waiting for Mark to meet with the creatives backstage about their work and to smoothen things out.
"Ahh, about that, I was checking out the competition and then I went to see how Ichirakus was doing."
He then turned to the other people who were with Kevin, and bowed his head slightly apologizing. "Sorry for being late. I didn't realize how time went by while exploring."
The leading man was distinctly Scottish and looked to be in his late 40s just laughed and replied, "Dont be young man, if I was in the company of such a beautiful lass even I would forget the time often."
"My mask." Hinata whispered in shock as she touched her face, realizing that she had forgotten to wear it again after enjoying the delicious ramen at Ichirakus.
"eep!" she said as she quickly put on and hid shrinking behind Mark's massive back. Trying to hide away from attention.
"Don't scare her you oaf!" said the asian woman hitting him on the arm, scolding him like a child for scaring Hinata.
"I think we got off the wrong foot there. How about we start over. Hello, I am Mark Spencer, the head of Eidolon." Mark said, trying to diffuse the situation and offered his arm for a shake.
The Scottish man stopped laughing and grabbed Mark's hand giving it a firm handshake and introduced himself. "Halò, Mark, I am Graham Steel. Proud owner of Artisans of the Anvil."
He then shook hands with the others as they introduced themselves and their small businesses. There were blacksmiths, leatherworkers, armorers, painters and seamstresses at his employ, even if temporary.
Mark planned on creating something special with their help, something he didn't think would earn him much profits but the hearts and adoration of his fans. To a semi masked public figure who was the face of his organization that was much more important.
But even that would have to wait because now was the moment of truth. The moment to see if they had been successful at recreating the suits he had tasked them with.
He had provided Kevin with various illustrations of the suits, the front, back and side profile from both sides and even marked the dimensions of the various and how heavy they can be at most.
"Graham, I would like to see the suits now." Mark said, with clear anticipation in his eyes.
"Of course." he replied as he led Mark and the others to two mannequins draped in black cloth to hide what lay underneath.
"I must say though. It was an absolute blast to work on this thing with all these talented people. I hope it's to your liking, young man." he replied with a huge smile,
He was standing in between the two mannequins, with a flourish he unraveled them both and said, "I present to you the Master Chief's - MJOLNIR and the Slayers - Praetor Suit."
Hinata gasped in awe of the behemoth of the suits in front of her. It wasn't exactly the size of the suits but the aura and feeling it invoked in a person looking at them.
They had been shockingly successful at capturing the look and the 'feel' of two suits. The solemnity and seriousness of the MJOLNIR and unmatched strength and bloodlust that seemed to seep out of the Praetor Suit seemed to unnerve her.
She knew the two closely as she had been involved in drawing the illustrations from them to be developed into real life models. But as Mark explained the story behind the two gods amongst men who donned the suits, she was enthralled by them.
Leading her to create in her humble opinion, her magnum opus. The illustrations of the two suits she had drawn now hung on the wall of Mark's office. The one's Kevin had gotten were copies of the same.
She realized that just like her these people were 'artists' as well and it was that thought that reduced the anxiety in her heart. She couldn't help but speak at almost the same time as Mark. "It's marvelous/magnificent."
They both shared a look and smiled, "Its great, Mr. Steel, I would love to have the opportunity to hire this group of talented individuals that worked on this project. But that's for later, for now how about you take me through the process of it being created, me and hinata here would love to know all about it." Mark requested telling them about their shared love of art and crafting.
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Rian and his brother couldn't believe their eyes, they had heard of comic con before but never really visited as it would be an semi-expensive affair and even though they were nerds.
They had also grown bored of comics because of them growing up and they had shifted from the comic books that felt like they were made for children to novels that featured more serious yet outlandish content. From the wacky and quirky Aliens of Ben 10, to the prehistoric predators of Jurassic Park, to the "cool" zombies of Resident Evil.
They had been enamored by Mark's works for years, it was no surprise that the first place they visited at comic con with their friends and parents was the Eidolon's booth. It had a huge banner of 'Eidolon×Marvel'.
He and his friends were fans of the previous Marvel comics and hoped that Mark would be able to pull off a miracle and somehow revive the dying comic book giant. As they entered the booth, they were greeted with a big signboard.
It displayed a map of everything the booth had to offer with small tidbits about what the various sections had to offer. At first glance they could see a booth where marvel comics were being sold, at least the ones that hadn't been discontinued.
Right next to it was a smaller stand selling a Eidolon's new comic book, written by Mark Spencer himself named - Naruto. The asian sounding name didn't deter them in the least bit as they moved on the next thing on the map, it was something never seen before in a comic con.
It was an escape room designed Mark and few others testing the knowledge of the participants about works that he had put out. Only a team having a thorough knowledge of all his works will be able to make it out in time.
The escape room challenge really appealed to the group of friends, the next thing they saw was again unusual but till now Rian and his friends were already a used to the surprises. But reading the small description about the stand filled them with wonder.
