Leaving aside Shino's team, Team Sai had arrived on the other Super continent known as Pandora. The continent of the Shinobi was known as Chakravartin and it was the largest landmass of the Planet while Pandora was second in size.
Unlike the Shinobi lands, majority of Pandora lacked in chakra reserves and was more focused on the physical aspect. Nonetheless, human creativity was limitless and the secrets of the world were many. As such, the shinobi lay down their superiority and looked towards these unexplored lands.
Regardless, it was a huge continent so the mission would take them a long time to finish. The team decided to focus on one area at a time while recording all useful and unique information they could gather.
The first area that the team arrived was Kingdom of Camelot as it dominated the water region of the continent connecting to Konoha.
This was also a Kingdom with trade relations with the Kingdoms of the Shinobi Lands and the king of these people was legendary. Though the shinobi had ignored the legend, and put it aside as nonsense.
The King of Knights Artoria Pendragon was a woman of great power that seemed to outshine all the Kages of the past and current time. With her legends, she seemed to have even surpassed the power of Hashirama Senju.
It was the reason that Shinobi had scoffed at the rumors. Regardless, now Sai along with his team was looking for the sources of this rumor.
It all came down to Artoria being part dragon, a dragon of legend that was big as an island. To go even further were the fact that Artoria had also received some legendary artifacts of unknown origin.
There was Caliburn, Excalibur and Avalon.
Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia was the hallowed scabbard of Excalibur, the embodiment of the utopia King Artoria desired. It was a luxurious piece of equipment made of gold and decorated with blue enamel that seemed more like a treasure to show dignity and nobility like a crown or staff than a weapon. No one knew what kind of Divine Mystery it was made from, but it was created by fairies along with Excalibur, an inscription written in Fairy Letters engraved on its center to show that it is not the work of man. It bequeathed limited immortality through constant regeneration, as well as preventing physical deterioration caused by aging.
The holder of the scabbard was granted potent healing, allowing for critical and fatal wounds to be rapidly repaired restoring the wielder's health. Minor injuries were restored easily, and even large missing portions of the body and destroyed vital organs like the heart could quickly be restored at the critical moment before death. Targeting anything other than the holder's head in order to destroy their brain was futile, requiring for a decisive strike to be landed in order to cause any true damage.
Its function was an "absolute defense" that completely shielded its user in the domain of the fairies, Avalon, the unreachable utopia that King Artoria dreamt of. It was the greatest protection in the world that goes beyond defending or reflecting, completely isolating its user in a world completely separate from the regular world. The scabbard dissipates into countless tiny particles in the air and engulfs the user to become a "portable fortress" that shuts out all interference. It is the Bounded Field of the tranquil domain of fairies that keeps out all filth from the outside world, and allows nothing to harm the tranquil King that stands in the land of Avalon. The individual is shielded from all destructive interference in the physical realm.
Excalibur was a Divine Construct, the pinnacle of holy swords, and the strongest holy sword whose equal was the strongest demonic sword Gram; one of the ultimate forged weapons, a Last Phantasm, forged by the planet as the crystallization of the wishes of mankind stored and tempered within the planet. It was passed on to Artoria Pendragon by the Lady of the Lake to act as a replacement for Caliburn. This weapon was also of unknown origin but it was unbreakable and seemed to be powered by ideals. It was said that this sword, born in the inner sea of the planet, exerted its true power only when an enemy that threatened the planet emerged.
With how these legends were going, the team could assume that these artifacts might have been created by the Immortals.
Other than Artoria, the Mage beside her was also known for his great power and it seems that he was part demon. It seems that people on Pandora had mixed with the creatures of the Dark Dimension and created mixed bloods that had a Kingdom of their own ruled by the Demon King.
The owner of the demonic sword Gram was also a powerful King called Sigurd who ruled the frozen lands of the north.
Artoria and her weapons was not the only thing that made Camelot the top dog of the continent, there was also the Saint Georgios with his weapon Ascalon.
Ascalon: The Blessed Sword by Which Force was Slain was the holy sword of Georgios, an invincible weapon that delivered its holder from those who would intend harm and malice. Its "invincibility" comes not from the capacity to defeat foes, but the capacity to defend from all harm. However, by reversing its protective power, it became a sword that pierced through any kind of armor.
