In the palace of the Supreme Leader of Star Kingdom, John Sabah, also known as Starlord by his followers and Apocalypse by his enemies, sat on his throne while loyal subjects discussed on the topic of their conquest of the nearby territories.
Regardless of his power, there was always one problem that stood out towards his goal. Uzumaki Naruto was too strong for him too resist at this point in time. Not even making the star fragment his heart could fill the gap.
With that in account was it necessary for him to wait until he had gained more power through finding other pieces of the Star Heart or through other means. However, the Star Heart was a difficult treasure to find and complete.
Through the bond with the fragment, he could feel the direction of other fragments. But, he could also feel the danger and difficulty surrounding the task. He didn't have the patience to wait for the unknown amount of time.
And, he didn't want the enemy to get even stronger. He had watched the world devolve over the centuries, with the weaklings and the unworthy ruling over the strong. He had watched the world fall after the generation of Madara, and only now had he seen some positive change.
However, it didn't matter anymore. He didn't wish to be a follower. He wanted to stand above all, and guide the world to conquer the vast universe. His kind needed to evolve and gain power, and only through war and conquest could that happen.
With the knowledge he had received from the celestial being called Ishiki, Apocalypse had seen the vast universe and understood some of its secrets. It was unfortunate that he could only receive some knowledge and technology of the beyond, but it was enough as a guide.
Without Ishiki's technology, he wouldn't have survived the fusion with the star fragment. Feeling the power of the armor and reading the information perceived by his system, Apocalypse could only find one method and it was extremely risky.
But, do I have to take it? Will he even interfere?
He wondered if Naruto would even break his principles to deal with him. That was a problem which was difficult to answer.
Apocalypse wasn't going on a genocide, so it wasn't evil. But, his war would lead to deaths and destruction.
'He wouldn't kill me.' Apocalypse smiled as he felt the knowledge from Shino flow through him, giving him certainty. His foe hadn't even killed the person responsible for destroying Konoha, so he wouldn't kill him.
Furthermore, he would have the chance to poison Naruto with a poison of the celestial's that was beyond the mere capabilities of humanity to resist.
Looking towards his followers who had arrived on the conclusion to trap Naruto in the dark dimension, Apocalypse demanded silence.
"Show yourself" He muttered with confidence as the area above him became heavy because of his psychic powers while metallic tendrils surrounded the region after popping out of the roof.
Before anything could happen, Apocalypse found himself grounded while his followers were knocked unconscious by the enemy.
Trying his best, Apocalypse desired the molecular deconstruction of his enemy. However, his powers wouldn't respond.
"That was cute. Did your boyfriend teach you that?" Hotaru floated above ground as she mocked him. Her form wasn't clear and one could only see her as a purple energy being.
With a single command, she had locked her targets abilities and rendered him powerless. That was the power of the mighty Phoenix.
"Oh my bad, you can't move can you." Hotaru gave a small chuckle as she pushed him aside before sitting on his throne.
Apocalypse found him sprawled on the ground unceremoniously that his blood was boiling from the shame and disrespect.
Glaring at the intruder, he controlled his desire to rage like a beast and operated with a cold mindset. Getting up from the floor, he realized she had let him go.
"What do you want from me?" He didn't ask her name, as it was a pointless question. He wasn't dead, because she wanted something.
"I like that. You are definitely worthy of being a follower of mine." Hoatru smiled as she looked at him before closing the distance and flowing through him.
"I have been watching you, so I know your problems. As such, I have a gift for you. So, use it wisely." With those words, she disappeared from his sight.
Apocalypse looked at the stone in his hand. It was a bomb that could annihilate his whole world through a dimensional collapse.
It was something that would make things a lot easier, but could he trust the woman. Who was she? What was she?
How strong was she?
'It doesn't matter. I will conquer her.' Apocalypse so declared.
Going back to Naruto, he was visiting the lab to see the results of Orochimaru and his team. It had been more than a month since they started working and combining what they already knew.
