Before we go any further, I feel like I need to clear up some things. Now, I know there's been a lot of words thrown around. Some people think a certain way and others think the otherwise. I'm talking right now to straighten all of that out.
My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am a lot of things. I am, and forever will be, a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village. I am the son of the Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. I am the container of the nine-tailed fox, Kurama. I am a member of team 7, apprentice to the legendary Toad Sannin, reincarnation of old man Sage's son, future Hokage and avid ramen lover.
What I am NOT is a god.
I don't care how many people call me one. I don't care how many stupid weapons and symbols get tossed at me. I don't even care about how many people worship me. I am not and will never be a god of ANYTHING. This includes candy, ramen, heaven, earth and whatever other stupid thing you want to say I have control over.
I'm just a normal guy who got thrown into a crazy situation. Until I say otherwise, I will be just that.
I know everyone won't accept this. I know they'll be some people out there who will think of me as their god until the day I die. I can't help that. I can't fix that. All I can do is tell as many of you the truth and hope to whatever actual god that is out there that as many as you as possible will listen.
But, deep down in my stomach, I have a feeling no one will.
"Two more kids without me? Naruto, I'm hurt."
"Father, I have siblings now?"
"Your spawn creating skills are expressive, Naruto."
Speechless. Confused. Dumbfounded. Frustrated.
There were a lot of words you could have used to describe his overall mood. Any of them would have been accurate because, honestly, there was no one way to describe how he felt. He was speechless because no matter how much he wanted to shout his head off, the words wouldn't escape his mouth. They remained trapped beneath an invisible barrier that was at work trying to keep his sanity together.
"Rejoice! He is back. After all those years, he has returned to us."
As gently as his shockladden mind could manage, his arms came up and pushed the girl away from himself. Ignoring the confused expression on the angel's face, he turned to Ophis, his face an unreadable mask of swirling emotions.
"Please make a portal back to my house."
The dragon's loyalty to him shone bright when she carried out his request without any questioning. With a small amount of gesturing on her part, a portal stood in his path. Naruto offered up Koneko a pointed look before stepping through the portal.
"H-Hey, wait! Don't leave me here, nya!" Seeing her caretaker disappear through a portal set the older Nekoshou alight. She jumped through the air toward the portal in pursuit of him, only for her path to be blocked by her little sister's back. Her momentum came to a hard stop when she crashed into the younger girl's back, sending her crumpling to the ground. A pained groan crawled its way out of her throat as she watched her sister step through the portal instead of her.
"Excuse me." From her position on the ground, Kuroka got an amazing view of Lilith stepping over her body and following Naruto and Koneko through the portal. Ophis followed right behind the younger dragon. Soon, there was no one but Kuroka and the two angels left in the building.
"I should get going." Kuroka managed to force out in the midst of some nervous laughter. She began to climb back up to her feet in order to leave, only to be blown back down to the ground when Gabriel went blazing past her through the portal. To add insult to injury, the portal closed just as the winged blonde leaped through it, leaving her alone with the de facto leader of Heaven.
"H-hello there, nya." Another nervous chuckle left her mouth as she stared up at the angel. She felt her stomach drop when the man sighed and took a step toward her. Completely unfamiliar with the angel, images of her imminent death flashed through her head as the angel grew closer. She could already feel the burn of one of his light spears piercing into her skin, filling her with holy energy and ending her short life.
"Come on. We have to go after my rash sister before she damages Naruto with her affection." The devil was surprised that instead of having a spear shoved into her back, a hand was placed in front of her face. She hesitated for a moment at the sight of the man's immaculate hand in front of her. Her hesitation cost her, however, when she was yanked up to her feet by the angel, causing a yelp to leave her mouth.
"Sorry for my roughness. We don't have much time and entering his house could prove to be difficult for me."
With those words, and with the nekoshou wrapped in his grasp, Michael palmed the air in front of him. The area around his hand rippled for a brief moment before a luminescent portal appeared. The angel didn't waste any time as he stepped through the portal with a stunned Kuroka in tow.
