Chapter Fifteen: The Month Long Trip (3)

~~The Pure World~~

"You are making this death thing into a really bad habit, Naruto."

The voice rang into Naruto's ears as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times before he got up. Once again, he awoke on the ever winding path that represented his life. He looked behind him, seeing none other than Akio. His arms were crossed, looking down at the boy as he shook his head. His bald head shining slightly from the sunlight bathing the fields of the road.

"This is the second time in what, less than a month? It's pathetic to think you're so easy to kill. What was it this time?"

Naruto slowly got to his feet, stretching a bit before looking back to Akio. "Extreme Chakra Exhaustion, Lord First. I had to travel from the Land of Lightning to Chikyugakure while carrying a nearly dead girl in my arms. I knew that I would exert my stamina doing that, but I didn't think it would kill me."

The first Kuraikage let out a sigh, shaking his head again as he opened his eyes to look at Naruto. "My boy, that is no excuse to me. You are now the Nidaime Kuraikage, are you not? You need to weed out such a weakness to yourself. Tell me, how are your chakra reserves?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking down to the ground timidly. "I am mid Chunin, maybe low Jounin."

"Are you shitting me?"

Naruto shook his head, keeping his head down in defeat. Akio groaned, walking to stand in front of Naruto and putting his hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I can't stand knowing that my village has someone so weak as their Kurikage. However, I have a solution to that."

The boy looked up, paying full attention to Akio as he spoke. Akio smirked, knowing full well that Naruto would listen to what he was about to offer. "You will stay here and not return to the mortal world. At Least for a week."

Naruto stepped back, Akio's hand leaving his shoulder as he looked at the man like he was crazy. "A week?! You can't be serious!"

The elder groaned, slamming his head down on Naruto's head in a chop. "Before you even start freaking out, hear me out! Your soul, and in turn your chakra, is tuned closely to the Pure World correct?"

Naruto reached up and rubbed where Akio chopped his head, nodding along as his elder spoke. Akio let out an annoyed sigh as he continued. "Which means, in theory, you can expand your chakra reserves while in the Pure World. Not to mention, you haven't trained here before. This can be the perfect opportunity to test what can happen when you do."

He saw that Naruto was still hesitant, shaking his head in a bit of disappointment. "Listen to me Naruto, this could be a major boost to your own power. Not to mention, I will be teaching you some of my own jutsu while we train here. I brought this idea to your first summon, but he is still not really in the mood to help you. He is sort of pist you have yet to summon him after all these years."

The boy looked at Akio. "That's not fair! I tried before when I was twelve, but I don't have enough chakra to bring him out! I mean, how strong is he? Is it a he? I know nothing about him."

Akio chuckled, a smirk on his face. "Indeed, he is a he. And it makes sense if your chakra reserves are so low. With all the powerful jutsu you have you shouldn't be able to use half of them, but I am guessing you have to work mastering them to decrease the cost of chakra, right?"

Naruto nodded, making Akio smirk a bit more. "Good, that means you understand the basics of mastering chakra. Look, Naruto, I am not going to sit here and force you to stay, you can leave as soon as your body is ready and your soul can return. Or, you can stay here for the week I offered and train to better prepare yourself."

The kid had to think about it, bringing his hand to his chin as he thought of his options. He could return to the mortal world now, and go back to his travels where he was already neglecting his training. Or, option two, he could remain here for a while to test what would happen when he trained his soul in the Pure World. After a few minutes of thinking of this he finally gave his answer.

"Alright, I will stay. I will be honored to be trained by you, Lord First." Naruto said, bowing slowly as he did so. Akio smirked, waving his hand.

"Come now, none of that bowing shit. I always hated it. You are the Nidaime Kurikage, an equal to me. Even if barely."

That annoyed Naruto a bit, though he bit his tongue to avoid pissing off the man. With that done, Akio led Naruto away from the road of his life, taking him somewhere deeper into the Pure World to train.

After an hour of walking the two found themselves in a tranquil grove nestled deep in overgrown forests away from the road. At the center of the grove was a single tree stump. Akio pointed to the stump, gesturing for Naruto to sit down. Naruto did so, sitting down and looking at his temporary sensei. Akio shook his head at the way Naruto sat down.

"No, sit in the lotus position. It is better that way. It helps center yourself for what you're about to do."