Other than these legendary items, none other caught their eyes and the team departed to the neighboring Roman Empire ruled by Charles the Great. The Empire was on friendly terms with the Kingdom and seemed to be on the verge of relinquishing its power to Artoria.
In this empire there were also some legendary items that stood out. Charles seemed to have the power to form a flying giant fortress that could even turn into a humanoid shape warrior. Furthermore, the Emperor seemed to have the power to assimilate the power of all his subjects to grant him invincibility.
Under the Empire were the 12 Paladins and among them three stood out. There was Achilles who was a great warrior and owner of the Akhilleus Kosmos.
Akhilleus Kosmos: The Miniature World Enclosed by the Azure Sky was the shield of Achilles, a Divine Construct forged by the Immortal Hephaestus. It was a defensive type, Bounded Field comparable to Rho Aias, said to be able to stand against nearly any attack by deploying a miniature world. It is the world Achilles lived in that was reproduced by Hephaestus into a miniature form in the shield, featuring swirling ocean currents on the outer circumference. It is said that "to oppose this shield is the same as making the world your opponent", allowing it to protect against all attacks. Something that Hephaestus likely never devised, the shield can be used to "attack", Achilles aiming to crush the opponent with the miniature world by continuously pushing forward after its deployment.
Other than the world shield, there was Rho Aias that was currently used by Astolfo.
Rho Aias: The Seven Rings that Cover the Burning Heavens in its greatest form, it is said to be seven flower petals made from light. It takes the form of a seven layered Bounded Field in the shape of an iridescent flower in reference to the rocket larkspur flower that bloomed from Aias' blood as he died, with seven petals representing the seven layers. Each flower petal layer has the defensive power of a great mountain range.
Though it wasn't something out of the world, it was still a great artifact that would allow the Shinobi to move forward in their research.
Finally, there was Durandal owned by Roland. The sword was a splendidly forged "symbol of power" much like King Arthur's Caliburn, and it is said to hold three miracles within it. It will not lose its sharpness even should its user's magical energy be depleted, proving indestructible even when Roland tried to destroy it.
It is said to be unbreakable and invincible, and is often compared to Excalibur as an immortal and indestructible holy sword. It can also perform miracles as a hidden effect. If it is possible, it can grant most things as a phenomenon. However, the cost is extremely high.
Finding nothing else of value, the team moved towards another Kingdom and came across Kingdom Ulster that was ruled Manannán mac Lir.
This person seemed to have great power as well and owned the sword called Fragarach. Fragarach also known as The Answerer: That Which Comes Later Cuts First and The Retaliator was the ultimate form of counterattack. It is the "Sword of Retrograde" and an indefeasible weapon of the immortals, divinely protected by some malicious will that works by using a conceptual curse to warp destiny and a divine trick that uses time as its blade. It warps causality to always strike the opponent in the heart with a needle thin concentrated blast right before they unleash their attack. The condition for its use is that the opponent must use their strongest attack, and Fragarach must be used directly after the enemy's strike.
Despite being released afterwards and no matter how fast the opposing attack is cast, Fragarach always strikes first by changing the flow of time to rewrite events so that it makes its own strike against the enemy before the opposing move was ever made in the course of the world. Rather than just rewriting events to gouge out the heart of the enemy, it is severing the fate of the combatants, reversing and changing the flow of destiny of both the user and the enemy simultaneously killing each other with their attacks. The attack of the enemy, returned to a point where it "couldn't happen" due to the user being struck down by Fragarach, is wiped out by the laws of the world and the absolute system of time. No matter the power or speed of the ability, it is impossible to use if the enemy is defeated and has all of their later actions voided before they even have a chance to attack. It is an ability using one's life as bait to counter a one-turn-kill to win the battle that both kills the enemy and nullifies their attack, creating a perfect balance between offensive and defensive capabilities.
Under the King were two powerful people with miraculous artifacts. There was Scathach with her Gae Bolg and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne with his Gae Dearg along with Gae Buidhe.
