With their next goal in sight, the gang found themselves at the Coliseum of the immortals. It was a place where the Immortals fought with their full power without the fear of death or destruction as the area was made by the combined power of the great immortals.
Walking into the place, they stood out from the crowd because of their shining appearance and the fact that they were human. All immortals had been informed of the decision, so they were aware that a great figure was walking amongst them.
However, most of them believed that Naruto had only gotten the seat because he was the strongest human and nothing more.
Watching the fights, the group could see the mastery of concepts by these creatures. They could also see their savagery in battle even though they were comrades. It was completely different from seeing mortals fight as serious injuries such as legs getting blown off were treated as nothing.
Nonetheless, Naruto didn't think the people fighting in the arena could beat him. He wasn't equal to the great immortals, but the people gathered in the area hadn't shown enough to conquer his abilities.
It would have been difficult before, but after his training during the month he had greatly improved. This was especially true because of his guides and the fact that he was training at an extreme pace. Naruto was constantly moving at speeds faster than light, and computing at such speeds. This meant that just one month was equal to 100 years of training to a normal human and Naruto was constantly using more than 100 clones to make that even more effective.
This was also the reason that Ino was necessary for him. No one had ever been able to keep moving at their full speed as most ninja didn't have the chakra reserves to keep their power at full stats. The mental and physical damage was also another cause, but Naruto wasn't worried about it because of the support he was receiving.
As such, Naruto had managed to grow immensely in all the fields and would become the best in the world by the end of the year with the current growth rate.
"Greetings great one, I hope the battles have been to your satisfaction." Two giant muscular men with terrifying appearance walked up to them. From hearing the man's voice, the group was filled with dread and terror.
The two men seemed to grow in size, towering over them like infinite mountains. The pressure was growing as they got closer and it seemed that their hearts would explode soon.
Ino and Orochi were the weakest amongst them, but it was Ino followed by Hinata that almost fell from the feeling of dread.
Naruto quickly shielded the group with his TSB as he understood that it was a conceptual ability and not some raw power that could be blocked with a normal shield.
It was clear that the enemy could control fear.
"Stop what you are doing; I will not tolerate any harm done to my companions." Naruto clenched his teeth in anger as he glared at the duo. The concept of dread was unable to work on him as he had already drowned himself in terror for a month to conquer fear and to overcome illusions, and mind games he had opened his mind to the world.
His Sage training had reached the next level and now Naruto was connected to the universe itself. He could easily see around the solar system. He could also feel glimpses of what others could be in the future or what they were in the present.
He also felt no resistance from the world anymore when it came to borrowing the infinite energy. The enlightenment had allowed him to recognize different levels of energy in the universe, showing him that he was only utilizing the lower form.
Regardless, this ascendance allowed him to overcome the dread as his Sage arts utilized the power of the vast universe to support his heart and soul from the ability.
"Apologies elder, I didn't know that my presence would cause harm to your companions. I wasn't trying to harm them, as this is just the normal state for me. I will turn it down as you seem upset…Is it fine now, sir?" The man spoke in a concerned tone, but it was clear that he was being sarcastic and trying to upset Naruto.
He wasn't blind to their attempts and was about to challenge them to a battle, when Ino and Hinata spoke up.
"Naruto, you can't just fight all the battles. These guys are just some nobodies, fighting them will only make us all look useless. Remember that the Hokage doesn't fight, as he commands other ninja to fight. Order us to fight, and bring honor to our name." Hinata advised as she stood beside him, feeling angered at the fact that she almost just lost a battle without any resistance. She was angry at herself first and then angry at the culprits.
Ino was feeling the worst, "Naruto, allow me to fight for you. Please boost my powers so that I can redeem my name. I can't stand these ugly freaks looking at me like I am just an insect."
This was the first time Naruto had been put into such a position directly. He was worried about them getting hurt, especially because the enemy controlled a psychological concept that could ruin their minds permanently. It was something he knew would come soon, but not so soon.
"Fight us, you little girls should stop deluding yourselves. Stick to acting pretty since you have no talent for this game, and even your master here isn't good enough to face us. We were acting sarcastic and you actually believe that you are something…Leave out the girls, boy and fight us."
