IMPERIALS – ANOTHER NARUTO
East Fayoth
Red and black are the official colours of the Dark Dimension, colours that Himawari agreed to champion upon become Ashen's student, colours that she now wears three days later. Ashen was true to her word, she used her Crown to bombard Himawari with a continuous stream of her elemental powers. She has become the most effective teacher that Himawari has worked with, forcing her to become stronger in record time. Helion Ashen was made the Empress of the Dark Dimension for a reason, she has shown that reason and has helped Himawari to join her brother as a class 9 warrior.
Shikadai remains suspicious of Ashen though, she said it herself, she is too strong for even Boruto and Himawari together to defeat. Boruto has told him that nobody has ever seen through the Death Mask as quickly as Ashen does, that nobody has ever endured his attacks so readily. It is no wonder that she caused so many problems to Homeworld during the last war. However, in spite of his suspicions Shikadai generally finds Ashen's company enjoyable, as do the others. She has the charisma of a leader, when she speaks they listen and she finds the words that they all want to hear.
Eventually travelling through East Fayoth they find an old temple, a temple with unusual architecture. That is because this temple was created by the Dark Dimension during their occupation of this area, a place to store their secrets and work on their plots. Unlike Homeworld there was only one religion in the Dark Dimension, a belief that governed all aspects of their lives, or at least it was meant to. Ashen explains that this building is a temple but that it also served other purposes, a research centre, a barracks for their troops, sometimes a command centre for her.
"You worshipped here?" Himawari asks.
"Not in the sense you understand it. Your grandfather would kneel at the front of a temple and pray to his gods, but our worship does not depend on prayer. We worshipped by building upon a collective good for our people. If I sacrificed one thing from my life to make way for two things for other people I was judged to have contributed to society."
"Who judges you?"
"The god and the goddess, Yton and Kalena. They are to maintain balance in all things, fire and water, light and dark, hot and cold. The world needs to be balanced, but it also needs to grow, that is why we contribute to society. We are not judged on whether we do good or bad deeds, only on if we add or subtract."
"Doesn't refusing to cohabit Homeworld mean you were subtracting?" Boruto asks.
"I agree, but I am not a philosopher, just a soldier. I never cared much for religion anyway. If Kalena offered me guidance I would take it, but she has not. Until I know what they want from me I will choose my own path, and for now that path involves helping you."
Boruto nods.
Ashen walks through the temple towards the back. As the others pass through they observe the artwork on the wall, showing a man and a woman pushing their hands together, or linking hands and leaning backwards. The woman is similar in appearance to Ashen but given that this is a temple they assume that this is the goddess Kalena, and that the man is the god Yton. The depictions back up Ashen's story of the Dark Dimension's religious belief, in all things they reach a balance and as they move farther back they grow in size.
When they reach the back wall Ashen raises her hand telling the others to stop. She walks to the back wall and leans back against it. She then takes ten paces forward before bringing her feet together. She runs her finger along the ground until she feels a groove. She moves her hand to the left of that groove and presses down, lowering the floor to the right of it. She then hooks her finger under the raised floor to the right and lifts it. She shows them the location of a secret door and a stairway that leads underground.
They travel down the stairs for what feels like hours, even travelling at the speed of a shinobi. Boruto questions how the Dark Dimension had time to build all of this during the war but remembers their unique sciences and techniques. Half-way down his shinobi counterparts need a break, so he inspects the walls. He notices that this is made from the same materials as the prisons used in the Captained-Six contest. They are technically descending into a separate dimensional space. It's a pity, if not for this material he could move ahead and use the Flying Thunder God technique to bring the others down with him.
Eventually they all make it to the bottom of the stairs into a large space. Himawari and Temari remember descending the stairs in the Military Academy and expected a similar space at the bottom, but it is nothing like that. This is clearly the remains of a research centre, with desks lining the walls, notes pinned up on wooden boards behind them. There are small swirling orbs of energy next to each desk that Ashen claims are for data storage. There is also a glass pane against one of the walls revealing a large clinical-white room, a room Shikadai assumes must be a laboratory.
