A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.
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Chapter 3: The Blood on the Marble
Mortal Kombat Universe
The morning on Shang Tsung’s island didn't bring sunlight; it brought a heavy, sulfurous haze that clung to the skin like grease. The emerald torches from the night before had been extinguished, replaced by a low, sickly orange glow that bled through the heavy canopy of the surrounding jungle.
The amphitheater was packed. Hundreds of masked guards stood shoulder-to-shoulder along the upper tiers, their heavy halberds striking the stone floor in a slow, synchronized rhythm that vibrated through the soles of Naruto’s boots.
Naruto leaned against a cracked stone pillar near the edge of the arena floor, his left hand holding a half-eaten apple he’d snatched from a platter in the palace corridors. His right arm was tucked securely inside his orange-lined vest, the dark, metallic bandages completely hidden from view. To the side, Chun-Li stood with her arms crossed, her eyes tracking every movement of the guards above. Her loose dark hair was tied back up into her familiar silk-wrapped buns, and the quiet hum of her Ki was tight, controlled, and sharp.
In the center of the courtyard, standing on a raised platform beneath the shadow of Shang Tsung’s obsidian throne, was the old sorcerer himself. He looked down at the handful of Earthrealm defenders with a smile that made Naruto’s stomach turn. It was the look of a collector examining a set of fragile glass dolls he intended to smash.
"The first contest of this glorious day," Shang Tsung’s voice cut through the heavy drumming of the guards, smooth and chillingly loud. "A demonstration of Earthrealm’s finest... performance."
The sorcerer’s gaze drifted across the group, settling directly on Johnny Cage.
Johnny, who had spent the last twenty minutes trying to polish a smudge off his expensive leather loafers, straightened his designer sunglasses and gave a loose, Hollywood wave to the hostile crowd. "Finally. I was wondering when the director was gonna call me to the set. Look, Shang old buddy, we need to talk about the trailers. The catering is..."
"John Carlton," Shang Tsung interrupted, using Johnny's real name with a cruel, mocking cadence. "You have spent your life pretending to be a warrior before flashing lights and painted backdrops. Today, we shall see if there is any steel behind the script. Step forward."
Sonya Blade grabbed Johnny’s elbow as he started to swagger past her. Her face was dead pale, her grip tight enough to whiten her knuckles. "Cage, don't. Something's wrong. Look at the gates across the courtyard."
From the far end of the marble floor, a massive iron grate began to grind upward into the stone wall. The shadows beneath the archway rippled, and then a sound echoed out, a wet, guttural growl that sounded like a wild animal tearing into raw meat.
A figure stepped into the light.
It was a mutant, a creature nearly seven feet tall with a pale, heavily scarred torso and eyes that burned like hot coals. But the defining feature was its mouth, a terrifying, horizontal maw lined with row after row of jagged, needle-sharp teeth that extended past its jawline. With a sickening, metallic shriek, two foot-long bone blades tore through the skin of its forearms, locking into place with a bloody splash.
Baraka.
Johnny stopped dead in his tracks, his swagger instantly evaporating. He stared at the bone blades, then looked over his shoulder at the upper tiers where the Outworld denizens were cheering. "Okay... okay, great makeup. Seriously, the prosthetics are top-tier. Stan Winston’s guys couldn't do better. But do we have a choreographer for this scene, or are we just..."
Baraka didn't let him finish. With a terrifying turn of speed, the Tarkatan warrior lunged across the marble floor, his blades whistling through the air in a lethal cross-slash.
Johnny’s instincts, honed by years of actual martial arts training before his movie career, saved his life. He threw himself backward, his expensive silk shirt tearing open as the tip of Baraka’s left blade grazed his chest. A thin, bright line of red bloomed across Johnny’s torso.
He hit the stone floor hard, his sunglasses flying off his face and shattering against the marble.
"Holy shit!" Johnny gasped, scrambling backward on his hands and knees as Baraka brought a blade down, fracturing the stone right where Johnny's head had been a second prior. "That's real! Those are real teeth! He's trying to eat me!"
"Move, you idiot!" Sonya screamed from the sidelines, her hand twitching toward her empty holster.
