(been a while, should I start naming chapters *meaning I go back and name past chapters as well?* and as for the shocker at the end of the last…look up Wheel of Samsara.)


Naruto woke up, looking at a ceiling of straw, he slowly shook his head. Clutching it, he got up, but felt that his clothing had been removed from him and replaced. Looking at him, he saw a white robe and looked at himself in the mirror to note that it was similar to The Sage of Six Path's cloak.

Albeit not in the energized form, Ten-Tails Chakra Mode as he'd call it.

Slowly standing up straight, he took a deep breath as he walked toward the small wooden door, opening it. He looked outside, finding that he was still on the mountains that he had hoped was a dream. Taking a small step out, he noted Hagaromo standing over a cliff edge.

"You've finally awakened, the shock kept you out for a while, three whole days." The Sage of Six Paths told Naruto as he made two leaves of red and brown dance in front of him, "what did you dream of?"

"You mean remember, I remember dying over and over, and…how I failed to protect those I cared about…" Naruto shook his head and took a deep breath. "But, that was all a nightmare, right?"

"No." Hagaromo tells him as he made the leaves flow over toward Naruto, "what you are experiencing is the breaking of The Wheel of Samsara."

"The Wheel…of what?" Naruto inquired as he walked toward Hagaromo, "man these clothes are heavy and warm."

"It is a training robe, meant to be heavy and warm, and the nightmare is real Uzumaki Naruto." The Sage slowly let the leaves flow down the mountainside.

Hagaromo chuckles and then looks at the forest, "do you think these lands will always be so lush?"

"Well, if you cultivate it right, yeah," Naruto said and took a seat with Hagaromo.

Hagaromo shook his head, "that is a fallacy."

"Falla-what now?" Naruto asks in confusion.

The Old Sage chuckles, "it means misconception, you are wrong, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Huh," Naruto looked at the mighty forest. "How, it has water…air…sun…life around it…and all of this life form…"

He clutches his head, taking a deep breath as he felt something enter him and saw pulses like a heartbeat originate from a nearby temple. "What…the…"

"Ah, The Heart of Nibel, Nibel is the planet's name. The heart is a culmination of all of its life energy, gathering and fastening itself into a sort of heart. It speaks to you, giving you gifts from age's past." Hagaromo answers his questions without looking at him, "you are truly a blessed soul, Uzumaki Naruto."

"You're not really Hagaromo, are you, a manifestation just taking his form…" Naruto breathed out as he saw Hagaromo turn to him, "you're Nibel."

"Nibel, Hagaromo, Ashura and Indra, Minato Namikaze, and then Naruto Uzumaki…does it even matter what I name myself? Or, perhaps the form I take, does it matter that like winds I bend around tall mountains but like fire, I can wipe out life and give its ashes to the new?" "Hagaromo" smiles as he slowly transforms into "Ashura", "this form suits you?"

"No, um, what are you? And, you said you took my form? When, where, how?" Naruto questioned as he looked into "Ashura's" eyes, "I am the giver of life and the taker of it all."

"A God…" Naruto breathed.

"Ashura" nodded, "yes, and so are you."

"No, I'm not, I'm mortal." Naruto disagreed and tried to correct the being in front of him.

"Ashura" got up and then turned to see the real Hagaromo standing there, "ah, and the real Sage of Six Paths comes. Hehehe, I'm done playing the game with young Uzumaki here."

"I see, Nibel, you have kept your mischievous side as ever." Hagaromo watches the being transform into a solid green colored energy in the shape of a person.

This Nibel then chuckled with an energetic echo, "sorry, but while we are bearing the same energy that allows us to take these forms…I am transcended beyond mortality just like Hagaromo-san has."

"You," Naruto then turns to Hagaromo, "is he like another Sage of Six Paths or something?!"

"GAH!" Naruto holds his head, "I'm so confused right now!"

Nibel laughs as he circled around Naruto, "Hagaromo-san has transcended as well, he is, in fact, The God of Spirts and I am The God of Life."

"Nibel," Hagaromo walks by Naruto, "you are to attend to your heart."

"Of course, the flow of life energy will not tend to itself, I am merely welcoming a brother to our ranks." Nibel bowed to Naruto, "The Fox God, Uzumaki Naruto."

