Eclipsergateserver: No, no named characters from cathay will appear in this story. Natsuo's mom is an oc.
Guest: I've explained that the locations are a mix of warhammer, irl china, warcraft, and game of thrones. Taran Zhu is from warcraft but he's not a panda here so he's basically an in name only. Aside from Naruto characters, everyone else is an oc.
This story will also have xianxia concepts thrown in. No cultivation but definitely similar taoist fantasy ideas. Xianxia isn't actually cultivation specific. It's a taoist fantasy primarily which happens to often feature cultivation.
'In retrospect, maybe doing mundane chores wasn't so bad after all,' he thought. He'd gotten the language down over the past two months but the land was just so different. There was't any electricity, power, or machinery he was used to.
People here still used a fire place and collected water from the stream. But doing the most mundane of chores, tearing out weeds, delivering things, helping the farm, setting fences. It brought back a familiarity of the old D rank missions.
He smiled at that. Once he may've hated those but now he longed for those days again. His recent attempts at sailing off had not gone well. The ship he was gifted with sunk and he had to run back, thank god for water walking.
"Hey Mingren, come over here, dinners ready," the fisherman's daughter, Zhuzi called out. She was around his age, older by about a year or two.
There was another thing too. They'd taken to calling him Mingren. He'd written Naruto down in Kanji down for them since that was the only script they shared. They'd instantly started calling him Mingren. Apparently that was how Naruto was pronounced here.
The food here was okay. The people here didn't have ramen. He missed ramen. He missed his friends, he missed pervy sage, he missed granny Tsunade, he missed Konoha, heck he even missed the fox. The nine tails hadn't spoken in ages even when he visited to demand answers.
These days, he'd always hide in the recesses of his mind. Content to not do anything. Not even trying to corrupt him.
"Hey Mingren, food will get cold and dad'll worked hard on it," Zhuzi said. "You thinking about your home again?"
"Yeah," he said. "Miss home," he said clumsily.
"It's okay, I'm sure they're out there. One day, you'll be able to find them, I'm sure of it," she says enthusiastically.
Zhuzi was weirdly friendly to him. He thinks it may. Have something to do with the fact that he was the only one around her age. Every other kid was under five. Shanxi village wasn't big in the first place either so he was the only friend around her age.
He smiled softly. Yeah, he was feeling a bit hungry. This village was nice, it was peaceful here. The people were simple yet kind. Something old man Hokage would've wanted to see.
…
Couple days later, they rode into town. Soldiers on horseback in gleaming armour and carrying swords and spears. They were demanding soldiers, conscripts. He could understand the gist of things.
Shanxi wasn't a big place but it did have able bodied men. He was confused of course, didn't these nations have their own shinobi forces? Why did they need ordinary people to fight for.
`He asked his scholar friend. He just gave him a weird look, confused what he was talking about. It was a strange thing, soldiers here weren't stealth specialists, assassins, nor espionage agents. There were seperate classes for those.
"So like samurai from the land of Iron?"
"What on earth is samurai?"
They discussed in hushed tones when a few soldiers came up to them. "You two look like able bodied men, come with me," he said.
His keen ears heard whispers behind him that told him why they approached. These soldiers had a quota to fill and Shanxi was the last village in the county.
"I'm a student of the rainwater academy, you can't conscript me," his scholar friend quickly said. Hence these men turned towards him.
"No, he's just a kid," Zhuzi cried out. She felt a protective love over him, almost like an elder sister. He was always a bit small for his age so that may've been the case.
The soldiers made a bad remark and moved to push her away. Then he reacted. He was sluggish and out of practise, but he was still a shinobi. Defeating ordinary people was child's play.
They fled after that, but not before yelling out profanities and words of vengeance. That evening, Zhuzi comforted him while the village discussed among themselves what to do. He didn't need to hear them to see their intentions.
"And so the cycle begins," the fox who hadn't heard in months spoke up again.
He'd seen those expressions before. They wanted him to leave.
…
Retreating to within the recesses of his bedroom. Naruto contemplated what Taran Zhu had reported. His fingers drummed his chair's armrest as he was stuck in thought.
The southern realms had always been a problem. His greatest rival during the unification wars, Ying Zhen rules Qin and Chu had always been a little rowdy. But both provinces were never discontent and in fact supported him.
The Gaotai Emperor glared at the reflection of himself in his room. "I've been here too long," he said.
He did not mean staying in Huaxia, not at all. Rather, he meant the long time he'd stayed within the walls of Weijin. When was the last time he left? When was the last time he visited the southern realms?
