THE END WAR – EVERYONE SAVES NARUTO
The Imperial Palace
Jonas looks closely at Naruto's head protector as the 7th Hokage ties it once again. He notices a few unusual features of the metal; it has clearly been crafted by experts to provide a genuine defence. How it was modified so that it would absorb divine energy is a mystery to him, something that he will investigate when this is all over. Perhaps whoever crafted that head protector is starting their own journey, perhaps they will one day be capable of crafting items with the same power as the Sacred Sword or Sacred Dagger. It is not important though, the energy of everyone who touched that head protector saved Naruto once but it won't do it again.
"Nothing has changed you fool."
"Everything has changed Jonas."
"Because you received a prophecy from a seer. I suppose you must have spoken to Theresa and Philip while you occupied the Hertz Family Compound. You should know that they have made mistakes before. Tell me, what did they tell you would happen after this?"
"They told me that after everyone saved me my greatest moment would arrive."
"Your prophecy is open to misinterpretation, that greatest moment is still yet to be defined. For example, if I hit you in the head again now you will die. If you die fighting me here that will mark my ascension to a divinity. As I said, nothing has changed for you. Just give it a try if you doubt me, attack me Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto glances past Jonas at Hinata. He smiles to her. He is determined that he will find a way to defeat Jonas, that he won't give up, but he accepts that it is possible he is wrong. They both know it is a possibility, now they both know what it is like to lose the other. They could both die again, that is a very real prospect. Naruto nods to Hinata and she nods in reply, wishing him the best of luck from the depths of her heart, a sentiment seconded by all the rebellion.
Naruto creates several 'sand' platforms around Jonas, he uses One-Hundred Percent Detonation to bounce between them as quickly as he can. Even at this great speed Jonas easily keeps track of him. After growing bored of watching Naruto ricochet around Jonas throws an orb of golden 'destruction-creation' energy towards him. The 7th Hokage narrowly avoids the orb before repairing the platform it destroys and continuing to bounce between them. Each time he bounces from a platform he leaves a small amount of divine energy on it. Jonas attacks with several of these orbs, not with intent to kill but to tire Naruto. But Naruto is not trying the same strategy as before, he recognises that there is only one person in Homeworld strong enough to kill Furst Jonas, and that is Furst Jonas himself.
One of the golden 'destruction-creation' orbs hits a spark of golden 'fate' energy. Naruto manipulates luck in this moment, causing the properties of the orb to change. For a moment the orb adopts elastic properties. It bounces off the platform towards Jonas. The emperor holds his hand out to catch the orb but is pushed a few steps backward. Naruto runs up to Jonas from behind, adding 'might' energy to his hand and punching the occupied emperor as hard as he can. But Jonas is a genius, he uses Pico-Control to destroy the rebounded orb and to stop Naruto's attack.
With a flick of his wrist Jonas sends Naruto tumbling back.
"I don't need to bother myself with you anymore," Jonas says as he approaches Hinata and her tremendous shield. "He is no longer a rival to me Princess Hinata, but this shield is my obstacle. If I can break my way through this I can fulfil my destiny and become the god of Homeworld."
"If you want to divide your attention I won't complain. Attack the shield, waste your energy on trying to get past us. Meanwhile he is thinking of a way to defeat you."
Nearby someone is planning.
Shikadai hears a voice in his head.
"Please tell me you're as clever as I think you are."
"Nadia, is that you?"
"Of course it is. You know that Safura sent for reinforcements from the Imperial Guard don't you?"
"Yes, she sent messengers to every country. They should be returning shortly. Why?"
"Stop asking questions you already know the answer to. You told them to prepare for the arrival of the others didn't you?"
"Of course I did."
"Ha-ha. Do you think any of them are expecting it?"
"No."
Safura feels like she has been waiting for a lifetime. However, if she is going to die here she can't think of a better way to do it. She is side-by-side with Ashen. The other generals seem to be treating her as the Head General once again, she is now the leader of a reformed Imperial Guard, even if only for a few moments. She is fighting the man who has been her superior all these years, someone whose methods she truly despises. She has fought Naruto before, she understands how incredible he is, she understands that Hinata is remarkable as well, but she knows that even with this impressive shield Hinata can't hold Jonas back much longer.
"We're back," one of the returning guards says with her communication stone.
