Chapter no.74 Iron Shakespeare
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Excitement coursed through Naruto as he inventoried the 24 Soul Shards he had collected.
The possibilities of what he could craft with them—how many skill stone runes he could make, and what new skills he might acquire—buzzed through his mind like a swarm of eager bees.
"Earth to Naruto," Tenten's voice cut through his reverie, snapping her fingers in front of his face to recapture his wandering attention. She pointed to a rope made of spider silk dangling from the ceiling. "Hinata found the escape, let's go."
Naruto just nodded, his mind still partially tangled in thoughts of crafting and skills. He climbed the rope, his body moving mechanically as he phased through what seemed to be a giant Fuinjutsu array.
Naruto would have recorded the array if it was Fuinjutsu but it wasn't, it was something else entirely.
Something unique to this Dungeon world.
"Let's take a rest for a few minutes," Naruto suggested once they reached a safe spot in the basement area.
The others agreed, settling down, while Naruto turned his attention back to the system, searching for a crafting table. Frustratingly, he couldn't find one anywhere within the system's interface.
Let's go with plan B.
Naruto thought, turning to Tenten, who was taking a swig of water from a bottle she had retrieved from her storage scroll.
She offered the bottle to him, but he shook his head.
"Do your crafting magic?" Naruto asked hopefully as he took out the soul shards—pieces of black stone crisscrossed with white lines that seemed simple yet mysterious.
Tenten took another gulp of water before examining the shard he handed to her. "Craft into what, Naruto?" Hinata asked.
"Skill stone Runes," Naruto said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I have no clue," Tenten admitted with a shrug.
"These are crafting items," Naruto explained, slightly deflated but not defeated.
"Yes, but I don't know what a skill stone rune is," Tenten reiterated, her brow furrowed.
Naruto hummed thoughtfully, then his face lit up with a new idea.
"I have an idea," he declared, and promptly used his Shadow Clone Jutsu.
A dozen clones appeared, each one circling around the stones, gazing intently at them as if trying to decipher a complex puzzle.
Tenten looked over at Hinata, who just shrugged in response to the unusual scene.
"I am trying to gain info using my observer feat."
"Why don't you use your skill table?"
Hinata suggested, causing Naruto and Tenten to turn their attention towards her. "There is like this empty circle above the clan symbol on the skill table, maybe you can use that," she added, pointing towards their system interface and skill table.
Both Naruto and Tenten scrutinized their system interfaces more closely.
The skill table was a giant circular wheel, with the clan symbol prominently centered. Surrounding the central symbol were various circles, each labeled with different ninja arts: Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Kenjutsu, Ninjutsu, Senjutsu, Kinjutsu, and Fuinjutsu. Some of these circles glowed brightly while others remained dim or dull.
Upon closer inspection, Naruto noticed a previously overlooked detail—an empty circle positioned right above the clan symbol.
With a shrug, he placed a soul shard onto this particular spot on the table.
To his surprise, the soul shard fit perfectly into the circle, snug and precise, like a key sliding smoothly into a well-oiled lock.
After meticulously placing six soul shards into the skill table, Naruto completed the intricate process.
What happened next took him by surprise.
[ Congratulations! Player Naruto has crafted a magic item: Skill Stone Rune. ]
[ Achievement Unlocked ]
[ Name of the Achievement: "Amateur Artificer" ]
[ Rewards: Choose among the following: ]
- [ 1- 50k Exp. ]
- [ 2- A Random Artificer Feat ]
- [ 3- Magic Item — Crafting Table ]
"Yatta!" he cheered triumphantly, scooping up the remaining shards as he urged Tenten and Hinata to hurry and secure their own achievements.
A minute later, all three of them received the same notification on their systems. Curious and excited, Naruto turned to his friends. "So, what are you two going to choose?"
"Reveal your hand first, orange flopper," Tenten teased.