For a man who'd achieved longevity as a true person grand sage, Naruto did not worry about time. His perception of time was a bit skewed because of this.
He eyed the small medallion he held in his right hand. It was a silver circular medallion with the carvings around it resembling a coiling dragon surrounding an amethyst jewel.
He contemplated activating it.
"No, she's still pregnant," he decided against it and hovered the medallion back onto the shelf. "I will wait for Taran Zhu's report," he decided.
…
The Shadow Pan. An ancient order forged by the Four August Celestials, gods of Huaxia. The divine deities hand picked orphans, children as young as a month old and took them in for training.
It was they that protected Huaxia from the shadows. The matters of court intrigue and fighting between nobles clans and states did not bother them. The wars between dynasties did not rouse them.
Nay, their sacred duty was always to defend against cults of chaos and foreign invaders. The Shadowlands, the gods of Ind, the demons of chaos, alien gods, these were among those they dealt with.
But things changed a decade ago. The Shadow Pan master, an ancient expert who'd lived to see five centuries met someone proven worthy by the August Ones. Rather, he met two someones who proved worthy.
Two who competed against one another with one ultimate victor triumphing and being enthroned as Emperor Gaotai, the highest supreme.
Taran Zhu remembers that man well. His direct superior and one who the Shadow Pan now served, Xuanwo Mingren.
"Vacation he said. Nothing big will happen he said," Taran Zhu scoffed. "As if," he leapt from roof to roof tracing the faint traces of magic left behind.
The one's he was tracking were very skilled. Even lesser members of the Shadow Pan would miss them. But Taran Zhu was no lesser member.
He was ranked in the Twelve Heavenly Lords, among the best Huaxia had to offer.
His footsteps made no sound. His figure was indistinguishable as a shadow among shadows. His speed, faster than the eye can see.
He arrived at an abandoned temple. One that from the looks of it, it was once dedicated from the old gods of Huaxia. It was located a few thousand kilometres outside of Nan Chen, further inwards towards the central lands of Chu.
He snuck in regardless, gods long dead were often left forgotten. These abandoned temples were dime a dozen. The place was dusty from a lack of use. It was fairly out of the way too which would explain the lack of repurposing.
Taran Zhu hid in the shadows observing his surroundings. Iconographies of birds were found in this place. Not the Southern August One, but in the shape of a crow. One shaped with three legs.
Taran Zhu wrinkled his nose in disgust. He recognised the symbols around this temples. Though not big, it was once dedicated to the sun crow, a god of fire and the radiant sun. The foul taint of foreign sorcery infecting this place fuelled his anger.
In the dead of night, he entered the main shrine. The place of worship had long fallen from a lack of use. Incense containers knocked over, idles broken down, platforms full of dust and cobwebs.
Taran Zhu starred into the chamber. He placed a hand on his mouth and blew. The gust of wind travelled in the colour of blue light, dancing like flames.
"Reveal yourselves," Taran Zhu chanted. His mystical abilities washed away the cloak of dust revealing clean if old wooden tiles.
The Shadow Pan master placed his palm on the tiles. The tiles transformed. Time seemed to flow backwards and the swirling ripples of the Yin and Yang hovered over.
The illusions of ash appeared before Taran Zhu's eyes. Ash made to disappear by magic now restored through the eyes that peers through time.
"This was recent," Taran Zhu muttered walking up to the ash. He bent down and felt his hand through the illusionary ash, funnelling qi through it. It was tangible though only within the confines of the spell. He took of a whiff of it before instantly dropping it and undoing the spell.
"Human ash," he spat. "Discharge of strong magics. Sacrifices, human sacrifices."
He placed his fingers on the back of his neck. "Shadow Pan, to me," he commanded.
The thing with the Shadow Pan was that because they were so elite, their numbers were very limited. The total amount of agents they had left after the latest demon invasion were less than a hundred.
What's more, because of the north's proximity to the Chaos Plains, the majority of their members hovered north. The south was deemed low priority as the military heavily regulates the borders of both Ind and the Shadowlands.
Taran Zhu was only able to scrape together a dozen or so agents to continue his search. Within the next several days, they made more and more headways in search of more clues to the infiltration of Huaxia.
…
While Taran Zhu was away searching. Natsuo, unaware of the investigation, continued to enjoy his meal at the banquet Lord Ye hosted in Nan Chen.