Baraka swung again, a horizontal strike meant to decapitate. Johnny ducked, the wind of the blade whistling over his hair. The fear seemed to trigger something raw inside the actor. The Hollywood persona broke, and the tournament fighter took over.
As Baraka drew back for a thrust, Johnny slid beneath the creature's guard, his legs snapping out in a low, sweeping kick. The impact hit Baraka’s shin with a loud crack, throwing the giant beast off balance.
Johnny scrambled to his feet, his chest heaving, blood dripping down his torn shirt. He slipped into a solid, traditional karate stance, his hands raised, his eyes wide and hyper-focused. "Alright, you ugly son of a bitch. You ruined a five-thousand-dollar jacket."
Baraka roared, a spraying hiss of saliva and blood, and charged again.
The fight became a brutal, desperate dance. Johnny was faster, using his agility to slip outside Baraka’s blind spots, delivering sharp, snapping kicks to the creature's ribs and thighs. But every time Johnny landed a blow, it felt like hitting solid oak. Baraka didn't back down; he simply spun, his blades leaving silver trails in the humid air, forcing Johnny to constantly retreat.
Naruto watched from the pillar, his blue eyes narrowed as he analyzed the movement. The actor has good reflexes, he noted internally. His Ki is shallow, but it’s clean. He’s just never fought someone who wanted to eat his ribs before.
"He's going to tire out," Chun-Li murmured beside him, her voice tight with professional anxiety. "His breathing is too ragged. He's wasting energy on panic."
"He'll hit him soon," Naruto replied, his voice steady. "Look at his feet. He's setting a trap."
On the floor, Johnny was backed against a crumbling stone balustrade. Baraka leaped into the air, bringing both blades down in a dual-overhead execution strike.
Johnny didn't move until the last possible microsecond. He dropped into a full split on the floor, his crotch missing the stone by an inch. Baraka’s blades buried themselves deep into the stone balustrade, trapping the creature for a brief moment.
With a grunt of pure exertion, Johnny drove a massive, green-tinted shadow punch straight up into Baraka’s groin.
The impact was horrific. A strange, emerald aura flared around Johnny's fist, a sudden, latent flash of ancient Mediterranean warrior lineage that even Johnny didn't fully understand. Baraka’s eyes rolled back into his head, a high-pitched, choked shriek escaping his razor-lined mouth.
Before the Tarkatan could recover, Johnny flipped backward onto his feet and delivered a spinning heel kick straight to the side of Baraka’s jaw. The snap of bone echoed through the amphitheater, and the massive mutant collapsed onto the marble, unconscious and bleeding heavily from his mouth.
Johnny stood over him, his hands trembling, his face covered in sweat and dirt. He looked up at Shang Tsung, his voice cracking. "Scene... scene over. Cut. For the love of God, cut."
Shang Tsung’s expression didn't change. He raised a single finger. "Finish him."
Johnny blinked, wiping blood from his cheek. "What?"
"Kill him," the sorcerer repeated, his voice dripping with smooth poison. "That is the law of Mortal Kombat. Show your dominance, Earthrealmer."
Johnny stared at the unconscious creature, then down at his own fist. He slowly lowered his hands, shaking his head. "No. I'm a martial artist, pal. Not an executioner. The fight's over."
A low hiss of disapproval rippled through the Outworld crowd. Shang Tsung’s eyes narrowed, a flash of green fire lighting up his ancient pupils. "A pity. Your mercy is a weakness that will eventually cost you your soul."
With a casual wave of his hand, two armored guards stepped forward, dragging Baraka’s heavy form back into the shadows of the iron gate.
Johnny stumbled back toward the Earthrealm line, his legs visibly shaking. Sonya immediately caught him, dragging his arm over her shoulder to keep him from collapsing. "You did good, Cage. Shut up and breathe."
"My face," Johnny muttered, his voice hollow as he looked at the shattered remains of his sunglasses on the floor. "Tell me my face is okay, Sonya."
The tournament paused for a brief hour as the servants cleared the blood from the central ring. The Earthrealm champions gathered in a shaded alcove underneath the western tiers, away from the prying eyes of the Outworld guards.