It was clear disrespect and everyone was watching how he was about to react. Naruto wanted to fight, but even he was aware that now it would bring disrespect to his people regardless of his victory. It would prove that he was the only one among the human race capable of fighting an immortal.
However, he also didn't want his loved ones to suffer. Hinata was fine because of her new powers, but Ino's case worried him. The Yamanaka future leader was barely above city level after becoming a vessel to Mothra.
The difference in power was horrendous.
'Naruto, please let me fight. You can't just treat me like a child. Remember that this is a spar, and I believe in you. I know you can boost me to their level as they are just some fodder to rile you up.' Ino was definitely scared of the battle, but the alternative was worse. She would be regulated to a cheerleader and continue to drown in self hatred at the fact that she had backed down even during a non-lethal battle.
Under their honest gaze and emotion, Naruto was unable to let them down. He hugged the girls, "I believe in you, go and kick their ass."
It was a difficult decision, but it was one that was needed.
With a beaming smile, Ino declared that she was going to make them squirm.
"I believe it won't be fair with just two of them. You won't mind if I join will you?" Orochi stepped forward after observing the situation. He agreed with the girls about the fight, but Ino was a very weak point even if Naruto gave her a boost.
"More the merrier as it seems that Lord Uzumaki wishes to see us bully his concubines." The lead antagonist antagonized before jumping into the arena with his partner.
It got the reaction he desired, angering the girls. Regardless, Naruto gave a nod and sent Orochi with them.
Before sending Ino and Orochi, Naruto boosted their powers.
Sage Arts: Nature's Blessing
Ino and Orochi stood in front of Naruto as he gathered his Six Paths Senjutsu to draw fuinjutsu seals on their bodies. Golden seals were imprinted on their bodies giving them an insane boost by allowing them excess to 1 percent of Naruto's Six Paths chakra. For a limited time, Orochi and Ino were able to utilize the Six Paths mode boost in power.
The natural seal would have even allowed them a 100 time boost, but that was not enough. On the other hand, the Six Path was around 1000 times. It was a gigantic jump in power that allowed base Naruto who wasn't even city level to jump to continental in power.
The large boost in power shocked the onlookers and made them see Naruto in a different light as majority of them couldn't boost anyone's power to such an extent.
Sage Arts: Sea of life
Following that boost, Naruto used one of the other abilities he learnt from the sage. Slamming his palm on the ground, a magical circle spread around Ino and Orochi before drowning them in golden mud. The substance of the Sea of Life fundamentally remade any organism that entered unto the Sea as a "Child of Uzumaki Naruto" that allowed them an arbitrary selection of the following Skills: Regeneration, Pre-cognition, Danger sense, Elemental boost, chakra barrier and battle spirit. Upon emergence from the Mud, the Children are imposed with a cellular-level Geis automatically rendering them unable to fight against Naruto.
This allowed Ino and Orochi to endure the boost they got from the Six Paths chakra, or they would have died soon enough from their cellular structure collapsing from the strain not meant for their body. Regardless, the change was temporary and wouldn't last more than an hour since Naruto was still unable to completely accomplish such a thing.
Nonetheless, it was more than what others had expected and he had showed the Immortals that he was truly worthy of his position on the council.
Emerging from the golden mud, Ino looked at her body with awe. She felt invincible.
'Is this how he feels?' Ino finally grasped what Naruto felt, and it was immense. She almost exploded if not for the support skill.
"Now, I don't think we can ever lose. It's about to get unfair for these blocks." Ino said with a confident smirk as she hugged Naruto and gave him a kiss on the cheeks.
"Lord Uzumaki, I will not let you down. This blessing is an honor that I will never forget." Orochi felt his respect for Naruto grow once again. He had lost some after his continued arrogance towards the Great Immortals, but it was within expectations.
There was great future in the making that was led by Naruto, and Orochi understood this point. As such he was willing to serve the leader of the new world and the young man had similar values to him.
With the preparations done, the trio flew into the arena where the foe stood waiting for them.
"Are you going to fight us alone?" Hinata asked as she stood in front of the others as the leader.
The foe looked backed at the other man and smiled, "Yeah, I think I can handle it alone. My name is Deimos and I am the son of Ares. I am the great warrior that puts fear into others to the point that fall before the battle has even begun.