Ashen walks towards the end of this room, a walk that takes approximately five minutes. When she arrives at the other end there is an ostentatious desk that clearly stands out from the others, decorated with the Red and Black colours of the Dark Dimension's Empire. Ashen walks around to the other side of it and takes a seat, lifting her feet and resting them on the desk. She explains that this was her desk during the invasion, that she held a few strategy meetings with her generals here.
She opens one of the desks on her draw and removes a small transparent orb with a button on it. She smiles at it, inspecting it from all angles. This makes Shikadai suspicious, why would there be something here that Ashen had not seen before if she was the empress? A desk is a space where you work, surely it should only have items in it that she is familiar with.
'Looks like they finished it,' Ashen remarks to herself. 'Those fools, they never did finish anything on time. Oh well, better late than never, and there is still something to fight for.'
Ashen throws the orb a short way into the air before catching it and pressing the button. She watches as the orb fills with a white ink-like substance and smiles. She throws it into the air before catching it one more time. It is still filling with this substance, just like she requested it would all those years ago. It was coded to her thumbprint just like she requested it be. If this were around during the war it could have saved the Dark Dimension, but now it can help her fulfil another purpose. It can help her to protect the Little Diamond.
North-East Ewoa
It has been three days since Naruto went on his second official private engagement with Endou Hinata, and he is still trying to understand what went wrong. He is searching his soul for an answer about what he could have done differently. What is the difference between the two Hinata's? What is it that makes Hyuuga Hinata feel safe with him but Endou Hinata so distant? He has been pondering this answer with Kurama for a long time now and he cannot think of anything. It is one of those times that he wishes he was smarter. However, it is not long before that sort of thinking is the least of his problems.
He suddenly feels strange and gets to his feet. He uses the One True Sense to look for anything different in his presence, but he cannot find anything. He checks for divine energy but there is very little, a barely noticeable difference from Homeworld's ambient condition. That's when he notices that there is some, invisible to most people but just about detectable with the One True Sense. It is approaching him, surrounding his entire body, and it is slowly building in intensity.
Naruto tries to shake the strange divine energy away, but it keeps building, and then suddenly the intensity increases explosively.
Naruto suddenly yells and arches his fingers in pain. His eyes snap wide open and all his muscles tense. He tries to maintain an upright position, but this is not like any pain he has ever felt before, it is not sharp, not dull but completely unique and indescribable. He feels as if the matter in his body is separating but is not being torn, as if he is slowly evaporating. He breathes heavily and thinks of something he needs to hold on for, he thinks of his family. He needs to find a way out of this situation, and he needs to find it immediately.
"Naruto, what is wrong!?" Kurama asks.
But Naruto is in no position to respond as he falls to his knees. He tries to summon 'life' and 'fate' energy to his hands but he struggles, the incoming energy still building, eclipsing his own completely. This is not like anything he has ever seen before, not even Furst was able to call upon this much energy. No, Naruto realises suddenly that this is all of the energy that surrounded him, energy of every type imaginable. He is being attacked by Homeworld, by the realm itself, he is being rejected!
"It could be Fauna Blight!" Kurama says.
Willing to accept any suggestion Naruto begins to flood his own body with 'life' energy. He cannot externalise the energy because of the pressure being put upon him by the surrounding energy, but he can use it in his own body. He reaches into every part of his body, from his fingers, to his head, to his toes. However, it does nothing to alleviate the pain, this is not a death caused by Fauna Blight, he does not have Fauna Blight. Homeworld is rejecting his existence and he cannot understand why.
Out of desperation Naruto uses his divine oddity to power his right arm. He punches his arm deep into the ground hoping to relieve it from the external divine energy. Homeworld is treating him like an affliction, so he hopes that he can heal the world itself. But as he pushes 'life' energy into Homeworld, the external energy continues to surround him, following his arm underground and surrounding him once again. He cannot use his energy outside his body. There is nothing he can do against the continuous onslaught of energy.