Naruto nodded, moving himself to get in the lotus position. Akio nodded, standing away a few feet as he spoke up. "Good, now I want you to focus on the world around you. Close your eyes, hear the wind blowing in the trees, the mice skittering across the forest floor, the birds flying in the sky. Focus, and feel them."

He did just that, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he focused on himself. At first he felt nothing, but the longer he focused the more he could sense the spirits of the Pure World around him. He saw the soul of the rodents, the birds, the snakes and all the other critters around him. He kept his eyes closed, keeping his hold on the view of their souls as he spoke.

"I…I can feel their souls…I can see their Spirit Chakra. That is what I am seeing right?"

Akio smirked, seeing that he was picking this up quicker than he thought. He cleared his throat, walking a few more feet away to stay at a safe distance. "Indeed, that's exactly what you're sensing. Now, the next part of this will be a bit tricky. I want you to draw their Spirit Chakra into you. Do not look at them, do not touch them. Only focus on their souls around you and draw it into you."

Naruto didn't nod, only taking another deep breath. He focused on the small mouse closest to him, targeting the creature's Spirit Chakra. He kept his focus, sweat starting to drip from his forehead as he struggled to do as he was told, but he kept working at it. And that's when it happened, a stream of the mouse's soul being drawn towards Naruto. When the tethered between the mouse and Naruto's soul was connected he could physically feel his own soul experiencing a new sensation. He didn't know how to explain it. It was warm, yet cold. Embracing, yet dark.

Akio saw from the look on Naruto's face he made the connection, making the elder Kuraikage snicker. "He really is picking this up fast, isn't he. Maybe he's not so helpless." He thought to himself. He still kept his distance, not willing to let Naruto tether to his own soul any time soon.

"That's good Naruto, you made what I call a Soul Tether. With this technique you are able to take Spirit Chakra from the souls around you not only replenish your own reserves, but increase them. However, you must be careful. This method of forcing your reserves to expand at a rapid pace can severely damage the control of your jutsus, even if they are mastered. And I should know, I invented what you are now entering. It's all part of being a Shinigami Sage."

This made Naruto's eyes open, severing the connection and making the mouse run away into the forest now that it was free. "A Shinigami Sage?"

Akio nodded, now getting closer since Naruto stopped trying to tether souls to him. "Yes. You see, most sages are made through manipulating Nature Chakra, and most sages are taught such things from their summons. But, a Shinigami Sage does not draw from Nature, but from the souls of those around them."

Naruto knew about Sages, after all his godparents were two of them. Then there was the bastard Orochimaru, the Snake Sage. However, the talk of Spirit Chakra made Naruto both confused and curious. "Wait, you are a Shintami…the Shinigami's gift to you and your clan was Death Chakra, not Spirit. So how did you learn to manipulate Spirit Chakra when that is practically exclusive to only the Rashi?"

This actually surprised Akio, he didn't think he would actually question anything that he was showing him. However, Akio let a pleasant smirk cross his face. "As you know, not everyone can use Nature Chakra or become a sage. In fact, it is rather rare and far between times a new sage is made in the mortal world. However, when one does become a sage they are able to access Nature Chakra. The same principle is made here. However, the major difference between a Shinigami Sage and Rashi is the fact that Rashi can manipulate the souls of others. A Shinigami Sage can not do so, they can only draw strength from the souls of others. Not directly harm them."

Again Naruto was lost. "So, if you had all this Spirit Chakra built up in you and were unable to actually use it for combat, what did you do with it?"

This made Akio smirk again, waving for Naruto to stand up. "That's the next part of your training. Converting Spirit into Death Chakra, or Death Chakra into Spirit. Or, if you master this art of Chakra Conversion, fuse the two to make what I have named Pure World Chakra."

Naruto blinked, looking at Akio. He let his smirk settle on his face for the time being as he started to draw a tether to himself from a bird in the tree. "Before we get to that though, we need to teach you Chakra Conversion. Now, Spirit Chakra represents the soul, the strength and will of the individual. However, Death Chakra represents the end of the soul, the rot and erosion of the soul. You can convert one into the other by either purifying Death Chakra into Spirit Chakra, or eroding and contaminating Spirit Chakra into Death Chakra."

"Since I am a Shintami, I indeed had no practical use of the Spirit Chakra I absorbed. However, using the Soul Tether still increased my reserves, and with the ability to convert it into my clan's Death Chakra, I practically had a limitless amount of Chakra to use for my jutsus. You, on the other hand, can utilize both Life and Death Chakra to make your Shinigami Arts, which in a sense could be classified as jutsu of a Shinigami Sage. Are you following?"

