Ryoto
"In the distant past, where time ebbs softly and shadows stretch long, there lay the serene village of Kizuna. Cradled by looming mountains and whispered rivers, it was a place where tales stirred like mist among the trees.
Kizuna was a dreamscape, suspended between reality and legend.
In this mystical realm, a boy named Ryoto lived, his spirit as restless as the wind. The village elders, with stories woven of moonlight and dreams, told of an elusive butterfly kami, ethereal and delicate.
It was whispered that this spirit's wings flapped to the rhythm of change itself.
The village walls bore murals, their colors muted by time but vivid with memory, that celebrated the blessings of a distant age when the butterfly spirit had kissed the land with prosperity.
Entranced by these tales, Ryoto would lose himself in the embrace of the ancient forests, listening to the murmurs of the wind and the sighs of old trees, yearning for the gentle brush of the butterfly's wings upon his dreams.
Yet, where tales of light are told, tales of shadow often lurk.
Hushed conversations passed through Kizuna of another spirit, this one born of stormclouds and thunder's cry, its heart echoing with the jealousy of unrequited reverence, ever in competition with the delicate flutter of the butterfly.
One fateful evening, after a moonlit ritual dedicated to the ever-silent butterfly kami, an uneasy stillness settled upon the village. The air grew cold and Ryoto's heart, intuitive and raw, sensed an approaching tempest of emotions. Despite his warnings, the elders believed in the butterfly's protection and urged the village to rest.
But as night's embrace deepened, a tempest, fierce and vengeful, descended upon Kizuna.
The skies wept torrents, the earth trembled, and rivers, once whispering, now roared in anguish.
When morning tried to dawn, it found no Kizuna to greet.
The village, every man, woman, child, and dwelling, had vanished. Only an abyss, blacker than the deepest night, marked where once laughter and dreams had thrived.
Ryoto, spared inexplicably, stood on the edge of this void, his voice lost in a silent scream.
And while the world moved on, the chilling tale of Kizuna's unexplained end echoed in his heart only. Unlike the village, Ryoto lives. So that he can tell it, perhaps.
Whether or not he was ultimately able to do the same as the world did is only for him to know."
Uzumaki Yoisen — Two Tales: Ryoto
On the Nature of Kami
An electric hush blanketed the cosmos as two fiery specters tore through the boundless skies.
Streaking across the void, they blazed with an intensity that outshone the stars, leaving a scorching trail in their wake.
They were not celestial bodies.
Naruto and Yoisen's searing forms roared through the stratosphere, illuminating the sky. They plummeted towards the Earth, impacting the ground with a blinding flash.
The anticipation hung heavy in the air, near the temple of the serene valley, where the kami's presence pulsed strongest.
The dust and debris momentarily obscured their figures, as well as an eerie silence.
As the dust cloud began to dissipate, Naruto broke the silence as well.
"…It's the one who summoned that spear, last time." He stated, his gaze fixed on the temple. "I am sure of it, now. I feel it in my bones."
Yoisen did not answer nor question it, but her hand tightened around her weapon of choice.
They walked the Temple's steps, crossing them quickly.
There were eight bodies littering the floor, in a neat little circle.
Naruto's eyes confirmed it. They were deceased, or perhaps more accurately, their souls had been horrifically disfigured... gnawed upon, devoured in parts.
To become a keystone for a Bridge.
What remained was a chilling specter of their former selves — corporeal shells sustained by the barest flicker of life, their once vibrant souls now shattered, tethers directly bound to the insatiable hunger of the kami.
The relentless cycle of life, death, and rebirth, a fundamental law of existence, was no longer an option for them.
They were trapped in their agonizing state, any chance of reincarnation cruelly stripped away, leaving them in an interminable state of limbo.
Naruto knew that killing them was a mercy.
And so he did, freeing their bodies from this realm, at the very least. They had chosen their kami, certainly, but he still felt responsible for their fate, in a roundabout sort of way.
A voice echoed off the temple walls.
The cosmic presence intensified, and so did the feeling of doom.
"Ah? Trying to break the tether…? I'm afraid it is a bit late for that. What you see is no vessel."
Fingers appeared in the stony arch. Then a hand, shriveled and wispy, with knuckles gnarled like twisted trees.
An old man walked out of the temple.
He seemed so old that he made even a near-death Madara look like an infant. The skin of his face was paper thin, as though it were worn leather draped over a skull. Wisps of hair stood out of his head haphazardly, and his ears looked crooked.
His sunken eyes, however, did not look nearly as tired. They buzzed with life.
"Uzumaki Naruto." The old man said. "We meet again."
Naruto's sword crackled to life. "No introduction…?"
"Of course… Of course…" It said, fondly. "To you, I am known as Agehachō-Yosei. And I have been seeking you. Come closer."
The flames swirled around Roku.
And they hit him head on, too, burning his face with a searing heat. The pain began and didn't end. He howled in true agony — they burned deep.
And this was supposed to be a minor kami…?
What kind of horrors had those young soldiers been facing, until now…?
Hi-no-Tamashi, a minor kami who embodied the essence of flame, was a tall figure, cloaked in dancing flames. It looked vaguely avian in nature, with feathers that were a cascade of embers.
The kami had appeared out of nowhere.
Had their artifacts not been set to allow them to remain inside a High Presence world, they would have been warped away in time.
This entire event had exposed a critical weakness in the items, which were all set to warp their wielders home to Umi:
In the case of a multi-front attack, a pincer movement, like what Roku suspected was happening now… with kami on either side.
Well. They were stuck.
And it had been fast, too. Was this what Kage had meant about the natural energy drop…?
There was a flash of blue lightning, and the clash of steel against the hardened feathers in question. Jinsuke's sword sang with every movement, an elegy of slicing arcs and deadly precision.
He wielded it in an entirely different manner than the Emperor did, but that was to be expected. And not simply because Jinsuke was short one arm.
On the other side, Kage was a blur of gold, and the way he synced up with the Nine-Tails inside him made Roku wonder if perhaps there was some truth to his methods of cooperation after all.
Jinsuke and he moved in tandem, two specters dancing on the battlefield, nine tails and Sharingan working together without coercion for the first time Roku had ever seen.
The Spirit of Fire retaliated fiercely, torrents of flame roaring toward them, but Jinsuke was undeterred. He danced through the fires, his blade cleaving them apart as he carved a path for Kage to reach the fiery kami.
Dark fire clashed with the divine flame, shadow against molten red.
The battlefield was an opera of destruction and even the air seemed to waver from the heat, the ground beneath them trembling in anticipation.
And the two men were grinning.
Soon, Roku found himself grinning savagely, too. Kage could hide it well, but he was as much of a barbarian as all of them were.
'It's time to pay your share of the rent, Fox.'
The Nine-Tails' chakra rose, as begrudgingly as always.
With a roar, Roku lunged forward. His sword of winds, imbued with the Nine-Tails chakra, cut a blazing trail through the air.
Hi-no-Tamashi bellowed, a wave of heat and fire surging to meet Roku's onslaught. The collision erupted in an explosion of light, a blinding burst that made the world go white.
Roku burst through the blinding light, sword driving towards the Spirit of Fire.
To Roku, Hi-no-Tamashi was no more than an overgrown chicken.
There were two foxes here, Jinsuke notwithstanding…
And foxes ate chicken.
Hanabi breathed out.
The godling faded away into the same wisps of wind as before.
Kaze-no-kami, a nameless kami of wind.
It was kinda strong, she could admit as much. And it was getting less and less careful as it couldn't truly reach her.
Hanabi raised her arms gracefully, fingertips brushing the air as if drawing energy from the world around her.
She wasn't particularly fond of the more traditional forms of Gentle Fist, but still found she all too often slipped back into them, in a difficult fight. With a slight bow of her head, her right hand formed a half-circle in front of her chest.
She began to move, her form flowing like water in a stream. Her hands swept out in front of her, fingers extended as if reaching for an unseen opponent.
But she could see it.
Palms facing upward, as though gathering the celestial energy herself. It was a slow, mindful movement.
Her hands gradually descended in a smooth arc, palms now facing the earth; the release, the grounding.
