Belief
"Ino confirmed it. It's faith."
That's what Naruto told Yoisen, after she recovered from battling Fūjin-Yami and Raijin-Kaminari. "That is what the kami need to manifest."
"I see." Yoisen answered.
Her voice was an echo in the ethereal link between their minds. A resonating silence, filled with thoughts and reflections, lingered.
She sounded unsurprised.
And it left them in a bad position.
They were strong, all of them; their strength only helped the gods manifest. Worst of all, they were all believers, by then.
Yoisen nodded thoughtfully, as though she had read his thoughts. "That is my understanding of it as well."
A laugh, harsh and bitter, escaped Naruto, laden with the immense weight of their situation. He slumped forward, a grim resignation etched into his face.
"We're trapped then. There's no denying the kami's existence, not after witnessing their power."
They could not escape; the belief anchored them. And the kami could follow.
"So…" Naruto began, slowly.
"So?"
"Is that why some pursue me…?" Naruto's voice trailed, his eyes distant. "Because I can access other worlds, where there is no faith for them to use, where they might establish a presence?"
"Perhaps." Yoisen replied, her voice careful, her words weighed. "The Oath seems to restrict them. I suppose it limits their ability to manifest in most circumstances. And what they are… allowed to do."
"You disagree?" Naruto observed.
"I believe it is a partial answer." Yoisen admitted.
"What do you think…?"
Yoisen paused. "What is the nature of kami?" She asked.
Naruto echoed the question. "What's a kami…?"
He mulled it over.
His thoughts drifted to the countless encounters he'd had, the deities he'd come face to face with. From every minor godling, every blight, to the Great Ones.
Most of their nature was unknowable, it seemed. So he focused on what his very much human mind could understand.
They were elusive, hidden behind a facade of power and influence.
What defined them, beyond their awe-inspiring abilities? Was it the belief that fueled them? The devotion that granted them strength?
Were they divine entities born out of the faith and conviction of their followers?
And… he thought he understood.
"Ah." He said, closing his eyes.
Images and fragments of information Orochimaru had sent to him swirled in his mind.
A world where humanity was united under one god-like figure. A man who was no longer just a man.
Yoisen offered a mirthless smile.
"You've harnessed fragments of their powers, certainly." She said. "But that is not where the problem likely lies. By claiming this world, by wielding what is widely seen as godly power…" She paused. "Your own, that is…"
A silence hung in the air, heavy and foreboding.
"You have become the dominant spiritual force in this world." Yoisen's words were a quiet indictment. "And more than this… In others, as well."
A sigh escaped Naruto, long and weary. The pieces were coming together, forming a picture he really didn't care for.
And one he had suspected, too. He voiced it out:
"In other words, the kami believe I am trying to usurp divinity."
A label he had always dismissed as hyperbole, a mere jest, had taken on a dire significance. The kami's view of his so-called godhood was far from humorous.
Yoisen nodded. Naruto only had one question:
"Are they right…?"
Yoisen's smile was anything but amused as she answered.
STORMS AND CHANGE
Agehachō-Yosei's composure was gone entirely.
And the first thing it did was to begin to withdraw itself, in a slow-going effort to exit the physical plane.
The mortal was as good as dead, now. There was no reason for Agehachō-Yosei to risk its own existence, as well.
"You…" It let out, a hint of disbelieving fury in its voice. Fear, too. "You have called forth Susanoo-Arashi's name…?"
"I did." Uzumaki Naruto's voice was laced with dark resolve. "I'm afraid I do not have the strength to maintain its manifestation for long. But let's see what chaos it can inflict while it lasts, shall we?"
The kami was unamused.
"Do you not know what you've just done? It will rip this world asunder! Just as it will rend us. Susanoo-Arashi despises me, true — but it harbors equal contempt for your presumption, your mockery of divinity! And stealing the storms, too? Oh, you foolish mortal."
Naruto didn't bother answering.
"You would be fortunate if it—" Agehachō-Yosei began, but went for the question it truly wanted to ask. "How did you come to know its Name?!"
Naruto's response was a smile, furious and full of promise. Inside, worry gnawed at him, not for himself but for those he loved.
For one, in particular; his wife.
"We have our sources."
"Fool — You complete and utter fool!" Agehachō-Yosei's voice rose to a roar. "Do you really think you can command Susanoo-Arashi?"
Naruto's smile sharpened. "Tell me, is it foolishness if you get what you want?"
But he did know this was a risky solution. Him dying and becoming trapped for the rest of eternity — or any equally likely fate — was one thing.
The fate of everyone else was another. And there was a reason he had hesitated so much.
Hopefully, the barriers that Yoisen had raised, that the kami hadn't bothered to break would help with everything else.
The kami's anger turned to a low, dangerous hiss. "What you want...? Do you think Susanoo-Arashi will cease before obliterating everything? Do you think you can bargain with it?"
"No, I don't." Naruto's voice was firm, his eyes cold. "I never expected to."
The kami's fury was palpable, its form vibrating with rage. And it was still doing its best to leave the mortal plane.
Naruto's knowing smile told it that he had understood its fears.
"Why do you dread Susanoo so?" Naruto asked, his voice taunting. "Are you afraid it might resent your meddling in worldly affairs? Retrieving the Spear? The temples? Today?" He laughed, a sound as wild as the storm. "Perhaps you should hasten your escape."
Agehachō-Yosei's celestial visage twisted with fury. "You are toying with forces you don't understand!"
"And you do, I suppose…? Why not call your allies? Does vulnerability frighten you?" A short pause. "Will their presence change nothing, perhaps…?"
The kami wouldn't do it, Naruto knew it. They had been sent as a test, last time. Of his strength, perhaps.
Agehachō-Yosei laughed, and it was a shrill sound.
"Make no mistake. Susanoo-Arashi will be your ruin. And I won't be extinguished here." The threat came out as clipped words, low and angry. "You will regret this folly in but an instant."
"Regret? Aren't we allies, you, Susanoo, and I?" Naruto asked darkly. "Bound by a pact?"
"I do not care about what you believe you know and what you know not!" It shouted. "Susanoo-Arashi will do its best to annihilate us both!"
Naruto's laugh echoed, high, wild and free. "That's exactly the plan!"
Already, in the distance, a great sound resonated; slithering from the abyss.
A rumbling, an ethereal echo that seemed to resonate from the very corners of existence.
A low laugh rose.
It felt like an inhuman hand reaching out through the void, as if to touch them, but not yet managing.
Cold as a winter's night, the laughter went through the ether. With it, Naruto felt his hair standing on end.
It was like the prelude to a grim symphony.
From the depths far beyond, there was a stir.
And there it was, the god of storms, a being so terrible and awe-inspiring that its mere presence was enough to silence a kami's laughter.
YOUR TRIFLING MORTAL GAMES ARE BENEATH MY INTEREST, HUMAN.
…
The voice of Susanoo-Arashi thundered, a deep echo from ancient times, imbued with the wrath of eons and a cold detachment that chilled the bone.
It was the embodiment of chaos and change.
In a different way than Agehachō-Yosei was.
Its power was unyielding, as fierce as the roaring tempests it commanded, as unpredictable as the storms that were its domain.
It was not just a god; it was a force of nature, a tempestuous and violent maelstrom that devoured all in its path.
And there was no hesitation in the kami, never had been.
It understood the only reason it had been called forth. Naruto did not bother answering. Nor did he bother talking to it at all.
He waited, silent, anticipating an uncertain sign.
Agehachō-Yosei too waited, fearing yet knowing what might come.
The divine edict came.
I SHALL GRANT YOUR DESIRE. YOU BOTH SHALL DIE BY MY BLADE.
