THE END WAR – 'LIFE' ENERGY
The Imperial Palace
Sasuke rushes to Naruto's side ahead of the others and checks on his condition. As suspected, his Hokage can't move. He looks at Jonas and feels terror rush through his body. He has fought against people stronger than himself before, but he has never seen anyone like this. The emperor is quickly rushing towards class 11, three classes stronger than Sasuke. Fighting Jonas for him is like a civilian taking on an elite shinobi. He knows that there is only one person among them who can stand up to Jonas, that is Naruto.
He has a plan, but that plan requires the greatest of all risks.
"Can you hold him off?" Sasuke asks Sarada.
"No."
"Can you try?"
"It doesn't look like we have a choice."
Sasuke grabs Naruto and runs. He asks two people with similar powers to his own to accompany him. He asks General Rana the 'space' expert and General Odion the 'time' expert to come with him and Naruto. He has a plan, but it will require the three of them to work together if they are going to succeed.
Most people in the rebellion subconsciously step back. It was always hope and desperation that caused them to believe in Naruto. Now all of them who turned to the 7th Hokage to save them are forced to fight on their own. This is nothing like the previous battle, even though they now have a numbers advantage. Their opponent is overwhelmingly stronger than they are, stronger than the mightiest warrior the rebellion has.
Endou-Hyuuga Hinata steps forward.
"You are all scared, I can tell. That's why it is important that we keep going now. It is at these moments when giving up is most tempting that we show our resolve to never back down. Many of you may not know this, but I have memories from the pocket-world, memories of my time as a shinobi. Over time something became clear about the great shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village, and the shinobi of all villages. What defines a great shinobi is not the way they choose to live; it is the way they choose to die.
"We are starting death in the face here; I'm not going to lie to you about that. If we stand up to this man I am certain that he could kill us given enough time. That is why we will not stop attacking him, we will all attack together, as one people, as the Free Peoples of Homeworld. I don't know how long Sasuke expects us to delay him, but I know that we don't stand a chance if we don't try. I believe that we can do it together. And if we cannot, then I ask you only one question. You will stand here, fighting for Homeworld's freedom against her deadliest enemy.
"Tell me, how would you rather die?"
Hinata's speech is enough. A series of valiant class 9 warriors and class 8 warriors step forward. She is right, there is no better way to die than a hero's death. Furst Jonas will be remembered as the worst villain in the history of this land. The life of an immortal can be re-written one-thousand times, but their death can only occur once. You must choose when to risk your life wisely if you are to write that perfect death. This is the moment.
That's right, they step forward. Head General Clyde of the Military. King Didier of the Beast Kingdom. The bandit Marti Nina. Dark Dimension Empress Helion Ashen. Yuuki Terukatsu, Leader of the War Council. Ming Dai, the Prince of Gavaria. Head General Safura of the Imperial Guard. Generals Alaa, Yasmine, and Dodi. Duke Laurent and Princess Emilie of the Beast Kingdom. Naruto's student Hannah. Former Empress Consort Muto Enri. Blaze Princess Uzumaki Himawari. 9th Hokage Uchiha Sarada. Crown Prince Uzumaki Boruto. Returning Empress Endou-Hyuuga Hinata. If they are not the ones to fight here, who could ever be?
They stand, against the world's most powerful enemy. They stand and they fight.
From a distance Shao Chin stands ready with a Tracking Shot.
Nadia sighs. 'How foolish.'
Enri rushes forward first, enhancing a stone with golden 'fate' energy and throwing it towards Jonas. Her intention is to manipulate luck and hit a weak spot with the stone. Jonas smirks, easily using golden 'destruction' energy to eliminate the stone. Dodi uses golden 'absence' energy to pass through Enri from behind and strike Jonas. The emperor barely feels the attack, returning a strike to Dodi that knocks him back into Enri, eliminating them both with the power of this single blow.
Hannah is the next to approach, although her instincts tell her there is no way to win she wisely approaches from behind. She strikes him from behind him with golden 'darkness' energy, letting it linger after contact, the first step of her Light-Dark Barrage. She sees Jonas turning towards her and claps her hands together, the Stun Clap. Jonas continues to grab her by the wrist. She is shocked, the Stun Clap should have confused all his senses. No, that worked against Carmen, a master of balancing her senses, but Jonas knows even more sensory techniques than she did. Jonas spots the incoming Duke Laurent and hits him with Hannah, using her as a weapon. He then throws Hannah into Laurent, taking the two of them down.