Gáe Bolg: Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death is an attack focused on a single target that strikes a fatal blow that always pierces the opponent's heart and ruins their body from within with its thousand iron thorns.
It freezes the mana in the air when charged, making it recognizable as a powerful attack by any bystanders. Once Gáe Bolg's name has been called, the cursed spear reverses the nature of causality, the meaning of cause and effect in the order of things, to make it so the cause of the lance being thrust comes from the effect of the opponent's heart being pierced by it. It is also possible for it to activate it without actively striking the heart.
The actual action of the thrust is merely a formality, as the lance has already pierced the opponent's heart before the attack has even started. The result of the heart of the opponent has been pierced is created earlier than it is thrust, while the cause that the lance has pierced through the heart is generated later. Aside from great luck, it is a technique that determines that when it is released, the opponent is dead. The lance can move at impossible angles to achieve its effect, signified by turning into a red beam of light that always manages to reach its target. Even if he thrusts directly at the feet of the opponent, it will immediately point upwards towards the heart without growing or bending and without any movement from the user, and if it is thrown from a distance of ten meters it will manage to reach the target without fail. This action looks completely normal to onlookers, as if it were already piercing the heart, because rather than truly changing its course; it changes the means to match the result. The wounds from its attacks are rather clean, spilling only a small amount of blood compared to a regular wound of comparable size, and while a heart would normally explode from such a strike, it instead stops working with the single strike.
Gae Buidhe: Yellow Rose of Mortality was a cursed spear 1.4 meters long that inflicted wounds that could not be healed naturally or with magic.
Gae Dearg: Crimson Rose of Exorcism was a demonic scarlet spear two meters long that rendered magical enhancements and projections useless by severing all ties with magical energy.
Along their journey, the team also came upon information about the most powerful Assassin group of Pandora called Hashashin. These people seemed to utilize the power of death especially their leader known as the Old Man of the Mountain.
Regardless, the group didn't have any encounters with these fiends and arrived in another Kingdom. It was the icy Kingdom of the heroic King Sigurd who owned the demonic blade Gram.
Gram was an uncommon artifact that came into existence as a magic sword, despite possessing the attributes of the sun. Bestowed by his ancestor Odin, this sword was a rare weapon that not only selects a king, but simultaneously brings about glory, jealousy, ruin and fate. The flames of the sword were powerful enough to burn dimensional barriers.
Other than Gram, there was the Spear of Love owned by Sigurd's wife Brynhildr that could become heavier according to the love she felt. Brynhildr was not human, as she was a Valkyrie coming from the Immortal world that served under Odin. Her duty had been to bring the souls of the worthy warriors to Valhalla, the personal dimension of Odin. It also meant that she held a lot of love for warriors and held the most for her beloved Sigurd.
With the combined love, she had even managed to make her spear become heavier than a mountain and the weight didn't affect Brynhildr herself unless she desired.
Moving on from the Ice Mountains, the team moved towards the Empire in the desert called Egypt that was ruled by the Pharaoh Atem.
It was in this empire that the team found about the summoning of monsters from another world and artifacts created from the sacrifices of human and monster lives.
There were seven such cursed artifacts that had been made from the thousands of lives that turned the land red from blood.
However, these items had powerful abilities that allowed the Empire to continue and the current Pharaoh seemed to have started to fix the darkness of his ancestors.
These seven artifacts were all golden in color and had one eye design in all of them. There was the Millennium necklace that could see the past and future.
There was the Millennium rod that could control people and even powerful immortal monsters.
There was the Millennium key that allowed entrance the mind of anyone and even allowed the user to redecorate the soul to make the victim a puppet.
There were the Millennium scales that allowed the user to measure the darkness and light inside a person, and even allowed the user to fuse beings into one.
There was the Millennium Ring that allowed the user to find what they desired and even had the ability to seal souls.
There was the Millennium eye that could see inside the person's mind and even steal souls.
Finally there was the strongest item, the Millennium Pendant that converted the soul of the user into an infinite maze. It could seal souls of others inside the maze. It allowed control over powerful monsters and even had the minor ability of luck manipulation that allowed the user to always become victorious.