A day after the hunt, the city lord had graciously decided to host a bandit to celebrate the prince's. As such, the prince's goodwill towards Lord Ye grew. Much of his initial displeasure had almost been forgotten.
Lord Ye watched the boy dragon from the sidelines, allowing him to hog all the attention. He hid his disgust well.
'Mere beast. First a foreigner emperor and his heir's a beast,' he bitterly thought. 'Your majesty, why didn't you press on. Now we're ruled by…by…by these…things.'
It disgusted him to ally with a foreign cult, it truly did. But if it meant liberating Chu from the pretender then he'd do it.
Ever since the pretender took the throne, misery had stricken the land. Demons poured in from the north for an entire year, striking the south for the first time since the days of the Empire of Dawn. His lands were ripped asunder.
If it had not been for the foreigner's brutal usurpation of the status quo, would the dark gods of the far north have really struck them as hard? No, they wouldn't have, for thousands of years they were content skirmishing the northern states. The south had remained beautiful and free. Even the Shadowlands don't wonder in often if at all.
Lord Ye loved Chu. He loved Huaxia. But the current Huaxia was not the one he grew up with. Not the one he loved. Free education? Costly renovations? Sending men into the meat grinder that were the five forts of the Bastion? Ridiculous!
He'd do anything for his people to not suffer fighting those things again. The memory of his last foe still haunted him. His magic was useless, his martial arts harmless.
That monstrous bird demon with two heads. Its four eyes flashing in chaotic magic so keen on destroying him. He still had nightmares about the incident. The explosions, the bombardment, the claws that held him.
"We're in danger," the voice of his ally suddenly reached him. He briefly panicked before calming down. He still however, eyed the figures of Liu Han and the celestial dragon guards wearily.
He then remembered the man was a martial god but not a particularly magically attuned one. He was an expert on the physical applications of qi, not the magical ones.
"How?" He asked mentally.
"Don't know, several of our old abandoned sites were rummaged. Don't know who's doing so. Whoever it is, they're coming close. We're already on the move," they replied.
Lord Ye took a bite of his food and savoured the flavour. Mentally, he counted to communicate. "How are you all going along on the ritual?" He asked.
"We've made very good progress but it's still not enough. The sacrifices aren't fulfilling enough for our god to awaken. We'll need to take drastic measures at this rate," they replied. Lord Ye could hear the frustration in their voice.
"You aren't touching the gifted talents," he spat. "They're the future of Huaxia, not food for your god sorcerer."
"They will if need be. We're out of time. Your nation's men have discovered us too early," they growled back.
On the surface, Lord Ye enjoyed chatter and the meal. He was friendly and amicable to the nobles present. He'd even struck a conversation with the prince.
Eyeing the prince, the revelation that he was a dragon came to him. Previously, he'd thought it was a rumour, as had most nobles in the south. Matters of the imperial court were of no interest to him.
That foreign emperor had already shown his stance when he made his capital as north as physically possible. Why should they care if he didn't. Fantastical tales of the sun dragon prince, mere hearsay. But it seems he was wrong.
"You just need a powerful sacrifice right?" He asked.
"We need lots of sacrifices, those strong in the arcane forces are most ideal."
'Usage of qi you uncouth barbarian,' Lord Ye secretly thought. "Would a magical beast do?" He asked.
"No, they won't. Animals don't know the first thing about harnessing arcane forces. Our gods demand those talented in magic, not monsters," they sounded almost insulted.
"What about a noble beast capable of human form and able to perform advance lores of magic. A beast taught in the ways of the Eight Trigrams."
"What manner of beast are you saying?"
"A dragon, right here in Nan Chen sits a dragon," Lord Ye said.
"Good joke. Those winged beasts of Valyria aren't suitable for our god. They are of one family with our god, his true children, it will be blasphemy," they spat.
"Not those de…not those drakes. I speak of dragons," he grinned out.
"You speak of the cloud serpents," they said.
Lord Ye made sure to take a huge bite of meat at that exact moment. Otherwise, others may realise he was grinding his teeth in anger.
There were a few moments of silence before he received another response. "If the legends hold true, then yes they could work," they said.
"One stays in Nan Chen right now, hurry back before he leaves," Lord Ye said.
"Who is it?"
"Prince Yang," he confirmed.
"Fuck, that will be difficult," they all but screamed. "You expect us to get past the God of War? One of the Twelve Heavenly Lords?"
"You're being rooted out, right? Do you have any other ideas?" Lord Ye sneered. "Besides, we don't need to kill him. We just need to distract him right? Just arrive in Nan Chen, speed is the most important."