The fear I represent is greater than death, greater than anything you have ever faced, so can you handle it now?" Deimos walked closer to Hinata with slow steps, crushing the ground beneath him. He was encased in dark armor and looked extremely terrifying.
His size made the trio look tiny and the aura of fear was enough to kill all living things in the normal world instantly.
Before Hinata could step in, Ino stepped in, "Hinata, please allow me a chance."
It seems Ino believed that Hinata could make the fight one sided, so she wanted a chance to fight with her new abilities and show her abilities.
She wanted to accomplish something, and show Naruto a great sight.
"I will interfere if it looks dangerous."
"I will trust your judgment." With those words Ino was left without Hinata's protection, the truth seeking balls barrier.
Normally, Ino would have been crushed by the aura but she was able to fight it. Deimos fear aura felt oppressive the closer he got and Ino forced herself to face it. She focused her mental abilities, creating mental blocks and barriers around her mind to stop the fear aura.
However, he continued to break through them with ease.
Understanding that she needed the boost from her partner, Ino used her fusion form with Mothra. She grew in size with two large antenna and shiny wings while her body was covered in an ethereal white dress.
With the fusion form, Ino reached Kage level in base form and with the Six Paths boost she was at moon level. But the main point was the fact that Mothra allowed Ino to increase her affinity for mental abilities and gave her access to unique psychic abilities.
With a flap of her wings, Ino sent a psychic wave that crashed against Deimos. It was enough to blast away anything that it came across but Deimos took it casually.
Ino build a maze of multiple layers inside her mind to counter the fear aura while projecting the extreme fear she felt when Deimos first appeared on to Deimos himself.
However, it didn't work on him. It was clear that Deimos had a high resistance to fear or immunity. Seeing that it didn't work, Ino followed it up with a psychic beam from her antennas.
It was a powerful purple beam that caused confusion and mind break from its aura alone.
"Is that all you got, I thought you had something to feel confident about. You are nothing but a leech. Let me show you, how you to use that power." Deimos muttered with a smile while his fear aura increased in intensity causing Ino's shields to break and her to attack to weaken.
He walked through the beam and stood in front of Ino as she held her head trying to fight his aura. The giant placed his foot on Ino's head and pushed it into the ground, humiliating her.
It almost made Naruto fly into the arena, but he held back while gripping his hands hard to the point of bleeding.
On the other hand, Ino was trying to build up her defence.
She continuously built mental barriers in intricate design to see them fall. It all seemed so futile, and she almost called for help.
Seeing the expression on Naruto's face, she was reminded of her goal that the fear had driven out. Ino was reminded that she didn't have to think small as she had a boost of power beyond her level.
With that in mind, Ino went beyond creating a simple maze and started building a maze that was bigger than anything she had ever made.
It was bigger than a city. It had more than a thousand layers and each wall was made up of smaller barriers.
The intricate and expansive mental barrier of such level was finally able to give Ino the chance to breath and she used the chance given by the foe's arrogance to drown Deimos in a sea of memories. Ino had thought about what she could use as an ultimate move, and after working with Naruto it hit her in the face.
She could use the memories as a means of damaging the mind of her enemies. Ino had stored memories of Naruto and many other people in an area that was like a library and with just a glance Ino sent memories that were worth thousands of years to a normal person.
Deimos was confused by the sudden infusion of memories that had broken through his mental barrier, and Ino focused her psychic powers to pull him in all directions to rip his body apart at the atomic level.
"Bloody whore!"
Deimos focused his Immortal energy and caused a powerful shockwave to push away Ino along with her attack.
Like an impossible wave that could wash away a city, Ino's psychic barrier collided with the energy shockwave.
Before Ino could react, her barrier was hit by dark constructs in the shape of terrifying creatures while her surroundings were completely drenched in darkness.
Deimos controlled his fury that came from his pride, as he couldn't believe that someone like Ino would actually hurt him or even pose a challenge to him. She had managed to stop his conceptual ability from breaking her mind.
His Fear aura took effect before a battle and it was enough to cause insanity or death. It could have lasting effects for people that didn't have mental abilities.
However, the moment he fought back it weakened and now Deimos had to actually fight with his skills to work with his natural fear aura.
The darkness was an effect of his fear and insanity inducement technique as it worked with his fear aura, enhancing it.