Slipping through the cracks, the team avoided getting in to conflict by not forcing information from people and just listening to the locals talk. Plus, there was some mind reading involved and usage of ink summons to infiltrate important places to find information.
On this month long journey, the group also learned more about the Demon Kingdom of Volcanica. The strongest beings in that Kingdom had an emerald on their forehead or heart that granted them immense power and allowed their demonic power to be used without destroying their bodies.
It was in this Kingdom that the team found about the Peach of Immortality and the divine water. It seemed to have been located inside the Dark Dimension, so one could only enter it at their risk or get the permission from the Demon King Meliodas.
It wasn't just the existence of the items that was alarming since the demon king also had a powerful ability that could reverse everything that was thrown at him, making powerful attacks into healing and such.
With the journey mostly finished, the shinobi team realized that they had been blind to the world at large. Though, these people from the other continent were weak on average and even their strongest weren't always exceptional but some of them were extremely powerful to the nth degree.
All these artifacts could have helped the continent conquer Chakravartin, but the kingdoms weren't united just like the Shinobi world and these people were afraid of the artifacts left by the Sage. Plus a battle between both continents would only bring ruin, though now they had lost even that advantage with what happened during and after the war.
Regardless, the team believed that cooperation with these people would fully enhance the power of the world.
"Let us meet King Artoria as she seemed to be the most amiable of the lot."Kurotsuchi suggested after being humbled by her journey. She had come filled with pride especially after becoming the Jinchuuriki of Son Goku. Her mind was in the clouds as she had jumped to small country level in power and even her molecular dismantling had leveled up.
Sai looked at the others and flipped through his notes before giving a nod. They had collected enough information and sent it back to Konoha, now it was time for them to negotiate on behalf of their leaders.
Looking at all these Kingdoms and Empires, Sai had started to look forward to Naruto taking charge. In his heart and soul, Naruto was the only one that he would serve.
'I will be the shadow to his light, no matter what.' Sai saw that his light had become extremely overpowering so he had been busy gathering power to follow his Lord. He especially did not want these outsiders to replace him, though he was happy that they were seeing Naruto in a good light.
Returning to Camelot, the group walked to the palace where they were allowed entry without any conflict.
It seems the Mage Merlin had known about their existence and wished to meet them. As such, the team met up with the Sage of Camelot who looked like a handsome young man even though he was more than four hundred years old.
"Welcome to Camelot, followers of the New Sage. I have been waiting for your arrival for quite some time." Merlin stood up from his chair and put down his magic book that flew into the shelf beside him.
His voice and tone was amiable, but that was standard stuff for high ranking individuals that played around with people's mind.
"It is an honor to meet you, Mister Merlin. My name is Kurotsuchi and I am granddaughter of the Tsuchikage… I hope you won't mind, but how did you know about us?" Kurotsuchi took charge while Sai observed the situation.
"It is nothing special. I can just tap into the flow of the world, so I can tell some of the events that can take place. Though, I knew about your presence because I know every person inside of Camelot." Merlin smiled as he answered their question while summoning some tea and sweets for them.
"Do you know why we are here?"
"You are here to find ways to improve the power of humanity. Your purpose in this castle is to ask for our artifacts, to research their unique abilities. We have a similar purpose, so that's not a problem. However, we won't allow our artifacts to leave the owners vicinity." Merlin's reply made them relax a bit as it went perfectly.
"Will you also participate in our joint research since you have a vast amount of knowledge from your long existence?"
"I will participate in it. But first, I wish to ask if you will submit to my lord. King Artoria is the chosen one of this world and the representative of humanity. She is the future king of this world. I have seen your lord submit to her, so will you not consider this option."
"You have seen nothing if you believe such hubris. Your King has nothing compared to our Lord, even Kurotsuchi could defeat her." Zoro opened his eyes and disparaged Merlin for his nonsense.
"That maybe the truth as this point, but I have not been wrong before and I know she will soon grow in power when the world decides it."
"There is no point in talking about this with us. We have chosen our leader, so you can try convincing him if you can."
"Heh, I suppose you are right. Nonetheless, you can pass on our message to your leaders and I will establish contact with them soon."