Suddenly, she halted, her final position strong, one hand extended in a loose claw, the other, near her chest, open and ready.
A flash of green in the sky.
'Green' to her eyes, the simplest way she could describe it, and invisible to most. Blasts of wind, so compact they might as well have been beams, fell.
She twisted and spun, weaving in and out of the falling columns.
Then, more of them.
They continued to fall, an unending rain of green pillars; just as unrelenting, she continued to dance through them. Faster and faster.
Each footstep was deliberate and sure, each twist of her torso smooth, quick.
The traditional form was a guide, but in the moments of danger, it was always instincts that truly guided you.
As the intensity of the emerald beams grew, so did the speed of her dance.
Her arms whirled about her, like a protective barrier, now slicing through the oncoming gales. And yet, she maintained her grace.
The fluidity of her movements was unbroken, each sway and turn merging seamlessly into the next, like the continuous flow of a well-rehearsed ballet.
Another beam descended, its path intersecting with her own.
She twisted to the side, but this time the winds nicked her shoulder, slicing through the fabric of her robe. She winced, but her focus remained unbroken.
In the blink of an eye, her hands became a flurry of motion. They moved like a tempest, shrouded in deadly winds, landing strike after strike onto the nearly invisible winds in a barrage.
She raised her arms again, feeling the energy in the wind — the raw, chaotic, divine power of the little kami. It was wild and untamed.
With a swift motion, Hanabi turned on her heel, meeting an incoming beam with her palm. The green light sparked around her hand, and then was deflected.
Her movements became even faster, her steps lighter, her twirls more fluid. Each successive beam was met with her palms, cast aside. She moved through the onslaught with renewed vigor.
She saw something change in the pattern and crouched, arms extended.
Low Dragon Stance.
Hanabi saw it coming.
She saw the invisible currents, and as a deep breath filled her lungs and oxygen spread through her body, her gaze fixed on the invisible target.
Her right hand was open, fingers spread wide. The power surged within her, a tangible energy.
The Truth-Seeking Orbs gathered around it, disappearing, one after the other.
The air around her seemed to ripple as a deep, lilac aura began to swirl around her hand. She was relaxed, she was coiled like a spring, ready to explode with the stored energy.
She was still, eyes glowing blue—
With a sharp exhale, Hanabi thrust her palm forward.
The lilac aura shot out, a concentrated beam of force that crackled with raw power.
The Void Palm did not merely impact on a physical level; it was designed to disrupt energy flows, to break through barriers unseen to the naked eye.
Upon contact, the energy burst forth like a star going supernova, a brilliant, lilac explosion of light.
Her Void Palm thundered through the kami's form.
A wall of destruction followed, reducing everything in its path to nothing.
The equally small-fry kami that were facing Toru and Sasuke halted.
After the technique's execution, Hanabi withdrew her hand, the lilac aura receding as quickly as it had appeared.
The Void Palm left a palpable emptiness in its wake, a hollow in space where energy had been. A deep rift in the earth, too.
Toru squinted. "…You can do that…?"
Hanabi, still wary because her Truth-Seeking Orbs were only slowly reforming, just nodded. "Guess I can."
"…Did you kill it?" Sasuke asked.
Hanabi shrugged. "It's a kami. It's going to reform." She paused. "At some point. But if we get all three down at the same time, we should be able to leave here."
Toru grunted. "More bullshit powers for the Byakugan, huh."
"See how it feels, now?" She asked with a grin. "Need any help with your kami—"
"Nah, we're good. They're nothing like the big ones." Toru answered. "I'm just going to have to figure out how to actually crush it like you did…"
Toru cut himself off and stared at their retreating forms.
"…Why are they trying to leave?" Sasuke asked, breathing somewhat heavily. Not that he would complain. The Sprite of Water had been a pretty bad match-up for him. Well, better him than Minato.
"They are afraid." Hanabi declared. "Of my new powers."
Toru grumbled something, but Hanabi wasn't paying attention.
In spite of her easy words, her eyes were hard, and she was trying to figure out whether or not the small kami had anything at all to do with why she couldn't open a gate to go home.
As soon as she could make sure all three of them were out of immediate trouble, she would look into the matter.
Madara's team — that's how he saw it, at least — found themselves similarly trapped.
It wasn't like Madara to flee, far from it.
But even he could see when he was hopelessly outmatched. So he had swallowed his pride, and called out to the women, insisting that leaving was their best bet.
"Don't you think we know that?" Yugito hissed. Around her, the Nibi's blue chakra was rising, much more powerful than it should have been. "We would if we could!"
Something was preventing them from doing so. To Madara, it was likely the kami in front of them.
Izuna, who was doing his best to keep the both of them alive, was too focused to even bother answering Yugito.
Their two Susanoo, blended with each other's, looked more like a twin-headed Tengu than a graceful protector. And considering the amount of times it had fallen already, even that seemed to be a stretch.
Each time it fell, it rose slower, its glow dimming as the brothers strained their chakra reserves.
Golden chains burst out of the rubble, whipping back and forth with a terrifying speed. The way they cut through stone like butter, the precision with which they struck was something that had never sat too well with Madara — they would cut through his Susanoo the very same way, he was nearly sure of it.
Neither did Karin's bloody grin, as she emerged from the hole after her weapons, hand held in front of her, like a priest banishing great evil.
More chains burst out, all of them flying around the five of them with eerie accuracy, the way even practiced limbs couldn't.
The Yamanaka — Uzumaki, he reminded himself — woman cut through the air like a deadly whip, flipping forward to land on top of one of the gold chains, which she rode like the hellcat she was.
Madara could only stare at her briefly, mesmerized. Izuna nearly had to elbow him. Soon, they were following her lead.
Karin might be the most easygoing of them all — generally —, she was the strongest. Yugito took no shit from anyone, and Hebi, when she was around, prioritized the objective before anything else.
Even taking all this into account, it was clear who the leader here was — Ino.
The Nibi reared up with a howl, and stared down the kami in front of them.
'Minor kami.' Madara repeated, more to convince himself than anything.
If he ever had to face anything like the abomination that had found them in their homeworld…
With a hiss, and eight more glimmering tails that seemed to flash into existence for but an instant, the Nibi released a wall of purple flames upon the area.
Izuna's hands finished weaving hand seals, and the jar his part of the Susanoo had thrown in a perfect arc reached the top of its trajectory. Madara was ready, too.
Billowing winds escaped his brother's mouth; a great flame exploded out of his own.
A myriad of Karin's chains flew through the rubble to direct, to contain the fiery hellscape.
Ino leaped high up, and her weapon of choice appeared in her right hand. With her entire arm tensing, muscles flexing to their limit, she threw the spear, a mighty throw.
It slammed into the floor, and guided by her chakra, a dome of Earth rose. Karin added to it, and they managed to contain the inferno for a good ten seconds, this time.
The rock burst open with a mighty roar.
The kami was changing, shifting inside.
Madara noticed Ino was frowning. Not for the reasons he suspected, however.
Naruto's message had simply alerted them that he had been left with a cryptic statement regarding the future arrival of the kami of change.
To Ino, it seemed all too clear that something was happening back home again. Right now.
She had complete faith in Naruto, but this…
Well, she hoped he knew what he was doing.
SUNDER
"I suppose that if we run away, you're simply going to start killing people." Naruto stated, and he made no move to come any closer.
The old man gave a laugh as brittle as autumn leaves.
"Indeed. But perhaps the whispers of Fūjin-Yami and Raijin-Kaminari have graced your ears by now?" A knowing smile graced its features. "Today will come with a significant cost. Let us reduce you mortals' abundance. View this as the toll for your species' forgetfulness."
Many would die. As he had been warned.
"Even those who follow you faithfully?" Yoisen asked.
The kami's answer carried a note of perplexity. "Why, isn't that their ultimate purpose?"
Yoisen's expression tightened, nearly imperceptibly. "That is how you came here, isn't it…?"
"Indeed." It said, with a playful note in its voice. "So it was. They would have willingly offered up more than their own souls, I am certain… but their numbers in this plane have unfortunately dwindled."
