Diving into the depth of the dark ocean where no light could reach, Naruto and Kakashi saw monsters of various sizes and strength.
However, the serpent sleeping on the ocean bed was a sight to behold. The Leviathan was an armored sea serpent with long flowing hair. It was clad in gold and silver armor with fins protruding out. Its nose housed a cannon barrel with a hexagonal cross-section, and above its head were two horns attached, one on the forehead and another one on the tip of the nose. The horn on the forehead was significantly larger and came with a knife-like edge at the front. It had two tails ending in a harpoon-like shape.
It was a wonderful creature that was around 5 kilometers in size and the chakra felt from it was very close to Kage level. Its life force was extremely strong to support its large structure.
"Teacher, it has enough chakra to rival Tsunade. Do you want me to subdue it?" Naruto shared his view as they were hidden from the senses of the creature using Senjutsu, making them feel like they were part of the background.
Kakashi stared at the creature that was bigger than anything he had ever fought or killed. It was even worse than the Kraken that lived near the Land of Lightning.
To make things worse, he was inside water and without his sharingan.
"I will leave it to you." Kakashi had no desire to indulge in a pointless conflict. They weren't there to fight, just to collect a pet or partner and fighting it out was more Gai's thing.
Naruto gave a nod and appeared on top of the serpent, near its eyes. The large eyes opened and Leviathan gazed upon the little human that dared to enter its territory. No, dared to stand on his body.
You dare! Leviathan was about to roar when he felt Naruto's power pressure him, making him unable to move.
The serpent was arrogant and impatient, but even he had survival instincts that had made it survive for centuries or it would have been killed by the Monster King that sometimes passed by his territory.
"Hello, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I have a request for you." Naruto decided to talk to it once he saw intelligence in those eyes. He had thought that the creature was just an animal without conscious before meeting it, so the plan had to change.
Pressuring it with his immense chakra, Naruto could easily crush the giant body but just kept it trapped and made it understand the difference. Unlike human beings, monsters and animals were logical when it came to overwhelming power.
'What do you want from me?' The Leviathan didn't speak any human language, but Naruto could understand what it was saying through the usage of his eyes. He could see its thoughts and understand.
"I want you to partner up with my teacher and in return, I will help you get stronger."
Hearing the human's voice inside his mind was a new thing for the creature, but it had no choice but to listen.
Looking at the other human, he didn't think it was worthy of becoming his partner. However, the idea of more power interested the creature.
'I don't want to work with him. I can serve you.' The ocean king pushed down his arrogance to work for the human. It wouldn't even have considered it before, but the power difference was immense.
"I can sign a summoning contract with you, but you will have to become my teacher's partner. Let me elaborate my point, I want to seal you inside my teacher and allow you both to fuse to become a stronger existence. And, I already have a partner." Naruto replied calmly while showing Kurama to the creature.
Seeing Kurama, Leviathan was spooked as it had almost died to the creature before. He remembered the massive explosion that erased an island nearby almost hundred years in the past.
It was understandable how the human was strong when he saw Kurama.
'I accept your offer.'
"Teacher, it's done. He is ready to work with you." Turning to Kakashi, Naruto gave the good news with a smile and thumbs up.
Kakashi dove down to their level with his chakra enhanced body since it was impossible for even a superhuman to survive the depth of the Dark Ocean. The water could turn steel to dust at such depth.
"Great work, Naruto. You have really grown a lot." Kakashi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave him a pat. He had expected the young man to fight the creature, not negotiate. It was truly unexpected.
The expression made Naruto happy.
"What is this metal and why is it on the Leviathan?" Kakashi was confused by the metal and how the creature had worn it or made it part of itself.
Naruto hadn't considered that question and turned to the creature for the answer.
'I don't know what the metal is called. I came across it one day and it combined with my body, forcing it to grow into this shape. It allows me ignore almost all attacks and even reflects most of them.' The reverence held for the golden metal could be heard from its tone.
Naruto sent a weak wind blade towards the serpent and saw it reflected. He threw thousands across the whole body and all of them were reflected.
'Please, don't test the durability.' Leviathan cried out urgently as he was afraid that Naruto would increase the power of his attacks.
"Sorry about that, I just found it really interesting." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and looked at the creature honestly.
Leviathan would have devoured him normally, but he had no other choice but to take the humiliation.
"Naruto, how about we start the process and see if it works." Kakashi suggested, though he was still unsure of the success since Leviathan was a creature of blood and flesh.