This message doesn't go to Al-Aziz Safura as one might expect, this message is sent directly to Shikadai. Shikadai uses his own communication stone to include another in the conversation, specifically, the Thinking Queen Hirsch Nadia. He respects that her mind is just as powerful if not stronger than his own.
"How far apart do you think?" Shikadai asks.
"Place them two-thousand meters apart, you took six didn't you?"
"Yes, six."
"Then two-thousand meters apart, and hurry, if he attacks we can't—"
Jonas strikes the shield at that moment. With his class 11 energy, with his Pico-Control, with golden 'destruction' and golden 'creation', with everything he has. Everyone supporting the shield stumbles backwards as the shield moves towards them. Even with all their collective energy Jonas is starting to shake the shield. Soon it will break.
Hinata feels the shaking moving through the shield into the Sacred Sword, she can feel how close it is to breaking. Then it suddenly gets a huge boost in energy, it gets more reinforcements. She looks over her shoulder to see that yet another class 9 has joined the effort to keep Jonas back. At long last the previous emperor has recovered and has added his energy to the shield.
"Dad!"
"You're right, he is quite something," Akashi says. "If Homeworld can still be saved he is the only one who can do it. For him to do that we have to keep Jonas on that side of the shield."
Hinata is the first to feel the relief as her father's Mass Cohesion divine ability kicks in. Suddenly the shield improves in efficiency as the energies of those helping begin to synchronise. It is not perfect and Jonas is still slowly overpowering them, but Akashi has brought them a bit more time. The previous emperor of Homeworld is still here, fighting for his world and for his family.
Akashi isn't the only one who will help.
Jonas starts as he watches what the returning guards do in the distance. He expected them to return with several of their comrades through the network of portals that he setup. They haven't brought reinforcements back with them at all, they have brought back Max's prototypes for the portal technology. They setup six of these prototypes behind the massive force that is propping up the shield, each two-thousand meters apart. Jonas now realises why this could be a problem. He has always ignored or even supressed the development of Max's prototype portals, being the fastest in Homeworld he has often wanted to slow down his opponents. Now he questions just how many of these prototype portals were available.
Nadia smiles. "Homeworld just got a lot smaller, Jonas."
The first of the portals opens and a few hundred members of the Imperial Guard run through. That is what Jonas was expecting. The second portal opens another few hundred guards run through, as anticipated. He did not anticipate what else would come through those portals, those who would follow the Imperial Guard.
Warriors come charging through in their thousands. These are people who are not part of the Imperial Guard, people who are not part of the rebellion, people with no affiliation at all. Countless people have avoided the war for fear of defying the empire, now they are making their presence felt. As all six portals open up they flood through, soldiers from the last war, hidden experts, retired fighters, those who only broke through yesterday, beasts who are not part of the kingdom, everyone!
Among the huge mass of people Himawari recognises the mayor of the village that Naruto saved, and Ogawa Maki who was her father's history expert. Hinata is pleased to see that former prince Wakamoto Jun is joining the battle as well, as are the other members of the Ewoa Council.
Jonas is trying to become the god of Homeworld. This is no longer about the empire against the rebellion. This is about the people of Homeworld and their right to survive.
He counts them coming through, it starts with thousands but they don't stop. Running through the portal at first were hundreds, then thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands! Jonas estimates that by the time the arrival rate starts to slow his opponents number over one million. Each and every one of these new arrivals places their hands on the shoulder of the person in front, connecting with the mighty warriors who are propping up the shield. In a few moments the shield has not only become much more efficient, but it has also more than doubled in power.
Hinata feels great control as the million-person shield is formed. The shield is more mobile than it was before. As Jonas moves to attack the shield she steps back and all one-million of her supporters match her step perfectly, as if by instinct. The shield retracts slightly, minimising the impact when Jonas eventually strikes it. As Jonas retreats Hinata pushes the shield back towards him, stepping forward and bringing the one-million with her. As Jonas tries to move to the side she steps with him, twisting the shield slightly in his direction.
Jonas knows that the shield will take far longer to break now.
Hinata and her one-million helpers have perfect control of the shield.
They are keeping him back.
"Hey," Naruto says to Jonas. "I think it's quite obvious now that you're not going that way. From now on this fight is just you and me to the end."