The words were a storm, and invisible bounds seemed to anchor both Naruto and the butterfly god to Earth — or to the physical world, perhaps.
Agehachō-Yosei's eyes opened wide with fear, with fury, and it promptly forgot about not trying to reason with the Other.
"You have no right to condemn me!" Agehachō-Yosei hissed. "We are but forces of change! You, better than anyone should know what—"
The storm god's metaphorical eyes bore only disdain as it thundered.
YOUR ARROGANCE GROWS EVER LARGER. TO CLAIM A SHARE IN THE TITLE OF THE SOVEREIGN OF CHANGE IS A DIVINE INSULT.
"An insult to you?!" Agehachō-Yosei raged. "Is that all it is?! Answer me, Susanoo-Arashi!"
TO I, WHO COMMAND THE STORMS, WHO HERALD TRANSFORMATION IN EVERY GUST AND TEMPEST.
"I am not tethered to your caprice!" Agehachō-Yosei countered, with a veneer of coldness. Trying to regain its composure. "See reason. Summoning our kin here is not reason enough, and you know it—"
THE TRANSGRESSION DOESN'T END THERE.
"Open your eyes!"
YOU SOUGHT TO EXTINGUISH THE SANCTUARIES OF OTHER KAMI. AN AFFRONT NOT ONLY TO THEM, BUT TO THE BALANCE WE STRIVE TO MAINTAIN.
"That wasn't my doing!"
AND YET, WHEN THE PEOPLE PRAY TO THE STORMS, IT IS NOT MY DOMAIN THAT GROWS FROM IT. A RUSE WHICH HAS YOUR STINK ALL OVER IT.
"That wasn't my doing!" Agehachō-Yosei retorted, its simmering fury piercing through its facade of reason once more.
Naruto knew it all too well.
Agehachō-Yosei had not been the one to slowly get rid of the other temples, after all.
All of them were gone, aside from the most ancient, most remote of them all.
Control the conditions, the setting.
A trap, meant for the kami whose nature was most suitable. One which had turned out to be much more powerful than expected.
But the near-invulnerability seemingly came with shortcomings, when it came to seeing the whole picture.
And as for the storms… Naruto repressed a cold smile.
I DECREE YOU HAVE THUS BREACHED OUR ANCIENT PACT, ATTEMPTING TO DOMINATE THIS WORLD IN ITS ENTIRETY.
"The Oath?!" Agehachō-Yosei roared. "You would uphold the archaic edict that has bound us in stagnation? You merely care about your own interests!"
Naruto laughed.
Susanoo-Arashi said no more.
SUCH INSOLENCE DEMANDS RETRIBUTION, DOES IT NOT?
The words were a final edict.
Power of a magnitude Naruto had never had the horror to feel in person locked them both in place entirely.
A judgment came from the storm, immutable and relentless.
…
One moment there was nothing at all; the next the kami was bringing forth what it always wrought.
Doom.
So fell its arm.
The fall of Susanoo-Arashi's colossal blade was a cataclysm in slow motion, an apocalypse unfurling in real-time.
The sword itself, forged from purest impossibility, was an iron-clad requiem etched in the language of destruction.
Its edges, whispering the final verse of every tale it touched.
As it descended, it cleaved through the air with such weight that it seemed to distort the very essence of reality, bending light and shadow into a surreal tableau.
Colors bled into each other in a frantic dance of chromatic discord, stroked with the cold steel gray of the sword, painting the frenetic canvas of doom.
Vibrant reds tangled with spectral blues, pristine whites merged with abyssal blacks, all jostling and intermingling, creating a swirling kaleidoscope of fear.
Sounds, too, blurred into an eerie symphony.
Then came Agehachō-Yosei's roar.
Its domain became a solid barrier; its only goal, to protect itself, every aspect of it.
Including Naruto, who was ensnared in it. The kami still had an use for him, and was not about to let Susanoo-Arashi destroy its tool.
Naruto roared, too.
He cloaked himself in power. The jutsu he had created for this purpose crackled around him. If he failed, the battlefield would be left to Orochimaru.
If there even was anything left to fight for.
Agehachō-Yosei's form rippled, changed into an in-between form, an indescribable creature with what could be perceived as great mighty wings.
The black void, its most dangerous power, poured out of the kami in amounts unseen, like ruptured ink, threatening to engulf everything.
Naruto was bloodied and spent, but not yet defeated.
His body ached with every beat of his heart, each breath he drew tasted of iron, but he was undeterred.
Time slowed down as the impossibility outlining the sky veered toward them.
Naruto reached for the chakra still pulsing within his veins; the dregs of the Jūbi's, his own.
He seized the dwindling energy and commanded it, forcing it to heed his will despite the rattling in his skull, the blood flowing down his face, the feeling that he was dead already.
The air around him began to vibrate, the telltale spark of his jutsu prickling at his skin.
"Shinjutsu. Lightning Repudiation." He uttered the words forcefully, hoping they wouldn't be his last.
The irony would not be lost on him, however.
Lightning crackled back to life around him, the radiant maelstrom of energy roaring with defiance, spinning higher and higher, until the very air became superheated again.
Close to him only, a second layer of protection, under Agehachō-Yosei's stifling, encroaching defense.
And Naruto waited for the sword to reach them.
The rustle of the wind became the rasp of metal, the grinding of stone; the usual melodies of nature were drowned by a cacophonous dirge that resonated with the sword's fatal descent.
It was a chorus of calamity, every note pulsing with the terrible heartbeat of the falling blade.
The crash of thunder shared a beat with the pounding of his heart, the shrieking of metal echoed the wail of the other kami, and the solemn sigh of the doomed world reverberated with the sword's promise of ruin.
This was the fall of Susanoo-Arashi's dreadful blade, a sensory maelstrom that swirled colors and sounds into a terrible, beautiful portrait of chaos and destruction.
Uzumaki Naruto waited.
The blade collided.
With a fury transcending mere violence, the blow struck, resonating like the end of days.
The earth broke under their feet.
In the far distance, the seas were split in two. High above, so were the clouds.
He felt much as they did.
Naruto waited, a sentinel in the storm.
Agehachō-Yosei, kami of change, began to fragment under the brutal assault, its ethereal form fraying like a delicate fabric meeting a serrated edge. It summoned more of the dark power, pouring all it had into it. Desperation surged within it, manifesting in black, pooling power.
Naruto too fell prey to the onslaught. The impact was a raging tempest, gnawing at the essence of his being.
It was not something that he thought he could come back from. The dread that pulsed within him seemed to say so.
And more worrying still, the ground under them began to unravel as well, deeper and deeper, until they were floating above a growing hole that had no intention of stopping. A bottomless abyss.
It felt heavy, stifling. As though the planet itself was breathing its last.
The sword's unyielding pressure bore down, and it grew clear that neither Naruto nor Agehachō-Yosei would long withstand its might.
The kami of change only then noticed what the mortal was doing.
Even now, this miserable human was trying to destroy Agehachō-Yosei.
Uzumaki Naruto had begun tearing apart its domain from the inside, with seemingly no regard for his own safety.
And combined with the pressure from outside, the effort was a valiant one.
Agehachō-Yosei thought fast.
Its survival eclipsed all else: even what this puppet might offer paled in comparison. If the foolish mongrel wished to die and be trapped within Susanoo-Arashi, so be it.
Cursing both Susanoo-Arashi and Uzumaki Naruto, the kami withdrew its protective shield from around the mortal.
To Naruto, the tearing wave of power, the sword's destructive energy truly met his chakra then.
Naruto, bereft of protection, faced the sword's cataclysmic energy head-on.
He was amid chaos, his very soul fragmenting, his existence dimming like the last ember of a dying fire.