The other side chuckled. "Heh, to think you'd sacrifice the sacred animal of your land."
"I will do anything for Huaxia," he said. "Change must occur to restore Huaxia."
"Hm, I can make the trip in two days. Keep the prince there until then," they said before cutting off.
"Will do," Lord Ye peered at Natsuo who'd begun retiring for the night. 'Auspicious or not, beasts have no right ruling the realms of men,' he then began pondering ways to keep the prince in Nan Chen for a little while longer.
…
The midday sun blared in the cloudy blue sky. Birds were chirping, farmers were working, soldiers were training, Shadow Pans investigating. Standing in an abandoned campsite, the dozen agents rummaged through the remains.
The few Shadow Pan agents were speechless. The scorched remains they stood in front of were very fresh. Perhaps just a few days old in fact.
Taran Zhu stood before the cages with a deep look of sadness. The interior contents were emptied. But based on the chains, the bowls, and the marks all over, it wasn't hard to guess what these were for.
Taran Zhu sighed. "Damn, how could we miss this."
"Hundreds of people disappear each in each state never to be found again, my lord. It is a reality," one of the Shadow Pan said. "We were negligent."
Taran Zhu walked back to where the pyre had been set. The burnt remains hadn't even been cleaned. A reconstruction used by the Water Trigram had allowed him to identify the victims as common peasantry of a young healthy age.
These people were taken from their homes, kidnapped and sacrificed by some sick sorcerers. Though it seemed that they were close to finding them.
The sorcerers had clearly caught on to their activities. They weren't even careful this time. The Shadow Pan leader peered northwestwards, towards the location of Nan Chen.
"Life signature indicates they're heading that way," one of his assistants said. "Looks like Lord Ye has indeed turned traitor? Should we call out brothers to investigate Zhang Jiao?"
"Possibly," Taran Zhu said. He handed one of the lesser Shadow Pan members a medallion. "Notify Lord Liu, I'll contact the emperor."
The other Shadow Pans grimaced. "His majesty won't like this elder brother. He cherishes peace above all else. This? This'll make him furious."
Taran Zhu meanwhile brought out the medallion that communicated to the emperor. "Your majesty, I have news," he said.
"It's the middle of court, if it's urgent, draw a formation circle and contact me that way," Naruto said on the other end.
Taran Zhu nodded and walked to a clearing. He drew a formation circle with the Yin and Yang along with the eight trigrams. Then he added unique carvings on all sides to complete his communication ritual.
He then took a position on his knees as a projection of the imperial court came to view.
…
Splinters and rubble tumbled onto the wooden floor. Their noises echoed through the Grand Heavenly Pavilion. Ruins from the right armrest of the Dragon Throne.
Rows of ministers gulped. Even the celestial dragon guards were tenser than usual. These men and women were sweating, something they rarely did.
Naruto sat upon the Dragon Throne with a furious look on his face. His blue eyes blazing with fury and his whiskers made him appear all the more intimidating.
A hologram of Taran Zhu kowtowed before him. Behind the Shadow Pan leader were a dozen other Shadow Pan leaders who kept their positions in a kowtow.
"How, how did they get in?" Naruto all but growled. Yet his voice maintained a regal tone of force. It was similar yet dissimilar to how the Hokage did things. Every bit of his words had a weight to them.
Kushina, who was permitted to watch from the side, grimaced uneasily. She had never seen her son so angry before in the year she'd known him. Perhaps when he first laid eyes on her and her husband but never afterwards.
Naruto seemed to either always carry an air of superiority much like the clan heads once did. He wasn't your equal, he was your superior, he was your ruler. When he spoke you listen, no ifs, ands, or buts.
It was only in the presence of his friends or his lonesome, this mask would drop. She wanted to say she had gotten to know him well, but she couldn't. She could only wish her stubborn husband were here.
But Minato's guilt had not permitted him to stay as she had hoped. Galavanting to the front lines like the reckless hero he was.
"We, aren't sure exactly how," Taran Zhu reported.
The previous reports he gave just now was shocking to the court. Even more so for Naruto. It angered the young emperor more then anything had done in the past few years.
Magicians travelling from the Shadowlands weren't strictly prohibited. But they were heavily monitored and entered into a registry. This was a necessary precaution due to the nature of unsanctioned magic.
To protect Huaxia, Naruto did not stop these rules. In fact, he reinforced them with more checkpoints and staff. Huaxia was his sacred treasure, his dream of peace brought to life.