"Obviously, I am going to choose the random feat," Naruto declared, his finger hovering over the option, but he paused, wanting to make their choices together as a team.
"I'll choose the magic item," Hinata chimed in softly.
"I'll go with the exp."
"Why?" Naruto couldn't hide his perplexity; in his view, the feat option offered the most awesome possibilities.
"I don't really need a feat or an item to help me with my crafting skills, because of my class," Tenten explained calmly, her reasoning clear and confident.
The trio then turned to Hinata, who seemed contemplative.
"I just have this gut feeling that this item will have a synergistic effect with my feat—Master Chef," she added, looking slightly uncertain yet trusting her instincts.
"Well, it's your choice."
[ Congratulations! Semi-player Tenten has gained 50K EXP. ]
[ Congratulations! Tenten has leveled up × 5 ]
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[ Congratulations! Semi-player Hinata has gained a Magic Item — Crafting Table. ]
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[ Item: Crafting Table ]
[ Description: An item made by a master Artificer capable of crafting any item in existence. ]
[ Library of Recipes: ]
- [ User can select items and materials from here. ]
[ Active Effects: ]
- [ Auto-Craft: Automatically crafts any item from the library using available materials without manual intervention. ]
[ Durability: Indestructible ]
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[ Congratulations! Player Naruto has gained the Feat - A Madman's Resilience. ]
[ Feat: A Madman's Resilience - Passive ]
[ Level: N/A ]
[ Description: A true Artificer is akin to a mad scientist, willingly risking life for the craft. ]
[ Passive Enhancements: ]
- [ Unyielding Focus: Reduces damage taken from crafting accidents by 30%. ]
- [ Intellectual Stamina: Increases mental endurance, reducing the fatigue effects from long crafting sessions by 50%. ]
[ Active Effects: ]
- [ A Madman's Constitution: Increases base CON by 10 and + 2000 HP. ]
Naruto caught the skill stone thrown at him, his expression shifting from surprise to curiosity as he juggled the stone between his hands.
"I'll exchange you that skill stone for some fur pelts," Tenten proposed, her tone casual but firm.
"I'll take some meat," Hinata added, equally straightforward, which shocked Naruto. Such a valuable item, and they were just trading it for shit?
"Why?"
"ANBU," Hinata simply said, and Naruto's smile broadened as he remembered.
Even before they had ventured into this dungeon, Tenten and Hinata had always been looking out for him, helping him prepare for the ANBU trials.
It seemed their support hadn't wavered one bit.
"I would have bargained, but since you two asked so nicely," he joked, only to be met with a light kick to the shins from Tenten, which made him giggle.
He then handed over the items, making two more skill stone runes as he did so.
"So, like, do you unlock things on the skill table with these?" Tenten asked, her attention drawn to the skill stone runes as she stroked the grey wolf fur pelts she had just traded for. The pelts were thick and luxurious, with a deep, rich grey color that shimmered slightly in the light.
"Normally I just break it and get a random skill, but now that you mention it, I wonder how the skill table would react," Naruto mused, intrigued by Tenten's question. He opened his skill table, a circular interface with various symbols and slots.
Placing the skill stone in the center, he clicked on the Uzumaki clan symbol.
[ System Alert ]
[ Player Naruto has used the magic item: Skill Stone Rune on the Uzumaki Clan Skill Table. ]
[ Please select one of the following to unlock a random skill: ]
- [ Ninjutsu ]
Naruto didn't linger on the myriad options presented by the skill table; his decision was immediate.
With his large reserves of chakra, his strategy had always revolved around diversifying his arsenal of jutsus. The more techniques at his disposal, the better he could utilize his greatest asset.
[ Please select one of the following elements to associate with the Ninjutsu skill: ]
- [ Wind ]
- [ Fire ]
- [ Earth ]
- [ Yin ]
"Okay, so I guess I need to unlock more affinities to get their skill branches," Naruto reasoned, glancing over the interface to strategize his next steps. As he did so, he noticed Tenten and Hinata nearby, their attention fully captured by the crafting table. The table itself was a sight to behold—a mystical, ornate piece adorned with engravings and dragon head motifs, complete with a glowing orb and surrounded by candles.