Naruto nodded, sitting back down on the stump as he listened intently. "Good, now you have the two chakras working side by side, but never truly combined the two. I know this from seeing your memories from the path you have already traveled. Let's take your Black Abyss Fireball for instance. When it's performed, it creates black and white flames. This is because you are not combining them into Pure World Chakra. When you do, it turns the Chakra into a medium shade of gray."

To demonstrate his point Akio brought his hands out, having Naruto watch as the elder had Death Chakra erupt in the right hand, and the left the Spirit Chakra he had taken. He brought the two flames together and Naruto watched intently as the two flickered against one another for a moment before turning into one gray fire in his hands. Akio let the chakra flicker in his hand as he continued explaining things.

"Now, Pure World Chakra is obviously more deadly than the other two would be by themselves, but at the same time it's also a rather finicky thing to control or mold into jutsus. However, if you learn to master this form of chakra your Shinigami Arts would truly be worthy of the name you gave them. Do you understand everything I have said so far?"

Naruto nodded, smiling at his sensei as he learned the mechanics of being a Shinigami Sage. "Yeah, I understand sensei. I am ready to start working on mastering the creation of Pure World Chakra."

Akio nodded, letting the chakra fade from his hands. "Good, though there are some drawbacks from using Pure World Chakra, Chakra Conversion, and the Soul Tether."

He raised his pointed finger to further exclaim his point. "Soul Tether, like your Soul Ripper technique, can quite literally drain a soul to the point that it is obliterated from existence. So, when using the Soul Tether make sure you do not drain the soul empty or you will not only kill the person, but prevent them from going to the Pure World. If you need to utterly drain a soul, make sure the person deserves it. Also, it is nearly impossible to use Soul Tether while moving. When you move it can disturb the tether and sever your connection. When you're anchored like you were when you were in the lotus position, the tether is stable."

He raised his middle finger next to the pointer. "Chakra Conversion is best done when you are out of combat. When you do this you leave your own soul exposed, and in turn, making you weaker til you finish converting the chakra to what you need. However, when the conversion is finished, the converted chakra will remain within you until used up and will not revert back to its original source. Hence why it's important to expand your chakra reserves so you can stockpile the chakra outside of combat."

Lastly, he raised his ring finger next to the other two. "Thirdly, Pure World Chakra can harm your own soul beyond repair if you do not handle it properly. Now, I warn you of this because as you know, if your soul is obliterated, there is no coming to the Pure World. There is no you coming back, and I don't even know if Lord Shinigami can revert such damage. That being said, I recommend we spend the first day or two strictly working on raising your reserves so we have more wiggle room to work on you learning the Chakra Conversion. Sounds good?"

Naruto nodded, taking a deep breath as he got back into the lotus position and started to tether a snake in the grass. Akio smiled, standing back a bit as he looked up to the sky. He smirked "I hope that the mortals around his body won't think he is truly dead. Would suck for him to return to his body when it's buried ten feet deep."

~~Pure World, two days later~~

Naruto was sitting on the same trunk, the young Kuraikage not moving a muscle for the last two days. He was working non stop trying to expand and collect the Spirit Chakra around him. When he started this two nights ago, he was at the very least at mid Chunin levels, but now Akio appraised his reserves to be at mid Jounin, and that was the day before. Now, he had a feeling that his reserves would be higher after the second night. He had messed up once, accidentally obliterating the soul of a poor, innocent rabbit in the field. When he realized what he did he looked to the rabbit, only to see it turn to dust in the Pure World, no longer in existence. When he told Akio, he wasn't happy. He was from Chikyugakure, and like all of the village, he did not believe wildlife should be condemned to such things. Life was to be cherished, not taken away for your own power so carelessly.

The Nidaime Kuraikage's bones, muscles, and joints were in constant pain. The act of forcing his chakra reserves to grow in turn was forcing his soul to grow, and by default his body. Before he started this training he stood at about 5'10" in height, but now he was roughly 6'2". His hair was long before, but now it was flowing down his shoulders with the center strands nipping at the middle of his back. He had grown more muscle, sporting a toned six pack on his abdomen, his chest broad and toned along with his arms, legs, feet and hands. He almost looked like a completely different person now thanks to this training.