The Shinobi world had already found a way to genetically enhance the body of a person. They could increase the chakra of a person or his control and his speed of chakra movement. They could give regeneration to a person.
They could fuse and mutate the genetics to produce shark men or other mutants. They could clone a person. They could make chakra armors and other weapons of mass destruction.
As such one team worked on the genetic mutations and the other team worked on the advanced weapons.
Orochimaru was incharge of the biological aspect while Ashiya Douman was incharge of the other team. All experiments were done with his supervision since he was the only one that could take everything safely.
And he didn't want sacrifices to be made.
The weapons available at the moment were strong as they helped even Killer Bee, but that didn't last for long as it collapsed soon after the battle with Toneri.
The material wasn't strong enough, so the team was working on creating stronger metals and other materials.
On the other hand, Orochimaru had finally succeeded with a working sample of his work. It was a small cute rabbit with ruby eyes.
Looking at it, he knew why Orochimaru chose the creature.
"What do you think?" The snake smiled with obvious humor at his annoyed expression. The rabbit was supposed to remind him of Kaguya.
Ignoring the jibe, he looked at the creature and examined it.
"We have transformed this creature from a pet for children and ladies, to a weapon of destruction. It has the physical capacity to lift 1000 tonnes and run at mach 10 speed. Its skin his impervious to all kinds of trauma, and it can regenerate at a fast pace.
We have fused the genetic structure of King Kong to generate such results."
Naruto didn't deny his claims as he could see the skeletal structure and muscular structure clearly to identify its capacity. Even after looking at it for a few seconds, he couldn't see any flaw.
"I want to see it fight."
"Of course, should I do it?"
"No, l will do it." Naruto teleported with the rabbit to a forest and released his bloodlust. The creature responded aggressively to his approach and attacked.
Though the attacks were futile, it allowed him to see if there was a structural flaw or not.
Seeing that the rabbit didn't collapse from the beating, Naruto took it back.
"So, do we move on to the human trials?" Orochimaru smiled confidently as he saw him return.
"Before that, show me the result of the bloodline experiment." The genetic fusion was one task, the other task was to combine all bloodlines in one body and even mutate those bloodlines to strengthen them.
The mad scientist gave a million dollar smile as he heard those words.
"I thought you had forgotten about it."
"No, I just didn't think there would be much progress in a month."
"You hurt us with your words, Naruto boy. We have made great strides in our goal." Orochimaru acted hurt before smiling again as the assistants brought forth the sample.
It was an empty husk of a Zetsu, without any consciousness. Zetsu were creatures that were plantlike in nature, but they were made from humans. The human body underneath was stuck in the eternal dream forever as it had been too long and it would have been the reality of the people of the world if Kaguya had won.
Regardless, Zetsu could develop personalities with time as they were once human. As such, Naruto didn't allow experimentation on them.
So, Orochimaru made clones of a Zetsu and inhibited its higher cognitive ability. This allowed him to freely tinker with the bloodline samples.
Though, these clones didn't qualify as sacrifices for the ritual for the impure resurrection.
Nonetheless, Naruto didn't like the sight of the creature. It made him feel sick, dirty. It felt as if he was violating his soul by allowing it to happen.
"Tell me, that it is the only one."
Orochimaru was about to joke about it, but seeing the expression he knew Naruto was on the edge and it wasn't good to test him.
"There were a few that perished. Do you wish for us to discontinue our usage of these clones?" Orochimaru was calm but he really wished to slap the boy for making things difficult. He was already not using human beings and now he couldn't even make use of clones of husk.
'This is going to take forever.'
"You can plan it out and use it directly on me after this." With those words out of Naruto's mouth, Orochimaru couldn't stop smiling.
'This is going to be so much fun. We are going to cover centuries worth of research in a matter of years.'
"Are you sure? I believe many would be against such an idea."
"There is no problem. I trust you… I forgive you for what you have done." Naruto looked him in the eyes for the first time since he started working on the project.
