IMPERIALS – THE LADY IN THE VOID
The Dark Dimension Temple
"What is that orb?" Shikadai asks.
"Nothing that would interest the pocket-worlders, just another information storage device."
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
"Yes!"
"Helion-sensei, please tell us the truth," Himawari asks politely.
Ashen smiles faintly. In the short time she has spent with these pocket-worlders she has decided that she likes them. She particularly enjoys the company of Himawari, a student worthy of her teachings, far greater than anyone she taught from the Dark Dimension. Seeing such a talented student wearing the black and red of her empire fills her with pride. However, there are things more important to her than new friendships, more important to her than even her own empire.
"There are not many people I can trust with my secrets, and in time I think you could be such people, especially you Uzumaki Himawari. Sadly, my top priority for now is protecting the Little Diamond. Once I find the Little Diamond there will be no more safety, the secret will be out. I don't know that I can trust you with this information yet. That's why for now I must act alone. Don't worry, we can work together again when the secret is safe."
"You said that you would help with my sister's condition," Boruto says angrily. "Ashen, what does that device do?"
"This device was built to target your grandfather. It replaces him with his anti-aspect, a being from the Observer Realm. I doubt it is a concept that pocket-worlders or Homeworlders are familiar with."
Boruto activates his golden 'death' and golden 'fate' cloaks, readying himself for battle. Himawari joins him, activating her own trio of golden cloaks.
"Imagine that there is a place with many other versions of yourself, versions who would make slightly different decisions, but they can't. These versions of you experience everything you do, they see what you do, smell what you do, feel what you do. They can't decide what they do though, only you can decide that. Those other versions of yourself reside in a place we call the Observer Realm. It is not somewhere you can travel, at least not by conventional means, it exists where you exist, it is everywhere, overlapping all space as you know it."
"What is an anti-aspect?" Shikadai asks.
"The anti-aspect was only a theory when I was sealed. The other versions of yourself are called aspects. Some aspects would only make one or two different decisions from you. Some would decide many things different from you. The anti-aspect is your polar opposite, the most different version of you. This device was designed to find Endou Akashi's divine energy. When it found him it would replace him with his anti-aspect, or at least one of the beings similar to his anti-aspect.
"There was only one thing we needed to worry about, one thing that slowed down the development of this device during the last war. We worried that Akashi's anti-aspect would hate all life. So the plan was simple, find something close to his anti-aspect, a being with loyalties acceptable to us, a being loyal to the Dark Dimension. We gave a special name to this aspect were planning to choose. We called it a counter-aspect."
"You replaced our grandfather with a Dark Dimension puppet?" Himawari asks.
"It is nothing personal, but I need someone for a distraction while I retrieve the Little Diamond. Your grandfather was the perfect candidate. His counter-aspect is the only being I can trust."
"You could have trusted me," Himawari protests.
"No, I cannot. I can't trust anyone with this secret."
"If you think that device replaced our grandfather with his counter-aspect you are going to be disappointed," Boruto says. "I guarantee you that the counter-aspect of Endou Akashi is not here. That cannot happen."
"Normally I would think twice hearing you bluff," Ashen remarks calmly. "But if you see the dye in this orb, that proves that the device has worked. It has locked onto your grandfather's 'life' energy, and it has replaced him with his counter-aspect."
Boruto's mind races through the implications of Ashen's last comment. If that was locking onto his grandfather's energy that would be one thing, but Ashen said it was looking for 'life' energy. During the war with the Dark Dimension, Akashi was the only being who had discovered 'life' energy. It was a guaranteed way to identify him. If they used that method of identifying Akashi, they did not find his grandfather, but they did find and replace someone else with their counter-aspect. They replaced his father!
His father is currently with his mother, his grandparents, his aunt! If he has been replaced by his counter-aspect then they are all in mortal danger, and he has absolutely no idea where they are. Ashen's plan may only have been to create a distraction that would keep everyone busy, but she has done something far worse. She has interfered in a war she does not know is happening. She has taken the mightiest rebel warrior and has replaced him with his total opposite, surely one of the most heinous beings to have ever existed.
"Change him back," Himawari says as she raises the Sacred Dagger.
"Fear not Uzumaki Himawari, this is only a temporary measure. When I am done your world shall return to normal."
Ashen has no idea what she is doing, and thanks to their decision to bluff about their grandfather's survival, they cannot tell her.
"I said, change him back!"
Himawari throws the Sacred Dagger, a weapon that now is followed by a stream of golden 'fire' and golden 'lightning' energy. It ricochets back and forward before flying towards the top of Ashen's head. Ashen uses golden 'speed' energy to increase her movement pace, she catches the rapidly descending dagger before using 'strength' energy to pull it from its course. She walks calmly towards an awestruck Himawari before kicking her student through the pain of glass and into the research laboratory.