Jonas sighs before leaping over to Naruto. He can still move far faster than the 7th Hokage. Naruto uses 'might' energy to increase the power of his leg before kicking towards Jonas's head. Jonas holds his arm out to the side and blocks that kick with ease. He takes hold of Naruto's raised leg before kicking his other ankle, taking it out from beneath him. Naruto falls to the floor. Jonas still has a grip on his leg. The emperor drags Naruto to the front of the shield, directly in front of Hinata. He 'creates' an ice shield as the Pocket Emperor attacks him with 'fire' energy.
"Drop the shield, otherwise he will die this time."
"I am not dropping this shield!"
Naruto forces himself back upright even though Jonas still has hold of his leg. He creates a shadow clone between himself and the emperor as a distraction. He then gathers 'might' energy on his arm and punches directly through the shadow clone, hitting the emperor cleanly. Jonas drops Naruto's leg and the Hokage jumps up and kicks him with the other one. Jonas takes a single step back before punching Naruto, firing him into the shield that Hinata is keeping up. No matter what he tries Naruto has no way to resist, not against an opponent this strong.
Jonas stands over Naruto, just meters away from Hinata and gathers golden 'destruction-creation' energy over his fallen opponent. Jonas begins to lower that energy towards Naruto. Naruto creates a golden 'life-fate' shield and attempts to hold Jonas back. Jonas gradually runs through the tiers of his divine oddity, first Milli-Control, then Micro-Control, Nano-Control, finally Pico-Control. He inches closer to the 7th Hokage, to killing the Leader of the Rebellion.
"This really is the end Hinata," Jonas says. "If you don't dispose of that shield in the next few seconds he is going to die!"
"Do not let go!" Naruto implores Hinata.
Those closest to Naruto are there to see him in these moments that seem to be his last. They believe in him though; he always defies the odds somehow. In this case they can't see how. Boruto and Himawari close their eyes, Enri implores her student to find a way, Sarada prays, Hinata cries. Hinata must maintain non-stop focus to safely project the shield and the consequence for that is that she can't help but see this. She can't help but watch Naruto's time tick down.
Two sparks of energy shoot away from Naruto, one golden 'life', one golden 'fate'. They are solitary, powerless, solemn. At first they diverge, but then they curve back towards each other. Those two bright sparks of energy are nothing compared to the shield that Naruto has in his hand, yet something remarkable happens. Those two sparks of energy connect with each other. On the moment of their connection the power drawn from them increases enormously, and they detonate.
Naruto turns his head to the side to avoid the explosion.
Hinata takes ten hurried steps back as the force of the detonation hits the shield.
Jonas is thrown back!
A class 11 Jonas is down!
Akashi twitches along with the rest of the shield helpers.
Naruto gets to his feet in a state of confusion. He doesn't understand what just happened. Jonas had completely defeated him yet somehow he was hit by Naruto's energy. Somehow Naruto's energy became much stronger for a moment, strong enough to fight back against the emperor with. He doesn't know how. He doesn't understand anything he didn't before, he doesn't have any new techniques, it was all spontaneous. Even if he used 'fate' to manipulate luck and create a perfect energy explosion it wouldn't have been as strong as that.
As Jonas gets to his feet and looks at Naruto it is clear he is just as confused as the Hokage. Where could that power have come from?
An old thought returns to the 3rd Hokage.
"In that moment she combined wind and fire, almost like a kekkai genkai; but such a thing. Such a thing should be impossible."
Hiruzen starts, "That's…"
"Go! Go!" Biwako shouts.
Hiruzen runs frantically through the millions of warriors who are helping to maintain the shield. He shouts out for a communication stone, looking desperately through everyone. Communication stones were restricted wisely by the empire, he runs for what feels like an age before he finds someone with one. After a while he spots Shikadai and runs towards him as fast as he can. He doesn't explain to the shinobi what he is doing, just takes the stone and immediately squeezes it, sending his message to Naruto and to everyone in the rebellion.
"Naruto, that was the same power Mirai used!"
The many members of the rebellion who met Sarutobi Mirai all recall it. For a long time she had a strange power to fuse elements together. She particularly used it with fire and wind chakra to explosive effect. Now that Hiruzen mentions it Sarada sees the resemblance. That mysterious technique that Mirai used, is it possible that Naruto just used it too?
Clyde remembers seeing Mirai use that technique. Clyde also remembers the time that Mirai tried to fuse her two elements not externally but internally. For a moment she had such tremendous power that he told everyone to run away. For a moment Mirai had enough power to draw the gazes of people from all over the world. On that day even Jonas himself admired the amount of energy amassed. That day Mirai was told by a voice from the sky that "you are weak". Clyde wonders if possibly the result could be different. If so it could change everything.