"Okay, don't resist and relax." Naruto stood in front of the two and started the process. He had seen Shukaku perform it with his eyes and got further explanations afterwards, so he had enough understanding to use it.
The serpent didn't dare to resist the pull and found himself sealed inside Kakashi.
"I will be connecting your souls and chakra, get ready." Naruto announced and the duo felt the connection.
They could feel each other and their chakra mixed together into one, growing to more than double the individual size.
Naruto had already told Kakashi about the fusion process, so the copy ninja easily followed through and ended up fusing with his new partner.
Kakashi's grew in size and stood at five meters while his body was completely covered in golden armor. There were small wings on his feet and his helmet. Finally, there was a white cape on his back and two blades in his hands.
The water and lightning specialty of both individuals had mixed and been enhanced, especially since Leviathan also had minor lightning control abilities.
The power increase wasn't immense like a Bijuu, but Kakashi had reached city destruction level. He could finally erase mountains like they were nothing and destroy an island with his full power.
Naruto confirmed the success of the process and even the power increase. It was a wonderful feeling and he was filled with hope. It was just the beginning, since he hadn't even helped the serpent grow yet.
Thinking about growth, Naruto realized that no one beside Gai and Lee had actually tried to reach the limits of human physique.
Shouldn't they learn what the limits really were before surpassing them, Naruto thought as he hadn't worked on his body seriously over the training journey and afterwards. It wasn't a lie to say that shinobi purely focused on the chakra enhanced strength and jutsu, instead of powering up their base strength.
"Teacher, what do you think is the limit of humanity in physical terms? How strong can you get physically?"
Kakashi wasn't overwhelmed by the power increase since he had already experienced a temporary power up that had allowed him to reach Juubito level in the fight against Kaguya. However, it was nice to know that now he had some permanent power and could make up for his loss.
"I don't know. I don't think anyone has ever persisted with just their physical enhancement. So, Gai would be considered the strongest human without accounting for chakra. His pure stats without chakra allow him to move around 10 times the speed of sound and he is strong enough to carry 1000 tonnes. The Hokage could have been stronger, but she preferred using chakra fist strikes instead of training the body." It really showed how difficult it was to enhance the base when someone like was Gai was still stuck at such a low level. Most Chunin could move faster than mach 10 and most jounin could easily carry more than 1000 tonnes.
"Shouldn't we reach our physical limits before testing other things? Won't we have the same problem without our new bodies?"
"I agree with your point. However, I have no solution to the problem. We will have to discuss with the Hokage, she is the specialist on this subject."
"Why don't you try eating strong creatures? That has always worked for us. Maybe it's because your kind only eats normal food that your strength barely increases." Leviathan presented his opinion as he understood what they were talking about because of his connection to Kakashi. He was completely willing to partner up with Kakashi after knowing how close he was to Naruto, and how strong the young hero was. The power increase wasn't much to the duo, but to Leviathan it was massive.
"Do you think that will work?" Naruto couldn't remember ever eating anything beyond normal food except when he ate with the Akimichi clan. He didn't know how food would affect growth of humanity.
"The food we eat does affect how we grow, but I am unsure whether it has such a big impact like what we desire. The question will have to be presented to the Hokage or the Akimichi clan; they will know the answer…. Let's rest for the night and visit them tomorrow morning."
Sleeping with less difficulty then before, Naruto woke up suddenly as he felt his eyes react to something and he found himself in one Kaguya's dimension.
It was the dimension with sand and no life because of the intensity of the sun. It was still day time in the dimension.
Naruto didn't look around pointlessly and focused on the person that stood out in the desolate land.
"Who are you?" Naruto looked at the man from the head to the toe.
He was a fairly tall man of light complexion. He sported a shaved head, apart from a long Mohawk of black hair tied in a long ponytail style reaching his lower-back, pronounced eye ridges void of brows, a broad nose, and large black eyes. He had a diamond-shaped mark on his chin and a Roman numeral "Ⅳ" tattooed below his left eye. He also wore black nail polish on his fingernails and toenails, five red earrings on the top of each ear, and an additional one at the bottom of each ear.
He wore the black hooded cloak with maroon lining, along with dark Capri pants and sandals, and a dark collar.
The chakra signal coming from the man wasn't particularly strong, average jounin level. His life force was the only thing that stood out, it was higher than any human being he had ever come across. Other than life force, there were also the eight pronged eyes of the man that were most likely a doujutsu.
