A somewhat short chapter that's primary purpose is to reveal the true villain of the story, and to answer a few questions while prompting new ones. Oh, and the bottom will be the reviews in which I need to address a bit lol.
Next chapter will be a Sasuke x Karin lemon, so be prepared.
The author's notes are at the bottom, please enjoy!
While Sasuke was heading to the Uzumaki residence to see Karin, and Eren and Mikasa were rushing over to the General Hospital, Yamoori was none the wiser that his servant and lawyer were congregating beneath the basement of the White Suit's hidden estate.
The underground chamber they were in had once been a large torture room that Yamoori and his predecessors had used to extract information from high-value targets. It also served as the room where White Suit members would sexually exploit and cause bodily harm to their kidnapped victims and their slaves— it was a bloodied chamber of depravity and haunted by enough negative energy to make a battlefield seem like a paradise in comparison. It was the perfect place to set up their ritual.
The rotting corpses of the missing women from Konoha were scattered around the circular chambers, all of which had died painfully with their volatile and tormented souls contained within the center of the bloodied rune marked in the center of the torch-lit room. Not wanting to be anywhere near the foul stench of the room of death and decay, both Columbus and the lawyer waited patiently for the return of their ally.
Having abandoned her so called 'master' the moment she purposefully led Sasuke into the woods to execute Hooguro to rid herself of him, Jack the Ripper didn't take long to travel back deep into the bowels of the underground ocean-side fortress— where she looked forward into getting back to her duties of mutilating and murdering her kidnapped victims.
Appearing out of thin air beneath a veil of black mist, the white-haired loli made sure that her black-hooded cloak was on to keep her frail little body warm as she approached the amused Columbus and disconcerted lawyer. "Sasuke Uchiha has killed Hooguro, and escaped with his victims. To their knowledge, we died when Hooguro did," Jack the Ripper reported in, before reaching into the bloodied inner pocket of her cloak to pull out a handful of Annie's chopped up cervix and her ovaries, before shoving them greedily in her mouth to feast on her dark harvest.
"For the love of Christ, lassie— you're as savage as they come, aren't ye…?!" Columbus muttered with a disgusted look on his long-bearded face, as he averted his gray eyes elsewhere while cringing as he heard the sloppy sounds of Jack the Ripper sinking her teeth into the raw innards of Annie's ripped-out organs. "Aye, I… I suppose what matters now is that the slanted-eye landlubbers are targeting the White Suits. None the wiser are they of us, aye Namikaze?"
Unnerved but trying to maintain his composure as he watched the unholy amalgamation of wraiths lick her bloodied fingers after having consumed her meal, Kira Namikaze waited for Jack the Ripper to finish cleaning her hands off before speaking. "Our anonymity is what's allowing us to proceed with the ritual. What's important is that Yamoori believes that he's in control. All we need in the meantime is time and more sacrifices to the Throne to finish summoning the 'Holy Grail' to this World," Kira said, as he brought the mysterious book he had gotten in the mail up for the two servants to look at.
"'The world was on fire, those who were of heaven and hell had made it their battleground. The moon fell, and angels and demons fought, as did the remaining mortals, humans and ghouls alike, who pursued the same goal as their invaders: The Holy Grail. The Earth was torn apart, and fabric of time and space tore at the seems once 'God Almighty' and 'Satan' were at one another's necks. In the end, everyone had sacrificed themselves for their beliefs, and devils and angels alike fell once the 'Holy Grail' liberated herself, and the souls who fell for the sake of helping her take a bite of the 'forbidden fruit'. Time collapsed in on itself, the universe fizzled out like a dying bulb, and then there was only darkness— the alpha and the omega'," Kira recited from memory alone.
Having read the book titled 'End of a World' several times over, Columbus still found himself being skeptical about its authenticity, but the vague and cryptic instructions that Kira was able to extract from its pages had proven itself true and effective, and that was all that mattered to him. Still, that didn't stop the servant from asking, "Aye matey, and do ye have the confidence that this 'Elizabeth DeWitt' wrote that book as instructions on how to begin the search for the Holy Grail, or have ye considered that it be nothing more than a warning?"
"Both. I believe whoever 'Elizabeth Dewitt' is, she wrote the book as a deterrent to prevent such instructions from getting in the wrong hands…" Kira replied with a serious expression on his face, as he lowered the book down to his hip. "This book isn't from this world, I know that much for sure. There's no publisher, and the language that it was written in, 'English', as you two have called it, there are no records of either existing in history… Not only that, but the book is impervious to all forms of damage— chakra based and physical alike… It clearly is of importance."
"Aye, and ye believe ye to be the next Messiah because that little book of yours appeared on ye doorstep… Seems like delusions of grandeur to me, lad," Columbus mused with a smirk on his face, while finding the serious expression on Kira's face to be amusing enough to chuckle at. "Aye, but that is none of my concern, matey. You pursue that 'white whale' of yours, 'Ishmael'— all that interests me is the spoils of this 'Holy Grail War' ye be itching to invoke upon this world."