"Fath- Naruto!" The words erupted out of her mouth as she erupted out of the portal. Her momentum carried her, legs first, into the back of the couch. Her upper body went flipping over top of it, landing her head first on the ground in front of the chair.
"Naruto is gone."
The angel's head snapped upward to meet the eyes of the younger nekoshou that had been present with Naruto in the 7th layer of Heaven.
"What do you mean? I saw him leave Heaven only moments ago. Where could he have gone? He could not have gotten far in such a short period of time"
The words flew out of her mouth toward the seated girl. The relative harshness of her tone seemed to bounce off of her devil skin as Koneko's expression stayed as calm as ever.
"He's fast."
That answer was not enough for her. She had just gotten a piece of her father back and her patience for the stonewall-esque girl was not up to par.
"Where did he go?"
She was met with silence. That silence was met with an uncharacteristic flaring of her anger. Why was this girl being so difficult? All she wanted were simple answers involving her father. Wasn't she entitled to that much?
"Excuse m-"
A sharp cough cut the angel off. She curbed the urge to flare her wings out and, instead, simply spun to face the source of the noise. She was met with the puffed out cheeks of Kuroka.
"Naruto went out to get some fresh air. And, as long as Naruto is gone from the house, I'm in charge, nya! So, I'm going to ask you to sit down and leave Naruto alone or I'll make you."
To punctuate her point, the woman's magic seal appeared behind her. Its glow threw a dark, purple haze onto the entirety of the room. A wispy smoke started to emit from the edges of the seal, filling the room with its ominous fog.
Gabriel was not afraid. The angel was known for her beauty, there was no doubt of that, but that did not take away from the fact that she was a participant in the Great War. She fought alongside her brother, father, and fellow angels. She shed the blood of devils and ended bloodlines. She waged war, face-to-face, against the original Four Great Satans. She was a warrior and a simple cat would not be enough to stop her.
A pair of dragon gods, however, would be more than enough. From the corner of her eye, through the purple haze clouding the room, she spotted the duo standing in the hallway of the house. Any thought of further action was flushed from her mind at that sight. Her father hadn't raised a fool. Drawing the ire from the dragons could spell the death of her.
"I can't die with him so close."
With that thought, she abandoned any thought of retaliation and visibly slumped in front of nekoshou seemed to take this as a sign of her submission and allowed her magic seal to disappear from view, releasing the room of her smog.
"Fine, I'll sit." With an almost childish deposition about her, the angel took a wide step backward then fall ass first into one of the room's many seats.
With the room's main source of confrontation now effectively bottled, an awkward silence settled upon the room. With Gabriel too frustrated with her situation to speak, Kuroka silently glaring daggers at the angel and the natural quiet nature of Koneko and the dragon duo, not a word was said in the room.
And, not a word would be said until Naruto returned.
A silent maple stood strong in the depths of Japan. Isolated from all except for her kin, she served as a beautiful but unneeded guardian to the small clearing she bordered. Every once in awhile, the odd yet familiar creature would try to make its home in her bark. Their presence was always a welcome change yet that change was always fleeting.
For a being as old as she was, this was disappointing. The cycle of being used and abandoned had taken a toll on her. Her roots had twisted, turned gray and jagged. Her leaves were crinkling and pungent. Her bark, gashed and uneven.
She was a fragment of what she once was. A twisted and jaded extension of earth's mental state.
That was until he arrived.
He had come into her clearing, reeking of negative emotion. It rolled off of him in waves, poisoning the air with its toxicity. She recognized him. It was hard not to. Her mistress' infatuation with him made him famous amongst her kind. But, the man she saw was not the one her mistress gushed about. She spoke of a man of serenity, of peace and Trinity. This was not him.
She had hesitated to inform her mistress of his presence. She didn't want her to see the man she cared about in such a negative state. She had already gone through so much.
So, instead, she watched. She watched as the boy paced around her clearing, mumbling incoherent gibberish to himself. She watched as the emotions flashed across his face, shifting from negative to calm within moments. She watched as he finally settled on an expression of acceptance before he sat directly underneath her.
Then she felt.