With those words, Merlin sent them away but Sai was able to tell that amiable mage was very ambitious and was definitely going to use the joint research to help his lord.
'This is not going to be easy. People are still acting selfish even when the world is in danger.' Sai realized and noted before the team went towards the other Kingdoms for similar negotiations.
With Merlin's symbol, Empire of Rome also agreed to help. However, the other Kingdoms refused to join the research as they didn't see the Shinobi in good light. To majority of the world, the Shinobi were a symbol of destruction and not peace. The bloodlines had been fighting for thousands of years without rest, so it was established in the history of the world.
Nonetheless, Sai concluded that they could convince the other nations with time except for the Demon King who seemed to harbor the desire for world domination.
Getting back to Naruto, he had consumed the golden blood from Hades and gained a part of his soul to connect them to each other. With the contract completed, Naruto had gained the mark of Hades on his back. It was blazing skull with a crown.
With the contract completed, his base form evolved as its potential increased. The cells grew dense and more powerful while the chakra quality leaped to a new frontier. Normal chakra was like a gas without much weight, and the higher the quality the heavier it felt.
Naruto's chakra was close to a liquid as it grew in quality, and now it had become a liquid. It also meant that the reserves had also grown to double his current capacity as the liquid like chakra was worth more.
Just by affecting his cellular make up, Hades had allowed base Naruto to reach the power level close to Juubito.
Regardless, that was just the start since Hades really meant inhumane when he said those words. Naruto could never have imagined what he signed up for because his experience didn't include torture.
Once Naruto had enjoyed his power up, Hades dunked him in the eternal flames where he was surrounded by flame demons.
"Don't try to resist for now, allow your body to adapt and form a natural resistance." Hades spoke normally without any ounce of sympathy for what he was about to do. It seemed completely normal to him.
Though he looked like someone living in medieval times, Hades had expert scientific knowledge so he understood how to help the body unlock its potential and continue its growth.
Unlike normal people, they had mystical energies and even a body that could continue to heal. This also meant that their bodies could theoretically continue to adapt to all dangers and grow if they put it through such situations without killing each other.
Naruto had already agreed to the training so he didn't deny the command and dropped his defences. His clones were still training in the outside world with his other trainers, so he made a real clone to stay in the outside world and watch over the world for its safety.
The real clone utilized the concept of reality warping and only possessed half of Naruto's real power. However, it was a real clone and wouldn't disappear when Naruto was knocked out.
Dropping his chakra enhancement and his power ups, Naruto's body felt the flames slowly burn it to ashes. The flames were strong enough to burn everything to ashes, but it controlled itself to actually torture the sinner.
It adjusted itself to Naruto's stats and slowly burned him. His skin turned red and his blood started boiling.
The pain was immense and it felt like he should have gone unconscious or numb, but the pain wouldn't stop.
The flames didn't kill him as they allowed him to heal. However, the pain was beyond anything that Naruto had ever experienced.
Time passed by but he was unaware of the flow as nothing changed in the flames except the intensity. The flames only hurt lessen for few seconds that signified for Naruto that his body had adapted to the damage before returning to the status quo.
The constant burning also accelerated his healing capabilities which further enhanced the burning power of the flames to counter the healing. Slowly but surely, Naruto was started to feel like he wasn't human anymore as he fought the flames demons without rest.
The flame demons formed from the eternal flames were strong as Naruto and they possessed different styles of combat. Over the course of the battles, Naruto had lost his limbs and even had his bones melted along with the rest of his body.
Naruto was unable to tell how hot the flames had become, but he was finally able to rest as Hades took him out of the flaming pit.
He had reached the level where the adaptation process was taking very long, as the body had finished the earlier stages of the procedure.
"How long was I in there?" Naruto had lost his sense of time and even had a difficult time to talking as his insides had burned too many times to count.
"It's been a month since you started, and you have reached a stage where even a flame capable of erasing a mountain wouldn't burn you. If you want in exact terms, you can survive at least 50, 000 degrees Celsius without any enhancement. How does it feel, can you see the changes from this method?"
Naruto felt that years had passed, so he relaxed that it was just a month. He was also pleasantly surprised to hear the improvement of his body.