Everything he had, he poured into his jutsu, and then some. His voice was spent, his vision lost to fantastical hues, his hearing drowned in a symphony of destruction.
Against insurmountable odds, in the heart of this storm, in this moment right before oblivion, with an incomplete jutsu as his only defense...
Uzumaki Naruto held on.
He needed only one instant. One fleeting, pivotal moment that would shape his fate, as well as the world's.
He plunged inward, searching for the bond.
She was alive; he sensed it, as had Hanabi. Toru, too, harbored a knowing inkling, a premonition he dared not voice. Naruto agreed: death would have resonated in his very being, a truth validated by Yoisen's demise.
No matter where.
So Naruto did what he did best.
He wagered his soul in this crucial moment, laying it bare on fate's unpredictable table, fully aware of what failure meant.
Uzumaki Naruto waited.
Time seemed to dilate as Agehachō-Yosei unraveled, Naruto resonating with its decay.
Close.
The fabric of this universe seemed to tense, as if the cosmos itself held its breath in anticipation.
Susanoo-Arashi's tendrils of power entwined with Agehachō-Yosei's, with Naruto's.
Closer.
The same way Susanoo grasped at him, Naruto grasped back.
Human and divine; joined for the most ephemeral of instants.
Within Naruto, the bond he had sought began to thrum.
The spectral thread binding him to the kami's core trembled, a tremor on the edge of his perception… and undeniably present.
Closer.
The resonance grew louder, more insistent.
A hum that filled Naruto's being, echoing through his soul.
This was it.
The moment finally came; through the oldest of his own bonds, Naruto called.
Within the heart of Susanoo-Arashi, that colossal tempest of wrath, a spark ignited.
It was a familiar glow, a beacon of red and green, flaring brightly in answer to Naruto's desperate call.
It was a call that forced Susanoo to divide its attention, to look inward, hastening the end of its terrible manifestation.
A powerful summons that echoed not just a plea, but the kami's True Name.
A Call, coming from within the kami.
As he teetered on the brink of annihilation, Naruto clung to this glimmer of hope. It was a chance, a slender thread of survival he refused to let slip away.
The Name rang forth again, the red and green echoing within Susanoo's tempestuous realm. It resounded through it, its echo seeping into every corner, every crack of the deity's tempestuous domain.
Sakura had heard him.
Time itself seemed to stutter, the deity's essence freezing, Naruto's engulfing torment withdrawing, if by the smallest possible measure. His voice cleaved through the storm, a thunderous decree:
"Return to where you came from!"
He wasted the last reserves of Jūbi chakra, which had allowed for Susanoo-Arashi's manifestation, in a dazzling radiance. In doing so, he restored some of his own waning chakra.
The tether connecting them snapped.
And slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, Susanoo began to fade.
The howling winds turned into whispered breeze, the furious lightning, into sparks. The massive form of the deity, formidable and terrifying, began to fragment, dissolving into the very elements it was made of.
The air surrounding Susanoo shimmered. Flecks of divine energy began to lift from its surface, scattering into the wind.
The once terrifying visage softened, the deity's monstrous features blurring as if viewed through a veil of mist.
It felt like sun after rain; a glimmer of hope.
In the middle of the devastation, at the apex of its onslaught against its divine sibling, Susanoo-Arashi began to truly evaporate.
The storm receded.
And so did its awe-striking blade, like the lingering specter of a nightmare dissolving in the face of dawn.
It was hard to tell which one was more surprised; Man or kami.
But it was real. Susanoo-Arashi, the god of storms and change, was vanishing; slowly at first, then quickly.
And then, just as abruptly as a lightning strike, it was gone entirely.
What followed was a silence in parts: a resounding stillness that took over the previous cacophony of battle. The storm had retreated into the distance, its final growls echoing in the quietness.
It had passed, leaving behind only the remnants of its fury and the brittle chance of continued survival.
Naruto, drenched in sweat, stared into the void.
His head felt full of thunder; the colors, painfully bright. The Lightning Repudiation failed him at last… moments after the Jūbi chakra was expended entirely.
(The last part, he barely noticed.)
Already, the inhuman energy was starting to regenerate.
He felt himself on the precipice of collapse, drawing on reserves of energy that his human form was never meant to access.
There was something in his eyes, stinging them. Sweat, perhaps. Blood, perhaps.
Using the Shinjutsu wasn't merely exhausting. It was a brutal assault on the body itself.
Every time Naruto drew on the combined powers of his full chakra as well as the Jūbi's to summon the god-like technique, he was pushing his physical form past its natural limits.
His body heat was spiking as his system struggled to cope with the energy overload, and he felt feverish.
His veins were bulging, pulsing visibly beneath his skin as his body forced the last of the lightning energy away from itself.
The internal burns he had been warned about were something he couldn't afford to think about now, and neither was the temporary paralysis of his nerves.
Nor the cramps in his arms and legs, the erratic pounding of his heart; racing one moment and threatening to still the next.
He was dizzy, disorientated. Exhausted, screaming for urgent rest. Which was from his technique, which was from Susanoo, he did not know.
He felt like a dead man walking.
But not yet done.
His chakra found its rhythm again.
Gently, almost imperceptibly, his body began to breathe again, the heartbeat of life resuming its pulse beneath his ravaged body.
A glimmer of hope clung to his heart like dew on morning grass, ripe with possibility.
They had a chance, if he could only—
The fabric of existence tore itself asunder again.
Susanoo-Arashi emerged.
Reality broke apart, and Naruto's heart seemed to stop for good. He could not even move. Agehachō-Yosei, weakened as it was, could not muster the blackness. It faltered.
The kami had returned. In the brief interval of its earlier presence, Susanoo-Arashi had channeled its cosmic energy. Waiting for this very moment.
That was it.
He had doomed them all.
A sword materialized out of the void, a spectral armament of unfathomable scale.
It hung in the air, poised with a power that could fracture cosmos.
With a purpose of devastation, it hurtled earthward.
It cut through reality with a scream that Naruto knew would be the last thing he would ever hear.
Another roar.
One that Naruto did not understand was his own.
Chakra coalesced from deep within, roaring just as angrily as the sword did. If he was to die for good, he would die fighting.
How was he even moving…?
In that singular moment, time seemed to slow, each tick of the great wheel stretched into an agonizing eternity.
The divine blade surged forward with unrelenting force, its gleaming edge, radiant with celestial energy—
And then it faltered.
It took Naruto a moment to even understand it had happened at all.
Just as the sword was about to reach its mark, it vanished into the nothingness from whence it came, leaving behind only traces of shimmering light.
The kami's forceful manifestation came to an end one single heartbeat too early.
Susanoo-Arashi did not complete the strike.
Agehachō-Yosei watched, nearly frozen.
In the quiet aftermath, the booming laughter of Susanoo-Arashi echoed across the void.
Its voice, heavy with scorn, thundered with a fury as vast as the sea.
DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF INTO THINKING THIS IS THE END, LITTLE MAN! It bellowed. HOLD YOUR GROUND. I WILL RETURN FOR YOU, IN DUE TIME.
The deity began to fade away once more, this time for good..
Naruto's fear stubbornly refused to follow suit.
The deity's laughter lingered, a lingering thunderclap, a promise.
SAVOR YOUR REMAINING DAYS, UZUMAKI NARUTO!
And with that, Susanoo-Arashi disappeared.
With labored breath and feeling nearly broken, Naruto dragged himself to his feet.
He resolved himself to never summon the kami again.
That was only the first step. He still had a task to fulfill.