"I'm not a God…" Naruto tells him, and then turns to Hagaromo, "Old Man Sage…tell him I'm not a God."

Hagaromo gives a sigh, "Naruto, you have not accepted the fact that you have broken The Wheel of Samsara."

"Okay, there's that wheel-thingy again, what is that?" Naruto inquires as he huffs and watches Nibel fly off toward a temple where energy pulsed from. "And, what is he, or better yet who was he?"

"Nibel, the heart of Remnant, or Nibel if we are to be literal. A timeless, primordial being, that has existed within the so-called Ever-Flow of the world we knew. I didn't know him until I had passed on, it was with him I was able to attain transcendence myself and break my own Wheel of Samsara." Hagaromo explained as he formed a sort of hand seal, but it was very relaxed, "Nibel is The God of Life, I am The God of Spirits, and you…Naruto Uzumaki…are The God of Nature or Fox God."

Naruto shook his head and looked at Hagaromo and then laughed, "okay nice try…you…c'mon transform back."

Hagaromo blinked once, twice, "I am here."

Naruto stopped for a moment, then his eyes widened, "what?!"

"I am not a God, I'm not Kaguya Otsutsuki, and I still bleed see!" Naruto cut his hand and watched as it bled.

The blood droplets hit the ground, "see, I bleed so I am not a God!"

"You're an Immanent Divine Naruto, an Immanent God, perceivable just like Nibel. You can still "die" but you'll just reform over time. In fact, The Tailed Beasts are considered Immanent Divines by that standard alone. So are my sons, Ashura and Indra, granted they form into other beings and lose their memories." Hagaromo points out as he watches Naruto rack his brain to try and understand despite bearing Six Path's chakra.

"Okay, why can't I understand…if I'm Ashura shouldn't I be able to understand that…" Naruto racks his brain openly as he looked at Hagaromo, "seriously didn't you give me the ability to decipher knowledge and learn it rapidly!"

Hagaromo laughs, patting Naruto's shoulder, "this knowledge is still being learned by me. Even after these thousands of years, it is a fallacy to believe that this time and moment will always be the same. Now that we've escaped the wheel, we can see how it affects everything.'

Naruto shook his head, "but I don't want to escape this so-called wheel, I want to see Hinata again!"

"My boy, you already have, in a sense. You are Naruto Uzumaki, but you are just one of many that I've been…and that will be…" Hagaromo gently takes Naruto's hand into his pam.

The middle of his forehead glowed as he focused chakra into Naruto's palm, watching as the world shuttered around them, revealing a spirit of an older Hinata and himself standing in a clearing while their son played.

"Your former got his happy ending in the end of it all, time moves on, and when you are needed the world and nature call upon you to do a duty again. Have you forgotten the vow you made, to be reincarnated with Kurama?" Hagaromo questions Naruto, whose eyes widened.

Naruto felt Kurama stir within him.

"Is he saying your willingness to accept the end broke the wheel?"
"The Wheel of Samsara."
"Incredible."
"Honestly I never believed father…"

"Okay, why are you all talking at once about this, and what is this Samsara?" Naruto got up as he felt his Tailed Beasts shift, "guys?"

He turned to see Hagaromo, holding four colored orbs in his palm, each of them had a Tailed Beast inside of them. "You must keep them cramped all day, hiding inside of mankind and Faunus alike, in a mortal coil that once gone will reveal the butterfly that is a God underneath."

Naruto watches as the red sphere glowed, it contained Kurama, "this is much better than being inside of you to communicate Naruto."

"Indeed," a blue sphere agreed, it was Matatabi.

"How does this thing keep our worlds working father, I can see the world I created within Naruto within in this sphere, but I can feel your world?" Shukaku inquired as he floated around Hagaromo.

Chomei's green sphere was staying by Naruto, "do not take offense to us, we are merely tired of being cramped all day."

"Guys, I'm sorry, really I am…" Naruto tries to apologize.

Hagaromo stops him with his palm being raised, "there is no need to apologize to them, it is merely a necessity to protect them. Even us Gods can fall victim to mortal's designs. We are not invulnerable, nor do we ever truly escape The Wheel of Samsara forever, but while we are enlightened we seek knowledge forevermore until our next death at the ends of a fallacy or enemy."