A ramen stand named Ichiraku where a person can eat for free if they had purchased the first issue of Naruto. A simple bait and an even simpler hook, but free things never failed to make people excited about buying things.
The next was also a small stand this one selling another one of Eidolon's new comic book, written by Mark Spencer himself simply named - DOOM. They read the small description provided to find out that it was about man on a quest to end all demons.
They noticed that the two booths selling Naruto and DOOM were right next to each. And right next to them was the toys section. Selling all that a Marvel and Mark Spector fan could imagine, the map mentioned that they had action figures for nearly all of Mark's iconic fictional characters.
The stall next to it was selling clothes and accessories of the characters from the fictional worlds of Mark's works. As the group read through the map they oooo-ed and aaah-ed at things that interested or excited them.
Not wanting to waste another moment they immediately left for the Naruto comic stand, wanting what kind comic book Mark would create. They had read the comic book of Ben 10 and The Boys before but they weren't created directly by Mark himself.
So there was the sense of anticipation in them that they always had when coming to see a work created by Mark himself. As they reached the stand and joined up the line, they could hear gossips about how delicious the food was at Ichirakus or how cool the doom comic book was.
They even heard how most of staff at nearly every stand had been requesting the customers to assemble at the announcement hall exactly at 5 pm because Mark Spencer himself would be their to do a reveal on their most recent work.
Rian immediately checked the time on his wristwatch. It was 12:33 pm, it meant he still had enough time to properly explore the place before they would be needed to assemble at the accouncement hall for Mark's speech.
After the purchase was made, he immediately began reading it. Here we see how Mark changed the story of Naruto, the comic book started off with a narrator's monologue. It said how while most books start off with a dark night where its raining to signify the dark days ahead.
This one cuts right to chase to show them, Rian snorted and chuckled at the meta commentary from the narrator. While this form of storytelling had become super overdone and had become "cringe", as the youngsters say.
In 1990 it was the new hip thing to do. As Rian kept reading his eyes widened, the artwork was so beautiful done. It brought out the realism of the characters, the way the guy titled the Fourth Hokage battled against his masked adversary and the gigantic Nine Tailed beast simultaneously was awe inspiring.
Suddenly a new ally entered the fight, it was a women with beautiful red hair. Despite looking severely wounded and bleeding Rian didnt except to see chains burst out of her back and hold down the rampaging Nine Tailed beast that looked more like a force of nature.
This gave the Fourth Hokage a moment to focus on his masked opponent and take him down. Unfortunately the villain escaped as the pair discussed about sealing the beast. The woman's name was never mentioned but Rian could somewhat makeout that the two were close.
The next panel immediately showed how badly the village was destroyed and how many casualties were incurred. The gore wasn't explicitly shown and mostly glossed over, a huge funeral ceremony was depicted and then their was a 5 time skip and the next panel showed little Naruto being thrown out of the orphanage with the matron calling him a monster, it didn't sit right with Rian.
How the little child was screamed at and harassed by the villagers in the next few panels left a pit in his stomach. "Th-This is wr-ong, nobody should be treated that bad, so terribly, especially not a child." He didn't even realize when he had clutched the edges of the pages as his emotions came out.
His mother noticed his out of place behaviour and asked concerned. "Rian, honey, are you okay? Is there something bad in the book?"
He held back some tears as he replied, "No mom, I am fine. It's just that this one is very emotional and tragic." he replied truthfully not wanting to hide something from her.
"It's okay, honey. The hero may face problems but eventually they will overcome it." she said reassuring him with a kind smile, patting his back.
"Yeah." he muttered and went back to reading the book.
He saw Naruto, wandering about trying to avoid people, feeling like they might scold him again and then it started raining in the comic book. Naruto got badly drenched the downpour, as he was looking for shelter he came across a ramen stand.
Even at the risk of being scold and then thrown out he didn't want to stay out in rain any longer. So the little child hesitantly entered the establishment and the heartwarming scene depicted Teuchi meeting Naruto for the first time.
Rian could read the internal thoughts of the ramen stand owner. He read how Teuchi knew Naruto's parents and sighed how disheartened they would be if they saw how their son was being treated.
He lamented at how he couldn't help him even if he wanted to and said to himself that the least he could do was treat him to a bowl of ramen that would warm him up from the inside. With a kind smile, he called the young child inside.
Seeing how despite his hunger and the biting cold outside, young Naruto was still hesitant to enter but then finally enter and quietly took a seat at a secluded corner. Teuchi said the perfunctory, "Welcome to Ichirakus," and asked his name.
Despite the earlier crowds behaviour towards Naruto was feeling accepted and loved for the first time so he replied, "Na- Naruto. I-I am U-uzumaki Naruto."
He nodded and smiled saying, "its a pleasure to have you here, Naruto now what would you like to eat?" he asked and passed him the menu but saw Naruto struggling to read it, so he asked again if he liked chicken or pork.