Next Ashen walks towards Boruto. He raises his hand to put on the Death Mask but before he can do so she throws the Sacred Dagger towards him. Boruto hesitates. Fortunately the Sacred Dagger stops just short of the Shadow Hokage, Himawari using her telekinetic control of the weapon to save her brother. However, Ashen jumps up and uses golden 'strength' energy to kick the dagger. Boruto uses his own energy to defend himself but the dagger still drives him backwards, slamming him through the aged desks.
Ashen uses golden 'speed' to launch herself towards the entrance to the room. Boruto realises what she is planning far too late, and despite his best attempts Shikadai's 'darkness' energy is too slow to halt the empress. She makes her way to the entrance of this underground lair and boosts her 'strength' before slamming her hand into the stairwell wall. She quickly rushes out of the danger zone before doing the same thing again. She ascends the stairs doing this several times, collapsing the ceiling in on the stairwell.
Boruto rushes his way to the entrance but is too late. Ashen has shut them in. If she is true to her word she will return for them, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the entire world is depending on the rebellion, and that rebellion is depending on Uzumaki Naruto, a man who is no longer here. Unless he can find a way out of this underground dimension, they are all doomed.
The Void
Naruto sees the being slowly approach him. He doesn't understand how this can be happening and he is still not convinced that he isn't hallucinating. People should not be able to exist in the void. They only managed to move through it previously because of Hashirama's special vehicle being operated by a collection of powerful experts. He shouldn't be surviving here under his own power, but somebody else surviving here is even less likely.
"Can you tell who it is?" Kurama asks.
"Not yet."
"What's going on?" Kokuo asks Kurama.
"The invaders travelled to our world using a portal. Since we fought them last we have become allies. The space between our worlds is a lifeless place called the void. We shouldn't be able to survive here. Someone approaching us should be impossible, even for our most powerful enemy. That's why we need to know who this is."
"It is a woman," Naruto eventually explains. "She's slightly shorter than me. She has light purple hair, about shoulder length. She's wearing a dress of some sort, light red, no sleeves. Light blue eyes, possibly green. I definitely don't recognise her."
"Naruto, does she look like anyone you know? Could she be a family member?" Gyuki asks.
"She doesn't look like anyone."
A smile appears on the face of this woman. She bursts forward with tremendous speed, arriving just in front of Naruto. The 7th Hokage doesn't understand it, he didn't feel any divine energy as she moved, nor did he feel any chakra. He cannot get his head around this.
"Hello," the woman says.
"Hi," Naruto replies.
"Naruto don't trust her," Kurama warns his host. "She could have hostile intentions and we don't know anything about her. Our being here might be her fault. I know it's not in your nature, but for once try not to be so trusting."
The woman leans towards Naruto and places her hand beside her mouth, as if shielding it. She then whispers to him.
"Tell Kurama I can hear him."
"You know Kurama's name? How is that be possible?"
"Oh I've been a big fan of yours for a long time now. I believe I saw you reunite with your other tailed friends as well. Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, and Gyuki. Hello to all of you."
"Who are you?" Naruto asks.
"My name is Takada Kasumi."
"He asked who you are, not what your name is," Shukaku yells, testing Kasumi's claim.
"Yes Shukaku, I can hear you as well," Kasumi says. "Fair enough you are right, Naruto did ask who I am, not what my name is. The answer to that question will help to answer several others I am sure you are asking. How are you here in the void? How can you survive here? What happened to you before? How am I here?
"The answer is simple; I am Homeworld's progenitor."
"That doesn't sound very simple to me," Naruto complains. "What's a progenitor?"
Kasumi smiles. "I am the oldest person you have ever met. I am older than the pocket-worlds and the invasion into those realms. I am older than the war with the Dark Dimension and the emergence of Endou Akashi and Furst Jonas. I am older than those weapons that people believed were just stories. I was in fact the first person in Homeworld to use divine energy. In a way I started this journey you now find yourself on."
"You were the first? Why have I never heard of you?"
"I was nothing remarkable, it was just a coincidence that I was the first. I worked out the secret behind 'lightning' energy, much less impressive than your 'life' breakthrough. For many years after that I did not break through again. I lacked your talent, but there was something different about me, I am a progenitor.
"Many years passed, I'm not sure how many exactly. Then something hit me and I began to understand everything. I don't know what happened, but something in me changed fundamentally. The regular elements, transcendent elements, even double-transcendent elements like your own, I just understood them. Sometimes I would break through in several elements per day. It was just easy; it was like reality was deliberately manipulating my path so that I could make breakthroughs.