Liu Kang was quiet, his hands resting on his knees as he meditated, his face grim. Kung Lao was pacing back and forth, his razor-brimmed hat spinning slowly between his fingers.
"They aren't testing our skills," Sonya said, her voice a low hiss as she applied a field dressing to the cut on Johnny's chest. "They're trying to break us mentally. That thing out there... it wasn't human."
"Outworld knows no honor," Kung Lao spat, stopping his stride. "They fight like rabid dogs. If we do not match their brutality, we will fall."
"No," Liu Kang said, opening his clear, calm eyes. "If we lose our humanity, we have already lost the realm. Johnny showed strength by staying his hand."
A few yards away from the group, Naruto stood near a low stone wall that overlooked the jagged cliffs and the black sea below. He had his left foot resting on the ledge, his eyes fixed on the horizon where the dark storm clouds were rolling in.
A soft step sounded behind him.
Chun-Li walked up to the wall, leaning her forearms against the stone. The breeze from the sea lifted her dark hair, blowing a few strands across her face. She looked tired, but the physical intensity that Naruto had felt on the ship was still humming beneath her skin.
"You're not nervous," she noted, her profile sharp against the violet sky.
"I've seen worse than big teeth," Naruto said, his voice quiet. He was thinking of the pale skin of the Otsutsuki, of the giant wooden statues that could flatten mountains, of the sky tearing open. Compared to that, a mutant with bone blades felt simple. "The guy with the teeth was strong, but he didn't have any rhythm. He was just angry."
Chun-Li turned her head, her brown eyes tracking the hard lines of Naruto's shoulder. She reached out, her fingers pressing firmly against his right bicep, right over the dark, metallic fabric of Oro's wraps. The physical contact was immediate, sending a warm, heavy pulse of Ki between them that made the hair on Naruto's arms stand up.
"You're hiding something from me, Naruto," she whispered, her face inches from his arm. Her thumb stroked the rough edge of the bandage, her touch lingering with an unashamedly physical curiosity. "I can feel the energy locked under these wraps. It's vibrating. It feels like an engine that's about to explode."
Naruto didn't pull away. He leaned in slightly, his blue eyes dropping to her lips, which were parted slightly in the humid heat. "I told you, detective. If I let it out, the island might not survive the impact. I'm trying to be a good guest."
Chun-Li let out a low, breathy chuckle, her hand moving up to rest against his collarbone. Her fingers were warm, her skin incredibly smooth against his sun-kissed flesh. "You're arrogant for a kid. But I saw how you handled Cage on the boat. You move like water, but you hit like iron."
"Maybe you want another test?" Naruto teased, his voice dropping to a low, gravelly murmur that made her pupils dilate. He shifted his weight, his left hand coming out of his pocket to rest on the stone wall right behind her hip, effectively trapping her between his body and the cliffside.
The proximity was electric. Chun-Li’s chest rumbled with a quiet, appreciative hum of Ki, her gaze locking onto his with a fierce, competitive hunger that had nothing to do with martial arts. "Don't tempt me, Uzumaki. We're in the middle of a war zone."
"That just means we don't have to worry about the neighbors making noise," Naruto whispered.
Before she could respond, before her fingers could tighten into the fabric of his vest, a deep, bronze horn blew from the center of the amphitheater. The sound was deafening, shaking the dust from the old stone ruins.
Shang Tsung’s voice roared across the mountain.
"Naruto Uzumaki! Step forward to the circle!"
Chun-Li froze, her hand lingering on his chest for one long, heavy second before she slowly drew back. Her eyes were dark, filled with a sudden, intense protective streak. "He's calling you early. He saw something in you on the boat. Be careful."
Naruto straightened up, his signature cheeky grin returning as he adjusted his orange vest over his left shoulder. He patted his bound right arm against his stomach. "Don't worry, lady. I'll make sure to save a dance for you when I get back."
The marble floor of the arena was still slick with Baraka’s blood when Naruto stepped over the threshold.
The crowd had grown louder, sensing a quick slaughter. Naruto looked up at the obsidian throne. Shang Tsung was leaning forward, his ancient face twisted into an expression of intense curiosity. Beside the throne stood a tall, slender woman with a pale face and long, black hair, wearing a dark purple assassin’s outfit. Her eyes were cold, her hands resting on two folded steel fans.