Visions begin to flash before Naruto's eyes, visions of another world, his world. He sees trees falling in the distance, something big coming towards him. His vision swaps between the worlds twice a second and the rate is only increasing. In the pocket-world the trees continue to fall and in Homeworld he pulls his arm out of the ground. He feels something about him is starting to change, something that he cannot stop.
In the pocket-world he recognises what he sees running towards him, large beings from eight different directions. It is the remainder of the tailed beasts. Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, and Gyuki. He is hallucinating about the tailed-beasts in the pocket-world and he has no idea why. Are they running towards him for help? Are they attacking because they are angry? He can't work it out, partially because of his distress about the situation in this world.
Naruto looks at his arm as he pulls it from the ground in Homeworld. His hand is being covered by a glove. He checks and both hands are being covered by gloves. His jacket begins to change in colour, switching from orange and black to pure black. When the change is halfway down his forearm another garment begins to appear, a black robe over the top of his jacket. He looks down and sees that this attire change is continuing all along his body.
When the change is complete it is an attire that Naruto once feared. Attire of foes he once fought against.
He is wearing the red and black cloak of the Akatsuki.
He sees the energy that accompanied the change approach his eyes in Homeworld. Meanwhile in the pocket-world the tailed-beasts are right in front of him. They are leaping for him, reaching towards him with their massive limbs, ready to grab him. Naruto's panics as he senses the end approaching for him both in the real world and the hallucination. Kurama yells suggestions and asks if he is OK from Naruto's inner world, but it is all too late. The energy disappears from around him, and the visions of both Homeworld and the pocket-world are replaced by darkness.
The pain stops and Naruto looks at his hands. He is still here, and he is in his original clothing. He looks around him in the darkness and sees nothing. The first thought that runs through his mind is that he is in the afterlife, but that is not the case. He realises after a short while that he is still alive, that this eternal emptiness is familiar from the time he attacked the Foundry. He has entered the void.
North-East Ewoa
A blonde man with a head protector denoting him as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. This is the biological son of Minato and Kushina, a man with memories of becoming the 7th Hokage. This is a man with a single tailed-beast inside him, a beast whose chakra he steals because of its uncontrollable rage. Everyone in the world recognises this man as the leader of the Homeworld Rebellion, the most feared enemy of the empire and of Emperor Furst Jonas, but this man is not Uzumaki Naruto.
This is a man with memories of a life he did not choose. A man with the memories of the true Uzumaki Naruto. This is a man with golden 'life' energy, with golden 'fate' energy, making him one of the most powerful beings in all of Homeworld. This is he who wields Detonation Martial Arts, who practices the One True Sense, and uses the Energy Projection technique. But this man is not Uzumaki Naruto, this is his replacement, this is a very different kind of man.
In his inner world, this substitute Naruto approaches the substitute Kurama. He uses his Energy Projection to force the resentful tailed-beast's head to the ground and approaches him, standing nonchalantly before him and asking him a question.
"So, what do you believe she would order beast?"
"Have you ever wanted orders before, why take them now?"
The substitute Naruto smiles, "Good point beast. There is a calling for all great warriors. Death! Death to the enemy!"
The substitute Naruto power-transfers to both legs and uses his counterpart's memory to work out where the nearest village is, recalling that it is a short way to the south. He rushes there with a combination of his divine oddity and class 9 energy, travelling at a speed that few can rival in Homeworld. He arrives at the village in a matter of minutes and goes through with his decision.
He leaps up into the air, drawing energy from the tailed-beast that is not orange as usual, but red. He surrounds himself in this red chakra cloak, and in an aura of golden 'life' energy and golden 'fate' energy. He then forms a Tailed-Beast Bomb in his hand and points it at the defenceless village below. He grins as he carries out his desire, finally he has a memory that is his own. He launches the enhanced Tailed-Beast Bomb at the village, inciting an explosion so large that when the energy disappears all that remains is a crater where the village used to be.