He managed to stand up and began walking, unsteady at first, then with more confidence. He brought a hand to his chest, using his rudimentary healing skills to force himself into a workable state. Mending the most vital parts of his being: his lungs, his heart, his brain.
His breaths were ragged and each step he took felt like an eternity.
His body was covered in fresh blood, bruises and cuts but he pushed forward, the resolve in his eyes burning brighter than any physical pain.
His usual fighting style was out, this much was clear. His greatest strength was gone… and hopefully, so was the kami's.
Uzumaki Naruto walked toward the weakened god.
Now came the time of reckoning.
Agehachō-Yosei seemed to wake from a long sleep, blearily at first.
"Heed my words." Uzumaki Naruto said, his voice ringing eerily clear in the silent abyss. His throat felt full or glass. "…I seek a pact with you, Agehachō-Yosei, kami of change."
As he said the words, he carved into his skin. For the last time. Something crude, unrefined.
Mere provocation, appealing to the weakness each kami he had met seemed to share: their pride.
Dark eyes widened in fury.
"A new pact." Naruto continued, scathingly. "One that I'm afraid I won't let you refuse."
He continued to walk toward the kami. Right now, he was all that stood between victory and defeat, and he would have to be enough.
"This time, however…" Naruto said, grimly. "…I'm afraid it is going to be a very one-sided agreement."
…
"Human."
The single word held loathing the likes of which Naruto had never heard before. Cosmic disdain, aimed at the most wretched of mortals, that's what it was.
The hatred dripping from that single word seemed to linger.
Naruto didn't falter; he continued to walk.
Running was impossible, and the Shinjutsu, that secret art, was beyond his reach, even more so than normal. Every fiber in his being screamed at him to stop, to rest, but he ignored it all. His focus was entirely on the kami.
Agehachō-Yosei moved, its power manifesting around itself slowly—
Human chakra spiked. Lightning, drawn from the heavy atmosphere, the heat in the air.
The sky above them broke open and a bolt of lightning struck Agehachō-Yosei, tearing through its shadowy form.
A demonic scream echoed through the air as the kami's form started disintegrating.
Almost instantly, the wisps started to coalesce again, reassembling the kami's form piece by piece.
The dark wave summoned by Agehachō-Yosei gathered, even slower, its strength waned from the battle's fury.
Perhaps it had burned out its power by using so much of it for defense; perhaps it just wasn't strong enough now. Perhaps Susanoo-Arashi had simply destroyed something the kami needed.
Or perhaps he himself had done so from the inside, before the kami withdrew its protection around him. The reason mattered little to Naruto.
"Where is your ability now, godling?"
A white arc of lightning crashed through the butterflies, and it split the blackness.
Naruto smiled darkly. "I thought so."
Time was of the essence, and he knew the kami might recover given the opportunity.
The kami's form stilled at Naruto's words, and its voice burst forth in a monstrous roar, full of disbelief and anger. "You wretch. Do you believe—"
"You're weak!" Naruto roared back. His eyes were ablaze with fury. "Susanoo's attack has left you nothing but a husk. Weak enough for me to take you on!"
His words hung heavy in the air.
Still, a kami would not be so easily defeated.
"You speak with conviction." The kami said, its voice dripping with a deceitful sweetness. "But you are wrong."
Even as it spoke, Agehachō-Yosei began to ripple.
"Even in this current state…" Agehachō-Yosei continued. "My might is boundless, my power, enough to bring your world to its knees. To vanquish me, a timeless entity, is an impossibility YOU HAVE YET TO COMPREHEND."
Agehachō-Yosei's form thrashed and pulsated, a whirlpool of darkness coalescing and reforming with intense, undying rage.
With every second, the shadowy figure grew larger, more monstrous. The kami's rage-fueled power caused the ground to quake, the air to pulse with raw energy.
Naruto could feel it, this tremendous pressure weighing him down. He staggered, and his knees nearly buckled under the kami's oppressive power.
No more Jūbi chakra.
He refused to be swayed. He steeled his gaze, clenched his fists, and bore the pressure.
Agehachō-Yosei roared, an indomitable sound that reverberated through the air, filled with both fury and a desperate sort of madness.
Naruto felt the shockwave hit him, but he planted his feet firmly, refusing to be moved.
The strain was clear on his face, the veins on his neck popping, sweat dripping down his forehead. But his gaze never wavered from the kami.
Great wings spread.
It was a beautiful sight amidst the chaos, this aurora that danced against the darkened sky.
And it was incomplete. The kami was still trying to reach for its full power, and now… something would have to give for it to reach further.
It reflected in Naruto's eyes as he reached out with his hand. His voice, though strained, rang out clear and strong.
Electricity and warmth melded in the sky, a display of raw, unbridled power.
"You've just made yourself a bigger target." Naruto said softly.
The creature's luminescent wings were a riot of iridescent hues, a living spectacle that bore an almost hypnotic contrast to the storm's unruly symphony.
The dark heavens above betrayed no admiration for them.
If they felt anything at all, it was closer to contempt.
They split apart as a colossal bolt of lightning, a titan's spear thrown with merciless precision, came crashing down.
Then more. Through the fragile barrier, a merciless assault that chipped away at Agehachō-Yosei's power, bolt by bolt.
The world lit up in a flash, an electric blue that stole away the night, cast the world in stark reliefs.
It was as terrible, as magnificent of a sight as the kami itself, the raw power of thunder honed to a singular devastating point.
The lightning struck the creature in a blinding explosion of light and energy.
Its wings flared brilliantly under the impact. The echo of the thunderclap shook the very earth.
"I told you before," Naruto's voice rang, each syllable chiseled in stone. "We prepared for you. Everything you heard from us…" As if the heavens resonated with his words, thunder boomed. "We let you hear." Lightning tore the sky asunder, painting a stark image of Naruto's unyielding face. "The temples that were dedicated to you, we left alone until the latest possible moment."
The kami's expression was a tempest of emotion, wild and unrestrained. In it, Naruto read such a powerful loathing that he felt nearly jubilant.
There was no preventing belief in the kami; forbidding it would only make it grow. Thus, they left a door ajar, a controlled pathway to the kami's inevitable arrival.
And he had nearly discarded the entire plan after Fūjin-Yami and Raijin-Kaminari's arrivals. The Spear had been entirely an entirely unpredictable event.
Too dangerous, he had thought. Impossible.
Right now, it seemed possible.
"Could I really explain to them all the intricacies of belief? Thousands, millions of them…?" Naruto asked, and then shook his head. "Unlikely. All I could hope for was their faith."
A pause. A step forward, determination in his stride. He smiled.
"In me, that is."
His foot moved forward, pressing into the ground as he shifted his weight.
"We were well aware of dear Susanoo-Arashi's mercurial temperament." Naruto said, voice sharpening. "Its wrath claimed a kami for a transgression less severe."
Agehachō-Yosei was silent.
Naruto's laughter was hollow, a mockery of amusement. "Even the slightest provocation… something as negligible as sharing the title of the god of change, was more than it could stomach."
His foot found the ground again, moving him one step closer.
"Susanoo wronged us." Naruto's voice hardened, each word laced with growing fury. "That bastard ripped away someone I hold dear."
A single step echoed, resonating in the air.
"So I used it back."
"YOU RUN YOUR MOUTH TOO MUCH, YOU WRETCH."
Agehachō-Yosei lunged, shadows and tendrils of butterflies. Naruto blurred away, on weary legs, his weariness hidden away.
The kami missed him.
"…And still, I hesitated." Naruto growled. The words were biting, and their heat was directed at himself. "And Yoisen—"
No. This comes first.
"Given the formidable strength of that beast…" Naruto began anew, ice in his voice. "The destruction it could wreak—"
His blade met the incoming wave of butterflies, the reverberation thundering in his chest.