It came at her in a sudden rush. She felt a slight pull at her reserves before the entire world was opened to her. Her roots, untouched for decades, became unfurled as pure ecstasy flooded through her. Her bark pressed and heaved in an attempt to handle the purity of the energy she was consuming.
She was in heaven.
"I must inform her of his presence immediately!"
As he breathed in, he felt the world around him breathe with him. And, as he released that breath, he felt the world bend and stretch in an attempt to mimic his actions. The wind in the clearing had stilled, leaving his body completely motionless.
He was angry. Exhausted nor tired could properly describe how he felt right now. He was tired of being tired. His exhaustive tanks had run dry.
The only thing left was anger.
Who had deemed it acceptable for this burden to put placed on him? He hadn't agreed to this. He hadn't agreed to any of this. He wanted a life of simplicity. He deserved a life of simplicity.
He sucked in a deep breath of cool air to relieve the burning mass that had begun to build up in his chest. His malignant thoughts gathered within the wind and banged erratically against his 'chest as he held the breath. He could feel them stab into his heart, heightening the emotional turmoil he was feeling. With each passing moment, the feeling grew worse and worse until it reached a terrible apex.
Then it vanished.
With a release of his breath, it went away. All the negative emotions, the malignant thoughts, the burning anger, all gone. Serenity sat in its place. A serenity that radiated out from its body and reached out to the world around him. Nature gladly accepted, taking ahold of his body and rooting him in place as it greedily sucked away.
He felt her. Now, it was impossible not to whenever he entered sage mode. Despite her consuming presence, she felt distant at first. He felt her gradually move toward him, traveling hundreds of miles in the span of seconds. He could feel the build-up of her energy overtake his form and strain the limits of his sage abilities. As she grew closer, more of her energy and more of its taint followed her. His body buckled beneath the pressure, his teeth grit together in an attempt to maintain it all. He felt anger, hate, pressure, all attempting to tear him open and feast at his burdened heart.
With a single breath, it all vanished.
"Just as I said, your matters have been dealt with and I have returned."
His eyes came to a slow open, revealing Gaea's naked form standing across the clearing. A small smile graced her face as she teetered around the forest's edge, her form swaying to and fro.
"You feel different," Gaea commented as she took her first step toward Naruto's sitting form. Her smile grew in size as the soft grass welcomed the touch of her feet.
"You feel godly."
And, just like that, the energy that had been so abundantly flowing off of the object of her infatuation disappeared. It was a hard cut-off that left her oddly numb. The smile fell from her face in an instant as she stared down Naruto.
"Why are you here?"
Through their connection, he could feel the chill in his voice and it made her shiver.
"I felt you through our connection. You were clearly distraught, so I came." She took a tentative step toward him as she spoke. Another step followed than one then another until she was standing only a foot away from him. When he didn't rebuke her for the distance between them, she folded her legs beneath her and sat at his side.
The two sat in silence for several minutes. Gaea could feel the residual natural energy flowing off of his form but said nothing when he didn't reestablish their connection. She had a feeling that the boy had faced enough pressure as of recently. With that knowledge, she made the decision to do something she hadn't done in a long time.
She would play the role of a mother.
"What's bothering you, dear?"
The words felt so foreign in her mouth. Dear was a title that was once meant for her true loved one. Her husband once bore that title until he decided to betray her and harm her children. Her eldest sony held that title until he descended into a state cruelty that surpassed his own father. Once, the humans of earth had held that title during the days when they cultivated her surface and cared for the resources she bestowed upon them.
Those days were long gone.
"I am not here to add to your burden, child. I'm only here to listen." She added after several moments of silence from the boy. She watched the lines of his face fold and crinkle. Despite his silence, she could basically hear the internal struggle he was facing through his varying expressions.
"I've been through a bunch." Her expression perked up when the words left his mouth. Her hopes of finally learning more about the enigmatic blond would finally be coming true.
"I've watched my whole village get destroyed because of me. I've watched my friends sacrifice themselves for me. Thousands of people, with lives and families, died trying to protect me."