'Were his eyes always like this?' Orochimaru was taken aback by those words and saw his old friend, and teacher.
Those words shocked him to the core and touched his soul, as if Naruto saw something beyond the present.
'He probably did.'
It was at these times that Orochimaru felt semblance of respect for the boy, and didn't think he was a just a man-child given ultimate power.
If he was ;like the normal Shinobi, he would have thought that the Sage of Six Paths had seen something, and he wasn't worthy to question it. However, some times he could also feel it and agreed with that sentiment.
"Thank you for trusting me. However, I don't think I did anything wrong. I was wrong according to you, not to me. I just did what was necessary." Orochimaru wasn't someone that believed in such moral values and found them pointless.
These values only held back people like him. If Konoha hadn't been so stuck up about it, they would have created the ultimate warrior years ago.
"I know what you think and you know what I think, and we will continue to differ on these values. However, you shouldn't let your bias keep you from seeing the truth. Only these moral values keep the order of the world and stop us from acting like animals. If everyone only cared for their inherent desires, there would be no society.
Realize, it is only these moral values of mine that have kept you alive and given you a second chance. I know you are smarter than me, so you will understand the truth once you look at it carefully." Naruto didn't get angry and acted as a guide as he had seen it.
He had always believed that people could change for the better, and the world had confirmed it. Orochimaru was a vital part of his future, they needed him on their side.
"I appreciate your advice. Though, I doubt my answer will change….Moving on, please examine the results of our work." Orochimaru gave a small nod before turning back to the white clay like man floating inside the water tank.
Naruto smiled as he saw that his positive words had a positive impact on Orochimaru, further reaffirming his desire to help others change for the better.
Turning to the experiment, Naruto saw the result of multiple bloodlines in one body.
The bones reinforced through the Kaguya clan.
The blood enhanced through the Ketsuryugan of the Chinoike clan.
The sight and chakra control enhanced by the Hyuga clan.
The sight, chakra control and perception increased by the Uchiha clan.
The strength and instincts increased by the Inuzuka clan.
The chakra capacity and power increased by the Senju clan.
The chakra capacity and shark like power of the Hoshigaki clan.
The Sage abilities from the Snake Sage.
The chakra capacity and powers from the Otsutsuki clan, through Toneri.
The combined form looked stronger than just a single bloodline or two of them, as all of them worked together to enhance each other.
The creature was like an animal, but with the power to annihilate everyone in the vicinity except Naruto. Orochimaru had outdone himself and created a monster with the help of the experts scatted across the Shinobi lands. It was especially accelerated because of Kabuto, Tsunade, Sakura and Shizune.
"The body can't handle the power at the moment, but soon we will add the other genetic mutation to it and complete the procedure to stabilize the form. However, this is only for these fragile creatures, as we can go full force if we perform this procedure on you." Orochimaru was happy with the result, though he couldn't pull out the full power of the bloodlines and retain the longevity of the experiment.
The clone would die in a few years as the structure would destabilize slowly and the molecular structure would collapse from the changes they had made.
It wasn't something they could finish within a month. According to his estimates it would take them at least 2 years to fully establish the full power of the bloodlines in a single body, and more years to further develop those bloodlines with the method they were using.
Naruto looked at the Zetsu clone and saw its life force draining away. It was clear to him that it would die soon.
Commanding his skin to open from his fingertip, Naruto took a drop of his blood and placed it on the head of the clone. The golden blood drop fused with the clone.
Sage Arts: Sea of Life
The clone was covered by golden mud and transformed into a being that served Naruto with all his heart and soul. It was given more power and its structure stabilized.
Normally the skill would have boosted the power even beyond its current level, but that would have been temporary and he was only interested in stabilizing its life force.
Now the wild beast had turned into a empty human child with no memories. It was something Naruto didn't know how to do, but Hades guided him and helped him whenever he asked for a question.