Naruto stared at him.
The kami fixed its gaze on Naruto in return, scrutinizing him. "Oh, there is no need for you to pretend you care. You are cut from a different cloth. I cannot imagine you striving to protect a world, a land that doesn't bear your imprint."
Naruto wasn't quite as sure of it as the kami was.
For practical purposes, however, it was better for everyone involved to let the kami believe there was no point in holding other worlds at knife point. Of course.
"…Perhaps not." He said, in the tones of a man who conceded a valid, but unpleasant point.
The kami, Agehachō-Yosei, sounded almost affectionate in its response. "I thought as much. You bothered with them solely for what they could offer you, and a way to spread your influence. You would readily wade through a sea of blood again, should it prove the most pragmatic course. It's precisely why we deities didn't entertain such futile strategies."
They had tried to get his son, however.
Excluding a handful of exceptions and those they sheltered within Umi's mystical barrier, there weren't that many individuals Naruto or his allies were emotionally invested in. As cold as it seemed, their relative detachment from the other worlds' personal matters had proved to be a boon.
Yūshirō had been deliberately placed beyond their reach, safeguarded by capable guardians for sound reasons.
"I agree with you on this." A grin slowly curved the kami's lips. "Really, what is one insignificant world amongst countless others?"
"To most, it is everything." Naruto remarked. "But I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"I do not." The kami said, tranquilly. "Unlike humans, who in their hubris, often presume to understand more than their limited minds can bear. You mocked kami until fate saw you face one. Is it any wonder we must occasionally nudge the memory of man, reminding them of our timeless existence?"
Yoisen's knuckles whitened around her sword.
Agehachō glanced at her. "Ah, the visage belies the age. Might there be some wisdom you would like to share?"
She remained silent, choosing to ignore its question.
"How uncivil." The kami continued calmly. "Yet, I had minimal expectations from a woman who, in truth, perished alongside her kin nearly a millennium ago. Yes, perhaps you should have stayed for that fire."
Images of suppressed memories surged like a tidal wave in Yoisen's mind, as vivid as the horrific day they originated from. Her voice choked in her throat, words turned to ash.
Naruto's hand found a resting place on her shoulder. His silent message was clear. 'Do not play into its hands.'
His words cut through the air, sharp as a blade.
"A mere culling of our numbers is not the true reason. Why are you here?"
"A mere culling, you say…?" The kami repeated his words with an almost amused air. "It is a sublime approach, I assure you. And far more potent in cementing deep-rooted devotion, in spite of your kind's then lower numbers, than simply gracing them with my divine presence or throwing about petty warnings, wouldn't you agree?"
No answer came from the humans. The kami sighed.
"Why am I here…? Not how?" Agehachō-Yosei asked.
"I didn't ask you how."
"Humans are always consumed by the 'whys.' Why did I come here in spite of your little warning to us…? Why did your little wife disappear inside dear Susanoo-Arashi's belly?
"Why are certain kami pursuing you?
"Why am I willing to tear asunder my own playground just for a single, insignificant man, whose sins could submerge an army of saints…?
"Why, despite all your endeavors, do you continually invite calamity upon yourselves and the few you hold dear?
"Why does she, your faithful servant, believe that her worth is solely defined by her servitude…? It is a good thing she's grown accustomed to her role, by now.
"Besides… Why do you, a man of measured words, careful steps, and... voracious desires, keep her by your side, if not for the carnal pleasures…? Her utility, it seems, has run its course. She wonders, if you must know. Often." Agehachō-Yosei paused, glancing at her, its eyes probing. "Why the ghostly pallor, my dear? Surely, by now, you've become accustomed to the harsh bite of loneliness—"
Without warning, a bolt of lightning struck the space where the aged figure had been moments prior.
Naruto's voice was contained fury, but there was nothing quite so restrained in his eyes. "I think I've had enough of your treacherous words."
"Such theatrics." The kami intoned, its voice echoing with an otherworldly resonance. "A pity the effort is wasted."
Naruto's grip on Yoisen's shoulder tightened, a wordless warning. But it was Yoisen who disengaged, moving out of Naruto's reach.
"…Your games have grown tiresome, kami." She just stated.
Agehachō-Yosei laughed, a sound like wind through ancient trees. "And what will you do?" It gestured grandly at her swords, at Naruto. "Strike me down with those relics? Send another bolt of lightning my way?"
"Are you expecting a different response?" Naruto's question held a cold edge.
The deity's face curled into a smile. The right side of its face became a green flame, whirling, twisting, stretching into infinity.
In it, both Naruto and Yoisen saw people they knew, people they didn't.
Its voice echoed in eldritch ways.
"There is no need for that — And no one will interrupt us. Will you sit?"
…
"I thought I made it abundantly clear that there would be no sitting, no kneeling to you." Naruto retorted.
Agehachō-Yosei's expression remained unperturbed. "It matters little what you say at dawn, at dusk. We have plenty of time, unlike our last encounter."
The kami was not going anywhere.
And with its domain draping over Earth, as it had said, there would be no interruption. It was supremely confident in its ability to bend Naruto to its whims.
"I could help you." Agehachō-Yosei said sweetly.
Naruto chuckled dryly. "Help us…?"
The right side of the kami's face changed, shimmering to show something else.
In it, Naruto saw Sakura, pale and weary. Floating in the middle of a void, aimlessly. Her eyes were flat and her lips dry.
He took in a sharp breath. "An illusion won't do, kami." He growled.
Her eyes blinked heavily, as though she were emerging from a deep sleep. "Naruto…?" Her voice was rough from misuse. "…Is that you?" She asked, and her voice sounded much too weak to be his wife. "Please. Please, help me—"
Lightning crackled within Naruto's mind. He released a brilliant blue surge of energy, obliterating the illusion as if scattering wisps of cloud.
Naruto brandished his sword towards the deity, and Yoisen's own weapon burned with searing flames.
"Draw your weapons, godling." He hissed.
Agehachō-Yosei sighed. "Perhaps it was a bit early for that, then."
Iridescent patterns burned across the old man's skin.
With a dismissive wave of its hand, the earth underneath Naruto crumbled to dust.
Naruto summoned Wind underneath him and stepped off it, crossing the distance between the two of them in an instant. The kami disappeared, too.
When Naruto whirled around, a flock of iridescent butterflies was upon him, obscuring his vision. Some touched him and he felt himself slow down as they did.
Yoisen's flames cut through the swarm, bringing with them the horrible smell of burning insects—
No. It smelled sweet.
The disturbing smell of burnt sugar hung in the air, washing over Naruto and filling his senses.
He blinked, coiling and uncoiling his chakra to dispel an illusion. When he looked around, the burning butterflies seemed to dissolve into glowing embers.
Each one dispersing into a fine, shimmering dust that coated the air around him.
And he was standing in a field of dazzling colors, an iridescent landscape of shifting hues and patterns.
Agehachō-Yosei had vanished from his sight and in its place were swirling, vibrant galaxies, tall emerald-green mountains that burst into fluttering swarms of butterflies, rivers of flowing gold, and trees made of brilliant sapphire light.
And something rooted him to the spot, too.
No Genjutsu-breaking ability got him out of it, either.
With a flex of his chakra, he extirpated himself from the sluggish feeling, and Yoisen did the same, once she realized the trouble.
The illusionary terrain shifted constantly.
Naruto tried to orient himself, but his senses were overwhelmed. Up was down, left was right.
The floor beneath him would solidify one moment and dissolve into a sea of butterflies the next.
The world was a psychedelic vortex of colors and sensations, disorienting him and playing tricks on his senses.
Then he heard it, the sound of fluttering wings, the whisper of movement behind him. Naruto spun around, only to come face to face with a tall woman, wreathed in a beautiful purple kimono.
The slight moment of hesitation nearly cost him, as a wave of cosmic dust washed over the area.
Naruto pushed.
His chakra crackled, and in a flash of power, he became a streak of white light, dodging it entirely.
The sight of the woman made his heart pound in his chest. But it wasn't just the size or the iridescent glow of the creature that startled him.