Fear Empowerment was another skill that Deimos utilized to gain more power from the fear around him.
Fear Domain was the darkness covering the arena taking the shape of terrifying creatures and the horrifying wails.
Phobia Inducement followed the fear domain and Deimos targeted Ino's mind so that he could increase the existing phobia and create a new one to destroy her mind.
Ino didn't really have any phobia except one, the fear of being alone (Autophobia/monophobia). Deimos caused targeted it and introduced the fear of darkness into it.
With all these fear attribute abilities working together, Ino was completely put into the defensive. She couldn't spare a single breath to fight back and her abilities lacked the finesse that Deimos had because Ino was still not used to her techniques on the current level of power.
She tried Mental Drain, but the foes defence was too strong for her to break and none of her straight attacks were good enough either.
'I can't win this battle like this.' Ino accepted this fact and decided to use her last option.
Mental Image: Uzumaki Naruto
Ino had been helping Naruto for a month and knew everything he had been training, though she didn't have full understanding of it. Nonetheless, she had all the memories inside her library. Just like she had memories of others and with those memories, she could create a perfect replica of the individual. Normally, it would be impossible to replicate Naruto completely but now she had the chance.
With the technique activated, Ino took the back-seat while the Naruto clone took her place in the fight. The change in fighters was very obvious as Ino started to move in a different manner and she was actually controlling the chakra cloak now.
Even Hinata thought that Ino might have just switched places with Naruto to win the fight, but Naruto looked surprised at the sight.
Rasenshuriken was used as the starter move and the destructive move flew towards Deimos at an insane pace while chakra claws sprouted from the ground the hold him in place.
The air pressure increased to hold him down and the earth changed into a swamp to drown him. Deimos was curious about the change in pace and took flight while blocking the attack with his barrier.
He studied the foe once again to see what she held as the fear factor seemed to have decreased considerably.
Before the storm of wind needles could end, Ino's body followed it up with another powerful move.
Sage art: Laser Circus
Thousands of lasers targeted Deimos blinding him while Ino charged him directly.
Starburst Hunter
She accelerated to speeds that exceed the subluminal and reached the superluminal level while bands of light covered her arms and flowed behind her and everything that came in contact with any of the bands of light were erased.
The bands coiled around her hand and took the shape of a lance that Ino targeted at the foes abdomen. Deimos was unable to react and was pierced clean by the lance of light that trapped into the walls of the arena.
His body was even erased in place and being continuously healed by his natural ability.
Nonetheless, the stadium was put into a silent spell because of what they had just witnessed. Just moments they had been shouting in excitement for Deimos, and now he had just been dominated.
However, the victory seemed to have come at a price.
Ino's body fell to the ground as it was about to trap Deimos using chains. Her body had completely run out of chakra to support Naruto's mindset and abilities.
Naruto's mental clone had almost killed her by almost draining all energy from her body, and Ino survived by cancelling the move at the last second.
'I need to fix that problem before it kills me next time.' Ino was caught by Hinata and she smiled as she thought of ways to improve her skill. Regardless of her close death, Ino was extremely happy as she was finally able to hold up her head and declare that she had accomplished something great.
"You did wonderful, Ino. Honestly, I can't believe what I just witnessed." Hinata smiled happily for her friend. She didn't feel any jealousy or envy towards Ino, only positive thoughts about everyone.
Her respectful and joyful gaze also made Ino feel proud and happy. It was further enhanced by seeing the look on Naruto's face and the cheers of the crowd.
"Miss Hinata, the battle seems to be starting soon. Deimos seems to have personified fear before battle as it could be seen by the change when he started fighting, so the brother should be the fear during battle. The fact that he didn't step in should mean that he is confident in his abilities. So, we should move with caution." Orochi warned as he watched the lion head warrior walk towards his brother and break the light lance.
"You have changed my mind young warriors, and I shall honor you with a battle. Do not put me on the same level as my younger brother, or this battle will end very fast." Phobos heard them clearly and healed up his brother while empowering him with fear.
It seemed that the battle was going to be a two on two as Ino had used up all her chakra, leaving a silver of it. However, Hinata transferred some of her chakra into Ino and put her on support while they fought directly.
"We never look down on our foes, so I will attack with all I got." Hinata was already in her Tensaigan form and without hesitation she created a black and blue bow while charging an arrow that was formed from the heat energy of the world.