He let out a held breath, exhaling softly as he opened his eyes. Around the eyes were now three black tear marks that stained each side of his face and down the cheeks. Akio smirked when he saw this, and noticed that Naruto's eyes were no longer his typical blue, but a swirling mass of black and white. He had entered the Sage form of this unique sage art.

"Well will you look at that, you didn't even convert any chakra yet and you got the markings of the Shinigami Sage. This is just further proof to me that you're ready to start creating Pure World Chakra."

Naruto smiled, getting up and patting himself down. "The one time I don't have a mirror huh? Oh well, I'll see what it looks like when I get back home."

The elder Kuraikage snickered, shaking his head in a pleased motion. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, onto converting the chakras into Pure World Chakra. What you need to do, to start with, is to take a very small amount of both chakras into your hands and try combining them."

The younger of the Kuraikage nodded, taking a deep breath as he did as he was instructed. He brought the flames of the chakra out, slowly bringing them together. As soon as they got close he felt the resistance. He looked to Akio for a split second, giving Naruto a firm nod to keep going. He let out a small smile, turning his eyes back to the flames as he kept adding to the pressure. Just like with the Soul Tether when he first tried it, his body was starting to sweat heavily. The strain on himself was intense, almost like he was trying to force two opposing forces into one another. Which he technically was. The chakras started to fight back, flickering violently til a new color was emerging, but it wasn't gray. Akio saw this and moved to quickly intervene, swatting the hands away from each other as the flames died out. Naruto struggled to breath, his lungs unable to take deep breaths as he felt like his body was about to be torn up.

He looked up to Akio, who had a look of relief on his face. "Sensei…what was that?"

Akio sighed, sitting next to Naruto on the stump as he started to explain. "That is something that damages the soul, or even kills it. The red flicker of color in the chakra that you were trying to combine is a poison that infects far worse than Death Chakra. Sure, Death Chakra rots the body, and Spirit Chakra can weaken or remove the soul, but what you just saw is something worse. It permanently fractures your soul if you let it touch it, and it's not a chakra you can control or harness because of that. I have no name for it, and the few times me and Lord Shinigami spoke and I asked him about it, he never gave me a name. He instead would end the conversation and leave. So I deemed it something that even the Shinigami himself fears."

Naruto nodded, looking down at his hands as he realized just how lucky he was that Akio was there to stop him. He was honestly shooken up about it. If Akio wasn't here teaching him and he discovered all of this on his own, he wouldn't have stopped the red chakra. He would have let it grow and…and it would have never been able to see Haku again. To see Jin, Genki, and all the others he holds dear.

He took a shaky breath, looking at Akio who nodded to him and stood up. "Now, try it again. Do not let the chakra run wild like you did before when you force them to combine. If you do so the red chakra will show. We need to make sure you can make Pure World Chakra before you leave here."

The boy nodded, taking a needed breath before attempting to conform the two chakra into one. For the next three days Naruto would struggle to create Pure World Chakra, with Akio there at his side for any time the red chakra came back again.

~~Three Days Later~~

Three days. It took Naruto three days to figure out the exact amount of pressure he needed to create Pure World Chakra from Death and Spirit. The entire time he hadn't left his sage mode, the features seeming to refuse to abandon him through his journey. However, the work would be proven fruitful when at the morning of the fifth day in his time in the Pure World he finally produced the gray chakra.

He stood up, dancing around as he had the gray chakra flame growing up and down his arm as he flexed his new control over it. Akio sighed, walking over to the celebrating buffoon that was his successor and smacked him upside the head. "Stop playing with it you fool! Did you forget it almost killed you several times the last few days!"

Naruto blushed, letting the fire die but he felt its sensation within him. He looked up to Akio. "So, since I didn't use it the chakra returned to my reserves right?"

Akio nodded, smiling now at his student before looking around the grove. "This should be enough space. We have one more day here, so I want to teach you a few things I created in my time as the Shinigami Sage."

The young man nodded, bowing his head slightly before standing straight. "Yes sensei, I am ready!"

Akio snickered, waving for Naruto to step back. "Alright, the first thing is a rather useful jutsu." He took a deep breath before igniting his arm in the Pure World Chakra he had stored inside his reserves. The arm blazed with gray flames before dying out and revealing the gray chakra molded firmling into a barbed knuckle gauntlet covering up to the man's elbow.

"This is what I call the Ethereal Armaments. It's rather simple really. You mold the Pure World Chakra into your desired weapon and it creates the weapon made of pure chakra. The weapon is stronger than any metal you will find in any country, and the blades are sharper than any whetstone could ever sharpen a metal blade into."