Yasmine is worried because she is on the last of her Lucky Three, but Hinata was right, if this is how she is going to die, she will not regret it. She attacks three times before Jonas catches her fist. He points out her three-strike tempo and how it is easy to counter. He pushes her back slightly before 'creating' steel chains to bind her. He then uses that chain as a rope, swinging her around him three times before throwing her away.
'Uzumaki should have made you realise the truth,' Nadia comments. 'There is a reason I plotted against Jonas all those years. It is because he is too strong. If I thought gathering and uniting the world's strongest warriors would work I would have done it. I didn't because he is too strong.'
Empress Helion Ashen is the next to attack, using golden 'speed' energy to work in tandem with Princess Emilie of the Beast Kingdom. They dart around Jonas in an attempt to confuse him. It appears that they are choosing an identical moment to attack, but Ashen is only faking her attack. Emilie leaps at Jonas from behind. The emperor 'creates' a diamond wall in Emilie's way. The leopard hits the wall painfully. Jonas then kicks the wall from the other side, firing it into Emile. Ashen uses golden 'strength' energy to strike at the emperor but he catches her attack effortlessly before kicking her aside.
Himawari throws the Sacred Dagger at Jonas. It circles his head in a zigzagging motion, changing every time in a way that is impossible to predict. She has trapped Jonas in position. Sarada uses this trap, standing close to Jonas and flooding the area around him with a gas to put him to sleep. This amuses the emperor; he is the worst person to use this tactic on. He uses Nano-Control with his golden 'destruction' energy to destroy the gas as quickly as Sarada is creating it.
Himawari changes the path of the Sacred Dagger, firing it towards Jonas. Jonas stops the Sacred Dagger with the tip of his finger. He 'creates' a thin layer of diamond around it before throwing it back towards Himawari, taking her out of the fight. Sarada tries to attack him with her own golden 'destruction' energy, but the difference in their powers and skills is a mountain that the 9th Hokage cannot climb. Jonas uses his Nano-Control to weave small amounts of his own golden 'destruction' energy through Sarada's, striking at her with it. He defeats the second of Naruto's students.
'Throw as many warriors as you like against him, it won't be enough. You use 'strength' energy, he is still stronger. You use 'speed' energy, he is still faster. You have powerful eyes, he has more sensory techniques than you know. You are going to use deception and trickery, he has more tricks up his sleeve than anyone here, he just doesn't need them. You're going to outsmart him, he's a genius beyond what you can imagine. Defeating him is impossible for you.'
Safura and Alaa place their hands on Hinata's shoulder to indulge her dangerous request. The Head General creates golden 'diamond' restraints to trap Jonas. She then uses her Quick Step to move forward before kicking his abdomen. Alaa activates his Berserk Switch and runs forward, joining Safura in attacking Jonas. They hit him with a continuous barrage of strikes, but he doesn't retaliate. They believe he is underestimating them, especially when Hinata reveals the power that they have donated to the Sacred Sword.
With the Sacred Sword showing tremendous power the Returning Empress charges at her most hated enemy. She swings the sword at him like a bat. Neither Safura nor Alaa see what happens, but they are pushed back by the great explosion of divine energy upon impact. When they raise their heads they see that Jonas has broken free from his golden 'diamond' restraints and has caught the sword. The only damage he has sustained is a small cut to his hand. A small cut! He repairs it immediately by 'creating' skin to cover it. Jonas pushes the sword aside before landing a single strike to Hinata's head, knocking her back.
'This is… impossible…' Shao Chin tells himself.
Nina uses Lightning-Gathering and Fire-Gathering at the same time with the help of many of the weaker rebels. She then fires both elements towards Jonas with as much power as she can. He 'creates' a shield to block all of it. Even he is surprised that his 'creation' powers are now strong enough to endure an attack powered by so many, but he is not disappointed. He pushes the shield forward, throwing it at the bandit to take her out of the fight.
Several kunai appear mid-air and rush towards Jonas. They all switch from kunai to Rasengan and strike him. They have almost no effect, but they were only a cover to begin with. Combining his Death Mask with his grandfather's Step Burst technique, Boruto approaches Jonas. He grabs the emperor from behind and attacks him with as much golden 'death' energy as he can. Jonas notes that Boruto is the most competent of all those attacking him, but that it is still not enough. He 'creates' protective armor between the two of them. He then 'creates' a block of diamond, firing it through the armor and hitting Boruto's abdomen. He drives his elbow into the Shadow Hokage's head, taking him down.
