Ninja of Marvel World - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Price of Divinity

The private tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base was windswept and grey, but to Tony Stark, it looked like paradise.

He stumbled down the ramp of the C-17, his arm still connected to the mobile IV drip that a medic was dutifully carrying. He took a deep breath of the polluted, humid Maryland air and grinned.

“Cheeseburgers,” Tony announced to the empty sky. “I want cheeseburgers. Plural. And a press conference. But mostly cheeseburgers.”

A black Audi R8 screeched to a halt near the plane. The door flew open, and Pepper Potts stepped out.

She looked impeccable as always—pencil skirt, heels, hair perfectly coiffed—but her eyes were red-rimmed. She had been crying.

“Tony!”

She ran toward him, abandoning her usual professional reserve.

Tony met her halfway, wrapping his good arm around her. “Hap… Happy to see you too, Pep.”

“I thought…” Pepper’s voice broke. She pulled back, scanning his face, the bruises, the sling. “I thought you were dead. Obadiah said… the military said…”

“I’m hard to kill,” Tony quipped, though his voice was thick with emotion. “Like a cockroach in a tuxedo.”

They stood there for a moment, forehead to forehead, lost in the relief of survival. It was a tender, cinematic reunion.

Ahem.

A loud, deliberate cough shattered the moment.

Pepper flinched, looking around Tony’s shoulder.

Karan stood a few feet away, leaning against the landing gear of the plane. He was still wearing his dusty Afghan tunic, looking like a desert wraith who had accidentally wandered onto a military base.

“Hate to interrupt the rom-com,” Karan said dryly. “But we had a deal. And my meter is running.”

Tony pulled away from Pepper, sighing dramatically. “Right. The mercenary. The buzzkill.”

“Who is this?” Pepper asked, wiping her eyes. She looked at Karan with confusion. “Is he… with you?”

“He’s the kid who pulled me out of the fire,” Tony said, gesturing vaguely. “Don’t ask.”

He looked at Karan. “I haven’t forgotten, kid. I’m not running away with the money. I’m literally standing next to a military transport.”

“Just checking,” Karan shrugged. “Rich people tend to get amnesia when they hit American soil.”

Tony turned to Pepper. “Pep, do me a favor. Transfer two hundred and ten million dollars to… whatever account he gives you.”

Pepper froze. She blinked. “Two hundred and… Tony, are you serious? Two hundred and ten million?”

“Yep,” Tony nodded. “Business expense. Put it under ‘Security Consultation’ or ‘Miscellaneous Rescue Fees’.”

He pointed a finger at Karan. “The extra ten million is for nutrition. Go buy a steak. Or a cow. You look like you’re going to blow away in the wind.”

“I’m bulking,” Karan defended weakly.

Pepper looked from Tony to Karan. She clearly had a thousand questions—Why a teenager? Why so much money? Why is he dressed like that?—but she saw the look in Tony’s eyes. It was a look that said, Just do it. He saved me.

She pulled out her StarkPhone. “Account number?”

Karan rattled off the routing number and account number of his checking account. It was a standard student account with a local credit union.

Pepper typed it in. She paused at the confirmation screen. “This is… highly irregular.”

“Press send, Pep,” Tony urged.

She pressed send.

Ding.

Karan pulled out his cracked Android phone.

[Bank Alert: Incoming Wire Transfer]

[Amount: $210,000,000.00]

[Status: Cleared]

Karan stared at the screen. The number was so long it wrapped to the next line.

He looked up at Tony. A genuine smile, rare and sharp, crossed his face.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Stark,” Karan said. “Try not to get kidnapped again. Next time, my rates go up.”

“Get lost, kid,” Tony smirked.

Karan stepped back. He channeled chakra into his legs.

Ram.

“Body Flicker.”

ZAP.

He vanished.

One second he was there, the next, there was only a swirl of dust and a gust of wind.

Pepper gasped, dropping her hand to her side. “Tony… he just… where did he go?”

Tony stared at the empty space. He shook his head, a mixture of awe and annoyance on his face.

“Bastard,” Tony muttered. “Takes the money and runs. Doesn’t even offer a ride.”

He turned back to the car. “Come on, Pep. Let’s get those burgers. I have a press conference to crash.”

—

Queens, New York.

Karan materialized in an alleyway three blocks from his apartment. He stumbled slightly.

“Long distance Flicker,” he panted. “Drains the tank.”