"Weak." Naruto hissed. "Our last encounter…" He said, his voice weaving through the chaos. "You mentioned we had much to discuss."
"DIE, THEN."
Lightning cracked across the sky, its harsh illumination casting monstrous shadows of Agehachō-Yosei as it roared its wrath.
Before it could move, thunder struck.
Naruto's voice softened. "There is the issue. I have no interest in hearing any of it."
As his words echoed in the eerie place, lightning streaked across the sky, once, twice, and then a third time.
Then again.
And again.
"Your words hold no value to me." Naruto's laughter rang out, a harrowing melody at the precipice of madness and fury. "Though I might lend an ear to your immortal soul."
A torrent of cosmic energy surged, vibrating in harmony with Naruto's own power. When it spoke, the kami's words dripped with furious condescension.
"THESE ARE YOUR LAST, FLEETING MOMENTS OF UNBRIDLED ARROGANCE." It said. "I WILL EMERGE, REVITALIZED, SOON."
Naruto knew it all too well.
The kami was weak now, and even then, it took all he had to just keep it down.
"Do it, then!" He roared. "Summon them. Call them all — whoever you think might listen! Whoever you are not afraid will devour you in turn! Call their Name!"
The kami still wouldn't.
The reason why, he did not even bother voicing: can't you kill one measly human on your own, now?
It worked. Perhaps Kakashi would be proud of this, at least, wherever he was now.
"I SHALL TAKE PROFOUND DELIGHT IN UNRAVELING YOUR EXISTENCE, LAYER BY LAYER."
It was a promise.
Naruto scoffed. "That's nothing you haven't said before."
"KNOW THAT YOUR DEMISE IS AS INEVITABLE AS THE SETTING SUN." The kami said, in jubilant glee. "AND THOSE DEAR TO YOUR HEART SHALL SHARE IN YOUR FATE. PLEAD FOR MY BENEVOLENCE, AND IN MERCY, I MAY—"
Lightning cut the words short.
"…Empty words." Naruto murmured, his voice no louder than a sigh. "You claimed to be the kami of change, didn't you…?"
Only silence answered him.
He snarled, a primal sound.
"Kneel to me, godling. Prepare to witness a change unlike any other!"
In its rage, Agehachō-Yosei further hastened its transformation into its celestial form.
And then, an enormous, mesmerizing butterfly of starlight and cosmic energy.
The light shimmered off its wings, painting the surrounding void in hues of silvery-blue.
Something gave. Partially.
It was not enough. High up in the sky, along with the familiar dark light that Naruto could not help but notice, there was what looked like the tiniest ember of chakra, reaching through. Then the dark light was snuffed out.
Each flutter of the great mighty wings sent waves of starlight cascading—
"Not yet."
Lightning struck once more, Naruto channeling the last vestiges of his strength.
The flash was blinding, a lance of pure white energy that cracked through the air. It illuminated Naruto's face for an instant, and there was nothing to be seen there but pure resolve.
The butterfly, caught amidst the onslaught, wavered, flickering between different forms, myriad faces materializing and fading along its luminescent wings.
"Not enough. You are weak. And…"
And thunder struck again. Naruto drew closer, unsure how many times more he could pull these attacks off. He kept the facade up.
"…You are mine, too."
In response, Agehachō-Yosei snarled.
"IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WISH TO SEE SO DESPERATELY, I SHALL OFFER IT TO YOU!"
Its strength rose, and something gave entirely.
Agehachō-Yosei's grip upon the domain that held its very own realm forced upon the world weakened.
The kami chose to forgo its defense.
Agehachō-Yosei attacked, a swarm of corpse-like butterflies hurtling forward.
There was a true flash of dark light, this time. Further away, this time, outside of where Agehachō-Yosei's barrier was strongest.
A sword flew out of nowhere; breaking through the near opaque wall the kami imposed upon reality.
It then slammed against the kami's core of power directly, and quickly was reduced to nothing. As it crumbled away, it released a billowing plume of fire.
The kami paused. Something about the plume caught its attention. Agehachō-Yosei frowned as it shook it off. An illusion…?
It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but the wretch in front of him — there were cracks spreading from where the weapon had come through—
Then, a shout.
"Exit night…! Enter light!"
…
A battle-worn man barreled out of the hole in reality at full speed, in a crouch jump.
His hands were together in a completed seal sequence.
In a flash of searing, incandescent heat, teal light exploded around him.
"Uchiha Clan Hidden Susanoo Art: Heavenly Hound Blaze!"
Only Naruto's sharp eyes allowed him to see the full transformation, as it was nearly instantaneous.
From nothing to ribcage to sinew to muscle to skin to armor to wings to a massive, howling hound's maws that didn't look like they belonged in heaven at all.
They slammed shut around the gargantuan butterfly.
When the maws started hissing, fading away because of the kami's power, more of them appeared around the first pair. Then the second…
The heat inside them was rising to impossible levels, a true furnace.
"My time to shine, princess." Uchiha Toru called out to Naruto, and confirmed Yoisen's absence, which he had felt an echo of, and had not believed. His face closed off entirely, and his eyes were hard. "…Go and get your beauty sleep. We'll handle the rest."
Naruto breathed a bit easier.
He was at the end of his rope. And the kami realized it, even as it was trapped. It channeled its power, and a deadly lance slithered out of the rocky shadows behind Naruto, slowly.
In his state, he didn't notice it right away. Sweat pearled down his forehead, and the singing exhaustion was truly catching up to him. When the salty, stinging water fell into his eyes, he closed his eyes for a short instant—
The lance sprung toward him.
Now, he noticed.
But he wasn't worried.
Another flash of dark light, closer to him this time.
Right after, came the deadly winds, and blades of lilac light that cut through the weakened attack.
Footsteps, right next to him.
"I never get it with him." Uzumaki Hanabi said. "Is it supposed to be about a dog named Blaze… or is it some sacred figure he's borrowing…?"
Toru likely didn't have a good answer, either. Naruto, on one knee, smiled up at his wife. She smiled back, and stayed near him as another portal opened, high up, above the kami.
Uchiha Sasuke dropped out of it, and a pink monstrosity, vaguely reminiscent of Shukaku, shaped itself around him. Falling upon the kami with four fiery blades of incandescent white.
Ethereal snakes winked into existence, as if standing guard around Naruto, and the most dangerous of the Orochimaru, the child-like one, appeared near Hanabi and he in person, with nothing but a tight expression.
Hanabi took it as a sign that her husband was in good hands, now. Power rose around her, cloying and indomitable.
There was fury in the kami's eyes, this much was clear. Even as the twin Heavenly Susanoo did their best to slam it into the floor, to burn it to a crisp — or to try and tear it apart, apparently.
The floor shook with the strength of their collisions. It was a show of ungodly force, and the air itself seemed to buckle under the joined pressure.
Naruto thought he could hear Toru's furious laughter, Sasuke's growls, even from here. Or he knew them well enough, at least.
When Hanabi threw herself in, moving with the two with the ease of someone who had fought alongside them for years, it was the sky's turn to fracture into a canvas of searing light and monstrous shadows.
A single collision was a cataclysm, a force of nature unto itself, sending seismic waves that would make mountains crumble and oceans boil.
Naruto felt more tired than ever before. Had he truly fought this thing, as well…? It seemed as though this had happened weeks ago.
The blasts of chakra, flying free, were an apocalyptic hail that Orochimaru shielded him from with unerring precision; incandescent storms that scorched the earth and set the heavens aflame.
Like comets crashing, a thunderous detonation that rattled the soul and left a ringing echo that reverberated through the bones.
And then… more flashes of dark light.