So to hear something so depraved as human sacrifices, kidnapped from the very civilians of Huaxia. It truly made the emperor's blood boil.
Young men, women, and children. Bodies found burnt to a crisp, unidentifiable beyond their genders. Some not even that. The knowledge of it made the imperial court gasp in horror.
"Not sure, not sure," Naruto mumbled in irritation. "People are dead. My people are dead. People who you confirmed missing for weeks, months. These people had been within our borders. Operating in our own home for months."
"We have no excuses your majesty, the Shadow Pan failed in our sacred duty of defending Huaxia. Please punish us," Taran Zhu begged.
Naruto frowned. Seeing the proud figure of the Shadow Pan head like this hurt. He still remembered training under him and the Four August Celestials. It hurt to see a friend like this.
Kushina wanted to step forwards and say something. But a giant hand belonging to Ye Fan held her back. The bull man shook his head.
"Have you confirmed the identities of the culprits?" Naruto asked with a regretful sigh.
"With the camp we found, we believe it is one of the many cults which litter the Shadowlands. Specifically, we believe it is the cult of the Hero of Dawn," Taran Zhu said.
"The one they call Azor Ahai, the man who butchered his wife for power," one of the ministers, who was an avid historian gasped. Naruto grimaced as well.
Having spent twenty years in Huaxia, of course he knew of their many myths of legends. Chief among them was the Hero of Dawn, or as the people of Huaxia called him, The Red Archfiend.
While the western world pass the Bone Mountains regale him as a hero. Huaxia saw him in disgust. A deviser who married their most venerated heroine before slaying her in a dark ritual to empower himself.
The death of a True Person Grand Sage hurt Huaxia more than the loss of a thousand armies. If this action didn't ravage his reputation then his fleeing, abandoning Huaxia to deal with the mother of all chaos invasions, certainly would.
Lie for power, steal for power, cheat for power, kill for power. His story was one every Huaxia native knew of. The man who freed the dark gods and then betrayed even them.
"You are certain?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, have a look at these symbols," Taran Zhu raised the formation to look at the land around him. Naruto's ministers gasped and Ye Fan looked furious. Kushina meanwhile was only confused.
"Old canjie script," one of Naruto's advisers spat. "To see the wordsmith's work used in this manner. Despicable!"
The Gaotai emperor however, looked at the charred human remains. The abandoned crucifixes, tents, cages, and ashes.
"Out," he said. His voice was quiet, yet beneath lay the foundations of something comparable to a volcanic eruption.
"Your majesty, we must…"
"I said OUT!"
The communication formation was cut off. The floor tiles cracked, the pillars shook. The entire building trembled for a few seconds.
Ministers and imperial staff members bowed and abruptly left the hall. Ye Fan had to all but drag a shocked Kushina out as well. He shook his head towards her and said, "He needs to be alone for a bit." Despite her protests, the bull man led her outside.
The red haired woman only made it to the front entrance before she had enough. She punched the bull man's arm off her.
"What the hell was that?" She demanded.
Ye Fan sighed. "The emperor loves his people above all else. His rage this time has been pushed too far."
"He nearly brought the building down on all of us!"
"He wouldn't have, his qi control is top notch even among True Person Sages. That's just an intimidation tactic to get us out," Ye Fan whispered back.
"I'm going back there, he's clearly hurting," Kushina made to walk back but Ye Fan stood in the way.
"He is not a child to be coddled. There are more reasons he'd want privacy," Ye Fan lectured.
"You can't expect me to leave my son alone in a time like this," Kushina argued.
"He's a grown man more than half a decade older than you This wouldn't be the first time he's done this," Ye Fan stood adamantly in her way. "You can't sense qi so I'll tell you what's up. He's having a private conversation right now."
…
Within the confines of the silent throne room. Naruto tapped the dragon shaped medallion in his palm. He then threw it onto the floor below him while resting on his right knuckle.
"Hello husband?" A cool woman's voice answered on the other end.
"Xian Yin," Naruto greeted.
"I suspect this isn't a social call," The woman on the other end stated. "So what is it?"
"Chu province, Nan Chen," was Naruto's simple words.
"Ah! You speak of the sorcerers who snuck in," his wife said. Her tone was a lot more light than Naruto's grave one. It was as if she was talking about the weather.
"You knew their activities?"
"Of course, I wouldn't be much of a spymaster if I didn't," she chuckled.
"Why?"
"Why what?…Oh! Well, they proved to be beneficial in the long run," she said after a realisation. After not hearing Naruto answer for a while she added, "You're smart enough to figure out why."