Clyde grabs his communication stone.
"Naruto, you just fused your elements externally. If you do that in your inner world you can win!"
Naruto looks back at Clyde out of habit. During this moment of distraction Jonas leaps towards him, planning to kill him before the 7th Hokage can do anything like that again.
"Mother!" Hinata yells.
Enri quickly summons Naruto to her side, safely behind the shield.
Hinata looks to Naruto, "Go."
"I don't know how to fuse my—"
"You better work it out quick then!"
Naruto uses his One-Hundred Percent Detonation to quickly weave through the people helping with the shield. He stands alone behind the many warriors of Homeworld and a long way away from Jonas. While he puts distance between them, the emperor runs up to the shield and strikes it as hard as he can. Hinata and all the others are jolted backwards before they begin to resist to the utmost of their strength. Those at the front throw themselves at the shield, physically pushing it back against Jonas for that extra bit of resistance.
Jonas is now desperately trying to force his way through the shield.
"No!" Hinata says. "You're never getting past me. You're never going to hurt anyone again Furst Jonas!"
Naruto needs to make realisations about elemental fusion quickly. He divides his mind as many times as he can and thinks about it. He also creates thousands of clones to think about it is as well. After five seconds he undoes the cloning technique, returning all of their thoughts and considerations to his original body. He does this five times in total before he thinks he understands what Mirai was doing. He considers himself ready.
Naruto concentrates his inner world. He draws energy from two tablets as fast as he can, the two marked 'life' and 'fate'. He directs the energy from these two tablets towards each other.
He is lifted a meter from the ground by an invisible force and unfathomable levels of energy begin to gather around him. Tiny explosions quickly start to detonate around him, tiny detonations filled with concentrated powers of previously unseen levels. Those explosions begin to become more frequent and draw closer to Naruto.
Jonas redoubles his efforts.
"Push!" Hinata shouts. "Don't let him past!"
There is a loud bang, a deafening bang! A beam of energy flies up into the sky, half-white and half-yellow, the colours of Naruto's two energies. The two energies swirl around each other, spinning rapidly and creating an intricate pattern. The energy is more than anyone has ever seen before, they can only pray that it is going to work. That is what all of them are doing, praying and pushing.
Akashi encourages everyone, "Keep pushing! Push!"
It has become a mantra for them now. "Push! Push! Push!"
The two energies yellow and white begin to circle Naruto and he feels a tear come to his eye. The circle is gradually drawing nearer to him and he can feel the moment of truth approaching. He thinks of how hard everyone has worked to get him here and he has only one thing to say to them.
"Thank you, everyone… thank you… thank you."
Naruto closes his eyes.
The circling energies converge on him creating a flashing effect. White then yellow then white then yellow. The moment of truth has arrived!
Jonas pushes as hard as he can, but he is not getting through the shield.
"Sora knew," Ming Dai says to himself tearfully. "He always knew this moment would come."
"Do it! Do it Uzumaki!" Nadia shouts.
"You can do it dad!" Himawari shouts.
"Go Naruto-sensei," Sarada says.
"Make it worthwhile," Sasuke says.
"Do it!" Boruto shouts.
"Thank you," Hinata whispers, "Thank you Naruto."
A bellowing voice fills the air, one that Clyde recognises from that day.
The general closes his eyes and prays to hear different words.
The voice speaks.
"YOU!"
"ARE!"
"STRONG!"
Naruto's eyes open.
In Response to Silver Warrior
Whoa asks if the 8 gates would give Naruto a power boost and if they would interact with divine energy
They wouldn't interact, but they would probably make him stronger.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Engineer
Who asks if Akashi is now dead
He is in this chapter, so no, he was just exhausted.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to iloveffn
Who asks several questions
Question: How powerful is an edo tensei Homeworlder?
Answer: As powerful as an edo tensei pocket-worlder.
Question: Can an edo tensei person be controlled by the hive mind?
Answer: If they could use natural chakra then yes.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Rasengan1245
Who asks several questions
Question: How does Naruto's improved divine oddity work?
Answer: Instead of giving a power boost to one or two limbs it gives the boost to his entire body.
Question: Do all of the tailed beasts only understand tier 1 energy?
Answer: Yes, that is correct.
Question: If all of them understood tier 3 energy would that change Naruto's level?
Answer: No, it wouldn't.
Thanks for reading.