Naruto looked over the gauntlet, inspecting it before backing up a bit. "So, guessing from the gauntlet, you're a taijutsu specialist?"

Akio snickered, dismissing the gauntlet into a dying flame before his hand was normal again. "I was one of the greatest, if not the greatest of my time. However, that's all in the library to be read. We need to focus on showing you a few more things. Like this jutsu: Ethereal Gaze"

Akio sent a pulse of Pure World Chakra into his eyes, giving them a glassy look over them as he looked at Naruto. "This jutsu allows me to look at a person's soul directly, seeing where it is strongest in the body and its weakest points. In addition, if you work at it enough, you can place the soul into genjutsu so severe that it can permanently damage an opponent if not reverted."

Naruto blinked, scratching the back of his head. "Uhm, Lord First, the current clan head of the Rashi developed similar techniques without doing something like that. So why would I use that and not just learn the genjutsu that Genki developed."

Akio blinked, shaking his head out from the shock of knowing that a Rashi developed soul centered genjutsu. He cleared his throat, smirking. "Tell me, does his jutsu specifically only target the soul? It can not be used in one's mind?"

He nodded, not sure where Akio was going with this. The elder man grinned, pointing his finger up as he talked. "Ah, see! He may have those genjutsu, but with the Ethereal Gaze the genjutsu you place on someone does not need to be specifically created for the soul. In fact, with the eyes, you can inflict almost any genjutsu illusions onto the soul. The big difference between the heart and soul being attacked by the genjutsu is that the simple method of breaking one's mind out of a genjutsu does not apply when it is within the soul. They can not clear the genjutsu unless you or someone else that can treat the soul removes it."

Naruto nodded along some more, making some mental notes on reading up on more genjutsu to test this out. He didn't take his eyes away as Akio showed him the third jutsu. The man grinned wickedly as his whole body was enveloped in the Pure World Chakra. After a few seconds the flames of chakra got bigger, now towering nearly a story or so high and a few yards wide. When the flames finally died out, Naruto was now looking at a skeleton larger than any Bone Lizard he had ever seen.

The skeleton stood at least eighteen feet tall, towering over Naruto as the bones were a swirling color of black and white while the ghostly, smoldering gray steamed from the bones. In the skeleton's hand was a large, traditional looking scythe with a wooden shaft. The blade, like the bones, was a swirling mix of black and white with the fog of Pure World Chakra smoking from it. After a second a large, shadow-like cloak wrapped around the skeleton, hiding everything but the exposed skull and hands that held the scythe. The hollow, empty eyes of the skull turned and looked at Naruto, and he could have sworn he saw the jaw bone twitch as if trying to smile.

"This," the voice bellowed in a deep, dark tone "is the Reaper Transformation. The last jutsu I created before my time in the mortal world would come to an end."

The reaper known as Akio started to shrink down, reverting into a puff of the similar gray fog til he stood before Naruto normally again. "I developed that jutsu with the Sage Mode for one specific reason: To fight the Uchiha."

Naruto was confused, sitting down while Akio sat down on the ground, a bit winded from using so much chakra so quickly. "Why would you have to worry about the Uchiha, sensei? The village was hidden since you and the other firsts of the clans settled it."

Akio nodded, crossing his legs in an Indian sitting position before speaking. "That is true, Naruto. However, before we found the caverns, before we were blessed with the Gifts, we were like any other clan in the world. We had to fight, we warred over resources with other clans. We fought and died for so long, and one of my clan's original enemies was the Uchiha."

He took a deep breath before he continued. "To put it simply, they saw my clan as weaker then most since we had no Kekkei Genkai and few of us were trained to fight, let alone use jutsu of any sort. In a sense, we got the shit end of the stick when it came to the shinobi arts. But I digress. They had forced us to work their farms that were once our own, had taken many of our women to do as you could imagine with them, and even used men as target practice."

"The Uchiha that I knew were ruthless and could, and tolerated no dishonor or embarrassment to their precious clan. So, when me and few of my clan that I could convince, left our ancestral home they saw that as an excuse to just end us. They saw us fleeing their rule as disrespect to their supposed kindness, and hunted us down like we were nothing more than dogs."