Naruto smiled at the newcomers, and a hand pressed against his shoulder blades softly. Healing him.
The butterflies rose again, more and more frantically.
Or they tried to, rather.
Karin's other hand rose. A myriad of chains burst out from seemingly every direction, slowing the kami down. In its weakened state, its powers barely managed to corrode their golden gleam. More and more appeared to replace the broken ones, too.
Lilac blades of power cut through the swarms of butterflies again as Hanabi passed by, looping through heaven and earth in circles like a comet.
The Heavenly Susanoo Dog disappeared, and when the kami threw itself forward, the teal spectral guardian reappeared in front of the god in a blink. Numerous great arms interposed themselves in between its form and Uzumaki Naruto. Great plumes of white fire erupted from the Susanoo's shoulders like a mantle as it strained and its arms crumbled.
"MORE OF YOUR NUMBERS, THEN?"
And another red chakra guardian held on to the kami, weaponless. Naruto noticed it and winced slightly.
More flames rose to encircle the entire area; blue, purple and white. Yugito, Matatabi… Itachi and Sasuke's handiwork.
…Shisui's, too, apparently.
"THE STRONGEST OF YOUR LOT DID NOT SUFFICE."
The bursts of shadowy light faded away, and where there had only been one, now were ten; human figures, standing in a circle around the fallen kami.
And ten stakes fell from high above, slamming down into the deep earth.
"Perhaps on his own, he would not manage." A voice said from behind him.
Naruto's gaze swiveled to meet Ino's. Their eyes locked, and amidst the turmoil, a weary smile found its way onto his face. She wordlessly checked up on him, his state of weariness, but he simply shook his head. Later.
Ino drew a deep, steadying breath, her eyes locked onto the kami's swelling body.
"Together, however, we should be just fine." She finished.
The kami did not care for her tone.
For a moment, the kami thought something truly felt off. Agehachō-Yosei refused to accept the traitorous feeling, of course. The humans were just that, humans.
Its anger grew.
And so did its form, coalescing and shimmering, ever larger.
Casting shadows over mountains, rivers, and vast stretches of land.
The horizon darkened as it swelled to cosmic proportions, with its silhouette casting an impenetrable shade upon the Earth. Stars were eclipsed by its grandeur, and the moon seemed but a mere speck in the face of its dominion.
From below, the ten humans watched as the butterfly god swelled to an incomprehensible scale, far beyond the clouds. The honored Agehachō-Yosei, rising to its full size.
Its wings eclipsed the sun.
And the humans in space watched the same terrible spectacle: the transient shadow upon the land below. It grew and grew, with no end in sight.
And then chakra, soaring.
Layers upon layers of it; coalescing around the ten humans. It climbed upwards, taking on various hues: azure like a cloudless sky, crimson reminiscent of the setting sun, verdant as the untouched forest, golden like the dunes under the midday sun…
It danced and intertwined, each distinct color merging effortlessly into the next, as though a rainbow born from their collective will.
Golden chains rattled, wrapped around them in concentric circles. Great barriers rose, as close together as they could possibly be; seals and glyphs under them.
Susanoo began to take form. Several of them, in fact.
The mighty entity seemed to ascend from one chakra and rest atop another, growing in stature and power with each iteration. With every fold and swirl of chakra, they blended seamlessly, like a master painter's brush stroke.
"DO YOU BELIEVE THIS WILL BE ENOUGH?"
Perhaps the kami had somehow seen Uzumaki Naruto's mocking smile. Perhaps it caught Orochimaru's command, transmitted from down below.
Perhaps its fury simply had grown too much, by this point.
"COME CLOSER AND BE DEVOURED!" Agehachō-Yosei roared. "I AM A DEITY. MORE OF YOUR PITIFUL KIND—"
Uzumaki Naruto simply pointed at the sky in answer. It meant to say one simple thing. To remind the kami that it wasn't only facing them.
"Look up."
The kami halted.
Without warning, a blinding bolt of cerulean light tore through the sky, piercing the engorged deity. The atmosphere vibrated with a thunderous energy, the sheer power of the bolt causing the very fabric of reality to ripple.
The Celestial Strike brought the kami back down to Earth.
Struck by this cosmic intervention, Agehachō-Yosei's immense form began to disintegrate as it was carried down, its colossal shadow fading as it shrunk back to its original, smaller form.
The barriers that the humans had erected, the intricate seals and glyphs shimmering with age-old power, stood firm.
As the Celestial Strike descended, it didn't merely approach the barriers — it crashed against them with the wrath of the heavens.
It met the first barrier, causing it to resonate with fierce energy. The protective seals pulsed, their forms fluctuating wildly, desperate to hold their ground against the onslaught. The air grew thick with tension, electric with the collision of two formidable powers.
The first layers broke apart.
With each layer the bolt penetrated, there was a cacophonous symphony. The barriers flickered and wavered, each pulse threatening to be its last. Vibrant arcs of energy, beautiful and terrifying in equal measure, cascaded around, painting the skies with brilliant colors.
A Susanoo broke apart.
Then a second.
And the layers were shaved down, nearly to the last.
And yet… although trembling and nearly translucent from the strain, the last few layers miraculously held.
They held.
The fragmented crater around the humans was now partially glassed.
The skies, once a clear azure, were tumultuous, painted with swirls of angry reds, somber purples, and haunting grays. Cloud formations twisted into bizarre shapes, contorting as if in agony.
Lightning bolts, tinged with an otherworldly hue, streaked across the sky, not in response to natural forces, but seemingly in tandem with the emotional pulse of the land. This… was not good.
"I would suggest not doing that." Orochimaru said softly.
"HUMANS!" The kami's voice roared, a mixture of fury and disbelief as it reformed upon the land, once again.
It didn't swell to its full size, this time.
The humans walked toward it cautiously as it reformed. There was one question running through their minds: was it weak enough yet?
Had all this been enough?
Darkness rose… and was either crushed under the powerful heel of a Susanoo, or reduced to nothing.
They continued to walk, and colorful chakra grew around them, like the brightest of candles.
"Now…" Naruto said softly. "I believe your two underlings relayed the message already."
Agehachō-Yosei snarled. It did remember, however.
There was no more reason to stall anymore. The human's chakra mingled together, into one massive Susanoo of swirling colors, shaped by Toru.
With a swift, purposeful motion, Ino clasped her hands together, asserting control over the situation. She guided the Human Path's ability.
Nine more pairs of hands followed suit.
Rinnegan, Byakugan, Sharingan.
Eyes mirrored each other, bright with resolve.
Ten flames, linked together, to bind.
More arms, growing from the Susanoo's back, slamming into the ravaged soil down under.
A circle of shimmering light, spreading, centered around the kami.
"FUTILE! MY ESSENCE IS WOVEN INTO THE COSMOS. I—"
Agehachō-Yosei paused.
Naruto smiled. "Your wings it is, then."
And its wings went away first, in a terrible scattering of light. From stardust to stardust.
The kami howled in disbelief.
"THIS IS…"
A human soul, of course, was much too weak to be split and still be considered a viable thing.
The same thing didn't hold true for the divine.
Ten humans and one kami met to decide the fate of this world.
…
The realm of the divine operated on principles that often transcended human understanding. Just as the vastness of the universe eluded the grasp of the human mind, so too did the intricate nature of a kami's soul.
A human soul, delicate and ephemeral, was anchored to its singular existence. To attempt to split it would be akin to tearing a fragile piece of parchment — the essence of its being would be irreparably compromised. Its finite nature and the fragility of its construct made it susceptible to fragmentation, resulting in a loss of its inherent essence.