Naruto couldn't help but sweatdrop at the sight.
"Looks like something an edgelord like Sasuke would have," he thought wryly.
Choosing not to disturb Tenten and Hinata as they admired the elaborate crafting setup, Naruto turned back to his own task. He closed his eyes and tapped the interface three times, intentionally reserving one skill stone rune.
Naruto opened his eyes to see what his gamble had given him.
[ Item Notification: Skill Stone Runes ]
[ Status: Used ]
[ Quantity: 3 ]
[ Skills Unlocked: ]
- [ Earth Style: Rune of Telekinesis ]
- [ Wind Style: Zephyr's Arrow ]
- [ Fire Style: Mark of Flames ]
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[ Skill: Earth Style: Rune of Telekinesis ]
[ Level: 1 (Active) ]
[ Chakra Points (CP) Required: 1000 per 10 seconds ]
[ Description: An advanced Fuinjutsu seal that generates a Higgs Field within an invisible bubble, altering the object's mass for telekinetic control. ]
[ Passive Enhancements: ]
- [ Spatial Awareness: The user is aware of the location of the invisible bubble at all times. ]
[ Active Effects: ]
- [ Telekinetic Lift: Enables the user to levitate and manipulate multiple objects simultaneously within the bubble. Effective up to a radius of 20 meters. ]
[ Warning: Excessive use can lead to chakra depletion and temporary loss of sensory abilities related to the skill. To reduce these effects, increase skill level and chakra efficiency. ]
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[ Skill: Wind Style: Zephyr's Arrow ]
[ Chakra Points (CP) Required: 100 per meter distance covered ]
[ Description: An A-rank jutsu in which the user uses the air as a medium to create a construct of pure wind chakra that can be shot out as an arrow. ]
[ Passive Enhancements: ]
- [ Controllable Nature: The arrow moves according to the will of the user, controllable up to a distance of 100 meters. ]
[ Active Effects: ]
- [ Piercing Nature: Due to the jutsu being pure wind chakra, the cutting, piercing, and slashing power of the wind arrow is increased by 70%. ]
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[ Skill: Fire Style: Mark of Flames ]
[ Description: A B-rank Fuinjutsu seal that can be placed at any location, which shoots out a beam of flames. ]
[ Passive Enhancements: ]
- [ Heat Sensitivity: The seal senses nearby heat signatures within a 20-foot radius, activating only when a target is within range. ]
- [ Delayed Ignition: Users can set a delay on the flame's eruption, up to 30 seconds. ]
[ Active Effects: ]
- [ Incendiary Blast: Upon activation, the seal emits a powerful 10-foot tall beam of flames, causing extensive burn damage with an intensity of 150% compared to standard fire jutsu. The beam lasts for 5 seconds, and the heated area causes an additional 50% damage over the next 10 seconds. ]
- [ Remote Trigger: The user can activate the seal from up to 100 meters away. ]
"Awesome," Naruto muttered, a surge of excitement coursing through him as knowledge of new jutsu flooded his mind. He felt a tingling sensation of power, the kind that came with mastering new techniques, invigorating him from within.
Hinata and Tenten were engrossed in an experiment with the crafting table, trying to determine if it could auto-craft dishes from the recipes Hinata placed on it. The table's interface flickered with lists of ingredients and required spices, causing both women to sigh as they assessed the complexity.
Naruto, unable to contain his eagerness to test his new skills, practically jumped with excitement.
"Hinata, find me a dungeon monster. I want to try these new puppies out."
"Why don't you use shadow clones?" Tenten suggested, looking up from the crafting table.
"I don't want to gain memories of being pierced and burned to death," Naruto replied with a half-grin, half-grimace, remembering the less pleasant experiences his clones had returned with in the past.