Not just the strangely familiar tinge of red in her hair. It was the eyes that stared back at him from its body — eyes that mirrored his own.
What was the kami playing at…?
With a sudden jolt, Naruto guided the Lightning chakra to his brain, in order to force his body to act upon what he had trained it so hard to do.
Then, more of it.
The smell of burning sugar was gone, replaced by the sharp tang of ozone. And in the blink of an eye, Agehachō-Yosei was there in front of him, resplendent and intimidating.
Naruto realized the kami had not moved. It was still standing there, staring at him with those ever-changing eyes.
The kami lifted a hand toward them, the patterns upon the woman's skin rippling with iridescent light. For an instant, Naruto thought he saw wings flutter behind her form, as though caught in an unseen wind, casting ethereal shadows around the kami.
An inexplicable heaviness settled over him, and he could see the same feeling reflected in Yoisen's eyes. It was as though the air around him had solidified, pressing him down, slowing his movements.
It felt like the butterflies from before — if they had been scattered to the winds, like dust.
Naruto gritted his teeth, forcing his body to push against the strange power.
Yoisen's sword slammed into the ground, and a wall of fire rose, aimed at the motionless kami.
It dispelled before it could reach; nothing but embers remained.
Naruto could see Agehachō-Yosei, still as a statue. The kami, who still appeared as a young woman, bore an expression of tranquility.
It was observing Naruto's struggle with eyes that were as beautiful as they were eerie.
Or rather, it was observing the clone Naruto had hidden in his own shadow and switched with seamlessly.
The real one appeared behind the kami, sword extended, aimed at the body's neck.
Naruto's blade crumbled to nothing before he managed to land the strike.
"What—"
And he hadn't dreamed it, the same heaviness was affecting him more, this close. He was slowing down.
Yoisen exploded out of the field of flowers, rising up in a deadly stab. She too was slowed.
The kami grabbed Naruto's arm, and threw him at her. He slammed into Yoisen with a grunt, and they tumbled gracelessly through the air before they managed to recover.
Something felt off.
Naruto glanced at his arm. It was crumbling, too. The same way the ground had, before… and the same way his sword had crumbled.
Whatever the kami did, it had to do with change.
Naruto was nearly immortal, and yet…
His hand was withering in front of him, starting from the wrist, where he had been grabbed, and spreading in both directions: fingers and shoulder.
Time, then? Aging?
"I would suggest not doing that." The kami offered, and it was using the guise of the old man again, sighing. "Bringing you back to life would prove to be quite a nuisance, I am sure."
With a growl, Naruto retreated and channeled Wind through his fingers.
Yoisen drew closer, and with no hesitation at all, used both his Wind and her own Fire to hack his arm off at the elbow in one swift motion.
Chakra rose from the seared shut stump, to form a pale ethereal arm while his true one healed underneath it.
They moved again. He went up and to the right, she went low and to the left. With his right hand, he weaved hand seals.
Horse — Ox — Dragon — Dog — Hare — Tiger — Bird — Monkey — Rat — Snake — Boar — Horse — Bird — Ox — Hare — Dragon
He gleamed with pale light.
"Radiance: Heaven's Descent."
With a blinding flash of light, chakra escaped his hand and rose to the mad skies.
Lightning jutsu that used the heavens' very own power tended to need time to build up. This one didn't need much, on the other hand, as he was forcefully accelerating the entire process of the clouds' gathering.
Besides, he didn't trust the kami not to have had some influence over the breaking of natural clouds, as well. Better to act swiftly.
Moving two fingers down, Naruto silently brought down a rain of electrified spikes of wind, blanketing the entire area.
He heard Yoisen, too. "Fire! Phoenix Dance!"
She swung her sword in a pattern he knew, just as she blurred around the kami's nearly still form. North to south to west to east; and then, everything in-between.
The arcs of fire flew through the air, covering every angle, seemingly tracking the kami.
Rat — Snake — Dragon — Monkey — Boar — Horse — Bird — Ox — Tiger — Hare — Dog — Rat — Monkey — Snake — Tiger — Dragon
Naruto finished weaving his second jutsu.
"Storm Release: Thundering Gale!"
The air crackled with sudden energy when the powerful hurricane sprung into existence. It churned the earth, tore through everything, and lightning bolts streaked from its center to wreak havoc.
Yoisen's flames were caught in the turbulent winds, and both their speed and power increased exponentially. The fiery missiles homed in on their target with ruthless precision, searing anything in their path.
It wasn't as straightforward as they made it seem.
Indra and Yoisen had rarely succeeded in executing most combinations. These required intense synchronization, and even impeccable timing wasn't sufficient in itself. There was a missing element, something they lacked. A combination on this scale, they would never even have bothered to attempt.
Whatever this missing element was…
It was something that Naruto and Yoisen did have. He saw her flash him a quick smile.
The clouds released the full potential of their fury.
Wind! Fire! Lightning!
The three elements trapped the kami in an inescapable storm of destruction—
A wave of cosmic power washed over the storm and soon, it was reduced to nothing.
The kami smiled. "All things turn to dust."
Gritting his teeth, Naruto took the time to observe it happen.
The kami's ability extended with its energy. Close to him, or whenever he summoned a wave of power, or these butterflies, it was stronger.
"What is the matter…?" The kami asked. "Won't you come to me…? Is your mighty strength proving futile here?"
It moved.
Each step the kami took sent ripples through reality, the very fabric of their surroundings shifting with its movements.
"Can't your powerful attacks reach me…?"
Slowly.
Earth transformed into verdant grass, then to a sprawl of plants, then dying, then becoming nothing, then becoming dirt again.
It was like being in the eye of a surreal storm.
Naruto and Yoisen split again.
They were still on Earth, Naruto was almost sure of it. Far above, and hopefully away from the kami's grasp, he could feel the floating cities getting further and further away.
But at the same time, paradoxically, the two of them were within the Kami's domain.
Perhaps not the deep one, the one Naruto still wasn't certain even a kami could reach, when it wasn't its own. Rather, it was the domain they applied upon reality, that allowed them to use their power — or was their power.
Normal rules didn't apply here.
Naruto dodged another wave of butterflies.
With them came a wave of something he could only call rot: it turned the verdant grass into nothing, and nothing became something again afterwards.
Beside him, Yoisen echoed his move, their movements synchronizing in a reflexive dance they had honed over many battles in another life, over hours, days of practice in this one.
They dashed away from the Kami, the eerie changes in the landscape underlining the urgency of their retreat.
Hanabi had seen a kami's power, granted to their followers. And years ago, he had called upon their boons himself. Fighting Fūjin-Yami and Raijin-Kaminari, he had understood there was a reversal to it.
But he wasn't nearly strong enough to try and challenge the kami's domain, he knew. There was no point in trying to break the tether either: the kami was already firmly grounded within the physical world.
And Naruto was almost certain that it would stay for much longer than the others had.
The kami was not relying on natural energy. It was not merely using a human as a vessel either.
But it was there, and growing more and more physical.
And as such, would require time to leave, as well.
…
"Are you going to run for much longer, Uzumaki Naruto?"
Naruto didn't bother answering.
The wave of dark, cosmic matter washed over the area, much faster than Naruto had thought it would be—
Behind him.
Naruto jumped, twisted his body through the small opening he could perceive, and flipped through it safely.
Yoisen was drawing close to the kami.
"Yoisen!" He shouted. "Catch!"
A sword of jade flew from his sleeve, shrouded in deadly elements.
It was one out of three legendary treasures. Said to contain a drunkard's spirit, it was more than just a sword in the physical sense. The blade was ethereal, a manifestation of chakra as much as it was tangible, sharpened by a power that transcended the laws of physics.
Yoisen seized the Sword of Totsuka from the air.
In his own hands, Naruto held something that was very much tangible. A blade that was said to cut through nearly anything with the slightest of efforts. A self-regenerating sword that could repair itself in an instant, regardless of the damage inflicted upon it.
The Sword of Totsuka's only equal: the Sword of Kusanagi.
"The sword that slew Yamata-no-Orochi." The kami said, nonplussed. "And the one borne out of its body. It is a shame…"
A wave of cosmic energy went to swallow Naruto's legs, and only his legs.