It was nice having a person that was knowledgeable on your side that was willing to guide you.
Seeing the miracle take place, many of the researchers felt that their work was unneeded when Naruto could just do it like that. Only few others along with Orochimaru saw the potential of what had taken place.
Now they could do anything. There was no limit to their future now.
Orochimaru didn't know how Naruto did it, but he knew that the Sage of Six Paths had power over reality and could manipulate it. Naruto had most likely manipulated reality by using his blood as the catalyst since there was no way that the boy had the knowledge to use his blood to solve the problem.
The conclusion was based on assumptions, but it was the truth. Naruto couldn't just create something willy-nilly, but he could definitely make small changes to reality and his blood only made the affect stronger according to the current situation.
"Take the child with you and take care of him. This is a task from me. Understood?" Naruto picked up the child in his arms and handed him to Orochimaru.
It was an unexpected order, but he didn't mind. He found challenges entertaining, and this was kind of amusing in a way. Now that he was immortal, Orochimaru had the time to enjoy everything in the world. So, he even tried the mundane things in life like farming and tailoring.
"Understood, I will take care of him." Orochimaru picked up the child and was reminded of when he had picked Anko. He was a different man.
"Good, now show me what you can do." Naruto smiled and gave him the go. He wouldn't have given the okay sign so early, but now with his power he could undo anything done to him. Plus, he now saw that there were others on the planet and they were above him. He couldn't allow humanity to be at lower stage.
With how things were going, things might get worse before all these experiments finished. With the knowledge that the Sage might be alive, for Naruto it only made things more confusing.
Regardless, Naruto didn't wish to for anyone to stand above him anymore. He couldn't trust others with more power than him, and he didn't wish to be forced into a situation where he had to compromise with his values.
He knew the experiment would work and it would strengthen him, but it wasn't going to affect him much since his body had already been altered after taking in the blood of Hades.
Orochimaru felt that Naruto seemed to be looking down on his expertise, "Naruto boy, I am going to show you why they call me the best."
While Naruto was being experimented on, Hinata was busy building connections for Naruto and creating a positive image in the Lands.
The appearance of such a power entity was only positive when there was an enemy available. Once the enemy was out, the hero became the problem for majority of people.
Usually in the story of the hero, the normal citizens would love the hero even after the battle was over. However, in Naruto's case it wasn't true because unlike the hero he hadn't been known around the world in a positive light.
It was a good decision by Naruto to travel around the world over the months after the war as it had helped people see the real him, and not get influenced by authorities that were against him.
However, there was still the problem of discrimination based on power and chakra. Majority of the world couldn't make chakra and the people with chakra continued to treat them like second class. Naruto's existence only made things worse for those people as the chakra users with superiority complex only increased.
The propaganda by the authoritative figures demonizing Naruto only made things worse, as they put forth the worst case scenarios in front of everyone.
The people were watching carefully but one mistake by Naruto would cause an eruption as he was the center of the world now.
With how things were going, Naruto would have become hated by the majority. So, it was necessary for Hinata and others to create positive public relations for him since Naruto had still to understand such concepts properly.
He was a great warrior, but he was still only starting to grasp the meaning of being a leader and his role in the bigger picture.
Maybe it was this stress that made him open to serving a king. Nonetheless, Hinata continued to use her clans power to build the path for him.
Many of the noble families connected to the Hyuga clan agreed to supporting Naruto, and through those connections she had finally made contact with the most important person in the Land of Fire.
Fire Lord Zuko had accepted her request for a private audience, so Hinata and decided to visit along with her father.
Zuko was the biggest obstacle to Naruto in the Land of Fire since he despised the Shinobi, just like most of the other Elemental Lords. It was the fear of the power of the Shinobi. It was the fact that the Kage could easily ignore their orders and only followed what they desired.
At least before Naruto's appearance, the Land of Fire was slowly bridging the gap between Shinobi and the army. But, now there was hope of that ever happening. Naruto was an anomaly, a monster that broke the order of the world.