Rolling his eyes at Columbus as he pulled out a bottle of rum from beneath his captain's coat, Kira rebutted with, "You'll be given your reward once we resurrect Madara Uchiha, and Gilgamesh by extension— all of the world's riches will be yours, as you and all the other servants make this universe into your new home… Now, please continue to translate the next chapter for me."
With his lips pressed up against the glass rim at the top of the long-neck bottle of alcohol, Columbus nodded while savoring the taste of the top-shelf rum that he had stolen from Yamoori's vast collection of worldly pleasures, before reaching out with a white glove to take the book from Kira's hand. Letting a satisfied burp, Columbus gave the blond well-dressed lawyer a salute, and said , "Aye-aye, matey; I'll be in me Captain's Quarters aboard me ship if ye need me."
Lowering his arm down, Columbus used his ability to create a ripple through the fabrics of reality to open up a portal-door that led him into an endless pocket-universe that consisted of a sea of stars and planets, and where his massive golden ship sailed the cosmos. Closing the gateway behind him while still drinking his stolen rum, Columbus walked aboard the 'Santa Maria', and left Kira Namikaze alone with Jack the Ripper in the dimly lit dungeon.
Furrowing his white eyebrows beneath her straight-cut bangs, Jack the Ripper looked up at Kira's blue eyes with a curious expression on her stitched-up face. "… Why is it that you're so willing to betray your entire world? If we're not mistaken, didn't almost everyone see Madara's vision for forcing 'peace' upon humanity to be a bad thing? You're aware that without chakra, your kind wouldn't survive, correct?"
"I'm aware of the consequences that would have led to Madara's original plan of putting humanity to sleep, and allowing them to live out their fantasies in their dreams before succumbing to their deaths. I, in no way, support that outdated and meaningless plan," Kira explained to the child-like servant, as he felt himself growing in easier by the second, as he found her presence to be extremely unnerving, and rightfully so.
"… Then do explain, why are you trying to bring him and Gilgamesh back?" Jack the Ripper asked again, while showing signs of visible confusion on her eerie face.
Compassionate about the cause that he saw as justified and morally good, Kira couldn't help but to feel inspiration and warmth inside him, despite being within an area that most would consider to be the most evil place on Earth. "… I don't consider myself a prophet or Messiah by any means; I merely am just a man who wishes to live a peaceful and quiet life. However, I have the foresight to see where the path I've walked ends… I have lost faith in Ninsū, but if Kaguya truly is 'God Almighty' like the book has said… Then I'm damned to an eternity of torment once my life comes to an end."
Realizing what was motivating him, Jack the Ripper couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle as she smiled up at him. "Oh, we see now… You're afraid of winding up in the fires of Hell, aren't you?" Jack the Ripper asked with an amused glimmer behind her murderous eyes. "Isn't that something? A murderer who's afraid of death? That's like a vegan becoming a butcher…"
"I don't fear death. On the contrary, I see it as humanity's salvation, and thus I welcome it when the time's right," Kira argued with a slightly smug look in his blue eyes, as he watched Jack the Ripper's smile turn back into a bewildered frown. "I want you to imagine if you will, living eternally in a universe centered around your own imagination and aspirations— an endless paradise where you perpetually experience never ending joy and comfort, where there's nothing but peace and contentment waiting for you and those who've you created with your mind… To ascend into becoming the master of your own universe, and never fearing the consequences of your actions."
"… And you believe achieving that for everyone is possible through Madara and Gilgamesh? How do you know that's what they're actually going to do for your kind?" Jack the Ripper asked, which made Kira feel the knee to get down on one knee to become eye-level with the servant.
"… Because I love Madara like how I used to love Kaguya. He spoke to me of how he and Gilgamesh were going to obtain 'Heaven' for all of us, by using the 'Holy Grail' to unlock the gates to the 'Throne'— the source of power that all existence, and everything in-and-outside of that concept, was birth from," Kira explained, while thinking back to his days of when he first met Madara through Nagato, who brought him onto the Akatsuki as their priest.
"If that's true, then… Why is it that we're operating under so many layers of secrecy? It sounds to me that your goal is noble enough to justify the means of what we're all doing," Jack the Ripper reasoned, while reminding Kira that she lacked the empathy to understand why he had to keep his plan hidden from the rest of the world.
Standing up back to his feet, Kira adjusted his black tie before sighing. "Look around you… The road to 'Heaven' is one that the rest of humanity isn't willing to journey down— the cost of what it takes is one that I alone am willing to pay for with the blood of the innocent," Kira said in a grim voice, and started to walk away before pausing and looking over his shoulder. "… The girl in there, her name is Ayame— she works with her father to sell ramen… I'll leave the rest to you."