Naruto sat on the ground as he watches the image of heaven disappear from him, he looked at his own hands, "so if I'm dead…then why I'm alive?"

"Why does the worm turn into a butterfly, the acorn into an oak, a child to a man?" Hagaromo speaks as he sat by Naruto, "you are Uzumaki Naruto, still you guard this world."

"B-but, I'm dead, I saw my own body in the grave. It…it was me, in the coffin of crystal, why here though…not in Konoha?" Naruto held his head low, "did they hate me still…or did I become hated because of Kara's actions?"

"No." Hagaromo rubbed Naruto's back to calm him, "you were loved and held in the highest regard. Sasuke decreed that since you were the hero of the world that you entombed in its highest place. The Red Fruit Mountains of The Land of Spirits. Legends of old like Sun Wukong and such trained here and even ruled from here." The Sage of Six Paths speak with certainty, "it was only fitting that you joined their ranks."

"The funeral held for you was grandiose, all of the nations paid to respect you, and the first cherry blossoms on this island were planted in your honor due to your love for them. Now, they spread and form the beauty, Sasuke called them Naruto Trees." Hagaromo laughed at the end, "he loved you…they all did."

Naruto lowered his head, "so what am I then, a God? Mortal? In between? Am I even Uzumaki Naruto, or am I just someone else in the line of succession of Ashura's spirit?"

"You are a fool," Naruto turns to the newcomer's voice, finding it to be Ashura himself. "You failed to realize that when you broke The Wheel of Samsara, you separated yourself from me and became your own divine."

"So, why do I bare the Sun Mark still?" Naruto questioned him, "this all has to be another dream."

"It is not, and the reason why you bare The Sun Mark is that The Sun Mark is a symbol to attainment in merging with nature. You have accepted the spirit of nature and form the body for it like I have…and Indra formed its eyes so that it could." Ashura walked over to his father and his recent incarnate with a saucer filled with water.

Naruto took the first drink, sipping the cool water, "so…The Wheel is reincarnation?"

"Yes and no, it is the journey of one's soul, the endless journey." Ashura tells Naruto as he looked at his father, "am I correct father?"

Naruto looked at Ashura as he sat with them, "okay, I'm done dreaming now…"

He suddenly yelped when Ashura pinched him, he glared daggers into Ashura, "the hell was that for!"

Stopping, he then looked at them, "Oh my God…you are here…that means…"

Naruto took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he wrote something on the ground, and then opened his eyes to look at the Kanji he wrote. It was for the name of his son, was-to-be son, Boruto. He could read it just as he could read the writing on the wall.

This was all real, none of it was fake, none of it was a dream.

"Okay, let me just get run down. Nibel the first is The God of Life. Old Man Sage is The God of Spirits, Ashura…you would be the God of Light? And, that makes Indra The God of Darkness, and the very last me…God of Nature…right?" Naruto looked at them, gauging them as they looked at each other.

"Honestly I and Indra are the same God, we are just Gods of Light and Darkness, hence the moon and sun mark," Ashura tells Naruto as he watches the blonde look at them.

Nibel quickly jumped in, landing in the middle, "wow sorry I'm late, hey there!"

"Nibel-san," Hagaromo palmed his face, "you are forsaking the duties again."

"Pfft, life can move without me for a moment, so is he starting to understand this blessing?" Nibel then watched as Naruto got up and looked at them.

Naruto then spoke, "what blessing, all I know is that part of me moved into the afterlife to be with Hinata and my unborn son. I came into this world believing I got flung forward in time, and now I realize that everyone I knew and loved is dead…yeah…some blessing."

Nibel sighed, "I suppose that it does have its disadvantages, but, it is up to you what you do the life you're given. You are free to rejoin The Wheel of Samsara at any time."

"To be blunt, Nibel is saying that you can rejoin the cycle willingly, but there is no given that you'll you reincarnate again…let alone as a human being or something else." Hagaromo concluded as he sipped on his water, "and you must learn to sip Sacred Spring Water generously and eloquently."

Naruto bowed and looked at Nibel, "sorry, Nibel."

"No need, and I know it ay not sound like it, but don't ever add Kun to my name…it should be Chan." Nibel revealed with a wink, "I'm a woman after all."