This is not Uzumaki Naruto.
This man has yet to decide a name.
"We can finally decide on our names," the substitute Kurama tells his host.
The substitute Naruto returns to his inner world. He uses his Energy Projection once again, forcing the substitute Kurama's head back to the floor. He approaches slowly and calmly. He makes it clear by the look on his face that unlike his counterpart he has nothing but disdain for his tailed-beast.
"Beasts do not require names. Beast is how you shall be referred to until I decide otherwise."
The tailed-best has no choice but to wordlessly accept.
"As for my name, from today your power belongs to… Ugokanai Mada."
Mada smiles as he returns his focus from his inner world to Homeworld. He has had a long time watching the decisions of that fool Naruto, and now he has a purpose of his own to fulfil. That fool treated Kurama as a partner, but he will treat Beast as a tool. That fool would show mercy to those who wronged him, he will show none. Naruto was kind to his friends; Mada sees only people to be used. Mada wishes death to the enemy, each and every one of them.
The Void
"Hey Naruto!" Kurama calls. "What we saw in the pocket-world wasn't an illusion."
"What are you talking about Kurama?"
"Just have a look you fool."
Naruto rolls his eyes before turning his attention to his inner world. He looks first at Kurama before seeing a large foot next to him. He looks to the right and raises his head. What he sees shocks him. He sees large beings around him, gathered in a circle as they have gathered many times in a past. He is surrounded by powerful beings, by beings who have recognised him as their meeting ground.
Raccoon, cat, turtle, ape, horse, slug, beetle, octopus, and fox. The nine tailed-beasts have gathered once again, and Naruto has become their gathering point. Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, and Gyuki, they have all returned to Uzumaki Naruto following their deaths and the hands of General Clyde's invaders several years prior.
"Am I imagining this?" Naruto asks.
"Of course not you idiot. Why would I be imagining the same thing you are?" Kurama says.
Matatabi speaks, "Naruto, we are all really here. We were reborn some time ago now, since that time we have wandered the world and we couldn't find anyone, but then we sensed you. We rushed to you, but you seemed to be appearing and disappearing rapidly. I don't know what happened, but we have been reunited."
"Naruto was in pain in the other world as well," Kurama says. "If you were moving rapidly between the two worlds that might explain why you felt that pain."
"What other world?" Shukaku asks.
"Could it be the one that those invaders came from?" Son Goku asks. "And for that matter Naruto, why are you younger than you were before? The last time we met you were an old man."
"You have a lot to catch up on," Kurama remarks.
"Quiet," Naruto tells them all.
"What?"
Naruto uses the One True Sense in the eternal nothingness that is the void, not expecting to find anything but he is surprised. There is something, something small very far in the distance, something that even with the One True Sense he can barely detect. He finds himself incapable of moving towards it, but that does not surprise him, he should not be able to survive in the void at all. Slowly he senses the object moving towards him and he begins to get a sense of what shape it is.
Then he begins to put the pieces together.
He realises something impossible.
"Somebody is watching us."
In Response to Garret Hawke
Who asks if Naruto could return to the pocket-world and find the other tailed beasts
You timed that question very well.
After this chapter I'm sure your question has been answered.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to jenuzumaki
Who asks where Naruto ran to
He ran to North-East Ewoa to be alone, as stated in this chapter.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to iloveffn
Who asks about battle classes
Usually the strongest warrior in any pocket-world is class 3.
When a Kaguya type figure gains all chakra in that pocket-world they might become class 4.
So the ten tails itself and Madara were probably class 3.
They would certainly be among the strongest class 3 warriors.
The reason military generals are usually class 3 is so they are strong enough to conquer a pocket-world.
I don't know what class Baryon mode Naruto would be.
Thanks for reading.