“Not bad. Fifty units for a cross-state jump? Wait, no. I took the plane to Maryland. This was just a short hop.”

He walked out of the alley, blending into the Queens pedestrian traffic.

He walked into his apartment building. The smell of cabbage and old carpet felt welcoming for the first time.

He climbed the stairs to 3B.

He unlocked the door.

“I’m back,” he announced.

Chloe was sitting on the beige sofa. A man was with her—Brad? Chad? Mike?—rubbing her feet.

She looked up. Her eyes widened.

“Karan!” she exclaimed. “You’re back! Where the hell have you been? Your note said a gig?”

She looked him over. “And why are you… brown? Like, really brown? Did you go to a tanning salon?”

Karan looked at his arms. The Afghan sun had darkened his complexion significantly. He shrugged. “Beach gig. Florida. Outdoor venue.”

“Florida?” Chloe raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t take any sunscreen, did you? You look like toast.”

She was about to say something else—probably about the rent—when Karan held up his phone.

“I sent the rent,” he said. “Plus next month’s. And the utilities.”

Chloe checked her phone. Her jaw dropped.

“You… you actually paid?” She looked relieved, the tension in her shoulders melting away. “Oh, thank god. I was literally about to pawn my toaster.”

She smiled, a genuine, dazzling smile that reminded him why she was an aspiring actress.

“Actually, I have news too!” she squealed. “I got the part! It’s a small role, a waitress with three lines, but it’s a real movie! In LA!”

“Congratulations,” Karan said, nodding. “When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow!” she beamed. “Brad here is driving me. We’re going to road trip it.”

Brad grinned and gave a thumbs up. “California or bust, bro.”

Karan nodded. “Good luck. You’ll kill it.”

“Thanks, roomie,” Chloe said. “I’ll miss your weird late-night noises. Try not to die of starvation while I’m gone.”

Karan went into his room and closed the door.

He could hear them giggling in the living room. Then the bedroom door closed. Then the rhythmic thumping started.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

“Oh god,” Karan groaned, sitting on his bed. “Teenage hormones are a curse.”

His body—young, healthy, and currently overflowing with testosterone and chakra—reacted predictably. He felt a stir in his pants.

“Control,” he muttered, channeling chakra to his brain to cool down. “Focus on the mission. Focus on the money.”

He pulled out his phone. He looked at the bank balance again.

$209,999,242.50

“Okay,” Karan took a deep breath. “Let’s become a god.”

He summoned the System.

[Mall] -> [Currency Exchange]

“Deposit $200,000,000.”

[Confirm Transaction?]
[Yes]

Ding.

His phone buzzed.

[Bank Alert: Debit of $200,000,000.00]

Karan watched the money vanish. He was poor again. Well, ten-million-dollar poor, which was still “rich” by any normal standard, but compared to what he just had, it was pocket change.

[System Notification]
[Points Acquired: 20,000,000]

[Total Points: 20,150,035]

“Twenty million,” Karan whispered. “I can buy the moon.”

He opened the [Bloodline & Dojutsu] tab.

He scrolled past the Byakugan (10 million). He scrolled past the Ketsuryugan (5 million).

He stopped at the Sharingan tree.

Kamui Mangekyu Sharingan (Both Eyes): 10,000,000 Points.

He clicked on it.

[Warning!]

You do not possess the Uchiha Bloodline.

Without the Bloodline:

1. Chakra consumption for Mangekyu techniques will be x10.
2. The eyes cannot be deactivated (Always Active).
3. Vision will deteriorate rapidly with use (Blindness Risk: High).

“Kakashi mode,” Karan realized. “Kakashi had one eye and it nearly killed him every time he used it because he wasn’t an Uchiha.”

If Karan bought the eyes without the blood, he would be a glass cannon. He would fire one Kamui and pass out for a week.

He checked the Uchiha Bloodline.

– Uchiha Bloodline (Indra’s Descendant): 10,000,000 Points.

“Of course,” Karan sighed. “It costs exactly what I have.”

He hesitated.

“Should I get Senju instead?” he wondered. “Senju gives massive chakra and vitality. It solves the stamina issue.”

He checked the Senju Bloodline price. Also 10 million.

[System Advice]
Senju Bloodline increases Chakra Capacity and Life Force.
Uchiha Bloodline increases Chakra Potency (Yin Release), Spiritual Energy, and reduces Dojutsu consumption by 90%. It also grants ‘Visual Prowess’ growth potential.