Omega Burst
Without a word, she unleashed the truth seeking ball arrow with extreme heat concentrated around it.
Sage Arts: A Withering Affection Is not love
It was a technique that Hinata had formed from her studies of the Sage's book. She focused on the aspect of archery and affection. Hinata believed that her love for Naruto and everyone could make a change, so this fighting style clicked.
Other than the heat and power erasure, the arrow was filled with the concept of love that its mere presence pushed away the darkness and created a domain of affection.
The moment it collided with Phobos dark barrier, the arrow exploded it a giant flower shaped magical diagram while releasing destruction upon her foes.
Her choice to unleash her strongest move took them by shock since it felt like they were supposed to be checking each other out. It was a spar, not a real battle.
Regardless, it happened and Deimos was eliminated from the battle as he was heavily damaged by the heat that reached the temperature of the core of the sun and to make things was the existence erasure from TSB. To make things ever worse was the love, it was the direct nemesis of the brothers and it completely weakened them.
Deimos was drowned in love and Phobos had to eliminate him before he fell for the enemy permanently. He was aware of such abilities because of Aphrodite, and it sparked every ones interest, especially Aphrodite and Artemis.
"I will support you from behind, so please end it soon." Hinata realized that she had the advantage, so decided to focus on her love concept to weaken Phobos.
The man felt that his time to shine was down the drain as Hinata's love domain covered the arena to fight against his fear domain.
Even though Hinata was new to the field, love was a powerful force and the people around the arena mostly held love instead of fear. Phobos would have the advantage in the outside universe, but in the Immortal world his concept didn't have enough support.
Phobos could only counter and defend the attacks from Hinata and Ino while Orochi teleported behind him before unleashed multiple pillars of light from the ground underneath the foe.
The attack was accompanied with the increase in gravity that pulled Phobos to the ground while the earth tried to capture him with giant hands.
The attacks hurt his flow, and Phobos was hit by an arrow from Hinata that greatly damaged him. Orochi followed it up with dark discs of nothingness that erased anything that they touched while Ino unleashed the avalanche of memories multiplied by two this time.
Phobos tried to unleash a dark world into the arena to drown his enemies into insanity but Hinata's love continued to crush his powers.
He was forced to drop his conceptual powers and utilize pure energy attacks, unleashing charged energy beams at his foes. Following the attack, he charged Hinata with his giant blade to cut her down with a powerful slash.
Hinata blocked the attack with TSB barrier that covered her whole before trying to impale Phobos with dark spikes. The enemy continued his slash while Ino unleashed a psychic beam and Orochi used the Light of Nothingness targeting Phobos.
The blade cut through the TSB shield but Hinata was already on the other side by using a portal and unleashed another arrow while Phobos was held back by the duo's attack.
No Beast is Beyond My Arrow's Reach
It was another powerful skill that that negated all defensive skills and buffs from a target that Hinata recognized as a beast. It was build upon the concept of the TSB and amplified the negating abilities.
It hit Phobos directly cancelling his defences allowing Hinata's clone to finish the battle with a love arrow.
Just like that the feared warrior Phobos was put to his knees and filled with injuries that bled golden blood.
"Rest son, you have done enough. Let me handle this situation." Before Phobos could put up the final struggle, someone interfered. It was Ares, the Immortal of War and the father of the two warriors. He was the one that had sent them to humiliate the human fighters, as he didn't acknowledge Naruto. Ares wasn't even part of the council, so his pride was hurt seeing a human on that seat.
In the start of the fight all was going according to his expectations, but soon everything fell apart and he could only watch things get worse while his rage continued to rise.
Looking at his expression, Phobos retreated without a word as he knew his father wouldn't forgive any insolence.
Ares didn't look at the team as his eyes were glued to Naruto, "It seems your entourage isn't so bad, you got some good taste. So, let me give them a real fight before we can have a fight of equals."
Turning to the team, Ares smiled, "Don't worry; I will go easy on you. Just survive for some time to warm me up for the real spar, okay."
Ares cracked his knuckles and stretched his body while looking completely relaxed, but his presence was felt by the team.
Naruto could see the obvious difference in power between father and sons; as Ares was a really big threat. The team winning was unknown before the match, and it only happened so clearly because of Hinata's type advantage.