"Eh?!" Naruto backed up a little bit, "Oh, wow…"

Nibel chuckled as she looked at him, and looked into his soul, "you were revived with half of your soul and Kurama's energy. You wished to be reincarnated with him since you owed each other a debt, I made that happen."

"Thank you, I guess, but if you can control who gets revived then…can't you control who dies?" Naruto questioned as he looked at Nibel.

Nibel shook her head, "I cannot stop the turning of the wheel, merely influence to where a soul may go or be revived. Hagaromo is the one who primarily resides over if a soul is worthy enough, it was no question when you were thought of, to stop an ancient evil."

"So you all revived me, as a God mind you, to take on Salem?" Naruto inquired, making sure that he was understanding everything.

Ashura, Hagaromo, and Nibel looked at one another. They then turn back to Naruto, who they watch as he then slowly starts to realize something.

"There's someone else pulling the strings, is there?" Naruto questioned as he came to that conclusion, "someone that's been playing everyone along even in my time…Kaguya as well."

Nibel spoke up first, "yes and no, she is just a demon. Kaguya Otsutsuki did become a Goddess, she lost to a mortal, but later tried to absorb the soul of another mortal to revive herself…this created a new creature."

"A Gohma, an impure being of intense malice and hatred, a corrupted soul. When you were battling Salem, as she now calls herself for the first time, you were fighting something that was effectively immortal. She was draining life energy from the world to fuel herself, so you made the ultimate sacrifice to make sure she couldn't affect this world." Nibel reveals to Naruto as she took a deep breath, "you sent her to another plane in a sealing technique that costed your life…"

"Wasn't the Reaper Death Seal, Shinigami never let go of their victims, no matter what." Hagaromo helps Naruto understand when he saw that he about asked that question, "your sacrifice allowed Naruko to live on with The Tailed Beasts sealed within as a final act to make sure she survived in order for Sasuke to rescue her."

"Naruko later went on to rebel against The Daimyo when they sought to fully control everyone, freeing Shinobi from their chains to the lords, creating The Kingdom of Taiyo, and founding The Uchiha Dynasty as it's the first queen." Ashura revealed to Naruto, but then he sighs, "but Salem never truly left the world."

Nibel took over in tandem as she sips some of her water, "Salem's taint had seeded itself well, soon forming the first of Gohma…Grimm in today and they would challenge humanity over and over."

"So, how did it ever get this bad, and what caused The Ice Age?" Naruto questions as he looked at them, "someone must've stopped you Nibel since you're the God…err…Goddess of Life."

Hagaromo sighs, putting his saucer down, "it was my failure, I didn't detect Salem's taint until it had corrupted The Heart of Nibel and began to slowly kill the world."

"Why is she so obsessed with death, it doesn't add up, why?" Naruto stood up as he looked at them, "if she's so concerned with killing everything and everyone…why doesn't she start with herself?"

"Salem is Kaguya, in a sense, the same greedy Goddess that hungered for Chakra since tasting a God Fruit. But, she views humanity and Faunus as threats to her, which is why she wants to wipe them out. She's after your soul in particular, rightfully believing that absorbing you will make her stronger than anyone of us, leaving her dominance unquestioned…" Nibel told Naruto as she looked at him, taking the form of a green haired and royal blue-eyed dark-skinned woman in a tribal dress.

He blushes a little bit, "w-wow, Nibel…"

Nibel giggled a little bit, "life is supposed to be beautiful, and this isn't an illusion this is my true form. Do not think of anything more as a formality, we are all friends here, with the goal of protecting my world."

"So, did you name yourself Nibel?" Naruto asks as he looked at her while rubbing the back of his head.

She shook her head, "long before I became The Goddess of Life, my family was one of the few ancient tribes wondering this world. We were nomadic in nature, an endless search of meaning, in fact, we were followers of the Samsara…an unending journey."

"I took to meditating, I was to become a priestess for the deceased, but one-day demon attacked my people. I instead became a warrior, discovering the so-called Ever-Flow in my journey and learned to harness it…after a while…it melded me with itself." She gives a brief background as he watches her pull the same white colored chakra from the ground he had seen in the cave.

"I nursed Nibel back to health," Ashura tells Naruto, "as The God of Light I had that duty while Indra took to returning to human form and seeking a way to stop Salem."

"Ozpin." Naruto concluded, only for The Gods to glare at the name, "did I say something wrong?"