"Explain it to me, I want to hear it from YOU!" Naruto said calmly. From start to finish, he hadn't raised his voice, he'd been resting his head on his right knuckle the whole time. Yet now his voice lost control over his furious tone.
"While the presence of foreign sorcerers within Huaxia's lands is insulting. They proved the benefit of drawing in desperate rogue elements to their cause. Among them is our wayward city lord.
"They were smart enough to not make overt actions. Since our mages are protected, registered and trained in special academies, the chances of them kidnapping them were low to begin with. I've already had my men make sure they caught no new talents in the south.
"What's more, the more help they provide, the stronger Lord Ye grows. And as Lord Ye's power grows, others will rally to him. Soon enough we'd be able to get them all at once."
"In other words, you were lazy," Naruto said.
"It's more convenient this way, drops their guard and gathers them in one place. I also wanted to see how their ritual works," she admitted. "Shadowlands sorcery is so rare in these parts. Who knows, maybe this god of theirs will prove useful to fighting chaos."
Naruto sighed helplessly. Sometimes he forgot how inhuman this woman can be. No, rather she wasn't really human at all. Even among her species, she was a radical oddball.
"Why didn't you inform me?" He said sounding almost hurt.
"Would you have gone along with it?" She asked challengingly. She'd already known the answer to that. He too knew the answer to that.
"Mingren, I do everything necessary to protect your kingdom. Abhor these acts if you must, but they are ultimately beneficial. If you wish to keep your peace, sacrifices are necessary," she said.
"Innocents, not soldiers. Men, women, and children going about their daily lives," Naruto sighed angrily.
"Drop in an ocean. You do not have it in you to do these deeds, so I will do them for you. I suspect won't be able to stop you from confronting them?" she inquired in an even tone. At this moment, Naruto hated how natural she sounded
"Our son is there," he said getting up from his throne.
"An unexpected development that has sadly pushed my eliminations of them ahead of schedule," Xian Yin admitted. "I am currently en route as well."
Naruto walked past the medallion where her voice emanated from. The shadow from his light.
"I love you, my husband," she said sincerely. The medallion deactivated and flew into Naruto's sleeve.
Naruto walked with a serious grave expression. His lips were flat as he pushed open the massive doors.
"Son, what has…" Kushina tried to ask but before she could Naruto walked by her.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and onto the courtyard. "Ye Fan, tell Taran Zhu to head for Nan Chen. I'm nipping the problem in the bud."
Without waiting for an answer, a colossal amount of qi flooded the Celestial Palace. It was as if a mountain had suppressed them all using its own colossal weight.
It was a crushing sensation. A testament to the emperor's personal power. A reminder that while he dabbled in court intrigue, politics, and was primarily a statesman. He was originally and still is, a warrior.
The ground cracked beneath the sole of his feet. Bits of stone pieces floated were kicked up in the air.
Seeing this, people braced themselves. Before working in the Celestial Palace, they've already been warned of this possibility. Ministers and servants alike grabbed hold of stable structures as best they can.
Then Naruto took off.
In a sonic boom that rocked the entire floating palace, Naruto blew into the sky. Multiple successive booms followed after him as he moved into the distance.
Meanwhile, the Celestial Palace was thrown off balance. The titanic structure above Weijin tilted at a 120 degrees angle. Trees and buildings shook. The people of Weijin watched nervously as the Celestial Palace remained in that position.
Kushina gapped in shock at the power her son just displayed. This level of strength just from taking off was insane. From the looks of it, he's probably at least on Tsunade's level with the hundred seals active. Probably even stronger.
It took several more minutes before the Celestial Palace righted itself. But in that time, Naruto was already long gone.
Naruto's wife is a dragon and how they met will be expanded upon in the forward italic sections. But she's the one who does all the dirty dealings that makes sure Huaxia stays united no matter what. She's also kinda moralless or at least functions on a different morality scale than humans.
Huaxia's primary religion is the worship of the Four August Celestials who are surviving nature gods from the last chaos invasion/long night. Though superior beings who are so strong they might as well be gods do exist and roam Huaxia. These people are True Person Grand Sages or Zhenren. Basically, an Immortal who achieved such status from mastering the two elements beyond the eight trigrams. Naruto and Liu Han are both Zhenren.
In addition, the twelve strongest beings in Huaxia are also referred to as the Twelve Heavenly Lords. 5 martial emperors, 4 heavenly devas, and 3 august supreme.