Looking inside, Naruto could see that his cellular structure had gone through vast changes and become more robust.
He had expected that chakra would come into play at one point, but now it became clear that Hades intended to fully exploit his body without any support.
"I can see it, but I don't think most people can survive it."
"It might seem like that, but everyone can actually survive without any permanent damage. I am an expert of the soul, Naruto. There is no way I would let my training inflict such harm…Now, you can relax for a while and return after a day. We will continue until you have cleared the basic stage of this training."
"Relax, oh damn. I forgot about the Uzumaki clan." Naruto finally remembered that he had to settle the Uzumaki clan on Uzu.
"Don't worry about it, only a day has passed in the normal world. My dimension's time operates on a different scale so you don't have to worry about such issues."
"Does that mean you have mastery over time?" Kurama questioned with a curious tone, during the time Naruto was being tortured he had been reading from the books provided to him by Hades.
"I wouldn't call it mastery, just a minor skill since it only allows such level of time acceleration." Hades didn't think much of it, but it was a miraculous ability for the duo.
"Will you guide me so that I can better utilize my power?"
Naruto left Kurama with Hades and joined up with his team who was also going through training in the same dimension. After learning about his decision, the team had also gone through a similar torture to gain more power.
Relaxing by just sitting down with each other, Naruto and team continued to train in the Immortal realm for six more months.
Just like the flame training, Hades put Naruto in an icy environment where his body gained similar treatment. However, it started on a higher level since Naruto's body had become sturdier and the regen had become very fast.
Moving on from the ice, Naruto was put inside a windy terrain that would cut his body apart. Leaving that domain, he was put into a lightning zone.
After conquering the lightning zone, he was put into a heavy gravity area and finally he was put into the darkness zone where his mind was tested as he went through the most depressing and despairing lives that would kill the spirit of majority of existence.
The mind affected the body so a powerful mind was required for an invincible body.
To round it all up, the body was also tested against diseases, poisons and even existence erasure. The body did adapt to everything except getting erased, but it did increase resistance to it.
Within these six months that were more than six years for a normal person because of the speed Naruto operated at, the young man had grown extremely robust.
The healing factor had grown so fast that it healed at a speed that made it look like the injury never happened. It healed as it came and not even destroying the body would kill Naruto anymore as only a cell was required for him to regenerate.
Through the countless regeneration, Naruto's body seemed to unlock its origins. The biological make up of his ancestors was drawn forth through the ordeal and the eyes that belonged to Sasuke fully fused with him, unlocking their full potential. It unlocked a unique ability that was according to his desire. He wanted more time, so his ability caused time to slow down.
Naruto even started to feel that his base body was gaining the properties of his Six Paths Mode, gaining immunity to lower class energy. Finally, he also saw his that some of his hairs turn white and there were bumps on his head.
It was clear that he had started to awaken his Otsutsuki blood. Seeing the changes, Hades suppressed the transformation and asked him to awaken only once he had gained the genetic modification from Tsunade. All Otsutsuki had great abilities unique to them, so once he awakened there should also be ability unique to him. As such it would be best to awaken at a later date.
During these six months Naruto had also learned great deal about the Immortal realm and gotten closer to these people. He had also gained repute for his powers and endurance. There were also the grand artifacts that were made for him by Hephaestus on the request of Hades and Hestia.
Finishing up with things in the Immortal realm, Naruto left a clone with Hades to continue his training for leadership and fighting skills before reuniting with the Uzumaki clan.
Opening up a portal for them, Naruto saw the clan made up of 2000 people exit the hidden realm. The reactions by these people were mixed, but most of them were happy to be back.
Regardless, all of them were solemn and seemed to visit some past memories that were better left forgotten.
Naruto didn't interfere with them and the people roamed around freely as he stood at the top with his team.
"Are you not going to visit the place like the rest?" Naruto asked as his unknown grandfather walked towards him.
"I don't think there is any point in doing so. I have always remembered this sight since that day, so it isn't something new for me. I just wish to look at the region from a higher ground to plan our return. The setup of the past was grand for its time, but we need to do better now. What about you? You seem different since we met." Toshiro replied with a hardened gaze as always. It seemed to be his default state just like Naruto's default state was to be with a large smile, though that default state seemed to have fallen off during the past month.