Ignoring the look of excitement on Jack the Ripper's face upon being told that she had a new victim to torment beneath the blade of her knives, Kira Namikaze returned to his upstairs apartment, where he planned on reading more of the journal that Nagato had left behind for him, before he faced Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Pakkun alone.
And there we have it, the true villain of the story, the same one that was there since chapter one, was Kira Namikaze, who is related to Minato, and thus to Naruto and Boruto by extension. Oh, and he's the one keeping the servants on Earth, even after their masters die. He's got access to Nagato and Madara's passed down knowledge.
The passage he read was the same first paragraph in the beginning of this fanfic btw, and those who've read my past fanfic know that Elizabeth Dewitt was going to be a major key player in it, and in this fanfic as well. Essentially, Kira wants to resurrect Madara for the sake of him making all of humanity 'ascend' into the masters of their own realities— Omniverse levels of power, which is needed in order to achieve 'Heaven'. Pretty much Madara's original goal, but just multiplied by a millions times more ambition.
With that being said, Gilgamesh is the key to Madara's plan, due to him being capable of obtaining enough power through the actual Holy Grail, not Elizabeth this time, to use his 'Ea' weapon to 'Open the Gates' of the 'Throne', which is pretty much the equivalent to the concept of God. To do that, Kira needs to resurrect Madara and Gilgamesh, and start the Holy Grail war, so that the Holy Grail can appear in their universe.
To activate the ritual to resurrect Madara and Gilgamesh, Kira needs enough chakra to restore Madara to his full strength, which is why he's kidnapping innocent young women to make them suffer and bleed, all so he can create a God Tree to use its fruit to begin his plan. It takes time to do all of this, which is why he's trying to stay unnoticed while Yamoori and the White Suits take the attention away from anything he's doing.
Anyways, time for the reviews.
Everyone's gone through a lot of trauma so far, so yeah I think if there ever was a time for all of them to smoke weed, now would be the time. Jiraiya and Eto definitely would grow it, and even Tsunade would too, to be honest.
Annie and Armin are both going to be needing therapy and Xanax for all the shit that went down in the woods. They'll grow together through healing past their trauma, so they'll get a lemon further down the story.
Hitch does kinda look like she's perpetually stoned, doesn't she? I can see her being into 'prescribing' herbal medication, like weed. She's pretty hot too, ngl. Too bad her love interest looks like Moe from the Three Stooges.
Anyways, like described in this chapter, Jack the Ripper purposefully directed Hooguro toward him, after seeing him and recognizing that his Sharingan would be able to see through his genjutsu. It'll be told later, but if a servant kills their own master, then they die and return to the throne. But if their master is killed and the servant is connected to Kira, then they can exist on their own.
Although that chapter was spooky, Halloween doesn't exist in Naruto lmao. That, and it's technically still summer for all of them, hence why they had a pool party.
Sasuke showed up exactly when Jack the Ripper predicted that she would: after she got a hold of what she wanted from Annie, and before Sasuke could see her.
Ichika is Kaneki's little sister in this story, and let me check… Yeah, I never gave Ichika an age yet, so I could pair her with Hinami down the line. Might not use the dildo idea, because that's jumping through hoops just to establish that Eto would even give her a strap-on built off of Kaneki's younger self. That's a lot right there to unpack, might just have them be doing good-ol fashion lesbian stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's a hot idea, but doesn't translate well to the story without it centering too much on their lore.
That's even if Ichika and Hinami get paired with each other lol.
But anyway, yeah I would definitely love to include her later when Armin/Toneri get introduced into the plot after the White Suits are defeated. Still gotta include Hinata too, lol. One thing at a time. Ichika would definitely tease Kaneki for not noticing that Sen was actually a woman, and would tease Haise about having sex with Juuzou without being homophobic about it. Haise technically could pass as bisexual in this story, Kaneki could be straight and Ichika could be straight up lesbian.
But as a hint to later on, yeah, it's revealed that Haise continued to have sex with Juuzou after finding out he was actually a guy— Haise thought that Juuzou was a girl pretending to be male like Eto, except Juuzou actually was a trap femboy, and most definitely not a woman. Haise just denied it after he graduated from Amegakure's ninja academy, which is why Kaneki and Ichika give him shit about it.
And your depiction of that 'What-If' scenario, to me, is extremely accurate lol. I can see Eto giving up trying to save people who could give less of a shit about her and her mother's sacrifices, while Kaneki would be content with the life she could provide for him and their children. Eto seems like the woman who doesn't believe in condoms, so yeah, she would have gotten pregnant pretty early.
And thank you for the compliments, I greatly appreciate them! Shame that the Tokyo Ghoul 'well' dried up a while ago, but hey I'm glad to keep Etoken alive one way or the other. Naruto will be back in the next chapter, he's the one who lets Sasuke in and they chat before he goes upstairs to give Karin her gift, before getting frisky with her.
Well, that about does it for now. Until next time, enjoy yourselves.