"…That you have already lost your chance."
The wave hit.
Naruto burst out into shards of lightning — the Lightning Replacement technique.
He reappeared above Agehachō-Yosei, hand extended, reaching out in the kami's direction.
"Storm Release: Eight-Pillars Bind!"
Purple lightning crackled, and eight beams of light slammed into the kami's midsection, holding it in place. Yoisen came from the other side, a hand shaped in the tiger seal. The area around them grew hot, and the air was shimmering.
"Fire: Inferno Song!"
A large ring of fire shaped itself around the kami, and Naruto's following jutsu rose from its heat.
"Radiance: Hurricane Chain!"
A chain made out of pure white light, wrapping around the kami. Both techniques, faced with the kami's active, required a constant output of chakra.
Agehachō-Yosei sounded disappointed. "Is that it…? I could dissipate your mortal enchantments as easily as a star scatters its light into the abyss, with but a mere ripple of divine will."
Cosmic energy blew the hurricane away first. A wave of blackness followed.
"Have you learned nothing at all…?" The kami asked. "I—"
He cut himself off. Both Naruto and Yoisen were headed for the wave, flying toward him extremely fast.
And the kami didn't particularly want Naruto dead.
With an irritated sigh, Agehachō-Yosei dispelled part of the wave, which would have swallowed Naruto's body entirely.
But they had been ready. The humans transformed into Fire and Lightning, respectively.
They slipped through the hole he had left in his defense. When they reappeared, faster than the kami had even seen humans move, their twin blades were coming for it.
Time seemed to still.
The elements roared, driving the weapon further—
The Sword of Totsuka crumbled to nothing.
The Sword of Kusanagi crumbled to nothing.
And they were forced to dodge the attacks that came at them from within a very dangerous range.
"Did you really believe these legends held true? That it would be enough…?" Agehachō-Yosei asked. "No weapon can fell a kami!"
Naruto cursed.
The entire floor lifted, becoming inky pools of darkness from which deadly butterflies rose with a sickly sweet scent.
"All things turn to dust." Agehachō-Yosei said. "They wither and—"
"Yata Mirror!" Naruto roared, hand clasped around the artifact. Layers of iridescent life rose, in saturated purple hues.
The butterflies receded, the inky pools became dirt and then flowers again…
And the Yata Mirror shattered entirely, too.
Yoisen shouted something. Naruto and she disappeared through a golden rift, the one space-time jutsu type they hadn't shown the kami before, the next instant.
The sweeping surge of cosmic dust unfurled around Agehachō-Yosei, and came to wove itself into a spectral cloak, draping across its shoulders.
With an infinitesimal shake of its celestial form, Agehachō-Yosei sought the mortals.
This golden rift, the kami had observed. It wouldn't happen again.
Its gaze pierced the veil of reality, and could traverse dimensions and timelines.
Physical eyes, too, yearned for the sight of the Earth-dwellers, though they were but tiny specks within the cosmos' vast canvas.
The realization of their absence echoed within its ancient being.
Sighing, exhaling the ether of eternity, it mustered its cosmic power, preparing for a journey towards one of the arisen cradles of humanity, in the outer reaches of space.
A fleeting thought of Uzumaki Naruto emerged in its ancient consciousness.
An insignificant mortal, after all; one that had fled. Perhaps a reminder of the gods' power was necessary.
The cities that had taken to the heavens offered a slight challenge in their remoteness.
The bond of the kami to the planet Earth was a primordial tie, strong and unbroken, for it was they who had forged it in the molten heart of the cosmos.
The whispering winds of space and time carried with them the promise of their return.
The celestial beings had given birth to countless worlds, their influence rippling through the fabric of reality. Their touch was a beacon, guiding them to these distant lands, always within their reach.
For Agehachō-Yosei, a deity of forgotten power, had witnessed the rise and fall of realities, the birth and death of stars, the dance of galaxies.
Such experiences, grand and terrible in their splendor, would rend the fragile minds of humans to shreds.
Agehachō-Yosei had observed the turning of epochs, watched galaxies wane and wax in their celestial ballet.
Its gaze had taken in the death of stars and the birth of nebulas, had witnessed realities fracture and mend.
And yet, within this vast tableau of cosmic phenomena, a novel spectacle caught its attention.
An ethereal azure light, birthed from the cosmic void, a radiance unseen by the divine entity thus far.
The cerulean beam cut through the abyss, as though a celestial sword brandished by an unseen hand.
Its luminescence painted the dark canvas of the universe, a stroke of brilliance where none existed before.
And then it struck, and even Agehachō-Yosei's shroud could not fully diminish its impact.
The kami burned away.
It was an expression of power, a proclamation of existence in the endless void, both mesmerizing and terrifying in its raw beauty, the way only the gods had been capable of thus far.
This light was the harbinger of the humans' rising ambitions, a reminder for the kami that with enough time, even an ant could begin to grow.
And yet, despite its grandeur, it posed no danger at all.
Naruto and Yoisen had left right before the light hit and everything was painted electric blue.
High above, nestled in the atmosphere's embrace, and inside the orbital command of one of the very first Celestial Rings, the air was thick with tension.
And resolve, too.
The people in the room were sweating from the exertion, already.
"Did we get him…?" Gama asked, his voice echoing in the muted quiet.
He was breathing hard, too. They had taken a fair amount of chakra from everyone aboard, adjusting for their respective levels, to power the beam. Or to direct it, perhaps — he didn't know the specifics.
The only glimpse Gama had of the initial strike was a searing bolt of brilliant blue light.
Its afterglow seemed to persist far longer than expected, flashing across the holographic screens.
And the storm of light then kept going for seemingly far too long, seemingly continuous.
The Umi station had not been the one the beam had been shot from. It had been relayed to the one closest to the kami, and the specifics of it, no one had bothered to inform Gama about.
For this reason, seeing that much happen was already more than Gama had expected he would witness of the entire process.
The control room's ambiance was tinged in the ethereal glow cast by countless holographic screens upon white material. Each displayed detailed maps, schematics, communication links and a realistic replica of Earth's layout.
Perched at a console was Hebi; her sharp eyes flickered over the data with a cold, clinical detachment. She ignored Gama's voiced thoughts entirely.
Next to her, the scariest Orochimaru, the one who looked like a child, watched the spectacle unfold, his slitted eyes gleaming with anticipation.
There was a chilling aura around him, and yet he was not nearly as cold or cryptic as the other man in the room.
If Gama could call him a man.
He had said he was an eldar, whatever that was. In any case, he seemed to be another Naruto, one with elongated ears and a nose that habitually lifted in the presence of anyone who wasn't Orochimaru — the child one.
"Initiate the second Celestial Strike, Hebi." Orochimaru ordered.
A single nod was her only answer.
In response, Hebi gave a single nod and her hands began their dance, swiftly forming a series of hand signs.
Completing the sequence, she pressed her palm against the console, the symbols embedded within it ignited as her chakra flowed into the seals.
Each one represented a different raised city. She relayed the command to the corresponding stations.
Gama's eyes went up.
A burst of light emerged from one of the holographic screens, the same one as before.
A concentrated sphere of light, harnessed solar energy, slowly came into existence, draining all of them further.
Long-eared Naruto, his sharp features reflecting a detached focus, also turned his attention to the screen displaying the target area.
To Gama, he was a mystery, an enigma even among their eclectic group, whose allegiance was dubious at best... but that described many of them, so he went along with it anyway.
The light disappeared again.
They fired.
The screen relayed the events.
Orochimaru, still exuding an aura of chilling anticipation, didn't move a muscle as another beam of terrible light hurtled towards the Earth.
His slitted eyes tracked the light.
The intense light upon impact bloomed into a radiant spectacle, followed by a ground-shattering explosion.
Even from their vantage point high above the Earth, Gama thought he felt a faint tremor run through the structure of the Celestial Ring.
Gama held on to Orochimaru's assurance that no humans remained in the target zone.
He thought that even if there had been any, it wouldn't have stopped him.
But the strike was precise, anyway. As much as such a thing could be.