Taking the cue, Hinata activated her Byakugan as she scanned deeper into the dungeon.
After a moment, her face lit up with a focused intensity.
"There's a giant dungeon monster a few halls ahead."
"Let's go then!"
As the trio delved deeper into the dungeon, the path became simpler, transitioning from the cramped basement to a larger area that ascended upwards.
As Naruto was about to step into the upper halls, he spotted a skeleton idly sitting at the edge of the doorway.
[ System Chat ]
- [ Tenten: I am calling it. That's a trap. ]
- [ Hinata: It has a sword in its hand. ]
- [ Naruto: Hello, new test subject. ]
Tenten and Hinata sweatdropped as Naruto approached it.
As expected, the skeleton lunged at him. Agile as ever, Naruto leapt back just in time, leaving behind a reddish Fuinjutsu array on the ground that shimmered with the symbol of fire.
"Fire Style: Mark of Flames," Naruto announced confidently.
A giant pillar of bloody red flames erupted from the array, engulfing the skeleton and reducing it to ash.
As the flames subsided, Naruto felt a wave of lightheadedness wash over him, the intense heat from his jutsu causing a prickling sensation on his skin and a dryness in his throat that was more pronounced than he had anticipated.
"New jutsu?" Tenten asked as Hinata rubbed her eyes, which had dried from the heat.
"Cool, right?" Naruto managed a weak grin, trying to shake off the dizziness.
Tenten smirked, about to make a quip, but Naruto warned her, "Tenten, if you try to say it's technically hot, I'll launch my next jutsu at you."
Raising her hands in mock surrender, Tenten backed off, just as Naruto stepped out of the door.
Suddenly, the sharp sound of an arrow being launched sliced through the air. Instinctively, Naruto's body reacted, chakra swirling into a seal that looked like two vertical bars connected by a horizontal one. This conjured a protective bubble that was filled with Higgs particles that moved in front of him just in time to catch the arrow, its tip glowing with an orange aura as the mass of the aura was literally stripped away from it.
Staggering slightly from the effort, Naruto felt Hinata and Tenten rush to support him. "Naruto, are you okay?" they both asked in unison, concern etching their features.
"Yeah, it's this jutsu. Burns through chakra like it's nothing," Naruto confessed, wiping sweat from his brow as he surveyed their new surroundings.
They found themselves at the edge of a small, eerie cemetery.
Unmarked graves dotted the room, and torches flickered in the next hall, casting long shadows that danced across the walls. Yet, what captured their attention was the empty grave right in front of the door, an unsettling sight that felt ominously reserved for them.
Shaking off the morbid thought, the trio rested briefly, gathering their strength.
As they progressed, the trio entered an upper hall that expanded into a vast space, dotted with multiple pillars.
Their attention was initially drawn to a room on the right, but it was the gigantic suit of armor standing ominously in the center of the hall that truly captured their focus.
The armor was heavy and imposing, featuring large, rounded pauldrons, a segmented chest plate, and massive, club-like gauntlets.
Each finger of the gauntlets was so large that Naruto joked his entire body could probably fit inside one.
The armor lay in the middle of the hall, seemingly abandoned like discarded clothing, an oddly casual resting place for such a formidable-looking piece.
"Is this the dungeon monster you saw?" Tenten asked, her voice echoing slightly in the vast hall.
As Naruto stepped forward to use his observer feat on the armor, a sudden, unexpected movement caught them off guard.
From the ceiling, a black tendril shot down with terrifying speed and power, crushing the spot where the trio had just been standing.
The impact was violent, sending a shockwave through the hall and leaving a crater where the floor had been pulverized.
With a puff of smoke from their timely substitution jutsu, Naruto, Tenten, and Hinata found themselves safely at the other end of the hall.
They watched in a mix of awe and horror as the black tendril retracted, sliding into the armor.