It was too much power in one hand, and there was no one available to put a resistance against him. It was one point that most powers agreed, like the Raikage and Tsuchikage.
Entering the Palace of the Fire Lord, they were guided towards the garden by the royal guards. The palace occupied an area of more than a few miles and it was place where the Royal Guards stayed unless given a task.
The royal Guards were the strongest warriors under the Fire Lord. However, these people weren't that strong in front of Hinata as they were just normal Jounin level even with all the mechanical enhancement done to them.
Hinata's power wasn't public knowledge so it was easy for her to slip through and meet up with important people without putting them on guard.
Looking at the young man sitting while drinking tea with his grandfather also known as the Army commander Iroh, Hinata felt he was a kind and calm person. He didn't look like someone that would be against Naruto.
Greeting the leaders with respect, Hinata and Hiashi took a seat by the permission from Zuko. Iroh offered them tea and watched them with a friendly smile.
"Are you here to convince me that Uzumaki Naruto isn't a threat? If so, you should desist from this futile endeavor as I only have a few minutes to spare." Zuko sipped tea while casually dropping the bomb of a statement. From his words it was clear that he was confident about his opinion and none could change it.
The question was expected but Zuko's to the point attitude was not. Usuallu people would start with pleasantries and slowly move to the topic.
Nonetheless, it didn't matter. At least he was willing to give them a chance for an explanation.
"Greetings my lord, I am happy to be in your royal presence. My name is Hinata Hyuga and I am close friend of Uzumaki Naruto.
I believe you have already collected data on him, so you should be aware of his situation. I will present some clear proofs of his character.
First, Naruto Uzumaki has always been the vessel of the Kyuubi as you are aware. The Kyuubi could communicate with him and he could have fallen to his words since Konoha treated him like the plague. They hated him and feared him, it would be understandable if he destroyed Konoha. However, he didn't and even put his life on the line for it.
He answered hatred with love and fought for people that meant nothing to him. Furthermore, he fought in multiple other regions without any reward in mind.
This should be proof enough that he isn't someone swayed by petty things and has a naturally good disposition.
Second, Pain killed everyone in Konoha and the most important person to Naruto. Master Jiraiya was like a father to Naruto, and Kakashi was a close friend and teacher to him. These two people along with many of his close friends died that day, but he didn't lose himself and even chose to bring the criminal to the law instead of executing him on the spot.
Most of us would have killed him and tortured him for it, but Naruto didn't kill him and promised to send criminals to prison where they would receive their punishment according to the law.
Finally, he received great power during the war and experienced tragedies along with mass destruction. Nonetheless, he didn't change and still remains humble. He has not looked down on anyone, nor does he command others.
Even now he is willing to serve under a lord and only aims to better the world. If he was truly a threat, all these tragic events would have caused a negative change in him.
You can check the validity of my statements and you won't find any lie within. The reality is that he is a kind person and there are only theoretical possibilities of his downfall."
The others listened patiently and let her finish her piece.
"I see. It still doesn't solve the problem. Why should any one trust a person with such power? Tell me, is there anything or anyone capable of fighting him in the worst case scenario. Or, is he willing to share half of his power with me and serve me with utmost loyalty?" Zuko's enquiry gave her a pause as he was asking really difficult questions, but questions that most wanted answers to.
At the moment there were the immortals that could easily stop Naruto, and even the other Jinchuuriki plus Toneri could put a stop to him after growing along with him. There was also the fact that the Otsutsuki existed and Naruto was mostly needed to resist their threat.
But, should she share such information with them.
Taking into account the fact that the Fire Lord was a good leader and someone who could play a important part in their lives, Hinata decided that he deserved to know about the threat of annihilation.
"There are threats only he can fight against. We are not the only ones in this vast universe, and our enemies are the ones that changed humanity."
Her words made Zuko stop and put down his tea as he finally showed some real interest.