Silence fell in the control room as the light faded, leaving behind a smoldering crater.
Their target had seemingly been obliterated. Again. Hebi, Gama, and even the aloof elf looked to Orochimaru for the next command.
Orochimaru… sighed. It echoed through the silent room, a sound of vague disappointment, and hung in the air.
"I knew there was a high probability it wouldn't work." He said.
Gama understood that it hadn't worked, then.
Orochimaru's slitted eyes held a flicker of worry, his calculating mind no doubt already moving onto the next step.
But there was no time for brooding. Orochimaru straightened, his momentary lapse in composure brushed away like a forgotten cobweb. His expression hardened, a layer of icy resolve returning to his gaze.
"Prepare for relocation." He commanded crisply, eyes flicking across the room, meeting each of their gazes in turn. "We're moving further into space. If all else fails, we should be able to warp the cities away once they leave the kami's boundary field."
Gama whirled around. "…What?! What about them…?" He asked, gesturing toward Earth.
Orochimaru seemingly ignored him.
"And... that man? That woman?" Gama continued, voice rising. "They are fighting—"
Orochimaru finally answered him. "Who do you think suggested this course of action?"
In a swirl of cosmic energy and stardust, the shape of Agehachō-Yosei took form once again.
Naruto and Yoisen saw it happen as clear as the light of day — that the kami took away once more.
The golden rift was made to appear once more, and then it was shattered. They were forced out of their pocket space.
The kami came out of its cosmic chrysalis again. The old man emerged from the hole again.
"Let us forego this futile skirmish." Agehachō-Yosei said, its words washing over the mortals like a cosmic tide. "No force you wield, no relic you possess holds dominion over me."
Yoisen's hands blurred through seals.
A great barrier rose—
"No barrier you summon can hold me."
—and shattered.
"Surrender yourself to me, and they will live." It thrummed. "Conflict is but a tear in the fabric of harmony, and it is communion that I seek. All to facilitate change, the sole enduring dance of the cosmos."
"…Do you think I do not understand why you need me…?" Naruto's eyes were hard. "You see another bridge in me."
"Oh…?" The deity's response carried an echo of amusement, the subtle vibrato of cosmic strings plucked in jest.
"A link to the fragile world of mortals." Naruto spat. "That you cannot reach without exposing yourself to the wrath of Susanoo. The one who shares your precious title."
Agehachō-Yosei's voice stirred the heavy silence, after a slight pause.
"Susanoo-Arashi has forever clung tenaciously to its honorifics." The kami admitted. "As though a juvenile who never learned to share. And yet… Susanoo-Arashi remains but a distant storm." It said, low and ominous. "A storm that shall not arrive. And why should it feel the need…? I have received the mortals' summons. Besides… Such a formidable kami necessitates an epoch to manifest unbidden, an interval longer than my eventual departure."
"You sound less confident than the first time you mentioned that kami already." Yoisen spat. "No wonder. You ruptured your sacred Oath." Her voice was rising. "You summoned both Fūjin-Yami and Raijin-Kaminari to this realm. And you did it again—"
"An interesting interpretation." Agehachō-Yosei said amusedly. "In truth, I merely straddled the boundaries of our divine covenant. And it seems our esteemed Susanoo-Arashi failed to view it as a transgression. Am I not still here, untouched by divine retribution?" The elder's visage twisted into a horrifying grin, stretching too wide. "I see no vestiges of Susanoo-Arashi's wrath, I fear."
Naruto tensed. And he heard the loathing in its voice.
"Yet, since your insight reaches so far, there is little point in obscurity." Agehachō-Yosei said, and it continued to smile. "Your suspicions ring true, Uzumaki Naruto.
"Indeed, I seek a puppet. Within the delicate dance of cosmic forces, you alone stand unbound by the divine Oath that shackles us kami." It said, full of resentment. "You alone. Unlike your very own puppets, to whom you gave a conditional fragment of your power that you could take away at any point. You, alone. Free from the barriers between worlds that limit your mortal peers."
A long silence.
Yoisen laughed, high and mocking. "The other kami will demand your demise for this."
Agehachō-Yosei emitted a sound, unconcerned and nonchalant. "I harbor no such conviction. This is an entirely new development. As for the rest of you... The other kami, and I, to some degree, I suppose... are beings of pride, and given the current cosmic order, your human species ranks too insignificantly for them to hold me accountable, as long as your… devotion towards us begins to flourish anew. An outcome I shall ascertain through a celestial purge."
Yoisen became very still.
"Yes. I foresee a reprimand on the horizon. It is a fate I have weathered before." Agehachō-Yosei stated, unfazed. "And they will regain their tranquility in the span of a few hundred, or perhaps thousand, years… your voluntary cooperation in this endeavor carries greater value."
"Do you truly believe I would help you build an army of followers…?" Naruto asked tightly.
Agehachō-Yosei shrugged. "With the right… motivations, I believe so."
A mocking sound resounded. It came from Yoisen.
"That is not it. There's another reason you're hiding, isn't there?" Yoisen asked. "You fear a new—"
"Your words sap my celestial energy. Let there be silence." The kami commanded.
A cosmic blur. A momentary pause.
Yoisen's screams tore through the silence as she crumpled. Something had touched her.
"Stop it!" Naruto roared.
The kami made an irritated noise. "Are you dictating terms to me, mortal? Who elects what is necessary? You? The fleeting human life that dares to overstep its cosmic station… presuming to dictate the celestial order?"
It showed no intention of stopping.
Whatever it was that was affecting her, Naruto surmised that it was made worse by their proximity to the kami.
"I shall let you see the chasm that lies between a mortal and a deity."
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Naruto chose the only option he found viable.
He moved, as swift as ever. Naruto seized Yoisen, threw her over his shoulder and ran.
"You cannot escape." Agehachō-Yosei said, affably.
And perhaps he couldn't, but the further away from the kami he was, the weaker its influence on Yoisen. The more time they gained for the cities to soar away.
The fastest man alive blurred into the distance, headed for the barren wastelands, and the kami followed.
…
The kami's domain was getting somewhat weaker, as Naruto ran.
Enough for the true sky to be visible, once more.
Not enough for them to escape.
Beneath a strangely azure sky that stretched out over the horizon, infinite in its span, the equally never-ending expanse of the barren wastelands seemed a world devoid of life.
Naruto blurred through the sudden stillness, a shockwave of disturbance through the air. His steps ignited the dormant atmosphere into a symphony of motion.
His silhouette shattered the stagnant panorama as he tore through the landscape, his body a mere blur of white against the stark backdrop.
Tendrils of cosmic dust rose like ethereal specters behind him, caught in his tornado-like wake.
The sound of his speed was a sonic boom, shattering the silence and leaving ringing echoes that seemed to last forever.
Every atom of his being was aligned with this singular purpose: to outpace, outmaneuver, to survive.
His heart drummed a frenzied rhythm against his ribcage, echoing the intensity of his rush. Each breath he drew was sharp, barely enough to fuel the explosive power in his legs.
His eyes were locked onto the desolate horizon, where the sky seemed to kiss the earth.
And the kami followed.
The improvised plan was two-fold, and getting Yoisen out of here was only the first step — if she wasn't able to summon those barriers at all, better that she leave.
Agehachō-Yosei was nearly silent, and moving as though he were gliding on the crest of a wave.
There was only the faint hum of energy that echoed everywhere.
Yoisen began to stir, as though she was waking up from a nightmare.
"I am sorry." She muttered. "For burdening you."
"You haven't." Naruto shook his head firmly. "We never stood a chance at actually fighting it. Alone, there is no way I would have been able to fight at all. He would have gotten me already. Or left for the skies right away." It was a precarious enough dance as it was.
"…"
"Our immediate goals…" Are to let the others go far away enough to warp.
"…I will shield your back."
"Yes. We… You can't get this close to it anymore." Naruto said. "And we can't drop our guard, even for a moment. I don't think we'll manage to escape a second time."
"…Yes."
There was a brief moment of silence.
"Any thoughts…?" Naruto asked.