Moments later, the suit of armor began to move, its joints creaking and clanking as it animated, brought to life by the sinister tendril.
[ Name: The Iron Shakespeare ]
[ Status: Titan's Strength, Regeneration ]
[ Level: 12 ]
[ Class: Warlock ]
[ Race: Metallic Slime ]
[ HP: 10K / 10K ]
[ AC: 50 ]
[ CP: 1k / 1k ]
[ Racial Traits: ]
- [ Liquid Body - Mercury ]
[ Class Features: ]
- [ Pact of Armour ]
[ Feats: Hermit ]
[ Stats: ]
- [ STR: 37 ]
- [ DEX: 23 ]
- [ CON: 42 ]
- [ INT: 5 ]
- [ WIS: 5 ]
- [ CHA: 10 ]
- [ VIT: 40 ]
- [ LUK: 3 ]
[ Allies: The Cult ]
[ Equipment: Cold Iron Armour ]
[ Description: A former poet from the Kingdom of Rondon, his tongue was cut off after he was sentenced to death for confessing his love to a noble. While awaiting execution by the Arachne, the fort was taken over by [ Redacted ]. Every prisoner was given the choice to serve or die for the beast cult. He agreed to serve under the condition that he could return to Rondon to exact his revenge by carving his poetry into the corpses of the nobles. ]
The enormous dungeon monster moved with a startling speed that belied its massive size, lunging at Naruto and his companions with its club-like gauntlets. Naruto had hardly expected such agility from such a hulking creature.
As the monster swung at them, Hinata responded quickly, utilizing her Kaiten technique.
A dome of chakra erupted around her, deflecting the initial brute attack and providing Naruto and Tenten a moment to counterattack.
Tenten and Naruto, wielding a naginata and spear respectively, lunged forward.
They aimed for the monster's face, thrusting their weapons into its armored visage, but their efforts seemed futile as the attacks had no effect.
In an instant reaction, the monster raised its gauntlet towards Tenten.
Naruto acted swiftly, using telekinesis to envelop Tenten in an orange aura, pulling her back just as the monster's gauntlet swung down.
However, Naruto found himself in the path of the attack and was hurled into a nearby pillar.
Naruto's body slammed into the pillar with such force that he was embedded into the stone structure.
Though he had activated his diamond skin jutsu in time to prevent death, his bones and teeth rattled painfully from the sheer force of the hit.
The power behind the monster's swing was enough to kill any Genin or Chunin in Konoha.
Gathering his strength, Naruto freed himself from the debris.
He channeled wind chakra into his palm, forming a concentrated ball of energy.
As he prepared his attack, his right arm extended forward, fingers splayed, while his left arm pulled back for balance like his arms and hands were the bow.
The wind ball morphed into a sharp arrow of wind.
Wind Style: Zephyr's Arrow.
As the monster prepared another swing at Hinata, Naruto launched his attack.
To their shock, the monster reacted by swinging at the arrow, and to their utter disbelief, its armor began to glow, absorbing the wind chakra into itself.
The gauntlet then shone like a bright star.
Naruto, Tenten, and Hinata realized the gravity of the situation—they would not survive if that attack hit.
Just as hope seemed to wane, an arrow shot through the hall at such speed that none of them could detect its flight path.
It struck the monster's glowing gauntlet, and a shockwave rippled through the hall.
Using their chakra control, Naruto and his friends anchored themselves to their spots, resisting the force of the shockwave that threatened to sweep them off their feet.
"Here!"
A masculine voice called out from across the hall, from the room they had noticed earlier.
Without hesitation, Naruto led the charge, with Tenten and Hinata close behind.
His mind raced as they ran—Who could be inside the dungeon? How was this possible?
As soon as they crossed the threshold into the room, the dungeon monster halted its pursuit, as if unwilling or unable to follow them into this new sanctuary. Naruto quickly turned his attention to their unexpected savior, a figure that seemed straight out of a storybook—a knight clad in a complete set of metal armor. Despite missing one leg, the knight stood firm, balanced with the aid of a sturdy stick. Propped against the wall was a giant claymore, but it was the crossbow in the knight's hands that he held at the ready.