"I became strong quickly, and the world could not hold me anymore. My stray thoughts were destroying Homeworld in front of me. I was the most powerful being alive, and I was too strong for Homeworld, I belonged somewhere stronger, a place where only I could go. There is a different realm, a place where you would be too weak to walk. It is like the void; if you stood there you would be torn apart instantly.
"Since then I have only been able to reside in that other realm, and here in the void. I have been watching you Uzumaki Naruto. I have been watching you for a very long time, since before your time-travel, since before your world was invaded. It is like I said, I am a fan, you have had a very interesting life, it has been my privilege to watch a story such as yours unfold. I always thought you had potential to be something remarkable."
"You understand 'life'?" Naruto asks.
"Yes."
"And 'destruction'?" Kurama asks.
"All of them."
"But you are too strong to return to Homeworld or the pocket-worlds?"
"Exactly."
"Why are you here?" Naruto asks. "No, that's not what I mean. Why am I here? No, that's not what I mean either. Why are we here together? Why are you talking with me? You have all this power; we must all look like insects to someone as strong as you? Why do you want to speak with someone as powerless as me?"
"I am not telling you these things without reason," Kasumi assures Naruto. "Years from now these things will happen to you as well."
"Me?"
"The progenitor for Homeworld is me, Takada Kasumi. The progenitor for Homeworld's pocket-worlds is you, Uzumaki Naruto."
"I am?" Naruto is shocked. "Was I the first pocket-worlder to discover divine energy? That can't be possible, there are lots of other pocket-worlds. Surely someone in one of them worked it out first?"
"No. Senju Hashirama could have used 'death' energy before you because of Tao Ma's intervention, but he did not understand that energy. What is required is understanding, and you were the first person to understand divine energy. At some point in the future you will be forced to leave this world behind. Your power will multiply and you will become stronger than anything you can imagine. If you are alive in order for that to happen you will come with me, to the realm beyond. A realm where only progenitors can walk."
"I will need to leave Hinata behind? My entire family?"
"Yes. I am sorry. It is possible that even the tailed beasts will be forced to remain. It will be for their own good, you are just too strong for them. Being in your presence would be very dangerous."
"… I will be alone again."
"You do not know me Naruto, but I have watched your life unfold. I can assure you that as long as I live you will not be alone."
"Thank you."
"Do not thank me, I have many enemies in that realm. Your life has been filled with trials and tribulations, that would not change. I have a something I need to do, so I have been scouting for people like you to help me with that mission."
"People like me?"
"They have not reached the same stage of their journeys as you have, but they have amazing stories just like you. I can tell they are each destined for greatness, just like you. One day I hope that we can form a team unlike any other and complete my mission."
"There are other progenitors?"
"Not in Homeworld or its pocket-worlds. They exist in places far away that you have never seen. They are not progenitors yet, but I believe that is what they will become. The saiyan raised on earth, the substitute soul reaper, the pirate with the straw hat, the fire dragon slayer. There are others well, but none as far along their paths as you. You are almost there, almost to the safe point where nobody can top you from understanding all the elements."
"But they still can?"
"Of course. Most progenitors are killed before they ever reach that point where they begin to understand other elements. To be honest you are still at a big disadvantage in your current conflict, Furst Jonas is much stronger than you are, much stronger than anyone in Homeworld. There is also another obstacle in front of you, your other self."
"My other self?"
"That Akatsuki robe you saw forming on your arm was not a hallucination or a coincidence. That was the choice of attire of your other self, a man who would have made very different choices than you. He is ruthless and he is willing to do things that you are not. It will be difficult for anyone to stop him, but it will be especially difficult for you. You may not even get the chance to return to your world and fight him, that is why I need to make sure that you are ready before you do."
"You are going to make me ready?"
"Of course, this is the first opportunity we have had to meet. Since I have requested that you help me in the future it would be wrong of me not to train you now. I will train you, so that if you return you are ready to fight your other self."
In Response to NicoFics
Who asks what just happened to Naruto
Hopefully this chapter went some way towards explaining that.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to iloveffn
Who asks a couple of questions
Q1: Could a pocket-worlder unknowingly master an element?
A1: It would definitely be unusual, but I don't think it would be impossible.
Q2: Could Kaguya reach class 5 by taking a second pocket-worlds chakra fruit?
A2: Each battle class represents in increase in the quality of your power, so it would probably take more than two fruit. But with enough fruit it would definitely be possible. Perhaps it would take tens to reach class 5, and hundreds to reach class 7.
Thanks for reading.