"Do you mean the Immortal Queen is real?" Kaguya was known as the Immortal Queen of the Golden Age that brought the world out from destruction and her son was the one that changed the path of humanity by giving them the chakra system.
"Of course, she is the one that Uzumaki Naruto defeated in the war. And, she is not the only one of her kind. Her people will come for us, as they target every other species with intelligence and destroy our world. They wish to cultivate us like crops before eating our existence."
"Do you have any proof of this claim?"
"There are multiple witnesses to this incident, but are you willing to believe in what we saw."
Zuku didn't answer her question and looked at her properly for the first time. The girl was a lot different than what his sources provided.
"Show me"
With his permission, Hinata showed him what she knew.
"Is this enough proof to give him a chance?"
"For now, I will give him a chance. Tell him to keep on his toes as all of us are watching." With those words Zuko picked up his tea and indicated for them to leave.
"My lord, thank you for your time." Hinata and Hiashi left with those words.
"It isn't easy to play this game, Zuko. I am proud of you for taking the difficult steps." Iroh spoke after they had left and praised his grandson for his decision.
"It isn't a difficult step, grandfather. I believe in him." Zuko smiled, dropping his cold persona. In front of the duo he had showed that he was against Naruto, but in reality it was the opposite.
With his data, Zuko had already decided that Naruto was someone he wanted to keep close. They hadn't met personally, but he had seen Naruto helping out in his region.
However, he needed to show resistance to keep Naruto on track. If everyone started to nod to him, he would slip and fall. Plus, he needed to see who was planning to take drastic steps to take out Naruto. The golden shinobi was too strong, so anything that would harm him would devastate the world itself.
"But, I didn't expect that there will be more threats. I guess, I was too optimistic about the peaceful future now."
"Well, life is always like this. Whenever there is a good thing, there will always be some disaster on the horizon. I will have people collect data on the legends and see what we can do."
On the other hand, Ino was helping out Lee and Gai with their experiments. With her increase in power from becoming the chosen one of Hecate, The Master of Magic, Ino's abilities had grown greatly and she had learned many new skills in the time she had spent in the immortal world.
Ino could now create a complete replica of the world around her and it would react as the real one would. It meant that Gai and Lee could use their 8 gates without any problem.
Just like Hinata and others, Ino was finding ways to help save the world and didn't spend the whole day fawning over her new love. Though, she did think of surprising him with the things she had done.
After the meeting with the Immortals, Ino felt a lot closer to him and saw the potential to close the gap. It was highly unlikely that she could reach his level, but she wouldn't be fodder with the right amount of effort.
It all depended on her willingness to endure all kinds of inhumane torture for power, since such power wasn't going to come to any of them naturally.
Looking at the green beasts of Konoha burning their life force, she was reminded that Naruto was being experimented on. She knew there wasn't any threat, but that fact put a foul feeling in her heart.
Nonetheless, she understood why he did it and there was no point in arguing about it. There was no danger and it was necessary for the survival of humanity.
Other than helping out the green duo, Ino had been collecting experience through the minds of others. This meant she was becoming an expert in things with minimum effort and time. Through this experimentation, Ino could help new Shinobi reach expert level in a matter of months.
Her experiment was new, but with the data collected from Naruto's knowledge and experience as a base her library was starting to grow. At the moment there were a few books, but with time there would be thousands.
At the moment, it was connected to her so she was also trying to make the library region connected to the real world and independent from her existence. Human life was fragile and death was always unexpected.
Getting back to Gai and Lee, Ino had improved her taijutsu skills by adapting to their memories and experience. And, she was greatly interested in their project.
It would truly help humanity leap a thousand miles and put them far beyond their current state of power.
However, it wasn't looking easy even after she had given them Naruto's experience as a Sage. According to Lee and Gai, the Ninth Gate was called Earth.
It meant that they were supposed to connect to the planet itself, so the Sage mode would help in this aspect. However, they had to connect to the earth after opening the 8th Gate. And, using any gate alongside any other ability was impossible because of the outflow of unstable chakra.