He sighed, looking up to the sun. "So, when I discovered the Shinigami Sage I worked on developing the ultimate technique to counter those sick, disgusting rip off artists. I created the Reaper Transformation. The jutsu is made of nothing other than Pure World Chakra, even if the bones swirled as black and white the chakra within the bones are encased in the Pure World Chakra. I made it do that so when the transformation is created, all excess chakra in your reserves is pumped into fueling the technique. I did this, because I intended the Reaper Transformation to be a true do-or-die jutsu."

Naruto looked at his sensei, but was confused once again. "But you said this was the counter for the Uchiha? What does it do that counters it?"

Akio grinned, looking back to Nartuo as he spoke the rest of the explanation. "This jutsu, for starters, is a direct rip off of the Uchiha's fabled Susanoo, a Kekkei Genkai that encases the Uchiha in a samurai like armor of pure chakra. It is their ultimate offense and defense, and they vary from Uchiha to Uchiha. However, the one common factor is that they are all encased in samurai armor of chakra. The Reaper Transformation's Scythe is capable of cutting through that armor with little issue. The cloak is sort of like your Null Void technique, and absorbs any ninjutsu and the like that gets too close to the Reaper. The Skeleton itself is nearly unbreakable, encasing your body in its sturdy bones."

"Now, the reason it is a do-or-die jutsu is for the simple fact that it eats nearly all of your chakra. When it dissipates it leaves you with barely enough chakra to stay alive. You will be utterly useless and vulnerable once you stop its formation. So, unless you were able to beat your opponent in the amount of time your chakra could give you, you will likely die by their hands."

The conversation went silent after that. Naruto appreciated the history lesson, but he had to ask. "Sensei…do you think i'll ever need to use it?"

Akio looked at Naruto, shrugging his shoulders before he stood up. "Potentially. Though I know of only three Uchiha that still live. One is the boy you met, Sasuke. The other is his brother that slaughtered his entire clan, Itatchi. Then finally, there is one with only one eye left, Obito."

Naruto knew of Itachi from Sasuke's angry rants about needing power to kill the man, but Obito was a lost cause to him. "Sensei, how do you know about this Obito person?"

"That's simple Naruto," Akio said before backing up a bit. "He cheated the Shinigami twice now. And things like that are talked about commonly in the part of the Pure World I typically reside in. For now, we need to start getting you used to the techniques I showed you. I won't show you the few others I developed of the Shinigami Sage, since your own Shinigami Arts are better than theirs. Don't let that little bit of praise go to your head."

Naruto smirked, it was totally going to get to his head. And on that final day of training, he never let Akio forget about it.

~~Pure World, final day of training~~

"Thank you, sensei."

Naruto bowed to Akio as he stood before the rift into the mortal world, seeing his body laying on his bed in his own home. He was silently happy that he decided to have his clan compound get under construction before he left for the Chunin Exams. He sighed, looking back to the rift and was about to step out before a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around, seeing Akio's hand. "Sensei?"

Akio sighed, letting go now that he had Naruto's attention. "Listen to me, I have a message from your first summon and from Lord Shinigami."

The Shinigami Sage was now very interested in what Akio was going to say. The elder Kuraikage brought his hand up and pointed out his pointer finger like he did when he was explaining things to Naruto before. "First, I was permitted to give you the first summon's name. His name is Tashinora. He asked me to tell you that he is awaiting your call to battle now that your excuse of having low chakra reserves is out the door."

He raised his middle finger next. "Two, Lord Shinigami wishes for me to tell you he is sensing something dire about to happen in the world. Something where lives would end before their intended time. He believes that it will involve the Chunin Exams. You are to prepare the clan members of each clan able to fight or heal to go to Konohagakure immediately."

He brought his hand down, smiling at Naruto. "I know you will do well out in the world, Naruto. I am also waiting for the day you summon me. Though I have noticed you have been neglecting the Metal Lizards, you may want to make sure you keep that connection. They can remove you from the contract if you don't keep up with them."

Naruto blushed heavily, turning and looking to the portal back into the Mortal World. "Yeah, you're right. I bet Keiko is worried sick about me right now. I haven't seen her since I left the Hidden Mist. Thank you, sensei. I am going now. I hope to see you soon, though hopefully not back here."

Both he and Akio chuckled, the ladder waving Naruto goodbye as he watched the tear close as the soul was returned to Naruto's body. From behind him there was a low rumbling before a large, heavy shadow loomed over Akio. The former Kuraikage turned around, smiling as he saw his only friend in the Pure World. "Hello Tashinora."