[ Name: Knight ]
[ Role: Friendly NPC ]
Naruto relaxed slightly at the sight of a friendly npc, but his sense of relief was short-lived.
The man abruptly pointed the crossbow at Naruto's head, his intent clear and his stance unwavering.
In an instant, Hinata and Tenten flared their weapons defensively, their bodies tense and ready.
"Kids aren't supposed to be here. Then again, you all are far from normal. Identify yourselves!"
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[ Author Note:
Okay, a lot of stuff happened in this chapter but before I talk about the why, I wanted to ask you all something:
For the last 10 or so chapters, I have been uploading 3 to 5k word count chapters and because of how much time it goes into writing such big chapters, I can't keep up with the daily uploads so I wanted to ask you all something.
Should I keep doing the 3 to 5k word count chapters but I will upload on:
Monday.
Wednesday.
Friday.
Sunday.
Or should I do daily uploads but cut the word count to 2k with 200 to 300 words of my author notes?
Your choice:
Big Chapters.
Quick Chapters.
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1- Now onto the chapter stuff. Firstly, the new feat Naruto got. Yeah, it didn't give him much in terms of usability but the stat buffs were permanent, originally I was going to give everyone a unique Artificer Feat like Magic Engineering to Tenten etc but I scrapped it because I don't want Tenten and Hinata to overshadow Naruto. Like I said in chapter 71, this is one of the things I don't like about the system reveal troupe when side characters overshadow the main character so I didn't rather I just gave Tenten a level up and Hinata a cool item that could help them alot.
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2- Naruto's skills. What do you think?
Fire Style: Mark of Flames.
Remember around 20 chapters back when I was having this plotline of Naruto trying to get traps to work.
I haven't dropped Naruto's trap master plotline, rather I am going to be incorporating a different way for Naruto to do it i.e. seals. This jutsu essentially is the seed that will help Naruto make his original trap seals.
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Wind Style: Zephyr's Arrow.
I watched jjk and I saw Sukuna using his fire arrow and I thought that was so cool so I gave something similar to Naruto. Plus, remember chakra grain and Naruto's mind's eye. Naruto can use this arrow to essentially destroy Ninjutsus of others.
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Earth Style: Rune of Telekinesis.
Naruto doesn't have psychic telekinesis; rather he just has a Fuinjutsu seal that creates a bubble that contains a Higgs Field.
Now what the fuck is that?
The Higgs field is a fundamental field believed to exist throughout the universe, as proposed in the Standard Model of particle physics. The presence of this field is essential because it gives mass to elementary particles, a mechanism often referred to as the Higgs mechanism. This field is associated with the Higgs boson, a particle that was theorized for decades and finally observed experimentally at the Large Hadron Collider by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations in 2012.
In simple terms, the Higgs field can be thought of as a kind of cosmic syrup that fills the universe. Particles that interact with this field gain mass; the more they interact, the heavier they become. Particles that do not interact with the Higgs field remain massless (like photons, the particles of light). This discovery was a monumental step in understanding the building blocks of the universe and why some of these particles have mass while others do not.
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Essentially, Naruto now has a very cool and very strong Ninjutsu that is totally not going to make him even more OP (wink wink).
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Next is the Iron Shakespeare - lol.
He is an enemy that I kinda based on an RPG I really like, Fear and Hunger.
Yeah, he is currently going to be the mini-boss that Naruto and co. will face.
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Lastly, the knight.
Yeah, kinda left this on a cliffhanger but NPCs now exist in the dungeon. What the fuck does that mean for the story that will go down?
That's for you to theorize.
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Thank you for enjoying my work and for your ongoing support. Have a blessed rest of the day, and please share your thoughts in the comments! ]