Clyde teleports forward with King Didier. Jonas saw this coming a while ago. He kicks forward, hitting Didier before the arriving Beast King can even react. Surprisingly Didier endures this attack and attacks again, but he has no finesse nor any restraint. Jonas kicks the Beast King a second time, making sure that he stays down this time. He glances for a moment at the eyes of General Clyde, the man who in many ways caused all this, he sees what he always saw, that Clyde hates him. Jonas grabs in two directions at once. Clyde teleports away from Jonas but accidentally moves into the path of Jonas's other hand, exactly where the emperor predicted. This helps Jonas to add Clyde to the list of warriors he has defeated.
Ming Dai uses his inherited telepathic powers to approach Jonas from the last direction the emperor expects. He 'enhances' his golden 'strength' energy and strikes Jonas as hard as he can. Even caught completely unaware Jonas's reactions are magnificent. He catches Ming Dai's attack, pitting his strength against the physically strongest warrior of the rebellion. He is surprised that even when he is one class stronger and has many more skills than Dai, the Prince of Gavaria still does well. That raw strength is not enough to defeat Jonas though. Jonas releases Dai and 'creates' a glove of diamond on his own hand. He punches Dai's head, using his superior reach to outmanoeuvre Sora's student.
Finally, Jonas is attacked from behind by a golden 'silver' sword. Of course it doesn't hurt him, this is only class 8 energy. It is energy from the man who declared war on him, from the Leader of the War Council himself. He reaches behind him and snaps the sword on one hand, defeating Terukatsu by throwing the remnants of that very sword at him. He smirks to himself, all those mighty warriors from the rebellion defeated. He believes that among them only Boruto comes close to rivalling Naruto's talent. However, neither the Pocket Emperor nor the Crown Prince are rivals to him. He stands alone at the pinnacle of this world's warriors.
Shao Chin lowers his bow, judging the situation hopeless. Even if he hit Jonas with twenty of these arrows it wouldn't make a difference. They cannot stand up to him.
An Unknown Location
Naruto awakens after what feels like hours. He feels fine, he can move again. For this to have happened his 'life' energy must have had a long time to act, that is the only explanation. That is the last of his questions though. He is in a place similar to the void, but distinct in its own way. The landscape is entirely empty, slowly switching between black and white. There is nothing here except for the ground beneath his feet, a grey concrete-like substance. He doesn't understand where he is, this is not the void, where could it be?
"Hello."
Naruto turns around to see Sasuke stood behind him. Naruto notices that Sasuke is not alone either, he is one point of a triangle. There are three warriors looking away from this triangle's centre, each looking in a different direction. There is Sasuke, General Rana, and General Odion.
"Are you the real Sasuke?"
"Yes."
"How did we get here?"
"We brought you here Naruto, to this nothingness, to a temporary space that we created. To manipulate space into creating a place like this is not easy, even with Rana and I working together. That is why time is strange in this place. You can probably tell that you have been recovering for hours. A realm like this can only last a few seconds, but Odion and I have distorted the time. In here it could seem like years before the realm collapses and you need to leave. It could be centuries. We do not know; nobody has ever done anything like this before and survived."
"I don't understand," Naruto admits.
"We created a realm where time moves slowly so that you could train Naruto, you are the rebellion's hope. When we left I asked Sarada and the others to fight Jonas for as long as they could. Right now I imagine the first of them have reached him and the fight has started."
"Then I have to go back!"
"No, I won't allow that."
"Sasuke, they will die."
"I know that is a possibility, but we have more time than you realise. This is time you cannot afford to waste. Before you came here it seemed obvious to me that you were fighting with your full power. You are the rebellion's strongest warrior, they call you Pocket-Emperor for a reason, and yet you couldn't win. If you were to go back now you would fight Furst bravely, and you would do better than anyone else could do. But can you honestly tell me that you could fight him and win?"
Naruto remains silent.
"I have made an observation about divine oddities," Sasuke says. "They seem to be improved through the use of normal skills. I believe that Jonas's Micro-Control depends on him sensing changes around him on a microscopic level, something normal people can't do. I believe that Boruto's Death Mask improves the more he is surrounded by death and anxiety, and it is strengthened further by the stealth skills he has acquired as a shinobi. Your divine oddity is different, I believe that your divine oddity becomes more powerful because of your unique mind."