"Ozpin may be the latest incarnation of Indra, but be forewarned Naruto, not even we know his intentions. He's no ally to Salem, that's for sure, but he's not exactly untainted. Something happened to Indra, forcing his soul into Wheel constantly. Perhaps he had something to do with it, because I can no longer truly detect Indra from within Ozpin." Ashura revealed to Naruto as he took a deep breath, "and since we cannot exist outside The Land of Spirit for long, I cannot confront him in battle."

"This place is our heaven, our office, as well as a prison. You see, The Heart of Nibel allows us to exist in this plane, without it we'd move on to another due to our spirits taking more precedence. Perhaps, maybe, forcing ourselves back into The Wheel of Samsara to be reincarnated again." Nibel tells Naruto as she got up, stretching, "well…back to my office."

Naruto watches as she turned back into the mass of green energy and flew toward her temple, "she's a little off, isn't she?"

"She was alone for so long, being the sole Goddess until my mother, but my mother didn't exactly take kindly to her. Then I came to be enlightened and transcended, then Ashura and Indra, you could say we've been a sort of family ever since." Hagaromo chuckled as he looked at Naruto, "as cliché as it sounds."

Naruto shuffled his clothing as he got up, he hears a clattering, looking down at the ground he sees his old headband. Picking it up, looking at himself in the reflection, he sighs. Smiling at the memories it brought him while regretting that they would remain just memories, and he looked at them.

"Is there any way I can go back, prevent Salem?" Naruto inquires as he held the headband in his hands.

Hagaromo watches as Ashura left to attend to his temple, he then turns back to Naruto, "there might be a way, however, it is beyond us, unfortunately. I must warn though, to want such action threatens the very world itself at large."

"Like a pebble being cast into the water, a change in the current will make ripples, it shall change the flow of water. With the change, people that you know here, may not come to be. Perhaps, the one known as Blake Belladonna would cease to exist." Hagaromo reveals to Naruto a she looked at the blonde with saddened eyes, "which is the ultimate question of do the ends justify the means?"

Naruto looked down at his headband, "I…don't know…"

Hagaromo smiles, "I believe you will find the answer when the time comes, for now, you must return to Beacon."

"Wait, hold up, I can't return like this!" Naruto tells Hagaromo, motioning at his clothing.

Hagaromo chuckled, looking at the blonde, "merely imagine the normal clothing that you were in before coming here."

Naruto looked puzzled, shaking his head, he took a deep breath and did so. His eyes widened as slowly the cloak transformed into his regular clothing, his regular outing clothing that is, and he looked at Hagaromo with a weirded-out smile.

He was happy, but still had a lot of questions.

In fact, some more were brought up.

Hagaromo stood up, grabbing a hold of Naruto's hands, "we shall meet again, Uzumaki Naruto. In fact, it shall be soon, for I would love to start your Divine Training."

"So, wait you're going to train me…in being a God?" Naruto backed away, "but what if I don't want to live as a God?"

"I never said you'd be forced to stay here," Hagaromo reminded him as he smiles warmly, "there's no forced task bequeathed to you."

Naruto nodded, taking a moment to look at The Sage's hands, he then took them. "Take me back, Old Man Sage…I'll see you in a few months' time?"

"Yes." Hagaromo answered with a smile, "you shall…Kai-Kai!"


"Wait…what?" Naruto suddenly was teleported away by a beam of light.

Naruto dropped out of a white portal and fell to the ground, he got up in time to puke all over the ground. He groans as he smells Emerald Forest, looking at the trees and such. Fresh snow laid upon the ground as he looked into a nearby stream.

Strangely, in some way, he felt at peace with himself now.

Getting up, Naruto then looked down at his hands, finding his headband. Looking into the river, Naruto took a deep breath and pulled the headband across his forehead before tying it. God or not, whether he would want to accept that title or not, he was still one thing.

That was Uzumaki Naruto, and he had a world to protect!

"Wait a minute," Naruto realized something, "Old Man Sage you forgot Matatabi, Shukaku, Kurama, and Chomei!"

No sooner than he yelled this out he was suddenly hit by four colored orbs, they knocked him to the ground, with Kurama laughing at the blonde.

"Father still knows how to throw a great surprise, hehehe."