"My name is Jigen, Lord Uzumaki. I mean no harm, as I was just practicing my unique skills." Jigen acted in a friendly manner showing that he didn't want a fight.
Naruto sensed no evil intentions from the man, so he relaxed his tone.
"How did you end up here? Is it because of your eyes?"
"Yes, my eyes allow me to teleport. I always felt like there was a big threat before, but now I felt like it had disappeared. So, I tried it and here we are."
"I see. You shouldn't roam around carelessly. This place is very dangerous, so you should go back." Naruto didn't feel any falseness from his words and warned the man about using his powers to go unknown places.
"I understand the risks, but I wish to explore the wide world openly. I have already achieved everything back home. I have power and wealth, so I am fulfilled. Please, will you allow me to explore this unknown planet?"
Using his senses, Naruto found no threats around the planet.
"Fine, but I will check upon you after a day."
"Thank you very much, Lord Uzumaki. I will remember this favor." Jigen bowed with a happy smile.
"No problem, and take care." Naruto didn't see anything suspicious and dangerous, so he left to finish his sleep.
"Looking after my safety, how disgusting." Jigen spat on the ground as he looked up with an ugly look. The simple man was Ishiki Otsutsuki in the body of a weak human.
He had been forced to hide because of Kaguya and then the Sage, and Zetsu. The Sage died, but Zetsu always kept a watch to keep him from emerging. With ever watching gaze of that abominable shadow, Ishiki was forced to live like a human. The Alien overlord was unable to regain his power because of the possibility of getting the attention of the living darkness.
However, all that changed when Kaguya was sealed again and the shadow was also sealed with her. To make things even better for him, Kaguya had been sealed away without any protection. She was ready for consumption.
Teleporting to the barren dimension, Ishiki looked up to the sky where there was a moon floated with his prey inside.
Flying to the moon, Ishiki was overcome with emotions. He had endured humiliation for more than one thousand years. He had lived like a mortal, and he had to stay inside a weak shell that wasn't even worthy of his presence.
"It has been a long time, Kaguya. I was starting to think that I was hallucinating all of this. Maybe, I was actually human because of being stuck like this for so long…..Hahahhahaahhaha, I was even feeling fear. Fear from a maggot that you created, I will never forget you and I will never forgive you for that humiliation.
Don't worry, I won't just devour you. I will revive you soon, and I will make you suffer for eternity. You will live as a dog, not even as a human being." Ishiki took off his calm visage and acted in a crazed manner that had become part of his personality after living in fear and humiliation for such a long time. He caressed the moon below him and spoke as if Kaguya was actually listening to him.
The eight pronged wheel spun inside his eyes, and the black diamond mark covered his whole body before bleeding on to the celestial structure.
Ishiki forcefully used his Otsutsuki skill that allowed them to absorb each other to evolve another stage. It would turn the other being into a chakra fruit that was easy to absorb and allowed the user to fully inherit the abilities of the victim.
It was unfortunate for Ishiki that Kaguya had been sucked dry and was just an empty husk inside the celestial body, but even just the empty husk was superior to the current vessel. There were also some useful abilities held by Kaguya, such as the All Killing Ash bones, The Infinite Tsukuyumi, Wood Release and Truth Seeking Balls along with the Rinne-Sharingan and its abilities.
There was also the added bonus from the living darkness, Zetsu. Though the fruit made from these two beings, his power grew to rival Shukaku in power. It was not much in his eyes, but it was a boon after living like a beggar for a long time.
"Finally, I can return home. It has been so long that I even miss seeing Momoshiki. How quaint, you really appreciate things after a series of difficulties…. Sigh, I have really been infected by humanity." Ishiki couldn't help but shudder at the fact that he had become vastly different from his people. Difficulties and struggles were ever present, but they were different for his kind.
"It is your fault, Kaguya, you filthy human lover." Ishiki spoke with disdain and disgust, as to him it was like a human falling in love with a monkey. Human beings were lower end species to their kind, not even worth being used as cattle.
He had seen their creativity and come to see them better, but that didn't change the fact about their power and intelligence level. The strongest natural human wasn't even strong as an Otsutsuki Halfling.
"It would have been better if you had fallen in love with a Kryptonian. Forget about it, nothing will change by talking about it. I was about to erase all my sufferings with the help of Urashiki, but you have done such a wonderful job in catering to this seed bed. It should make up for everything I have lost."