“If I get Senju but no Uchiha,” Karan reasoned, “I have a huge gas tank, but a leaky engine. The eyes will still drain me dry, just slower. And I’ll go blind.”

“If I get Uchiha,” he continued, “The engine becomes efficient. I can turn the eyes off. I won’t go blind as fast. And I can learn jutsu faster.”

“Plus,” he grinned, “Susanoo.”

It was a no-brainer.

“I’ll buy the Uchiha package now. I’ll get Sage Mode later to compensate for the Chakra volume.”

He pressed the buttons.

[Purchase: Uchiha Bloodline]
[Cost: 10,000,000 Points]

[Purchase: Kamui Mangekyu Sharingan (Both Eyes)]
[Cost: 10,000,000 Points]

[Total: 20,000,000 Points]

[Confirm?]

“Do it.”

Pain.

It wasn’t like the level-up heat. This was invasive.

First, his blood boiled. It felt like someone had injected hot sauce into his veins. His heart hammered a frantic, irregular rhythm as his DNA was rewritten. The passive, calm nature of the Jugo bloodline clashed with the fiery, emotional volatility of the Uchiha lineage before fusing into a strange, potent mix.

He gasped, clutching his chest.

Then, the eyes.

It felt like two hot spoons were being shoved into his sockets.

“AGHH!”

He bit his pillow to stop from screaming. Tears streamed down his face—tears of blood.

His vision went black. Then red. Then a kaleidoscope of geometric patterns.

He felt the optic nerves severing and reconnecting. He felt the new organs settling into his skull.

It lasted for one minute, but it felt like an hour.

Then, silence.

Karan lay panting on the bed, his sheets stained with sweat and blood tears.

He blinked.

The world came into focus.

But it wasn’t the same world.

The dust motes in the air were distinct, tracked individually. The texture of the ceiling paint was hyper-real. He could see the faint chakra residue of his earlier Body Flicker lingering in the room.

He walked to the mirror.

He looked at his eyes.

They were deep crimson. Three tomoe spun slowly around the pupil.

Then, he willed them to change.

The tomoe spun faster, merging into a pinwheel design. The Kamui pattern.

[Mangekyu Sharingan: Active]

He felt the power. It was dark, cold, and intoxicating.

He focused on the space in front of him.

“Kamui.”

The air twisted. A swirl of spatial distortion appeared. It wasn’t just visual; he could feel the fabric of space bending to his will.

[-10 Chakra]

“Ten units,” Karan noted. “Manageable.”

He looked at the empty space.

“Let’s test the dimension.”

He focused on himself. The swirl centered on his chest.

ZHORP.

He was sucked into the vortex.

—

Kamui Dimension.

It was a void. Endless blocks of grey, concrete-like pillars floating in a dark, teal abyss.

There was no sound. No wind. Just infinite, silent storage.

Karan stood on one of the blocks.

“This is mine,” he whispered. “A private pocket universe.”

He could store anything here. Weapons. Money. People.

“I can sleep here,” he realized. “No rent. No noise.”

He focused his eye again.

“Out.”

ZHORP.

He reappeared in his bedroom.

[-10 Chakra]

He checked the time. Only a few seconds had passed.

“I can teleport anywhere I’ve seen before,” Karan theorized. “Let’s try.”

He visualized the inside of Midtown High. Specifically, the classroom where he had met Peter.

“Kamui.”

ZHORP.

—

Midtown Science High School. Room 202.

Darkness. The only light came from the streetlamps outside filtering through the blinds.

Karan stood by the teacher’s desk.

[-10 Chakra]

“It works,” he grinned. “No walls can hold me. No bank vault is safe.”

He walked to the blackboard. He picked up a piece of chalk.

He drew a small smiley face in the corner.

“Karan was here.”

Then, he warped back to his room.

—

Back in the apartment, Karan deactivated his eyes.

[-10 Chakra]

They returned to their normal, dark brown color. The drain on his chakra stopped instantly.

“Perfect,” Karan sighed, collapsing onto the bed. “The Uchiha bloodline makes the switch seamless.”

He checked his remaining points.

150,035 Points.

He felt invincible.

He had the ultimate defense (intangibility). The ultimate offense (spatial tearing). The ultimate escape (teleportation).

“And,” he added, “I can now copy any taijutsu or non-elemental skill instantly.”

He closed his eyes.

“Tomorrow,” he thought. “I’m going to find a new apartment. Something with a view. And maybe a gym.”