Opening the gates wasn't easy and it was especially terrible for people with above average chakra. Even for someone like Lee, he had to train a lot to endure the constant pain from the Gates.
Once someone opened the eight gate, they only had one second before their life force would be extinguished. In the worst case scenario, they would explode from the overwhelming power of the primordial chakra.
After seeing what had happened during the war, everyone had come to the conclusion that there was a big secret hidden within them. There was no possible way for a human to fight against an immortal by just removing the limiters.
It meant that the chakra within humanity was special and its powers were limited by the gates as the body couldn't handle the strain.
Only after understanding the fact that chakra system came from the Sage of Six Paths could one realize that it all made sense.
The chakra system inside humanity was a gift from the Sage, and it was an exact replica of his chakra system. Though every person had the genetics and talent for making different amount of chakra, the chakra itself was very potent in its unleashed form.
The real form of the chakra was most likely chakra closely resembling the chakra of the Sage. It surely meant that the Sage had thought of arming humanity with an ability to fight against the Otsutsuki from the start.
However, he had left it as a silent gift for humanity to discover on its own. At the moment, only 10 percent of humanity could make chakra through the chakra system while the rest didn't train for it or were blessed with low life force and spirit to make a usable amount of chakra.
It was made worse by the fact that most chakra users ending up killing each other, further lessening the chances of children being born with good genetics.
The discovery had given hope to everyone and revised the opinion of most researchers, and warriors. With this knowledge, most ninja were encouraged to train even further beyond to unlock their full potential.
However, it all depended on Gai and Lee now. No, it all depended on Lee. He was the one with the lowest amounts of chakra and with great experience with the gates.
Regardless, she had seen Lee die hundreds of time from the immense pain. He was still unable to build any connection with the earth.
Gai had tried as well, but the result was the same. So, Ino decided to further help them. With her connection to Naruto, she had fully grasped Sage mode and with her change in power it was easy for her to use it.
"Let me give you a helping hand." Ino said as she called upon the nature energy and let it flow through around Lee instead of absorbing it and changing it into Senjutsu chakra.
It was helpful, but Lee couldn't connect to the energy at all and with more gates opening he couldn't focus because of the pain.
The pain from the Eighth gate was impossible to define, and the energy released was impossible to control. It was like a tsunami crashing against a small boat.
However, he endured as it was his ninja way. All his life he had endured the pain to make a way in the world of the powerful. He had finally arrived at the top, only to find that the path was longer than anyone had known.
Regardless, he wasn't one to give up after knowing such a thing. He only felt his spirit burn with fervor at the challenge.
"THIS PAIN SHALL GIVE ME STRENGTH!" Lee roared as he tried to find the connection to the world.
It was extremely difficult because of the chakra outflow, so Ino helped him by shutting down his pain receptors forcefully and seeing through his body.
With both minds on the task, they found a silver of the nature energy and tried to grasp it.
Just as Lee extended his hands to grasp the unknown power, he felt the green energy crash into his raging chakra.
Lee exploded on impact, and the experience sent Ino reeling back in horror.
"Bloody hell" Ino tried to catch her breath as Gai patted her back to help her calm down while Lee was collecting himself from the experience.
It was worse than anything he had felt. But, he was smiling as he had gotten closer to his goal. He had seen it.
"I HAVE SEEN IT. I HAVE TOUCHED IT. SOON, SOON…" Lee couldn't continue as he collapsed from the mental strain and his real body was bleeding from the head and nose.
"I think we should take a break. Lee needs more training to handle that energy before he can open the Ninth gate." Ino spoke as she showed Gai what they had seen. Without any further explanation, Gai understood the situation.
Though they had failed for the thousand plus times, they had finally seen some hope. Gai and Lee left happily while Ino decided to find Naruto and get him to help her relax by going on a date alone.
"I deserve some reward for enduring this torture."