If she hadn't been curious before, she was curious now. What type of life had this child been living where he had already gone through such hardship at such a young age?
"And, just when everything was going well, I get ripped away from my home and thrown here. I didn't ask for that. I fought for my home. I fought so that everyone, even me, could go home and try their best to restart their lives."
A visible tremor ran through his body. Whether it was from anger or sadness, she could not tell. His head was hung down, allowing his hair to shade almost the entirety of his face.
"So, I get here and I try to restart. I try to restart for myself and all the people who cared about me because I know they would have been angry if I at least didn't try. But, this time, I try to do things differently. I couldn't live my dream but I could live a life worth living. Protect the people I love. I tried to do stuff simple. No more fighting ninjas, masked villains or evil goddesses. Just a normal life."
The boy's head came with a deep sigh. Gaea was happy to see that no tears were present in his years yet the downcast expression that marked his face kept her happiness at bay.
"That's all I really wanted. When the devils came around, I thought I could just ignore them. Then the angels and fallen angels got involved. Then the greeks then the Egyptians and the Hindus and.." The blond stopped to suck in a breath.
"Now, I'm considered god in several religions. I hear more voices in my head than I usually do and everyone either wants to kill or take advantage of me. I have a pair of dragons living in my house and I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
A frown dipped across her face when she heard a slight hitch in his voice. Her body beckoned for her to reach out and ignore it she did not. She felt welcomed when he didn't flinch or move away from her touch.
"Child." His head swung up to meet her eyes. "As of right now, you are one of the most powerful and influential figures in the universe."
"I don't want to be, though."
"Tough luck." She spat out in reply. Her soft features turned into a deep scowl as she stared down the blond. "Sometimes in life we are given powers and responsibilities we did not ask for. Instead of laying down and letting them defeat us, it is up to us to utilize the abilities for our own benefit."
"And, you." Her call forced his full attention onto her. "With your position and power, you have the entirety of the world in your hand. Every opportunity and every possibility sit at your fingertips. You are not at the end of anyone's rope. You hold the key to your own fate. You have the ability to throw this world inArmageddondon or bestow peace onto it for the foreseeable future."
He responded with silence, the thoughtful type. He could see some truth and a whole lot of reasoning within her words, even when he ignored the diety's strange interest in him.
"Do what you want, Naruto. If you want to raze the Heavens, go ahead. If you to subjugate humanity, be my guest. If you wish to subjugate me, be my guest." She whispered the last part into his ear, her hand sliding uncomfortably far up his leg. Before he could react, she was up on her feet and her hand nowhere near his crotch.
"This is where the real fun begins, child. All the power in your hand and no one to stop you but yourself. To be young~" She let out one last wistful sigh before melding into the ground below. The roots of her hair was the last he saw of her before she was gone, leaving him alone once more in the forest.
"Father, I come to you as a sinner..."
"Thank you, god, for letting us win…."
"Why'd you take my baby away from me? You were supposed to protect us..."
"God, I just want my family to be happy..."
"God..."
"God..."
"He's been gone for too long. I'm going to look for him."
Just as she managed to lift herself halfway out of her seat, she felt a hand land against her midsection and force her back down into her chair. Before she could voice her protest, Ophis' stoic yet heated expression filled her vision.
"Sit. Stay."
Indignation filled her at being addressed like an animal. She wanted to voice the indignation but the combined looks from the pair of dragons and Nekoshou in the room kept her silent.
This was not how she expected her reunion with her father would go. She had trusted that, eventually, the man would come back to the world. His presence would bless the planet in its entirety and rid the world of its evil.
She was beginning to realize how wrong she had been.
"Aren't any of you worried? With his power, he could be attracting all sorts of horrible creatures to himself. What if he could hope?" She hoped that maybe appealing to the group of four's affection toward Naruto would allow her to make her grandscape.
"We're not worried."
Proven wrong once again.
"Naruto can and will care for himself." Ophis spoke up this time. Her words were silently echoed by her clone as Lilith nodded her head along with her mother's words. Seeing that the two dragons weren't going to be of any help to her, Gabriel cut her eyes over to Koneko. The look she received was enough to stonewall any of her remaining hopes.