The ghost of a smile pulled at her lips. "As long as we manage to stay away from it, where its powers are stronger—"
She was cut off abruptly.
Where there had been nothing was now something.
They were forced to a halt when rocks broke apart, letting butterflies loose in the wake of their fragments.
Yoisen's chakra rose in a blink. Fire. Melting away the sharp rocks. Wind. To clear the debris.
"I believe that our pursuit has run its course, Uzumaki Naruto." The kami remarked. "Attempt such an escapade again, and whether hidden in the vast skies or cloaked in the depths of earth, your progeny shall not escape my notice. Try to thwart me, then."
Gritting his teeth, Naruto summoned swords to himself. Yoisen climbed down, upon steady feet.
"I was under the impression that such threats were beneath you." Naruto said, blurring to the left.
"You were mistaken."
Naruto reappeared close, dangerously close to the kami.
In a flash, he was gone again. Not before his purple eyes locked with the kami's own, unyielding and fierce.
"Is that your grand strategy, Uzumaki Naruto?" The kami asked, a note of mockery in its tone. "Keeping my attention upon you, while the woman seeks for a weakness she will not find, and your subjects escape."
Then, darkness began to stir. Shadows rose from the ground in the form of butterflies, surging towards Naruto with such speed that they would appear instantaneous to any mere mortal.
With a swift, acrobatic flip, he escaped the shadowy onslaught.
Suddenly, a barrier materialized between him and the kami, a solid wall of graphite, courtesy of Yoisen.
In a blink, the graphite was transformed into diamond, sparkling fiercely under the ethereal light.
Agehachō-Yosei, the kami, almost seemed to roll its ethereal eyes in response. "How insightful." It drawled, its voice dripping with sarcasm. "Using diamond's lengthy decay time could indeed be advantageous…"
The diamond barrier crumbled into dust, about as quickly as dirt would, scattering to the wind.
"…If you were engaged in battle with a fellow mortal." Agehachō-Yosei continued, unperturbed. "And as for this, it would have done nothing."
With an air of nonchalance that was as chilling as it was effortless, the kami motioned with a spectral hand, disintegrating the Binding Stone that Naruto had been painstakingly trying to summon.
And had crafted with just as much effort.
The cosmic energy flowed from the deity's fingers like a deadly aurora, and the stone's existence was snuffed out in an instant.
And in a very similar fashion, the large sealing array both Naruto and Yoisen had been summoning under the guise of hopeless attacks was torn apart as well.
They had begun from the top down, starting with their strongest methods, aside from one…And their options were dwindling by the minute.
"Do I need to repeat myself?" The kami's voice held a resigned sigh, its ancient head shaking with a hint of disappointment, as if it were a wise old mentor lecturing an errant pupil. "No matter the extent of your power, your human strategies and tools will never best me."
They erupted from every direction, these butterflies.
"None of the stratagems you and your 'Council' have devised will yield success."
From every crevice in the ground, those which had been there before they broke it apart, and the new ones as well.
And Naruto weaved through them, with a frenzy that seemed to only be growing as he went.
Moving this fast, there was only so much thinking Naruto could do.
"Consider, for example, your scheme to ensnare a kami within the confines of a sacred circle, believing that our celestial form would be bound by such earthly geometry. Or your intention to draw upon the latent energy of ancient relics, as if they could suppress our divine essence."
The swarms were writhing things, twisting like hungry vipers, ready to strike.
Naruto moved like lightning.
The shadows clawed for him, for his spirit, his speed, his essence.
"Your plan to summon us into physical forms, to render us vulnerable to the laws of your material realm was particularly amusing. Could we, the architects of your world, be constrained by its constructs?"
With each lunge, they found only emptiness where their target should have been.
He was avoiding them. And still, the hair on the back of Naruto's neck prickled.
He could feel them, could sense the shifting patterns as they lunged and receded, their darkness flirting in the periphery of his awareness.
There was a chill in the air, a foreboding whisper that hinted at something far more sinister, even as the kami continued to gloat.
"And then there was the idea of the greater binding ritual. A gamble hinged on the fleeting unity of mortal will, hoping to trap a god within a cage of transient mortal resolve."
One of the shadows swiped at him, its ethereal claw grazing the hem of his hakama. The fabric ripped with a hiss, the torn remnants fluttering in the aftershock of his passage.
He barely acknowledged it, his mind too focused on the next millisecond, the next breath, the next heartbeat.
"Each stratagem, a testament to your… tenacity, I suppose. And none possessing the potency to ensnare a kami. All of them will fall short, as sure as the cosmos is vast."
The kami was not simply trying to slow him down anymore.
It was becoming more aggressive, its intent clear. It truly sought to cripple, to hinder, to bring him down.
His world was reduced to flashes of darkness and light, to the near silent whisper of shadows against stone, to the wild pounding of his heart in his ears.
All that mattered was evading, moving, surviving.
His instincts were driving him, their honed edge cutting through the fear and doubt, leaving only a singular focus – keep moving.
And so he was forced to dodge, again and again.
The kami's gaze hardened as it turned to regard Naruto, its eyes glinting with a cold, harsh light.
"It's regrettable, really, that you've honed such skill in evasion. From your meticulous safeguards to the blinding speed of your movements." There was a reluctant note of something that felt like the tiniest hint of admiration in its voice. "Indeed, you have proven elusive."
Naruto blinked in surprise at the unexpected concession.
The reason why became clear soon enough, however. A shadow rose.
A dark presence swelled, a second prong of the kami's attention making itself known.
Naruto barely managed to dodge this one.
The power of a god wasn't human, their focus could divide, multiply, and strategize on levels beyond human comprehension.
And there was a final shadow rising in his blind spot.
Yoisen, who was dealing with leftover butterflies from before, saw it. If Naruto got caught, the kami would take him away.
And that would be it for most of this world's inhabitants, too.
Her heart thrummed, her chakra rose.
And she triggered a seal upon Naruto's back in the bluntest of ways. The mighty fires she had sealed inside him were rising, and they detonated in a great purging flame.
Searing his skin, but mostly driving him forward. Minimizing the damage was the most she could do here.
Naruto twirled to recover, and landed more or less gracefully. His gaze rose to the amused kami, and as it did, he felt an icy dread creep into his veins.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he or Yoisen made a deadly mistake. And in a battle of attrition against a kami, he wasn't entirely confident in his own chances.
Using the Jūbi chakra through human coils for a long period came with its own downsides, and toxicity was going to be a problem, at this intensity. Sakura could manage it for longer than any of them, for all the trouble she had with the bubbling emotions themselves. But he was no Sakura, and neither was Yoisen.
The Celestial Strike hadn't done it. Their legendary artifacts, enhanced with everything they could fit within them, hadn't done it either.
Naruto took a deep breath.
He stood tall, clothes torn from close brushes with the kami's terrible power. The parts it had touched were seemingly gone entirely, erased.
Then he blurred, reappearing on the kami's far flank, away from Yoisen. She understood right away, and took a long Step back as well.
There, she began to weave barriers to ward off lightning, one atop another.
Naruto centered himself, channeling the mighty chakra coursing through his veins, both his own and the Jūbi's.
He had practiced this before.
Combining Wind, Lightning and Fire was something he was well used to, now. Radiance was something he considered himself proficient with. And Yin, Yang were part of the equation, of course, but were things he saw differently, perhaps because of his unique circumstances.
An electric ripple undulated across his skin.
Adding more to it had seemed unwise — and Yoisen had tried to warn him, after all.
Which was why he had decided to go the multiplication way, of course.
The same way Wind multiplied with itself could theoretically result in Typhoon; Fire with itself in Blaze; Earth with itself into Metal.
And perhaps he had the Ōtsutsuki to thank for giving him the idea in the first place. Their advanced elements, he had thought to be mere basic releases, at the time. They hadn't been, likely.
Wind, Lightning, Fire, Yin, Yang multiplied together with Wind and Lightning.
The only two elements he felt were safe enough for him to have some stability, at least.
There was the same electricity to the air. High in the sky, nestled in the kami's domain, as well.
And the cruel god paused.