However, now they didn't have the advantage and Ares was stronger than the brothers.
Looking at Hinata, Naruto saw her shake her head.
'We might lose, but this loss will benefit us. Please don't intervene Naruto, and let us face death in this controlled environment.'
Hinata knew what he was feeling, but this was needed. Hinata loved everyone just like Naruto; however she was willing to hurt others if it was for their benefit. She had just watched the immortals fight to the death, and it had clicked inside her mind. The shinobi could also replicate this training and achieve greater results by not holding back against each other, and seeing the true results of their skills.
Fighting Naruto with full power didn't help other ninja much because of the massive gap, so they could barely see any change. And seeing them abuse their regen powers, Hinata realized that they had been holding onto their human nature too closely while harming their skill set.
Thousands of words were conveyed by their eyes meeting and Naruto grasped her intentions through the connection. He understood the benefit of such a thing, but it felt like they were walking on the path of no return and losing grip of normalcy.
Did they want to live in a world where people didn't care about their bodies and destroyed each other's body during a friendly spar?
Naruto felt it was too extreme.
'We will have to make tough decisions if we want succeed. And, this will be limited to the few of us. We are all ready to sacrifice our lives already, so this won't change anything except enhance our chances to survive.'
Hinata clarified her position as even she would never push everyone into such a life. The image made her sick enough to almost vomit.
'We will discuss this issue later. Focus on the fight for now.' Naruto thought that sounded better but he didn't make a decision on the go as it involved many people.
Hinata nodded and looked towards Ares, whose presence was growing stronger each second. Without waiting for him to attack them, Hinata decided to charge her strongest attack.
Orochi took notice and used the Light of Nothingness while Ino used telekinesis to pull apart the foe's atomic structure along with an attack on his mind.
"You know love is a powerful force and I appreciate it greatly. My wife is the master of that concept, so I am used to it. It is a shame, but you are the weaker side this time. I represent war and battles, and everyone here cares more about battles than love….And, everything that can be used for war can be used by me." Ares muttered casually while blocking the attacks with TSB barrier before shooting Ino and Orochi with a bronze bow.
The arrows made from extreme heat hit the targets before they could even react and exploded with a shining glory causing the targets to scream in agony as their flesh was burnt off.
Orochi survived by teleporting away from the area before his body was turned to nothing while Ino shed off her body and took flight as a pure psychic energy form.
Regardless, it was a futile struggle as Ino had lost majority of her power by shedding her body and Orochi only managed to heal himself with extreme difficulty because of the war aura negating his abilities.
Hinata unleashed heat beams from all directions at Ares before unleashing six arrows at Ares through portals, causing them to come at him from all sides.
Ares started jogging towards Hinata while a sword appeared in his hand and he easily deflected the arrows before catching them with his energy hands, and shooting them back.
One of the arrows tore through Ino and caused her to vanish from the battle while two erased Orochi. Three of the arrows were returned to Hinata and she forced to react by blocking them with a TSB shield as they flew everywhere she went.
Before she could counterattack, her foe had arrived and broke through the shield with his sword. Ares didn't impale her, just kicked her in the chest and breaking her bones. Hinata was blasted away with a foot print on her body that healed slowly. His aura had cancelled her flame body or the foot would have just passes through harmlessly.
Running alongside her flying body, Ares started a combo and used her as a punching bag for a second in which he destroyed her body.
Hinata was unable to react to his hits and her powers were suppressed by his aura. Falling down to the ground, she was barely conscious as Ares held her up by the hair.
"Spicy, just like I prefer. Why don't you leave the weak boy and come live with me?" Ares chuckled as Hinata took the chance and tapped his heart.
Bypassing his defence, she caused his heart to explode and flames to spread inside his body. It wasn't good enough as he could easily heal from it and he was used to worse.
"Not interested!" Hinata replied with a huff as she continued her struggle and kicked with her foot covered by the TSB shaped into sharp blade.
Ares broke it apart with his hand and smashed his head into Hinata's face before piercing her body with his hand.
He could have ended it very easily but Ares respected her guts and wished to help in his own way. However, Hinata was unable to continue anymore after the beating and simply lost consciousness.
"Well, I expected a bit too much it seems."