"Naruto said he needed to be alone. Its that simple."
Her upper canine bit deep into the tan flesh of her lips. She couldn't stand this feeling for much longer. His holy presence called her to charge out into the world and find him. She wanted to be close to him. After so long without his grace, she needed to be by his side.
"Don't you want to with him, though? He seemed upset when he left. Don't you want to be by his side to help him?"
"Yes." The response made her blink. She hadn't expected an affirmative response so quickly from the girl. Before she could even open her mouth to add on statement, Koneko was speaking once again.
"I want to be next to him every single moment of the day. Its one of the few things I want. But, he needs time alone. I know he'll come back. Because of I'm here. So, I am not worried."
Certainty. Nothing but absolute certainty could be heard in the girl's voice. What she spoke, she believed in without a shadow of and doubt and Gabriel was finding it hard to find a reason not to believe the girl herself. The conviction in her voice spoke to her. It reached her in a way that she hadn't expected from someone so young and so … devilish.
"How are you so sure?" She couldn't help but question.
"Because, I know Naruto."
As if god himself had been listening in on their conversation, the door swung open not a moment after the girl spoke. Naruto came walking into the room, his arms hanging loosely by his side and his face sporting a small smile. The smile seemed to grow when he saw Koneko yet tapered off when he saw Gabriel sitting in his living room.
"Father…" Her throat seized up, forcing her voice down to a whisper. A surge of emotion erupted from her chest and filled her body. The corner of her eyes began to sting as her vision of Naruto blurred.
"I'm not your dad."
"But-"
"Gabriel." His voice silenced her. The look he sent her way kept her in place and her mouth closed. "I'm not your dad. Your dad, for whatever reason, decided to give me his powers but I am not him. I will never be him."
The stinging in her eyes grew more painful at her words. Her throat grew thick as a well of emotion seized her by the neck, making the act of breathing almost impossible. A stab of pain, part physical and part emotional, shot through her heart, forcing those built up tears down her cheeks.
Before she could cry her eyes out, she felt a hand land on the top of her head. She looked up, her teary eyes meeting with Naruto's blue ones.
"I need you to get Michael here."
The sound of a toilet flushing caught the attention of everyone in the room. Their heads collectively turned toward the bathroom as its door swung open with a creek. Out came strutting Michael, his hands folded neatly behind his back while a pleasant left his lips in a hum.
"Oh my!" The angel exclaimed at the sight of Naruto. "I didn't expect you back so soon. You have a very nice restroom, I must say."
"...Thank you." That was Naruto's tentative response to the angel's odd compliment. He had never been complimented on the quality of his bathroom before and was having a hard to processing it.
"Wait." With a quick shake of his head, he sent the bathroom compliment to the back of his mind. "You're here. That makes this easier."
The inquisitive look Michael sent his way forced the boy to suck in a deep breath. Was he entirely sure this was what he wanted to do? Did he really want to throw himself into this position? Was it worth the trouble? Was it worth the freedom?
"Michael." He exhaled as he spoke. "I'm going to be a god."
"Thats wonderful! I'll alert Heav-"
"Before you do anything." The blond held up a finger, stopping the angel in his tracks. "I'm going to tell you that there's going to be some changes. A lot of changes."
"If I'm going to be a god, I'm going to do it my way. The Uzumaki way."
AN: Welcome to the final act of ASTSO. This is the point of no return, where this ridiculous story gets even more out of control. I hope you all have enjoyed the ride and will enjoy going over this last little hill at this point. With this story soon to be the top favorited, followed and review Naruto/DxD fic, I can't say enough how much I appreciate the support I've gotten from this story. Its creation has pushed me to a lot of things.
Thank you all. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. PM or review with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. Peace
P.S congratulations! You have gained access to the not-so-secret discord chat that I am apart of. WORLD FAMOUS NARUTO FANFICTION AUTHORS are active in this chat along with a bunch of readers. Come join us! Use the discord code below!
bAG7DFk