But when speaking of a kami, one was delving into a domain of a nearly boundless expanse. Their souls were vast reservoirs of cosmic energy, seemingly infinite in their depth and potential. Just as a river could split into numerous tributaries and still flow with purpose and strength, a kami's soul could be segmented up to a certain point without losing its potency.
Furthermore, each fragment of a kami's soul, though separate, retained a connection to its source, drawing upon the primordial power of the whole. As though each piece functioned with similar purpose and intent as the undivided soul.
While the human soul was a fragile tapestry of existence, a kami's soul possessed a resilience and depth that defied such limitations. This meant that a kami's soul could indeed be divided, though only up to a particular threshold.
Too far beyond that, and it would likely disappear altogether.
The challenge laid not in the act of fragmentation itself, which Ino assured could be done… but in rendering the kami vulnerable enough to allow such a division.
Ino theorized that for a Greater Kami, partitioning the soul into about nine distinct parts should be feasible.
Any attempt to divide it beyond that point would be a gamble; while the essence would endure, the very consciousness linked to it could fracture irreparably.
Or end up gone entirely.
It was something they did not mind.
…
Uzumaki Naruto was laughing as they seized the kami, with great arms made out of chakra.
Layers upon layers of barriers wrapped around it. They encircled the deity, steadily compressing its immense form until Agehachō-Yosei was ensnared within a shadowy orb.
For a moment, it sought for the best way to escape them. Its gleaming light met Toru's eyes again—
The kami snarled in rage, once more. Humans.
Together, with Ino leading, the Susanoo made out of swirling colors grasped onto the struggling kami.
Pulling.
Their combined might, and Karin's chains, anchored the entirety of the kami's true form to the material realm, mimicking the sort of binding tactic that god of storms and change employed to shatter kami.
The massive Susanoo stood in the glassed crater, its ethereal form reminiscent of the deities that once made the land. Wisps of spiritual energy flowed around it, like sacred ropes.
The ground trembled beneath the assembled shinobi; Ino stood at the center of the chakra construct.
She took a deep breath, forming the sign of the Ram. Her eyes were hard, focused on the task at hand. She considered herself a support fighter, as ever. But any person who thought that a support fighter was any less dangerous for it never had the pleasure of having their souls torn away from them.
Jūbi chakra gathered, from several different sources, until the Susanoo itself glowed white. The shinobi's hands met in synchronization, creating a vast chakra nexus.
And then, chanting, led by Ino, her voice commanding.
"Severed moonlight, casting the dusk's fleeting grace. Between the realms, where no spirits leave trace."
The chakra flowed from the others to Ino, lighting her up like a beacon. Chains spread to the Susanoo's additional, twin newly formed arms, wrapping around them.
With a powerful thrust, Karin directed the chains towards the Butterfly God, helped along by the four Uchiha.
They extended, wrapped around its gigantic form, pulling and constricting. But the deity resisted, the very skies darkening as it unleashed a torrent of divine energy to break free.
"—DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR FUTILE EFFORTS WILL BE MORE THAN—"
The chanting continued.
"Chains of fate, woven tight and profound. In the silent depths, where memories are bound."
Yet, as the forces collided, both the chains and the arms that grasped at the kami began to glow even brighter. The chakra of the Jūbi, merged with the force of the ten shinobi, created an impenetrable bond.
Ino's eyes met the kami's.
"Through the intricate dance, where dark and light are twined. Shatter the bonds, free the spirits confined."
As the words left her lips, both the arms and the chains broke apart, sending arcs of light soaring in every direction.
A few hearts seemingly halted in synchrony.
That was it; now or never—
Agehachō-Yosei's form began to fracture and divide, the splits in its physical form becoming visible.
"Human Path: Soul Divider!"
There was a sudden, monumental shift in the balance.
The Susanoo fell apart, splitting into a smaller, twin-headed one, as Toru brought a hand to his eyes. Hanabi kept her eyes firmly on the kami's entirety, chakra coiled tightly.
Orochimaru waited, ready to carry all of them away if it was what it took. From the sharp look in Yugito's eyes, he was not the only one.
Naruto held his breath, eyes trained on something that was emerging.
The three other Uchiha kept their chakra flared outward, holding the weaker Susanoo together while Toru's strained eyes recovered.
Karin and Ino did not bother sharing a look. They were beyond that; had been for a long time.
Ten humans and one kami decide the fate of the world.
They pulled.
There was a terrible, impossible sound, and a blinding light, encompassing everything.
That day, Agehachō-Yosei's kami essence was forcefully separated from its consciousness, and its power, split into eleven parts.
Naruto stared at the kami's very mind. He wasn't laughing anymore.
With a great tearing sound, the impossible was done. The ten of them floated in a formless void, and the blinding light slowly receded, revealing the shattered crater they were still in.
Far above, the sky continued to howl. Down below, in the hole, there was the strangest of light.
It bore repeating that Naruto wasn't laughing, as he stared at the kami's very mind.
It wasn't fright.
"…That's it?" He asked softly. "This tiny little thing…? That's all you were?"
No answer came.
"…And you caused so much trouble?" There was something furious in his voice, something on the verge of mad laughter again.
The kami finally answered. It sounded weak, coming from far away. But it held the same haughtiness as always. It was no wonder.
"You wretch… Do you truly believe—"
Naruto clenched his fists, and Ino held him back, still. "All the effort, the chaos, the despair… for what? You're nothing more than this?!"
The kami sneered, its form shimmering with anger and malice. "You all stand there, with your petty grievances, your fleeting lives, believing yourselves to be saviors." It spat. "You're just playthings in the vastness of time. I am eternal. Even broken, I will endure, while you? You're—"
"Shut the fuck up." Karin ordered.
There was a heavy pause. Then a sharp laugh, coming from Toru. Or Hanabi, perhaps.
"…Your audacity is almost admirable." The kami said, sweet as honeyed poison. "You dare interrupt me? Do you remember your mother, my dear? They did things to her, you know. Terrible things. Oh, how she begged! The sounds she made, the pleas as she went? How delicious they were."
Karin's eyes were full of cold fury, and her mind flashed with memories she tended to keep at bay—
And then she quieted down. Karin made no move toward the kami, either. There were familiar minds tangling with her own, in quiet comfort.
"Have you gone mute? No scathing words, then?!"
Karin's response was cold. "Why should I waste words on something that's already dead?"
A mocking laugh escaped the kami. "Presumptuous. So you have managed to split my power in parts. Marvelous! How impressive!" It spat, and then turned toward Toru, meeting his eyes again. "And speaking of mothers, insect. What of your own? My, my. What would she think? Imagine her seeing you now… the rotten fruit of the loveless marriage that drove her to death. Alive. Wasting your life on frivolities. Oh, the torment your existence caused—"
"…That's it?" Toru asked, nonplussed. "I come up with more creative insults in front of the mirror."
The kami's frustration was growing as it watched the Uchiha brothers. "Then again, what could one expect from a spineless worm who assisted his kin in butchering their own father?"
Shisui's answer was curt, protective. "Not much from either him nor I, I suppose."
"You are but a shadow of even your pathetic father. Both of you. Fragile. Worthless. Throwing away everything for nothing. Pawns in a game too grand for you to understand."
Toru answered flippantly. "Never was a fan of chess."
"And you!" It spat, turning toward Hanabi. "The hypocrite who took the opportunity to kill her own brother, the very one who liberated her. You judged him for the same crime. And your pathetic father, he'll meet his end, won't he? In the hellish world, the tyranny you're erecting, men like him will be slaughtered. Either by you, like the unfortunate Neji, or by those he guarded for most of his miserable life—"
"Yes, yes. We all have some daddy issues." Hanabi interrupted. "Wasn't it obvious when we enlisted in a harem?"