Kitana.
Naruto’s senses twitched as his gaze brushed against her. There was a profound, suffocating sorrow radiating from her spirit, a heavy, centuries-old weight that felt entirely out of place among the monsters of Outworld. She looked down at him, her expression a mask of royal indifference, but Naruto could see the tiny flicker of pity in her eyes. She thought he was a dead man.
"For your first trial," Shang Tsung shouted, his hand pointing toward the eastern gate. "You shall face a champion of the flesh. A warrior who has crushed a thousand rebels in the name of the Emperor!"
The iron gate didn't just grind upward; it shattered.
A massive, towering figure exploded into the arena. He stood nearly nine feet tall, his upper torso bare and covered in thick, leathery tiger-striped skin. He had three-fingered hands, massive clawed feet, and a face that was a terrifying blend of human malice and predatory feline rage.
But the most striking feature was his upper body. He had four massive, muscular arms, each one thicker than Naruto’s entire torso, the claws flexing in the humid air.
A Shokan warrior. A prince of Goro’s bloodline.
"Kintaro's kin," Liu Kang muttered from the sidelines, his hand tightening into a fist. "They are sending a high enforcer to eliminate an unknown variable."
The giant beast roared, a sound that shook the very foundation of the amphitheater, causing several tiles to drop from the high roof. It pounded its four massive fists against its chest, creating a sound like a war drum. "I am Korg! And I will tear your limbs from your trunk, little monkey!"
Naruto stood in the center of the ring. He didn't drop into a stance. He kept his left hand in his pocket, his right arm bound tightly against his chest under his vest. He looked incredibly small compared to the nine-foot monster, like a child standing before a mountain cliff.
"Hey, big guy," Naruto called out, his voice casual, carrying easily over the roar of the crowd. "You have four arms, but you look like you have trouble balancing on your heels. You want to take two of those off to make it fair?"
Korg’s feline eyes flared with pure, murderous rage. With a speed that defied his massive bulk, the Shokan lunged forward, all four arms spreading wide to catch Naruto in a crushing, lethal bear hug.
"He's not moving!" Johnny Cage yelled from the alcove, his chest wrapped in bandages. "What is he doing? Jump!"
Naruto didn't jump. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a microsecond, drawing in a long, deep breath of the putrid natural energy that infected the island. His mastery of the Sage Martial Arts allowed his body to dynamically filter the corruption, extracting the raw, kinetic power of the earth beneath his boots.
The lines of air currents became clear in his mind. He could feel the exact trajectory of Korg's four hands.
Just as the massive claws were about to close around his ribs, Naruto shifted his weight. It wasn't a leap; it was a microscopic pivot on his left heel. His body blurred, sliding through the inches of empty space between Korg’s upper and lower left arms.
Korg’s hands slammed together with a loud BOOM, catching nothing but empty air.
The giant blinked, confused, but Naruto was already behind him. Moving with the fluid grace Oro had beaten into him, Naruto delivered a short, snapping left-footed back-kick straight into the back of Korg's left knee.
Crack.
The raw kinetic force of the strike didn't use chakra, but it carried the compressed weight of Naruto's dense Ki. The giant Shokan gasped as his massive leg buckled, his towering form dropping to one knee on the marble floor.
"You're heavy," Naruto's voice echoed near the giant's ear. "But your center is too high."
Korg roared in frustration, spinning around on his knee and swinging his two lower arms in a vicious, horizontal sweep meant to shatter Naruto’s shins. Naruto simply hopped over the blades of the claws, his body suspended in the air for a second as if he were weightless.
While mid-air, Korg’s upper two hands came down like twin pile-drivers, aimed directly at Naruto's head.
Naruto brought his left arm up, his forearm locking into a rigid, angular block. He didn't use his right hand. He kept it pinned to his chest.
BANG!
The collision generated a visible shockwave of dust and displaced air that rolled across the courtyard. The marble floor beneath Naruto’s single landing foot fractured into a spiderweb of deep cracks, but his arm didn't bend an inch. He held the combined weight of both of Korg’s massive upper arms with a single left forearm.