"Nothing much, just some physical training."
"I see...Do you want to know about your mother?" Toshiro understood that Naruto didn't want to share what the training entailed so he decided to shift the topic to something light. It was something he had wanted to talk about since Naruto was his grandson.
Hearing that question, Naruto realized that he could share a great deal of information about his parents. During the last month he had gathered information about Jiraiya, Minato and Kushina from multiple sources to write a biography about them.
"I would love to, and I can share about my mother's life in Konoha."
"That's a great idea. Now, where should I begin..." Toshiro scratched his beard while looking at the sky.
"Ah yes, how about we start from the day she started crawling." Toshiro spoke with a happy tone as he reminisced on the good memories of the past.
From the talks it was clear that Kushina had always been ambitious and aggressive while also having a playful side to her.
Hearing more about his parents, it was very clear that Naruto was the combination of red and yellow.
After a long talk, Toshiro finally asked about his companions.
"Are you engaged with both of them?" It was clear that he didn't like the sound of it.
"Not yet, I think we have a long way to go before such feelings are clear... I don't wish for a mistake to be made in this relationship." Over the six months they had gotten even closer but the majority of the time was taken by the training so the feelings hadn't grown much.
"I won't tell you to drop one since that is your choice. But, you should really stop thinking too much about it when you are not the thinking type. Do it your way instead of trying it in an unknown way, especially when this has to do with the heart and not the mind. Talking to you has made one thing clear, you think with your heart and not logic...If you want to go for logic then the archer girl is the one."
'I already know that.' Naruto didn't want to embarrass his grandfather on his misunderstanding.
"I will try to follow your advice and choose once my heart decides it's course."
"Good, but don't take too long or drop the archer girl."
'Doesn't that mean I should just choose Hinata.' Naruto chuckled along and shook his head.
Seeing Naruto laugh freely, Hinata was pleased as she decided to ask Ino to make a portrait of him to save this moment in time.
It had been a long time since she had seen him so carefree. His expression had dropped since Jiraiya had died and it only got worse since the war.
Ino agreed with Hinata's request as she also felt her heart skip a beat at his dazzling smile.
"I hope he starts showing such open expressions with us now."
"I think it won't be long that Naruto will be back in shape. His family has grown and so has his reason for happiness." Hinata was absolutely delighted for Naruto that his clan was still alive. Though it didn't mean the relatives would care for him, but it was still a reason to be happy to know that there were people related to him.
"What if they don't agree to our marriage? What if they want Naruto to marry their young lord?" Ino teased in a joking manner. Just the idea was hilarious since Naruto didn't seem the type to go along with such requests.
Hinata also laughed at the image and agreed that it could only happen as a joke. Naruto was a far cry from the average noble who would indulge in such sophistry.
"They have gained a contract with the Immortals and their levels have been verified." Hotaru spoke as she stood beside Genryu while holding a fox mask.
"Is that why Lady Izanami seems so angry? Who did he choose?" Genryu felt his heart clench as if a shadow hand held it.
"Hades, and his power is far beyond our initial expectations. I don't think we can beat him now." Hotaru smiled at the thought as she had always been invincible so this brought her amusement.
Seeing his daughter chuckle lightly and create a storm around the pond, Genryu was surprised.
"How can that be? You are the Vessel of the primordial force of nature."
"He has the power and artifacts of the Sage of Six Paths. And, I haven't really awakened yet. I might need to go on a trip."
"Trip? Where and how long will it take?"
"I will be leaving the planet and follow the guidance of the Phoenix. As for the time, I am unsure but it should take me a few years."
Genryu knew he couldn't stop his daughter so he didn't even try.
"Fine, but leave after we have settled down and I need you to erase the three Shinobi villages from the world when you are leaving. Can you do that discreetly?"
"I can do it, but he will know who did it."
Genryu was silent for a moment but his dark eyes didn't waver and he gave a nod.
"It doesn't matter. We are more valuable than those scums, so he will have no choice but to compromise."