The small kid replied "anything", and Teuchi nodded with a kind smile and told him that it would be ready in a minute. Rian read how in detail how the chef used a fortified soup base with more vitamins and minerals, that was normally reserved for active duty ninjas and was more expensive but considering who his parents were he didn't really care how much he spent on feeding the kid.
He made sure to put in extra vegetables and meat to make it more and healthy and cut down the sodium in the tare. This bowl of ramen was custom made to help in the growth of a child's body and keep it warm and protected from the cold.
Reading the scene where Teuchi served it to him and said with a smile on his face, "Here, try this, it is our Naruto Special. It is a specialty dish that isn't available on the menu and is only served to our favourite customers."
Hearing him say that instantly brought a smile across Naruto's face that seemed to light up the room and brought a sense of relief and joy to our future director reading the comic book.
The chapter ended with Naruto leaving the ramen stand on full stomach wandering the streets trying to find shelter and finally entering a forest with a sign board and warnings stuck on it.
Unfortunately our young hero still couldn't read properly, the sign read: THE FOREST OF DEATH. DO NOT ENTER.
Rian sucked in a breath through his teeth as he imagined what laid ahead for our young hero, despite the story showing the epic battle between two good fighters using magical abilities and martial arts which was very cool.
It was the later half of the chapter which showed the protagonists mistreatment and him finally finding one kind soul in that damned village that made him want to read further. He was definitely rooting for the young Naruto.
After finishing the first issue he couldn't wait to read the next but he knew he would have to be patient. As some comic series were notorious for their slow update speed. His thoughts shifted when realized that he was in another line.
"Where are we?" he asked his brother.
"In the line outside the ramen stand." came the answer of his brother. "Also you should really check out the logo of the banner of the stand the ramen stand in the comic."
As Rian did so, he found out that this was the very same ramen stand. He immediately replied, "I know what I am going to order."
"Me too" x5 came the reply from his friends having finished the book and now waiting in line to taste the delicious ramen that the young Naruto proclaimed as food of the gods.
They patiently waited their turn while reading the other comic book that Mark had put out. It was simply named DOOM. This one was very different and directly rated R thankfully he was going to become 18 that very year. So his parent were chill about him reading it as long as it didn't have nudity.
The small description in the back of the book mentioned that the R rated was for the excessive violence, gore and death depicted in the book. Despite some hesitance for his mom, he was still allowed to read the book after this father looked through it.
It was another banger, this one more geared towards vengeance and violence, a one man's war against the demons who had invaded earth. The fights, the gruesome ways in which he executed the demons was so cool to watch.
Again the ending of the comic book left him wanting more but thankfully their turn had come and they could order.
"I would like a Naruto special please." he said placing the request.
The waitress looked at him for a second then smiled, "of course."
It was the same around the table, even the parents decided on trying out the Naruto special out of curiosity. As it seemed like a secret menu item. After they explained how the ramen chef in the comic made it especially for Naruto keeping his growing body in mind it should be healthy.
After a short 4 minutes wait time they were graced with a bowl of ramen that smelled fantastic. It was topped off with glazed chicken tenders, mushrooms, marinated eggs, fish cakes and a sea weed paper.
They immediately dove it, nobody said a single word just appreciative sounds coming out of their mouths as they slurped the noodles which the perfect chewyness and mouth feel and it end with them glupping down the delicious ramen broth.
"Naruto really wasn't making it up when he said it was the food of the gods." his friend said with a satisfied smile on his face.
"Absolutely." they said and agreed.
When the waitress came to, collect the bowls, his brother asked her if this was the only time he could eat this food or were they planning to opening up a restaurant soon.
The server gave him a mischievous smirk and told him that she couldn't reveal much but hoped to see them again in the future. It was they needed to understand that Mark would definitely be opening a ramen shop in the near future.
After leaving the ramen stand it was almost time to assemble at the announcement hall so they made their way to it. It seemed like almost a hundred people were already in attendance. The hall was huge with space for a few hundred more.
After almost half an hour of wait time, the room was completely filled those that didn't find seats, weren't deterred and instead sat on the steps and waited for the head of Eidolon Entertainment, for Mark Spencer to take stage.
Instead, the lights went out as a projector started projecting on the screen.
"This child could be more useful to the UNSC than a fleet of destroyers, a thousand Lieutenants -- or even me. In the end, one child could be the difference between peace and an unwinnable war."
— Dr. Catherine Halsey referring to John-117
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{Author's note: So yeah the suits i have hinted at for the last two chapters now were the Master Chief's - MJOLNIR and the DOOM Slayers - Praetor Suit. Another big thing is slated in the next chapter. i already hinted about it at the end of the chapter.
This chapter I somewhat focused on showing how the first chapter of my Naruto is gonna be different from the original. The original is good but it doesn't really have the "hook" that will attract readers (No disrespect intended) in my version. We see the Fourth Hokage fight a masked man and Nine Tails simultaneously. This is the hook and then the emotional scene about Naruto's childhood is another hook.
Anywhos, moving on, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.
If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}