Up on the throne, Shang Tsung stood up completely, his long fingers gripping the arms of his seat so hard the wood groaned. "What... what style is this? There is no sorcery, yet his vessel does not break."
Beside him, Kitana’s hand moved away from her steel fans, her eyes wide with absolute astonishment. She had seen the Shokan crush titanium armor with that exact strike. Yet this blonde boy was standing there, smiling, with one hand literally tucked into his pocket.
"My turn," Naruto purred, his golden-flecked eyes flashing in the dim light.
With a sudden twist of his wrist, Naruto redirected Korg’s massive hands downward, throwing the giant off-balance once again. Naruto dropped his left foot to the stone, his knee bending deeply as he pulled raw natural energy from the very core of the island through his leg, channeling it straight up into his spine.
His left hand came out of his pocket. His fingers spread wide, his palm glowing with a faint, deep red aura of highly compressed physical Ki.
He didn't aim for a lethal spot. He aimed directly for the center of Korg’s massive, muscular chest.
"Sage Fist: Open Palm!"
The strike was short, traveling less than six inches before making contact with the Shokan's leathery hide.
There was no sound at first. No explosion.
Then, a microsecond later, a sound like a mountain splitting open roared through the amphitheater. The sheer, terrifying density of the kinetic shockwave traveled through Korg’s body, exploding out of his back in a violent spray of sweat and displaced air. The giant’s breath was completely torn from his lungs, his eyes protruding from his head as his heart momentarily stopped from the absolute pressure.
The nine-foot, four-armed terror was launched through the air like a pebble thrown by a giant.
He flew fifty feet across the arena floor, crashing directly into the heavy iron gates at the far end. The massive iron bars bent under the impact, and Korg collapsed into a motionless, bloody heap in the dust, completely unconscious and thoroughly broken.
The entire amphitheater fell into a deathly, suffocating silence. The hundreds of masked guards stopped their drumming. The Outworld denizens sat frozen in their seats.
Naruto stood in the center of the shattered marble ring. He slowly took his left hand, blew a piece of dust off his knuckles, and shoved it casually back into his trousers pocket. His right arm remained completely bound and still, tucked securely under his orange vest.
He looked up at the obsidian throne, his gaze locking directly onto Shang Tsung’s pale, trembling face.
"Like I said," Naruto called out, his voice smooth and entirely devoid of fatigue. "He had too many arms. It messed with his balance."
Shang Tsung didn't speak for a long time. His eyes darted from the broken Shokan warrior to Naruto's bound right shoulder. A cold, deep calculated fear was beginning to take root in the sorcerer's mind. This wasn't a champion of Earthrealm; this was an apex predator pretending to be a boy.
"The... the winner," Shang Tsung finally spoken, his voice tight, losing its melodic quality. "Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto turned around, walking back toward the Earthrealm line.
The moment he stepped into the shade of the alcove, Chun-Li was there. She didn't say a word. She grabbed his left arm, her fingers digging deep into his muscle, her chest heaving with a violent mixture of adrenaline, relief, and an intense, burning physical arousal that she couldn't suppress if she tried.
"You didn't use it," she whispered, her eyes dark and wild as she stared up into his face. Her body was trembling slightly, the raw display of his physical dominance hitting her like a drug. "You dismantled a Shokan prince with one hand."
"I told you I was good with my hands, lady," Naruto grinned down at her, his voice dropping to a low, teasing vibration. He leaned in close, his chest pressing against hers, his breath warm against her ear. "Just wait until I take the bandages off. That’s when the real fun starts."
Chun-Li’s fingers tightened on his arm, a low, desperate sigh escaping her lips as she leaned into his weight, completely unbothered by the eyes of the other champions around them.
Across the courtyard, from the high tier of the throne, Princess Kitana watched the blonde warrior talk to the Interpol officer. Her hands trembled against her silk qipao. For nine generations, she had seen nothing but despair.
But as she looked at Naruto's bound arm, she felt something she hadn't felt in a thousand years.
Hope.
Chapter End
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A/N: I’m resuming the normal schedule today, which means the polls will be available tomorrow and moving forward. I appreciate all your continued support. Catch you later!