Yugito whispered something defensively. Or was it Ino?
The kami's anger continued to bubble.
Orochimaru inquired with a hint of amusement. "Am I your next target?"
"You pitiful vermin." The kami snarled. "Daring to mock me? Crawl back into the hole you came from, worm — Oh, what a group we have there. Some of your race's darkest monsters among you. Do you believe you worms can bring about anything that is not ruin? You, who know nothing else but to be murderers?! You are the worst of even your miserable kind—"
"You're panicking." Naruto cut him off, this time. "Your taunts rang truer before you were cornered, godling."
"Answer me!" The kami roared. "Uchiha Sasuke! How many souls have been charred by your flames for a laughable vision of peace?!"
No answer.
"Your clan's halls must be foul with the smells of monkeys burning, by now! And — Isn't that right, Nii?! The same goes for you." It spat. "Uchiha Itachi! Do you recall the names of the children whose throats you've slit for something intangible?! Something you will never reach?!"
No answer.
"Tōshiteki! Your forefathers must be reveling. How many perished in their madness because of you? How many were driven to hang themselves?! How many times did you tie the rope yourself?!"
No answer.
"The same goes for you, Uchiha Shisui. Simply because you…" The kami trailed off. "…You." It faltered, staring at both Shisui and his brother.
This time, it did not meet their eyes. The burning anger receded some, replaced by something else. Something Agehachō-Yosei did not, could not, acknowledge.
"Oh?" Toru asked affably. "Did you see through our little illusions? At last?"
"...What have you done?"
Toru smiled mockingly. "A good magician—"
"Yes, yes." Hanabi cut him off. "We get it."
"What have you done?!"
No answer was coming.
"Answer me!"
No answer.
"ANSWER!"
No answer.
"How?! Why?"
No answer.
"WHY?!"
This time, Naruto did answer.
It came out as a pant, a bark. A scathing remark. "Why…?" He asked slowly, shaking his head. Then, he sighed, echoing mocking words that he had heard what now felt like ages ago. "You godlings are always always consumed by the 'whys.'"
There was silence, coming from the kami. Followed by seething, powerless loathing.
"Why are you silent, my dear…?" Naruto asked with a thin smile. "Surely, by now, you've come up with a few biting words for us. Or did eons not suffice?"
Agehachō-Yosei remained silent.
The humans merely stared back at him, and there was nothing Agehachō-Yosei saw in them that he could make use of. It began to rumble, the tiny thing it was.
"…Do you believe you can look down on me?!"
Karin shrugged.
Ino reached out with Toru's Susanoo's hand, brushing the swirling, ethereal energy of the kami's mind, its psyche.
"Do you think you can belittle me?!"
Naruto shook his head. "You never truly considered you could die, did you? Even less to human hands."
It had been all too easy for both Ino and the present Uchiha to play into the kami's blind spot.
"I will not. I—"
Chakra rose, connecting all of them to the kami's mind. A vast thing. Some of it Naruto knew he and Ino could grasp. Some they couldn't. And so they would, taking everything they could. And dismissing the rest.
It was only fair.
Perhaps the kami finally was beginning to understand what was happening.
"I…?"
There was something else in the kami's voice.
"I…?"
Agehachō-Yosei pleaded; that's what it sounded like, at least. Naruto didn't bother mocking the fallen kami. He reached out through Toru's chakra, too.
"I…?"
The last thing Agehachō-Yosei perceived before oblivion was a savage display of unrelenting force; claws, seething with the raw essence of lightning, reaching for its celestial core.
The very fabric of its existence was rent asunder, the energy tearing through ethereal bonds, unraveling that which had been woven with the utmost delicacy across eons.
In the aftermath of destruction, Matatabi's flames took on a life of their own, guiding the other flame-wielders.
The fires danced, alive and purposeful, purifying the scattered remnants of the once-mighty kami. They reached out, sweeping up every particle, leaving behind a space where only purity and absence coexisted.
With a deep, exhausted exhale, Naruto lowered his hand, the lightning dissipating into the surrounding air.
His eyes, weary but unbroken, turned to his comrades, searching their faces for confirmation, for acknowledgment of a deed so profound it transcended understanding.
The world itself seemed to hold its breath, honoring a moment that had shifted the balance of power in the unending dance between mortal and divine.
As the others held their breath too, Hanabi reached out, her eyes becoming gateways to a world of infinite possibilities.
In this moment, her mind transcended the physical realm, delving into the hidden crevices of existence, probing for any shadow that might linger, any thread that might hint at deception or treachery.
The soft blue light of the Mangekyō Byakugan's full strength bathed the area in a soft glow as she sought through the endless web of potentialities.
She scrutinized the very essence of their surroundings, the subtle interplay of energies, the resonances that connected all things.
In her heightened state, even time seemed to bend, allowing her to perceive the echoes of past actions, the shape of intentions, and the distant ripples of future outcomes.
Every possibility was explored, every potential trap dissected. The landscape of reality itself was turned over and examined, as if she were reading the very script of existence, looking for a hidden note, a misplaced mark, a secret waiting to be revealed.
Her comrades watched in silence, their trust in her abilities absolute.
They knew that if anything had been overlooked, if any corruption or malevolent force remained, Hanabi would find it. The tension was palpable, like the quiet pressure before a storm.
Slowly, methodically, Hanabi traversed the uncharted territories of cosmic understanding, her mind agile and precise, her spirit unyielding. The minutes stretched.
Finally, her eyes returned to their normal state, the ethereal light receding. With a practiced movement, she wiped the blood off from under her nose. She looked at Naruto and the others, her face composed.
"No traps." She announced, her voice steady and reassuring. "No lingering corruption. No hidden snares. It's done."
The confirmation came: Agehachō-Yosei was defeated.
In the silence that followed, their victory was not one of exultation, but of quiet acknowledgment.
And just like that, a great star had been shattered entirely.
The divine essence, once a beacon of unassailable power, hung suspended, like fragments of a forgotten dream.
For a single, traitorous moment, Naruto wondered what would happen if he were to take it all, all eleven pieces of it. He was so close to becoming something else already, was he not…? Would he become a true kami? The notion of transcending his humanity to become something more, something divine, flickered through his consciousness. Power, in all its intoxicating glory, was within reach, tantalizingly close. Hadn't he spent all his lives chasing it, and wasn't it within his grasp, more than he could ever have thought—
Wisdom prevailed. Or love, perhaps. Naruto crushed the thought under his metaphorical heel; he ignored the siren's call. The very same foolish instinct had led him and others to ruin so many times before. He was not Indra, he was not Madara. He was not destined to repeat his mistakes, their mistakes. He could rely upon others. Wasn't it how they had come so far, after all…?
He thought he saw Ino give him a proud, loving, knowing look.
With a weak thumbs-up, Naruto acknowledged his comrades, and they approached, drawn together by a shared purpose. Nine other pairs of hands reached for the divine essence, each guided by a resolve that transcended mere ambition.
What had once felt boundless was now splintered into eleven distinct fragments.
Naruto secured two segments, the one originally meant for Yoisen, and the one meant for him, clutching the divine energy so firmly that it melded with him.
This integration shattered any belief in the kami's infallibility. Instead, it unveiled a sprawling consciousness, offering insights and perspectives beyond mortal comprehension.
Without hesitation, they embraced the divine essence, absorbing it, becoming one with it, yet remaining grounded in their humanity.
And so, on that fateful day, ten mortals, together, dismantled the honored Agehachō-Yosei, tearing it apart and dividing its celestial essence among themselves.
In doing so, perhaps they did not become true kami themselves. Still…
It was something that could be called change.