"My mind?"
"You are the most determined man I have ever met. Your willpower is greater than anyone else's. Improving that willpower is almost impossible, not even the threat of loved ones dying has increased it. After all you have been through what more could people threaten you with? I hear that at first you improved by understanding the mechanics of your oddity when you fought Hannah. The last time your divine oddity improved significantly is when you were fighting General Safura and you divided your mind.
"Boruto divides his mind more skilfully than you, but I believe that is irrelevant. Boruto dividing his mind makes him slightly stronger, but it makes you many times stronger. If you could divide your mind as many times as Boruto we may stand a chance against Jonas. Become stronger Naruto, gain more strength, more speed, more stamina, more skill. Divide your mind again. His Nano-Control is the most advanced divine oddity we have ever seen. Make your oddity even stronger than his. I believe that is the only way we can win."
Naruto sighs, "Enri did say it was more useful for me. But I am not as good at it as Boruto. I may never be able to divide my mind further."
"I believe that you will."
"Yeah?"
"I mentioned that nobody has tried this and survived before. This technique requires a lot of divine energy. Do you see the crack on the back of my hand?"
Naruto leans forward and looks at Sasuke's hand. As the Shadow Hokage said there is indeed a crack along the back of it. Behind that crack there seems to be a light shining. In Sasuke's case this light is viridian. Naruto notices that there are similar cracks on the hands of Rana and Odion. In Rana's case the energy is green. For Odion the energy is Silver. Naruto has seen these colours before, the colours of 'spacetime', 'space', and 'time' energies. These are the energies of the three warriors in the triangle.
"Sasuke, have you—"
"We have detonated our cores," Sasuke says. "There is only one way to save us now, that is to become strong enough to catch all three of us before our cores detonate. You will have less than a second to do that when time returns to normal. Naruto, even Rana and Odion who were your enemies agreed to this. We have risked detonating our cores because we believe that you will divide your mind again. We believe that you will become strong enough to save us from our own detonations."
"And if I'm not?"
"Then we all die. I wish that I could take this burden from you but I cannot. The pressure is on Naruto, like it never has been before. It's like I said, you are the only one who can save us now."
The Imperial Palace
Mitsuki leaps towards his two fallen teammates and drags them away from Jonas. When he is sure they are at a safe distance he calls over a medic to help the two of them. He looks at Jonas and sees the destruction he has caused. He expected the emperor to be strong, but he never imagined that so many class 9 and class 8 warriors could be defeated by one person. He is amazed.
"Where have you been?" Sarada asks.
"I had to return to our pocket-world. I remembered what the Seer Twins said. We saw Naruto in the pocket-world the last time we went there, but he wasn't where he originally died. I thought there must be a reason why he was present in that spot. I thought that something must have been anchoring him there. I was right."
"You should probably have stayed," Boruto says. "You're much more likely to die now that you're here."
"I couldn't stay, not after finding what I found."
Nadia stands from the chair as she sees what is happening, her eyes wide in shock.
A hand comes to rest on Swen's chest. At the last moment the dying king's life is saved as he is surrounded by powerful golden 'life' energy.
The eyes of so many are drawn to that spot, to the salvation of Lazy King Hoffman Swen. He is being spared at the end, just as so many of them are. They are blessed by Homeworld's beacon of hope. So many of them are overcome by emotion, by memories, by tears.
"That is 'life' energy I sense isn't it?" Jonas remarks. "And Uzumaki couldn't possibly have returned yet. That can only mean one thing. You have returned to face me here, at the end of the rebellion and the empire of old. You have come to be the beacon of hope once again, the saviour of Homeworld, the protector of the old empire. You have returned…
"… Endou Akashi."
In Response to jenuzmaki
Who asks if Naruto could kill Jonas by absorbing his lifeforce
Yes, but it would take a very long time.
I doubt Jonas would be kind enough to wait.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Guest
Who asks if Ming Dai has inherited the powers of Sora's Crown
No he hasn't.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Rexg
Who asks if Naruto has used his shadow clones in this story
As you have guessed clones cannot use the original's divine energy.
Naruto has occasionally used clones as a distraction since they would be class 3 through chakra alone.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Sarada chan san
Who asks if Naruto becomes a proegnitor would Boruto become one too
Yes, they are both progenitors.
In theory Boruto was a progenitor before Naruto, so if the time before gaining the progenitor breakthrough was fixed he reach it first.
Thanks for reading.