Naruto's heart pounded like a thunderclap in his chest. He could feel the raw, untamed energy building within him, waiting for release. Crackling.
"…Shinjutsu: Lightning Repudiation."
In a burst of incandescent light, the jutsu was born; a breathtaking spectacle of brilliance.
It wasn't every day that a Shinjutsu was unveiled…
Agehachō-Yosei definitely took notice, now.
The air around Naruto snapped with tension, a pulsating wave of invisible pressure emanating from his form.
Then, it burst forth, a flare of dazzling light so vivid it seemed to stain the surrounding reality in its bleached colors.
The barrier, a layer of sheer energy, sprung from Naruto, the living heart of a lightning storm.
It crackled and roared around him, this maelstrom of electricity, wrapping around his form, encompassing his weapons themselves.
It pulsed with a life of its own, an awe-inspiring spectacle of brilliance.
It danced, flitted, and leapt like a living thing, each flicker and spark a raw display of potent force. Bolts of bright purple-white energy raced across the barrier's surface in erratic paths, illuminating stone with a spectral glow.
The kami's eyes were trained on him — the single human-like eye... and the multitude concealed within the swirling green flame. Naruto understood the creature's fascination.
The jutsu was the sum of the humans' encounters with other divine beings — among them Inari-Kitsune, Raijin-Kaminari, Fūjin-Yami; each clash, a stepping stone.
And Shibai, too — although that being had proved to be rather unremarkable, overall.
There was one goal Naruto had had in mind when creating this jutsu:
Withstanding Susanoo-Arashi's storms long enough to find Sakura within the kami of storms, of change.
"…Bold move, mortal." The kami he was facing murmured, its voice echoing across the area like a serenade of shadows.
Agehachō-Yosei didn't wait any longer to launch its attack.
A thick dark wave of indescribable material, like tendrils of obsidian silk, like the foulest of sludges, surged towards Naruto. The dark appendages moved with a hypnotic grace, belied by their deadly intent.
The kami's shadowed butterflies lunged, reaching out with an almost ravenous hunger.
Naruto moved, as well.
Straight toward the kami, before taking a narrow step to the right. The wave followed, and came close to Naruto.
Close.
Closer.
Too close.
Upon contact, the Shinjutsu sprang into a spectacle of power.
A potent electromagnetic field erupted from him, causing the surrounding air to ionize into a state of plasma, forming swirling arcs of crackling, superheated matter. Bolts of violent, violet-white electricity danced around him.
They met the incoming obsidian tendrils head-on.
The barrier pulsated, and the dancing, violet-white electricity intensified, swirling around Naruto like a miniature storm, ever more powerful the closer it was to him.
The lightning arced and danced, slashing outwards like electrified serpents snapping at the encroaching darkness.
The reaction was instantaneous, violent.
There was an explosive release of energy, a cataclysmic collision that seared the tendrils to nothingness, leaving behind only a ghostly haze of ionized particles that swiftly dissipated.
So to say, the kami's shadows met the lightning barrier and were abruptly torn asunder.
"…What?" Agehachō-Yosei halted.
Arcs of electricity snapped and cracked against the dark tendrils, searing through them.
The barrier hummed, growing more vibrant with each obliterated shadow, its electrical storm responding to the kami's threat with escalating ferocity.
Light, shadows; struggling for dominance, painting the field in unnatural colors.
As the kami's shadowy attack was repulsed, Naruto found his path clear.
And the kami's countenance faltered for the first time.
"This is not an art befitting a mortal." Agehachō-Yosei snapped. "It is the realm of deities you are attempting to step in, human!"
Naruto didn't stop to consider the kami's furious warning, nor the way its voice warbled, shifting to something else.
To him, it seemed as though the kami's power could be approximated as something not unlike Dust multiplied with itself. Along with a fair helping of divine power.
It didn't slow him down.
Shielded by the divine power, Naruto slammed through the kami itself.
Tearing its form apart the same way the Celestial Strike had.
The kami began reforming right away, but in this, Naruto saw that it was not nearly as invincible as it had seemed.
It wasn't merely the fact that he had managed to destroy the divine being's physical form, no. It was the deity's momentary loss of composure that hinted at its vulnerability.
"…I shall make this arrogant step your last!" Agehachō-Yosei thundered.
Naruto's shield answered with its own defiance, thunderous roars across the area.
He blurred the distance between them, passing through the kami in the same step. Reducing it to nothing.
One time.
Two times.
Three times.
A bolt of rogue power slipped out of his grasp, violently tearing through the layers of barriers that had been specifically designed to redirect the flow of the lightning upward.
He struggled to find the right state of mind again.
All he had to do was to continue tearing it apart, until—
Naruto wasted no time, holding both swords in front of him, poised for the next clash—
He froze. Beneath the thunderous hum and the resplendent light, he could feel it — the very same tremor within his core, the quiver of instability rippling through his jutsu.
That was much too early.
A crackle of wayward energy, a flicker of weakening light.
The deity slowed down, too.
And then, there was a grotesque smile creeping onto its form as if it was privy to some cruel joke.
With a noise that echoed the shattering of the heavens, the electric barrier fragmented, shattering into a thousand brilliant shards of dissipating energy.
The battlefield was plunged into a sudden, eerie silence, the dazzling light of Naruto's jutsu extinguished.
Was it because of the kami's power…?
He dropped to one knee, blood trickling from his nose, an ominous sign of the strain his jutsu had imposed on his body.
The Lightning Repudiation faltered.
...this one, however, remained incomplete.
Agehachō-Yosei was laughing.
From the heavy air came the deity's laughter, wild, high and terrible.
And beyond restraint.
The kami laughed and laughed, as Naruto struggled to his feet.
The sound of divine mirth was a high cackle cackle that chilled to the bone; the god was lost in its amusement, manic, and filling the stillness with its ghastly echoes.
Naruto, his strength waning and his body bloodied, pushed against the ground, forcing himself upright.
Sweat streamed down his face, mingling with the blood that dripped from his nose. His brow was still set in grim determination.
He gathered his strength into something usable.
Then, as abruptly as it had started, the deity's laughter ceased.
"A valiant effort, mortal." The kami murmured, its voice threading through the air with a serpentine grace. Its words were soft, almost gentle, in stark contrast to its earlier merriment. "But did you truly think you could master such power? Such arrogance… such folly. I warned you. This is the realm of gods, far beyond the reach of your kind."
Naruto did not answer right away. The shinjutsu's failure had rattled him. At most, he could pull it off one more time, he thought. And if he did so…
"Well." He said, sluggishly. "I do feel honored. That you have to take this seriously."
"Hardly." The kami said, easily. If it had been worried just a moment ago, it did not show it anymore. Its body reformed entirely; what looked like an old man to Naruto. "I surmise you still hide a handful of tricks in your... arsenal."
"I do have one more trick." Naruto said in level tones. "I would rather not have to bring it out in the open, of course."
The kami laughed again.
Shinobi relied on honed instincts. And Naruto had had as much time as any of them did, when it came to honing them.
This time, Naruto's unease grew.
"Perhaps you may reveal all of them once I have imbued you with my celestial hues." Agehachō-Yosei said evenly. "For the moment, I cannot claim to genuinely be intrigued."
"And why is that?" The tension in Naruto's voice was palpable.
"Allow me to illustrate." The kami responded.
Its thick presence receded just enough for Naruto to see through the haze.
He staggered back.
'Fuck.'
"Well, isn't this interesting?" The kami's voice was a murmur, laden with a cruel sense of triumph. "It appears I've ensnared a wilted flower."
Caught within the maelstrom of blackness, Yoisen hung suspended in midair.
"I am sorry." She murmured. "The barriers…"
Her struggle was futile against the divine power, and she knew it as well as they did.
The amusement radiating from Agehachō-Yosei was almost palpable, casting an eerie glow over the tense standoff.
The kami then spoke again, its tone seeped in derision, carrying the weight of a sword.
"I will ask you one last question." Its spectral eyes flickered towards its prisoner. "And if your answer does not please me, perhaps we shall shift our attention to your child, to the cities high above, after all.
"So, Uzumaki Naruto, will you have a seat…?"